It was a long time ago. In the late 80s, I managed to meet up with three other like-minded individuals – that is, people interested in this strange game called Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, and we began a campaign. The DM had already played a similar campaign with a friend, and he wanted to introduce us to the idea. And so, the four of us … Continue reading Memories of Greyhawk Campaigns Past: Beginnings
Once upon a time, a noble knight opposed the witch Iggwilv. However, Iggwilv was the lover of the arch demon Grazzt. And Grazzt used his power – and an opportunity given by a traitor – to banish the knight and his entire castle from the World of Greyhawk into the Abyss. A few hundred years later, it has returned. Guess what my group are now … Continue reading Into the Demon-Infested Castle
The latest session of my 5E Greyhawk campaign saw the players investigating a pocket of the Demiplane of Shadow that was accessible beneath their hometown. In our previous campaign, the town of Brusington was endangered by Shadow Fey, before the heroes of that game managed to negotiate a treaty with them. This time around, the Shadow Fey had requested a favour of the townsfolk: that … Continue reading Greyhawk: Into the Demiplane of Shadow
G’day, folks! I know I haven’t been blogging much recently – and also my presence on Twitter has taken a nose dive. I would love to say that it’s because I’ve been working on wonderful projects that I’ll share with all of you, but it’s more a case of finding a few other things to occupy myself. Some of them are boring (work), but others … Continue reading Still Alive!
Today’s session was a 3-hour delve in to the seventh level of Joseph Bloch’s “Castle of the Mad Archmage“, which I’ve been using as the basis of my Castle Greyhawk campaign. For the seventh level of the dungeon, there are some seriously underpowered monsters here. I know it’s an old school dungeon, but even so, you’d expect better foes than “1 zombie” or “2 skeletons”, … Continue reading Exploring the Crypt level of “Castle of the Mad Archmage”
I rarely run Dungeons & Dragons campaigns where I know in advance who the Big Bad of the campaign is. Well, that’s not true – I do know when I run published adventures. However, for my homebrew campaigns, it is something that I work out as the game progresses. This is not the only way to do it. I know many of my friends know … Continue reading Uncovering the Campaign’s Big Bad
After a couple of months off, it’s time for my Friday Night group to begin a new Dungeons & Dragons campaign! At the end of the previous campaign, the 20th level characters stopped a war between Ket and Veluna – and banished Xan-Yae, goddess of the twilight, back to the Plane of Shadow. Ten years later… Most of my campaigns are set in the World … Continue reading A New Campaign!
My Monday night Greyhawk campaign is currently using a format that we’ve dubbed “Weekend Adventurers”. That is to say: each session is what happens on the weekend. The party then go back to their regular jobs for the rest of the week. That is, they have a week of downtime between each session, which they might spend working or pursuing other activities. The rogue of … Continue reading A Little Quest – Notes on Improvisation
I delight in running all levels of Dungeons & Dragons. You can always throw exciting challenges at the party, and they can always surprise you with their solutions. I find nothing better than setting a challenge without knowing how to overcome it and watching the players invent something in front of my eyes. As the DM, you are the interpreter of the adventure environment. Use … Continue reading Actions, Rewards, and Consequences
I have been spending a lot of time listening to podcasts and reading books on history over the past couple of years. The history of revolutions. The history of Rome. The history of the late medieval period in Europe and the transition to the modern world. The study of the Late Middle Ages is of particular interest to me because of Dungeons & Dragons and … Continue reading A Sense of History
