Category: D&D

D&D, D&D Encounters, Scourge of the Sword Coast, Session Report

D&D Encounters: Scourge of the Sword Coast session 8

The eighth session of Scourge of the Sword Coast had five players: one new, Troy, who played a fighter, and four returning faces: Danielle (rogue), Josh (bard), Tait (rogue) and Sondra (ranger). This was Troy’s first game of D&D; I hope he enjoyed it. Structurally, the session ended up being almost entirely combat. The gnolls that were guarding Phylund Lodge put up a big fight … Continue reading D&D Encounters: Scourge of the Sword Coast session 8

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AD&D, D&D, Session Report

AD&D – Miniatures and Terrain

My latest AD&D session saw six players and one easily-forgotten thief henchmen delving into the Caverns of the Oracle, my own mega-dungeon. Unusually for this campaign, I used my Dwarven Forge dungeon tiles for the session, representing where the characters were standing. The basic trouble with this is that AD&D uses a 1″ on the tabletop represents 3 1/3 feet in the game, so it’s … Continue reading AD&D – Miniatures and Terrain

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D&D, D&D Next, Design

Monsters, Adventure Design and Balance

Dungeons & Dragons has an underlying tension between the power of the monsters and the power of the characters. There will be combat in a D&D campaign, and what happens then is of paramount importance to how the game plays. If every combat ends with the monsters being destroyed in one round, then it’s not a very satisfying game. Likewise, if the characters end up … Continue reading Monsters, Adventure Design and Balance

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AD&D, D&D, Review

AD&D Review: Steading of the Hill Giant Chief

This is a reprint of a review I first posted on RPG Geek. Dungeon Module G1: Steading of the Hill Giant Chief was the first adventure module released by TSR for the Dungeons & Dragons game. The scenario debuted at Origins ’78 as part of the D&D tournament there, and was shortly available for purchase by D&D fans. A previous scenario, Temple of the Frog … Continue reading AD&D Review: Steading of the Hill Giant Chief

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D&D, Life, RPGs

I Game, Therefore I Have Dice

A package arrived from MilSims today. It contained an expansion for Twilight Imperium (3E), the new game Russian Railroads, the L5R version of Love Letter, and four Dice Bags. They’re quite pretty. So, they needed to be filled. I got all my dice together, sorted them into sets, put them into the bags… and still had dice left over. There are two to four sets … Continue reading I Game, Therefore I Have Dice

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D&D, D&D Encounters, D&D Next, Scourge of the Sword Coast, Session Report

D&D Encounters: Scourge of the Sword Coast session 7

We had fewer players at Goodgames Ballarat this week, but it was still a healthy number with 17 players turning up. Tables were DM+5, DM+5, DM+4, and with the shop quieter as well, the games went by pretty smoothly. My own table was lacking Harry, but Lily, Danielle, Josh, Sondra and Tait were all present. I finally organised myself well enough to bring in miniatures … Continue reading D&D Encounters: Scourge of the Sword Coast session 7

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AD&D, D&D, Design

AD&D: Marching Order in the Dungeon

We’ve had a lot of dungeon-crawling in my AD&D campaign. This can be attributed to my love of the form, but also to it being the easiest way of entertaining a group of players whose membership changes from week to week. In the dungeon, you don’t need to be so worried about little details like “plot”, you can just enjoy each encounter as it comes. … Continue reading AD&D: Marching Order in the Dungeon

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AD&D, D&D, Design, Initiative

AD&D Initiative

My AD&D campaign, which I run on Saturday evenings, has now been running for 2¼ years with no sign of stopping any time soon. The last session involved me as DM and nine players(!) and the numbers for this week’s session may be similarly challenging. The group has returned to Rappan Athuk, which they’re now tackling with much more experience. In total, we’ve played over … Continue reading AD&D Initiative

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D&D, D&D Next, Design

Combat and the Fighter in D&D Next

When you get down to it, the mechanics of D&D are firmly based around combat. This was a truer in the earliest versions of the game, where there were very few other mechanics, but there’s still a kernel of truth to it. The relationship between hit points, armour class, attack bonus and weapon damage is so key to the game. The relationship has been expressed … Continue reading Combat and the Fighter in D&D Next

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