One of the bits of advice I give new DMs is this: Have more than one foe in a fight. The trouble with solo monsters is that they’re often underwhelming or, alternatively, far too powerful. This can derive from their ability to focus fire on one hero. In a fight against four goblins, it is very difficult for those goblins to all attack the same … Continue reading How many Monsters in an Encounter?
The basis for this week’s session was the short adventure The Chieftain’s Barrow, available on the DMs Guild, plus wilderness random encounters from Lost in the Wilderness (no longer available). The party heard rumours of undead troubling a village in the Cairn Hills, so set out to investigate it. On the first day of travel, they came across a small house near a pond, where … Continue reading Weekend Adventurers – September 5th 2022
As I write this, it is the 19th of August, 2022, and I’ve just become aware of the new Playtest for Dungeons & Dragons. While Wizards are code-naming it “D&D One”, let’s call it what it is – Dungeons & Dragons 6th edition. While they say it will be backwards compatible with the current edition (5th edition), I’m betting that it’ll be about as compatible … Continue reading The New Dungeons & Dragons Playtest
I have a few problems with the humanoid monsters often suggested for first-level Dungeons & Dragons adventures. Quite frankly, a lot of them are just too scary for first-level adventurers to face. Over the years, I’ve developed a few points about what sorts of monsters I want first-level characters to face. They possess these traits: The monster is easy to hit, The monster has trouble … Continue reading Monster Choice in First Level Adventures
How deadly is your Dungeons & Dragons game? Do players go into each combat wondering if their character will survive? Do they avoid combat? Or do they rush in, knowing their chance of losing their character is very low? People enjoy different things. And, even in the early days of the game, there were varying desires for how deadly it should be. Consider that hit … Continue reading Deadliness, Options, and Risk
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!
More play of Elden Ring has led to more thinking about how it handles quests. Elden Ring is not filled with quests in the same way that games like Skyrim,The Witcher 3 or Baldur’s Gate are filled with quests. You can explore lots of locations, but mostly, you don’t have a reason to go into them except “because they’re there”. But Elden Ring does have … Continue reading A Sense of Direction
One of my hobbies over the last year and a bit has been computer games. Yes, I know – I’m a computer programmer, don’t I play computer games? Well, yes, I do, but during the covid lockdowns I started playing games more intently. The game that really got me into playing Open World games was Cyberpunk 2077. I have over 700 hours on that game … Continue reading The Elden Ring Sandbox
I am quite fond of the downtime activities in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, and I have used them extensively in my Monday night campaign (the Weekend Adventurers game). However, there are a few points where I have found them lacking. In particular, the way that you purchase magic items. I never allow the players to select an item and just buy it. It’s always a … Continue reading Buying Magic Items – Revisiting Xanathar’s
Quest for the Heartstone, with an identification code of XL1, was published by TSR in 1984. It is an oddity – the only adventure written to support a couple of action figures. The action figures in question? Warduke and Strongheart (and some of their friends). Although I was active in the game around this time – and bought the adventure a few years later – … Continue reading AD&D Adventure Review: Quest for the Heartstone
