The fourth episode of Hoard of the Dragon Queen sends the group off on the quest that will continue for the rest of the adventure. It’s just a little bit important the players understand what they’re in for, and that’s the purpose of the initial meeting with Leosin and Onthar in Elturel. Both of these characters will be tremendously important in The Rise of Tiamat, … Continue reading Running Hoard of the Dragon Queen, episode 4
In the AD&D adventure A1: Slave Pits of the Undercity, there are two areas on the upper level that have no doors or openings providing ingress for the players. This is probably a good thing, as a wight and a pair of basilisks lair within, but I’ve been asked by a friend what they’re doing there are how the players are ever meant to find … Continue reading The Strange Case of the Wight and the Basilisks
The third episode of Hoard of the Dragon Queen closes off the initial section of the adventure. The group return to the camp to discover what the cultists are up to and discover that they’ve mostly left. So, the plan changes to dealing with the eggs and cultists left behind. It’s at this point that Leosin, the half-elf monk that the group may have rescued … Continue reading Running Hoard of the Dragon Queen, Episode 3
After running the first episode of Hoard of the Dragon Queen, you may be forgiven for thinking the second episode of the adventure, Raiders’ Camp is a lot simpler. After all, it’s not like the players are at risk of certain death at every moment of the game, are they? Well, not exactly. The camp section is a far more dangerous beast; an episode where … Continue reading Running Hoard of the Dragon Queen – Episode 2
At the climax of episode 1 of Hoard of the Dragon Queen, the weary players may see the champion of the enemy, Cyanwrath, come out before them and issue a challenge: Either the defenders of the village send out a champion to defeat him in mortal combat, or he will execute a family that he has captured. As he does so, one of the militia-men … Continue reading An Ethical Dilemma in Dungeons & Dragons – the Cyanwrath Challenge
Hoard of the Dragon Queen is the first of two adventures written by Wolfgang Baur and Steve Winter set in the Forgotten Realms. The two adventures have the players coming up against the fresh plans of the Cult of the Dragon, a long-standing villainous group in the setting, to summon Tiamat from the Nine Hells. The designers of the adventure are experienced. They’ve been working … Continue reading Running Hoard of the Dragon Queen – Episode 1
Animal companions have had a long history in D&D. The Animal Friendship spell was not part of the original game, but was introduced as part of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. This spell was usable by low-level druids and high-level rangers, and allowed the caster to permanently gain one or more animals to act as friends or defenders. Exactly what an animal companion could do was … Continue reading The Ranger’s Companion
I’ve found the rules for Stealth in the new edition of Dungeons & Dragons rather hard to follow. It doesn’t help that I haven’t seen the Player’s Handbook yet, but it seems that it basically just is the rules from the Basic D&D game, so there is little further clarity there. I rather hope Stealth gets a section in the Dungeon Master’s Guide! It doesn’t … Continue reading Being Stealthy in Dungeons & Dragons 5E
Dungeons & Dragons was originally published as “Rules for Fantastic Medieval Wargames Playable with Paper and Pencil and Miniature Figures”. The use of miniature figures was mandatory, right? Well, even in the very early days, Gary Gygax was playing the game without miniatures. In fact, there weren’t all that many rules in the early D&D that actually required the use of miniatures; nothing like the … Continue reading Visualising Combat in Dungeons & Dragons
