One of the effects of mostly experiencing the playtest rules only through my weekly D&D Encounters sessions is that I’m now very familiar with low-level play in the game. And, likewise, I have no idea what happens at the higher levels. This Saturday, I’ll get a chance to see something new: play at the dizzying height of sixth level! Fifth and sixth level have generally … Continue reading D&D Next: The Dizzying Heights of Sixth Level
I’m not very experienced with playing or running druids in AD&D. I saw them being exploited quite a bit in 3rd edition – thanks, Dave! – but in the wilder, woollier days of AD&D, we were busy with the “standard” classes of cleric, fighter, thief and magic-user. So, having druids in the party now is something of a new experience. Brian’s druid died before it … Continue reading Playing an AD&D Druid
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
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
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
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
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
One of the best kickstarters I backed last year was that for the Dwarven Forge Dungeon Tiles. The final product looks amazing and – amazingly – was on time. They said it’d be ready in October, and I got it in October. Fantastic! Their next kickstarter is perhaps even more interesting… Caverns. These things aren’t exactly cheap, but the material they make them out of … Continue reading An interesting Kickstarter: Dwarven Forge Caverns
There isn’t a cleric to be seen amongst the current players of D&D Encounters at my FLGS. There has been in previous seasons, but this season is heavy on the rogues, rangers, paladins and mages for some reason. As a result, the groups are struggling somewhat to heal between encounters. It’s a dynamic that is unfamiliar to the 4E players of the group. Of course, … Continue reading D&D Next: Healing and the playtest Cleric
Over the past few months, I’ve seen a fair deal of the playtest rogue from D&D Next. Tait’s been regularly using one in our D&D Encounters game, and it hasn’t been unusual to see another player with a rogue at the same time. Mechanically, it reminds me of the way D&D Essentials handled the thief. I’m very fond of the Essentials thief. You’ve got a … Continue reading D&D Next: The Playtest Rogue
