For our play of the Castle Greyhawk campaign, I’ve been developing my own Wandering Monster tables. For the most part, these are aimed at providing danger – thus foes – for the players. Especially when – on the Labyrinth level – this was the main thing that would challenge the party. Let me say: Using only wandering monsters? Not good. You want areas of interest … Continue reading Two Wandering Monster tables
I am very fond of wandering monsters. This is partly due to me still running large dungeon complexes, but I also use them in wilderness adventures to break up the play and provide moments of unscripted action. The original version of wandering monsters in the dungeon was a check every 10 minutes, with a 1 on a 1d6 roll indicating monsters encountered by the party. … Continue reading The Joy of Wandering Monsters
Dungeons & Dragons is a resource-based game. For most of its editions, you have a limited amount of resources, with hit points and spells being the main two resources you deplete. However, if you look at its original presentation and then compare it to the current version, there are a few rather significant changes to how things are handled. Particularly concerning access to healing – … Continue reading The Game of Attrition
The exploration of the dungeons of Castle Greyhawk continued today with more of the labyrinth level (taken from Castle of the Mad Archmage). This is not a well-designed level. It’s way, way too big, only has a few monsters, and most of those are weak. The minotaurs are good – but the party, even after several sessions, hasn’t found any. Too big, too diffuse… and … Continue reading Four Encounters
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?
Just a quick note: I really hate poor rules writing. I’m okay with rules that are intentionally left vague so the DM can fill in the blanks. I am not okay with rules that are contradictory. Here is the text of the new Hide action from the October playtest package (Expert Classes): With the Hide Action, you try to conceal yourself. To do so, you … Continue reading Hide in 6E playtest – How not to word something
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
When you’re designing an encounter for use in your home game, you probably not putting down everything about it on paper. Some you will improvise at the table, other pieces you’ve already decided but live in your head rather than in any written form. Getting that head space into a publishable form? That takes more words than you might expect. It does, however, depend on … Continue reading Home Encounters vs Published Encounters
