Ice Road Trackers is the first of the adventures for Season 10 of the D&D Adventurers League. Designed by Shawn Merwin, it consists of four one-hour adventures for level one or two characters. It occurs during the events of Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frost Maiden, but, as with most of the DDAL adventures, runs separately from the hardcover adventure. This adventure introduces characters to … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Ice Road Trackers
With Ballarat moving towards restarting public play of Dungeons & Dragons in our local store, Guf Ballarat, once again it has fallen to me to organise the events. More correctly, I volunteered to do it, because I much prefer organising an event to just participating in one. We are in an odd space where the store is still getting going again. Well, it always was … Continue reading D&D Adventurers League – A Look at the State of Play
Libya. 11 January 1941. The LRP has been renamed the LRDG and has been given the task of attacking an airfield at Murzuq. However, for this scenario, the Italians had a potent defense: a medium tank! Yes, it is the second scenario of Undaunted: North Africa. This game started just after we played Scenario 1 and is another of the introductory scenarios to the game. … Continue reading Undaunted: North Africa – Scenario 2
Libya. 17th September 1940. The British LRP (Long Range Patrol) came across an Italian fuel dump and airstrip and attacked, seeking to destroy it. A few Italians stood between them and victory. This engagement is the first scenario in Undaunted: North Africa, a deck-building war game designed by David Thompson and Trevor Benjamin. Unlike most historical wargames, each counter on the map represents a single … Continue reading Undaunted: North Africa – Scenario 1
Drums in the Marsh is a four-hour adventure for level 1-4 characters and part of the first season of the D&D Adventurers League. The adventure features an investigation into recent kidnappings and raids and then a trip into the Twilight Marsh to discover the perpetrators and rescue the victims. For a low-level adventure, this is very ambitious and gives many options for the players and … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Drums in the Marsh
Secrets of the Drowgar is a 28-page PDF supplement available on the DMs Guild that introduces a new playable race to the game: the Drowgar. What is a Drowgar? It is what you get when a Drow and a Duergar love each other very much. The trouble with introducing any new race into the Dungeons & Dragons game is that not only do you have … Continue reading 5E Supplement Review: Secrets of the Drowgar
I played Mork Borg the other day. For those unaware of Mork Borg, it is a role-playing game inspired by early editions of Dungeons & Dragons, set in a world that is dying, and where the lives of its inhabitants are likely to be unhappy and short – especially if they are the player characters. The game presumes familiarity with D&D or similar games to … Continue reading The Map and the Mapper
You can play an entire Dungeons & Dragons campaign and enjoy yourself thoroughly without giving a thought as to your character’s past history. Likewise, you can find creating a detailed history enhances your enjoyment. Which one works is affected by the preferences of you and your group. It is well worth discussing how you wish to approach character backstories at the beginning of the campaign. … Continue reading Character Histories and the Campaign
I have been thinking about how combat works in Dungeons & Dragons 5e, and – as with many modern versions of the game – it is no longer a game of attrition. In the early editions of the game, healing magic was hard to come by. (A seventh-level cleric in AD&D with a 16 Wisdom can heal at most 7d8+1 hit points per day). And … Continue reading Combat, Vulnerability, and Hit Points
One of my worst experiences running Pathfinder came when we were playing the Council of Thieves adventure path. The adventurers enter a pocket dimension and have to fight their way out. Except that almost all foes have damage reduction 5; that is, they take 5 less damage unless struck by special weapons (I forget which type, likely silver or cold iron). The party didn’t have … Continue reading Foreshadowing, Research, and Retreating
