We completed Chapter 6 in this session of Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk, which was run on Monday, February 19, 2023. The current characters in the campaign are: Syzoth’s player controls the rogue henchman, I control Simeon. (Simeon stays out of discussion for the most part, though I occasionally employ him to aid roleplaying between characters). When we left off our previous session, the … Continue reading The Shattered Obelisk, session 17
When Dungeons & Dragons began, large parties of characters entered the dungeons. When AD&D came along, it was basically assumed that nine people would venture into the dungeon, in a 3 by 3 square. By the rules of the time, three men could stand abreast in a 10-foot corridor. Although D&D was inspired by miniature gaming, it quickly lost the miniatures and became what we … Continue reading Trends of Lowering Character Numbers
We ran this session of The Shattered Obelisk on Monday, February 12, 2024. The party began the session at the great crossroads at the heart of Gibbet Crossing, after killing the lone alpha grick that was there. Listening carefully, they heard rustling sounds to the west. My party is very much of the mind that you shouldn’t leave monsters to creep up on them, so … Continue reading The Shattered Obelisk, session 16
M1: Into the Maelstrom is the first of the adventures designed to use with the D&D Master set, that is the expansion of the D&D Basic game for levels 26-36. In the D&D Companion set, the PCs were rulers of kingdoms or the ruler’s principal servants. By D&D Master, their mortal lives are drawing to a close and they’re reaching towards the possibility of Immortal … Continue reading Classic D&D Review: Into the Maelstrom
If you want to get me mad about something, take away agency from the players in a situation where they believe they have it. Yeah, it’s the Quantum Ogre. What’s a Quantum Ogre? It’s an ogre encounter that appears regardless of the choices of the party. You ask them, “Left or Right” when they come to an intersection, but both paths lead to the ogre. … Continue reading Left or Right?
If there’s a style of running adventures that a lot of people don’t get, it’s running an investigation. You’ll find a lot of good advice on the net about how to structure them – I particularly recommend Justin Alexander’s articles on “The Three Clue Rule”. But ultimately, what you’re wanting to give is this: A sense of momentum. After every encounter, the players should feel … Continue reading About Running Investigations
I’m meant to be writing a proper review of Gary Gygax’s “isle of the ape”, but a nearby bushfire means I’m a bit distracted at present. In addition to not being at my computer. Most of the last adventures Gygax produced were pastiches of known works of fiction, and Isle of the Ape was no exception. The template was laid down in “Dungeonland” where Gygax … Continue reading Isle of the Ape
On Friday, February 16, 2024, our World of Greyhawk continued with the party exploring a lost temple of Xan Yae at the foot of the Ullspurs. By this stage, it was an underground structure, with indications that the worship of Xan Yae was once more than just as the Mistress of the Twilight. The exploration of the temple had begun with the players defeating bugbears … Continue reading Adventures in Greyhawk – The Lost Temple
During the long history of Dungeons & Dragons, Dungeon Masters and designers have sought ways to make monsters scary. Well, scary to fight at least. Sort of. If you ask people about how combat should feel in the game, you’ll get a bunch of different answers. There is one strand that thinks that fighting is a failure state, and that combat should be incredibly deadly. … Continue reading Fear the Monsters
We played this session of The Shattered Obelisk on Monday, February 6, 2024. The action continued through Chapter 6, and the exploration of the dwarven crypt sacred to Dumathoin’s clergy. The characters started this session looking at a blank wall. The players had worked out it would be opened when they pulled both levers at once, but let’s consider the wall. How out of place … Continue reading The Shattered Obelisk, session 15
