Link to Icewind Dale adventure on Amazon
D&D, D&D 5E, Design

Who is the Standard Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer?

Adventurers in Dungeons & Dragons come in all shapes and sizes and can have any number of backgrounds. However, for the purposes of many published adventures, designers tend to assume a certain type of adventurer. That type is the mercenary adventurer. That is, an individual who makes their living by selling their services. And their services are their strong sword arm or their ability with … Continue reading Who is the Standard Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer?

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Curse of Strahd, D&D, D&D 5E, Design

On Running Published Adventures

I love published adventures. Investigating them has proved some of the most rewarding times I have spent with Dungeons & Dragons. However, I recognised that running published D&D adventures is not to everyone’s taste, or possibly even ability. There are distinct differences between running an adventure written by someone else and one you design, and you should choose the path you enjoy more! However, even … Continue reading On Running Published Adventures

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D&D, D&D 5E, Design

Monsters and World-Building

Monsters do not need innovative mechanics to be interesting. The difference in the statistics between kobolds, goblins, orcs, hobgoblins, gnolls, bugbears and ogres in original D&D (and AD&D) is minimal. What makes them different? Culture, organisation, and story. This isn’t to say that monsters shouldn’t have interesting mechanics, but they’re not the only consideration. With any monster, when I am designing a scenario, I would like … Continue reading Monsters and World-Building

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Board Games, D&D, D&D 5E, Design

Player Elimination in Board Games and TTRPGs

If you have an ability in a game that has a chance of eliminating you from the game if you use it, what does that then do to the game? What does it do to the enjoyment of the other participants?  Older board games were very fond of player elimination – where you could stop playing the game when your position was overrun. And these … Continue reading Player Elimination in Board Games and TTRPGs

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D&D 5E, D&D Adventurers League, Review

5E Adventure Review: Moonshae Treasure Hunt

Moonshae Treasure Hunt is the first of the Moonshae adventures written for D&D Adventures League play under the aegis of Baldman Games. It is intended to introduce the setting’s themes and presents four 90-minute scenarios written by different authors for beginning characters; preferably level 1 or 2. As you might expect, such short adventures give each designer limited opportunities to introduce characters and themes. All … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Moonshae Treasure Hunt

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Call of Cthulhu, Review

The Room with No Doors review

I recently ran M.T. Black’s Call of Cthulhu adventure, “The Room with No Doors”. We had fun. I see this as a single-session adventure. The text says it runs in 3-6 hours, but we ran it in about three, perhaps a little under. At its heart, it is a ghost story. The characters need to investigate a haunted house and stop the haunting there. However, … Continue reading The Room with No Doors review

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D&D, Play Advice

On Total Party Kills

In general, the most disruptive event you could have in a Dungeons & Dragons game is the Total Party Kill (TPK). That event where every member of the party dies. One player character dying is a tragedy, but the campaign continues. However, if everyone dies, then it stops all the ongoing stories of the characters and could derail the campaign completely. The possibility of a … Continue reading On Total Party Kills

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D&D, D&D 5E, Play Advice

Structured Dungeoneering

I am extremely bad at this. In the beginning, Dungeons & Dragons had a definite structure for how you handled dungeon exploration. It went something like this: Exploration is broken into ten-minute turns On the party’s turn, they can perform one of these activities: Move up to their speed – assumed to be slowly and while mapping, so 120 feet per 10 minutes was fast! … Continue reading Structured Dungeoneering

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D&D 5E, Design, Play Advice

Using Deities in a Dungeons & Dragons campaign

The original presentation of deities in Dungeons & Dragons is unusual. It was a short description of their combat abilities and not much more. And the book instructed you not to use them in combat, which was odd. Justin Alexander recently talked a little about it in his blog, The Alexandrian. Later games, especially Runequest, paid a lot more attention to the deities and their … Continue reading Using Deities in a Dungeons & Dragons campaign

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D&D, D&D Basic, Review

D&D Adventure Review: The War Rafts of Kron

X7 The War Rafts of Kron was released in 1984 as part of the “Expert” line of adventures; that is, wilderness-based adventures for the Dungeons & Dragons line rather than the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons line. It is for characters of levels 9-12. In this adventure, the characters venture beneath the waves to save a princess from the tritons who have kidnapped her. However, the … Continue reading D&D Adventure Review: The War Rafts of Kron

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