I recently participated on a panel on boxed text in PAX Online. Before that, I asked some of my twitter followers questions that they had about the use of box text. We did not get to most of those questions, so I am using this article to answer them! A reminder: I am in favour of boxed text, when used well! “Would your approach to … Continue reading Boxed Text Q&A
My home Greyhawk campaign continued with the characters seeking the third part of the Rod of Seven Parts. The group teleported back to Brusinton, a small town in the west of Veluna, after slaying the dragon. This has been their home base for several months, but it was now under occupation by the Shadow Fey. Checking in at Home The Shadow Fey had concluded an … Continue reading Adventures in Greyhawk – The Company Goes South
I have recently been thinking about why I prefer using Experience Points to Milestones. There are a few reasons, and this article covers my thoughts on the benefits and problems encountered by both approaches. I do believe, very strongly, that there is no one right way, but – in the main – Experience Points are superior for my campaigns. And the reason for that derives … Continue reading Milestones and Experience Points
Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden is out! And immediately, the main thing some of my good friends have focused on is the difficulty of one of the opening quests. This quest pits the characters – quite likely four level 1 adventurers – against a Challenge 3 opponent. Usually, this would outrage me. I have a low tolerance for narratively-required encounters where there is a … Continue reading How Difficult is “Too Difficult”?
Play in my Sunday night Waterdeep Dungeons & Dragons campaign has been somewhat erratic of late, as real life shows lots of ways it can intrude. Our previous session saw the group head north from Waterdeep to deal with a threat at Black Marble Quarry, as I mentioned in my review of that product. That saw some incredibly reckless actions from the paladin that resulted … Continue reading Waterdeep Tales: To Helm’s Hold
Exploring Eberron is the new 240+ page sourcebook from Keith Baker (and company) that expands on Eberron lore, now available on the DMs Guild as a PDF or Print-on-Demand hardcover. This article is one of a series looking at the contents of the book. I am uncomfortable with calling it a “review” as I have not used the material in play; instead, these are my … Continue reading A Look at Exploring Eberron, part 4: Uncharted Domains
Something present in older forms of Dungeons & Dragons that has not survived into the current edition is the destruction of magic items by various effects the party might suffer in combat. In AD&D and original D&D, when you were hit by a fireball spell, every item you had was required to make a saving throw (with success values determined by a special Item Saving … Continue reading Destroying the Players’ Magic Items
My home Dungeons & Dragons group have finished the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth and are now heading south in search of the third section of the Rod of Seven Parts, but they stopped along the way to kill a white dragon. That is all Mike “Sly Flourish” Shea’s fault. In Sly Flourish’s Fantastic Adventures, he placed a suit of armour that could detect white dragons. … Continue reading Adventures in Greyhawk – Hunting the White Dragon
Death at Black Marble Quarry is a one-session adventure for level 5 characters. The characters must investigate a quarry where the miners (quarrymen?) have uncovered an ancient temple. Unfortunately for the workers, this let loose the undead trapped within, and the quarry workers were all killed. Enter the PCs – they need to enter the quarry, explore the old temple, and end the threat. There … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Death at Black Marble Quarry
In the early days of Dungeons & Dragons, a lot of details of traps were left undefined. Certainly, perusing the AD&D Dungeon Master’s Guide and the Basic Rules, I had little idea about how and when to use traps. And, more importantly, what role they played in the game. One of the oddest things was how bad thieves were at dealing with them. A first-level … Continue reading A Few Thoughts on Traps
