We ran our Session 0 of Storm King’s Thunder last night. Six players all rolling characters at the same time, creating a party of adventurers that would work together and would be fun to play. The result: A Warlock, a Paladin, a Barbarian, a Monk, a Druid and a Wizard. Covers all the bases! “Hang on!” I hear you cry. “What about the Rogue?” The … Continue reading Storm King’s Thunder – Outrunning the Barbarian
In my experience, a lot of D&D combat takes place around doorways, certainly if the players have played a lot of the game. Why would you want to go into a room? The DM has probably filled it with lots of traps to get you the moment you go in, and monsters are waiting to surround you at a moment’s notice. Far better to stay … Continue reading The Joy of Doorways
Barbarians are tough. Barbarians are strong. Barbarians are incredibly fun to play. Here are a few notes on how to play them effectively at first level. What is the Barbarian best at? The barbarian does the most damage of any first-level character with two-handed weapons. They need to be raging while doing so, but even the fighter doesn’t deal as much damage. Barbarians are the … Continue reading Playing a First Level Barbarian
Bounty in the Bog is one of the Elemental Evil adventures from the D&D Adventurers League. Written by Ken Hart for a party of level 1-4 characters, it sends the adventurers into the Flooded Forest to deal with a group of bandits. It’s a fascinating adventure. It’s very rich in detail and backstory. However, it’s a little tricky to relay some of that backstory to … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Bounty in the Bog
For the last few weeks, we’ve been exploring Omu, the Forbidden City of Tomb of Annihilation. We haven’t finished yet, and it’s likely to take a few more sessions before we do. At this point in the story, the players know that the Soulmonger is in Omu, but not exactly where. During the initial exploration of the city, I was aiming for a real sense … Continue reading Running Tomb of Annihilation: Entering Omu
The Dark Lord is the final instalment of the D&D Adventurers League adventures set in Barovia. Written by Greg Marks, this 43-page adventure for level 5-10 characters is meant to be played in 4 hours, although I think most groups will struggle to do so. There’s a lot of material to cover. The beginning of the adventure features the ritual to find the overall villain … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: The Dark Lord
I recently had to tell a player that they could no longer play with us; that we didn’t want them back. It’s a horrible thing to do and to experience, but if you want to have a good campaign, there are times you must recognise that the group isn’t working and its time to move on. There are times its purely down to people having … Continue reading On Handling Problem Players
Over the years, Dungeons & Dragons adventures have tried many different techniques of presenting monster stats in the adventure. The first adventures – Steading of the Hill Giant Chief – listed the hit points of the monsters and then expected you to look them up in the Monster Manual. Later AD&D products provided “full” stat-blocks, although they’d typically leave out special ability descriptions. However, as … Continue reading Presenting Monster Stat-Blocks in Published Adventures
There’s a lot of wilderness in Chult. You’re likely to become very familiar with it in the early levels of Tomb of Annihilation, as the adventurers search for clues. It’s easy to become distracted by the rules given on the adventure: Roll three times each day to see if an encounter occurs, then determine what it is. The problem with this is that it eats … Continue reading Running Tomb of Annihilation: More on Wilderness Adventures
Veluna is a good-aligned theocracy in the World of Greyhawk, and the setting of my current Greyhawk campaign. It wasn’t originally, but it’s where the adventurers have ended up. As a result, it behoves me to have a look at the country, and see what adventures it inspires. I use two main sources for information on Veluna: the 1983 World of Greyhawk boxed set and … Continue reading Greyhawk: A Look at Veluna
