When you design a dungeon, do you put in rooms with no monsters or traps? I do. Apart from anything else, they provide space that prevent every monster in the dungeon learning that there are adventurers present and converging on them for one mass battle. That’s amusing. But only once. However, an empty room shouldn’t be entirely empty. Each “empty” room is the opportunity to … Continue reading Designing Dungeons: Empty Rooms
We’d reached the climax of the Return of the Lizard King, as the adventurers braved the ancient ziggurat wherein dwelled the Lizard King who had raised up the Akabkan lizardfolk against the other races of Chult. The adventurers were guided by a yuan-ti pureblood, Salida, who opposed the Lizard King, though for reasons of her own; she wasn’t entirely trustworthy. The Akabkan tribe were gathered … Continue reading Running Tomb of Annihilation (Return of the Lizard King) – Part 4
It’s Friday night, and I’m at home not playing an RPG. This feels odd. The reason I’m not playing an RPG is that the hosts of our Friday Night RPG sessions, Martin and Peggy, have wandered off to another part of Australia. Typically, we alternate weeks between two RPGs. I DM my 5E D&D Greyhawk game one week, and Martin DM’s another RPG the other … Continue reading Thoughts on Campaign Structure
Shadow of the Demon Lord (SotDL) is a brilliant game, which has seen a lot of love around my table. Take a ruleset that has elements of D&D, throw in inspired mechanics to aid the playing of mini-campaigns and add a fallen world, and you’ve got something that is tremendously fun. And more than a little creepy. Jerry LaNeave’s adventure He Sees You When You’re … Continue reading SotDL Adventure Review: He Sees You When You’re Sleeping
Richard Malena-Webber’s supplement The Monologue Mechanic is a fascinating work. It starts from the premise that villainous monologues to player characters form an important part of the structure of D&D and other RPGs, and then awards benefits when the players listen to the monologue instead of attacking the moment they see the villain! To do this, it also introduces the idea of fame, as promulgated … Continue reading 5E Supplement Review: The Monologue Mechanic
The latest adventure compilation by Jeff C. Stevens, Encounters in the Savage Jungles, is now available on the DMs Guild. It’s a collection of short adventures and encounters to use in any jungle-based campaign, such as Tomb of Annihilation. It’s not D&D Adventurers League legal, but that shouldn’t bother most of you. It’s also a product I can’t review. Why? Because I contributed to the … Continue reading An Encounter in the Savage Jungle
Lysa Chen’s Ruins of Hisari is a D&D Adventurers League-legal adventure set in one of the many ruined locations in Chult. Although intended for a party of Tier 3 characters – that is, levels 11-16 – the first section of the adventure doesn’t contain many dangerous threats, and the outskirts of the ruins can quite easily be explored by a Tier 2 party. Then the … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Ruins of Hisari
I’m fascinated by the new subclasses in Xanathar’s Lost Notes to Everything Else. In fact, most new class designs fascinate me, although actually evaluating them? It’s hard. You need to playtest them. As it happens, the element of D&D that will see more play than anything else after the basic systems are the character classes. An individual spell that goes wrong can be easily excluded. … Continue reading Examining a Subclass: Path of the Courageous Heart
One of the interesting innovations of the DMs Guild and Wizards of the Coast this year has been to elevate the work of a group of skilled designers. Titled the “Guild Adepts”, these designers have had early access to upcoming D&D products, and have crafted supplementary products. The latest of these releases is Xanathar’s Lost Notes to Everything Else, an 87-page pdf that covers a … Continue reading Xanathar’s Lost Notes to Everything Else – A First Look at the Subclasses
Expanding on my recent article on how I run D&D combat without miniatures, here are a few notes on how I run terrain in that mode. It’s a different experience from using miniatures, and certain types of terrain change from being obstacles to the players to being opportunities instead. Choke Points – Doors, Archways, Corridors These are the narrow places where only one or two … Continue reading Terrain of the Mind
