We played the final session of our Lost Mine of Phandelver campaign this weekend. It was a longer session than usual, which was devoted entirely to the exploration of the Wave Echo Mine. However, “longer” in my hands is still fairly short – it was about four hours in total. The exploration of the mine can take a lot longer, especially if you play up … Continue reading Examining Phandelver: Mine Minis
The Brain Gorger’s Appetite is an adventure by Alex Kammer for level 1-3 characters. Set in the mining town of Ockney’s Hold, it tells the story of a barony that has come under the sway of a drug-addled brain gorger. The adventure begins with an investigation into why the Baron has begun acting so oddly of late, progresses to the manor of one of his … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: The Brain Gorger’s Appetite
My latest session of Lost Mine of Phandelver found the player characters in the hills, having run out of clues and not sure of where to go next. Whenever a mystery needs to be solved for the plot to progress, you have the potential that the players reach a dead end. They might not have found the clues, they might have killed the NPCs rather … Continue reading Examining Phandelver: Getting Back on Track
My ongoing Greyhawk D&D campaign continued last night with the characters scouting the borderlands of Iuz. Iuz, for those of you unaware with the World of Greyhawk is a land ruled by an evil demi-god (Iuz!) that borders on one of the major good kingdoms of the world, the Kingdom of Furyondy. The new King of Furyondy is somewhat foolish, and, upon receiving a lost … Continue reading Greyhawk Campaign: Scouting the Lands of Iuz
One of the excellent aspects of Lost Mine of Phandelver is that it includes a number of side-quests. These are quests which don’t advance the main storyline that you can get from NPCs you meet. Side quests allow a Dungeon Master to present a view of ongoing life in the world. Necromancers investigate buried ruins (and cause problems with wandering zombies), orcs strike from a … Continue reading Examining Phandelver: Side Quests
A pall has fallen over the Forgotten Realms. The dark necromatic arts – on a level never before seen – have broken the bonds between this world and the next. The greatest power of the gods, that to restore life to those taken before their time, has been abolished, and those who have been previously restored to life are now weak and dying. How long … Continue reading Prelude to Annihilation: The Death Curse
During my second Curse of Strahd campaign, one of the characters was a ranger. Along the way, he befriended a raven, using speak with animals to talk with it and learn interesting things about Barovia. We named the raven Francis. It’s dangerous giving me control over “intelligent” animals. I’ve got a whimsical streak, and it came out in full force with Francis. And the ravens … Continue reading Whimsical DMing: Francis the Raven
A product that feels like a visitor from the past in this digital world are the D&D Character Sheets. This folder of loose-leaf sheets contains the following: 4 Character Sheets with skills listed with ability scores 4 Character Sheets with Personality Traits listed on the front page 4 Character Sheets with no Personalty Trait boxes 8 Introductory Character Sheets (single-sided) 4 Spellcasting Sheets Most of … Continue reading D&D Accessory Review: D&D Character Sheets
In the World of Greyhawk, there’s a kingdom ruled by an evil demigod. The kingdom and the demigod have the same name: Iuz. In the past 20 years, I’ve run a lot of campaigns set in Greyhawk, and we’ve often flirted with the idea of dealing with the threat of Iuz. His priests and orcs have popped up every so often, but they’ve never been … Continue reading Player Choices: Into the Land of Iuz
One aspect I didn’t touch on in my first article about hit points was the rate of natural healing. For those of you who began with the current edition, it didn’t work the same way. It was slower. In Original Dungeons & Dragons the rate of healing was one hit point per day, except for the first day when no hit points were restored. This … Continue reading Hit Points Through the Editions, part 2
