In the beginning, when a party of adventurers encountered a group of monsters, both sides rolled a six-sided die. If a side rolled a 1 or 2, that side was surprised and had to stand by while the opposing side got a free round of attacks (or of fleeing, if the opposition looked scary). As the game developed, certain characters and monsters changed the chances … Continue reading The Joys and Horrors of Passive Perception
At my current point in life, I’m finding myself extremely busy with work and with running Dungeons & Dragons, but with very little time to set aside to preparing adventures (or writing reviews or blog posts). I steal what time I can, but I’m not always able to do the preparation I want to. (I’m hoping things get less frantic later this year; there have … Continue reading More on Improvising Sessions
Resurgence is the third part of the first Hillsfar trilogy from Baldman Games, playable as part of the D&D Adventurers League. It is a curious adventure, which while being perfectly adequate, doesn’t quite manage to hit any heights. Its chief problem is that it doesn’t do a very good job of building tension. As this adventure is the climax of the trilogy, the lack of … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Resurgence
My first real experience with a DM was with the adventure Keep on the Borderlands, a classic adventure that many, many players had as their first adventure since it was published with the introductory Basic D&D rules for about a decade. The thing is: it’s not a very good introductory adventure if you’re a new DM. Well, half of it is: the dungeon half. That … Continue reading On Introductory Adventures
The High Moor is a 28-page supplement for the D&D game that offers information on a section of the Forgotten Realms, drawing on information presented in previous books and updating it for use with the current edition and the current date in the Realms. It is nicely written, and gives a good overview of this wilderness area. The High Moor is not known for human … Continue reading 5E Supplement Review: The High Moor
Throughout the history of Dungeons & Dragons, the primary focus has been on the exploits of bands of adventurers, typically exploring dungeons, killing monsters and gaining treasure. However, every so often, there’s a glimpse of an older style of play: one where the characters hold positions of responsibility and command large armies on the field, often to protect nations they’ve carved out of the wilderness. … Continue reading War and Nations in Dungeons & Dragons
The second group of enemies the players face in The Sunless Citadel are the goblins. In Dungeons & Dragons, goblins make up the lowest rung of a group of related humanoids: goblins, hobgoblins and bugbears. Occasionally, we refer to them all as “goblinoids”. It’s quite common when designing adventures to have a hobgoblin or bugbear leading a group of goblins, and that is the case … Continue reading Running the Sunless Citadel – Goblins
One of the more unusual products to cross my radar was The Ultimate Fantasy Collection. Curated by Glen Cooper, this product gathers together nine adventures from the early days of the DMs Guild, adds in three supplements, and provides the lot at a discount. However, Glen decided to do something interesting. Instead of just offering the adventures in a bundle, he decided to write notes … Continue reading Using Published Adventures in a Homebrew Campaign
In the late 1970s, Lawrence Schick took the best bits of the dungeons he’d designed, stuck them all together, and gave the result to TSR as a sample document hoping to persuade them to hire him. It worked. His sample document was published as S2: White Plume Mountain without changing a word, much to his surprise. It’s also one of my favourite adventures of the … Continue reading AD&D Adventure Review: White Plume Mountain
Last night, I ran Giant Diplomacy for my D&D Adventurers League table at my local gaming store. Around me, three other DMs were doing the same, attended by 23 players. Most of those players have been with us in the four preceding weeks as we’ve run the other adventures in this series. Together, we’ve all shared the experience of playing these adventures. Afterwards, we typically … Continue reading The Shared Experience in Dungeons & Dragons
