One of the slightly more confusing things in this edition of Dungeons & Dragons is the distinction between a “turn” and a “round”. I’ve seen many players not quite understand how they are different and, as many abilities refer to them, it seems appropriate to just remind people what they mean. Unfortunately, “round” is used in two or three different manners, so it isn’t as … Continue reading D&D Terminology: Turns and Rounds
The tarrasque was first introduced to Dungeons & Dragons in 1983, appearing in the Monster Manual II book. A huge, lumbering reptilian beast, its hunger was legendary, its bite possessing the abilities of a sword of sharpness, so that there was a chance that any attack would sever a limb of the target, and its metallic hide would reflect spells such as lightning bolt and … Continue reading 5E Supplement Review: The Book of the Tarrasque
The rider who greeted the adventurers as they descended from Argynvostholt was Ezmerelda d’Avenir, a gift to DMs everywhere. One of the major things that you’ll often need as a DM is a non-player character who can drive the plot and give information to the adventurers that they can’t otherwise obtain or, more frequently, have missed. In this game of Curse of Strahd, that character … Continue reading Running Curse of Strahd: Ezmerelda d’Avenir
I’ve recently been rerunning the Tier 1 Rage of Demons D&D Adventurers League adventures. Hillsfar Reclaimed is the penultimate adventure in the series, and it does an excellent job of setting up the finale, while being an entertaining adventure in its own right. The adventure sees the characters being sent into Hillsfar by the Harpers. There, they need to discover the identity of spies who … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Hillsfar Reclaimed
J. Benjamin’s Books of Knowledge is an intriguing supplement: a collection of magical books that adventurers can study and thereby gain various magical benefits. The author suggests using this supplement in a campaign where permanent magic items are rare; the books described tend to have lesser magical effects, and thus allow a hint of magical ability without overwhelming the campaign. For instance, the book Art … Continue reading 5E Supplement Review: Books of Knowledge
No Foolish Matter is the sixth adventure of the third season of D&D Adventurers League adventures. It’s designed for level 1-4 characters, and sits as a rare stand-alone in a series of adventures detailing the effects of Hillsfar’s “Great Law of Humanity” on the land. Instead of dealing with the injustice of the Red Plumes and the quest to replace the First Lord of Hillsfar, … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: No Foolish Matter
Areas 13-24 of The Sunless Citadel contain the first organised group of monsters the adventurers meet: Kobolds! The kobolds of the edition of D&D when The Sunless Citadel was first published in 2000 were not quite the same as the kobolds of 2017. Both are relatively weak, cowardly creatures, mainly known for their attachment to dragons and their skill at trap-building. However, the current version … Continue reading Running the Sunless Citadel: Kobolds!
A Dish Best Served Cold is the fifth adventure in the D&D Adventurers League fifth season. It’s written by James Introcaso (who is known for babbling about tabletops and doing great interviews), and is written for the second tier of levels, optimised for 8th-level characters. It’s also the second in the Stagwick-arc, a tale about the relationships between the frost giants and settlers in Hartsvale. … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: A Dish Best Served Cold
The Sunless Citadel is the first adventure in the new Dungeons & Dragons book, Tales from the Yawning Portal. This adventure is designed for beginning characters, and is also a very good choice for Dungeon Masters as their first adventure. Here are a few tips for running your first session of the adventure! Character Selection The Sunless Citadel is a dungeon adventure, where much of … Continue reading Running the Sunless Citadel: First Steps
One of the fascinating questions of any D&D game (and most RPGs as well) is “when is it acceptable for a PC to die?” It’s not quite as simple as it sounds. Certainly, it’s rarely “when the player decides” (at least as far as D&D goes), but – likewise – we DMs are very careful to not arbitrarily killing PCs. At least if we want … Continue reading Beware! Tomb of Horrors ahead!
