The End of an Era. Maybe.

I've been reading "The Dungeon Master Experience" article's by Chris Perkins for about 6 months now. He's been writing them longer than that but I came to the show late and frenzied my way through the archives pretty quick. These are some fantastic articles he's written and are well worth the read. As of this last Thursday though, 03/21/2013, his 4th edition campaign is over and so may also be his articles on this topic. There is still the possibility he'll return when his D&DNext campaign gets underway with new Dungeon Master Experience articles, but I would be surprised if he did so. I wouldn't be surprised to see him return with a new series of articles though.

In the meantime, I highly recommend visiting their archives, sorting by Category and reading every one of "The Dungeon Master Experience" articles available. There's lots of good advice and general entertainment, ranging from designing balanced encounters (and whether or not you even should) to how to create a game world that feels truly alive.

'til later...

Don't Blink

I was thinking about what a game with Weeping Angels in it would be like, which led me to wondering what mechanic to use to see how long a character could keep their eyes open without blinking. In Renaissance, a round is only 3 seconds. After a little experimentation I guesstimated that a character, in Renaissance, could keep their eyes open for a number of rounds equal to their Con score before they would need to start making Con rolls. In terms of other game systems, which use 6 seconds (D&D 3.0 and 3.5, Pathfinder and 4e too I think), you would need to limit that to half the character's Con in rounds. Regardless of which system I use, I can't wait for my next Halloween game!

Have you ever played in or run a game with Weeping Angels in it? If so, tell us about it in the comments below, I'd love to hear your stories!

The Sandbox Campaign

I've been doing a lot of reading recently, re-learning how to GM and prepare adventures. Over the years I got into the habit of having no preparation beyond a general idea of the plan and a book from which to pull names. Thoughts and plans are beginning to coalesce and today I've been pondering Campaigns.

Re-learning to GM

I have't GM'd a regular game in years. I used to be pretty decent, though I'd never say great. Over the years, my style and game quality have declined. It's time to get back to the basics.

The plan for now is to start with a small shanty-esque town outside a larger city. The scene begins with the players having been kicked out of the larger city for one reason or another (perhaps to be determined by the players themselves), leaving us with a smaller city area for them to role-play in. In the shanty-town there will be one developed NPC who offers the PC's a job in a simple dungeon, either simply for pay or in exchange for the means of getting back into the city. The means, of course, may or may not involve additional work/adventures to come to fruition.

The Reflection in the Jewel

Maybe I'm behind the times, perhaps you've already seen this. But if not, it's fascinating! Grab your D&D 3.5 player's manual (I know you've got one. If not, head to your local gaming store and check it out there) . . . anyway, grab your manual, turn it upside down and look at the yellow jewel in the (now) top left corner (it'll be the bottom right corner if held right-way up).

Secession: Comments and Gaming

In case you weren't aware, there's been a lot of talk about secession from every state in the United States this last week or so. Except it hasn't been the States, officially, just citizens of the states. I wanted to take a moment to comment on that and also look at the inspiration this can offer for GM's because, after all, everything in life is relatable to role-playing and vice versa.