Okay, so the debate has waxed hot around the internet, so I’m going to add my grease to the fire in the next series of posts.  Try not to take me too seriously because, as with everything else I do this exercise is about finding the fun.

Sample the first:  character creation.

Basic D&D

Roll 3d6 six times.  Put your lowest score into Charisma.  Put your highest score into your class’s prime requisite.  Copy down your saving throws and attack numbers.  Roll starting gold.  Buy equipment.  Ten minutes later you are in the dungeon.

1st/2nd Edition AD&D

Roll 4d6 six times.  Put your lowest score into Charisma.  Put your highest score into your class’s prime requisite.  If you wanted to play a paladin or ranger then screw around with your stats until you had something that worked.  If your DM allowed it, reroll until you got a decent character.  Have the DM THAC0.  Make racial modifiers to your ability scores.  Have the DM re-explain THAC0.  Copy down saving throws and to hit numbers.  Have the DM re-explain THAC0.  Fifteen minutes later you are in the dungeon.

3.x edition

Roll 4d6 six times.  Compare your results to a point-buy character.  Haggle with the DM until he gives you more points to spend.  Re-read the pre-requisites for every prestige class available.  Re-read the level progression for each base class available.  Calculate out the feats you will need for the first prestige class.  Min/Max based on feat entry requirements.  Put just enough points into INT/WIS/CHA to cover the highest level of spells you plan on learning (unless you are munchkining a spell caster or bard), dump most everything else into strength.  Re-calculate.  Decide you to go a different route.  Email your DM and ask about tweaking a feat.  When he says no, email your DM asking about an obscure feat found in a hard to find splat book.  Keep tweaking until you have +12 to whatever key action you want to use at first level.  Two days later you enter your data onto a character sheet.  Fifteen minutes later you are in the dungeon.

4th edition
Choose a pre-generated ability score array from the PHB.  Curse silently because there is no tweaking going on.  Re-read the list of powers, silently cursing because nothing seems to stack and it doesn’t feel like there is room to wiggle.  Choose your powers.  Re-read the list of feats, looking for a loophole.  Choose a feat.  Buy some equipment.  Copy some numbers onto your character sheet.  Copy some numbers onto your power cards.  Half an hour later you enter the dungeon, still feeling like you got ripped off because you weren’t able to tweak anything and didn’t get to ask the DM once about an obscure feat.

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Looking for another collection of campaign ideas?  Need a storyline?  Got something you want to share but you don’t want to start yet another D&D site that is just going to die out in 2 weeks?  Maybe you should try legendarygate.com.

Legendary Gate is a new online tool designed to help collect and distribute campaign ideas, adventures, campaigns, and all that good stuff.

Legendary Gate will, of course, not solve all of your problems and it may not be the tool for you, but like so many other things in the DM toolbox, there is a time and a place for everything.

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There are a lot of roles out there that are very fun to play.  Most of us prefer to play the action oriented damage dealing sorts.  I was not surprised when we put together our first 4th edition party everyone (and I do mean everyone) chose a strike role for their first character.  I was also likewise not surprised when they all decided this was a bad idea and started mixing it up a bit.

One of the main problems was nobody wanted to be the healer.  Being the healer isn’t always very glamorous.  You don’t generally get to dish [...] Continue Reading…

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One of the things that can be frustrating to players is that they simply get stuff that they don’t need or want for their characters.  Either the magic items simply aren’t useful or they don’t have the right potions or they simply prefer using an axe to a magic sword.  By the same token as a DM it can be really frustrating when the players just don’t have what they need to perform well in the dungeon that you have spent forever planning.

Putting some time into the shops in your world can go a long way towards solving these [...] Continue Reading…

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Fundamentally all table top games are about interacting with other people.  It doesn’t matter if you are playing Monopoly, Magic The Gathering or Dungeons and Dragons.  Being able to understand what other people at the table are thinking is an invaluable skill in any game but can be especially useful in Dungeons and Dragons where player interaction has far fewer restrictions than most other games.

If you are running the game, being able to pull of a lie at a table full of savvy players can be really difficult but at the same time very important in order to maintain [...] Continue Reading…

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So this is for all those of you out there not interested in paying the Wizards of the Coast Use tax in order to use their character builder/managment software.

MWMDragon over at www.dungeonsdragons.selfip.com has created a new database specifically for storing your 4th edition character information, which of course can be useful for a variety of different applications.  Personally (if I weren’t paying the WOTC tax) I would use it because I keep all of my data electronically and it would be a convenient way of storing said data w/o worrying if my hard drive is going to crash.

MWMDragon said [...] Continue Reading…

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Typically I don’t bother with the myriad of online stores out there selling everything from panake syrup to re-usable diapers, but Shopwiki caught my attention.  Not only because they don’t necessarily sell everything that you can find on their site or even make money when you buy it but because when I did a search for Dungeons and Dragons I found very quickly links to some good vintage D&D books, books that I couldn’t find on Amazon or after a lot of searching elsewhere.  So I’m passing it along to the rest of you.

Shopwiki is basically a wiki for [...] Continue Reading…

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One lesson I’ve learned the hard way is to be careful what I say as a Dungeon Master.  Believe it or not the players listen.

Sometimes when describing a scene I will add a sentence or two of flavor just to make the scene stick a little bit.  The players take this added flavor text to heart and before long they are so focused on the color of the princess’ dress that they are completely overlooking the half burned letter from the evil overlord that she was attempting to destroy when they walked in.  Suddenly the color green is an [...] Continue Reading…

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Okay, so you have an idea for a nifty new campaign that you want to run but you really don’t have the time to put it all together.  What do you do?

This can be a huge problem for a lot of dungeon masters, particularly those with a creative bent who aren’t thrilled with using someone else’s work.  All too often these folks turn into the guy (or gal) who is constantly “working on it” but who never actually ends up running a game because they never actually finish.

Here are some ideas:

1 – Create only what needs to be created [...] Continue Reading…

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Okay, for those of you who don’t allow videos to play automatically or who have them blocked entirely, the youtube link is below.  The creator of this video sent me the link and I thought I would pass it on to all of you.  It is a kooky little video that captures the flavor of going out and finding the myriad of monsters available in the game.

Anyone willing to put this much effort must really share the passion for the game.  Props to Dan Meth and company.

Monster Manual Music Video

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4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons has made a fairly strong move away from randomness at the gaming table.  From the point buy system becoming the character creation standard to a leveling system which defies random encounters the dice have become a less necessary tool.

For those who really do enjoy rolling the dice more than necessary, are there ways of injecting randomness into the game without breaking it?  Of course there are.

Here are some ideas.

•  Roll random characters.  Roll a die to determine your race.  Roll a die to determine your class.  Roll dice to determine your ability scores.  Roll [...] Continue Reading…

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Creating a world from scratch is a daunting task.  Personally I don’t recommend it unless you know that you are going to be playing a long campaign and that everyone is behind the idea.

However, sooner or later most of us decide to at least make a drawing of the fantasy world we have imagined.  Here are some tips to make the job a bit easier and to get a more coherent end result.

1 – Start with a  coast-line.  Draw out the continents first.  The major land masses will help define cultures as well as other major geographic features.

2 – [...] Continue Reading…

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Finding and abusing game exploits is an important ability for pretty much anyone who plans to play a game for the long term.  I’m going to talk about some skills that can be applied in generic terms to just about any game out there, including Dungeons and Dragons.

Look for the infinite combo.  In other words, anything that adds a bonus but which doesn’t cost a resource, or which costs a resource which can be replenished.  In D&D the primary combat resource is actions.  There are only so many things that a character can do on his turn.  Once those [...] Continue Reading…

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There are power gamers and then there are really, really annoying power gamers.  You know who you are (or at least the people who play with you know who you are).  You are the kind of person who has to squeeze every last advantage out of every single die roll. The person who has figured out the exact best strategy for each and every situation and then berates the rest of the party into doing it your way.

So how can you make power gaming fun?  Is it possible to create a powerful character that doesn’t give the DM a [...] Continue Reading…

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When GM’ing a Dungeons and Dragons or RPG Game session nothing can bog down a campaign or the evening more than when a player who knows the rules to the letter better than the DM keeps trying to force the system and point out any errors the DM may make. One of the best things about a D20 system is its flexibility and a DM should vary from the rules to keep the game interesting and entertaining as long as the decisions made are fair and can be reproduced by everyone (players and DM alike).

When a DM varies [...] Continue Reading…

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