Sometimes it is tempting, for a variety of reasons, for a DM to want to roll the dice for the players.

Shocking?

Absurd?

A good idea?

In general players love to roll dice.  It is part of what makes the game fun.  Watching those little bits of plastic roll across the table give the game a tactile sensation that is just plain lacking in a computer RPG.  It really enhances the suspense.  Shaking those dice, hoping, wishing, praying that it isn’t a 1 or that you may get that desperately needed 20.

But then you have people cheating or completely incompetent or who just seem to never have their own dice.  It would be so much easier just to do it for them.

This is probably not a good idea.  Cheaters generally get caught by other players and players have ways of enforcing rules.  Those who lack the interest in the game to get (or remember) their own dice will eventually quit anyway.  Bide your time and they will disappear all on their own.

The one situation in which you may wish to consider rolling dice for players is when it doesn’t make sense for the character to know the result.  If they are searching, you may not want the players to know if anything can be found or not.  If a character rolls high and the search result is that they found nothing then they will quit because the player knows that a high roll means there was nothing to be found.  Likewise if they roll a 2 they may metagame a bit and decide to have thier buddy go over the area again because they know the die result.

You may wish to consider making a house rule to make these rolls yourself.  You may wish to consider search, listen and sneak attempts under these rules, but certainly nothing which has an obvious result like jumping or opening a door.  If you do decide to implement such a rule, be consistent.  Make the rolls all the time, not just when there is something to be found.

Like all house rules this is something to be implemented with care and thought or perhaps not implemented at all.

Have fun gaming!

Welcome back to Dungeons and Dragons Corner.

You can find Character Sheets Here.

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The party approaches an old keep.  There is a crumbling out wall.  The party has discovered footprints and a wily character among them has determined that kobolds are in the are.  The party is pretty sure the kobolds are guarding the small courtyard leading into the keep but aren’t 100% sure of their location.

Basic D&D
The party consists of 1 Elf, 1 Magic-User, 1 Halfling, and 1 Cleric.  The person playing the halfing is the noob, but you already guessed that.

The party stops and listens.  The elf makes the listen check and hears the kobolds moving.  They know where they are so the party moves in.  The DM rolls for a surprise round, the kobolds are surprised but he ignores the roll because quite frankly he wants the party to have some challenge.  They roll initiative.  Silently the DM curses because the party won initiative.  There are 4 kobolds.  The elf attacks and kills one.  The cleric attacks and kills one.  The Magic-User throws a magic missile and kills one.  The Halfling misses.  The remaining kobold fails his morale save.  The party loots and turns up 13 cp.  The party curses the magic user for wasting his magic missile, they go back to town to recover the lost spell.

1st/2nd edition AD&D
The party consists of 1 Elf Fighter/Magic User, 1 Dwarf Cleric, 1 Human Magic-User and 1 Half-Elf ranger.

The party stops and listens.  The elf makes the listen check and hears the kobolds.  The DM rolls for a surprise round but nobody is surprised.  Everyone rolls initiative.  The DM re-explains THAC0 to the half-elf.  The Half-Elf takes one out with a bow.  The DM re-explains THAC0 to the elf.  The elf takes one out with a bow.  The Magic User sits on his but not wanting to waste his only spell. The DM is about to re-explain THAC0 to the dwarf but he rolled a 2.  The kobolds hit the elf for four damage.  Next round the kobolds run and the dwarf gets one on the way out.  The party loots and finds 13 cp and a cursed sword which turns the dwarf into a fairy.

3.x edition
The party consists of a gnoll barbarian, githzeria monk, sun-elf wizard, and goblin rogue.

The monk makes a listen check and hears the kobolds.  The rogue sneaks out and scouts their exact location.  They get behind the gnoll who charges in with his guisarme.  In the surprise round the gnoll slaughters one, the monk kills another and the rogue kills a third.  The wizard offers sarcastic commentary and checks his email.  The party loots and finds 13 sp which they ignore.

4th edition.
The party consists of a tiefling warlock, a dragonborn fighter, a Halfling rogue and a half-elf ranger.

The half-elf makes a listen check and they figure out where the kobolds are.  The DM has them playing on full scale battle mat so they lay out their positions.  In the first round the ranger shoots but misses, the fighter charges but his attack also misses.  The Halfling has no ranged weapon but is scared to engage.  The warlock scores a hit and does some damage.  The kobolds proceed to severely damage the fighter while keeping out of his range.  By now the players have figured out that kobolds have more than 3 hp.  They keep it up for another 4 rounds until all of them have burned their daily powers and the fighter and rogue have both dropped.  The ranger managed to drop the last one.  The part loots and finds a potion of healing and 130 gp.  They decide that three strikers in the party wasn’t a good idea after all.  They decide to re-form the party.

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So I got an email from the creators of Spellfury to get an opinion of their latest release.  Honored as I am that my opinion would count for something I’m not sure what to say.

My previous review of spellfury hasn’t changed in opinion at all.  It is still the super-low budget get together with a video camera and some editing software and have some fantasy fun that it always was.  In this episode we get a bit of the back story.  Aparently the elf chick’s father was slaughtered at the family home and she is out to get revenge against (or just run from) the bad guys.

Again, the 3 minute time investment makes it mildly interesting and it sure looks to me like Travis Gordon and crew are having a lot of fun with it.

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Basic D&D
Please, please, please, please make my save vs. dragon breath.  Yes!  What, I still die.  You suck!  This game sucks!  I hate you all!  Grumbles and rolls new character sheet.

1st/2nd edition AD&D
Please, please, please, please make my save vs. dragon breath.  Yes!  What, I still die.  You suck!  This game sucks!  I hate you all!  Grumbles and rolls new character sheet.

3.x edition
Fortunately I min/maxed against this very possibility.  One hit, in the right place should do the trick.  What, you gave him class levels?  Prestige classes?  You bastard?  Fort save?  What?  Oh this roll had better be a 20.  Dammit, I thought one hit kills were done with in 3rd edition.  You suck!  This game sucks!  I hate you all!  Grumbles and rolls new character sheet.

4th edition.
Three hours of intense mini combat later.  I hate you all!  This game sucks!  You cheated!  You can’t put a trap, okay seven traps, in the middle of the battlefield that only the dragon knows about.  What were you thinking?  Aaargh, I thought they did away with party wipe in this edition!  Grumbles and opens character creator.

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Basic D&D
Magic-User/Elf: Fireball!  All mobs grovel before me or perish!
Fighter:  It thought you said that at level 3 with phantasmal force.
Magic-User: Oh yeah, I guess I did.  What are you complaining for you XP leach?  Maybe you can dodge a fireball, shall we find out?

1st/2nd edition AD&D
DM: Fireball!

3.x edition
Wizard:  What?  They so nerfed fireball.  This sucks.  This so sucks.  Dammit I’m going to play a cleric.
Cleric:  What?  They so nerfed hold person.  This so sucks.  Dammit I’m going to play a wizard.
Fighter:  Whoa, iterative attacks at level 6.  This rocks!  Suck it you spell casting sissies, I’m going to kick your butts!

4th edition.
Wizard: WFT?  Where’s fireball?  This sucks, I’m playing 3rd edition.
Fighter:  More powers?  Whoa, I’m not sure I can handle this.  Just gimme something to bash.
Rogue:  Where are my skill charts.  I miss the old skill charts.  Nothing left for me to copy anymore.

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Basic D&D
Cleric:  Woot!  I’m level 3 already.  Rolls d6 and copies in new attack and save numbers.
Magic User: Finally level 2.  Now I can cast sleep twice a day!  Rolls d4 and curses the dice.
Fighter/Dwarf: Level 2 , cool.  Better attacks and more HP. Rolls d8.
Halfling:  What, only a stupid d6 for HP?  What kind of a fighter is this?  You guys told me a Halfling was good.  You bastards!
Thief:  Level 3, cool.  You know it does get kind of tedious re-copying these skill charts every level.  Anybody else have to do this?
Elf:  Leveling up?  I think I need another 1000 xp for level 2.  Don’t worry though, I’ll catch up with you guys.

1st/2nd edition AD&D
Human characters:  Wootz, levels.  I love levels.  Roll HP and copy down new saves and attack values.  Make a note of special ability.  Oh wait, I have to re-figure my THAC0, hey DM can you do this for me?
Multiclass demi-humans:  We’ll catch up with you in another 2000XP, but thanks for the thought.

3.x edition
Aha!  All proceeds by my master plan. But wait, somebody released a new splat book.  Whoah that prestige class looks cool.  Okay, I can still get it I just have to re-think my feat progression a little.  If I take a level of sorc I can get there, but bard will give me bardic knowledge.  Wait?  All that for one lousy ability?  Oh why didn’t I just start with levels of fighter.  Rolls HP, grumbles and places skill points carefully.

4th edition.
Wohoo a new utility power!  What no rolling HP, I want to use my dice.  Dammit I didn’t fork out $20.00 on these new custom dice for nothing.  Let me roll my freakin dice already!  What?  I have to recalculate every number on my character sheet?  Oh man this is going to take a few minutes.

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The party finds a locked treasure chest.  They are all pretty sure that it is trapped, but they also know it has the treasure they have been looking for.

Basic D&D
The party consists of 1 Elf, 1 Magic-User, 1 Halfling, and 1 Cleric.

The party convinces the Halfling that he should pry open the chest with the 10 foot pole he brought along while they wait in the corridor outside.  When they hear his body they go in and loot the chest and the Halfling.  They get 100pp 636gp and two gems worth 300gp and 550gp.  They rejoice, dividing the loot 3 ways while the noob roles up a dwarf.

1st/2nd edition AD&D
The party consists of 1 Elf Fighter/Magic User, 1 Dwarf Cleric, 1 Human Magic-User and 1 Half-Elf ranger.

Nobody is dumb enough to try to open the chest on their own and they don’t have a thief good enough to disarm the trap.  They drag the chest out of the dungeon and over to a low cliff where they heave it over hoping against hope that the contents aren’t fragile.  Turns out they shattered a mysterious bottle of liquid which just happens to be the key to the quest and the solution to the cursed sword.  They also find 50pp and a note.

3.x edition
The party consists of a gnoll barbarian, githzeria monk, sun-elf wizard, and goblin rogue.

The gnoll kicks the chest open releasing poison gas.  They all take 1d6 constitution damage.  They loot 500gp and a scroll of speak with animals.  Nobody is worried so on they go.

4th edition.
The party consists of an elf cleric, a dragonborn fighter, a Halfling rogue and an eladrin wizard.

The rogue makes a thievery check and opens the chest without incident.  Inside they find a magical mace and a note.

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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 out tons of damage.  You aren’t always in the thick of things.  In short it isn’t a role that appeals to everyone.

Playing a fun healer means having fun with your role.  The role of a healer has more to do with the other players than any other role.  By definition you must interact with the other players.  This means that from the start you should be planning those interactions more than the ones with the NPC’s.  If your focus is on destroying the enemy you will always come in second to a well honed striker of some other class.

As far as builds go you have a couple of choices, but two main ones.  Are you going to be good at healing or are you going to be awesome at healing.  Either way doesn’t much matter because like I said before it has more to do with how you plan to interact with the other players to determine the amount of fun you have.  I would recommend being as good at healing as you possibly can because it will make your in-game actions more significant most often.

Now, when you perform an action, most of the time it will be performed on another player.  Not always, of course, but certainly more often than not.  So the question of “fun” becomes one of how, why, and when you perform those actions.  In general it is “fun” to save someone from the brink of death.  It is also fun to boost your friend just enough so that he can deal the final blow and save the party.  So play to maximize your chances of doing these fun things.

I also find it fun to talk and interact with the other players.  Role playing makes this fun.  Pretending to be a devote priestess might mean making it clear that you will not heal those who perform evil acts without penance.  So that rogue who kept a bit more than his share might need to show some sorrow (and give the money back) before you waste your goddess’ precious power on him.  This could be as simple as choosing to heal a different ally each round before finally consenting to save his life or it could be much more blatant and extreme.  Or maybe your character really is neutral and dispenses healing equally to enemies who surrender without questioning their motives.

The PHB does not allow for rules regarding much more mercenary healers who use their powers only for wages.  It is assumed that a healer will perform these actions as a natural course of adventure in return for her share of the loot, but it is not impossible to imagine a situation where a healer holds a party for ransom at a particularly dangerous stage, refusing to use a powerful spell until an additional share of the treasure is agreed upon.

Whatever you decide to do, mold your healer to the characters around you and you won’t be disappointed.  Just being the guy who hangs in the back and says you regain X HP once in a while probably won’t be as much fun.  Being the character in the party that everyone wants to please because his powers are unique and useful tends to be more fun.

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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 problems, depending on your players.  If you play with the kind of folks who will kill anything they see that has anything of value then you can more or less ignore this entire article because the players will more than likely just try to steal everything rather than trade for it.

But, assuming that your players are willing to trade - you can add a shop just about anywhere in your game.  This can be as simply as a merchant who has stopped in town for a day to a halfling caravan along the road to an old man found in the woods who happens to have a solution to fire resistance but could really use a healing potion in exchange.

If you’ve been listening to the players’ gripes then you should have a pretty good idea what they want and what they have that they don’t want.  Often they will end up with gear that they don’t want but which they hesitate to sell at PHB prices because of the expense.  Allowing them to trade (sometimes) for an item of equal or lesser value can go a long way towards helping them get the equipment they need and want.

But this sort of thing has to have boundaries or it will get out of hand very fast.

1 - the items available must be specific.  You can’t have a merchant out there traveling around with all magic items levels 6 thru 10.  If there is that much variety available then use the standard pricing system and have the players trade in gold, and it should probably be an established shop with all the regular guards and precautions.

2 - limit the quantities.  Just like the selection the total number of items avaiable should be limited to one or two.  If a wandering druid just happens to have the eight items that the party wants it will seem strange at the very least and most likely the druid will be robbed and/or stabbed in his sleep.

3 - limit the amount of time the items are avaiable in the game.  Once that druid has moved out of sight of the party he should vanish from the game.  This keeps him safe from those characters who will want to circle back and slaughter him for the little gold he still has as well as make him avaialbe for future use.

Finally, I suggest re-using the same “shops” from time to time.  This will make it obvious to the players what you are trying to do without screwing with the suspension of disbelief too much.  If there is a clear signal of “trade with this guy” then the players will be more likely to trade and less likely to do anything else.

If you do include regular magic shops with a large selection of items, allowing the occaisional one for one trade without penalty can also be useful, but the same rules apply.  This should be for specific items in limited quantities and for a limited time.  The shop may be in dire need of a bag of holding and willing to trade that super special sword for it, but only just this once and only because they haven’t been able to sell that sword anyway.  If the players come back tomorrow they may just discover that someone else sold them a bag of holding and they don’t really need theirs so badly so the trade deal is off.

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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 suspense.  When you know all the secrets it can be difficult to keep them hidden until just the right moment (or to encourage the players in just the right way to find them).

Here are some basics to keeping abreast of what is really going on at the table.

First, watch for moods.  If you have been playing with the same group for a while, then you will know that when Eddy is in a grumpy mood he will be thinking about smashing face a lot more than usual.  When Cindy is happy she gets creative and devious and may try to mess with the other players.  A general rule of thumb is that happier people do more while those who are feeling glum will do less.

Keep an eye on the time and the amount of caffeine consumed.  As players get tired their style of play generally changes.  If you have just found what you think is going to be a very tough fight but all of your party members are out of Mountain Dew and half asleep you may want to consider suggesting they tackle it another time.  A tactical error because someone is too tired to hold up their dice may not be a good idea, unless of course you are looking to sabotage the party, in which case this would be a good time to make your move.

Pay attention to sudden changes in behavior as well.  A player who is whispering to the guy next to him is up to something, but so is the guy who suddenly starts dancing on the tavern tables.  This could be a signal of a surprise attack or just that the player is bored.  Either way keep your eyes open and adjust your plans accordingly.

Learning to pass off a lie is extremely difficult, but perhaps the best tool is distraction.  Whether you are playing a devious NPC or just trying to keep a portion of the loot for yourself, getting the players to focus on something else is a good start.  Using out of game stuff like food, drink, their dice or what happened last week can all be useful.  Most of us can’t think about more than a few things at once and when we’re tired focusing on one thing can be a challenge.

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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 that “It is meant to aid in online pnp gaming, by making a safe storage place for everyone’s character sheets during and after play.”  If that sounds like something useful to you then go ahead and check out the online character database.

Please note that it isn’t the most glamorous looking piece of software ever invented.  There is a help button but it just brings up a shot of the character sheet instructions from the PHB.  Of course since all you are doing is filling in data from your character sheet I don’t see that anyone smart enough to read the PHB and the internet will need any help using the database.

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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 shoppers so of course they have stuff for video games, consoles, and all that other jazz, but they don’t just cram the crap down your throat either.  They have some pretty useful information with regards to what you are buying hence the wiki part of it.

They have buying guides for just about everything as well from games to controllers.  Like everything else online you have to be a bit careful and do some poking around to verify.

What caught my eye was the fact that it was so easy to find links to vintage D&D stuff that I really had a hard time finding elsewhere.  Without that I don’t know that I would have bothered to write anything at all.

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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 omen for death at every step and they want to go out confiscating every bundle of green cloth in the country.

Okay, maybe a bit of exaggeration, but not a whole lot.  Usually it is something more like the quality of a chair or the sturdiness of a table or the location of a fur rug.  The players expect that there is something special about it.  Why?  Because I’m the DM and I wouldn’t be saying anything if it weren’t important.

The lesson is that I should keep my mouth shut unless I want the players to interact with it.  If it isn’t something that I as a DM really want to deal with then I should probably skip it.  Players will ask all sorts of questions and try all sorts of things without being handed a bag full of dead ends.

On the reverse side you can always add your own false leads here by putting a different inflection on your voice and adding emphasis perhaps where you shouldn’t.  But I recommend that you do this only sparingly because frankly it can lead to frustrated (or worse, bored) players.

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