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Archive for March, 2011
Opportunity Actions: Why Does 1st Level (Have To) Suck?
When starting a campaign, I’ve always noticed a tendency for players and DMs alike to inevitably ask, “What level are we starting at?”
How I Parcel Out Treasure
Since 4e came out, I’ve seen endless discussion on many of its aspects like monster damage and class powers, but it’s been awhile since I’ve heard much about treasure parcels. Here’s the brief summary for those of you who don’t normally GM (like me): The idea of parcels is that along with the standard 10 [...]
Do the Ends Justify the Means? 7 Moral Dilemma Seeds
Moral Dilemmas seem to be a hot topic lately. Last week I was formulating a plan to write this article and then, the very next day, Stephen Radney-MacFarland (SRM; neogrognard) posted a great article about moral issues on the Wizards of the Coast website. The next day my friend, NewbieDM, wrote a great article on [...]
Opportunity Actions: Put Down The Dice!
This past weekend, I ran Encounters at PAX East. I had the time of my life. It felt like DM Boot Camp, and, in a lot of ways, it truly was. I ran one group after another, watching different players create different group dynamics, frequently with the same group of characters. Seeing these different interpretations [...]
Planning Your Exit Strategy
Max level. Be it level 30, level 20, or level 10, depending on what edition or game you’re playing (though for my purposes, I’m going to assume you’re playing D&D4e). It has a ring to it, a sign that you’ve taken a campaign as far as it can go. In a way, you’ve won. To [...]
Party Crasher of the 3rd Kind
It’s weird hearing those you communicate with or even game with online hint about what they’re working on. I skipped all of 3.x edition, and the latter half of 2nd, so when I got back into the 4e branded saddle, I had missed out on open licenses, splat books, and 3rd party publishing. For the [...]
3 Ways To Make The End Of The Arc Awesome
On Friday night my face-to-face 4e D&D group met for the final session of the current campaign arc. This session is the culmination of 9 months of play for this small group and after this we are adding two new players (one brand new to D&D and one new to 4e). The group is in [...]
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