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Speeding up D&D 4E

Much digital ink has been spilled on the topic of speeding up combat in Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition. I think at this point we can all at least agree that combat can grow a bit sluggish at times. The interesting thing is, and it’s something that some people have touched upon at various points in the 4E lifecycle already, that there seems to be a paradigm shift away from the simple “4E is slow because of combat”, and I think that’s a very good thing.

The “new” (and it’s not new, just only discussed by a select few in the past) idea is that the problem lies more in adventure design than combat sluggishness. @glimmthegnome on Twitter planted the seed of this idea for me a couple of weeks ago, @gamefiend pushed it along, and @neogrognard put it into words in his Save My Game column on the Wizards website last week.

Opportunity Actions: Dwarves of Shallowgorge – Campaign Builder

Deciding that it’s never too soon to turn a compelling story into a game, I’m moving forward with a campaign model involving miners trapped in a collapse. I’m going to walk through my process, detailing elements that inspire me. My next post about this will be an actual campaign outline going from start to finish.

Infernal Save Points

In Alio’s rant yesterday about Dante’s Inferno, he brought up the ever-interesting computer RPG topic of save points. If you’re as old as me, you may have computer game memories where the party gets slaughtered, having to restart at the last save point, and then slogging through the same four hours of dungeon to get [...]

Evolution of an Executioner – Class Design & Playtesting

- Core vs Essentials Assassin Builds Sometimes it’s interesting to see the changes that happen in the course of the development of a class. WotC has given players of 4e the chance to see several classes before being finalized, but none has changed more than the Executioner/Essentials build of the Assassin. – - I’ve played [...]

Opportunity Actions: A Thief is Vindicated

Lately, I’ve been noticing a trend in D&D/Role-Playing related materials, be they blogs, podcasts, and similar things. That trend is theft. Please don’t mistake me here. I’m not accusing anyone of plagiarism. It’s not that kind of theft. I mean theft in the sense that any story idea is available, and there’s no reason not [...]

My Game is in Trouble – Help Me Out!

A reader responded to a post I made yesterday with a “Help My Game” plea.  I deemed this topic and the example posed good enough for its own post.  Without further ado, here is Kaliam’s original comment, followed by my reply: I need help please! I’m running a campaign of a game I made with [...]

Opportunity Actions: Hybridizing Gameplay

It’s tough. People’s schedules just don’t always line up the way we’d like them to. People move. People get married, have kids, and other things that make getting together less and less possible. So, what do you do? Many groups call it quits after they find they can’t get together once every week, month, or [...]