D&D Week End Review - May 8th

Well another week of D&D has gone buy and I realized that most people still do not know what kind of player i am.

I am a player who plays once a week, and once a month. I don't dump lots of money into the books because I'm 29 and a father of a two year old. In a few months, there will be a second kid.

I work from home as a IT outsourcing consultant in Brantford Ontario Canada. I have played with the same group of people once week for the last 10 years and is no way that sad. For some of us we are so busy with our lives that this is the only time we can really hang out. We are friends before we are d&d players.

Anyway thats enough about that, here is what was worth reading this week.

My Site
TMNT & Comic Book Day
Game Day Announcement
Star Trek Preview

Adventure Idea

Random plot hook of the day: An abandoned tower a day’s journey from town has started emmiting some arcane lights in the middle of the night. These lights can be seen for miles around, and since last week people have been mysteriously waking up in the middle of the night and walking toward the tower. The tower had an arcane lock protecting it when the town guards went to investigate, and they were too scared to break in. Adventurers are needed… help!

Me: I love it, i think its a great idea

Wizards
Wants people to fill out a survey

DM Tips
Slyflourish

Download glyphs and runes and sigils from the net as signatures for evil-doer letters and journals

ME: a better idea would be to use the symbols to create your own tiles.

Use large 1″ graph paper sheets to pre-draw your battle maps. Great for transportation and quick play on detailed maps.

ME: not exactly enviromentaly friendly, besides where do you get 1" graph paper big enough, it would waste too much time to tape a bunch together to get the size you need. I would rather spend that time on tiles.

Don’t have all your players? Run a one-shot adventure that shows some history or lore or off-screen action. D&D;’s show, don’t tell.

Me: In my experience making new characters takes forever. What i do recomend is just ignoring the fact that someone is missing.

Did a player’s character die or become incapacitated? Let the player play one of the monsters and take out their anger on the party.

Me: This is a bad idea, beacuse its obviously a bad idea. the player can cheat and let his team win, or his team can hold it against him.

Store Dungeon Tiles by set in 1 gallon zip-lock bags with the little plastic zippers in a cardboard “bankers” box from Staples.

Me: Well this sounds familar, oh yeah thats beacuse i did it before. Bankers boxes are a great idea if not expensive.

Build a castle based off of a real castle map
ME: i think its a solid idea, but find castles are to 'boring' for fantasy rpg

Adventure Prep: The City Adventure
ME: great tips for running an adventure in a city

5 Tips for Managing DM Prep Time | DnD Corner
ME: pretty solid, only thing i would add is make al istof names, and put a * next to them as you use em.

Skill Challenges
Questing GM; A Borneon Gamer: {Quest Log} Rewarding Success and Failures in Skill Challenges
ME: another great skill challenge blog

Running Memorable Skill Challenges (Part 2) — Dungeon's Master
ME: tips on skill challenges are always great

Other
RetroRoleplaying: The Blog: "Alignment Map" of Gaming Style
ME: Old school aligment map converted to game play types, funny but true

Creating character portraits with “Hero Machine” « www. Newbie DM .com
ME: Make your character portraitswith the new hero machine, apparently it has changed in the last 10 years

4E Dungeons and Dragons “Mark” Solution – Magnetic Markers from Alea Tools
ME: good review, makes me want to try these

Chicago Dungeons & Dragons Examiner: The horror and paranormal in D&D and RPGs
ME: worth a read, very good article

Losing My 4ginity | UncleBear
ME: decent review on a DM starting 4th edition, i can understand where he comes from

Until next time, keep your dice on the table.