Delve Night is Back, & Undermountain

It seems im the only person that is excited about this. But the delve nights they were doing a few months ago are going to be comming back. I saw a post today about it an got to chat with Wolfstar yesterday on the d&d temp chat that is up.

Here is what WotC has to say about it

We are committed to testing out new programs we wish to launch before wide release. Our Delve Night re-launch was tested and provide us valuable feedback, resulting in our moving in a new direction with future programs. Two such programs include:

LFR Excursions: The first new program tested in September will be LFR Excursions, a public-play only offering for Living Forgotten Realms. Essentially, this brings the mini-campaign idea in a kit, with poster maps, printed adventures, and other materials the DM needs to run the year-long campaign. The first excursion will be set in the ever-popular Undermountain.

Lair Assault: The next new program tested later this year will have a team of characters pitted against the biggest, baddest encounters possible. Lair Assault will be both compatible with LFR as well as playable outside of that campaign.

Im estatic, for one see the ever popular UNDERMOUNTAIN. I grew up on undermountain

. we once went 6 years without playing, played 1 night and found one of the massive retarted treasure hordes and retired. Was a blast.

I love the idea behind poster maps, and other printed materials. It realy gets people into the system. Word on the web was that its still comming out in beta first, i would love to be able to run those thats for sure.

Just another manic monday

Ok GenCon is finaly over, from the looks of things those who went had lots of fun. Monday brings in some news for a few things that i wanted to take a minute and cover.

1) Contest: Win DM's Tracker for the iPhone

Friday i started a contest where you can win the iPhone App "DM's Tracker", however it has not gotten a lot of views due to everything going on at GenCon. Everyone will have until midnight tonight eastern to post a DM tip for a chance to win.

Original Post Here: http://blog.mikeleger.ca/2009/08/contest-win-dms-tracker-for-iphone.html

2) Livin Dark Sun?

Chris Tulach posted the RPGA Rport for Dragon 378 today and he informs us to expect to see support from organized play as they get closer to the setting release. Does this mean a campaign based game day for next year? or does this mean a new living realm? Its hard to say but if i had to guess then my money is on delves, we know WotC canceled them saying they are planning something new for them. What if the delves are returning as campaign specific challenges.

3) More focus on Dungon Master's Guide 2

There seems to be more focuse on DMG2 over at wizards, again in Chris Tulach's post he has the information about game day, looks to be to be the same info on dndgameday.com but they do have a free Exceprt on the first chapter of DMG2 as well. The article contains some solid information for new DM's and stuff thats good to review for the veterans out there.

Well thats it for today, until next time keep your dice on the table.

D&D Monster Builder Beta Launch

Hi everybody, as im sure im not the first or the last to mention but wizards released the monster builder today.

Straight outa WotC

A Beta version of the D&D Monster Builder is now available for download to D&D Insider subscribers! A godsend for both beginning and experienced Dungeon Masters, this online tool lets you build and print your very own D&D monsters.

URL: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4news/20090730

@AsmodeusLore: THE MONSTER BUILDER IS UP! #dnd http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/insider/monsterbuilder

.Well i've gotten it downloaded, and so far its fun and easy to use. My only thing so far is i wish i could print multiple monsters per page, and break my pages in columns.

Good stuff WotC, love it.

Meet the Challenge July 2009

Some of you may know that WotC decided to cancel the monthly Dungeon Delve program, and may know that this saddens me. For me it was a chance to meet some people in my area that gamed and introduce them to 4e, it was a chance for me to have that one extra day playing d&d. Those of you out there who are parents and work all the time understand how it can be. I play once a week and that's enough for may family. Having the once a month extra game was something we all could slide by the wife.

With all that being said i am introducing Meet the Challenge, a monthly adventure created by yours truly that is up there for everyone to download. The purpose is for your group to try and go through the adventure in one night, and for you to organize your own event at your local gaming store. I designed the adventure for 5th level using mostly stuff from just the players handbook 1 and monster manual 1 for the purpose of new players. The adventure is great for regular players to try something new, and great for new players to be introduced into the game.

Meet The Challenge! Taken - July 09
This adventure is designed for 4-6 players of 5th level. It is ideal for new players
beginning the game. This adventure takes approximately 4-5 hours to play. (Setup + 1 hour
per encounter) If things start go slow down, feel free to give players a hidden +5 until the
end of the encounter.

Background
This adventure takes place in any world you want and can easily be adapted. While
traveling the party decides to stop for the night since according to their map they are
coming up to a small town. Upon arrival they see Orcs, Goblins, and Gnolls attacking the
town’s people. It turns out the group of goblins are attacking to capture humans for slaves,
the party fines out that some women and children were taken into the woods just before
they arrived.

Each encounter I've listed different monster options based on the number of people in the party, and listed what page you can find the monster on. Because each party size is a little different DM's should use their judgment when looking at the encounter map.

The adventure uses tiles from many different sets, i recommend reading through it in advance.

So go ahead and download this adventure and i 'think' you can even organize it through WPN as a WPN public event at your local game store. Remember these sorts of events help support your local game store in getting more and better products for you.

Please share your experiences with me by mailing Mike@Mikeleger.ca RE:Meet the Challenge

Ive also included some characters for you they are now hosted on iplay4e.com

Download Adventure
Dragonborn Warlord Raiann
Elf Ranger Mialee
Human Paladin Mikal
Dwarf Fighter Bardryn
Hafling Rogue Errich
Tiefling Warlock Gladness
Eladrin Wizard Quarion
Half Elf Cleric Aelar

Enjoy the adventure, reviews and feedback appreciated until next time keep your dice on the table.

A solution to illegal downloads for WotC to consider

Recently it was announced that WotC is filing charges against some people for putting the phb2 up on the internet, and the #dnd twitter group of course has been all over it and the results are mixed.

I would like to offer up a solution that takes more than 140 characters that ideally should make everyone happy.

DDI is the solution to everything, people have commented how 4e has been very video game ish, including how DDI operates, why not use this to your advantage.

Each book, real or PDF comes with a unique serial number that you register with your DDI account. In the case of PDF the serial number is embedded in the PDF in multiple locations so that if put on the internet it can be linked back to a user.

DDI accounts at that point should be banned if cough passing info online, or rewarded for buying things. Why not give DDI out for free if i am already buying at least two products a month and registering them with you.

Also if I register a real book, give me the option to buy the PDF version with a discount.

This won't stop people from uploading their own PDF's and the pirating version, but it will create a core alternative that will keep people away.

Phonograph cylinder was supposed to kill the music industry
Magnetic tape was supposed to kill the music industry
MP3's were supposed to kill the music industry
Yet the industry continues to grow after each new technology. Same thing with movies, and now you can buy movies on iTunes.

Companies willing to take that next step and advance their print to digital print will be the ones that continue to make money from it.

This is just my idea, but hopefully it gets someones attention and they go hey, that makes sense.

Until next time, keep your dice on the table, and your dirty cheato infested fingers out of my books.

D&D Week End Review - June 13th

You may or may not have noticed but last week i did not do a week end review, that is mainly because two weeks ago i was sick and busy with work. So links and notes you see below may be up to two weeks old. Next week i'll be in Beverly Hills California for work so will have to play blog posts by ear. I have ideas for posts such as skill challenges, weight loss, more encounters, notes on how we roleplay in real life so there is no shortage of blogs, just time.

My Site

• Skill Challenges you and your players will love
• Why Min/Maxing actually works
• Deadliest Warrior Paragon Path: Shaolin
• Skill Challenge: Pub Fight
• Game Anouncement for June 2009
• Encounter: City a Flame

DM Tips
Build Worlds, Not Stories
ME: The number one place on the internet to get DM tips in my opinion is Mike Shea's SlyFlourish website
Life During Wartime, Part 2 Skill Challenges on the Battlefield
ME: DCI Required: Pretty cool skill challenge, i think i'll use it.
Nanotechnology: distinguishing identical miniatures
ME: Neat idea of repaiting multiple miniatures to look diffrent
Advice on Sandbox Play
ME: A good read, i wish i could sandbox play
Encounter Idea: The Slow God
ME: Though the idea is not new, i like the example Trask gives.
Fire tokens « www. Newbie DM .com
ME: more DM Tools, always great

For Players
Creating a Quick Character Background
DM: i think its good for players to have background, but some players feel thats what the game is there to do.
Big Bad Weapons
ME: A good look of why to chose which weapon for the damage side of things
Day Jobs for Player Characters
ME: I disagree with this, the link i like about 4e from 3.5 is that you no longer have crafts, the player characters are heroes again, they want something done they can find someone to do it for them your day job is being a hero.

News/Reviews

Save Chill
ME: An excellent game that needs your help
GeekDad Parents, Kids and the Stuff We Obsess About D&D Dungeon Tiles Show You the Battle
ME: Love GeekDad articles, good post, lots of truth in there
Excerpts: DU4 Arcane Towers
ME: a set so good and cool, im going to have to get two.
The Tome Ep 106: 4e One Year Later
ME: Decent PodCast in general, good episode covering lots of stuff in the last year of d&d
DDO adds free-to-play with Eberron Unlimited [Updated]
ME: Makes sence, i might just get back into it
ArtOrder: D&D® is looking for some really solid B&W artists - line art only - no grayscale. Send samples to artdrop@wizards.com #DnD
Sham's Grog 'n Blog: ORIGINS of a HOBBY
ME: considering last saturday marks 1 year of 4e, i see it only fair to take a look at the gaming history

Other
Dragon & Dungeon Magazines on PDF: The worst of both worlds?
ME: I feel WotC is on the right track but can do more
Why I Love Dungeons & Dragons
ME: good video, good article
The demographics of 4th. Ed.
ME: A post about having time to play d&d 4e
11 Homebrew Dungeon Master Screens
ME: considering i just bought my first dm screen, this is a nice review
Race, Racism and Racialism in RPGs: A Question « tenletter
ME: a post about racisim in d&d. anyone else remember when you were just all in a dungeon trying to get through the next encounter

Well thats it for me this week, until next time keep your dice on the table.

Game Anouncement for June 2009

Well its June 2009 already, wow 1 year of 4e is already gone by and were already half way through 2009 time flies.

June 7th, 21st, 28th

I will be running my Shadows of Orcus game on these nights from 6pm to 10pm est. This is a private closed game from my house, but stay tuned and follow us for the aftermath blog and read the adventures of my 11th level party as they continue to battle cults of Orcus to stop him from returning to the world.

June 20th - Delve Night

We know Wizards is putting a end to the Delve Night however we still have two adventures left before i start something new. This month join us at Alternate Icons in Brantford, Ontario from Noon to 6pm EST for this level 25 game

Through your many adventures you have served many powerful and exotic patrons, but none have been quite like the being beseeching you now. A massive couatl one of the mysterious plumed serpents of the Astral Sea named Corithasat has asked you to brave the shifting landscape of the Elemental Chaos; worse yet, a section that hangs the lip of the Abyss to save an angel of Ioun from a fate worse than death.

View Larger Map

June 15th to June 18th - Los Angeles California
I'm traveling to LA for work reasons, and will have most nights free, if your in the area then please send me a mail if your interested in playing some d&d games. Also this week i am going to try to setup a online game with newbiedm using Maptools and talking about our experience using the software. Contact me on twitter for both at mleger.

That's it for this month, next month we can expect to see another great delve from Wizards of the Coast.

Until next time keep your dice on the table

D&D Week End Review - May 30th

This week has been rather fun, i had a weekend full of d&d with the game day and my normal Sunday night game. I had a chance to introduce some 3.5 players to 4e and they rather liked it. I also was accepted to the rpgbloggers network, pretty happy about that considering i noticed three times the readers since then.

What I'm Looking Forward to in June from WotC
June 8th - Free: Excerpt: City of the Dead
ME: I'm a big fan of Waterdeep and ran a few adventures in City of the dead in the past.
June 10th - DUN: Ruling Skill Challenges
ME: Skill challenge articles are starting to become a dime a dozen, but they need to be because its one of the harder things to do.
June 12th - DRA: Ecology of…Rust Monster
ME: About a month to late, but yeah anything Rust Monster is FTW
June 19th - Free: Excerpt: Divine Power
ME: Next book coming out, interesting to see whats in it
June 20th - Delve Night [I will be running this again at Alternate Icons, Brantford, On]
June 22nd - DRA: Playtest: MM3
ME: WotC, i think you should give a bit more time before announcing this stuff, i mean we know, we get the idea.
June 22nd - Free: Excerpt: Divine Power
ME: Yet more free excepts, why do i pay for DDI again. oh yeah character builder.

My Site
Action Point and Magic Item Use Cards
ME: This is an idea i had on twitter but needed more room to fully explain it and flush it out.

Deadliest Warrior Paragon Path: Spirit of Wallace
ME: Decided last week that i would start doing this, figured Wallace was a good start.

The level 0 Delve, Role playing Introductions
ME: Again another article that spawned from a twitter conversation. I used to play a few level 0 games back in the day, it was great to build out back story.

Encounter: A Quick One
ME: I challenge groups to try and beat this encounter in under 4 rounds, my group did this encounter at level 10

SoO Game Night 10.4
ME: Game log from our standard Sunday night campaign that I've been running since the start of 4th edition.

Adventure Ideas
The Dungeon Reality Show, Part 1: The Implied Setting
ME: I'm sold, this sounds like a great delve opportunity for sure.

DM Tips
Maiden’s Head Games Preperations for Game Day
ME: using dropbox is a great tool, there are other tools online. maybe next week i'll make a post on a neat setup

Top 9 Dungeon Master Screen Hacks | Campaign Mastery
ME: there are a lot of realy great ideas here, almost makes me want to use a DM screen again.

SlyFlourish: #dnd tip: Keep Dungeon Tiles separated by set to make it easy to find the pieces you need.

ME: Get large freezer bags, and use a maker to identify the what set.

mleger: #dnd tip: make minions last longer by making the die only on successfull hit, not automatic damage.
ME: nothing to say this is my post

SlyFlourish: #dnd tip: bring out minions in waves of four to reduce the effectiveness of blasts. The cleric's Solar Wrath is devastating to minions.
ME: Ive done this once, great idea. every other round is good too

SlyFlourish: #dnd tip: Combat is a poor failure condition for a skill challenge. It can add an extra hour to your normal game. Take surges instead.
ME: Excellent tip as always. I recommend building out a flowchart to see what happens.

gregbilsland: #dnd DM tip: Poll your players and find out where in the planes they're interested in going. It can help guide your campaign's direction.
ME: Depends on the players, some might like this idea, others want it to be a surprise

SlyFlourish: #dnd tip: Be creative and run a battle or two without maps or minis for a random encounter or two.
ME: I think when dealing with 4e this would be hard to do, it works if the party is separated in town, and the dwarf picks a fight in a bar (but when is that ever going to happen)

SlyFlourish: #dnd tip: Keep a card for each of your players with their playstyle, goals, and your plans to keep them engaged.
ME: Have players hand in their stat card from DDI Character Builder, and put info on back.

SlyFlourish: #dnd tip: It's hard to keep a villain reoccurring. Don't overuse one way. Have them become an ally, resurrect, flee, or fight from shadows
ME: Ive found myself overusing a villain, and i think the PCs are a bit tired of it. going to offer a 2 level break from everything i think.

SlyFlourish: #dnd tip: Sudoku puzzles with runes or sigils instead of numbers can make for fun arcanic puzzles provided you have a player good at sudoku.
ME: Brilliant idea, wonder how fast players will go, can't i figure it out with a skill challenge on me though.

Skill Challenges

Suprisingly this week i did not come across any skill challenge articles that just made me say wow. I might have missed some got a suggestion?

News/Reviews

This month we saw the MM2 came out, and there are a few sites out there with reviews all worth a read.

D&D Core Book Sequels Hold Awesome Stuff, Not Leftovers | GeekDad | Wired.com
ME: big fan of geekdad, this review also talks about phb2

StupidRanger.com: Monster Manual 2!

REVIEW - Monster Manual 2 | The Core Mechanic

Points of Light: Review: Monster Manual 2

Review: Monster Manual 2 : :

Other

Deadliest Monsters, Part I: Ancient Red Dragon vs Ancient Gold Dragon | Dungeon Mastering - Dungeons
ME: janna over at dungeonmastering.com has started a new article based on deadliest warriors , monster vs monster. worth a read as i too love the show.

100 Great Things About Dungeons and Dragons — Dungeon's Master
ME: congrats to Ameron, i think hes from Toronto, Props to fellow Canadien

The Other Side blog: Chill 3.0
ME: love chill and its high mortality rate

Creative Cantrips: Lots of Clever Uses for Prestidigitation | Dungeon Mastering
ME: great tip all players should read. i tink new school players should play a level 0 game and use creative thinking to solve the problem

Icosahedrophilia » Who wants some action point tokens?
ME: He is holding a raffle for some tokens, but you can use the DDI program to create your own action point tokens, and with a little bit of graphic editing, you can make your own magic item tokens as well.

Well that is it for this weeks news in the world of Dungeons and Dragons, hope you enjoy the articles and were able to find something useful here.

Until next time keep your dice on the table
Game On!