Week End Review - May 1st

Another week down the drain, and all i have to show for it is seven newly built servers, and some d&d news. This week was a weird week for me, for one there was constant fights and bickering with my wife over the H1N1 flu, see one of my buddy's a player to our d&d game just got back from a trip from Mexico. needless to say were not playing d&d at my place this week, were playing at his...
...i have to shower when i get back...(lets not talk about this any further)

Anyway to add to the weirdness this week, anyone who had a blog about d&d blogged about the free adventure giveaway from WotC, it was all over the internet news (well d&d related anyway).

check it out here

My biggest pet peeve of the week is the complaints about how there is no role playing in 4th edition. Newbie for DM poses the question, however i think my post sums it up. NewbieDM however does have a great tip that i may just have to steal for my next craft article. He show you can create your own tokens using a printer, glue, and some washers. thought i think i will use TokenTools

Speaking of mapping, Michael Shorten has a good article over at the examiner on maps and mapping tools for free, Stargazer blogs about how to create old-school maps in GIMP the downside is you need a forum account to download the needed files. Also Jonathan from The Core Mechanic lists six RPG map making solutions that pretty much cover everything you need.

There was a fair amount of DM tips this week that i found extremely useful. over at Slyflourish he has a collection of tweets, and one i really like is

"Good use for minions: Aid Another (PHB pg 287). Standard action: basic atk vs AC10; on hit, +2 to allies next attack vs. this target. #dnd"

The RPG Athenaeum talks about creating knowledge sheets, listing what players automatically know. i really like this idea, and think i will be using the journal function in the DDI:CC program.

Also dungeonmaster.com has a pretty sweet skill challenge example, i like it a lot

stick around, next week i will be posting an encounter around Monday.

Late Night Link

So by now most of you know that wizards is letting you download their first 4th edition published adventure the Keep on the Shadowfel, check it out.

[WotC]
This is the first published adventure using the 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons rules, suitable for entertaining your friends for hours with brave deeds and harrowing perils. You, the Dungeon Master (DM), and your friends can explore dungeons, banter with villains, and defeat vicious monsters with sword, spell, and prayer. Together, the player characters (PCs) can work to thwart the insidious plot of an unholy cult, winning great treasure and a heroic reputation.

Link here: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4dnd/dndtestdrive