A week of Challenging Encounters

Shadow of Orcus

My core group finished off the end of P2 last night, the book seemed like a waste of money. The players were able to use rituals and skip a lot of the encounters, and why shouldn't they be allowed to they are level 16.

In the end they had one big fight in the last room though. i added a extra bit of flair that really affected the encounter. The final encounter has a map provided by WotC, and there are four stones each of different colors. I decided to make these power stones that affected the entire area.

Yellow - All living creatures grant combat advantage
- requires 3x arcana checks dc30 {standard actions} to deactivate
- 2 success gives the disabling player a recharge of a arcane encounter power
- 3 success gives the disabling player a 'once this encounter re-cast an encounter arcane power you just cast'

Green - All living creatures take 5 necrotic damage at the start of their turn
{most players in my party have necro resist 10}
- requires 3x religion checks dc30 {standard action} to deactivate
- 1 success grants the disabling player 1 temp hp
- 2 success grants the disabling player 5 temp hp
- 3 success grants the disabling player 15 temp hp

Blue - All living creatures have -2 to attack rolls
- requires 3x thievery or dungeoneering checks dc25 {standard action} to deactivate
- 3 success grants the disabling player +2 to hit for the rest of the encounter
- 2 success grants the disabling player an additional minor action usable once during the encounter

Red - Living creatures cannot heal or spend hit points
- requires 3x heal checks dc25 {standard action} to deactivate
- 1 success grants the disabling player 5 hp
- 2 success grants the disabling player 5 hp
- 3 success grants the disabling player free use of second wind {does not count as using second wind}

This offered a huge challenge to the players, first they were just fighting the two main undead in the room, but round 2 the 1/2 the vampire spawns came in, round 3 1/2 the ghouls came in, round 4 the other 1/2 of vampire spawns, round 5 the other 1/2 of the ghoul, round 6 the lich came in and round 7 the BBEG came in. Sadly warlock+wizard+actionpoint the lich and BBEG died on round 8. combat was over on round 9.

But at least 3 of the players were locked up at any given time disabling the power nodes.

To end it off the little room ( a realm of its own ) collapse in on itself and spat the players across the cosmos. Should be a fun next session

D&D Encounters

All i got to say is wow, what a tough creature. I had the players begging for hit points each round. While the monster was in orb form it really did not move. So instead of wasting its move action i droped it for another minor action to do the minor attack two times a turn.

All players charged in, only to relize that on their turn they would be taking 5 damage. Mixing that with the blue flames from Wotc's twitter made this encounter challenging. However the players were greatly rewarded when they finished it and felt a sense of accomplishment.

Little do they know whats going on next week. buo hahahaha.. ...

D&D Rewards - an open letter to WotC

I love the encounters, the team at wotc did a great job. However i would like to see rewards for players who make it out more. Real tangible items for gaining renown. WotC obviously spent some money on pizza gift cards and digital cameras, why not use that towards miniatures instead.

Players earning 50 renown points gets a random rare player miniature.
Players earning 30 renown points gets a random uncommon player miniature.
Players earning 20 renown points gets a gift certificate for $2 off or something.

At the end of the day im sure the certificate will actually cost more then taking an existing product and giving it away.

Sometimes i grow so tired, but i know there's one single thing i've got to do
Tumblr On

Ok i've signed up for tumblr, i find it easier to micro blog from the ipod then have to power up my computer that i hate so much. You can find me at mleger.tumblr.com and i plan on posting lots of updates there, not just d&d ones.

Who Runs Barter Town

My group has actually requested a skill challenge to be able to get more money out of items, the feel that 20% of an item isn't enough. I personally don't see it being that unbalanced to allow more, considering the party is often using funds to cast rituals and buy non-essential items.

The following skill challenge i present is something that can be requested by the players, it offers no xp, simply the ability to gain a bit more gold from items. The key problem with this kind of skill challenge is that if they fail, the group can just sell the item at 20% or disenchant it to residium.

This is why i designed the failure to be that no one is willing to buy items from the party in town, the players need to be aware of the risk they take when they chose this skill challenge

Also i increased the complexity as the players reach new tiers, the reason for this is because being high level you are known more, merchants would need more convincing to give you more money for items when its wildly known that you have much more gold then they do.

Bartering for a better price

Perception & Insight (Easy DC)
Each skill confers a +2 bonus to the next roll, its used to determin how well the bartering is going. Each time they do this, the DM may tell the player how many success they have, and how many more they need.

Streetwise, Thievery, Arcana (Moderate DC)
Each skill can only be used for one success, they are used to show the value of the item, and to convince the seller that others might be willing to pay more.

Bluff & Intimidate (Hard DC)
Each skill can only be used for two success, if a bluff or intimidate roll is failed, it grants a -2 to all rolls made by the party until the skill challenge is over. Also once failed that skill cannot be used again this challenge

Diplomacy & History (Moderate DC)
The bulk of the skill challenge is used to convince the buyer that the item is worth more, and provide history of the item, and history of the sale. Diplomacy & history can be used for as many success as the group wishes.

Heroic: Complexity 2 (6 success before 3 failures)
Paragon: Complexity 3 (8 success before 4 failures)
Epic: Complexity 4 (10 success before 5 failures)

Success: The party can sell items in this town at 30% - 1% per failed roll. This lasts until the next time the party is in town.
Failure: The party can never again attempt to barter in this town as they have been labeled cheap. No one is willing to buy their items.

See DMG page 42 for Difficulty Class by Level (Remember to increase DCs by 5 for skill checks)


DM Tip o the day
In last nights game i had one party member decided to sleep away from the rest of the party, to spice things up and add some role playing opportunity i had some guards go to where he was sleeping and cause trouble. Instead of role playing he just said "i kill them" instead of me wasting time building an encounter on the spot that i really didn't plan for, i just said, OK -1 healing surge, this place is no longer safe. It allowed me to go back and focus on the game at hand, and no one felt left out. However in this case i did not reward experience points, i am thinking that i should at least offer some sort of reward since he paid a cost. (not that it matter in the long run)

Well that's it for today, until next time keep the dice on the table.

Skill Challenges you and your players will love

I think skill challenges are great, i love the idea behind them but i hate building them. The reason is the book tries hard to really explain what a skill challenge is and it over complicates things. I think that you can create a hole game night around skill challenges and the players will go home loving the game even more. Hopefully i can prove it with this example.

I'm a support tech by day, i believe in KISS. Keep It Simple Solution*. The simpler you keep a skill challenge the better it works.

Paul Smecker: Television. Television is the explanation for this - you see this in bad television. Little assault guys creeping through the vents, coming in through the ceiling - that James Bond shit never happens in real life! Professionals don't do that!

Think of your favorite TV show, your favorite episode even its all a skill challenge and yet you loved it.

Here is an example of an episode of Star Gate Season 3, Episode 8 – Aired: 8/13/1999 called Demons

SG-1 arrives at a medieval village and frees Mary, a young woman who has been left outside tied to a stake. Simon, friar of the village and Mary's friend, explains that Mary is a sacrifice for the demon that plagues their village. The Canon chose her when he mistook her illness for an evil possession.

When the demon arrives and finds no sacrifice, he promises to destroy the village the next day unless five humans are left for sacrifice. SG-1 recognizes this "demon" and plot to destroy it, but the Canon pronounces SG-1 evil and condemns them to be sacrificed.

SG-1 must convince Simon to go against everything he believes in order to save themselves and rid the village of its demon forever.

Now sure this episode is almost 10 years old now but you know its been around. You can have this simple adventure from a series of skill challenges, the key is create the challenge and let the players use the skills. What they do with the skill is more important then the skill itself, and that should be used to determine if the roll is success or nothing (or if the roll is a failure)

Skill Challenge DC's and Complexity
First let me say ignore the complexity listed in the DMG, ideally because this is an encounter (just not a combat encounter) you want to all players to each have a chance to roll at least twice so they feel they contributed. So number of successes is twice the party size failure is set by you, i would say a quarter of the party size to half.

ie: party 5, successes 10 before 3-5 failures

As for the Difficulty, you can use the charts listed in the DMG, i would say use the tougher values, your players may just surprise you.

Skill Challenge 1: Convince the people of the town that the woman is sick and not possessed
Success:
When the 'demon' shows up the town refuses to give in, thus the demo makes the threat
Failure:
The town is now plotting against the party, this could lead to a combat, or a kidnapping of the woman. the party can easily retrieve her
Skill Challenge 2: Cure the woman of the disease
Success:
The party successfully cures the woman of the disease
Failure:
Wile trying to cure the woman, the party contracts the disease itself
Skill Challenge 3: Convince Simon to help them against a demon
Success:
Simon gives the party a blessing that gives them +2 to hit and damage vs demons until the next extended rest.
Failure:
Simon warns the demon that the party is on the way to slay him in hopes to protect the town, the party grants combat advantage on its first round of combat or the party is surprised
Combat: Fight the Demon
a nice elite fight here would work well, one elite, toss in some minions and your good to go.

That's it your done, you have a interesting adventure that will last one night, and that your players will remember for a long time all because you focused on skill challenges/role playing over combat. You can build an entire campaign based on this idea, and based on TV shows you know and love.

What i hope you've learned about skill challenges

• Trust your instinct not the book
• Give all your players at least two chances to participate
• Use multiple skill challenges in the form of role playing
• End the night with a big bang

Extra tip: After each player makes their roll in the skill challenge, role play it out a bit
, give them a chance to turn a possible failure into a success or add flavor.

Well that's it for me, until next time keep your dice on the table

Skill Challenge: Pub Fight

Now a pub fight might not seem like a good idea, mainly because players can just attack and kill anything they want. Well the idea here isn't one of combat, it is one of a pub fight, no ones trying to kill one another its just a angry mob fight. Its a good generic skill challenge that can easily be tweaked to fit your needs.

Primary Skills:
Acrobatics, Athletics, Bluff, Diplomacy, Endurance, Intimidate, Attack

players will often come up with their own ideas, use your judgment and roll with it, each skill can be used uniquely, if the players to say how they are going to use the skill don't reward them a success

Secondary Skills:
Perception, Thievery

Each can be used to help out the party and give a +2 to next rolls. max once per round

Attack
Players can make a basic attack roll (no damage) a successful hit grants the group another success

Doing Nothing
Any player who doesn't do anything takes 5 damage, from inadvertently getting hit in the fight

Targets DC's
The pub fight can ideally only be run in the firs two tiers after that the players powers get to the point where there is no pub fight.

Levels 1-6 DC 18 Complexity 4 (10/5)
Levels 7-12 DC 25 Complexity 3 (8/4)
Levels 13-18 DC 27 Complexity 2 (6/3)

Success
Success means they got out of the fight without being damaged, or being considered responsible for the fight. And the DM can include any other reward that the story or game may require.

Failure
Another situation where it is up to the DM. The players can be thrown in jail for the night and unable to get a proper rest. lose a healing surge, owe the bar money for breaking things. Or if the story calls for it, be charged with murder.

This challenge is a quick one to run off, and can works when its tailored for your game.

Until next time, keep your dice on the table

D&D Week End Review - May 15th

Well this week i got to have short breaks and venture into the d&d world for just a bit. During the week i received my world wide d&d game day kit which was pretty exciting. We are going to be playing at alternate icons here in Brantford Ontario next Saturday. If you around the area come on down and join the fun.

I also managed to get some time to build out the next two encounter for my group on Sunday. It should be fun some interesting encounters, one based in a mountainous area, and one in a semi open clearing each with its own tactics. I'll share them for the next few encounters.

My Site
Shadow of Orcus, Chapter 10, session2
ME: This was a fun night, but kind of dragged on, we lost track of time, but everyone had fun.

Encounter, Undead Trolls
ME: This is an encounter i build for my players, they really enjoyed it the map is based off of WotC and all rights are reserved to them.

Unboxing the world wide d&d game day material
ME: crappy pictures and not much text but i do give some idea.

Adventure Ideas

A Debt Which None Dares to Collect | GamesTopica.Net - Topics in Game Creation
ME: GamesTopica has released a wonderful little idea here, i seriously think you can get a 1-2 part adventure off in this, or easily turn it into a dungeon crawl. If your building an adventure off of this, please let me know i would be interested in seeing it. It also gave me the idea for a short campaign that is based on characters needing to take a loan to become adventures in the first place.

Wizards

Most likely one of the biggest thing talked about from wizards this week was the release of the monk play test class. Another item of noteworthiness is the iphone wallpapers. i myself do not own one, i think they are pointless. (that's just the excuse i use because i can't justify the cost here in Canada) However the iphone wallpapers still worked on my nokia 8086 poc.

Next week, i am looking forward to the world wide d&d game day [#dndgd on twitter], and of course the MM2. If you noticed on the 22nd they are releasing a play test of MM3. Is it just me or do you think they should wait a bit.

DM Tips

How to handle airborne minis on the battlemat | Campaign Mastery
ME: must read DM tips on having elevated combat, i myself like using the d6 method to show how many squares up a mini is.

Icosahedrophilia » Laying (terrain) tiles: storage solutions
ME: If your like me and enjoy collecting the WotC tiles, then this is a good read for some storage tip. Next week i hope to offer a hobo solution.

Icosahedrophilia » Nanotechnology: storing D&D Miniatures
ME: Also from icoahedrophilia, its a post on storage D&D miniatures. He offers a good solution for medium or smaller creatures beacuse you can just get those containers at the dollar store, but larger miniatures are a bit more tricky to store.

Skill Challenges

Skill Challenge: Playing With Fire — Dungeon's Master
ME: DungeonsMaster has done it again, he continues to release excellent skill challenges that every DM should read. The more skill challenges you do the better you get at them.

Other

Monster Manual 2 - In Depth #1 | Critical Hits
ME: Critical Hits offers a review of some of the critters from MM2, i think these are the ones that just was all over the internet the last two weeks.

Points of Light: Monk Playtest
ME: Points of Light has a review on the monk class already, talk about getting some game time in.

RPG dumping ground: The Lucky Penny

ME: what a great idea for a magic item, i think i will use something like this. maybe a encounter power of flip the coin, heads nothing, tails you get a +2 bonus to your next skill challenge

Hello, My Name is Barbie: Girls are the Natural-Born Gamers « Dice Monkey
ME: Being a father of a two and a half year old daughter, i really enjoyed reading this post. I want my kid to enjoy the same kind of fun i had in d&d, but i can't be upset if she chose not to, its her choice. That being said i think we won't refer to Sunday night's as guys nights anymore, instead game night works better.

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.