Level 1 Dungeon Master

Not really sure what to think here, because I’m sort of new anyway; I was introduced to 4e rules, understand them pretty well and had fun with the campaign my friend DMed for us. I signed up for notifications on playtesting and such anyway because I’m curious.

I’m very sorry to my followers for the lack of posts, first semester ended so there’s been not much gaming going on over the break. My DM ended our first campaign during finals week though.

• We successfully return the scepter to the guy we work for, so he gets to be Duke.
• A giant freaking demon crashes the coronation ceremony. The NPC whose been following us around tells us to keep it distracted while he does something.
• Demon kills the arch bishop, who gives us his staff before he dies and says to use it. Anna takes it, grows wings, and flies around harassing him with it. 
• The cleric deals out more damage than anybody, as usual.
• The bard plays a mandolin until a baby dragon shows up, and the demon promptly scares it away :(
• Our favorite NPC finishes what he was doing, soul-traps the demon, and then we have to kill him :(
• For their part in making sure the country is still standing, the party gets a boon from the new Duke. Anna asks for a land to build a safe house for runaways. 

Our DM is planning a new campaign for next semester set 60-70 years into the future. He’s trying to work guns into it somehow because the world is starting to become more industrial. My new character’s going to be a druid so I guess it kind of sucks to be her :P

dndwivesoa:

DnDWoA Presents: A very DnD Christmas

Get ready everyone! Christmas is coming soon and much as I am against Christmas before thanksgiving when it comes to stuff you have to make yourself you need time to do it. Everyone good with that? Ok moving on.

This Christmas we invite you to join your husband in his geekyness and add a little Dungeons and Dragons to your Christmas. A Very DnD Christmas will be a series of Christmas themed DnD DiYs  we will be running from now through December and it will include  gift ideas, diy decorations and a few recipes from the ladies of the DnD Wives of America to you.

Part 1 - Papercraft Dice ornaments/garland

Firsts things first, You will need-

• different die templates found here, I printed mine on vellum paper so it would last a little longer
• scissors
• pen/pencil
• colored card stock or scrapbook paper
• sharpie
• double sided tape or glue dots
• 20 gauge wire

1. cut out your template and trace onto the backside of your paper and carefully cut it out. You may want to draw in the lines where you’ll be folding the paper to make it a touch easier.
2. using the ruler fold the paper along each line and along the edges where the tabs are, remember to keep the paper inside side up and fold the tabs and sides up.
3. place double sided tape or glue dots on the tabs, fold the die shape together  so the tabs end up inside the shape.
4. take a sharpie and write the numbers in, it helps to have an actual die on hand too.
5. take a 2-3in length of the wire and coil the bottom around your pen and make a small loop at the top, spin it into one of the gaps in the corner of the die shape so that the loop is still sticking out.
6. attach a ornament hook to hang on your tree or  make a bunch and string them along fish line to make a garland.

Enjoy!

-Anahi

to submit your DnD Christmas ideas send us an email at DnDWivesoA@yahoo.com

Cool stuff. Now I want to sneak a D20 into the family Christmas party this year.

On being the traitor 

So I’ve had one friend express interest in playing DND the last time we played Shadows over Camelot. Between our group of friends we’d have enough people for a campaign, but only if we can get them interested. Does anyone have any good ideas/suggestions/methods for introducing new people to the game?

Things I was thinking of:

• Tone down the rules a bit, or as my current DM puts it, be a ‘lasseiz-faire DM’
• Pre-gen characters to make it a bit easier to jump into. 
• Plan a short campaign so there’s no huge time commitment (we’re all seniors with varying workloads)
• Print out commonly used things, like rolling checks and such, on cards for reference.

If anyone has a different approach, I’d be happy to hear them.

• There’s a general plot in mind but a majority of the interactions are improvised.
• Seriously, improvise. (Or in my case get good at improvising :P )
• Make up cool, not game-breaking items. Not in the PHB? Screw it! They’re fun.
• Encourage everyone to act in character. Admittedly a problem with me because I’m a shy DM and my previous players were roleplayed minimally. 

With the Greed demon no longer a problem (for now), the party finds a plain door with no obvious handles on it. Everyone begins rolling dungeoneering checks, except Anna who points the unlocking wand and asks the door to please open. It obliges, and they file in. The hall leads to a room where a thin bridge over still water leads to a small island with a pedestal, the scepter mounted on top. A man in armor is staring at it, and he wears the crest of the general, one of the men competing for the throne.

Therian rolls past the man and grabs the scepter. There’s a scuffle between the stronger members of the party as they try to keep him from crossing the bridge to get the scepter back. Anna inspects the water; it looks normal, but to be sure she throws a twig in. Lavi does a good job of holding back the armored man but after a minute the room starts to shake, and massive roots burst through the wall. Truffles is panicked, half the party bolts. The man sighs and sits down, resigned to die. Lavi and Anna try to convince him not to do this, but he won’t listen and they are forced to run before they get crushed. Jeshi the bard plays a funeral tune.

Fed up with drows, demons and mines in general, they leave with the staff and are stopped outside by an angry mob. A ranger claims that his brother was murdered by a zombie boar raised by a goliath he described to be Omnath. Some of us try to defend him but the brother won’t change his stance, he must pay a blood debt or they attack. So he does, and chops the dead boar to pieces. 

Therian must now go on a personal trial, which he can select two people to accompany him. He asks Anna and Omnath, who agree. What happened next was pretty much the most awesome dream sequence ever.

We were tasked with protecting Therian get through a dream town. Omnath tore shit up, hits three or four in a row with his axe, and is in general a dream-person killing machine. Anna used a ritual that had a chance of either turning her into a red bull or giving her wings (I see what my DM did there). He rolled, she got wings, and proceeded to bluff that she was a holy seraphim and rain hellfire on the ‘unbelievers.’ Therian successfully completes his quest and we wake up in the real world with more respect for each other.

The rest of our party had been partying with the dwarves, who returned alive, and drinking the innkeeper out of stock. The ship captain returned to pick us up in the morning and we left off there :(

IT WAS AWESOME. This might get long. Also I finally remember all the characters’ names (sometimes we just refer to each other)

So we woke up at the seedy inn on the island we were dumped at and continued to poke around before we even attempted to enter the mine in search of the scepter we need. The goliath Omnath goes off by himself into the forest and practices raising dead boars, the rest of us go to see the dwarf lord and ask what his plans on storming a mountain full of drow. We decide his plan is kind of suicidal, the dwarf asks for Moradin’s blessing in exchange for abstaining from alcohol, and Anna seeks peace with her goddess before going into the mines. 

The first issue is the “Great One,” a humanoid who mind-controls people to dig the mines for him. It turns out he’s epileptic when the cleric uses Burning Pillar of Light on him and pretty much incapacitates him. They stab him to death, we free the mind-controlled people, and go deeper into the mines. Anna summons a badger to sniff out bad things. She names him Truffles.

The party steps into one room and everyone but Anna and the rogue Therian. They cut themselves down to varying degrees of grace and we get into a fight with drow in which the dwarf Belgram is driven into a rage and Anna feeds Truffles a turnip, which turns him into a 5 foot battle-badger. The goliath warden Lavi turns into a willow, Omnath deals massive amounts of damage and we win. Go us. Anna loots the enemy warlock and finds a book and two wands, one that casts fireball and the other that unlocks a specific door. Therian and Belgram take two signet rings. They don’t get to keep them for long because they are used to unlock a door that is suspected to lead into the vault.

The room is dark with two glowing red eyes. The demon of Greed is pissed, does not want to give up the scepter, and tries to tempt Belgram and Omnath. All hell breaks loose when Lavi throws Therian at its face and he stabs it. All of us run in to help and a battle takes place in this huge room full of riches, which the dwarf spends half the time swimming in because he failed his will saves. Anna drinks a potion of deception, making her appear as a solid gold statue of an elf and Greed chases her around. She manages to teleport from its grip at least once and gives the party a chance to strike it. It dies, collapsing a wall on top of its body, though we are warned that the demon is not permanently dead. 

About D&D (part 1)

I’m not sure if it’s called powergaming or minmaxing or whatever because I’m unfamiliar with the terminology, but when people are more into what the numbers on their page are than just playing.