We Could Use Some Activity Around Here...

For my part, I post this article about "The Decamer Campaign" from Gnome Stew. Basically, it's a GM thought experiment where you take the 10 monsters you think are stupidest and try to construct a campaign out of them. What he comes up with is funny and interesting. I doubt any of us are looking to start up any new campaigns, but if anybody has lists of 10 stupidest monsters, I'd love to hear 'em.

Also, more to the point: If anybody knows a GM that they think would like to post/read on the blog, I think we might want to open this thing up a bit and get more folks posting/discussing.

Microsoft Surface as a gaming table

I just saw this video this morning and have some mixed feelings about it.

First off, I doubt Surface will be in the average consumer price range. Second, I get the impression that the technology itself is physically large and heavy. While I think something like this is surely on the way, I think it will be much more likely to be tablets/palmtops and or projectors. That being said, the animated dire wolf was awesome. I totally thought that it was one step closer to the 3d chess game we saw in Episode 4.

Regardless of all my grumpy criticisms, I love that we really are sitting on the cusp of future gaming world. Looking at the comments in this Gnome Stew article I can see that not everybody is fond of technology in their game space. In fact, some of the comments seemed down right Ludditian. I tend to run a tech tool heavy game because the fun of play isn't about doing math or tweaking stats, but in narration and story. The moment I have to look up a rule or pull out a calculator I suddenly get drawn out of the game. So the more of that I can front load and have ready to go, the more enjoyment I get from the game.

Of course this has bit us once or twice in terms of software bugs or typos, but that weighed against bogging down in the 4e rule set, we'll continue to risk it.

How tech heavy are your games? Does everybody at the table have a laptop or palmtop to run their characters/encounters? Would you use this Surface product if it was affordable or would you miss minis?

Savage Encounters "spoilers"

Not sure I buy any of this. But if this really is indicative of the miniature selection of the set, I'm not too surprised if WotC has pulled it.

Alleged Savage Encounters images

Update: as of (at least) 10 PM Sunday, it's back on the Wizards product catalog

Wizards "Save My Game" Call-In

Today through Sunday, you can call Wizards and talk to 4E designers and DMs about your questions. 4 - 8 PM Central each day. I intend to call and ask about those pesky shaman spirit companions.

Adventure Log

I've been toying with this idea for a while, and I decided to go ahead and make one for the campaign I'm currently running.

Inspired by the DMG2 idea of Achievements (and I know that probably makes all those "D&D 4th Edition is just a pen-and-paper MMORPG" folks really feel like they were right), I created an adventure log for my current group, The Wandering Wolves.

The notion behind it is to give it to one of the players, who will then track a variety of things, including crits, natural ones, failed saves, etc. by making hash marks next to the characters' names. In addition, there's a big space to record treasure received, notable quotes and unusual events of the night.

The top (larger) boxes are for remembering events, and that will be translated into blog adventure summaries. The others are just kind of for fun, although I have created a series of "Achievements" that are "unlocked" by each player when they get them. I figure with each achievement, I'll give out a bonus die, kind of like I've been doing for role-playing bonuses.

These are all very much in playtest mode, and I haven't even run it by the players yet. If everybody in the group hates the idea, we won't do it and I've wasted two hours making a document in Photoshop. :)

Does anybody (Ben, Kevin?) know how to shrink a PSD file down to a more manageable PDF? I saved it as a PDF, but it was still 13 MB, and I'm sure there are some options in Photoshop when saving to make it a more manageable size. It's not a *huge* deal, as it's very much for use with our group and I'm going to print it from my computer, but I'd just like to have an easier to upload version for backing up, etc. And if anybody wants the PDF to make their own version, let me know and I can set up a yousendit.com URL.

Also, just in case anyone is curious, here are the achievements I've come up with so far, reserving the right to create more in the future:

Achievements:

GROUP RECORDS (These don't give bonus dice, they have special benefits, usable once per session, to whoever currently holds the title at the beginning of each session - My notion with these is either a little reward, or, in the case of failures and ones, to sort of counterbalance a night when dice are just screwing with you)

Most Critical Hits - Reroll one missed attack and keep the better result

Most Natural Ones - Turn one natural 1 into a critical hit instead

Failed Saving Throws - Turn one failed saving throw into a success

Highest Damage (Single Blow) - Reroll damage on one attack and keep the better result

Most Damage Taken (Single Blow) - Force an enemy to reroll damage on one attack and keep the worse result

Killing Blows Scored - Finish one foe when he is reduced to 5 or less hit points (GM will do this automatically)

Highest Attack Roll That Missed - Add +2 to one missed attack roll (GM will tell you beforehand if this will turn it into a hit or not)

CRITICAL HITS
Heavy Hitter - 25 Critical Hits
Boom King - 50 Critical Hits
Precision Striker - Deal 5 critical hits in one session

SAVING THROWS
Unlucky - Fail 10 Saving Throws
Did You Walk Under A Ladder? - Fail 10 Saving Throws In One Adventure
Did You Piss Off A Gypsy? - Fail 10 Saving Throws in One Encounter

SINGLE BLOWS
WHAM! - Deal over 50 HP of damage in a single blow
Mano a Mano - Deal all the damage required to kill a foe, without a single assist from allies

DAMAGE TAKEN
Ooh! That's Gotta Hurt! - Take over 25 HP of damage from a single blow
Tough Guy - Take over 25 HP of damage from a single blow without being knocked out or killed
Juggernaut - Take over 50 HP of damage from a single blow without being knocked out or killed
Didn't Flinch - Take over 50 HP of damage from a single blow without being bloodied

KILLING BLOWS
Slayer - 15 Killing Blows Scored
Master Slayer - 30 Killing Blows Scored
A Name To Fear - 100 Killing Blows Scored

The Stormhawks Website

Don't know why I didn't post this here sooner. I used Google Sites for the layout and am really pleased with how it's turned out so far. I'm behind in the write-ups, but that's usual for me as I'm a lazy bastard.

I'm having a great time writing up articles for the Korranberg Chronicle though and I'm in the process of creating a full on journal (a real one) for the Lich that is running around causing my players some problems.

Check it all out...here.

Randy's Gaming Links Episode 5

More skill challenges than you can shake a stick at.

Actually, I guess you could shake a stick at them.

I'm just not sure why you'd do that.

GANAKAGOK (or "let's break from D&D for a moment")

Picked up this game last week and I'm dying to try it out. It's a small indie RPG that plays as a hybrid between storytelling and roleplaying. Kevin, are you familiar with it? It's very much along the lines of the high-concept indie games we talked about last week.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

Its setting and premise are extremely specific. It concerns a mythic era for an Eskimo-like people (the Nitu) who've hunted and lived all their lives on a giant island of ice called Ganakagok under an eternal night of stars. But Dawn is coming, for good or ill, and the players' characters are the ones who sense it. It's like being part of a creation myth where the first appearance of the sun is the final act, and the players are charged with determining whether that final act is inspiring and adventurous or dark and tragic.

In each session (and it always runs as a single session only), the players draw cards from a tarot deck and use the wildly varying themes on them as inspiration for everything from character creation to the role of their character in the story. The game's mechanics create loves and hates between the characters and their allies, produce monsters to fight (like the dread Cannibal Ghouls), and even helps the players produce a kick-ass map of the mythic lands of the Nitu!

What I like best is that in the end you've built a STORY. And it doesn't rely on the players adventuring together - in fact, a key aspect of the story may be that they're at odds. But everyone is constantly contributing, even when it's not their turn. The main goal is to build a MYTH, and because myths are filled with tales of both greatness and sorrow, even a tragic turn in Ganakagok can be exciting (consider the rise and fall of Achilles).

At the very least, it is WILDLY DIFFERENT. And I'd like to run it. Soon. I know I can wrangle my brother into it, and I mention it here to put a bug in your ears. If anyone's interested in joining in, let me know.

Skill Challenges

Great (and funny) article on skill challenges by Austin local and Wizards writer Ari Marmell. He uses footnotes! My favorite one?

"If you’re anything like me, you get at least a faint twinge of dislike any time your DM brings in an NPC to save you from a bad situation.4"

"4 If you're a lot like me, you're sitting at home in your underwear right now, writing a column about player agency in RPGs. But please don't tell me if you are; that's just creepy."

Other uses for Healing Surges

Great overview of alternative ways to use Healing Surges. http://www.roleplayingpro.com/2009/09/22/the-healing-surge-dm%E2%80%99s-little-helper/

That being said, we've yet to encounter heavy usage of Healing Surges. I'm not sure if it's because we are resetting between gaming sessions and so they really don't have as much time to run down or if it's because the player's just really aren't taking that much damage. In fact, the damage department seems either feast or famine.

I've heard that defender classes should feel like they are being knocked down and pop right back up, but the one time we've seen that the players felt the encounter was much too hard. I'm still struggling to get the feel of the combat just right.

role playing in 4e at last!

I'm really glad this guy took to time to write this up. I have a feel this is really going to rock our weekly game TO THE CORE.

http://www.stargazersworld.com/2009/09/24/breaking-news-roleplaying-finally-possible-in-dd-4th-edition/

The Assassin

I'm not a big fan of the class from the past, but I kinda like the new take on it, especially for a more morally ambiguous campaign. Dungeon Mastering has a pretty good rundown of the philosophy of the class and how it contrasts with the rogue.

More random goodness

This morning I found this link from Gnome Stew.

http://www.trovetokens.com/4e-npc.html

It is a quick NPC generator. Unfortunately not background or story, just stats, but if you need something like this it does a great job. I'm still looking forward to finding a really loosely defined NPC background generator that is compelling and yet not a wall of text.

Random Treasure Generation

Here is a random treasure generator that I find incredibly helpful when running a game. Pick the level and number of characters and all the various types and groupings of treasure and magical items. From there the web app will generate a treasure package tailored to your world and characters.

http://www.asmor.com/scripts/4eMagicItems/randomTreasure.php

Randy's Gaming Links Episode 4

Two links of note:

The Cartographer's Guild, a message board where folks post up maps they've made. Invaluable if you're using a projector, and while you have to join to be able to read the group, it's a painless join-up process and they've got a ton of great maps and mapmakers.

The Eberron Wiki, a resource for Eberron players and GMs.

Getting My Map On

Can you tell:

• Which creature is bloodied?
• Which creature is healthy?
• Which creature has initiative?

Crossposted at austingame

Randy's Gaming Links Episode 3

This is someone's rundown on GenCon, which was most interesting to me for this:

"4. Hunter’s Quarry and Sneak Attack Do Max Damage on a Crit – I have a signed statement to that effect. Take that, Dungeon Masters who have been robbing me of damage"

Isn't this completely contradicted in the Player's Handbook, or have I been playing the game wrong? If this is correct, I have cheated numerous players out of crit damage. And as I'm about to play a Rogue, I want to make sure I know if I get to max out my Sneak Attack damage. :)

Dark Sun?

I was a huge fan of Dark Sun back in the day. I'm really curious to see if they can do it as well as they handled Eberron's Campaign Guide.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4news/20090814

What do you guys think?

Cool idea for more narrative combat

Killing Minions with Style, which I got to from another good post, 4th Edition and the Case of the Hideously Long Combat. Both worth a read. (They're short.)

Old... what's his name...

"So you approach the table enveloped in shadows near the back of the tavern. The figure at the table leans slowly forward and the guttering lamp's light reaches up to his face. He can see the many scars on his bare arms and the trace of elf linage around his eyes. He cocks his head and rasps, "Ah, the salvage team finally arrives in Stormreach. Well, welcome my name is... uh... uhmm... Gai... no wait... Titts... oh god... no... Kalistrumfilisthanatol... *sigh*."

Ok, so maybe you guys won't slip up that badly, but I have and I quickly found an easy cure for quick NPC names. Since I tend to think of NPCs uses first and names second I have frequently shown up to the table with major NPCs being nameless. It's all part of the illusionist play style to cover with a handy name that fits perfectly after the fact. It looks like you've had that name ready all along. This is where random name generators and a little prep time comes into play.

Here's my short list:

http://www.squid.org/rpg-random-generator
http://unique-names.com/word-mixer.php
http://www.namemasher.com/default.aspx
http://www.degraeve.com/invent-a-word/index.php
http://www.wordconstructor.com/index.php
http://www.unled.net/

As you can tell I'm a big fan of "realistic" sounding names. If the NPC has to be called some huge polysyllabic word everytime they show up it gets old quick. Also, player's will tend to nick name those NPCs and nothing makes your Titan Beholderlich Lord named Sparualiziltikk, seem more silly than having it renamed "Spunky". Of course a Titan Beholderlich Lord is pretty silly anyway.

So I like word combiners. It also lets me put in concepts and phrases. So I can put

• Zug
• Loktar
• Kek
• Thull
• Axe

Into http://unique-names.com/word-mixer.php and get back the awesome Ulthu. Now add a title like Orc Chieftain Ulthu and you're set. Maybe I'd throw an umlaut in there for extra awesome, but you get the point. The main thing I watch out for here is names that sound like snicker inducing mood breaks. The Medusa horror that has been terrorizing the village of Omletle being named Labias is going to possibly look fine on paper, but when the players arrive in the village they are going to be rolling. Then when the Medusa hisses out "You will pay for trespassing on the lair of Labias!" you might as well put away the Cheetos and call it a night. Learn from my pain.

Then there are name generators that try to be "authentic" that just always seem... well cheesy. Or unpronounceable. However, I still go to them now and then for base words.

http://rinkworks.com/namegen/
http://www.seventhsanctum.com/index-name.php
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20010208b
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~pound/

Finally I also like to generate a few hundred names now and then. I'll take the list and cull it for obvious problems and then save it somewhere so that if I need a name quickly I don't need to find my generator and hammer out a name. I'll just keep this giant pool of plausible names handy and when the time comes they are ready.

4 Ed Eberron: The Stormhawks

Well, we had our first adventure and after throwing out a mock combat (the team against a group of 3-5 level Kobolds) that allowed our new players to essentially see the mechanics of the thing and get a sense for what combat in D&D is like, we started up the campaign.

And of course things quickly went sideways.

What was supposed to be a night composed of a skill challenge, some general roleplay and 2 (possibly 3) encounters instead turned out to be a skill challenge and around 4 hours of roleplay as the party did some CSI like investigation into the death of a doppleganger that was following them and general exploration of the city of Sharn. This wasn't my intent but they circumvented the two encounters by either going in the opposite direction or talking their way out of combat.

It was pretty cool, all said, and the party seemed to be really enjoying themselves. They really loved the hybrid version of the Skill Challenge that I've swiped from Dave.

All in all, my players kept me on my toes, did things I wasn't expecting and roleplayed like we never have. Despite not getting to the Encounters that I was looking forward to seeing played out, I'm putting this night in the win column.

House Rules

Here is a list of all our current house rules. I'll try to explain my rationale behind each choice. Some of this is happening because we are also testing the iPhone apps I'm writing and need to make sure that things flow smoothly. Some of it is just a matter of flavor. We try to keep the action moving and tend to lean more towards narrative. Some of these changes are really "gamey", but it works for us. I'd love to hear if you guys house rule anything and why.

• monsters will be reduced in total hit points by 25-50% - pc's hp stays the same

Combat in 4e is very pokey. The universal solution to this seems to be, reduce monster hit points down and/or use more minions.

• monsters will do 1 die class larger in damage (d4s become d6s, d6s become d8s) - pc's damage stays the same

Monsters need a little more punch typically to get through all the healing surges that PCs bring to the table. With the “weeble wobble” nature of Defenders this isn’t as scary as it might seem at first. Sure, there is a lot more healing flying around, but I like the flavor.

• you can spend an action point to count any d20 roll as an automatic success

Missing on a daily power that needs a hit to activate is just heartbreaking. We toyed with the idea that Dailies always connect, but it seemed too powerful. This way you can choose to guarantee success, but not without a slight cost.

• you can spend an action point on a "action card"

Action Cards are a home brew solution that allow action points provide a little more leverage. They are randomly distributed and then players can trade among themselves. They are basically rule breaking actions like “free standard action” or “use a healing surge” or “double damage”. I’ll try to post them up here soon.

• natural 20 is automatic max damage or total success

• natural 1 is the worst possible outcome or automatic miss/fail

We don’t use crit/fumble tables so this tends to hit a nice middle ground.

• at the beginning of the encounter all monsters stats will be revealed and a dungeoneering or nature roll will determine how much information is revealed with a bare minimum of hp

We just all feel that the players can make better choices when they know exactly what they are up against. I usually don’t reveal “powers” until the creature uses them in combat.

• as we learn the system, players can change powers around to better suit their understanding of the game
• gold can be spent freely on any items from legal WOTC sources. So potions, gear, everything is for sale. If it's a really powerful item we spend the gold and then the item shows up in the next treasure bundle.
  

Question

If you throw down a big monster, something that you know for sure would eat your players alive in a few rounds, how do you subtly get the fact across to your players that running truly is your best course of action without just openly saying that you have no chance in beating this thing at the moment, you better run?

I know this is not something you want to do too often in the game, but I think that it sort of goes hand in hand with D&D and provides a different type of gameplay that should be put into use.

Comments Feed for this site

If you're like me, you miss a lot of the comments on this site because you use an RSS feed reader to read it, and there isn't an obvious comment feed link.

I found it.

Randy's Gaming Links Episode 2

Couple things from around the web:

Skillforge - Haven't done much checking on this yet, but it's a website devoted entirely to skill challenges

Robot Viking - Rise of the Super Minion - Robot Viking, sister gaming site of io9, offers up a way to deal with absent players. Check out the comments, because the "roll 1d6 to determine player's actions" seems like kind of a funny way to deal with it as well.

Introducing my players and setting

Hello, I'll jump into the fray with a brief introduction of myself, the setting and my players.

First, my name is Kevin Beck. I've been playing some form of table-top rpg since around 1981 when I picked up my first "red box" of the Basic Set. Since then I've played a lot of different systems, almost exclusively as a GM, but my first love will always be D&D. When 4e came out I was skeptical at first but the more we've played the more I've grown to love it. It's not flawless (or else we wouldn't need house rules) but it is a lot of fun most of the time.

Our setting is a loose interpretation of Eberron set in a jagged version of the standard timeline. Dragonshards are just beginning to be harvested and Dragonmarks have to yet make much of an appearance in the world. The 100 year war is in the future and the land is in a huge amount of turmoil. The Five Nations, as we know them in the standard setting, have yet to form.

My regular players friends that I've know for a long while. Some make every Saturday night and others I don't see for months. So without further yammering from me, let me introduce them.

Regulars
Eric T. playing Cynthia Stormwalker a paladin of Evandra focusing on travel and exploration. Cynthia was seeking her destiny when an encounter with The Raven Queen brought it all into focus. She was to help unite the fractured world by establishing the first lightening rails and airship routes. Of course, at this point, these technologies are dangerous and rare at best. Even worse the lands between the points are wild and untamed.

Chris T. playing Infer. A chaos sorcerer who may be playing with higher stakes than he initially realized. He bargained for salvation, and a bard has said, he was given a lethal dose. Now he is trying to understand what he has stepped up to and if he will be able to regain his freedom, with his sanity intact. Infer covers all this uncertainty and fear with a narcissistic machismo that would make and bar room bravo proud.

Semi-Regular
Chris P. plays Khondar Greygate. A dwarven warden who is helping set the first elements of the Aurum. Because of the heavy burden he carries he is starting to show signs of the strain and frequently lashing out in unhelpful ways. The rest of the party is growing more and more concerned for his sanity.

Occasional Players
Andy B. plays Tarsus Direwan, a retired hit-man who has shown up several times in the campaign to provide just enough extra firepower to make things interesting.

Randa Choate playing Alyce Staggs. This burly foul mouthed warrior has shown up for a few session to lend a little tanking to the party.

Eric Kirkpatrick playing Rouki d'Cat. A stealthy ranger sniper, also an occasional player with a large sack of damage he likes to hand out to the bad kids.

Jeremy Duke playing Jinny Gearhands. Jinny is one of the many orphans living in Sharn. He lost both her hands at a young age and now has two fine Warforged grafts to help her get around. She has quickly risen as the de facto leader of the band of children calling themselves "The Spiders".

There's my strange little group.

Skill Challenge: Eberron (10th level)

Along the lines of what Dave posted, here's my skill challenge that I used for my Eberron group. It's the first skill challenge I've written. I've run a couple out of the new D&D adventures, but honestly, I wasn't crazy about any of them. They did teach me a few pitfalls to avoid in creating my own, however, and I was pretty pleased by how these worked out.

Encounter Complexity: 3 (8 successes before 4 failures -1,500 XP)
The Shifting Blades are rumored to be in Trolanport. Find out where they are and what they're up to, all while dodging the Trust, who would be treaty-bound to turn the Wolves over to Brelish authorities.

Primary Skills:
Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Streetwise

Bluff (DC 20, +1 for every success): Pretending to be with the Korranberg Chronicle, or seeking to hire the Shifting Blades, or something of that nature, could gain some information.

Diplomacy (DC 17): Seeking help from Aundarian diplomat Neya ir'Krell or trying to deal with local officials without tipping off the Trust could net information. Note: Failure in this case counts as two failures, as it will more easily bring the Trust down on the players' heads)

Endurance (DC 21): Some lusty carousing could get any of the information about the Kraken's Eye, in other words anything in the 1-5 area. After 5 has been dispensed, carousing won't earn any more answers, but it also won't incur any more failures.

History (DC 25): Once the name of the Kraken's Eye has been revealed, someone versed in history might be able to recall information about it from studies of the Lhazaar or Zilargo areas. Only information #2 and #3 can be revealed in this way. Any other attempts will fail, but will not be counted as failures against the skill challenge total.

Insight (DC 21): Once contacts have been found (via a single success in Diplomacy, Streetwise or Diplomacy), an Insight check could provide some hints that lead to the right questions about the gang of shapeshifters or the Kraken's Eye. Only two successes can be earned this way.

Intimidate (DC 20, +1 for every success): Once the gang is known of (after #5 has been revealed), intimidation can be used on the street to garner any of the information from 6-8.

Perception (DC 17): Once #1 is available, careful surveillance of the Kraken's Eye could reveal #2-3. Only those two successes are possible with perception.

Streetwise (DC 21): All of the information about Gerand, what he was up to, and the gang he probably got involved with, is available through streetwise checks. Any number of successes or failures can be achieved through this skill.

Information that can be gained (one per success, starting with the top)
1. Gerand Moor asked around at a tavern called the Kraken's Eye
2. The Kraken's Eye is only open at night, and generally caters to lowlives and thugs
3. The Kraken's Eye is run by an ex-pirate from Lhazaar and his wife, and they don't cooperate with law enforcement
4. A contact remembers Gerand mentioning that he had a meeting set up at the Kraken's Eye, and no one has seen him since
5. There's a small gang of shapeshifters in town with ties to the Tyrants, and they operate out of the Kraken's Eye
6. There are six members of this gang, which is primarily made up of changelings
7. The leader of this gang is rumored to be some kind of powerful magic creature, but anyone who has gotten close has been found with their throat ripped out
8. There is a succubus in the gang

Success: The Wolves learn valuable information that not only points them in the right direction but gives them hints as to what they might be up against

Failure: The Wolves have trouble keeping a low profile while digging for information. Any further pushing to determine answers either brings down an ambush whenever they are resting at their inn (or whatever base of operations they've chosen) from the Trolanport Tyrants (if they've gotten up to #5 or more) or agents of the Trust (3 gnome entropists, 2 gnome wolverines and a human pirate captain).

Skill Challenge Sample of Play

Okay, here's the D&D Skill Challenge example I wrote up for my players. I've house-ruled Skills Challenges to allow for Ability rolls and even Attack/Power rolls in lieu of Skill Checks - as long as they fit the story. I've pretty much dropped the differentiation between Primary and Secondary Skills, opting instead for variable DCs based on what the players are attempting.

Three first level adventurers, a Dwarven Fighter, Half-Elf Wizard, and Halfling Rogue, are in pursuit of a Goblin who's got information they need. The Goblin races into the heart of the city and the chase is on. The DM knows that this is a fairly easy 4/3 Skill Challenge (the players need four successes before three failures), but the players don't. I put notes about dice rolls in blue.

DM: The Goblin's bolting into the crowded marketplace. What do you want to do?

Halfling Rogue: I'm too short to be pushing through big-people crowds - can I hop up on top of the marketplace stands and awnings and spring across them?

DM: Sure, make an Acrobatics Roll!

[the DM decides this is fairly easy to do and secretly sets the Difficulty Class at 10; the Rogue rolls low, but he's trained in Acrobatics and still pulls off a total of 12, succeeding; this is the first success in the Challenge.]

DM: The rest of the party can only be impressed as you leap and cartwheel over the venders. You're able to keep a close eye on the Goblin and after the rest of the group pushes through the crowd, you lead them down a street in pursuit!

Dwarven Fighter: Grr, I don't want to chase this little bastard. I want to intimidate him into stopping. I shout out, "If you don't stop right now, every damn member of my clan will swear a death-oath against you!"

DM: What's a death-oath?

Dwarven Fighter: I don't know - I'm just messing with his head! Oh wait, does that make it a Bluff check?

DM: Nah, you're still trying to intimidate him. But I am going to give you a +2 for having a good, fake oath.

[the DM decides the Goblin flight instinct is strong and sets a moderate DC of 15; the Dwarven fighter rolls a 1, so even with his good Intimidate Skill and a +2 bonus, he fails; there has now been one success and one failure in the Skill Challenge]

DM: A 1, eh? Not only does the Goblin not stop, he responds to your threat with a crude gesture.

Dwarven Fighter: Oh, you're dead!

DM: He's darting in and out of alleys and pulling a little ahead of you guys.

Halfling Rogue: Can I make a Streetwise check and figure out where he's going?

DM: Hmm, Streetwise as a skill is really more about figuring out a city's movers and shakers, finding the black market, stuff like that. It's not literally the layout of the streets.

Halfling Rogue: Fair enough. What about an Insight Check to "get inside" his head and figure out where he'd go?

DM: Sure!

Halfling Rogue: Oh wait, my Insight sucks.

Half-Elf Wizard: I wanna do something, and my Insight's pretty decent!

[the DM sets a moderate DC of 15; the Half-Elf Wizard rolls well - a 22 - making for the second success of the Challenge]

Half-Elf Wizard: I've fought enough Goblins to know how those little beggars think. Between gasps for breath as we run, I tell the rest of you guys I think he's headed for the slums so he can hole up in some lowlife den!

DM (picking up on the player's idea): Good thinking. It does seem likely, so you let the Goblin vanish from sight and instead make for the slums to head him off. As you scan around between the poor laborers, hooligan kids and beggars, the Goblin darts from an alley and almost runs right into you! He curses in Goblin and races back toward the center of the city.

[the DM decides to have some cruel fun and have a small side event: hooligan kids from the slums try to pickpocket the players amidst the chaos! He makes a single Thievery roll to represent the kids and attacks the players' Reflex Defense with it. It only succeeds against the Dwarven Fighter, and the mean ol' DM rolls a D20 to see how much gold they got from him: 16 pieces. He lets the Dwarf make a Perception Check against the kids' Thievery roll to see if he notices. He makes the roll, so he does.]

DM: Dwarven Fighter, a grimy-faced half-orc kid appears to've reached into your coin purse and absconded with a big handful of gold.

Dwarven Fighter: First the Goblin gives me the finger, now this?! I go after the little bastard!

DM: Really? In the middle of the chase?

Dwarven Fighter: Hell yes! You don't take a dwarf's gold!

DM: Ha! Okay, you can chase after the kid, but you'll be unable to assist in the rest of the Skill Challenge.

Dwarven Fighter: Sorry, gang. Gold comes first.

DM: Okay, I'm definitely giving you some experience for doing something so "dwarfy", and we'll resolve the stuff with the kid in a minute, but for now let's stick to the chase. The Goblin's still getting away!

Halfling Rogue: Son of a -- ! Well, I think I just want to use Perception to track this guy by all the chaos he's making as he pushes past people.

[the DM against sets a moderate DC of 15; the Halfling Rogue roll only totals a 13; there have now been two failures as well as two successes in the Skill Challenge - one more failure and they lose him]

DM: This guy's wily. The chase has veered toward the docks, but he's tipping over crates behind him and creating an uproar that makes it really hard to see where he's going. You're on the verge of losing him.

Half-Elf Wizard: We can't let him get off the docks.

Halfling Rogue: Agreed, but I'm drawing blanks on ideas. Can I throw a dagger at him, try and trip him up from an injury?

DM: You can, but there're lots of people around and he'd probably be at long range for a thrown dagger. This will be a very tough shot [the DM's thinking DC 25, and the Rogue would need to roll extremely well to make it]

Halfling Rogue: Hmm. Maybe I shouldn't...

Half-Elf Wizard: It gives me an idea, though. My Flaming Sphere attack has a range 10, so maybe that'll give me a better chance. I actually want to use it to set the docks aflame ahead of the Goblin and box him in.

DM: It'll still be a tough shot to avoid hitting people, but you've got the range, so it'll be a bit easier than the dagger throw.

[the DM decides to go with a DC of 20, still pretty tough; the Half-Elf Wizard just makes it, though, coming in with a 21 when all bonuses have been added; there have now been three success and two failures in the Skill Challenge; the next roll will decide it all]

DM: Your fiery sphere appears in front of the Goblin and streaks across the docks, creating a wall of fire! He skids to a stop.

Halfling Rogue: It's funny, I probably drew my little dagger and was halfheartedly taking aim when our wizard here puts a hand on my shoulder - "Allow me" - and blows up half the docks!

DM: Ha!

Half-Elf Wizard: Damn right!

DM: Okay, so he's skidded to a halt and looks panicked, but he could still slip through your grasp with a sly maneuver. The next few seconds will decide everything...

Halfling Rogue: Would it be too cheesy to use Acrobatics again and to vault over the crates and right into him? I want to knock him flat and I'm really good with Acrobatics.

DM: Seems reasonable to me. This is pretty different from the first time you used it.

[the DM sets an average DC of 15 for the roll and the Halfling Rogue aces his roll, totalling 24]

DM: Major takedown, you've won the Skill Challenge! What are you picturing?

Halfling Rogue: The Goblin skids to a stop in front of the fire, spins around to look for a way out, and there I am, hand-vaulting, parkour-style over the crates! I give him both boots to his hideous face.

DM: Rockin'. Goblin teeth fly and he flops onto the docks, out cold. In the meantime, you can hear shouts for the city watch as a small section of the dock burns and collapses into the water.

Half-Elf Wizard: Oops. Uh, we'll make amends later. Lets scoop this guy up and race into some cheap inn before the watch arrives. We can question the goblin once we're out of sight.

Dwarf Fighter: Kill him!

DM: Hey, you're not even with them! But we do need to quick see how you dealt with your little pickpocket right after I hand out experience...

[and the game continues...]

My players (in a little more detail)

*Daniel Gibbs - Oden, a Deva Invoker who occasionally receives cryptic visions from Bahamut. He's the centerpiece of the group insofar as their adventuring rationale. Whatever the characters' individual goals, they know this guy is drawn to exotic locales and righteous causes.

*Syd Gibbs - Syddelius, a taciturn Dragonborn Fighter assigned to Oden by the warlord she follows. Also: a dude.

*Dan Grendell - Kairen, a Tiefling Bard looking to discover and chronicle lost secrets of Bael Turath. Also: a chick.

*Nick Budd - Vondal, a Dwarven Cleric who was once a warrior of Kord, but turned to the priesthood when he was sidelined by an injury and also opened a tavern for warriors. In recent years his injuries have healed up (divine providence?) and, as he hits his dwarven midlife crisis, he ventures out for a final shot at glory for Kord.

*Thomas - Lazam, a Halfling Storm Sorcerer fresh from the farm and looking to find his destiny as something bigger.

Wandering Wolves

I'm running two different campaigns right at the moment, both D&D 4th Edition. One, which I've been running since 4th Edition came out about a year ago, has gotten the name "Circle of Love" from a spell that one of the characters used to cast:

1. Dan Grendell - Tengri, a Dragonborn Sorcerer who specializes in thunder effects

2. Joe Royer - Taiha Lakar, a Goliath Bear Shaman

3. Jamie Royer - Brynn, a Half-Elf Ranger with a focus on using a bow

4. Max Romero - Mmirg, a Half-Orc Warden with more than a little barbarian about him

5. Ben Kimball - Fargrim, a Dwarf Invoker of Pelor

They are currently trapped in an extradimensional pyramid, and their goal seems to be to kill the warlock who trapped them three times in order to get out. We're playing the D&D 4th Edition series of modules, and we're currently on the Pyramid of Shadows. When we complete it, I'm going to move to playing and Ben is going to take over GMing.

I'm also running the Wandering Wolves, my Eberron campaign that ran for about two years as a 3.5 game. They hit 10th level, and we started there, rebuilding the characters in D&D 4.0, just a couple weeks ago. We're playing original adventures that I'm building using D&D Insider's awesome adventure-building tools. Characters are:

1. Ben Kimball - William d'Deneith, ex-vampire, ex-dragonmarked heir, current mercenary-minded Human Fighter

2. Paul Benjamin - Brand d'Orien, dragonmarked heir on the outs with his house, Human Ranger with a penchant for teleporting, moving around and chopping people with his duel swords or the help of his badass wolf companion

3. Jason Jones - Lysander d'Phiarlan, dragonmarked heir in good standing with his house, Elf Bard who had become quite famous before he and his friends were framed for attempted regicide

4. Nate Southard - Luggoth, rage-prone Razorclaw Shifter Barbarian who has a role to play in the Draconic Prophecy and a history with the Silver Flame and the Lords of Dust

5. Chris Nicholas - Pel, a Shifter Rogue with Cleric multiclass who worships the Traveler, has a strong connection with that god and also has connections to the Sharn gang known as the Tyrants

Both games are played on Friday nights at my place, we alternate weeks.

I post all my recaps and such on http://austingame.blogspot.com/ and have another blog site only I can read that I use for my behind-the-scenes notes, stats, etc.

Randy's Gaming Links Episode I

Couple links of use for 4th Ed DMs:

1. Tokens for D&D 4th Edition (Requires Adobe Illustrator, not sure if Adobe Photoshop works)

2. D&D Monster Builder Beta goes live tomorrow on D&D Insider:
"Sometime tomorrow, a Beta version of the D&D Monster Builder will be available for all D&D Insiders to download and play with. You should expect to see an official news article tomorrow that coincides with the Monster Builder Beta being up for download. As always, I’ll pop back in and update you if I learn anything new and interesting."

D&D 4ED: Eberron

Okay, well I'm pretty much what you would call a GM newb. It's an undertaking, and I'm apprehensive about some aspects of GMing (mainly because I haven't done it before), but I'm really amped up for it. The plan is to meet every other Saturday night starting around 5:30. For the moment, we've got 5 players in the group, some who've been gaming for a long time to people who casually do it to people who've never picked up a D20 in their lives.

1. Stephen Carter - Cairn a Warforged Warden

2. Joan Palmer - Gonzo a Gnome Wild Magic Sorcerer

3. Will Palmer - Nil a Drow Ranger

4. Gayle Brandt - ????? a Eladrin Ranger

5. Jeff Brandt - ????? a Kalashtar Artificer


The campaign itself is a long term undertaking, with each session moving the characters further into the story. It starts in the towers of Sharn and will eventually branch out to the many other parts of Khorvaire. I'm attempting to really immerse the players in the world while at the same time encapsulating the whole globe-trotting adventure as best as I can.

Still, with me not knowing every rule in the book for D&D and having to cater to a variety of different playing types, I think I'm in for a challenge. I'm up for it though, or at least I think I am.

As for a site that I post stuff for the group...since we haven't started yet, I haven't decided if I'm going to do this or if emails to my players would better suit me. For the moment I'm in the midst of creating a GM only website (using the Google Site Application) so I can plan out all of the aspects of the adventure and be able to only need a lap top (plus the related books that I need) to run the thing. So far I'm liking how the site is shaping up.

D&D 4th Ed.

With something like a decade gaming experience under my belt, I decided I really needed to try running the grandaddy of 'em all. I ran one test game (a highly modded one-nighter from the D&D Starter Box Set) and that went well enough that we've kicked off an ongoing. The game's got two roleplaying noobs (store customers Syd and her husband Daniel), and three other with varying degrees of experience (Nick, Dan, and Dan's roommate, Thomas). We game Sunday nights about once every two weeks.

The interesting thing about D&D is that in a lot of ways it goes against my roleplaying instincts for an uber-rules-lite approach. In the big scheme of things, D&D's far from being Rolemaster or Hero System, but for me...still more crunch than I'd like. I'm also trying D&D as my first long-form campaign - kind of tough, because I'm easily distracted, always ready to move on to the Next Big Thing.

This is an "off the rails" game, with me world-building as I go and writing original adventures. Local worldbuilding, I should say, no crazy cosmology stuff. Which is time-consuming but fun. There's no associated blog, but I do post brief recaps for my players via email.

And as I mainly fall into the roleplayer/storyteller category of gamers, what I'd like more than anything is to find a comfortable balance between action and roleplaying for this group. Randy suggested I post the "Sample of Play" Skill Challenge I wrote up for the group to clarify my somewhat hippie approach, and I figure it's not a bad way to showcase my general D&D philosophy. I'll post that sometime soonish.

Traveller

My Traveller campaign runs on alternate Saturday evenings at 6 PM, and has eight players:

1. William Toporek — J.J. Felt, ex-Scout


2. Cindy Roberts — Pearl Pepper, gumshoe


3. Jason Jones — Baron Altara, aristocrat


4. Trevor Watt — Cal Deudowski, former planetary police officer


5. Adam Lipscomb — Daniel Esken, big game hunter and guide


6. Alex Kimball — Knuckles, ex-mafia enforcer


7. Lana Roberts — Unnamed, probably going to be an engineer


8. Dave Farabee — Unnamed, maybe an Aslan?

The campaign is based (for now) in the Spinward Marches, having started on Regina/Regina. It's an episodic campaign, by which I mean I try very hard to make each session self-contained. It is not expected that every player will come to every session. In fact, if all eight players ever did show up on the same night, I'd have chair trouble. So far this is working out just right, with three to five people per session. Characters whose players can't make it to a given session become NPCs for that session, and will often just "stay on the ship" that week.

I plan to launch a web site for the campaign soon, featuring the usual character and session writeups, but also in-game information such as Traveller News Service posts, maps, and online tools for managing training and combat and whatnot.

First Post

This blog is being set up to serve as a place to post thoughts on GM-ing, from specific campaign ideas to recaps to example stuff. The notions Dave, Nick and I had when we started talking about it were putting up examples of skill challenges, quick recaps of games, links to stuff of interest to DMs and other such stuff.

To start with, I suggest a post about your campaigns and the players (and their characters) in them.