Lack of content

I have posted nothing, nada, zero, zip, zilch over the last month and a half due to personal matters. On September 21st I married my lovely fiance of four years. While this should have been the happiest time of my life it was dampered by the fact that on October 2nd my father lost his battle with pancreatic cancer. My father was a business owner, role model, friend and all around great guy. The last month and a half has been a whirlwind of lawyers, funeral homes, family and emotions. I have never had this feeling of overwhelming joy ( because of my wedding) mixed with such a bitter sadness( my father) before in my life.

Needless to say I have not been gaming, nor have I been thinking about games in anyway as of late. I do have every intention to get back on here and into the scene, right now I have to play adult for a little.....

4E Red Box

I have avoided 4th edition Dungeons and Dragons like the plague. I read the quick start when they where released and found the sweeping changes to the game to be abysmal. I detested the focus on combat, the way roleplaying was reduced to a series of skill checks and nothing more. I despised the way the new game attempted to emulate popular computer role playing games. I did not want to play World of Warcraft on my table, I wanted to role play dammit. I maintained these opinions for a long time and I defended 3rd and 2nd edition with all my might, insisting that they where the best systems for Dungeons and Dragons ( while I realize that some old school purists would argue that 1st was the best but I am 29 so my introduction to D and D was 2nd). I wanted nothing to do with the grid-based combat, if I want grid-based combat I will play HeroQuest or Decent. I did not want to have to carry around cards for my characters because they worked on some crazy keyword system that looked more like if-then statements than gaming rules. If I wanted to multi-class into a fighter/ranger/rogue/bard/wizard/druid/monk then I would, because I played 3.5 and was not and will never play 4th.

So, I bought the red box for 4th edition last week.....

Keeping Your Players on Their Toes

Over the years of DMing I have come up with a few ways to keep the players guessing and involved in the game. Some of my tactics have become well known in my groups and the players are constantly on edge of what might happen next. I wanted to share some of the things I have used over the years that I feel made my games more interesting and memorable.

Creature Feature 1

The Sea Lion

From the Monster Manual: " A Sea Lion is a fearsome aquatic creature with the head and fore-paws of a lion and the body and tail of a fish."

The Sea Lion is nothing special in terms of combat, with a 1d6+4 claw attack and a 1d8+2 bite attack combined with the rend ability they are pretty standard fair as far as monster attacks go. There are no breath abilities, no level drains, and no spell-like abilities, just claws and teeth. The artwork and the glaring pun alone are enough to make the Sea Lion one of my favorite D&D monsters and for those reasons I have chosen it as my first monster for my Creature Feature.

The Worst Group I Ever DMed

I have been Dungeon mastering for a long time, I have seen groups come and go, some good some bad. Over the years however there has been one group that stood head and shoulders above the rest. To this day the single game I ran for them haunts my memories and sends chills down my spine whenever I am asked to DM for a group I have never played with before. What follows is a recount of that night and the horrors within.

Summer and Gaming

This month the Blog Carnival over at rpgba.org is hosted by Dice Monkey and is about summer and gaming. This is a rather wide open topic and can be anything about gaming in summer.

Please note that the below post is meant as satire. I love gaming and love the gaming community. The purpose of this post is to poke fun at the stereotypes we have all endure because of our hobby, as well as share a little bit of what happens at my local hobby store.

Making a Dungeon That Works

Exploring Dungeons is a staple of most fantasy role playing games. Generally speaking the word dungeon is used as a very broad term that describes just about anywhere characters may adventure. This could be anything from a series of caves to a castle floating high above the earth. These dungeons are traditionally filled with creatures for the players to fight as well as treasures for them to take. Plundering dungeons is fun and a great many nights have been spent looting deep beneath the bowls of earth, but making a dungeon can be a bit tricky. I wanted to give newer DMs a couple of ideas that might help ensure their dungeons are not boring and off putting to players. These tips are more about the feel of the dungeon instead of the actual layout itself.