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Comment on The Temple Teller by richgreen01

richgreen01 — Mon, 13 May 2013 05:55:02 +0000

Great idea and very nicely done! I do session write ups too but I’m pretty sure not everyone reads them.

Comment on Encounter Design for Fast Paced Stories by dungeonmastertom

dungeonmastertom — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 07:00:30 +0000

Nice post. I already use these for the most part.
One problem I had with making encounters matter, was that I made them too difficult.
Because these encounters matter to the story, they often involve important antagonists.
When I noticed the pattern I mixed up the difficulty level of encounters.

I usually plan an alternative conclusion to a fight. When a fight is obviously won, I sometimes just end it to save time.

Comment on Eating The Lunch of Classes by paul

paul — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 18:02:32 +0000

WOW you are going way old school…. Dwarfs as a class???? I started in 1980 with basic and AD&D (yes I’m old) and Dwarf was a race then. As for the styling there is always the balance between getting to to basic and too detail oriented, if it is too simplistic “Cookie Cutter” it’s boring and hard to really get into my character if it takes me 8hrs just to design and learn all all of the little nuances regarding feats, traits, backgrounds, skills, powers and when and how they can be used it is totally overwhelming and a turn-off to most people.

I also disagree that next would abolish class as relevant, that was already done in 4e or atleast as far as the distinction between the fighting classes and spell casters, now everyone has an at will, encounter and daily powerup, no more spells and spell books and such, now what is the difference, ya flavor wise maybe, but mechanically nope. it is more like a video game format now, and if i wanted that I would go play guild wars or something where everyone is “different” but basically the same, and the mechanics are all done for you by the computer.

I too am less concerned with keeping the original “D&D” feel (because lets face it EVERY version has had something people dont like and some have been way different) I am looking forward to seeing what they come up with and how they handle making it simple by having standard “Kits” and also highly customizable without allowing “Power Gamers” to exploit the tweeks and unbalance things. Hopefully they can go back to reemphasizing the role of classes instead of deempasizing them even more. or better yet go back to making Magic and Martial skills and abilities different rather than just a different flavor of “power-ups”

Comment on Gamma World One Shot…SCARY?!? by chad

chad — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 20:43:49 +0000

This looks good, but I’ll suggest one more thing for your prep-list: terrain/environmental effects. Especially for a Halloween game, having some sort of special effect that is specific to the location or situation can really elevate an encounter from `another set of monsters’. It can also help guide you and your players towards coming up with alternate outcomes, either pre-planned, rough-planned, or entirely spontaneous. These don’t need to be entirely detailed, but I find it helpful to brainstorm some ideas ahead of time (and then always listen to your player’s comments, either borrowed wholesale or added with a twist).

Based on what you’ve said, I’ll throw out a couple suggestive titles:
For the Monster Bash: The Tree Come To Life, Frankenstein Freaks Out, My Spooky Valentine.
For Strahd’s Castle: Who Let the Werewolves In?, The Mad Scientist’s Experiment, and Tastes Like Chicken.
For the Manor House: The Laboratory of Misfit Kill-bots, The Governor’s Physical Fitness Gauntlet, and Stimulus Package.

Hope that helps!

Comment on The Floundering Campaign – Cut Bait or Fish? by Rich Green

Rich Green — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 22:34:54 +0000

Oops, missed the “n” off the end of my name

Comment on The Floundering Campaign – Cut Bait or Fish? by Chad

Chad — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 22:10:53 +0000

Re-reading, I was a bit unclear. I meant “If your group is happy with Gardmore as a campaign, I recommend sticking with it as the `baseline’ for the group, taking breaks now and then to play other games (including Next, 13th Age, or whatever).”

Comment on The Floundering Campaign – Cut Bait or Fish? by Chad

Chad — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 22:04:41 +0000

Gardmore is a great product, and is entirely worth playing if your group has any enthusiasm for it. Without knowing your group, I would strongly suggest sticking with a campaign that’s working, and taking periodic breaks to playtest new material as it comes out and as there is interest. We’re looking at one year plus of D&D Next playtesting, so I wouldn’t rush it, and grinding through multiple iterations of playtests is draining for almost everyone. At this point, play the playtests when there’s interest, as (long or short) breaks from the campaign.

Also, as an enthusiastic playtester of 13th Age, I certainly wouldn’t call it `finished’ yet. Rich Gree does bring up an excellent point, though: switching between game systems as interest shifts can make for a more enjoyable over-all experience *and* it makes for a better playtest. A big danger with long-term playtests is getting caught up in the momentum of “it works this way because it works this way”. Playing a different game now and then (even if you hate it) can really shake loose the cobwebs and open everyone’s eyes.

Comment on Eating The Lunch of Classes by Shieldhaven

Shieldhaven — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 05:17:39 +0000

I’m much more concerned with D&D Next offering rules that let me create the characters I want to play, rather than the designers worrying about it “feeling like D&D.” That would be a moving target at best, and at worst they please maybe 10% of their playerbase at a time.

I think there are serious problems with the specific implementations of some classes and Specialties, but I think the architecture of class/race/background/specialty is the best they’ve offered yet.

Comment on The Floundering Campaign – Cut Bait or Fish? by alphastream

alphastream — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 05:30:03 +0000

If there is any additional factor, such as players showing a lack of interest, I would cut bait entirely. Only if everyone is otherwise pretty jazzed, would I consider short campaigns now and keeping the original idea for when the edition is actually done.

Comment on The Floundering Campaign – Cut Bait or Fish? by Rich Gree

Rich Gree — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 02:12:22 +0000

I’m not sure the D&D Next playtest is conducive to a proper campaign for the reasons you outlined. I’d save your concept for later or run it in a different (finished) rules set like Pathfinder, 4e or 13th Age, and stick to one shots for Next.