The Real State of Dungeons & Dragons
In a nutshell, D&D started off the year in a state of confusion and concern, but has ended the year fairly strong. WotC is looking towards the future and D&D’s torch holders have done much to improve relations with their customers.
Critical Hits Podcast #33: Erik Scott De Bie and Mike Shea on Sandbox Gaming
Mike Shea and Erik Scott De Bie talk sandbox gaming, specifically in Dungeons & Dragons 4e.
The Smallest Kid in the Sandbox
Designing content in a shared-world setting is fraught with dangers. Disgruntled fans are armed with all manner of weaponry, but none as dreadful as the ‘canon.’
Redesigning the Epic Tier
Both Sly Flourish and I have talked a lot lately about the issues we’ve run into at epic levels in D&D. While there are certainly rules issues, I believe fixing them all would take up a lot more than single column. However, I do have some ideas on alternate ways to restructure how the campaign [...]
The Scaling Woes of 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons
D&D 4e is a wonderful refined combat-focused RPG but it scales poorly as levels increase. While many of the elements of 4e scale along a linear path, many powers and effects scale at a much greater rate resulting in large imbalances between PCs and the threats they face at higher levels. This makes it hard for dungeon masters to challenge PCs.
Review and Giveway: Dungeon Mapp for iPad
Dungeon Mapp (iTunes link) fills in a missing piece of that equation for those who play RPGs on a grid, most notably the past few editions of Dungeons & Dragons and its spinoffs. Dungeon Mapp is an app for the iPad that lets a DM build dungeon maps (or wilderness, or several other terrain types), as well as populating the maps with extra features. You can then use it to entirely run your combats from within the app, placing party members, monsters, and managing initiative all from within the program.
Critical Hits Podcast #32: Mike Shea and Dave Chalker on Epic Tier Play
Mike Shea and Dave Chalker talk about running epic tier games in D&D 4e.
D&D Ninjas Have Arrived
Today, my first Dragon magazine article was published: “Class Acts Assassin: Secrets of the Ninja.” This article, as part of the Kara-Tur theme of this month, brings PC ninjas back into D&D as a build of the Executioner Assassin introduced in Heroes of Shadow.
The One-Page Character Sheet
So here is a game that I really do enjoy, and yet, there is this scar on my beloved which prevents me from embracing it completely: the character sheets are 8000 pages long.
