As it turns out, I’m a pretty terrible DM, and you can become dramatically better by simply avoiding everything I do, including telling stories and pursuing reality.
Reel Melee: The Fateful Duel
As I watched helplessly, I realized there was a certain rhythm to the battles, a swing and parry, a leap and tumble, a slash and dash and crash… a STANDARD and MOVE and MINOR. All at once, I saw that the action in this movie could be broken into pieces and reassembled into something like the Dungeons & Dragons 4E combat rules.
Beware the Siren Song
As more and more players come to Dungeons & Dragons from a video game background, they bring with them a very specific sensibility. The result is that the teacher becomes the student, and D&D players begin to integrate certain aspects that had previously only lived inside video games. For example, video games tend to deal in something I’d call “sense language,” where a scene is set by describing (or displaying) what you see and what you hear. In the same way, dungeon masters don’t talk about the three kobolds, but rather the “three emaciated lizard creatures with fanged dragon heads, hissing at each other in their horrid tongue, turning jagged blades in their clawed hands.” This is immersive, and that’s unquestionably a good thing. Unfortunately, not all of the adoptions are.
Renaissance of Roleplaying
I feel like it is possible to establish a renaissance of roleplaying, assuming you even want to, but it couldn’t possibly work through just one devoted person, even if that person is the DM. It would just be too excruciating, too mortifying, and gradually, the intensity of peer pressure would grind the Method actor back into a more acceptable shape. If this is to work, it would have to be through an explicit contract at the table.
Antagonistic Viziers and Fleeing Pickpockets
There’s been an awful lot of digital ink spilled on many 4E subjects, but I can’t seem to find anything about skill challenges. Har har. But seriously, I know what you’re thinking: “For crying out loud, not another skill challenge article.” In the words of the poets and philosophers, I feel ya, dawg. Even though […]
Min/Max Mashup
The power gamer is earnest in his approach to the game, in the same way that an evangelical is earnest about saving souls. This is a player who isn’t content to simply optimize his own character, but expresses an aggressive desire to help you with yours.
What Does Not Kill You
When I was sitting in my room, working out the battles, it all seemed so easy, so clean, so antiseptic. The party needed so many thousand experience points, so I divided that amount by the number of encounters remaining, spent my budget to buy the monsters, and then we’ll all roll initiative. Somewhere in all that preparation, I forgot about evaluating for fun.
Crafting Your Adventure
How about that for a title? It’s pretty audacious, acting like I’m about to deliver some sort of authoritative how-to guide. The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced that a better title would be, “Crafting MY Adventure,” and still better, “Crafting This One Adventure Once.”
Arena 4e
Arena 4E is a fast-paced combat game for two or more players, and it can be played as a bloody free-for-all, a team vs. team cooperative effort, or any other combination.
The Almighty Player
Excuse me, but could I have just a few moments to talk to the players out there? If you’re a DM, with your level-plus-four encounters, your killer dice that never roll below 15, and your behind-the-screen smirk, I’d just ask you to step out of the room for a little while so I can address the players… okay, are they gone? Good.
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