On Twitter, I give out little tidbits about D&D history as I know it or experienced it. You can get yours quickly by following me on twitter or emailing me with a question. I’ll also be archiving each month’s tweets here on Critical-Hits!
Rewarding The Risks
If you have ever thought that Pass or Fail was not a broad enough scale to cover the amount of scenarios that might occur from your players actions. The Risk Reward mechanic within may be what your looking for.
Early Friday Chat: Embarassing Campaigns, Geek Influences, and Kitchen-Sinking
Maybe it’s because my early gaming experiences were at science fiction conventions (which definitely included plenty of outside influences) that I do like to weave in plenty of “winks” into my campaigns and lift liberally from pop culture. And yet, at the same time, I’m clearly embarassed by some of the elements that have made its way into my campaigns.
Chatty’s 800th: Missed Opportunities and Future Projects
In this, my 800th post, I take a hard look at Wizards of the Coast’s Heroes of Hesiod, and its missed opportunity to tap into the tremendous potential of helping parents introduce kids to roleplaying. And I put my money where my mouth is . . .
Cleanings of Spring Dawning
This past week, my wife and I have been going through the house getting rid of old stuff. She enjoys freeing up space and seeing the house clean. I enjoy looking at my old stuff, reliving all the good times we had together, and almost weeping when I throw any of it away. And that’s not even talking about my boxes of AD&D 1E books from high school. SAVE VS PETRIFICATION.
Mailbag 4 – All By Myself, Part 1
Mike Shea asked me how I’d handle solos at upper levels so that they shine against powerful characters and skilled players. Over multiple Mailbag articles, we’re going to talk about solos, as well as what they can and should do for you.
An Undead History
Have you ever written a detailed and complex history for your campaign only to watch it gather dust as your players focus on the now and not concern themselves with the prior events of your campaign world? As a player, have you ever been intrigued by a campaign settings rich history only to find that your GM never uses anything from the campaign’s past? Providing interesting and detailed histories for your campaign can really help the world come alive on the table and within your players, however it is far to easy to create a detailed history and then focus on the current and future events of your game. This doesn’t have to be the case; some of the more interesting games and adventures can be fuelled by events that have happened in the world before your adventurers even arrived. Below is a detailed scenario in which new adventurers can become involved in a historical event that never concerned them.
The Briarthorn Needle, Gnomish Airship
The game’s action will occur entirely on board a Feywild grown, Clockwork-powered gnome airship called The Briarthorn Needle owned by ‘neutral’ fey privateers. The last warring factions of Sikkara (our Clockowork D&D gameworld) have agreed to meet on it to negotiate a peace accord and put an end to 8 years of global war.
Background Check
I’ve talked about investing some emotion in your character and, thereby, the game. As a follow-up, I suggested you seize the game by the horns. The “Play Boldly” article seemed more concrete, more useful, than the first. I thought about it, and I have more to say about giving your character traits and a history that make up a backstory.
The Gnomish Viral Music Box
Upon freeing themselves from the Fomorians, the gnomes knew that they could not rely on the other, more powerful races, to guarantee that they would not fall back into slavery. While many champions of the Gnomish causes have risen in the last centuries, the masters of trickery have created their own tricks to ‘convince” the world’s best heroes and scoundrles to help them.
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