A minion is a tiny onion used for flavor, especially in soups. That’s what my father told me when I was a kid. Even then, though, the D&D game had imparted enough for me to see the lie and the humor. In fact, if analyzed closely, this quip from dear ol’ dad, and my assimilation of it, might explain a lot about me. Talk about analysis paralysis.
A DM’s Look at D&D Essentials
Like many of you, I was very interested to hear more about D&D Essentials. A lot of people whisper the threat of “D&D 4.5” and narrow their eyes as they grab a hold of their wallets for fear that Mike Mearls will pluck it out of their hands. We have a lot of questions rolling around in our heads. As primarily a dungeon master, I have a lot of questions about what this will do to my game. Today we’re going to take a look at what D&D Essentials could mean for us dungeon masters.
For Your Ennies Voting Consideration
Voting opens today, and we’d really like you to vote for us as Best Blog. We were nominated last year too and lost to fine competition, and this year’s competition is easily as fierce. Thus, we’re presenting this post that highlights some of our content over this past year that we believe qualifies us to be Best Blog.
Fiasco, It’s Not
I’m here to report as a Fiasco player. I played with four other veteran gamers, a few among us industry pros. Logan Bonner got us together and learned the rules with us. For the record, I have read on bits of the Fiasco rules, so this report is purely experiential and relies heavily on my memory of events. I’m also trying out a Chatty DM style post for a change.
Interview: Steve Townshend, D&D Freelancer and Co-Author of “Demonomicon”
Steve Townshend is a freelance writer (both for D&D and his own fiction) and actor living in Chicago. We recently had the chance to interview Steve over email about the release of the new D&D Demonomicon book, of which his name shares the cover with Mike Mearls and Brian R. James. We also asked him about story in D&D games, a subject with which he has a lot to say.
Sly Flourish’s Dungeon Master Tips eBook
This is 73 pages of solid DMing advice from start to finish. As the book says up front, this isn’t a guide for the brand new DM. Nor is it an in-depth guide to higher level DMing/storytelling concepts like Robin Laws’s book: most topics range from several paragraphs to a single sentence. For DMs who have been playing 4e D&D for a bit and are looking to get a variety of tips to improve their game, this is the book to get.
2010 Ennie Nominations Announced (with Recommendations)
It’s that time of year again, when the big RPG award nominees of the year are announced, after careful consideration and selection by a panel of judges voted on by the community. The full list of nominees for the year are available on their site. And of course, we’d like to call out our new favorite category…
Canon Fodder
In a Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting context, canon can be defined as imagined world history up to just a moment ago. It can also encompass dozens of smaller stories, as with the Forgotten Realms setting and its embracing of novels as canon. Game setting canon can also include differences from core assumptions. Defining differences can make a game world stand apart from its peers. You just have to be careful where you point your canon.
Magic 2011 Core Set Preview
The new core set for Magic: The Gathering (M11) is set to release in just over a week, and we’ve received a few preview cards just like we did with the previous set Rise of the Eldrazi. I am currently an extremely casual M:tG player and seeing the new sets that come out usually means two things for me, the first is that my friends and I will most likely try to plan a booster draft in the coming weeks and the second is that I absolutely love seeing how the game has changed since I started playing it.
Mailbag 8—All By Myself, Part 5
This final piece is all about the competition for your solos—the players and their characters. You design encounters to challenge those others at your game table, so almost all of this series has really been about them anyway. Rather than the mechanics of making and using solo creatures, this section focuses on engaging players, and keeping them that way, and allowing characters to shine against a solo.
Recent Comments