Nick interviews D&D Creative Manager Chris Perkins about being a killer DM, running D&D for celebrities, and making your NPCs memorable by doing voices.
Inq. of the Week: A Whole Lot of Class?
Martial Power 2 comes out tomorrow, and having gotten a look at the book I am very disappointed that my current party does not have any martial classes at all out of eight players, not even through multi-classing. This has led me to wondering exactly which classes all of you are playing and as a result which classes are the most played and which don’t get that much love.
Critical Hits Podcast #17: Demolishing the Edition War – Roleplaying in 4e Seminar
Matt James of Loremaster, David Phillips, and myself gave a talk at synDCon 2010 about the origins of the Edition War in D&D, using skills for magical effects, why combat might be prevalent, tips for using skill challenges to increase roleplaying, and more.
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.
Review: “Underdark”
The latest 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons supplement from Wizards of the Coast is simply titled Underdark, and it contains all kinds of information and fleshed out details on the entire realm for which it is named. This book is along the same vein as The Plane Below book on the Elemental Chaos, but the Underdark is a subterranean realm just beneath the surface of your game world and so will always be more accessible than the other planes to your players and their characters.
What? You want to Sleep here?
I don’t like random monsters. On the other hand, the idea of having players sweat for their extended rest could be worth exploring once or twice in a campaign. This is especially true if your group chronically blows their wad of dailies in the first encounter and then just assume they can take an extended rest wherever they please. So, what if you said ‘Yes’ to resting in a dangerous area (like in the middle of a freaking dungeon) but did it with a twist?
Critical Hits Podcast #16: Creating Challenging Encounters Seminar
Matt James of Loremaster, Erik Nowak of Blackdirge Publishing/Goodman Games, and myself gave a talk at synDCon 2010 about creating challenging encounters in 4e. Everything from reverse skill challenges to Beholder tunnels to fighting Orcus at level 1 is covered.
Inq. of the Week: Age of Dragons
Last weekend, while at synDCon, I managed to get into some quick demos of the Dragon Age tabletop RPG run by Hal of Green Ronin. I left with boxed set in hand, so expect a full review coming sometime soon after I get a chance to pour over it, but suffice it to say we couldn’t help but swap some stories about playing the video game.
Gears of Ruin: The Ruiner’s Gambit, Session 1, Part 4
The Titan Clank hit by the Avenger’s abjure undead power was eventually bloodied. In a cloud of greasy smoke, it stopped functioning and let out a badly battered undead humanoid made of mismatched stitched parts! It was wearing some sort of military leather harness filled with poisoned knives!
Ecology of an Icon: The Ultimate Team
Bursting forth through an eruption of turf and soil, an iconic visage bears down upon its prey with terrifying speed and precision. The Umber Hulk mounted Bullette (referred to as the Umber Bullette) has been an iconic presence within the RPG world for years now, but how these two seemingly savage and completely different creatures came to coexist has only recently come to light.
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