Though the game is made up of classes- which are intrinsic to the design of the system- you can try something new with your next campaign by getting rid of them altogether. Some sub-systems in 4th Edition will have to stay, such as those for purposes of multi-classing and the feats and powers associated with them. But for the most part, you can choose to just simply get rid of all classes.
Gears of Ruin: The Phantom Rails, Part 2
As the party schemed, hidden behind a pile of Warclank (i.e clockwork mechas) spare parts near the gigantic pile of humanoid corpses, the ghouls and blasphemes continued their Dance Macabre, the ghouls trying to snatch pieces of relatively fresh “meat” from the pile while the reconstructed undead kept them at bay with beams of death-laced energies.
D&D Tips from Mass Effect 2
Today we’re going to take a look how the action RPG Mass Effect 2 can make our games better as well. I will warn that, while I don’t plan on any direct spoilers in this review (omg, I can’t believe they blew up the Citadel!) I might step into the story just a little bit. If you want to be 100% spoiler free (Woo! You sleep with Miranda) you may want to read this when you’ve finished getting most of your crew killed by giant Aardvarks.
Critical Hits Podcast #19: 4e DMing Tips Seminar
Lead by Mike Shea of Sly Flourish, joined by Matt James of Loremaster and Dave The Game (myself), the last seminar from synDCon 2010 was about tips for DMs, primarily for 4e D&D but also some tips for GMs of all RPGs. The first part focuses on how to plan a game (and the creative process in general) and the last part talks about tips for running at the table, including ways to run initiative and track conditions.
Gears of Ruin: The Phantom Rails, Part 1
The one rule I gave myself was “Shape the adventure based on the questions your players ask you” and “When in doubt, ask for a skill check”.
It worked wonderfully. So much so that my first true sandbox dungeon adventure probably felt like a seamless linear adventure narrative to my players who probably thought they were just following the path I had made for them.
Video Interview with D&D Creative Manager Chris Perkins
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.
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.
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.
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!
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