Last Thursday, I took the reins of a brand new D&D group. I had some nerves going into this. There’s the “just like climbing the rope in speech class” pressure of getting up and performing in front of people, and I also felt it necessary to up my internal drama ante a little by thinking “you are personally responsible for everyone’s fun at this table they will probably want the next five hours of their lives back NO PRESSURE.” — But I’m better now. Read on to see how it all went down.
Weird and Stubborn: A Tale of Omnipotence
This week, I undertake my first serious effort to run a campaign as a Dungeon Master in over 20 years of playing D&D. Will I succeed? Or will it be just like that one time when the things happened? Oh, God. The things! The THINGS! I wonder if I can just roll a Bluff check and have it work out OK in the form of a montage…….
The Architect DM: Open Spaces Design Toolbox
As I introduced in my last post about improvisation, I believe that the key to being able to design a location (whether beforehand or on the fly) is grounded in what I’m calling your toolbox for design. The key is that once you have a well developed toolbox to pull ideas from, you can more readily and quickly design a location for your tabletop Roleplaying Games on the spot or adapt your planned locations to fit the developing needs of the game table. An underlying goal of this series of posts is to help you develop the toolbox required so that you will be able to accomplish this task with relative ease and a good amount of confidence.
D&D Trivia Archive May 2010
On Twitter, I give out little tidbits about D&D history as I know it or experienced it. This means I might not always be right, but at least it’s interesting. You can challenge me on twitter or by email.
Here’s the May 2010 D&D trivia archive.
Let Me Tell You About My Campaign: Age of Awakening
About two months ago Dave decided to tell you about his campaign – the setting, world, how it all began, characters, planning, and some of his house rules. He set me up to share about my campaign also, as a large part of planning for both of our games was done together. In fact his game is being run in a world that I designed and handed over for him to take and expand upon as he saw fit.
Being a Good New Player
So often the focus of my articles is DMing. However, in a few short weeks I will be doing something unusual: joining The Game’s regular D&D game. I’m going to run through the considerations of making a character for a game that has been run for a considerable time (the party is starting off paragon level).
Everyone Remembers Their First [DM]
Most of us can trace back our D&D gaming lineage to a single Dungeon Master. That’s not to say we hadn’t played before or more often with others, but our friend Abe made an indelible mark on all of our gaming consciousnesses. This article examines our early gaming experiences with Abe and considers how they affected my current notions on role-playing and D&D.
The Pain of Campaigning IV: Put a Little Politics in it
One of the hallmarks of my DMing style is the political element. My games tend to focus on character development and overarching story, with combats serving to accentuate those aspects. One of the key fuels for this kind of game are nations, kings, countries and gods all jockeying for position. It is crucial in this style of game to involve the players in the details without overshadowing them.
The Perfect DM
According to players, the Perfect DM should be able to… Create an evocative world with every tiny detail thought out for whatever the players decide to investigate or whichever NPC they decide to converse with. Be able to improvise an entire adventure based on the whim of the players, in case they decide they don’t […]
Inq. of the Week: Play to the DM
Last monday, to wrap up our Unofficial Review Weekend, Dave’s poll asked which Nick Fury was the better Nick Fury, Sammy J or David Hasselhoff. An overwhelming majority of 76% thought that Samuel L. Jackson made a better Nick Fury, while 15% thought the Hoff was best (and more true to the original comic Fury), […]
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