Dragonlance D&D Game Blog

Landfall The issue starts with Riva and Fizban on a boat out in the middle of the ocean, in the middle of a storm. It seems Riva is on this boat as part of a mission from the knighthood for her to prove her obedience to the order. Fizban also has a mission for Riva, instructing her to bring her love of goodness, justice, and mercy to the continent of Taladas, a continent of Krynn that hasn't known those virtues for centuries. Before her boat crashes into the rocky shoreline, Fizban teleports the warrior and her magical dragonlance onto the dry plains of this new land. Nearby, Riva sees two people on horseback (a man and gnome) being chased by a huge group of warriors. The two are so desperate to evade the chasing legion, they push their horses to leap over a huge chasm. On the other side of the chasm, they are confronted by a one-handed minotaur named Axantheas riding atop a blue dragon. The minotaur focuses on trying to kill Griffin, the human warrior, while Skrum rides his horse...

As Qualar wandered the dank dungeon alone, he could almost hear the call of the ancient magical treasures surely contained within. He skulked along the walls like a rat, peeking into the room with caution. But the pull, the promise of great power was too much. He entered. . . and came face to face with a basilisk. Several hours later when the party found him (for Qualar wasn't going anywhere now) they began to wonder what they would do with a petrified party member. A long (long) time ago, I started working on an article based on a real-game event (real-life sounds strange when talking about imaginary characters). I wanted to come up with 101 uses for the PC after he was petrified, but ended up falling short. Use him as the figurehead of a boat Use him as a decoy Use him as a pole to hold up a tent Use a reduce spell to turn him into a finely detailed figurine Use a reduce spell to turn him into a bullet for a sling/staff sling Shatter him into pieces (and thereby destroying any ch...

As someone who runs a lot of pre-made modules, some of my best DM tools are Post-it Notes and Note Cards. The best things about the Post-It notes "stickies" are that they come is all different shapes and sizes. They also come in all different colors, but I'm too lazy to come up with any kind of color-code system. In the modules I'm running, I use the small stickies to remind me of key information I might need during a session. If a certain piece of terrain has a unique effect or associated DC to cross, I'll write up a small note with the DC and/or effect. This makes it a lot easier than having the re-read a paragraph in the middle of the game to get all the details (monsters and traps are usually easy to find in a glance, but sometimes even these too need a little reminder). Larger notes can be for listing out a creature or NPC battle plan (round one: fireball. round two: silence on the mage, etc), or I'll rewrite the "read aloud" text. I may need to...

You ever wonder what would happen if Celebrity Poker and Dungeons and Dragons ran into each other like an early 80's commercial for Reece cups? Luckily you don't have to wonder any more. Here's on idea of how a celebrity session might play out: and for some color commentary on the game session:

This issue contains two stories, one featuring Myrella and the other with Riva Silvercrown. Sadly, the two tales are separate, so Riva and Myrella never actually meet. The Sorceress' Apprentice This short tale is any early adventure of Myrella before her first appearance in issue 5 . The would-be mage is in a forest with another mage, Jenque, planning to assault the nearby castle of Borgys, who is also a mage. It seems that Borgys is in possession of the staff of Ethys, and plans to use the magic item to raise an army of undead and conquer the local province. Jenque can't enter the castle as the old mage has cast a protection spell around his stronghold. Jenque asks Myrella to sneak in and destroy the amulet Borgys wears. The amulet is a component of the protection spell that keeps her at bay. Myrella is at first nervous, but knows she needs to prove herself if she wants Jenque to accept her as an apprentice. With only a few basic spells, Myrella enters the castle. Coming acro...

One of the things I love most about D&D has nothing to do with character classes, or magic items, or any of that. What I love most about the game is that at it's core, it's a cooperative experience. The players and DM work together to tell a story, one that neither one could have told on their own, but one that exists only through the collaboration of all the people involved. In real life this occasionally happens too; a chance or an opportunity to collaborate on the larger story of life. Sadly this tale starts with a man hoping for a little assistance, help from a group of virtual strangers and willing to offer a reward for their generosity and compassion. In this case it's a story all too common these days. Without medical insurance and in need of cancer treatment for his wife, the bills have added up to an epic level. And now he seeks our help. Please read his story in his words: http://tinyurl.com/n94phr Now is the time for all of us to put down our pencils, and set...

If you're a Dungeons and Dragons fan, you probably talk the talk. Well, now it's time to walk the walk. I'm sure you have some collection of game related t-shirts in your closet or drawer. I personally have the Choose Your Weapon tee along with at least one TSR tee adapted from a classic module cover. But now it's time for the latest in gamer clothing... your footwear. Seems there's a contest going on right now to design a D&D sneaker. Top prize includes $1000. For more on the contest and a gallery of current submission, check out the RYZ site .

Pictures of the miniatures in the next D&D set, Legendary Evils , confirm that two creatures exclusively from the Dragonlance setting will be included. This new set will feature minis for both the Aurak and Sivak types of draconians. Previously, the Dragoneye set included minis for the Baaz and Kapak draconians. Now all I need is for them to create a Bozak figure to round out the set. Interestingly the Baaz and Kapak are the two weakest and the Aurak and Sivak are the two strongest, leaving the Bozak to suffer middle-child syndrome. Another exciting bit of news about draconians is that one of the new source books will include 4e stats for these creatures. I haven't heard yet if the book will also include rules to play Baaz and Kapak, like the 3.5 edition of Dragonlance did. All of these little bits are leading some to think that Dragonlance will be the new 4e setting for 2010 (last year was Forgotten Realms, this year is Eberron). While I hope it is Dragonlance, I wouldn't...

After using the Gem of Amara to shatter the bones of the Black Scourge and disperse his ghostly form, the party spent some time with Greybear and the local druid circle resting and healing from their adventure. After a few days, they bid farewell to their druid friends and journeyed back to Dun Eamon for training and to seek out Elinda Bannon 's aid. The mage in residence for the town had helped the party in the past, and hopefully she could shed light on how to deal with the dragon's bone shrapnel still embedded in their bodies. While it didn't hurt, everyone, except for Jesriel, felt a slight sensation where the fragment was. By the time they returned to Dun Eamon, they found that Elinda was out of town for the next few weeks. The party used that time to get supplies and train in their various skills. At the same time, Adow was summoned by the Wizards of High Sorcery to take his Test, the results of which were sometimes fatal . When Elinda returned, Hunter, Theo and Jesr...

And here I thought Twitter was just for staying in contact with friends, coworkers, etc... seems it can also be one pretty cool magic item for the 4th edition of D&D: http://allgeektout.com/2009/06/24/gituot/

A Winter's Knight This issue starts off with Riva, Darial, and Shaya meeting with Palin Majere at the Castle of the Dawn. She delivers the secret to the draconians undoing (as revealed last issue ), which turns out to be a magic scroll created by Takhisis. It was created in case the draconians became too power to keep under control. Palin casts the spell, which summons all draconians within a 200 mile area to travel to this location. The closer they get, the weaker they get, making them easy to defeat. This should effectively end their control on the area. Afterward, Riva talks about another great victory that happened here, Wistan Dawnbringer's final battle with the black robed wizard Ravenna... Wistan's tale picks up with him and two knights, Collum and Hagen, heading toward Ravenna's base over snow covered lands. Along the way they are confronted by a group of thanoi (commonly called walrus men). While the thanoi are usually in the coldest climates, the three year wi...

Clips from 1985 episode of 60 Minutes looking at the alleged harmful influence of Dungeons and Dragons in the murder/suicides of several teens. Part 2 ends with a follow-up on Dr. Thomas Radecki, who became involved in another controversy a few years later. Part 1 Part 2 Sadly, Pat Pulling died in 1997. I've found no information that she ever changed her opinion about the game or its effect on her son. As mentioned in the story, I suspect that this grieving mother may have needed something to blame for her son's unfortunate tragedy.