Dragonlance D&D Game Blog

This sheet is great for a simple game where you've already decided to drop skills and feats out of the game (certainly doable in 5e). There is a small corner with a few helpful hints, but the white text on light purple background might be hard to read when printed. I was recently asked by a friend if I knew of any versions of the Character Sheet for D&D 5e geared toward kids. Seems he's teaching his children the game, and I applaud him for creating the next generation of D&D gamers. I've also been thinking of starting to teach my son, and maybe a few other kids the game, so I began looking around for alternate versions of the classic 5e Character Sheet that could be used with new players or kid players. I found a few that all seem to have some merit, so let me present my findings and you can decide for yourself. Some small, simplified sheets (not just for kids): The first is this nice simple sheet . The sheet has some color coding. It's a great she...

You probably already know, but to the few who don't, the latest Reaper Miniatures Kickstarter launched a few days ago, and is already off a great start. For more information, check out the link for Reaper Miniatures Bones 5 on Kickstarter. Previously, I passed on their Kickstarters for one reason only (2 actually): my painting skills are so poor and I don't think I would ever paint everything that comes in the core set in my lifetime. I occasionally picked up a few of the add-on sets in the past if it was something specific and unique that I wanted. On the other hand, this Kickstarter, like everyone of their previous ones offers a great value. With many (but not all) of the various stretch goals adding more value to the basic core pledge, you end up seeing your price per mini going down significantly by the end of the campaign. And on top of that, the add-ons give you some unique options for an additional extra cost, nice if you want larger quantities of something in the...

For obvious reasons, as I sit here to write a new blog post, the first in well over a year, I'm reminded of that classic rock song by the amazing band Boston It has been a long time, and a lot has been happening, some of it even worth writing about (at least I think so). The biggest event of the year was my regular visit to GenCon. As usual, the "Best Four Days in Gaming" did not fail to disappoint. As had happened before, this time I was on my own for the convention. Typically, when I go with friends, we usually try to play some games together, meet up for meals, and congregate for late night gaming. With none of that on hand this time, I took advantage of all the freedom to do a few new things. For past GenCon reports, check out these previous posts One of things I do to make GenCon fun and unique for me each year is to mix up what I do, and this year was no different. I did this in a couple of ways. One was to play a new game. This time I was able to g...

... Are Created Equal   I was recently reading I, Strahd: The War Against Azalin (inspirational reading while I run Curse of Strahd) and something mentioned in the book sparked an idea. In the book, Strahd creates a potion he plans to give to one of his human servants. After the human ingests the potion, the servant collapses, and Strahd fears he may have made the potion too strong. Later, he attempts to give a similar potion to a captured vampire enemy. This potion was crafted to be 10 times as strong as the previous one, knowing that it needed to be so potent to affect the vampire. This got me thinking about when PCs find vials of poisons in treasure hordes, which always seemed a little meta-gamey to me. Why would they be there, if not for PCs to find later? Why do I have a poison in my treasure looking like any other tasty little potion, if not for the "gotcha" to the player when their character drinks it. One way to rationalize this is to have the poison vial...

Speaking about Character... If you're a player or DM who likes being in-character, one of the best ways to help establish a character is through the use of a unique voice, one that is somehow different from your own nature voice. This can include something like a catch phrase. If you think of Wolverine and his use of the word "Bub" in relation to those around him, or The Thing and "It's Clobberin' Time" these are great ways to help you identify a bit about the character. Wolverine tends to be a man of few words, and more action, so "Bub" is a great line, and for the The Thing, "Clobberin' Time" makes him sound a bit uneducated, but also hints that he's not a bloodthirsty killer. Another way to help get that unique character voice is through the use of an accent. Here I must admit that accents are not my specialty, though I have be trying hard to keep the right accent for Count Strahd in my current CoS game. If you are ...

Since it's been a while between Game Session posts, you may want to refresh yourself with the last session, here , or review all previous Game Sessions, here . As mentioned in the previous session recap, our small party of heroes had been tasked with journeying to the Shrine of Sir Arden Brightheart to look for a group of pilgrims who had apparently gone missing recently. In the shrine, they found some of the pilgrims under a magical compulsion. Since these pilgrims posed no threat, the party left them alone and journeyed further into the shrine... Continuing down the well crafted hall, the party turned a corner and found a door along one wall and huge, ornate double doors at the end of the hall. Checking out the single side door, they found it locked, but could hear noises coming from within. After "picking the lock" forcefully with a dagger, they opened the door. Inside was a room dedicated to Sir Arden Brightheart's greatest achievement, the defeat of the nec...

If you are a terrain addict like me (wait, it's not an addiction, I can quit any time I want), there is a great Kickstarter you should check out: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1744629938/terraincrate-plastic-affordable-fantasy-terrain/description TerrainCrate by Mantic Games is in the last few hours of it's campaign. As you can see, there are offering a metric ton of terrain options, from Dungeon and Battlefield accessories, to add-ons from their popular Dungeon Saga product and a Dark Wizard's Tower pack suitable for any Dungeon or Castle sets you may already have. They've been blowing through stretch goals the whole campain, and look to be on target to raise about half a million. Regardless of what you might be looking for, I'm sure you can find something usable in the many different offering in this Kickstarter. Check them out today!