Dragonlance D&D Game Blog

My current D&D campaign uses the 3.5 rules. At the same time, I'm interested in the new 4.0 rules, but don't have a lot of experience playing it (other than a few D&D Encounters sessions at my FLGS). While reading up on the new system thanks to the Rules Compendium for 4.0/Essentials. When I came across the detailed description for Second Wind, I realized that this was something I could easily incorporate into my 3.5 game. One of the things that makes it easy to use a Second Wind-type mechanic is that my game already uses the Reserve Points optional rule (from Unearthed Arcana). I use this option since for most of the campaigns, I didn't have a full party, and even now, the group doesn't have a healing cleric. Since there isn't a steady pool of healing magic available, I think Reserve Points nicely fills that gap (and allows players to play what they want, instead of someone feeling like they must play the walking band-aid). Since players have this Reserve ...

Sadly, since I had to cut my Gen Con trip short, I wasn't around for the Saturday seminar where the folks from WotC announced a bunch of new products for 2011. But I did eagerly follow every Twitter link and blog post I could find. I had some initial reactions to the announcements, but decided to sit on them for a while before writing down my thoughts, and I'm glad I did, since some of my initial reactions changed the more I thought about it. One thing that didn't change was my sub headline for this blog post: 2011 - The Year Everything Changes Technically you could say that things are changing right now with regards to D&D 4e, but it wasn't until I saw the product list for 2011 that I realized that what we'll be seeing in the upcoming months from WotC for 4e sets the stage for the "new normal". What I'm specifically referring to are the game changes that will be part of the new D&D Essentials line. We've known about the Essentials line for...

Besides Castle Ravenloft , one of the other games I played this year at Gen Con was the Dungeon Delve. This was a short event, where a party of pre-gen characters goes through about two encounters in a one hour time limit. This year the pre-gens were all built using the upcoming D&D Essentials ruleset. For this very reason, I was greatly interested in trying this out to get a taste of how these characters would behave. For the one game I played (due to other commitments, I didn't have time to play the delve more than once), I chose to play the slayer (fighter). If you haven't already read about the slayer, check out the preview article posted on the official site. The one thing I really liked was the new Stance ability. This allowed me to modify my basic attack with either a stance that gave me +1 to hit, or one that granted +2 to damage. I think this is much better than the previous at-will powers, which effectively negated the need to ever use a basic attack. Also, the l...

Having been home from Gen now for two days (I had to cut my visit short as I had family obligations on Saturday), I thought I should jot down some of my experiences, and thoughts. Originally I planned to draft a long post covering all the things I saw, played, and thought during the three days I was there (from early Wednesday through late Friday), but rather than one catch all post, I've decided to write up a number of short posts, all under the "Gen Con Aftermath" title, on various topics related to the convention. Up first was the first game I played at the con... the new Castle Ravenloft board game. The first thing to note is that many of the game mechanics are based on the D&D 4th Edition game. Heroes are based on the races and classes from D&D--for the game, I played a Dragonborn Fighter, while the other players had similarly familiar races and classes. Each character had a stat card (on very thick card stock--the same as the dungeon tiles sets). On one side...

For the first time in a few years, I'm heading out to Gen Con. Thinking back, I realize that the last time I was there, was the release of 3e. But more than that, I realize that this is the first time I'm going to Gen Con in the social media era. Last time I went, there were plenty of email threads and web pages for this and that, but as I get ready this time, I realized that I'm looking at a variety of sources, from blog posts, and Twitter feeds, to YouTube videos and finding a wealth of ideas and suggestions that I hadn't thought. And not just the variety of info, but the ease with which I can go from a tweet, to a blog, to a podcast or video really made planning and prepping this year much easier than in the past. I don't know if other people are leveraging all the great info out there, but I certainly am, and I for one thank everyone who's posted a suggestion, or link, or video... see you in Indianapolis!

One of the few things I miss about the recent D&D groups I've been in or pulled together versus the first ones I started with, is the lack of female players. When I first started playing, I was lucky enough to be in groups that had such a great range of players, from experienced and new players, young and old, and male and female players. And while some of the female players were the typical "another player's girlfriend", just as many were players in their own right who left their boyfriends/husbands at home once a week to roll dice with the rest of us. Regardless of their motivation, I always found the female players brought a different perspective to the table, just like new players brought a unique outlook with them as well. Now that I'm pulling together my own group, I'm looking for players from a couple of online sites ( EN World , Pen & Paper Games , and a few lesser known places on the Internet), but I haven't heard from any female players.....

It's been a while since I did a Tools article, but during the last game session, it struck me how often I rely on this simple, but very handy device for bits of data at my fingertips. When I first started DMing, I only used the screen for it's most common function, to hide the adventure notes and roll dice. Now I find myself relying just as much for the information available on the screen as well. And right now, my favorite screen is the 3.5 DM screen from Goodman Games . What I find more surprising is that while I'm running a Dragonlance Campaign, I rely more on the Goodman Games screen than I do on the official Dragonlance 3.5 Screen . I've even tried the 3.5 screen from a Paizo-produced Dragon magazine. Interestingly, I never tried the office 3.5 screen from WotC, I never liked the idea of the panels being on their side, especially since I usually tilt the darn thing to read what's at the bottom on most screens. I actually wish screens were taller than their cur...

One of the things I really like about the Dragonlance setting is the wealth of detail the various developers put into the setting from it's earliest 1e days, all the way through it's 3.5 days (and for all you 4e players, your PHB3 Minotaur character owes more than a nod to the Dragonlance version going all the back to the 1e Adventures book Weis and Hickman co-authored). Case in point, when TSR created the War of the Lance sourcebox, the definitive 2e document for the Dragonlance setting, they added a lot of seemingly 'fluffy' details that had almost no game value. One thing along that line was a dwarven language called Hammertalk. The idea of Hammertalk is that dwarves, in their mountain cities, can communicate by using their hammers to bang out messages that can be heard over great distances. For me (and I'm sure I'm not alone), the first analogy I thought of was Morse Code . More recently, for my own campaign, I've been thinking of building a treasure map...

As the party listened to the offer put forth by the jarak-sinn shaman, Jesswin asked the question everyone was thinking. "Why do you want this?" "His pride threatens all the 'folk. I want our tribe to live, Shukak only wants power for himself," the shaman confessed. Jesswin talked quietly with the other party members before speaking again. "We may be able to make a deal, but we need one other thing from you?" "What do you need 'soft-skin'?" "You must leave the area and never return." After some time mulling it over, the shaman replied, "We will leave." As the party moved to free the prisoners in this room, they could see no female, let alone a wizard among them. The shaman added, "Shukak keeps the female in his chamber." The party continued to tend the prisoners in this room as as Jesswin continued speaking with the jarak-sinn. "Where is his chambers?" "Jus...

Artwork by aaronsimscompany on deviantART As the jarak-sinn made his threat , the party watched the sleeping, helpless form of Adow prone under the large sharp claws of this brutish leader. "You move; he dies!" the lizardman repeated. The blood from his earlier wounds covered his body in an inky sheen and left the creature weakened. Unsure if they could subdue the jarak-sinn before he attacked the mage, they kept talking; stalling. "What do you want?" "Leave here," the lizardman rasped. As he spoke, the party could see Adow had awakened but was unable to move from under the claws of the beast looming above him. "Ok... let us just take our friend and we'll leave..." After a few tense moments, the hulking jarak-sinn took a tentative step back. The party, in response, relaxed and began to sheath their weapons. Soon the jarak-sinn had retreated and the party was able to help Adow up. They quickly made for the exit and out for the lizard folk la...

There's been some recent news regarding D&D Comics that not everyone may have seen. Recently, there was a post on the blog Das-Ubernerd. The post included scans of some very early TSR (those were the folks who made D&D a lot time ago, go ask your parents or the old heavy set guy at your local game store) ads. The ads were for the Dungeons and Dragons game and appeared in the form of a full single page comic. Subsequent pages would continue the story of a band of adventurers in a dungeon. The artwork is awful, as is the dialog and plot, but I think these are the earliest D&D "comics", not to mention a great look into what the hobby was like back then--each ad includes a little order form to be sent through the mail to receive a full-color catalog; a far cry from the flash-movie, order-now and get next-day delivery world we currently live in. The other bit of comic news is much more recent. It seems as though IDW, a leading comic book publisher, has the rights t...

As I've mentioned before, I'm a big fan of LEGO , and on more than one occasion used LEGO elements in my game, from scenery pieces, to my LEGO centaur , as needed. A few months ago, I attended Brickfair, spending a lot of time in the "castle" area and taking plenty of pictures. While many of them did not turn out as I hoped (I'm a better DM than I am a photographer, at least I hope so), I did pull a few out that I think I'll be looking at again as inspiration. This person's layout was huge! I could have shot several dozen photos trying to capture all the elements, for example, the forest leads into an agricultural area, leading into a city, castle, port, ocean... you get the picture. I took pictures of the trees because that's one Lego element I like to incorporate in my games. As much as I like dungeon tiles and terrain maps, for trees and rocks, and other obstacles, they don't convey the full scope of the battlefield the way 3-d elements do, and ...

There's a new video series that recently started on The Escapist ( www.escapistmagazine.com ) called I Hit It With My Axe about a group of folks playing D&D. Since there's already plenty and plenty of YouTube clips chronicling this group or that in video format as they play their game, the hook here is that most of the players are also involved in the adult entertainment industry. That aspect has no real bearing on the series, other than the same "pique my curiosity" effect that keeps The Bachelor or Steven Seagel: Lawman on the air (for reasons that completely elude me). Right now there's two episodes available for viewing, each lasting a little more than 6 minutes. The video is not from the "set up the camera and record everything" style, but in fact is heavily edited with personal interviews mixed within the context of a game session. With that said, clearly this is shot in someone's cramped dining room (a non-player can be seen hanging out...

This summer one of the new D&D products coming out will be a new Starter Set, another in a long line of attempts to help bring in new blood to our favorite hobby. But this time I wonder if the goal is to bring in new players to the D&D fold, or bring BACK old players. Cover art for the new starter set doesn't have any of the art treatment we've seen for 4E products and instead, features a cover that doesn't just hearken back to a previous edition, but in fact is a direct swipe of an earlier product. Compare below, the art for the new starter set and the art for a 1e set. New Starter Set Previous Basic Rules Cover Other than the product title and the company logo, it's exactly the same. I'll be interested to hear how this product does and how many old school players just might pick up the dice once again.

As I've mentioned previously, inspiration for a DM should come from everywhere. So I recently came across a couple of links that got my DM senses tingling, and I thought I'd share some with you. Here's a link to an article about a huge cave covered in all sizes of crystals: http://news.discovery.com/earth/naica-big-pics.html It immediately got me to start thinking: Maybe a frost giant lair, with the huge crystal "logs" as the building blocks for structures in the cave. Or a lair where the crystals are difficult terrain for the PCs, but not for the flying creatures attacking them How about the erratic patches and crystal logs serve as cover, or obstacle. Maybe the attackers are well trained to use the formations to their best advantage--attacking from up high and sliding down a log and engaging in melee in the next round. Lastly, what if the crystals are highly reflective, disorienting the PCs by providing a natural equivalent to mirror image. Looking at these cav...

Big thanks to WolfStar76, who attended the 2010 Products Seminar at D&D Experience and jotted down some notes on what's coming out this year. 2010 Product Seminar Notes Some things have already been released, like Dragonborn and Underdark, but there's plenty of new items on the horizon, including all of the previously announced hints at GenCon 2009 . Since I'm still running a 3.5 game, my biggest interest is in the tile sets, particularly Harrowing Halls, the first 3D set, as well as the Dark Sun tile set (we can all use more dessert sets!), but I'm also interested in the Hammerfast location/adventure book and The Slaying Stone, a new 1st lv adventure. Maybe I'll be running some 4e before year's end... What new products are you looking forward to? Is there anything that's more interesting now that you might not have been so interested in before? Leave a comment and let me hear from you.

The other day I was in my FLGS, looking at the New Stuff rack. It's the first step in my ritual which usually takes me around the store, looking at d20, 3.5, and 4e books (in that order) before finishing up at the miniature rack with all those great Reaper minis that I don't have the time, or talent to paint. Anyway, while looking over the new products, I was pleasantly surprised to see something called The Dungeon Alphabet by Michael Curtis. It was new product, but had a great old-school cover (and I'm talking Erol Otus-old, not Jeff Easley-2nd-edition-old), and an even older-school price tag. At $9.99 for a hardback book, I certainly had to check this out. The store shrink wraps everything meaning I had to wait to get home before paging though it and also putting a strain on "F" of FLGS. The book clocks in at 48 pages, with a couple used for the TOC and other product advertising, and features a color cover by Erol. The interior is black and white with a ton of...

Eron's Keep It's been a while since my last comic review, so you might want to take a moment and read the synopsis for part one of this arc before continuing. This issue opens with a cleric, Bishop Trandemere, talking with his god, Hith about a silver dragon hatching ground, and the hope that they can get to the eggs before Erestem or Paladine. Meanwhile, Riva awakens in a cave, having a nightmare about the recent storm (see last issue ) and finds that everyone is safe and accounted for, including her dragon. Ktarrh tells Riva that he was summoned to this location, the silver dragon hatching ground, to convince his brethren to hide their eggs in more than one location for the safety of the silver dragon species. Riva then asks the same question I had been wondering, how they survived the shardstorm (again, last issue). Ktarrh mentions that they were brought here by Eron, someone Ktarrh wants her to meet. Elsewhere the rest of the crew works on repairing the ship while Griffin ...

I've been seeing a couple of different blogs, posts, etc about people's game space, from professional tables, like The Sultan , to decorated rooms, like this functional game room , or this decorated game room , to incorporating the latest hi-tech, like this finished tabletop projector , or this beta tabletop projector project. My question to you is: Are a lot of people using these elaborate setups? Is everyone now armed at the game table with a PC, open to your favorite e-character sheet, or Power Attack calculator and a steady stream of Twitter comments and photos? As a DM, I did go through the phase when I had a laptop at the table to track HPs and init, and auto roll for the monsters, but the software was way crappy back then, and my typing skills sucked so it took me a long time to enter info into the various screens. Most of all, I grew out of the computer phase because I simply missed the feeling I had when I first started playing. The sound of real dice rolling, scribb...

Here's a question for you: When you can't or aren't playing any D&D (for an extended time), what do you do to get your D&D "fix"? I've been thinking about this recently since I had to put my own game on extended hold while I took care of some real life issues (and then a whole bunch of other things came up that look to delay things even further). In the last few weeks, I've been wishing to roll the dice for a bit but I didn't have the time or any game to run for my current group. I guess it's not too surprising, but I've filling the itch with some video games. Right now I'm playing the D&D Tactics game for PSP. It was actually a gift for my last birthday (almost a year ago now), but I'm just getting around to seriously playing it... as serious as you can with the game; the interface is maddeningly frustrating and I would have given up earlier if I had a real game to run/play. I've also been catching up on my reading--not...

Just want to send a big Happy New Year out to everyone. I know I haven't written in a long while, unfortunately some really serious things have come up that I was NOT AT ALL prepared for. Here's hoping the new year will be better than the last one, and I should be able to get back on a regular posting schedule, as well as a regular playing schedule!