Dragonlance D&D Game Blog

After the last session , Duncan and Ataraxia found themselves in an empty cave, having cleared out the bat swarm that lived here. In a small make-shift cell, they found a young human male, who had been gagged and his hands and fingers tightly bound. After freeing the thankful young man, he said that his name was Embreth, that he was a young apprentice wizard, and had been taken prisoner recently by the kobolds while in route to Saltmarsh (he was on the same road carriage that Erik Frause was on). In addition to the kobolds here, the leaders of the tribe were actually a nasty hobgoblin called Crookneck, and a few other hobgoblins who served as his lieutenants. Embreth also mentions that two other humans he had been traveling with were somewhere else in the cavern. Embreth was isolated as Crookneck clearly discerned that the young man was a mage. Though Crookneck took the mage's spell book, and most of his spell components, Embreth still had enough components to cast a few of hi...

With the lack of D&D 5e modules currently out on the market, I find myself running more older edition modules, and convert the creatures up to the latest version. Two new websites I've recently come across help greatly with the problems and issues that come out of conversions. First, why the new Monster Manual is a great resource of your 5e game, and chock full of all the classic monsters you could be looking for, not everything from past editions is in the book (nor could it be, without ending up looking like the unabridged Oxford English Dictionary. So if you're older edition module calls for a creature not yet stated in 5e terms, or you have your eye set on a particular monster from an old favorite book, what can you do? With that in mind, I offer the following web page: http://brentnewhall.com/games/1e5e.html Here, the author has set up a nifty little utility for converting 1e and 3e monsters into their 5e equivalents. Fill out a few fields and you get a eas...

Last post we looked at some simple Lego ideas for chairs. As a companion to that posting, let's look at the next logical piece of gaming scenery -- the table. A table can be just as simple as a chair, all you really need is some size brick and a slightly larger plate (or tile). You can make small tables using just 1x1 bricks and 2x2 plates, and thankfully these pieces come in almost every possible color you could want, but I find this structure is usually top heavy and doesn't stand up well to the casual dings a gaming table can take during a game session. If you really need a small table like this, consider using a Scala Base brick , as the "feet" on the bottom of the piece provide a bit more stability. But more common tables are 4x4, 4x6, or 4x8. And with these, you have some options for the table base, either just a simple brick (like a 2x2 or 2x4 underneath the tabletop, or 1x1 bricks for legs, 1x1 round bricks, archs, or even stacking 1x1 round p...

Seems tis the season for projects to go belly up. Last week the UpWorks KS was shutdown, with a note saying that it would probably never be revived.  This week is word that Dungeonscape, the Dungeons and Dragons 5e online toolset from Trapdoor Technologies, was cancelled by Wizards of the Coast, and that the existing beta would be shut down shortly. Dungeonscape, originally announced as Project Morningstar, seemed to be on track for a 2014, or early 2015 release, and while they only had a character creator available for the beta, the application had received high praise from those who used it. Prior to this announcement, there was no indication that the project was in any jeopardy of being released.  This marks yet another failure of Wizards to release software in a timely manner for their table top games going all the way back to second edition. Second edition software, released manny years after the hardback edition of the rules, was plagued with content bugs and included a ...

Monsters are the life blood of any good Dungeons and Dragons game. How many past stories do you tell that hing on encountering the imposing dragon or the horrific lich? There are plenty of Monster Manuals and Bestiaries available for you to choose from, but every so often you may want something original. For new monster inspiration, I often look to Animal Planet and other nature channels and websites. Recently, I can across a web channel Earth Unplugged and a great video about Bizarre Animals. Check this out if you want some ideas for easily tweaking animals for your next adventure. Some of my favorites include the pig-nose turtle (possibly a companion to an underwater ranger, the pig-noose granting some bonus to perception), the thorny devil (lizard with thorny/sharp hide) and the blue dragon (sea slug). For the blue dragon, I envision a monstrous land based slug with tentacles (which naturally include grapple capabilities) and maybe an ability where if it is hit with poison...

I'm sad to report that the Upworks KS that launched a few weeks ago has been cancelled by the project creators, citing personal reasons. Not only has the KS been cancelled, but the company has already sold the Upworks domain (and moved over to Upworksgames.com), in an attempt to recover some of their costs of the project so far. From the updates on the KS page, it doesn't look like Upworks will be starting up anytime soon. In the meantime, the Miniature Building Authority KS is still in full swing, and close to quadrupling their funding goal, with 4 more days to go. If you're looking for some castle pieces for your game, this might be worth checking out.

I saw a recent post of an article about Dungeons and Dragons from 1985. It includes all the typical D&D-hysteria, and quotes from all the usual suspects, like Patricia Pulling and Thomas Radecki . What I found surprising about the article was the fact that at least some nod was paid to journalistic balance, in the form of positive comments about D&D from The Association for Gifted-Creative Children, Steven Spielberg, and Dr. Joyce Brothers. Check out the article yourself here . For some previous posts about D&D Controversies, check out this list .

After the events of the last adventure , Duncan and Ataraxia decided to follow up on the rumors they had previously hear about even more kobold activity in the area. Traveling northward in the Southern Dargaard Mountains, the duo came across a lone man hanging upside down from a tree calling out for help. The man appeared exhausted and weakened from being out in the elements for days. After being rescued, the old man explained that he was a passenger on a road carriage heading for Saltmarsh. The man, who identified himself as Erik Frause, was in route to the city on behalf of his employee, Diam uth Wathor. He traveled with several other people, including a young boy, a pair of men he recognized as Oswald and Hubert Fastralli (sons of a wealthy gem merchant from Saltmarsh), and the carriage driver. When the carriage was attacked, Erik was thrown from the vehicle and beaten by a group of kobolds. They then stripped him and hung him upside down from the tree. Erik was able to see so...

As I've written about before , I'm a big fan of fantasy comics, and recently I had a chance to read the first Rat Queens collection: Rat Queens Volume 1: Sass & Sorcery . First let me state the obvious. This is not a book for young kids. The characters use "rough" language, there are references to drug use, and there might be more graphic violence than you would expect. It's a sword and sorcery comic, so I expect a certain level of violence, and being a comic, I expect it to be graphic. That said, if you think seeing one of the heroes covered in the blood spray of a slain enemy is a bit too much, this might not be the book for you.     All that said, I loved this book. It reads like an adapted D&D game in graphic form. The characters get their mission from the town guard as pardon for past minor crimes. This setup feels like the start of a game session, with the town guard serving as the DM and the mission objective seems like just the kind of a...

It seems it's been a while since Dungeons and Dragons 5e came out, which means it's a good time to round up some links you may or may not be aware of. Basic Rules Your first and most important link is here: http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules?x=dnd/basicrules Here you can get the latest version of the free Basic rules. Don't know what the Basic rules are? Basic is a free PDF which contains a subset of the rules from the 5e PHB. There's all the core rules need to create characters, advance those characters all the way up to 20th level, and everything you need for roleplaying and combat. So then, what's the difference between Basic and the PHB? The PHB has more--more race options, more class options, more spells, and finally PHB is the only place for the optional feat system, and rules on multiclassing. It represents a great way to let anyone try D&D for no money down, as you can use the Basic rules to create a dwarf fighter, or human ro...

If you're a fan of miniatures, and terrain, especially 3D terrain like Dwarven Forge, you should go check out the Upworks site now and get ready for their initial Kickstarter, starting Tues noon, Central time. Upworks is the latest project from Jeff Martin , the man behind True Dungeon, and the former president of Dwarven Forge. The site doesn't have a lot of information up yet, just some teaser pictures, but Upworks look to "build" on the quality and modularity of the Dwarven Forge concept by also allowing for vertical, multilevel displays, like a large castle, with walls, towers and roofs. Considering the success of the two Dwarven Forge kickstarters that Jeff helmed, I'm expecting an exciting offering, and plenty of stretch goals and add-ons... and here I thought my gaming budget was safe for a little while! You can follow Upworks on twtitter at @upworksgames , check out their site at: http://upworks.com/

After my talk at GenCon , I've become more and more interested in the idea of using Lego in table top games, and this new ongoing feature will spotlight some simple, easy ways you can add bricks to your adventures. Before I jump into my first idea, I want to address the obvious question "why?", what does Lego add to my games that I don't already have? I would respond with a counter question. What does Dwarven Forge and Hirst Arts add to your game? What do minis , tokens , and battle maps add to your game? In all cases, I see those tools adding greater immersion in your game, and facilitating a clear understanding of what exactly is going on. When you set down a battle mat of a forest clearing, your players are not going to mistake that for a dungeon dwelling. And when you lay down a trio of mountain trolls , players are not going to mistake them for lizard men. Lego can do the same thing, but with one other key benefit, they are customizable and reusable. W...

I was recently thinking about Lego and Dungeons and Dragons (maybe because of my recent GenCon speech ) and remembered that there were supposed to be more waves of the figures from Kre-O. After a little Google-fu, I came across a few images of the figures, as shown below. There are definitely a few interesting things I see. Pros The lizardman (back row, left) look interesting (if maybe a bit too much like the Star Trek Gorn ). I'll certainly try to pick up a few of these. There appears to be a drow (back row, left of center) with a new hair piece and crossbow. Back middle figure is some kind of succubus, with some unique looking wings. We'll have to see how they stack up to the Brickwarriors wings or Lego wings . Back row, far right, looks to be a wizard/cleric. I like the neck guard and hair piece. The mummy figure (front row, left) is a new figure for the line and is wielding a new weapon. The ghost figure looks great, and it appears he has a spider accessory ...

If you haven't already heard, Sean K Reynolds has a blog post talking about Female-Friendly Campaigns, with some do's and don't's. It's something I think every GM and player should read and try to take to heart.  I'm pretty sure that each and every one of us has at some point in our lives felt excluded or out of place in a social situation. At the heart of most RPGs is a group of folks working together, as a team, to overcome a great obstacle. Why wouldn't we try to be that same way in our real lives, especially when dealing with people interested in the same cooperative games we love and enjoy? I hope you'll spend a few minutes reading this important post here ( http://seankreynolds.wordpress.com/2014/09/08/gamer-talk-a-female-friendly-campaign/ )

A friend of mine (the same one who did this wonderful custom terrain video ) recently entered a scratch-build mini contest on http://dmscraft.proboards.com and won. Since dmscraft requires registration, he's allowed me to repost his winning entry here... ====== I entered a contest for building a miniature from scratch, and actually won, haha! Contestants had one month to build the mini, and the rules stipulated that entries must include a tutorial. Since this was the first mini contest, there was no specific theme. Here's my entry: SPINAL OOZE This guy is based off one of my favorite World of Warcraft monsters, Blizzard's version of the Black Ooze: I loved how they had a skull, spine and debris stuck in them and could bite. In my version, they collect a couple of spines and connect them together to extend their reach, like a support structure. This explains why the skull is so far from the ribcage in the photos below. Ok, let's get to it... Started with ...

Another GenCon is over, and so it's time for me to do a little recap of how this year was the best year yet (and it was). Day Zero (Wed) First off, I had planned to do daily updates of my experiences at the con, but that didn't happen. I ended up with either too many late night games, or too many early morning events to find the time. Maybe next year I'll at least be better about live tweeting during various events. Anyway... I got into Indy on the Wednesday before the con, around early afternoon. The drive in (shared by me and one of my oldest friends from Philly) was nice, but once again we missed a crucial turn off onto the downtown roads and had to take a slight shortcut. The problem seems to be with my GPS not being up to date with the current traffic pattern of the area. I mention this only because this is the third year in a row that we drove to Indy, and this was the third time in a row that we missed the same exit. Sadly, a large part of the reason for wan...

I was lucky to see some of the new D&D minis that have just started coming out at this year's GenCon, but not all of them. Here's a full gallery, including some ultra rare invisible minis that I didn't even know about. Here's the link to the page displayed above: http://www.minisgallery.com/dnd/dnd1.htm

So, after the finale of the Dragon Island saga, our gaming group had some changes in real life. One of the players was moving out of town, one seemed to be more interested in running a Mage campaign, and so on. That put me back to the unenviable position of having to rebuild the group. Luckily, I did have one player still around (Mike), and after a couple of months of searching I had one more. I was hoping to get at least three to restart the game, but rather than keep the two I did have waiting around (and potentially dropping out before I even got started), I decided to start with just two PCs (along with an NPC character I would run as needed). Even though Mike already had a character in the game (Hunter, a 7th level ranger), I didn't want to start this game at such a high level, so I asked Mike if he would bring in a new 1st level character for the time being. The idea was that when this new party (along with any new players) reached a high enough level, we could have th...