Haven't DM'ed in a while, some questions for yeh

[Dr Midnight]

HIYA, I'm Dr Midnight. Around 2000 and 2001 I was a heavy poster around here. These days I only pop in about once a year to start a doomed story hour.

I don't play much. I haven't DM'd a game since last August, when I gave 4e a go. I'm about to take it on again for a 2 session game that will most likely be a truncated version of LAST BREATHS OF ASHENPORT in mid-June. So. Having been out of the loop for a while, I thought I'd just list some questions out here.

I'd like to avoid links to threads of long discussions or long lists of possibilities to look into. Ideally there'd just be a link or a paragraph of info and bang, problem solved. I know it's not likely... I'm on a messageboard.

1. My biggest problem with 4e is extended rests healing all damage. I hate it. I figure that by now someone must have hated it as much as I do and come up with an alternate system that's more like 3e without throwing off the balance all that much. I want being injured to be a problem, dammit.
   
2. Where can I go and find a repaired SKILL CHALLENGE explanation? My book still has the fractured description.
   
3. Wizards' site has an "ongoing free trial" and I want magazines. I'm logged in and clicking an issue's goodies asks me to subscribe. What the hell's going on there? Is it only the first four issues of Dragon and Dungeon's pdf runs, respectively? If so the "ongoing free trial" is worded a bit dodgily.
   

   Adventure awaits in our Magazine Archives with eight months worth of back-issues of Dragon Magazine, and Dungeon Magazine, including eight issues of all new content for your 4th Edition campaigns. These treasure troves of inspiration are free for everyone to download and immediately put to use.

4. What's the DDI subscriber content like, is it worth it? I may go in if it'll help my game. Hey, note to Wizards- you know how you made the character generator a downloadable program, and then how it, like any of your other software, is windows only? Thaaaaaaanks.
   
5. That brings me to my next issue. In 3e I made heavy use of Crystal Ball, which was really good Mac-based game software. Is there Mac-based 4e software out there? Good software?
   
6. In the module, I want to replace the denizens of Dagon with tentacles that come out of the sea, much like the watcher in the water LOTR scene or the kraken from 20,000 leagues under the sea. What 4e creature would match that... big tentacles that can grip, pick up and pull you, etc...

Thanks for your help.

 

[malraux]

1. Diseases mostly cover long term damage. Certainly the disease track is a way to model that sort of thing, though if you overdo it, it'll just become a residuum tax. I don't know of a system that modifies the extended rest rules though; I'm not sure many 4e players dislike it that much.

2. D&D Podcast: Skill Challenges (April 2009)

3. The free trial includes levels 1-3 of the compendium info and character builder info, plus several of the early magazines, which is how that quote reads.

4. If you DM, yes. Also VirtualBox

5. I use Word to organize my play notes and haven't had the need for much else.

6. Roper.

 

[Piratecat]

Consider dropping back to a Spycraft-style vitality point/wound point system, although I don't think it would add much to the game. I believe Rel also has a 4e house rule involving lasting wounds, but it hasn't come up very often.

WotC errata is here. The DMG has the revised rules on skill challenges. I also strongly recommend that podcast, though.

Other than the (incredibly good) character builder, I don't think the ddi is too useful for a 2 session game. I love it because the Compendium gives me instant access to monsters and items from every single official published source, and I don't need to buy new books in order to access the crunch. That's really useful for my campaigns.

For your Dagon monster, monster creation in 4e is both fast and easy. Post in 4e Fan Creations/House Rules, specifying the level, and someone might whip you up one.

 

[Nightson]

1. Just reduce how much you get back from an extended rest. Half hit points back (spend surges for more), and two-three healing surges (or half your maximum to punish defenders less). And as mentioned above, the disease mechanics can work to simulate long term injury.

 

[Obryn]

Oh, Dr. Midnight. You're still on CM, and you live on in macros, but I'll try and give you a hand.

My biggest problem with 4e is extended rests healing all damage. I hate it. I figure that by now someone must have hated it as much as I do and come up with an alternate system that's more like 3e without throwing off the balance all that much. I want being injured to be a problem, dammit.

There are a few ways to do it, but the cleanest is probably to limit characters' recovery of healing surges. Surges represent the "real" HPs in 4e, and when characters run out of them, panic really starts to set in. You can limit recovery to 1-2 per extended rest, maybe give a bonus one for having a Leader handy, and provide potions which can recover surges as well, if you want to bring back long-term injury that can be fixed with magical support.

You could also work this from the other way around, but it's more bookkeeping-intensive. You could have some sort of lasting injury system where each wound decreases your healing surge value by 1 until you get it healed. So, if you normally heal 10 on a surge, you'd heal only 9, 8, 7, or whatever. That could get rough to track, but it's another way of doing things, at least.

Where can I go and find a repaired SKILL CHALLENGE explanation? My book still has the fractured description.

The 4e errata has the "real" table, but imho it's a little too easy. Still, you can find better numbers there.

Wizards' site has an "ongoing free trial" and I want magazines. I'm logged in and clicking an issue's goodies asks me to subscribe. What the hell's going on there? Is it only the first four issues of Dragon and Dungeon's pdf runs, respectively? If so the "ongoing free trial" is worded a bit dodgily.

Yeah, it's just those issues. AFAIK, you can still subscribe for one month, slurp down all the Dragons and Dungeons to-date, update your Character Builder, and use them forever. I'd just spring for the $8 or $9; it's well worth it for a month. And if you love it, you can upgrade to a year.

What's the DDI subscriber content like, is it worth it? I may go in if it'll help my game. Hey, note to Wizards- you know how you made the character generator a downloadable program, and then how it, like any of your other software, is windows only? Thaaaaaaanks.

The Character Builder is the only part that's Windows-only. What, you're not dual-booting?

The other main tools are the Compendium and the Encounter Builder, both of which rock if you're making your own games. Like I said, subscribe for a month and check it out - it's worth it.

That brings me to my next issue. In 3e I made heavy use of Crystal Ball, which was really good Mac-based game software. Is there Mac-based 4e software out there? Good software?

Not that I know of, but I'm a PC.

In the module, I want to replace the denizens of Dagon with tentacles that come out of the sea, much like the watcher in the water LOTR scene or the kraken from 20,000 leagues under the sea. What 4e creature would match that... big tentacles that can grip, pick up and pull you, etc...

Depends what level you're running the game at. Sadly, I'm unfamiliar with that module. You could run it as a creature or as a Hazard, depending.

-O

 

[LostSoul]

In the module, I want to replace the denizens of Dagon with tentacles that come out of the sea, much like the watcher in the water LOTR scene or the kraken from 20,000 leagues under the sea. What 4e creature would match that... big tentacles that can grip, pick up and pull you, etc...

Which encounter is that?

I think that you'll find making up your own monsters is really awesome. Let me know what encounter that one is and I'll whip something up.

(I use Asmor's math cruncher to quickly generate the numbers for the monsters, and then I season to taste.)

 

[Asmor]

(I use Asmor's math cruncher to quickly generate the numbers for the monsters, and then I season to taste.)

I use Asmor's Monster Maker to generate all my monsters... and I hear it works on Macs and Linux now under Mono, too!

There are other alternatives, as well. There's a flash-based one in the bonus tools section for DDI subscribers, and DungeonMastering's got some "freemium" DM tools.

 

[Bumbles]

My biggest problem with 4e is extended rests healing all damage. I hate it. I figure that by now someone must have hated it as much as I do and come up with an alternate system that's more like 3e without throwing off the balance all that much. I want being injured to be a problem, dammit.

Ok, first, for a 2-session game, I really wouldn't try to make any changes, but play it straight. I'm not familiar with that scenario, but if you're playing that short of a game, there's no reason to really burden yourself (and your players) with a lot of changes to what is a fundamental part of the game.

If you ever do decide to set up a longer game, then you might want to talk with your Players about it, see if they'd like a change or not. And you'll at least have some experience with the rules as written before you go and change things.

In the module, I want to replace the denizens of Dagon with tentacles that come out of the sea, much like the watcher in the water LOTR scene or the kraken from 20,000 leagues under the sea. What 4e creature would match that... big tentacles that can grip, pick up and pull you, etc...

The Roper would seem to be the obvious choice, though it may not be level appropriate, it at least has some of what you might want.

 

[Agamon]

I use Asmor's Monster Maker to generate all my monsters... and I hear it works on Macs and Linux now under Mono, too!

I use Asmor's Monster Maker, too. It's pretty nifty. Tell him thanks if you see him.

 

[Rechan]

Speaking of tentacle dagon monsters - there's a Tentacle of Dagon in the "last Breath of Ashenport" Dungeon adventure that does exactly that.