4th edition "Black belt DM's Guide": best of the internet

[surfarcher]

Yeah and you could just let in any enworlders level 9 or higher too <j>

 

[wedgeski]

I think this is an excellent idea. I have (or had) a bookmark on ENW which was a compendium of DM'ing advice threads. There was some amazing work in there but it quickly became too huge and unwieldy to use effectively... a distilled version for 4E would be just the job. I'd certainly consider contributing!

 

[Quickleaf]

Anyway, I like the idea. It would be great to have a resource like this. If you're looking for a pre-made wiki to work with, I've had good luck with http://www.wikispaces.com.

Cool, thanks.

That said, it might be easier to start off with a blog. And once you have a decent set of posts, you can start thinking of how to organize it in a wiki.

Yes, I was thinking this thread would help me organize the resources to start with, maybe putting together a hyperlinked PDF once I have a good list and/or a blog, before finally setting up a wiki resource.

Yeah and you could just let in any enworlders level 9 or higher too <j>

Totally. Wait...I'm not even 9th level! Does that mean I couldn't contribute to my own wiki?

I think this is an excellent idea. I have (or had) a bookmark on ENW which was a compendium of DM'ing advice threads. There was some amazing work in there but it quickly became too huge and unwieldy to use effectively... a distilled version for 4E would be just the job. I'd certainly consider contributing!

Totally, my thoughts exactly. Hey if you ever dig up that link let me know, there could be some diamonds hidden in there!

 

[Quickleaf]

Before I set up a blog I'd like to get input on organizing all this information. The way I see it there are challenges that continuously pop up for 4e DMs, and this seems to be the breakdown.

Please let me know if you'd add any categories!

Adventures
Price of extended rests

Combat
Goals besides "kill all monsters"
Tracking conditions, marks, zones, and more
Fast skirmish-scale combats

Conditions
Stunned...but still having fun
The power of UTEOYNT vs save ends
Lingering conditions using disease track

Digital DMing
Battlemaps and projectors
4e Software
Apps on iPhone and iPad

Monsters
Monster design tips: best of
Quick & dirty MM3-ifying old stat blocks
Minions: creating and when to use
Solos: creating, lairs, multi-stage battles

Skill Challenges
Skill challenge design tips: best of
Bridging the narrative-mechanics misalignment
Introducing strategic choices
Jumping track: homebrew skill challenge rules

Resources
DDi
Favorite D&D sites/blogs

 

[moxcamel]

Cool, thanks.
Yes, I was thinking this thread would help me organize the resources to start with, maybe putting together a hyperlinked PDF once I have a good list and/or a blog, before finally setting up a wiki resource.

PDFs are great for published works, but I would not be a big fan of a PDF. I'd rather have something I could reference online without the baggage that comes with a PDF.

Going back to the Wiki idea, you wouldn't even need to PDFify it. You just put it out there and never have to worry about out-of-date PDFs or whatever. The only drawback is that it's not available offline, but I don't think it's a big problem.

 

[Stumblewyk]

Before I set up a blog I'd like to get input on organizing all this information. The way I see it there are challenges that continuously pop up for 4e DMs, and this seems to be the breakdown.

Please let me know if you'd add any categories!
<snip>

What about encounter design? Between the challenges of building A) balanced encounters, B) interesting encounters, and C) encounters that don't end up becoming at-will slug-fests, that can be a lot for a non-master-level DM to take into account when they're trying to put a fight together.

I know it's something I struggle with.

Also, I have to agree with just about everyone else in this thread. This is a great idea. I have to throw my hat in for the blog format however - that lets you easily sort content by category/tags and lets you limit who has creative content control.

 

[FreeXenon]

Campaign
Planning your campaign
Campaign types: Episodic, Epic, Star Wars (ep IV-VI) and how to structure you game for this type of play
Pacing
Arcs
Plot
Plot Twists
Tiers of Play and transitions
Paragon Paths - Pursuing
Epic Destinys - Pursuing
Foreshadowing techniques
Story Telling Techniques
Player Immersion or Investment Techniques (character surveys and interviews; joint campaign creation, etc)
Pantheon creation, selection, and considerations.
Cultural differences and examples

Encounters

Building
Structuring encounters for a set num of people (say 5) and having a plan for +1/-1 people written into the basic idea for the encounter so XP, challenge, and feel is maintained

Resources

Map sites
mapping software
virtual table tops
chat/voice/video
Name Generators (Tolkien, Elf, etc)
random inn generators etc...
random dungeon generators etc...
Music - suggestions for mood music and have it tagged with the appropriate mood or scene (morose, tense action scene, happy and lilting, driving and powerful, etc

 

[FreeXenon]

I am all for a wiki as well. Perhaps you can find or arrange a wiki with a BLog looking front end?

Perhaps you can get guest writers to write about certain topics. There are insanely talented DM's here... Shemeska being one of them.

 

[Lalato]

If you go with a blog that you want to host at your own domain, might I suggest WordPress.org. (Wordpress.com is where they host it for you and it is also a good option).

WordPress has a lot of great plugins available... including one to add a Wiki to the blog.

--sam

 

[jimmifett]

I recommend categorizations to aide in organization.

examples:

Conditions
* caveats
* notes

Skill Challenges
* Running
* Alternatives

Design Guides
* Encounters (Order 66's rules of encounter deign come to mind)
* Powers
* Races
* Classes
* PPs
* EDs
* Skill Challenges

Combat
* player aides
* dm aides
* tools

Meta
* Dealing with problem players
* Dealing with problem DMs
* Helping ppl break out of roleplaying shells
* Battle mat cleaning
* Nifty Props
* Projector basics
* useful software