Recent content by gaptooth

Thanks for the recommendation! I searched the Wizards D&D site up and down, but I could not find this product. Either they don't stock it anymore, or they don't want to sell it. Or else, I just had a mental lapse and missed the obvious. I found a similar product on the Paizo website, but I...

Perfect timing for this! Because we got a late start on the season and missed a few weeks here and there due to child illnesses and holidays, not to mention unplanned subplots in the game, we just played Encounter 2-8 in tonight's session. We hit closing time before resolving the scene, but I'll...

Thanks for the tips. So, I'm curious: How much freedom do you give the players to direct their characters from scene to scene? How much freedom do you give yourself to follow their interests and goals, and to spike the encounters accordingly?

I assumed that other Encounters games included players who enjoy interacting with the characters and other narrative elements of the game, as much or more than tactical combat, but maybe that's not the case. Is my group unique in this regard? I find it hard to believe that no other Encounters...

Thank you both for your insight! I don't have the DMG, and I couldn't tell if the Essentials line had an equivalent. I'm guessing the Rules Compendium is it? Thanks again!

Wow! That's absolutely not the advice I expected, but it sure cuts to the chase as far as my interest in the hobby is concerned. I like creating and running stuff for the game that holds personal interest for the players, their characters, and myself as an audience of the actual play. I'm not...

Hi! I'm new to 4th Edition but not to role-playing. The last edition of D&D I played had an "A" in front of it, and most of my experience is with GURPS, TWERPS, and a variety of indie games. I got a 4e starter kit as a gift just over a year ago, and more recently I got the red box, but at home...

I just got the the Monster Vault for Christmas, and it's missing something I thought would be in there: rules for customizing monsters or creating your own from scratch. Not a huge disappointment, but I'm curious. Is that covered by any of the Essentials products? One thing I'm wondering about...

Thank you all for your guidance and support! I don't know what the author had in mind, but your variations were very useful in play. Too bad I didn't see the comment about using puss from her own body before sitting down to play, that's gold. I wound up depicting her with a huge masonry jar...

I tried to obfuscate that in my first post: it's Keep on the Borderlands: Season of Serpents. I saw it advertised at the local game shop as a walk-in gaming event, and both times when we came, the DM didn't show. The second time, there were other players waiting too, so I wound up running the...

That was my impression too. I'm not sure what this means, but it's probably on target: There are three "Squelching Oozes" in the encounter too. The "Ooze Talker" has three attacks: "Caustic Dagger" is her melee basic, which is pretty self-explanatory, and "Ooze Orb (acid)" is her ranged...

Thanks for the welcome! It's listed as a "Artillery"-type monster, if that helps. Thanks, that's a great start! My trouble was that there's no description of its abilities apart from the +X vs Y; Hit: Z acid damage + Effect W. I couldn't tell if the attacks were supposed to represent the...

I'm running a 4th Edition adventure module that includes a monster called the "Kobold Ooze Talker". I've seen all kinds of Kobolds before, but this one is new to me, and I don't know how to narrate it's at-will ranged attack or its area-effect encounter power. I figure there must be GMs and...