Recent content by GeekKen

As Mad Hamish said, I think that is highly dependent on your characters. You might have to just sit down and work out all the combinations, one by one for your players. The quick and dirty answer? I say 6 sets of dice. 3 full sets for the DM and 3 sets for the players to grab from a pool. That...

I think another mistake is to think everyone is standing around, waiting their turn to take a whack at something. Everyone is swinging, parrying, moving around in their 5 foot space, actively engaging an opponent. You make a stand out attack when you get an opening (i.e. your initiative turn...

I'll give my little design philosophy on why 4E has skill challenges. Remember all those times in past editions where you role played a solution to a problem, or completed some task not related to whacking monsters on the head? Yeah, those times you pumped NPCs for information to find the temple...

Infiniti2000 give some excellent advice. If you have an adventure come to an obstacle where, if the players fail, the story cannot continue, then you have a poor adventure. It's a challenge, but it is best to think about all the possible outcomes for every challenge or encounter. What happens...

I am with this completely. Roll with their choices and facilitate the fun. My campaign is a small group. I've had to helm a companion character to beef up their numbers. It's been a blast. I have 2 suggestions: - Pick an NPC that compliments the party abilities. You've got that ranger with...

I'll echo what most people have said here, it's largely dependant on the DM and what he throws at the players. Is thievery necessary? I don't think so. I think a bad DM will punish a group if they don't have someone trained in the skill. Fortunately, with the aid other mechanic, you can also...

I completely agree. There is little you can do running your game if the players just want to run around and kill stuff. If this is what they want to do. Just go with it. Don't bother with a storyline. I'd also add don't bother doling out treasure either. Nope... nothing. No gold. No magic...