Recent content by Neptune

If I were to leave the monsters "as-is" that makes some sense. But I am not. And you're right about how much tougher I need to make it. Using DMG 2014 guidelines, for a 4-PC 7th level party the XP budget is 6,800 (1700x4). The Chardalyn Dragon in the published adventure is CR 11 which is...

Update: I was watching Alphastream's YouTube video Alphastream's YouTube video called the Math of the 2025 Monster Manual and the bottom line is that WOTC used basically the same formulas as in the 2014 edition. The notion that DMs shouldn't create or modify monsters is absurd and is the...

I'm tossing in my disappointment that there are very few guidelines about how to create a monster or an encounter. This is something that I always used. This is important to me as a DM.

I just cracked open my eMM and looked for how Challenge Rating is calculated. Is it just a guess? A feeling? Any guidance at all? What if I need to create a monster for a particular narrative. For example, I'm running Rime of the Frostmaiden but I have to upscale it because I'm running it to...

Out of left field maybe but I'm curious. WOTC omitted monster creation and how to calculate CR from the 2024 DMG. Is there something like that in the new monster manual?

It can and should be a good place to recruit players. If there's a will, there's a way. Like reserving specific intro games for generic tix and using them for that. BMG kinda does this with the 2-hour slots. Last year it was "Defiance in Phlan" and this year it was "Harried in Hillsfar". But...

I can see that. There was such buzz about it. There were main stream news reports about the new release. The game was simplified. They addressed the new player with the intro module "Lost Mines of Phandelver". They built buzz with the playtest alone. To many the game feels like their invention...

By the way, as a follow-up, BMG worked things out with WOTC and are making things right by mailing out swag after the fact and making changes to the way all-access works. I was far from the only person to rant about it and it's only right to praise them after smacking them. They've done right by...

An update from BMG about the all-access was posted on their site: ....I tried to post the URL but I'm not high enough level to do so yet :( Here it is, just take out the spaces! baldmangames.com / 2015 / 08 / gen-con-2015-all-access-update / It includes the otherwise invisible swag plus a...

Let me be clear. Wizards of the Coast did not have a booth in the exhibit hall. They did not have any seminars. They did not run D&D games (I'm not sure what they did vis-a-vis Magic). They basically didn't participate. The D&D area was run by Baldman Games without any support from Wizards of...

This was actually a challenge in the high-level game at GenCon. PC's had to capture a special fire giant and deliver him alive to the drow. Step #1 involved incapacitating him. Then we polymorphed him. Then we charmed him. It wasn't easy.

Excuse me for correcting your mistake. Wizards did NOT have a booth. They weren't in the exhibit hall and they outsourced the game play to Baldman Games and offered little to no support.

Oh, I know they did and I attended last year too, but WOTC had not abandoned the convention until this year and they were VERY involved last year with seminars, supplying swag, displays and other support. Believe me, I know what went on and I got my facts straight.

Hi, Whatever they are doing, GenCon was epic... An EPIC FAIL!!! I predict that having not being there this year will go down as the most cataclysmic mistake in the history of Wizards of the Coast and maybe Hasbro. After the great buzz created in 2014, the outsourcing of GenCon game play to...