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I'm a huge fan of verisimilitude, the to point that I simply can't design a dungeon (or castle, town, etc.) without its backstory and original function very much in mind. And as a player I find a sense of verisimilitude really helps me get into the game. But that said, when I look back at my...

Reading the thread on getting kids into the game, and then the thread honoring pit traps, has really brought to mind one of the great pleasures of playing with kids: Everything is new again. Long-time players have seen it all. Even if they want it, even starting a new 1st-level campaign with...

My little girl doesn't want to play all talky and unicorns. (Not that she's against the RP side of things, and she was smart enough to talk to the white dragon, even though she realized it was evil, instead of jumping into a really deadly fight.) She wants to confront evil and defeat it.

Personally, I think the group's chemistry is usually improved if there's a web of bonds between the characters--rather than just a bunch of random people who met in a bar. When creating characters, I always encourage the players to think about relationships--maybe two of the characters are...

I introduced my kids to D&D last winter. The girl (7 at the time) loved it and could pretty much handle all the concepts (she's a good reader and can deal with the math). The boy (5) enjoyed it, though he has to be walked through the every roll of the dice. He also found it a bit too scary to...

I'd be very curious to know who you're talking about. There's been a lot of staff turnover since my years there, and WotC employs some freelancers for its web content. But in my experience with the staff writers, they are virtually all the sorts of GMs I aspire to be, running highly imaginative...

Hi, all-- The company that powers Dungeon A Day (called Subhub) suffered a catastrophic server failure last week. More accurately, the company that hosts Subhub suffered that failure, so Subhub moved to a new server source. This in turn created all sorts of domain name problems for all of...

A veeery interesting bit of info. Of course, there may be quite a few mitigating factors, including the fact that D&D's RPG release schedule has been quite anemic lately, and that WotC's business model has moved substantially away from the standard book-format product about which Lisa seems to...

Sorry, I'm not helping much with the OP's request for adventures, but given the timing I can't help but post a zombie-related link: Zombie Defense 101: Hunkerin’ Down The Fascinating World of Charles Ryan

I'll be there. I have a fair bit of work lined up, so gaming will be catch-as-catch-can (other than the annual session of my Apocalypse campaign).

I don't think there's anything impolite about what you've said here. The term "railroading" can be a bit inflammatory, but if you skip it I think your points are all reasonable. Just tell the GM that, as mercenaries, you feel like your characters should have the right to choose whether to take...

I think this is really important. Nothing makes a culture seem real like a sense of consistency to the language, and the opposite is also true. I hate, hate, hate fantasy milieus in which the names are all basically mashups of random, "fantasy-sounding" syllables--I hate reading those games, and...

Here's an oddball suggestion for you: Lowrey&#39s Bacon Curls Microwave Pork Rinds, Original, 1.75-Ounce Packages (Pack of 18): Amazon.com: Grocery & Gourmet Food Don't laugh. They're surprisingly good. The whole bag is, like, 200 calories. If you're watching carbs, there isn't a single gram...

Back in 2004, when I was the Brand Manager for D&D, we conducted a huge PR campaign around the game's 30th anniversary. It was the first year in many that D&D had been given a real marketing budget, and it was the biggest the brand had had in--well, possibly ever. Certainly in the modern era...

I use two methods to conceptualize and effectively roleplay a character. The first is not to stray too far from my own perspective. I find it easy to play certain character types, because they are like me. Accentuating just one or two of my own traits and making them central to the character...

One thing is to give the players a short narrative that encapsulates the trip--a bit about the terrain and weather and people encountered along the way. Not too much exposition--because exposition sucks--maybe just a few sentences. But something that lets the players feel like their characters...

I find that "the road" is a great place for encounters that set the stage for or foreshadow some element of the adventure to come. Even more importantly, I like the world my campaign is set in to have an impact on the players' experience, and travel is a great way to illuminate the setting...

Congrats to a lot of really great games, as well as great designers (and editors, publishers, developers, illustrators, and so on)! Particular contrats to Jim Lowder, for another great book in Family Games 100. I'm proud of my small part in that one! (As for Zombie Dice being a great gateway...

Speaking as both a gamer and a fiction writer, the short answer is "yes." Erm, "no." I mean, yes it's over the top, and no, the OP isn't the only one to think so. Something like this can be a great exercise when you need to hone a concept and really solidify a character who's remaining...

Probably my all-time favorite adventure, even though the only time I played it was back in the day, and I died a bunch, and it was hopeless and unfair, and we eventually gave up in frustration. . . .