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My players don't appreciate hand waiving it and never let anything escape alive. For them, I just make it look good. Apply double damage, etc. Just get through it quickly without being obvious.

I wonder how many others are working up to their one year anniversary? We'll hit a year on July 22 and can't wait. My group was a bunch of old school players who hadn't played pen and paper in years(decades). It's been a great run and keeps getting better. We're fast approaching paragon(this...

I'm a very lucky DM in that one of my players does a Good/Bad/Ugly for most sessions. As a bonus he includes a quotes section. Here are a couple links to different ones on my blog: Josh's Blog: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Josh's Blog: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Josh's Blog: The Good...

I run a group of 6, so I understand the grind fairly well. Some of the things we've done. 1. DDI Character Builder. Other people have said it, it precomputes everything - this was the biggest help to us. 2. In my group, everyone rolls their own initiative. We have post it notes that run down...

Let me see if I can fill in some more detail. We typically play a 4-5 hour session every 2 weeks. There are 6 players, all with previous experience, from years ago. This group started with 4e AND has been going strong for almost a year. Our combats typically run about an hour. I work hard...

DMs, how do you balance moving the story forward and keeping things interesting in 4E? Currently, my group is working to help retake a city. I developed a list of things they needed to accomplish in one night. There were 8 things, like take out the watch towers, etc. While they have enjoyed...

My best advice to keep people interested is to give everyone a chance to be the hero. It sounds easy when you say it fast. Add to that, once you get settled in a bit, look for a thread here about preventing Grindspace. Keeping encounters unique and interesting makes the game much more fun...

Winging it is very hard when you are trying to learn the rules. One thing I did with my group when we started, none of us had played 4e before, was I setup a couple of "test" encounters for them. Just included some basic monsters, kobolds I think, and some interesting terrain. Then we got out...

We use a whiteboard with 1 inch squares. It has served us well and with colored markers makes it easy to see where there is water or fire for example. Although, I do like the idea of the large gridded pad for pre-drawing intricate locals. I try to draw only what the players can see and when...

I think I might be one of the youngest starters. I think it was between 2nd and 3rd grade. I was visiting some of the older kids in the neighborhood, they were playing and got me to roll up a fighter. To this day, I have the most vivid memory of exploring the castle level of B1 but fighting a...

So far the encounter I've been most proud of was a malfunctioning lighthouse. Around the outside of the room, a ramp headed up to the top level. In the center of the room was a 2x2 fire fountain. Entering any square next to it caused damage. One square off each corner, was a 1x1 feeder...

I don't mind the occasional alternate reality episode. DS9 did a great job with it. But when you have a handful of episodes left, wouldn't you want to put out something that totally rocks and not a wraith putting on makeup and playing poker? Show something that matters. Not the stupid one offs.

At least this episode was better than the past 2 weeks. Those were terrible. Why is it when the end of a run comes, they pull all of the garbage out of the closet. I still have to say the last few eps of Angel were probably the best ending of a series I've seen.

Lets see, late 70's early 80's, I remember hard covers going for $12 and modules for $6. Based on the inflation calculators people are using, the prices haven't changed much. Add to that, you can pick up most books now for $20 at Amazon, instead of the $30 retail. The one that burns me is the...

Gang, When 4E came out, I got a group of players together and we've had a ball for the past 6 months. Several of those players came from where I work. Since starting, we added one more from work and have had several more ask, but had to say no, the group would just be too big. So the...

I am the GM and I will do my best to be humble and say Thanks. If you are interested, you can read about the adventures here: Josh's Blog

We use a gridded white board, so we didn't have to change focus at all unless we were doing a long "talky" part, then we pointed it at the DM(me). On our side (the webcam that the group has, that we point at the board) is: Walmart.com: HP USB Webcam, EW193AA: Computers The webcam that he took...

Got some nice stuff The group I DM stepped up for me in a real nice way. In addition to Manual of the Planes, one of them thought I might like a new briefcase. Boy was he excited when I causally mentioned it a couple weeks ago. So they all chipped in and got me the Bag of Holding from...

When I started my 4e group back in the summer, one of the guys who wanted in, traveled fairly often for work. Things were good for a while and he only missed one or 2 sessions. Lately he's been traveling more and he, along with another member of our group got video conferencing working through...

Somedays it all just comes together. I've been running my 4E group through X2, Castle Amber. They've been having a great time with it. Toward the end of the East Wing of the mansion, there is a room with Tarot cards. One of the players got the card that gives a +1 cursed sword, that requires...