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Here is a reaction table for 3E, based on B/X: Reaction Rolls (CHA check): DC 6 Check Result Modified Roll Failed by 1-4 Unfriendly 1 or less Failed by 5+ Hostile 2-5 Success Indifferent 6-15 Succeeded by 10-14 Friendly 16-19 Succeeded by 15+ Helpful 20+ This will allow you to set a...

I like your players. They sound like a fun group to play with.

You might be able to maintain that mindset if you get Inspiration and the DM can still judge how it's used. That is, if you say, "I'm going to give Bob my Inspiration because I really want him to make that save", the DM can say "How?" and judge the response. Which is crappy if you want to...

Some thoughts: 1. I think D&D combat works best if the consequences stick around and impact other choices. Some game elements (Wands of Cure Light Wounds/Lesser Restoration in 3E, Extended Rests in 4E) ruin this. Sometimes the consequences of each combat end with the combat. 2. I think most...

Here's what I would do (assuming no access to Divination magic): Have the master tell the patron that he'll get the funds somehow. He needs the patron to set up a meet. The master will tell the patron where he wants the meet to be (though he can't guarantee that it'll take place there)...

I run a 4E hack, and the PCs within are not anywhere near epic level, so I don't know if how we play things is going to be informative in any way. So: Heroic characters have a Goal. This is tied to a Paragon Path, and they get XP for doing things necessary to achieving that goal. They can...

I wanted to reply to a specific portion of the review: The text explains that character ability scores are created by rolling 3d6 to generate a number from 3-18. Then each ability score is given a paragraph of explanation. But the numbers, (3-18), don’t give any bonus or penalty beyond...

How much help do you want on your first adventure?

The discussion about knowledge checks brings up one of my pet peeves about 3E: that it's really hard to gain information. That kobold in front of you? He could be a 30th-level wizard. He could be a regular kobold. Without Arcane Sight, you don't have a way of knowing. In my 3E campaign I've...

Here is an interesting blog post on the implied game world (for AD&D). For starters you get smacked over the head with how desperate life must be even inside the few “inhabited” zones of the implied world. For you see with every encounter rolled in such areas, there is a full 25% chance that...

Bodaks are difficult because they don't leave corpses and don't produce that Unnatural Aura that some undead have (so canaries are of no use). But there should be something we can use! The first thing that springs to mind is a peephole covered by a painting that looks into the bodak's lair...

This is why I make sure my dungeon design incorporates information into its room structure as a matter of course. In order to gain information about the dungeon you must explore the dungeon. In that way, the game isn't bogging down into divination/information gathering - you simply explore the...

I am not very good at dungeon design, but I am trying. This is my basic method: You know the "random dungeon generation" tables in the back of the 1st edition AD&D DMG? The one that looks like this: 1-12 Empty 13-14 Monster Only 15-17 Monster and Treasure 18 Special 19 Trick/Trap 20 Treasure...

The choices the players make must be at least partially predictable, otherwise they're not choices; they'd be random meaningless noise. I don't think save-or-die reduces possible choices into noise. It seems to me that save-or-die works on a strategic level. They create a cost (facing a...

I think you could run a reasonably gritty 4E game with one rule change: PCs only get one surge back per extended rest. There are some DMing things you need to do as well: Set up the world so that locations have levels. Challenges and rewards are based on those levels instead of the party's...

To answer some questions: 1. All of them are looking for more muscle. The Earth Temple might be an exception, since they're pretty racist, but they might work with someone and then kill them later on. The Air Temple probably has the greatest need, and Fire the least (since Tessimon can...

I am running this game - I just finished a session tonight (though it was a side-quest - the PCs found themselves with some extra time on their hands). Their method was to infiltrate the temple and turn everyone against each other. My set-up is a little different from the module: I made a...

The best reason I can think of is a Wizard's Guild: they want to control access to spells, so they punish anyone who isn't a guild member who trades in spell knowledge. There might be other rules, too: Some spells might just be off-limits (Teleport, Dispel Magic, Scry) to any non-guild member...

I have a theory about what's changed over the years. I think that saving throws were made when you were about to take some kind of effect that you could not avoid - there's no dodging a fireball, for example. You make a saving throw to see how lucky you got (or how much divine intervention you...

I think there's a slight tension between some XP systems and PCs vs. bad guy plots. Sometimes the best way to disrupt a NPC's plot leaves you with little XP. For example: In my current 3E game (Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil) I wanted to give the players a lot of choice as to how to...