Search results

I allow evil PCs, but I operationalize the good-evil alignment axis in terms of a character's natural impulse regarding a stranger. Good characters want to help strangers in need. Neutral characters mind their own business. Evil characters want to exploit strangers. Obviously, circumstances...

Technologically speaking, WotC just needs to implement functionality allowing DMs to export their house rules for their players to import. Then third-party publishers can use the same functionality to share their crunch with their consumers. I don't know about the licensing considerations...

I have to agree. If you read a post with which you diagree, responding with your perspective can add to the thread. If you encounter a person with whom you diagree, it's probably a waste of time to persuade them to change their mind. I've gotten to point where I skip posts that have...

I think the problem here is a combination of bad luck and the particularly "gotcha" nature of this encounter. A typical party probably wouldn't expect the ochre jelly to come through the portal, so a "nice" DM would have to go out of his way to give the PCs some warning. The specters had to...

Heh. I tried giving the same explanation to my fiancée re the cover of the 3.5 MM. In the end, it was easier to switch editions than put up with the mockery. :p

I play my monsters the same way--at least the ones that are intelligent enough even to understand marking. I agree that otherwise the class ability simply doesn't come up often enough.

I began running my first campaign earlier this year, and I wound up starting with Keep on the Shadowfell. I think it can work well as a first adventure, but it depends on what kind of game experience your group expects. If you run the adventure "as is," the emphasis is clearly on combat...

I've had similar thoughts about "object-oriented" monster design, in which each monster (object) comes with a set of powers (methods) that PCs could use on the monster, instead of just powers for the monster to use against the PCs. In the end, I decided that this idea had two (related)...

This. My players often use their limited powers at suboptimal times (sometimes for valid RP reasons), and we grind more than I'd like. Most of the blame is mine, but PCs wasting encounter and daily powers doesn't help! (And one of the more tactical-minded players reliably rolls in the single...

I like this approach! In short, the skill challenge determines whether the party faces the next two encounters separately or as one massive encounter with no rest in between, as well as whether they gain a surprise round (or potentially waste time towards their deadline). The next combat(s)...

I am relatively new to being a DM. During my abortive attempts to run 3E games, I never considered travel to other planes, which seemed too "out there" and whose cosmology seemed too confusing. Even without planar travel, I was always intimidated by the prospect of world building or of...

Suppose I were only interested in running an AP for one tier. Do the heroic-tier Scales of War adventures have a coherent and largely self-contained plot, at least? I'm not sure I'd want to commit to 30 levels of play up front anyway.

Charles, thank you for the advice. As a newish DM struggling with plotting, I greatly appreciate it!

For me, this issue comes down to the following question: What makes combat fun and interesting? Clearly this question has many answers. I believe 3E and 4E share many of these answers, but their mechanics differentiate them in a couple of respects. In 3E, more of the excitement comes from the...

My most successful skill challenges have been dynamic in exactly this way. The encounter begins with some initial situation. Every time a PC attempts to use a skill, I simply make up the outcome depending on their roll, evolving the situation in some way. The set of skills that make sense...

Even if focus on in-game consequences, the quality of a (skill challenge) design depends on the PCs' goals. If the characters really just want to gain experience and treasure, why not just go monster hunting (instead of following whatever story line you have in mind)? IMC, the players seemed...

The quality of a design depends on the goal of the design. if your players' goal is to maximize the amount of XP earned per adventure, then I would agree the design is poor. My players seem to measure progress by XP earned per session, and in this case failing the challenge means they earned...

Either that, or people who have been/still are DMing games are most aware of how their behavior as a player impacts the group. Then again, I'm a DM.

I believe the idea is that if monsters remain deadly to the end, then players may be more willing to cough up those daily powers they were hoarding. As someone who enjoys both 4E and 3E, I find it vaguely amusing that 4E's version of the 15-minute adventuring day--a systemic problem that only...

I believe Scott is a SENIOR Brand Manager, so perhaps Chase reports to him. I recall that Chase specified that we manages a particular aspect of the D&D brand.