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Sometimes, in a city, I just like to randomly roll on this page and see where inspiration takes me once I have the seed encounter. 150 Benign Urban Encounters This is a list of 150 urban encounters that start off as benign and then can lead your imagination somewhere interesting as a DM.

When I DMed I never had any interest in the splatbooks; only the core 3 books and the MMs. Ironically, I think, though I knew certain parts of the rules very very well, I knew almost nothing about feats and PrCs. Once I started playing regularly (I have played for the longest continous period...

Well, speaking as someone who helped create the GSL firestorm a few months ago, I can honestly say that this is welcome news. The item on your list of which you should be most be proud is the new Rick-roll Scott; it is an absolute classic!

I can just see it now; for the new dating section of the site, everyone wanting to participate would have to create new avatars to avoid being identified (and gaining negative experience points). Classic!!!

Haven't yet played much 4E because we haven't finished our 3,5E campaign but intend to play/DM it afterwards. I ran a few mock combats back when KoTS first appeared and even in that short time, I saw problems with the game and the grind was just one of them, but I put it down to my lack of...

The really interesting thing about this discussion is not the actual topic but the disparate frames of reference that various people use to adjudicate D&D when there is no concrete rule. I tend to use real-world physics to work things out and so do several other posters. Whereas many more...

There used to be a fairly simple game called "Maelstrom" that was around in the 1980s that had a very nice free-form magical system that I loved. It was based around the premise of levels of effect where a level 1 effect was something that would be quite likely to be dismissed by an observer...

I always wanted to run a fantasy scenario based on forbidden planet; i.e. that an item in the PCs general environment feeds off of human dreams and creates very powerful monsters that serve the unconscious desires of the PCs and NPCs without any of them realising. I would call this scenario...

What we need are mechanics for monster powers that activate as a last ditch defence and can only be called upon when the poor creatures are on their last legs. Maybe monsters should be given action points and only allowed to use them once the PCs have bloodied them or even create another...

Communication is vital and we also use mundane methods as well, but, as with all things, magic usually makes for some very interesting possibilites as well e.g. the much under-used 0 level wizard/Sorc spell, Message. This spell has a range of 100ft +10 per level and a duration of 10 min/ level...

So let me get this straight; you are saying that you don't think a spell named stoneskin gives you a stone skin. OK! I think at that point I lose interest in this discussion. Bye

I suspect stone skin gives DR rather than AC simply for gamist reasons; if the two existed in the real world then they would work identically if "stone-skin" does what it says on the tin.

Some advice for running mysteries; 1) have dead ends or red herrings reveal microstories that both eliminate a suspect and also reveal something useful about the NPC who has been cleared that is a sort of "story treasure". For example, if the PCs suspect a wine-merchant of being a murderer...

Another great thing to do if you are playing a low level wizard is to remember to scribe scrolls in any downtime. This only works if your campaign has a realistic time scale (days off) but I always have an enormous scroll hoard for casting utility spells prepared as scrolls are not so useful...

I don't agree that stone-skin would protect from falling damage. Here is an example that I hope will illustrate what I mean; stoneskin produces a rigid and hard covering over the body that resists blunt trauma etc. So it acts rather like plate armour. You try falling down the stairs in plate...

Hi Raven; should have prefaced that comment with "I have found..........." I know some people are fine with the illusion of freedom, even when they know what is going on, but for me it kind of ruins the game when I am playing.

To be clear; my adventuring group did not choose their name "dead and buried"; it was given to us by the DM (in game via the patrons of the Yawning portal). I must confess that I often name companies adventuring when I DM as well; after all, NPCs have to call the collective group of PCs something.

The "illusion of freedom" works fine, if you have players who don't DM. The moment one of them starts reading things on "how to be a dungeon master" then you have serious problems. Speaking for myself as a player, because I DM, I hate the illusion of freedom and want my actions to have real...

Thanks Pemerton. By the way, what was your campaign that forced the players into a moral choice? I am always interested in how other people handle this sort of thing.

RandomCitizen; I have a question. Do you find this approach to XP changes the way players approach the game? I mean if they don't get XP for killing things, do they actually start to behave like heroes often do in books/films (i.e. avoiding conflict if at all possible)?