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    D&D 5E (2014) Enhancing "Hoard of the Dragon Queen" (Practical stuff to try at your table!)

    I'd also probably throw in more of a guard presence around the cultist wagons, maybe disguised (maybe there is already and we don't know about it). You could even do something like have shadows pass over the cult wagons from time to time, or perceptive players spot something large in the sky...
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    D&D 5E (2014) Current take on GWM/SS

    Here's the thing, once you get past a certain level,they'd stop offering tactical options. They become 'always on' abilities that REDUCE tactical options. Because it's almost always in your best interest to use them constantly. Only fighting the highest AC things in the game when you may not...
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    D&D 5E (2014) Current take on GWM/SS

    Simulacrum is an illusionary duplicate and not a construct.
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    D&D 5E (2014) My Players Didn't Like 5e :( Help Me Get Them Into It!!

    5e is the most fun edition of D&D for me, which is why I play it, but: 1. I am all about player and DM agency being on equal footings, since I view the DM as the first among equals. I can't stand DM's who just love house ruling things for the sake of house ruling things. 5e pushes agency firmly...
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    D&D 5E (2014) Some things I don't care for in the D&D culture

    That's great to hear. One of our players is finally starting to enjoy roleplay more (probably after 8 months or so), but another guy still very much only enjoys rollplay and combat. I don't mind either way, I enjoy both, although I lean on the rollplay side more than the roleplay side of...
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    D&D 5E (2014) Enhancing "Hoard of the Dragon Queen" (Practical stuff to try at your table!)

    We captured one of the important NPCs (Mondath, Rezmor, can't remember) and found out the destination. Not every group will do this, but the non-lethal melee attack rules in 5e make it pretty easy to capture NPCs.
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    D&D 5E (2014) Enhancing "Hoard of the Dragon Queen" (Practical stuff to try at your table!)

    Yeah it actually would feel way less silly if we didn't know where they were going. We captured some cultists and figured it out from them and the note.
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    D&D 5E (2014) Why does 5E SUCK?

    What are you talking about? I specifically raised ability checks - not skill checks - as a consequence of bounded accuracy leading to some weird circumstances in game. You can spout maths all you want, I don't care, I see this happening more in 5e than previous versions of the game. Not only...
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    D&D 5E (2014) Why does 5E SUCK?

    It's funny though because I've noticed a lot in 5e due to bounded accuracy the big Fighters failing to smash down doors and the Bookworm Wizard getting lucky and smashing it down. Not everything is a skill check (athletics, etc), many things are ability checks, and then the difference between a...
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    Mike Mearls Talks (er, Tweets) About the Industry

    You bought me back to D&D because you created a really fun edition of D&D. It now replaces CRPG gaming again as my primary hobby. However I do get that you're trying to get more focused when it comes to branding and marketing - you also have to keep all your product storylines in sync as a...
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    D&D 5E (2014) Most useful DM tools at the table? Please share

    Nah that's kind of the point, and why it's so powerful. You don't need a list or table, you introduce the mechanic when it makes sense to.
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    D&D 5E (2014) Enhancing "Hoard of the Dragon Queen" (Practical stuff to try at your table!)

    His justification is probably why it feels so incongruent to me. It's not really there to advance the story, its there to create some other goal (show off the realms, etc). In my mind he probably should have written that in into the beginning heading to Greenest, instead of arbitrarily plonking...
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    D&D 5E (2014) Most useful DM tools at the table? Please share

    Advantage/disadvantage mechanics are the most powerful tools you will end up using.
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    Murder in Baldur's Gate (spoilers!)

    MerricB hey mate... I actually found your blog on google when you ran this module for D&D encounters. Did you finish it, can you weigh in with any input? I read 4-5 sections on your blog I think, but couldn't find any more. :)
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    D&D 5E (2014) Enhancing "Hoard of the Dragon Queen" (Practical stuff to try at your table!)

    What would have been much cooler is if the writers had taken some inspiration from the Viking raids, or Robin Hobb books, and had the cult raid from offshore. That then removes the silliness of the whole caravan sight seeing tour along the sword coast, and puts the cult outside of the sphere of...
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    D&D 5E (2014) Enhancing "Hoard of the Dragon Queen" (Practical stuff to try at your table!)

    Everything you say is possible, but I don't find it very plausible. Especially the caravan situation. And while it all is very well to state there things, it all feels very contrived. And you're right, it actually isn't very sporting to do that, so on second thoughts I won't.
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    D&D 5E (2014) Some things I don't care for in the D&D culture

    For the record I don't think absolute balance is fun. Flavour is important too, and flavour is achieved through differences. However players should feel like they can all contribute to each pillar of the game on a more or less even footing, depending on what they enjoy the most. That is...
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    D&D 5E (2014) Enhancing "Hoard of the Dragon Queen" (Practical stuff to try at your table!)

    I feel it is absolutely absurd and I have a fair amount of leeway when it comes to these things. I'm willing to put up with a bit of this for the sake of the story, but an evil cult transporting caravans packed full of gold through one of the most populist cities in the FR, while everyone sits...
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    D&D 5E (2014) Enhancing "Hoard of the Dragon Queen" (Practical stuff to try at your table!)

    According to the Baldurs Gate Campaign Guide (which the HoTDQ designers have clearly read), the Flaming Fist very actively engages in regional military campaigns. In fact, they specifically mention that at any time 3000 of their 6000 members are out campaigning at at time. The Dukes use the fist...
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    D&D 5E (2014) Some things I don't care for in the D&D culture

    Those are things I like about D&D. I like D&D for a rollplaying game, not a roleplaying game. I'm not into the whole escapism aspect to live in someone else's world. The rules are very important to me, since I like the game from a rules/mechanics standpoint. They form the basis of the social...
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