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So I'm taking a break from DMing while work is being all crazy-like, and I've been fooling around with several possible characters for an interim game one of the others in the group is going to DM. One of the ideas I had was to try a hunter, and I ended up deciding to see what I'd end up with if...

Was working on the idea of having a bit more structure to "the next campaign I run", and thought it would be neat to share what I've got. Something like an adventure path in structure, although it's pretty sketchy and I've got three specific entry points to work from: A caravan approaching...

re: nostalgia... I have fond remembrances of playing in a campaign, as a member of a party of adventurers, in the person of my character(s); specifically in that order. I admit that I have always been a DM more often than a player, but I remember being genuinely interested in what was...

Let me start by saying that, as a DM, I do not like killing off PCs. I consider it one of my responsibilities to run a game where PCs can die, and to actually make it happen when circumstance, player action or inaction, and/or the dice dictate, but I do avoid it whenever I think that I can do so...

So, 4e has a lot of stuff to make movement and movement-related effects interesting. But I'm starting to think that, in some ways, it's actually counterproductive to producing the kinds of movement that I'd like to see in a game. I think of the fiction of a D&D game as being similar to an action...

So, I was looking at some of the mounted combat feats, and I got to thinking, how should the bonuses that feats provide (both straight "plusses" and other benefits) be handled? Assuming you have a feat that, fluff-wise, covers the concept that "your guy does cool thing": A) When your guy does...

When I was playing 1e AD&D I played a number of half-orc characters. One of the things about playing a half-orc (one of the fun things, IMO) was that you just knew the NPCs where going to mess with you. You where practically playing a monster! If you where lucky (or not, the phrase "with friends...

Craft and Performance Skills Craft and performance cover a wide range of skills. When you learn a craft or performance skill you must choose a particular craft or art that you gain proficiency in. Craft and performance do not count as class skills for any class unless you take the appropriate...

OK, I'm in a bit of a jam... I've been working feverishly on the next few encounters for my Dark Sun group for the last few weeks (through several skipped sessions), and now I find out that only 3 people (out of 5 normally) can make it on Saturday. Given missed sessions, the people who can make...

OK, how do you figure appropriate damage for the abilities of a monster that aren't attacks? An example would be auras - do you consider the aura damage when figuring the damage from the monster's normal attacks? And how much damage is enough / too much (for the aura)? What about a monster that...

So, my players please stay out, etc., etc. I got some very useful advice on a monster I posted here a few weeks back, so I figured I'd try posting up a full encounter and see if I could get some more hints & tips... The party is 13th level, and includes an Ardent, a Fighter, a Swordmage, a...

Hey, my players stay out, etc., etc. I'm working on monsters for this weekend's game, and given that among other things I need to be ready to go in several different directions at once, I'm kind of trying to keep things simple... Unfortunately, I also have a particular miniature I want to get...

I have been thinking a bit lately about what I would do for my next campaign... I'm currently running Dark Sun and it's going well (I'd say the glass is only about 10% empty, not that I wouldn't like to improve that), and will probably go on for a bit longer, but eventually I'm going to wrap up...

Something that I've been thinking about a bit in light of the "I don't like it" thread. For a while now I've been running games with no major restrictions on what's available to players, despite the fact that I would normally prefer not to have certain things crop up in my games. I had limits...

So, the players in my 4e game want to pick up some battle standards... Probably the most significant one would be the Battle Standard of the Hungry Blade. They're 13th level now, so a 9th-level item shouldn't be too bad... I'm not completely sure how to deal with the standard, once they plant...

So I see a lot of comments about how great / indispensable the Character Builder and Monster Builder are. And I can see the point - calculating all that stuff by hand is a real pain. I know how much of a pain it is because this weekend, after the game I ran, I went through several characters...

So, the thread on rat-bastard DMs has led me to thinking about some things, including some of my DMing experiences that did not work out as well as I had hoped... So I was thinking that I would recount one (perhaps more, later) of these experiences in the hopes that some of the other DMs here...

Changes & additions to the Kobold in the MM, for use as a PC (kind of off the top of my head): Shifty: make Shifty an Encounter power. In addition to the normal effects, you may designate one enemy that you are adjacent to either before or after the shift, and that enemy grants you combat...

OK, so I'm working up a defender for a game I'm in, and I think I'm about to play my first Paladin since 1e. So I've been re-reading the books, and I'm finding Divine Challenge a bit oddly worded... I figured maybe it would have been re-written for clarity somewhere, but the Compendium just...

One of the things that gets me kind of excited when thinking about old-school gaming is "3d6 in order" ability scores, but then again I mostly DM'ed. Now, I didn't really use straight 3d6 in order much, in AD&D we usually had 8-12 players start, each with three characters, and then pared that...