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It’s time for another MASTER PACK giveaway!

Your chance to win:

The Game Master’s Kit Deluxe The Full Multi-Classing Pack The Complete Set of 12 Class Specific Character Sheets

RULES:

Must be following me! New followers are welcome!

Only REBLOGS count

Reblog as many times as you like!

No giveaway blogs

An extra 5 winners will be announced at 5000 followers (making a total of 10 winners!)

You must be willing to provide your email address so I can send you your prize

Deadline is the 20th of July 2017, 4pm GMT.

Winners will be randomly selected and notified via inbox

It’s so close to 5000 followers now, I’m pretty sure there’ll be 10 winners this time. Good luck everyone!! 🎲

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Monk Week: Martial Art Attack Generator

A special attack generator for the monk in your D&D party! Roll 1d100 on each table and put them together to create your monk’s secret technique!

edit: I missed the opportunity to put “Owlbear” instead of “Bear” in Table B. For best results, use Owlbear instead.

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Dealing with GM burnout PT 2

In my last burn out post, I covered the topic of burning out because your players wouldn't engage, with you, or with each other. Today we're looking at over preparing, and spreading yourself too thin. These are both things I still need to work on, desperately. I run a weekly game with friends, and a weekly web series, and I was about to start a third game with friends, when I realized, I was going to burn myself out. It's tough in the moment, but learning to catch a burnout, helps a bunch. So, I told one of my players in the game with friends that they need to take the reigns for a while, at least while I get aquatinted with the web series. And now, I'm only running the web game, and I'm playing in another (soon to be playing in two). Which brings me to my second point, don't be afraid to ask for a break, chances are one of your players wants to try their hand at running, give them a chance too if you're feeling tired, or don't have the motivation, it's okay, I promise, if they're good players, or more importantly, your friends, they'll understand. Also, play more. If you can run a game, and be a player in a game, you might never get burnt out (if you're like me) playing has a totally different feel, and spark, than running. On the topic of over preparing. I do this, and it's been a major contributor to me burning out on a setting, and I'm super guilty of it, with this last campaign world, I told myself it was okay to over prepare, since I'll be running three campaigns in it over time. But despite what I told myself, I still over prepared. Anyway, that's it guys, share this with anyone it's relevant too, players and GMs, not for me, for all the hardworking GMs out there, thanks!

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How to find a D&D group

So it's pretty clear there are a bunch of people out there who really like D&D, but have never played it, and really want to! That's totally okay, I was in the same boat for a while, I had the exact same problem, I had the books, and the desire, but no one to play with. Now, I'm running two games, playing in one, and just got hired to run a D&D web series! Okay, so first off, before anything else, there are others like you, probably in your town, who want to play, but don't have anyone to play with. There are web sites that can help you find groups locally, actually a decent amount of them. Some towns also have their own reddit thread, you can put a post on there about wanting to find a group, or search for public groups near you on Facebook. Also, you can try and set up a group online, over roll 20, or other table top simulators. The experience isn't exactly the same, but it's still D&D. Finally, and this is the one I would recommend the most. Go to a local game store or hobby shop, and ask if they have public groups that come in and play, if they do, check that one out, if not, ask if they'd be okay with hosting a public group, and if they are, put up a flyer, say you're looking for a group! Being willing to be the dungeon master is a big plus if you're starting your own group, and if you are, I would recommend beginning with a published adventure, frankly starting with Hoard of the dragon queen is most likely your best bet, but any of them work, and they all start at 1st level (other than rise of Tiamat). Anyway, that's my advice, if I wasn't already sacrificing to the elder gods to have enough time to run the games I have already, I'd offer to run a Tumblr game for a few interested parties over Roll 20, but oh well, there's only so much blood in the veins of these virgins and goats...

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D&D why 4th edition sucks

I'm trying to do a whole series on these, so hers 4th, probably go to AD&D next. Okay, so before we start, 4e gets a lot of hate, and frankly, it gets it for good reason, but the things it does right, it does REALLY right, so let's jump in, I'll have good, and bads. 1: Kicking it off with a bad, some might say, the bad, the big bad, the big, bad, bastard of a bad. It's dull... yeah, I know, that's not exactly that brutal or anything, but it's not the description you want for a fantasy role playing game. The options are ranged, support, or melee. They claim more options than that, but you either shoot from afar, weather that's magic or arrows, help your friends with heals or buffs, or have armor and whack things. To many options, not enough variety, that's all there is to it, it's to video gamey, and not in a good way(and yes, a table top RPG can have video game elements in classes, and it can be good, look at fantasy flight's Star Wars and tell me I'm wrong) 2: This ones a good, yay! It somehow, still emphasizes story, despite combat being a huge focus, even the primary focus, it somehow still pulled of working story into the game, and it did it really well! Good on ya 4e! 3: Now a bad again... feats... why'd ya keep em? Just... why? Put you options in the class already, you big, dumb wizards of the... oh, right, we have 5e, they listened, cool. 4: Another good! I mentioned this is my 3.5 sucks post, but damnit, Ima say it again, 4e, did two weapon fighting, correctly, meaning, balanced. They did, they just did, it works, and unless your a game creator, I won't hear arguments otherwise. 5: all out of goods, sorry 4e, though you did better than 3.5! To damned many books. Same problem as 3.5, to many books were released, multiple character option books, it's dumb, and don't make people pay for that crap, unless it comes with something else worth getting. (Like Volo's guide to monsters, and sword coast adventures guide) Okay, that's all I got, 4e isn't bad, it's just... mediocre, nothing is actually extremely negative, like the editions before it, so... yeah. Dull, but, decent.

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D&D why 3.5 edition sucks

Okay, so, in a few posts I’ve mentioned my distaste for 3.5/D20 system, so I’m going to dig into the system, and really hammer out my feelings on it, the goods, and the bads.

1: First off, we have a bad, just because, yeah, whatever, I dunno. It just isn’t balanced. I know, it’s regarded as generally well balanced, and fair for every class (by a large amount of players) but it isn’t, I’m sorry, you’re wrong if you think this. This isn’t an opinion thing, it’s a game making thing. Dexterity, is essentially useless, a higher damage die means nothing when you can’t add a damage modifier to Dex. And that’s just the imbalance between strength and dexterity, which, after about level 10, if your aren’t casting spells, or playing a barbarian, or fighter (with exactly the right feats) you’re useless in damage.

2: Next, we have a good, and bad, wrapped into a nice little package. The real reason to play 3.5 is the options, you have dozens of books to pull from, nearly hundreds of class options, and that’s just in the official books! It’s cool, it’s fun to have no single character alike, between multiclassing, prestige classes, and feats, but IT ALSO SUCKS, a big one, a big fat one, because the three core books, are severally lacking in options, and it’s dumb, there’s no excuse.

3: Formatting. Ever edition prior to 4th has formatting problems, but 3.5 was a revised edition, made by a larger group of people than ever before, and as someone totally new to D&D, it’s word vomit, it has terrible formatting, and no reason to have it.

4: The Cool factor. I’ve talked about this before, but 3.5 was the toxic era that really brought this to life, it became more important, to deal more damage, to have more fun, and work from level 1 thinking about every level after that, due to prestige classes, and not PLAYING YOUR DAMNED CHARACTER. You don’t go through story, and experiences, putting points arbitrarily into things just to hit that requirement, it’s stupid, and it’s a case of the system, getting in the way of the story, which, as a roleplaying game, should be totally, and completely unacceptable.

I just realized I have nothing else good to say about it… damn, I was going to try and be fair.

5: Two weapon fighting. In my be all, end all, honest opinion, dungeons and dragons has Never, not once, done two weapon fighting right. Rules as written, no edition of the game, has acceptable rules for two weapon fighting. 3.5 requires a feat (to make it even slightly useful) which is dumb all on its own, 5th requires a light weapon in both hands, and has no wiggle room, and 4th… okay, 4e did okay, not great, but okay. If you don’t know, basically in 4e, you didn’t just get a free attack out of no where, that had penalties, if you had the two weapon fighting feat, you got a +1 maneuvering bonus to the attack you make in that round, the next round, you could attack with the other weapon, and still get the bonus, but still no free second attack. It’s more balanced, and honestly, makes more sense. If you leveled and became able to attack more than once in a round, then you could use both weapon, but a person wielding a two handed weapon, could still attack the same amount of times. It’s balanced, it makes more sense, sorry, I know, sometimes it hard to hear, but 4e did some things right, or, at least not as wrong.

6: Leftovers. 3.5 had some leftovers, some thugs the old school players were still hanging on to, for no real reason, like size penalties, and major racial penalties. If I want to play a halfling barbarian, I shouldn’t do half the damage die just because size, having an 18 strength, is universal, not dependent on size, and just because your smaller, doesn’t mean you should get a step or more decrease on attack die, its… well it’s sizeist. And damnit, if I want to play a half orc bard, I should HAVE to role an 18 for charisma to be useful at all, a -2 In Int and Cha is to much, and annoyingly restrictive.

7: alright, this is my last gripe, but it’s a big one. The D20 system is overrated. I know, that isn’t exactly a problem with the game, but it is a big problem with the community. The system itself is, not amazing, it’s fine, but it quickly becomes unmanageable at higher levels, especially with skills, it makes it difficult to run for, because the further and further away certain characters get from others in skills, it becomes less and less balanced. You can’t make something to tough, because then only one or two characters can make it, you can’t make it to easy, because then those same characters make it every single time. Skills, are a cluster fuck, pardon my language, and it’s just… dumb, it is. There are to many, for no reason. Feats, cause the same problem, allow certain players to have advantages that others don’t, that make extremely specific things to easy. Here’s another thing that 4e did right (also 5e, but 4e started it) every character, can attempt anything, and that’s a good thing, and it makes sense. I’ve never been professionally trained in lockpicking in real life, doesn’t mean I didn’t watch spy shows and teach myself how to pick handcuffs.

So there, it’s harsh, but it’s all valid. 3.5 is sub par, and with the wrong group, bad, real bad. But, it isn’t terrible. The core rules alone stand on their feet just fine, nothing special, but a resounding fine. If you commit to a story, frankly, the edition becomes less and less important, if you commit to the system however, 3.5 becomes a train wreak so damned fast, you’ll cry. If you really want a game of D&D more about the system, and fighting monsters, don’t listen to anyone else, and get 4e. It’s good for that, because, well it was made for that, and there are some really good adventures that came out of it, some good stories. If you want story PICK 5e, just do, it’s system is worked into story, and it WORKS, damnit it works, just… just do it, go play D&D… whatever, god I’m so bitter about D20… and it’s 3am… so much rambling. I need a drink…

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Are unicorn frappuccinos actually made with unicorns in the D&D universe?

Mod Meme Damage (via sneeple-confirmed)

*begins frantically detailing the ins and outs of the unicorn essence harvesting economy in my world*

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Rifts

I'm still new to rifts, but I was recently lent a copy of the original rifts book, to read and learn before running a game. So, if anyone has any good tips for running rifts, I'd love some help!

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Foreshadowing in Role Playing Games.

Foreshadowing is relatively tough in visual media, television and film, because it relies so heavily on subtlety. There will be some major spoilers for the television show Marvel’s Legion, and the film, Alien: Covenant in the rest of this post, more than anything because they are both fresh in my mind, but they also both do foreshadowing really well.

The subtlety that can be used to convey foreshadowing on camera is nearly impossible in storytelling format, and the kind of foreshadowing used in text based media, is not impossible to use in storytelling format, but much harder, due to the “in the moment” aspect of storytelling games.

In film and television, we are able to use imagery to do this. A great example is from the recent film Alien: Covenant, a character is first shown wearing a hood in his introductory shot, no character in the rest of the film wears a hood up, however, many, if not all, characters in this film wear a jacket with a hood on it. Near the end of the film, the character, who has been reveled as a villain, switches places with a protagonist, before returning to their space ship, after an action scene, wind blows the hood of this character around his head to frame it. To anyone not as invested in the art of foreshadowing, like myself, this would look like nothing more than the wind blowing, but as soon as this happened, I could tell where the story was taking that. Film and television also use lighting, and auditory foreshadowing, the series Legion uses lighting and audio to foreshadow exceptionally well. Just how many of the major characters have what we call a Light Motif, which is sort of like a theme song that only lasts for a second or two, many major characters also have specific lighting, for instance, the shadow king is always accompanied by red light (as well as it’s own Light motif) it’s a way to build suspense, and let you know when the shadow king is coming, however, it is also used when the shadow king isn’t shown, as a way to foreshadow when the shadow king has had some effect on something, without actually being there, like a memory, or an event.

In text based media, it’s even harder. We don’t have music, or visuals, only description, and it gets even harder to pull off the most important aspect of foreshadowing, giving the subconscious clues, without making it obvious. So in writing, we have to use things like phrases, and specifics in description to convey certain feelings, or establish certain constants for a character, that’s why it’s so important for characters to have a distinct way of speaking, in the same way we use light and sound on stage, or on camera.

But, the most important thing that books, film, television, stage, and even music have when it comes to foreshadowing, that we just don’t get the luxury of in storytelling, is structure. This structure allows the people creating it to both add and remove certain aspects to give characters things specific to them, or events specific impacts on characters, or even readers. Let me explain this a little better, going back to the example from Alien: Covenant, that foreshadowing didn’t work simply because of the hood itself, it worked by the lack of other characters wearing hoods as well. In roleplaying games, we simply don’t have this structure, we simply cannot account for everything.

So when you take out audio, and visual, and lighting, and structure, what are we left with? Description, nothing but description. This is why description is so important in roleplaying, because it is all we have to tell a story with.

So, here is my list of advise for foreshadowing in roleplaying games.

1: describe EVERYTHING. Why everything? In the same way the twist from Alien: Covenant we have been using, has only a specific use of goods over heads, you must use subtlety, if you aren’t huge on description, and only do it when totally required, if you try and implement foreshadowing through description, the players will read into it, and they will take it as a clue, rather than foreshadowing.

2: structure where you can. It’s risky to rely on structure in RPG format, however, you can still use it, just never make it required, because it may never happen in game.

3: use catch words. A good way to give an NPC a replacement for specific lighting, or a light motif, so have something your NPC says a lot, if he’s a villain, consider having him call the players “forlorn” “my pets” “crestfallen” or something along those lines.

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How D&D changed my life.

It probably goes without saying, but this post is going to get a little personal.

Since a pretty young age I’ve struggled with anxiety and depression, a problem that kept me alone in my room for a big chunk of my free time. I was homeschooled, and I can’t thank my parents enough for that, because I’m confident I would be a radically different (and probably much worse) person if had gone to a public school. But nonetheless, I found myself alone a lot, despite having an awesome family, and even some friends, I kept to myself. I spent a lot of time on the internet, on YouTube, and after a super long time, I stumbled upon something, Acquisitions Incorporated. I honestly, for the life of me, have no recollection how I found it, but I did. It was a few web comic writers playing a game, and the game was being run by Chris Perkins, or as I came to know him, THE D&D guy. And there was something about D&D that felt extremely familiar, despite never even having heard of it, it felt like it was something I’d been missing, like it was a part of me. So I went out, and bought the 4th E starter set, and some other books, and tried to play, my family wasn’t really into it, so I didn’t play much, none of my friends wanted to. Then, I my family moved, to a different state, but also, a bigger town, and I was determined to find a way to play D&D, and about a month before We moved, I began to research and try and find either a group, or a way to find one, and I did, and it was… disappointing, (I’d discover later that was because of a bad group and DM.) so I went, every week, and played, a part of my very down because it wasn’t what I was looking for, but then, I stopped listening to those dumbasses obsessing over 3.5 and claiming 4e sucks, and moved across the room of that gaming shop to a 4e group, and it got better, more story, less mindless killing, intrigue, and best of all, role playing. But, people leave, groups got disbanded, 5e came out and split the 4e group down the middle, and only one side could survive, so I played 5e for a bit, but the DM was younger, newer, and I lost interest. I’d played some one shots within this time trying my hand at running, and I liked it a lot, but no one ever wanted to play in my games. After a while, I stopped playing, my books went unused, my growing collection of dice, untouched. And I threw myself into acting, and backstage theatre work. After a while of this, I tried to get a group going, it didn’t take, and I just, gave up, however, my focus was also on my new girlfriend at the time, so I wasn’t exactly in a totally depressed state like before, but then, something magical happened, that girl, that perfect nerdy girl found me a group, and now, for almost six months, we’ve been playing D&D, with me running. The first two adventures/campaigns were short, the first one was in pathfinder, which I still don’t love, and the second, a linear story in 5e. Finally, as of two weeks now, we’ve begun a new campaign, a real campaign, no huge story, the bad guys will be ones the characters bring to life, not me. I’ve learned a lot in the last six months, how to really run a game well, and what not to do, I’m getting better by the day, my girlfriend/fiancé and I started watching critical role, which has really grown my skills as a DM, I know it has. I’ve been hired to do a web show of my own, with a film making company, so for those of you that are interested, I’ll be promoting it here when it launches, honestly, a dream come true for me. Ever since that first podcast, there was a part of me that wanted this, not for the attention, but just for the fun, and now I’ve got it.

D&D changed me, it gave me confidence, drive, something that I could always count on, even when it went away for a while, it gave me hope, that no matter how bad things seem, or how fucked up the world gets, we’ll always have our own worlds, fucked up in a way we can fix. Because people need that, now more than ever, the table top RPG renaissance is not only because of the D&D shows and podcasts, it’s because people need an escape, people need a place where they can be a hero, where they aren’t depressed, or lonely, or anxious, people need a place where they can fix the world around them, so maybe they can go out into the real world, and do a little fixing too. D&D made me happier, less cynical, less anxious, more forward. D&D has always been more than just a game, it’s a hobby, all on its own. It doesn’t cost a lot, it doesn’t take up to much time, it will give you what you need, no matter what you’re looking for, D&D has it, it has a home for everyone, a place where you can be someone else, yet, somehow even more yourself. I think the biggest confirmation I ever heard that D&D is therapeutic, came from a guy I used to play with, who played in the military, one of six groups on base. They played D&D, nightly, and it helped him, it helped a lot of them get through what they were going through, the long hours, the hard work…

People who see things like this from the outside must think we’re crazy, right? Like, I know tons of people have a similar outlook on D&D as mine, it changed a bunch of lives, but I always chuckle in my head when I think about what must go through an outsiders head. Well, this one’s for you outsider, go play dungeons and dragons.

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Grog is making a Joey hole!!!

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Getting your players to Roleplay (and GM burnout)

I’ve found, especially over the last two years, that I tend to get pretty easily burnt out on campaigns. At first, I blamed myself, I wasn’t good enough at running games, or making worlds, they just weren’t interesting enough. But looking back on my last two campaigns, I’ve come to realize something, they were good. I may have not done anything ground breaking with them, but there was absolutely nothing wrong with them. The problem was my players.

Now, before I go to far I need to say that, there is not a “right way” to play a role playing game, however, if you want to just play a dungeon crawl loot and kill video game style game, most GMs aren’t for you. Most GMs spend hours of their free time a week working on their worlds, where as most players only look think about or look at their character during the game. I’m going to let you players in on a little secret… ready? Come closer… you can work on stuff too… what? What the hell? That’s the GM’s job, not mine! Well, no, it isn’t my job to give your character a backstory, it’s my job to find a home for it in my world. Your characters are people, they may be fake people, but they have their own goals, likes, dislikes, and personality. Your GM may not want you to do a voice or accent for your character, but they probably want you to role play.

Tips.

1: The Playing the character problem. (This one can be helpful for any group, but if your group plays in a public space, with other people around, it’s super good to keep in mind.) take the game seriously, without taking yourselves seriously. We may be using dice, and rule books, but in the end, when we play a table top role playing game, we are playing pretend. I know, that can be a little scary to think about. “But I’m an adult now, pretend is for kids!!!” In the end, were pretending we’re someone else for fun, someone with powers in a fantastic world, but pretending nonetheless. Think of it less like a kid playing a game, and more like an actor taking on a role, except, you don’t have lines and you have to decide what to do and say. It’s okay to make a fool out of yourself, no, no really, it is. I promise, this is dungeons and dragons!

2. The player character consistency problem. This one is important, many players act as a mindless drone who does whatever they can do deal the most damage, or deal with a situation most effectively, without thinking about the role playing side. This could end up making you act one way in a situation once, then a similar situation comes up and you act totally different, because you have a new power, or think it might be more advantageous to do something different. But a person, a thing with a personality tends to react similarly to similar situations. Keep your character consistent. Now, also keep in mind, characters can learn just like you can, and if they made a mistake, or learned something from the last time they had a similar encounter, that would make them act differently.

3. The alignment problem. In modern D&D, alignment is becoming a big problem, players see it as a restriction, so they tend toward neutrality. This falls in to the same kind of advice as the next tip. RESTRICTIONS ARE GOOD!!! A character with an exceptionally low score in an attribute, or a character addicted to a substance, or one lawful and good, places restrictions on your character, which sounds bad, but that’s how people work.

4. The min-maxing/“I wanna play the coolest guy ever!” Problem. You won’t have any more fun playing D&D if you deal the most damage, or have the coolest spells, if you have a good enough GM, a dumbass can be just as much fun to play as a badass. Fucking up should be just as much fun as executing something perfectly. I’m going to briefly move away from these tips to tell a quick story. When I was 15 my dad got a new job in a different state, far away from any friends, or previous D&D experiences, but to my extreme happiness, a group played at a local game shop in town! Awesome! They were taking new people! I showed up one Saturday, and sat down and created a character. The group was the most dysfunctional D&D group I’ve ever met. A dungeon master who had hundreds of dungeons, but did not describe a single one. It was like playing a video game, but, even worse. He didn’t have flare, or passion, it was just “this room is this size… you find a trap… you disarm the trap… you open the door (places minis on board) six (monster names) attack you. Someone track initiative.” That was it, when you hit, you dealt damage, no flare, nothing. When you missed, you missed, no description, nothing. This IS A PROBLEM a giant problem if you’re a player and you’re in a game DO NOT DO THIS If you’re a DM CHANGE HOW YOU RUN. It will cause players to only care about damage, it will cause players to cheat and say they roll higher than they do, it will RUIN D&D for some people, trust me, it almost did for me. But I came back, I watched D&D podcasts and shows, and all of the sudden I was like “wait a second, this is D&D, not that!” But I couldn’t find any games like that, so I started running, and it became what it was supposed to be. Let me remind you, there is no wrong way to play, but if a player comes in to a public game, at a convention or game shop, I promise, they aren’t looking for a dungeon.

5. The “but who cares what her favorite food is” problem. Who cares about your characters favorite food? Or color? Or book? Well your character does, so you should too! Even if it never comes up, think about it like this. When the last time your favorite food led you to pick a specific restaurant, or your favorite color led you to picking a shirt, or household item? How much has your favorite book effected you? These things matter, likes and dislikes make a personality.

6. The time spent problem. Like I said before, your GM probably spends a metric ass load of time on their game, so sit down for half an hour during the week, and figure out something new about your character, write about them, draw them, even if you aren’t a good writer, or artist. Just take time with your character, their parent’s name, their brother’s name. It helps, I promise, and it isnt asking that much.

Oh! Btw, reblog this, not for me, but for all the hard working GMs out there! Hell, copy paste it and pretend it's yours, I don't care, but it needs to be heard.

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The D20 system.

Published under the open gaming license the D20 system quickly became the home of dozens of game settings, from fantasy to sci-fi. Today, I’d like to take a look at some of my favorites, and what about them makes them worth playing.

D20 Modern. D20 Modern itself can be pretty dull, but with the right twist it can quickly become really fun, battling a gang of bugbear drug dealers in the back allies of New York City 80s action movie style can be a super cool way to start a game. But the real greatness of D20 modern comes when you add in D20 future, or D20 past. D20 future has rules for all types of sci-fi campaigns, and can host a very dark sci-fi firefly type universe, or more space fantasy, like Star Wars. Where as the D20 past book can be really useful when you’re running a Pathfinder/D&D 3.5 campaign and need some flintlocks or cannons. D20 past is also great for Pirate themed games, as well as exploration of the new world type settings, lost cities and the like.

D20 Star Wars. Though the force point system and light/dark side function makes this system useless for running a game outside of the Star Wars universe, it still makes a comfortable home for Star Wars games, and if you’re a huge nerd about Star Wars and have done a ton of reading on the expanded universe, this system could be really fun to run a game with.

Warcraft D20. I’m not a huge fan of Warcraft’s world, it’s just not my thing, but the D20 books for Warcraft are amazing, new classes that can be added into pathfinder or 3.5 as well as rules for things like totems guns, and an intricate crafting system makes these books an awesome addition to any fantasy D20 game.

If you’re really going for a pirate theme, the Swashbuckling adventures will probably interest you the most, tons of books, great art work, all pirates, all the time.

And I would recommend the D20 Call of Cthulhu if there weren’t better lovecraft style games out there. But it’s still good.

That’s about all the D20 I’ve played, which is nowhere near the amount of D20 books out there, there’s a Dragonlance setting for D20, tons of original fantasy settings, and even more sci-fi settings.

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Modules and Adventures worth playing.

Taking a look at the vastness of D&Ds history, it can be intimidating to pick a version of the game (covered in one of my other posts) but after you pick a version, what's next? I would recommend an adventure, note, I'm mostly going to be talking about "adventures" as that's what they've been called since 3e, but I usually just call them modules anyway. 1e I wouldn't recommend 1e to a new player, but if you're experienced, or so inclined by any means to try 1e, I have a long list of recommendations, but I'll keep it more contained. If you're planning a long term campaign, the best series to begin with is the T series of modules, The temple of elemental evil, with out a doubt, it starts fast, but it's not to hard, it even gives you options to decrease difficulty based on level of characters, and character total. After you finish the T series, go to A, then, if you're lucky enough to get a hold of the books, G and D series, basically this will take you through a long running campaign up into high levels, and the best way to end this campaign is with the single module Q. If you're curious about the individual modules, Wikipedia has a ton of info on the different series, I don't have the space to detail this entire chain of stories, and I feel like it will be lost on to many people, as there are so few 1e players out there., If you're just looking to try out 1e, try the N series is perfect, N actually stands for Novice, it's designed for new players and new DMs, a great place to start, and N1: against the cult of the reptile god, is amazing, no holds are barred, yet it's still great for new players, you really get a good feel for the game with this module. 2e undoubtably, the dragonlance module series is your best bet with 2e. It's super long, and even though the modules don't all totally go together, about all of the dragonlance stories can be pieced together by a decent DM. 3/3.5e the Sunless citadel is amazing, probably the most compelling story to date, intrigue, danger, betrayal, just amazing. Also, my love for the temple of elemental evil will become very apparent as this post goes on, and I haven't played the 3e Return to the temple of elemental evil, but I've been dying to for a long time. 4e if you happen to get a hold of the Dungeon master's kit for 4e, the included module, Reavers of Harkenwold, is actually super great, it's short, but it makes up for it by providing you with all the maps you need, and those maps actually make great basic inn/tavern maps for other campaigns as well. 4e used a tier system, levels 1-10 was a tier known as Heroic, the series known as the H series (heroic series) for 4e is really damned fun, especially the pyramid of shadows H3. 5e with only a handful of books out for this edition, it's kind of tough to pick. Tales from the yawning portal is worth getting, as it has a few of the most well known modules, remade for 5e, which is a super cool idea, including the G series mentioned in the 1e section, and the sunless citadel in the 3e section. Despite my love for temple of elemental evil, I just can't recommend princes of the apocalypse, which is 5e's new addition to the temple of elemental evil story line. It's good, it just isn't great, in my opinion, the best 5e modules out right now are the tyranny of dragons modules, hoard of the dragon queen and the rise of Tiamat, a truly incredible module for 5e hasn't come out yet in my opinion, but the amount of work put into the tyranny of dragons story line, really shows.

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D&D 5e-The Dice are Deadly

Taking a look at the rule system for the 5th edition of dungeons and dragons, it doesn’t take long for an avid RPG player, or game master, to determine that 5th edition holds the power of a quick death for a player. Something I felt was somewhat lacking from the last two editions, you don’t have the same ease of death that came with AD&D, of course the goal has never been to kill the players (tomb of horrors aside) but if the players weren’t careful, they would die, a concept seemingly lost on 3rd-4th edition, especially 4th. Epic fantasy became the norm, and the sword and sorcery feel of both editions of AD&D, became watered down with the feats and prestige classes of 3rd and 3.5, and the powers of 4th. The whole game became watered down, to the point where playing any class you could easily be just as effective as any other class, with either to many options (D20 system) or not enough unique options (4 e) but in 5e, they have finally found a way for every character to at least be somewhat effective at any task, without watering down the mechanics, and without making every class feel to similar. They even circumnavigated the loss of prestige classes with the sub-class options, and have given players the ability to customize and optimize however they like, and put more of an emphasis on character personality and your personal ideas of a unique character, without emphasizing min maxing. I feel that the community of D&D is still hesitant to abandon 3.5 for 5th edition, which is fair. The D20 system is incredibly malleable, and is, in my opinion, still the best edition for a long lasting campaign. Simply because it has no real upper limit level wise, however. I feel that D&D sort of needs that upper limit, think of it this way. D&D is, above all else, a story telling game, if you don’t agree with that, just take a look at the vastness that is the world of D&D inspired novels. Beginning with the Dragonlance Chronicles, there are hundreds of books out there exploring the various settings, dragonlance, forgotten realms, even dark sun. And a story, must have a beginning, middle, and unconditionally, an end. With the upper limits back in place, and moving once again away from the watered down mechanics of 4e, what do we have? A true successor to D&D. When the playtest was originally launched a high emphasis was placed on the use of the term Next, D&D next. This was very much seen, as they took input from players, DMs, and all the best bits from every edition (primarily 2nd-4th) and what came out was something truly D&D. If you have been hesitant to try 5e, go ahead and pick up the PHB, it’s not to expensive now, or even just borrow a friend’s copy. If you’re a nerd for the long lost sword and sorcery feel like myself, I promise you won’t be disappointed.

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AD&D story time!

When I started the my AD&D 1e game, I created a huge amount of premade characters for my players to choose from, rather than letting them create there own, mostly because there isn’t a huge list of class options, or feats to take like in the newer editions, so I figured Could just make every class and race and they could just go with it, pick their name and gender and other personal qualities. So one of my players took a human Monk, a class that begins very squishy, but he committed to the role, he even began naming his attacks, as he is only using open hand. (It’s worth noting two homebrew elements I’ve added to AD&D. 1, that monks can use any part of their body to make their unarmed attack, and 2, that I’ve incorporated a called shot system into the game) so they are in combat with six mercenary types from the town of Hommlet (the beginning of the T series of modules) and the monk currently has two unarmed attacks each turn, so he tries to sweep the leg of his foe, and of course, the roll comes up 1. He slams his leg into the metal greaves of the target, and just lays on the ground, he laughs, and is about to write this attack round off as a failure, when I remind him that he attacks twice each round with unarmed attacks. So, he calls his shot, a swift kick, straight up into his target’s groin, a nut shot, and of course, I roll a 20. This enemy had not been hit yet, but due to 1e’s beginning level encounters, he has only 4 hp, the attack is a critical hit, (a monk deals 1-3 damage at this level, but with his strength bonus, the damage goes up by 1.) he deals 4 damage, exactly. The mercenary goes down, his pelvis, shattered, his scrotum, ruptured, his injuries, survivable by most, cause him to simply loose his will to live, and he dies…

So, welcome to the world of AD&D, where nutshots can kill.

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AD&D

In my recent attempts to explore deeper into the world of pen and paper role playing, rather than going forward, with games like Numenera, the new edition of shadowrun, or the new setting for the current Star Wars RPG, I’ve decided to take a big step back, and dust off some of the oldest RPG books there are, the advanced edition of the original dungeons and dragons. I’ve had the player’s hand book, and dungeon master’s guide for OAD&D (as annoying as I find that abbreviation) for almost three years, from a clearance table at one of my local gaming stores, I figured “why not, shits and giggles” (little did I know the world of matrices and tables they held) so I bought them, after all, they were ten bucks each. I spent those three years playing very little pen and paper RPGs, a game here, a game there, I tried to get four or five off the ground, but nothing took, finally, my fiancé was introduced to pathfinder by some friends from a summer job she was working at, they never ended up playing, but many of them (6 to be exact) came back wanting to play, so we started, with an original setting I had been working on for short stories, that I call Hystyn. So we began, me as the dungeon master, and what ended up being seven players (I know right, a lot for your first long term game) those seven players dropped to six after the first week, and dropped to four after the third week. It was looking bad, but then, something magical came with the new year, a new campaign, using fifth edition, which, along with AD&D, 3.5, and pathfinder, had gone unused on my shelf for so long, and a new world, a world I built maps for, detailed cities, created realms, gods a calendar, all for my players, and they thrived, we played for three months, and it went perfectly, we even got a new player a couple weeks ago. However, about three weeks ago, I got writers block, well, only for this new setting, I’m building three more even as of writing this, so after I ran out of material for the ongoing story, I made a decision, time to change pace. I spent a day going through the systems I had, or knew well, 3.5/pathfinder, no we already did that, D20 modern, no, I still want fantasy, then I looked to my shelf, and that’s when it hit me, we have to go back, to the roots, to understand the game we were playing, hell, to fully understand all pen and paper RPGs out there, we had to play OAD&D. So I poured over the books, looked up tutorials, jammed together the word vomit that is the original books, and I figured it out, I made minor changes, simple things, not overhauls, but more or less, it was AD&D. I decided to run this game very different from my other games, I would roll all of the dice, and not use battle maps or minis, as to force the players to imagine what I describe, a choice I thought I would regret, but they actually love! I was going to run in an indistinct fantasy world, and use my powers of pulling shit out my ass to just play the system, but it occurred to me, that’s not enough, that wouldn’t satisfy my need to experience AD&D, not really, and that’s how I came across T1-4 (for those who do not know, before 3rd edition changed them to adventures, they were called modules, and they were coded with a letter, and numbered in order) the temple of elemental evil, I’d heard so much about it over the years, it was always in the back of my mind, along with tomb of horrors, as about as classic as it gets (even if that isn’t true) so I got it, I found it, and I’m running it, and my god, the experience is incredible, I pride myself as a very insightful and big picture person, and something about the original game and setting makes me feel very connected to game makers past. As an aspiring table top game designer, I feel this experience has greatly increased my appreciation for pen and paper rpgs, and I don’t know if it was just a coincidence, but I had more epiphanies related to my own games I’m creating than I ever have, since I started with AD&D. So in short, I won’t claim AD&D is the best (though it is damned good) it’s just not, it has flaws, lots of them, but so does 2nd, and 3rd, and 3.5, and pathfinder, and (god knows) 4th, 5th, cortex, gurps, fate, shadowrun, and every edition of every table top rpg out there. So I guess, the lesson here is, if you love D&D, or any other TRPG out there, and you ever see cheap books with a yellow corner that say ADVANCED D&D, that are by Gary Gygax, and TSR games, buy them, read them, try them. It’s worth it.