The Order of the Shooting Star: Part 2

This is a series of Dungeons and Dragons recaps. I have taken story liberties in order to tell an engaging tale.

The room was filled with rat carcasses and broken items. Several gold pieces were left behind as well as a couple of spell scrolls. Whatever was done here there wasn't any evidence of it anymore.

In the corner was a hidden trapdoor which lead down to a natural cave. Proceeding down the tunnels the party came across a group of goblins in a makeshift lair. Combat ensued with the heroes being victorious. Looting the corpses they found cheap weapons and more gold pieces.

Searching the section revealed a heavy shelf hiding a hastily assembled door. Listening at the door revealed the sounds of a humanoid snoring. Entering the area the party finds a halfling tied up in a corner on a straw bed. This passage appeared to be his prison cell. Another door is seen with another heavy shelf blocking the door from the outside. Listening at the door reveals more goblins talking amongst themselves.

The party decides to have some fun. They push the door and bookcase into the tunnel and crush two goblins beneath its weight. Another battle plays out with the party being victorious. Traveling into the next tunnel reveals the entrance to the cave and solves the mystery of how the rats were entering the inn's cellar.

Richard made the decision to seal the cave's entrance and persuaded the rest of the group to agree. He argued that he didn't trust the innkeeper or the elf named John so he wanted to ensure that neither would accidentally discover the passages. Connor worked the wall from the outside to make it blend in with the rest of the cave's wall. Once finished Connor traveled back to town after disguising himself to look like a monk to throw off the innkeeper while Richard and Ets returned through the tunnels and investigated the halfling further.

He appeared to have been attacked with a blunt weapon and suffering the effects of some poison. Thinking quickly, Richard attempted to cure the halfling of his ailment. Following that the party proceeded to return to the inn.

Climbing into the cellar Richard proceeded to conceal the trapdoor into the cellar floor before returning to the inn proper.

Connor passed behind the inn to peer into the kitchen's window looking for the party. Richard saw a strange monk standing outside and called to the innkeeper which caused the monk to run away.

When the innkeeper returned to his position behind the counter the monk reemerged and dropped the disguise. Connor's disguise had fooled Richard.

The party explained that the rats were entering through a hole in the cellar which was expertly plugged and now asked for payment. The innkeeper admitted that he couldn't offer gold but he could offer his merchant's discount for the local shops and a week's stay at the inn free of charge.

Mission accomplished but questions remain: Why did that elf want the inn so badly? What did the wizard do to the innkeeper? What else did the wizard do?

The Guide to Dungeon Mastering: Get Rid of Those Grids!

Welcome to an informal chat about DM basics. I'll be giving tips and tricks that I've learned over the years.

I began my adventures in tabletop gaming playing exclusively using theater-of-the-mind. I say this because everything went weird when we started using grids.

Now it started out fine, we had a means to visually track character locations and ranges but something just felt off about the entire thing. At the time I was never able to figure it out but that is the magic of looking backward; hindsight is 20/20 after all.

I figured out that the problem was the grids. Gridded lines on a play surface are a good abstraction but everyone instinctually places their figures inside the lines. This is not how things would normally operate as grids do not appear in nature. Nothing is nicely organized by neat 5-foot squares!

It's not an issue for everyone but I've found that it can be immersion breaking which is why I have removed grids from my game. I have not removed miniatures but that is a separate issue.

This is the point I am making:
You can use miniatures without a grid!

So, how do we make this work? The biggest thing to worry about is scale, most editions follow a simple setup (1-inch = 5-feet) but you are free to use any scale you want. The trick is to make it consistent and base it around a 1 inch rule.

Why 1-inch? Because that is the default size of a standard mini base. Make something relevant to that size and your system will be applicable to all minis.

The next thing to worry about is movement speed. Thankfully most editions give this stat in feet as opposed to grids (major exception being 4e) so the best method I have found is to make something to measure movement.

For example: I use the standard system (1-inch = 5-feet) and the standard movement speed of a medium sized character is 30-feet. I do some simple math and that equates to 6-inches, so I cut a length of string or measure a stick and use that as a base. Repeat as necessary.

That method also works when measuring range for attacks and other things. All told a very small amount of work is required to make this work. It just needs the players to get on board and that is the easy part.

In short, getting rid of the grids will make your games far more immersive.

Next time: I'll be talking about increasing that immersion for your group!

DM Story Time: Why I don't like 4e

Stories from the years gone by that helped shape who I am as a player and dungeon master.

It was summer of 2008 when I began hearing about the new DnD version. I didn't have a computer or reliable internet access at this time so I couldn't look up the information myself, but what I heard intrigued me. A brand new edition that I can get into on the ground floor? I'll buy it.

And so when it launched I bought the box-set with all three core rulebooks and a DM screen. I poured over those books and itched to try out the new combat powers. I wouldn't get the chance for several months because I went to boot camp shortly after the launch.

Fast-forward to my days of being bored in the barracks during A-School. I talked with some friends of mine about how I used to play DnD on a weekly basis and stirred up some interest. I then had my mother ship me my 4e books and I began preparing an adventure. I walked the players through character creation and we decided to have a go at it.

Even though I had started things off as a roleplay heavy session we found ourselves bogged down in combat. The combat rules flowed easily enough but everything dragged at a snail's pace; I understand that this was because of the inexperience of the players but I didn't have much to go on to make it any faster.

I began to realize that I hadn't prepared enough for the game. 4e rules were so focused on combat that a play surface and miniatures (things I did not have access to) were practically a requirement. This blew my mind, I played 2e prior and we never used miniatures or even a grid. We operated purely on theater-of-the-mind, but this version would not easily let me facilitate that. I began to feel buyer's remorse.

After the session I began looking through the rulebooks again and realized that I only focused on the cool additions to the game. I never looked at what they changed for the worse.

• Alignments were practically non-existent.
• Skills were simplified to insulting levels.
• Wizards had no spells.

The alignment chart existed to abstract what the character should do if the player is unsure. This chart existed for years with two differing scales (lawful to chaotic; good to evil) to determine overall character standing. 4e reduced the nine options to five on a single sliding scale (lawful good, good, neutral, evil, chaotic evil). Looking at it with fresh eyes I realized that it was simplified because WotC didn't feel like new players would understand it. I started to feel insulted.

The skill list was reduced. I had no problem with this. What would previously require a thief to roll to Hide and then Move Silently was replaced with Stealth. That was a good change, but why would you get rid of skill points? Allocating skill points was that great moment when a player would say Do I want to maximize Diplomacy? Admittedly, this was a minor concern as I understand why they did it; however, when you couple it with the fact that I was already feeling insulted this did nothing to help.

I should rephrase this: Every class is a Wizard. Encounter powers, Daily powers, At-Will powers; everyone is practically a spellcaster in this game. This was done to level the playing field but it had the added effect of making it pointless to play a Wizard. Let me go into further depth here, Wizards did have spells but they were practically identical to each other and the only differences were elemental flavor text and properties. They were still used in the power line-up seen previously.

Years have passed since those days and I'm still not fond of 4e, but I would play it again. This time I wouldn't attempt to take it seriously. Combat worked in this game and I don't mind that but the unfortunate thing is that WotC may have destroyed any hope for this edition with the release of 5e.

5e performs combat just as well as 4e but with the added benefit of feeling faster. Everything flows faster and feels more urgent; also I do not feel that I need to map out every encounter on a grid. Wizards feel like Wizards again. Skill points still do not exist but I have moved beyond my initial reaction to that. I realized that I never needed skill points in an RPG; I just needed to feel progress.

5e is what 4e should have been.

John's Journal: Sell Me the Inn!

John is an NPC in my current group's adventure. He has his own spin on how events transpire.

I've been looking at the inn for several days now. It's in good condition but barely noticeable. I could elevate it to something worth talking about.

I already have the signs made up The Dragon's Breath Inn complete with an image of a friendly dragon holding his own foaming mug. It will draw people in and they'll have to stay the night once they see the furnishings.

But that stubborn innkeeper. He refuses to sell it to me! He doesn't realize the value this establish holds!

I offered him triple the market value and still he declines. Tells me the place is infested with vermin. You want to play that game, fine. I hired some patrons who looked like they could handle themselves to take care of the problem. If they succeed then I'll have the inn with no further issues.

If they fail, well I guess I'll just have to build another inn in town and put that man out of business. I won't let this opportunity pass me by.

I will have that inn.