DM Story Time: Where the Hell Have I Been?

Welcome back. I assume everyone is telling me this but I have my doubts.

I had planned on running this blog weekly while I ran my games but life has a habit of getting in the way. As such three years have passed and I haven't written a word.

But no longer! I will update regularly again!

But I know that an announcement of more to come isn't worth an update so how about I summarize my past three years?

The Order of the Shooting Star never met again after the third session. Scheduling conflicts happened too frequently and I was getting visibly frustrated. We agreed to disband the group and try again later if things opened up.

I started going to Adventurers League to get my fix. It worked for a time but my work schedule and my wife both stopped me from going any further.

I dropped out of college. I couldn't handle the workload of a full-time student with a full-time job and a full-time husband. Something had to give and it wound up being school. I'll finish my degree when things become less crazy.

Work began to suck. I got a job at a deli in a grocery store and it was soul-rending. That store, I came to realize, was where dreams went to die. Despite that I still looked for any reason to get back into the hobby of tabletop.

I discovered the West Marches and its player-driven structure. Since scheduling conflicts were the biggest reason why my previous games fell apart it seemed perfect. Place the burden on the players!

I tried it out and had a successful game which has been the last game I've run since June of this year (2017 if you're curious).

Once again, life happened.

I had to move out of state to pursue a job opportunity. Currently I'm an OTR Trucker who is hoping to get a local route so he can come home more frequently as this hobby is calling to my heart, and I have so many ideas to bring to my table.

So session recaps are not coming back anytime soon but I will expand upon some of my ideas in the future. Until then stay nerdy!

The Order of the Shooting Star: Part 3

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

The party awoke and followed the only lead they had left. The town of Trade Winds was less than a day's trip to the East.

On the road they encountered a mysterious stranger. A man who seemed to know everything about the party's adventure thus far. He called himself Jeffrey and left a cryptic hint as to the location of a certain Wizard the party was chasing. He informed the party that the road would have a closed path leading into the woods and a small base of goblins would be found there.

With that Jeffrey was on his way. The party decided that since the goblins were on the way it was worth investigating.

Over the night Richard spent a couple hours learning the goblin language. The idea came to him because of the apparent goblin activity in the area. So Richard decided to try to talk to the goblins first. Connor and Ets decided to hide in the woods and shrubbery in case the talks broke down.

So it was that the band of goblins guarding the base met with a lone stranger hailing them in their native tongue. To say they were confused was an understatement.

Richard offered a couple of days rations in exchange for information on a wizard. The goblins thought it over and revealed having met with a strange human wearing new blue robes and being flanked by a swarm of rats.

The goblins didn't like the wizard much. They revealed that they last saw him head to the South and were very glad to be rid of him. The Black Hand Goblins found that this human was worth talking to and let him leave with no trouble.

Having all the information they were going to receive the party continued on the road to Trade Winds. Soon enough the walls around the city were visible and the party were face-to-face with the local guards.

The guards were a little bored and light on cash so when asked about the location of an elf named John they offered to give directions for a gold piece. Richard haggled them down to two silver pieces and the party was directed to the Dragon's Breath Inn.

Inside the city they went...

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.

The Guide to Dungeon Mastering: Picking an Edition

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

This is a topic for new players more so than anyone else. But let's start with my experiences:

I was introduced to DnD via 3e and 3.5e then joined a group playing a modified version of 2e. Later, I bought into the hype that was 4e and through a multitude of reasons I determined that I didn't like it. I currently run a game with modified 3.5e rules and join in on D&D Encounters so I can experience 5e.

In short, I have played every major version of the game that has been popular in the last 20 years.

Some people might argue that I am qualified to say which version is the best; to which I claim that there is no best version now shut up silly voice in my head. The question comes down to what do you want the rulebooks to do for you and this is because every version of the game does at least one thing well, but remember that the rules are never written in stone. In fact I think that deserves a bullet point.

• Rulebooks are to used as a guide only.

It is possible to go completely out of the realm of the books and oftentimes the game improves when this occurs. With so much freedom, how do players find the right edition? The good news is that I've got a system for that:

1. Get a group together.
2. Determine the DM.
3. Edition is based on DM's experience and availability of books.

Getting a group together is often the hard part (especially if your friends are not interested in RPGs) but there are resources out there. Roll20 serves as a virtual tabletop so that groups can play over the internet and they also have a Looking For Group (LFG) service. There exists a Subreddit known as r/lfg which serves the purpose of getting groups together online or offline. Otherwise, go old-school and put an ad in a local game or comic shop as that tends to reliably work out.

Once you have your group you can determine which among you should be the DM. Alternatively, you could volunteer for the job in your ad but only do so if you truly desire the job. The DM (or GM, I'm a DnD guy after all) should want to do it and should be at least familiar with the game. Beyond that I can attest to the merits of learning on the job but don't be afraid to offer help to your DM.

Finally, I feel that the edition should be the DM's call. The reason for this is simple: The DM is running the damn game! If the DM has 3.5e books and wants to run that game then let him run that game. Just ask to borrow the Player's Handbook so you can create a character.

Here is where it starts getting complicated.

Earlier I mentioned that rulebooks are to be used as a guide only. Well, now I'm going to say that they are important; kind of...

Think of the rulebooks as a reference for a report. They serve as a guide for how accurate things are but this is only good if you have the ability to reference them. So, you need books. In DnD there are three books that are required for play: Player's Handbook (PH), Monster Manual (MM), and the Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG). Players only need access to a PH in order to play; but anyone who wants to be a DM needs all three books (on the other hand Pathfinder is a system that is very similar to DnD but condenses itself to a single book).

So far it sounds like the answer to which edition should I get? is best answered by which edition am I most familiar with? That much is true; however, what if you are brand new and trying to figure this out for yourself? Those books I mentioned are not cheap and a newcomer cannot be expected to buy every book for every edition ever made. How does a newcomer choose?

See step one.

Decide based on what your group wants to play. If you are all brand new then I have a great solution. Choose 5e, it is the most recent version and will be supported by Wizards of the Coast for years to come. Also, it was created with new players in mind. 5e is the edition that is the easiest to get into and I will gladly run this edition in the future.

I've said a lot in this post but now I'm about to say the most important thing of all.

• Forget my rules and pick an edition dammit.

You see, we can argue about the proper protocol behind picking an edition to play but the short answer is that it's not really all that important. A good DM can make any edition work and good players will help make that DM's job easier. While there may be some differences to make note of between the editions that doesn't change a simple fact: No one is going to understand the game until they start playing.

This brings about the biggest point that I can make: It is impossible to find the "best" edition without first trying everything that is available to you. Why do I like 3.5e? Because the rules offer enough freedom for the players to do literally anything with just the core rulebooks. Why did I like 2e? Because I had fun with my friends who were playing it.

So stop arguing about the editions and just take a vote already. I'll play 4e again even though I don't like it.