What's the Crock Pot? Just a simmering bowl of lentils and herbs, with a dash of DMing observations. Don't be afraid to dip in your ladle and stir, or throw in something from your own spice rack. Characters with class One of the new online features for Fourth Edition, once Wizards of the Coast gets the DDI rolling, is supposed to be a character creator. But in addition to generating stats ...

Bugbears are great monsters for the DM. They’re these brutish beast-men that know how to use armor and shields, and they have both ranged (javelin) and melee (morningstar) combat capabilities.  Moreover, the DM doesn’t have to hold back when they fight. As the Monster Manual describes them: “Bugbear attacks are coordinated and their tactics are sound if not brilliant.” That’s a descriptor that makes every DM’s heart pound faster. In ...

What's the Crock Pot? Just a simmering bowl of lentils and herbs, with a dash of DMing observations. Don't be afraid to dip in your ladle and stir, or throw in something from your own spice rack. Gotta Know When to Fold 'Em Card stock buildings, erasable battlemaps, D&D brand Dungeon Tiles, homemade encounter areas drawn with crayon. Those have been my tools in trade ever since I landed on the ...

If you love the Forgotten Realms — or should I say, if you love to tinker with the Forgotten Realms — then Fourth Edition presents a rare opportunity. I recommend that DM’s running 4E games take a crack at revising their Realms before the official update, which presumably will advance the timeline and explain the evolution from 3E to 4E magic systems, is published in August.  Why? Here’s a chance ...

What's the Crock Pot? Just a simmering bowl of lentils and herbs, with a dash of DMing observations. Don't be afraid to dip in your ladle and stir, or throw in something from your own spice rack. Just a little peek The more I DM, the more I want to roll in the open. Mostly, it keeps me honest and it dampens hard feelings when the rolls go against the players. ...

PCs are adventurers. I get it. They’re not slaving away at some lousy 9-to-5 job hoping the boss won’t drop a ton of work on their desk before the weekend or pining for that promotion that will never come. It’s not in their makeup. They’re adventurers! They’re goblin-killers and tomb raiders and dragon-slayers, for goodness sakes. They don’t punch-in at a timeclock and they aren’t worried about the ...

What's the Crock Pot? Just a simmering bowl of lentils and herbs, with a dash of DMing observations. Don't be afraid to dip in your ladle and stir, or throw in something from your own spice rack. Death-proofed PCs Everything I’d heard about Fourth Edition D&D was how hard it was to kill first-level characters — they’re resilient, they’re loaded with offensive capabilities and they’ve got a batch of hit points. ...

With D&D going more and more to static numbers for saves and defense, especially in the Fourth Edition of the rules, I know I’m swimming upstream with this suggestion for Third Edition DMs. All the same, here it is: I think defenders should roll for their Armor Class, and thus, oppose the roll made by the attacker. After all, the use of opposed rolls is a key component ...

What's the Crock Pot? Just a simmering bowl of lentils and herbs, with a dash of DMing observations. Don't be afraid to dip in your ladle and stir, or throw in something from your own spice rack. Hip to be squares Flip Mat brand footmaps are cool. And they work with permanent and dry-erase markers (kinda ... there’s a trick to removing the permanent markings) . They’re re-useable, and come in ...

Want to know the secret to making a game world or setting your own? Whether you’re using a published setting or brewing your own homeworld for adventures, the key is creating an organization that’s unique to your game. Simple, huh? One organization of your creation makes all the difference. But why? 1) It gives you mastery over a segment of the world. I’m not going to learn ...

What's the Crock Pot? Just a simmering bowl of lentils and herbs, with a dash of DMing observations. Don't be afraid to dip in your ladle and stir, or throw in something from your own spice rack. Gnomes shouldn’t drink and drive The D&D Third Edition Arms and Equipment Guide is chock full of DMing goodies. My favorite is the list of ales and wines. From Dragonbite bitter ...

The players have gathered at their table for their first session in a new adventure. Each player has rolled up a new character, then shared their creation with the others in a quick once-around the table. A grim realization dawns.  “Oh noooooooooo! We don’t have a cleric! We’re all gonna die!” And the DM smiles ... and it’s an evil smile. Play on Must every party have a cleric, ...

What's the Crock Pot? Just a simmering bowl of lentils and herbs, with a dash of DMing observations. Don't be afraid to dip in your ladle and stir, or throw in something from your own spice rack. Laugh it up, fuzzball Francis, the batted-around badger minion from D&D’s 4E promotional vid introducing the tiefling as a core player race, makes an appearance in the promotional posters provided to game ...

It’s inevitable. DM long enough, and kids will crop up in your adventure. They’ll either need to be rescued from a trap or a villain, one decides to tag along for protection or curiosity, or like Sherlock Holmes’ Baker Street Boys, you’ll come to rely upon a gang of them to run errands and gather information. So it’s a good idea to have some standard children rolled up. ...

What's the Crock Pot? Just a simmering bowl of lentils and herbs, with a dash of DMing observations. Don't be afraid to dip in your ladle and stir, or throw in something from your own spice rack. Gnome-je vu Why all the 4E fuss? I’ll tell you why.  Gnomes are in the Third Edition Monster Manual, too. And they have a lair (“Gnomes make their homes in hilly, woodland lands. They ...