Villainy with a shadowy purpose: Rogues that strike out from dark alleys. Monsters that lurk in the dark spaces beneath the stairs. Creatures of smoke and raging spirits. The 4E Monster Manual has an outstanding selection of opponents of dark purpose. Here are some heroic-level encounters you can spring on the unsuspecting. (The target encounter XPs are for 5 PCs of each level). Level 1 Encounter Following the ...

In attempting to re-envision the Forgotten Realms before the official campaign setting is released, this series has looked at the advantages of DMs putting their own touch to the setting, using the town of Fallcrest from the Dungeon Master’s Guide, and providing a tour of how Mystra’s fall changed the politics and power structure of the North. To close out the series, let’s have a look at some ...

I found www.nesfiles.com a while back.  For the NES junkies out there like me, Nesfiles is a site that allows you to play emulated NES games in your browser. Go nuts. I'm not sure of the legalities of emulators though, so go nuts at your own risk. One of the games I found there that I had loved years ago was Ultima Exodus. Despite the fact that it's a video ...

Reading Ben Robbins' recent post on Ars Ludi on Major Wesely the first GM, featured on our August 8th Link Roundup, I was struck with the fact that as RPG GMs, players and designers we're the last generation that will ever be able to say that we've experienced firsthand the entirety of the history of our hobby. The older the hobby gets, the harder it will be to get our hands ...

The collapse of the famed Moonbridge marks the fall of the goddess Mystra — and woe befalls the High Lady of Silverymoon (as it does all the Seven Sisters) — as the unweaving of magic brings disaster and an onslaught of monsters to the outposts of civilization in the North. Thus begins the Transformation of the North, the third in a series of posts describing how I’d remake ...

Fallcrest, as presented in the 4E Dungeon Master's Guide, is a gem. Designed to be a campaign starting point, it's got a handful of adventure hooks and can accommodate additional material of your own design easily enough. At the least, it's a good template for a town of your own design. For me, I'm attempting to make the Realms my own before the official published setting is released. (See previous ...

Third Edition D&D designer Jonathan Tweet wrote an adventure for Dungeon magazine (Issue No. 89) entitled “Wedding Bells,” which in addition to featuring the wonderfully whimsical artwork of Spiderwick co-creator Tony Diterlizzi, has fixed in my mind a particularly vile image of the harpy. Yes, the harpy, a classic villain with a particularly nasty ability: a captivating song that it uses to lure victims —  usually hapless travelers, and ...

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 ...

We recently completed a five episode (plus pilot) season of our first Primetime Adventures game. Here's a rundown of how we did it and what was involved. The group We founded our group a little under a year ago after playing together at the game store meetup group. Our goals were to enjoy games together and try out more indie games and techniques. Primetime Adventures (PTA) was ...

One of the great characteristics of our hobby is that there is so much variety amongst game systems. Some gamers play every system that they can get their hands on, while others stick to a core system that suits their particular styles. Yet no matter what system is your favorite you can always get fresh ideas by exposing yourself to a new system. Sometimes just learning about a ...

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 ...

With D&D 4e out (and looking awesome so far), I wanted to start building a collection of prepainted fantasy minis for future use. While I plan to buy some boosters as well, I figured I'd kick things off by ordering a host of cheap minis for representing PCs. Even if creatures get counters instead, it's always cool when the PCs have their own minis. Back when I was collecting ...