Ryan and Jay, those d20-rolling enthusiasts over at 3.5 Private Sanctuary, devoted   Episode 87 of their podcast to the subject of divinity and the role of gods in a campaign world. And at one point, Ryan and Jay make a solid case for always using default pantheon — the Greyhawk-lite list of gods and goddesses from the Player's Handbook — for every campaign. Basically, their argument boils back to the ...

This past GenCon, Paizo Publishing released the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Now if you've been a GM (or DM, I'll use the generic here since it's what the Open Game Content and Pathfinder uses) for more than a couple of weeks then you probably know that Pathfinder is a refinement of the previous (D&D3.5) version of Dungeons & Dragons. Today's article takes a look at Pathfinder from a prospective ...

Gnome Stew reader Noumenon requested the following article in our Suggestion Pot: I just want to know how you deal with spells like Hypnotism, Charm Person, and Suggestion. Monsters you know the PCs are going to try to kill, but how do you plan for them to start controlling your NPCs? Martin's note: I want to personally apologize to Noumenon, who emailed me about this article just over one year ...

Our party's young female fighter -- who was clearly coddled in her upbringing -- has yet to reap the financial rewards of the adventuring life. Yet, she has been steadfastly lawfully good -- certainly she's more idealistic than the rest of the party. On a good day, she is lucky to have two silver pieces to rub together, and that includes any pay she's received from the toil of ...

Oh the weather outside is frightful. Waiting four hours overnight in the parking lot of a Casey’s General Store for a snow plow to come by and clear a path home certainly provides plenty of time to think about the game effects of winter weather. Historically, winter has been the bane of warfare. While there have been notable exceptions, the general rule was that armies suspended their campaigns once the ...

In the D&D Supplement Heroes of Horror (2005, Wizards of the Coast), authors James Wyatt, Ari Marmell and C.A. Suleiman recommend constructing a horror-themed adventure with four components. They are: mood, setting, plot and villain. So, it seemed natural to try and pair that approach with some of the other D&D supplements I had at hand and see what horror-inspired adventure hooks we could devise. Oriental Adventures “A ...

Most of the local terrain around my house is flat. This part of north central Illinois is prairie — flatlands in every direction.  It’s no surprise, then, that the dungeons we design around here are flat too.  The grid paper we design dungeons on is flat. The coffee tables we gather around are flat. The footmaps and map tiles we buy are flat. The minis we use certainly stand ...

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 ...

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, ...

So, your party is traveling through the woods or across that fantasy city, and you roll for a random encounter (‘cause, as a DM, that’s what we do, right?) You register the die roll result and refer to ye ol’ wandering monster chart. And instead of giving you a monster you can run right out of the Monster Manual, you see something like this: 3d6 bandits (Rangers level ...

“Son, you got a panty on your head,” the old hayseed tells Nicolas Cage’s convenience-store robbin’ character H.I. in “Raising Arizona.” And sure e’nuff, somewhere beneath all that nylon is the Nicolas Cage we know and love — even though it’s pretty hard to recognize him just by looking. Experienced D&D/3.5 players know their monsters backwards and forwards, just from hearing the description or showing them a picture. ...