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I have seen a lot of people debate about of the use of electronics in a game, and in my opinion, it isn't (usually) worth it. That doesn't mean that there aren't cool gizmos, apps, and ideas that require electricity, quite the contrary. I own a tablet of which I have several D&D assisting apps loaded on it including a soundboard, a name generator, dice roller, a complete 3.5 spell book, and two apps that contain miscellaneous info on monsters, rules, and spells. The thing is, I've only ever have used the spell book, it just feels like it takes a lot of time. I would much rather flip through a book and not be able to find what I'm looking for.

However, I have seen technology work well with people, and it seems to work best with maps. When I was 8 one of the few memories I have about that...

 

Where to Begin

(AOA1-1 The Worth of a Slave)

Good news! Wizards of the Coast has allowed the campaign admins to share the Ashes of Athas campaign adventures (20 adventures organized into 7 chapters). To order the adventures, just send me a PM with your e-mail address. We can't begin to describe how glad we are to be able to share the campaign with you!

Now, back to the purpose of this blog series. I wanted to review each adventure from a design perspective, sharing some insight into how the adventure was created, highlighting areas where we tried new things, and sharing what we learned in going from concept to draft to actual play. 

In the Beginning

Note: As with all parts of this blog series, there are spoilers within!

I've shared how the campaign started up both on ...

My friends and I have learned to appreciate how much richer a campaign and a gaming circle can be when the players are encouraged to write journals, illustrate adventures and do other creative things. To encourage this, we give bonus experience for it. We witnessed an explosion of art and a regular chronicle of diaries for all of our games.
However, some players are more artistic, literary or otherwsie creative than others; and some players have much more free time than others. This leads to an imbalance in expereince points, some unspoken resentment from the other players, and a even some pressure on everyone to produce what should be just for fun.

My solution for my own campaign is that I grant bonus experience to everyone in the party, so that no one falls behind or feels obligated, but

...

 

Ashes of Athas:
Looking Back on the Dark Sun Organized Play Campaign

On March 1st Mike Shea (operating the site Sly Flourish) invited me to chat about the Dark Sun organized play campaign called Ashes of Athas. You can watch our chat here.

I was also fortunate to be on the Misdirected Mark Podcast #48, where I chatted about Winter Fantasy and the conclusion of the Ashes of Athas campaign.

The campaign spanned 7 Chapters, 20 adventures, 84 hours of play time, and a ton of sleepless nights as Chad Brown, Derek Guder, and I worked to create the campaign. Now that it has concluded, I would like to take some time to discuss a few of the individual adventures and the approach we took to design and develop them.

I thought I might start by asking whether there are any particular encounters...

The Lazy Dungeon Master

A book by Mike Shea (Sly Flourish)

Mike Shea, known by the name of Sly Flourish, has written the above book. This is his third book targeted at helping DMs. You can find an excellent summary of the book and an interview here on The Id DM's site.

I have to admit I was a bit skeptical of this book when Mike first told me about it and asked me some DM preparation questions. I'm of the mindset that preparation is important and even that over-preparation may be important for DMs to help them try things and improve. Also, I felt like I personally liked preparation.

As I traded e-mails with Mike and later in reading this book I came to realize two reasons why this book was really useful for me. First, I need ways to find more hours in a day. There is a lot I do to prepare...

Hello fellow Wizards community members.  I have found whiter shores from which to broadcast myself.  I'm on YouTube now under the channel PhDnD:

PhDnD on YouTube

Here you can find both my theoretical & experimental ramblings on all things RPG (specifically D&D.)  Check it out and sub up!  Much better material than I was able to provide here.  The YouTube RPG community is also very interactive and fun.  Check it out!  

As always, I try and reply to EVERY post, comment, or message I get.  Hit me up! 

So the room is clean and the encounters are prepared.
The dice sit ready, sorted with care.
I've picked out the minis, piled on papers,
Each dictating numbers with which I'll kill players.

Muwahahahaha.


I said earlier that I make everything up as I go along.
This is partially true in that I make up the dungeons, many of the encounters, and the treasure bits as we go.
I find this affords me the ability to make the game progressively more fun as I meet the interests of my players.
Being a game, I know why people attend and I'm not shy about rewards as I understand their worth.  I don't follow the charts exactly, nor do I roll for my players rewards.
At times they receive lots of monetary rewards for their efforts, and sometimes they're forced to watch as a chest full of jewels tumbles into a ...

Alright then!
This is the first entry we will make into this blog and see where we go.

After yesterdays match where I had a whole slew of individuals come through the game during its course, I've opted to publicize the sessions and take them to a new level.

If people are truly into playing, I feel assured I'll meet them here.

I have a solid core of players who are always ready to kill a few critters, gain a few levels, make a few gold.

I started a table fee, and everyone was excited about it for the first session.
Not so many people tossed in on it last time though.

Being a DM, maintaining a hobby and running the games are a lot of hard work that is thankfully made easier by the system and the original character generator, which I thankfully still have a copy of.

I wish they would allow an offline...

Ah, fantasy and reality. Escapism and prison. Imagination and socialization. Newbie and Pro....?

I love fantasy as much as the next person, but being chained to reality really sucks. I have played my fair share of adventures as a PC, but not enough to make me a pro seasoned player. SOooooo, I am still a newbie.

It's been years since I last played, but this past summer I decided to take on a more prominent role, Dungeon Master. With my new family we began a group and I started to break everyone in with an AD&D Starter Set. A little something I bought back in the mid '90's while I was in highschool which never saw a group. Before finishing up the three included adventures, we decided to search for a more current edition to advance our need for fantasy and fun. So after finishing the 2e starter...