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Trial and Error #2: My First Problem as a DM.

My second session as a DM has given me a lot to think about. I had anticipated the day for a week straight, thinking to myself that I was ready to deliver a repeat performance from the last game, and hoping for the same reception. Not enough hoping or prepping could have prepared me for the reactions I got. The feeling of confusion, and outright boredom, contorted the entire gaming session.  During the after-math I over- analyzed every detail and part, trying to figure out where it had gone wrong, and realized it had been wrong from the start. My first game taught me the joys of DMing; my second game has taught me the fears of DMing.

My first decision for the second session was to pick up exactly where the group had left off, after a

Trial and Error #1: My First Game as a DM.

My first DMing experience was two weeks ago and I’ve been wanting to document this process for my own reference, and also possibly help anyone sharing similar experiences, because DMing is pretty darn intense. When I opened my mouth and offered to try my hand, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I laugh when I think of how naive I was just three weeks ago. I do not regret my decision, and this ‘project’ has done wonders for my creative side, but I still have a lot to learn before this will come easily for me. This first collection of words is my initial descent into the dark, strangling waters of the Dungeon Master Pool. I should have paid for swimming lessons before belly-flopping right in.

My first lesson slapped

Last time I touched on how to eke more roleplay out of your game with a few relatively simple steps.  After some thought though, I think there are some additional tips that can help you out -- again without requiring too much work on your part as the DM. 

Use their toys

Stephen Radney-MacFarland advocates using special treasures in his last Save My Game article, which can be found [url=www.wizards.com/dnd/files/191_SaveMyGame.pdf]here[/url].  This is excellent advice in my opinion, particularly the section on snowflake treasures.  As he notes, the treasure parcel system is both handy and seen as a bit of a cludge.  Parcels make it easy for the DM to determine how much treasure should be given to the party, but the nature of magic items in 4ed often makes them

hey, ive been wanting to play some D&D for a while now and cant find a group to game with, and I've been having trouble finding a DM so im going to hopefully run a game for 3-5 players.

Im really new to the whole DM thing but if the players go easy on me at first i think i'l all into the groove of things quickly. Im competely open for any type of game. Pirates, jungle, Dark sun, Forgotten realms, or any kind of campaign as long as all of the players are interested. I would like to run a 4th edition game because thats the core rulebooks that ive bought, so ive got all the monster manuels and DM guide for 4th edition.

Im 18 but ill play with anyone who wants to game (just to get my age out there now so its not awkward later. Send me a message here or at Lethargic_mantis@yahoo.com to

After spending the first two years of my life here in Lost Wages without a gaming group, it looks like I'm finally going to get to play a little D&D again.  I left behind a good bunch of people in Roswell when I moved here and I had no idea how difficult it was going to be to get new people together.  That's the problem with Vegas; we've got no sense of community here.  Everyone is "just passing through," even if they live here for ten years, and it makes it hard to meet people to do anything.  Well, anything besides sex; everyone still seems into that.

I'm still looking for some folks, and anyone that loves roleplaying games is welcome to contact me and see if we can set something up.  I'd especially like to invite some female gamers:  while my girlfriend

Adventure Hacking in Dark Sun

Home Campaign Example: Session 10

 The Hall of Mirrors, as drawn by my kids!

Warning: Spoilers for aspects of Thunderspire Labyrinth below!

I spent the last three blog posts discussing Breaking Patterns in 4E. In the first blog I talked about starting with story and letting that drive the encounter design. In the second installment I provided an example of how I work from a bare set of ideas and adapt adventures to PC choices and flesh out my ideas as the PCs respond. In the third installment I shared how I handle travel and an abstract mini-less combat in 4E.

I really appreciate the feedback I received. It kills me not to be able to blog more often, but since that time I have been hard at work with my other fellow Ashes of Athas admins

As a DM, we spend hours creating adventures, getting stat blocks ready and generally spending much more time designing and adventure than we do playing. I know that a lot of younger DM's and new DM's are on my friends list and this is for you.

You Need an Idea Right Now?
If you are ever stuck and need ideas, you can use this great tool - go to the newspaper I use three different newspapers: The L.A. Times, The Wall Street Journal and my local paper (rural area paper). I live in a rural area so I get three news sources. One is a large city, one has to deal with commerce and the last a rural newspaper. Believe it or not, a new article will provide you with a great deal of information and includes hooks sometimes. Here you go with todays's adventure ideas:

From the L.A. Times (Local News)

This entry comes at the request of I_Smile_alot who suggested covering using traps to help promote the story.  In my typically timely fashion, he mentioned this in a comment about three months ago and I am just now getting around to addressing it.  In truth, it took me a fair amount of time to think about this because I think that traps are often one game element that we, as DMs, often take for granted and fail to fully capitalize on.  That being said, I do have some thoughts on how to make traps a more central part of your game and the PCs story.

The Problems

In analyzing traps, I think its important to first address why its so difficult at times to weave them into the story.  First off, is the obvious -- traps are not creatures (generally).  Most of the time,

Today was the day it all started! Now I am completely hooked on D&D!

I played my very first DnD game...and started it as a DM on the Virtual Table(VT)! Thanks to Zedex who guided me and had the patience of a crocodile! The VT made this introduction to DnD so much easier, though it still have some room for improving user interaction. We managed to finish 1 room at least.

Lessons learned today:
1) x3 PC's vs x4 lvl1 Kobolds can take up to 2hrs.
2) Have fun but keep discussions to the game at hand
3) In VT, keep track and make sure from who HP is detucted from
4) Keep notes in the game for quick reference. Ex. Searching a corpse will either tell part of the story.
5) Hide dead monsters in case PC's want to search their corpses after the battle.
6) A sword does more damage than a torch
7) Use