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www.wizards.com/dnd/videos.aspx

If you haven't seen these yet, check them out. It's a session of D&D being played with Chris Perkins as the DM.

I like his style. In fact, it's very much like my style of DMing. I noticed he did a number of things I do during a game. Here are some of the tips and tricks that can be seen in the videos.

1. Character introductions. It's always helpful, especially for a new group to introduce their characters. Some of us, such as myself, are bad with names and might need reminders a few times as to who is playing whom.

2. Not Railroading, But You Start at the Railroad Station. Notice how he takes command. "You are there." Not, "Do you want to go see the elf?" It gives the adventure direction. Nobody is looking for a "sandbox game", they're there for their adventure.

I'm still reading the module rather than skim it. I'd like to know what every monster can do ahead of time. One thing I did note is that I'll have to work up treasure parcels for the players. On the one hand, I don't mind making up the treasure lists myself, on the other, I'd rather have at least some guidelines in the adventure. "This encounter has two treasure parcels" or "One level 15 item".

I did peek ahead a bit and saw there are drow involved. If you know the Eberron setting, you know that drow will never work with giants. It didn't work out so well for them last time. :)

While I won't have exact minis for every monster, I do get a kick when I turn the page and find a monster for a mini I DO have. (I did pick up the ice titan for the adventure. I already have a fire and earth titans.)

I picked up the adventure Revenge of the Giants, and I think it would be great to run in the Eberron setting. Warning! There may be spoilers to the adventure.

Looking over the background and history of Argent, it looks like it's very easy to convert. I won't spill all the details/surprises of what I'm changing just in case any of my potential players come across this.

The first choice I made is the location of the city. I figured since the adventure involves giants, it should be set in Xen'drik. I don't have any specific place in mind, and the Traveler's Curse (Which changes locations/distances between places) is a good excuse.

The giant's goal and reason for the alliance is to release Piranoth. I'm still trying to decide who's really behind it all. At first, I thought the Lords of Dust

Before I tell you how you should play D&D, I have to say that I find it slightly annoying when people want to lord over other players on how they play D&D. They don't ask Customer Service rule questions to understand a D&D rule, but to be "right" and force others to play their way.

Then there's the scary trend of people going absolutly strictly by the book with no deviation. If a rule isn't in the book, you can't do it. If there's a mis-print, the whole game system is 'broken" and completely unplayable as if D&D were a computer program, and didn't allow creativity or flexability. Such folks come across as not being creative at all.

Indeed, the rulebooks themselves have to point out you can add and change the rules. It seems to be the one rule the by the bookers like to frequently ignore,