Dungeons and Dragons D&D 4E

[pinballwyzard]

I know there are a lot of gamers on the site. I was wondering if anyone here is Dm'ing or participating in any of the pre-written 4E campaigns.

I'm about to run the very first published 'Keep on the Shadowfell' just because I own it, but am looking for another set for after.

Thoughts?

Pinball

[poltah]

I play D&D, and I DM the Eberron setting (also D&D). I plan on DM an Eberron campaign soon, and I found some cool inspiration in the Khyber's Harvest free adventure available on the Wizard's Of the Coast website. A little too combat heavy and not enough roleplaying encounters in my opinion, but there are some pretty cool ideas if you're looking for encounter inspiration.

[gm_wil]

I play D&D, and I DM the Eberron setting (also D&D). I plan on DM an Eberron campaign soon, and I found some cool inspiration in the Khyber's Harvest free adventure available on the Wizard's Of the Coast website. A little too combat heavy and not enough roleplaying encounters in my opinion, but there are some pretty cool ideas if you're looking for encounter inspiration.

3.5?

I didn't think the 4th Edition Eberron book was out yet . . . unless I'm behind (we are staying 3.5 Greyhawk 'cause our DM has oodles of stuff to run and Piazo is 3.5)

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[poltah]

You don't need the 4e Eberron books to run Eberron in 4e.

But the Player's Guide to Eberron is out, and the Eberron Campaign Setting is out like in two days or something.

Haven't read any of them though.

[denmmurray]

So...I'm excited. Monday I take part in my first DnD campaign...ever. Any suggestions for a newb?

[dolson]

I haven't played Dungeons and Dragons for a long time. When I played, I played AD&D 1st Edition and I was the DM and had to write all my own campaigns and characters. I'm not that old, am I? Second Edition was out then, but I did not like it at all, and haven't bothered since then. Probably never will again. I do still own my collection of 1st Edition books, though. I think I have about 20 of them, give or take.

[gm_wil]

just remember your dice, character sheet, something to drink, snacks, and plenty of sleep the night before if you do play late . . . have fun!

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[royterp]

just remember your dice, character sheet, something to drink, snacks, and plenty of sleep the night before if you do play late . . . have fun!

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The latest episode of our current 4e adventure occurred last Saturday night -> Sunday morning, and I think we needed a bigger snack table for our party of 10 (this does not include the beer in the fridge) -

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn8/royterp/42947196.jpg

Also, d20 socks help :cool:

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn8/royterp/42970385.jpg

[gm_wil]

10? Your poor gm. Combat must take forever. I'm in an 8 man group playing pathfinder and that's too many. Hope ya had a blast!

Yer socks rock

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[darknessgp]

10? Your poor gm. Combat must take forever. I'm in an 8 man group playing pathfinder and that's too many. Hope ya had a blast!

Yer socks rock

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I'm in a 7 man group, and it's still too many. I think max DnD should be around 5-6. 10 is just way way too many. hell, we had a 5 hour battle with a dragon last session... I can imagine what 10 people would be like, unless the DM makes battles too easy or something... let alone keeping people somewhat focused.

That said, I can see how your group could balloon to 10. We've had quite a few people ask if they could join, with the group turning them down simply because we already feel like we have too many people. There's even talk of creating a second group with these people.

[gm_wil]

I run star wars saga and have 8 players - only so it makes it easier to get 4 players who can make the same weekend.

The older we get the harder it is to get a free sat or sun. (Though the players like the change from fantasy so more than not I have a crowded map of minis. It's hard to get much story in when combat takes so damn long.

Keep those dice rolling everyone

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[royterp]

10? Your poor gm. Combat must take forever. I'm in an 8 man group playing pathfinder and that's too many. Hope ya had a blast!


Yeah, 10 was probably too many, but it wasn't so bad since the adventure the DM had prepared was weighted more heavily towards problem-solving and only a couple instances of actual combat. Plus my battle cleric was made a lieutenant in our little army (and I sit next to the DM) so I could pull rank and organize somewhat. Also, last time we played there were 7 of us and we all almost died so I was thankful for the extra bodies.

(The near-death experience last time is perhaps due to the fact that we still have no rogues despite pleading with the new players for someone to roll one. Now whenever anyone does something particularly risky, I refer to it as "going rogue" since that's what they will be rolling if their current character bites it.)

Honestly, most of the reason we play is to hang out with each other anyway, so even though we were there for like 7 hours, the time flew by as usual.


Yer socks rock


Thanks! I got them over at diesel sweeties (http://store.dieselsweeties.com/products/d20-dice-socks) when they were having a sale a few months back.

[royterp]

For you 4E-ers out there, my friend found this rad service: http://www.iplay4e.com. Using Google Apps, it lets you upload your Character Builder file to it, and then you can use your character sheet interactively - either full screen on the site or in a compact version on your iPhone! It allows sharing with your DM and others in your party, and it connects to the D&D Insider Compendium to look up information on powers, feats, skills, etc. I uploaded my now 4th level cleric to it, and the iPhone-formatted site worked pretty well, except the automatic dice roller is integrated into the spells and it got confused by a healing spell's "damage". Other than that, though, it seems like it might be useful.

Anyone else use similar tools to aid in their tabletop gaming?

[rizzo]

A few ways to play and find players/DMs

Wizards of the Coast runs the Living Forgotten Realms campaign
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/lfrx/welcome

Lots of play opportunities all over the world
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Another site with a lot of game day and convention info is warhorn.net

List of upcoming events
http://warhorn.net/main/

It's a mix and match of 4e, pathfinder and anything else out there
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There is also meetup groups around the world that usually sponsor game days. Check out meetup.com in your local area for games
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[rizzo]

Here is a couple of quick tips on ways to make the game "come alive" for players -- people should feel free to add to the list:

* Printouts -- When I have time to prep, I usually printout either from the WOTC site or from the good old Google image search pictures of the bad guys in 8.5x11 full sized paper.

This is especially true if it's an uncommon monster -- I think folks playing probably know what an orc looks like but what about a flumph (inside old school joke there...)

This is a great visual way to pull people into the game. Describing the "thing that should not be" is one thing, showing the 3 headed, four armed tentacled monstrosity is something much more striking

* Remember the "Yes And" philosophy

Please don't get "stuck" with the written word in an adventure -- the goal is for players to have fun.

As suggested before, try to stick to the basic plot line for story arc continuity but PLEASE feel free to change some things around.

One example was a game I ran with a 8 year old player -- it's supposed to start out as a bar fight. Just as we began play, she said that her character would be out camping in the woods.

Guess what -- the bar fight had a change of venue -- someone running through the woods, through their campsite and then an angry mob chasing after him. It was great rolling initiative and then having them try to "jump" the gnome that simply ran through their camp being chased by the angry mob. The gnome ran around them and kept on running as the mob came crashing in through the woods

* Keep play MOVING!!!

A few tips to cut out 30-60 minutes of dead play time guaranteed per session:

DMs

* Markers for conditions (bloodied, dazed, etc...)

I am bad at this since I know this is effective but I haven't done it much in my games. Get some system (magnets, pipe cleaners, etc..) of different colors that can mark various conditions on the board.

It makes it much easier for everyone to see what's going on...

-- tell people who's up and who is the next person to go every turn during combat

-- If you have time, pre-draw maps in some form or fashion

-- Dungeon tiles picked out
-- Large Scale drawing paper with maps pre-made

-- Make skill challenges open ended -- many times, I don't even have folks roll many dice (or I roll it for them quickly). I find skill challenges very fun when it's a free-form true role-playing encounter.

Best, most recent example -- cave in is happening and you have to get out. The brand new 4th edition D&D player asks me if his Tiefling Warlock is hot -- with the Charisma 18, the answer is yes!

He then goes on "I jump in the air into the Dragonborn Paladin's arms and ask him if he would protect me and get me out of this terrible situation."

...I gave him a success without even rolling the dice

The Dragonborn then proceeded to get pelted by the rocks and did a nice job protecting his companion

Players

-- Make your character 3 dimensional. Those small quirks, maybe even "disadvantages" from other game systems are fantastic role playing opportunities.

(very similar to the Method Acting approach used by actors)

Look at GURPS, Champions or even some of the PHB2 (3.5) for a list of possible quirks and/or disadvantages

Take a look at a classic character -- Indiana Jones

* Hates Snakes and Nazis
* Has a distinctive scar on his chin
* wears a brown fedora and leather jacket -- carries a whip

Just on that alone, he is different from the other 500 "archeologist" characters out there.

Figure out something interesting with your character -- afraid of the dark, doesn't like a particular race (don't go too overboard on this), is a coward, is a flirt, etc...

Something that is particularly good (and I need to use it more) is a distinctive catch-phrase or line.

My latest character is a mysterious wizard from Thay that has a scar from ear to chin. He didn't say where/how/why he got the scar (the backstory that developed was that he was a spoiled rich kid who messed with the wrong elf and got his throat slit and was killed. His rich dad had a raise dead and brought him back to life.) He also calls his companions his retainers and had to ask what the word "friend" was -- they don't use that word much in Thay :)

-- In the 4th edition realms, Thay is ruled by necormancers that regularly use undead. He asked another set of companions where the pack zombies were to carry their gear and equipment :)

He kept explaining to the party that they were to protect him and made sure the fighter understood that if my wizard was attacked, that he should break off combat and act as the wizard's personal bodyguard :)

That got some strong reactions from players at the table...

-- Know what you are going to do before your turn -- if you're not sure, then have a plan B in place in case something changes before your turn

-- Get and use Power Cards

There are a number of 3rd party (or handmade) cards that you can use to put all of your powers onto a set of cards. This is much faster than looking up powers during combat and easy to see what you have/have not used for encounter/daily powers.

-- Use offensive encounter powers almost immediately in a combat. (Caveat -- give yourself a good chance to hit -- wait for a flank, someone's prone, etc...). You should probably, even at low levels, use encounter power(s) by the 4th or 5th round max and most likley in the first 1-3 rounds.

You only get them per encounter anyway -- don't let them go to waste.

Defensive powers -- wait until the right time (healing word, lay on hands, divine mettle, etc...). It can make a big difference in combat if you can keep someone in the fight 1 round longer because of a defensive ability.

-- roll your attack roll and damage together...yes, that means everyone at the table. This typically will save 10-20 minutes of dead game time alone

-- take down one target at a time. The 4th edition combats are designed to have monsters act just like your party -- defenders/brutes up front, strikers causing sneaky havoc and artillery in the back blasting you. In D&D (any edition), there is no obvious effects for taking damage. The 1 hit point dragon has the same defenses and does the attacks/damage as the 200+ hit point dragon.

NOTE: FEAR THE SINGLE FOE IN 4E
He/she/it will be tough and designed to take on the party. You've been warned.

============================================Advanc ed techniques:

* Character voices

My wife is a professional voice-over actress -- trust me, she is great at this and I am still just learning a few tricks here and there.

Being able to whip out a few different voices during a game will make each PC/NPC feel very different to other players or the DM.

One place to go for some free lessons and tips is one of her mentors websites:

http://www.patfraley.com/Free/FreeFrame.htm

* Miniatures

-- two varieties

== lots of the same minis

Having a lot of the same mini (5 goblins, 5 skeletons, 5 xxx) is really helpful for minions. If you can get a handful of the same minis for different creature types (undead, goblins, humans, etc...), this will make it easier to distinguish the "mooks" from the big bad guys

== minis that match the creatures in the module

This is challenging -- it requires knowing the mod in advance and picking out exact (or close to exact) minis. Only for those with lots of minis and patience :)
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