Anyone here currently playing D&D 4th Edition?

Nah, it's more like "I have skill in craft... leatherworking. I roll a d20 and it's... 17! Add my skill and it's a 25! I make a pouch!"

There's some more in-depth crafting somewhere but I never bothered. That's for artificers and I never played one.

Stuff like crafting is going to be partially DM driven. You can go two ways with this, basically:

1. The non-involved way. Dude has a skill in crafting. Pay your gold to collect the materials, roll your skill check. Poof! Yer done.

2. The involved way: The entire party has to complete a dungeon crawl to obtain the unobtanium ore and the magical pommel jewel of death, then journey to the anvil of Thor (another wilderness crawl) after obtaining the magic forging powder from the wizard of the white sea, who, coincidentally, doesn't want to part with it. Then, the tired, beaten-up, triumphant party now assembles at the Anvil of Thor (a couple levels higher than when they started this whole crazy notion of forging a new sword for the party's tank), combine all the ingredients, speak the magic ritual, THEN roll the skill check. Poof! Yer done!

Which way is better? Depends. Are you making a +1 sword or Excalibur?

Just remember to dress appropriately:

http://www.jinx.com/wil_wheaton/rules_lawyers_premium.html?cs=6&csd=2066#bigdesign

I created a lil map of the area where I want them to adventure. Hopefully it doesn't stretch the screen out.

And a short description of my campaign:

Done the first adventure! The DM handled most of the battle, but I am beginning to "get it". The thing that I have to remember to do is to understand the "detection" check (when there is a hidden monster in the room) and roll that check ALL THE TIME, and not just when there is actually a monster in the room.

Other than that, the other role players seem very open to the story I wrote. Three of them are veterans of D&D, and know the rules pretty damn well, it seems. People are nice. I may get to enjoy this group!

The funny thing about old-school D&D was that there were "rule lawyers." And like real lawyers, they had different specializations. Some rule lawyers were adept at understanding the minutiae and technicalities and knowing how to exploit the rules to have invincible characters. Others were just useful if you were doing a pickup game and needed to whip up a character in a minute or two: "OK. You want to be a half-elf thief/magic user? Roll these. Pick this, this, and this. Buy the leather armor, high soft boots, backpack, short sword, and dagger."

And some GM's really didn't know how to bend the rules for the game. Best story I have is one time we were playing Merc 2000 (or as we know it now, Blackwater ten years ago) and the GM really didn't want us to get some stuff that was in a locked room. But instead of just changing the contents of the room so the stuff he didn't want us to have was no longer in it, he changed the laws of physics and created a magical room that was impervious to explosives and such.

But I digress. Do they still do "disbelieve illusion" in D&D? Because that was the running joke with me and my friends. We had one game were disbelieve illusion actually worked and was part of the plot--and, IIRC, another game where it wasn't a planned part of the plot, but the DM allowed it in an entertaining manner. From then on, that was the standard answer when we'd get into a tight spot: "As you round the corner, you are attacked by a demi-liche." "DISBELIEVE ILLUSION!" *rolls* "He's still there. He just hit you for 23 points of damage and you lose 2 levels of experience and a point of strength." "I disbelieve illusion on my injuries." *rolls* "No, you're pretty much still injured. Lose another point of strength and one of constitution." "Disbelieve illusion!" *rolls* "What do you know. It turns out it was all an illusion!" "Really?" "No. Take 12 more points of damage and lose another point of strength and constitution."

In a particularly silly game we'd disbelieve even pointless things like the cost of drinks in a tavern or the color of the sky or something. And then when the DM would tell us it was still there we'd disbelieve it anyway.

YES! This is why you are the DM and really what D&D is all about. There are limitless possibilities for the game you are making for yourself and your friends. D&D is just the framework that makes it work.

The DM always has the final say. You are essentially God. So if you want something to work, it does. If you don't want something to work, it doesn't. (As long as it's not something like, I just rolled a 20, don't I crit? No.) Whenever OH gets a call about something not clearly defined in the rule book (usually players trying to get away with something...) he says "ask your DM."

I once played a unicorn in a good vs. evil campaign.

Hi, I got another question.

It seems in D&D, there really is no way to make better swords as you level up. Even at level 10, it seems characters can be using the same type of sword.

When I take a look at the charts in the player's guide, there is regular weaponry, masterwork stuff, and then the magically enchanted stuff which is really expensive.

Other RPGs seem to have it where, for example, Iron Sword does 1 damage, but if they make enough money and buy a Steel Sword, it will do 2 damage, then a, say, Titanium Sword will do 3 damage, and so on.

The D&D table gives you a bunch of stats for varying weapons, and then says a masterwork gives +1 enhancement on attack rolls. But that's it! Basically, it gives better accuracy, but not more damage, more critical damage, etc.

I'm currently coming up with a simple crafting system to give the players long and short term goals. Will giving them extra damage, more accuracy on their attack rolls, etc. completely break the game?

This isn't based on 4th Ed, but I'd guess that the rules around bonuses are similar (that is a +1 bonus in earlier editions of the game affects the same type of dice rolling that a +1 bonus does in 4th ed).

First, you're the DM - an enemy could always be using a better sword than what the players have and once they defeat him they can have that sword (or other magical item that you want them to procure). Just make sure that while the enemy is using said weapon he ALSO gets the bonuses from it when using it against your PCs.

Second, in my opinion, lower magic campains are way more fun. If everyone has +5 swords and armor the "coolness" factor of the items is far reduced. One of my most favorite campaigns (played until we were 18thish level over 10 years) involved almost no magic items - all of us maybe had 6 or 7 by the time we finished the game and many of those were minor in effect. But when one of us aquired that +2 sword, +4 against cold blooded creatures we thought it was awesome!

Third, player's abilities go up quicker than magic items. This means your fighter-types will naturally become better fighters (equating into +# bonuses to hit and damage, higher critical chances, etc...) as they level up. Really the *ONLY* need for equipping your fighter-type players with magical weapons is because you're planning to throw monsters at them that can only be *HIT* by magical weapons. Even then, sometimes you'll be pleasantly surprised at the kind of inventiveness players will show when faced with a supposedly invulnerable creature (conversely sometimes they'll just complain about how unfair you are...)

Fourth - magic user types can craft magical gear at higher levels. Some campaigns are even based around finding the right things in order for your party wizard to create a nifty item. Most of my campaigns have tended to stay away from this mechanic, but I'm sure it exists if you want to delve into it (or just make it up as you go along Mr. DM)

Fifth - and kind of an adjunct to #4 - if Non-player-characters can make magical items fairly easily, then they'll be for sale. You can adjust the "in-game" meta-logic behind magical item creation (easier or harder, materials common or rare, etc...) and thereby adjust the cost of items. Maybe there is an NPC wizard more than willing to make a few items for your characters, but he needs the blood of some rare critter, sage grown on the highest mountain harvested just as the equinox sun sets when the moon is full, and a handful of virgin tears to make it. If they can get him those things (and maybe a few more for some of the stuff he wants to make for himself) he'll be willing to create some cool items for your players.

In short - if you want your party to have magical items you can let them acquire them through "normal" dnd means (kill the critter and take its stuff), you can let them make them, you can have them quest for them, or you can mitigate the need for them entirely by adjusting what types of creatures you send at them.

In my last campaign I threw around a bunch of high-powered items VERY early in the game, several of them were geared to the abilities of the players that owned them (that so as they gained levels, their items got more powerful as well). Made it way easier for me to upgrade lesser gear as they gained levels. Also, to keep everything in check, many of the items they had were desired by other beings, so while they had nifty stuff, they had to fight to protect it.

Anyway, the flavor you choose for your magic items is up to you and your players. Bottom line is to always try to have fun.

I'm actually one of his players in this campaign, and he seems to have it a bit wrong, we're not running 4th, we're running 3.5 Anyway, I kind of miss the rules they had in 2nd for silvered weapons. You know, normal weapons that can hit creatures unaffected by normal weapons, but not providing a bonus to attacks and damage. Typically cost 2 to 3 times the amount of the normal versions. However silvered weapons could be placed somewhere between normal and masterwork, or you could charge the same for them as you would a masterwork weapon. Masterwork weapons are essentially non-magic +1 swords, so you could even say there are silver masterworks available for even higher prices. That would be a mechanic that could keep magical weapons out of our hands for a while without limiting your options with regard to encounters. Also, since story writing seems to be your forte, I would suggest that magic weapons and armor should exist, but should not be super-common, and should have some sort of description about it, making it somewhat unique. A suit of armor made out of the skin of a blue dragon sounds a bit more awesome than leather armor +2 does

To faisent - Yup, it's definitely fun. Actually, it was the campaign that led me to WF. I was actually kind of curious if the campaign setting was entirely new or if he was using a pre-existing campaign from another source (D&D or otherwise) so I hit Google and it pointed me to this thread. I must say I'm impressed that he wrote it himself, most DMs I've played with tend to plagerize their campaign ideas from elsewhere. We're not too far along, but he's got some good ideas story-wise. I'm pretty confident he'll be one of the best, if not THE best, DM I've ever played a game with.

One thing to remember is it's all about the story. The game rules are just how you keep everyone on the same page.

Magic items can quickly get boring. The best thing to do with them isn't provide massively cool powers. The best thing to do is provide story. Let the players imagination do the work. Hell, you can always steal their ideas and claim they were your own from the beginning.

One of my favorites was actually a game Fais played in (but not D&D). There was a magic item known as Sequence. A sword, it had an inscription on the hilt - 'To the Death of the Better Man.' Several of the players spent considerable time trying to puzzle out the meaning of that, and soon the sword had a considerable mythology surrounding it based on player speculation and the reaction to several prominent NPCs to the sword.

Ultimately three years later they learned what it was.

And of course that gave me plenty of time to puzzle it out myself.

By the end it was the focal part of an entire metaplot which underlay the story about the very nature of reality itself, and how it was an agent of an external power outside that reality.

It didn't start out that way of course, but the significance the players gave it provided for some great character moment, so I retrofitted it with other story concepts I was developing to make it as important as they wanted it to be.

I run mainly story-driven campaigns and just like with the sword, I let my players come up with the mythology and the background. Not all of it, of course, but a good chunk comes from their comments and ideas. Sometimes what they say is stupid and I don't use it, but if they do something brilliant, it cuts out several hours of planning for me.

Ok, tonight's adventure was hella fun!

I spent a good chunk of my day drawing a bunch of characters and then cutting them out and taping them to the plastic bases you get from Warhammer. As a result, I had about 15 different townspeople. I also made makeshift houses out of cardstock. The whole setting did, impressively, look like a small town, IMHO!

The story so far:

1st Week (June 25,2010)

2nd Week Tonight! (July 3, 2010)

We had two other adventurers join us for this night. One was there playing Magic: The Gathering, and the other also plays D&D on Friday nights, but their Dungeon Master had to go to a wedding, so he asked if he could join our group.

And I must say, I am enjoying being dungeon master a lot. I still have a limited understanding of the gameplay mechanics, but so far, the group seems to be enjoying themselves. What seems like it would take a very short time can end up taking a really long time, but it's never the other way around!

I thought tonight we'd for sure be done the battle in the town center and on to them exploring the wilderness, but they spent a lot of time discussing some of the rules with one of the new players, and also spending a lot of time role playing and asking questions.

That was great, as I think they now have a better sense of what I am trying to accomplish in the game, i.e. giving them solid three dimensional characters, each with hopes, dreams and goals, and then letting the story just happen!


It's also very cool when they take a liking to one of the characters. For example, the Rogue mentioned he's made it his goal to not let Jesse die.

Scorp shold be checking out planescape dnd setting particularly the city called sigil very interesting dnd setting.

Its great when your players take time with NPCs and bond with them. Makes the game more enjoyable for everyone I think, especially when they have to fight to protect them or save them or whatnot.

Though it can be bad for the players when something horrible happens to them too. Demiurge once asked for a write up from all of his players about NPCs that were notable and important to them (we were all effectively god-like beings with our own domains so there were LOTS of NPCs). One of our friends spent a bunch of time on his list; especially doting over his head cook. Demiurge had the poor bastard crucified (upside-down if I recall correctly) on the castle gate by one of the games more ruthless characters. In the same game my character fell for a beautiful and seemingly innocent and pure girl, who I then later learned murdered my mother - not only that, she then sacrificed herself getting my bastard of a father out of effectively perma-prison who then tried to have me clear out all the traps of his old domain.

*sigh* - was still a great game though.

LOL, I remember that.

Funny thing was she was beautiful and pure. One of the few NPCs that were in that game. But then, the setting pretty much defines all the major NPCs are Right Bastards from the very beginning, so pretty nasty things happened to the more naive NPCs as well.

As I recall she didn't murder your mom - she just got outmaneuvered by an Elder that led to your mom's death.

She blamed herself for it though - being beautiful and pure.

Her getting your dad back was her way of trying to make it up to you, even though she expected it to be suicide (it wasn't).

And of course Brand was never one to let a sacrifice from a pure soul go to waste, and made the most of his opportunity.

Funny thing was the game ended before you found out she was simply a patsy and never directly harmed your mother at all.

I love fucking with NPC's. One of my DM's pulled a wonderful maneuver on a shit player we had.
The player was obsessed with dragons, obsessed to the point where he thought he was a female dragon trapped in a man's body. He had dragon statues in his room, dragon posters, and played a character who had not only grown up with dragons, but who was mentored by one. Oh and he was part dragon as well.

Well, this guy was as much a bad player as he was a nutcase, meaning all his ideas were shit. And he bitched. EVERY DAY. Cussed people out, threw shit, and got pissed off when his dragony self didn't get his way. We nicknamed him the Terrasque (http://wow.somegate.com/upload/siryl_1189642440_tarrasque.gif) because of his behavior.

So the DM made a huge, elaborate dungeon that was a pain in the ass to get through, promising this guy rewards at the end to enhance his dragony self.

We get to the end of the dungeon and we find his dragon mentor, a huuuuge old dragon, captured inside a crystal and corrupted into an evil, wicked form. His powers were going to kill us if we didn't kill him first.

This player took the insult so personally that he threatened to kill the DM and stormed off, never to be heard from again. Seriously, the guy moved home the next year and I haven't seen him since.

Uh weird. We had a guy like that in our high-school group, killed his character and took the player's dice.

The ultimate DnD kiss-off...

Wow, I have not had the pleasure of meeting one of those players yet. Most are fairly decent and laid back. A few could potentially be rule lawyers, but that is to be expected if you're playing with an inexperienced group and suddenly a 20 year veteran steps in.

Scorponok,

Been GMing / DMing since 1981.

been in the same boat as you. bought the basic D&D set and DM'd for my friends. I had the advantage that none of my friends had ever played before so they couldn't tell I stank!!!!!!!

Number One Rule : If you and your players aren't having fun... Why do it?
Number Two Rule : You're the Game Master, you can throw out every stinking rule,
as long as you and your players agree it's a good idea.
Number Three Rule: Be Fair. Be Honest. Be Consistent. If not you'll lose players

I have been Roleplaying almost every night with Tamar for the last 20 years. My style is more storytelling based, and I only bring out the dice when there's an important situation that must be resolved. When in doubt if the character will succeed, Roll!!!!!!!!

We were playing an Eleventh Doctor Campaign, but now were doing an alternate universe Star Trek with Capt. Pike in command of the Enterprise-D.

HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh as a Post_Script,

If I want to punish Tamar...

I throw her Character across a dimensional threshold and land her in a D&D Universe.

She HATES that. She always has bad luck in D&D universes.

hee hee hee!

Kinda wondering what to do here....

Say you've got a story, and say you plan it so they should be in place A for levels 1-3 then in place B for 3-6, and then place C is suppose to have level 6-9 monsters. If they are advancing through the story at a pretty fast pace, do you as a DM lower the levels of the monsters to their level when they are visiting a new area?

I'd like them to advance the story, but it would be kinda pointless to have them have to stay in one area and beat on a lot of monsters just so they can level up and go to the next area.

In a similar vein, you also don't want them to advance the story too fast, because then they'd be missing out on some of the side quests, perhaps. Still, sometimes players just want to know what happens next and would like to get to the next area as soon as possible.

I either level the players without actually tabulating exp, or I throw more stuff into my dungeons so they can't rush through them.