A Weekend, a Cottage, Good Friends and DnDNext (Part 1)

Last weekend, my friends and I got together for our annual D&D weekend.  We head north of Toronto, to my friends cottage with 5 others and play D&D for the entire weekend.  This has been an almost annual occurrence for most of us since 2005 or so.  We take the Friday off usually and head back on the Sunday.

Playing all weekend is so much fun, reminding me of the hours we used to play as teenagers in our parents' basements, sometimes until the wee hours of the morning.  Let's just say that I am still trying to catch up on my sleep.

This weekend we decided to play with epic level characters(level 21).  We had a warforged knight played by Darrell, a human ardent played by Scott, a shardmind invoker played by Dan, a razorclaw shifter avenger played by Jeff, and a drow assassin played by Jake.

This weekend I came to the realization of a few things...

Let's Have a Blast!!! Don't Burst my Bubble!!!

DM: OK!  Here is your pre-generated character for your first time playing D&D here at the store.  Thanks for coming in by the way, and hope you have a great time.

Player: Ummm, thanks! This wizard named Jerren looks good, I think I'll play him him!

DM:  Good choice the party actually needs a controller.  They have got good blast and burst powers.

Player: ?????

Water Closets(Washrooms): How Lucky Our Adventurers Are to Not Have to Use Them During Medieval Times!

Have you ever been driving down the road and all of a sudden the coffee hits you?  Have you ever been writing an examination at the study hall and had to leave because of a bladder overflow?  Have you ever held it so long that your eyeballs turn yellow, or your back teeth float? Have you ever been to a party and all of a sudden had your stomach turns and #2 tries to come for a visit?  I have.

Where do you go in cases like this?  To the toilet of course; where else?  The Romans did humanity a great service by inventing the sewer system, a place where all natural expulsions were collected and diposed of in a neat tidy area.

Inspiring Radio for your Gaming Table

http://www.radiorivendell.com/

All aboard the live radio stream.  Check the article at Stuffer Shack where I interview 'Lord Elrond', the creator of the live 24/7 streaming fantasy music radio station. Visit Radio Rivendell to support them, cause there are not many jewels like this one on the net.

Review: The Cloud Roads, Volume One of the Books of the Raksura

Moon is a shapeshifter, a man lost, without people, without identity.  He has spent his whole life hiding his true form, a creature of flight.  Orphaned at a young age, Moon does not know his purpose.  His whole life he has craved companionship and acceptance, trying to live among the 'groundlings' until they discover what he is and throw him out of the tribe.

Staked to the ground to die, Moon is rescued by Stone, another shapeshifter just like him and together they set off to a distant place where there are many of his kin.  Curious and frightened at the same time, Stone and Moon make their way back to Stone's home, Indigo Court, where he meets opposition at every turn.

Moon soon finds out that his extraordinary lineage is crucial for the colony's survival, survival that will be challenged by the world's nemesis called the Fell.

Moon is faced with a tough decision, flee the terror that approaches, or fight a lifetime of conditioning in order to save himself and his newfound kin.

D&D Encounters: The Elder Elemental Eye Sneek Preview

Week 0 is upon us and I just received my copy of the new season of D&D Encounters: The Elder Elemental Eye.  Once again Wizards is starting this new season following the release of their new supplement "Heroes of the Elemental Chaos" which is being released 1 day prior to the launch of week 0.


Week 0 is something that Wizards introduced in the last season, to give new players a chance to create their own characters at the table prior to the launch of the roleplaying part of the adventure.


I will just give you some of the highlights and some of the cool things to expect with the upcoming season.

Encounter Preparation Tips

 

Are you sometimes at a loss when it comes to planning encounters?

Are you tired of following modules?

Do you want to create your own adventures?

This is not a post about adventure creation, but a post about how to prepare your sessions as a DM before you even get together with your group.

Presenting Choices in Encounters: Morality and the PC's

I remember playing way back in high school in the good old days - that being 2nd Edition(about 20+ years ago).  We were playing an evil campaign of PCs and I was an 11th level elf wizard.  We were in town to fetch some supplies, stay a few days to rest and then move on.  It just so happens that there were some girls there and we wanted to do them.

While we were off doing our thing the rest of the party went into town to see what was happening.  It just happens that someone recognized some of our party members and reported us to the authorities.  They tried to stop us all, but my character could not escape.  I was fresh out of spells.  So I surrendered.

The hearing did not go well (after they recited all my exploits). After a night in prison, they sentenced me to death by burning and brought me out into the town square and tied me up on a post in the middle of a wood pile covered in oil.

Valentine's Special: Some of Fantasys' Great Couples

What is valentines day, but a day to show the ones you love the appreciation they deserve.  I personally think that you should try to show these people appreciation for what they do for you everyday.

Anyways, back to the post.  This post is just a fun post outlining some of the great couples we have come to love - or hate (it is up to you).

Take it as it is.

Searching for images is hard for any other setting than dragonlance.  So I improvised for the rest.

RPG Blog Carnival: Things to Love, Things to Hate - The People

This is a first Blog Carnival for me.  Reading many of them gave me an inkling to try my hand at it.  Seems the topic this month is about praise and rant.  I am going to praise and talk about the things I love about the people involved with the game and rant about the things about the people who ruin it for the rest of us.

People play RPGs for many reasons.  They love to play to relax, to get away, to strategize, and sometimes even to fit in.  Playing RPGs give us all of this and more.

This month’s RPG Blog Carnival is being hosted by Nevermeet Press. The topic isThings to Love, Things to Hate.

Taverns 411!!!

Are you stuck during game play? Can't think of any names to fill that tavern space at your table.  Having trouble coming up with NPC names.  Look no further.

I Used to Have a Home!

This weekend while I was travelling back from Toronto, I was spending the tedious 6 hours thinking of random stuff when all of a sudden - Blammo!!! Whatever happened to adventurers having holds, keeps and castles?

Do RPGs Cater to Include Everyone?

I'm sitting here right now, finishing an assignment for my social sciences course and came across an interesting topic.  Learning modes and how they affect students in the classroom.

I don't know if you all know it, but everyone learns in different ways.  This has been the concern of the ministry of education in the province of Ontario for the last 20 years or so.  The ministry has been advocating the all-inclusive model for students in the classroom.  All students have the right to an education, but not everyone is comfortable with the magisterial way that teachers used to do things in class.

Teachers will try to vary their teaching methods to reach out to every student to keep them motivated in the classroom.

I was thinking that Dungeon & Dragons should strive to imitate same model.

Today is 20ft Radius' 1st Birthday

It is funny how time flies when you are having fun.  There has been a lot going on in life and for some of the year had to take some time off.  I cried a little laughed a little.  It was a hard year.  

One of the bright point of my year was the blog.  It has allowed me to write about plain old stupidness.  I would like to thank some of the people who have stopped by and paid me a visit.  I am not a technical person at all and learned to whole blog thing (or what I know so far) by myself. That was one heck of a challenge for me.  Many an hour I spent trying to fix something or even figure something out instead of taking the time to write.  

On the bright side of an otherwise chaotic year, I have been writing, not only for my site, but for Stuffer Shack also. I wrote a few articles for Tourq Stevens (owner of the 'Shack and great all around guy) and was ecstatic that he gave me the opportunity to do so.I would like to shout out to Ameron from Dungeon's Master who gave me pointers on what blogging was about.