Tips and Tricks

House Rules and Fun Points!

Chadarius — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 19:19:13 +0000

I've really been enjoying Google Plus as of late. Partly because there are so many awesome gamers using the service. Today I stumbled on this really neat house rules post from Moe Tousignant. His house rules are based on a blog post by WoTC employee Greg Bilsland.

I created a nicely formatted Google Doc for it here.

A great deal of the document is focused on Fun Points

Every player can collect fun points. Fun points can be acquired for a variety of reasons all of which are listed below. Fun points can be used for two things:

Modifying a D20 die roll: After any standard roll (initiative, skill check, attack, etc) a player may spend any number of fun points to modify that die roll. This must be done before the results of the roll are known. Making a roll a 20 does not result in a critical hit.

Taking a roll on the Fun Point Table: A player can trade in 10 fun points for a roll on the fun point table (below). These give a wide variety of in game benefits.

The Fun Point Table is a 100 item long random table that you roll against. Its chalk full of fun stuff. One of my favorites is:

76. My Name is Enigo Montoya Keep fighting even while at negative hit points. You still make death saving throws.

You can get Fun Points for one time things, like creating a character background, creating a treasure wish list, and other character startup tasks. You can also get Fun Points for reading up on the rules regarding your character and general rules, as well as for things like showing up on time.

Its just plain cool. I've used a similar system in the past to encourage players to get their character backgrounds completed. But it was far simpler than this creative and fun setup. Thanks to Greg and Moe for post this. I love it!

The Deck of Many Things Actually Not so New

Chadarius — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 19:45:54 +0000

I don't know how I managed to miss this, but the fabled Deck of Many Things has been in existence since April 2010! Rodney Thompson wrote it for Dungeon issue number 177.

Within the PDF provided it contains all the rules for the Deck as well as all of the cards to print. It has both sides of the cards so you can print them with a nice front and back. The following is from the introduction of the article

Of all artifacts to grace the world with their presence, perhaps none is more dangerous than the infamous Deck of Many Things. The artifact has appeared in every edition of DUNGEONS & DRAGONS®, and it first appeared in the GREYHAWK® supplement in 1975. Through each of its iterations, the Deck of Many Things has remained a dangerous and chaotic artifact. This 4th Edition update of the classic artifact retains much of the traditional version’s chaotic nature while bring- ing its mechanics more in line with what modern Dungeon Masters can use in their games.

I will be excited to see if they match up nicely with the newly released cards from Gardmore Abbey. Which we may be using tonight! Oh the excitement! I can barely contain myself.

Lords of Tyr - Lords-of-Tyr-D&D-Podcast-050

Chadarius — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 02:03:10 +0000

Welcome to the Lords of Tyr D&D Podcast!

We are a Dungeons and Dragons gaming group that has been meeting twice a month since 2002. We now stream our game nights live on the Internet using uStream. Check out our site at http://lordsoftyr.com for more information.

Lords and Ladies in attendance:

From The Lords of Tyr:

Stephanie, Chad, Rob, Mike

From Gamer Chick:

Jeff and Sarah Moore

From Newbie DM:

Enrique Bertran

From The Tome Show:

Jeff Greiner

This is the 2nd Generation Gamers Panel from GenCon 2011. Enjoy!

MP3:

http://www.lordsoftyr.com/sites/all/files/podcasts/Lords%20of%20Tyr%20podcast%2020110806.mp3

Lords of Tyr - Lords-of-Tyr-D&D-Podcast-049

Chadarius — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 23:54:18 +0000

Welcome to the Lords of Tyr D&D Podcast!

Lords in attendance: Stephanie, Cheryl, Rob, TJ, Chad

Topic 1: Fortune Cards are not Pokemon Cards

Submitted by Tyrwench

Topic 2: Haven't Played D&D for Years But Want to Get Back "In the Game"? You Can on May 11th!

Submitted by Chadarius

MP3:

http://www.lordsoftyr.com/sites/all/files/podcasts/Lords%20of%20Tyr%20podcast%2020110528.mp3

Temple of the Weeping Goddess - Chatty DM's Zero Level Adventure in Dungeon #194

Chadarius — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 17:21:12 +0000

Temple of the Weeping Goddess - A group of untested adventurers must rescue a long-lost aspect of the goddess Avandra before it's too late. [Wizards of the Coast D&D]

A Hero's First Steps - To achieve glory and riches, every adventurer must start somewhere. [Wizards of the Coast D&D]

This is a a zero level adventure for 4E. It is a cool idea and something that might actually build real ties to a their own and each other's characters. You need to read "A Hero's First Steps" for the zero level character rules before starting the adventure. My favorite part about these new zero level rules is that you can use them to help find your character's role in the party. It is really quite ingenius.

This is a great way to get a group of first time players (young or old) introduced to the game in a much simpler way. It will help them understand the various roles that each character class might play. There are very few character decisions to make at first. Essentially, you can get a start up game going and play a full adventure before you roll up a character. The very act of playing this zero level character will inform your character creation process. Each zero level power has the ability for the character to add an extra Leader, Controller,Striker, or Defender effect by spending an experience token. If you find yourself using your experience tokens on primarily leader attacks that should probably say something loud and clear to you about filling a leader role in the party.

I especially like the "Where are they now?" section of "A Hero's First Steps". I'll be excited to try this out the next time I start a new 4e campaign.

Class Acting

Chadarius — Thu, 19 May 2011 17:17:32 +0000

Class Acting - If there's anything the last 12 weeks have taught me, it's that I was right—I'm not the person to call in case of emergency. [Wizards of the Coast D&D]

As usual, Shelly hits her article out of the park. Watch out for that jet fuel! It is interesting how so many of us seem to be attracted to specific classes or roles when playing D&D. I've noticed that over time my tastes have changed and widened. In the old days I was ever the heroic and valorus Fighter/Paladin. Then I seemed to have grown into the Ranger or good natured rogue roles. I rarely find myself playing primarily spell casting types, although I am playing one now and enjoying it quite a bit.

How to Rock it Out with Character Creator – Tools and Utilities

Chadarius — Thu, 19 May 2011 05:07:04 +0000

We had a TPK (Total Party Kill) last month in our 4E game. It was horrible. We just went down like dominos. Needless to say we all started work on new characters. I created an Elf named Verasis. I thought it would be fun to try an Essentials character so I chose the Sentinal Druid. It is a leader focused class rather than the usual controller roll that typical Druids fill.

Much to my surprise as I logged into the Character Builder, I saw that it now supports exporting! The files are just simple XML files. They look to be exactly the same as the previous format. This is great because it allows people to once again use simple tools like XSL style sheets and HTML to display custom character sheets. It also allows people to publish their characters on forums and send them to their DM's.

Let's look at some tools available to players out there.

iPlay4E

Lords of Tyr - Lords-of-Tyr-D&D-Podcast-047

Chadarius — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 18:19:35 +0000

Welcome to the Lords of Tyr D&D Podcast!

Lords in attendance: Connor, Tony, Stephanie, Cheryl, Rob, and Chad

Topic 1: Tips for the Beginning DM

Submitted by Chadarius

Special guest Connor from The Community

MP3:

http://www.lordsoftyr.com/sites/all/files/podcasts/Lords%20of%20Tyr%20podcast%2020110326.mp3

Lords of Tyr - Lords-of-Tyr-D&D-Podcast-046

Chadarius — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 04:19:59 +0000

Welcome to the Lords of Tyr D&D Podcast!

Lords in attendance: Connor, Stephanie, Cheryl, Rob, and Chad

Topic 1: Accepting Diversity: How to Start a Campaign With No Restrictions!

Submitted by Chadarius

MP3:

http://www.lordsoftyr.com/sites/all/files/podcasts/Lords%20of%20Tyr%20podcast%2020110312.mp3

Lords of Tyr - Lords-of-Tyr-D&D-Podcast-045

Chadarius — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 03:19:24 +0000

Welcome to the Lords of Tyr D&D Podcast!

Lords in attendance: Rob, Stephanie, TJ, and Chad

Topic 1: Donate to New Zealand Relief... and get a bunch of stuff at DriveThruRPG

Submitted by Chadarius

Topic 2: RIP Dwayne McDuffie

Submitted by Chadarius

Topic 3: A Lord and Lady Become Serene

Submitted by Chadarius

Topic 4: Roundtable

MP3:

http://www.lordsoftyr.com/sites/all/files/podcasts/Lords%20of%20Tyr%20podcast%20201102226.mp3

Lords of Tyr - Lords-of-Tyr-D&D-Podcast-044

Chadarius — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 02:53:30 +0000

Welcome to the Lords of Tyr D&D Podcast!

Lords in attendance:

Topic 1: D&D Kids: Combat Encounters

Submitted by Chadarius

Topic 2: RPTech: Why Wait for Wizards Virtual Table?

Submitted by Chadarius

Topic 3: Should I Submit a 2nd Generation Gamer "Event" for Gencon

Submitted by Tyrwench

MP3:

http://www.lordsoftyr.com/sites/all/files/podcasts/Lords%20of%20Tyr%20podcast%2020110212.mp3

More D&D In Popular Culture

Chadarius — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 21:01:23 +0000

Those immersed in Geek Culture know G4's Attack of the Show. They have an Epic Give-away every week. This week it was Dungeons and Dragons! It looked to me like it was a complete set of the Essentials line including the new Red Box set and a few tile sets. It was quite the "Epic" D&D give-away.

After the D&D mention at USA Network's Fairly Legal show and the huge D&D episode on Community recently, there seems to be a concerted effort to get D&D into the popular culture. I love it. I think its great. Getting RPG's out there into the mainstream is a good thing. One of the tennants of the Lords of Tyr, and a big reason why we podcast and live broadcast our games, is to tell everyone loud and proud that we play D&D. We preach the social and educational benefits of D&D because we believe in those benefits very strongly... Oh! Its also really really fun!

Tips for the Beginning DM

Chadarius — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 14:31:16 +0000

This is the second article from Connor over at "The Community". Enjoy!!!

Tips for the Beginning DM -

So by now if you’ve read the first installment of the series, you should have enough information to get any party under the sun rolling on a solid campaign arc. Your job isn’t even close to finished. You’ve got to provide your players with an immersive adventure, and good immersion requires flawless worldbuilding and attention to detail on the part of you, the DM.

Accepting Diversity: How to Start a Campaign With No Restrictions!

Chadarius — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 15:19:33 +0000

Welcome to a new section called RPG X-ing. This is a cross post from our friend Connor over at The Community. It is a cool blog about RPG's and all manner of related topics. Connor will have a follow up article to this shortly, which we will post here as well. You will notice a new feed for The Community on the left as well. Go click on his story links and share some love! And now, with no further blathering by me, I bring you...

Accepting Diversity: How to Start a Campaign With No Restrictions! -

So I’m pretty sure I’ve been promising an article like this since we started the blog last August, and now I’m finally getting around to it. Some notes before we get started:

-This is intended to help DMs who want to write their own broad Adventure campaigns without placing restrictions on the kind of characters a person can play.

Donate to New Zealand Relief... and get a bunch of stuff at DriveThruRPG

Chadarius — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 20:23:31 +0000

The earthquake was pretty bad, and people need our help. The people at DriveThruRPG have setup another donation for this earthquake, the same as they did for the one in Haiti. When I donated through DriveThruRPG the last time, I ended up with the Serenity RPG which was worth every penny. There are some gems in this offer as well.

What could be better than being compasionate and getting some new RPG stuff to explorer?