#RPGaDay 2016

Yes, it is early, late, and timely all at the same time.  I was scrolling through Twitter one day and came across this RPGaDay questionnaire for the month of August. Rather than do it in 31 posts like I had done for a previous questionnaire, I figured it best to just answer them all in one go.  I've been playing RPGs (primarily D&D) for just about 7 years now and there are stories that I tell of the adventures that my characters have gone on.  Below are just a snippet of some of those adventures, some as a player and some as a GM.  If you enjoyed this, I'd encourage you to make a post somewhere with your answers!

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Aug 1st: Real dice, dice app, diceless, how do you prefer to roll?
While I'm a bit behind on this, I figured I'd take a moment to answer the questions from RPG Brigade's #RPGaDay celebration.

Aug 2nd: Best game session since August 2015?
While a majority of my games are online, you can't beat rolling real dice in person.
Most shopping sessions are pretty dull, but we had a session where the druid sat in an armor repair shop slowly becoming addicted to coffee and swapping stories, the paladin turned his armor bright orange using an armor oil, 2 others were offered magical Tupperware, and an apathetic, pink, flumph-decorated, animated, intelligent shield joined the party.

Aug 3rd: Character moment you are proudest of?
My first time playing my Cleric insta-killed an enemy by rolling a triple crit, since then I have never rolled 3 20s in a row.

Aug 4th: Most impressive thing another's character did?
In my small group that I GM for 2 of the characters were investigating missing children/orphans and in order to get into the orphanage, the Master of Nine picked up the Paladin and threw him through the window as an improvised ranged attack.  Needless to say, he was successful and there was a Paladin-sized hole that they climbed through.

Aug 5th: What story does your group tell about your character?
The character that I'm currently using the most is a 12-year old Killoren Scout called Jax.  Most of the people in the party would say that Jax is a bit stupid, childish, and a little naïve.  If you asked them about Jax they would probably tell you the story of how he was stupid enough to believe another party member that the best way to break diamonds was with your head (stupid low wisdom..). That action spun my character into not only having a concussion for all of the upcoming encounter, but also having an urge to find a tail of his very own (which eventually he found one).

Aug 6th: Most amazing thing a game group did for their community?
In my 5th edition campaign, we're slowly working our way up in gaining renown with the region we're in.  The most notable thing we've done so far is that we escorted a large supply of food from our region to a neighboring region who had been plagued by a massive fire that destroyed much of the town and much of surrounding areas including their crops.

Aug 7th: What aspect of RPGs has had the biggest effect on you?
I had always enjoyed RPG video games, but with tabletop RPGs I liked how open-ended everything is.  For example, in Fallout 3 or 4 you are presented with a bunch of options, but those options may not really represent how you feel at that time, with a tabletop RPG you can respond however you'd like and the story will still continue and mold to how you respond to it.

Aug 8th: Hardcover, softcover, digital? What is your preference?
I prefer to have a hardcover book since they're easy to navigate through, but I don't mind having a digital option as well if I have the screen space for it.

Aug 9th: Beyond the game, what's involved in an ideal session? 
An ideal session has players who are immersed in their characters and the story.  If a player is not focused on the game at hand everyone starts to lose immersion if you have to recap what the player was too distracted to pay attention to.  Overall though, a session is about a bunch of friends coming together to roll some dice and have a good time.

Aug 10th: Largest in-game surprise you have experienced?
In a small campaign that spurred my now nearly 2-year filler campaign (long story short, we started a one-off when one of the players couldn't make it to play, needless to say she still hasn't been available, nor will she be returning to that campaign) we were exploring an old library and triggered an encounter with some dread wraiths. Unfortunately when that triggered I wasn't in a light source (which would have protected me) and got crit and was drained of all my constitution.  Not the nicest surprise, but certainly a surprise nonetheless when your character gets one-shot.

Aug 11th: Which gamer most affected the way you play?
I don't think that any specific gamer has affected the way I play, but more that there are a few more mainstream groups that I've taken bits and pieces in how to be a better GM and player from listening to podcasts/livestreamed D&D sessions from groups like Penny Arcade (Aquisitions Inc), Thursday Knights, Crit Juice, Critical Role, and a couple that I've only listened to a little of.

Aug 12th: What game is your group most likely to play next? Why?
My 5th edition group is most likely going to play Maid RPG next as a one-off. I had played it once before and I hadn't found a group that would appreciate and accept it's bizarre nature until now.

My small group, if it ever comes to an end, might look into 5th edition or we may take a break since we've been doing this campaign for at least 1, but maybe 2 years.

Aug 13th: What makes a successful campaign? 
This is a bit of an odd question because I've unfortunately never been part of a campaign that has reached a finale or with any sort of closure. Regardless, I see a successful campaign as one that engages the players and the GM alike.  The goal is that everyone is having fun because no one wants to sit around a table and be bored.

Aug 14th: Your dream team of people you used to game with?
Honestly, my college group was probably the best group to play with, we met in person, we were all always excited to play and we all meshed well socially.

Aug 15th: Your best source of inspiration for RPGs?
I tend to randomly find inspiration from watching TV, playing video games, paging through monster manuals.  Because I almost always set my campaign in the Forgotten Realms I can also use some of the lore from the D&D books to help drive what the cities are like and major events that may have happened or are happening that can drive exposition.  Most of the time though, I take an idea and work through the story in my mind and see how it could fit into the here and now as well as trying to determine what it could become.

Aug 16th: Historical person you'd like in your group? What game?
For the 'What Game' part, my answer will always be Dungeons and Dragons because its pretty much the only tabletop RPG that I play and I greatly enjoy it.  For some reason I think having Dr. Seuss in a D&D group.

Aug 17th: What fictional character would fit into your group?
I think any D&D group could have C-3PO or Han Solo fit in perfectly.  C-3PO would be a great for any group that only have common as their language and I think every group could benefit from someone cool/snarky like Han Solo to make the PCs jealous.

Aug 18th: What innovation could RPG most benefit most from?
Hologram board to allow a map and characters to be rendered in 3D would be sweet.

Aug 19th: Best way to learn a new game?

Most of the time if I'm learning a new game I play it with a few people who have played before.  While it puts you at a bit of a disadvantage for some strategy-based board games, it still helps having multiple people that know the rules and that can help you out.  For RPGs it is hard to play if only the GM knows the rules since it inevitably turns into a "can I do this", "how can I do this", and "I didn't know I could do that" situation very quickly.

Aug 20th: Most challenging by rewarding system you've learned?
I have learned a lot about 3.5e Dungeons and Dragons and so far it is still my favorite system because it's had so much time to be developed, many aspects of the game have rules set out for them meaning you can pretty easily find an answer to a question without losing too much play time.

Aug 21th: Funniest misinterpretation of a rule in your group?
I cannot think of a rule misinterpretation that we've had that wasn't solved by a simple rules check.  Nothing all that amusing there.

Aug 22nd: Supposedly random game events that keep recurring?
In the campaign I play in, one of the players keeps critical failing and getting his Glaive stuck in things, while it's unfortunate it does provide a bit of comedy.

Aug 23rd: Share one of you best 'Wost Luck' stories?
I mentioned this story before as one of my "surprises", but my character getting one-shot by a dread wraith was pretty bad luck.  That being said though, most of my new characters no longer low-ball CON since the thought of getting one-shot by anything is pretty bad.

Aug 24th: What is the game you are most likely to give to others?
While it's not an RPG, I'm probably most likely going to give people Settlers of Catan because its an enjoyable strategy game that doesn't take too long to play and doesn't have too many rules that would make it difficult to pick-up quickly.

Aug 25th: What makes for a good character?
A character that has some sort of backstory and some degree of moral compass makes for a great character (I know the question only asked for a "good" character, but great will have to do).  As a GM I like having players that have elements of a backstory that I can utilize in the campaign.  For example, a character that has previous acquaintances with an NPC may be more likely to try and help that NPC (provided they are on good terms) which may help the narrative direct towards that story arc.  Having a character where you know their moral compass and their opinions and feelings about things can really help your players become engaged with their characters which in turn will make them make less rash decisions because they care about their character's well-being.

Aug 26th: What hobbies go well with RPGs?
Very often the people I play with watch anime and play video games, which really is the more stereotypical stigma of the RPG player.  However, beyond those hobbies, model makers will really enjoy making/painting miniatures if your group plays in person.  Designers of all kinds will enjoy the map-making and storytelling of all sorts.  Writers will obviously enjoy the narrative driven adventure.  Pretty much any hobby can find its way into an RPG, you may just have to work with your GM to see how it can best fit.

Aug 27th: Most unusual circumstances or location in which you've gamed?
Oddly enough, I have gamed in a couple odd locations.  I've run a Maids RPG campaign in a hookah lounge and I've also run a one-player campaign in a laundromat while my roommate and I were doing our laundry.

Aug 28th: Thing you'd be most surprised a friend had not seen or read?
I know this really doesn't quite fall in the realm of RPGs, but I'd be surprised if someone hadn't read or seen one of the Harry Potter Books/Movies.  They really have gotten shoved in everyone's faces.  I have nothing against the series as I enjoyed them all, but it really is something that has quite a devoted following.

Aug 29th: You can game anywhere on Earth, where would you game?
I've always wanted to run a campaign in a medieval themed tavern.  I don't know if any exist, but it would be great to sit in a tavern, where it seems most adventures begin, and just play D&D for a while.

Aug 30th: Describe the ideal game room if the budget were unlimited.
My ideal game room has a large table in the center of the room that has a digital screen that I can use to run the campaign.  Comfortable chairs since sitting in any chair for 3-4 hours on end can be quite a pain. LED ceiling panels to create the ambiance of the situation (at a bathroom fixture store they had LED ceiling panels that emulated the light of a thunderstorm, a clear day, and even simple colors).  Surround sound would be great to set the atmosphere of the room because music is one of the best ways to influence the emotion of the situation. Finally, shelves fully stocked with hard cover versions of the different editions of D&D.

Aug 31st: Best advice you were ever given for your game of choice?
I've listened to a bunch of podcasts and read a couple books about D&D and the best advice I've gotten came from the book "Of Dice and Men" and of course when I want to find the direct quote from the book, I cannot find it and both my copies of the book are lent out so I cannot.  However, the gist of the quote is that regardless of how old you or your players are, you need to be sure to communicate what the expectations out of the game are.  What are the rules, what do they want out of this campaign/adventure, etc. The great thing with this advice is no matter what RPG you're playing as long as there is communication at the beginning, it should be easy to ensure that everyone is enjoying their time.
 
  

Taking Your Game To The Next Level | Acrylic Tabletop Map

When I started being a Dungeon Master I figured that I needed to get a dry erase grid map so I could draw out encounters and situations very simply so I did.  Now that a majority of my games have gone towards using Roll20.net for our sessions the days of pen, paper, and in-person seem to be a fading art. Or at least so I thought.

My 5th edition campaign meets in person and the DM came up with a great idea that allows you to have your battle grid and to have your battle maps all pre-planned and hidden. He took a sheet of clear acrylic Plexiglass and hand drew a grid onto it creating a thin, clear battle grid that maps could be placed under or can be drawn on with dry erase markers.

A few notes/tips:

• Acrylic glass can be expensive depending on how big you want it, but places like Michaels or Hobby Lobby (other vendors are available) have coupons when you sign up for emails that can make it more affordable.
• We found out the hard way that dry erase markers can remove Sharpie lines from the acrylic so if you're drawing on it be sure to draw on the opposite side that the Sharpie is on.
• Normal battle grids are 1 inch by 1 inch.

While this does seem to be a bit of effort for a battle mat, if you want to create your own hand drawn maps without having to get grid paper this works well.  If you don't want to do this, there are still plenty of battle mats that you can buy for about the same cost as this project.

What You'll Need for this Project

• 1 clear Acrylic or Plexiglass sheet
• 1-2 Sharpies (or permanent marker of your choice) Fine Tip 
• T-Square, Yard Stick or other long straight-edge
• T-Squares will help ensure that you're drawing lines at right angles to the edge of the sheet.

Getting Beyond Random Ecounters | How To Be A GM

 
Most RPGs have an element of combat within them and as the GM; you are in charge of planning the strategy of the enemies.  The combat portion of an RPG really seems to be the point where the Players versus the GM mentality originate since the enemies are attacking the players with the intent to get rid of them.  With this in mind, a GM needs to be mindful that the combat situations set in front of them are not too simple that combat is a bore, while also making sure that the situation is not unwinnable (unless there's a purpose to that – but that will be addressed later).

As a GM, where do you start when planning combat situations or encounters?  Depending on the RPG you are playing, there may be tools out there to help plan out challenging encounters.  Since I know Dungeons and Dragons best, I know there are a few different tools to help plan out encounters for 3.5e, 4e, and 5e (D&D Next).  Each edition handles calculating difficulty of enemies a little different, so what may work in one edition may not always work for another.  Regardless though, each encounter should have some element of planning behind it.

Personally, I am not a GM that has encounters happen without a purpose.  If a party is encountering something, it is generally because there is some element of story behind it.  While there could be encounters stemming from anything, I tend to stray away from the world versus the player aspect where anyone or anything could become hostile at any moment.  This does not mean it is wrong to run your campaign that way.  Many GMs that I know use random encounters as a way to encourage the players to keep moving or as a consequence for an action.  For example, if a party member wants to go hunt for food, they may stumble across rival hunters that were hunting the same quarry, or possibly, they may try to take down something stronger than they are and combat may ensue.

Random encounters are a bit more difficult to plan since they do tend to be a bit more spur of the moment, but outside of that, most encounters can and should be planned out.  Bill Cavalier (@dungeonbastard on Twitter) tweeted a list of things that you should have when you plan an encounter: purpose, quick impressions, discoverable details, main obstacle, complications, outcomes, and connections.  Each of these should have some consideration to it and sometimes one facet will have more details than there was on a previous encounter. Just as an example, I will fill out a quick prep sheet for an encounter so you can get an idea of how to plan an encounter using Bill Cavalier’s method.

Here is the situational scenario: The party is searching for a shipment of coal that was taken by a band of goblins.  They know that the coal was in a handcart and they followed the ashen footprints and they can currently hear goblins talking/whimpering ahead just outside of the tree line.

·       
Purpose

o   Assuming the group approaches the goblins, they will prepare to attack since they believe that the party is going to try to steal their coal. (Note: There is a chance that the party may want to talk their way through this.  In that case the goblins want treasures and unwillingness will just make them angry and wanting to attack more).

·         Quick Impressions

o   The Goblins are mostly busy loading coal into an airship that seems to billowing thick black smoke.  There are 12 goblins, four are carrying bows (watching the tree lines), six are carrying shovels (treat as clubs), and two are in armor and seem to have some sort of weapon on their persons (they are standing on the airship directing the goblins with shovels).

·         Discoverable Details

o   There seems to be three carts of coal, all with the same company name on it “Sootworks”.

o   One of the 2 goblins on the ship has a book chained to his belt and he seems to be reading over it as the goblins load the coal (Book of maps/legers)

·         Main Obstacle

o   The party must get the coal before it is loaded onto the airship or before it flies away.

·         Complications

o   Once spotted by the archers, they will be fired upon and the effort to load coal will continue faster unless goblins are killed.

o   The airship has two loaded harpoons on it that can be used to fire at the party if it lifts off before they stop the m.

·         Outcomes

o   If successful:

§  They can discover that the book has a number of sales to them from “Sootworks” the group that sent the party over to investigate the stolen coal – Book from one of the Goblins on the airship.

§  They can deliver the coal back

§  Loot: 60GP, two shortswords, four poorly crafted bows.

o   If airship flies off:

§  They only have the information that there are three “Sootworks” carts left without any coal.

§  Depending on how quickly they flew off they may have left some coal behind.

·         Connections

o   Sootworks is the company issuing the mission.  Why would they be working with Goblins to sell coal and what would make the Goblins steal coal (if they even stole it at all?)

In general, this encounter would probably be best for a party that is at about level 3-5 depending on the system you are using.  However, the encounter is pretty well laid out here.  

·         You know why this encounter should take place (Purpose).

·         You know what things to mention about the situation before the encounter starts (Quick Impressions).

·         You know what details can be discovered by spot, listen, perception, etc. checks or from later checks when looting (assuming they are successful) (Discoverable Details).

·         You know the objective of the fight (Main Obstacle)

·         You know what will make the party’s objective difficult (Complications)

·         You know what the success and failure criteria are and the results of each (Outcomes)

·         You know how this encounter connects to the rest of the story. (Connections)

I would argue that there is a chance that the main obstacle might not always be story driven.  There’s a chance an encounter may have a Main Obstacle that whomever the enemy is at the time is standing between the party and their objective or possibly that the encounter may in fact be the obstacle that needs to be defeated to be successful.  In addition, I would say that with any encounter a total party kill (TPK) where everyone dies is always a possible Outcome.  Overall, though, if you fill out each in some capacity you can be sure that you create encounters with some sort of purpose.

We're Going on an Adventure | How To Be A GM

The prospect of starting a new Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) campaign (or any RPG campaign) can seem like a daunting task.  The idea that you are in charge of creating this big elaborate campaign, making sure you and the players understand the rules, and making sure you plan for everything (sort of -- we’ll get back to that later).  For some, getting past these things is one of the main things preventing them from starting a campaign.

While it does seem like a lot of work, it really comes down to one key part “is everyone having fun”.  Being the Game Master (GM) does not mean you have to be flawless in your approach to things, it means you are just the soothsayer that weaves the threads of this reality into the tapestry that is the adventure.  Becoming a GM, with some time, becomes quite an easy task. However, it will take a bit of time to hone your skills and to get the hang of things.

So where do you begin? Do you need a big adventure where your group of players will uncover treasures and slay great beasts?  Do you need to plan a new kingdom with details that would put any census to shame? Do you need to buy minifigures, dice, books, and more to supplement your campaign? Eventually you may want to do these things, but before any of that can happen, you really need to know what your players want out of this campaign.

Where Do I Even Start?
The question “what are you looking for in a campaign/adventure?” might be a tough one to answer for new players, but in general, if your player has played any sort of RPG (tabletop, video game, or otherwise) they can at least describe their favorite facets of the games.  Personally, I enjoy a good balance of combat, puzzles, and roleplaying, but I’ve had groups that are looking towards the next fight at all times and I’ve had groups that take combat in stride, but they tend to roleplay a bit more.
On the off chance that you don’t know your group or that you don’t really glean anything on what they look for in an RPG, you can still prepare puzzles, roleplaying and combat situations and see what your group enjoys the most.  The nice thing is when you meet up for the first time you do not have to have a large-scale adventure ready in your back pocket.  I like to make the first session or two be about making the group mesh together and slowly introduce the players to the environment that they’re in.

Most of the campaigns I have participated in (as a GM and as a player) have not had anything really barred or limited from the start, but this does not mean you cannot setup limitations though.  For example, if for some reason in your world has some variation of the Spell plague where arcane ability has ceased to exist; you may prevent players from playing arcane classes.  Something like this would require you to think a bit about your world before you start the character building process.


World Building
A majority of my campaigns that I GM for utilize the Faerun (Forgotten Realms) map, but they do not necessarily follow the lore from the books.  A few of the campaigns I have played in have existed in entirely homebrew worlds.  The awesome part of being a GM is you can make a world; however, you want it to be.  I have heard of groups using a map of Earth as their world.  Realistically, if you can imagine the world it can exist.

Your world can go beyond a simple landscape and city map.  If you want you can build stories into cities and flesh out details about town likes, dislikes, government types, how they feel about the government, how they feel about other towns, motives, etc. In theory your players are from somewhere in your world, so there should be a way to incorporate their backstories in as well.  Philippe A. Ménard (@ChattyDM on Twitter) posted a great way that you can get your characters into building a homebrew world/city.  Ménard’s system requires players to answer five, 2-tiered questions in order to flesh out some details.

1a) Name/Describe a Place IN the city 1b) Name one NPC linked to it.
2a) Name/describe a place OUTSIDE the city 2b) Describe a NPC/Rumor/Legend linked to it
3a) Suggest a Theme for the Campaign 3b) Suggest a City Event linked to that Theme
4a) Describe a person (Not necessarily humanoid) of note from IN or OUT of the city. 4b) What is your relationship with that person?
5a) Describe a strange Phenomenon in the City/World 5b) Describe its impact on everyday life.

By answering these questions, you have created cities, Non-Player Characters (NPCs), Lore/Legends or possible rumors to discover, and a few possible plotlines that can branch off into larger scale adventures.  Even if you as a GM just went through and answered these five, 2-tiered questions you could flesh out each metropolitan area in your world.

Building Characters
Most of the standard books for Dungeons & Dragons various editions have a step-by-step list of things players need to do to create their characters.  As a GM your role is to help facilitate that process, so they not only build their characters correctly, but so you also get them thinking about why their character is an adventurer or why they are where they are.

As a GM, you should encourage your players to be as elaborate as they’d like in their backgrounds so when they provide you the details you should in theory be able to take people, places, events, strengths, and flaws from their story and keep them in your back pocket to use later.  It is great to be able to throw a situation in where one or more characters have something at stake from their past -- something that they may not have shared with the rest of the party.  It also makes the player think about who they are as a character which should help them react to how their character would react rather than how they would as a person playing a game.

Naturally as a human playing a game, your instincts are to survive, but maybe your character is stubborn or wants glory so they’d be more prone to act dangerously.  By encouraging your players to create backstories, you encourage players to engage with their characters and you provide yourself with something that could make an appearance later.

The First Few Sessions
Once you have fleshed out your world a bit and once the players have created their characters, you can start considering a few things (either on your own or with the group).  Very rarely have I been in a campaign where all the characters have adventured together before, so as the GM you have to piece together stories to make all your players meet and give them a reason to stick together.

The stereotypical start is “You all meet in a tavern”, but I find it most challenging to try to think outside the box and come up with a creative way to make the group meet.  Once I have used a few times to the point that it is getting to be borderline cliché is “a nobility figure has a task and was suggested that this group be assembled to do a task for him/her”.  You can avoid this slight awkwardness by bringing the characters together for any reason, but sometimes it can feel forced.  Regardless, I cannot say I have ever seen someone have to create a new character because their character never ran into or teamed up with the rest of the players.

The first 1-3 sessions of a new campaign/adventure tend to be a bit more flexible and not always directly tied to a larger, overarching quest, but allow players to figure out how their character acts and how he/she interacts with others and to build a rapport with each other.  I have had characters change up a bit during the first sessions, but usually by session 3, I have got my character pretty well figured out so my actions from any situation would be consistent.

If you’re working with a group that’s never played before, these first few sessions are a great opportunity to start introducing combat, roleplaying, traps, puzzles, etc. and you should be able to gauge what your group prefers after these sessions are up.

The Plot Thickens
Each adventure is different and every GM runs adventures differently.  Some adventures go on for a session or two and others can last for year’s worth of sessions.  What is important is to try to keep track of new characters that you introduce because you never know when they could become useful later.

There are plenty of books which have the sole purpose of creating an adventure for you to follow and can be used as a catalyst for other adventures.  Just as it is for your world, your story can take players anywhere you can think of.  I have used books, movies, comics, and even songs as the basis for adventures, so if you need ideas you can find ideas anywhere.


To Prepare or not to Prepare
Simply put, be prepared for your plot to advance in some capacity, but you cannot trust that the players will find their way to your plot points in the way you expect.  As a GM, you can go into a session thinking you have everything possibly planned out and inevitably, a player will have thought about something that they wanted to do that you did not have prepared.  In situations like this, it is easy to railroad your players back to where you want them to go, but that makes the game feel forced and like the players are just going through the motions to get from plot point A to plot point B.

You do want to prepare for most situations, but a lot of being a GM is encouraging players to feel like they are making the decisions, when they may not be making that choice.  You may have planned for them to go into a tavern to investigate a group of bandits, but they may want to go out to the forest to collect some potion making supplies.  You can easily take much of what you had planned and have the situation stem from the forest now rather than a tavern and to the players it may feel like they just skipped a step to find the bandits early.  In theory, this could mean they missed some info, but it progresses the story and allows the players to complete an otherwise menial task.

Other times, you may have an idea that pops into your head mid-session and what you had planned may turn to just improvising.  Some of my best moments as a GM have stemmed from when I just have to improvise moments and ideas in the game.  At first improvising may be a challenge, but as you get pushed into situations where you have to improvise you start to be able to think on your feet a bit more.

Always Say “Yes”
One of the common rules of improv is that in any situation you should always say “Yes” to the situation provided.  This does not mean you literally have to say yes, but if a player asks if they can search for something in a room you can certainly allow them to do so regardless if there is something there or not.  For a GM, your role is to facilitate the story and make it progress how the players want, so if a player asks if their character can try and kick down a door, you can allow them to do that, but there will be consequences (positive or negative) from taking that action.

Another way to view this is that a player can try whatever they would like, but there will be varying degrees of success depending on their actions.  If a player wants to try and bank an arrow off a wall to stick an enemy in the back they can try it, but chances are there are enough factors that the shot may not reach their target. Nevertheless, if the player wants to take that chance you, as the GM should be able to figure out what happens after the resulting roll regardless of what they roll.

The Ultimate Goal
The best GM’s I have had enjoy controlling the story as much as they do playing.  The key to being a great GM is to make sure that the players are having a good time and that you are also enjoying the game.  There is a stigma about the GM that they are a villain. It is common to have the players versus the GM mentality, but really, the GM’s role is to ensure everyone is enjoying their experience. If a rule or class feature is causing trouble or is unnecessary, you can make the call to remove it.  Make the game as enjoyable as possible and no matter what happens, you can almost guarantee that your players will be looking forward to the next session every time.

Stepping Into The Future | First Session

Now that it's been a few weeks since the first session and now that I'm about 2 weeks out from the
next session, I finally have a moment to share my thoughts so far about 5th edition.  Character creation was a little slow (since we only had one book to go through everything) and that took up most of the time, but even still it wasn't too bad of an experience.  I could see if you had a character type in mind it really would just consist of you filling in a character sheet and making a couple stat decisions, otherwise every character seemed a bit prepackaged. If you wanted to be a Dwarf Barbarian with a Soldier background you would just fill in the items, gold, and skills from those parts of the book and with some stats and HP you could be ready to go.

Since the group I'm playing in has people who haven't really played much before I decided I'd balance out the group however was needed.  As a result, I ended up being a Human Light Domain Sage Cleric of Lathander.  For those who haven't played 5th edition, this basically means I'm a Human Cleric with Lathander as my deity (who in turn opens access to Light Domain spells) and my background is that I am a sage which gives me a certain set of equipment and some skills.  The rest of the party is a Dragonborn (Gold) Paladin, a Water Genasi Wizard, and a Human Monk.  In the first encounter it kind of played out that the Paladin and Monk will be the tanks and the Wizard and Cleric will be more ranged/support (as expected).

My Initial ThoughtsOther than the fact that it seemed to take a while to build characters, it imagine it doesn't get too bad once you're used to this setup.  Every race has some benefit of being that race now, but it still seems like you get the greatest benefit from being a Human still.

In terms of classes, there seems to be a pretty good balancing for the classes so everyone has the potential to do a good chunk of damage at any level.  There are some abilities looking ahead that seem very powerful (almost broken), but I haven't looked much at the Monster Manual to see if there's a way to balance that.

One of my favorite additions is that any character has unlimited Level 0 spells (cantrips) that they can cast at will.  I always thought it was odd that spellcasters who are innately magic would just all of a sudden run out of magic and couldn't do anything, not even a simple card trick (prestidigitation).  Now, there's a nice spread of beneficial and damaging spells that scale as you level up so you have options of how you can attack and you don't force wizards to have bows when their magic runs out.  Another interesting part of the spells is that some of the spells are more auto-hit spells where you cast it and it will hit, but the opponent can still save for half damage.  While it would be broken if they were all this way, it seems to be balanced out well with the magic attack modifier that allows you to cast ranged magic better if you have a poor DEX -- prior you had to put points in DEX as a spellcaster so you could use your ranged weapon better, now you can focus on your class skills to make your spells more potent.

For the skills, it's great how they condensed it down and how they simplified the skill point rules by introducing the proficiency bonus instead.  This system basically goes off the idea that your innate ability to do this means you can do better than others at this, but it also makes it so you don't get a bunch of players with obscenely high checks at later levels (will they happen still yes, but not every skill will be a +16 at level 13).

When it came to Feats, I was a bit confused at first because instead of giving you ability boosts and feats you only get one or the other at every 4 levels. At first, I thought you had to choose one or the other and then you could only choose that option through leveling (for example, you take your ability score boost at level 1 so you can only take ability score boosts as you level).  Luckily, that got cleared up and you can take either a boost or a feat at those times which is pretty neat because you can really boost your skill checks with feats or you can pad your stats up a bit more with ability score updates.  At level 1 I took an ability boost, but I'll probably end up taking a feat at the next upgrade because some of the feats give you bonuses in addition to an ability score boost.

Finally, while I was helping the DM figure out how the Challenge Rating system works, I discovered a site called Kobold Fight Club which is a great tool to build encounters to see how beatable they are and how much XP the party splits after victory.  Overall, the XP system seems much more clear especially since monsters are listed by their XP values rather than an otherwise arbitrary challenge rating (CR) number.

Overall, I like how a lot of the rules have been condensed down to be much simpler than 3.5e, but it still plays like 3.5e does.  In two weeks, I'll be playing the second session where we'll get a little more into character development since really only my Cleric and the Monk have interacted a bit, we found the Dragonborn at a job board and got a job with him and then the Wizard showed up and kicked butt at an encounter.  Overall, it's worth looking into and I don't really have any complaints yet, but to be fair I've only been playing for just over 2 hours.

Stepping Into The Future | 5e Campaign Starting

Tonight I will be starting a 5e campaign with a couple of my friends from college and one of my co-worker's friends.  None of us have ever played 5th edition before, and only 3 of us have any experience with D&D altogether.  It should be an enjoyable time though since we're meeting in person, which I haven't done for a D&D session in almost 3-4 years now.

I have a basic character back story setup, and I've read through the Player's Handbook a couple times, but since I've got the most experience with D&D I've elected to fill in to be whatever the party ends up lacking to make it a nice balanced group.  Hopefully, in the next couple days I'll have a recap of my initial thoughts into how character building and game play went, but initially from reading through the books and rules it does seem like a well-condensed version of 3.5e with some pretty straightforward rules.

Overall, I'm excited to see how it goes and excited to watch how some D&D newbies get their feet wet with a new campaign.

Using the Craft/Profession Skill | Librarian

The Profession (Librarian) skill is slightly different than your standard skill only in that as a skill it

For those who are unfamiliar with 'skill tricks', they appear in The Complete Scoundrel book and their purpose is to allow a character to do a little more spectacular things because they have a certain level of ability in a skill.  For example, if your character has a prerequisite of 5 ranks in the Heal skill, you can spend 2 skill points upon leveling up to gain the "Healing Hands"skill trick which allows a character to heal someone 1d6 when they do a heal check to stabilize someone.

Initially, I thought the Profession (Librarian) skill could be one that replaces Knowledge (Anything) checks, but that would just let a player stack points in the profession and be a wealth of knowledge.  Next, I considered giving the player the Bardic Knowledge skill using the Profession (Librarian) skill in lieu of the bard level, but then that would make a player nearly-omniscient by level 10 (as even the hardest Bardic Knowledge check is DC 30).  So my compromise was that the Profession (Librarian) would on it's own do nothing but feed into a skill trick.
will not be horribly useful.  However, taking levels in it proves to be quite beneficial if you are a player that likes taking skill tricks in lieu of your standard skill points.

The skill trick, which I call "Wealth of Knowledge" [Mental] would allow a player with 9 levels of Profession (Librarian) to use the Bardic Knowledge ability using their own class level as a Bard would use his/hers.

I believe this is a good balance because it means a character cannot take this skill trick until at least level 6 which means a player can still choose to be a Bard and gain that ability earlier.  The rationale behind this skill is that a librarian that has been doing that job for a while will have picked up some obscure knowledge here and there so they could help provide similar information that a Bard would have picked up by traveling around and telling stories.

Using the Craft/Profession Skill | Sailor/Pirate

I was going through the SRD to to see what they listed as Professions and Craft skills and there aren't many things listed.  However, I did recall that one prestige class, the Dread Pirate, has a prerequisite for ranks in Profession (Sailor) so I figured why not address that.

In theory a character with classes in Profession (Sailor) has spent time on a  ship in some capacity, perhaps as a cabin boy/girl or perhaps as a general worker or captain.  Nevertheless, the character has spent plenty of time aboard a ship.  So what?  What benefit can be gained by a character being on the sea for longer than another character?  Is it worth spending skill points for flavor?

When thinking about what benefits would stem from a good roll in Profession (Sailor), I figured I would also address the concept of Profession (Pirate) as well.  While not seen as a profession in normal convention, the Profession (Pirate) really just is the Profession (Sailor) skill with different means to an end.  While a Sailor may be more prone to using diplomacy, a pirate would more likely stick to Bluff or Intimidate.  For the case of the buffs though, there really won't be much different between the two if your character wishes to take Pirate over Sailor.

As always, the DC can be set on DM discretion but I would also suggest continuing with a +5 per difficulty class (i.e. Easy = DC; Medium = DC+5; Hard = DC+10).  Depending on the roll, the following benefits could be given to someone who has ranks in the Profession (Sailor/Pirate) skill:

Skill Boost	Easy	Medium	Hard	Conditions
Swim	+4	+6	+8	General
Balance	+2	+4	+6	When at Sea
Climb	+1	+2	+3	When at Sea
Survival	+2	+3	+4	Catching Fish / Weather / Discerning North at Sea

The above chart would be the bonuses gained by rolling the varying degrees of successes.  The rationales behind each being:

• Swim
• In spending time on the open seas you will have figured that being able to swim is a life or death skill to have and as a result you are well-trained in swimming, or at least treading water.
• Balance
• The rocking of the ship over the waves is enough to knock over any "land lubber" but your time spent on the seas have given you a general advantage over being felled by the rocking of the ship.
• Climb
• You find yourself able to climb the rigging a little easier than the average person as you know where best to grab to get you up to the top the quickest.
• Survival
• Your time on the open seas have taught you how to catch food to survive, how to discern when a storm is coming, and how to use the stars to navigate.

These bonuses are situational bonuses that get applied to rolls, so as a DM you can choose if this ability applies daily, hourly, etc.  Another option is to apply these as synergy bonuses.  So if a player takes 5 ranks in Profession (Sailor/Pirate) they get the "Easy" level bonuses, 10 ranks gets "Medium" and 15 ranks gets "Hard" benefits.  Either way, this can give the player a little extra bonus for taking points in the Profession (Sailor/Pirate) skill.

Using the Craft/Profession Skill | Tea Master

This option can be used as either a Craft (Tea) or Profession (Tea Master) and can also be spun for any sorts of beverages that exist in your campaign (i.e. Coffee, Beer, Soda, etc.).

The premise behind the Tea Master craft/profession is that with a little bit of time and patience that you can provide your party with a temporary boost based on the quality of the tea that was made. One of my players currently uses this as a Craft skill, so I've developed a chart that he uses to brew different varieties of teas.  I researched the different types of teas and gave them in-game effects that were beneficial, but weren't too game-breaking and that research turned into this:

Tea Type	Easy	Medium	Hard	Effect
Oolong	+1	+2	+3	Temporary Will Save Increase. Lasts 1d12 hours.
White	1d12 hours	1d4 days	1d2 weeks	Alleviates Disease Effects (One use per disease contraction)
Black	+1	+2	+3	Temporary boost to Dexterity based skills. Lasts 1d12 hours
Earl Grey	1d4	1d6	1d10	Grants Immunity to Fear effects for dice roll hours
Chamomile	1d8+CHA	1d8+CHA*1.5	1d8+CHA*2	Gain Hit Points, Limit 1 cup/day
Peppermint	+2	+4	+6	Temporary Diplomacy Increase. Lasts 1d8 hours
Yellow	2d8	3d8	4d8	Gain Temporary Hit Points. Very Expensive.
Pu-erh	+1	+2	+3	Temporary Fortitude Save Increase. Lasts 1d12 hours.
Green	+2	+4	+6	Temporary Concentration Increase. Lasts 1d6 hours unless done in an hour long ritual then it lasts 1 day.
Rooibos	+1	+2	+3	Temporary Increase to Will Saves against Mind Affects. Lasts 2d12 hours.
Yerba Mate	+1	+2	+3	Temporary Reflex Save Increase. Lasts 1d12 hours.
Bards Flower	DC 24	DC 18	DC 12	Gain 1d4 CHA and -1d6 STR for 1 hour -- Mildly Addicting ( See DCs for addiction)

The difficulty columns are based on a DC that is set by the DM with each additional difficulty adding +5 to the previous level DC. In theory the DC should start at a 20 so that a lower level character wouldn't make superior tea until they trained more in that skill.

If you choose to implement this, you could require that teas be purchased or grown as to essentially treat them as a mundane potion-making ability. All the teas provide a benefit in some way with no repercussions except the Bards Flower tea which requires a Fortitude save to avoid addiction and the side-affects that come with it.

Explanation of the Teas:

Each tea has it's own benefits, most of them are straightforward, others require a little more clarification:

• Oolong
• Temporarily gain the stat benefit for 1d12 hours, at the end of that time your Will saves return to normal.  This does stack with items, but does not stack with potions.
• White
•  This tea temporarily stops the affects and the incubation time for any disease for the time based on the DC.
• Black
• Temporarily gain the stat benefit for 1d12 hours, at the end of that time your Dexterity skills return to normal.  This does stack with items, but does not stack with potions.  This tea does not affect your AC or Reflex saves.
• Chamomile
• Self-explanitory
• Peppermint
• Applies to Diplomacy checks
• Yellow
• Cost is up to the DM, temporary hit points do not stack so any ability that gives you more temporary hit points would not add to this total unless it is greater than the remaining temporary hit points.
• Pu-erh
• Temporarily gain the stat benefit for 1d12 hours, at the end of that time your Fortitude saves return to normal.  This does stack with items, but does not stack with potions.
• Green
• A ceremony would consist of uninterrupted meditation while preparing the tea, all characters benefiting from this ceremony must also meditate for the ceremony as well.
• Rooibos
• Temporarily gain the stat benefit for 2d12 hours, at the end of that time your Will saves against mind-affecting spells return to normal.  This does stack with items, but does not stack with potions.
• Yerba Mate
• Temporarily gain the stat benefit for 1d12 hours, at the end of that time your Reflex saves return to normal.  This does stack with items, but does not stack with potions.
• Bards Flower
• Fortitude save required when drinking it to not become addicted, DC decreases as the quality goes up on the theory that preparing tea with this flower is a delicate procedure and improper handling releases more addictive substances.

If you would like further clarification feel free to comment, or if you have other teas you'd like to add you can try them out in your game as play-testing them is generally the best way to see if they need more or less power.

Using the Craft/Profession Skill

As most 3.5e players would probably agree, the Craft and Profession skills are really not utilized all that much other than for players who want to be able to make their own arrows or to hone their blades. While these are very useful skills to the fighter types, it does detract from the potential that those skills have.

As a DM you should be able to allow your players to take any Craft and Profession skill and provide them with solutions to that skill to make them fun and useful skills that also add some depth to the characters.  As I build and elaborate on some Craft and Profession skills, I'll compile their links below.

Craft	Profession
Craft (Tea)	Profession (Tea Master)
	Profession (Sailor/Pirate)
	Profession (Librarian)

Stepping into the Future | Beginnings of 5e

Over the course of the last couple years, I've been listening to a bunch of D&D podcasts and pretty much all of them have moved into the D&D Next (5e) edition.  From when I first heard about how 5e is diversifying the way classes are and how they crafted the rules to better accommodate players from all D&D backgrounds, I must admit I was intrigued.

Now that so much of 5e has become more commonplace, I'm starting to get a little more interested in it and want to DM and/or play in a 5e campaign. While 3.5e is my bread and butter, I really haven't heard anything from players that make me think that 5e isn't a step in the right direction.

In an effort to better understand the system, I will be starting to read through the free DM Rules and Player Rules that Wizards of the Coast have provided.  While the edition is still being fleshed out a little more, and more creatures, classes, and modules are starting to appear, I'm sure that more people will start latching onto it.

My hopes is that over the course of this year I will start learning 5e a little more, and eventually start a 5e campaign with a few people and document the journey from character creation through the campaign.  Fingers crossed it will go as smoothly as I hope it does!

DM Tips | Secret of Being A Good Dungeon Master

Going across different D&D-based forums, one of the questions that I see a bunch is "what makes a good DM?" or "What do I have to do to be an awesome DM?" and there are a bunch of great answers out there, but ultimately it seems it really hinges on one thing.

Is everyone having fun?

That's really just it.  You could have the worlds finest storyteller, weaving intricate tales seamlessly going between story and combat, but if no one is having fun then you're missing out on the true essence of the game. 

Even as I was typing that last sentence, I was thinking that having exactly that person would be awesome, but the reason for that is because that's kind of what I'm looking for in an adventure.  When I play a character I like a good balance of roleplaying along with combat.  I find it very enjoyable to be immersed into the game, but not all players are going to be looking for that.  I've written on this before, but it's still very true, if your group is more combat oriented and you're not providing them with combat, they may not enjoy the experience all that much.

While I was reading Of Dice and Men: The Story of Dungeons & Dragons and The People Who Play It,  I found one section of the last chapter very inspiring and very well said.  The author, David Ewalt, and Frank Mentzer, author and writer for D&D, were discussing the question "What's the secret to being a good Dungeon Master?"  Mentzer's reply is very much the key to making sure that everyone enjoys the time they devote to D&D.  Mentzer says, "Emphasize priorities with you players, we all have, especially in this day and age, a very limited amount of time. So when you sit down at a gaming table, don't waste time on trivialities. Don't get bogged down in rule arguements,. Resolve them equitably and quickly and keep things moving."  He later goes on to say, "You must have your sensors out, find out what grabs people and cater to it. The ideal game is a player-driven game They are not acting in a play you wrote You are presenting a setting, you are the stage dressing and letting them come up with the play. And when the come up with a plot twist, you should be able to go that way full force, because that is what they want to do."

The hardest part that a DM has is ensuring that they aren't putting up invisible walls everywhere and forcing the players to go down a per-determined path.  The players may not go where you expect them to go and as a result what you may planned may not be done.  Just as with life though, there may be consequences for straying away from the planned path.

Overall, as long as you and your party are happy then your sessions of D&D will continue to be enjoyable.  Mentzer concludes their conversation of the secret to being a good DM with this thought. "Remember, the game master is part of the group, it is not an adversarial situation, though plenty of game masters run it that way. The game master has to be able to transcend his own desires and evolve. All the members of the gaming group - and that includes the game master - have to feel like they're winning."

In my mind, as long as everyone is having fun, then everyone is winning.