Archive for March, 2011

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Companion Characters: Gather Your Allies!

Monday, March 7th, 2011

Love the cast of characters in your D&D game?  Especially those party allies you make and keep on the way to, through, and after the Nine Hells?  Like the ideas presented in DMG2 but looking for something with even more simplicity and even less DM prep work? 
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Better Together!

Why are companion characters or party allies so great?  NPC companion characters provide a wonderful storytelling and roleplaying tool for DMs.  Ideally, they help draw out some amusing or memorable roleplaying atmosphere from your players through their questions and banter.  

And of course, party allies make for a helpful brother or sister-in-arms in the thick of combat.  For small parties, they especially help in filling a missing role. Regardless of party size, just one companion character can help breathe a lot of life into party banter alone as the adventure and campaign continues.  (more…)

Posted in Characters, Design, Mechanics & Efficiencies, Storytelling & Roleplaying | 7 Comments »

Combat Mastery: Tactical Awareness & Teamwork 101

Friday, March 4th, 2011

Wish your D&D game ran a little smoother?  Especially during combat? 

Sometimes – or often – turns lag with all the tactical richness that 4e offers.  You have a lot of choices in the moment to make.  And more than ever, teamwork is rewarded in D&D.  So it helps to think of your allies before, during, and after your turn.  Make this the good habit that it is, and you’ll find your playgroup’s turns moving along a lot more smoothly.  And smoother combats mean more time to ensure the precious balance of storytelling and game that has always been D&D remains intact throughout your game sessions.

Tactical Awareness

How many free, immediate and opportunity action powers have you forgotten or missed in the chaos of battle?  Or this or that hit bonus, damage bonus, or other temporary modifier? If you’re like me, your fair share.  There’s a lot going on, and every little bonus or penalty adds up – and everything you do impacts not just you, but your entire party too.
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For example, your melee is going to want flanking opportunities to gain combat advantage as much as possible.  Flanking is one of those mechanics that requires help – a teammate.  You could say the same thing about many free actions and almost every immediate and opportunity action.  That help is usually some sort of combat situation or trigger and it’s important you be on the lookout for that “help,” both in and outside of your turn.  Your allies, your friends, are counting on you! 

Consider sports teams.  Better yet, consider a few of the arguably greatest and winningest sports teams either in the past decade or all-time: The New England Patriots and Boston Celtics.  A huge reason for their team success is that each individual: (more…)

Posted in Design, Mechanics & Efficiencies | 11 Comments »

Which Role is Missing in Your Parties?

Thursday, March 3rd, 2011

Hey everyone!  I would love your help.  I’m putting some ideas together based on this simple poll question on the front page of Leonine Roar: What Role in Your Parties is Least Common or Missing?

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For my friends and I, it’s usually Controllers though up until this very morning I thought we might be playing in our brand new Shadowfell campaign tonight without a Defender, and that we’d be on the lookout for an NPC party ally Fighter, Paladin or someone else, depending how things went.  Fortunately, one of my friends is going with a Raven Queen-worshiping human Paladin named Vrakas, so guess what?  Missing Controller, yet again, it is! 

Also, and this is so important to me, in the games I DM, I enjoy roleplaying NPC party allies or companion characters while the players switch off running them in combat. Win-win!

As for controllers not being as well represented in our playgroups’ parties, I guess my friends and I assume hordes of minions won’t be a problem! But that’s not always true, is it?

What about you guys? Which role and why?  Please share your thoughts and stories and vote on my poll.  Thanks!

Posted in Design, Mechanics & Efficiencies, Storytelling & Roleplaying | 2 Comments »

The Leonine 12: D&D’s Top Blogs & Creative Minds

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011

Where in the blogosphere do you go to think, read and talk D&D? 

Right now, this is my list, and I hope you visit them and come back anytime – I’ll still be here!   Their quality creative work – blogs, ideas, community and products – keep me coming back for more.  They are players, fans, writers and game designers just like you and me who keep our wonderful and unique hobby alive and well.  Explore their corner of the web and you’ll see what I mean.

The Leonine 12: D&D’s Top Blogs & Creative Minds

Thank you and keep up the great work guys! (more…)

Posted in Design, Mechanics & Efficiencies, Storytelling & Roleplaying | 4 Comments »

What is Atmosphere? Not What, But Whom

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011

When you conjure up memories of your favorite stories – in books, movies or in your RPG campaigns – what’s often the first thing you remember?  If you thought or mouthed “the characters,” then read on.  And if you didn’t for some wild yet almost assuredly creative reason, read on anyway because it’s worth it! 

Atmosphere is defined as “the dominant mood or emotional tone of a work of art, as of a play or novel: the chilly atmosphere of a ghost story” – for our purposes, this literary definition serves us best.  Now I’m not going to fire us all back to English class (and oh how I honestly miss those halcyon days), but I do want to emphasize the importance of the connection between atmosphere and the cast of characters in your roleplaying games. 

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Just look at the in-context example of atmosphere’s definition.  The mere presence of a ghost indicates characters, and likely human characters with all sorts of very real and identifiable human emotions.  Strong ones like fear, hate and love – the latter usually buried deep in the story somewhere, somehow, preferably as convoluted or tragic as possible – are common in ghost stories.  Certainly other important elements help create atmosphere (music, descriptive language, etc.), yet characters create and drive the lion’s share of mood and atmosphere in a story.  If the character is shallow, boring, or we simply don’t know much about him or her, or the actor is terrible, they’ve lost you before you also realize how bad the background music, plot or dialogue is.  (more…)

Posted in Characters, Storytelling & Roleplaying | 2 Comments »

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