D&D Links - 20 Free Random Generators

DungeonMastering.com has compiled a bunch a great random generators that will help any Dungeon Master in his or her campaign…

1. Dragon description generator - oh, yeah!
2. Government generator - because we’re all boring of adventuring in “The Kingdom” or “The Empire” and would rather explore the “Legendary and Perfected Federation” or some place with a funky name.
3. Whacky class generator - don’t you wan’t to play a Crocodile Kicker?
4. Detailed character generator - a short description and quick roleplaying notes will make bring any anonymous NPC to life.
5. Goblin namer - even though goblins can kill you, most of the time they die. Having a unique name gives them personality, which in turn increases their chances to be spared.  “Ktozs scared.  Pleeease don’t kill Ktozs…”
6. Fractal world generator - interesting and maybe even useful.
7. Dungeon generator - try the “labyrinth” setting to mees with your players’ mind.
8. Snake generator - what the hell?  Do we really need a snake generator? Well, it’s there just in case…
9. Pirate name generator - I could click that button all day!
10. NaNoWriMo motivator - maybe you’ve tried to write a book during National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and maybe you failed (like me!) and maybe you could have used some motivation!
11. Martial arts move generator - ninja time!
12. Wrestler name generator - trust me, you’ll find a way to squeeze these names in your campaign.
13. Namator - probably the best looking random gen website
14. The Forge - you don’t know it yet but you like flash-based generators.
15. Lorem Ipsum - it’s made for print and web filler text, but you can use it to impress your players with scrolls filled with gibberish (I think it’s latin)
16. Candy generator - every inn cooks up something sweet, unique, and delicious.
17. Magic invocation generator - this one is especially fun!
18. Drink recipe generator - don’t try this at home…
19. Darth maker - it has nothing to do with D&D but I enjoyed it a lot!
20. Humorous fantasy class generator - a butler sorceress and footpad nanny walk into a bar…

And there’s so much more out there!  Seventh Sanctum has the most fun generators.  So have fun and click aways.

Source: DungeonMastering.com Read more

WotC Ending Support For D&D Minis Skirmish Game

Wizards of the Coast will end support for its Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures skirmish game in the coming months, as it moves its D&D Miniatures from a separate game to acting only as accessories for the D&D RPG. In addition to changing the composition of the miniatures packages (see “D&D Minis Less Random”), a number of other changes will take place between now and the middle of 2009.

The next D&D Minis release, Demonweb in November, will be the last to include skirmish statistics. No further D&D Miniatures skirmish events will be officially sanctioned after D&D Experience in February. WotC will continue to update miniatures stats from previous sets to the current ruleset, to be completed by mid-2009.

D&D Sr. Brand Manager Scott Rouse explained the reasons for the moves in a follow-up post on the WotC Website. Sanctioned skirmish play began to decline in 2006, according to the post, a trend that the company had not been able to reverse. At the same time, rising costs were making the pricing on the mini packages as previously constituted untenable. So WotC sought a solution that reflected what the minis were being used for, and that would change the packages in a way that helped deal with pricing issues. The solution was new packaging that moved away from random packs (which allowed a higher price per mini while giving players more pieces they could use), and acknowledging that D&D Minis were primarily being used for roleplay support, rather than as a separate game.

The integration of D&D Minis and D&D RPG will involve content moving from the miniatures to the RPG. Character class powers from the power cards in the Players Handbook Heroes packs will be added to the databases on the D&D Insider Website, and may eventually be included in a D&D game book.

Rouse expressed regret at the ending of support for the skirmish game, along with the hope that it would continue at some level. “We hope to see skirmish play continue at the grassroots level, using the hundreds of miniatures produced for the game over the past six years and encouraged by the passionate fan sites that exist for the D&D Miniatures skirmish game,” he said.

Source: icv2.com

WotC to Revise D&D 4th Ed. Game System License (GSL)

Wizards of the Coast has announced on its Website that it is planning to issue a revision to the Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Game System License (GSL) and System Reference Document (SRD). Linae Foster, the D&D Licensing Manager, put it this way: “We recognize the important role third party publishing support plays in the success of the 4th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons. We have listened to the community and our valued colleagues and have taken their concerns and recommendations to heart. Our commitment to the health of the industry and hobby gaming lifestyle is reflected in the revisions to the Game System License.” The announcement indicated that the revised GSL and SRD documents “will be available in the very near future.” Read more

Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition - My Final Verdict

I think I’ve made up my mind about the new 4th edition. I think that “out of the box” it’s completely playable but it doesn’t quite suit my needs for a gaming system so here’s what I did… Read more

Free Dungeons & Dragons Resources

Since getting the new 4th edition of Dungeons & Dragons, I did a search online for resources that would allow me to be creative without the usual headache that accompanies the process.

Well, the fine folks over at DungeonMastering.com have put together a couple of great posts that provide more than enough material to get the DM Juices flowing.

Here are the links to those posts:

387 Free D&D Maps

83 Free D&D Adventures

Thanks to DungeonMastering.com for researching this material.

Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition - My Impressions Part 2

Ok, so now I’ve rolled up another character in my quest to become familiar with the new rules. This time around I created a Dwarf Cleric. The way in which the powers function makes it easy to fill in the blanks without having to learn how spells work as opposed to melee abilities. My son and daughter have each rolled up characters as well. My daughter Kyla created a human warlock and my son Logan created a dragonborn ranger.

This process is really helping me understand the mechanics of the new 4th edition as well, and I think will make jumping into our first adventure a lot easier. For example, while in the process of creating these characters, I’ve been able to look up the rules for combat, movement, powers, skills, etc., and now have a basic working knowledge of the flow of the game.

Back in 1978, the first adventure I ran for my friends was Dungeon Module G1 - Steading Of The Hill Giant Chief by TSR. I took some liberties with the module and added a bunch of stuff on my own, including hordes of orc fodder. However, I don’t think I’ll ever forget when Andy’s character betrayed Marty’s, took the loot and escaped to become one of our favorite villains. After 30 years, some of the details have slipped my mind, but the feeling in the air during our sessions is still with me.

I’m going to create a few more characters this weekend and then take my kids through their first 4th edition adventure. Until then, keep fighting!

Romans Used 20-Sided Dice Two Millennia Before D&D

Many of us geeks take great pride in the ability to recite the history of role-playing games based on the 20-sided die, but what about the history of the die itself? Apparently it predates the original Dungeons and Dragons by almost two millenia.

Christie’s, auctioneer to the rich and famous, sold a glass d20 from Roman times. It was included in a collection of other antiquities that sold in 2003. The markings on the die don’t appear to be either Arabic or Roman numerals, but it’s probably a safe bet that it was used in a game of chance. As the auction catalog notes that several polyhedral dice are known from the Roman era, but remarks, ” Modern scholarship has not yet established the game for which these dice were used.”

I wonder - how do you say “critical hit” in Latin? (Ed. note: “maxima plaga”)

The seller acquired this die from his father, who picked it up in the 1920s in Egypt. Sounds like the beginning of an Indiana Jones movie, doesn’t it?

Source

Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Getting Some Positive Initial Feedback

By guest blogger Michael Zenke

Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition is going to change just about everything for the dice-rolling set.

With the new edition, released Friday, D&D publisher Wizards of the Coast is launching one of the most ambitious attempts the tabletop-games industry has seen at redefining what it means to play an RPG. The rules are different, the mind-set is different, even the delivery system is different. At essentially every level, Dungeons & Dragons is being streamlined and simplified with one goal in mind: To get players together to roll some dice and have fun.

“From the beginning of the 4th Edition design process, we knew we wanted to make a rules set that was accessible and easy to use,” said Bill Slavicsek, R&D director for role-playing games at Wizards. “We wanted to approach them in a friendlier manner, and not necessarily continue the ‘dense textbook’ style of past editions. I wouldn’t say we were thinking ‘mainstream gaming,’ whatever that really means. The D&D game will always be a specialized hobby. The trick is making sure that we can remove as many hurdles as possible so that it becomes the largest specialized hobby it can be.”

I had the opportunity to play D&D 4th Edition in a series of play tests run by a friend of mine last December. As gaming sessions go, they were quite grueling; we showed up at noon and played until well after 10 or 11 p.m. We had to, though: We were on a deadline. Wizards needed feedback on the adventure we were playing by the end of the month. Despite the long hours, despite our fumbling with the rules, despite sometimes rough notes for the dungeon master, it was a glorious experience.

At every level, mechanically, players and dungeon masters (a game’s storyteller and arbiter) are freed to experience the game in ways they never could before. Characters now have special powers that assist them in combat, giving them real moment-to-moment choices in the heat of battle.

“I hit it with my warhammer” gets pretty old; instead, why don’t you whack that monster upside its head so hard that it’s forced to stagger backward? Spellcasters have similarly colorful abilities in D&D 4th Edition; where once they had hundreds of thematically similar spells to choose from, they now only have to make a few important decisions as they gain in power. Warlocks, arcane casters that truck with mysterious powers, have particularly evocative abilities. What better way to deal with a troublesome orc than to teleport it away from you? If part of that trip involves burning in the fires of Hell, so much the better!

You can read the rest of the story HERE.

Thanks to Michael Zenke and Wired.com