Register for the Fourthcore Team Deathmatch!

Fourthcore Team Deathmatch is a go!

https://www.genconreg.com/events/27820

Sign up tomorrow, May 1st, when GenCon Events Registration goes live. I look forward to seeing your splattered dungeoneers' gibs cake the walls of the Slaughterhouse.

Don't forget: once you've secured your spot at the table with GenCon, get in touch with me to get squared away in the Competition's Ladder.

Fourthcore Team Deathmatch Playtest: How I Killed 40+ PCs in a Single Night

Introduction & Rules + Maps + Ladder & Teams + Frequently Asked Questions

EDIT: If you are anywhere nearby whatsoever, be sure to sign up for the Baltimore Fourthcore Team Deathmatch, held on Saturday October 15th 2011!


Brutality

This is the one word I can use to describe the experience. I will now relate to you the harrowing, awesome events of last night’s playtest of my latest project, the Fourthcore Team Deathmatch.

Hate.

"Let me tell you how much we have learned to hate you since the birth of your pink-skinned race. If the oceans of the world had the word hate written on every individual drop of water that forms that endless expanse, it would not equal one-billionth of the hate I alone feel for humans at this one single instant."

- High Wyrmlord of the Red Hand

Huzzah, WotC!

Wizards of the Coast just spat out a pretty decent article on terrain powers, here, a topic near and dear to my heart. I particularly like the guidelines set forth equating various conditions (dazed, blinded, etc.) with the action economy, modified by tier. That's definitely an area that I feel a lot of newer DM's are hesitant and inexperienced with. The only thing that comes to mind that I would have done differently would be to increase the suggested damage range. I feel like terrain powers work best when they're on the side of a little too powerful. You need a good carrot to get the typical risk-averse, closed-box-thinking player to use them. And if they're not using them, what's the point?

The author is a relative unknown, Mark Monack. He has a Wizard Community Blog called Unearthed Wrecana.

I'm just a simple country lawyer who doesn't know much about your fancy technology ...

I just figured out how to make digital Dungeon Tile maps. Seriously, just now. Expect more posts with actually usable encounters/adventures in the near future. Here's what I slapped together for Room A of The Lost Crown of Tesh-Naga.

Terrain Powers for a 1-On-1 Duel

from The Karate Kid (1984)

The duel to the death, the 1-on-1 fight, the showdown. These words describe a powerful scenario where a hero must confront and defeat his enemy. Dungeons & Dragons, however, is at its heart a group game, made with the idea of a tactical team of 5 in mind. Must we abandon this epic imagery? This satisfying closure between two rivals so that we can invite the whole team? No, we will split the goddamn party.

Stained Glass Ceiling



This is more an addendum to my last post than anything else. In it, I described one of the Terrain Powers I added to the final encounter in WotC's 4E Tomb of Horrors. There was an additional power I added in there, one that was put out in plain sight as soon as initiative was rolled, and made available to all. The heroes, unfortunately, heard the clatter of dice and forgot their senses. They thought that I had run out of tricks and traps.

They were wrong, and for their lack of cunning, they were punished as the vine-tentacled beast of the encounter smashed the ceiling above, raining razor sharp shards of multi-hued stained glass upon the soft flesh of the dungeoneers.