The Lost Crown of Tesh-Naga (2012 Gold Edition)

from http://jrients.blogspot.com/

The following is an adventure I've been writing, tweaking, and fine-tuning since the Spring of '05. An entertaining diversion for a night's worth of fun, that not only provides pregenerated characters, but requires them. It is near and dear to my heart, as I've played it many, many times; all to great success. The replay value is very high on this, and so many of my delves had involved repeat customers.

That said, it's still a little rough. By that, I mean that it is certainly not professional level quality in its layouts of some of the (what I consider) extranneous fluff of a typical adventure.

This adventure is a simple delve that puts a new twist to the standard.

Magic Item: Blessing of the Beast

H2: Thunderspire Labyrinth is one of the better written 4E adventures to come out of WotC's offices. That said, it has a number of flaws and many areas that had a lot of potential that weren't fully realized. I've done a few things here on DMG 42 to tweak that up, not to mention the excellent work by 11 ft. Pole and The Demon Prince of Undeath. Taken all together, it's pretty top-notch.

One of the background elements to the adventure that I enjoyed was the theme of Baphomet the Horned God and his presence on the extinct culture of Minotaurs from the labyrinth. To help reinforce this idea on the dungeoneers, I added a Divine Boon to a few shrines in the adventure. Dungeoneers paying their respects at several strange altars were rewarded with a lasting reminder of the story of the dungeon and how it came to be, who passed by here before them, and why this place was unique.

Lastly, the boon has a mechanic to discourage the 5-minute adventuring day. This boon in and of itself would probably never make a dungeoneer think twice about taking a needed rest, but the design philosophy extended to multiple items and coupled with magic rings and the like which gains benefits from milestones, starts a growing incentive to make the difficult decision to keep pushing forward into the dungeon despite a dwindling supply of healing surges and daily powers.

Magic Item: The Mirror of Shadows

The last item I have for Keep on the Shadowfell was the Mirror of Shadows, uncovered at the archaeological dig site of Douven Stahl. As an item of shadow, it seemed to me that this little mirror could stand to have more powers over darkness, as well as a small drawback for delving into these dark arts. The item below also encourages the use of rituals by granting a bonus to rituals with certain key skills. Rituals are such an underused component and factor in typical 4E WotC adventures, I've striven to give them a little incentive whenever I can.

Magic Item: Goblin Hooch

Goblins are funny, and in my opinion the 4E ruleset has neither enough low-level consumable items nor enough devices that can be used as a comic relief. Goblins make the best jesters, so I created this cheap little potion to be found within their lairs.

Magic Item: Silver Statue of Bahamut

Another item in Keep on the Shadowfell that I felt needed a boost was the Silver Statues of Bahamut, found near Sir Keegan's tomb. Written as is, I don't think they actually did any special effects at all. Or if they did, they were unremarkable and not very memorable. I wanted these hidden treasures to be a bit of a Chekov's Gun, foreshadowing the finale encounter and filling a starring role in that end piece. The items provided below have a negligible effect on actual game balance, but were clutched tightly in hand when the heroes were tasked with closing the dark ritual or Karax underneath the Keep.

Magic Item: Aecris

I'm in the process of clearing out all the flotsam and jetsam that has been floating around my list of Draft posts, ideas and snippets that I wanted to publish on DMG 42 at some point. Here's one of them.

Back a year or two ago, I ran a group through Keep on the Shadowfell, modified with lots of tweaks suggested by 11 ft. Pole, The Alexandrian, Demon Prince of Undeath, and of course some interesting new terrain powers from myself.

This post details the magic item I handed out when the dungeoneers recovered the enchanted blade of the Keep's last guardian, Sir Keegan's longsword Aecris. I felt like the magic item needed a little bit of pep, a specialty for fighting undead, and a potential dangerous side as it filled the wielder with a potentially fatal fanaticism in fighting undead, eschewing other, more tactical options to fulfill their desire to destroy the walking dead in a sort of reverse marking mechanism.

The Seven Sons of Moradin - actual play log

By reader request, I've linked and opened up the Google Docs continuing log of The Seven Sons of Moradin D&D campaign that I play in on Thurday nights. It's pretty neat to read, as many of the recent innovative posts here at DMG42 were created through its play, such as the popular Death and Reincarnation mechanics.

The notes are written very hastily, during the middle of the game, while we're drinking beers. So, it's a little sloppy at times, but very natural and organic, taking place entirely from the players' perspectives and relaying information that we find important without the shadow of the DM's plot schemes hanging over the descriptions.

The Lich-Queen's Beloved: Spellbook

image from lostinschlock.blogspot.com

For the last few weeks, my home group has been exploring a 4E conversion of the much lauded 3rd Edition D&D adventure The Lich-Queen's Beloved. You can read up on some of their prior exploits here. For brevity, I've skipped a few session here and there. The adventure isn't so much timed as it is restrictive on extended rests; many bad, permanent conditions apply to the dungeoneers when they take a rest. As such, some weeks the group is very careful and reserved in their delving, which makes kind of a boring post.

At this point, the dungeoneers have really got this adventure nailed. They've gotten into a good puzzle-solving groove, finding helpful treasures all around and are able to keep up with the main antagonist, The Iron Lich-Queen Abilene, through some quick ritual casting. All the pieces are in place for the finale that will not only end this adventure, but also my entire 4th Edition campaign.

Even with all the treasures and boons the dungeoneers have earned, they are still deathly frightened of the villain. During the course of their delving, they've had a handful of narrow escape from her clutches. She packs quite a wallop in combat, and has indiscriminately killed dungeoneers with a flick of a spell. To further heighten the players' sense of fear, and to give them some interesting strategic insight into their enemy, I created Abilene's Spellbook, placed in Room 37: Library of Bone and guarded by an Illithid Lich.

Exploring the Lich-Queen's Beloved, Part 4

This post continues to document the journey through The Palace of Whispers, as started here. This post will actually be recapping two week's worth of play (again). Have at thee!

IF YOU ARE PLAYING IN THIS CAMPAIGN, DON'T READ THIS

Magic Item: The Iron Codex

image from www.wizards.com

Here's an old magic item I created for a now-defunt 4E D&D campaign. The campaign itself fell apart a little due to some of the players moving away, but then had a sort of rebirth in the form of my current campaign, the one that has the Lich-Queen's Beloved finale.

The item itself was a bit of a collaboration between myself, as Dungeon Master, and Jon Paul the Pontiff, as player. A huge amount of inspiration came from this early and expertly written DDi article from Dragon 372.

The dungeon where this item was found was the lost Temple of Bane, the last remnants of godly worship in the oppressive, Primordial-thrall empire of Arkhosia. The temple itself could be accessed only via a bridge made of a 1000 ft. long steel blade upon which the forces of morality (angels and demons) waged a constant war of unending bloodshed. Inside, the dungeoneers faced several non-combative trials, puzzles if you will, based on some commonplace Game Theory stuff, such as The Prisoner's Dilemma; albeit refluffed to fit into a medieval fantasy world. I find that kind of thing particularly interesting.

The item itself follows a similar pattern to how I had been handling magic items for awhile. The item was overtly too powerful, but had a substantial drawback. This formed a temptation of using the item's very impressive powers, but risking the potentially disastrous consequences of its severe drawbacks. You see this sort of dynamic in play in traditional mythology and folklore, as there are few magic items in those tales that do not come with a price. In actual play, it's added a special spark of wonder and mystery to these rarely found artifacts.

You'll probably notice, too, that the item doesn't have a type (weapon, implement, wondrous item, etc.) or any enhancement bonuses. That's because I don't believe in them. Those definitions are unnecessary and overly restrictive. I suppose you could say that all the magic items in the campaign are wondrous items. Any chump can pick up this supremely sacred magic item and use it, although it benefits some more than others. The campaign had inherent enhancement bonuses from the start, negating the need for any +1 this or +2 that. I just create magic items that fit the story. There's no need to worry about which dungeoneer can use the item or which dungeoneer is lacking in items or anything like that. My creativity refuses to be bound in such a way!

Unfinished Alchemy

Image from crimsonpoppy.blogspot.com

Here is a minor puzzle/reward scenario I developed a few years back, not too long after Adventurer's Vault was released, so .. Spring 2009? when I ran this, the dungeoneers were sneaking about and exploring the dungeons and towers of a castle occupied by their enemies, the Arkhosian Empire. During their delvings, they stumbled upon an unattended alchemy lab.

This rooms is cluttered with glass vials and old tables. On one of the tables is a potion of resistance at the final stages of completion. A character trained in Arcana or Nature examining the nearly complete potion knows that it requires one final ingredient to complete.

Magic Item: The Tome of Abithriax

Here's an old magic item I'm dragging out from under the stairs in the basement, metaphorically. The Tome of Abithriax was a boon I gave to the dungeoneers whom last attempted (and failed) to stop Karax in The H1: Keep on the Shadowfell; given to them by their helpful adviser, Douven Stahl. It's a neat little item that encourages more ritual casting and has an appropriately themed dangerous power that tempts its bearer with a faustian this-for-that proposition. The little bit of backstory attached to it also was intended to set up some long-term foreshadowing into a possible delve through H3: Pyramid of Shadows by associating the item with the dreaded Kravakos.

Exploring the Lich-Queen's Beloved: Part 3-1/2

This post continues to document the journey through The Palace of Whispers, as started here.

If you're in this campaign, don't read these goddamn posts. Steven.

This week, our normal Sunday morning Dungeons & Dragons was interrupted by the plague: almost all of us (myself included) had called out due to a heinous bout of the flu or somesuch malady.

So, to keep the players interested and thinking of the game and to keep the story moving, we chatted via email about the four divinations they were to receive regarding the dungeon in reaction to their use of the grim haruspex from last week. During that session, they had already gotten a question in, and learned that the Lich-Queen's phylactery was not located in Susurrus.

After some back and forth discussions, the player generally in charge of puzzles (Ryan) asked these questions on behalf of the group. My answers were, predictably, cryptic, and the last of these questions left me with some questioning of my own!

Exploring the Lich-Queen's Beloved, Part 3

This post continues to document the journey through The Palace of Whispers, as started here.

This post will actually be recapping two week's worth of play. I always like to have some new, usable content for my readers with every post. Being as I posted the baseline conversion of the whole adveture already, I'm really looking to the additions and alterations I've made. These come mostly in the form of deadlier enemies and added deathtraps, so not every single week is entirely appropriate. This past week has been so; have at thee!

Warning: This is a long-ass post.

The Sundering of the Earth - A Fourthcore Adventure

The Sundering
from www.swordofdoom.com

Long ago in a forgotten age, I had entered the PAX East 2011 Dungeon Master's Challenge. My notes for that adventure can be found here. Afterward, I immediately set forth to "upgrade" the adventure to something approaching the Fourthcore moniker, dubbed The Sundering of the Earth. Like most pieces of work, the author was never satisfied with it and it languished in the unknown obscurity of my hard drive awaiting just one more playtest that simply never happened. After much cajoling by my faithful readers whom would enjoy seeing more of the fruits of my labor and some more detail to my PAX adventure, I have acquiesced and hesitantly published what I have. Like everything on DMG 42, I have posted it in the hopes that it helps the Dungeon Masters of the world have a better game at their own table. I dare you to NOT find something within the adventure that does not inspire one of the adventures at your home game!

4E Modern Assignment: Workshop of the Mad Alchemist

from textnovel.com

4E Modern - The Complete Series

Many gamers out there have the desire and passion to make the leap from playing a typical medieval fantasy Dungeons & Dragons game to that of a Modern-era RPG, but hesitate to do so for lack of available adventures and lack of good direction on how a Modern game should be designed. I'm here to lend a hand with those two unmet needs, drawing on my previous experiences with d20 Modern and my ongoing experiences with 4E Modern.

If you haven't done so already, make sure to check out the articles on WotC's official d20 Modern site here; including short adventures, plot hooks, and helpful tips from the creators.

My first adventure (called Assignments in the Modern parlance) will be an easy conversion of a well put together two-page delve done by Benoit at Roving Band of Misfits. Go look at it here!

4E Modern - Wealth and Omega Tech

image from jamesbond-007.info

Whew! I've had quite a rollercoaster ride on both the home front and the work front these last 24 hours. Regardless! It is time to get back into the action, both guns blazing, and deliver some epic Modern adventure. 

Cue James Bond music!

Fourthcore Team Deathmatch - E1M4

I am proud to present the latest map to be added to the Fourthcore Team Deathmatch roster, to be debuted at the upcoming Baltimore-area FTDM Tournament on October 15th, 2011:

E1M4: ASTRAL AMBUSH

tiles from Brian Rollins (www.dungeoneering.net)

Fourthcore Team Deathmatch – E1M3: Secret

By the time this post goes live, I’ll be at GenCon in Indianapolis preparing to get ready for the showdown of champions known as the Fourthcore Team Deathmatch. It’s a little humbling to think of how long this has all been developing and brewing. The Secret Map, especially, as it was the first map I drafted and had the fewest changes from inception to implementation. Also, it’s the one I’m most proud of, the one I expect to wow the crowds the most. I’m really looking forward to springing this out and seeing the astonished faces of all the Fourthcore Fanatics.

StarCraft Gamma World: Backgrounds, Equipment, Upgrades

Intro & Rules * Tokens & Sample Characters * Backgrounds, Equipment, Upgrades * Starships * The Prisoner coming soon!

Backgrounds, advanced equipment, and upgrades (evolutions, and disciplines) represent the primary mechanics in which characters are differentiated and their major combat powers.

Backgrounds

Backgrounds present a culmination of talents, baseline equipment, and major attributes that a character has. Backgrounds fall into three categories: genetic, psi, and technological; with the exception of Commander, which falls into no category. Characters in StarCraft Gamma World are above the common soldier; they are the elite of the elite, and a unique product of the recent contact between three space-faring races. As such, StarCraft Gamma World characters have background combinations that are bizarre, innovative, and over-the-top.

Though many backgrounds and other game mechanics describe strange permutations and combinations, all playable characters are considered to be humanoid in basic shape and function.