Author Archives: Law

Making a Puzzle Boss

The steps for building a puzzle boss are pretty much the same as building any kind of encounter, or any kind of story, ever. That is: Goal: The players want something Conflict: The DM puts an obstacle in their way … Continue reading

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Puzzle Bosses

In my career I’ve seen the designers of D&D try to approach boss monsters in several ways. In 3E a boss is a monster with a CR higher than the party level, which usually means it has higher defenses, bigger … Continue reading

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More Achievements Unlocked

It was a pretty rough night.

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Changing 4E Monster Hit Points

Our house roles are the kinds of things that pop up organically. We don’t sit down at the beginning of the campaign and say “rolling a 20 on your critical confirmation roll has a chance to kill an enemy outright, … Continue reading

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Campaign Report – Monsters

The monsters for this campaign were weird. When I started in 4E, I wanted to make as many creatures as possible on my own. I didn’t trust the official monsters to be able to do all the things I needed, … Continue reading

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Campaign Report – King Thistle

Dungeons and items are important to a Zelda campaign, but they aren’t enough. A D&D game with dungeons is just a typical D&D game, and even one with a Hookshot is a typical D&D game with an allusion. But if … Continue reading

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Campaign Report – Feelies

Zelda games are about items, second only to dungeons. Without a vast inventory contained inside improbably spacious pants, a Zelda game is more like Mario, where you use a limited, static set of options to deal with ever-expanding problems. So … Continue reading

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Campaign Report – Zelda Maps 2

The Zelda campaign ended during August. Normally I’d do a postmortem of sorts to explain what the campaign was, what went right, what went wrong, and where we go from here. But I don’t think I can compress the lessons … Continue reading

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#RPGaDAY 2016 Day 31

What is the best piece of advice you were ever given for your game of choice? I don’t really remember what gaming advice I’ve been given, what advice I’ve adapted to gaming from other sources, and what I’ve determined on … Continue reading

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#RPGaDAY 2016 Day 30

Describe the ideal game room if your budget were unlimited. We’re actually in the process of creating our own game room, so I’ve been mulling this over lately. Given a budget significantly higher than mine, I’d go for: A table … Continue reading

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