Author Archives: Law

DMing with Intelligence

Posted on 14 November, 2016 by Law

Except my wife, our first guest DM is probably the person with whom I have spend the most gaming time. He’s the player behind Mikau the Unwitting and Hadarai and the DM behind The Gods are Dead, Long Live the … Continue reading →

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Quis dominābit ipsos dominī?

Posted on 6 November, 2016 by Law

It’s National Novel Writing Month again, and per tradition I’ve signed up. This will be my tenth NaNoWriMo in twelve years, eleventh if you could last year’s focus on writing a new mechanic for Pathfinder, and I’m going for my … Continue reading →

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On D&D as a Brand

Posted on 27 October, 2016 by Law

As I’ve mentioned before, I follow professional wrestling, and today I want to talk Sunday’s WWE event, “Hell in a Cell”. Its namesake is the Hell in a Cell match, which is the big brother of a steel cage match. … Continue reading →

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Making a Puzzle Boss

Posted on 20 October, 2016 by Law

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

Posted on 13 October, 2016 by Law

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

Posted on 1 October, 2016 by Law

It was a pretty rough night.

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Changing 4E Monster Hit Points

Posted on 21 September, 2016 by Law

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

Posted on 17 September, 2016 by Law

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

Posted on 13 September, 2016 by Law

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

Posted on 9 September, 2016 by Law

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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