DnD4 Countdown 20 - DMG then and now

I didn't play much AD&D when I was younger. Apart from the odd adventure or two me and my gaming group stuck to other games like Gurps or MERP.

However, I could spend hours creating random dungeons and random "summoned creatures" using that book. Somehow within those covers lay the promise of adventure and excitement.

When I bought the current edition 3.5, I expected that same sense of adventure. I was, however, disappointed. I can't put my finger on it, but something was lacking. I didn't really get that same sense of adventure.

What I read about 4th makes me optimistic though. Things like quests and skill challenges looks like they are interesting, and overall I get the impression that DnD4 DMG wont let me down.

Now, DM-books (or GM-books, for those who prefer that) are often quite generic, so I thought I'd list other books that have influenced my GM-ing.

• Robin Laws guide to Good gamemastering
• Listen up you primitive screwheads (for Cyberpunk 2010)
• Theatrix (a dieless RPG. Can be read as a game or as a very good GM Guide)
• Gurps: Illuminati
• Werewolf storytellers guide (for old World of Darkness)
  

DnD4 Countdown 21 - My first character

This is an attempt to recreate one of the characters mentioned in the Hall of Fame-post, using the compiled preview of the PHB.

I tried to find powers that dealt with moving around and attacking in close combat, and from what's out there already I think I succeeded quite nice. Only problem is that I couldn't find many Half-elven powers or any melee based daily power for the ranger.

The experience in itself was straightforward, and if the previews are any indication on how chargen will be in 4th ed I'd say it's a lot easier and smoother. I'm guessing that a lot depends on the amount of feats/ powers supplied with the books. To few, and I believe that you'll feel a bit to limited in your choices, resulting in many characters looking the same.

Rahnasto
1st lvl half-elven Ranger

Str: 12/ +1
Dex: 18/ +4
Con: 12/ +1
Int: 12/ +1
Wis: 14/ +2
Cha: 12/ +1

Defence
AC: 16
For: 12
Will: 12
Ref: 15

Healing Surges: 7
Hit Points: 13

Feats
Group Insight

At Will Powers
Nimble Strike
Hunters Quarry

Encounter Powers
Fox's cunning

Daily Power
Split the tree

Skills
Nature + 6, Acrobatics +9 , Athletics +6, Heal +7, Perception +7

Weapon
Rapier +4, Dam 1d8+1

Armor: Light leather armor

DnD4 Countdown 22 - First official item in my hands

Today when I got home I saw a letter from RPGA. Opening it, I saw a couple of reward cards from RPGA. Nothing special about that, it's not the first time I've recieved reward cards. However, when I looked closer at them I saw that they had the new D&D logo. The text on the cards also reflected this, dealing with at-will powers and suchlike.

So, I have recieved my first items that are part of the 4th edition. Nothing revolutionary, but cool nevertheless.

In addition to this, a renewed and expanded pre-vis PHB has been published on dnd4.com. With this it seems that it should be possible to build a simple character. With that in mind, I'll take a look at that and try to make one of my Hall-of-Fame-characters using what there is of the 4th ed rules. The character of choice will be the half-elven ranger Rahnasto.

DnD Countdown 23 - Memorable moments

When I look back at my gaming life, I have certain moments that I still remember clarly as interesting, intense and exciting. One thing that strike me when I look back at them is that they have very little in common. Some of them happened in very low key settings, others in high-action, epic drama.

So, what makes a moment memorable? I don't know actually, and perhaps it's something that you cannot pin down with a formula.

• Long ago, my character was executed for a murder. It was a very low-key, realistic setting. In a tense mystery/thriller-adventure he finally had to murder a man to stop a mob lynching a young man. He did however get buried according to his religion, courtesy of the nobleman whose son he saved.

• The players in a Mage-campaign once had to kill an entire town in order to challenge an ancient dragon spirit.

• In a Marvel game, one of the heroes was a flyer with wings. No particular strength or protection. When a (small) comet fell against the earth he flew up to counter it, sacrificing himself. An extremely good roll (actually, draw of the cards, this was Marvel Saga) resulted in that he charged the comet, protected himself with his wings and managed to charge through the comet, splitting it into small pieces.

• Not a moment, but a character. In Everway, I once played a small halfling-like character called Fourclover. He was a storyteller with hidden wisdom, combined with the ability to control smoke, making it form pictures from the stories he was telling. Something with him just clicked, and even though I just played him a couple of sessions, he has stuck with me since.

These are but a few of my roleplaying highlights. The list is longer, but the only thing the different memorables have in common is that they are of different scope, genre and category. What they do have in common though is that they are personal, intense and dramatic.

DnD 4 Countdown 24 - Don't be such a square

One of the changes in DnD4 vs. earlier editions is the simplification of diagonal movement. It's a subtle but interesting change. Earlier when you moved diagonally, you counted 3 squares for every 2 squares you moved. If you wanted to move 5 squares diagonally you counted [1] [2,3] [4] [5,6] [7] (each bracket representing a square), so it took 7 steps to move 5 squares.

In the next edition it is a straight 1:1 relationship. For each square it's one step.

With this in mind, why not abandon the square maps altogether? There are two other ways to do things, both which are actually more suited to the 1:1 relationship.

Hexagonal maps

During the 90s, my big go-to-game was Gurps, which used maps with hexagons. I can't see any problems with using hexagon maps in DnD4 at all. The hexagons allow for more freedom of movement and it's easier to visualise blast areas and cones (for instance). I definately get a more "organic" feel from the map when I'm using hexagons instead of squares.

I can only see two drawbacks of it, neither which I consider being a major problem. The first one is that you can only group up 6 against one opponent (since a hexagon always has six neighbours, instead of 8).
The second is that it can be a bit more cumbersome making maps with straight lines (corridors, halls etc).

No grid at all

Another option is to use no grid at all. Many wargames use this, so it's a tried method. It's a bit more loose than using a grid, but it should still be manageable. What you need is a piece of string for measuring distance travelled. If you wan't to move from point a to point b, you measure how long you can move on the string, and then place the string between A and B to see if you can get there.

Blasts and cones don't have to fit into a grid, but instead you just use circular or conic templates. ZoC are measured with a 1" marker or similar.

There might be a bit more decisions to be made with this method, but I believe it's perfectly usable.