Dungeons Dragons design, advice, tools and inspiration
At Gen Con, Dungeons Dragons franchise head Dan Ayoub joined various D D team members and stars connected with D D to reveal future plans for the game and franchise. They announced more D D for everyone, but not all of it’s for you. D D Icons Even though the D D Icons program looks 40-some years back rather [ ]
Since D D dropped the declaration phase in favor of cyclic initiative, it has let one round blur into the next without any phases that trigger between rounds. Still, each round represents a short span of time that gives every combatant a chance to act. The end of a round and start of another makes a [ ]
My post Turns and Turn Order Are the Worst, so Why Do Roleplaying Games Make Us Spend So Much Time Deliberating Them? compared the two most common methods for setting turn order, player-driven and cyclic, and weighed their merits and flaws. This post shares suggestions for making cyclic turn orders play better. Dungeons Dragons [ ]
The post Turns and Turn Order Are the Worst, so Why Do Roleplaying Games Make Us Spend So Much Time Deliberating Them? compared the two most common methods for setting turn order, player-driven and cyclic, and weighed their merits and flaws. This post shares suggestions for making player-driven turn orders play better. Daggerheart and Draw [ ]
What rates as the most exciting phrase spoken in a Dungeons Dragons game? “Roll for initiative.” What rates as the most unwelcome task? After those three words, the minutes of bookkeeping required to set the initiative order. Instead of riding the excitement of an attack, the chore drains the energy from the game. Rather [ ]
Stories like those in movies and books thrive on setbacks. Everyone relishes a tale where disaster complicates the heroes’ predicament, leaving them facing seemingly impossible odds. Perhaps a trusted ally betrays the heroes or they become trapped and imprisoned. Gamers love when sessions deliver similar twists, so dungeon masters feel tempted to set up matching [ ]
Before creating the 2014 version of Dungeon Dragons, lead designer Mike Mearls set goals for the new, fifth edition. He wanted the update to play fast. “You should be able to play a complete adventure in an hour. Not a single encounter, not a character creation session, but a complete scenario that would strike [ ]
One of the great innovations of roleplaying game design came in 1977 when Steve Perrin and his Runequest design friends realized the advantage of using the same mechanic for attacks and skill checks. One core mechanic replaced the jumble of different mechanics that D D used to determine if an attack landed, if a lock opened, [ ]
D D is best when its corporate owner isn’t paying attention. When I asked who deserved credit for that observation, it proved too widespread and too old to name a source. The D D team started sharing the notion soon after 1985, when D D’s co-creator Gary Gygax lost control of publisher TSR and non-gamers started managing the [ ]
When gamers imagine an attack in a game like Dungeons Dragons, they picture a wind up and sword swing, perhaps one second of motion. So two combatants only need a few seconds to trade blows, even with extra attacks. But in the Advanced Dungeons Dragons Player’s Handbook (1978) Gary Gygax wrote that a [ ]