Dice, Monsters, and Trips… cool things in my gaming bag

I thought I’d share a few new things that I’ve been carrying in my gaming bag lately for my D&D game. Which by the way, has already reached 13th level and shows no signs of slowing down! 

Mystery Dice Goblin 

I got a nice offer from the folks at Mystery Dice Goblin to send me some of their dice, and I have to say that I really like them. They come in a sealed bag, so I had no idea their colors would be when I opened them…

 

I was pleased with the look of the dice, in fact, I’ve started using them in my game. The party just left the Elemental Plane of Fire and I was using the red ones, they are now in Icewind Dale and the blue ones will get some use. 

You can find Mystery Dice Goblin on twitter at @dndencounter  or at their website. 

Flee, Mortals!

Flee, Mortals! from MCDM is a new must-have in my bag. This book contains 339 stat blocks plus new rules for action-oriented creatures, minions, companions, retainers, encounter-building, and more. It seems to take inspiration from 4e, as it gives you various types of the same creatures, so you can vary up your encounters and keep players guessing about just which goblin they are going to face this time. 

It also presents a few new dragons that are so good, one immediately became the BBEG in my campaign. 

Other 4e-inspired things in the book are minions, and monster roles, which aid the DM in actually running the monsters and how they should be used in combat. 

Uncharted Journeys

One of the things I struggle with in my game is narrating travel and long treks across the wilderness. It;s one of my big weaknesses as a DM, and where most of my cracks show. So whenever I have an opportunity to enhance that part of my game, I seek it out. A few weeks ago I came across Uncharted Journeys, from Cubicle 7, and immediately picked it up. I found it a bit pricey for a PDF at $30, but jumpoed in after reading the blurb, and I’m glad I did. It is a license free version of the travel rules from the company’s Adventures in Middle Earth game, which makes sense given how traveling is a big part of. that setting. 

The book assigns roles to the player, as they are about to undertake a journey, and provides a set of mini-rules to add flavor to the trip, based on the terrain type they are on and what weather they are facing. I may review it in a longer post later, as I just used it in my game for the first time and was a little rusty with the rules, but I can tell you that it’s worth you at least reading more about it. Here’s a good Let’s Read with some in depth thoughts. 

So there you go, three cool thimgs I;ve got in my bag. What’s new in yours?