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Advice for Newbie DM’s: The Competitor DM vs. the Storyteller DM

August 29, 2009 by newbiedm

This is a story about two different types of DM’s. One loves to DM his players through really tough and deadly encounters, pumps his fists when a player goes down, and curses when his die rolls badly. The other DM is crafting a story, and together with the players, they are all telling a great […]

PHB3 Speculation – Skill Powers (What the heck?)

August 29, 2009 by newbiedm

So the newest editorial calendar for September over at WOTC shows that on monday the 7th of September we’ll be treated to: Debut: Skill Powers PHB3. Okay. What the heck is that?! My feeble mind won’t presume to speculate, so I leave that up to you guys. I can’t wait to see what you come […]

Star Wars scroll for my SW: Dawn of Defiance game.

August 26, 2009 by newbiedm

I’ve decided to complement the current love affair I’m having with D&D with a little Star Wars gaming. I’ve been a huge fan of the SW RPG for years, from the days of the old West End Game version of the game, and having played Saga Edition at Gencon reminded me of what a fun […]

Open Game Table available as a PDF

August 25, 2009 by newbiedm

Just a quick post to let readers know that the book “Open Game Table: The Anthology of RPG Blogs” is now available as a pdf over at RPGNow. Open Game Table was released in print format last March, and now sees its first pdf release. For those of you who aren’t aware, the book is […]

Imposing a :30 time limit on 4th ed. players

August 24, 2009 by newbiedm

This posting stems from my previous one, where I highlighted some items bought at Gencon for my game. One of them was a :30 hourglass, which I plan on implementing at my table as a house rule. Each player, on his turn, will have to decide what his action will be in :30 or less. […]

The First Annual Obligatory Post-Gencon Wrapup Post

August 17, 2009 by newbiedm

Whew. What a weekend. Okay, so I tried blogging from Indianapolis to no avail. It just wasn’t in the cards. Plenty of other people did, so you could have gotten your fix anywhere, therefore I don’t feel too bad about it. I’m going to go through the weekend, and then give you tips for your […]

A newbie DM goes to Gencon…

August 9, 2009 by newbiedm

Just a quick post to scream and shout to the world about how freakin’ excited I am about the fact that I am going to Gencon this year. It’s my first time going to any sort of convention, so I am not just excited, but very curious about what awaits us. Besides all the gaming […]

How many new DMs did 4e bring to the table?

August 6, 2009 by newbiedm

I want to run an informal poll and maybe bring up an interesting topic of conversation. As I’ve pointed out before, it wasn’t until the release of 4th ed. that I decided to DM, although I have years of experience in prior editions of the game. 4th ed. was marketed as a simpler game to […]

Improved Initiative: Initracker

August 6, 2009 by newbiedm

I have been searching far and wide for an initiative and condition tracker for fourth edition. For my condition, I’ve been using a modified version of the Alea Tools magnetic markers: For initiative, I’ve been using a sheet I created for my New DM Starter Kit. It’s just a run of the mill Excel spreadsheet, […]

Running your large D&D party

August 2, 2009 by newbiedm

I’ve been running a large party since I started DM’ing 4th Ed., and while I appreciate the fact that I’m able to play and have friends willing to play with me, running a large party has its ups and downs. In this article, I hope to give you several tips to manage the table filled […]