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Tell the PC’s to leave their powers at the door

July 19, 2009 by newbiedm

This post is aimed directly at a newbie dm who may be DM’ing a set of newbie players through their first experiences with role-playing games… You’ve got the books, you’ve played a few sessions, and you’re really digging it. Your players are getting more and more comfortable with the rules, your table management gets smoother […]

My DDI Experience

July 16, 2009 by newbiedm

Paying for extra content in order to play Dungeons and Dragons has been a very divisive topic in the D&D community. One camp sits on the side of “What? No way I’m paying for that content, I already bought the books!”, while another says “Anything to make my life easier is good for me! Sign […]

The DM binder, folder, or notebook

July 10, 2009 by newbiedm

In the world of scripted television, writers have what’s called a show bible. The bible serves as a reference for better understanding the characters, settings, and plot situations of that particular showe It also serves to teach new writers how the “universe” of that show works. Great, Mr. TV. What does that have to do […]

A couple of free mapping and landscape visualization tools for new DM’s

June 24, 2009 by newbiedm

I wanted to throw a couple of tools your way, just in case you weren’t aware of them. Yes, I’m talking to you, “Mr. New DM who has no money to pay for expensive mapping software”. These are free and kick ass. One is for maps, and the other renders out cinematic landscapes to use […]

Table Drama: Handling PvP & angry players

June 22, 2009 by newbiedm

I went backpacking through Europe for a month back in 1996. I was 23 years old, had a couple of hundred bucks saved up, so I decided to take the plunge. I went with 3 other friends, and spent the month traveling from hostel to hostel aboard rickety old trains. It was a great time, but […]

Metagaming, combat length, and the death of roleplaying.

June 18, 2009 by newbiedm

I had an interesting discussion with some friends tonight about D&D 4th ed. The four of us were discussing the merits and drawbacks of 4th ed. in relation to other editions of D&D. Some background before I get into it, we’ve all played together at some point since 2nd ed. AD&D, and two of them […]

Dazed and confused…

June 15, 2009 by newbiedm

Here’s something that came up in my game, I’ll tell you how and why I ruled it a certain way, and then I’d love to get your responses and ideas about it. One of the PC’s in my game because dazed. Now dazed limits you to one action: either a standard a move or a […]

All things being equal…

June 15, 2009 by newbiedm

I have been running a 7-8 man group for a year now, although it has recently leveled off to 7 players being the norm, with usually 1 missing a session here or there. Some players came in later, and I had the bad idea (although well intentioned) of starting them a few levels behind the […]

The demographics of 4th. Ed.

June 9, 2009 by newbiedm

I see a lot of hate spewed at 4th Ed. by the 3.x crowd. I guess almost ten years worth of gaming material both by WOTC & 3rd parties isn’t enough to foster years and years of further playing, but what do I know, I’m just a newb. I guess we all have our reasons […]

XP Budget Chart for more than 5 PC’s

June 4, 2009 by newbiedm

If you DM more than 5 PC’s in your 4th Edition D&D game, you may find this useful. I cooked it up for my game because I was getting tired of having to do simple arithmetic that I have been terrible at since I was 7. The chart gives you XP encounter values for up […]