DM Aid - Combat Tracking Sheet

Last sunday I ran my first D&D game in the last two and a half years (many things lead me to focus on other things in my life for that time, but now I am back). So I was kinda of rusty in remembering some details, although I've read rules all over again, and a lot of source books.

One problems I saw me running at over and over was remembering the conditions affecting my players. I would say he was knocked prone and explain what was that in game terms but on his turn he would just act normally. I did not keep track of who was prone, who as dazed, I was hoping the player's themselves would. My mistake. So I was browsing through my stuff when I found an old combat tracking sheet I used few years I go and decided it was time to bring it back.

I redesigned it, including some new entries and took out others. I don't know if this will he it's final version, I will have to try it out on our next session, next sunday, to see if I need to add something more.

I made two versions, one colored with a parchment background and one just black and white.

Campaign Report - The Price of Freedom - 01

Last sunday, july 3rd, we gathered for our first game session. We've met before to discuss what kind of campaign we wanted, but this would be our first time actually playing. The group is composed of 7 people, me as the DM and 6 friends. For the first time I can recall my group has an equal number of female and male members.

This first session only 4 out of the 6 players showed up (one was traveling and the other was sick). The characters created were the following: Eben, a male battlemind mul, that after helping the rebellion to free Tyr of Kalak decided to set higher objectives and spread the good wherever he would go; Arbitria, a female half-elf Sentinel Druid, that, despite her relationship with the spirits of Athas, is more interested in taking advantage over those spirits to achieve her goals;  Abbadon, a male human Scout Ranger, a former Templar of Tyr that abandoned his post during the rebellion and now lives as a head-hunter and mercenary; and Althea, a female eladrin seeker, who lost her home to the defilers of Athas and now roam the world in search for vengeance and a meaning to survive. The party formed because of the circumstances in Tyr and the need to get resources to survive in the chaotic states of affair in the city.

Props and Handouts - NPC Cards

I have been thinking about making some handouts that many people could use just filling some PDF forms to enhance the game, like NPC cards to give to the players so they know who they have met; Quest cards, so the players have a more clearer reminder of their objectives; Reward cards, and so on.

On this first post of this subject I will be posting NPC cards that I have made that can be used by anyone. All that is needed to do is filling the forms on the file and printing it. Ideally you will want to print 4 of these cards in a sheet of paper (you need to adjust the print dialog for that).

Campaign Report - The Game We Want to Play

This is going to be a new series of articles on this blog. I will write about the campaign I will be DMing to my friends now that I am back to my home town. It has been 3 years since I last played D&D or any other tabletop RPG so I am kinda rusty.

On the other hand, I never read so much about DMing and creating a nice campaign and interesting adventures, so I do not feel so unprepared. One of the things I read about (in the Dungeon Master Guide 2) was Colaborative Campaign creation. So I decided to give it a first try with my group.

Monstrous Plots - Orcs

In the first Mounstrous Plots post we talked a little bit about kobolds and presented some situations involving those creatures to help create adventures. Now it's time we take a look at one of the most iconic monsters of every fantasy setting, the orcs.

Orcs are usually portrayed as savage, brutish and cruel humanoids with a taste for destruction. They tend to be primitive savages who value strength above all things. They survive on raiding other humanoids and other orc tribes, and they relish for violence. But not all orcs have to be this way.

Some scenarios describe orcs as a primitive folks with shamanistic traditions and a brutish but honorous code of conduct. Those orcs still value strength, but together with wisdom, elders, spirits and honor. Sometimes, orcs are presented as mindless berserkers and other times as highly militaristic warriors. They can be as varied as humans, but some common traits usually appear in all characterizations, their barbaric traditions and value of strength.

Following there are a few situation ideas to get adventures started. They were also based on the situations I talked about in the article I wrote about adventure building. They were also based on varied concepts about orcs that appear in fantasy such as orc's horde, their rivalry with dwarves, the wars they have between their tribes, their sense of honor.