Since June, I've been the DM of a classic campaign based on an old SSI game: Pool of Radiance. I've run this game as a DM twice before (once all the way through), but I did so using my home-brewed 3.6 edition rules. This time, we are playing with 5th edition rules--with which I am not as familiar.

It had been in my plans from the start to introduce some home-brew concepts (usually in the form of items) as the game continues. However, talk about the upcoming One D&D (essentially 6th edition) had me thinking about one aspect from 3.6 that I wanted to bring in: better critical hits. While 5th edition simplified the rules on critical hits from 3.5, they still don't seem that effective. Even though the player gets to roll two of the damage dice, it is still quite possible (likely even) that a "critical" can do less damage than a normal one.

For this reason, I'm bringing back my max damage rules for 19s and 20s on a d20. Basically, if the player rolls a 19 on an attack roll (as long as it indicates a hit), they do not need to roll the damage die as they automatically do the maximum damage allowed by that attack. If the player rolls a 20 (which is always a hit), they only need to roll the damage die (or dice) once as they add that value to the maximum damage allowed by that attack. Any additional damage (such as with sneak attack) is rolled as normal. This way, all critical attacks do more damage than a normal attack AND players get to celebrate when rolling a 19 as well as a 20. Note: I'm not aware of 5th edition rules that expand the die rolls that allow for a critical attack, but if there are some, I would expand the home-brew for those instances. Also, I only do this for player characters and NPC party members; monsters would have too great of an advantage (since there are more of them) if I used this rule for them, so they would follow the standard damage rules. 

I'm hopeful that my players will like this change.

One of the biggest problems that I've encountered with playing Dungeons and Dragons as an adult is scheduling.  Especially when including more than one household, trying to find time to get together is quite a challenge.  Some of my ongoing adventures meet only a couple of times a year (usually during summer break) with gaps between sessions of several months (sometimes nine).  This makes keeping track of what the party has done and plans on doing a bit difficult.

When Google Docs became available, one of my friends created a shared spreadsheet where he could input the experience points and treasure that we earned.  Since it was a spreadsheet, he also made it so it calculated an even share for each character.  He later added in a place for notes on the adventure and even a tab for players to put down something about their character's description.

These "adventure journals" have been a tremendous help as we have gamed through the years.  Recently, we have even used them to share maps, images, notes, etc. rather than have the DM provide copies to everyone.  While it still means passing around computers (or tablets) to those who don't have one, it also makes it so players can access the images from home if they want to give them a closer look.

I have a shared the adventure journal that I created based on my friend's original design.  While I have included a link here, I have also put one on the Home-brewed Rules page of this website.  I hope you find it helpful.

I tend to be a minimalist when I write (and when I DM).  I tend to touch on the actions that are occurring in the story without giving the embellishments that often give a story (or an adventure) its flavor.  In some ways, it's an intentional decision.  I often find myself skimming over detail sections and paragraphs while reading, and I want my own writing to give a more focused experience while allowing the reader to fill in the blanks.

Unfortunately, my lack of details is often due to laziness.  I have the picture of my story (or adventure) in my head, but I don't want to take the time to put it all down on paper.  The problem is that if I don't write it down, at least as a note to myself, I often forget those details myself, and thus I don't get to share the richness of the world that I have created.

This has become much more apparent to me this summer both in my reading/writing and in my playing/DMing.  I have noticed the lack of detail in my own endeavors by comparing it to the richness in other people's.  I have also noticed other people's reactions to the detail--when does it seem like too much? when are they getting "swept away" into the world? etc.  

As such, I have tried to place more detail into what I am creating, but much of it has been ringing false.  It feels contrived or forced.  I can't tell if its because of how I am expressing the details, or if it's just my natural reaction to trying to do more work (which is to avoid it).

The key is hitting the right notes: the perfect images, sounds, smells, and impressions that a scene can hold.  Right now, I feel like I'm blindly hitting notes in the hope that something beautiful comes from the attempt.  I suppose, like most things, it's a matter of practice and experience.

In many ways, creating an adventure (or even adapting one that someone else created) shares traits with writing and teaching.  One has to consider the overall narrative, the personalities of the characters involved, the various play-styles, as well as the rules which you plan to use and those you plan to leave alone.

In this case, I have been trying to convert a video game (Dragon Quest VII) into a 3.6 D&D adventure.  I love the concepts behind the game: discovery, time-travel, mysteries, class-building, and of course good vs. evil.  There are some elements that I don't care for: some fetch questing and some just bizarre story and gameplay ideas that I have needed to change or remove entirely.  On the whole, however, the game has been running fine.

My biggest problem is that video games can force their players into situations that role-players would avoid or would resent having forced upon them.  Usually, I have several contingencies for the possibilities that I can envision, but sometimes players are just stubborn (or get a perverse pleasure about messing with the DM).  The key (and I sometimes forget this) is to remember that the point of the game is to have fun, not to get over-burdened with rules and plot-lines.

Due to a change in circumstances in the last game in this campaign, I have had to rework the situations that my players are going to have to face.  Currently, their abilities have been robbed from them, but their equipment remains (I wasn't sure if they were going to play in a way that let them keep their equipment or not).  Thus, the situations can't be quite as dangerous as their character levels would usually suggest, but they can't be so weak that the players don't get a sense of accomplishment from their adventure.  It's a difficult balance to maintain, especially in a game where the luck of the die can change everything.

My lessons and writings often don't go as planned either.  Usually, I can predict how my students or my stories are going to react to certain conditions, but that is not always the case.  Still, I think that most things work out well in the end.

This is not the post that I wanted to write this week, but I got no writing done on Vali's Tale.  That puts me twenty pages in the hole.  Truthfully, I expected to be near this situation at this point, but I had hoped to be further ahead with my other projects.  

This time, I didn't spend time on Skyrim (although I do plan on spending time there this weekend).  I spent Monday getting the Sorrowful Mysteries section done for my Rosary page and then spent the evening gaming.  I spent almost all day Tuesday getting my Dragon Quest VII-like adventure (including a class-system) ready for Wednesday game (which is how I spent Wednesday).  On Thursday we worked on various errands and cleaning out the garage from our last garage sale (which was in May).  Friday was all-day gaming.  I haven't played this many campaigns ever before.  I'm loving it, but it definitely fills time.

While I don't see getting much writing done next week, I do hope to start gaining back a little ground in the weeks that follow.  My apologies to anyone who was looking forward to an update this week.

I'm trying something new with the game that I'm running today (Savage Tides campaign).  In an effort to make the game a little more immersive and less about stats and math, I am going to keep track of the characters' current hit point levels.  At the beginning of the game, I'm going to collect the following information: hit points, armor class (regular, touch, and flatfooted), spot, listen, and search checks (I'm really tempted to go the Pathfinder route and combine these into one "perception" skill).   

When in combat, rather than telling the players that their characters took X amount of damage, I will communicate the severity and placement of the hit (e.g. "The goblin's blade slashes your arm; the cut is deep, but not life-threatening").  As 3.6 uses "bloodied" status (at half hit points, characters take a -2 penalty to everything), I will let them know when their wounds have brought them to that state and, if necessary, when they have been rendered unconscious.

I will also roll for perception skills rather than tell the players to "roll a spot check," watch them roll low, and then say "nevermind."  This is especially helpful when characters are searching for traps or treasure.  So often they see the low roll and decide to try again, even though their characters should be convinced that there is nothing there.

We will see how it goes.

Much like New Year's Resolutions, my plans for my summer breaks are usually ambitious and often fall apart after the first few days.  Still, rather than start with a sense of defeat on the onset, I have decided to set a schedule for myself this summer so that I can get stuff done.  Specifically, I am going to work this summer to get myself recognized, at least in small circles, as an author.

First of all, this is the final week of school.  Due to snow days, we have school through this Thursday.  I also have my last Baker class tomorrow and the Baker graduation to attend on Friday.  Still, I decided to put my summer plans in motion immediately.  During the summer, I get together at least once, if not twice, a week with my brother-in-law and his sons.  That starts this Friday with the beginning of a new Dungeons and Dragons campaign that I am going to DM with him, my eldest son, and at least one other friend.  I managed to get my hands on the Savage Tides campaign from (the now defunct) Dungeon Magazine.  This will be my Friday ritual through the summer.  Saturday we are meeting other friends and Sunday is a family day due to Father's Day.

Second, I already signed up for a rather interesting three day conference next week on viewing continuity and change in World History by examining several major world cities and how they developed over time.  I'm pretty excited about the conference even if it takes a chunk out of the first week of my break.  This leaves Monday open.  Assuming other plans aren't made for me, I want to spend Monday setting up my space.  For the most part everything is ready, but I want to download some pictures I took a few years ago, make some scans, and get things prepared for a couple of items that I am adding to this website.

After that week, I want to prepare a more regular schedule.  On weekdays when I am not meeting someone or have other plans, I want to start each morning by being dressed and in my writing space by 8 am (unless I start the day playing tennis with my father, in which case I want to be in my space by 10 am).  My plan is to put in at least four hours of constructive work each day.  The following activities count as constructive: finishing the two projects that I want to add to this website that I have put off for the past couple of years (one for religion, one for D&D), working on formatting Dragon Hunter into an eBook (Does anyone know of a good graphic designer who is willing to make my cover; I have something specific in mind and would pay?), build my author presence online (creating a specific Facebook page, perhaps a Twitter account, perhaps tying this blog to a more commonly used blogger site), e-publishing some of my work, or just writing.

The rest of the day is mine unless I want to continue being productive.  However, no more watching TV during lunch (especially on tennis days when I would need to get back to work).  My summer video games are going to be the three Mass Effects that I recently acquired.  At some point in the day, weather permitting, I would like to either "play" basketball, walk around the neighborhood, play some sort of outdoor game, or mow the lawn [see earlier post].  At some point in the evening, even though I have discovered it's not the best time for me to write, I will post in this blog.

Fridays have been spoken for.  Saturdays are to relax, be with friends and family, etc.  Sundays are for church, family, and relaxation.  

... And that's my plan.  I know; I know: "The best laid plans of mice and men ..."  Still, I want to be an author and I know I can be a good one.  I have to lay down a foundation to do this.  I'm not getting younger (I've checked), so I need to start now.

As I started taking courses in education, I started to realize how similar planning and running a lesson was to planning and running a game session of Dungeons and Dragons.

In both cases, the more prepared you are the better.  If you have the time and energy, it is best to plan for all possible contingencies, to have detailed scripts and props prepared, and to take the time to account for the various playing (learning) styles of the people you will be working with.  That said, as you gain more experience in DMing and teaching, the fewer notes you need to make for a successful session.

You have to be ready to "wing it."  Players and students are adept at tearing the best laid plans apart.  Also, there are "teachable moments" where greatness happens in a game or a classroom that no plan could possibly hope to recreate.  Whatever the reason, it is important to adapt.  Sometimes that tremendously intricate plan you had for the day can be used later; sometimes it gets scrapped entirely.  You have to be open to those possibilities.

You need to be in control of the environment of the game or class.  While the players or students might force you to change your plans, it's up to you to run the game or class.  Students and players alike depend on you to provide a level of dependable, consistent structure.  You are expected to get them interested and keep them in the game or lesson.  You can't expect them (whether they are high school sophomores or grown men with an average age in the mid forties) to take the initiative on their own.  You are in charge of the game (or class) and need to keep the focus on it.

It is also up to you as to how much you want to incorporate from "canned" campaigns or lessons.  I have found that both my best games and my best lessons come from a mix of published works and my own imagination.  It is important to know what fits your DM or teaching style and that it's okay to lose the rest.

I am certain that there are more comparisons to be made, but there is one last one to leave people with.  People are going to complain.  It is important to know when their concerns are valid and when they are just whining because the world isn't working they way they want at the moment.  Don't take the complaints personally, even though both of these ventures require a great deal of personal investment.  In the end, we have to be able to divorce ourselves from the roles we play, even if the roles are being a DM or a teacher.