After 3 months of regular posting I’ve decided to close RPG Thoughts. The reason is simple: I don’t have the time to supply you with regular posts nearly every day.
I would like to thank all the readers, especially those who regularly commented on the blog.

Expect to see me guest posting on other RPG blogs… I like writing about RPG, but having my own blog was just too much.

There is nothing worse in RPG combat than a long break, when players are checking rules, thinking and discussing what to do next and so on…
As I mentioned in FC: A duel and a slaughter, players should feel the atmosphere of a battle and react as quick as possible. Today, I will give you some practical tips on how to achieve that, make combat quicker and more enjoyable at the same time.

Initiative
Some may disagree with me here, but I believe making initiative public is a good idea. After the first round players will know the turn order anyway, so there is no point in hiding it. There are few useful ways to keep track of initiative and also make the combat go more smoothly:
1. Use initiative cards. Sheets of paper with characters’ names on them and also few sheets for their enemies. Once you know the initiative, put the cards into a desired order.
2. Write initiative on a whiteboard, if you use one. This will allow everyone to see who’s next and how long they have to wait for their next turn.
3. Use some combat-initiative computer tracker if you are using a laptop. However, if you use computer, you can always write the initiative order in a notepad or Word or whatever…
4. Inform each of the players that their going to be next in the initiative, “It’s Michal’s turn, and Derek is going next.”
5. Roll the initiative for each group of enemies, not for each single skeleton… One initiative for a villain, one for his minions, one for his female assistant.

Turn Length
I mentioned the idea of limiting time for a turn in A duel and a slaughter post. Anyway, it is a good idea to limit the time each of the players have to decide what their actions would be. I suggest a time of 20-30 sec. Also, keep in mind that it is a time to decide what they are going to do, not to roll the dices etc. This is especially important in 4e, because it seems that players roll more dices in this edition than they used to be (one of my players, when using a power, rolls seven dices).
As always, it is good to discuss the idea with your players, so that everyone knows that they should hurry with their turns.

Get help from players not involved in the combat
This will prevent them from getting bored, and also speed up the combat. You can decide who is being attacked and let the player roll dices, or you can let him/her take full control over a single monster.

I’m think most of you have seen Jared Hindman’s Dungeons and Dragons: Celebrating 30 Years of Very Stupid Monsters .
That’s a funny article about the dumbest D&D monsters. Ever.

Now I am really happy to give you a link to part 2! Part 2: Return to Moronic Monster Creek
If you want to learn what is a Warden Beast Bunny or Executioner’s Hood or find out what are official D&D orgy rules - you have to read the article.
It is quite long but it contains some great pictures and is definitely worth a look.

There is a well-known useful tip for all GMs - Each of your players should have a moment to “shine”. In other words - every player should have a moment to use their abilities, to be useful.

Now, in 3rd and 3.5 editions of D&D it was quite simple: Clerics could heal and also fight undead, Rogues steal and back-stab etc.

In 4e it is no longer that simple. All the classes are more balanced and more similar. This can be and adventage, but if you try to use the tip I mentioned above, it has become quite difficult. It is not enough that the GM must know what is the character’s class. Now he also needs to know what powers he/she uses, so he could prepare proper enemies.

…Enemies… I think you already know my opinion, that 4e is all about combat. The lack of typical, non-combat skills and feats also makes it more difficult to prepare an encounter specially for one hero.

I know from my experience that players love to “shine”. Now, it seems that they can’t anymore, at least not in this way; they can still shine when they make two critical hits…

Am I right or am I just grumbling?

with a little delay…

Well, this was supposed to be a review, but I’ve already presented my opinion in the headline, so let me just write about some of the best programs made by Asmor, how to use them and why they are useful.

4e Monster Math Cruncher
This simple script creates a simply monster’s stats according to the rules presented in Dungeon Master’s Guide. All you have to do is enter a desired monster’s level and type, the script does all the math. I don’t think I have to write why it is useful. It works very well with…

Monster Maker
This program allows you to create a monster’s table, similar to those you can see in Monsters Manual. Math Cruncher can give you all the stats, you can enter them to a table, add some cool powers and you’ve got a monster ready to print.

Power Tracker
Asmor says:”Power Tracker is a program designed for players of Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition to keep track of which powers they have available.” And that’s exactly what the program does. It can be incredibly useful, but you need to have a laptop somewhere close while gaming. If you have one and use one, Power Tracker is for you.

4e Random Encounter Generator
Wow, this script is cool. You just enter the level of encounter and, if you want, what types of enemies you want and the script chooses monsters for you together with their Monsters Manual page. The only problem is that the random encounters often don’t make much sense. Combinations like: goblins + dwarves  or  zombies + elves happen.

If Monster Maker and Power Tracker aren’t working for you, you probably need to install the .Net Framework, which can be downloaded from Microsoft here.

I made a little survey among fellow (and also well-known) RPG bloggers, asking them to express their opinions on D&D 4e, in three sentences. I must admit that writing on such topic in just three sentences could have been tough to some of them (Hello Chatty!) but they (nearly) all made it.
So, here, in no specific order, I present you: Bloggers’ opinion on 4th edition.

Johnn Four - RolePlaying Tips

“I’ve GM’d D&D 4E 3 times so far and I think the game is excellent.
Combat and action are fast and easy, letting us get through more content
each session, tell more story, and do more roleplaying. We’re still
discovering the rules system though, and we’ve only been using 1st level
PCs, so the verdict is still out.”


Yax - Dungeon Mastering

“Compact monster stat blocks.
Compact monster stat blocks.
Compact monster stat blocks.”


Martin Ralya - Gnome Stew

“4th Edition looks like a blast to play. The comparisons to World of
Warcraft are fair (and a very good thing), and the way powers work
will make the game more fun for everyone. The DMG is not only useful
but exceptionally so, and the PHB is incredibly well laid-out (pity
about the gnomes, though).”


Jonathan Drain - Jonathan Drain’s D20 Source

“I’m pretty pleased with D&D4, all in all. It improves upon third
edition in any number of ways, even fixing some issues I’d previously
complained about on my blog. Some players will rather stick with
tradition than switch to something new and different, but I recommend
you give 4E a try and see how it plays before dismissing it outright.”


Philippe-Antoine Menard a.k.a. ChattyDM - Musings of the ChattyDM

“D&D 4e is a fun, action-oriented role playing game that took the strengths of past editions and jettisoned what current game design thinking called unfun. It wins in that it has succeeded in making DMIng (from prepping to running) as easy as the earliest basic sets of the game by having created streamlined DMing mechanics and making all Core books excellent, useful references.. It also wins by giving all character classes a potentially equal impact in combat encounters, the game’s time honored prevalent activity. It does suffer from some less than stellar writing and tends to read like a clinical textbook of powers and blog-grade tips.”

Stupid Ranger - Stupid Ranger

“I think that 4th edition is indeed a revolution in D&D. While there will always been a part of me that will miss the gnomes and bards and gnomish bards, I will endeavor to move on with my gaming and give the new races a chance, at least once; 4th edition is all about change. What I truly love is that every class has something to which to look forward, there’s an exciting progression for every class, something cool that just sparks your imagination and will lead to those awesome moments in game when something spectacular happens that you will remember forever.”‘

Dante - Stupid Ranger

“The Player’s Handbook has been overhauled, simplified, and spiced to appeal to both new and old players alike. The role of the Dungeon Master has been simplified, many of the aggravating activities that wasted so much valuable roleplaying time have been simplified and clarified so more value-added focus can be made on the campaign itself. The Tarrasque has 1420 hp and can still eat your house, that’s all there is to say about that.”


The D&D Nerd - D&D Nerd.com

“1) It’s very different. In fact, it feels like it’s too balanced. The classes kinda seem to have less uniqueness to them, at least as far as disparity between abilities go.
2) It seems to be user-friendly, as far as trying to get beginners into it.
3) It’s starting to look too much like an MMORPG, and most of those kinds of games have no RP. Basically, this makes D&D look like another boring hack & slash game. Complete with raids, which I find aggravating.”

Asmor - Encounter-a-Day

“I quit 3.5 the moment 4e was announced, opting to run Savage Worlds
instead. I followed every bit of info on 4e with baited breath and
built up huge personal hype. I am not disappointed.”

Maikl - RPG Thoughts

“It seems that 4th edition is about mechanics and combat, with a tiny bit of roleplaying. Classes are more balanced and all the mechanics are simplified, Dragonborns are cool, Eladrins suck. I miss the old, more fluff-oriented D&D, but I guess that’s the future of RPG - combat, stats, mechanics, stats and more combat.”

Feel free to add your own three-sentences opinion in a comment!

There will be no post today, due to some technical problems. However, there should be two posts tomorrow and one of them is going to be really cool, entitled: “Bloggers’ opinion on 4th edition”.
Also another Fight Club post is coming this week, so stay tuned!

I am planning to change the outlook of the blog a little bit, so if some skilled graphic is willing to help, that would be great

The One Sentence NPC! - a contest held by Johnn Four and the Chatty DM, with some nice prizes. Check it out if you haven’t done it yet.

I also noticed that lists of skills and abilities of a successful GM are becoming more and more popular, check:

Yax’s - The 6 A’s of DMing
Jonathan Drain’s - 7 Habits of a Successful Dungeon Master

Found on icanhascheezburger.com

 
I am currently writing down ideas for my campaign and I would like to ask you a question: do you come up with ideas for your campaign by a sudden impulse or is it more like: you sit down and write?

Some may say, that great ideas should be a result of a brain wave, something that comes naturally and therefore is great.
Well, to be honest I usually simply sit in front of my desk, take a piece of paper and start writing. For me, great ideas come, when you have time to write them down, when you sit down and think, without rush.

I don’t believe that, while in school or work, I should keep pen and paper with me, so I could write down various ideas.

And how about you?