There’s only one more week left to enter the Players Handbook 3 contest!

All you need to do is design a magical item to complete the Magical Minds series. The best item as chosen by our celebrity judge, WotC’s Greg Bilsland (@gregbilsland), will win a copy of the Players Handbook 3 upon release!

So to complete my daughters list of items, the last item name, along with my her brief notes is as follows:

Necklace of Death (Notes: You put it on and you die)

Rules

1. Stick to Dungeons & Dragons 4e
2. Stay true to the item name, include necklaces and death somewhere.
3. Don’t stay true to my daughter’s notes, make it balanced!
4. Only one entry per person, although feel free to replace a previous entry if you suddenly come up with a better idea.
5. Email entries to blog@buccaneersguild.com.
6. Tell other people about the competition, post on Twitter or Facebook for example.
7. Closing date is March 9th 2010.
8. The winning entry will be announced before March 15th.

Good luck!

Comments: 3 comments

Tags: #DnD, 4e

I’ve got one more item on the list that’s been the inspirational spark behind the Magical Minds series of magic items.

Now it’s your chance to transform a nascent idea into a workable balanced magic item. The best item as chosen by the judge will win a copy of the Players Handbook 3!

The last item name, along with my daughters brief notes is as follows:

Necklace of Death (Notes: You put it on and you die)

Rules

1. Stick to Dungeons & Dragons 4e
2. Stay true to the item name, include necklaces and death somewhere.
3. Don’t stay true to my daughter’s notes, make it balanced!
4. Only one entry per person, although feel free to replace a previous entry if you suddenly come up with a better idea.
5. Email entries to blog@buccaneersguild.com.
6. Tell other people about the compo, post on Twitter or Facebook for example.
7. Closing date is March 9th 2010.
8. The winning entry will be announced on March 15th.

Comments: 9 comments

Tags: #DnD, 4e, D&D

Over the past few days I’ve been turning my young daughter’s magic item suggestions into usable Dungeons & Dragons items. Earlier we had a Wedding Dress of Resurrection and Earrings of the Sidhe. Today I’ve skipped over the troublesome Necklace of Death, which I’m considering using for a competition, and moved onto the Feather Boa of Beauty.

You know, even though I was at first doubtful what to do with this, I think I like this one the best so far. I’ve got a character that might literally kill for one of these.

I should really do a post on how to make character portraits such as the one above, with no artistic skill required! What do you reckon?

Comments: 1 comment

Tags: #DnD, 4e, Ideas, Resource

As I mentioned in my last post my daughter wanted to help with D&D and so has invented some magic items. It falls to me to interpret her work into usable D&D stat blocks.

So today we present the some magical earrings. When I asked what they did she replied, “They turn you into a tiny fairy, with wings, and you can fly.”

The creator of today's item

After a bit of work, here’s the result.

Is it too weak or too powerful? Let us know in the comments.

Comments: 5 comments

Tags: #DnD, 4e, Resource

Ever since my six year old daughter helped me with 100 post apocalyptic junk items, she’s wanted to do more lists of things with me. So this weekend, as she lay in bed suffering with chickenpox, she decided to create a small list of magic items for Dungeons & Dragons.

It’s from that list that I’m taking inspiration for a short series. She came up with names for items and a brief description of their powers. I’m trying to make balanced game sense of them one by one, and today I’d like to present the first of them.

Wedding Dress of Resurrection

When I asked my daughter why this even existed she said a powerful mage was due to be married to the love of his life, but she died on the morning or their wedding, so he created this powerful arcane item to raise her from the dead. The only problem is she had to wear it for the rest of her life.

This can be worn by either male or female characters. Even if worn under your armour it should still show a little at the cuffs and the long trailing dress. Drawing strange looks should be part and parcel of not being dead!

More from Magical Minds later, if I can work out how to make some of the more mental ideas even close to playable!

Please let us know what you think in the comments and I’ll make sure that I pass them on to the young creator.

Comments: 6 comments

Tags: #DnD, 4e, Ideas, Resource

Thanks to Dustin Synder, who you may know as @WolfStar76 on Twitter, we have a nice summary of all the juicy Dark Sun info released at DDXP.

Whilst sitting in the audience Dustin created a Google Docs document live as the action unfolded.

Google Docs Dark Sun

There’s more info available on @geeksdreamgirl’s latest live blog where you can scroll back and catch up on all the info as it happened, with updates from Critical Hits, Matt James, and the WotC brand team @Wizards_DnD.

From all of us that couldn’t be there, thanks to all those that were and kept us updated!

Comments: Leave a comment

Tags: #DnD, 4e, Dark Sun

If you haven’t seen iPlay4e.com and you do play 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons then you must go and check out their latest offerings.

Screen shot of an online character sheet at iPlay4e.com

iPlay4e allows you to store as many characters as you’ll need, you simply upload the .dnd4e file that is saved by the DDI Character Builder. If you’re not using Character Builder then why not! Check that out as well!

I use iPlay4e during a game, both as a player and as a Dungeon Master. As DM I can have multiple characters open and keep and eye on all the PCs in my game. No longer do I have to ask, “What’s your AC” or “What’s your passive perception”. Often I can easily find information quicker than the players themselves and answer their own questions.

It can link into the DDI Compendium so that you can bring up full descriptions of powers, something that’s not printed on the Character Builder power cards, this is very useful as a DM for helping describe the effects of an exploit or spell.

iPlay4e can also save changes and keep track of a number of things, such as current hit points, encounter and daily powers used, and more. This helps me keep a track on my players as DM and as a player helps me not forget what’s be used and what has not.

So check out the latest at http://labs.iplay4e.com.

Comments: 3 comments

Tags: #DnD, 4e, Resource, Review

Making the Switch

I’ve recently switched from being DM to running a PC. After many years of DMing this is the first time I’ve had a chance to really spend a couple of weeks playing, attempting to get into character, and drawing character portraits.

Apart from a couple of sessions here and there I’ve not played a PC for any length of time since 1992, that was at university where I also DMed more than I played. It could be said that I’m not a very experienced player of RPGs, particularly in this latest case where it’s the first time playing D&D 4e for me.

Learning the ways of a PC

I’m struggling to be a good PC, and I’m convinced being a DM makes me a bad player. I’m constantly second guessing our DM, questioning the need for dice rolls, adding up encounter budgets, and other annoying habits. I hasten to add I’m not doing this out loud at the table.

It’s detracting from me concentrating on my character somewhat.

And then there’s the points where my inner rules lawyer raises his hackles…

Continue reading…

Comments: 10 comments

Tags: #DnD, Articles, D&D, DMing, Playing

How the problem arose

In a game of 4e D&D recently, the topic of sunrods brightly burned in our groups close scrutiny for a short while.

We’ve just started a new campaign with a new DM. The first time someone used a sunrod the DM seemed suddenly taken aback by it, we guessed he was a little bit worried that it was ruining whatever he had prepared to surprise us with.

In 4e sunrods burn for 4 hours and shine out with a bright light to a radius of 20 squares. Potentially that’s lighting up 1,681 squares!

“How many squares!”, he did quoth.

Continue reading…

Comments: 5 comments

Tags: #DnD, 4e, D&D, Equipment, Player Choice