The videogamification of Dungeons and Dragons

Proficiencies were optional in the 2nd edition of Dungeons & Dragons

 I hate the way virtual sessions of D&D go nowadays.

You may hear me express this sentiment and automatically brand me as an old Gronard, with the usual contempt for 5e and modern versions of our favorite tabletop role playing game, but you would be mistaken.

As a matter of fact, I have been running a successful 5e campaign for over three years now, utilizing 2014 rules and only recently transitioning to the 2024 ruleset. 

When I state that I am not a fan of modern game sessions, at least the way they operate in VTTs such as Roll20 and Foundry, it is an overall complain of a player and game master mindset which I think has become prevalent in the table top gaming scene, but it is far from a holistic condemnation of this type of gaming mode.

So I will clarify through the filter of my favorite version of the game, AD&D, specifically utilizing the information found in 1989's second edition Player's Handbook by David "Zeb" Cook et al. 

To be more specific, I have been reading chapter 5 of that great book which deals with weapons and non weapons proficiencies and weapon specializations. I think this is a far more elegant and pleasing system than feats, which made their way into the game in 3rd edition a decade later, and which have become the defacto way for player characters to become more fleshed out ever since.

And to be clear, this video game mentality which permeates the modern scene isn't even a new thing, one could make the argument that it has been there for a long time. The problem (as I see it) is the way the game has morphed as a result of the proliferation of VTTs since around 2014 and the limiting way in which some players want to gain every edge in combat and other aspects of the game, sometimes to the exclusion of common sense in a blind allegiance to RAW (rules as written.)

 Simply put, I am a tad annoyed by the modern player's propensity to faithfully adhere to RAW when it benefits their character, sometimes ignoring common sense in the attempt to gain every little advantage. 

One recent example I can think of at the top of my head is a game session in which a player tried to use the command spell while in the process of interrogating an imprisoned NPC. The problem is that the prisoner at the time was unconscious or asleep, can't recall which. The player kept repeating and at first did not seem to comprehend, that using such a spell would probably not work because the prisoner was not conscious, therefore unable fall under the influence of the spell, or to realize what the PC was even attempting to do at the moment.

Sometime, a lot of time, logic has to prevail over RAW. 

I will go on the record here to state that I don't like feats. I don't like mechanics which give the PCs insane ways to become more OP or to gain advantages simply because WotC or whomever, has decided that it's more fun for players to be uber powerful beings, starting from level 1! 

As far as fleshing out a character beyond what he or she receives by virtue of their chosen race/class combo, I think proficiencies are far more pleasing to me than feats. 

For those who don't know, the way proficiencies work in AD&D 2e is depending on the PC's class, they earn slots while they level which give them the opportunity to add weapons proficiencies and non-weapons like carpentry, seamanship, and even stuff like swimming and stonemasonry. There are no bonuses as in 5e, at least not right off the bat, instead, a character can specialize in a weapon by filling in their slots and improving their mastery over time as they level up.

In terms of non-weapon proficiencies like tumbling, animal lore and tracking, when a character uses a proficiency, either the attempt is automatically successful (for simple tasks) or the character must roll a proficiency check. Each proficiency is tied to a relevant ability, (strenght, charisma etc) and this is what a character must roll.

I like this system over feats because the sheer amount of feats skewed towards making the character OP and superhero like in the modern game is not an option, instead this system allows for progression over time and allows for a more realistic and effective way of character optimization in my opinion.

As an aside, I will be making more game related posts as we head into the second half of the year and beyond. I always try to not let RL issues get in the way of fun discussions, but more often than not I fail to provide regular updates on this blog. That's something I will try to rectify in the coming days and weeks. 

Combat in 5e is broken?

 

I have been playing D&D 5th edition on and off for over two years now and have been DMing in a biweekly group since last June and I can honestly say that I believe I had more fun as a player than running campaigns, primarily because I believe the 5e combat mechanics are broken in comparison to older editions of the game.

Now I am no grognard, but I will preface this post by saying that I have played first edition games and ran some basic D&D games (mostly the Meltzer or what gamers call BECMI nowadays) and this is the version I seem to like the most, outside of AD&D first edition.

Why do I say that D&D 5e's combat system is broken? Well let's take a look at page 9 of the Rule book from the new starter set (which basically just condenses some of the key rules from the 2014 PHB) where combat is covered and you will find what I think is the biggest culprit: Step 4 which states that after rolling for initiative, each participant in the battle takes a turn in initiative order. The problem is that by the higher levels, (my players are level 7 now) they have amassed so many abilities and powers, that even a single monster with a CR a level below or above will present little challenge if played as written in their stat block. 

Well you might say that the answer for the DM is to have more of the same types of monsters attacking the party, but this is not always optimal in practicality or even possible due to narrative reasons. Today the party travelled north in the Forgotten Realms and squared off against a B'rohg which was about twice the size of one of the party members, our barbarian, whose pet is a two headed hell hound, never even broke a sweat. Even though the creature has the ability to hurl boulders from a great distance and does possess multiple attacks, it was no match for the party, usually the more members of the adventuring group in a fight, the bigger the advantage they possess due to the sheer number of turns vs. the creature they are fighting, even if the creature has immunities and multiple attacks. 

So in this case, a CR6 monster against a full party of 7th level characters did not stand a chance. Granted, it was only one creature, but usually the party is so much more powerful collectively that if you have a group vs. the characters, the results will be the same, only combat may take slightly longer because you are reducing the health of monsters with slightly over 400 hp instead of the long combatant with only 136.

So even if the creature were to attack with its rend power which can make 49-85 worth of damage in a single attack, it really doesn't matter if the creature rolls low on initiative and never gets a turn at bat. 

The B'rogh doesn't stand a chance even as an expert rock hurler against a full party if he goes up against them alone, even with its large stature and fearsome frame with multiple arms and multi-attack because the players are much more powerful at higher levels and they collectively have more turns to attack it. 

Health and dying

Another problem with 5e which has been well documented and which I won't rehash too much here has to do with the relative ease in which the adventuring group can heal and recuperate health. If they have a cleric in their midst, this procedure is even easier, but let's say that the character is reduced to zero h.p. and fails its death saves (unlikely because the game is set up for recovery of health vs. permadeath), spells can always bring the character back from the brink or even from death itself. What's worse, the short rest and long rest mechanics allow for faster and more effective heals and recovery of spell slots. Of course, in older versions of the game material components were required to perform some of the more intricate spells, but that has been mostly done away with at the DM's discretion. Mostly the spell caster will use a spell focus in lieu of required components.

Lastly, spell casting classes are a bit broken too, with cantrips being powerful at times and which can be repeated over and over without the need to spend spell slots. 

But for me, the most broken mechanic is still the unbalanced combat system. So much so that it has me longing to play BEMCI or a more challenging OSR version of the game. How do all of you out there ameliorate this faulty combat mechanic?

Retro vid: The 80s D&D cartoon. Memorial Day Weekend 2021

A little over two years ago I watched and reviewed the pilot episode of the D&D cartoon entitled "The Night of No Tomorrow"

was 'Horde of the Dragon Queen' really that bad?

Now that 5e is approaching almost a decade of in existence, I thought it would be fun to go back and take a look at the first module that was produced for the system back in 2014, "Hoard of the Dragon Queen" part of the Tyranny of Dragons series, which I think was intended to have been three books, but which for some reason ended up being just the two.

Last year when I was trying to complete my collection of published 5e adventures, I really wanted to get my hands on this and its continuation "The Rise of Tiamat" purely for the nostalgia factor.

I remember vividly playing with my 4th edition group in Texas, in the waning days of that system, and seeing this volume on the shelves of my local game store. I didn't pick it up then because we were still having fun playing the older system, but I knew eventually I wanted to check out these printed 5e modules.

This module didn't get (and to this day) does not get good reviews from DMs and gamers in general, so I am going to do a chapter by chapter read and see if it's as bad as advertised, or if the criticism is warranted.

I should probably start out by noting that I never play tested or ran this module with a group. I am a fairly n00b DM. In fact, that is my brand! Currently I am running an ongoing campaign with a group that has been going on for about 9 months now, which is the longest campaign I have run to date, but it is a mashup of the starter set adventures (Lost Mines, Dragons of Stormwreck Isle and Dragon of Icepire Peak) with Storm King's Thunder for good measure, but all with a spin I've put on the whole thing because I don't like running modules straight from the book. Many others do not like that style either. To each his/her own.

Strengths: What I feel are the strengths of this one

The setting of the story is the Forgotten Realms, really the first time Faerun and its familiar surroundings make their presence in the 5e system, a smart move by WOTC. Go with something people are familiar with and also it is a setting that easily ties into the Starter set adventures and the Sword Coast, which was of course no accident.

The artwork is really good and I like the paper, the pages have this matte print which seems to provide a better ease of readability than glossy pages. Maybe it is just me, but I prefer this to the glossy in other books. 

Weaknesses: Yes, it is not a perfect product or story. Then again is anything really perfect? Just from re-reading chapter one "Greenest in Flames" I can say that the NPCs are not really that memorable, they are serviceable for what they are, but few of them stand out as written. 

There is also an attempt to tie in the characters' backstories to the Tyranny of Dragons campaign by using hooks found in the book's Appendix A. Except this template's hooks aren't all that memorable or original. I think that the players could come up with better hooks, or at the very least modify some of the better ones found in the appendix to make them feel less shoehorned. 

I don't like the map of Greenest they provide in chapter one on page 10. Actually, it's a very poor map, it looks generic with very little detail. I do feel that the map in the starter set is better, detailing the town of Phandalin and an overhead map for the entire sword coast. The map should have been more detailed and easier to use, representing the key spots in the action. 

Another irritating thing about this chapter is that the formatting of the NPCs is not consistent. The convention in most of these 5e modules is that they used bold text to reference creature in the Monster Manual, so the DM can go look up their stats, but in this chapter some NPCs' names are in bold with no stat block or reference in the monster appendix (which is an odd mix of both monsters and NPCs), while others are just named without the bold formatting. It;s a bit confusing. 

One of the key events in this chapter is the adult blue dragon attacking. Except that this is all window dressing, it's all for show as the characters don't fight the dragon and hardly interact with it. The reason given for this is that the characters are first level and so the dragon just makes an appearance to attack or threaten NPCs, with the DM advised that its breath weapon could kill a 1st level character. Indeed, the Monster Manual gives an adult blue dragon a CR of 16 with multiple attacks and legendary actions.

 There is actually a lot of action in this introductory chapter, but the pacing seems off, a little clunky in some parts. The best bit is the raiders trying to set fire to the town's mill and the PCs asked to save it.

In the end though, it all devolves into melee combat with some mildly interesting NPCs and creatures. 

Next: Chapter 2 "Raiders Camp" Another bad map. 

My list of the 8 best D&D 5e campaign settings ranked

 I wanted to make a video for my channel about this, but alas the best plans...etc. So in lieu of that I am making this post discussing all the settings that have been published by WotC since 5e debuted in 2014 and there have been quite a few, almost as many as source books (all of which I own) with three more coming our way in a few days with the re-introduction of the Spelljammer setting from the second edition days.

So remember this list is fairly subjective and totally my impression of the setting books so if you have a different ranking, that is totally fine and you are entitled to your opinion. Also for this list, I skipped Acquisitions Incorporated since it's such a niche setting and hardly anyone ever plays this from what I can tell, but I am putting Spelljammer at No. 8

OK, so now that we know the ground rules, here we go! Coming in at no. 7: Strixhaven.

Strixhaven A Curriculum of Chaos, Wizards of the Coast

As many of you probably know, this is one of three setting books based on Magic the Gathering, and in my opinion, the least interesting of the trio. I know some will disagree, but there is one thing this book and the others prove: That capitalism is alive and well in 2022 as these many setting books based on a relatively new setting to D&D (compared to Grayhawk or even Spelljammer for example) is proof that Wizards isn't shy about capitalizing on the ongoing popularity of its most successful property to date.

Coming in at No. 6: Ravenloft!

While it is certainly true that Ravenloft is one of the classic settings for D&D dating back to the game's second edition, the brainchild of the supremely talented and vastly underrated (imo) couple Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, who also penned the Dragonlance modules and novels based on that setting, here's the thing, while I love gothic horror and vampires, this setting is fairly limited to a specific genre, dealing with body horror and spooks and the like, a genre which isn't my absolute favorite in the vast multiverse of D&D.

Now don't get me wrong, Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft has a lot to offer DMs and players, especially if horror is their cup of tea. 

New character options are very flavorful and interesting including the hexblood who are descendants of hags, the reborn which are essentially reborn creatures with some very cool skills and features due to the fact that they, much like Frankenstein's famous monster, are reanimated corpses or entities that have returned from the great beyond and of course the Damphirs which are neither vampires nor human but something of a cross of both. 

Coming in at No. 5 is the Sword Coast, the Forgotten Realms, which is the default setting for 5th edition, which is another reason it doesn't rank a lot higher on my list. There are many issues with the Forgotten Realms, another classic D&D realm but one which has been bled to death in 5e on purpose!

It almost feels as though this book, as thorough as it is with its descriptions of Fearun and the Forgotten Realms could and should have been twice as long, given how much history there is to all the locations dating back to second edition and early editions of the game. 

Want to see the entire list? Well I was going to type this all out but I am feeling lazy so how about we skip to the video version and save me all the possible Carpal Tunnel? 

 

Dragons of Stormwreck Isle: Should you pick it up?

The new 5e starter set which includes the adventure "Dragons of Stormwreck Isle" dropped yesterday as a Target exclusive and if you are keen on watching reviews or unboxing videos of the product, there's a good number of them on the interwebs.

I have gone back and forth in my head whether or not to pick this up from WotC and to put in an order from Target because I do enjoy new adventure models, which is essentially what this is, overall if you are a new DM or player and thinking of getting this set, I would recommend against it, as you can pick up the 2019 Essentials Kit, which is a better value in my opinion.

I think I would only recommend this set to those among us who enjoy collecting RPG and specifically D&D stuff. I actually personally own the 3.5 starter box, the 4th edition red box and three of the 5e box sets WotC put out so far, the original 2014 set, the 2019 Essentials Kit and the branded "Stranger Things" box set. That last one was a gift though, not something I would have bought myself.  I have a link here to my Youtube Channel's video I recorded 8 years ago when the first 5e starter set came out if you are curious on my thoughts on that from back in the day.

I also recently watched a pretty good series detailing and ranking the starter set all the way back to the pre first edition Moldvay and Mentzer days to the current 5th edition and realized that the 2nd edition set may be the best one, but sadly I never picked that one up and would have to shell out some coin to get my hands on it.

Sadly, this set is a bit a letdown in my opinion, especially after the April preview video which Wizards put out hyping this thing up as some sort of gateway to digital content for n00bs. It's a head scratcher then that this set appears to only come with a sheet of paper which lists all the digital D&D related sites and links, without even including codes to discounted or free digital content which the Essentials Kit did have. 

Here is a short breakdown of the upcoming and recent releases from Wizards and my reaction to them based on my level of excitement about acquiring the product. 

• Monsters of the Multiverse: released May 17, 2022. Still not sold on this book, I already own "Volo's Guide to Monsters" and "Mordenkeinen's Tome of Foes" and they are essentially the same monsters with some new streamlined mechanics and tweaks such as the removal of racial bonuses. Also the lore is removed, no thank you, I will stick with the old books.
• Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel: released July 19, 2022. Also not sure about this one, on the one hand, the concept of real world myths which are different than the usual D&D fare of high fantasy and influenced by Dark Ages, Celtic, Norse and other familiar western mythologies is intriguing, and as much as I want to support the POC authors which contributed to this anthology of one-shots, I guess this doesn't pique my interest enough to want to run them or incorporate them into bigger and existing campaigns. Currently I am DMing and playing games in the Forgotten Realms, the default setting for 5e, so it makes more sense for me to incorporate one-shots from, say, "Candlekeep Mysteries," an anthology book that already sits on my shelf. 
•  Spelljammer Adventures In Space: August 16, 2022. I know a lot of people are hyped about this release, but other than the recognizable Mincs and Boo, I have no connection to this setting, as I did not play a lot of D&D in 1989 when 2e was popular (though I wished I had) I think if I wanted to play a space fantasy RPG I would have chosen to go with Paizo's "Starfinder" or something similar to it eons ago, but it's a personal preference. Not all that hyped about this release tbh. You can preorder the entire set on Amazon and other retailers for about $42 which is actually pretty cheap, considering adventure books run about $50 but I think I will pass for now.
• Starter Set: Dragons of Stormwreck Isle.  released Aug. 1, 2022. I think I pretty much covered this one.
• Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen: release date, late 2022. This one was quite possibly the one I was mostly excited about, until I read that they had messed with the Kender and were open to making other changes to the Dragonlance lore. No!!! If they change too much, I am sticking to my 2e Dragonlance modules and books, especially the excellent 1e "Dragonlance Adventures" which is still one of my favorite old school campaign setting books.

The problem with Storm King's Thunder and 5e modules overall

"Lear the Giant King" from Dungeon Magazine No. 78 (2000)

I have been incorporating elements of premade 5e modules into my D&D homebrew which I have been running twice a month at the local library. 

With 5e being eight years old now, there is a lot of material that WotC has put out during the years, including a plethora of what we used to refer to as "prefabs," or pre-written campaign modules for DMs to run if they are short on time or to draw inspiration from. After collecting all the source books for DM (except for a few of the campaign settings that I am not that keen on, I am looking at you "Acquisitions Incorporated") I have invested in "Storm King's Thunder", although it is not the latest adventure book I purchased, that would be "Candlekeep Mysteries." which as some of you know, is just a series of one-shots you can drop into your ongoing campaigns.

But even though this book has been out for quite a while (first print 2016 if I am not mistaken) I chose it to represent some of the problems a DM will experience trying to run the adventure as written, and as an example of what Wizards gets right in their pre-written adventure books and why they are sometimes problematic. I won't get too deep into what is wrong with the book, since it has been out a number of years, there is plenty out in the interwebs if you want to read a review or if you are on the fence about picking it up or whether or not to run it.

Instead, I will discuss what attracted me to it and what my plans are with the adventure now that I own it in hopes that others will benefit from such information. Now, first off: Upon careful examination of the story, it was fun to discover that the game designers drew inspiration from many old D&D books, adventures and sources and that it is influenced by the old Shakespeare play "King Lear."

Maybe that is why the adventure starts off with a Dramatis Personae with the main members of the adventure's cast of characters listed in alphabetical order for easy reference. There are a lot of NPCs in this book and the index lists all of them, over 60! Of course, it will be up to the DM and players whether they interact or use them all.  

 The adventure centers on King Hekaton, the most powerful of the giants, and his daughters and what happens in the aftermath of the shattering of the ordning, a caste system imposed upon Giant society by their gods. The adventure can be ran with the initial chapter in the book which takes PCs from levels 1 to 4 or with other published adventures that accomplish the same thing. Personally, one thing that I find Wizards got right is setting up a lot of their pre-written stories in the Forgotten Realms, so that DMs can theoretically flow players from one to the other seamlessly. At least that was the goal, but of course, this doesn't always work out in practice.

The book does have a nifty handy flowchart which details this and notes that chapter 2 is intended for characters that are level 5 where the PCs can then explore three areas with multiple encounters. This happens again two chapters later where PCs are given the choice between five different areas to explore and again after Chapter 10 where there is a choice of two ways to conclude the adventure.

Michael Selinker's adaptation of the Shakespeare play which was published in the magazine came during that nebulous time in D&D history when the game was transitioning from AD&D 2nd edition into the radical revamp WotC made which eventually led to 3rd edition, but the adaptation still follows 2e rules as evidenced by creatures and NPC stat blocks which still make mention of older game mechanics like THACO. Just like Lear, the protagonist of SKT, King Hekaton has gone missing and part of the adventure hook is for the PCs to go searching for him. Unfortunately, even though the book is rife with tensions and political intrigue concerning the king's court and the turmoil which engulfs it after the king goes missing, and following the events of chapter 2, the largest chunck of the book, Chapter 3 "The Savage Frontier" is dedicated to locations in the Sword Coast that the PCs can explore.

Many critics have pointed out, and I concur, this is where SKT starts to break down as the pages and pages of locations detailed in the book, while interesting, could have been presented as a separate supplement or as part of the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. 

So here's the bottom line: I don't regret investing in SKT, I remember walking into the hobby shop and going through all the printed adventures looking for a good one to engage my players who are currently embroiled in a combination of a homebrew with elements of the original starter set adventure with portions of the "Essentials Kit" module just to keep things interesting. I remember being excited over the prospect of having a big epic adventure involving the giants as part of our ongoing 5e campaign, but the best way to run this, upon careful study, is to take bits and parts of it and use them separately. This is how a lot of DMs approach 5e prefabs and SKT is no exception.

Chapter 3 does have a useful section and tables for random wilderness encounters, as well as suggested encounters for the many locations of the North such as Amphail, the Grandfather Tree, Beorunna's Well, Icewind Dale and Waterdeep. I have not done a deep study of how interconnected these encounters are in relation to the overall main narrative, but I have seen reviews which suggest that they are not.

In conclusion, it takes a bit of work to incorporate pre-written adventures into existing or homebrews for 5e, but with a little bit of work, a DM can draw inspiration from their story hooks or even lift whole sections without having to run them as written, grabbing encounter and interesting story elements and tweaking them for their own purposes. It is clear to me now that this was the intended consequence of making the Forgotten Realms the default setting for 5e, although of course, there are many other settings including some that are unique to this system including the "Magic the Gathering" inspired setting like Ravnica and Strixhaven. 

Storm King's Thunder by Wizards of the Coast (2016)