200th Post!

As the title subtly hints, this is my 200^th post. When I started, I never thought I would have gone on for so long. It's not that I planned to quit before this point. It's just the thought never really struck me. I simply wanted the chance to ramble about whatever I wanted and offer advice no-one asked for. As time went my ambitions expanded to the point where I also wanted to review D&D books as they were released up as well as a wide assortment of 3^rd part content. It was and I hope continues to be a tremendous experience.

When I started posting it was meant purely for me. There are many things that you notice in a general sense while playing, but being able to put it into words requires a deeper understanding. Taking my vague feelings on the topic of tabletop games, and trying to express them forced me to think about things in greater detail and better understand my own opinions. I could have just wrote for myself and left what I wrote in notebooks or files on my computer. However, being out there for others to read had the potential to help others and start conversations. On the second point I think I largely failed, but tomorrow is a new day. I also realized that I actually enjoy writing on the topic.

Plans For The Future

200 posts down and who knows how many more to go. I hope to continue to cover new D&D books as they are released as well as 3^rd party products. Maps and 3D printable terrain in particular have my notice. I hope that going forward I might get the chance to do some interviews too. My focus will continue to be mainly on tabletop and board game topics, but I'll try to do more video game stuff as well on my other blog. If the time comes and I have to chose, I will do as I've done in the past: pick tabletop gaming. I've had the idea to do video game stuff for a while, but the blog just sat deserted.

Thank You!

First, I'd like to thank my players who let me try to kill – I mean play tabletop games with them. You know who you are.You've bargained with devils, hunted and been hunted by vampires, got lost across the planes, and befriended gods. And all in the last couple of months. You've inspired a lot of this, both directly and indirectly. Again, thanks guys.

Next, a big thank you to Wizards of the Coast, and the legacy of TSR. Besides giving me a game to play and write so much about, it gave me a life long hobby, an uncountable number of stories, and a fair few friendships that wouldn't have existed otherwise. Tabletop games have also led to some of my favourite video games. They'r everywhere.

Also a big thank you to 360PR+. In Particular thanks Mark, Sheila, Mary-Catherine, and Katie. They've always been incredibly helpful, even under a barrages of questions from me. The review copies make it much easier on my part too.

And also to Antal Kéninger and Black Scroll Games. They've released some wonderful sets and 3D printable models. It was a pleasure to be able to review them. I look forward to the new things you have planned.

Lasty to my readers. Some of you have commented, some of you haven't. Thanks for the chance to write for you all and I hope you found at least something of use within the thousands of words.

Dungeon Master: Nudges

Sometimes things get lost in the bustle of a session. The plot went off track. The puzzle you designed isn't going over as well as you intended. Or perhaps a player wants to look around for magic items they can spend their hard earned coin on. Regardless of which of these situations you find yourself in, one of the tools at a Dungeon Master's disposal is giving a slight nudge or hint. However, you also don't want to yank your players back on course. And it's for that reason that I hope to go over the topic today.

When Is It Needed?

Let's start with one of the big questions. And like many topics, I find there are general rules of wisdom but no hard and fast rules. If your players are lost, they'll want some direction and hints. This can happen for a large number of reasons, but challenging puzzles probably are the most common one.

Player Buy In

You don't want to too heavily railroad your players. What might be railroading for one group of players may be a cool twist for another, so the distinction between what isn't railroading and what is isn't clear. However, they typically want some kind of consistent plot and events that unfold so there is some level of buy in required. If your players run somewhere else at the first sign of combat or events unfolding, you can't really have much of a game. You need your players to buy in, and when they do there will be some level of nudging. Some mystery is unfolding in the slums of the city? Well, as we find clues they will lead to conclusions, which will lead the party to the culprit eventually.

Reflecting What They Want

When nudging players, it is far smoother when it is in the direction players want. If a player is looking for a magic item, they'll expect hints and nudges towards that goal. Of course, they are looking for them after all. They will be actively looking, or spending their downtime to locate a magic item. They don't know where it is, so they are begging for a hint and a nudge towards their goal. If you aren't sure, then remember what we are talking about here is a nudge. The players choose whether to follow or to turn elsewhere.

How Is It Done?

The ideal nudge is one that is virtually invisible. We often do this without really noticing it. Clues pointing to other possibilities and outcomes are probably the most common technique. Journals containing cryptic entries, for example. Conversations while players are hidden is another. The more difficult situations to handle in my opinion are when a puzzle doesn't land, or your players get lost. You don't want to solve the riddle for them. Instead, I find that it works best to let players look for ways around it. Perhaps the puzzle isn't necessary and they can just brute force their way through using a pick axe at the cost of time? I've also seen situations where the party goes and hires an expert to come back and solve the riddle for them. In one other case, they hid in the shadows and let the group of baddies after the same artifact solve it for them.

Sometimes though, they will need a hint and often times it makes sense that the character will have more knowledge than the players. If someone is looking for clues in the room to find any other switches, perhaps they notice that dust isn't disturbed in some areas compared to others. The key here is to give something that is minor, fits with what their character would know, and doesn't blow open the puzzle. I'd also be careful about situations where players must solve a puzzle to proceed, and recommend that time be spent on alternate approaches or hints in case it doesn't land as expected. Of course, alternatives work best when they have their own pros and cons.

Dungeons & Dragons Adventures Outlined

Review copy courtesy of Wizards of the Coast.

Lich page from the Dungeons & Dragons Adventures Outlined colouring book.

D&D has seen its properties used in many different forms over the years. There have been movies, novels, video games, and even cartoons. And colouring books. We've had colouring books in previous editions, we've had one released in 2016, and now we have a new colouring book which will be available everywhere on August 21^st, 2018 and can already be found at game stores.

I'm also using this as a trial run at a new “look at” format, where I don't go as in depth on a product but take a high level look. I mean, most of my usual sections for reviewing an adventure don't apply at all.

Format

The book usually takes the form of a picture on the right page and a small description of what is being shown on the left. When I say small, I mean it: it's under 2 sentences. As a result, not every page is something that can be coloured. By my count there are 43 pictures to colour, and roughly another 43 pages of descriptions.

Art Style

The art in this book is stylized. It's not the art found in the core books like the previous colouring book for this edition. As usual with art, I'd recommend taking a look to see if you like it. And towards that end, I've included a couple of shots from inside the book.

An example of the art style found throughout the book.

Price

I find the price to be interesting. At an MSRP of 16.95, that's just a few dollars below (~3 for those of you counting) than the Starter Set. Clearly the Starter Set isn't a colouring book, but getting Lost Mine of Phandelver and a set of dice makes it a tempting alternative.

Free Stuff

Currently there isn't anything on the website. For the previous book there was a sample page and a map page. Perhaps this will be filled in with some time as has happened with some previous adventures. We'll see.

Overall

It's a colouring book. In that regard it meets what you would expect and is rather long as far as colouring books go. Whether you like the stylized appearance of the pictures will depend greatly on your art preferences, and I'd suggest looking above at the examples I provided to get a feel. It's hard to recommend it due to its price and niche compared to the D&D Starter Set. The result is that its a niche product, or a collectors item. 

Mmm, brains. Can always count on an illithid to want some brains.

Other

• I laughed hard after seeing the page for the mind flayer with a description explaining how they eat brains. Seeing that in a colouring book made it all the better.
• Interestingly, the pages aren't numbers. So I had to count them myself.

Dungeon Master: Session Postmortems

There are many issues that can occur during the course of a campaign. Many have simple solutions, many others have complex issues, but regardless you still need to be aware of a problem to address it. A newly formed group will also tend to have more issues than a veteran one, where players haven't had time to work out their issues and get into the flow of things. What I've seen used, and used myself in these cases, is the idea of a postmortem. At the end of some milestone, you have your players look back over what happened and give their opinions.

Being On The Same Page

One of the big things in tabletop gaming is being on the same page. Players need to know what actions they can take and reasonably know what their odds of success is within limits. Dungeon Masters need to know what tools they have at their disposal and what players are willing to tolerate. All of this starts with an understanding between players and Dungeon Master that their concerns will be addressed. Communication break downs and differences of expectation are what postmortems give you the opportunity to address by having a structured system built in where players know they can be heard. You also don't want this kind of stuff to quietly simmer if your players have a problem.

How Often

It depends on your group and their experiences. Doing one per arc is very manageable and makes sure that player concerns are heard. However, earlier in a campaign you might seriously wish to consider doing one per session. This is especially true if you didn't know your players before the campaign started. The more distance there is between you, the more of a necessity there is. Eventually you can get to a point where you don't need them anymore, but I'd still recommend calling for one if concerns are brought up. The big thing to address in this case is if there's a difference of opinion. If fixing the problem for one will cause a problem for another, you'll need a clever compromise or to pick a side and have your players understand.

Taking Too Much Time

The issue that can often happen here is that the postmortems run too long. And especially at the start, this will happen. However, as Dungeon Master you can move on to other topics and then circle back around to the issues that result in a lot of discussions. If necessary, you can have that discussion outside of the session and take it into your favourite chat program or email. Having a structure that people are aware of is also extremely helpful in these cases. Have people mention what they liked (that way you know what is well received and maybe can be used again), what they didn't like (potential problems that need to be solved), and any other comments they might have. I find this setup works well as it touches on the aspects we are really after: what are the likes and dislikes of our players. It may also be an execution thing in some cases, and having that feedback is important.