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Looking for some advice. I was talking with some of my grade 5 students and telling them about playing Dungeons & Dragons in College and they were very intrigued. They asked if I would start a club at noon hours. Needless to say I was excited to relive my college days and introduce the game to a whole new generation. The problem is I have way too many kids. I need a way to figure out how to determine my players. I feel 6-8 players is my maximum per group, and I could possibly run two groups, but beyond that, I only have 40 minutes per session. If I have too many players we won't even get through one round of combat . Anybody have any ideas on how I could choose players rather than just throwing all their names in a hat? I have an idea of the ones I think would not only benefit from the social interaction, but would also have the imagination and appreciation for the spirit of the game . But I don't want the others to feel I'm just picking favorited. Anyway, excited at the prospect of dming again, but struggling with this particular dilemma. Any ideas?

That trilogy is close to my heart! My most vivid gaming memories come from our group's epic trek through the G-series Against the Giants, deep underground through the D-series (honestly, the drow scared the hell out of us with their spells and freaky magic items), and then culminating in a showdown with Lloth herself in Q1. Took my cleric from 7th all the way to 15th level during the course of that series. Those adventures solidified my love for the game, and I can definitely see their influence in your map.

Once again, bravo! Good luck in the rest of the competition. Can't wait to see your beastie! Create-a-monster round is my favourite round of this competition, hands down!

Man, this map took me back to the glory days of gaming. So many great memories of blue-lined graph paper just waiting to be transformed into some creepy cavern stalked with beasts and treasure.

Thanks for this walk down Amnesia Lane.

My favorite map, by far!

Been rooting for you since the Quicksand Cloak, Steven. Well done!

OOOOO....I like Madra Mire...very cool

I have been running a D&D group after schools for Grade 6 kids for the past 5 years or so. It is amazing to encounter the different dynamics between the groups from year to year. One year, I had a gang of `thinkers`. They preceded every encounter with a lengthy talk about who will say what, what spells will be prepped, what they will do if it doesn`t work, etc. It took us the whole year to do just three adventures, but man did they have fun.

Another year saw my `hackers `n`slashers` I called these guys my `videogame`group. They were all about buffing characters. I basically ended up with a group of `tanks`, but boy did I set up some epic battles for them. Their last battle incorporated a couple of MacFarlane Dragons I had purchased for just that occasion.

Then we had my `bookworms`. These guys delved intot he rulebooks with gusto. And once they heard about prestige classes, they were off to the races, planning, modifying, predicting what feats and skills they would need. Some of the rulebooks I had not even cracked open got a good working over that year.

This year, I have a great combination of personalities. These guys are all about balance. Their party consists of a ranger-druid, a paladin, a fighter, a barbarian, a rogue, and a beguiler. When magic items show up, they don`t clamber for `dibs`. They honestly discuss who would best benefit from the item. Right now, they are about to explore the ruins of Rhest in the Red Hand of Doom campaign.

I have had a blast with every group, and it has never ceased to amaze me the capacity some of these 10-11 year olds have for imagination, ingenuity, and excitement over à bunch of books`!

Good gaming

In one of my early 2e games, I made the mistake of naming a recurring dwarven NPC Bak Stoneheart. Everytime he showed up, the players would all chorus in unison, "Hey! Bak's back!"

Brian

OK, I have tried 4E. The system is interesting. I like the power cards and stuff, but there is just something not sitting right with me. I don't know if it is a flaw in the game, or just my long-standing love affair with 3.5E.

I know there are a lot of 4E fans out there, and probably just as many anti-4E people.

Here's what I found. 4E seemed to be a lot of sorting through your cards and doing the same thing every round. Sure, you could try different things, but one felt obligated to use their "powers". Feats and Skills kind of sit in the background, just more stats.

I don't know. I guess I just need to hear from some others. Is there anyone else out there who has tried 4E and found it lacking some of the "spirit" that I found with 3.5E? Hell, even 2E got me more excited about playing and making caharcters! To me, 4E has too much of a "video game" feel now.

Share!

Joffo Rockbiter - my dwarven druid/fighter/ranger/bearlord (from Master of the Wild)- dirty, smelly, liked turning into a bear a lot.

Meko - halfling Master of Many Forms - dirty, smelly, liked turning into a shambling mound a lot.

There are some who call me.....Tim?

To be honest, I am not sure what to think about 4e. Most of my opposition stems from the extensive 3/3.5e library I have accumulated over the years. I love my 3e books, and it sounds like 4e is a MUCH different game. At least with 3e, conversions from 1e or 2e were pretty painless.

Yes, there are things in 3e that were broken, but house rules have fixed those for me.

I also love the myriad of options for 3e (presitge classes, spells, races, new core classes). You could custon design any hero you wanted. From what I've heard, that customizability has suffered in 4e.

For me, personally, I will not be purchasing any 4e books. I am saddened by this, because I was VERY excited about the "online tools" that WOTC were going to make available for 4e players.

Nope, 3/3.5e will always be my game. I run an after school club for a group of my Grade 6 students, and we will always play the 3e version. Hopefully, I won't be making them miss out on 4e.

So, "bloodied" isn't the debilitating condition it sounds like, unless you are on the business end of a Slaying Strike attack.

Thx....so what are the game effects? Penalties to hit, AC, ???

Can somebody explain the "bloodied" condition to me?

I have to say, I was a little luke warm about the new druid.

I have always loved playing druids. And one of the main reasons was the wildshape ability. It was something unique to druids. something to strive for at the lower levels, and build upon as the levels increased. There was always that rush of adrenalin the first time you used a dire animal form.

Sure, they have expanded it a little to include plant forms and the like....however....

With the addition of all these Beast form and Plant form spells, the druid's wildshape has lost its mystique for me. Now, any SCHMUCK with a spellbook can be a shape-shifter!

Why the addition of all of those shape-shifting spells??? Why can't that just be the domain of the druids?

This is off topic, I know, but I have some questions about the Item Cards. I just ordered a whole pile of them with my store credit, mostly because of the great reviews they have gotten, but also because I run a group for some of my Grade 6 students and I think the visual representation of their treasures would be fantastic.

I wonder, though. How versatile is the blank space on the back. Is it possible to erase what is on the back without wrecking the card? Can you use pencil on them? I don't want to have to keep the same stats all the time, I'd like to change them from year to year.

Can anyone help me with this information?

Just ordered the Elements of Power and Dragon's trove card sets. I have a question, though. The blank space on the back: Is it dry-erasable, or pencil erasable, or once i write something on the back, that is pretty much it? Can I change the item's stats back there, or will I just eventually wear out the card from all the erasing I do?