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On the Final Dungeon point, wasn't there an article come issues ago (can't recall whether it was Dungeon or Dragon), around building five room, self contained dungeons? Dungeon could issue a challenge to readers to submit five room, one page dungeons over the email, a bit lie Critical Threats, giving prospective writers a small format adventure to break their teeth on before the big game. Maybe a small prize (free copy of X product of the month) could be offered as an incentive?
On the Final Dungeon point, wasn't there an article come issues ago (can't recall whether it was Dungeon or Dragon), around building five room, self contained dungeons? Dungeon could issue a challenge to readers to submit five room, one page dungeons over the email, a bit lie Critical Threats, giving prospective writers a small format adventure to break their teeth on before the big game. Maybe a small prize (free copy of X product of the month) could be offered as an incentive?
Dice -
They did this, after a fashion, for the Origins Dungeon Side-Trek contest. The winning adventure is in the next Dungeon (Issue #126) and I'm looking forward to seeing it, as it was contributed by one of the active message board folks.
As for cutting your teeth in the magazine... try querying for short adventures, campaign workbooks or critical threats.
- Ashavan
I would like to see some random tables to help me when put on a spot or when I am stumped during designing an encounter, npc, etc.
Things like character names, jewelry or gems, shops in a town, or new random monster tables.
I could take this page and put in a binder for use during games.
I would like to see some random tables to help me when put on a spot or when I am stumped during designing an encounter, npc, etc.
Things like character names, jewelry or gems, shops in a town, or new random monster tables.
I could take this page and put in a binder for use during games.
MAN, this guy is on the money! GREAT idea!
And here I was going to suggest more Maps of Mystery, NPCs, new monsters, or something similar.
But I'd rather see his ideas!
(I was also going to suggest a list of miniatures from the D&D Minis game that could be used with the adventures in that issues magazines, but that would make for a better sidebar in each adventure, I think.)
Why not use the last page to provide some much needed Epic Level support. Even just one encounter an issue designed to challenge parties of level 20+ would be better than the scant support Epic play currently receives. Each encounter could include notes on how to drop it into an existing campaign as a single-shot encounter, or how the whole year's encounters could be strung together to form a module of sorts.
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Just saw this thread... I'm sure this has either been mentioned or dispelled because of the impact to production costs.
I'd like a feature called something like 'Dungeon Aid' and it includes a full color 'tile'. Not unlike when the magazines included D&D miniatures tiles. But instead of a semi-official DDM, just a page that has no set dimensions (it could be 5x5, 10x6, etc).
The tiles should be very inventive (please no Infernal Altar or Rubble Filled Hallway) and things that can inspire creative gaming. I suppose I would tend towards ones that are where tactical gaming might be necessary.
Example #1
One of the players was escorting some free slaves through a hostile city (while they were all disguised) and ran into the city watch, who promptly brought them a Temple of Hextor, where a cleric cast Zone of Truth to perform an interrogation. The room was a large room with a long table flanked by many chairs. Since this room was used for all sorts of meetings, there were supply cabinets, etc.
While the room was mundane, the feature would theoretically include suggestions or seeded ideas for use of the 'tile' - i.e. the above one could be used for interrogation when officials catch the PCs, or maybe it could be used for a town council meeting where one of the council members reveals he's a BBEG and combat ensues.
Example #2
Eventually combat here moved to outside the temple onto the steps that led up to the double doors. I actually had it such that there were 3 sets of stairs, a large wide one, and two side stairs, where in between there was a planter and statues. The players ended up creatively making use of everything in the combat. Here the 'seeds' would include of course how we used it (combat at a temple entrance) but also perhaps where a town official is making a speech and assassins strike?
So to summarize, a usable tile (not for DDM though) which is maybe 1 or 2 pages, and a list of good ideas for making use of the tile... the good ideas are the key to inspire DM creativity.
In a world where magazine text content competes with electronic content, these are the things that motivate people to buy printed copies (oh I gotta have that tile since it fits so perfectly into my campaign and beats drawing it out with markers).
More examples include:
- Deck of a boat (seeds include pirate attacks, a docked boat where an exchange is being made, etc)
- Gambling den (seeds include a hand gone bad, PC's disguised as a merchant being detected)
- Balcony (includes a baron speaking to a crowd and an assassin, a BBEG using dimension door to get up to it)
- Kitchen (chase through it for many reasons)
- Jail Cell and Surrounding (PCs could be watching a prisoner during a prison break, or hear about an in progress one)
etc etc etc
For the life of me, I cannot recall the name, but the adventures that were for any level that was just a series of puzzle-rooms? I think these are the same ones that Jeremy Mac Donald mentioned. What were they called . . .
Challenge of Champions? Something like that.
Anyway, I like the idea of having one of those puzzle rooms (usable for any level party) on that "one page to fill".
I don't remember the name either but where definitly thinking of the same adventures...as it was something like Challange of Champions.
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A couple of things I'd like to see, or which I think could be of interest/use to others:
Living Greyhawk updates -- updates to the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2-3 paragraphs on each of 2-3 regions a month summarising major events from CY591 to CY593; a lot's happened in LGland since CY591 and even those of us that are LGers don't have sight of most of it.
What happened next -- an "official" (WotC's or the author's) position on how an adventure in a previous Dungeon issue actually played out and what the consequences were. Or similarly...
Reviews of previous Dungeon adventures -- each month somebody describes what happened when their group played through a particular prominent (popular/infamous/whatever) Dungeon adventure from a previous issue. Happens already in editorials and the like, but could easily be a regular feature.
Play smarter not harder -- upgrading the EL of an encounter by slapping on a few character levels or adding a couple more monsters is the easy option, sometimes it's worth showing people that 1st level goblin warriors can still be trouble even when you're at the heady heights of 4th level! Also tips & tricks on running very high INT, or very "alien" psychologies, creatures effectively.
NPC adventuring parties -- there often seem to be only one or two bands of adventurers in the world, the PCs and possibly that other group of adventurers who went to explore yonder mysterious ruin but never returned. A paragraph or two on each member of the party, plus a few paragraphs on their background and group traits. To some extent a variant on "The Cast".
Instant flavouring -- tips and tricks for tweaking the style of adventures, or for adding flavour. E.g. handling languages & names, managing cliches & stereotypes, making adventures grittier, or more magical, or more dwarvish, or whatever. The things experienced DMs pick up randomly over a decade or so.
The "Campaign Workbook" pieces have started providing a lot of this, and I certainly hope they're retained.
And so as to end on a negative note, a few things I'd rather not see -- no power plays for half-dragon ninjas, no 15th level kobold were-dire badgers, nothing that would be regarded as k00l!!! on the optimisation boards :)
And so as to end on a negative note, a few things I'd rather not see -- no power plays for half-dragon ninjas, no 15th level kobold were-dire badgers, nothing that would be regarded as k00l!!! on the optimisation boards :)
I wouldn't call the disappearance of this problem, 'a negative note.' I find myself 'normalizing' critters that are half-this and half-that. Not doing a fiendish half-dragon 15th lv kobold ninja is a very good thing. Doing a fiendish half-dragon 15th lv kobold, IHMO, is a quick way to ruin a module.
--Ray.
My favorite suggestion... One page explaining how to effectively DM a particular monster. Not a new monster, but one we already know. Ideally, the monster would be one featured in an adventure in that month's issue. (New monsters would be fine in that case.)
While I'm not sure exactly what Wes has planned, it sounds like the newer Ecologies are going to be headed firmly in that direction (as opposed to the traditional "vs." section that really only speaks to players). Still, as the Ecology is one of my favorite sections, I wouldn't mind seeing an extra page devoted to them, either!
-James
Good suggestions.
I'd personally love to see a scale-able generic encounter that could be dropped into any campaign AND that had follow-up encounters along the way. Like a red herring, but with teeth. Something small and relatively unobstructive to the main story-line, but something that might make your PC's go "where the heck did that come from?"
I've found that a secondary storyline that doesn't really force the adventure offtrack is worth its weight in gold peices - especially if your characters seem to be just going through the motions.
Celric
I like the idea (this was in the other thread, I think) of reader submitted entries. Things like:
*NPCs
*Places (temples, bars, tombs, forests, etc)
*Items (common everyday stuff, alchemical items, magic items, Artifacts, etc)
*Monsters
*Encounter Tables
*Prestige Classes
Maybe, if your entry gets chosen, you get a free 1-yr sub to Dungeon?
(I do understand that these things would have to be edited - that's the way of the business...)