Okay, so to improve my writing and storytelling, I decided to start a 4E Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Please note, it had been the first time I had played the game, much less to DM it. This presented many challenges, mostly because I was teaching other people to play, while I too was still unsure of some rules.

That started more than three weeks ago, and now we are more than halfway through our campaign. I’ve found that the story that’s presented to you is perfectly set; it can be read aloud and enjoyed, or embellished by the DM to further draw out the world’s qualities. Tikara knows what I’m talking about; she’s the one who introduced the idea of running a campaign. I hope that they release a good copy of a online tabletop engine, so I can play with Ence and Tikara.

The thing about running the campaign is that you have to be ready for anything. Characters you thought would never have lines suddenly must have them. For example: In the Keep on Shadowfell campaign you run across a goblin who is willing to help the party carry their stuff and give directions of the dungeon. Our rogue realized with her insight that the goblin, although honest about his intentions, had all the characteristics of a pathological liar. Wanting to set him straight on his intentions she suggested that I intimidate him. My 300lb Dragonborn reached down, picked him up in a single claw, and growled this line into his face: “Cross us, and I’ll break you.”

Other things that can happen are the strange actions the PCs want to take. Our priest, having realized his ability to use Instant Transmission (blatant DBZ reference), decided he would try to teleport to the top of the nearby tree. I told him that first, he would have to make a skill check to catch a nearby branch, and then a skill check to pull himself to a safe position on the tree. The tree being more than 50 feet high, he managed a small glimpse of the top, before he failed and broke every branch on the way down. Oh yeah, I made him take falling damage. (1 – 6 damage for every ten feet.)

It’s amazing that after so many years, this game has changed as the forefather of RPGs, both western and eastern.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 at 12:51 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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