Sages' Guild

Those who are new to fantasy role-playing games often have many questions. Questions concerning the rules of the game, the background of their GM’s world, or even simply, “What should I do?” are common for new players. Don’t worry; soon enough you will have mastered the basic rules of the game and even the nuances of your class. After most of the common questions have been answered, one will remain: “When is the best time to (read it All)

The characters are traipsing merrily through the dungeon, slaughtering everything unfortunate enough to cross their paths. They’re racking up experience points and treasure (not to mention overconfidence) like this is some kind of video game. Ho-hum.

Why not give their itchy trigger fingers a rest? Pit them an against an opponent that they can’t hack their way through – a trap.

Traps can be simple, like a poisoned needle in a lock, a hidden pit in the floor, or (read it All)

As a game master you are the head of any role playing table, and you are the author of what is happening to the players. But it isn’t enough to just read passages out of the manual to your players and give them the statistics as if you were a baseball announcer. You have to make the game come alive for them, and for that you need to tell the story.

Every GM has his or her own way of (read it All)

The four character roles are theoretically straightforward. The Striker moves in, does a lot of damage to the enemy, and then pulls out. The Defender simultaneously absorbs a lot of damage while returning a modest amount. These roles appeal to beginning players as well as experienced. The others are less immediately intuitive. Leaders are integral to adventuring parties because they buff the other characters. The Controller, however, often remains the most challenging role to grasp because the (read it All)

The rogue hiding in the shadows, the steely eyed martial artist, these are examples of strikers. In game terms a striker is a character that can do a lot of damage but can’t wear much armor, making their defenses relatively low. usually a striker has special abilities that helps increase their damage in special ways (for example a rouge will be able to find weak points in the enemy’s armor or a monk or martial artist (read it All)

One of the most commonly found people in any adventuring group is the mighty tank. A tank is someone who is able to take as much bodily punishment as possible and continue to stand. Oftentimes, they are accompanied by a healer whose sole job is to heal this person. Against almost any foe, a tank will be able to take whatever is thrown at him. The basics, http://ezinearticles.com/?Fantasy-Role-Playing-Builds–The-Tank&id754864 of making a tank involve getting high hit points and high armor class ratings.In role-playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons, a tank is the person who usually enters an area first. If there are any traps or surprise attacks, they are able to withstand what is dished at them without immediately dying. Most of the time, these attacks will kill any other member in the party. For this reason, when there is armor found the tank usually get first pick. Not sure what Dungeons and Dragons is all about? I found a good guide,http://www.headinjurytheater.com/article95a.htm that helps newbies understand what is happening. Soon after reading it, you’ll want to start creating your own tank character. Soon you too will be able to charge into rooms without worrying about what could possibly be on the other side.

One of the greatest attractions of Dungeons & Dragons has to be the fantastical settings for the myriad adventures. These worlds manage to be fully sketched out with backstories and magical rules while still leaving the potential for users to add their own personal flair. Players can further elaborate on their adventures by writing fan-fiction and posting it online. With wireless internet, this is a great way to pass the time while stuck at the airport.Before you get started, though, you’ll need to know the basics of the world that you’ll be exploring. Therefore, we’ve prepared a handy guide to some of D&D‘s most iconic settings.Blackmoor: Blackmoor holds the honor of being the first campaign setting for D&D, predating the development of the game itself. The setting itself has gone through a number of changes. It first appeared as a supplement to the original D&D game, containing the first published adventure, “Temple of the Frog.” Later, Blackmoor referred to an area of black ice in the northwest of the world of Greyhawk. With the development of the later Mystara world, however, it was revealed that Blackmoor was actually the ancient version of that world. The technologically advanced culture of Blackmoor ultimately destroyed itself, paving the way for the development of Mystara many years later.Greyhawk: Greyhawk was the second setting developed for D&D, originally developed by Gary Gygax as a simple dungeon that later grew into a labyrinthine multi-layered maze. Gygax later added a city and then an entire world around it. The insane architect of the dungeon was known as Zagyg, a reverse homophone of “Gygax”only three players during the home campaign in Gygax’s basement ever made it to the bottom floor where Gygax presided. Over time, a complex mythology and geography developed.Mystara: Originally developed as a generic setting for early D&D adventures, Mystara eventually became as well-defined as Blackmoor and Greyhawk. The planet of Mystara contains three landmasses: Brun, Skothar, and Davania. In addition, there was an island continent called Alphatia in the planet’s past. Mystara’s continents resemble those of Earth around 135 million years ago, although the culture of the Known World has a technological knowledge resembling that of the 15^th century (sans gunpowder). The planet is also hollow, although few of its inhabitants know this. A red sun sits at the center of the planet.Dragonlance: Dragonlance originated as a shared universe for a series of novels, with a campaign setting later developed for the D&D game. The setting takes place on the world of Krynn, usually on the continents of Ansalon or Taladas. A series of dragon wars occurred in the planet’s past, leading to a great Cataclysm and then a 300-year-long depression. Over 190 novels have been written within the Dragonlance universe.This is just a glimpse of some of the earliest D&D settings. Other well-known worlds include the Forgotten Realms, Spelljammer, Ravenloft, Eberron, Planescape, Birthright, and Dark Sun, but they will have to wait for a later article (or for your own research).

When the world of Dungeons & Dragons was first created in 1974, it brought together disparate elements of gaming to create an entirely new experience. The real achievement was in coming up with a system that could continue to evolve with the players, allowing them to make up their own adventures as they leveled up. When creators Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson sat down to come up with the initial setting, though, they had several sources in mind. Some of them might surprise you.

• Improvisational theatre dating back to Italian commedia dell’arte served as an inspiration for the role-playing element of the game, in which players took on the persona of their own fantasy adventurer.
• Early 20^th-century wargaming was the first to simulate battle with rules that were published in “manuals,” such as Fred T. Jane’s Jane’s Fighting Ships (1905/6 ed.) or H.G. Wells’s Floor Games (1911). (read it All)

Forget Batman and Superman. Forget Green Lantern and Wonder Woman. In fact, forget anybody in a costume at all, because the characters of Knights of the Dinner Table can usually be found in T-shirts and jeans. Oh, and they’re not exactly heroesnot in real-life, anyway. Instead, they’re a special group devoted torole-playing games.The comic started as a strip in the Shadis gaming magazine in 1990, then moved to Dragon (an official D&D magazine) in 1996. The official comic book started that year as well, and is currently up to issue 166. Much of the humor and characterization will be familiar to Dungeons & Dragons players, although the main game in the comic is called HackMaster (an obvious pastiche). Unlike most representations, the gamers in the series are not stereotypical caricatures, but well-defined people who also represent different styles of playing (whether it’s “hack ‘n slash” or “powergaming”). The “antagonists” of the series are the Black Hands Gaming Society, a group of players who focus on killing off their traveling companions during adventures. (read it All)

Picture this. You’re playing Dungeons & Dragons with your friends, and one of them decides he wants to start talking about his “relationship problems.” Say what? This is D&D nightwhen all human troubles are forgotten, and only the game remains. But how do you politely put an end to his blubbering? You head to the stereo and put on Dungeons & Dragonsthe official soundtrack album by Midnight Syndicate.That’s right, Midnight Syndicate (a gothic ambient group headed by composers Edward Douglas and Gavin Goszka) was requested by Wizards of the Coast to make the album in 2003. Although entirely ambient, the album’s a perfect fit for a night of adventuring. Earlier Midnight Syndicate albums were actually already popular among gaming groups. You can tell that a similar creative force is at workMidnight Syndicate’s 1998 album Born of the Night features track names like “Dark Tower,” “Masque of Sorrow,” and “Vampire’s Kiss.” (read it All)