While every version of every roleplaying game has its detractors, it’s hard to avoid the perception that in the case of the Fourth Edition of Dungeons & Dragons, the detractors have effectively won…
Sep 162014
Aug 182014
It’s the moment NOBODY has been waiting for: when I finally step out from behind my PDF copy of the basic rules and tell everyone what I think of where D&D is heading…
Feb 022014
My husband and I are coordinators for D&D Encounters. We schedule, organize, and supply the program, while our local favorite gaming store supplies the space. As we approach the final weeks of the current season of Encounters, I decided to reflect on the changes to the Encounters program and how these changes have affected the program…
Jan 272014
Alignment has always been the sticky wicket of Dungeons & Dragons. It presents an objective set of labels to govern the inherently subjective nature of ethical and moral conduct. It’s adjudication – and even the value of its presence in the game – has long been debated, and will continue to be so long as it remains part of the game…
Jumping into D&D Next
Filed as: Editorial
3 Responses »
Jan 212014
Not too long ago, I participated in the Free RPG Day event Vault of the Dracolich. Determined to help out my local store (which I do often because they’re awesome), I signed up to DM for the event…
The Next Epic, part four
Filed as: Editorial
4 Responses »
Jan 202014
Tradition and innovation have always been natural opposites, as one seeks to maintain an existing set of practices while the other seeks to revise them, or even create new practices entirely. For Dungeons & Dragons, tradition had been a much stronger motivating force until the advent of Third Edition, when innovation was given a much greater role during its design.
Jan 152014
Thinking about it (as I have, lately) the current D&D Next playtest project is much like a train ride…
The Next Epic, part three
Filed as: Editorial
No Responses »
Jan 062014
The turn of the millennium had comparatively little impact on the world. The same could not be said for Dungeons & Dragons, however…
The Next Epic, part two
Filed as: Editorial
No Responses »
Jan 062014
The evolution of D&D with regards to mandated end-points of character progression – and ways to bypass those end-points – was not a precise one…
The Next Epic, part one
Filed as: Editorial
2 Responses »
Jan 062014
Given that D&D Next is still a little ways off, and that its module regarding epic-level game-play is likely a bit further than that, it’s worthwhile to look back at the history of the game and seeing how each version of it dealt with the concept of going beyond the upper limits.