What Do I Know About Playtests? One D&D Playtest 11-3-2022

What Do I Know?

DnD_Ampersand_4c_8_RGBThis week I put together my first 100% One D&D playtest. What that means is, I asked all of the players to create their characters using any of the rules in the current two playtest documents that applied to them. I wanted to put together an adventure that was relatively simple, but was going to interact with a number of the new rules.

All of the encounters I designed for this adventure ranged from Medium to Deadly, although the encounters they actually interacted with ended up being either Hard or Medium, according to the current encounter building guidelines.

The player characters we had for this playtest included the following:

NameRaceClassBackgroundSubclass
DoriArdlingRogueGuideThief
CarnakOrcRangerPit FighterHunter
RuhmvolHumanBardNobleCollege of Lore
IthlanaHalf-ElfSorcererNobleDraconic

The Pit Fighter and the Guide were custom backgrounds created by the players…

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D&D For Thirteen

Roleplay Rescue’s Blog

First session of the school D&D club today and I had thirteen players turn up, two of whom had played before and zero DMs (except me). It was a blast!

I gave them a classic Basic D&D character sheet and asked them to write their name at the top and then name their character. I explained what roleplaying is about – taking on a role in an imaginary world and making decisions as that character – and then told them the scenario.

“You are all villagers from a small hamlet in a rural area. Some creatures have raided the village and stolen several of the children in the night. As you awoke in the morning, you all agreed to pursue the creatures – whose tracks lead off into the dark forest. You have two hands – what do you grab as you rush out of the door?”

They each chose…

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PlayStation VR2 Announcement: Sony Reveals Release Date and Price

Sony has been teasing VR titles that are in the pipeline all year, and today, they announced a release date and price for the PlayStation VR2.

The PlayStation VR2 will launch February 22, 2023 for $549.99 USD. This price tag comes with the VR2 headset, PS VR2 Sense controllers and stereo headphones. People will be able to pre-order as soon as November 15th.

Notable features include:

  • 3D audio

  • Eye tracking

  • Headset feedback

  • Adaptive triggers/haptic feedback

  • OLED display with 4000 x 2040 HDR video format (2000 x 2040 per eye)

  • Slimmer and lighter headset design

  • Integrated vent for additional air flow

  • Lens adjustment dial

  • Panel refresh rate: 90Hz, 120Hz

A PlayStation VR2 Sense controller charging station was also listed at $49.99 USD.

But wait, there’s more! A Horizon Call of the Mountain VR2 bundle will also be launching at $599.99 USD. It will include a voucher code for the game…

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Top 5 Sourcebooks for New Dungeon Masters

Slick Dungeon's Dusty Tomes and Terrible Films


D&D Campaign Adventures for Mythic Odysseys of Theros - Available now @ Dungeon Masters Guild

Hello all, Slick Dungeon here. I can’t stand long intros to top 5 lists so I am going to get right into it. Just a couple of qualifiers first. These books are all intended to be used with the 5th edition of Dungeons & Dragons. Most Dungeon Masters who already have experience will likely have these books already so if that is you, this is probably not the post for you. But, if you are kind of new to Dungeons & Dragons and don’t exactly know where to start or which books are for what, these are the books I consider absolutely essential. You don’t necessarily need all of them to play but each one brings something of value for the new Dungeon Master. There is no particular order to these rankings because I do find them all equally valuable. Which ones are right for you is for you to…

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Unguarded Treasure

Roleplay Rescue’s Blog

Tomorrow, I host the first session of the new school club at the secondary school wherein I work. Seventeen students have signed up, so I think I will have my hands full. It’ll be interesting to find out how many are total newbies and if there are any other GM’s already playing.

The great thing is that I am able to take along a selection of useful gifts with which to encourage new players to become new GM’s, courtesy of the Roleplay Rescue Patrons. Big thank you to all of the August and October Patrons who have funded a big bag of goodies!

While the likelihood is that players will be wanting to play the current edition of Dungeons & Dragons, I want to make sure that different options are on hand. BecauseBasic Fantasy is free as a download and very cheap to get in print (about £5…

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Notable Games Coming to PlayStation, PC, and Xbox This Week — 31st October to 6th November

We sit here with a week to go before God of War Ragnarök descends upon us to wreak havoc on our consoles and it’s looking relatively tame despite the sheer amount of games releasing this week. We’d suggest using this time to sit back and relax with this week’s big release, Harvestella, and mentally steel yourself for next week’s big adventure.

Image:WRC Generations – The FIA WRC Official Game © 2022 Nacon

Here are the new games coming to PS5, PS4, PC, and Xbox this week across both physical and digital formats so you will know what’s coming out for your favorite Sony or Microsoft systems. Enjoy and remember to come back every week for all info about game releases!

1 November

© 2021 Neon Doctrine, Another Indie

  • The Legend of Tianding | Xbox Series X & XB1

  • Against the Storm | PC

  • Missile Command: Recharged | PC

2…

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D&D Diary – Forge of Fury – Session 5

Game Night Blog

We find the Forge of Fury, un-animate several items, and an old puzzle returns to haunt us again.

Forge Fury 5e Foundry thumbContinuing the Tales From the Yawning Portal. 

When last we left our heroes, they had wandered off into the Glitterhame trying to find the key to a magical lock. They ended up in a lost sub-level of the dungeon, where they nearly got melted by an acidic ooze, nearly got poisoned by some stagnant water, and then nearly got eaten by a giant rock. But sadly, the party survived and managed to find the missing key, which turned out to be another piece of humming, etched metal of unknown origin, in a call back to my favorite puzzle from The Lost Mine of Phandelver, Session 14.

Running back to the sealed door, the key fit perfectly. With a whoosh of fresh air, the door opened to reveal a set of…

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Boss Rush Banter: Are Video Games Actually All That Expensive?

Video gaming is one of the most popular past times in the world. Currently, it is estimated that there are nearly 3 billion active video gamers across the globe, generating revenue for an industry that hopes to reach $337 billion USD by 2027.

For decades, newly released video games typically released at a suggested retail price of $59.99 USD. However, with the launch of the next generation consoles PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, most new games now go for $69.99 USD. This bump in the price has been justified by developers to cover higher development and marketing costs on the more powerful hardware.

Masahiro Sakurai, famed creator of the Kirby and Super Smash Bros. franchises, has recently said on his new YouTube channel that in his personal opinion, video games are actually quite cheap. His reasoning is that, for an adult, there aren’t too many other activities that offer…

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My 6e Wishlist – Dungeon Master’s Guide

The Nerdd

When they announced One D&D, the next edition that is beyond editions, I was skeptical. I started calling it 5.5e, because it was supposed to be “backward compatible.” However, now seeing the playtests, and the directions they are wanting it to go, it already does not seem to be backwards compatible, because of the different bonuses from races, backgrounds, how abilities work, etc. In that case, let’s just make the game the Sixth Edition, and be willing to change more.

This is the second part, just the Dungeon Master’s Guide, with the Player’s Handbook already out, and the Monster Manual coming soon.

Right now the books are designed in part for someone to look something up, and I want to change them to help you create something from scratch. Instead of being from Waterdeep in Faerun, I want characters to be from NewCity in CustomWorld. Then, if you are running…

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