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Thread: Dungeon Mastering

  1. #1
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    Default Dungeon Mastering

    I am currently DMing a D&D 3.5 game. ive been playing for about 5 years or so and have done short stints at DM but this is my first full fledged campaign. ive read online different tips but am unsuccessfully looking for a forum that is dedicated to the art of DMing. anyone know of one or something similar?

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    Community Leader Facebook Connected Steel General's Avatar
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    Have you tried EN-World???
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  3. #3

    Default Enworld is probably the largest, but...

    As SG mentioned, ENworld is probably the largest online community, but there are many...

    http://www.enworld.org
    http://www.gnomestew.com
    http://www.roleplayingtips.com

    The latter two are specifically GM's Tips, but not necessarily just 3.5, rather many or any RPG.

    You have to remember that most of these sites cater to 4.0 as much as 3e or earlier systems, as well as other systems like White Wolf, CoC and many others. Look at each site's archives as well, as 3.5 is now an older or "legacy" system.

    I play Paizo Pathfinder RPG, which has been called 3.75, as they changed the mechanics of skills, grappling/combat maneuvers, altered feats and spells to get them more balanced. I think its worth a look, as Pathfinder is considered backwards compatible to 3.5 - where as 4.0 is completely different game. While some third party publishers still create new publications for the OGL system (3e), their numbers are decreasing. Pathfinder is current and growing, so I'd say its really worth a look - also the PRD (Pathfinder Resource Document) much like the SRD is available online for free access, so you don't have to buy the Pathfinder books to play, all the rules and the Bestiary are available online.

    And if you do check Pathfinder, then the sites to look at are:

    http://www.paizo.com
    http://www.d20pfsrd.com

    I'm sure there's more, that's off the top of my head - good luck in your endeavors!

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    Guild Artisan Aval Penworth's Avatar
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    Do go to the aforementioned sites, but Iron Crown Enterprises's "Gamemaster Law" is a great resource too. Ive been a game master since 1981 and I refer to it all the time. You can probably download the PDF from the ICE website. It covers many areas of DMing from world and story building to handling toublesome players. It is a Rolmemaster resource but ICE make sure that their stuff is readily applicable/ transferable to other systems. When it comes to advising DM's on how to run a campaign WotC have really lost their way, compared to ICE.
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    Guild Expert Greason Wolfe's Avatar
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    Default

    And, of course, there's that old 2nd Edition supplemental handbook, "Creative Campaigning." It might be hard to find these days, but it was a fairly good resource as well, particularly for GMs, very much like what Aval is describing in regards to ICE's Gamemaster Law.


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    Community Leader Facebook Connected tilt's Avatar
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    agree with the above - been a long time since I've played rolemaster, but Gamemaster Law would be worth checking out. And for a fun entry into gamemastering (and gaming) check out the videos on Wizards homepage where the guys behind Robot Chicken play D&D at wizards - perhaps you can pick up some tricks... and laughs
    regs tilt
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    Thanks for the replys, I will look into all of the above. checked out the pathfinder srd a little already kind of like some of the things they have done and am incorperating them in as house rules.

  8. #8

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    Look at the classes too, Pathfinder really beefed up all the basic classes. Everyone gets feats every odd level, but fighters get feats every level. Sorcerers get bloodline powers which grants 8 bonus feats, plus bloodline specific (Su) powers. Rangers get their favored enemy, but each time you get access to a new favored enemy, your previous chosen favored enemy gets an additional +1, that keeps going up with each new FE selection. Rogues get to Sneak Attack undead and constructs now, where in 3e those monsters were immune, plus Sneak attack keeps going up. All the classes get great capstone powers at 20th level.

    While its still very much like 3e, Pathfinder is more balanced and gives lower level characters a better survival rate than standard 3.5 characters. Lots of Save or Die spells have been altered to Save or take mucho damage, instead of Death. So there are many changes throughout, all built to make a better game. And Paizo the publishers have always made great adventure modules and campaigns (they call them Adventure Paths).

    I myself have already published the first of a 3 part mini-campaign for a feudal Japan-like/Asian Horror setting called Kaidan: a Japanese Ghost Story setting - and its officially a Pathfinder RPG compatible product! I really love their system. I'm glad you're giving it a chance.

    Good gaming!

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    Community Leader Jaxilon's Avatar
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    Depending on how much you homebrew you might want to check out: Campaign Builders Guild

    I pretty much tweak whatever I want to in order to make the game more enjoyable and have not really spent much time on this website but it seems like it might have some helpful folks as well.
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  10. #10
    Community Leader Facebook Connected tilt's Avatar
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    and some day - when you have the time ... take a look at 4th edition, in my opinion its much better than 3rd, well balanced and easy to play. But start by downloading the free kit from wizards homepage, then you don't have to pay until you've read
    regs tilt
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