Candid thoughts on pixels, polyhedrons, and paper.
I may have fallen behind in keeping up with the twitterverse lately, but I’m back in action now – Damn the Holidays and their incessant need for tending to! Be sure to browse this weeks devilish tips for use at striking back against your smart assed players Father Winter while gaming this weekend! Also, if you happen to be in the market for some old school inspiration for your D&D game head over to myrpgame and check out my review of “The Dungeon Alphabet” by Goodman Games.
I probably won’t manage to sneak in another blog post until the new year, but there’s still a possibility of an evil Santa Claws or some candy cane zombies so stay tuned. However in the event procrastination/obligations do take hold, have yourselves a happy holiday and a safe new year!
DM’s – Your PCs are in a snowy and frozen area, whats the worst condition / monster / hazard you can throw their way?
@BlindGeekUK – I used dire winter wolf iceclaws, nasty beasts, and I had a terrain effect that would have dealt
@soklemon – I like the Remhoraz, or an avalanche. Ice Trolls can be fun also.
@Trollitc – A hugely fat human, who can fly, is dressed in red and white, with a sinister laugh who knows the party’s alignment and names.
@infocynic – A horde of evil snow elves/gnomes led by a large troll in a red suit. He commands them (minor) all to throw ice balls.
@deadorcs – A Remorahz that flings out 2d4 minion ice-yetis every other round until slain.
@Level30Yinzer – last time was frost zombies and outracing an avalanche
@lotsofsnow – Some sort of frozen ghouls that burst from the ice and attempt to drag bloodied PCs beneath.
@Gencon4James – Water elementals. Nothing is more dangerous in the cold than being wet, plus they can basically manipulate the terrain.
@DireFlail – Tarrasque. 3 hours post-breakup with his girlfriend. 2 hours post-buying a swimming pool full of Wild Turkey.
@Neldar – save or die to exposure
@VelvetSouljah – I’d do something like an “ice golem” type thing where snow drifts around PCs swirl to life and assemble into a creature.
@TheWanderer14 – Crevasse
@ve4grm – Lava, lots of lava!
@danielbalard – mine have fought giant snow worgs/kreashar and a fire breathing white dragon
@Naloomi – Remorraz – use their heat & tunneling to separate party members.
So it’s been a busy week for the community so far, we have our newfound character builder, a virtual tabletop announced and lots of talk about the Monster Vault. Another cool prop by SlyFlourish and Living Traps over at the Save vs Death blog were some personal highlights for me.
I managed to eek out two more Left 4 Dead zombies for my Pixels & Polyhedrals series (now all complete with video examples), and I’ve got just one left then it’s on to final revisions and release into the community via .monster files! I also got to take part in the DM Roundtable podcast which was awesome and I hope to do again sometime!d
This week’s #D5C is dedicated to dungeons, because I love them and because I know you do too! I love the responses I’m getting from people and I hope the series is helping us feed off of each others ideas as well as maybe earn a few people some new followers for their genius ideas! Enjoy!
DM’s – what game / story (or meta) elements make your players the most nervous at the game table?
@TheWeem – The unknown. Ex: Showing them something seemingly more powerful than them that uses mechanics outside the “rules” box
@BlindGeekUK – the NPC’s knowing all about them.
@TheShaggyDM – Pulling out a big, mean-looking mini, plonking it on the table, and saying “all you have to do…is get through this.”
@ExaltedDarkness – as far as game elements, I think math is the hardest for my PCs, lol. Combat modifiers get pretty tricky…
@Neldar – Dragons, 3D terrain, zombie dragons, sand, overwhelming helplessness
@DigitalDraco – I find sound effects and frenetic (or otherwise appropriate) battle music are particularly useful!
@TheAngryDM – I have a d20 that I have for 15 years that has become famous at my table for crits. My players fear it like nothing else
This weeks chapter of D5C asked people for dastardly ways to trap, maim, and poison characters. A question regarding a monsters worst behavior helped me discover that there is a lot of poo flinging and humping going on apparently, you people disgust me! (just kidding).
It’s also come to my attention that many DM’s fantasize about poisoning their players more often than their characters. Enjoy reading!
DM’s – the most deadly trap that includes falling has what awaiting its victim at the bottom of said fall…?
@deadorcs / @Wesdecker – A teleporter that relocates you to the top of the trap for an infinite fall.
@digitaldraco – Orcus?
@obsidiancrane – The Sarlac?
@twwombat – Whipped cream. Too light to swim in, too heavy to breathe. And a humiliating way to die. Thanks to #Grimtooth for that one.
@bluwaterdragoon – Oil. It looks like murky water, but just try lighting that torch.
@etherworld / @TedsBlog – Corrosive Acid.
@Gencon4James / @lotsofsnow – A little trapped black hole (sphere of annihilation) like the trap in the original Tomb of Horrors.
@_Rovalde / @TheBeardyGamer / @Brindy – A gelatinous cube
@Whorrak – Another that trap that includes falling, obviously.
@samldanach – Oubliette. Spherical hole, smooth sides, no way to climb out, prolly broke legs in fall.
@tadbo – I would think a simple shaft with downward ridges, at the bottom of which awaits an open portal to (you pick) or an ooze.
What’s the best way to get some poison coursing through a PC’s veins?
In my continued efforts to provide you with only the finest fodder for utterly crushing your players, I bring you another guest post from one of the best trap aficionados in the D&D community – Sersa V.
In case you haven’t heard of him he runs a blog that specializes in hardcore encounters for 4e, put best in his own words: “D&D hardcore – exceedingly lethal dungeon challenges for the D&D 4th Edition game” also known as ‘4thcore’. The sheer amount of content and the quality within is a rarity, so if you haven’t checked his out yet I highly suggest you do so.
The trap outlined below is not for the faint of heart and is definitely a good way to start (or end) an encounter with a bang. It may even force some of those more passive players to think twice before hanging around inside dungeon foyers like a bump on a log while their fellow party members advance boldly. Not that there’s anything wrong with hanging back but it’ll definitely keep em’ on their toes after encountering one of these. I’ll definitely be using it when kicking off my new campaign tonight.
In the coming weeks I should be outlining my campaigns progress via Obsidian Portal. I’ll also be doing a follow up post or two here to let you know how my newfound anti “care bear” DM’ing style is going. Will I be able to fight my hand holding tendencies and maybe actually kill someone this time around should the situation arise? Will I stop fudging so many die rolls? I certainly hope so.
Without further adieu, the trap:
