Sly Flourish

This is the first of a series of short videos focusing on Dungeons and Draogns 4th Edition table tips. In this episode we’re going to look at using black t-shirts as a fog of war, pipe cleaners for area markers, egg timers to keep your players moving, bottle rings for marking miniatures, and poker chips for action points and bonuses.

I’m hoping to do these videos from time to time if people think they’re useful. Sometimes it’s more useful to actually see the stuff in action than it is to read about it. Next, I’m thinking of discussing a few more DM tips from behind the screen.

Let me know what you think!

Quite a few D&D players and DMs have been all about the Dragon Age these past couple of months. While not a perfect game, it shows just how far computer and console RPGs can go. There’s a lot to love in Dragon Age and a lot to learn as well. Today we’re going to discuss three interesting ideas DMs might take away from this popular computer RPG.

Meaningful Choices on the Rails

There’s piles of discussions on the net discussing the benefits and disadvantages of games run on the rails versus games run in a sandbox. Dragon Age shows us how a game can essentially follow a single storyline from point A to point B to point C and so on without feeling like it’s on the rails. There are tons of decisions to make in Dragon Age, with many of them feeling like they will have a heavy impact on the story. In reality, however, you’ll see the same general situations regardless of what choices you make.

Learning how to do this in our own game can make an on-the-rails plot driven game feel like a sandbox game. We can do this by placing decision trees throughout our games that don’t necessarily impact the overall plot direction but change how the players get THROUGH that plot direction. It’s a hard lesson to learn but very valuable when learned. It can make any single-focused campaign feel like a rich and deep world full of choices and opportunities.

Build Generic Environments for Random Encounters

I’ve generally avoided random encounters in my D&D 4e games. They always felt like filler to me, simply ways to kill time. However, completely avoiding random encounters has removed some of the spice from my game. Dragon Age shows us how we can design encounter environments and re-use them for a variety of random encounters. Use your dungeon tiles to build a generic street scene, a wilderness scene, a dungeon scene, and a cavern scene. Use and re-use these encounter environments for random encounters throughout your game just like they re-use the street scenes and battlefield encounter environments in Dragon Age.

Combat Doesn’t have to be to the death

As a DM we might often develop a rich villain only to have him quickly killed without hardly saying a word. Dragon Age often has situations where the final blow isn’t truly final. Instead of having the final blow kill your villain, have it be a mortal wound or stunning blow that puts the enemy at the mercy of the PCs. This can become an opportunity for those choices we talked about earlier. Should the PCs finish him off or let him live? Are there dangerous repercussions if he dies? Preventing a final blow from killing your boss villains can add rich new storytelling opportunities into your game.

These are only a few tips a DM might pick up by playing Dragon Age. For more interesting tips, check out Hannah Lipskey’s Roleplaying Tips article, “9 Things Dragon Age Taught Me About Running a Better Game“.

Like this article? Consider using these links to purchase Dragon Age: Origins from Amazon for the PC, Xbox 360, or Playstation 3.

In previous Monster Optimizations we’ve looked at the Bodaks and Wights, Shadow Dragons, and Ghouls and Deathlocks. In Today’s Monster Optimzation we’re going into the high heroic tier with a nasty combination to fit any adventure or location with a touch of the Far Realm. Today we’re going to look at the nasty mix of Foulspawn Manglers and Foulspawn Seers. This combination is courtesy of @healingstirge.

Like the Shadow Dragon optimization, it’s combat advantage that makes this combination work. The Foulspawn Mangler is a level 8 skirmisher that gains +2d6 damage when it has combat advantage. Unlike PC rogues, there is no limit to the number of times the Mangler can use this extra damage – as long as it has combat advantage, it gains +2d6 damage. It also gains this damage from ranged attacks, assuming it’s target is granting combat advantage from range which can often be difficult to receive. That’s where the Seer comes in.

The Foulspawn Seer has two different attacks that can grant the Mangler this combat advantage. Warp Orb is an at-will range 10 attack that dazes the struck target. Disorient Blast is a huge close blast 5 that likewise dazes the target. And, as we all know, Daze grants opponents combat advantage.

The nice thing about granting CA with a daze is that flanking is no longer required. The Mangler’s “Bone Daggers” attack gives it two ranged attacks in a single standard action. Against a dazed target, this does 1d4+2d6+3 on each hit.

When building out this encounter, it’s probably best to put in more than a single seer. A single seer is a lightning rod for PCs but two of them might stand a bit longer. The seers should be hard to reach, perhaps up on platforms or ledges with enough room to use their close blast 5 attacks. Their basic attack can also push 1 square so if the ledge is small enough, they might toss PCs off of it.

Likewise, you might put a pair of the manglers up high and have them ready their actions with the following combination: The mangler readys an action to use “Bone Daggers” on any target within 10 that is dazed by a seer. The seer attacks a target with “Warp Orb”. When the orb hits, the mangler triggers and tosses two daggers at that target. If all attacks hit, the target is dazed and takes 1d8+2d4+4d6+9.

To defend your gauntlet of Seers and Manglers, you probably want to toss in some Foulspawn Berserkers or maybe a Foulspawn Hulk. A single Hulk would do nicely to attract the attacks of the party while the Seers and Manglers do their mangling.

So here’s your final Foulspawn Gauntlet encounter. This is a level 11 “challenging” encounter designed for a party of level 8 PCs at a total of 3300 exp.

2x Foulspawn Seers

1x Foulspawn Hulk

4x Foulspawn Manglers

The room is a wide hall with a single platform in the center and upper walkways on the sides. There is a nasty foulspawn goo on the walls of the room and the platform requiring a hard DC19 athletics or acrobatics check to climb to the platforms. All four Manglers begin on the upper platforms on the side walls. One Seer might begin on the center platform with the other on the wall. Two of the manglers stay on the walls, readying actions to hit dazed foes while two might drop down to flank with the hulk. The hulk wades into the party attempting to take the bulk of the damage while the Seers and Manglers do their thing.

To scale this battle for six PCs, add two more manglers or another hulk. For seven, add another seer as well as two more manglers but be prepared for a very long battle. To reduce it for four players, remove one of the manglers.

Thus we have another powerful combination that is sure to bring a bit of fear back into your 4th edition game. Remember, with great power comes great responsibility. Use it carefully!

I had the wonderful opportunity to join Jeff Greiner (aka, @Squach) on the Tome Show 124, released last night. Jeff and I talk in detail about the Foulspawn Seer / Foulspawn Mangler monster optimization I’ll post this Monday, building it into a full encounter that is sure to challenge a properly balanced party.

We also talk about cooperative storytelling, something I will likely write more about in the future.

As always, it was great to be on the show and I hope to be there again soon.

Dragons are the absolute staple monster in Dungeons and Dragons (hell, it’s even in the name). 4th Edition did a great job of breaking these beasts out from the rest of the pack with the concept of “solo” creatures.At level 11 and above, however, dragons become less and less dangerous by themselves compared to the great power PCs wield at paragon and above.

Today we’re going to look at some alternate or additional powers you can use to build powerhouse dragons that keep the threat high and put the fear of the Red Ancient Wyrm back into your PCs.

Ranged Breath Weapon

The breath weapon is the iconic attack of all dragons. Unfortunately, it is often only manifested with a close blast 5 attack. This isn’t bad, but it takes a bit too much threat off of the ranged-attackers. Consider adding a ranged breath attack that shares the same recharge as the main breath weapon. The flavor for this sort of attack is the fireball breath rather than the cone of flame. Some dragons might even take flight and drop one of these on the party as it soars overhead. Here’s an example for an adult red dragon.

Ranged Breath Weapon (standard, recharge , this shares the same recharge as Breath Weapon)  Fire

Area burst 2 within 10; 2d12+6 fire damage. Miss: Half damage.

This attack gives the dragon more options to put the heat (pun intended) on all the characters in the battle instead of only the front line.

Multiple Turns Per Round

Some solo monsters in D&D are given multiple turns per around on different initiatives. For some powerful dragons, consider using this same feature. Here’s an example power:

Frenzy

The dragon acts two times in a round, on initiative counts 20 and 10. It cannot delay or ready actions. On each turn, it has a standard and move action instead of its normal allotment of actions. It can use one immediate action between each pair of turns.

Now your dragon has a lot more mobility and is a lot more active in the battle than it typically would be.

Shake Off Marks

Marks are the bane of solo creatures. A single fighter or paladin has the ability to completely tie down a single solo creature with a well placed and well maintained mark. One way to help control this is to give powerful dragons a chance to shake off these marks. Here’s a sample power:

Refocus (Free action, Recharge 5,6)

The dragon removes any existing marks.

With that, a dragon can occasionally shake off marks before it performs a big and powerful series of attacks.

Give Dragons the Heroslayer Power

The “Heroslayer” power is another great way to counteract marks. Consider giving certain dragons the following power:

Heroslayer

While this dragon is marked, it gains a +2 bonus to attack rolls and a +5 (or +10 if it’s a level 21+ monster) bonus to damage rolls against the creature that marked it.

This gives your defending PCs pause when they place or keep marks on this powerhouse dragon. Now the decision is up to them. This works a lot better than simply making a dragon immune to marks.

Prevent Lock-Down

There’s little more frustrating to a DM than to watch a powerful boss creature become locked-down with a series of stuns and dazes. While a stun is well balanced against a single creature, a stunned dragon is the equivalent of stunning five creatures at once. At the higher tiers of play, it is very possible to stun and daze a dragon every round until it is dead. To prevent this, consider the following power:

Heroic Will

When stunned or dazed, the dragon instead loses its next standard action and grants combat advantage.

This prevents your fancy solo dragon from being pinned down with stuns and dazes the entire fight but still gives players a benefit for having stunned and dazed it.

Add Damage

Sometimes you might feel like your battle is dragging on and your dragon is no longer a real threat to the party. Consider boosting the dragon’s damage when it becomes bloodied with the following power:

Bloodied Rage

When bloodied, this dragon adds +1/2 level to damage.

This is a great way to ensure your dragon’s damage scales way up when it becomes bloodied. If this seems like too much damage, you might instead add +1d damage on all attacks. At paragon and above, most parties have lots of ways to mitigate damage. This power insures that the battle becomes significantly more dangerous later on in the fight.

Not For Everyone

It is important to remember that these alternate powers are not for all groups. Some groups will have a hard enough time fighting a dragon without powering up the dragon like this. Some groups, however, have so many ways to mitigate damage and lock up solos that these tools may become necessary. For them, dragons no longer appear as much of a threat. Give these powers a try and put the fear of dragons back into your game.

One of my favorite holiday traditions is watching as much James Bond as I can over Thanksgiving and Christmas. This year, while watching the new Casino Royale, I was thinking about how each action scene in each James Bond movie is similar to a D&D 4e Encounter. It was the gun battle in the sinking building in Venice where this really occurred to me. How would a D&D encounter work if the encounter area were slowly sinking? What if it were sinking into molten rock? That would add an interesting twist.

It occurred to me that most action movies have the same problem we 4e Dungeon Masters have. How do you make the same thing, a gun battle in action movies and a D&D battle for us DMs, into something new and unique every time? If there is any action series that has had to do this over and over again, it’s James Bond.

Consider the introduction of “Tomorrow Never Dies”. In what would normally be a typical shootout, James Bond has to capture a Russian fighter and fly a nuclear bomb out of a weapons bazaar before a cruise missile blows the entire place up. It has a good purpose “get the bomb out” and a fixed ending “before the missile hits the place”. Both of these concepts make for an excellent and unique D&D encounter.

The Spy Who Loved Me is one of my favorite of the Roger Moore bond movies. We have quite a few unique scenes that would make good D&D encounters. First, we have the ski-slope shoot out. This reminds me of the gnolls on flying disks artwork in the original Eberron sourcebook. Later we have a battle in an ancient egyptian ruin. All throughout we have villains who turn into allies who turn back into villains and back again with the Soviet agent Major Anya Amasova. That gal is built for skill challenges.

In Die Another Day we have a huge gun battle in a collapsing ice hotel. The concept of collapsing ruins, burning taverns, and falling warships is a great way to add to the suspense of any encounter.

The James Bond movies are full of these seeds. Take some time next time Spike is having a James Bond marathon and jot down all of the possible encounter ideas you can come up with as you watch James Bond save the free world 22 times in 72 hours.

Somehow I missed posting my tweets from November. Below is an archive of all of the Sly Flourish DM Tip Twitter posts for November 2009. Get your own daily DM tips at http://twitter.com/slyflourish!

#dnd tip: Switch a dracolich’s stuns to dazes for most of its attacks except the roar. Players hate stuns. Give him a bloodied nec aura.

#dnd tip: Catch up on your Hitchcock before running an Eberron game: “Man Who Knew too Much” and “North by Northwest” are classics.

#dnd tip: Pick out a theme, even a minor one, for every night’s worth of adventure. What is their immediate goal?

#dnd tip: Use 5×8 cards to print from the Monster Builder and print your room descriptions. They’re handy at the table.

#dnd tip: not every battle has to be against a perfectly sized group of monsters. Throw out a single elite or pack of roaming minions.

#dnd tip: Try using a single initiative roll and order for an entire night’s worth of encounters.

Spending my weekend painting Dungeon Decor miniatures: http://bit.ly/dungdecor I picked them up on the Ebay. #dnd

#dnd tip: Page 42 DMG limited high damage can make for a suitable end to a failed skill challenge. It’s less hated than taking surges.

@SlyFlourish Free heroic diseases: http://initorwhat.blogspot.com/2009/10/its-dirty-dirty-world-compilation-is.html (via @deadorcs)

#DND Tip: Let your PCs create a portion of your world. Let them design a tavern or homestead to fill your world. (via @matt_james_FR)

#dnd tip: Don’t forget about diseases. They’re good to keep your players on their toes outside of combat and for failed skill challenges.

@newbiedm That’s actually a bit more complicated to make paper than my method: crumple them up, tear the edges, and soak them in coffee.

RT @newbiedm: Video Tutorial for parchment creation, #dnd handouts, etc… http://tinyurl.com/yhzocnd from the pirate & buccaneer @tekno …

Great #dnd tips from @newbieDM including paying a lot of attention to auras of your monsters: http://bit.ly/6LR2os Excellent read!

#dnd tip: Jot down a dozen or so NPC names from a baby name book to keep on hand. You don’t need a huge list all the time.

#dnd tip: Encourage the use of a dice-rolling box to prevent d20s from flying all over the room and getting eaten by dogs.

RT @newbiedm: New dm’s: make sure you read, re-read, and read again every line in a monster’s stat block. Auras, resistances, etc… #dnd

#dnd tip: Give your players a battle where they get to coordinate a defense or attack of a stronghold.

#dnd tip: Read a few modules ahead so you can drop seeds in for future plot-lines.

#dnd tip: Pay special attention to monster auras, immediates, and bloodied reactions. They’re very easy to forget.

New #dnd pics posted from our run through Nightwyrm Fortress: http://bit.ly/dndpics – I like this one a lot: http://bit.ly/2dWgpZ

#dnd tip: Don’t be afraid to mess with the math a bit in your game. Just try it out behind the screen first.

#dnd tip: Encourage your players to take camera-phone pics of your game and post them to the net. It helps all of us get better.

#dnd tip: Establish and post clear table rules for your D&D game like the rules they have for Craps in Vegas.

#dnd tip: Ask yourself if you’ve given each player character a chance to shine recently. Add in encounters focused on each PC.

Really great #dnd idea from @newbiedm: Write a one-page campaign synopsis to give to your players before a game. http://bit.ly/GLe58

#dnd tip: Give your players a battle or two with lower-level creatures so they can feel truly powerful.

@novaugust Consider the budget of std actions – four minions have four standard actions as opposed to a single monster who has one. #dnd

#dnd tip from @hommlet: When designing house-rules, put yourself in the player and DM seat to ask yourself if its fair and just.

#dnd tip: Finish in the middle of an exciting battle or right at the beginning. Leave your players excited to return.

#dnd tip: Don’t push your game beyond your planned time if you finish early. Leave your group hungry for more.

My level 20 Heroslaying Hydra got destroyed in about five rounds by my level 19 group. I should have added 2 green slaads. #dnd

Cool pics from @mike_schiller, a remote Skype player at my game last night: http://bit.ly/1FXFh1 http://bit.ly/3vJRvz #dnd

#dnd tip: Build your encounter design checklist: monsters, setting, terrain, environmental effects, flavor text, etc.

#dnd tip: Build out a detailed room but don’t stage a battle in it. Use it for clues or a skill challenge to make your players paranoid.

#dnd tip: Use the “Now or Future?” decision tree: Will your players take an advantage now or take it later?

#dnd tip: Buy some spare costume jewelry to act as a lich’s phylactery or other magical items. Props are always good.

I’m weird. As a DM, I’m always looking to challenge the party with tough. As a player, I’m trying to ensure I never miss an attack. #dnd

@pdunwin it takes a LOT to kill a paragon level PC. One attack won’t do it.

@newbiedm @asmor. I fudge if I feel like a boss monster’s trick will go unknown otherwise. No one likes a total cakewalk.

#dnd tip: A Shadar-kai bard would definitely look like Iggy Pop. “Search and Destroy” is a good theme song for this character.

#dnd tip: Ask your players for their character’s theme song. A theme song can go a long way to define a character.

#dnd tip: Promote the adoption of pets but ensure the pet doesn’t take up a turn. How about a squirrel familiar that grants +1 perception?

#dnd tip: Set up a buddy system to pair up ADD players with players who pay attention so they can work as a team.

#dnd tip: Use Legos as an alternative to tiles and figures for #DnD. http://gunth.com/brickquest/ (via @4E_DnD_DM)

#dnd tip: Remember, a good DM is a facilitator for group storytelling. Don’t laugh maniacally when a PC turns to stone.

#dnd tip from @healingstirge: Keep Dungeon Tiles in place with rubber mesh bar liner. Reusable, inexpensive. http://tinyurl.com/yhtu2ky

#dnd tip: Remember that daze, blind, stun, and knocked prone grants combat advantage. Optimize creature mixes to take advantage of this.

Below is an archive of all of the Sly Flourish DM Tip Twitter posts for December 2009. Get your own daily DM tips at http://twitter.com/slyflourish!

Great #dnd article from roleplaying tips: 9 Things Dragon Age Taught Me About Running a Better Game: http://bit.ly/learnfromdao

#dnd tip: Don’t bore your friends with tales of your D&D adventure. It’s like talking about your child’s poopie diapers. No one cares.

#dnd tip: Don’t plan your campaign further out than the next two adventures. Let the story grow organically from the actions of the PCs.

#dnd tip: Don’t fall to deus-ex machina when your group is captured and held prisoner. Work with the players to find an escape they control.

#dnd tip. Want a classic feel? Use fewer monsters, add +1/2 level to damage and give them lots of action points.

#dnd tip: Don’t get too caught up in your own storyline – remember this is your players’ story, not yours!

Want to track the latest D&D 4th Edition blogs? Follow @4eblogs or visit http://4eblogs.com and subscribe to the RSS feed. #dnd

#dnd tip: For fast and furious battles, average out monster damage instead of rolling dice for normal monsters.

Really enjoying Corvus Corax’s Viator as a D&D soundtrack. Mixing it with pop 80s and 90s tunes for an electic Tarrantino-esque soundtrack.

#dnd tip: Starting your PCs out as agents of an Eberron noble house is a great break from the “you all meet in a bar” PC origin.

#dnd tip: Describe the components of a trap and let your player talk about how they’re going to screw with it.

#dnd tip: Find out what fiction your players enjoy reading or watching. Find ways to bring that into the story you’re running.

.@newbiedm I play successes and failures in a skill challenge by ear. If the players are having fun, I keep it going. If not, I end it. #dnd

RT from @Wizards_DnD: Schwalb discusses playing with a large groups and offers tips for games of all sizes http://bit.ly/56y6lF #dnd -Great!

@DaveTheGame @gamefiend I’d love to hear more about #dnd soundtracks. I like mixing instrumental with pop / rock Tarrantino style.

Excellent Dungeon’s Master article on Epic Tier: http://bit.ly/6spFvQ – particularly on the “let them have fun” tip. Great article!

#dnd tip: Having trouble bringing your players into your world? Find pop culture references that get them excited or entertain them.

#dnd things to do on #snowpocalypse2009: organize dungeon tiles, play “Dark Awakenings”, outline 21-30 campaign, sign up for SynDCon. Yours?

#dnd tip: Use household items as physical props in your dungeon. A flower vase with some lights in it quickly becomes a soul-well.

#dnd tip: Use Mega-Mini’s “Dungeon Decor” to spice up your Dwarven Forge setups. Good dungeons are in the details.

#dnd tip: Print out Quest and NPC cheat-sheets for your players to make it easy for them to remember who is who and what they need to do.

#dnd tip: Keep the number of new NPCs you introduce to five or less. Too many and your players will never remember them. Three is preferred.

#dnd tip: DMG2 p 202-203 has a great list of Sigil’s notable NPCs with many built in hooks. Use it for character driven Sigil adventures.

#dnd tips: Seek opportunities to play as a player rather than DM all the time. It gives you a view from the other side of the table.

RT @cwgabriel: follow @PADnD if you want to hear how my #DnD games go.

Making play-lists for my #dnd game on Wednesday. David Bowie’s “Cat People” is a cool theme song for a shady god-slaying assassin.

#dnd tip: Always be careful with betrayal in your game. Some might think its cool, but some may really hate it. Especially PC betrayal.

#dnd tip: Keep track of diseases. They are one of the few mechanics that last after extended rests. Don’t forget about them!

#dnd tip: Consider the physical mechanics of traps. How would an ancient spike-trap still work after 10,000 years of neglect?

#dnd tip: Come up with a theme song for your arch-villains. Get your players used to it so they recognize it before the villain shows up.

After a lot of tweaking, http://4eblogs.com/ is up and running solid. Subscribe to the latest 4e blog postings at @4eblogs. RSS as well.

RT @newbiedm: New Post: “Is the encounter worth it?” http://newbiedm.com/2009/12/23/is-the-encounter-worth-it/ #dnd #4e

.@newbiedm Paragon is a big change – probably the biggest. On solos, cut hp by 1/2 and boost dmg by +1/2 level to make them exciting. #dnd

Bravo to Peter Lee and @Wizards_DND for the “Lost Library” adventure: http://bit.ly/62012l – it uses both Dungeon Tiles and #dnd minis!

.@aquelajames’s DDI Dungeon Dressing article is really fantastic. Great tips for pimping up dungeons and encounters. http://bit.ly/81APOQ

#dnd tip: Put a dot in your rulebooks next to rules changed with the WOTC errata. A red dot can tell you which rules are out of date.

#dnd tip: Learn to love page 42 in the DMG and on your DM screen. Use it for ad-hoc challenges or random damage done to or by the PCs.

#dnd tip: Consider Stephen King’s favorite 10 villains as models for your nastiest NPCs: http://bit.ly/3XmMpz

#dnd tip: Use a PC skill-matrix spreadsheet to keep track of your PCs and their skills and develop challenges based on their choices.

Since posting my first Monster Optimization article on wraiths, I’ve had a lot of requests for some optimizations at the heroic tier. Today we’re going to set up an optimized encounter at around level 5 using Ghouls and the Deathlock Wight.

This optimization focuses on the “immobilize” status effect carried by both the Deathlock Wight and the Ghouls and its primary purpose is to set up the Ghoul’s “Ghoulish Bite” attack.

Ghoulish Bite states that the target must be immobilized, stunned, or unconscious (which they soon will be if you inflict this on them a couple of times). Though it drops the attack down by two (+10 vs AC instead of +12) this seems to make up for the fact that any of these conditions provide combat advantage (taking it back to +12). At level 5, that’s a pretty high attack score.

The Deathlock Wight’s primary enabler for this optimization is his Grave Bolt, a ranged 20 +6 vs Reflex attack that immobilizes his target.

One of the better ways to arrange this encounter is to put one or two Deathlock Wights in some hard-to-reach places, say platforms high up on a cavern or tomb wall. The ghouls should delay until after the wights with the wights targeting the PCs surrounded by the most ghouls. The ghouls might even ready an action to ghoul-bite as soon as the wight’s attack strikes. This might lose them the action, though, and it’s hard to explain why ghouls would be so tactically smart, so probably best to simply delay.

If the Wights are up on a high platform, they can throw some PCs off with their Horrific Visage ability.

The Deathlock Wights also have an interesting reanimate ability. Unfortunately, this ability only works on level 4 and below creatures instead of the level 5 wights. If you want to be particularly nasty, consider upping the wights to level 5 or 6. This gives them a bonus to attack with that nasty Grave Bolt and lets them reanimate ghouls once per wight per encounter. As long as the ghouls go right after the wights on the initiative, this can likewise set up a nasty situation: ghoul dies, PC stands next to ghoul corpse, wight minor actions to reanimate the ghoul than Grave Bolts the PC, ghoul ghoul-bites for 3d6+4.

So here’s your optimized heroic-tier encounter of true nastiness: Level 8 encounter designed for a party of level 5 heroes. six Ghouls and three level 5 Deathlock Wights in a cavern or tomb that puts the wights high up on platforms with the ghouls roaming around below. Your PCs won’t know what hit them, but their guaranteed to hate ghouls the rest of their lives – if they live at all.

I am a huge fan of Twyla Tharp’s book, The Creative Habit, and I’ve written before about the “idea box” for Dungeons and Dragons. In my spare time I am always looking for new and interesting ways to capture and store random bits of stuff in the virtual world with an eye towards archiving this stuff a thousand years. In this strange hobby, I’ve run across the program, Evernote, a few times.

I won’t waste too much time describing Evenote except to describe it as a system for capturing digital stuff and making it available on your PC or Mac, on your iPhone, and across the web.

Recently I’ve been using Evernote for my D&D games much like Twyla Tharp uses banker’s boxes for building Broadway shows. Whenever I find an interesting thing, whether it is a picture from the latest D&D gallery or a new song I’ve heard that inspired me, I throw it into Evernote. If I get a random idea when I’m out walking my dog, I can record it in Evernote and process it later. I can use Evernote items to outline adventures or write a paragraph of flavor text. I can even cut-and-paste interesting nasty beasts from the D&D compendium so I can have them on hand.

There are a lot of interesting ways to use Evernote as a Dungeon Master. Right now I store my random bits of stuff in it and then, when I’m ready, I build an actual adventure as an Evernote item. I don’t run a game using digital monster stat-blocks, I still prefer printing them out on 5×8 cards using the Monster Builder, but I will use it for flavor text during a game displayed off of my iPhone.

Evernote is built using notebooks and tags. A DM can build each campaign arc into its own notebook and throw all the interesting tidbits associated with that arc into that notebook. As the DM builds the arc, that notebook continues to store more and more useful bits of data.

One of the most important features of Evernote is the ability to get your stuff back out again. Both the PC and Mac versions of Evernote have ways to export your notes, although each seems to do it differently.

There’s a lot of interesting technology out there for Dungeon Masters. There’s been a lot of attention given to Google Wave as a way to run a collaborative D&D game. While I think such collaborative tools are quite interesting, it is personal organization tools like Evernote that really gets me excited to build a D&D game. Give it a try.