I'll Never Go Without a Grid Again!

Actual picture of our gaming table. 

I had my first experience playing Dungeons and Dragons on a grid with minis about a year or two ago... Which you may find strange, as I've been playing now for over 20 years.

The group I'd played in just... never bothered. We always kinda just drew out rough maps of the area with x's for bad guys, and initials for our pcs. We'd scratch out the symbols, and draw arrows to where the new one are to show that they'd moved. We just kinda estimated the space, which truth be told, my brother handled most of that, as he loves numbers so much that when he takes a crap it actually comes out a number "2"... He can tell you how high a mountain needs to be to be seen at X distance, and whether or not you'd be able to see it on the horizon if you were say, on a boat, or whatever elevation... Or how many rounds it would take to run the circumference of a "thing" while doing x y and z, etc...

I'm a math-bonehead, so I just take it for fact when he says it. We have had other part time players question my brother's math, and it all checked out numerous times...

So when I say "we estimated" it's really a pretty accurate thing in our case.

I'd always felt like using minis and a board would be too much unnecessary work when a piece of paper worked well enough. I also liked the fact that D&D was NOT a "board game" and I guess I felt like it I played with minis and a grid, I'd feel more like I was playing a board game like Monopoly or something.

However, what I didn't know what just how easy it is to use a grid with things that are available these days. The one our current GM uses is basically a 6-piece jigsaw puzzle made out of whiteboard material. The material is divided in a grid specifically for table top D&D-like RPGs.

The quick little sketches are still in effect, it's just done in dry erase marker. Also, there's no possibility for someone to dispute the GM's judgement when he/she says "No, you probably wouldn't make it to him on this turn, but next turn, no problem".

Now, having played with the grid and the minis, I don't think I'd enjoy playing without it as much. It's become such a great tool for our games.

Do you play with minis and a grid?

4E Druids are Awesome

So I finally got to play my druid to good effect the other night. Holy awesome!

I've never been a fan of the traditional "Summon Nature's Ally" but in 4E It's fricken awesome. I summoned 3 big snakes to take care of business for me. And they did. BAD ASS.

That is all. Really don't have a lot to share about the session, even though it was like, close to 8 hours long, other than I had a great time. I highly recommend playing a Druid in 4e.

Do it!

My Third Dose of 4E Goes Badly

So if you've been reading here, or perhaps just following my twitter stream, you know that I'm playing around a bit in 4E.

My brother and a couple friends have been playing for some time, and invited me to join. Problem is, they're 11th level.

We played a small "aside" campaign at 3rd level, which wasn't so bad for me, as I've been playing D&D for a long time anyway. I read through the rules, and generated a character using the WoTC Character Creator. Algernon Lawrence Ward. ...The game was started buy a friend who for some reason had mandated that names were just basic, if perhaps a little 17th century England... One of the characters in the game is Matt. Very confusing for me...

Anyway, he's a warlock striker, and was oodles of fun to play! Unfortunately, that "aside" was only about two sessions long. But the intent was to get used to the combat mechanics, which I think it really kinda did.

We scheduled the "main" game, and I spoke with the DM about the type of character I wanted to play. I've always had this idea in mind for a Druid type character, who wasn't much of a animal - guy... though of course, being a druid he'd have to have some affinity, but his main focus is plants. I had in mind something of a pyromancer, though instead of fire, plants... A... Plantmancer, if you will.

The character I had in mind is a very neutral person. He doesn't like to kill, but will if he must. If he can instead incapacitate, or somehow diffuse whatever danger is going on, he will. Obviously, a controller type.

This is kind of a divergence for me, I'm far more comfortable meeting resistance head-on. I've always been more in my element as a 3.5e fighter, or some kind of DPS (Striker, in 4e), but I love the role play aspect of D&D the most, so at the end of the day, I don't mind not knowing the mechanics so well, since role play never really changes.

My DM created a pretty fantastic character for me, and the day finally came to play him. I had a previous engagement early in the day, which ran over the time I thought it would, and I found myself a bit late to the D&D session that was actually AT my house... So we rushed home.

Halfway home, I realized that a substantial amount of my peripheral vision was missing. I was getting a migraine.

I get migraines maybe four or five times a year. If you look them up, I get just about every single symptom you can find, and perhaps one or two you may not. A migraine for me, has historically been the end of my day.

I (very nervously and carefully) drove the rest of the way home, and found my DM sitting in his car outside my house... Fortunately, he'd only been there about fifteen minutes or so. We went inside, I took my drugs, and resolved to power through this migraine.

I didn't make it far. I couldn't focus, I couldn't retain information. I was reading my abilities, and by the time I got three words into the description, I'd forgotten the first two. I was exceedingly disappointed, but I had to turn in. I gave my sheet to the DM and asked if he'd mind taking over. I went to bed, asked the gang to hit the lights on their way out.

I caught up with the gang the next day, conveyed my apologies and such. "Your character is pretty f*cking awesome," they told me.

I can't wait to play him...

Hell, I don't even have a name for this guy yet!

So needless to say, my third go at 4e was a bust. My next weekend was equally disappointing, if you'd like to read about it, it's here... Has nothing to do with D&D, but includes the brewing of beer, so... It's still pretty awesome.