Wizards of the Coast recently announced the release of a starter kit that gives a player everything they need to get started with 4th Edition D&D. The kit includes a basic ruleset, the first published adventure (Keep on the Shadowfell) and the free version of Character Builder, the last of which has been available for a while.
To keep things interesting, to give variation to play, and to keep characters from getting too awful strong in any one category (imbalance), DMs want to make sure that different types of encounters are placed into their campaigns. The primary encounters are categorized into three broad spectrums: Skill Challenges, Puzzles, and Combat. It is important that all of them are included in your campaign. Doing so, and rewarding appropriately, will ensure that the characters use the widest range of skills available to them.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve noticed a trend at my DnD table as more players have moved from the traditional pen(cil) and paper to having a laptop, notebook or, more frequently, a netbook or smartphone in front of them instead. In this article, I’ll explore some of the tools available to facilitate this move and explore my own experiences.
Whether you’re writing a novel or playing a role-playing game, there comes a time when you have to develop a character. There are a number of ways you can approach this and this series of articles will explore some of those.
I’ll start with the character development that I’ve dealt with the most: Developing a character for a role-playing game, specifically DnD.