Artificer's Intuition

"A king's time as ruler rises and falls like the sun. One day, Simba, the sun will set on my time here, and will rise with you as the new king." - Mufasa, The Lion King I've been the default Dungeon Master since I started playing D&D.  I spent some time as a player, yet when my DM decided he didn't want to play anymore, the duty fell to me.  I jumped on it and haven't looked back since.  However, I realize that while I DM, there have been very little opportunities to let others DM and get some experience. My brother has spoken of DMing for a long time.  However, when it comes to large groups and large games, he always ends up being a player due to the fact that he's participating in the campaign, not working behind the scenes.  However, with the D&D Open Playtest, this gives a lot more opportunities for one-shot games and exploration of the rules and just trying to have fun with the various aspects of the game.  And so, my group gave him th

"That which does not kill us makes us stronger." - Friedrich Nietzsche Those of us who play Dungeons and Dragons to create fantastic and wonderful characters are often paralyzed with fear during character creation when we realize that one of our characters Ability Scores will give us a negative modifier.  "Oh no!" we think.  "How can I have a character who is not perfect?"  As I've spent time converting characters from my past into D&D playable characters, I've come across the same issues and sometimes have the same thoughts.  However, if you take a moment and think, it's possible that the score of 8 your character has in Intelligence doesn't make him an idiot at all, just a different form of intelligent.  As the title suggests, this article will take a look at weaknesses, like puny little Bruce Banner, and turn them into powerful storytelling agents, like the transformation into the Incredible Hulk. I never really liked the

"There's only one god ma'am, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that!" - Captain America, The Avengers As the campaign world that I and my friends have designed over the years has grown, so to have a number of other questions and issues of things that we originally left unanswered.  However, the biggest one has to be the issue with the gods and their place in the world. When I was younger and first started reading fantasy literature, I had some issues with the ideas of exploring other gods and deities of great power.  To me, the concept was foreign and almost sacrilegious.  I was raised Christian , and am heavily involved in the youth ministry within my own church.  Having "other gods" didn't sit right.  In my own games and imaginations, the gods are very rarely talked about.  Nobody ever really plays religious characters.  Instead of a Divine power source, my players typically go for Arcane or Martial (sorry Psionics).  Perhap

“I have performed for the council of the Silver Tree, the Queen of Dusk, and all Seven Brothers of Night. I have recited epics for lordly centaurs and lady satyrs, cried eulogies for hags and sang dirges for cyclops in the realms below. But nothing would give me greater honor, esteemed sirs, than the opportunity to make sausage with your guts. Hah-HAH!”  - Marrot the Fool One of my goals this year was to interview other contributors to Dungeons & Dragons and get to know them better as players, DM's and individuals in general.  This month, I interviewed Jeff LaSala, a real live author!  For those that don't know, Jeff has written the Eberron book The Darkwood Mask , and was even interviewed about in on WotC's website here .  He's also authored numerous DDI articles, the list of which can be found at this location.  Lastly, he's also involved with Foreshadows: The Ghosts of Zero.  In a nutshell, this book is a collection of short stories set in a