DM (Dungeon Musings)

I have come to the conclusion that we've been spoiled by playing at Dave's workplace. The 15-foot table, multiple blackboards, plenty of powerstrips, loads of food -- and David buying pizza... Mmmm... Definitely spoiled.

Finding myself needing a better way to keep track of which enemy is which when the miniatures are similar (or in some cases, identical). I thought I had a white-board somewhere around, but the notepad and pen just doesn't compare to having a 6-foot blackboard to write the initiative list and see it all laid out in front of us.

Also, some kind of table is a necessity if we're going to play at our apartment. Lack of furniture is great for making the living room look spacious, but seriously, we need more chairs and to use a table, especially when three out of the four players have their own laptops.

Speaking of which: next big purchase for Steve-O -- a laptop for gaming. Not like PC games and WoW and shit, but just something to keep a million little notes on, Wrd Documents, and PDF files...

In the "Good News" category, I absolutely love the Dungeon Tiles that WotC produces (thanks, little bro!). Great stuff for those of us with out an erasable map, although I do miss being able to just write right on the dungeon floor for area effects. Set up takes only slightly longer (though this is debatable, depending on who's doing the mapping...) but is totally worth it. A couple more packs of these tiles ought to set me up for a while.

The new miniatures I got for Christmas are also awesome (thanks again, little brother!) and I plan on picking up a few more boxes this week. Though I have yet to be able to use the Huge white dragon mini, I look forward to facing off against that icy little bastard soon.

All in all, 4e is going well, and I'm looking forward to getting a regular campaign going with a regular gaming team. Combat is flowing better (in my head, at least) and I definitely love the concept of Instant/Encounter/Daily powers. As we level up, it'll be easier to learn the powers as we go, but this is one system where I'm actually looking forward to using ALL the classes and ALL the races. (Thanks for making half-elf a playable race!)

I think once everyone gets used to their powers and starts learning what their abilities are, it'll run even quicker. Can't wait for speedy combat so we can get to the meat of the story -- like why the team is down in the dungeon to begin with. I'm such a firm believer in motivation. If a crew doesn't have a reason to go dungeon delving beyond "loot" and "greed", then it gets boring very quickly. Or maybe that's just me.

Also, nothing beats Ennio Morricone for mood music. Creepy Italian bastard music is awesome for listening to during "travel time" between towns and adventures.


S.