The Player DM

Aside from doing the DM thing, I also get to spend time playing. I currently have three characters in three campaigns: a halfling assassin in a D&D4E campaign, a human fighter in a Pathfinder campaign, and I have just started a dwarf rogue in a heavily-modified D&D Greyhawk campaign.

The D&D4E campaign is played with the same small group of three with whom I also DM. After a solid year of having them play and get comfortable with D&D, I asked if either of them would like to try to DM a session. So, one day I had them both DM a short encounter with the remaining two of us, while I offered up DM tips when asked and needed. One took to being the DM better than the other, liked it, and agreed to doing it more often, giving me breaks from being the sole DM to allow me to get a balanced play experience in.

The Pathfinder and newly-started Greyhawk campaigns are played online with a group spread across the US, and with one player located in Isreal. We use a combination of tools to facilitate the game, including MapTool, PC Gen, and Oovoo. So far, they have worked well for our needs. Not as smooth as all of us sitting around a single table in person would, but we handle the little problems as they arise and get on with our gaming.

Being able to both play and DM is the best way to experience the full spectrum of these RPGs, I believe. It’s balanced, and I think doing one very often allows me insight into how to do things better in the other. And since they are both very fun, and I like to do fun things, I make sure I get (and give) all the fun I can from them.

Let's Game

Greetings! RPDM here, finally getting this blog kicked off.

As I said in my initial post, this blog will be for me to spill out and set structure to the D&D campaigns I'm DMing, along with general other thoughts and items D&D related. I am also launching another (hopefully) important item here, and that is the DM Pics Project. More on that later.

My Campaigns

I currently run two campaigns, and am in the process of creating a third. First campaign is 4E pre-Essentials, involving the official modules H1 Keep on the Shadowfell, H2 Thunderspire Labyrinth, and H3 Pyramid of Shadows. Players are currently about 75% of their way through the first level of the Pyramid of Shadows. These are all set in and around the Nentir Vale.

The second campaign is with Essentials characters, and has the players adventuring in the Chaos Scar setting. I have tweaked and modified a number of items in this setting to get players to a different end game than what is given in the official modules. I've also instituted a couple of house rules that were agreed upon by the players.

The campaign I'm creating from scratch is still without a name, but is best described as the D&D version of The Walking Dead, one of the many TV shows we are all huge fans of. This is being created with the solo player in mind. My group currently only has two players (both female), and we are not always able to coordinate days off to have a full game session. So, I am working on this campaign to be played by one player at a time, and in 3-4 hour chunks. I also want this campaign to be heavily geared toward survival horror, and solo play will help me create sessions that will better convey that, I do hope.

Lastly, I aim to share a lot about the art of roleplaying in D&D, as it is my most loved method of pen-n-paper gaming. I've been writing about the art in PC gaming (MMORPGs) for many years, and credit D&D and many other tabletop games with manifesting and honing that skill for me. So I figured it's about time I get to writing about it where it started for me. I hope to help my fellow DMs and players with some excellent ideas that they can work into their campaigns, as so many of them have helped me likewise.

Roll 'em!