There are always two ways to look at things.  Some people see a glass filled half way with water as being   “half full” while others will see the same glass as being “half empty”.  When looking at the spell system in d20Pro, one could say that it is “versatile” or “clunky” depending on your perspective.

First let’s look at the pros, which in my opinion far outweigh the cons.  With the d20Pro spell system, any spell effects in the rule books can be recreated in the d20Pro software.  You can modify the following for the NPCs and the PCs: the ability to hit, the ability to damage, AC, saving throws, and the base ability scores. These bonuses, both positive and negative, can further be classified by their type: Unnamed, Alchemical, Armor, Circumstance, Competence, Deflection, Dodge, Inherent, Insight, Luck, Morale, Natural Armor, Profane, Racial, Resistance, Sacred, Shield, and Size.  Once the effects, the saving throw, and the duration are entered into the d20Pro software, the software automatically tracks the duration and effect of each spell cast.

For example, take the spell “Bless“.  First, you right click on the icon of the character that you want to cast the spell.  Then the spell menu comes up and you choose the Attack option from the top row of tabs. Next, add a +1 in the “to hit” box.  Now, move down to the bottom of the Spell Edit box and fill in the duration of the spell.  When this is done, click the OK button. At this point, click the “Click to Target Box” and then click once on each icon that you wish to apply the effect to.  Finally, pressing the OK button sends the spell to the “Judge Client” for approval.  Once you complete these steps, d20Pro will keep track of how long to apply the +1 to all attacks rolled by each icon that the spell system targeted.  Speaking as a GM this is a great feature that helps streamline game play by keeping track of all the small details.

After you program a spell, you can save it by clicking the “Save” button at the top of the Edit Effect box. This will allow you to name the spell and save it in the Spell Library. When the spell is saved, you can bring up the effects of the spell by clicking the “Load” button at the top of the Edit Spell Effects box. This will bring up everything but the saving throw and duration.

When it comes to area of effect spells such as Fireball or Sleep, this is where the d20Pro spell system really shines.  In the case of Fireball, after the info is entered, including the “type” of damage in the Hit Point drop down menu (in this case Fire), d20Pro automatically rolls all targeted icons saving throws applying full damage to those that failed, applying half damage to those icons that have saved, and applying no damage to those icons who have saved and have Evasion.  In addition, d20Pro will also apply such conditions as: Fire Resistance, Fire Immunity, and Fire Vulnerability to the final outcome of the spell for the PCs and NPCs.  Clearly this feature alone is of great advantage to any game master running a large combat.

Now let’s look at the “clunky” or cons perspective.  There are really only two major issues.  The first con is that when you pre-program the spells on the judge’s side of the software, the spells do not get automatically saved on the player’s side.  For the second con, the saving throws and duration will not save and you have to enter them each time the spell is cast. These are my biggest complaints and are the most “clunky” aspects of the d20Pro spell system.

In conclusion, as a GM who has been using d20Pro for six years in his home campaign, I feel that the advantages more than outweigh the disadvantages.   At times I fully use the spell system as is, and at other times, I ask the PC or NPC to burn the spell from their available spells, and then I manually apply the effect myself.  In situations where a big area of effect spell affects many PCs or NPCs with damage, forces saving throws or both, I use the spell system as is.  For spells that affect a single PC or NPC with damage, saving throws, or both, I usually manually apply the effect or whatever I think will make the game run smoother.  Even as this Blog comes out, in addition to the new fog of war feature, the d20Pro/MindGene team is hard at work developing a new streamlined spell and attack system for the software.

Peace,

d20Pro Joe

Now that we have some great antagonists, its time to create handouts. The first thing that I would start with is to search for pictures for all of the major players within the story. I would probably get pictures for the following:

Mayor (Who will announce the contest and clang the bell when it starts)
The Judges at each riddle location that the players will go to.
One for each of the mercenaries hired to interfere with the party.
One group photo for the rival party since I think they will only deal with the party at the end of the adventure.
A picture for each of the riddles, and perhaps other pictures for specific portions of the riddles as needed.
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Ok so we have the basics of a story here, now what we need is a great antagonist or group of antagonists. I came up with the idea that an NPC party will be the major contenders to this contest.
So what if that party was less than honorable? This always gets a party angry and remember what I said about hate being such a great motivator in one of my earlier posts? Well, if I were less than honorable and I wanted to cheat, I came up with the idea of having the antagonist party hire a group of mercenaries to interrupt the party’s attempts at solving the riddles.
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I have finally returned from Spain and then being on a month long tour with a band so I am finally able to blog again!

So the most difficult part of this adventure is coming up with the riddles. I don’t think I am particularly good at coming up with riddles, but I never rest on my laurels as a Game Master. I always try and push myself to make myself better. So yes, sometimes I design adventures around things that I am not particularly good at so that I can better myself. It is the process of doing that we learn.

So what are the fundamental elements of a riddle and what makes them hard to solve but not unsolvable? I don’t know if I have a great answer to this but I am going to take a stab at it. I believe that a riddle must contain clues within it to help the party deduce the answer. The clues however cannot be too obvious or the riddle will be boring and too simple to solve. On the other hand, a riddle which is too complex might be unsolvable to the party and there not make for a good adventure.

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Another problem that seems to bother GMs or, simply get out of control, is how to hand out loot so that its not too much or too little. When I first started DMing, this used to really get out of control for me. Finally I came up with some guidelines on how to deal with it.
The way that I handle this problem is to map out a chart of the approximate levels of loot that I want the party to have at each character level. Once I have this chart mapped out, I then estimate the number of adventures that they will be in for that particular party level and try and divide the loot across that.
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The most important part of creating a story for me, is to have great inspiration. Right now I am typing this blog post from the early medieval city of Cordoba, Spain. I spent this morning walking down narrow, cobblestone streets with wooden signs displaying the names of various taverns. I watched the city awake with residents walking to their jobs and a small amount of tourists, who awoke as early as I did walking around the city. In my mind, I could see myself and these people transported back 1000 years doing exactly the same thing. Just change their clothing to a suitable periodic clothing, and take away the few cars that I passed and voila, I am in medieval times.

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