On vacation

So no post this week. So go check out the blogs I'm following. Seriously. They actually have useful info and I don't yet.

Tools of the Trade Part 1

Well, short on time this week, so here's one of those generic tools of the trade posts everyone seems to do.

DM Screen
I know plenty of DMs like to roll their dice in the open. I, however, usually don't. Not to hide rolls so much as to hide notes. I use the Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 Deluxe Dungeon Master's Screen. Honestly, I don't reference what is printed on it much. Most of that info is already burned into my brain. However, I do usually have adventure notes printed out and paper clipped to it.

Terrain
Battlemats are great. Be they the do-it-yourself kind or the beautifully-done pre-illustrated ones, they make gaming with miniatures a breeze. However, I usually use Heroscape tiles for my terrain. I love the customization you can do with them. Yes, they are a hex grid instead of squares, but I honestly find that to be easier. No diagonals to worry about and circular spell areas fit better. I'll admit, the Heroscape tiles work best for large outdoor enviornments, but they can work for indoors to. When this was still fairly new I picked up the first master set for around $40, and an online search turns it up anywhere form $32 to $50 now, so it's a pretty good investment for some cheap 3d terrain. Not to mention the master sets come with several miniatures that you can use as long as you aren't overly concerned with scale (they're slightly larger than D&D minis). So here's some examples of what you can do with Heroscape terrain:

This is one of the scenario maps with the original master set.

This is one of the maps buildable with the newest master set. Yes, those are Drow, this is a D&D themed set. By the way what you see there is every terrain piece in that set. If memory serves correctly, the only mini missing is the black dragon. Not a bad deal for $20.

Lord of the Rings, anyone?

Ok, a note on the next few pictures. These are made with who-knows-how-many different sets combined, and you'd have to spend stupid amounts of money to recreate them, but they are pretty awe-inspiring.





Well, I've got to run, so part 2 coming soon.

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All of these images were taken from various sources via a Google image search. To find out where they came from right-click and select properties. Those people own and have whatever applicable rights to the images.

In the beginning...

...there was wargaming. From this came a ruleset called Chainmail, developed in part by a man by the name of Gary Gygax. Him and another man, Dave Arneson, worked together to create a new ruleset, one in which the players took control of individuals, rather than units of troops. This, in time, became known as the much beloved game, Dungeons & Dragons. From our beloved D&D eventually came another game. Not quite new, since it took the main concepts of the 3.5 edition of the game and refined them, but different enough for it to stand alone: thus the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game was born. This blog will mainly deal with that game.
My name is David Slade, and I have been playing the Pathfinder RPG for over a year now, since the final version was initially released. I have been playing D&D 3.5 edition since 2006. So, yes, compared to most of the D&D or Pathfinder bloggers out there, I am a relative newcomer to the hobby. However, I think I have knowledge to impart to the blogosphere that someone may find useful. So to start out, here's a little about myself.
I am from North Texas, and as I have already noted, do not have a lot of experience (relatively speaking) with tabletop rpgs. I served for nearly 3 years in the United States Air Force, which is where I first got into rpgs. I have served as the primary DM for my roleplaying group since August of 2007, and nearly every one of my players were introduced to the hobby by me (only 3 weren't, one of which is my wife.) I have thus far DMed or co-DMed 4 different campaigns, and am in the process of planning a new one, which will be the first in a homebrewed setting for my group.
Some things to look forward to on this blog:

• Details of my new homebrewed world
• Various NPC's and villains to steal for your own game
• At least a couple of new monsters
• And hopefully a guide to converting monsters, and maybe even entire adventures from D&D 4E to Pathfinder (I have done so for my own games, but I need to look over WotC's policy so they don't shut me down)*

I hope to update this blog once a week. Probably between Tuesdays and Fridays (sorry that I can't give a more definate answer, but my days off change on a weekly basis.) Thanks for reading, and adventure on!

*Ok, so it seems I can't do that according to the GSL.