Preparation

At the beginning of an adventure, the following steps occur:

• Each player receives six tokens: a move token, a minor token, an interrupt token, an opportunity token, a standard token and a hero token (aka action point).
• Each player calculates the damage for his jab (see below)
• Players determine their initiative draw order based on their initiative bonuses

Pre-combat

Immediately upon declaring a combat, players and monsters that are not surprised may spring into action. Monsters act first, then players, starting with the player with the lowest initiative bonus and moving upward.

Springing into action allows a creature to take of the following actions:

• Shift half its speed
• Shift 1 square then drop prone
• Draw up to 2 items and ready a shield
• Make a monster knowledge check

The spring into action phase is where players declare the use of any powers or abilities that trigger upon rolling initiative (Such as Battlefront Shift or Past Life Flashbacks). These actions occur in addition to springing into action, but each player may only trigger one such power. Resolve any changes in initiative draw order at this point.

Once all players have sprung into action, players draw initiative cards (labeled 1 – 10) from a hat, beginning with the player with the highest initiative bonus. Each player may return his card and draw another one time. If player has a power that allows him to re-roll initiative, he may return his card and re-draw a third time. Players should not disclose their initiative card until their first action.

Initiative Order

Initiative Draw Order always begins with NPCs, then continues to players, and is based on initiative bonus. This allows players with the highest initiative bonuses to make decisions with the most information. A high initiative bonus also gives a player a better chance at drawing a high initiative card.

Initiative Card Order begins with the player with the highest numbered card (10) and proceeds down to the lowest (1). It is the result of sheer luck.

Monsters subtract half their level (rounded down) from a monster’s initiative bonus, and the result is their card order. Monsters act before the player with the corresponding initiative card. For example, an Ettin Hunter (level 10, +6 Initiative) acts before the player with Initiative Card 1, while an Ice Devil (Gelugon, level 20, +18 Initiative) acts before the player with Initiative Card 8.

The Combat Round

Combat begins with the player who has drawn the highest number. Before this player acts, all effects that happen at the beginning of a turn (auras, ongoing damage, etc.) are resolved for all creatures in draw draw order.

That player takes a single action, and then flips over the token corresponding to the action. The following actions may not be taken at any time:

• Delay
• Ready
• Monster knowledge check

Creatures may also pass their actions. Players should not speak during other players’ turns, unless an immediate action triggers. Each player should take no more than 30 seconds to declare his action, and the DM may declare a pass if a player takes too long.

Once the player resolves his action, the player with the next highest initiative card acts and so on. The DM returns all opportunity tokens at the end of each such round.

Once four rounds have past, all creature’s turns end, and all effects that occur at the of a turn are resolved in initiative draw order (e.g. saving throws), then all effects automatically end at the end of the turn end. Players that still have tokens remaining after four rounds receive no benefit from them. All players are then refunded their tokens and the turn order begins again.

Optionally, the DM can collect all initiative cards and have the players re-draw initiative at the end of each turn.

Jab

A jab is an at-will standard action power that any creature can take. It is a quick, weak but highly accurate attack. Any time a player is granted a melee or ranged basic attack outside of his turn (e.g. opportunity attacks, triggering a fighter mark or Commander’s Strike). Jab attacks automatically hit but do minimum damage. They cannot critically hit.

“[This ring] was found in an old ruin several leagues north from here, … We identified it as a relic of an old god, long forgotten. Powerful, but cursed. Not to be easily used by… infidels, I guess. A strong will was needed, and I had to sacrifice some loyal servants before I found the right host. Well, aren’t you the lucky one?”

Humprin examined the ring, which was now tarnished and still snug on his withered finger. He guessed he was being lucky… counting himself still alive.

“What does it do?”

“It give us… control.”

Check out the full post: DALE2-3: Hearts in Shadow Teaser.

def loot(character_sheet_file)
  @xml ||= Hpricot::XML(character_sheet_file.read)
  @loot ||= @xml.search("//LootTally/loot[@count!='0']").map do |item|
    res = item.search("//RulesElement")
    case res.size
      when 0: nil
      when 1: coder.decode(res.first.attributes["name"])
      when 2: coder.decode(res.last.attributes["name"].sub(res.first.attributes["type"], res.first.attributes["name"]))
      else    res.map { |re| coder.decode(re.attributes["name"]) }.join(" ")
    end
  end.compact
end

Character files from D&DI Character Builder store loot as a list, but the names of magic items are concatenated with names of their connected mundane items, so you have to mix them based on the magic item’s @type.

Also, the Character Builder stores every item you’ve ever added, even if you deleted it immediately, so you have to filter out items with a count of zero. You have no way to tell if this was an intentional item purchase, an item accidentally clicked on or a found item from a module, so items with @count=0 are useless.

What could I possibly be building‽‽‽

“Grind” is, perhaps, an inappropriate term—I was playing a game, after all—and I met a lot of cool people and excellent DM’s along the way. Our tables included the prototypical nerds and die-hard gamers, but also parents and their kids; women are also fairly well-represented in Southern Californian D&D.

Mizrae’li, my character for the event, is a gladiator-trained Drow and tough as a coffin nail. She’s an unconventional fighter that zig-zags across the battlefield harrying enemies with her whip and throwing axe, keeping their attention while her allies finish them off. Laconic on the best days, she holds a lifelong grudge against the dark cult that sold away her childhood, and her hunt for them led her to Zhentil Keep.

At the last convention in February, SPEC 1-1: Shades of the Zhentarim, offered some missing history between 3rd edition Forgotten Realms and the 4th edition set 100 years in the future. This time, for SPEC1-2: Zhent’s Ancient Shadows, I teamed up with three of the five players from the first half. It was supposed to be a meatgrinder—one of our friends had his character die in the first fight and had to turn back. We were no little bit nervous.

We were returning to Zhentil Keep to clear out the undead menace we had uncovered before. Gathered with us was an army of clerics and paladins whose vocation was destroying undead. For six hours we carved our way through wights, vampiric trolls, and a huge, bone-shard-spitting [REDACTED]. It was a miracle we even survived, yet we were only halfway finished.

After an extended rest, we climbed a mile-long chain into a floating cathedral, and confronted a horrific [REDACTED]. The thing was so tough we had to take another rest after one fight. What we learned lead us on a chase through the city to some familiar ruins, an army of undead on our heels. Our allies and us pitch an epic last stand, as we complete the ritual that banished the undead, we were cheered by a victorious army.

Module box text has never left me as speechless or elated as it did that night. SPEC1-2 was by far the best written and most challenging adventure I’ve played in Living Forgotten Realms. The game would not be fun if every Friday was this stressful, but as the pinnacle of a long con. it was perfect.

But the best part was playing the module with my group of friends—most that played SPEC1-1 with me as well—an my fiancée by my side for the last half. And against the perfect DM: he scoffed at my character concept at a lowly first-level, but has since been brought around. But he was perfects hardcore. Almost all of the minis he used were exactly as described, and when he slapped down that [REDACTED], everyone at the table shrieked in fear.

I generally don’t tout this hobby because of the bad stereotypes given to its players, but it’s just too rare today to have a group of people of all ages sit at a table and play a game—good clean fun. And this past weekend, the only way to describe the experience is epic.