Simple 2-hit Minions

I like the idea of minions which require two hits to kill, but it sacrifices a major strength of the minion concept: that the DM literally has to track nothing as far as hit points go for them.
So here’s an idea for 2-hit minions.
1. A standing minion which is hit is knocked prone and its [...]

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd Edition

Fantasy Flight Games recently published the third edition of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, and it’s perhaps the most innovative roleplaying game I’ve ever seen (note that I qualify that statement; there are plenty of RPGs out there I haven’t seen, and I’m sure some could give WHFRP3e a run for its money).
Unfortunately, the steep price tag [...]

Two years…

Today Encounter-a-Day’s been around for two years.
Thanks to everyone who’s supported me over this endeavor!

Contest Results

Only three people entered the contest for the google wave invites, and I’ve just invited all of them. So congratulations to:
Kenton Henry
DeaconFrost
Guy Russel
I’ll post their entries soon.

D&D 4e Combat Tracker

Thanks to The Last Rogue who tweeted about this awesome D&D 4e Combat Tracker.
Some of you may know that I’ve previously endorsed Turn Wacher as my initiative tracker of choice. It’s got a lot of great features, including some things which this new program lacks, but it’s also got two major downsides: it’s not free, [...]

Win an Invitation to Google Wave

I’ve finally gotten some invites for Google Wave, and have been looking forward to this opportunity to run a contest.
All you have to do to enter the contest is send me a D&D 4e monster based on a creature from Magic: The Gathering. Everyone may enter up to three times, once for each tier (Heroic, [...]

Stunt Doubles for Absentee Players

The 4e DMG2 debuted official rules for ‘companion characters,’ which are basically just monsters that work for the PCs. I’ve been doing similar things for a while, and have even used this concept as a replacement for an actual PC when I had a player (the ubiquitous tag-along-significant-other) who didn’t do well with the complexity [...]

Random Encounters: Nineteen

I received this email earlier today.
Subject: Your Monster Maker
Okay, I have been trying to find stuff for 3.5e of D&D.
Mainly, how to make a monster.
Even more-so, HOW DO YOU DETERMINE a monster’s Challenge Rating?
I can’t figure it out for 3.5. I’ve scoured the net trying to find how to determine a custom-made monster’s challenge [...]

Friends & Foes: Changeling Husklords

Particularly cunning and devious, even for changelings, the rare husklords have an unusual ability which makes them nearly impossible to kill. A changeling husklord can shed its skin at will, leaving behind a convincing corpse to fool adversaries. Meanwhile, the changeling itself is completely invisible until it regrows a new skin, a process which takes [...]

Monster Maker Support Discontinued

In light of the news that Wizards of the Coast is coming out with their own fully-featured Monster Maker application for D&D Insider, I’ve decided to discontinue support of Monster Maker. I will be leaving it up on my website in its current state for those who wish to download it, but I will not [...]