Dubbing Differences: Alice in Wonderland

A Better Way to Run Chases in D&D 5e

A few years ago, my DM ran a chase for our group during a session, following the rules for chases in the DMG verbatim. It was not fun. We spent the better part of half an hour going through the initiative order, grinding through a mountain of chase complications, while a giant Retriever crashed through the brush trying to catch us and we kept asking the DM in our theater of the mind if there was a place to hide from it. A year later, I played Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, my heart pounding as Edward Kenway sprinted down the street, down alleys, and up and down buildings trying to shake off a group of guards of Havana hot in pursuit, and had a blast.

Then, a month ago, I sat in the theater watching Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves as Doric the druid led an intense chase, complete with multiple Wild Shapes, several locations at different elevations, arrows whizzing past her, and even a failed Deception check posing as a guard in a stolen suit of armor! 

I know that roleplaying games have the capability of providing satisfying and triumphant relief at the end of a worthy battle, so there's just got to be a way to capture that same result during and after a fast-paced, exciting chase scene. Let's look over the current mechanics, where they go wrong, and a possible alternate set of rules to make chases in 5e fun.

MORE D&D Mechanics Inspired by Assassin's Creed Odyssey (Fate of Atlantis)

So it turns out Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, along with its expansion pack Fate of Atlantis, is so big that it deserves a second article on Pretzel Lectern! After putting around 130 hours into a single playthrough of the game, and after spending almost an entire year playing one Assassin's Creed game or another, I've decided to take a month or two break before I play Valhalla. Anyway! This is about the mechanics that you can use in your D&D game, so here we go. Oh yeah, and there are spoilers for the expansion, if that matters to you.

Short Story: Dakren's Visit

Today I felt like writing about my D&D character from DM Quest, Dakren of Swanbow. He's the character I've played the most throughout my time as a player in D&D, and the character who's gone through the most character development. It's been interesting to see him come to life as a character and to go in directions I didn't expect. The following is a short story that takes place around Episode 100 or so, and it's taken from the point of view of Dakren's mother.

D&D Mechanics Inspired by Assassin's Creed: Odyssey

Well, I finally caught up with my purchased Assassin's Creed games. Now it's time to try Valhalla and maybe go back and play Assassin's Creed II to see who this "Ezio" character is all the other games keep referencing. Anyway! Except for the excessive number of hit points that all the enemies on this game had, I really enjoyed this adventure in Ancient Greece, and as always, it inspired some new mechanics and plot devices for D&D games.

Adventures in Evimeria + The Horned Lord of Witherstone Tower

Yes, I've been uploading a lot of old stuff lately. This one is actually from two Junes ago when I organized an "all-day" (more like 7-hour) D&D session, to see just how much D&D I could take before I got tired of it. Childhood best friend and fellow DM Quest player Dustin acted as Dungeon Master of the world of Evimeria, and I played with other members of that group as well as my brother. It was a lot of fun to make a day of it, and I definitely wasn't tired of D&D at the end (in fact, I went on to DM my own full session soon after we finished). I've tried to organize similar events and have succeeded only once, in the Horned Lord of Witherstone Tower duology.

DM Quest: The Firebrands on YouTube

It's been about 2½ years since I co-founded a weekly D&D group consisting entirely of Dungeon Masters who rotate each adventure arc. I've made some good friends along the way, had a lot of DM practice, and have collaborated to create a somewhat disjointed yet fascinating world called Amara. The adventurers in this storyline are called the Firebrands, and their adventures are finally up on YouTube for your viewing pleasure!