Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Tim_Dowd Jul 04, 2014 6:55:48	Hi,   I'm a new DM preparing a homebrew campagin for a group of relatively new (to this edition anyway) players and I had a couple of questions. Does anyone know where I could find some blank world  or continent maps? I've created a number of towns, cities etc and I actually find filling in a map fun but when it comes to the actual shape of the continent I was looking to start with a neutral template. Apparently Gary Gygax did that with a map of the united states for his home version of Greyhawk and I was looking to do something similiar except I was hoping for a completely fictional shape of things? Is that a thing out there?   Does anyone know if all of the WotC D&D portraits are collected somewhere? For my new characters I'm trying to give them alot of material to inspire them. I figure going through a list of the portraits and being able to pick one as a basis and then make a character who they think that is, is as good a place to start as any. Plus, I could fiddle with photoshop and get their portraits on their character sheets. To clarify what I'm looking for, there seem to be a number of portraits with similar styles used in their rulebooks as well as Neverwinter Nights, Icewind Dale etc and I'm hoping to get a gallery collecting them all?   Ideas to encourage roleplaying for newbies? My players are almost all actors so I'm not super concerned about this but some of them are new to the game and playing a character that they've created so I was looking for ideas to gently encourage them. Chris Perkins wrote a great article about origin hooks so I made an excessive amount of them and the 5th edition book has an interesting bit about Goals, flaws, and ideals. Anything to boost that or any ideas of how to encourage players to think of the characters more completely would be great.   Any tips on the mechanics of a party in the midst of a larger battle. My basic thought is only play out the battle in the immediate area of the party and just automate anything that they are not interacting with, but I wanted to see if there were other options.    Thanks in advance
#2 EricDerRote Jul 14, 2014 12:23:26	One blank world generator: http://donjon.bin.sh/fantasy/world/   the D&D insider sight has a LOT of compiled art work from previous Dragon/Dungeon editions, which include plenty of PC and NPC portraits http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Archive.aspx?category=all&subcategory=artgalleries   In terms of techniques to encourage roleplaying, first ask your players what they want to do, they'll find it a lot easier to immerse themselves in your adventure if its something they are generally interested in. Also, consider encouraging the use of the word "I". One of the reasons games such as The WItcher and Skyrim are so well received is the use of the first person point of view, so you look at the game world not as an observer, but as the actual character, which helps you to impose your own personality on the character in question. Also, one thing to get the creative juices flowing is to pick a random characterisitc (in the broadest possible sense ) about a character and try to think of ways it goes with the class. For instance, what does it say about the wizard who has a high wisdom as opposed to charisma? Why does the fighter use an axe over say a sword or flail and what does that say about him in general? etc.    Finally, rearding your battle question, I seem to recall a thread from a while back discussing how to handle warfare on a large scale, you might want to sniff around for that. However, your gut instinct is correct, D&D is designed for skirmish level fights over all, however I would be tempted to pull some stuff from 4e and consider a "skill challenge" or somethig similar, where the PCs try to aid their army as best they can before the fight, with their success/failures contributing to how easy/difficult it is.   Hope that helps.
#3 DaleMcCoy Jul 20, 2014 8:55:58	Blank World Map. It costs $4 but it's pretty and made by a professional artist. And if you ever choose to publish your campaign setting, you're allowed to use it.