D&D: What It's About (Part 2)

You read right ladies and gentlemen - it's time for part 2 of our beginner's guide. In this post I'll cover Exploration - it's basically how your characters interact with the environment, and what can come of it.

Exploration

Between encounters, your characters explore the world. You make decisions about which way your character travels and what he or she tries to do next. Exploration is the give-and-take of you telling the DM what you want your character to do, and the DM telling you what happens when your character does it.

Don't quite understand? Here's an example of a little exploration going on:-

The players in this example are: Dave, the Dungeon Master; Toby, whose character is the human fighter Ammar; Cam, playing Isidro, a halfling rogue; Daneen, whose character is an eladrin wizard named Serissa.

Dave (DM): “Old stone steps climb up about 30 feet or so into the mountainside, alongside a cold stream splashing through the cave. The steps end at a landing in front of a big stone door carved with the image of a bearded dwarf face. The door stands open about a foot or so. There’s a bronze gong hanging from a bracket in the wall nearby. What do you do?”

Cam (Isidro): “I’ll creep up and peek through the opening.”

Daneen (Serissa): “I want to take a closer look at the gong.”

Toby (Ammar): “I’m going to hang back and keep watch, in case Isidro gets into trouble.”

Cam (Isidro): “Not a chance, I’m a pro.”

Dave (DM): “Okay, first Serissa: It’s a battered old bronze gong. There’s a small hammer hanging beside it.”

Toby (Ammar): “Don’t touch it!”

Daneen (Serissa): “I wasn’t going to! It looks like the doorbell to me. No sense telling the monsters we’re here.”

Dave (DM): “Okay. Now for Isidro: Since you’re trying to be sneaky, Cam, make a Stealth check.”

Cam (rolls a Stealth check for Isidro): “I got a 22.”

Dave (DM): “Isidro is pretty stealthy.” Dave compares Isidro’s Stealth check result to the Perception check result of the monsters he knows are in the next room. Cam’s roll beats the Perception check, so the monsters don’t know the halfling is there.

Daneen (Serissa): “So what does he see?”

Dave (DM): “You’re by the gong, remember? Isidro, you peek in the door’s opening, and you see a large stone hall with several thick pillars. There’s a large fire pit in the center of the room filled with dimming embers. You see four beastlike humanoids with hyena faces crouching around the fire pit, and a big animal—like a real hyena, but much bigger—dozing on the floor nearby. The hyenamen are armed with spears and axes.”

Toby (Ammar): “Gnolls! I hate those guys.”

Daneen (Serissa): “Looks like we’ll have to fight our way in. Can we take them?”

Cam (Isidro): “No problem, we’ve got the drop on ’em.”

Dave (DM): “So are you going through the door?”

The players all agree that they are. “Show me where your characters are standing right before you go in.”

The players arrange their characters’ miniatures on the Dungeon Tiles that Dave has prepared for the encounter. They’re now on the landing just outside the room with

the gnolls.

Toby (Ammar): “All right, on the count of three. One . . . two . . . three!”

Dave (DM): “You’ve surprised the gnolls! Everybody roll initiative, and we’ll see if you can take these guys or not.”

This is just one example of how exploring an area can lead to a combat encounter. Can the PCs beat the Kobolds? Of course, that depends on how they play their characters, and how lucky they are with their dice. Remember that the only limit to exploring an area is the one you put on your imagination. Be bold, don't be afraid to try anything!

In part 3, I'll explain how the core mechanic works. See you soon ;)