Tag Archives: D&D

Fourth “Xin-Shalast” Session Summary Posted – End Of Campaign!

Part IV of Spires of Xin-Shalast tells the tale of how our brave band – myself, a dwarf entitled Valgrim the Summoner, and my human comrades – Lord Roscoe Dillon, priest of Gorum, God of War; Phiravno the Varisian scarf fighter; Maru Maru, Shoanti Sun Clan monk; Vaelyn, Shoanti Sun Clan dragon shaman; Yenneck Grumman, Ranger of the Black Arrows – ended the schemes of Kharzoug the Claimer, Runelord of Greed.  Inside his ruined capital of Xin-Shalast, indeed atop the very Runewell of Greed, we met him and withstood his arcane assault to end his life.  Golarion slumbers, safer now but largely unaware of the fate our brave heroes averted.

And so ends the Rise of the Runelords campaign, almost exactly a year to the day after we began it.  Props to Paizo Publishing for one of the best D&D campaigns ever, especially James Jacobs, Nick Logue, and Richard Pett.

But there’s no rest for the wicked!  This week, we start the next Adventure Path, Curse of the Crimson Throne, this time using the Pathfinder RPG beta rules!

Some Miscellaneous D&D News

I’m ignoring most of it because I don’t like 4e, but these are of interest:

1.  The new GSL is still on a collision course with nowhere.  Scott Rouse is working on it but with Lidda gone, it’s not coming soon and when it does, probably won’t be significantly changed.   Yay.

2.  WotC may be releasing non-random minis!  This would be welcome.  The price and prepaint of their minis are great, the randomness not.  I’ve only bought about 5 packs because of that, even though I’ve desperately wanted more from playing a summoner recently.  Thought some of the commons are pretty cheap from the secondary market.

3.  More and more people are relating their 4e experiences, and learning that, as I said, the new rules are not indeed streamlined, but take even longer to run a combat.

Sex and D&D

No, I’m not trying to horn in on dungeon_grrrl’s turf.  But I just ran across this oldie but goodie link – “Sex Advice From a Dungeons & Dragons Player“.  Apparently nerve.com didn’t like that and went with cosplayer advice instead.

Do you have any D&D-oriented sex advice, or questions that need a good D&D answer?  Add them below!

My Second Edition Monk

Back “in the day,” I built a more dynamic, chi-power fueled monk class using AD&D 2e (the current edition at the time, this was a little more than 10 years ago).  I don’t think it’s inaccurate to say that it largely predicted what the much-later Book of Nine Swords and other attempts at making martial classes more interesting would look like.  The powers were granted pretty much just like spells, using the standard spell progression chart and being used up for the day when you use them (which made balancing the class easy).  Many of the powers use “swift” or “immediate” actions, at least my early conception of them.  I’m pretty proud of it – my gaming group playtested it and it was fun but balanced.  Being a long time Greyhawk wonk I also put together “Monastic Orders of the Flanaess” to incorporate monkiness into Greyhawk better, which drew from Erik Mona’s Baklunish Delights articles from the Oerth Journal.

Cool but retro, why are you mentioning this, you ask?  Well, suddenly (starting in about April), I’m seeing an incredible surge in traffic to that Monk class.  It’s hosted on my old Mindspring Geek Related site that has Web stats for shit and I can’t see referrers so I don’t know where the traffic’s coming from.  But it’s leapt way, way past the perennial favorites I host there, the Death to Jar Jar Binks Homepage and the Scooby Doo Cthulhu site (all the Scooby gang in CoC BRP stats).  Like thousands of hits a month.  So I thought I’d ask – anyone know where I got linked from?  I’m interested to know if anyone’s using/interested in my old Monk class…

(And yes, I know how to do Google link: searches, and those never work…)

Third “Xin-Shalast” Session Summary Posted

We may be approaching the climax of the campaign in Part III of Spires of Xin-Shalast. Valgrim calls an angel to help, and the group rolls into a devil-haunted arena to do battle…   And then to the Pinnacle of Avarice to find and defeat the Runelord himself.  Wave after wave of giants broke upon us and fell apart like surf upon the rocks – once, twice, three times.  We slay without respite, or hesitation, or mercy.  The summary ends in media res as more enemies stir in the darkness beyond the piles of cloud and storm giant carcasses.  Who shall fall?!?

Second “Xin-Shalast” Session Summary Posted

In Part II of the Spires of Xin-Shalast, the last installment of the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path, our heroes begin their insurgency campaign within the ruins of fallen Xin-Shalast.  Yeti, dragons, and…  uh, weird invisible psychic slither-beasts prove no match for their spells and steel as they prepare to close in on the Runelord.  Death or glory!

James Jacobs Interview

Kobold Quarterly, Wolfgang Baur’s D&D magazine, has a good if short interview with James Jacobs, editor-in-chief of Paizo Publishing and mastermind behind their outstanding Pathfinder adventures, setting of Golarion, and Pathfinder RPG.

For those of you who have been lving in a cave, the Pathfinder adventures, stemming from the Adventure Paths from Dragon Magazine while Paizo ran it, are the best D&D adventures ever for my money.  And the Pathfinder RPG is an attempt to move forward with the open gaming D&D 3e source and make something less hideous than what 4e has turned into – and it’s an open beta, so the gaming community can actuallly help shape the rules, and not just take whatever corp-devised mummery someone wants to stick down your craw.  And Golarion is the only setting to capture my imagination since Greyhawk.  So check out the interview!

12, 12, 12… Harlots!

(Bonus points for naming the reference!)

Anyway, Topless Robot has brought us the kind of D&D article that only comes around once in a blue moon.  Remember the random harlot table in the AD&D 1e DMG?  Well, here’s the extended dance remix!

The 12 Harlots of the Dungeons & Dragons Random Harlot Table Explained

I’ve always had a soft spot for the brazen strumpets myself.

And Then Things Got Out Of Hand

Our doughty band travelled way past the settled frontier into the Kodar Mountains, seeking the legendary golden streets of Xin-Shalast, Runelord Kharzoug’s millenia-lost capital.  But, holed up by a blizzard out in that remote place, trapped in a shelter together for what seemed like an infinity, our hunger grew different.  More severe… savage.  Not to be sated by magically conjured gruel.  What strange meat might quench it?   Oh, what?!?

Find out in Part I of the Spires of Xin-Shalast, the latest installment of the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path!

Pathfinder RPG Free Beta Is Out

Heard of the new Pathfinder RPG? It’s Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition. Well, not really, but it should have been.

While Wizards took D&D in 4e and fundamentally changed it, Paizo took the OGL part of Third Edition and retooled it into what many people call “D&D 3.75e” – an improved version but still mostly 3e-compatible.

Believing strongly in involving the gamer community in the development of the game, they went through a number of public Alpha drafts and have now released their Beta product. This will be playtested by anyone who wants to for a year and then the final “1.0” version will be released this time next year.

You can buy the Beta in hardcover for $50, softcover for $25, or… download the PDF for free!  That’s right, go to Paizo Publishing’s Pathfinder RPG page and get it for free (you have to register, the process to get it is via their online store/shopping cart). Then, you can go and give rules and playtest feedback on their forums.

So far, they’re doing everything I wish Wizards had done with D&D 4e.

  • Continue with open gaming by supporting and releasing content via the OGL? Check.
  • Meaningfully involving the D&D gamer community in the design and development of the game? Check.
  • Developing an awesome campaign setting and adventures to use with it? Check.

Pathfinder RPG Beta – What’s In It

They’ve streamlined and simplified the combat mechanics while making the core classes a bit more bad ass. Races have a bit more put into them, making them more distinctive. The barbarian’s rage powers are very interesting, and there’s more abilities for bards. Fighters get armor and weapon training abilities in addition to their bonus feats so they get something at every level. Sorcerers have “bloodlines” that give them additional powers.

Continue reading

Wizards is Buckling on the GSL

Great news courtesy Mad Brew LabsWizards has announced that they plan to revise the GSL!

They’re not committing to details, or a date, and the dreaded fan site policy is still pending (a fan site policy wasn’t needed for the last ten years, why now?) but they at least admit that everyone hates the GSL and if they don’t want to lose product support and customers they need to get their act together.

So to all the messageboard fanboys who said “don’t complain, it’ll come to naught and you’re not showing proper respect to our beloved Wizards overlords” – TAKE THIS!!!

Cowards who never stand up for what’s right always claim standing up won’t have an effect.  Good work to all the publishers, from Clark at Necro, Green Ronin, Kenzer & Co, on through about everyone else, who have refused to mortgage their comapny’s futures to this heavy handed move.  If even a quarter of the holdouts had caved, we might not be having this discussion.

Don’t Miss The Latest PSA!

If you’re smart, you watch all the hilarious D&D PSA videos! But somehow, one of their latest didn’t make it onto the playlist. Watch D&D PHB PSA part 50 – 50 Unconfirmed Rumors About 4th Ed! #50 comes between 42 and 43 for some reason. But it has Hennet! And 25 other fave PSA characters! Blackrazor, invisible Christopher Walken, NecroLarry, Morthos, Lidda, Mialee, and… TORDEK RULES ASS!!!

P.S. They’re all true!!!