Tag Archives: D&D

Paizo Forks D&D!

Posted on March 18, 2008 | 1 comment

It’s official!  Paizo Publishing is the gaming company that was publishing Dragon Magazine and Dungeon Magazine for  years until WotC pulled their license.  Since then they’ve been publishing the best D&D adventures on the market (and Dragon and Dungeon are languishing in low-content electronic-only hell on wizards.com). 

Well, Wizards screwed around and screwed around; even after announcing that they’d get the license and rules to third party publishers (for $5k a head) they never executed on it.  So now Paizo has decided to fork D&D by creating a RPG called the Pathfinder RPG based on 3.5e via the OGL.  The “alpha” version of it is freely available – in fact, they say once they start selling the beta sometime around Gen Con it’ll still be available freely as a PDF.  The beta will be an open beta for a year and the “final” version will launch in August of 2009.  They are also launching the Pathfinder Society, which sounds like a competitor to the RPGA.

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Relative Class Power in D&D 3.5e

Posted on March 17, 2008 | Leave a comment

There’s a thread on the Wizards forums I refer to from time to time – The Base Classes as Rated by You. The community voted on relative class power and the results are interesting.

Rated 1-10, with “10” being “most powerful” and “1” being “least powerful”.
*= not enough responses to mean much
D= highly debated – the ranks were widespread
C= consensus – the ranks were often the same

9.4 Druid C
8.6 Wizard C
8.6 Cleric
8.6 Artificer *C
8.1 Psion C
7.7 Wu Jen * C
7.5 Psychic Warrior
7.5 Favoured Soul
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The Old Grey Lady on the Elder God of Gaming

Posted on March 16, 2008 | Leave a comment

The New York Times, in last Sunday’s edition, published a nice article from Adam Rogers of Wired about D&D, E. Gary Gygax, and how D&D informs so much of modern geek culture (which is steadily taking over mainstream culture).  They have a big fun flowchart to follow your own journey of geekiness, too!

Geek Flowchart

(click to enlarge)

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What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Am I?

Posted on March 15, 2008 | 1 comment

I ran across this online survey while surfing.  It’s a comprehensive questionnaire that determines your D&D class, race, and alignment!  Here’s me.  Appaently I’m a goon because who would go bard/wizard?!?  I assume the bard part is for my strength in leadership, but bah!  Other than that, it’s about right.  And since clerics are “leaders” in 4e, and I scored pretty high on cleric, maybe I’m really a Wizard/Cleric.  Mystic Theurge, here I come!!!

I Am A: Neutral Good Human Bard/Wizard (3rd/2nd Level)

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Monster Manual VI: The Politicians

Posted on March 14, 2008 | 1 comment

There’s a hilarious writeup of the three major US presidential candidates as they’d appear in the Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual (first edition!) courtesy of British scifi author Charles Stross.  McCain is “Demon Prince of Republicans”, Clinton is “Demon Queen of Pork Belly Futures,” and Obama is “Demon Prince of Upsetting Applecarts.”  The pictures, from FreakingNews.com and GuysFromArea51.com, are mind-numbingly beautiful.  My fave:

Hillary the Devil

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First Runelords “Stone Giants” Session Summary Posted

Posted on March 14, 2008 | Leave a comment

It’s been a long haul, but we’ve now started Fortress of the Stone Giants, the fourth installment in the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path! Nothing subtle about these bad boys. Also, some more full character sheets are up on the main campaign page.

Fortress of the Stone Giants Part I

Our special Spring Break adventure follows the standard format of a Spring Break vacation. A road trip, gossip, shopping, violence, assessing the damage, and fleeing the scene.

Drop a line or comment on the blog if you’re enjoying these!

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Gary Gygax Passes Away

Posted on March 4, 2008 | 1 comment

Unfortunately, D&D co-creator and gaming luminary Gary Gygax has passed away.  Our thoughts and prayers are with his family; my family and gaming group are saddened by his passing.

This may seem strange to some folks because I have certainly not been a fan of his later era work; I’m firmly of the belief that RPGs have evolved and though AD&D 1e was seminal, it isn’t something I want to play today.  I didn’t think much of his endless retreads of it as “Danjerous Journeys/Lejendary Adventures/Pjining for the Fjords” or even the other non-Gygax 1e nostalgia stuff (Kalamar, etc.) and have been outspoken about it.  For his part, he called me “fatuous and jejeuene” on his mailing list for my views.  (Yes, I had to look it up.)  But regardless of all that, he started D&D and carried the torch for RPGs, and the hobby wouldn’t be around, most likely, without him.  So props, Gary Gygax!  

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Chris Pramas Reviews D&D 4e

Posted on March 4, 2008 | Leave a comment

One of the game designers I respect the most reviews D&D 4e.  His short summary – “It’s an interesting system that didn’t so much feel like D&D in play; nonetheless, the brand power of D&D all but ensures this will be a success and it may even redefine what D&D means for the next generation.”  Yeah, I think that’s about what I figured.  He compares the game play to more akin to a CCG than the “sounds like an MMO” critiques. 

And, of course, WotC is still screwing around and hasn’t made the GSL or new rules available to third party publishers yet, even those waving $5k in the air, despite their announcing it on January 9th…

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D&D 4e Reviewed In Depth by AICN

Posted on March 1, 2008 | 1 comment

Massawyrm, one of the reviewers on Ain’t It Cool News, the premier geek media review site, was a playtester for 4e.  Now that “D&D Experience” has happened, there’s huge amounts of 4e rules info available out there and also the playtesters are released to speak. 

The review is maniacally positive.  I hate to be negative, but I worry about the subtext in a lot of the bits he talks about.  From flavor (is it appropriate to call one of the monster roles “artillery” in a medieval fantasy game?) to too-obvious WoWisms (“elite” monsters?) to game mechanics (at epic levels you rez all the time and have powers like “once per day when you die, you…”)?  Well, I hope he’s right I reckon.

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Sixth Runelords “Hook Mountain” Session Summary Posted

Posted on February 28, 2008 | Leave a comment

Finally, we completed the third chapter of the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path, “The Hook Mountain Massacre.”  We put as many sessions into Hook Mountain as into the previous two chapters combined!

Twelfth Session – The Hook Mountain Massacre Part VI

The fun part about this is that Xanesha is becoming our main recurring supervillain, which is a deviation from the scenarios’ plots.  But she keeps escaping, getting tougher, and starting new evil plans. 

Our PCs are getting into the whole gig of running the Black Arrows – we all have Black Arrow tattoos now and have put a lot of work into making them a force to reckon with.  We got the local Hellknight to send us lots of recruits, got the Lord Mayor of Magnimar to send us an officer corps that wasn’t criminals, rebuilt and enhanced the keep, and have equipped our guys with the best captured equipment a sword can buy.  After frequent PC-led reconnaisance in force missions into the wilderness, they’re a tough bunch!

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D&D Insider – Ugly As Expected

Posted on February 27, 2008 | Leave a comment

Now, no one would be happier than I if Wizards of the Coast put out a piece of D&D software that wasn’t plug-ugly.  However, the new screen shots of the D&D 4e character builder, virtual tabletop, etc. indicate that, in the words of Aragorn at the gates of Mordor, “But it is not this day!!!”

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4e Rogue Unveiled

Posted on February 26, 2008 | 2 comments

In a new “Ampersand” column on the Wizards site, Bill Slavicsek shows, in its entirety, the new 4e rogue class writeup.  Go read it!  Now, my thoughts.

 1.  I don’t like the new PC roles and don’t like their prominent placement as the very first thing in the writeup.  You’re class X, therefore you are expected to fill role X.  It’s too constraining.  Welcome to the “new alignment”, where you’ll be embroiled in endless arguments about “that’s not a striker feat,” “that’s not what a striker would do,” et cetera.

2.  I like the fixed hit points and the simplified skills – just trained or untrained, no ranks.  My gaming group is using a similar house rule already in 3.5e to minimize fiddliness.  Intelligence apparently doesn’t affect your number of skills, which is odd.

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