New blog on DnD Next.
The Wizards Community > DnD Next > Blog > Goblins Care Only About Your Axe
Games, General Geekery, and what knots found on the web
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
2012 Gen Con Indy Event Catalog Posted
The Gen Con Indy 2012 Event Catalog is live!
Please take the next two weeks to review and begin planning your 2012 event schedule. You will be able to register for events beginning on Sunday, May 20 at noon eastern time, provided you have purchased your 2012 Gen Con Badge.
You can find event listings at registration.gencon.com. To view the listings, you will need to log into your Gen Con account, and click the “Find Events” link in the left navigation pane. From there, you can browse events by type, day, group, and more.
Additionally, you may review the schedule online at www.gencon.com at a link that will appear under the “Attend” menu. From “Attend,” you can mouse to “Events,” then click on “Event Catalog.”
Finally to download the spreadsheet version of the catalog, you can to the Community downloads page.
The Gen Con Indy 2012 Event Catalog is live!
Please take the next two weeks to review and begin planning your 2012 event schedule. You will be able to register for events beginning on Sunday, May 20 at noon eastern time, provided you have purchased your 2012 Gen Con Badge.
You can find event listings at registration.gencon.com. To view the listings, you will need to log into your Gen Con account, and click the “Find Events” link in the left navigation pane. From there, you can browse events by type, day, group, and more.
Additionally, you may review the schedule online at www.gencon.com at a link that will appear under the “Attend” menu. From “Attend,” you can mouse to “Events,” then click on “Event Catalog.”
Finally to download the spreadsheet version of the catalog, you can to the Community downloads page.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Final marketing fellowship winners announced for GENCON
Final Four Marketing Fellowship Winners Announced
The final four companies have been awarded the remaining Gen Con Indy 2012 Marketing Fellowships, joining Dead General’s Society LLC and Floodgate games which were previously announced. Marketing Fellowship recipients receive increased exposure, expanded booth space, and featured on-site marketing placements.
Companies selected include:
The Very Us Artists
The Very Us Artists are thrilled to make their debut at Gen Con Indy this year. They hope to bring something new and different to the Gen Con exhibit experience, namely a cyberpunk-fuelled multimedia anthology of original music and fiction called Foreshadows: The Ghosts of Zero.
To learn more about the Very Us Artists, check out http://foreshadows.net and visit them in Entrepreneurs’ Avenue at booth #1749.
Rather Dashing Games
Rather Dashing Games also will make their Gen Con Indy debut in 2012. Veteran game designer Mike Richie and intrepid artist Grant Wilson (of Ghost Hunters fame) have pooled their talents to launch an all-new game company. Their Gen Con launch product, Four Taverns will have players competing to manage the greatest tavern in the land, where thirsty adventurers gather at the close of their epic quests.
To find out more about Rather Dashing Games, go to www.ratherdashinggames.comor check out their booth (#1849) in Entrepreneurs’ Avenue.
Wargames Factory LLC
Wargames Factory LLC specializes in hard plastic, wargaming miniatures in 28mm scale. They also recently have branched into 15mm scale with their new WWII line. Currently their kits cover Sci Fi, Historical, Fantasy and Modern genres with many new figures in the works. Their team prides themselves on achieving the highest detail obtainable in plastic miniatures and providing their kits at excellent prices.
Find Wargames Factory LLC in Entrepreneurs' Avenue at booth #1649 or learn more about their products at www.wargamesfactory.com
Scallywags International, LLC
Scallywags International, LLC, the mad partnership between the massive master of mustaches, Darren J. Gendron, and the tiny tattooed terror, Obsidian Abnormal, is showing off two new games at Gen Con Indy 2012.The Scallywags’ first board game release, Scurvy Dogs: Pirates and Privateers, was the result of a successful Kickstarter launch. As part of that promotion, the secret limited edition cards of the Mermaid, Melusine, Siren and Manatee will be available over Gen Con weekend.
Also, the Scallywags will be demoing a project known only as C3G. There are rumors of ninjas, weretigers, zombies, gnomes, erasers, Santa, and geeks involved.
Visit Scallywags International, LLC in Entrepreneurs' Avenue at booth #1949 and view their games at www.dernworks.com
The final four companies have been awarded the remaining Gen Con Indy 2012 Marketing Fellowships, joining Dead General’s Society LLC and Floodgate games which were previously announced. Marketing Fellowship recipients receive increased exposure, expanded booth space, and featured on-site marketing placements.
Companies selected include:
The Very Us Artists
The Very Us Artists are thrilled to make their debut at Gen Con Indy this year. They hope to bring something new and different to the Gen Con exhibit experience, namely a cyberpunk-fuelled multimedia anthology of original music and fiction called Foreshadows: The Ghosts of Zero.
To learn more about the Very Us Artists, check out http://foreshadows.net and visit them in Entrepreneurs’ Avenue at booth #1749.
Rather Dashing Games
Rather Dashing Games also will make their Gen Con Indy debut in 2012. Veteran game designer Mike Richie and intrepid artist Grant Wilson (of Ghost Hunters fame) have pooled their talents to launch an all-new game company. Their Gen Con launch product, Four Taverns will have players competing to manage the greatest tavern in the land, where thirsty adventurers gather at the close of their epic quests.
To find out more about Rather Dashing Games, go to www.ratherdashinggames.comor check out their booth (#1849) in Entrepreneurs’ Avenue.
Wargames Factory LLC
Wargames Factory LLC specializes in hard plastic, wargaming miniatures in 28mm scale. They also recently have branched into 15mm scale with their new WWII line. Currently their kits cover Sci Fi, Historical, Fantasy and Modern genres with many new figures in the works. Their team prides themselves on achieving the highest detail obtainable in plastic miniatures and providing their kits at excellent prices.
Find Wargames Factory LLC in Entrepreneurs' Avenue at booth #1649 or learn more about their products at www.wargamesfactory.com
Scallywags International, LLC
Scallywags International, LLC, the mad partnership between the massive master of mustaches, Darren J. Gendron, and the tiny tattooed terror, Obsidian Abnormal, is showing off two new games at Gen Con Indy 2012.The Scallywags’ first board game release, Scurvy Dogs: Pirates and Privateers, was the result of a successful Kickstarter launch. As part of that promotion, the secret limited edition cards of the Mermaid, Melusine, Siren and Manatee will be available over Gen Con weekend.
Also, the Scallywags will be demoing a project known only as C3G. There are rumors of ninjas, weretigers, zombies, gnomes, erasers, Santa, and geeks involved.
Visit Scallywags International, LLC in Entrepreneurs' Avenue at booth #1949 and view their games at www.dernworks.com
Wonderful article from Morris concerning 5th edition.
Prose, Terminology, Fluff, & Presentation: Spreadsheets or Haiku?
One
subject which seems to be raging like wildfire across various threads here on
the forums right now is not about the rules of D&D Next, but merely about the way those
rules are presented.
It turns out that this is a highly contentious topic. The opinions people hold are widespread and diametric, and very, very strongly held. Unfortunately, while a modular rules system can possibly appeal to different tastes in terms of mechanical complexity, the books themselves can only have one approach to presentation. That makes this a particularly difficult subject for WotC - there is no way they will able to not annoy a whole bunch of people, whatever they choose to do (unless they literally produce three different versions of each book!)
Here are just some of the threads which address this topic: I've given my own opinion a number of times; some people agree with me, but it's clear that an equal number do not. This really appears to be a divisive issue.
So, what is the issue? Well, to try and break it down into its simplest terms, it's about the language and layout used when presenting rules material. If I were to engage hyperbolic mode and create a witty and hilarious (no, really!) "scale" depicting the range of opinion, it might look something like this. Or it might not. Maybe a little. Anyway:
Now, obviously that's me being a little silly. But I hope it gives you a sense of what I mean when I talk of varied opinions as to how the rules text should be presented.
For the record, I am personally firmly positioned about 3/4 of the way between 1E (Gygax) and 3E/Pathfinder.
On a very basic level, those who trend towards the "spreadsheet" end of the scale tend to do so in support of clarity; while those who trend towards the haiku end of the scale tend to do so in support of flavour and immersion. Generally speaking, the former support "fluff" text, but want it kept away from the mechanics with an iron wall, and the latter - with some exceptions - don't generally want a return to Gygax's specific personal writing style, but to a style which is more prose-inclined than table-delineated. I don't think anybody is advocating either of the extremes on my scale.
Let's look at some examples. I'm grabbing these from the above linked threads, so thanks to those who originally posted them.
That's probably not even close to the best example of what I mean. The difference is even more pronounced when it comes to magic items (and if anyone wants to whip up some examples, I'd love to include them here).
So, other than briefly mentioning my own preference above, I've avoided arguing my opinion so far in this article in favour of simply summarizing the discussion. To put my opinion shortly: I personally believe that greater gameworld immersion is achieved when the flavour is intermixed and thus harder to ignore (I find that 4E's powers in-game have a tendency to manifest as a non-descript attack roll and effect, though I'm sure your own mileage may well vary), whereas when playing a 3E wizard I "feel" more wizardly as I read the spell description. I recognise that some of you will feel that it's my own fault if I find it harder to immerse with one than the other, and that it's all to do with the player not the game, but you'll remember that I've already argued that game syntax and rules structure are as influential as the people themselves when it comes to how a game manifests itself at the game table, and that the same exact people will play differently when given different RPGs to play. So the presentation does have something to do with it.
So that's one half of the debate. The other half deals with the concept of readability. Is a D&D rulebook designed to be read, or simply referenced? Again, as you'd expect, opinions are divided.
When I was younger, I used to spend hours reading and re-reading my DMG and PHB and other books - both 1E and 2E materials. They engaged me; and they still do - I frequently pull them off the shelf and read a few pages. That consequently excited my imagination.
I did that less with 3E, and I don't do it at all with 4E. With 4E, I just look stuff up, like I'm using a dictionary.
Now you might argue that's not a problem. The books are rulebooks; their function is the same as the instruction manual for a VCR, not a novel. You use them to access information, but you don't buy them to read. That may well be true for many, but it isn't for me - reading those 1E and 2E books was an integral and pleasant - I'd argue vital - part of my D&D experience growing up; a memory I cherish, and one I'd love to experience again. But I can understand the position of those who simply want clarity of information and ease of reference: I don't share their desire, but I understand it.
When I say I don't share their desire for clarity, I guess I should be clear myself - I'm certainly not advocating an opaque, incomprehensible wall of text. I'm advocating clearly written, engaging, well-indexed rules. I like clarity as much as the next guy; just not at the expense of readability.
I'd also like to add that I'm not talking about pages of "story fluff" or filling the books with sidebars of torrid fiction. Hints at a default setting are fine, but I don't want to be swamped with one; fiction I get from good fiction novelists, and settings I get from setting books or my own imagination. I want the text to prod my imagination so that I come up with my own stufff, not tell me a story. I'm talking about the presentation of the rules, not fluff text.
As I said, it's a contentious issue, and there really does not seem to be a consensus on it. In fact, it seems to get people quite angry in places!
As a final note before I sign off - I'd just like to mention that if I open the 5E PHB and see a sentence along the lines of:
Thoughts are welcome. I know this one is gonna be divisive, so please make sure you stay civil to each other.
It turns out that this is a highly contentious topic. The opinions people hold are widespread and diametric, and very, very strongly held. Unfortunately, while a modular rules system can possibly appeal to different tastes in terms of mechanical complexity, the books themselves can only have one approach to presentation. That makes this a particularly difficult subject for WotC - there is no way they will able to not annoy a whole bunch of people, whatever they choose to do (unless they literally produce three different versions of each book!)
Here are just some of the threads which address this topic: I've given my own opinion a number of times; some people agree with me, but it's clear that an equal number do not. This really appears to be a divisive issue.
So, what is the issue? Well, to try and break it down into its simplest terms, it's about the language and layout used when presenting rules material. If I were to engage hyperbolic mode and create a witty and hilarious (no, really!) "scale" depicting the range of opinion, it might look something like this. Or it might not. Maybe a little. Anyway:
Now, obviously that's me being a little silly. But I hope it gives you a sense of what I mean when I talk of varied opinions as to how the rules text should be presented.
For the record, I am personally firmly positioned about 3/4 of the way between 1E (Gygax) and 3E/Pathfinder.
On a very basic level, those who trend towards the "spreadsheet" end of the scale tend to do so in support of clarity; while those who trend towards the haiku end of the scale tend to do so in support of flavour and immersion. Generally speaking, the former support "fluff" text, but want it kept away from the mechanics with an iron wall, and the latter - with some exceptions - don't generally want a return to Gygax's specific personal writing style, but to a style which is more prose-inclined than table-delineated. I don't think anybody is advocating either of the extremes on my scale.
Let's look at some examples. I'm grabbing these from the above linked threads, so thanks to those who originally posted them.
Sleep (3rd Edition)The difference in styles is, I hope, fairly clear. Both are presenting similar information, but in very different ways. To me, they feel very different; neither is filled with paragraphs of torrid fiction or fluff text, but the former - to me - is more evocative than the latter. One interests and engages me, the other does not. One makes me want to cast a sleep spell, the other just lists the mechanical advantages of doing so. One feels to me like fantasy, the other just feels like information. It actually saddens me that our hobby, the hobby I grew up with, has reached the point where people consider a paragraph a turgid barrier of insurmountable difficulty. What happened?
Level: Brd 1, Sor/Wiz 1
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 round
Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Area: One or more living creatures within a 10-ft.-radius burst
Duration: 1 min./level
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: Yes
A sleep spell causes a magical slumber to come upon 4 Hit Dice of creatures. Creatures with the fewest HD are affected first. Among creatures with equal HD, those who are closest to the spell’s point of origin are affected first. Hit Dice that are not sufficient to affect a creature are wasted.
Sleeping creatures are helpless. Slapping or wounding awakens an affected creature, but normal noise does not. Awakening a creature is a standard action (an application of the aid another action).
Sleep does not target unconscious creatures, constructs, or undead creatures.
Material Component: A pinch of fine sand, rose petals, or a live cricket.
Sleep (4th Edition)
You exert your will against your foes, seeking to overwhelm them
with a tide of magical weariness.
Daily ✦ Arcane, Implement, Sleep
Standard Action Area burst 2 within 20 squares
Target: Each creature in burst
Attack: Intelligence vs. Will
Hit: The target is slowed (save ends). If the target fails its
first saving throw against this power, the target becomes
unconscious (save ends).
Miss: The target is slowed (save ends).
That's probably not even close to the best example of what I mean. The difference is even more pronounced when it comes to magic items (and if anyone wants to whip up some examples, I'd love to include them here).
So, other than briefly mentioning my own preference above, I've avoided arguing my opinion so far in this article in favour of simply summarizing the discussion. To put my opinion shortly: I personally believe that greater gameworld immersion is achieved when the flavour is intermixed and thus harder to ignore (I find that 4E's powers in-game have a tendency to manifest as a non-descript attack roll and effect, though I'm sure your own mileage may well vary), whereas when playing a 3E wizard I "feel" more wizardly as I read the spell description. I recognise that some of you will feel that it's my own fault if I find it harder to immerse with one than the other, and that it's all to do with the player not the game, but you'll remember that I've already argued that game syntax and rules structure are as influential as the people themselves when it comes to how a game manifests itself at the game table, and that the same exact people will play differently when given different RPGs to play. So the presentation does have something to do with it.
So that's one half of the debate. The other half deals with the concept of readability. Is a D&D rulebook designed to be read, or simply referenced? Again, as you'd expect, opinions are divided.
When I was younger, I used to spend hours reading and re-reading my DMG and PHB and other books - both 1E and 2E materials. They engaged me; and they still do - I frequently pull them off the shelf and read a few pages. That consequently excited my imagination.
I did that less with 3E, and I don't do it at all with 4E. With 4E, I just look stuff up, like I'm using a dictionary.
Now you might argue that's not a problem. The books are rulebooks; their function is the same as the instruction manual for a VCR, not a novel. You use them to access information, but you don't buy them to read. That may well be true for many, but it isn't for me - reading those 1E and 2E books was an integral and pleasant - I'd argue vital - part of my D&D experience growing up; a memory I cherish, and one I'd love to experience again. But I can understand the position of those who simply want clarity of information and ease of reference: I don't share their desire, but I understand it.
When I say I don't share their desire for clarity, I guess I should be clear myself - I'm certainly not advocating an opaque, incomprehensible wall of text. I'm advocating clearly written, engaging, well-indexed rules. I like clarity as much as the next guy; just not at the expense of readability.
I'd also like to add that I'm not talking about pages of "story fluff" or filling the books with sidebars of torrid fiction. Hints at a default setting are fine, but I don't want to be swamped with one; fiction I get from good fiction novelists, and settings I get from setting books or my own imagination. I want the text to prod my imagination so that I come up with my own stufff, not tell me a story. I'm talking about the presentation of the rules, not fluff text.
As I said, it's a contentious issue, and there really does not seem to be a consensus on it. In fact, it seems to get people quite angry in places!
As a final note before I sign off - I'd just like to mention that if I open the 5E PHB and see a sentence along the lines of:
... then Lisa Stevens, Erik Mona, and Jason Bulmahn will have won me as a customer for life without ever having to lift a finger! I understand the desire to appeal to all demographics, but I feel that 4E was pitched a little too young for me.
Play a dragonborn if:
- You want to be scaly.
Thoughts are welcome. I know this one is gonna be divisive, so please make sure you stay civil to each other.
A Hobbyist's Blog: Fading Suns 3 Stillborn
APossible tentative tale to help my freelancer friends.
A Hobbyist's Blog: Fading Suns 3 Stillborn: Fading Suns 3rd edition has been a long road for me. I have spent 4 years of my spare time labouring on it, and it has been a labour of l...
A Hobbyist's Blog: Fading Suns 3 Stillborn: Fading Suns 3rd edition has been a long road for me. I have spent 4 years of my spare time labouring on it, and it has been a labour of l...
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (Cleric Design Goals)
Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (Cleric Design Goals)
The five points of designing ythe new cleric.
The five points of designing ythe new cleric.
Monday, April 23, 2012
PAX EAST 2012: Menace of the Underdark brings big changes to Dungeons and Dragons Online | Massively
PAX East 2012: Menace of the Underdark brings big changes to Dungeons and Dragons Online | Massively
Interviews, Massively Event Coverage
Dungeons and Dragons Online players are in for a whole new world of adventure when Menace of the Underdark launches this summer. The expansion, due to release on June 25th, will send players into the Forgotten Realms to fight against the Queen of Spiders, Lolth. Executive Producer Fernando Paiz and Senior Producer Eric Boyer welcomed us into their lair... er, Turbine's booth... to talk about the upcoming expansion at this year's PAX East. Read on for our preview!
One of the key features of the Menace of the Underdark expansion is the new areas it'll give players access to: Lolth's domain, the spookily beautiful Demonweb Pits; the still-tightly-under-wraps Underdark; and the landscapes of Faerûn. The transition to these new locations is driven by a storyline revolving around Lolth. After fighting the Spinner of Shadows (Eberron's manifestation of Lolth), players will pursue her through the Demonweb, through the Underdark of Forgotten Realms into Faerûn near a town called Eveningstar. As they're struggling against Lolth's machinations, they will find that strange things are afoot in and around Eveningstar. Forest Hags are spying on the dreams of the townspeople, dryads are becoming indiscriminately violent in response to drow depredations of the forest, and the drow have learned how to sink broad areas into sudden darkness. This tendency of the drow to drop a mini-eclipse over a battlefield, along with adventures in the Underdark, will eventually lead to the inclusion of a new feature called darkvision, which the team is not yet ready to show but is nevertheless very excited about. Darkvision functions pretty much precisely as you'd imagine, and most fans of Dungeons and Dragons and the Forgotten Realms will recognize it as a long-standing part of the mythos.
As they travel through these new areas, players will have access to droves of new mobs: new and improved drow, driders (which differ from the canon driders in that rather than being a punishment from Lolth, they are half-drow, half-spider monstrosities being honored by the chance to be more like the goddess), draegloths (half-demon, half-drow nightmares in possession of a pretty wicked long-distance snare, among other nasty skills), and a host of other appropriately flavored baddies. Along with these garden-variety monsters, some new dragons and other high-powered bosses are being planted in the world. Menace of the Underdark will be introducing green dragons ("Poison is overdue to become scary again," says Fernando, referring to the special attacks of the new green dragons) as well as a new line of red dragons.
We'll also have exciting gameplay changes to look forward to. Along with updated visuals (grass that waves in reaction to players running through it was one lovely example), DDO on the whole will be experiencing an updated quest style. Certain mobs and quests will have a more randomized appearance in the game world, and some quests may even end differently based on certain circumstances. Fernando gave as an example a group of huntsmen who ask you to dine with them and might either give you perfectly tasty food that'll bestow on you a brief buff... or turn into werewolves totally intent on eating your face. Moreover, players will be able to pursue their Epic Destinies as they take character progression beyond 20 up to 25.
Of course, discussion of this expansion wouldn't be complete without mention of the much-requested new class, the Druid. A long-standing tradition in D&D, the Druid is the last of the core classes to be included in DDO, and it brings a lot of versatility and fun to the table. Druids are a pet class with the ability to level their pets as the characters themselves progress, leading to pet specialization. You can choose, for example, to have a pet that's more tanky than DPS-oriented. More importantly, Druids have natural transformation as a core class mechanic, such that they can follow one of three transformation lines (wolf, bear, and elemental) to customize their style of combat. In addition to those two fun mechanics, Druids have access to one of the richest spellbooks of any class, making them highly effective in many different fighting roles. Druids are a premium class, but they'll be free to VIP players and accessible through expansion bundles.
There's a tremendous amount of story and adventure rolled into the upcoming expansion. Menace of the Underdark will surely bring some long-desired changes and exciting updates to the world of DDO.
Interviews, Massively Event Coverage
Dungeons and Dragons Online players are in for a whole new world of adventure when Menace of the Underdark launches this summer. The expansion, due to release on June 25th, will send players into the Forgotten Realms to fight against the Queen of Spiders, Lolth. Executive Producer Fernando Paiz and Senior Producer Eric Boyer welcomed us into their lair... er, Turbine's booth... to talk about the upcoming expansion at this year's PAX East. Read on for our preview!
One of the key features of the Menace of the Underdark expansion is the new areas it'll give players access to: Lolth's domain, the spookily beautiful Demonweb Pits; the still-tightly-under-wraps Underdark; and the landscapes of Faerûn. The transition to these new locations is driven by a storyline revolving around Lolth. After fighting the Spinner of Shadows (Eberron's manifestation of Lolth), players will pursue her through the Demonweb, through the Underdark of Forgotten Realms into Faerûn near a town called Eveningstar. As they're struggling against Lolth's machinations, they will find that strange things are afoot in and around Eveningstar. Forest Hags are spying on the dreams of the townspeople, dryads are becoming indiscriminately violent in response to drow depredations of the forest, and the drow have learned how to sink broad areas into sudden darkness. This tendency of the drow to drop a mini-eclipse over a battlefield, along with adventures in the Underdark, will eventually lead to the inclusion of a new feature called darkvision, which the team is not yet ready to show but is nevertheless very excited about. Darkvision functions pretty much precisely as you'd imagine, and most fans of Dungeons and Dragons and the Forgotten Realms will recognize it as a long-standing part of the mythos.
As they travel through these new areas, players will have access to droves of new mobs: new and improved drow, driders (which differ from the canon driders in that rather than being a punishment from Lolth, they are half-drow, half-spider monstrosities being honored by the chance to be more like the goddess), draegloths (half-demon, half-drow nightmares in possession of a pretty wicked long-distance snare, among other nasty skills), and a host of other appropriately flavored baddies. Along with these garden-variety monsters, some new dragons and other high-powered bosses are being planted in the world. Menace of the Underdark will be introducing green dragons ("Poison is overdue to become scary again," says Fernando, referring to the special attacks of the new green dragons) as well as a new line of red dragons.
We'll also have exciting gameplay changes to look forward to. Along with updated visuals (grass that waves in reaction to players running through it was one lovely example), DDO on the whole will be experiencing an updated quest style. Certain mobs and quests will have a more randomized appearance in the game world, and some quests may even end differently based on certain circumstances. Fernando gave as an example a group of huntsmen who ask you to dine with them and might either give you perfectly tasty food that'll bestow on you a brief buff... or turn into werewolves totally intent on eating your face. Moreover, players will be able to pursue their Epic Destinies as they take character progression beyond 20 up to 25.
Of course, discussion of this expansion wouldn't be complete without mention of the much-requested new class, the Druid. A long-standing tradition in D&D, the Druid is the last of the core classes to be included in DDO, and it brings a lot of versatility and fun to the table. Druids are a pet class with the ability to level their pets as the characters themselves progress, leading to pet specialization. You can choose, for example, to have a pet that's more tanky than DPS-oriented. More importantly, Druids have natural transformation as a core class mechanic, such that they can follow one of three transformation lines (wolf, bear, and elemental) to customize their style of combat. In addition to those two fun mechanics, Druids have access to one of the richest spellbooks of any class, making them highly effective in many different fighting roles. Druids are a premium class, but they'll be free to VIP players and accessible through expansion bundles.
There's a tremendous amount of story and adventure rolled into the upcoming expansion. Menace of the Underdark will surely bring some long-desired changes and exciting updates to the world of DDO.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Campaign Wiki DungeonMaps: One Page Dungeon Contest 2012
Campaign Wiki DungeonMaps: One Page Dungeon Contest 2012
Submissions: Here’s how to submit your entry.
• Create a One Page Dungeon.
• Submitting a dungeon to the contest releases it under the Creative Common Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license with credit to the contest participant (see FAQ).
• The submission must have a name, an author, and a link to the license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).
• The judges and readers play a variety of systems. Don’t waste valuable space with a lot of system-specific stats.
• A link to extra material on your blog such as wandering monsters, random events, adventure background, introduction, descriptions of tricks or traps are welcome for readers but will not be considered part of your submission.
• One entry per participant. Participants may revise/replace their entries up until the end of contest, with the last revision counting as their official entry.
• If your font size is too small to read, you will most probably not win.
• Many people will print your submission as a black and white document. Adding colors is no problem as long as the black and white printed copy is still good enough.
• Help us keep file size in check. A single page should not take more than an image with 3000x2000 pixels (1-2MB is cool, 5MB still works, 10MB is too much).
• Submission must be mailed in PDF format to Alex Schröder → kensanata@gmail.com. Usually we can help you convert your Open Office and Microsoft Word documents to PDF.
• If you have a blog article talking about your submission
Submissions: Here’s how to submit your entry.
• Create a One Page Dungeon.
• Submitting a dungeon to the contest releases it under the Creative Common Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license with credit to the contest participant (see FAQ).
• The submission must have a name, an author, and a link to the license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).
• The judges and readers play a variety of systems. Don’t waste valuable space with a lot of system-specific stats.
• A link to extra material on your blog such as wandering monsters, random events, adventure background, introduction, descriptions of tricks or traps are welcome for readers but will not be considered part of your submission.
• One entry per participant. Participants may revise/replace their entries up until the end of contest, with the last revision counting as their official entry.
• If your font size is too small to read, you will most probably not win.
• Many people will print your submission as a black and white document. Adding colors is no problem as long as the black and white printed copy is still good enough.
• Help us keep file size in check. A single page should not take more than an image with 3000x2000 pixels (1-2MB is cool, 5MB still works, 10MB is too much).
• Submission must be mailed in PDF format to Alex Schröder → kensanata@gmail.com. Usually we can help you convert your Open Office and Microsoft Word documents to PDF.
• If you have a blog article talking about your submission
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Get hammered on Tyrion's quips with the Game of Thrones drinking game
Get hammered on Tyrion's quips with the Game of Thrones drinking game
Get hammered on Tyrion’s quips with the Game of Thrones drinking game
Should neither Game of Thrones' abundant nudity nor its taut political machinations hold your interest, there's always the option to spice Westeros up with a tipple. That's exactly what Anna Lucylle has done for the show's second season. Here's a larger, printable version of her rules, and you can find more ill-advised science fiction and fantasy drinking games here.
Get hammered on Tyrion’s quips with the Game of Thrones drinking game
Should neither Game of Thrones' abundant nudity nor its taut political machinations hold your interest, there's always the option to spice Westeros up with a tipple. That's exactly what Anna Lucylle has done for the show's second season. Here's a larger, printable version of her rules, and you can find more ill-advised science fiction and fantasy drinking games here.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Dungeons & Dragons (D&D Next Design Considerations)
Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (D&D Next Design Considerations)
Great article on theWOTC site for what to expect for D&D Next
Great article on theWOTC site for what to expect for D&D Next
Monday, April 9, 2012
The Future of D&D Panel at PAX East - 2012 - YouTube
The Future of D&D Panel at PAX East - 2012 - YouTube
The next iteration of Dungeons & Dragons is on its way! Join D&D Senior Manager Mike Mearls and Lead Rules Editor Jeremy Crawford in a Q&A about the next D&D, and how the open playtest is using fan feedback to help shape the future of the game.
Category:
Gaming
Tags:
Dungeons and Dragons DnD Next DnDNext
License:
Standard YouTube License
The next iteration of Dungeons & Dragons is on its way! Join D&D Senior Manager Mike Mearls and Lead Rules Editor Jeremy Crawford in a Q&A about the next D&D, and how the open playtest is using fan feedback to help shape the future of the game.
Category:
Gaming
Tags:
Dungeons and Dragons DnD Next DnDNext
License:
Standard YouTube License
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Sunday, March 25, 2012
7 of the World's Most Overgrown Churches - All in One English County! | Urban Ghosts |
7 of the World's Most Overgrown Churches - All in One English County! | Urban Ghosts |
Great pictures to inspire encounters and local.
Great pictures to inspire encounters and local.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
A science fictional map of San Francisco as an archipelago city
A science fictional map of San Francisco as an archipelago city
part of the planning boards 2070 development.
part of the planning boards 2070 development.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
The Cost of Capital and Medieval Agricultural Technique
The Cost of Capital and Medieval Agricultural Technique resource material to turn your role-playing game into a market strategy game. Covers from 1182 up to 1850. Have fun.
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