Near the mining village of Blackleaf looms Redwitch Mountain, the tallest mountain in Peakvale. Whispers of cannibalistic reptile people are common in the village tavern and some even say that strange people that were once human live in the dark depths of the mountain.
Redwitch Lizardkin
Monster Rating: 10-20
Combat Dice: 2d6+5 to 3d6+10
Special Damage: 1/1
Special Abilities: Scaly Hide - absorbs 1 hit per combat round
These squat scaly creatures choose to fight in numbers using their crude spears to overwhelm any trespassers in their underground lair. They worship the mountain god Theroz, and offer living sacrifices to him in exchange for the safety of their people. The lizardkin live in a matriarchal society overseen by the enigmatic brood mother.
Brood Mother
Monster Rating: 50
Combat Dice: 6d6+25
Special Damage: 2/Hold That Pose - the brood mother mesmerises an opponent with her eyes, forcing them to forget what they were doing.
Special Abilities: A brood mother may devour one of her lizardkin subjects in order to gain 2d6 CON.
Towering above her subjects, the fat brood mother is the queen of the Redwitch Lizardkin tribe and treated like a god. When she is in dire need, she will even eat her own in order to save herself.
Black Orc
Monster Rating: 20-30
Combat Dice: 3d6+10 to 4d6+15
Special Damage: 1/1
Special Abilities: Natural Climber - Black orcs can quickly scale sheer surfaces without a need for a saving roll.
Next to urooks, black orcs are the scourge of Peakvale as they raid villages, waylay travellers and generally leave chaos in their wake. They can make their home anywhere, from forests and marshlands to deserts and mountains. They do not like venturing out in the daylight, preferring to carry out their nefarious deeds in the dark.
Akanai
Monster Rating: 20-40
Combat Dice: 3d6+10 to 5d6+20
Special Damage: 2/1 with a spear, 1/1 with anything else.
Special Abilities: Silent Stalker - An Akanai is stealthy and does not make a sound upon approach.
Nightvision: Akanai can see perfectly in the dark.
The Akanai are a race of warrior women who have lived in the mountain for many hundreds of years, slowly adapting to their environment. They are ferocious, but kind to those who do not pose a threat. They are forever warring with the black orcs and lizardkin. Akanai have unusually long life as a result of finding a fountain of longlife elixir deep within the mountain, which they protect with their lives.
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Wednesday, 30 May 2012
Tuesday, 29 May 2012
Mearls makes some old school suggestions for D&D Next
In his latest Legends & Lore column, Mike Mearls talks about some of the thoughts behind this version of the playtest and why certain aspects were designed that way. He also makes some suggestions for people who want a more old school game.
Those of us who are doing the playtest know about the whole removing themes and backgrounds on the character sheet, but Mearls has offered up a couple of other suggestions to make D&D Next a bit more like AD&D. Obviously this is purely to experiment with the game's modular mechanics, but it would be worth doing.
For example, he suggests getting rid of the cleric and wizard's minor spells and equipping the wizard with a brace of daggers. Back in the day, when the wizard was out of spells he'd spend the rest of the fight lobbing knives at the enemy, which in my eyes is kind of dull, but if you prefer that way of playing then go ahead.
Another thing he said was to remove Hit Dice as far as healing goes. A lot of people are unhappy that players can heal, although Mearls does point out that in the Friends and Family playtests many people were vocal about the lack of healing. So if you think that Hit Dice should be tossed aside, feel free to do so and see how it goes.
Although not a suggestion to make the character sheet simpler, Mearls does point out that they are thinking of giving fighters the ability to choose two themes instead of one, so he suggests taking the Guardian theme of the Cleric or Moradin and also giving it to the fighter to see how it plays.
I think that the modular format is a good one, although I can't see myself getting rid of themes and backgrounds, since feats and skills do give you a lot of good advantages and it would be a shame to lose them, but I understand if they're not everyone's cup of tea. Pin It
Those of us who are doing the playtest know about the whole removing themes and backgrounds on the character sheet, but Mearls has offered up a couple of other suggestions to make D&D Next a bit more like AD&D. Obviously this is purely to experiment with the game's modular mechanics, but it would be worth doing.
For example, he suggests getting rid of the cleric and wizard's minor spells and equipping the wizard with a brace of daggers. Back in the day, when the wizard was out of spells he'd spend the rest of the fight lobbing knives at the enemy, which in my eyes is kind of dull, but if you prefer that way of playing then go ahead.
Another thing he said was to remove Hit Dice as far as healing goes. A lot of people are unhappy that players can heal, although Mearls does point out that in the Friends and Family playtests many people were vocal about the lack of healing. So if you think that Hit Dice should be tossed aside, feel free to do so and see how it goes.
Although not a suggestion to make the character sheet simpler, Mearls does point out that they are thinking of giving fighters the ability to choose two themes instead of one, so he suggests taking the Guardian theme of the Cleric or Moradin and also giving it to the fighter to see how it plays.
I think that the modular format is a good one, although I can't see myself getting rid of themes and backgrounds, since feats and skills do give you a lot of good advantages and it would be a shame to lose them, but I understand if they're not everyone's cup of tea. Pin It
Sunday, 27 May 2012
D&D Next actual play impressions
Yesterday I got together with my regular group and we sat down to chug out a good five hours on module B2 Caves of Chaos with the D&D Next playtest. It was great.
We decided to go without the battlemat, which wasn't to alien for us because of our T&T games, but it was still a little odd doing it with D&D since we're more accustomed to 4e's sprawling 2 hour battle extravaganzas. I think the majority opinion was that the 'theatre of the mind' playstyle was more involving and immersive, as we described exactly where we were and what we were doing. I liked it very much, but I can see why sometime you might need to get the old grid out when numbers become a problem.
I played the halfling rogue, called Vincent Crestfall, mostly because he looked like one of the most interesting characters. I had a blast playing him, with his sneak attack bonus, Lucky racial feature and all the other good thief scheme stuff, which essentially gives you you open locks, find a disable traps skill bonuses. Speaking of skills, since there isn't a set skill list in this version of the playtest, we had to tie our actions to base attributes. Most of the time this was fluid, but some arguments did come up about which attribute is most appropriate to use. In the end, it's the DM's decision anyway, which is fine by me. I do prefer this more freeform way of doing skills and I hope it's kept that way.
One problem that we did come across was that the wizard seemed overpowered to begin with. While we were delving into the kobold warrens, he was picking them all off with magic missile with auto-kills. This annoyed the player because he wasn't getting to roll anything because his minimum damage output was higher than the kobolds' HP. I guess the main reason this seemed a bit borked was because magic missile is a cantrip and so can be used any time. On the plus side, the wizard didn't seem useless at any point, since he could still blast off spells once he's used sleep and burning hands. Perhaps magic missile should go back to being a 1st level spell, but 1d4 + Int instead.
Advantages and disadvantages were universally liked, as they added to the fluidity of combat and allowed for easy refereeing. They do make a big difference, much more than a +/-2, and they can be used in lots of situations.
Something that I loathe, and I know I'm definitely not alone with this, is the long sleep giving a full heal. Even Mike Mearls has apparently errata'd this on Twitter, saying you could heal level + Con modifier. The problem with this approach is that you're going to get characters with -2 Con who end up losing HP when resting. Maybe that could reflect their apparent weakness, but a quick patch would be Con + level and you heal a minimum of 1. Otherwise, if you have a Hit Die spare perhaps you could contribute that towards it?
Speaking of Hit Dice, they're nowhere as overpowered at healing surges were, since you only get one use a day a 1st level and that's only with a healing kit. We didn't realise the one use a day thing because the rules aren't very clear about it, so we did use a bunch at one point, but now we know.
Combat itself was fluid, each encounter lasting minutes instead of hours. Since the rules are less rigid about actions that in 4e, I found it easier to pull off cool stuff. It's possible that monster and character HP may be a little high to begin with, but I seem to remember the designers saying that's something they're working on. I do like how characters have to roll for their HP again when they level, but they're also given the option to use their Con modifier instead, which isn't a problem for me personally.
One thing I did wonder at was why sling damage was so high at 1d8. I would have expected 1d6 at the most really, especially considering how powerful sneak attack gets per level (+3d6 at 3rd level, meaning critting with a 29, which seems awfully high).
I'll probably be returning to the caves this weekend, so stay tuned for more reports. Pin It
We decided to go without the battlemat, which wasn't to alien for us because of our T&T games, but it was still a little odd doing it with D&D since we're more accustomed to 4e's sprawling 2 hour battle extravaganzas. I think the majority opinion was that the 'theatre of the mind' playstyle was more involving and immersive, as we described exactly where we were and what we were doing. I liked it very much, but I can see why sometime you might need to get the old grid out when numbers become a problem.
I played the halfling rogue, called Vincent Crestfall, mostly because he looked like one of the most interesting characters. I had a blast playing him, with his sneak attack bonus, Lucky racial feature and all the other good thief scheme stuff, which essentially gives you you open locks, find a disable traps skill bonuses. Speaking of skills, since there isn't a set skill list in this version of the playtest, we had to tie our actions to base attributes. Most of the time this was fluid, but some arguments did come up about which attribute is most appropriate to use. In the end, it's the DM's decision anyway, which is fine by me. I do prefer this more freeform way of doing skills and I hope it's kept that way.
One problem that we did come across was that the wizard seemed overpowered to begin with. While we were delving into the kobold warrens, he was picking them all off with magic missile with auto-kills. This annoyed the player because he wasn't getting to roll anything because his minimum damage output was higher than the kobolds' HP. I guess the main reason this seemed a bit borked was because magic missile is a cantrip and so can be used any time. On the plus side, the wizard didn't seem useless at any point, since he could still blast off spells once he's used sleep and burning hands. Perhaps magic missile should go back to being a 1st level spell, but 1d4 + Int instead.
Advantages and disadvantages were universally liked, as they added to the fluidity of combat and allowed for easy refereeing. They do make a big difference, much more than a +/-2, and they can be used in lots of situations.
Something that I loathe, and I know I'm definitely not alone with this, is the long sleep giving a full heal. Even Mike Mearls has apparently errata'd this on Twitter, saying you could heal level + Con modifier. The problem with this approach is that you're going to get characters with -2 Con who end up losing HP when resting. Maybe that could reflect their apparent weakness, but a quick patch would be Con + level and you heal a minimum of 1. Otherwise, if you have a Hit Die spare perhaps you could contribute that towards it?
Speaking of Hit Dice, they're nowhere as overpowered at healing surges were, since you only get one use a day a 1st level and that's only with a healing kit. We didn't realise the one use a day thing because the rules aren't very clear about it, so we did use a bunch at one point, but now we know.
Combat itself was fluid, each encounter lasting minutes instead of hours. Since the rules are less rigid about actions that in 4e, I found it easier to pull off cool stuff. It's possible that monster and character HP may be a little high to begin with, but I seem to remember the designers saying that's something they're working on. I do like how characters have to roll for their HP again when they level, but they're also given the option to use their Con modifier instead, which isn't a problem for me personally.
One thing I did wonder at was why sling damage was so high at 1d8. I would have expected 1d6 at the most really, especially considering how powerful sneak attack gets per level (+3d6 at 3rd level, meaning critting with a 29, which seems awfully high).
I'll probably be returning to the caves this weekend, so stay tuned for more reports. Pin It
Saturday, 26 May 2012
Something about D&D Next needs clarifying
I've been checking out reactions on blogs and Youtube about the new playtest material and I see the same thing cropping up. There seems to be some perception that the current version of the rules how we see them now are set in stone, which just isn't the case at all.
Some people are moaning about how the three saving throws have gone or moaning about how nobody has skills anymore. The designers at Wizards have clearly said that they have omitted some mechanics that have been D&D mainstays in the current playtest to see whether the game can be played without them, not that they have definitely decided that they're chucking them out.
I guess some people haven't really grasped the concept of what a playtest is. I'm playing the game today, so I'll be posting more of my thoughts later, but I'm not going to start bitching and whining because something hasn't been included. See how it plays out without that stuff and then criticise. If you still don't like it and feel that it doesn't work, then fair play to you. To immediately flick through the rules and dismiss them isn't particularly helpful (nor is loving every single part of it really).
Tune in soon for my play report. Pin It
Some people are moaning about how the three saving throws have gone or moaning about how nobody has skills anymore. The designers at Wizards have clearly said that they have omitted some mechanics that have been D&D mainstays in the current playtest to see whether the game can be played without them, not that they have definitely decided that they're chucking them out.
I guess some people haven't really grasped the concept of what a playtest is. I'm playing the game today, so I'll be posting more of my thoughts later, but I'm not going to start bitching and whining because something hasn't been included. See how it plays out without that stuff and then criticise. If you still don't like it and feel that it doesn't work, then fair play to you. To immediately flick through the rules and dismiss them isn't particularly helpful (nor is loving every single part of it really).
Tune in soon for my play report. Pin It
Friday, 25 May 2012
Comic books and homophobia
What follows will be something that defers from my normal kind of blog post. I'm angry, and because of this I'm writing a post to pretty much express my feelings on a matter that has cropped up in the last few days. Be warned that this post does contain some strong language.
You might have heard that DC has announced that one of their superheroes is going to come out of the closet. This is great and shows that mainstream comics are making steps (albeit baby ones) to recognise homosexuality. Of course, this wouldn't be the first gay hero, but it adds to a very small list. At the same time, Northstar will be marrying his boyfriend, Kyle between the pages of Astonishing X-Men. Again, this is awesome and shouldn't stir as much controversy as it has done. But it has. Namely by "family" group One Millions Moms.
Here's some ignorant shit they said in their recent press release about the news:
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You might have heard that DC has announced that one of their superheroes is going to come out of the closet. This is great and shows that mainstream comics are making steps (albeit baby ones) to recognise homosexuality. Of course, this wouldn't be the first gay hero, but it adds to a very small list. At the same time, Northstar will be marrying his boyfriend, Kyle between the pages of Astonishing X-Men. Again, this is awesome and shouldn't stir as much controversy as it has done. But it has. Namely by "family" group One Millions Moms.
Here's some ignorant shit they said in their recent press release about the news:
"Children desire to be just like superheroes. Children mimic superhero actions and even dress up in costumes to resemble these characters as much as possible. Can you imagine little boys saying, “I want a boyfriend or husband like X-Men?”
This is ridiculous! Why do adult gay men need comic superheroes as role models? They don’t but do want to indoctrate impressionable young minds by placing these gay characters on pedestals in a positive light. These companies are heavily influencing our youth by using children’s superheroes to desensitize and brainwash them in thinking that a gay lifestyle choice is normal and desirable. As Christians, we know that homosexuality is a sin (Romans 1:26-27)."
And to you, One Million Moms, I say grow the fuck up.
There's so much wrong with this that it makes my brain feel like it's been through a rusty mangler seventeen times before being fired out of a cannon at something very wrong. First off, children mimic superheroes because they are good, noble people with awesome powers and who fight for justice. It's a fallacy to say that having gay heroes will 'indoctrinate' kids (fuck that noise, honestly), because a) kids don't really care about sexuality when they're reading a comic about people destroying robots and taking down supervillians, and b) that's not how sexual preference works! People don't choose to be attracted to the same sex, the same way others don't choose to be attracted to the opposite sex. Obviously OMM doesn't agree, since they ignorantly refer to it as a 'gay lifestyle choice'.
The saddest part of this affair is that at the end of the release they have a call to arms to have people write in and tell Marvel and DC not to go ahead with their 'agenda'. To actively censor something that is so innocent and good - a romance tale between two people. Just because something offends your delicate, misguided sensibilities doesn't give you the right to say what can and can't be printed in a comic book that will be read by people who don't share those sensibilities. Just because you believe in a religion, it doesn't give you some special privilege. Suck it up. If you don't like it, don't read it, although I urge you to start using your brain and come to the realisation that we're all people. Gay, straight, black, white; we're human beings and none of use have any more rights than others. If you don't agree with this, then you disagree with humanity.
One Million Moms' members have no idea what it's like to be gay and the struggle that comes with it even today; hell I don't know, but I sure as fuck can empathise. Everyone needs heroes, especially those who are bullied at school for who they are. Have you thought about those kids? The kids who can't face school in the morning because they know full well that they will be at the brunt of every joke, that they will be physically hurt for something that they have no control over. Who would 'choose' that life? Nobody, and those kids need heroes too - they need to know that their favourite superheroes are going through the same emotions and the same turmoil as they are. Heroes that can make them feel better about themselves - more accepted. If more comics are printed with gay people as their stars, then it becomes commonplace and the bullying diminishes. But I think you're the bullies, OMM. You're selfish, arrogant, fucking bullies that want the world to reflect your backwards views.
Well fuck you.
Thursday, 24 May 2012
Initial thoughts on the D&D Next playtest material
Mearls was right, May 24th came around quickly and RPG fans were eagerly awaiting their playtest pack from Wizards in their email. Unfortunately, server problems go the better of them, leading to 404s every which way and silly redirects when trying to use the download link. Anyway, I've got my copy and here are my initial thoughts.
The pack is split into 9 PDFs, with characters, a play guide, DM guide, the bestiary and the adventure, Caves of Chaos. I suppose we were all thinking going in whether the designers would stay with the over-the-top 4e system or revert back to earlier editions. Thankfully, the playtest has shed most of 4th edition, leaving something resembling 3.x with a hint of Essentials thrown in.
Gone are the at-wills, encounter and daily powers for all and sundry, and while magic-users and clerics have cantrips they can use at will, we're firmly back in Vancian territory. Interestingly, the material doesn't assume you'll be using a grid, so measurements are back to feet instead of squares, which is telling of how combat has been scaled back.
Encounters are no longer the big sprawling set pieces that take 3 hours per fight. You get one action and one move, but you can split your move to pre- and post-action, allowing for tactical fighting. Since characters don't have reams of powers to go through, just spells and attacks, combat will be more or less back to how it was before 4th edition. Wham bam, thank you ma'am.
The bestiary details all creatures in the Caves of Chaos adventure included in the playtest, and there are a lot of them. From low xp goblins to big ol' xp trolls, it's clear that your 1st level adventurers could end up in way over their heads, which is a good thing when it comes to telling a story and something that 4e sorely lacked.The monsters all have some really cool flavour, from combat methods to legends and lore as well as descriptive stuff. Their special abilities actually mean something now. Take the Medusa for example. In 4e, her Snaky Hair read as follows:
+15 vs AC; 1d6+5 damage, and the target takes ongoing 10 poison damage and takes a -2 penalty to Fortitude defense (save ends both).
Whereas in the playtest we have something much more descriptive, explaining how the snakes act and adding more flavour to the attack (forgive me, but the ToC's forbid excerpts). The same goes for magic, which is now in list format again. Everything carries much more flavour to it.
Obviously these rules will change, but I hope not by much. I love the advantages and disadvantages, where you roll 2d20 and take the higher or lower result depending on whether you're at an advantage or disadvantage. This means you don't have to track -2s all over the place. It can also be used for a bunch of things, including conditions, which there are a bunch of and perhaps more than I personally wanted. However, again, they are all about flavour, not mechanics. I quite like 'frightened' where the victim should make all possible actions to keep out of sight of the enemy, although I'm a bit dubious about 'intoxicated' giving you 1d6 immunity to damage. That seems daft.
The Caves of Chaos seems like a great adventure for a starting DM. There's no 4 encounter adventure here, this is a sprawling 64-room dungeon teeming with creatures to slay and loot.
Right now, I think this is a great-looking game. While it still retains an air of 4e, such as Hit Dice replacing healing surges but in a much more logical sense, and lots of character customisation, it looks like a step in the right direction. Plus, your character can fit on a page!
Pin It
The pack is split into 9 PDFs, with characters, a play guide, DM guide, the bestiary and the adventure, Caves of Chaos. I suppose we were all thinking going in whether the designers would stay with the over-the-top 4e system or revert back to earlier editions. Thankfully, the playtest has shed most of 4th edition, leaving something resembling 3.x with a hint of Essentials thrown in.
Gone are the at-wills, encounter and daily powers for all and sundry, and while magic-users and clerics have cantrips they can use at will, we're firmly back in Vancian territory. Interestingly, the material doesn't assume you'll be using a grid, so measurements are back to feet instead of squares, which is telling of how combat has been scaled back.
Encounters are no longer the big sprawling set pieces that take 3 hours per fight. You get one action and one move, but you can split your move to pre- and post-action, allowing for tactical fighting. Since characters don't have reams of powers to go through, just spells and attacks, combat will be more or less back to how it was before 4th edition. Wham bam, thank you ma'am.
The bestiary details all creatures in the Caves of Chaos adventure included in the playtest, and there are a lot of them. From low xp goblins to big ol' xp trolls, it's clear that your 1st level adventurers could end up in way over their heads, which is a good thing when it comes to telling a story and something that 4e sorely lacked.The monsters all have some really cool flavour, from combat methods to legends and lore as well as descriptive stuff. Their special abilities actually mean something now. Take the Medusa for example. In 4e, her Snaky Hair read as follows:
+15 vs AC; 1d6+5 damage, and the target takes ongoing 10 poison damage and takes a -2 penalty to Fortitude defense (save ends both).
Whereas in the playtest we have something much more descriptive, explaining how the snakes act and adding more flavour to the attack (forgive me, but the ToC's forbid excerpts). The same goes for magic, which is now in list format again. Everything carries much more flavour to it.
Obviously these rules will change, but I hope not by much. I love the advantages and disadvantages, where you roll 2d20 and take the higher or lower result depending on whether you're at an advantage or disadvantage. This means you don't have to track -2s all over the place. It can also be used for a bunch of things, including conditions, which there are a bunch of and perhaps more than I personally wanted. However, again, they are all about flavour, not mechanics. I quite like 'frightened' where the victim should make all possible actions to keep out of sight of the enemy, although I'm a bit dubious about 'intoxicated' giving you 1d6 immunity to damage. That seems daft.
The Caves of Chaos seems like a great adventure for a starting DM. There's no 4 encounter adventure here, this is a sprawling 64-room dungeon teeming with creatures to slay and loot.
Right now, I think this is a great-looking game. While it still retains an air of 4e, such as Hit Dice replacing healing surges but in a much more logical sense, and lots of character customisation, it looks like a step in the right direction. Plus, your character can fit on a page!
Pin It
Wednesday, 23 May 2012
Thornguard now in printed form
I'm pleased to announce that you can now buy printed copies of Thornguard, if you're that way inclined. Get a job, join a guild, become a criminal and more in my new solo adventure for Tunnels and Trolls.Incidentally, Thornguard is currently at #5 of the top 100 small press items on DrivethruRPG, so I'm a little chuffed. I even had reports earlier saying that it was #5, only being beaten by Dungeon Crawl Classics. Brilliant!
Remember, you can buy the PDF version for a mere $2 (or £1.26 to us Brits), which is less than a big bag of Maltesers and a bazillion times more fun. Pin It
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