So often the focus of my articles is DMing. However, in a few short weeks I will be doing something unusual: joining The Game’s regular D&D game. I’m going to run through the considerations of making a character for a game that has been run for a considerable time (the party is starting off paragon level).
Scarrport: Get Some Steampunk in your 4e
There’s a lot to like about Scarrport: City of Secrets, the new setting book from Reality Deviant Productions. What really makes it stand out to me are the rules for Steampunk-style items in your 4e game. By incorporating these kind of items, it adds a different genre to 4e, instead of just being another setting using the same D&D elements.
Monster Manual 2 Spoilers!
Wizards of the Coast is releasing some spoilers today for the Monster Manual 2 through various sources, one of which is right here! I believe the deal is that various sources will be sneak previewing different monsters, and you should be able to find the stat blocks for each of these monsters over at the D&D Facebook page.
Inq. of the Week: The Stars are Warring?
It happens to be May the 4th, and a Monday, so I couldn’t let this go by without doing a Star Wars based inquisition of the week. With what could possibly be one of the corniest geek habits of using dates to make inside jokes, “May the 4th be with you” is apparently something that isn’t going away anytime soon. It occured to me that we have never done a poll about the Star Wars movies, which I am correcting today.
Review: Arcane Power
The second in Wizard’s series of books that expand upon their power sources was released earlier this week for the 4th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons. Arcane Power follows very much in the footsteps of Martial Power except this time providing expanded options for all of the arcane spellcasting classes currently in the game. This book will appeal most to the current player of an Arcane character (including Bards, Sorcerers, Swordmages, Warlocks, and Wizards), providing a slew of new options, powers, feats, paragon paths, and epic destinies for each and every one of those classes.
Inq. of the Week: Arcane Powered
While thinking about spell-casting, I got to thinking about spells themselves. I flipped through both the 3rd edition spell list and cross checked a few against the 4e list (there’s some that didn’t make the jump) and compiled what I feel is a pretty good set of classic arcane spells. Especially around the lower levels there are more that saw more play just because of the nature of lower-level spells, but I think this is a pretty good list across all levels.
Preview – E1: Death’s Reach
Not even a year after 4th Edition’s release and Wizards of the Coast is now into the Epic Tier of gameplay with their official modules. Adventure E1: Death’s Reach is all about introducing DM’s and players to the world of Epic 4th Edition, and it doesn’t matter if you’ve played all the way from the Keep on the Shadowfell up to this adventure or if you’re a group just starting a campaign and eager to start at 21st level you can jump right into the module.
Review: The Darkness that Comes Before
I bought R. Scott Bakker’s first book purely based on its appearance on ‘top fantasy’ lists and its comparisons to the ‘realistic’ fantasy authors of Steven Erikson and George R..R. Martin. Bakker comes from an English critique and Philosophy background and it shows. His prose is often quite moving: either beautiful in its poetry or sickening in its brutality. His characters, setting, and background all teem with philosophical underpinnings.
Inq. of the Week: Roleplaying with Minis?
As I mulled over some topics on boardgames, my mind was still wandering back to the D&D game I ran on Saturday, so today we have a topic that spans between D&D and boardgames!
Krod Mandoon: Comedy Central caters to the RPG crowd?
What better to occupy my 10-11pm hour on the Thursday before a Friday off from work then the potentially horrible but still quite intriguing Comedy Central premiere of a fantasy-comedy series? Not much! The full title for the show is Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire, and it will be showing for at least a few half-hour episodes on Thursday nights at 10pm.
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