The Player’s Handbook 2 has a number of old friends. Barbarians, Bards, Druids… we knew (at least roughly) what these guys would do. But Avengers? They were something of a mystery. Did they refer to the old D&D class that was similar to the Anti-Paladin? Do they wield +5 Protection from Evil swords? Do they ASSEMBLE?
Interview: Monte Cook about Dungeonaday.com
Monte Cook just announced his ambitious new project: Dungeonaday.com. Of course, as primarily a 4e DM and player, my first question was “would I be able to use it in my campaign?” So I went to the source, and asked Mr. Cook himself that very question, along with a few others.
Inq. of the Week: Who Watched the Watchmen?
My sense when it was being advertised, and especially after seeing it, is that the movie is something of a tough sell. It’s long, it’s R rated, and it’s fairly high concept as far as movies with this kind of advertising budget go. Early box office receipts are panning that out, and I’m not confident in its word of mouth to those who aren’t fans of the original.
Review: “Watchmen”
It’s funny for a movie that is supposed to be so faithful to the book (that I have read through many, many times) that I did my best to avoid spoilers. I wanted to dive in and make the comparisons myself, without hearing what critics have to say. I also try very hard to avoid being the nitpicky fan who dislikes any deviation from the source material: after all, different media have different challenges. Watchmen does a very good job of conveying the story (and most of the important plot beats) of the original work, and for that, I really enjoyed seeing it onscreen.
Inq. of the Week: Watch What you Read?
This Friday is the release date for the Watchmen movie, and for me now is a good time to be thankful that the lawsuit involving the movie rights didn’t result in this date being pushed back! With that in mind I’m sure we’ll be talking about the movie a lot over the next week or two, and one big thing that I’ve heard a lot about is how many people will see this movie without ever reading or even seeing the comic book.
Everyone Remembers Their First [DM]
Most of us can trace back our D&D gaming lineage to a single Dungeon Master. That’s not to say we hadn’t played before or more often with others, but our friend Abe made an indelible mark on all of our gaming consciousnesses. This article examines our early gaming experiences with Abe and considers how they affected my current notions on role-playing and D&D.
Review: “Fanboys”
It has taken a journey worthy of the Hero Cycle: the movie Fanboys, written over a decade ago before Phantom Menace came out, has struggled against setbacks and massive executive meddling, has finally been released. It was many years in development and suffered delays (I first heard about it two years ago, when it was set to be released in the summer of ’07), so the question is, has it all been worth it?
The answer, as Master Yoda would say it, is a solid “Yes, hrrrrrmmmm.”
Review: “Street Fighter IV”
Street Fighter IV, the six-button-mashing cash cow for Capcom is here, and already it’s being hailed as a successful sequel to the franchise by videogame critics. This is not the first Capcom foray into the pseudo-3D universe of Ryu and Chun-Li. The Street Fighter EX series was produced to rival the growing number of people playing games such as Tekken and Virtua Fighter. These games were nominally successful, and offered some of the same gameplay features. Street Fighter IV, however, is far more pretty and fine-tuned.
Inq. of the Week: 4th Edition Books?
I began to wonder how many people have bought these books. This led me back to a thought I had when 4E first came out, with the shift of magic items to the Player’s Handbook it became much less important for players that aren’t DMs to buy the Dungeon Master’s Guide and the Monster Manual, and back then I wondered how many people bought all three anyway. These curiosities have now combined into this poll!
Pain of Campaigning VIII: What About the Bad Guys?
Looking at the Campaigning Inquisition, I saw that the vast majority of people favor heroic or at least characters that have the potential to be heroes. Considering the nature of the D&D beast, this makes sense, but I worry that people may be hesitant to try one of the most enjoyable modes of D&D: playing as one of the bad guys.
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