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The PAX Report from Critical Hits » RPG

Critical Hits — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 10:00:32 +0000

Like all good things, PAX ended. Due to required nuptial witnessing, it ended on Saturday for me. Oh, I'm not bitter. In fact, I feel privileged that PAX is local. With all this good stuff happening before, during, and after the show, it's sure to become one of my yearly rituals. Here are some high points of my trip to the show.

Happy Birthday, Star Trek from Greyhawk Grognard

Greyhawk Grognard — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 01:18:00 +0000

On September 8, 1966, "The Man Trap" aired on NBC television (I being slightly over 3 months old at the time), ushering in a new era in science fiction.Today, 44 years later, Star Trek is still going strong, bringing enjoyment to legions of fans young ...

I was attacked by an owlbear from Meta Gamemastery

Meta Gamemastery — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:17:17 +0000

I have to apologize to all the people I missed at the PAX Prime 2010 DM Challenge. Literally, one minute before I walked out the door I was attacked by a raging owlbear also know to some as my wife. I had my laptop and projector packed in my backpack. All my minis were picked out. I had printed out the stats for my ...

I Was Attacked By An Owlbear from Meta Gamemastery

Meta Gamemastery — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:17:17 +0000

King of the Monsters 2, Winner Crowned! from Kobold Quarterly Magazine: Monsters and Magic for D&D Gamers

Kobold Quarterly — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 07:12:12 +0000

First off, please excuse the eye patch. I don’t remember what happened last night, but I seem to have had a bit of an accident… and my head is absolutely throbbing. Too much partying I guess, am I right? (I always seem to have the worst luck at these events.) Anyway, I’m super excited to be the one [...]

News in Review for Aug 30 to Sept 5 2010 from NEUROGLYPH Games

Neuroglyph Games — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 17:26:43 +0000

It was a bit slow for 4E News this week, being in that odd transition between August and September with the Labor Day Holiday approaching, but there were still some very nice pieces that are definitely worth mentioning. This week from official channels, Wizards of the Coast offered the new D&D Podcast, as well as launched [...]

King of the Monsters 2, Final Voting! from Kobold Quarterly Magazine: Monsters and Magic for D&D Gamers

Kobold Quarterly — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 19:20:45 +0000

Today’s your last day to vote! The crown is up for grabs, and you actually get to choose your new overlord! Who else offers that? Right now, there’s a good possibility that eye patches will come back in style real fast, but it’s not over yet. With several hours remaining, who knows what could happen. Find your favorite [...]

graverobbing over the Glyph from Blog of Holding

Blog of Holding — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:20:21 +0000

Let's rob a king's grave! Some West African kings were buried in a manmade hill. First the king and his treasures, along with some unlucky servants, were interred in a wooden dome. Then tons of earth was piled on the dome. Finally the new hill was covered with clay and fire-hardened. This was a difficult [...]

The Week in D&D Hardcore: September 3, 2010 from Save Versus Death

Save Versus Death — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:56:59 +0000

Week in Review I’ve Been Cheating on You With Another Blog: An explanation on why I haven’t called in so long. To make it up, I made you some original content – a high-quality papercraft obelisk! Voting began this week for Kobold Quarterly’s King of the Monsters 2 contest. While voting still remains open for [...]

Free public beta version of Synapse RPG available from Gaming Brouhaha » RPG

Gaming Brouhaha — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 06:35:23 +0000

You can download a copy of the beta version of the upcoming Synapse RPG here.

Gamma World Unboxed from Gaming Brouhaha » RPG

Gaming Brouhaha — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 21:27:29 +0000

Check out the video here.

Advanced Feats: Secrets of the Alchemist Now Available! from Kobold Quarterly Magazine: Monsters and Magic for D&D Gamers

Kobold Quarterly — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 07:12:23 +0000

You and your companions are trapped underground in a lightless hell with miles of lethal traps and hungry monsters between you and the surface. Betrayed… lost… your situation seems hopeless. But each of you has unique abilities: ways with the blade, the spell, and the fist that set you apart from other adventurers. Those abilities [...]

Dungeon Trick Generator from Save Versus Death

Save Versus Death — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 01:53:14 +0000

I’m really excited to announce that the first version of my Dungeon Trick Generator web app is done! The concept is simple – each time you load the page, it generates a trick that can be easily dropped into any dungeon adventure for any edition or system. Like all random generators, some entries [...]

Essentials Red Box final thoughts from Blog of Holding

Blog of Holding — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 22:00:17 +0000

That's it! We've blogged everything we could blog about the D&D Essentials starter set. Blog of Holding will now stop spamming people with hourly updates and return to a once-a-weekday schedule. On the whole, I think the new Red Box is a very good intro to 4e D&D. Although it's mostly useless to me, it's [...]

tokens from Blog of Holding

Blog of Holding — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 21:10:35 +0000

Besides the books, power cards, and character sheets, the D&D Essentials comes with a one-page ad for other Essentials products, a card with a redemption code for another solo adventure (yay!) a two sided dungeon/wilderness map, and tokens for PCs and all the monsters in the DM book. Each monster type comes with four tokens, [...]

Incongruent Future Web Supplement 1 from The Spirits of Eden » RPG

The Spirits of Eden — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 21:04:51 +0000

Perhaps you don’t read enough Axe Cop. Maybe you grew up without a Nintendo. It might even be possible that you never watched Shark Week on the discovery channel, sitting in awe at the killmaximal might of Mother Nature. But … Continue reading →

character sheets from Blog of Holding

Blog of Holding — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 20:00:30 +0000

The Essentials Red Box comes with 4 character sheets. The sheets fit on one one-sided piece of paper! It's roomy enough that almost 1/3 of the sheet is devoted to "character notes". The last time an official character sheet was presented so tidily was, I think, the 1983 Mentzer Red Box? It's definitely a starter [...]

magic item cards from Blog of Holding

Blog of Holding — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 19:00:08 +0000

Every magic item in the D&D Essentials starter adventure comes with a power card. Or a magic item card, I guess: none of the magic items (lifedrinker greataxe, darkleaf leather armor, magic staff, chainmail armor, bag of holding, amulet of health, 2 potions) actually have a power. None of the cards are marked Common, Uncommon, [...]

Wizard At-Wills from Blog of Holding

Blog of Holding — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:30:15 +0000

I was looking over the Wizard at-wills, and some of them are pretty powerful! Paul already talked about Hypnotism, so I'll focus on the others: Wizard!: Stone Blood + Freezing Burst: I'm surprised it took so long for the wizard to get one of these. It's been something WotC has talked about since the release [...]

Retrospect wins RPG Geek’s 24-hour RPG Contest from Gaming Brouhaha » RPG

Gaming Brouhaha — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:22:11 +0000

…and in case you didn’t know, I wrote it. ;op The complete list of winners can be found here. You can download the free, 24-hr version here. Once I have complete feedback and some playtesting data I will publish a revised version whic...

power cards from Blog of Holding

Blog of Holding — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:01:54 +0000

I've finished reading the Essentials Player's Book and DM's Book. Others have taken pictures of the power cards and tokens, so you can get more complete spoilers there. I do have a couple of power-card powers that I'd like to call out. Hypnotism is a very flavorful wizard at-will. On a hit, you force the [...]

meet the kobolds from Blog of Holding

Blog of Holding — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 17:00:37 +0000

Of the three kobolds in the Essentials DM's book, two (kobold tunneler, a level 1 minion and kobold quickblade, a level 1 skirmisher) are new. The Kobold Slinger is updated from the MM1. The Kobold Slinger's attacks have been made more accurate, and damage has been slightly fiddled with, but the big change is that [...]

rogue Weapon Finesse from Blog of Holding

Blog of Holding — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:00:28 +0000

According to the Essentials Red Box rules for leveling up, rogues get the Weapon Finesse class feature at level 2. That gives them +1 to attack and damage with light blades, light crossbows, short bows, and slings. According to the Thief preview from the WOTC site, Weapon Finesse is granted at level 1. It's not [...]

official 4e random treasure table from Blog of Holding

Blog of Holding — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:00:41 +0000

In Encounter 6 in the Essentials Red Box adventure, we get the first random treasure generation table that I've seen in D&D 4th edition: Each character who spends time searching through the [crate of] supplies for something useful or valuable can make a DC 12 Perception check. For each character that makes a successful check, [...]

warning: dungeon contains dragon from Blog of Holding

Blog of Holding — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:00:47 +0000

Encounter 2 of the Essentials Red Box adventure features 8 Kobold Tunnelers and a Fledgling White Dragon, a level 1 solo. As far as I know, Fledgling is a new category: Draconomicon introduces Wyrmlings, which are low-level Elites, but this Fledgling is a solo dragon. I know this is an unpopular viewpoint, but I'm not [...]

Nevermet Press Now the Official Publisher of Open Game Table from Nevermet Press

Nevermet Press — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 03:50:39 +0000

As of September 1st, 2010 – Nevermet Press, LLC will become the official publisher of the Open Game Table: Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blog book series. I previously published the books as a quasi-independent project (with oh… 100+ volunteers helping out), but it was never something that I formally associated with Nevermet Press. The reasons [...]

This month’s great deals on PDFs from Sea of Stars RPG Design Journal

Sea of Stars — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 03:08:49 +0000

From RPGNow/DriveThruRPG, from now until the end of the Month get 20% Off PDFs from the following companies: Cubicle 7 Dream Pod 9 Fabled Environments Fat Dragon Games Goodman Games Erisian Entertainment Generic Universe Publishing Holistic Designs Kallisti Press Louis Porter Jr. Design OtherWorld Creations Palladium Books Rogue Games RPG Objects Savage Mojo The discount [...]

Looking back over August and towards September from Sea of Stars RPG Design Journal

Sea of Stars — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 02:15:12 +0000

Now we move into September (and hopefully some cooler weather here in Georgia, USA) which is seventh month of the Roman calendar. September does not seem to have any particular ties to myth or man among the Romans, however, as Seven is usually viewed as a magical number, magic and spells will be our theme [...]

talking to goblins from Blog of Holding

Blog of Holding — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 21:06:13 +0000

Encounter 1 in the Essentials Starter adventure (two goblins; one runs away to get help) is reminiscent of an encounter in the Mentzer Red Box solo adventure (two goblins; one runs away to get help), except that the Mentzer goblins are friendlier: (Essentials Red Box) Two goblins, clutching short spears, glare at you with bloodshot [...]

Recettear: On Sale Sept. 10th! from The Spirits of Eden » RPG

The Spirits of Eden — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:42:02 +0000

I’m breaking my usual routine of not doing little news posts for other people’s news, but that’s because this is important. A while back I reviewed an entertaining and fresh PC game called “Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale,” created by … Continue reading →

Essentials Starter adventure on the 5 minute workday from Blog of Holding

Blog of Holding — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:00:32 +0000

When they decide to take an extended rest, encourage them to think about where might be a safe place to hole up for several hours. They can barricade themselves in an enclosed room or retreat from the dungeon to camp outdoors. Either way, they'll have a restful night - but they don't have to know [...]

The Eye of Tricks and Traps Shall Rule! from Save Versus Death

Save Versus Death — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:48:17 +0000

Lovers of D&D Hardcore, don’t forget that voting is underway for Kobold Quarterly’s King of the Monsters 2 contest! My entry, the Eye of Tricks and Traps, made it into the finals and is hot on the heels of the first place leader! I’d be forever, forever grateful if you showed your support for Save [...]

The Twisting Halls from Blog of Holding

Blog of Holding — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:00:54 +0000

Pages 20-38 of the Essentials Starter DM's book describe a pretty big dungeoncrawl adventure, similar in scope, perhaps, to the group dungeoncrawl in the 1983 Mentzer Red Box DM's Book. (By the way, the Mentzer adventure, like the modern one, also starts on page 4.) So I have a question: let's say that my friends [...]

Help me win King of Monsters from Meta Gamemastery

Meta Gamemastery — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:20:58 +0000

As many of you know, I was picked as a finalist in Kobold Quarterly's King of Monsters 2 competition for my entry, the Horakh. The final phase of the competition relies on public voting. I've already gotten alot of support from my friends, family, fellow bloggers and my tweeps, but I still need more votes to cinch the title.

the real rules from Blog of Holding

Blog of Holding — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:00:52 +0000

Pages 6 through 19 of the Essentials DM's book contain the indigestible rules lump that no D&D manual can really get away from. I don't have much to say about it, since it's largely reprinted from the PHB, except that it would have been really handy if there were a table of contents or index [...]

Risus Tease from Risus Monkey

Risus Monkey — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:15:00 +0000

S. John Ross, the revered creator of Risus, recently posted submission guidelines for authors wanting to publish official Risus supplements. Since that time, I had been wondering when somebody would take a stab at it.

Well, evidently my waiting is nearing an end. Over at the Risus mailing list, S. John has hinted that at least one author's work has progressed to the playtest stage and that it has him "abuzz", "atwitter", and "vaguely agog". And apparently it involves specific historical costumes for our beloved LCBs (Little Cartoon Bastards - otherwise known as stick figures).

Hot cha!

essentials skill DCs from Blog of Holding

Blog of Holding — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:00:24 +0000

With Essentials, the skill-check DCs have been rejiggered yet again. For first-level characters, they're now 8 for Easy checks, 12 for Moderate, and 19 for Hard. This is about halfway between their initial DMG1 values of 10-15-20 and their first errata to 5-10-15. Notable is that instead of a 5-point difference between each level, there's [...]

worgs! from Blog of Holding

Blog of Holding — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:00:31 +0000

How do the goblins and wolves in the first Essentials DM book encounter compare to their Monster Manual 1 counterparts? The Goblin Cutthroat (level 1 skirmisher) isn't really a conversion of the MM1 Goblin Warrior (level 1 skirmisher): it's a new goblin, more like a cross between the Warrior and the MM1 Backblade. Its attack [...]

Your First Encounter from Blog of Holding

Blog of Holding — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:00:56 +0000

Somehow I thought - I didn't really think; rather, my non-thoughts were unexamined - that the D&D Essentials DM's book would have to start with a big section of rules info, after digesting which the DM would be ready to run an encounter. I should have known better from the way the Player's Book was [...]

Essentials Starter: Dungeon Master’s Book from Blog of Holding

Blog of Holding — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:00:35 +0000

Just as the Essentials Player's Book rushed you pell-mell into a solo adventure (in the fighter's case, before you even had time to grab your sword) the DM's book rushes you right into running an encounter. There are only 2 pages of text before the adventure begins. Of those two pages, half a page are [...]

No More Dragon Warriors? from RPG Blog II

RPG Blog II — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:19:00 +0000

Courtesy of theRPGsite, it sounds like the Dragon Warriors RPG has reached the end of the line. Apparently, the company holding the rights to Dragon Warriors wanted an increase in royalties somewhere in line of 1250%. Needless to say, Magnum Opus Press has announced that In From The Cold will be the last DW supplement from them.

Sad news, but if Dragon Warriors could survive as long of a hiatus as it had before, I'm sure it can survive this one. Sorry to all the Dragon Warriors fans out there, and to the folks and fans of Magnum Opus Press. It's an ugly side of our hobby to see.

Essentials Players Book final thoughts from Blog of Holding

Blog of Holding — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:00:02 +0000

That's it for the Player's book. I'll look at the DM book tomorrow, but before I go, here are my final thoughts: I didn't mention this before, but the player's and DM's books don't carry the Elmore art. They have a modern reimagining of the same scene by Ralph Horsley. The art is more cartoonish [...]

D&D Essentials Appendix N from Blog of Holding

Blog of Holding — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:00:36 +0000

In my haste to Choose My blue-skinned cleric's Own Adventure, I skipped this interesting passage from the beginning of the player's book, explaining the concept of an RPG: If you've ever played Neverwinter Nights, Final Fantasy, The Legend of Zelda, World of Warcraft, Dragon Age, or games like those, you already have some idea of [...]

roll for languages from Blog of Holding

Blog of Holding — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 21:00:51 +0000

Essentials starter-set halflings and humans ROLL to see what extra languages they know. That's more old-school than old-school. Even in first edition, characters had a choice about what their extra language would be. (By the way, did you know that 1e dwarves could never learn more than 2 extra languages, regardless of intelligence?) Roll a [...]

I’m every wizard from Blog of Holding

Blog of Holding — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 20:00:14 +0000

The D&D Essentials wizard starts with a choice of implement: Under "Equipment and Magic Items", write one of these three kinds of implements: orb, staff, or wand. Implements are special items that wizards use to focus magic power into their spells. Your choice doesn't have any game effect - it just has to do with [...]

kill the prisoners! from Blog of Holding

Blog of Holding — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 18:00:24 +0000

The Essentials starter set teaches skills by requiring a handful of successful skill checks before the PC finds a goblin lair. They're all directed towards that goal, except one: The goblin's injuries are quire severe. You can let it die in peace, or you can attempt another Heal check to try to save it. If [...]

how not to play D&D from Blog of Holding

Blog of Holding — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 17:00:39 +0000

There are a couple of "gotchas" in the Essentials Starter Set choose-your-own-adventure - non-heroic options that lead you only to a reprimand. If, during the goblin attack, you choose to hide, the game tells you that "hiding from danger is not the sort of thing that most characters in heroic fantasy do!". If, during the [...]

and i would have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for you meddling adventurers from Blog of Holding

Blog of Holding — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:10:35 +0000

Part 2 of the Essentials Starter choose-your-own-adventure starts with some read-aloud text (or read-silently text, I suppose, in the context of a solo adventure): The whinny of a horse catches your ear, and as you look around for the source of the sound, you see a rider at the crest of a low hill, a [...]

section 42 from Blog of Holding

Blog of Holding — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:00:50 +0000

All of the sections of the Essentials Starter choose-your-own-adventure are sorted by class, except for Section 42, which comes in between two cleric passages. Section 42 is the section you flip to if, at any time during the adventure, you try to do an "other" option (for instance, do something other than fighting the goblins). [...]

we all knew being a Holy Man was dangerous from Blog of Holding

Blog of Holding — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:25:59 +0000

Hey guys! I've decided to bump my monday Mazes and Monsters retro-clone because I am having so much fun liveblogging the D&D starter set. Mazes and Monsters will return next Monday! The cleric path through Starter Essentials set has to take a confusing detour that all of the other classes avoid: the winding sideroad of [...]