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Dungeons & Dragons Insider: Observations

2008-06-30T02:00:17Z

So I've had a few weeks to observe the new Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition... part of which was to be a suite of tools gleefully promised to us months ago. It seems the edition is going to start without the tools, however, since none of them were ready at launch. Nearing a full month since the release, only the Compendium (a fairly helpful if relatively plain tool that allows the user to search the rules) has been released. The interface is very plain at present, boring and utilitarian, which suggests it was perhaps rushed out the door to show that they intend on releasing the tools.

Wizards of the Coast doesn't have a stellar record when it comes to electronic tools for the D&D game, so I can see why they might think their userbase a bit skittish. Frankly, we are. I don't trust WotC with electronic tools at all and am very skeptical about the subscription Dungeons & Dragons Insider service. They've had months to wow me and they've failed completely - not even bothering to compile their electronic files for the magazines into a complete issue. The content for the intervening issues between the end of the Paizo run of the magazines and the release of 4e was an opportunity that Wizards of the Coast squandered.

So have I given up? Ever the optomist, I've been continuing to try to keep an open mind. While the Compendium is not particularly elegant, it is up now and it works, after a fashion. The magazines in their new online format have had some fairly regular updates and articles have been going up a few times a week. I'll confess, I haven't read them all, but the article of illusionist powers for the wizard was actually quite decent, and brings a return to the Class Acts section, which was one of my favorite Paizo additions to Dragon magazine.

I have had less time to look over the Dungeon articles, and here I believe Wizards squandered another chance. I would have loved to have seen a really good entry level adventure that addressed many of the criticisms of the new edition in the magazine this month. Instead, we have some side-treks for the published adventure and two adventures for the middle part of the heroic teir (1-10th level... the adventures are for 4th and 8th level). I've made some use of the side-treks, which were decent but more appropriate for a web enhancement than part of Dungeon. I'm going to hold my blistering critique for next month... the game has few adventures out and needs options beyond the published Keep on the Shadowfell as an entry point. I'm hoping that I'll see one next month.

I am not a WotC apologist... they've messed up a lot in the months leading to the release, especially with regards to Dungeons & Dragons Insider, but at least this month they have posted something. We'll see if they promptly post the compilation and if the full table of contents gets posted. If both of those things happen, the DDI might still have a chance.

Free RPG Stuff: Get It Today Only!

2008-06-21T14:00:05Z

Today is June 21, 2008 - Free RPG Day - which is great for a cheap old queen like me, since it means plenty of free swag is available at my friendly local gaming store. What kind of swag? Adventure modules, quick start guides, the kind of stuff that might make you take a look and say, "Hey, I've never played Pathfinder and this Revenge of the Kobold King adventure looks really cool!" Okay, so I'm a Paizo fanboi, but for 4e fanatics, especially those complaining about the lack of a low level adventure in the Dungeons and Dragons Insider version of Dungeon magazine this month, there is also a Wizards of the Coast adventure.

The giveaways look pretty cool and include everything from miniatures (another WotC offering) to dice from Chessex and Q-workshop and even more adventures and quickstart guides - Harn, Traveller, Tunnels & Trolls and several others are represented. The stuff is free only at participating local gaming stores, so take a look at the Free RPG Day website and check their list of retailers... maybe you'll find that cool new system you were looking for (or get a chance to check out something from 4e for free). Maybe you'll even discover a nearby gaming store you didn't know was quite so nearby.

I'm a big advocate of supporting the friendly local gaming store because they offer something most online retailers can't: a real community, a means to find games and players and try out things you aren't sure if you want to buy yet. For those who find it usually more worthwhile to order things from Amazon, this is a chance for an even better deal. Get to your FLGS today!

Cooking With The Dungeons & Dragons Crowd

2008-06-19T04:12:41Z

One of my favourite internet people, Lore Sjöberg--you may know him from The Brunching Shuttlecocks, The Book of Ratings or even the Björk Song--just posted an opinion piece on Wired and damn is it funny.

Killjoy Cooking With the Dungeons & Dragons Crowd thinks about what it might be like if people treated new cookbooks the same way they treated new RPG books. Totally brightened my day.

Posted: 12:15 a.m. by LordOrcus I'm so mad that there's a new edition of The Better Joy Cookbook out. Thanks for making my old copy obsolete, you greedy hacks! For five years now, my friends have been coming over for my eggplant Parmesan, and now I'm never going to be able serve it again unless I shell out 35 bucks for the latest version.
Posted: 12:42 a.m. by KathraxisHey, I have a question! When you preheat the oven, can you start it before you measure out the ingredients, or do you have to do it afterward? Please answer quickly, my friends and I have been arguing about it for four hours and we're getting pretty hungry.

Chaosium News Glut!

2008-06-17T20:00:24Z

The newest R'lyeh Report contains a whole bunch of Chaosium news. Some highlights:

• A fiction book, The Strange Cases of Rudolph Pearson: Horripilating Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, is in stores now and is advertised as being a good introduction to the Mythos for people who want their friends & loved ones to witness the horror of the universe.

• The Basic Roleplaying RPG is expected to be in stores in the last week of the month.

• Secrets of Morocco--this is a new Call of Cthulhu sourcebook expected in July, 20s and 30s era, and the Secrets series are usually top-notch.

• Pulp Cthulhu--the sourcebook for "reckless adventures in the 1930's" is nearly done and expected in August (and at Gen Con)!

• Of course there will be tons of Call of Cthulhu events at Origins, and a Chaosium booth at Gen Con!

Ancient Roman D20, Only $17925!

2008-06-13T19:53:21Z

Christie's, apparently, in 2003 sold a beautiful Ancient Roman green glass d20 (what, you thought we invented them?) , with a distinct and different symbol on each face. Scholars don't know what game it was used for, but we do.

Of course, it's XVMMCMXXV (17925) dollars, but this is the ulimate gamer bling and I'm sure there's at least one gamer who's filthy rich out there who snatched it up.

...Right? It had to be a gamer. Or else I might cry.

[Via: BoingBoing]

What D&D 4E Could Teach Video Game Designers

2008-06-13T16:30:04Z

Gamasutra has just posted a really interesting 7-page article which takes the oft-complained about idea of D&D 4E borrowing from video games (MMORPGs in particular) and turns it around by considering what video games in the future could learn from the new edition of Dungeons & Dragons.

As mentioned, video games have been taking ideas from tabletop RPGs for years--there's no reason why that idea flow should stop. Yet any sign of a backwash seems to be seen as universally disgusting as its namesake. Some have pointed out that every edition of D&D takes the best mechanics of the games around them in that generation and makes them better (2E and the crazy-tables-flavour that was so popular in the 80s, for example)--is it only natural that D&D 4E seems to be partly inspired by MMORPGs, the most popular version of RPG right now (and, for that matter, ever)?

Game Of The Week: Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition

2008-06-11T02:10:10Z

Whether grognards like myself like or hate the new edition (and there seems to be quite the mix), the fact remains that Wizards of the Coast is the big fish in the small pond of the role playing game industry. The flagship rpg product, the one everyone knows and everyone recognizes, is Dungeons & Dragons. As I mentioned in my last entry, I tried the game this past weekend with the introductory adventure and quickstart rules, having only the Players Handbook in hand. I'll discuss that experience later and in some detail because I think there are probably a lot of gaymers who are still in the process of making a decision on 4e.

Today I surrendered and bought the books - cancelling my online order (it was delayed in shipping until at least July 10th) - and buying the books from my friendly local gaming store (which, as I've said before, is not all that friendly, though at least the cashier is a hot little number). They kindly gave me a substantial discount as a longtime customer, for which I'm grateful, since the cost of the books is hurdle to starting in the new system. For what it's worth, while I always support my local gaming stores when I can, you can probably already find cheap copies on Ebay. Why? Because while I rather like a lot of aspects of the new edition... most particularly that I think my players have more fun playing it than 3.5... many others who had high hopes have not.

So if so many people hated it, why am I making it the game of the week? Because there must be some balance. For every person who has told me they hate 4e, I've also had someone tell me why they love it. It's not perfect, and thanks to Paizo, it doesn't need to be. Those who want to continue with the 3.5 system and rules that flow from that system can continue with Paizo's Pathfinder system, or just use 3.5 as is or with Monte Cook's book of his own house rules (which I featured here some time ago). For those who need the official system, who must have only what is endorsed by Wizards of the Coast - congratulations. I pronounce the system somewhat sound, playable, and fun. It may not be perfect, substituting streamlining of effects for flexibility in places, but it has its own qualities to recommend it, which I'll discuss in depth in the coming weeks in a new feature that will replace Scrying the 4e Crystal Ball.

This game will not be D&D for everyone. It slays sacred cows (magic missile can miss, and yes that just feels wrong to me, too), and it changes many aspects of the game. Wizards seem more playable at low levels than they were, fighters seem more playable at high levels than they were. Much of the game is now about the team rather than the character, and you'll have to work at making your character unique, because the rules will not do it for you. But I think, despite great early trepidation, that the game is a good one. Try it out if you can. If 3.5 is definitely your choice... think about trying Pathfinder. I'm still reading the alpha release of their rules, but they look like they're doing something interesting over at Paizo too.

Scrying The 4e Crystal Ball: It's Here!

2008-06-09T02:00:35Z

With 4th edition of the new D&D game out, I felt a need this weekend to take the new rules for a spin, and not just because of World D&D Game Day on Saturday. Unfortunately, despite its participation in the day on an official level, no 4e gaming was going on at the nearest FLGS and the better one (which is slightly further away, hey gimme a break, gas is $4 a gallon) was full by the time I cornered the manager of the nearby game store to find out that indeed no 4e gaming was going to take place.

Fortunately, my regular gaming group meets on Sundays and agreed to do a test. I purchased Keep on Shadowfell just after its release and my gaming group (sans one player) gave it go. That gave us a group of five players, which is conveniently what the rules recommend (and also the number of pre-gens available). Saved from trying to figure out character creation over the weekend, I focused on learning the rules. Many of the changes came as no surprise, I have, after all, been reporting what little we've been able to learn for the past six months. I have a controversial opinion, I know, but frankly, while I love 3e and 3.5e, I think this game (so far) plays better for my group.

I'll give a full review tomorrow, but I think it's safe to say that 4e is D&D, but not necessarily the flavor of D&D that is right for everyone. I'll explain those sentiments tomorrow.

Happy D&D Game Day!

2008-06-07T04:00:01Z

Today, June 7th, is the Worldwide Dungeons & Dragons Game Day! Hundreds of Friendly Local Gaming Stores all over the world (and even locations set up in Iraq and Afghanistan for serving military personnel) have a big action-packed day to celebrate the release of Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition, so if you have a chance to drop by you'll probably have a blast.

I'm certainly picking up my own copy of the game sometime this weekend, and I'm still very optimistic. In not too long, we'll have a big VelvetDiceBag weigh-in post where we air out our opinions and you post yours!

In the past eight months or so (can you believe it's been that long?), I hope I've showcased a big variety of RPGs, showing that there was more to the hobby than D&D--tons and tons of games by small presses, medium-sized presses and even no presses at all that are well worth your attention and maybe even perfectly suited to your group. Nevertheless, D&D has a special place in my heart as my first RPG and I'm very excited--I hope some of that excitement rubs off on you guys!

*rub rub*

Hunter: The Vigil Reveals Its Influences

2008-06-06T00:00:00Z

Hunter: The Reckoning wasn't... a well-liked game, let's say. It's certainly the black sheep of the old World of Darkness family (more so even than Changeling: the Dreaming, I'd argue, because Changeling had the advantage of being, well, really good).

With the announcement of Hunter: the Vigil, many are intrigued to see whether White Wolf can make up for the previous incarnation of the game. Yet my group was a bit iconoclastic from the beginning, since we really enjoyed Hunter: the Reckoning and probably played it more than any other old World of Darkness game since it allowed us to, better than any other, recreate the feel of some of our favourite movies and video games. This is why it pleases me that White Wolf has just published an article detailing the inspirations from all kinds of media for their new Hunter game, and another article concerning the themes and moods they're trying to aim for--much more mystery-focused than before, which again I'm happy with because by far the best Hunter session I ever had was at 3:00 a.m. in my friends house, trying to decipher a bizarre coded note left in-game by a suspected vampire in the basement of a seemingly abandoned church. Good stuff.

The inspirations in question? They range from books like the Mothman Prophecies and It to comics like Hellblazer and The Walking Dead to films like Frailty, National Treasure and Children of Men to TV shows like Torchwood and Supernatural to video games like Alone in the Dark, Silent Hill, Half Life 1&2, Jericho and Undying. I'd say they're off to a pretty good start!

Write A BRP Adventure, Get Published, Win Cool Stuff!

2008-06-05T22:07:24Z

Okay, maybe it's not as easy as all that (though Chaosium is certainly making it sound that way), but in celebration of the release of the Basic RolePlaying system book, they've announced a contest in which entries of 5000-7000 word BRP adventures can be published in a future monograph and win cool stuff! Since many people don't have the book yet, the due date is July 31st, 2008, and you're encouraged to start writing now and add all the rules-bits in later.

Contest Rules

Each entry must be an original BRP adventure between 5,000 - 7,000 words. Text files or word documents only. Don't submit PDF's, quark files, etc. Don't worry, 5,000 words is much shorter than it sounds!

Entries must be turned in before August first, 2008.

One entry per individual.

Adventures can be set in any genre you desire (except Call of Cthulhu/Lovecraftian) so long as the adventure is original.

Adventures must utilize Chaosium's BRP system and no other game system.

All entries become the property of Chaosium Inc.

All entries must be in English.

Any images or maps that accompany your adventure must be copyright free. Art isn't required.

Entries must be emailed to dustin@chaosium.com.

Entries must be submitted along with your name, email address, preferred T-shirt size, and and shipping address.

In the unlikely event that we don't receive enough winning entries to print the BRP adventure monograph, the winners will instead receive copies of all the winning adventures as well as one copy of a different monograph.

Chaosium reserves the right to change these rules as often as we like, with no warning. You can count on the fact that we probably will. Come to think of it, maybe we have already. It's best not to dwell on these things.

Way-Out Wednesday: Unknown Armies

2008-06-04T03:59:40Z

In a glorious return to Way-Out Wednesday, I'm going to be looking at a game I like so much that I can't help but grin like a madman when I hold it in my hands--Unknown Armies. See?

Atlas Games' Unknown Armies isn't as indie as most of the games featured in this space before (it's made by Atlas Games, after all), but it's so off-the-wall and in the indie spirit that it certainly warrants being here. The work of the inimitable Greg Stolze and John Tynes, Unknown Armies has a big following and praises are sung universally--it is the fourth highest-rated game of all time on the Rpg.net Game Index--again, completely warranted. It's really something special.

It's a horror game, at its core. A modern-day occult horror game where just about everything is sinister, bizarre, and just... neat. The two main kinds of characters are Adepts, magick-users who belong to bizarre modern-day schools of thought, and Avatars, people who align their entire lives to a universal archetype, thus gaining powers associated with that archetype.

The kinds of Adepts include Dipsomancers (who gain power by drinking and can only use magick while drunk, and can take the idea of the drunk getting away with anything and thereby cheat the rules of reality itself), Videomancers (who gain power by watching specific TV shows, lose it when they miss their shows, and bring TV program tropes into existence), Cliomancers (who harvest energy from famous locations and affect history and memory), Epideromancers (who gain power from hurting themselves and can then control the flesh of other people), Bibliomancers (who gain power by collecting books and play around with information and knowledge), Mechanomancers (who give up their memories to fuel their clockwork creations)--the list goes on, and on, each more intriguing than the last. (I haven't even mentioned the Pornomancers.)

Avatar archetypes include The Mother, The Savage, The MVP, The True King, The Messenger, The Mystic Hermaphrodite, The Woman That Everybody Can Have (Everybody But You), and just about anything else you can think of.

What's more, there are hundreds of fan-made Adept schools and Avatar Paths at the fantastic Unknown-Armies.com.

Even without going into the bizarre ways to do magic outside of schools, the multi-faceted setting with metaplot characters who are actually interesting, the fantastic passion and obsession-focused character creation, the cabal of magick-users working at McDonalds who infect their customers' food with magic that manifests to them later, the nifty dice mechanics, the Madness Meters that are known to be the best sanity/insanity system in the world of RPGs (outdoing even Call of Cthulhu), and the mind-blowingly good in-game fiction that can find its peer only in Nobilis--even without going into all of that, Unknown Armies seems pretty cool, right?

If you like modern-day settings, horror, off-the-wallness (to the extent that seeing the new car commercial with the sumo wrestlers washing a car in slow motion prompted my friend to say "this is SO Unknown Armies"), game fiction good enough to read for pleasure before bedtime, and maybe even a game that will change the way you see the world forever after you read it like all good art should, Unknown Armies is your game.

P.S. Hot gay action on page 23, accompanied by overnight body-changing and a god who looks like a seahorse.
P.P.S. PDF preview of the first 40 or so pages available here.

Big Changes In Magic: The Gathering

2008-06-03T02:21:50Z

With the new Magic: the Gathering block beginning with Shards of Alara on October 3rd, 2008, the folks at Wizards have announced a few changes that will be a comin'.

• After a "tremendous amount of feedback," they have decided that they are releasing too many cards each year and card sets will be smaller. Shards of Alara will have 249 cards, and each of the next two sets in the block will have 145.

• The concept of rarity is also changing with the institution of the new level of rarity--the mythic rare, with not a gold expansion symbol but kind of a fiery red-orange expansion symbol. Intense indeed, these babies will replace the rare in about 1 out of 8 booster packs. Shards of Alara will have 15 mythic rares, 53 rares, 60 uncommons, 101 commons and 20 basic lands. The next two sets will have 10 mythic rares, 35 rares, 40 uncommons and 60 commons. The way foils work will stay the same, with foil mythic rares actually being more frequent than usual.

• Boosters will have 1 common card replaced with a basic land. Boosters will therefore consist of 1 rare (or mythic rare), 3 uncommons, 10 commons, 1 basic land, and 1 tip card or token.

• A new product is being introduced, the intro pack, acting as an experienced player's introduction to the new set's mechanics and setting (as opposed to, like, the internet), and will be the "best tool for introducing new players into the game." It'll include a 41-card precon deck with 1 premium foil rare and 1 non-foil rare, a booster pack of the current set, an insert with the new set's mechanics and info on the precon deck, and an insert to teach newbies how to play the game. There'll be 5 intro packs with each set, and SRP is $12.29. Theme decks, however, will be discontinued.

• Coming up in the fall is the Planeswalker's Guide, an extensive book about the new set--this one in particular is called The Planeswalker's Guide to Alara, coming out September 2nd, 2008. In the winter will be a new Planeswalker novel series, in the Spring the new block will get its own set, and the Fat Packs are getting a redesign with 6 instead of 8 boosters and a current novel instead of a set-based novel (boo! Boo!).

The week's articles at Magicthegathering.com will be dedicated to those changes. The first article is The Year of Living Changerously, in which Mark Rosewater begins to explain what went through WotC's heads. (Myself, I think most of the changes are pretty cool, besides the reduced set sizes. I mean, 330 cards in Mirage meant that there were that many more cards to love!)

This Week In Tabletop Gaming

2008-06-01T17:10:24Z

Some pretty big stuff went down this week in this hobby of ours. The most noteworthy is probably the fact that many people got their copies of Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition early--and, as we've learned from the music industry time and time again, when one person gets an advance copy of something, everyone gets an advance copy of something. VelvetDiceBag does not promote piracy, however (unless it's of the Freeport or Stormwrack or 7th Sea varieties) --if you did indulge yourself and downloaded a copy and enjoyed it, we urge you to buy the real thing when it comes out. Pretty please?

On the Chaosium and Cthulhu side of things, I previously reported the first unlimited edition of the gorgeous Call of Cthulhu dice. Also of note is Chaosium's agreement with Sixtystone Press to create Call of Cthulhu supplements (a good move, considering they're focusing on their BRP-system line lately) , and the folks at Yog-Sothoth.com just released the new Yog Radio podcast, featuring an interview with S.T. Joshi. That made me really, really excited--my final English paper in Grade 12 was on the works of Lovecraft, and as anyone who's done academic research of Lovecraft will tell you, basically everything, every academic treatise and biography of Lovecraft, was written by S.T. Joshi and it's all excellent. Do yourself a favour, check out the interview, and read some of the ample works of Joshi online.

At Magicthegathering.com, it was Evil Twin week. There are a bunch of excellent articles up, my favourites being How to Sneak Overpowered Cards Past Development and The Evil That Designers Do.

Not much from White Wolf except for two (admittedly intriguing) previews of the new freehold-focused Changeling book, Lords of Summer, and a revelatory look-ahead at Hunter: the Vigil, a game that looks quite good but whose cover is marred by a sunglasses-at-night-wearing douche smack in the middle of it.

The Escapist had a really cool article about the nature of the roleplaying game as a modern phenomenon, called Dungeons & Dragons Owns the Future.

The new Palladium press release has details on T-Shirts, a new Rifts anthology, and their release plans for the summer. Mayfair games announced its plans for GenCon. (I'm not even going and I'm still excited!) A new RPG company debuted, Myth Merchant Press. The much-awaited documentary, The Gamers: Dorkness Rising, found a distributor in Anthem Pictures.

That's it for now! Hopefully next week we'll be back to a more regular posting schedule. Thanks for your patience!

Cthulhu Dice Now Unlimited

2008-05-29T20:14:38Z

Some of you might remember the absolutely gorgeous Q-Workshop Call of Cthulhu dice I posted about getting a while back.

Well, now, by unfathomable, cyclopean levels of popular demand, they're back in a non-limited edition! There are three kinds: black background with Cthulhu-green writing, beige background with black writing, and of course the super badass glow in the dark versions.

Really, they're a very good buy. Heck, they were even nominated for best "Game Support" product for the 2008 Origins Awards. Indulge! Ïa! Ïa!