5 Random Games: War of the Ring, The Dark Side Sourcebook, Star Wars: The Queen’s Gambit, Sidewinder: Recoiled, Ultimate Adversaries

Akin to last time, I’ll be talking about 5 random games (or supplements) I own, based on my random collection widget to the right of the blog here, generated by Geekdo.com.

1. War of the Ring

I picked this one up when I was working at Uncle’s Games, back in the day. It’s a board game that requires a bit of setup, and quite a few hours of spare time to actually play, so I’ve only played three times, but each time, I loved it.

Essentially, you are playing both sides of the War of the Ring, either fighting against the forces of Sauron and Saruman, or trying to overthrow the world with your orcish hordes. Along the way, you rally troops, fortify men inside of Helm’s Deep, and make fantastic war. Meanwhile, the fellowship moves steadily toward Moria. But one of the great things, is you can choose to have the fellowship split up, if you want, to avoid detection by Sauron’s forces. If you’re a fan of LOTR, you should definitely give this game a try.

2. The Dark Side Sourcebook

Naturally, this is one of the books all my players want to read through when we’re playing a Star Wars d20 game, hoping it will tell them exactly how close they can skirt the edge of the dark side without falling in.

We used this book a lot in one campaign where all the characters were Jedi who were, at one point, possessed by Sith lord spirits and given immense power. It’s a pretty fleshed out book, and has some great art throughout.

3. Star Wars: The Queen’s Gambit

Say what you will about Episode 1, this game is phenomenal. It was the first game I ever picked up when working at Uncle’s, and I wasn’t disappointed.

There are three battlefields going on at the same time: the massive Gungan vs. Battle Droid fight, the place battle, and the Jedi vs. Darth Maul battle. Additionally, you have Anakin flying around in space, though the outcome of that is predetermined, and is simply used for a timing mechanism. You choose cards to play to determine the outcome of each battle, not wanting to focus too much on one particular battle than another, since you might get overwhelmed where you ignore. You have to anticipate enemy actions so as to avoid getting snuck up behind. In other words, there’s actual strategy involved, unlike the actual Battle of Naboo itself.

4. Sidewinder: Recoiled

Take D20 Modern, throw in some old west, and you’ve got the Ennie-Award-Winning Sidewinder: Recoiled.

I ran a one-shot of this, which wasn’t intended to be a one-shot. The players rolled into a brand new town, and I told them they could do literally anything they wanted, and they lost interest. But that was my fault. The game itself is great, with lots of material about the old west, lots of prices on goods of all kinds, and a bunch of animals you might face in the wilderness. If you want a d20 Wild West game, this is the way to go. As well, I believe, as the ONLY way to go. There aren’t any other d20 wild west games out there as far as I’m aware.
5. Ultimate Adversaries

The “My Collection” generator apparently really likes Star Wars.

Ultimate Adversaries is basically the Monster Manual of the Star Wars d20 RCR series of books. Featuring all kinds of pregenerated villains for you to drop into your campaign (including my favorite, C-3pX, the assassin protocol droid), and a plethora of various alien animal species. It’s definitely one to get if you’re still running d20 Star Wars, pre-saga edition.

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I forgot the dragons…

In all my years of playing DnD, I’ve only ever had the players face one dragon. One. As a player, I myself have only faced one. One.

They’ve fought through plenty of dungeons. Plenty. But a young white dragon taken down by my players, and the ancient black dragon my 7th-level halfling bard hid from (ask me to tell you that gem of a story sometime) don’t seem like a large enough number of dragons I should have seen in a game like D&D.

Now, do I intend to change that? Yeah. If you’re one of my players, don’t read this… Oh, wait, they don’t...

In an upcoming game, dragons take full front stage as the Lords of Dust in Eberron plot to unchain Tiamat and rain down fire upon the Khorvaire as all the dragons of the world go mad. Sounds like a plan, huh? I hope to feature a lot more dragons.

How about all of you? Are dragons a common staple of your Dungeons & Dragons games? Or are they forgotten?

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My Players Just Don’t Care…

"Whateva..."

…as much as me.

It’s true. I’m sure many DMs feel this same way, but it really shows sometime. None of them pour over the books, learning more about the world of Eberron (they’re content to let me tell them all about it in game), they don’t really care about their character sheets much, as long as they have them, or their character cards. They don’t prepare elaborate backstories, except on occasion, as in the case of Bryan, who has a simple story about a simple farm boy who doesn’t really fully understand what’s going on. None of them even read my blog (okay, Bridget does, but she’s my editor), hell, read any blogs, or listen to my podcast. Or any podcast.

I, on the other hand, find the perfect character sheets for my character, carefully handwrite out my character cards (no DDI yet), and pick the perfect dice (which Bridget does as well). When I’m a player, I draw out maps of the locations we go to, sometimes keep a campaign journal, and try to know as much as possible about what’s going on.

I’m not sure how to get them to care. I don’t think handing out extra experience will do it, and I think by now, they’ve just gotten used to not caring.

Hell, I’m not even sure it really bothers me. I know that you’re going to have different levels of involvement, but it sometimes seems like I do all the work.

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Swearing in Fantasy and Sci-Fi

Warning: This post features an adult, using adult language. You have been warned.

How should language be handled in fantasy and sci-fi? Naturally, most people have heard the traditional swear-replacements in sci-fi, from “Frak” (Battlestar Galactica) to “Frell” (Farscape), from “Gorram” (Firefly) to “I seem to be having tremendous difficulty with my lifestyle” (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy).

I understand that television shows can’t feature foul language, so we can look over that. But what can’t be explained is “Feth” from the Gaunt’s Ghosts novels for Warhammer 40k. It’s a novel, so why is there any reason to sensor yourself? You have demons bursting out of men’s chests and pretty heavy violence, so why doesn’t a character getting shot with a white-hot las blast shout “FUCK!”?

I remember when I was on deployment and running a Star Wars game, one of my players was talking in character, and told another PC he didn’t “need to deal with this shit.” It kind of threw me off. “They don’t swear in Star Wars,” I thought. But don’t they? It’s not like cursing is inherently linked to anything in this world, any more than the characters in Star Wars speaking English in a galaxy far, far away.

In fantasy, there seems to be even less swearing. The characters may swear “by Pelor!” but you don’t see much else. If you read the Song of Ice and Fire series, however, I can’t think of a single character with a clean mouth, except perhaps Septa Mordane. There is some pretty horrendous language, enough to make a Sailor blush.

I simply can’t see a reason characters in fantasy and sci-fi wouldn’t swear any less than some people do in real life. Naturally, your “goody-two-shoes” in the party wouldn’t, but I think it could lead to a lot of interesting scenes with the party’s foul-mouthed rogue and the paladin.

How about all of you? Do you employ language in your games? Why or why not?

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A Possible Introduction to your Next Fantasy RPG

I wrote up a little introduction a couple of years ago as an introduction to a D&D campaign that never truly saw fruition. I mixed in elements from the PHB and DMG, but for a personal campaign, stealing elements here and there is all part of the game. I stumbled across it on my computer, and wanted to share it with all of you.

So here you are: Legends of Empyria.

How old is Empyria? Scholars maintain that recorded time goes back as far as 12,000 years, when the first men wandered the fields and forests of what are now the barren deserts of the south; nomads, homeless. But civilizations rise, and civilizations fall, and perhaps there existed peoples and lands unnamed before that, nations far greater than Ancient Kyruul itself.

History faded into legend, and legend into myth. Heroes arose, fought and died… and for what? A nation that seldom appreciated their contributions, and the ones that occasionally did, soon fell, to be replaced by another realm.

What is known, is that Empyria is ancient. Built upon and beneath the ruins of past empires, leaving the landscape dotted with places of danger and mystery. Legends and artifacts of these past empires still survive… as do terrible menaces.

The current age has no all-encompassing empire. The world is shrouded in a dark age, between the collapse of the last great empire and the rise of the next, which might be centuries away. Minor kingdoms prosper, to be sure: baronies, holdings, city-states. The kingdoms of Kyruul, Dom Arkiss and Ruran are no more, replaced by petty fiefdoms where lordlings rule from ruined fortresses.

But each settlement appears as a point of light in the widespread darkness, a haven, an island of civilization in the wilderness that covers the world.

Monsters and supernatural creatures flourish in Empyria. They prowl in the dark places between the points of light. Some are threats, others are willing to grant aid, and many fall into both camps and might react differently depending on how they are approach.

The shadows close in, their hungry mouths like the Winter Wolves, eager for the flesh of civilization.

And if the small candlelight of society is good and truly extinguished… it can never be lit again.

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Review: How to Host a Dungeon

How to Host a Dungeon, by Tony Dowler, is a fantastic example of an easy to use game tool.  As described in the introduction it is, “…part solo game, part toy, part toolkit for creating dungeons in the style of the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game.”

Even though it refers to it as a solo game there is no reason this cannot be used with 2 or 3 people.  Not so much as a ‘game’ in that instance, but as a toolkit.

The directions were very easily followed, and the supply list consisted of things typically found around the house.  As long as you can find some blank paper, pencil, some dice and a few token counters you are set to go.  Oh and one must not forget you need a hand; however, we can assume if you can hold a pencil then you indeed have one to use!

The game/toolkit is split into four ages: the Primordial Age, the Age of Civilization, the Age of Monsters and the Age of Villainy.

To begin with, a simple line is drawn towards the top of the page. During the Primordial Age, you begin to roll dice, and where the instructed die drops on the page is where certain physical characteristics appear.  They might be Mithral deposits or caverns and the like.  Not to mention the introduction of an Ancient Wyrm or two.

Once this stage is complete you move onto the Age of Civilization.  This first begins with the introduction of a Dwarven mine shaft.  Note that you do have the option of choosing the Drow instead of Dwarves.  The Dwarves expand, as they do, underground.  With some more roles of the die and using a finger or thumb for the required measurements you begin to create a whole Dwarven empire; complete with Great Halls, Workshops, Barracks and Treasure Rooms.

Next in the line is the Age of Monsters.  With a few more rolls of the die you create castles, farms, cities, wizard towers and begin to send expeditionary forces into the underground caves.  Some adventuring parties return with treasure and help to continue the building of life on top of the ground and others meet their fate at the hands of goblins who have been breeding deep beneath the surface or a Giant Spider or two!

The Age of Villainy would begin when the previous stages are complete.  We actually didn’t continue into this stage for two reasons.  Reason number 1:  It was getting to be pretty late in the evening.  Reason number 2:  We actually thought that it would be a fanstastic place to throw in your own adventuring party and use the map we created.

This is a perfect game to sit down with a friend or S.O. who plays and do some plotting on a quiet afternoon or evening.  I also found this to be a very creative way of randomly creating a dungeon for your gaming group to adventure in.

I would have liked to have seen the involvement of more natural features i.e. water and magma.  But as my luck would have it, you can find these features in the full version, which we promptly downloaded from RPGnow.com after finding how much fun we had playing the Lite version.

Overall, I would highly recommend this to someone who likes to run the show and especially wants another great tool that they can use to enhance their current or future campaigns.

For more information on this product you can visit the How to Host a Dungeon webpage by clicking here. You can also see Chatty DM’s review here.

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New Snow: Minor Weather Effects in Your Game

Me, standing out in the snow in Spokane, WA, 2008

So, for the first time in many years, snow has fallen on the Tidewater area of Virginia. Normally too warm to even consider falling, it’s dumped this morning. Being raised in Washington state, I’m used to buckets of snow (the winter of 2008, we got 12 feet up there, and they shut down the airports, leaving me unable to leave town), but the people of Virginia are not, and I’m not going to deal with those idiots driving in this weather, so we’re hunkering down.

This, naturally, made me think of gaming.

How often do you introduce weather effects in your game? Do your characters go to sleep one evening in the encampment they set up, then wake up the next morning with everything covered in snow? How would that effect them? If they didn’t set anyone on watch, what are those goblin footprints doing going through their camp, and why didn’t said goblin steal anything? What was it doing?

How about drizzling rain?

In a 4e game, you could have the heroes set out on a 2 week long journey on horseback. Each morning, they would have to roll an Endurance check to keep from losing a healing surge, which would remain lost until they could get themselves completely dry at an inn or something. It would represent getting a chill in their bones, and being less effective if they came under attack.

Minor weather effects can add a lot of possibility to your game, introducing new situations and minor inconveniences for your PCs.

Now, I’m going to go take my toddler out to experience his first time playing in the snow.

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Review: Martial Cultures: Arytis

A little while back, I reviewed the book Martial Flavor by Chaotic Shiny Productions. I noted that Chaotic Shiny would be coming out with a book on each individual culture eventually. I wasn’t let down. Hannah Lipsky has already released two of the culture books, Arytis and Sijara, with the rest on the way soon.

Today, we’ll be reviewing the book Martial Cultures: Arytis. Note that I received a review copy of this book from RPGNow.com.

Arytis clocks in at only 24 pages, but that’s more than enough to give an overview of the culture, as well as a map of the city, and some utility powers for the Rogue and Fighter.

Now, if you’ve picked up Martial Flavor, you will notice a bit of overlap. The utility powers in Martial Cultures: Arytis are the same as those in the chapter on Arytis in Martial Flavor, as well as some feats and flavor text. The real reason to pick up Martial Cultures: Arytis is for the additional flavor text, not the mechanics, and the number of feats in Martial Cultures is beefed up a bit from the few you’ll find in Martial Flavor.

Now, I only briefly ran over the Arytis in my last review, so here’s a little more about them.

The Arytis are from a city of the same name. They love their city, worshiping the spirit who they believe inhabits it. They have a proud martial heritage, known for their fighters and rogues. The book features ranking of the Legions, both the names of ranks, as well as the actual symbology of each rank, which is a nice addition. Also, various ribbons and medals awarded to legionnaires is pretty cool, and I can see a lot of use in the game (rolling a History check and being able to identify that a certain soldier was involved in a certain war).

As in the Martial Flavor book, Lipsky doesn’t tell you what race the Arytis are, instead giving you a few options for who they can be in your world. Primarily, the Dragonborn, Eladrin, and Human.

Also featured, are ideas for making the Arytis either benevolent or malevolent, a very cool idea to show how making a slight tweak to your civilization can change it dramatically.

New class options are given for fighters, rangers, rogues and warlords, as well as non-martial classes such as avengers, paladins, and bards. These change the class features to fit more in with the city.

Some of the feats are the same as in Martial Flavor, but there are quite a few more, including ones for the non-martial classes, which is nice. The feats are for both Heroic and Paragon tier.

A simple but effective map of the city, as well as information about important NPCs wraps up the book, featuring an actress, smith, city hero, really bad legionaire, cheif justice, a few council members, as well as the leader of the city. All very well thought out and intriguing.

If you have been looking at picking up this book, and still aren’t sure, I highly recommend it. Right now, for the next couple of days, you can even get this book in the Gamers Help Haiti bundle! Definitely pick this up.

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Initial Thoughts on Underdark and Dragonborn

Yesterday afternoon, my Amazon.com order came in. I’m a few books behind in the WotC release of books, so I ordered the Player’s Handbook Races: Dragonborn supplement, as well as Underdark. I’ve only cursorily glanced over them, but here’s my initial thoughts.

Dragonborn is a pretty solid book, with some great flavor material. Unfortunatley, most of the material would only be useful for people playing in the implied setting, as it has lots of references to Io and such.

On the plus side, I plan on writing up my own campaign world soon, using a lot of the elements of the implied setting, so I’ll be able to use a lot of this.

For 10 bucks, it’s worth picking up, whether you’re going to be playing a Dragonborn or not.

One beef I have, is that the book feels like a chapter in one of the Power books (Arcane Power, Divine Power, etc). I think this would be much better served if they had come out with a larger book called Player’s Handbook Races, with all the races of PHB 1. You could follow that up with Player’s Handbook 2 Races, and so on. The problem, I think, is the same as the Power books. As the books go on, you’re going to get better and better supplements, leaving the others in the dirt. Eventually, the Dragonborn book will pale in comparison to the Eladrin book they’re sure to someday release.

Underdark is a fantastic book, simply from the initial glance I’ve given it. It’s definitely worth getting if you ever have any interest in running anything remotely underground. There’s a wealth of monsters, encounters and more, as well as fairly fleshed out locations and some gorgeous pictures.

I agree with NewbieDM though, a lack of maps is an issue.

I cringed a little when I saw the picture of Torog, god of the Underdark, in the back of the book. In the past, my players have encountered shrines to him, but they were always to a frog-like entity, so I wasn’t expecting the image they have for him, a tortured and flayed human, weeping with wounds. I’m not saying that Wizards shouldn’t depict him this way (I would love to watch my players recoil in horror when they realized they’d have to face him), but I’ll definitely be keeping this book on the top shelf away from toddler’s eyes. That’s a scarring image.

Definitely pick the both of these books up to fill out your collection. You won’t be disappointed.

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Penny Arcade sums up this whole “D&D in Prison” story pretty well…

Once again, the guys hit the nail on the head, in my opinion. I think I agree with them on this issue.

“The story about a prisoner deprived of his Dungeon Master’s Guide and custom campaign world resonated. It sucks when the guards are all coming down on your shit, and, like, taking your stuff, but it also sucks pretty bad to be beaten to death with a sledgehammer, which is what this guy did to get in there. Tends to dilute the sympathy.”

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