The Gunslinger

As I stared at my unpainted minis tonight debating whether or not to start one, I saw my unpainted monster slayer mini (he's got a rifle). Even though Ultimate Combat has been out for 9 months now no one in my gaming group has shown any interest in playing a gunslinger - including me. With my interest piqued, I decided to do some research. I've seen threads on the Paizo board claiming they are over powered but lots of other people jump in and claim that they are balanced but strong. I wanted to decide for myself so I tracked down a couple threads on what makes a gunslinger good.

With HeroLab loaded I made a gunslinger and fleshed him out at levels 4, 7, 12 and 17. At 4 he kinda sucks. An archer is way better. By level 7 equality has been achieved. They do roughly the same damage but the archer tends to have a better to hit bonus. This is balanced by the fact that the gunslinger is doing range touch attacks in the first range increment (which is scary close if you are using pistols, but a bit more reasonable with a musket).

From what I can see if you want to multiclass as a gunslinger the best break points are after level 5 (when you get dex to damage) and level 11 (when you get all sorts of goodies). For the sake of this demo I decided to go all fighter after level 11.

At level 12 a straight Fighter archer is going to out damage a gunslinger but not many other classes can manage it. By this point the gunslinger can take the signature deed feat which makes one of his deeds practically free to use (no grit required). This means they can do bleed damage equal to their dex bonus on every attack, auto disarm, auto trip, or lots of other nifty tricks.

By level 17 Gunslingers have pulled ahead and don't look back. By taking 6 levels of fighter, the gunslinger is now sporting such fighter only feats as weapons specialization and point blank mastery as well as wearing dueling gloves since he's got weapon training from the fighter levels. Without haste he's firing 5 shots, the lowest at +14, that have to beat Touch AC. Each does about 38 points of damage.

Now the Gunslinger has a deed called Dead Shot. Its a bit complicated so I recommend going to read it but its a bit unclear exactly how it works. It works a bit like Vital Strike with each attack adding to damage but it doesn't state if you can include the extra attacks from Rapid Fire and Haste. If you can't it really doesn't have much use except to help beat any sky high DR that you can't penetrate. If it includes any and all attacks then it's a pretty mean ability. With my level 17 build, with Haste and using rapid shot, Dead Shot has about 1 in 2 chance of inflicting around 280 damage on a full round attack assuming all of the touch attacks hit. If the dice don't cooperate it is a rather lousy 70.

And don't think I loaded all of its abilities into offense. Almost all of the characters I build in HeroLab are meant to be playable so they have to have good saves (lowest save = character level or higher), and AC (or at least some other defenses like Displacement). The gunslinger could be fun to play. They have more options than the Archer Fighter who just shoots his bow every round, or the Barbarian who swings his axe. Rogues would love them since they can render opponents flat footed. I think I can crank out even more damage using dual Pistols but solving the reload problem will some creativity.

That's not to say my next character is going to be a gunslinger. I have a database full of cool characters I'd love to play and I just have one more now. I finally found a Magus build I was happy with yesterday and that's been added to the list now as well. But if we find ourselves in a high level adventure where we need more firepower I know just where to turn.

Slumbering Tsar

Slumbering Tsar is a mega adventure put out by Frog God Games written by Greg A Vaughan. If that name looks familiar its because he writes an adventure for just about every Paizo Adventure Path.

I don't have the hard cover yet so this review is based on the 14 pdfs that have been released over the last couple years and have just been bundled together I assume to raise enough money to print all of the massive hardcovers (over 1000 pages). The adventure for 4-6 level 7 PCs should easily get the party to level 20. The adventure is divided into three main sections: The desolation around the city, the city itself and the temple.

The Desolation is the wasteland that surrounds the city of Tsar, the site of a massive battle between good and evil centuries ago. This part section is basically a large hex crawl as the party scours the area looking for clues at what lies in the city proper. There are lots of quests scattered around and the players can begin to glean hints at the adventure's backstory.

Tsar is a large very detailed city. Although encounters tend to be undead heavy there are still lots of other creatures to be encountered. The PCs scour the city searching for a way to access the final area. The encounters are both location and event based. There is even a mid sized dungeon. Most encounters are immediately hostile but not all. There are even a few spots where you can play one encounter against another.

The temple is the last and by far the most challenging section. In this area the PCs will unearth terrible secrets and deal with Epic level challenges. If you are unlucky enough you could even face Orcus (level 35 demon lord) himself. The temple is nothing short of a mega dungeon. The thing is huge and has over 400 encounter locations.

The writer has tried to give the adventure a 1st edition feel and in some ways I think he's succeeded. There is a large variation in encounter difficulties. There are a few spots where the the encounter is several levels higher then the PCs and their best best is to be really prepared or just run away and come back later. At the same time many encounters will be a cake walk. Most pages have some artwork on them. It is all black and white and the quality is pretty good. I don't recall seeing any that I thought were awful. On the same note I don't remember any being awesome either. While I don't think it would require huge amounts of prep work to play you do have to have a good feel the various areas, how certain NPCs interact with each other, and spend a bit of time thinking about the best tactics for the monsters. Especially at higher levels they are quite complex - most have templates and/or class levels. This is high level Pathfinder so there are not too many bad guys that just walk up and start swinging.

The book is going to be huge and was originally written for 3.5 so its not surprising that a few editing mistakes slipped through. The PDFs have some weird glitches in them but I'm hoping its just a problem with the pdf and will be cleaned up for the hardcover. I figure that it would take us about a year to play from beginning to end - much the same as Kingmaker although if it stretched into the 18 month range I would not be shocked. I worry that so much high level combat can be tedious. I can easily see it devolving into a game of rocket launcher tag. The bad guys are so tough if they are not defeated in a round or two, the PCs will die.Many of the bad guys hit like Mac trucks or have crazy high DCs on their special abilties.

The adventure's focus is combat and exploration. There are lots of very deadly traps and a party would do well to have a rogue (or another trapfinder) along. The adventure has lots of very challenging encounters and players will have to be very creative if they want to survive. Many of the monsters come from 3rd party books so chances the players have never seen them before. Knowledge skills will be very handy for identifying weaknesses. Some of the monsters are pretty awesome, gruesome but awesome. There are NPCs scattered through out the adventure that can be used as replacement PCs or henchmen. A couple are rather unconventional and would be interesting to play as written. Especially towards the end there are lots of powerful magic items kicking around as well as some pretty sweet artifacts. There is no time limit on this epic quest so magic item crafting would be an option.

This adventure ties directly to Rappan Athuk. After the forces of evil retreated from Tsar they fled to the Dungeon of Graves. It would be fun to take the party that cleared Tsar into Rappan Athuk and see if they could beat that pretty much impossible Mega Dungeon..

Overall I think Slumbering Tsar looks like a lot of fun and when my 1000 page brick finally shows up I'll be sure to show it off. My only concern is the length as I recall everyone getting rather bored by the end of Age of Worms.

If you want more details they may be found here

A Princess of Mars, yeah, I read it

After watching the highly-enjoyable, but critically-panned John Carter, I figured it was time to read the source material, Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars. It was not a challenging read. Much like the pulp-era stories which would begin to appear a few years later, the plot and characters in this book are fairly simple. The protagonist, John Carter, is a Civil War veteran and soldier of fortune. Unlike the character in the movie, he is not a reluctant warrior and carries none of the emotional baggage that his cinematic version bears. Rather than being a lost and damaged soul seeking only solace and a way home, Burroughs' John Carter is a man's man. Likewise, the princess, Dejah Thoris, of A Princess of Mars is not the warrior-scholar shown in the film. In the novel, Dejah Thoris is, at times, haughty and petulant, but she also shows great poise and courage in the face of unimaginable torments that she fully expects to suffer at the hands of her captors.

[Spoilers ahead]: The basic plot of both the film and the novel are similar, although far more emphasis is placed on the war between Zodanga and Helium in the movie than in the book. Also, the whole subplot involving the Therns and the Ninth Ray is simply not present in the book at all. Indeed, the Ninth Ray is only briefly mentioned as being vital to the anti-gravity technology of the Martians. Beyond that, it doesn't serve the plot in any way. The other major departure I noticed with the film was in the main antagonist, Sab Than, the ruler of Zodanga. In the book, he was a minor character and merely the heir to the throne of Zodanga. Although he did seek to marry Dejah Thoris, there was no evidence he intended to kill her or destroy Helium. His desires were no more sinister than the standard power politics practiced by royalty on earth for centuries.

A Princess of Mars is a light, but entertaining read full of swashbuckling action in a compelling world where men are men, women are beautiful and villains are there to be vanquished, not understood or pitied. It espouses virtues which many today might find antiquated, or even a bit bigoted. I can see why some changes were made to make the film more relatable to modern moviegoers. Nonetheless, it is a good story and I encourage those who have never read it to give it a go.

-Rognar-

Rippin' on...Aliens Unlimited

Honestly, shouldn't beating up on poor old Palladium be some sort of crime...

Aliens Unlimited

-Rognar-

Mass Effect 3: Review

First I have to say I am a huge fan of the series even as it has evolved from being more RPG oriented to more of a first person shooter. The plots have been interesting, the characters well written, and most of all its been fun.

Lets start off with things that didn't go so well with part 3.

The ending: Without being spoilery all I can say what is wtf? You are given a bunch of back story and left with 3 options. The problem is that all 3 options lead to almost exactly the same ending sequence part of which makes no sense what so ever. I played through the ending sequence 3 times hoping that there would be some meaningful difference between them. There wasn't. After such an awesome game it was rather disappointing.

Difficulty: The enemy AI is much smarter in this game than in 1 or 2. They like to lob grenades behind your cover and execute flanking maneuvers. Some of the Reaper troops are rediculously hard to kill. I turned down the difficulty about a quarter way through the game because I got tired of dying. I'm here for the story.

Online play: This may be awesome but I'm not interested. The first person shooter aspect is my least favorite aspect of the game ad facing off wave after wave of Cerebus or Reaper troops doesn't sound especially appealing. I've read that you can't get the best endings without playing online but I'm not sure how that can make a difference. Half the stuff I read online about the game was BS anyway.

Planet Scanning. The monotonous tank missions from the first game are gone, as well as the resource scanning from the second. Good. There is still some scanning but its pretty minor. The catch now is that the more you scan the more you attract the Reapers, and when they show up you have to beat it out of the system or you die instantly. Planet scanning can reveal quest items and resources for the war so even though its still a bit tedious it is worth while.

And now the good:

The characters: All of the old characters are back and a few new ones have been added. There was lots of negative buzz about Freddie Prince Jr. joining the cast but I really liked his character James. It wasn't until I sat through the closing credits that I realized who was voicing him. The crew this time around is smaller than part 2 which had a huge crew. Everyone that lived through parts 1 and 2 are back in some fashion. My favorites like Garrus and Tali'Zora and part of the crew but most of the others have a secondary role as you run into them around the galaxy.

The writing: The writing is excellent as usual and is what really makes the game great. You really get know your crew, even the ones that don't run missions with you. There are lots of great little moments as they express concern over what's going on back on Earth and you have to keep them motivated and not lose hope.

The plot: I have only played through it once with my female Shepard paragon character. She has chosen most of the "Good" choices over the last few games but I did the Suicide mission in Part 2 without reading about it online and lost 2 members of my crew who were therefore absent from Part 3 (including the always hilarious Mordrin). In a month or two I'll probably play through the game with my male renegade Shepard and see how all of the different choices I've made in parts 1 and 2 change part 3.

Ending aside the game is excellent and I recommend it for anyone that loves a good space opera. The cut scene for the battle of earth was awe inspiring as the combined fleets of the galaxy show up in earth's orbit and engage. Even the small moments are just wow. It might lose some impact if you haven't played the earlier games but the characters are all introduced clearly and its easy to fall in love with them all over again.

If you like video games go out and buy it.

Go see John Carter

I went to see John Carter on opening night and I'm glad I did. I admit, I'm not really an Edgar Rice Burroughs fanboy and have never read A Princess of Mars, the book upon which the film is based, but I do know some of the details of the world of Barsoom. Because of this, John Carter hits the sweet spot for me, midway between a hardcore fan and a total neophyte. I can't say how true the movie is to the original, but given the source material is a century old and it is Disney that made the film, I do not doubt some liberties were taken for the benefit of modern moviegoers. Nonetheless, the movie is very enjoyable and will no doubt satisfy all but the most hardbitten purists.

That's not to say the movie is flawless. Canadian actor Taylor Kitsch, starring in the title roll, makes no effort to sound even remotely like a Confederate soldier despite repeated mentions of his Virginian roots (including a bit of a running joke). This is probably for the best, since a poorly-executed southern accent would have very likely been worse than none at all. Also, in an effort to portray Mars as a dying world, the landscapes are universally desert. These vistas are truly beautiful and stunning, but given the presence of so many peoples (Red Martians and Tharks) and fauna (giant white apes, riding beasts and weird, super fast salamander-dogs), the absolute absence of even a single blade of grass leaves one wondering how anyone finds enough to eat. Finally, I found some of the feats of strength performed by the lead character to be a bit over the top, more akin to Neo from The Matrix than an Earth human in a low gravity environment.

Still, the movie is a visual feast, with competent acting and good pacing. Best of all, it's not stupid, which by the standards Hollywood typically sets for itself these days, is an accomplishment in itself.

-Rognar-

Oh, I almost forgot, the movie is 3D and happily, the 3D effects are well done. No post-production 3D-ification here.

Update: Ok, apparently John Carter was not originally shot in 3D. I'm surprised, having seen some really crappy 3D effects (Clash of the Titans, anyone?). I may have to seek out a 2D version of the film to compare. I don't need much of an excuse to see it again.

Towers of Midnight: Review

So I am once again caught up on my reading and will be looking for something new to tackle. I am hugely disappointed that they've pushed back the release date of the last book by 10 months! And announciing this delay only a month before A Memory of Light's release date makes me bitter.

Anyway, what did I think of Towers of Midnight?

1. Pacing. This book has rather odd pacing. The middle of the novel has a much better climax than the ending does. That's not to say the ending was bad or boring but it just lacked the build up and excitement of the middle of the book. I had not expected two major plotlines to suddenly intersect resulting in a major encounter much more worthy of the climax. The book's climax was something that has been coming for a long time. The reader knows pretty much what's going to happen and it takes place pretty much as expected with no real twists or turns.

2. Editing. I've been reading Ebooks and I do spot the occasional oddity in most books but I've always suspected its due to the possible source of these Ebooks. These errors look like OCR issues and they are easily ignored (rn = m). This book however had a decent number of misspelled or misused words. The kind of thing where you stop and double check to make sure you are reading it correctly. I was surprised so many slipped through the editing process.

Overall the book was very good. Sanderson tries to keep the action going and has a much more direct writing style that Jordan's flowery meandering style. All of the plot lines advance in a significant manner and you can see how things are lining end for the final book. One interesting chapter in this books deals with what's going to happen after all of this is over (assuming the Wheel of Time is not broken). It will be interesting to see how the issues raised in that chapter are dealt with in the final book.

Mongoose editing, as good as it ever was

The first three releases in the Legend game from Mongoose, Legend Core Rulebook, Monsters of Legend and Arms of Legend were actually pretty well done. Though not flashy, they were well-edited and easy to read. Of course, it was only a matter of time before Mongoose reverted back to its old habits. Arcania of Legend: Blood Magic actually sounds pretty good and being written by Peter Nash ensures that what is there will be first-rate. Unfortunately, it appears Mongoose has managed to butcher it in the editing process if the comments on this forum are to be believed (comments which include those of the author of the book himself). Especially egregious (though sadly, not surprising), the text on the website describing the book actually includes reference to material that has apparently been edited out. I will probably still buy the book, everything Peter Nash touches is pure gold, but once again, I will be cursing under my breath at the Mongoose editors.

-Rognar-

Wheel of Time, Cont.

Well, way back in October I restarted the wheel of time series. Here we are now almost 5 months later and I just finished book 12 which is as far I had read before. From here on out its all virgin territory. I started Book 13 this morning and I'm pretty sure I'll have it complete long before the much awaited final Book 14 arrives in March. I seems weird that a series I started over 20 years ago is finally wrapping up.

I guess the wait for the Dark Tower was longer but I only started reading that back in 2003.

Fading Suns for Pathfinder! Now, please!

Fading Suns is an awesome campaign setting incorporating magic, technology and futuristic horror. Sadly, it has long been chained to a clunky game system. A brief foray into the d20 system yielded less than satisfying results. Now RedBrick is planning to try again with the announcement of an upcoming release of Fading Suns for Pathfinder.

FADING SUNS SAVAGE WORLDS AND PATHFINDER
As we announced on Pinnacle Games web site last year, RedBrick is working on releasing a version of Fading Suns for Savage Worlds. We are also updating the previous d20 version for use with the popular Pathfinder roleplaying game. Both editions are based on Fading Suns Second Edition. Development on Third Edition has taken precedence over these editions, so the first books are currently scheduled for released in late 2012/early-2013, as follows (for each system):

2012/Q4: Player’s and GM’s Guides
2013/Q1: Lords of the Known Worlds, Priests of the Celestial Sun

Ok, now I'm excited.

-Rognar-

Cross-posted at Rognar's Space Horror RPG Blog

MERP, a retrospective

In the early 90s, I headed off from my childhood home seeking fame, fortune and a graduate degree. Only the third goal was achieved, but I did get to spend a lot of that time experimenting with tabletop roleplaying games that didn't have the words "dungeons" or "dragons" in their titles (this is possibly why the fame and fortune parts never materialized). Some of these, I played the heck out of (notably GURPS), while others, I only tried once or twice (Chivalry and Sorcery, Call of Cthulhu, Alternity, Star Wars d6, Pendragon). Another one of this latter group is Middle-Earth Role-Playing or MERP by Iron Crown Enterprises. MERP is a softer, gentler spawn of the angry, ex-Marine drill sergeant of tabletop role-playing games, Rolemaster. I've never played Rolemaster, I suppose, because I don't hate myself enough, but even MERP requires a healthy level of masochism. The interesting thing about MERP/Rolemaster is that even the DM has to filled with a sense of self-loathing to really embrace the system. Sadistic DMs are better off with Call of Cthulhu, in which they can inflict all manner of pain on their players without having to beat themselves repeatedly about the head. Anyway, as I was saying, MERP is a simplified and more approachable game based on the Rolemaster game engine. Like D&D, it is a class-and-level system, although the power curve is a little less steep. For example, a Warrior will gain 5 development points for weapon skills each level. Each such point may be spent on one of the six weapon skills (1-H Edged, 1-H Concussion, 2-Handed, Thrown, Missile, Polearm) for a 5% to hit bonus or spend 3 points for a 10% bonus. Furthermore, once 10 points have been spent on a skill, the bonuses drop to 2% or 4% respectively. Combat is certainly more complicated than D&D, but not as torturous as Rolemaster. The character has an offensive bonus (OB) based on weapon skill, relevent stat bonus and magic bonuses which he may dedicate wholly or in part to his attack roll. The attack roll is then penalized by the defensive bonus (DB) of the opponent which is derived from the relevent stat bonus, a shield bonus (if applicable) and any portion of the defender's OB he wishes to commit to parrying. Up to that point, combat is pretty straightforward. The modified result is then compared to a combat matrix for the appropriate weapon group (in Rolemaster, there's a separate combat table for every weapon!) which gives a result that accounts for the type of armour worn by the defender. A typical result will give a number of hits inflicted, but good rolls can result in a critical hits roll. This is where things get painful. This game has critical hits for everything. There are puncture crits, slashing crits, crushing crits, grappling crits, heat crits, cold crits, electricity crits and impact crits and tables for each. If you have a particularly brutal "primary" crit, it can also result in a lesser "secondary" crit as well. Especially bad rolls can also result in fumbles, of which there are several varieties.

Interestingly, aside from the obsession with the minutiae of combat simulation, MERP is clearly influenced by D&D. There are six stats which correspond pretty closely to the traditional D&D formula; strength, agility, constitution, intelligence, intuition and presence. There are also six character classes, one for each primary stat; Warrior (i.e. fighter; primary stat - strength), Scout (i.e. rogue; primary stat - agility), Animist (i.e. cleric; primary stat - intuition), Mage (i.e. wizard; primary stat - intelligence), Ranger (i.e. ranger; primary stat - constitution) and Bard (i.e. bard; primary stat - presence). All character classes may learn some magic, of which there are two varieities; Channeling (divine) and Essence (arcane). Obviously, the more magic-oriented classes of Animist and Mage have fewer restrictions. Spells are organized into lists of ten, within which all the spells have a related theme and increase in power with each level. For example, the Mage spell list Fire Law starts with a spell called Boil Liquid that can cause a cubic foot per level of liquid to boil and ends with Circle Aflame which conjures an immobile, 10 ft. high wall of flames encircling the caster and which inflicts a heat critical on anyone passing through it.

So, you may ask why I'm posting about a game I played a couple of times some twenty years ago. Well, it turns out I have a ton of supplements for this game that I recently uncovered during a spring cleaning. I had forgotten I even owned most of this stuff. Going through it all has brought back a lot of memories, not so much of the game itself, but of the time in my life when I used to have a lot of free time and, apparently, a lot of disposable income. So, I thought I'd share it with you all.

-Rognar-

Rippin' on....In Search of the Unknown

Some old school fun from Zack and Steve:

B1 In Search of the Unknown, pt.1

B1 In Search of the Unknown, pt.2

-Rognar-

Pathfinder Minis: Another Viewpoint

I didn't say it would be a much different view point. I finally got my case from Paizo yesterday and I too got a full set. However my Dragon Booster was missing. Paizo customer service was wonderful as always and within 20 minutes of notifying them I got a shipment notification that it was on its way.

My one big disappointment was how much I paid for them. I subscribed to the Mini line on top of the Adventure Path line and that should get me a 15% discount on a case and each pack's special booster at 75% off. The case and the booster came to about $240 which isn't too bad until I realized I got charged $40 for shipping and then got dinged $20 on customs charges. In the end I paid just over $300.

Derrobane and Tayloritos paid about $240 for their cases and Dragon booster and that included shipping and they didn't get dinged customs fees. I like supporting Paizo directly but not by paying an extra $60 for exactly the same product.

Anyway, prices aside I am pleased with the set. I got a complete set although I didn't pull the werewolf until the very last box I opened. I got a ton of Ettins (3). None of mine were broken and I didn't spot any horribly mangled paint jobs.

Also in the box was part 5 of Jade Regent AP. I have been really pleased with the second half of this AP so far. Most AP start strong and then weaken as it goes on. This one seems to be the opposite which is odd since James Jacobs wrote the first part of the AP and his adventures tend to be pretty awesome.

A Tale of Two Gaming Stores

Most of my adult life has been spent in two major Canadian cities, Montreal and Calgary. The former is the cultural and financial centre of French-Canada, with a laid-back, fun-loving style. Montrealers play much harder than they work. Hockey and politics have replaced Roman Catholicism as the religions of choice for most of its residents. Montreal is very cosmopolitain and more than a little decadent. If jazz and sex are your pleasure, Montreal is your town. Americans might compare it to New Orleans, with much harsher winters.

Calgary is the home of Canada's oil industry. An island of concrete and suburbia surrounded by a sea of ranchlands and canola fields within sight of the Canadian Rockies. Calgarians play hard too, but they work even harder. Climbing the corporate ladder and owning the biggest, most gas-guzzling, all-wheel drive monstrosity you can buy are what it's all about. Calgarians may be more concerned with padding their portfolios than discussing Sartre over a pitcher of sangria at their favourite terrasse, but their capitalist ways go a long way toward funding the "joie-de-vivre" of Montreal. If skiing and rodeo are your pleasure, Calgary is your town. Americans might compare Calgary to Denver, with only slightly harsher winters.

Both Montreal and Calgary are blessed with truly awesome gaming cultures. French-Canadians love games and there's a fascination with the occult and New Age philosophy that is clearly evident. This is reflected in Montreal's most famous gaming store, the incomparable Le Valet d'Coeur. Though by no means spacious, the gaming mecca of Rue St. Denis is packed to the ceiling with gaming goodness. How they manage to jam in so many titles (in both English and French) is a mystery to me. I'm sure there's a little sorcery involved. In keeping with French sensibilities, they also have a lot of stuff you probably wouldn't find in most gaming stores. Occult supplies, tarot decks, crystal and pewter figurines, puzzles and other odds and ends are displayed throughout the store. Still, role-playing games, collectible card games and miniatures are their bread-and-butter and every trip to Le Valet d'Coeur is a feast for the hungry gamer.

Not to be outdone, Calgary has its own pilgrimage site for gamers, the awesome Sentry Box. Far larger than its Quebecois counterpart, the Sentry Box is unlike anything I've ever seen in Canada. It's inventory of role-playing games, CCGs, wargames and fantasy and sci-fi novels is unmatched. Even more impressive (if that's possible) is the amount of space available for gaming. Weekends at the Box are like mini gaming conventions, with 6-8 tables active at any one time. Miniatures games like Warhammer are particularly popular, making the gaming area a cool place to hang out and watch the proceedings. Workshops on miniature painting are also frequent. Now don't think the Sentry Box is some corporate store with whitewashed floors and immaculate displays, it's not. It's a bit cluttered, the stairs creak, the shelves sag, and dust can sometimes collect on the less popular corners of the place. It is truly a mom-and-pop operation and it's fantastic.

-Rognar-

What do I want from D&D 5?

The short answer is nothing. Now that's not to say I wouldn't play it under any circumstances. I can certainly conceive of the possibility of D&D 5e being a more enjoyable gaming experience than Pathfinder and, if that were the case, I might be inclined to switch. However, I know what the parameters are for the redesign of D&D and they don't excite me. WotC has tried to slaughter a few sacred cows since taking over TSR, but despite the protests of the more vocal critics to the contrary, in my opinion, they've mostly been cosmetic changes. Feats and skills add some complexity, but the fundamentals are intact, hit points, armour class, class-and-level character design and advancement. It's all still there, it's all uniquely D&D and it's all untouchable. Whether the next iteration of D&D looks more like BECMI or D&D 3.x or AD&D is largely irrelevent to me because all those versions of the same game still exist and they all share the same flaws in my mind. Here's the thing though. I don't think D&D 5e should change a thing. Ok, they should change a few things, but they are mostly superficial. D&D is what it is, warts and all, and if they can "Unite the Clans", that's great. But with what I consider to be far superior games like Legend, BRP and Traveller out there, it's hard to get too excited about ascending vs. descending AC or whether dwarves can be wizards.

-Rognar-

To no-one's surprise...

WotC has announced the upcoming release of D&D 5e. Learning a lesson from Paizo, they are going with a playtest. Good for them. I wish them all the best and if they make a game that's better than Pathfinder, who knows, we might even play it. The addition of Monte Cook to the design team certainly adds to my level of interest in the project.

Don't expect to see much from WotC on your store shelves in the next 18 months.

-Rognar-

Rippin' on superheroes

I've fallen a bit behind in my blogging, what with the holidays and all, so here's a double shot of SomethingAwful.com from Zack and Steve as they explore the Marvel Superheroes and Heroes Unlimited games:

Heroes Unlimited: Villains Unlimited

Marvel Superheroes

-Rognar-

Hey, the OSR won.....something! I guess

Some self-described members of the old-school renaissance (revolution, revival,...whatever it is) have declared victory. I didn't even know there was a game on, but apparently we're on the losing side. At least I think it's us, (i.e. non-OSR gamers), since it's not clear what the rules of the game are or even who's playing. Now, it would seem to me, a clear victory condition for the OSR would be for WotC to re-release all the older edition pdfs, but that hasn't happened. According to the "winners", the victory results from the release of the D&D Essentials red box and the fact that Mike Mearls likes old-school D&D. Well, I guess you take your wins wherever you can get 'em. Of course, before they pop the champagne corks, they should recall that WotC just hired Monte Cook. Remember, he's was one the main guys behind D&D 3e, the game the grognards used to complain about before D&D 4e came along. If the OSR guys think D&D 5e is going to be 1974 all over again, I think they're in for a surprise. There are certainly some admirable qualities to the DIY mindset of the OSR, but it doesn't give them much influence as far as the business of rpgs is concerned. Nobody is going to market a game to you if all you intend to do is praise it. Approval won't cover the payroll.

-Rognar-

Monsters for Christmas

This past year's Christmas haul of gaming goodness was certainly smaller than previous years. Sadly, there simply isn't much new product these days that catches my fancy. However, it wasn't a total loss as I scored two books of monsters, the Pathfinder Bestiary 3 and Monsters of Legend. Although the two books are of a similar theme, they couldn't be more different in design. Paizo's third monster book is typical of all the Pathfinder hardcovers, high-gloss, lavishly-illustrated and weighty. Production values are first-rate and the price (around $40) is reasonable. Perhaps more so than in previous bestiaries, B3 has a theme, or more accurately, a couple of themes that govern its content. One of these is Asian influence, particularly East and South Asian. There are new races of outsiders, such as Asuras and Divs which clearly exhibit a strong South Asian flavour, not to mention a variety of new Rakshasas. Likewise, representing East Asian cultures, there are Foo creatures, a whole slew of new Onis, and the introduction of Imperial Dragons. The second theme is that of misfit monsters. Many of the despised and forgotten beasts from editions past have been given a new coat of paint. In most cases, these atrocities should have been left dead and buried. I am no more enamoured with the Wolf-in-Sheep's-Clothing, Flumph and Flail Snail now than I was way back when.


Now, I'm not much for the Asian stuff and there is a fair bit of silliness in B3, but there's enough cool stuff in there to satisfy me. Clockworks are awesome and I hope to see more in future releases. I also like how they have expanded the Kyton with a bunch of new variants. They are serious nightmare fuel now. The Cthulhu Mythos gets some more love with the inclusion of the Moon-Beast, Zoog and Yithian (aka Great Race of Yith), and best of all, the Demilich rises again.


Monsters of Legend is a digest-sized, softcover costing about half as much as B3. Not every monster is illustrated and what illustrations do exist are black and white. Anyone who owns MRQII Monster Coliseum has seen it all before, including the artwork. Though much less impressive than the Bestiary 3, MoL is a handy little tome. All the Glorantha-specific entries have been removed and what's left are the standard beasties every fantasy world demands, elves, dwarves, trolls, orcs, ogres, giants, dragons, etc. The entries are brief and focused. Even the entry on dragons is a single page. I consider this ideal for a generic fantasy game because it leaves lots of room for the DM to decide things like ecology and social structure. For a mere $20, you get over a hundred pages of monsters. Good deal.

-Rognar-

Arms of Legend - a test for Mongoose

Mongoose has always been a bit of an enigma as far as gaming companies go. They have some great writing and truly creative game design, but they are often hobbled by some really spotty editing. One classic example of sloppy editing was the Arms & Equipment book for MRQII. Most consider it to be the worst of the MRQII books, although Necromantic Arts is a close second. Well, in January, Mongoose is coming out with Arms of Legend, which is obviously a re-release of Arms & Equipment, as it is written by Lawrence Whitaker, the original author of A&E and no longer employed at Mongoose. This represents a golden opportunity to make amends for past mistakes and do a proper job of editing. I am cautiously optimistic, although that optimism is tempered somewhat by the fact they repeatedly refer to the new release as "Arms & Equipment" on the website. It's a small thing, but that lack of attention to detail is troubling.

-Rognar-