Back and Ready to Kick Ass

It's been a while, and I'm sorry for that. Last September was a difficult time for me and life has been pretty non-stop ever since. I'm back and ready to write and will begin posting new and hopefully interesting content as soon as I can.

-BRB, LOLth

Role-playing?

I just posted a response I got particularly into to an article over at GeeksDreamGirl, so I thought I would repost it here with a link to her article.

I found it hard at first to get into RP during D&D. Not because of any stigma with the act of being in character, but because I just wasn’t very confident in my ability. I got better with it, and it is a lot of fun to really make decisions based on my character and not my best judgement as a player; to give my character faults and personality, not just a min-max build..

As far as WoW, no. It just doesn’t conduct itself as an RPG. It’s a fantasy character advancement game, and trying to stay in character doesn’t work because the system fundamentally isn’t really set up for it. Many years ago, when I played Ultima Online I saw MMO role-playing at its finest though. It is what made the game great for me, and why I played it much longer and more often than I have any other MMO since. Like-minded role-players would gather to create their guilds, place their player housing in one area, and form their own entire villages. You had a visible community that you could interact with and there would be all sorts of great RP. Games just want to appeal to the power-hungry kids and those who suffer from an almost (or actual) OCD desire to get some displayable sense of achievement so that they can feel good through the recognition of others.

I think I got a little off topic there, but ultimately my point is this: really giving in to the interactive story and community of role-playing is a rich and rewarding act that allows you to explore a mind and perspective external to you. There’s a reason psychologists (or psychiatrists, I can never really remember the difference) use it as a tool to help people. Going to a D&D game and giving yourself entirely to being someone else for a little while can be an amazing experience and I suggest everyone at least give it a shot.

RuffD&D

Ordering RPGA Membership Cards

So one of the coolest things about signing up with DCI was being able to order membership cards for my friends that play in my events. I got my Herald level sanctioning within a month of getting my own membership card because I was so excited at the possibilities. No events ever happen near to my home.

But, and I think we can all agree on this, the documentation on the DCI and RPGA sites is a little difficult to navigate. The instructions I found were actually wrong, as they advised me to order them by making a Magic: The Gathering event. Well, I wasn't sanctioned for Magic so I could not do this. I then had to email in to request some instructions from Wizards on how to do this.

I got a very nice and informative reply and can now share this information out to help out people having the same trouble I did at first.

In the event sanctioning area, when you select the game system you want to create an event for, there will be an option that says WPN Materials. The event type will be "Membership Card Request" and you can leave the date to the current day. Then a few Next buttons and confirming the shipping address and you will have a couple pads of cards on the way. I put up a screenshot of the options with this post including the red outline around the option you should select. I hope this helps!

Ruff D&D

Why Dragonlance Should Have Been Chosen As The Next D&D Campaign Setting

So, it seems that today at GenCon Wizards of the Coast announced that Dark Sun would become the next setting developed for Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition. I'm sure this is very exciting for a lot of people, but its not very appealing to me. Don't get me wrong, it sounds like an interesting setting; just not really my thing. And, I like the idea of playing in a setting that is sort of post-apocalyptic. I just always imagine more science fiction in my apocalypse.

So for the record, I'm not saying anything bad about Dark Sun. I'm sure it's a lovely setting. At least as far as desolate wastelands can be lovely. I just would have liked to have seen some love for Krynn.

Firstly, GenCon would have been a great place to announce the return of D&D to Dragonlance considering this year is the 25th anniversary of Dragonlance, and GenCon has celebrations for this. There was even a contest where potential winners submitted stories of how Dragonlance affected their lives. The prize? A trip to GenCon for the anniversary. In other words, the timing for such an announcement couldn't have been better.

Also, it seems like a pretty good time for the setting. In the boiling turmoil that constantly spills across Ansalon, specifically since the building of the armies that lead up to the War of the Lance and all the way through the War of Souls, peace in the world is in short supply. But since the end of the Dark Disciple trilogy, the deities have calmed ever so slightly and a greatly changed Krynn is starting to settle into something it could call familiar, if not normal. Without huge continent-spanning wars raging currently, the setting seems ripe for picking endless supplies of open-ended stories. It's a virtual playground for the creative DM or game developer.

And lastly, dont we all want to revisit our favorite elements that are unique to Dragonlance. With a couple draconians introduced in Dragon recently, I really hoped to see more of the unique stuff fleshed out. Knights of Solomnia paragon paths? Knights of Neraka? Or most special to my heart, and hopefully yours, Kender? I continue to hope.

Ruff D&D

First Look: D&D Monster Builder

I spent a lot of time Friday playing with the new D&D Monster Builder beta. This program comes pre-packaged with all the D&D 4th Edition monsters that have been released in virtually every source deemed official. It's nice actually, because it even includes NPC's and other creatures from the RPGA adventure packs.

The program is smooth in browsing through and searching for monsters and allows you to print out stat blocks, or even copy them as rich text or even an image. DM's that do a lot of preparing ahead of time will be able to make great use of this and only need to reference the Monster Manual to look up the results of a knowledge check.

However, the real meat of this app is customizing monsters for your game. Maybe you want a monstrous spider for your group, but they're too low level for those presented in the source works. Perhaps you want to enrich your setting with a creature that doesn't exist at all as released by Wizards. The rules presented in the Dungeon Master's Guide are fairly straight forward for assisting in this level of customization for creating richer fantasy worlds but consume a whole lot of time, as I found out when I created some dire rabbits for a group that was new to 4e this spring.

So, I went to make dire rabbits again with the Monster Builder. All the options for monster level, type, role, difficulty, etc. are there. Based on these options, things are set automatically such as the hit points, stats, and XP reward for the monster. These can all be tweaked of course, but this should set you at a well balanced starting point. Then you can begin adding powers and other features to the monster. Attack values and damage dice are again automatically balanced but fully adjustable.

Probably one of the most powerful tools in the Monster Builder is the search feature that allows you to view existing monsters and their powers while working on your baby. You can then actually drag an existing power into your monsters power space and edit all the options to tweak it to your intended purpose.

This was smooth and easy, and took relatively little time to create a dire rabbit. Then I decided to make a young version to be a minion that can be added to encounters. Of course, I didn't want to type all the little details about the rabbits again. This could get really repetitive if I had to do that for making variants of monsters. Brilliantly, Wizards included a Copy and Edit button. Set the new one to minion with no role and take away all the powers except the bite attack. Within moments I had a minion version ready to go.

One significant issue I have with the Monster Builder is the use of the templates presented in the Dungeon Master's Guide. I couldn't, say, take my dire rabbit and set it to be feyborn and it just use the existing template to make a fey version. I did, however, look at other fey creatures in testing this and make a fey rabbit as well.

I, of course, have to play test these guys to check for balance, but I believe they should be as challenging as I intended even having been created with relative ease. Overall, this tool will allow creative DM's the ability to easily spin tales of adventure with an ever increasing number of dangerous monsters and other foes. And I believe that once we see more of the Adventure Tools released, the tool will really begin to offer something grand to home campaigns and maybe even to how Wizards releases the adventures they create.

Ruff D&D

D&D Insider: Monster Builder Beta

The download is out now for the Monster Builder beta from Wizards. This is listed as the first toll in a suite called the D&D Adventure Tools. You have to be a D&Di subscriber and have the Character Builder installed. The download can be accessed here. I've installed it now and will write more after playing with it.

Enjoy!

Ruff D&D

Character Idea: Hypochondriac Pirate

Yesterday was the last day of a contest over at the d20 Blonde in which some sample names compiled on a road trip were presented and contestants were asked to come up with an interesting background story for a character using the name of their choice from the list.

I didn't win, but I really liked my submission and decided to expand on it in a little more than 50 words

Trenton Hammomton, the nautical sell-sword:

As a sailor for hire, Trenton has served in the crews of many pirate ships, often at great risk and for great profit. He's also quite good at what he does. Nimble and strong, the rogue never doubts his ability to win a fight. Which is good, because nothing could be worse in Trenton's mind than a cut or stab wound.

You see, Trenton is a hypochondriac and often over worries himself, imagining serious maladies where things are normal. It's tough living in the adventurers life for Trenton, but with meticulous care of every scrape and splinter, he can keep his mind at ease.

His favorite people to have around are clerics of Melora who often take to the seas themselves. They save him so much time from tending his wounds.

Trenton's best quality as a shipmate is that he is always willing to supply the ship with fresh oranges and other fruit at his own expense to stave off scurvy.

Trenton, as presented here, is a D&D 4e rogue but could be easily adapted to any system in which pirates are appropriate.

Ruff D&D