EN World - D&D / Dungeons & Dragons / RPGs

The TARDIS EN World's newest sister-site, The TARDIS offers the latest news and discussion (and, if you choose to click on them, spoilers) for Doctor Who, Torchwood, and The Sarah Jane Adventures. Who will be the next Doctor?

WotBS Hardcover Pre-Orders Pre-order your War of the Burning Sky Campaign Saga Deluxe Edition Hardcover and save $25 on the full retail price! The biggest. The Best. Hundreds of pages of gaming goodness, all in gorgeous full colour!

News for Monday, 5 January

And we're back! I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a fantastic New Year - and that you haven't broken any new year's resolutions yet! Amongst my own resolutions are an intent to redesign this news page over the next few weeks - an endeavour which could result in disaster! My last attempt didn't look great, but I may try to work on that one. I'm also backlogged by a couple of weeks' worth of emails, and have recently quit smoking, so if you get any late, slightly terse responses, please don't take it personally!
Win free dice or a Gnome Stew dice bag Guess how many dice are in the pile o' dice and win.
Draconomicon 2: Metallic Dragons Slated for a November 2009 release.
February and March releases from Goodman Games Includes Hero’s Handbook: Eladrin, as well as new adventures for Dungeon Crawl Classics and Wicked Fantasy Factory.
Alluria Publishing: Remarkable Races sale extended Alluria Publishing decided to extend their $1.95 sale until January 7th so that those that were absent over the holidays may also enjoy this low price. This is the only time when you can get all 5 of these new and unique races for under $10.
Saving Stone, A Free Novella-Length Prequel To Game Night by Jonny Nexus
Film Mage reviews The Gamers 2: Dorkness Rising The Film Mage reviews Dead Gentlemen Productions' The Gamers 2: Dorkness Rising.
Dias Ex Machina to release NeuroSpasta - 4E GSL Cyberpunk In 2009, Dias Ex Machina will begin to develop and release non-fantasy role playing games which will be 4th Edition compatible and 100% GSL compliant. These games will be developed from a similar baseline and will not only be compatible with each other, but also with Amethyst and most other GSL products.
PCGen v 5.15.9 (Alpha) Released
GAMA hires new ED; details coming soon
The Pope Lick Monster Kobold Quarterly continues to provide new monsters with entertaining names for your 3.5 Fantasy or Modern game.
New reviews:

Hero’s Handbook:Dragonborn Providing a wide range of options for both Player's and Game Masters, Heroe's Handbook Dragonborn provides both background details and game mechanics in addition to new monsters and magic items for any 4th edition campaign.
Manual of the Planes A lack of usable statistics, encounters, and other table-usable features makes this version of the Manual of the Planes little more than an extension of the Dungeon Master's Guide section on the planes. Unlike Draconomicon, it seems to lack both focus and the typical 4th edition design philosophy...
Heroes Unlimited Revised Second Edition Overall, the book rates high in creativity, fun, and utility, while suffering from a lack of completeness, cohesiveness, and elegance. The game’s true strength lies in its ability to bring a character to life just by using a few tables.
Revenge of the Rat King Revenge of the Rat King is a great sequel to Idylls of the Rat King.
Zobeck Gazetteer Come enjoy this delicious taste of the world of Open Design and stay for the clockwork. This is a gorgeous and robust gazetteer that will have you clamoring for more!
Draconomicon What would Christmas be without a fine tome filled with horrors buried in the deepest darkest depths of the known worlds? Pretty lame, if you ask me. Lucky for me, I was the proud receiver of Draconomicon, the Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition book on dragons. I wasn't particularly excited by...
Wrath of the River King A balance of combat, skill challenges, and roleplaying-- this sandbox adventure into the feywild is jam-packed.
World Tiles - Blasted Canyon Set Very easy to use PDF with layers that allow vast swathes of customization for a desert based tile set.
Blackdirge’s Dungeon Denizens Strong selection of monsters to boost the near hollow Monster Manual.
Dwarven Forge: Caverns Every time I open a new box of Dwarven Forge dungeon tiles I am always surprised how much I love them. All concerns about the price, all concerns about the "investment", all concerns that my money would have been better spent elsewhere disappear when I start to lay them out, build some...
Fane of the Forgotten Gods A useful and versatile set.

New Downloads:

Knightfall's Arcanum of the Stars A revision/update of the Dragonstar rule set to v.3.5 for my Arcanum of the Stars campaign. (This is will be a continuous work in progress.)
Book of NPCs Pre-calculated NPCs stat blocks, roughly in the style of the Monster Manual, for all classes in the Player's Handbook and all races in the Player's Handbook and Monster Manual. The current version (1.0.2) has NPCs for levels 1-30, and over 12,000 total characters.

News for Monday, 22 December

Monday Monsters-- The Green Children of Woolpit Kobold Quarterly continues its series of original monsters, bringing the faerie Green Children of Woolpit.
[Øone Games] The Classic Blueprints return
Paizo - Child's Play Online Charity Auction Paizo Publishing is auctioning off collector's item editions of their Pathfinder Campaign Setting and upcoming Pathfinder RPG and Pathfinder Bestiary to benefit the charity Child's Play.
E-Z TERRAIN: Forest & Ruins This all new set features 14 different tree styles, log cabin, stone monuments and more. As a special thank you to EN World members we have a special coupon for 25% off.
Spoon and Fork If you're hungry for adventure, then look on further. Grab your dice and spatula, while you prepare these delicious recipes for your next gaming session. With Spoon and Fork there's no more need for expensive takeout.
Pact of the Angelic Choirs The latest in Adamant Entertainment's series of new pacts for 4e warlocks.
Dias Ex Machina to announce product line News that there will be some news. Or something.
[Crafty Games] Bag Full of Guns: Dragon's Fury Releases + Crafty Christmas Sale
DragonWing Games releases Well of the Twice Born

News for Friday, 19 December

The latest D&D Releases in PDF Format: Manual of the Planes and P2 Demon Queen’s Enclave.
Wil Wheaton's Geek In Review: Keeping The Borderlands Alive Wil Wheaton plays and reviews 4E. Note that the site has some non-grandma-friendly images on it.
Alpha Omaga: How to GM This New RPG Gnome Stew's guide to running Alpha
Omega for the first time.
DragonWing Games releases Well of the Twice Born
The Mogogol Alluria Publishing has just released a new product in their Remarkable Races line-- The Mogogol, a benevolent frog-like race descended from evil bullyw--er--"bog-bullies." Licensed under 4E GSL. Hop into it!
Miniatures Review on Kobold Quarterly We bring you "a fistful of lead," the miniatures review that takes aim at dwarves with guns!
Last call for 3.5 - final sale from Goodman Games 3.5 d20 products no longer on sale after December 31, PDF’s $2 until then (boxed sets $5), Last chance to buy 3.5 products at 50% off before they’re gone forever.
Skip Williams posts on "Ask the Kobold" He answers the question, "How do you kill with a Heal spell?"

News for Wednesday, 17 December

Mongoose: Four New Books This Week
Open Design #7 is nearing completion Time is running out, come experience 4E adventuring as written by ENnie-nominated, Diana Jones-winning Wolfgang Baur!
Second Product from Alluria Publishing "Alluria Publishing debuts with a new product in the Remarkable Races line-- The Obitu...The Obitu has been discounted to $1.95 to introduce ourselves and give great savings for the holiday season."
"Behind the Spells" series continues at Kobold Quarterly Partnering with Tricky Owlbear Publishing, Kobold Quarterly is happy to present the second installment of "Behind the Spells." This time? Learn the secrets of magic aura!
Catalyst Game Labs and Piñata Games Form Strategic Alliance Catalyst Game Labs, LLC, and Pinata Games have announced that they will form a strategic alliance contingent on the Catalyst group’s purchase of the currently dormant WizKids properties.
New blog entries:

D&D Insider Updates: (some items require subscription; I'll mark which ones):

Episode 10: Dungeoncraft Having challenging, exciting adventures for low-level characters is terrific, but it's not sufficient for launching a campaign. You also need enough of those adventures to get the PCs beyond low levels!
Save My Game: Meditations on Death Winter in Seattle is long, damp, chilly, and gray. We're not complaining -- at least it's not frigid. But month after month without seeing the sun wears on a person and turns your thoughts to ... dismal subjects.
Touch of Madness The Far Realm is a place of madness and death. Those who seek power by making alliances with its denizens meet only with insanity ... at best. But despite all evidence, some fools dare to tamper with this unknown and alien plane, and entire regions of the mortal world pay the price. Years ago, a small sect of worshipers devoted to Ioun, seeking forbidden knowledge, did just this, and now their folly is about to be visited on the unsuspecting town of Wellspring.

News for Monday, 15 December

Coat of Arms Visual Designer Updated Again Users can now add creatures/symbols/ordinaries to specific divisions and even add subdivide divisions. Create a coat of arms for your character, an NPC or organization.
Burning Lands (a Darwin’s World Novel) on sale
Open Design releases Zobeck Gazetteer The background setting to many Open Design projects and Kobold Quarterly articles just got a lot more defined.
Zobeck Gazetteer Review That was quick! In fact, I got this scoop before the one about the Gazetteer itself.
New reviews:

Critter Cache 2: Prehistoric Beasts If you want to run something like the Isle of Dread, you need this release.
Critter Encounter Tiles: Bugged Out One inch square sized tiles for the encounter by Goodman Games/Blackdirge, Bugged Out.
Critter Encounters: Bugged Out Critter Encounters: Bugged Out is a short scenario for the Fourth Edition Dungeons & Dragons game that revolves around mysterious disappearances in the small town of Kettledowns.

New blog entries:

New Group:

Under the Sea A group to discuss adventures into liquid space; undersea campaigns, subaqueous missions, and underwater RPGs in general.

D&D Insider Updates: (some items require subscription; I'll mark which ones):

The Invoker, Levels 1-3 This article presents levels 1-3 of the Invoker class, which will appear before too much* longer in Player's Handbook II. The invoker is a Divine controller with plenty to offer an adventuring group. (* "Too much" is a relative term, of course.)
Excerpts: Origins and Society In today’s Open Grave preview, we introduce the origins, the outlook, and the society of the undead.
P2 Demon Queen's Enclave Art Gallery Here they are—a full set of illustrations from our P2 adventure. Use these illos to help show your players what they’re up against in the dark halls of the drow outpost known as Phaervorul! Map Gallery here.
The Longest Night In the spirit of the holidays, Dragon presents a special Roll vs. Role. The dragon Cazakk the Blessed has established himself as a terror to the Barony of Harkenwold. Each year during the Winter Festival, he travels to every town and hamlet in his domain and demands tribute from the local townsfolk. For fear of their lives should they refuse, they always accede to the greedy wyrm's requests.

News for Friday, 12 December

DDI Character Builder Open Beta Now Live! Now everyone (even non-DDI subscribers) can test out the official character generator! Generate characters from levels 1-3.
Interview with the Authors of the 4E Manual of the Planes Planewalker has an interview with Rich Baker, James Wyatt and Rob Schwalb on the soon-to-be-out Manual of the Planes.
Several Mongoose reviews in the new issue of Fictional Reality Reviews of The Quintessential Wizard, Wraith Recon, Conan 2nd Edition, and Dragon Warriors.
Paizo Open Call "We've announced the next round of open calls for Pathfinder Society Organized Play scenarios. We're experimenting with a new and much more open format. Today's Paizo Daily Blog talks about it in detail."
D&D Insider Updates: (some items require subscription; I'll mark which ones):

Adventurers of the Realms The Forgotten Realms setting is a vast place, and heroes can emerge from anywhere. A wide selection of regions provides inspiration for determining a character's background as well as a regional benefit.
Excerpts: P2 Demon Queen's Enclave Tieflings have a similar saying: “The only thing worse than being a drow’s foe is being a drow’s ally.” Deep within the earth, in the dark halls of a drow outpost called Phaervorul, adventurers will learn the truth behind these statements.
Excerpts: The Planeshifter In today’s Manual of the Planes preview, we bring you a new paragon path: the planeshifter, with extensive knowledge of the planes, and an unrivaled ability to find portals and traverse dimensions.
Adventures in Gift Giving Confessions of a Full-Time Wizard.
Mual-Tar, the Thunder Serpent Dragon #370 introduces a new recurring feature: Lords of Chaos. At the dawn of time, the gods and primordials fought a battle unlike any other. The gods were victorious, and the primordials -- once rulers of the chaos that existed before time -- were thrown down, slain, or imprisoned. Some have broken free, but many still languish in chains. Mual-Tar the Thunder Serpent is one such bound primordial. But this powerful creature has mortal followers that seek to free Mual-Tar at all costs, to sunder the chains that bind it, and unleash it to consume the world and return it to the chaos from which it was born.

New blog entries:

New Group:

Tale of the Twin Suns: Tales From The Brokenlands Welcome to Alsheria! This is another continent that is part of the Tale. It has Eastern flavor and is unique in its own right. You don't have to know anything about the primary continent to jump in and play a character in Alsheria. New races and classes are available as character options as well as familiar Oriental races and classes. Alsheria is best summed as one part Xen'Drik, one part Oriental, one part post-War of the Burning Sky and one part Tale of the Twin Suns. Take from that what you will. This group will be for the creation and expansion of Alsheria. Sometimes I get burnout working on the primary area of the Tale. I came up with the idea of Alsheria on 12/11/08 during a sleepless night. Support and encouragement means a lot to me as it helps to keep the ideas flowing.

News for Thursday, 11 December

New Classes in PH2 A preorder for Power Cards on Amazon lists the names of the new classes in Player's Handbook 2 as Avenger, Barbarian, Bard, Druid, Invoker, Shaman, Sorcerer, and Warden.
New D&D products for 2009/2010 Primal Power and E3: Prince of Undeath are set for October 2009,.
D&D Insider Updates: (some items require subscription; I'll mark which ones):

Threads That Connect The wilderness is a vast and dangerous place, with isolated points of civilization here and there. The wilderness does not just harbor monsters and evil humanoids, though. It can provide other threats... such as fire.
The Temple Between: The Scales of War, part 6 The Scales of War Adventure Path concludes the heroic tier of play with “The Temple Between.” The PCs return victorious to the city of Overlook, but as the city marshals for war, the PCs' offers of aid are rebuffed at every turn.
Playtest: Adventurer's Vault 2 Exclusive to D&D Insider -- Adventurer's Vault 2! AV2 won't see print until 2009, but you can get a first look right here, right now. Can your character live without these items? Maybe ... but we wouldn't call it living!
DDM: 2009 Limited Championships Fact Sheet Rallying their warbands to victory, D&D Miniatures skirmishers claim their right to battle for the 2009 Limited Championship. Discover who will duke it out for the championship title at DDXP. The 2009 Limited Championship is open to all players.

New 4e Warlock Pact from Adamant Entertainment First in a series of new pacts for warlocks.
Old school" D&D is a UNIX app
Free PDF preview for "The Spider-God's Bride and Other Tales" "The Spider-God's Bride and Other Tales" is a collection of ten blood-red sword and sorcery adventures for 3E, inspired by the pulp era tales of Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith. Venture in the footsteps of Conan the Cimmerian, Satampra Zeiros of Uzuldaroum, Imaro of Nyumbani, and other fabled thieves, reavers and slayers.
3rd Era from Green Ronin '3rd Era' allows Green Ronin to sell its old D20 merchandise relabelled as '3rd Era' The logo is similar ot the D20 label and will allow people who still like 3.5 to pick up titles previously badged as D20 products.
New blog entries:

New reviews:

Exemplars of Evil Every game has opponents and in most games they are considered the evil ones, the bad guys. It is not that common though to get good about the bad guys. Sure there are plenty of books with stat blocks of things to fight both easy and hard but not so many about how to...

News for Tuesday, 9 December

Pre-order your War of the Burning Sky Campaign Saga Deluxe Edition Hardcover and save $25 on the full retail price! The biggest. The Best. Hundreds of pages of gaming goodness, all in gorgeous full colour!
0one Games: Join the Revolution!
Review: 4th Ed. Druid Preview "Yet another (long-winded) review of the Druid preview."
Paths to Prestige: Centurion Blackdirge Publishing and Goodman Games have released Paths to Prestige: Centurion, a 4E product detailing a new paragon path inspired by the classic Roman soldier.
Original Fiction Week at The Gamer Dome Read original fiction every day this week, then on Friday vote for which story continues.
Paizo & Monte Cook Release New 3.5 Hardcover Collected Book of Experimental Might Brings Popular PDFs to Print.
New 4E Monster and Miniadventure The Monday Monster at KQ is the Lambton Worm, a creature with 4E stats and a backstory that just begs to turn into a mini-adventure.
The Quick Kill can kill ya three times before ya hit the ground Available from the EN World store, The Quick Kill provides a new skill challenge and three encounters (including full-scale battlemaps) for use in any 4e campaign. Use with caution.

News for Monday, 8 December

Are you a fan of Doctor Who, Torchwood, or The Sarah Jane Adventures? If so, check out EN World's latest new sister-site, The TARDIS! All the latest news, spoilers, previews, plus a brand spanking new messgeboard for all your Doctor Who discussions!
The Accidental Survivors Get Modernized In Episode 38 the Accidental Survivors discuss getting your RPG group to try a game in the modern genre.
Inner Circle Sale The Inner Circle is having a 50% off sale on all of their products over on RPGNow until January 1st. They also have an update on their 4e product line and are showing some artwork from their upcoming comic on their blog.
Hasbro's Goldner is best CEO, MarketWatch says
Helix Review A review of Helix: The Post-Apocalypse, High-Tech, Fantasy, Western RPG.
Third Dawn Campaign Setting Dreamscarred Press has released the Third Dawn Campaign Setting, an all-psionics, no-magic campaign setting.
D&D Insider Updates: (some items require subscription; I'll mark which ones):

D&D Podcast Episode 30 (the first post-Noonan one!) In this episode, we wander the halls of Wizards of the Coast asking our co-workers how exactly did they end up here? With the holidays fast approaching, we wanted to know if a special package under the tree got their start in the world of D&D.
Excerpts: Feywild In today’s Manual of the Planes preview, we introduce the Feywild: where the tangible presence of magic is like nothing ever experienced on the mortal world.
Part 10: DMing in Public: It's Showtime! You've been DMing a Living FR game, and now you want to jump to the big time: Running a game at a convention or other event. The adventure is polished, you're prepped, you're packed up, and you're at the show. Now what?
Manual of the Planes Spotlight Interview In today’s Spotlight Interview, we speak with John Rogers, designer of Manual of the Planes’ Feywild chapter—not to mention also writing for Jackie Chan Adventures, the Transformers movie, the Blue Beetle comic line, TNT’s Leverage… and the EN World Story Hours forum!
The Mercykillers: Riven Justice Years ago, the Mercykillers were one of the many intolerant factions that caused endless mayhem in the City of Doors. But since the Faction Wars, few factions have found a way to recover their lost glory. That won't stop some -- such as the Mercykillers -- from trying. Check out the new faction in "Riven Justice!"

New blog entries:

Holy crap do we have a lot of new downloads for you today:

Asgard Magazine #7 The seventh, and final, issue of the ENWorld d20 System magazine Asgard, first published September 2002. Contents include: Pre- and reviews, The Martial Artist, a new base class, Underwater Swimming and Movement, Ell, a Goddess of Night, Sleep, and Dreams, and the Dreamscape of Ava Dormo, The Paladin's Code, Gristle and Blood, The Violent Life and Culture of Orcs, Swimsuits of the Multiverse (did I mention it's the swimsuit issue?), and other articles regarding flavor, rules, and running the game.
Asgard Magazine #6 The sixth issue of the ENWorld d20 System magazine Asgard, first published June 2002. Contents include: Pre- and reviews, Three Prestige Classes, the Edgemaster, the Acolyte of the Calm Waters, and the Harvester, The Psychic, a Psionic NPC class, Heritage Feats, providing another system of mixed heritage, and other articles regarding flavor, rules, and running the game.
Asgard Magazine #5 The fifth issue of the ENWorld d20 System magazine Asgard, first published March 2002. Contents include: Pre- and reviews, Two Prestige Classes, the Spellsinger and the Shieldmaiden, Back in the Academy..., an article about Fighting Schools, Two aberrations, the bonesucker and the t'shann, and an Education Skill System, seperating class skills and background skills.
Asgard Magazine #4 The fourth issue of the ENWorld d20 System magazine Asgard, first published November 2001. Contents include: Pre- and reviews, Those Daring Young Humanoids and Their Flying Machines, an article about flying vehicles, Orc Scars, Several other articles and columns with flavor and rules content, and The Lurker, an adventure for 12th level characters.
Asgard Magazine #3 The third issue of the ENWorld d20 System magazine Asgard, first published October 2001. Contents include: Fiction set in the world of Daemonforge, The Sceptic, an interview with John Wick about 3rd Edition and the d20 System, Pre- and reviews, A d20 Mana System, and Several other articles and columns with flavor and rules content.
Asgard Magazine #2 The second issue of the ENWorld d20 System magazine Asgard, first published August 2001. Contents include: Fiction set in the world of Daemonforge, Reports on GenCon 2001 and the ENnies 2001, Pre- and reviews, A hit point/body point system, Several other articles and columns with flavor and rules content, and A Race for Retribution, an adventure for 1st level characters.
Netbook of Traps DND Community Council Netbook of Traps (2001) Includes guides to traps, special trap rules, and over 20 traps (plus variants)!
Netbook of Races v1 FanCC Netbook of Races, volume 1. Including ATUANEAN, D’NULM, KNINIVES, LEMNON, RABEEB, MAYND.
Netbook of Spells v1 FanCC Netbook of Spells, volume 1. Over 25 new spells!
Net Book of Treasure

News for Friday, 5 December

D&D Insider Updates: (some items require subscription; I'll mark which ones):

December and Beyond Unwrap a few more facts and previews about upcoming products by checking out our latest Previews. December takes us into a look at a novel, a brief trip into the Demon Queen's Enclave, a spelljamming journey into the Manual of the Planes, and more!
Excerpts: Rituals In today’s Manual of the Planes preview, we introduce the book's new rituals, give you an example of one -- and show off the entire table of contents!
Epic Destinies and Monsters Bill discusses changes in the R&D department and staff, introduces an epic destiny from Player's Handbook 2, and shows off two stat cards (front and back!) from the upcoming, revamped format for D&D Miniatures.
Agents of Tiamat There's a link, but every time I click on it my browser crashes. But feel free to check it out. - it's probably an issue on my end.

New blog entries:

Minicampaign Postmortem: the Spellscarred Isles

Sidetrek Adventure Weekly 2: The Undead Chronicles – Descent into Hell On Sale
Emerson's Bookshelf Reviews Rite Publishing's The Living Airship Emerson's Bookshelf reviews Rite Publishing's The Living Airship, by Soren Keis Thustrup, an adventure for 4-6 player characters of 7th-70th levels for Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved.
PCGen v5.15.8 (Alpha) Released
Critter Cache II: Prehistoric Beasts Goodman Games and Blackdirge Publishing have released Critter Cache II: Prehistoric Beasts. This new monster product features 27 new dinosaurs and prehistoric monsters for your 4E game.
Drizzt vs Elminster RA Salvatore talks about Drizzt vs Elminster at Kobold Quarterly in the Friday Funny.
Signs & Portents 63 Ready for Download
Hasbro, Inc. Announces Quarterly Cash Dividend on Common Shares

News for Thursday, 4 December

Manual of the Planes Revealed A poster over at RPGnet has received his copy of Manual of the Planes and is talking about the book.
[Crafty Games] Agent X: The Runner Released
Pathfinder RPG Beta web enhancement Magic Items is a 1MB zipped PDF download.
Gen Con Acquisition Group Revealed Anthony Gallela, former (and current acting) Executive Director of GAMA, will lead the company formed to run Gen Con if the efforts of the Gen Con Acquisition Group are successful. Remember that Gen Con rejected the group's unsolicited offer.
Fiery Dragon releases two new counter packs Inspired by 4E adventures, FDP releases "Crown Tower of Dweomerkeep" and "Realm of the Troll King".
RPGXplorer 1.9.5 Final Version Released This release fixes a few bugs in the previous RC1 release as well as adding new modifier and monster caster options.
Another Druid Review
Mongoose New Book Bonanza Including Traders & Gunboats for Traveller, Khitai for Conan, Big Book of Bots for Paranoia and the Dragon Warriors Bestiary.
New Downloads:

Netbook of Creatures 3.0e monsters from the D&D Community Council.

New reviews:

Forgotten Heroes:Fang, Fist, and Song Either sing the song or feel the rage because the classics are back.
Critter Encounters: Bugged Out Critter Encounters: Bugged Out is a short scenario for the Fourth Edition Dungeons & Dragons game that revolves around mysterious disappearances in the small town of Kettledowns.

New blog entries:

4E 3rd Party Publishers‎ Wiki page updated again. You may need to login. Feel free to add to or edit the page.

News for Wednesday, 3 December

Layoffs at Wizards of the Coast! Reports indicate that WoTC has just undergone a round of layoffs. Among those who lost their jobs were:

Randy Buehler (VP of digital gaming)
Andrew Finch (director of digital games)
Stacy Longstreet (senior art director)
Julia Martin (editor)
William Meyers (creative manager, digital design)
Dave Noonan (game designer)

Dave has posted a message here.

Jennifer Paige (online community manager)
Jennifer Powers (marketing)
Jonathan Tweet (game designer)

Free PDF preview for Blackdirge's Dungeon Denizens The preview details the terrible aberrant humanoids known as hollow ones.
Druid Review #1
Druid Review #2
New reviews:

Forgotten Heroes: Fang, Fist, and Song I don’t need to tell you that absolutely fundamental classes (at least since 3e) have been conspicuously unrepresented in 4e’s debut products. “Forgotten Heroes: Fang, Fist and Song” by Tavis Allison, Eytan Bernstein, Brian Cortijo, and Greg Tito is Goodman Games’ attempt to fill in some of...
Alea Tools Magnetic Markers Stackable magnetic markers are great tools for communicating status during game play - especially with new 4E rules. The new product line corrects a problem that could occur when using a lot of markers in a small space.

New blog entries:

D&D Insider Updates: (some items require subscription; I'll mark which ones):

Battle in Seattle This month, a heated debate regarding the greatest adventure of all time… at least, according to Chris and Bart.
Campaign Workbook: Starmantle This short article features an encounter adapted from the new Forgotten Realms novel, Spellplague, by Bruce R. Cordell. Run your PCs through a dramatic combat scene from the book, incorporating it into your existing campaign. Or just use the new monsters from the encounter elsewhere in your game!
The Challenge of Skill Challenges Ruling Skill Challenges