amethal

This is quite a useful record for me, of how things change constantly in the imaginary campaigns in my head.

Currently Playing
A 25th level (!) tiefling binder (actually binder 20 / rogue 5) in a homebrewed D&D 3.5 campaign. We are just about to finish the DCC adventure "In the Belly of the Beast", and my character has gained 4 levels in the course of it. We only have 3 characters so advancement would be quicker because of that; also our deadliest party member doesn't get any XP - the druid's animal companion, who is a terrifying sight when fully buffed.

Intending to Play
The character will be going into retirement (not sure how long) and I'll be starting a 1st level human beguiler in our next D&D 3.5 campaign.

Currently Running
War of the Burning Sky for 5 players, although quite often not everbody can make the sessions. The 6th player we used to have is talking about making a comeback.

The characters have are mostly 18th level, and are part way through Under the Eye of the Tempest. This seems to be quite a short adventure, and then its on to the climax, adventure 12.

I'm not finding running high level D&D to be too much of a strain, but having a published adventure certainly helps a lot here.

Intending to Run
A mini adventure path consisting of

Sunless Citadel
Forge of Fury
Red Hand of Doom
Guardians of Dragonfall (Paizo module)
Forthcoming Paizo dragon-themed module (whose name escapes me); hopfully it will flow on nicely

Pathfinder 19-24 Legacy of Fire (under Pathfinder RPG rules)

Would like to run
A campaign set in the Grand Dutchy of Karameikos using the Thieves World Rules from Green Ronin. This would be set in the era of the Gazetteers, year 1000, and draw heavily on my PDF of Gaz 1. I don't have Wrath of the Immortals, so the campaign shaking events it describes won't happen. If the players are so inclined, I'd use include a lot of politics, using the political rules from Penumbra's Dynasties & Demagogues.

A free form campaign set in Necromancer Games' 3rd edition "Points of Light" setting with hooks leading to the various Necromancer adventures I own.

A "Secrets of Sarlonna" campaign where the PCs start of as (more or less) ordinary citizens of Riedra

A mini adventure path set in Eberron consisting of

The Forgotten Forge
Shadows of the Last War
Whispers of the Vampire's Blade
Expedition to Castle Ravenloft

Position regarding 4th edition
I still see no reason to change to 4th edition. There is so much I still want to do with 3.5 / OGL / Pathfinder RPG.

My book boycott of WotC following their decision to withdraw Dungeon and Dragon magazines has been followed up by WotC boycotting me when it comes to PDFs.

My annual Star Wars Saga purchase (as a birthday present from me to myself) is likely to be the only money WotC get from me this year.

So, just before GenCon, WotC have announced they will be revising the GSL to make it "opener".

I'm glad to hear it, but there's been so many unfounded statements about the GSL over the past months that I'm waiting till we get it before celebrating.

It looks like Necromancer Games may be back in the 4th edition fold. Clark is optimistic he's going to find the new terms acceptable. It comes too late for them to publish the Advanced Players Guide, which was given back to Ari in a very classy move by Clark and is now going to be published by Expeditious Retreat.

So Necromancer Games are not going to be making 4th edition products after all. Or not straight away, at any rate.

They have rejected the GSL pending clarification of its terms.

They are not looking at going down the copyright route - whether for legal reasons or because they don't want to be that kind of company.

Its a real shame that a popular publisher, who wants to support 4th edition, doesn't feel able to sign the licence. And they won't be making any 3rd edition products at least until Pathfinder comes out. So everybody loses.

Once again, I'm stealing my topics from Psion's blog.

[Link]

Does anyone care about open gaming? Does anyone care about third party support? With the GSL, WotC has removed the former from D&D 4. The terms of the GSL are so mindblowingly one sided that it wouldn't surprise me if they'd also eliminated the latter.

However, it appears they haven't. Necromancer Games, 4th edition's biggest fans pretty much from day 1, will be continuing with their alternative Player's Handbook and Adventure Path, and presumably there will be a monster book at some point - it just won't be called Tome of Horrors (and D&D 4's loss is possibly Pathfinder's gain - I'm not sure whether we would have had a Pathfinder ToH anyway, or whether it is a result of the GSL).

Goodman Games are expected to produce a line of adventures for 4th edition under the GSL. Whether or not they'll be called Dungeon Crawl Classics remains to be seen, and there's a chance they'll ignore the GSL and produce it without a licence, relying on copyright law.

Its this copyright approach which most interests me about the whole thing. At the time I had no idea there were so many "D&D compatible" products for earlier editions, or the fun TSR's lawyers were having trying to defend their trademarks.

Necromancer Games warned WotC that if the GSL was too restrictive they risked a return to unlicensed products. Apparently that was taken by WotC to be a threat; if so that is a mindboggling response from a company which has done a pertty good job of boggling my mind this year.

Well, Adamant's Venture 4th, Kenzer's new version of their Kalamar setting and (I assume) Goodman's Gen-Con offerings will be compatible with the world's most popular role-playing game, but they won't be D&D.

Interesting times .... unless you don't care about open gaming and / or 3rd party support.

I missed out on the "iconic" modules of AD&D first edition. I never fought against the giants, or explored the Barrier Peaks, or did any of the other fun things that it seems like almost every other gamer my age managed to do.

Like many 3rd edition gamers I have been through the Sunless Citadel, but I came to 3.0 late and that module was old news by then. We dabbled with Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, but after that it was homebrew all the way.

War of the Burning Sky has only a fraction of the audience these other modules had, but it feels like my Against the Giants.

I subscribed pretty much the day it came out, and I started running it soon afterwards. There are plenty of other people in the same position, and I enjoy reading about their experiences and posting mine on the EN Publishing Forum.

The designers are also happy to post there as well, which was particularly useful in the early days when us DMs had only a vague idea of where the saga was heading.

It provides a real sense of a shared experience that I haven't had from D&D before.

No one has played it all to the end (adventure 12 isn't even out yet) and there's no accepted "best" way to run it. We are all finding our way forward together.

And its a heck of a good adventure as well.