DDXP 2010 News and Updates

catsclaw227 · Jan 28, 2010

I know that one of the first seminars has started, so I figured we should have a single thread with any updates that are blogged, tweeted, etc.

I can't track this thoroughly myself (I am at work), but I assume some of you can help keep this thread going with regular updates!

Let the news start flowing!

catsclaw227 · Jan 28, 2010

WOTC_Trevor mentioned the name of the new Brand Manager:

"Kirin Chase as well - Brand Manager for D&D."

Finally this mystery has been solved!

coyote6 · Jan 28, 2010

The first two dozen tweets from Trevor_WotC, in chronological order (earliest to later):

24. Mike Mearls and Rich Baker. Kirin Chase as well - Brand Manager for D&D. Bart Carol will be posting up the podcast later.

23. Mike is talking about Underdark and Dragonborn book, touching on D&D Insider articles as well - nothing new yet.

22. Rich: Goal for D&D Insider is that every character can find something useful every month.

21. Rich: Martial power 2 in February - New Fighter build, 2 new ranger builds, new rogue build, and 2 new warlord builds

20. Rich: New weapon style feat system which we think is going to be a lot of fun

19. Rich: Of course new paragon paths and epic destinies. A lot of fun, had a lot of fun working on it.

18. Everybody is clapping for Rob Schwalb, introduced by Rich - did some work on MP 2

17. Rich: Martial practices is a new mechanic for doing heroic things, also in MP 2

16. Rich: New 3 Dragon Ante. Expansion to the original and stand alone game

15. Mike Mearls: PH3 and psionics!

14. Mearls: New psionic power source classes: Monk - uses the power source but does not use power points

13. Battlemind - Psion - , Monk - Ardent

12. Mearls: We have tried in this book to provide a lot of options to those who don't plan on running psionic characters

11. Mearls: Hybrid character class system is one of these, more skill powers, a few non psionic classes

10. Mearls - Hammerfast coming in March. Return to the Nentir veil, more details on the town of Hammerfast. Poster map of the town

9. Mearls - I wanted to put twists, hooks with every character/npc interaction. Something unique to spark an interesting interaction

8. Mearls - New set of Dungeon Tiles "Harrowing Halls" 3D Tiles included

7. Mearlsl - Plane Above in April/May as well as Player's strategy guide

6. Player's Strat guide is a fun engaging read, several different authors - celebrities in the D&D field - tips, tricks, and stories

5. In May, Dungeon Magazine Annual - best articles of past Dungeon releases.

4. Also The Slaying Stone, soft cover adventure for low level characters. Double sided poster map.

3. Monster Manual 3 hits in June! (People oooohing at the image of the orcus "miniature" )

2. We got feedback that the MMs didn't have enough flavor, so we're changing the format. We'll be putting a bit more story/hooks/descriptions..

1. for monsters to give it more of a story.

coyote6 · Jan 28, 2010

More:

Mearls - also in June, the Orcus "miniature" !

Emphasize limited edition for Orcus, significantly rarer than any of the miniatures we've done before

Rich : "he's the size of a small car"

Tiefling book in June similar to the Dragonborn book. Also a tile set, desert themed, will work well for Dark Sun "Deserts of Athas"

Demonomicon in July! Enough information to give demon a good grounding in the D&D world. #ddxp

RT @criticalhits: Demonicon in July, details Demon Lords, history of Abyss "make it adventurable". Encounter tables

Also in July - Tomb of Horrors super adventure, hardcove, 10th to 22nd level

Orcs of Stonefang Pass another low level soft cover adventure

The first of the essentials titles hits in July. Dungeon Tiles Master set - a baseline standard dungeon tile set that remains in print

RT @criticalhits: July- Vor Rukoth. Like Hammerfast, more Paragon-focused. Ruins of Tiefling city, east of Nentir Vale. Extraplanar bad guys

Having an essential tile line will make it easier to give unique tiles in the expansions

Psionic Power in august - one new build for each psionic class.

August lords of madness set, huge set, no visual miniature anymore, 6 minis - and introducing very rares of different sizes

coyote6 · Jan 28, 2010

Dark Sun:

Return of the Dark Sun campaign setting #ddxp Hardbound campaign setting guide for creating characters and running a game in Athas

Dark Sun creature catalog is 144 page monster book chalk full of athasian monster - dune freaks, dune reapers , etc. #ddxp

We decided to split things up a little differently for this campaign. Player generated stuff in DS setting book, creature catalog also..

includes hazards, npcs, and other things useful to DMs. We thought long and hard about when and where we want to return to athas...

..We decided to return to the weeks Right after Tyr has been deposed. Tyr is a free city that is more or less in Chaos. Our chance to go...

back to the origin story of athas and really give people the chance to play with the beginnings of Dark Sun #ddxp

coyote6 · Jan 28, 2010

(BTW, these are now tweets from Wizards_DnD)

More in August - Marauders of the Dune see, short 32 page adventure. Includes a poster map, set in an area of the sandy wastes near Tyr

New dice in August as well

Lots of oohs and ahhs for the Ravenloft Board game

Mearls: The basic idea for castle ravenloft - if you are hanging out with friends, but you don't want to launch into a 4 hour d&d session...

then this is for you. Looked at games like space hulk and pandemic

Cooperative game, the players are constantly on the edge of defeat - really tense, surrounded by undead, get through the crypts and get to.. your goal

Castle Ravenloft game should last about an hour. Different goals per game, such as retrieve the holy symbol of ravenloft, or defeat Strahd

comes with 42 minis including characters and monsters. Miniatures are not painted. Sheets of tiles for a modular board game experience

cards for monsters/traps/events that are flipped over as you go through the crypts/castle

A very fast paced, very hectic, rising sense of horror from this board game. Minis are reprints of existing D&D miniatures. #ddxp

"A nice big heavy box - you're getting a lot in there" #ddxp

coyote6 · Jan 28, 2010

September - More Essentials. A new basic set - you should recognize "The Red Box"

the red box includes a solo play experience to guide a person through their first play experience and helps define/create your character

"Red box and the essentials line is creating a landing strip for new players"

Rules compendium takes all the current rules and puts them in one book

we're not rewriting the rules, 19.95 soft cover book, includes errata

Criticalhits tweeted: Errata will be incorporated into Rules Compendium. $20, 6x9 size. Red box has tokens an maps. "crayon later this year." also $20

Player Essentials in September - Continues on from The Red Box. Covers classic character classes, fighter, cleric, wizard, rogue, ranger

This does not replace what was in the PH release - it will be new builds

We tried to create an easier stepping stone for new people, and make it a bit easier to understand the character classes and creation

Nai_Calus · Jan 28, 2010

The RC/PE/DMK/RB stuff sounds awesome.

Phaezen · Jan 28, 2010

Gamma World just confirmed...

coyote6 · Jan 28, 2010

Feat chapter in Player Essentials is almost completely new

Player Essentials is also 19.95, as is the rules compendium and red box

Dungeon Masters Kit is the essentials part for DMs

The DM analog fo the Player Essientials - here's the things you need to start running a game as a DM.

Kirin on DM Kit - This is a big box with a whooooole bunch of stuff. Includes the Rules compendium, monster tokens, 2 adventures...

2 poster maps. 40-45 dollars. Rich - the adventure is pretty good, I wrote it
less than 20 seconds ago from TweetDeck

Perfect product if you feel that you're a player, but you want to occassionaly DM

Another Master Set tiles - City set