News Archive #18 January 2001 News from January 2001: January 31, 2001 Message Board Misc: Here are some random notes from the official message boards: Andy Collins on Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil: I believe the recommended starting level is 3rd or 4th, and I'd expect a typical group to advance about 10 levels by the time they're finished. Sean Reynolds explains how spellfire is handled in the 3E Forgotten Realms rules: The base effect is a feat, mastery of it requires levels in the prestige class. (thanks to Gerard for the scoop) D20 System News: Kenneth Hite's "Out of the Box" column focuses on the D20 System phenomenon and provides mini capsule reviews of a few recent products. (thanks to Yves for the scoop) Darrin Drader of Dark Portal Games sent along a preview of the cover of their forthcoming free adventure, Dead Fire. Click the cover for a larger view. Mystic Eye Games announced in a press release several changes to their product lineup and schedule. They've also released an illustrated version of their free adventure, Rite of Passage, and a new monster from their forthcoming adventure, The Pit of Loch-Durnan. Necromancer Games has posted a free PDF download with details on the "Gods and Demons of the Necromancer Games World." They've also posted submission guidelines for those of you itching to write adventures with a "first edition feel." (thanks to Art Braune for the scoop) Fiend Games will be producing a CD-ROM version of their recent adventure, Galal's Grave. The CD will include bonus material and a bonus adventure, and should be available in June. This expanded "reprint" is apparently due to the fact that Galal's Grave is nearly out of print, as noted on their news page. Community News: Updates at Minotaur Isles and Spelljammer 3E. January 30, 2001 More Master Tools Discussion on Message Boards: Apparently, WotC's Jim Bishop and the crew at Fluid have decided that the e-mail discussion group MASTERTOOLS-L isn't the most efficient way to handle fan discussion of Master Tools. Here's Jim's comment: I've spent the past two weeks or so talking with [MASTERTOOLS-L moderator]Pat, and the boys at Fluid, about what we're getting out of the mailing list. The consensus is that a) we started the list too early, and we're running out of things to talk about, and b) there are so many messages we're not able to keep up. Switching the discussion over to a message board seems to be the logical next step, while retaining this list as an announcement-only forum for progress updates, beta testing, and news about the release date. I prefer message boards for handling high message volume (this list definitely qualifies) -- checking out specific threads is far easier than skimming 200+ messages at a time. So starting Tuesday the 30th, we're switching this list [MASTERTOOLS-L] over to announcement-only, and asking all contributors to please shift active discussions over to Eric Noah's excellent new message boards (http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~dnd3e/Ultimate.cgi?), and/or the Wizards official boards (http://www.wizards.com/boards/Welcome.asp). You'll notice that both sites already have forums set up for Master Tools-related discussion. To send comments directly to Wayne and myself, you can still post to the list (it will go to an alias) or send mail directly to mastertools@wizards.com -- it will get to us in either case. See you on the boards! Jim Bishop Producer, Wizards of the Coast Sword & Fist Errata -- Expert Tactician Feat: WotC's Sean Reynolds updates us on the Expert Tactician feat: This feat has been [corrected to say] that you can only use the partial action to make a melee attack (or something that can be done as a melee attack, such as disarm or grapple, as indicated on PH page 128). [This] errata will appear in an upcoming Sage Advice. D20 System News: Green Ronin's Chris Pramas was kind enough to send along a preview of the cover of their forthcoming D20 monster book, Legions of Hell. Chris says, "There's going to be a Legions of Hell preview in the GAMA Trade Show issue of Game Trade Magazine (the monthly catalog from distributor Alliance). The article includes two new devils, the Bulugon and Malgrin, Duke of Unlife. Interested fans should ask their retailers for a peek come March." To the best of my knowledge, Legions of Hell will be available in May. Minor updates to the release dates for Necromancer Games' products, courtesy of an e-mail from Clark Peterson shared by scooper Simon Collins. 0onegames has posted a preview of Legend of the Steel General. You can view cover art and player handouts. Reviews: New reviews of the Player's Handbook and In the Belly of the Beast (Atlas Games) have been posted at RPG.net. (thanks to Bertman4 for the scoop) Galal's Grave (Fiend Games) has been reviewed at RPG Action. Community News: The Alcove of Leenar the Green is running a poll for the "worst feat." James Wilber would like to share information about an event he's running at Origins this summer: pitting your 20th-level characters against a Great Wyrm from the Monster Manual. Are you up for it? Agartha is a D&D campaign site. Updates at Sanctuary. From Crusaders of the Net: Version 1.5.5 of our D&D Excel Character Workbook is up and available to download. We've gone through it quite a bit giving it more functionality and fixing many errors. Currently it contains only information from the Player's Handbook. Also, you can find new lists for the ListPro program, including D&D and StarWars character information. The New Arabian Adventure features a hefty 3rd Edition conversion of AD&D Al-Qadim. I'll add this link to my Conversion Library shortly. Dungeon #85: The March/April issue of Dungeon Magazine arrived in my mail today. What's inside? Goodies: Color counters of 34 different monsters, from gnoll and harpy to bulette and gibbering mouther. Plus an index to Dungeon issues 73-84. This month's Map of Mystery is a city. "Ever-Changing Fortunes" (for 2nd level characters) features a kobold who asks the party to free his dwarven friends from a mine. "Lord of the Scarlet Tide" (for 9th level characters) is an Underdark romp featuring a ruined kuo-toan city. Included are rules for a new mold-like hazard and a new template. "Flesh to Stone" (for 7th level characters) marks the return of Side Treks and concerns itself with a very unusual poultry farm. In "Natural Selection" (for 5th level characters), a duke clashes with an unusual circle of druids. January 29, 2001 Relics & Rituals Contents: I'm sitting here with a copy of Relics & Rituals (Sword & Sorcery Studios) in my hands. I must say that overall the book looks very intriguing and seems to have a lot of stuff that could easily be used in non-Scarred Lands campaigns. The artwork is a marked improvement over that of SSS's previous D20 product, Creature Collection. Here's a rundown of what you'll find inside: Preface by Gary Gygax. Prestige Classes: Blood Witch (arcane spellcasters who use sacrifices to enhance their abilities), Crypt Lord (ultra-necromancers with their sights set on lichdom), Incarnate (neutral druids who have been reincarnated many times), Penumbral Lord (masters of shadow magic), Sea Witch (seafaring spellcasters), Summoner (expert summoners), Vigilant (elite patrol member, kind of ranger-like). Spells: Magic in the Scarred Lands, a new domain (Missionary), two new metamagic feats (Chain and Hide Spell), complete spell lists for all classes (new spells integrated with existing PHB spell lists), and finally new spell descriptions. Ritual Magic and True Rituals: Rules for spellcasters working together to augment their magical powers. True Rituals are entirely new spells that can only be cast via group effort. Magic Items: Lots and lots of specific arms and armor, potions, rings, rods, staffs, and wondrous items. Includes rules for tattoo magic. There are a number of limitations: creating tattoos involves a new item creation feat; tattoos require a Wisdom check to activate; there is a limit to the number of tattoos a character can wear and a limit to how powerful they can be; they are difficult to remove; some tattoos can only be used a certain number of times per day; and many tattoos have side effects of using them. Relics: Minor and major artifacts of the Scarred Lands. Site Updates: I've been sprucing up the place a bit over the past week or so. In particular, new items of note: 3E Links have been (slightly) better organized. I've attempted to separate out campaign sites from resource sites, among other things. I've attempted to sprinkle links to the D20 System Reference Document liberally throughout the site. For instance, on the Magic page you can now find links to the spells and magic item info from the D20 SRD. On the Monsters page, the links to the monster info. And so on. New Errata Center -- I've removed the errata postings from the Rulebooks page and created a separate page for errata. Not really new, but consolidated in one handy place. Includes all of the known official errata corrections for the three core books, as well as products like The Sunless Citadel and Sword & Fist. Community News: "Halfling" has updated his Excel character sheet. News from Daemonforge: The EN World Board has completed its voting process, and the offical campaign setting has been decided. The setting is to be named 'Daemonforge', although it encompasses idea from several of the more popular settings received. We thank you for your patience, your help and your support in this, the most difficult stage of the proceedings. However, now that the hard part is done, we can move on swiftly. We are pleased to announce that the next theme for your entries is 'Races': races good and evil for the players to play or to fight against - it's all up to you! Please see the official website (http://website.lineone.net/~morrus) for details on how to make submmissions, and participate in the ongoing discussions on Eric's message boards. Alongside this theme, we would also like to make an appeal to the artistically inclined amongst you. Our world needs a logo! So, please feel free to whip up a quick logo based on the 'Daemonforge' title and send it to us. The winner will be immortalized in the form of an important NPC! Remember, this world will be nothing without you, the D&D community. The more people who get involved, the more likely it is that the eventual product will be something that the D&D community can truly regard as an asset to be proud of. We look forward to hearing from you! D20 System News: Viking Games has delayed the release of several of their D20 System products, as outlined in this press release. They've also posted a new character class as a preview of A Work of Character. Download it here. Darrin Drader has released a statement concerning the future of his home-brewed online campaign setting, "The Empire of Galovinius," as well as some new information about his D20 System publishing company, Dark Portal Games. Among other things, he mentions that DPG's free adventure module is almost complete. January 28, 2001 Wheel of Time RPG Delayed: As noted by eagle-eyed scooper Menno Schakel, the WotC Product Catalog is showing that the Wheel of Time RPG (D20 System) has been pushed back from August to November 2001. Another date change of note: Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil is now apparently scheduled for July instead of June. [Discuss the Wheel of Time delay on the message board.] February and March D20 System Releases: I thought it might be handy to quickly run down the D20 System products that are scheduled to come out in February and March, and also to note products that had January and December (or earlier) release dates that haven't appeared yet (though technically January isn't over yet, so there may be some changes to the "late" status). [Discuss upcoming D20 System products on the message board.] As I scoured the various publisher websites I noticed a number of release date changes, which have been posted to the D20 System Guide. Keep in mind that the announced dates may change. Enjoy! January or Earlier But Not Yet Available: Legend of the Steel General (0onegames); Into the Darkness (OtherWorld Creations). February: Secrets of Naboo Campaign Pack (Star Wars, WotC); Four more Adventure Keep modules (Alderac Entertainment Group); Dragon Lords of Melniboné (Chaosium); "Eden Odyssey" vignette books -- Akrasia, Thief of Time, Wonders Out of Time, and Secret of the Ancients (Eden Studios); Legends and Lairs modules (Fantasy Flight Games); The Silver Summoning (Fiery Dragon Productions); Madness in Freeport (Green Ronin Publishing); Shadowlands campaign setting (Jagged Edge Games); Dark Tower (Judges Guild); Rappan Athuk: The Dungeon of Graves–The Upper Levels (Necromancer Games); Demons and Devils (Necromancer Games); Blackwater (Nightshift Games); Relics and Rituals (Sword & Sorcery); Dzeebagd, Beneath Inzae (Troll Lord Games); Mortality of Green CD-ROM and Fantastic Adventure CD-ROM (Troll Lord Games). March: The Tide of Years (Atlas Games); Liber Beastarius (Eden Studios); Tomb of Abysthor (Necromancer Games); Black Powder Gods (Nightshift Games); The Blood Reign of Nishanpur (Paradigm Concepts); The Longest Night (Privateer Press); Scarred Lands Gazetteer: Ghelspad (Sword & Sorcery). Relics & Rituals Sneak Peek: Winter Fantasy convention attendee David Paul got a chance to handle Sword & Sorcery Studios' latest D20 System product: While at Winter Fantasy I took a long look at the Relics and Rituals book. I must say that it's pretty good. I think it's better, for what it's intended for, than the Creature Collection. It seemed to me that the prestige classes, spells, and magic items were all well-developed and thoughtfully created. I felt that some of the monsters in the Creature Collection were too campaign-specific to be useful to me, but I got the feeling from Relics and Rituals that I could more easily move the stuff into my own campaign world. All in all, though I didn't actually read it cover to cover, my long look warrants a recommendation. Any DM wanting to add material to an existing campaign (it's always good when someone else has done the work first) would benefit from this book, and any player looking to pester his/her DM into adding new material will find good, workable stuff here. January 27, 2001 Official Updates: WotC has posted two more free Dark Sun PDFs for download -- scroll down after clicking the link. (thanks to Andrew Gable for the scoop) New in the Conversion Library: Lots of monsters (al-mi'raj, daemons, rutterkin demon, dust digger, flumph, genies, gloomwing, kech, margoyle, phantom stalker, sandman, tenebrous worm, thri-kreen), some tables for fumbles and critical injuries, and updates to other files. Piratecat at Winter Fantasy: Kevin "Piratecat" Kulp -- Story Hour moderator, message board president, the "master" in Dungeon Master, all-around good guy -- has sent a quick report on the goings-on at the Winter Fantasy convention in Indianapolis: Troy Daniels is here (I kept seeing him running around, looking worried or busy, at high speeds; no one was quite sure why...), along with Monte Cook, Andy Collins and Steve Miller (of Star Wars fame), along with Eric Mona (RPGA editor) and many others. Attendance this year was *twice* last year, with some 900 attendees. The registration lines buckled under the strain; standing in line for hours to get badges and tickets was a bad way to start the con for many people, but they managed to rectify the bottlenecks before too long. I was lucky; almost at the front of the lines, getting my badge and then tickets "only" took 45 minutes. The gaming has been really, really good. The RPGA feature here had a wonderful set of characters (it was the best con game I've played in ages), and despite having many generic tickets, I've been able to get into everything I've wanted to. On Saturday and Sunday I am slated to play a Marvel SuperHeroes, a Deadlands, and a D&D game; over Thursday and Friday, I've played a Call of Cthulhu, three D&D games, and an RPGA "Living Force" (ie bring your own character" Star Wars game. And what a game! I got to play at a table run by Jae Walker, the Living Force head coordinator, and with members largely made of of the WotC Star Wars design team. That means my wookiee force adept got to play with Andy Collins' bodyguard, Steve Miller's young jedi guardian, and a remarkable Transdoshan noble played by WotC staffer Brian Campbell. Fun! For figures, we used all Star Wars action figures. It was a *good* way to spend four hours. Master Tools Update: Jim Bishop's here with his weekly update: So it's another week into development, and we're another week closer to done. The big news is we've got a working version of the Race Generator, and work on the Character Generator is fully underway. The RaceGen is a funny animal; in one sense, it doesn't _do_ anything. You can't record the ability scores, saves, skills, or feats of a monster. You can't go to the Spectre "race" and print and play with it--it doesn't have any HD, for one, or any ability scores or skills. Everything that makes a Spectre a stat-blockable, fightable monster comes from its HD (or levels) and its type (or monster class). These things get added in, along with all other class levels, in the Character Generator. Of course it does tons of things: you can add in the racial bonuses to ability scores (like the Dwarf's +2 Con, -2 Cha), saves (like the Halfling's +1 across the board), skills (like the +4 Move Silently bonus for Goblins), and feats (like Weapon Finesse (natural weapons) many animals have). And of course, you record the speed, natural armor, natural attacks, face and reach, special attacks and qualities, and things like climate and alignment. Then there's the fun stuff, the things that are hard to do by hand. Like changing a monster's size (it does the AC, ability, skill, and attack calculations for you), set advancement for a race (like when my mountain dwarves go from Medium to Large at 12 HD), and add special abilities that come with all the tedious explanatory text. Pretty cool. As a question for the week: how important is it for us to enforce prestige class prerequisites? On one hand, it would be super-convenient to have prereqs built in--just load your Rogue and you'll be able to instantly see which prestige classes he qualifies for. On the other hand, it will require a ton more work on the user end to enter their own prestige classes. And of course, there are folks who want to run prestige classes according to different rules. What do we gain by enforcing, and by not enforcing, these rules? We'll be back next week, when your special host will be Andrew Howat, co-Founder of Fluid and Lord High Programmer of the Master Tools. He's been threatening an all-code .plan update, and I wouldn't put it past him. D20 System News: AtFantasy.com has posted a review of Rappan Athuk: The Upper Levels (Necromancer Games). Mystical Eye Games website updates: "New to our site is a change in the MEG logo, cover art for Nightmares & Dreams and the mini-kingdom source book: Dunreth & The Great North as well as some logo art for our world, The Hunt: Rise of Evil, the Blood on the Grass module and The Pit of Loch-Durnan as well as a continuous barrage of site changes. An Illustrated version of "Rite of Passage" is nearly complete and will be up on the web site soon." Fiend Games website updates: "A new Monster has been added to the War of Thorns Area under the January preview. go. Galal's Grave is selling well and flying off shelves. The Countdown to the War of Thorns has begun. Visit the web site frequently for free goodies right until the release in June. Also look for information on Digital Galal soon. . .coming in June as well. This will have some very nice surprises." Reaper Miniatures is apparently entering into the D20 System business. We should be seeing an adventure called "Eldest Son" in April 2001. "The first Dark Heaven Legends D20 System fantasy adventure, Eldest Son finds the characters in search of the oldest brother of a noble family who has gone missing in a prominent city. They will explore its most seedy of regions, and trawl its hidden depths, to uncover the dark secret behind his absence. Finding him is a certainty...whether dead, or alive, remains to be seen." Looks like "Dark Heaven" is also a line of minis that Reaper has created. (thanks to Kenny for the scoop) Community News: Spells of Gadrwyn Waeth has a whole bunch of new D&D spells for your perusal. Scott Greene has converted the daemons of 1st edition (which became the Yugoloth fiends of 2nd edition Planescape) at the Creature Catalog. Vincent Darlage has added to his growing collection of Conan 3E materials, including NPCs, a new monster, and a new prestige class with new spells. Barsoom is a D&D campaign setting site "only tangentially related to the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs." WotC's James Wyatt has posted a big update to his personal 3E site. (thanks to James and Eldar for the scoop) January 26, 2001 Official Updates: New stuff at WotC (thanks to Eldar, Bertman4, Christopher, and tom for the scoops): Bladesong, a bard and sorcerer/wizard spell that can allow your sword to daze an opponent briefly. Spell Contest Winners: three new spells created by the fans. Muukk' is a hag rogue/assassin/sorcerer, presented in the Fight Club. Jonathan Tweet presents a Skeleton Template to turn any critter into a skeletal version in Monster Mayhem. Another Map-A-Week. Relics & Rituals Preview: Sword & Sorcery's new D20 System volume, Relics & Rituals, is previewed on their website. (thanks to Pat and Solange Figueroa Valcarcel for the scoop) Master Tools Still Tools-Heavy: WotC's Jim Bishop responds to the notion that Master Tools is all about flash: I was worried about this a bit--whether the focus on art and sounds over the past few months has made people uneasy about our commitment to hard-core, nuts-n'-bolts mechanics and game preparation. That's understandable. The lack of detail in the .plans has to do with pacing. Very often, all that happens in a week is "progress"; the artists crank out ten new monsters, Paul does ten new sounds, I work with my art director to get a package design together, and the programmers make incremental gains towards a much bigger goal. Since we've set out a list of features, we're basically just nailing all the parts together until it ships. That's not really sexy enough to report on every week. But let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. We're on track to deliver a very powerful, very flexible game-preparation tool--nothing's changed in our vision for this thing, or our commitment to see it through. Over the next three months, we're going to tear the cGen demo apart and rebuild it as a Race generator, and a Character generator. This is where the crunchy stuff starts. If you want more detail, you better put on a bib. Prestige classes. Monsters with character, NPC, and prestige classes. Monster templates. Multiclassing to the nth degree. Equipping magic items. New spell lists. New gods and domains. New feats. This is where we roll up our sleeves and get dirty. Believe me, I understand your frustration. News has been slow in coming, and seemingly inconsequential when it comes. That's because we're not casting around for answers, or desperately digesting DMG and MM rules. We're working towards solid, long-term goals and that can get a little, well, boring. Please don't lose faith in us; we're working as hard as we can, and we still want to make the most kick-ass prep tool ever built. Also, I promise we'll deliver more detail in the future. Maybe we can even get the programmers to do a guest .plan one of these weeks . . . January 25, 2001 FASA Phased Out: As noted by a number of scoopers, game publisher FASA will be closing its doors. Read more about it here. Farewell to Return to the Dungeon: A bittersweet message from webmaster Dan Taylor: After much thought and deliberation, I have decided to shut down the Return to the Dungeon site. This decision was a tough one that I wrestled with for quite some time. But, after weighing the various pros and cons I have made up my mind. Return to the Dungeon was a labor of love, and deciding to shut the site down was not an easy one. When Return to the Dungeon first appeared back in September 1999, there was very little information on the World Wide Web concerning the Third Edition of Dungeons & Dragons. In fact, Return to the Dungeon was one of the first D&D3E related sites along with Eric Noah's Unofficial Dungeons & Dragons News. Being a player with some twenty plus years of experience, I was very excited about the possibilities that the new edition offered and wished to share my enthusiasm with the D&D community on the internet. Since the publication of the Players Handbook, a handful of sites have appeared on the web offering various resources for the game. Eric Noah's site is, and has always been, a great source for news and information regarding D&D3E. A few other well-designed and managed sites have become regular tent poles of the D&D3E community providing resources and ideas. Does this mean that I'm giving up on publishing Dungeons & Dragons related resources on the web? By all means, no. Managing a site such as Return to the Dungeon took a great deal of time and dedication (a fact that many other D&D webmasters can attest to). In doing so, the aspect of D&D that I love the most was neglected - my own personal games and creations. Trying to keep up with all of the other sites in friendly competition meant putting a number of personal projects on the backburner. I'd like to spend more time with those projects and share them with the D&D and d20 System communities. So, I will still publish a website or two regarding D&D and d20 System related resources. But, now they will be of a more personal nature concerning my own creations, campaigns and games. I also hope to contribute to a few of the other sites that offer various resources and that kept me on my toes the past six months. I've got a rather bloated head full of ideas and thoughts that I wish to share and show off. There are a few websites that come to mind that do a spectacular job in managing various resources from contributing authors, such as Community 3E and The Dungeons & Dragons Files. Enough so, that the void left by Return to the Dungeon's departure will hardly be noticed. My recently created R2-D20 "Star Wars Roleplaying Game Resource Site" will also be shut down in favor of a more personal campaign setting. If you have any questions and/or comments please feel free to contact me at dnd@omegaodd.com. My thanks go out to all that visited, contributed to, supported, and made Return to the Dungeon the enjoyable success that it was while in existence. I wish continued success to the other Dungeons & Dragons Resource Sites on the web, and good gaming to all who play. I will leave Return to the Dungeon (as is) up through the month of February. There is one other announcement I would like to make. While Return to the Dungeon may be closing up shop, there is another project on the horizon. Coming soon - STUDIO 20 RPG - a monthly ezine focusing on cinematic roleplaying with the d20 System. For more information please visit http://www.omegaodd.com/studio20rpg/ or email studio20rpg@omegaodd.com. Peace and happy gaming... - Dan (OmegaOdd) As Dan says, his was one of the first 3E sites on the block. I always appreciated his contribution to the community, and his site will be missed. Believe me, Dan, I know where you're coming from. :) Good luck to you! January 24, 2001 Reviews: You can find a number of new D&D and D20 System reviews at RPG.net, including reviews of Sunless Citadel, Forge of Fury, the Star Wars RPG, Three Days to Kill (Atlas Games), and the Hero Builder's Guidebook. Dragonlance Nexus Goes Live: I've been crawling around the DRAGONLANCE-L archive again. You'll have to put the pieces together yourself on this one... Here, WotC's Jim Butler announces that the new deadline for submitting a site to be considered a candidate for "official Dragonlance site" is now February 2, 2001. Here, Tracy Hickman's Dragonlance Nexus website is revealed. In this message, Hickman says that James O'Rance, a prolific contributor to the Dragonlance section of my Conversion Library, is on board to help provide content for Nexus. And for those who were hoping there would be a third-party publisher of 3E DL material, Jim Butler says no one's asked to do such a thing yet. D20 System News: Fantasy Flight Games will be introducing Legends & Lairs, a series of short D20 System fantasy adventure modules. No indication on the website when these should be available, but my scooper thinks February is the date. (thanks to Dirk Remmecke for the scoop) Elric D20 update -- Spotted in a Chaosium newsletter: "Worlds of the Eternal Champion: Dragon Lords of Melnibone is shaping up swell. We're finishing the book up now and should have it to the printer by Feb 8th, for a late February Release." (thanks to steve vogel for the scoop) Official Updates: You can find a new installment of the Realms Roundtable, new entries in the FR Sketchbook, new PC Portraits, and the first of the free Dragonlance PDFs for download (scroll down). (thanks to Bertman4, Gish Makai, Mark, Steven Ward, Amadeus, and Richard Connery for the scoop) January 23, 2001 Star Wars Gamer #2: Scooper Mike Mistele shares the contents and his impressions of the second issue of Star Wars Gamer magazine: Some of what I considered to be the highlights: - "Rogue's Gallery," a Star Wars version of the "PC Portraits" page from Dragon Magazine. This one has 14 portraits of various pilots, done by Vinod Rams. - Stats on 12 different freighters from the venerable Corellian Engineering Corporation. All 12 ships have illustrations, and most of them seem to be entirely new creations (unless they were in some obscure WEG sourcebook that I didn't have). - A new prestige class, the Privateer. As a "pirate" class, it seems interesting, but the prerequisites are very steep. - "Snow Job," an adventure for the Roleplaying Game (as opposed to the adventure in Issue #1, which was for the Introductory Game). - A nice article on the "alien of the month," in this case the Duros. In this article, it's confirmed that the Duros and the (suspiciously similar-looking) Neimodians are related species. With +2 Dex, +2 Int, and the Spacer feat for free, Duros make great pilots. - RPG stats for the Havoc and the Guardian Mantis, two ships from the Star Wars Starfighter video game. - A promise that the Star Wars RPG section of the WotC web site will be getting weekly updates starting in February, and that they will be posting free online adventures every month. They also mention that they are opening the Cantina, a chat room for Star Wars RPGers to converse in-character. There's even more than this (another adventure, 2 short stories, 2 articles on the CCG, 2 articles on computer games). All in all, I find it to be a strong improvement over Issue #1. Official Updates: WotC has posted an interview with miniatures sculptor Mike McVey, part 3 of this month's Cliffhanger adventure, the final elf-themed Map-A-Week, and another free Dark Sun .pdf for download (scroll way down). (thanks to Kevin for the scoop) New in the Conversion Library: Celtic feats, and an update to Greyhawk magic items. Community News: Rolegamer.net has updated recently, including some Planescape stuff. The webmaster there is also seeking submissions of a planar nature. Sanctuary is a D&D/Diablo site dedicated to playing in the Diablo world of Sanctuary. OpenRPG 0.7.2a Released. This release contains many bug fixes and feature requests made after the release of 0.7. Netbook of Creatures Call for Submissions: The DnD Community Council's project team for the The Encyclopedia of Lifeforms Mundane and Magical is pleased to announce its first demo publication, version 1.0, along with a companion volume, the Stat Block Codex (also version 1.0). To check it out, please visit http://www.dndcommunitycouncil.org/~nbocreat. This is a project dedicated to creating a new resource for Creatures to be used in Dungeons and Dragons campaigns. We are currently looking for submissions of original or converted monsters (appropriately referenced) for inclusion in the next edition of the Encyclopedia (due around March 1, 2001). All submissions will be accepted and put through a review process to make sure they are: (a) System legal (no vermin with d12 hit dice) (b) Not obscene (we foresee few problems with this, but we have to state this just in case) (c) Well-balanced Once a submission is recieved, our project team reviews it, offering advice and suggestions to you, the submitter, where necessary. Any changes to your submission will be made with your knowledge and must be approved by you prior to publication in the Netbook - we respect your hard work! Our Project Team includes such noteworthies as Creature Catalog guru Scott Greene (check out the Monster Conversions on Eric's page) and Eric Noah Adventure Contest Winner (Volcano Fortress) Spencer "The Sigil" Cooley. This is a volunteer work - we can't offer you financial incentive, but we can offer you the incentive to see your work published in a terrific community resource. For those of you that are of a more artistic bent, we are also accepting artistic submissions to breathe life to the pages of this tome. Please see the site for details. This entire project is "by the fans, for the fans" and we think you will be pleased with our work. While you're at the DnD Community Council website, check out Brad Bemis' Netbook of Feats (click the "Products" link) - all fan-created and the best source on the internet for Feats (over 800). We're looking to do the same with the Encyclopedia - we hope to become the leading on-line source for FREE, quality D&D creatures, and look forward to working with all of you to help bring your creations to as many people as possible. So check out our initial demo publication, check out our submissions guidelines, warm up the creative juices, and let's make this a terrific project! January 22, 2001 Hickman's Dragonlance "Nexus"? Okay, you know that Dragonlance won't be making an official return in 3E D&D, at least as a campaign world for gaming. You know that, like all of the other retired campaign worlds, WotC will pick a fan site to be the "official Dragonlance site." What if that site were headed up by none other than Dragonlance co-creator Tracy Hickman? From a quick look at January's DRAGONLANCE-L archives (particularly this message, in which Hickman proposes the idea of Nexus; this one, in which WotC's Jim Butler outlines the requirements for any site to be selected as the official one; this one, in which Butler clarifies what the official site should and shouldn't be and mentions the quickly-approaching deadline; this one, in which Hickman puts out a general call for content for Nexus; another one of a similar nature; this one, in which Hickman outlines a possible prototype for organizing the site), it appears that Hickman is in the midst of putting together a DL "ubersite" that would be more than just a portal to the other DL sites out there. It also appears that Hickman & Co. are working under somewhat of a time deadline -- January 26th is the date I keep seeing. With all of this in mind, here's yet another call for help with Nexus, this from DL fan John Grubber: It was recently announced that there would indeed be an official game site for 3eDL, but that it would be fan generated and run. This site will need content, which is where I come in. I, with the aid of some other DL fans, have begun a research project at my page with the following goals: 1) Gathering lists of Artifacts, NPC's, Sites, Races, Cities and Monsters etc.from the DL Novels, comics and source material. 2) From these lists, we, the adminstrators, will be able to know what has game stats already (and merely needs 3e conversion), and what needs game stats generated from scratch 3) These entries will be sorted by category into Master Lists, as per the categories in (1), with the eye towards using them to complete the DL Netbook and to provide content for Tracy Hickman's DL Nexus Website when it is ready. I am looking for researchers to read novels, comics and modules (actually just skim them mainly) for the above information john grubber http://www3.sympatico.ca/john.grubber/ New in the Conversion Library: A demon-slaying class, a phoenix conversion, plus updates to other files including the modrons. Preview of Skirmishes Preview: Scooper "Daniel the Neon Knight" was lucky enough to spend a few minutes with WotC's Jonathan Tweet and play a couple of rounds of "Skirmishes," a forthcoming miniatures game compatible with D&D: I did have a chance to speak with Jonathan Tweet at RustyCon in evert Washington on January 13. While we waited for the Con to start for the day, Jonathan gave me a quick personal demo of the Skirmish game. The game has been streamlined from D&D rules, and is playable by people with no knowledge of the latter's rules. Characters in the Skirmish rules are based on typical monsters/characters with only a few minor difference. Damage and hit points are all set, and there is no rolling for damage if you should hit in combat (i.e, your weapon only does 1 hit, and the creature you hit only has 3). Further these figures are obtained by dividing one's hitpoints and damage by 5 so you can easily convert your favorite D&D character over to the Skirmish Rules. Now, I will be honest and say we only had time to play two rounds of combat in the game, but major characters also have command points (in the game we played I had a cleric with a zombie gnoll and skeleton dog, while Jonathan had some PC types characters). My cleric had 3 command points, and would use these points to do things like control his minnions to do things closer to what I wanted, or to make them charge, or even to re-roll for initiiave (which is rolled each round) to better my odds in combat. Judges Guild Unveils D20 Lineup: Judges Guild, a venerable third-party publisher of D&D adventures and accessories, is revamping some of its classic products from days of yore to 3rd Edition via the D20 System. The only D20 product currently on the lineup is the adventure Dark Tower. "For Judges Guild fans, this is a faithful reprint, with the exception of the update to the 3rd Edition and the d20 System, new layout, and artwork, this is the orginal adventure as is was written." Can the City-State of the Invincible Overlord be far behind? (thanks to James Morris for the scoop) D20 Deadlands Back on Track: Looks like there will be a D20 version of the "weird West" game Deadlands after all. Pinnacle Entertainment Group is "independent again" after a few months of being owned by Cybergames.com, a company that apparently didn't want Deadlands to take the D20 plunge. Looks like we'll see this game roll out this summer. Take a look at the bottom of this page for more information. (thanks to Taylor Walston for the scoop) January 21, 2001 PC Gen Update: You can download a new version of Bryan McRoberts PC Gen. Though this program has been listed under Electronic Aids for some time, I have to admit I didn't give this program much of a look when I was first informed about it, but it is very spiffy. It has the ability to add prestige classes, and includes classes, feats, spells, equipment, etc. from Dragon Magazine and other sources, and even has a "Star Wars mode" to allow you to create Star Wars RPG characters. Character sheets can be output to .html files. PC Gen has an e-group you can join to follow its development. (thanks to Arcady for the scoop) What is "Skirmish"? A couple of days ago I mentioned that there would be a demo of something called "Skirmish" at CONspiracy. So what the heck is it? WotC's Chris Pramas spills the beans: What we're talking about is WotC's first miniatures game. By skirmish we mean there will generally be 12 models or less per side (as opposed to 100+ for true mass combat games). The rules are compatible with 3E, although optimized for minis gaming. Look for an official announcement in March. New in the Conversion Library: Conversion of 1st edition module A3: Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords, plus converted classes (Wizards of High Sorcery for Dragonlance, and a ranger archer variant). D20 Reviews: You can find reviews of four of AEG's "Adventure Boosters" D20 System adventures at RPG.net (two reviewed here, two more here). (thanks to Saber for the scoop) RPG Action has posted a lukewarm review of Otherworld Creations' Diomin campaign setting book. WotC at Winter Fantasy: WotC's Ed Stark dropped off some info to share with you regarding the Winter Fantasy convention: I don't know if you're planning on attending Winter Fantasy next week, but Monte Cook, Andy Collins, and I, along with several other members of the Wizards of the Coast staff (particularly the RPGA) will be there. The RPGA has lots of interesting stuff planned. I know that Monte and Andy will be running some RETURN TO THE TEMPLE OF ELEMENTAL EVIL events, and I'll be organizing and running playtests of other upcoming products. If you or anyone else who frequents your site is there, please stop by and say "hi." Better yet, stop by and play! January 20, 2001 Community News: Updates at The Dungeon Dimension. Buddha's d20 System Resource Page has a new address. Looking to mix and match class abilities, hit dice, attack and save progressions to create new classes? You might start with Khepri's Class Construction Engine, found at Khepricious Creations. Bay Area Roleplaying Society is a place to find fellow gamers in the Bay Area. Please don't ask "which bay." ;) Gene Weigel has posted stats for a troll variant known as the Greater Troll. Kenzer's Kalamar: A while back, Kenzer & Co. revealed that they would be publishing a D&D (not just D20 System -- D&D) campaign world. Besides a press release, we didn't have much to go on. You can now find more information at Kenzer's Official D&D Licensed Products page -- including cover mock-ups for the Kingdoms of Kalamar hardcover campaign setting book, and information on two low-level adventures. Kalamar is set for "an early spring 2001 release." Official Updates: Several new items over at WotC's D&D page (thanks to DinoeL and House Rookhaven for the scoop): Sword & Fist web enhancement -- a pair of S&F-enhanced encounters to challenge your players. New Map-A-Week After a long hiatus, a new Playtest Group of the Month. This month's group playtested the forthcoming Forgotten Realms campaign setting. A sneak peek at James Wyatt's The Speaker in Dreams. T'ed Stark spins a yarn at the Celebrity Gaming Table. January 19, 2001 Adventure Contest -- Volcano Fortress, Haunted Temple, and Old Tower Winners! I'm extremely pleased to announce that the judges have completed scoring the remaining adventures in the Adventure Contest. Step right this way to read the grand prize and runner-up entries in each of the categories. Here's a quick summary of who won what: Haunted Temple: Grand Prize: Andrew Hay Runner Up: Dale Roberts Old Tower: Grand Prize: Dennis O’Brien Runner Up: Dylan Brooks Volcano Fortress: Grand Prize: Spencer "The Sigil" Cooley Runner Up: David Morgan Master Tools Update: Friday nights just wouldn't be the same without the weekly updates. Here's Fluid's Wayne Cline: Howdy all. Happy Friday to everyone. As Jim mentioned last week, we turned in a milestone this past Monday, which included the Treasure/Item Generator (TG/IG) and ten of the minis. The TG/IG is really cool and is very flexible. You can create a pile of treasure from level 1 to 30 and then choose any of the items and delete them or edit them as you see fit. Heck, if you wanted to, you could create a first level treasure pile and then add an intelligent +4 sword of stunning to go with the 3 silver pieces. The decision is yours… I wanted to address a question I’ve seen pop up from time to time. Will MT support non-D&D D20 system games? The answer is, unfortunately, no. MT is a tool with the ability to map out dungeons and buildings, and generate monsters, treasures, magic items, characters, etc. To support the art needs, items, monsters, characters, skills, abilities and all the other variables that change with other D20 games just wouldn’t be possible for this product. Meanwhile, things are speeding up on the Mapper. Eric and Scott M. have been meeting all week talking about the intricacies of drawing and the UI. Paul, the sound master, is getting started on the next batch of sounds and the Race Generator is taking up most of Andrew’s time. We haven’t figured out what the next ten minis are, but when we do, we’ll post it in the updates. Some cool news is, we’re going to try to post some of the minis and their sounds to the WotC website next week. Look for those hopefully by Thursday! Well, that about does it for this week. Jim should be flying down soon to try out the Race Generator and then we’ll start the process of entering in the monsters. Stay tuned next week for Jim’s update. Demos at CONspiracy: For those interested in the D&D skirmish rules, Jennifer Clarke-Wilkes, Chris Pramas and Jonathan Tweet of WOTC will be demoing these rules at CONspiracy 2001 in Mission, B.C. Feb 9-11. Looks like Monte Cook will be previewing D20 Cthulhu as well. Extra brownie points if someone sends me an informative report after the fact! :) (thanks to Grant Kinsley for the scoop) Talk about Basilisk: Jamis Buck has posted the preliminary scripting documentation for his Basilisk engine, and has created a new forum for discussing it. New in the Conversion Library: Converted classes (Knight of Takhisis, another Crusader, orcslayer), another stab at half-ogres as PCs, and monsters (banelar, darkhood, frost salamander, muckdweller, giant crayfish, reptilian gargantua). January 18, 2001 All Sorts of Sage Advice: WotC's Skip Williams must be a very, very busy guy. He's been kind enough to answer some D&D questions of a few scoopers recently, who were kind enough to share with us. Sword and Fist Questions From Hari the Monk: Q1: Can the feats in the S&F supplement be taken as bonus fighter feats? The fighter list is very specific, and the S&F book does not mention that they are added to that list. No, they can't. Q2: Blindsight, 5-foot radius: How does this interact with someone attempting to Hide within that 5-foot radius? Remove any modifiers due to darkness/invisibility/lighting conditions? Automagically 'un-hide' the sneak? No effect at all? You can't hide from someone with blindsight (at least not without a barrier between you and the viewer). Q3: Circle Kick: Does this ability take effect with every attack roll in a monk's full attack? Or, does the monk simply make one attack at her highest attack roll and, if successful in that, make another 'circle kick' attack roll against a different opponent? Does it work like cleave in a way? Do you get an extra 'circle kick' for every successful attack in a full attack action? If you use circle kick, you get *one* unarmed attack. If you hit, you get a second unarmed attack using the same bonus as your first attack. Q3: Dirty Fighting: Same questions as for Circle Kick, above. Same answer (essentially). Q4: Expert Tactician: How does the extra partial action work, exactly? Like any other partial action (I suggest you limit that action to something that can be construed as an attack against a foe who is denied Dex bonus.) For example, a Fighter3/Mage3 with this feat is in combat with three Orcs. One of the orcs gets stunned by the Figther's Monk associate, losing it's dex bonus to AC. Can the Fighter/Mage then cast, say, Magic Missile, which isn't strictly an attack, at one of the other orcs? Or should Expert Tactician's partial action be limited so that any non-defensive action taken by the Tactician must be against the creature that lost it's Dex bonus to AC in the first place? Anything that could be an attack, like a magic missile spell, it has to be against an opponent denied Dex bonus. Q5: Feign Weakness: How often can this be attempted against one opponent? Does the Bluff check take a standard action(a la the Feint), or is it a 'free, non time consuming' check? As often as the DM lets you. Once per combat is safe. You might want to add a +5 to the Sense Motive check for any extra attempts. Q6: Knock Down: Does the Fighter with the Knockdown feat get a free attack, from Improved Trip, against a creature that he trips due to a knockdown? No, you don't get an extra attack. Q7: Lightning Fists: Does this stack with Flurry? No, you make 3 attacks only, each at your base attack bouns, -5. Q8: Pain Touch: How does this work, exactly? Being stunned supersedes being Nauseated, in every way. Stunned for one round, nauseated for one round after that. Q9: Prone Attack: Can you regain your feet as a free action if you don't attack? No, you can only get up free if you make a successful attack. Q10: Snatch Arrow: Is this limited to once per round, as is Deflect Arrow? Or can it be used multiple times in a round (visions of two monks with snatch arrow, tossing a spear back and forth indefinitely). Just like deflect arrows, except to catch the missile instead of just deflecting them. Monster Manual -- Improved Grab clarification, question by Oren Douek: Monster Manual page 9, under Improved Grab: First paragraph says that if a creature conducts the grapple by using the part of its body it used in the improved grab to hold the opponent (instead of its entire body) then it suffers a -20 penalty to grapple checks (notice this is in plural, meaning, I assume, all future grapple checks), but is not considered grappled itself (doesn't lose Dex bonus to AC, still threatens an area, and can use remaining attacks against other opponents). Now the third paragraph simply states that when a creature gets a hold after an improved grab attack the creature is not considered grappled while holding the opponent (so again doesn't lose Dex bonus etc. and can even move). It doesn't say that this is a special case which incurs a -20 penalty on grapple checks; just states this as if it always apply. This really confuses me. I guess some clarification is needed. If you take the -20, you're not considered grappled, once you decide, you have to take -20 for any grapple checks you make until your next turn. On your next turn, you can stop taking the -20, but if you do you're considered grappled until it's your turn again (at which point you can take the penalty or not). Of course, The Sage isn't the only one with answers. WotC's Sean Reynolds clarifies a couple of points, scoops sent in by Gerard: Sword & Fist Errata -- Feign Weakness feat: The feat's Benefit section should begin with "When you make an unarmed attack...." Basically, the feat allows you to "fake" being unarmed when you make an unarmed attack (which, if it were true, would draw an AOO), but you're really armed, so you get to attack that opponent flat-footed. Being unarmed does not draw an AOO. Attacking unarmed against an armed opponent _does_ draw an AOO (unless you have Improved Unarmed Strike), and the point of the feat is to make you look like this to trick your opponent. Community News: it.hobby.giochi.gdr.dnd is a new Italian-language Usenet group for discussing D&D. (PS -- it's not a web page :) (thanks to Fabio for the scoop) Jonathan Jacobs has updated his downloadable Treasure Generator program. "The new version fixes a couple of minor bugs and includes all the weapons, magical items and magical abilities included in Sword & Fist. Take a look at the readme included with the download." You can find it over at Jamis Buck's site in the downloads section. Zakhara.com is a website dedicated to the Al-Qadim setting from AD&D, and includes a section for conversions to 3E. The site is still young, but there's a "teaser" you can download -- the hakima character class for 3E. D20 RP MUX is a D20 D&D game with an original world created for roleplaying. "We are currently in alphatesting phases, but forsee that we will be in Beta (open creation) phases within a few months. If you would be willing to list us, that would be much appreciated. Our game name is Treyvan and our URL is located at http://www.treyvan.com/." The Blind Bard -- "the monthly e-zine for D&D Dungeon Masters" -- has a new address: http://home.graffiti.net/blindbard/ Hydra is a D&D campaign website. D20 Hotline: There is now a Hotline server focused on D20 based RPG's and the Alternity game system. It is found at the IP: 24.15.147.109 at port 5500, the standard Hotline port. Since it is just starting up, there isn't much in the way of files, however, if you have anything to upload, please feel free to log in and throw files on it. It's on a fast connection, so uploads shouldn't be a problem. If you need the Hotline client software, it can be found at tucows.com servers. Reviews: You can find a review of Mike Mearls' D20 System adventure In the Belly of the Beast (Atlas Games) at RPG Action. You can find new reviews of The Sunless Citadel and the Star Wars RPG at RPG.net. (thanks to Bertman4 for the scoop) January 17, 2001 Adventure Contest -- Haunted House and Secret Graveyard Winners! I'm extremely pleased to announce that the judges have completed scoring two of the five categories in the Adventure Contest. Step right this way to read the grand prize and runner-up entries in the Haunted House and Secret Graveyard categories! For your quick reference, here are the winners: Secret Graveyard: Grand Prize: Johnathon Walls Runners Up (Tie): Tyson Neumann and Bob Geis Haunted House: Grand Prize: Doyce Testerman Runner Up: Corey Reid Official Updates: WotC has posted a newer version of the stats for Realms NPCs Drizzt Do'Urden and Alustriel, a sneak peek at The Silver Marches (a region in the Realms), and a new selection of PC Portraits. Here are the basics of Drizzt's stats (thanks to Dark Blackshield, Leonid Onohov, House Rookhaven, and Bertman4 for the scoop): Drizzt Do’Urden: Male drow Ftr10/Bbn1/Rgr5 of Mielikki: CR 17; Medium-size humanoid (elf); HD 10d10+20 plus 1d12+2 plus 5d10+10; hp 124; Init +9; Spd 40 ft.; AC 23 (touch 14, flat-footed 19); Atk +17/+12/+7/+2 melee (1d6+6 plus 1d6 cold/18–20, +3 frost scimitar), +16/+11 melee (1d6+4/18–20, +2 defending scimitar); SQ Drow traits, favored enemy (goblins +2, magical beasts +1), light blindness, rage, spell-like abilities; SR 27; AL CG; SV Fort +15, Ref +9, Will +7; Str 13, Dex 20, Con 15, Int 17, Wis 17, Cha 14. Height 5 ft. 4 in. Skills and Feats: Climb +8, Handle Animal +9, Hide +13, Intuit Direction +5, Jump +8, Knowledge (nature) +5, Listen +20, Move Silently +15, Ride (horse) +7, Search +13, Spot +15, Use Rope +7, Wilderness Lore +8; Ambidexterity, Blind-Fight, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Mobility, Quick Draw, Track, Twin Sword Style, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (scimitar), Weapon Specialization (scimitar). Special Qualities: Drow Traits (Ex): +2 racial bonus on Will saves against spells and spell-like abilities, darkvision 120 ft. Light Blindness (Ex): Abrupt exposure to bright light (such as sunlight or a daylight spell) blinds drow for 1 round. In addition, they suffer a –1 circumstance penalty to all attack rolls, saves, and checks while operating in bright light. Rage (Ex): During his rage, Drizzt has the following statistics instead of those given above: hp 156; AC 21 (touch 12, flat-footed 17); Atk +19/+14/+9/+4 melee (1d6+8 plus 1d6 cold/18–20, +3 frost brand scimitar) and +18/+13 melee (1d6+5/18–20, +2 defender scimitar); SV Fort +17, Will +9; Str 17, Con 19. Skills: Climb +10, Jump +10. The rage lasts 7 rounds, after which Drizzt is fatigued. He can rage once per day. Spell-Like Abilities: 1/day—dancing lights, darkness, faerie fire. These abilities are as the spells cast by a 16th-level sorcerer. Spells Prepared (1; base DC = 14): 1—detect animals or plants. Possessions: +4 mithral chainmail, Icingdeath (+3 frost scimitar), Twinkle (+2 defending scimitar), figurine of wondrous power: onyx panther. Dragon #280: The February 2001 issue of Dragon Magazine arrived in my mail today. Let's take a look inside, shall we? Just nod and read on... Cover Price Hike: Johnny Wilson (Group Publisher) explains Dragon's $1 cover price hike (apparently the subscription price is not increasing for now) in his editorial, revealing, "...we're planning to provide at least two Dragon CD-ROMs as bonus features in your magazine this year. Each will come complete with an unpublished Dungeon adventure, some handy electronic utilities, printable "PC Portraits," complete and revised versions of popular features, and more.... We plan to publish two supplementary magazines that you'll get along with Dragon for the same cover price. These supplemental magazines will cover games using the d20 System, as well as Open Gaming License games outside of the fantasy genre ... you'll get bonus coverage for the same price." Scale Mail includes the two following quotes of interest from the mysterious editors: "Look for the iconic characters to appear later this year in Enemies and Allies, a collection of characters to use as NPCs or ready-to-play PCs." R&D is working on "a balanced version of the infamous bladesinger" as "a prestige class for the upcoming Tome and Blood sourcebook." Profiles: Cartoonist Aaron "Nodwick" Willams is in this month's spotlight. Wheel of Time: a very brief report on the forthcoming D20 System game. Countdown to the Realms: Deities and demigods of the Realms are the topic of discussion. Cyric is "no longer barking mad." Iyachtu Xvim "finally achieves his rightful place." [Whack! -- ed.] Included are some samples of deity quick reference charts, and a Divine Champion prestige class. This Month's Theme -- Sorcerers: A random background generator for sorcerers; an article on how to effectively use polymorph spells (includes a revised polymorph other spell from The Sage [200kb .jpg]); an article on possible sources of sorcerous power and how different sources might lead you to take different groups of spells or different feats; new familiars, familiar-related feats and spells; James Wyatt addresses the art of defeating a sorcerous foe in "Vs. Sorcerers"; Monte Cook presents the Eldritch Master prestige class -- "To join their elite ranks, a character must contact and make a pact with a powerful outsider or other magical creature such as a lammasu, celestial, fiend, slaad, lich, hag, rakshasa, or titan." Alchemy: New alchemical items, such as "cooling gel" (resist fire, heal fire damage), "holdfast" (a sticky alternative to a grappling hook), and "vapors of sleep." Random Dungeons: Jonathan Tweet discusses the fine art of making a random dungeon, using "Dungeon of the Fire Opal" to illustrate his examples. Bestiary: Monsters of Oerth's Barrier Peaks -- you can guess the weirdness. :) Sage Advice: Includes a diagram (120kb .jpg) and instructions (180kb .jpg) for how a tower shield and shield spell work. However, related questions about the shield spell in this month's column do not include the more recent erratum from Sean Reynolds about shield providing a cover bonus, not actual cover. More: Roleplaying articles, Fool Wolf fiction, Volo stuff from Ed Greenwood, a big sturdy poster of "Instant Dungeon Tiles" suitable for cutting and using with minis. Next month: Psionic prestige classes, Scarlet Brotherhood goodies. Basilisk Introduced: Jamis Buck has posted an interesting introduction to his forthcoming Basilisk engine for his RPG Generators. January 16, 2001 Sword & Fist Chat Notes: Scooper "milspec" was kind enough to grab some of the questions and answers of Sword & Fist designer Jason Carl. Q: How does Dirty Fighting work? A: You make a single attack when using Dirty Fighting. If the attack is successful, you inflict your normal damage *plus an additional 1d4 damage. *** Q: On the "Expert Tactician" feat, if I have the feat, and I'm in combat with opponents B and C, and B gets stunned (denied his dex bonus) can I use the extra action against C? A: You could use the extra action against C *if* C were denied his Dex bonus -- the opponent that you attack using Expert Tactician must be denied his Dex bonus *** Q: Why is the mercurial greatsword so unbalanced? It has one of the highest damage and crit modifiers there are. Exotic weapons usually have only one jump from a non-exotic one, so I was wonderingwhy the big gap on the jump. A: The mercurial greatsword does 2d8 damage and has a Crit threshhold of x4. Is that "unbalanced?" That's a question for your DM to answer. It's certainly a very strong weapon. When we design new material for D&D, it's inevitable that some game elements -- feats, prestige classes, weapons, spells, etc. -- will be more appealing than others. Some weapon has to be at the top of the heap, after all. *** Q: Shouldn't the Halfling Outrider get a base attack bonus increase? A: The Halfling Outrider is the only prestige class in the book without a unique attack bonus. It's designed that way purposefully to reflect the fact that the class role is primarily that of a scout, not a combatant. I took a chance on that one. ;-) *** Q: Does a rogue who is flanking someone with the "Eyes in the Back of your Head" feat get his sneak attack damage? I would say yes, from reading the rule, but it's not entirely clear. A: I would say yes. The feat doesn't give you any benefit if you denied your Dex bonus (such as when you are caught flat-footed), and that implies that a rogue still gets his sneak attack damage against someone who has this feat -- even if the rogue is flanking that someone. *** Q: for S&F Feats like Circle Kick and dirty fighting which say you have to take a full attack action to use them, do you get full iterative attacks with that action? or just a single attack? A: If you use Circle Kick or Dirty Fighting, you get only one attack. If that attack is successful, you get a second attack. I originally considered having these feats work with each of a character's iterative attacks but our playtests demonstrated that wasn't a good idea. ;-) *** Q: How does Lightning fists interact with Flurry of Blows? A: Lightning Fists doesn't stack with Flurry of Blows. You make three attacks only, each at your base attack bonus, minus 5. *** Q: How were the prices for the fortresses at the end of the book arrived at? Is there a metasystem involved, or were they more or less pulled out of the air as resonable costs? A: The DMG has information about pricing -- we used this information, but in some cases we had to extrapolate some math based on the existing information. *** Q: Should the fighter be able to use his bonus feats to get the S&F Feats? My house rule so far has been that he can, with the exception of the feats requiring monk levels or feats not on the fighter list (a total of 4 feats). A: According to the Player's Handbook, the list of feats that a fighter can choose as bonus feats is very specific. The S&F feats don't appear on that list. Therefore, the S&F feats cannot be taken as a fighter's bonus feats. *** Q: What's the reasoning behind the stump knife getting an increased threat range once it has wounded someone? A: It's to reflect the fact that the stump knife is an extension of your body. Unlike a sword, for example, the stump knife is a part of your body. It's a way of modeling a very different way of fighting. *** Q: On a Mantis Leap, is there a minimum distance that must be moved? It says that you use a charge attack, which normally has a 10' move requirement. And, does it use a standing jump, a running jump or both/either? Also, it says "normal damage, plus your Str modifier x2." Does this mean that a Str 12 individual with a shortsword does (1d6 + 1) + 2? A: The distance that you move is a minimum of 10' plus the result of your Jump check; the type of jump is a standing jump; the damage inflicted is normal plus your Str modifier x2, so that a character with Str 12 and using a short sword would inflict 1d6 +2 damage. *** Q: What project are you currently working on for WoTC? A: Currently I'm working on a new release for the Forgotten Realms campaign. It's scheduled for release in November of this year--but that's all I can tell you about it, because it hasn't appeared on our public catalogue yet! *** Q: Are there any plans to somehow increase the damage of a shuriken? Those things seem kinda weak, especially if you compare them to the damage they do in movies (yes, I realize movies have little or no base in reality) A: Not that I'm aware of. The shuriken's advantage lies in its versatility as a weapon that's easy to hide, rather than the damage it can inflict. *** Q: with the Off hand parry feat, it says you sacrifice all your off hand attacks for the round in exchange for a +2 dodge bonus, does that mean you still take the penalty to your primary attacks as if you were attacking with two weapons? A: Yes. Official Updates: The official D&D site has a new random character background generator and information on a prestige class creation contest. (thanks to Dark Blackshield for the scoop) Scarred Lands Map: Sword & Sorcery Studios has posted a PDF map of their forthcoming campaign setting, the continent of Ghelspad. (thanks to Brekael for the scoop) DMG Errata: Magic Item Caster Level vs. Level Prerequisites: Sean Reynolds offers a correction to these sentences that appers on Dungeon Master's Guide p. 178 under the heading Caster Level: "For other magic items, the caster level is determined by the item itself. In this case, the creator's caster level must be as high as the item's caster level (and prerequisites may effectively put a higher minimum on the creator's level)." The caster level is NOT a prereq and was never intended as one. We can sort of salvage that quoted text by changing the last sentence to: "In this case, the creator's caster level must be as high as the item's MINIMUM caster level (and prerequisites may effectively put a higher minimum on the creator's level)." So the minimum caster level of an item that makes a fireball would be 5, since that's the minimum caster level for a fireball. Thanks to Sean Riley and Gerard for the scoop. Sword & Fist Errata: Pain Touch Feat: Sean Reynolds passed along a brief correction for the Pain Touch feat, found in Sword & Fist. (thanks to Gerard for the scoop) You should be stunned for a round, then in pain for a round. January 15, 2001 New in the Conversion Library: Converted classes (Knight of Luna, witch, crusader, inquisitor, D&D jedi), races (gully dwarf for Dragonlance), and monsters (mist wolf, tentamort, exectutioner's hood, chasme demon, bonesnapper). Adventure Contest Status Report: The adventures from the recent contest are still being judged -- I hope to have the results for you in a couple of days. Thanks for being patient! Community News: The Highlander D20 site has been updated. Including new Quickening Powers and new Immortal Feats. Castle Steelstone has been updated with rules for separating racial benefits from cultural ones. You can participate in an interview of WotC's JD Wiker, one of the designers of the Star Wars RPG, this Saturday 1/20. Read more about it at Star Wars RPG Database. Silliness: Stop byName the Blind Kobold to vote on a name for a critter who has emerged recently as a sort of mascot for my message board. Also, if you're into downloading MP3s you might find one of the files on Ettin's "Better Than One" page somewhat amusing. :) D20 System News: Wizard's Attic has informed me that Chaosium's Worlds of the Eternal Champion: Dragon Lords of Melnibone D20 book will be released in February. Necromancer Games has posted some free stuff to go along with their recent D20 System adventure, The Crucible of Freya, as well as a Brief History of Orcus. An anonymous scooper has had a chance to see Sword & Sorcery Studio's forthcoming Relics & Rituals book. Here are his impressions: I've just had a chance to thumb through a pre-press copy of the Sword & Sorcery product Relics and Rituals. Ken Cliffe and crew are definately on top of this one. What I've seen is hot. The ~220 page manual is full of good new stuff, including new prestige classes, new spells, new magic items and new artifacts. The real gem to me is the new ritual system, which includes details on how several spellcasters can work together to create a massive ritual. This has always been a weak point in the DND rules in my mind, so this is a great addition. The only complaint I would have revolves around the art. I think S&S has a pretty slick product line developing, and the art is a major way of telling the story of a world. The art included is excellent, but more more more! All in all, this book will be a welcome addition to the DND/D20 products already on the market. Official Updates: New at WotC... Part 2 of this month's Cliffhanger adventure has been posted. Though I mentioned that there were updates to the ESD schedule, I didn't specifically mention that there are two new free Dark Sun downloads available (about half-way down the page), nor did I mention that some of the products that were apparently originally on the "sell for $2.95" list are now on the schedule to be released for free. And finally, in the "isn't this really old news" department, WotC has announced that they will no longer be publishing Alternity. Scoopers: Tammy, Bill, maghor, tom, Trent Bartlem, and Jon Sederqvist. January 14, 2001 Community News: The D20 MUD project now has a website at http://www.d20mud.org/. These New Dark Ages is a D&D campaign site with a futuristic twist. Tempest's Lore is a D&D/Forgotten Reams e-zine. January 13, 2001 Official Updates: Several new items have appeared over at the official D&D site. You can find updated schedules for the release of classic AD&D materials through the ESD program (including the recently-announced Dragonlance downloads), stats for a gnome loremaster in this month's Character Closeup, and read this month's free adventure, The Ghosts of Aniel. (Note that the page where you download the adventure says to use the Old Tower map with this adventure, but I believe that's a mistake. If you read the text of the adventure, it says "The adventure is set in the Celadon forest, but it is easily adapted to any forested region in an existing campaign. Maps of elven dwellings similar to Revan’s are available for download at http://www.wizards.com/dnd/DnD_MW_Intro.asp." Thus my guess is that this Elven Dwelling is more like what you would need.) Black Dragon Mini: As pointed out by scooper Gerard, the long-awaited black dragon miniature now appears in the WotC product catalog. It will apparently be available in February along with two other miniatures boxed sets -- Heroes (includes Regdar the human fighter, Mialee the elven wizard, Lidda the halfling rogue, Jozan the human cleric, Tordek the dwarven fighter, and Soveliss the elven ranger) and Monsters (includes dire rat, orc, displacer beast, ogre, and two different goblins). World Building Deadline: Here's a note from Morrus, one of the coordinators for the World-Building project currently in discussion on my message boards: Today (Saturday 1/13) is the closing date for submissions on 'Campaign Hook' and the judges will be voting over the next day or two. We hope to announce the official campaign setting early next week. In the meantime, please pop over to the site (http://website.lineone.net/~morrus/) and vote for your favourite. The judges will be taking popular opinion into account, so please take the time to vote, as each vote makes it more likely that we will be producing what you (the D&D community) want to see. We will announce the next topic for your submissions early next week. January 12, 2001 Master Tools Update: Right on schedule, here's the Friday Night Update with your host, Jim Bishop: Next Monday marks our next big milestone in development. Fluid is set to turn over 10 more monsters: ankheg, minotaur, twig blight, bugbear, lamia, troll, beholder, owlbear, fire giant, and Krusk the 1/2 Orc barbarian. I haven't seen this next series, but the last ones were frankly incredible. Scott and Wayne tell me the bugbear is the best of the batch, and I can't wait to see the from-scratch ankheg. Last month Fluid turned over dungeon features (major and minor), which were great--everything from a tiny smoking pipe to a giant, ornate throne. This month I get to see the first set of dungeon walls, which should go a long way towards crystallizing my picture of how a dungeon will look. It's one thing to see these elements scattered on a black background, another to see them in context. Most importantly, they're turning over the final, working version of the treasure/item generator. This baby has been semi-functional for weeks, but they've added a lot of polish recently. Now, anything that pops up from a treasure pile can be edited, from coins to art objects to "mundane objects" (like ordinary equipment, weapons, etc.) This is exactly the kind of balance we're shooting for between random and custom generation. If you're in a hurry, treasure is a one-click operation. If you want to lovingly craft a cache of goodies, you can get as involved as you like. I've been using it in my lunch game here, and it's a tremendous time-saver. I've even gone so far to enter all the new exotic weapons from Sword and Fist, just for my own edutainment. Following the excellent example set by Jamis Buck's treasure generator we're also planning to include a random generator that works according to minor, medium, and major items. This is just a great idea, and we're definitely not above stealing great ideas. The big surprise lately has been how _calm_ we all are. I mean, Andrew's still coding like a madman, but when Scott and Wayne and I talk, it's with the understanding that this thing is on schedule. After figuring out exactly what we wanted to build, it's starting to come together. Next week we'll be putting the new generator through its paces in R&D, and I'm confident it'll pass through easily. Next up is the terrifying and imposing race generator. Wayne and I will also be cobbling together the Help system, using a neat little app called RoboHelp, which draws from Word files to generate an indexed, hyperlinked help file. We're planning to make this more robust than most help files, with enough reference material that you can use it at the table, or as quick reference when building adventures. One last thing: I'm working with marketing to make an official announcement on our release date ASAP. Please don't email me asking when it's going to ship--we'll make a public announcement as soon as we can commit to a solid date. New in the Conversion Library: Two very exciting inclusions today... First, a 100+ page Dragonlance Monster Manual from DL conversion guru James O'Rance. Also, a big conversion of various editions of Gamma World sci-fi RPG to the D20 system. Plus converted classes (tunnelrat, tribal berserker) and monsters (gorbel, magnesium spirit, lurker above, brownie, huecuva, verbeeg, beastmen), a new Dark Sun conversion website, as well as updates to other files. Official Updates: As a number of scoopers have pointed out, WotC has posted a lighthouse map in the Map-A-Week archive and a new version of the D&D character sheet (look to the right under "Hot Downloads"). Community News: Guildcompanion.com is an RPG ezine with some articles about the D20 System as well as reviews of the Monster Manual and the Star Wars RPG. (thanks to Isidorus for the scoop) You can find a D&D character sheet at Eyru. You can find a review of the DMG at Talath Gond's website. RPG Action has posted a review of Terror in Freeport (Green Ronin). (thanks to Ian for the scoop) January 11, 2001 Fiery Dragon Press Release: D20 System publisher Fiery Dragon Productions sent the following press release. I will adjust their entry in the D20 System Guide to reflect the information included. Fiery Dragon Productions, publishers of D20 adventure NeMoren's Vault, have revised their release schedule to better reflect their business plans and ambitions for the year 2001. "Due to the incredible amount of d20 product that will be flooding the market in the next few months, we've reviewed our product release schedule and made some changes to implement ideas from our strategy sessions and business plans," said Fiery Dragon president Jason Kempton. "We've altered a title and firmed up our release dates. We've also developed three distinct product lines. We feel that we have put together a solid group of products, and plan to provide the hobby industry with a steady supply of exceptional D20 supplements." The revised release schedule for Fiery Dragon features a major product release roughly every two months throughout the year. "We will be dividing our products into three distinct Fiery Dragon lines," reports James Bell, Marketing Manager. "Our Bronze line will contain 2 adventures in 32 pages and retail for $7.95. We have some interesting ideas for the presentation on these, and I'm sure we'll see imitators after they' re released. Our Silver line will contain one adventure, but include extras like cardstock counter sheets and full-color art. Silver adventures, such a s our first release, NeMoren's Vault, and our next release, The Silver Summoning, will retail for $9.95. And finally, our Gold line will feature our epic adventures, and will be 64 to 96 pages. These supplements will be perfect bound, containing full-color art as well as cardstock counter sheets. These adventures will retail for $12.95." "We feel that having three distinct lines will allow us to deliver a wider range of product into the market place, and allow us to push the boundaries of what's expected of independent publishers." Fiery Dragon has also altered their products based on retailer comments. "Our product will no longer be shrink-wrapped. Instead, any inserts, such as cardstock counter sheets, will be perforated-inserts bound into the product itself. Feedback from retailers indicated that NeMoren's Vault was higher quality than many people suspected, and allowing customers to examine it in-store would have added to sales." Advertising & Promotion: Fiery Dragon had great success generating press with NeMoren's Vault. In addition to positive reviews in such high-traffic websites as RPG.net, RPGAction and Return to the Dungeon, NeMoren's Vault was reviewed in various gaming magazines and appeared in "Brian's Picks" in the landmark 50th issue of Knights of the Dinner Table. The next Polyhedron magazine, distributed to RPGA members, will also feature a review of NeMoren's Vault. Fiery Dragon hopes to continue this trend with their February release, The Silver Summoning. "We are currently talking to Polyhedron about booking ads in their magazine. We are eagerly awaiting Wizards of the Coast's upcoming d20 magazine, which will debut this summer. And, we are booking an ad in the summer edition of the Games Quarterly Catalogue - just in time for Gencon," said James Bell. GenCon will also play a role in maintaining the Fiery Dragon presence in the industry. They plan to debut their third "Silver" level release at the convention this summer. Jason Kempton sums up the outlook on 2001: "This promises to be a great year for Fiery Dragon. We feel that our new release schedule and business plan will help us to increase our presence in the D20 market despite all of the recent competition. NeMoren's Vault has been a tremendous success for us, and we will continue to build on the foundation that we've created." No "Crappy Mithral": Are mithral and adamantine armors and weapons always considered masterwork? WotC's Sean Reynolds (on the official message boards) says: The consensus of people in-house is that if you're paying the extra cost for a mithral or adamantine weapon, it should count as masterwork quality. However, mithral armors already take into account the masterwork armor bonus, and adamantine's nonmagical enhancement bonus already overlaps any masterwork bonus, so it doesn't affect their stats (it just means there are no "crappy" mithral or adamantine items that can't be made magical). Wow, They Really Plan Ahead: WotC's Anthony Valterra mentioned on DND-L that the high-level campaigns book (with rules for characters higher than 20th level) is "Currently scheduled for July of 2002." So maybe you'll want to pick up your copy and then see Star Wars Episode II while you're out. :) (thanks to Staffan Johansson for the scoop) Wyatt's Update: WotC's James Wyatt has updated his personal 3E page with anecdotes about recent playtest experiences. (thanks to Gimli Gloinson for the scoop) January 10, 2001 Realmswatch: WotC has posted some new Forgotten Realms material, including a new Realms Roundtable and a preview of Scardale. New in the Conversion Library: Mostly monsters (half-ogre, ogrillon, orog, vegepygmy, crypt thing, coffer corpse, leprechaun, spriggan and ALL of the modrons), plus a Swashbuckler prestige class. Top 25 3E Sites: Neurozombie, webmaster of Community 3E, has decided to switch "Top 25" providers. Because of this, the voting for the top 25 D&D sites has been reset. Please feel free to vote for this site by clicking the logo at the bottom of this page. Thanks! Community News: Thergrim's Potion Makers Spreadsheet is a guide for potions made from cleric spells. (thanks to Gerard for the scoop) Korath has posted conversions of the kits from the Complete Book of Elves to go along with those from the Complete Book of Dwarves. Master Tools Mac Petition Status: The petition to have WotC's forthcoming Master Tools software ported over for Macintosh has passed the 4000 name mark. WotC's Jim Bishop says, "That's great news! Keep taking signatures, and I'll start clamouring at my boss. We wouldn't be able to start a 'port until the PC version is done, so we've still got time to gather more names, and more evidence that the community wants this to happen." (thanks to Patrick Scott for the news) 3E Oriental Adventures Confirmed: WotC's Sean Reynolds confirms, "We are going to be releasing an Oriental Adventures book in the future...." (on the official message boards, thanks to Sonny Mendoza for the scoop) D20 System News: Roc Games is creating a D20 System "dark fantasy" campaign setting called Violet Dawn, set for a Q3 2001 release. (thanks to Kenny for the scoop) Columbia Games has shipped "Nasty, Brutish and Short," their D20 System-compatible sourcebook for the orcs of Harn. You can find a "D20 Supplement" for a previously-published version of this book here. (thanks to Edwyn Kumar and Daniel Thingvold for the scoop) Product release dates for Troll Lord Games have been updated on the D20 System Guide. January 9, 2001 Jamis Buck Moves to RPG Planet! I am extremely pleased to announce my first "hosted site" -- Jamis Buck's RPG Generators. Jamis has created several extremely popular and useful utilities for D&D, and having him here at RPG Planet is a real treat. Jamis' site is an independent site, separate from mine, but we share a few things in common, particularly the message boards where Jamis has a forum started so you can discuss his software. Please stop by and say howdy to my new neighbor! Official Updates: WotC's D&D site has posted the official announcement regarding the decision to not update the Dragonlance campaign setting, as well as a new selection of PC Portraits and part 1 of a new cliffhanger adventure called "The Tower of Lore." (thanks to Bertman4 and Jay Kinnear for the scoop) Community News: SaiZai's Palm Software: "I just posted SaiD3U 1.2b and SaiCon 0.1b. What's new: much improved stability, OS 2.0 compatibility, a Combat Tracker, & fully functional registration (along with the usual various tweaks). Also, it includes the first public beta of the matching conduit (SaiCon), for mirror-image synchronization with your main computer." From RPCore Productions: First, Call of Duty is out! Version 1.0.0 of the home-brewed Clancy-esque d20 RPG, I've put out the complete set of basic rules, which can be found at http://www.geocities.com/rpcore/CoD/index.html. It includes rules for modern combat, with variant rules for making combat more or less deadly, guidelines for translating real-world weapons into d20 game stats, a new system for firing firearms and using armor, and a completely new character creation process, including 8 original classes (Academic, Civilian, Criminal, Investigator, Operative, Protector, Soldier, Tough), new skills, new Feats, and a new feat-like system focusing on specializing in a chosen career, dubbed the Special Training Opportunity system. Some pages, such as NPCs/Scenarios and Helpful Resources haven't been posted yet, but since these aren't central to game play, I figured they could rate. Second, RPCore Productions has gone through a "rebirth." We've got a new, simpler homepage, with a guestbook and free-for-all links section. It's all inclusive, meaning that you don't have to click between Products, Freebies, Contacts, etc. Also we've eliminated any idea that we're RPG producers, though we've kept our old name. And, we've shortened our address somewhat by eliminating a subdirectory. Our new address is http://www.geocities.com/rpcore/index.html. In the next two weeks or so, we hope to add some more to Call of Duty, make some corrections to our Darkmatter d20 section, and release another project of ours, a translation of Hyboria, the homeland of Conan and Kull, into 3rd edition D&D. RPG Host has installed a new game: Promisance. "A free multi-player interactive web based game with a unique combination of fantasy and sci-fi played with real people from around the world in an epic struggle between the past, present and future for the mastery of all people and all time." D20 MUD: Here's Brian Zednick: "I've been toying with creating a MUD based on the D20 rules since D&D 3E came out, and have concluded that it is just too difficult for one person to do in anything resembling a timely manner. Therefore I am putting together a group to work on this project. To start, a mailing list for general discussion of the project has been created. To subscribe just click here. The actual 'team' will be put together at a later date. Not a programmer? Well, we'll need a website and also people to test the code once it's developed. More details to follow on the list in a few days." January 8, 2001 MM Errata: Advancing Creatures: WotC's Sean Reynolds passed along a correction to the Monster Manual, p. 14 at the bottom, the "Challenge Rating" paragraph under the "Example of Monster Advancement." The long and short of it is that advanced creatures have a higher Challenge Rating and are worth more XP, as outlined on p. 102 of the DMG. Sean says the correction comes from Skip Williams: Challenge Rating: The otyugh's experience award increases by the same ratio as the increase in Hit Dice, and its effective CR increases +1 for each full +50% by which the Hit Dice increase. This creature grew from 6 to 15 HD, a multiplication of 2 1/2. Parties who defeat this monster receive 2 1/2 times the normal experience award. Since its HD increase +150%, its effective CR rises 3 steps from CR 4 to CR 7. January 7, 2001 Interview with a Ronin: The 3rd Edition has posted an interesting interview with Chris Pramas of WotC and Green Ronin Publishing. (thanks to Oren Douek for the scoop) On Sending Errata: WotC's Dale Donovan asked me to post this clarification about what you should and shouldn't send his way regarding D&D errata: Hi, Dale Donovan here. Let me clarify my purpose in wanting you to send errata to me. I'm simply compiling lists of potential errata for the various products. Errata decisions are made when the product comes up for reprint by the Creative Directors. No, I don't know when product "X" will get reprinted (that depends on how fast you buy all the copies of the most recent printing). I'm just making lists here. This also means that I am not the person you should be sending rules questions or queries to. Those should go the customer service address WotC has. Don't expect a response from me; that would take too much time. I am unaware of any plans to post errata lists for every product we do (until those decisions get made, of course). That's not to say it won't happen, just that I'm not in a position to promise anything. Thanks for reading this. By sending me possible errata, you'll be helping us make all our products even better. Take care all, and good gaming! The Customer Service address is custserv@wizards.com; and as noted yesterday Dale's address is drgndale@wizards.com. January 6, 2001 D20 System News: John Nephew of Atlas Games stopped by with some information to share: IN THE BELLY OF THE BEAST by Mike Mearls shipped to distributors worldwide yesterday, and so should be hitting stores all over in the next week or two. We have the cover art in for TOUCHED BY THE GODS, and should be formally announcing the product this coming week for release in April, if all goes as planned. It's a hardcover sourcebook of religious groups -- cults, sects, cabals, what have you -- with all sorts of related crunchy bits like spells, deities, magic items, clerical domains, prestige classes, etc. Should be very exciting, we think! Community News: Scott Greene of Creature Catalog fame has posted a FAQ in which he answers some common questions about converting monsters from earlier editions of D&D. Open Call for Submissions for the Netbook of Classes, brought to you by the D&D Community Council (http://www.dndcommunitycouncil.org). "We are working on a set format for submissions and no classes will be turned down. We will check for balance and fairness, and will work with them for compatability. We want to be the #1 source for prestige classes under the OGL rules. It will be free access and hope to be the defining book of classes." For more information visit the Netbook of Classes website (http://www.ridgenet.net/~ckarnos/dndcc/NBoClasses) and/or the D&D Community Councils homepage. You can email submissions to: stormos@eartlink.net If you want to play TSR's old Masque of the Red Death (Ravenloft) campaign 3E-style, you may want to check out the RPGA's Living Death site. (thanks to Gerard for the scoop) Pen & Paper has posted a D&D Index Database. Basically it's an Access database that helps you find what product has what prestige class, spell (including the ability to generate spell lists by class or school), monster, weapon, etc. Includes material from D20 products and non-core books like Sword and Fist. Many of the lists have also been captured in PDF format (for instance, this 90kb list of Wizard Spells by School). Dragonlance ESD Product Schedule: Here's WotC's Jim Butler with the list of Dragonlance products that will be released as Electronic Software Downloads (ESD). (thanks to Pat for the scoop) Reporting Errata: If you have errors to report in a D&D product, please contact Dale Donovan at drgndale@wizards.com. (on the official message boards) January 5, 2001 Adventure Contest Deadline Has Passed! Thanks to all of you who submitted adventures. I'll be getting the judging underway this weekend and hope to have the results for you in about a week. Update: I know that some ISPs delay e-mail for a few hours, so I have allowed anything that got in before 6AM. Official Updates: WotC's D&D site has been updated with a supplement to accompany James Wyatt's The Speaker in Dreams, a Personality Spotlight on the creators of Sword and Fist, the Drunken Master prestige class from Sword and Fist, the first Map-A-Week for this month's elven theme and a new Ed Says article at the Realmswatch, plus new portraits from Sam Wood. (thanks to Bertman4 and Tom, the first of many scoopers, and Muaddib for the update) New in the Conversion Library: Complete conversion of module A1: Slave Pits of the Undercity, more firearms rules, detailed orc priesthoods, monsters (radiant dragon, nomad centaur as a PC race, another stab at the lythari), and a halfling guardian prestige class. Master Tools Update: Friday night means another update from Wayne Cline at Fluid Entertainment: Howdy all. Happy New Year and all that! We all here at Fluid are getting back into it after being off for the holiday and since we were off for a week I don't have a great deal new to report that you didn't get from Jim's last post. Basically, we continue to move forward on all fronts. Scott and Eric have been working closely together on the Mapper and all of its issues (how do diagonal walls and floors work, how do features translate to the printer, what the UI is going to look like, etc.) Scott has also been mocking up a sample dungeon and that same dungeon printed out so we can make sure we've got all the bases covered. Scott R. and Kevin continue to paint and/or build the figures and Michael is getting through all the wall sets and will soon be starting on the floors. Andrew, meanwhile, is moving on to the Race Generator after (mostly) finishing the Treasure/Item Generator. That's about it. Like I said, we're just moving through all the stuff, so we're at the point where we pretty much have all the tasks defined and we're just in the process of doing them. I hope everyone had a good holiday and New Year's Eve and have a fantastic year! D20 System News: Troll Lord Games announced today that their own D20 System adventure, A Lion in the Ropes, and an adventure they're publishing for Fiend Games, Galal's Grave, are both shipping. See the D20 System Guide for more information on these publishers. One of our own is famous! Conversion Library contributor Malachi Martin contributed significantly to the creation of OtherWorld Creations' Illustro prestige class, which you can download free here. Congratulations to Malachi! PHB Errata: Shield Spell: WotC's Sean Reynolds reveals changes to the wizard/sorcerer spell, shield. Presumably this means that the spell only provides the bonus to AC, but not a bonus to Reflex saves or the ability to act without drawing Attacks of Opportunity as one would if truly behind cover. I'll see if I can get clarifications. (thanks to Gerard for the scoop) Errata: the shield spell provides a cover _bonus_, but does not actually provide cover. It's too powerful at 1st level if it actually provides cover. January 4, 2001 Area Spells and Mirror Image: WotC's Sean Reynolds passes along clarifications on the mirror image spell and what affects it (thanks to Gerard for the scoop): A response from Andy Collins and Skip Williams when I posed this question: Andy: Here's how I'd adjudicate that: Does it require an attack roll or select a specific target? If yes, it counts an attack. If no, it doesn't count as an attack. Thus, a crossbow bolt (attack roll) or a magic missile (selects a specific target) would count. Since ice storm [or, in your example, fireball] doesn't require an attack or select a specific target, it wouldn't count. Skip: And you'd be right. Dragonlance No More? Sounds like fans of the world of Krynn are in for a world of hurt, according to WotC's Jim Butler (thanks to Jamie for the scoop): We've cancelled all plans to do any Dragonlance RPG products. We'll still be producing new novels, but we don't have any plans to cotninue to produce game products for Dragonlance. January 3, 2001 Leveling Up, By the Numbers: WotC's Sean Reynolds passes along some explanations about how 3E's XP system works and why 13-1/3 encounters per level is "good" (on the official message boards): Here's a response from Ed Stark, creative director for D&D Core: The "typical" number of players in a group is 4. The typical amount of time a game session lasts is around 4 hours of gaming time. Players play on average, once a week. An encounter of the PCs' level, plus roleplaying, can usually be resolved in around an hour or so. Four such encounters drains the PCs to the point at which they need/want to rest. Character resting or "down time" (time for characters to rest and recuperate) is a good time to award experience and break the session. If you have too much down time during a session, there's less gaming and more bookkeeping. If players play once a week and follow this pattern, they'll get roughly 16 encounters of their level every four weeks. They should "level up" once a month (with some room to spare for characters that die, or slow/abbreviated sessions, or whatever) so that they feel they're accomplishing something and getting better. That means that every two months they've gone up a little more than two levels. And a shorter response from Jonathan Tweet: We wanted XP level breaks to be divisible by 1,000 because that's simpler. We wanted the standard encounter to be worth 300 times the encounter level because 300 is divisible evenly whether you have 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 PCs in the party. Also, 300 gives you about the right level speed (as Ed pointed out). That's why it doesn't come out to some nice, even number of encounters per level (because 300 doesn't fit into 1,000 nicely). New in the Conversion Library: A bunch of monsters (gas spore, axe beak, manscorpion, spitting snake, unseelie nymph), a converted monster collection, the half-ogre as a PC race, a large collection of martial arts feats, another elementalist class, and rules for firearms. The Sage on Saving Throws: Skip Williams clarifies saving throws: ...saving throws always fail on a roll of "1" and suceed on a roll of "20". (thanks to Gerard and Helge Moulding for the scoop) D&D Community Council: Here's information on how to contribute to fan-created D&D netbooks and other projects: With so many great websites and so much wonderful player created material available for 3rd Edition, the folks from Community3E, the crew of DnDWorld, the creator of the Netbook of Feats, and several other sites from around the internet are joining together to form an organization known as the "D&D Community Council" (CC). The Community Council is a community of role players dedicated to building upon the foundation of the Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition game and D20 system created by Wizards of the Coast. The purpose of the community council is to provide a clear, common, coordinated objective to a team of hard working role-players and have them build a package of material to cover a specific topic. We take volunteers willing to lead community projects, build project review boards, collect ideas on a specific subject from the D&D community, and combine those ideas into a Netbook document to be freely distributed anywhere on the internet. By appointing a volunteer project leader to organize the effort, building a focus group of 2-7 review board members, developing a vision for the project, following a set process methodology, collecting information from around the web, analyzing the submissions of others, creating continuity within the project, publishing these projects in one easy to use format, providing monthly or quarterly updates, and offering unlimited distribution, we can consolidate the many materials created by the D&D community into a series of related publications and make these publications freely available for download or distribution. To get more information about the program, check out www.dndcommunitycouncil.org. New Reviews: The 3rd Edition has posted reviews of the Monster Manual and Dungeon Magazine #84. Read them now, I command you, says scooper Oren Douek. Network News: RPG Planet has posted a preview of Heart of Winter, the expansion pack for the AD&D CRPG Icewind Dale. January 2, 2001 Message Board Happenings: Since the switch to the new message boards, there have been a number of exciting developments. I've added forums for Frequently Asked D&D Questions, Story Hour (share your adventure plots and adventure logs), and the D20 System (general discussion). The most recent addition is a World Creation Forum for gamers who are developing a shared campaign world. If you'd like to contribute to the creation of this campaign world, visit the World Creation Forum and its companion website. D20 System News: Green Ronin Publishing: Here's a press release revealing plans for new products from Chris Pramas and the gang at Green Ronin: Green Ronin Publishing is pleased to announce its 2001 release schedule through August. Already a leader in the d20 System explosion, Green Ronin plans an aggressive schedule of fantasy roleplaying goodness. First, the Freeport Trilogy concludes with Madness in Freeport, a 48 page adventure releasing in late February. Then the author of the AD&D Guide to Hell returns to the nine layers in May with Legions of Hell, a 64 page monster compendium. In July Green Ronin unleashes its first high level adventure, the apocalyptic Hell in Freeport. This 64 adventure is for characters of 8th to 11th level, and is guaranteed to heat up your campaign. Last, but certainly not least, is Green Ronin's August release, the Spaceship Zero RPG. Based on the cult TV series and upcoming movie (see www.spaceshipzero.com for more info), SSZ is an RPG experience straight out of the 50s. Bat-Beings, Clone Hunters, and Hydronauts! Oh my! Green Ronin Publishing has added a discussion forum so you can drop them a line or discuss their products with them. January 1, 2001 Adventure Contest Deadline is Friday! Don't delay -- if you've been thinking about submitting an adventure for the contest, the deadline is January 5th. You can see how many submissions have been entered for each of the maps -- some only have one entry! I hope to see your submission! New in the Conversion Library: A slew of monsters (shedu, slyph, yeti, galeb duhr, dracolisk, korred, wolfwere, froghemoth), more 1st-level spells from the Wizard's Spell Compendium, a Pistoleer prestige class from Ravenloft, plus updates to other files. LGJ #2: Scooper Darrell King has received the second issue of the RPGA's Living Greyhawk Journal. Here's what he had to say about it: Living Greyhawk Journal #2 arrived in the mail today (12/30), and I gotta say--I'm impressed. Denis Tetreault's map of the City of Greyhawk is absolutely incredible! Not only is the map beautifully done, but it's nice and BIG--and printed on a good heavy paper stock, as well. I've been cussin' for a while because everything's coming in late, but this map was definitely worth waiting for. The rest of the journal is terrific, too (though I must admit to only a cursory reading, so far). Contents include a key to the poster map's numbered locations, an article expounding further on the Artisan's Quarter (which I sincerely hope will be continued to cover the rest of the city's vaied sections), and an article on the Rhennee, including a couple of prestige classes (the Darkhagard, a seaman-warrior who's an expert in combat with a modified harpoon called a 'darkha,' and the Vetha, a Rhennee 'wise-woman'). It also has the second in a series of 'Greyhawk critters' articles, featuring the animus (which is mentioned in passing in the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer), an advanced type of bullywug (but then--they haven't detailed _regular_ bullywugs for 3e yet, have they?), valley elves, and a 'creature from a time long past' called a grigaur. On the whole, a nice job all-'round. Community News: Vincent Darlage has posted stats for Red Sonja and Bêlit, Queen of the Black Coast, as companions to his Conan stats. Updates at Return to the Dungeon and The New Order of the Raven Chapterhouse (formerly King Chicken's D&D Page). Updates and new material on Realm Overseer 3D website. Lots of fresh screenshots to cover new features of 3D engine and new models for RPG 3D cartography. Two new sections: "Weather" - how you can control environment and visual range for your players. "Cities" - examples of 3D interactive towns for encounters, combats, search & find adventures. New 3D map of Phosipolis, city in world ruled by Olympian Gods created by B. Sam Cook is available for download (along with some source materials) in "Contribued Maps" section. Roy Martin has created two sites for you to visit: The Daggerford Campaign, a FR campaign site; and a Forgotten Realms Links page. The RPG Host Top Sites contests have all moved to http://www.RPGTopSites.com. New and improved with tons of features and new categories. Dungeons & Dragons, D&D 3E and AD&D are all property of Wizards of the Coast.