News Archive #22 May 2001 News from May 2001: May 31, 2001 Reviews: RPG.net has posted reviews of Dungeons (AEG), Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, Madness in Freeport (Green Ronin), To Stand on Hallowed Ground (Fiery Dragon), and Legends & Lairs modules Raid on Tonwell and The Fifth Sepulcher (Fantasy Flight Games). D20 System News: Monte Cook's New Imprint -- Malhavoc Press: DMG author and D&D Third Edition co-designer Monte Cook has established Malhavoc Press, a new publishing company for the D20 System. Monte will be publishing electronic-only products, starting with The Book of Eldritch Magic, a 36-page .pdf file that sells for $5 and is available now. You can read more about the company and Monte's plans here. Atlas Games has announced on their Feng Shui Noticeboard that they have contracted Robin Laws (Feng Shui's author and frequent Dragon contributor) to write a D20/Feng Shui crossover scenario. It will apparently include dual stat blocks for both games. Atlas is aiming to have this out at the same time the Oriental Adventures sourcebook hits the stores in the fall. (thanks to Dave and Christopher for the scoop) Fantasy Flight Games is apparently going to publish Mythic Races, a hardcover book with "30 new cultures, races, and classes for character creation, describing their history myths, gods, special feats, equipment, and new prestige classes." Releases in August. (thanks to Sean A. Veira for the scoop) New in the Conversion Library: Adventures -- The Accursed Tower; Classes -- Archer and Swashbuckler prestige classes; Dragonlance -- Dragonlance characters; plus updates to a few files. Message Board Roundup: Seems like we haven't done this in a while... Sean Renyolds on the official Forgotten Realms boards: on the new FR map: The new map has been altered to allow for curvature of the planet, and to allow us to scale things somewhat better (the shape of Faerun is such that fitting the old version on a poster map, including chult, resulted in about 1/4 of the map being nothing but water ... by trimming some out of the Shaar we were able shift Chult up slightly which allowed us to get the map we have now, which doesn't waste so much print space on empty water). The new map is correct and what we're using from now on. on the Beast of Xvim: ...they now exist as "beasts of Bane," with the same power. on some FR monsters not in FRCS responding to a misprint in Dragon #281: The character should not have those spells. The feat and the prestige class do not grant access to [darkness] spells from other class lists. on subrace favored class: (Sub-race: favored class). Moon Elf: Wizard. Sun Elf: Wizard. Wild Elf: Sorcerer. Wood Elf: Ranger. Drow, Female: Cleric. Drow, Male: Wizard. on archmage/heirophant and the Livingcity guidelines: Rich [Baker] changed the archmage to make it more archmage-ee, and left the hierophant alone to make the two classes more different. on raise dead and faith in realms: 1) In FR, _all_ of the gods have walked the earth as recently as 14 years ago. Anyone in Faerun who doesn't believe in the gods is an idiot. 2) We wanted to reflect the active involvement of the deities and their reliance upon worshippers. 3) We already have a precedent of what happens to the Faithless and the False. We implemented it. 4) We allow several outs. First is the 1d10 day "grace period." Second is the character's option to choose a patron at death. Third is that wish or miracle will always restore the character to life despite the lack of a patron. Rich Baker on the new FR Map: We changed the map for one reason: To deliver the best value for the money.... it was all about showing the best, most detailed map of Faerun we could show. We opted to redraw the map and execute some changes to parts of the geography we didn't think people were using much in order to make the rest of the map as good-looking and DM-friendly as possible. Scoopers: Charwoman Gene, The Shadow of My Former Self, Dorain. Official Website Updates: What's new at WotC? Forgotten Realms character Elaith "The Serpent" Craulnober is previewed. A neat overview of the process of designing the maps for the FR setting. A new Map-A-Week. Scoopers: Jerre, Angelsboi. May 30, 2001 Rules Clarifications: Here's a smattering of rules-related news... In the FR book the cleric spell Anyspell lets a cleric cast an Arcane spell, but it says, "When you cast the Arcane spell it works just as though cast by a wizard." Does that mean you suffer the same chance of Arcane Spell Failure as a wizard does when wearing armor? Yes, it does. (Source: WotC Customer Service; scooper: Gerard) Can Spell Immunity be used to make one immune to psionic attack modes? Spell Immuntiy affects spells, not psionic powers. Otherwise, just use the power's level. "Levels" for attack modes are: Mind Thrust: 1 Ego Whip: 2 Id Insinuation: 2 Psychic Crush: 3 Mind Blast: 5 (Source: Skip Williams; scooper: Scot) How long does the deafness caused by a Thunderstone last? Permanent until cured. (Source: Skip Williams; scooper: Oren Douek) RPGA Events at GenCon -- Schedule Corrections: Piratecat sends along this information from Michelle Sharp about RPGA events running at GenCon this year: ...there are essentially a few errors in the pre-reg book. ... Here are the errors: Primary errors surround the LC Benefit. Note that the LC Benefit WILL run slots 1, 4, 6, and 12 not slots 1, 3, 7 and 11 as listed in the pre-reg book. Another error is the LC Feature. The first round of the LC feature WILL NOT run slot 7 or 9. All sessions of round 1 run on Thursday. Piratecat himself also notes that the National Championship event has been cancelled. Community News: Codex of D&D 3E is a D&D resource site; chief features include indexes of feats, spells, skills, non-magical equipment, magic items, etc. Claudio Pozas has updated his art gallery with two new illustrations -- half-elf cleric and half-elf rogue. Tuskgate is a D&D resource site that includes new feats, spells, and prestige classes. Updates at Palaestra (new feats, new house rules), 3oni.com (feat, class and skill indexes updated for Touched by the Gods from Atlas Games), James Wyatt's site (new mailing list to announce updates to the site; updates to his Petroyeska campaign including class and race info), and Community3e (new e-zine online). D20 System News: Touched by the Gods, a D20 System hardcover book of cults and cabals, has shipped to distributors and should be in stores soon, according to the Atlas Games website. You can vote for which monsters from Sword & Sorcery's Creature Collection you'd most like to see as a miniature at their website. From Privateer Press: "The Witchfire Trilogy Part 2: Shadow of the Exile is off to the printer! It will be a 64p book, just like the first one, and the price is still $9.95. The book looks amazing; somehow the art is twice as good as the first book... Matt Wilson and Brian Snoddy outdid themselves. We think you'll all be very happy when you get the book in mid/late June. (D20Reviews.com will be doing a preview of the book, their laser-printed copy went in the mail today.)" You can also find a new Shadow of the Exile wallpaper on their downloads page as well as information on how to join a mailing list for Privateer Press. Updates to the D20 System Guide, particularly some delayed release dates for Chaosium's Slaves of Fate (now July-ish) and Nightshift Games offerings (June release for Blackwater and late July for Black Powder Gods), as well as new products announced from Citizen Games. Twentysides.com has posted a tidbit on the new D20 System magazine, Gaming Frontiers. Scoopers: Pelosan Emperor, Forge, Greg, Lurker in Shadows. Reviews: AtFantasy.com has posted a review of the first Kingdoms of Kalamar adventure, The Root of All Evil. (thanks to Todd Antill for the scoop) Twentysides.com has posted reviews of the Psionics Handbook and Kingdoms of Kalamar. MonteCook.com has posted a review of the Freeport adventures from Green Ronin Publishing. (thanks to Neo, Jerre and Oren Douek for the scoop) RPG.net has posted reviews of The Witchfire Trilogy I: The Longest Night (Privateer Press), The Tide of Years (Atlas Games), and To Stand On Hallowed Ground (Fiery Dragon). (thanks to Oren Douek for the scoop) May 29, 2001 Community News: Overseer 3D team announced upcoming release of their new City Overseer 3D title. Now authors can participate in the Open City initiative to publish their 3D adventurers in a new digital format. Updates at Defenders of the Muse (new prestige class, new artifacts), Scott Metzger's Free Adventures Sysnopsis page (nine new entries), Big List Of Feats And Their Respective Rulings (Sword & Fist errata, metamagic feats clarified), and OmegaOdd's Random d20 (new review). Official Website Updates: What's new at WotC? Message Board Prestige Class Contest winners announced. The winners were Scarecrow, Scarlet Squirrel, and Long-Blade. Chapter 4 of this month's Cliffhanger Adventure. Scoopers: S. Rex, Angelsboi. German PHB Soon: After a 9-month delay, Amigo Spiele in Germany reports that the German version of the 3E PHB has at last gone to the printer and should be on the store shelves in early July. Amigo's report, in German, can be found here. (thanks to Mark Oliva for the scoop) Kalamar Errata: Here's an official correction to the Kindgoms of Kalamar book: Kingdoms of Kalamar core setting, p91 This information goes in the section for Cities of the Elos Desert/Alnarma/Temples where the text says "(detail priests as well)" Alnarma's Clerics Subjugator Seldril Mindreb of the Temple of the Overlord is one of Pel Brolenon's principal agents in this "independent" city. The cleric spends little time performing religious duties. He occupies the late morning giving orders in the form of polite requests (followed by reminders of size of the Brolenese fleet) to Shiseth and Rulam, the militia commander. After an hour or two of arguably challenging work, he retires to the slave market, where he perpetually seeks new domestic slaves to replace the ones he knows will bore him soon. The temple's real work (and the actual trusted agent of the Theocrat) is under the guiding hand of Slave Master Herasten Dobril. Herasten is a master actor, subservient with his senior, loyal to the Theocrat, and fiery and demanding with the faith's followers. His orations are thundering blasts that motivate even the most placid listener into ardent worship. His followers are very dedicated, and they provide him with news, contacts, and resources from throughout the city. Seldril Mindreb LE Brandobian Cleric 7 Herasten Dobril LE Brandobian Cleric 9 D20 System News: Read up on the core classes in Traveller D20 at the Traveller RPG website. (thanks to Ronaldo for the scoop) OmegaOdd's Random d20 has reviewed To Stand on Hallowed Ground (Fiery Dragon). From Mystic Eye Games: The next free monster is up for download. It is called the Dream Elemental and we think you will love it. Our web enhancements for The Pit of Loch-Durnan Continue with a new item titled "The Denizens of Loch-Durnan". Vol 1 features a few of the inhabitants in much more detail and with color illustrations. In addition, there is also a small bit of errata. There will be more volumes of this that will continue to add depth to the local populace. This will allow DM's to continue to use the area of Loch-Durnan regularly. On a final note, we will be adjusting our release schedule a bit. I believe we are starting to get the hang of the time frames we need to complete a project. We are back to releasing Mystic Warriors next, in July with our core book to be released now in August. We are planning to follow that up with Nightmares & Dreams II! May 28, 2001 Prestige Class Contest Delay Explained: You might recall that WizOs from the WotC message board community were running a prestige class contest on their boards shortly before they melted down late this winter. And you may realize that the contest has been over for some time but no results have been announced. So is it a conspiracy? Not exactly. There are good reasons, as explained in this thread by "WotC_Mel" (thanks to S. Rex for the scoop): The games that get run on boards and chat are all put on by volunteers (WizOs) who moderate these community elements. Things like Totally Twisted Trivia, UnCon, Boards Contests, In-character contests. All of it gets made up by and executed by volunteers who do it for the entertainment of the people who hang out in these places. ...WizO Roc and the boards team NEVER expected to have so many entries on this contest. When our last board exploded ... we had low to moderate traffic. Moving them to a much more accessible and public format has tripled this traffic. So, the team has had much more to monitor, the contest was bigger than anticipated, and once again, they are volunteers doing this once they get home from work, after dinner, and before bed. So cut them a break. Please. Going forward I will ask the volunteers to please allocate resources to handle things more efficently or else not run things like this. But this contest was started when we had a much smaller readership and the boards had adequate volunteers to moderate them all. I hope you can appreciate that without it being a conspiracy or even symptomatic of Wizards as a corporate whole. D20 System News: AEG is apparently putting together another non-fantasy D20 System game. Series Archer is a spy game apparently due fourth quarter this year. You can preview two classes and listen to a radio drama related to the game at their website. (Thanks to Nick Lalone of RPGNews.com for the scoop) From Mongoose Publishing: As always, things are proceeding apace here at Mongoose Publishing. First off, you can now see the preview of the front cover artwork for the Slayer's Guide to Centaurs on our web site. The Slayer's Guide to Hobgoblins will be in the shops within Europe and the UK from tomorrow onwards, with the Slayer's Guide to Gnolls following exactly one month after. If you are in the US, it is just one month more to go to Mongoose's entry to your part of the market, but fear not - after the Slayer's Guide to Hobgoblins, you will be getting the Slayer's Guides to Gnolls and Centaurs in the same month! (thanks to Jerre for the scoop) Pen & Paper has posted an interview with Doug Herring of Mystic Eye Games. Doug tells about The Hunt: Rise of Evil setting, and gives some details on their d20 System adventure, The Pit of Loch-Durnan. Paradigm Concepts has sent along cover art from The Bloody Sands of Sicarus, which they aim to ship in about three weeks. Community News: Gaming Report has posted some photos from the WotC Forgotten Realms Release Party held last Friday near Seattle. Árnyvilág is a Hungarian D&D resource site. At least, I assume it is. :) Gates of Mhelliviene is a Birthright site with a mix of 2E and 3E resources. Updates at Palaestra (new feats and art), 3oni.com (feat and prestige class indexes updated with Forgotten Realms info), SubSe7en's Third Edition (new character tokens). May 25, 2001 Official Website Updates: What's new at WotC? Official errata for Sword & Fist. Peter Adkison at the Celebrity Game Table. Fight Club features a xill monk. Many hands make light work... A new free adventure from Monte Cook: Tower of Deception. Have a Good Weekend! Mom and Dad Noah are coming into town for the long weekend so I doubt I'll be able to post much news until Monday. Have a good one! Reviews: AtFantasy.com has posted a review of To Stand on Hallowed Ground (Fiery Dragon). Illumination, Concealment and Low-Light Vision: When it's dark outside, that darkness may provide concealment. But how dark is dark, and how much concealment is provided, and what if a character has low-light vision? Scooper Shane Henry ran these questions by Skip "The Sage" Willams and came up with a little summary that Skip calls "good enough to steal." Full, Gibbous, or Half Moon + Clear Sky = 0% Miss Chance Full, Gibbous, or Half Moon + Overcast Sky = 'Moderate Darkness'; 10% Miss Chance (0% with LLV) Crescent Moon (whether Clear or Overcast) = 'Moderate Darkness'; 10% Miss Chance (0% with LLV) New Moon or Before Moonrise (whether Clear or Overcast) = 'Near Total Darkness'; 40% Miss Chance (20% with LLV) D20 System News: Authors and Artists Sought: SkeletonKey Games is currently looking for writing and art submissions for a series of upcoming D20 resource books. Please check out our temporary website at www.skeletonkeygames.com for more information. Grymwurld: Grymwurld will be releasing a "Roleplayer's Guide to Grymwurld" for the d20 system on Halloween of this year. Grymwurld has been around for more than 23 years and has been described as 'a cross between Pendragon and Ravenloft." More information can be found at http://www.grymwurld.com/. I've made some adjustments to release dates for products from Mongoose and AEG. Of particular note is word from AEG's customer service, indicating that the Farscape D20 game has been pushed back until September/October. (thanks to John and Craig for the scoops) Community News: RPG.net has posted part 3 of an interview with Gary Gygax. (thanks to Polo for the scoop) Peter's Guide to Map Creation explains drawing and computer manipulation techiniques for making fantasy RPG maps. Do you use the mapper AutoREALM? You might want to join the AutoREALM discussion group. A related announcement: "...we are currently in search of Delphi programmers to upgrade it whithin a GNU community." Updates at The Burnt World of Athas (monster previews, call for artists and programmers, new poll), Eyru (new feats), Rasta's Folly (new feats, new skill), PS3E (adventure contest results posted), and The Shards (new prestige classes, Wild Spellcaster template, campaign information, poll). New in the Conversion Library: Adventures -- Secret of the Slavers Stockade (module A2) and Night of the Vampire; Monsters -- demon lords; Monster Collections -- added link to Vulcano's Reach. Plus updates to several files. Poll: Most of you (45%) want to pick up the Forgotten Realms setting right away, though some of you (16%) find the price to be a barrier to immediate acquisition. Many of you (20%) will not be buying the book at all. And some of you (13%) will wait to read reviews. See complete results in the poll archive. The new poll asks about D20 System products. Rather than asking, "What is there too much of?" I'm going the other way: What is there not enough of? If you select "Something Else," feel free to mention what in this thread on my message board. May 24, 2001 FR Release Situation Update: I've received several reports of game shops that are now going to be able to sell the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting starting tomorrow (May 25). Apparently WotC and distributors have been working hard to make sure that stores get their supplies in time for this weekend. Still, it's always a good idea to phone ahead, as some still likely won't have the book but some will. Even if you called your favorite store yesterday you might want to call again today -- a lot can change in 24 hours, as we've seen with this situation. Hosted Site News: Claudio Pozas has posted an intriguing look at how he creates his incredible artwork. An update from EN World: We have taken a look at Touched By The Gods by Atlas Games, and interviewed John and Michelle Nephew about the product. We have also looked at Umbragia: Realms of Shadow (Jagged Edge Games) and have interviewed both the designer, KD Ladage, and the artist, Don McInturff. All bugs in the spell submission system have been fixed, and those spells with missing text have been edited thanks to your emails. There is just under one month left of the spell competition, so if you want to get your hands on the entire Freeport Trilogy (the first adventure, Death in Freeport, is a signed copy), remember to enter your spell on our spell submission form before June 15th! You also have until June 15th to enter the Midgard: d20 Adventure Magazine competition for Best Interlude (short adventure). In preparation for our move to RPGPlanet we are rebuilding EN World and adding a few new features. We welcome your ideas and suggestions, and have created a thread here on Eric's message boards for that purpose. We have had 17 publishers so far confirm that they will be entering the EN World d20 System Awards (the ENnies), so it looks like we will have our work cut out for us. The date of the ENnies ceremony itself has been moved forward a few days to avoid a clash with GenCon, and will now be Sunday, July 29th. Make sure you pop into our d20 Publishers Forum, which has been flooded with publishers all willing to answer your questions, drop hints about forthcoming products and respond to your criticisms! D20 System News: From Fiery Dragon: Fiery Dragon now has forums at Sword & Sorcery's website. Fiery Dragon has announced some new products for 2002: January 2002: Counter Collection II - d20 accessory. February 2002: Beyond All Reason - d20 adventure. Written by James Bell & Todd Secord. Cover by Claudio Pozas. April 2002: Revivify the Vivid - d20 adventure. Written by Todd Secord. May 2002: Counter Collection III - d20 accessory. You can take a look at Claudio Pozas' red dragon illustration on Fiery Dragon's site. This comes from Counter Collection I, a product scheduled for September. However, special preview printings of Counter Collection I will be available at GenCon at the Sword & Sorcery booth. If you're a fan of the Star Wars D20 game you will want to drop by SWRPG Network to read an interview with JD Wiker, author of Secrets of Tatooine. From Dark Portal Games: Our first release White Robes, Black Hearts: Enigma of the Arcanexus is coming along nicely. Unfortunately the release date will need to be pushed back until we get our business license sorted out with the state of Alaska. The module is going to be huge. We still haven't compiled the entire thing into the master document, but it is currently over 100 pages in length. This will be reduced once we reduce the font size and do the layout, but people can expect something large, which has been a major undertaking. Despite the sheer volume of material that is going into this it is being playtested and thoroughly edited so that it will be the best product possible. There will be a chapter in the beginning to set the stage, a chapter at the end to wrap things up, and 4 other distinct locations including: a mausoleum, which willl feature some very challenging traps, a temple, some caves, and a very special place unique to Arekoz (and somewhere else). We will be publishing a series of adventures written by Jeff College in the future as well. No decisions have yet been made about the exact date of release, or the price. Finally the question we are asking at our Arekoz website is "What is the Arcanexus?" A picture of it is posted on the right hand side of the screen on the top bar of the Arekoz website. The first one to guess the real world thing that this symbol pertains to (and I'll give you a hint - it has nothing to do with the occult) will win a free copy of White Robes, Black Hearts: Enigma of the Arcanexus once it is available. Pinnacle has posted another "Making of Weird Wars" bit. (thanks to NeghVar for the scoop) Scooper "Dweomer" picked up this list of Weird Wars classes and prestige classes from a discussion list: Classes: Grunt: Your basic enlisted man and the best fighting class. Officer: Officers have a number of special feats available as bonus feats that allow them to give modifiers to Init, Will saves versus fear and suppression, etc. Medic/Nurse: The medic can restore hit points as long as he has access to medical supplies. Pilot: They can fly fighters and/or bombers. Resistance Fighter: Resistance members are good at sneaking around and gathering info. They can also call on their Resistance cell for assistance and equipment. Scout: Good at sneaking around and ambushing people. Help speed overland movement. Prime candidates for the sniper prestige class. Prestige classes: Commando: Good at sneaking and hand-to-hand combat. Sniper: Yes, the sniper has a one shot kill capability. OSI Adept: The OSI (Office of Supernatural Investigations) is an Allied group set up to combat supernatural threats. The adept is a spellcaster that uses the ancient Germanic runes discovered by the Nazis to cast their magic. OSI Chaplain: Similar to the Blessed in Deadlands. They use divine magic to heal and aid others. OSI Operative: Think Bond, James Bond. Reviews: DM's Haven has posted a review of Legends & Lairs Series 2 modules (Fantasy Flight Games). Be sure to look for the second page of the review. RPG.net has posted a review of Slayer's Guide to Hobgoblins (Mongoose). (thanks to Oren Douek for the scoop) Community News: RPG United is an RPG resource site with stuff for AD&D and D&D 3E. Updates at PS3E.com (10 new feats), 3oni.com (updated feat, skill, monster and prestige class indexes with info from Diablo II: Hell and Back, AEG's Dungeons and Dragon #284), Clan of the Tesseract (new poll), Michael's Imagination (Pyromancer prestige class), Spelljammer 3E (new monsters and weapons), Sean Reynold's site (new contest -- win an autographed adventure), Scoopers: Pat. May 23, 2001 D20 System News: Updates to the D20 System Guide, including a new adventure listed for Atlas Games and some adjustments to release dates for Fiery Dragon Productions. Atlas Games has an official forum for discussing Penumbra, their D20 System line of products. There, you can find a teaser for Touched by the Gods -- a new monster template called Child of the Root. According to a report at ICV2.com, United Playtest, Inc. will publish a bi-monthly D20 System magazine, tentatively titled Gaming Frontier. The first issue is slated for December, but a short preview issue will be distributed free at Gen Con. Troll Lord Games has sent an image of the cover of Felsentheim: Dogs of War, a D20 System adventure slated for June. Click here to view it. 0one Roleplaying Games has posted a preview of the cover for their forthcoming adventure, The Andwan Legacy. Twentysides.com has posted two interviews of interest -- one with James Bell regarding the Fiery Dragon/Sword & Sorcery deal, the other with Jon Leitheusser of Corsair Publishing regarding Campaign Magazine. Scrollworks issue13 is in the mail. "This month's issue features the usual columns jammed with such crunchy bits as NPCs, magic items, random tables, a cardboard prop for your sci-fi/modern games, commentary, reviews, and more." Scoopers: Daniel Thingvold, nick, Oren Douek. Autographed FR Book: Want to buy a limited edition of the FR Campaign Setting book signed by Ed Greenwood, Sean Reynolds, Skip Williams and Rob Heinsoo? You can sign up to be notified when the WotC online store has these available for sale. (thanks to Brett and Skaven and of course Pat for the scoop) Forgotten Realms Delay? Since last night I've been hearing all sorts of rumors of a slight delay with the sales of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting book by some stores. And indeed, my very own local gaming shop just this morning informed me that the date has been "pushed back" until Monday, May 29th. Of course, we all know how well-informed most game shop employees are. ;-) So what's the truth? Here's WotC's tabletop RPG business manager Anthony Valterra with the scoop: Our original ship schedule (we do not have release dates) would have put the product in the hands of the retailers during the last week of May (5/29-6/1). This is earleir than our original date of June 2nd. Due to a whole host of issues, one of which was a desire on the part of retailers to have the product for the Memorial Day weekend, we pushed very hard to see if it was possible to get the product to all retailers by Friday the 25th. As of this morning I was told it is doable and we are moving forward with that plan. So the upshot is that by the time you read this, we should have informed all distributors that the product is available for them to ship to accounts in time for Friday and we will have started shipping all of our direct accounts so that they can have it on Friday. So what does this mean? It apparently means that some places very well could have it in stock by Friday. Some might not, however. Here's my advice: phone first before rushing out to your local shop. Official Website Updates: What's new at WotC? New Forgotten Realms info, including a look at Mirt the Moneylender and more Geography stuff. Cliffhanger chapter 3 has been posted. Temple of Elemental Evil web quiz. New PC Portraits. Scoopers: Brett, Angelsboi, Hamar, Jim Sales, Nick, Egarthen, The shadow of my former self. May 22, 2001 ESD Program to Resume Under Butler: Posted to WIZINFO-L by WotC's Julia Martin was this encouraging note regarding the ESD program: Wizards of the Coast has recently signed a deal with Jim Butler to have him continue the ESD program that he started while he was here. You should start see additional ESD materials available in June. A schedule will soon be released that covers the specifics of when you should see the products at the online store, but presented below is a list of products you should see over the coming year. [followed by a list of over 600 items ranging from the 1E PHB, MM and DMG to Planescape, Ravenloft, 1st edition modules, and lots more.] Is this list complete? No, there are still products that are not on the schedule that need to be scanned. We'll have to get to those next year. In addition, there might be changes to this schedule if anything glaring has been missed. If you have questions about the ESD program, please contact Jim Butler. Schedules and other information will be available at the Wizards of the Coast and Bastion Press websites. For those who don't know, ESDs (Electronic Software Downloads) are a fancy way of saying "Old D&D stuff scanned and in PDF format for sale at store.wizards.com." (thanks to Pat and Mike for the scoop) D20 System News: Sword & Sorcery to Publish Fiery Dragon's D20 Products: As noted in this press release, Sword & Sorcery Studios will be publishing future D20 System products created by Fiery Dragon Productions. Its initial release under the Swords & Sorcery banner, Nature's Fury, will be available in mid-August, followed by Counter Collection I: The Usual Suspects, The Giant's Skull, and Gates of Oblivion. Sword & Sorcery currently publishes its own line of D20 products (Scarred Lands setting materials including Relics & Rituals) and those of Necromancer Games (Crucible of Freya, etc.). Sword & Sorcery are in turn a division of White Wolf, whose ArtHaus imprint will be publishing the Ravenloft D20 setting licensed from WotC this fall. Necromancer Games has a new page for the forthcoming products of Rob Kuntz. There you can download a .pdf of the original tournament module from days gone by, To the City of Brass. It should be noted that "this competition module is not an "introduction" for the City of Brass modules that Mr. Kuntz will be producing for Necromancer. It is provided here solely to give all of you a taste of Rob's 'First Edition Feel.'" (thanks to Daemonic Tutor for the scoop) I reported recently on a D20 Product called Dungeons from AEG that had kind of flown under the radar and is already on shelves without much fanfare. Turns out the company has a couple of other "stealth products" on the horizon (thanks to David Lawson for the scoop): Evil ($19.95): It's good to be bad! This 128-page D20 System sourcebook has everything you need to run and develop evil alligned characters and campaigns, plus rules for new prestige classes, spells, clerical domains, and demon summoning. Release Date: July, 2001. Dragons ($24.95): The king of all fantasy beasts makes his triumphant appearance in this mammoth, 196-page addition to the D20 System core line, incorporating rules for dragon hunters, dragon riders, aerial combat, new dragons, and thoroughly re-defining the ten major dragons that started it all. Release Date: September, 2001. Eden Studios has added two new products to their D20 lineup: Waysides: The Book of Taverns ($25.00, Fall 2001): The Book of Taverns presents over 30 detailed inns and taverns ready to drop into your campaign world. Everything from the smallest hostel, to massive hotels with over 100 rooms! Each tavern comes complete with: Detailed floor plans of every inn; NPC stats for the owners, operators and frequent customers; Menus and prices for all available good and services; Adventure hooks for each inn and tavern; A short discussion of the local culture, be it European, Viking, Arab or something more exotic. Fields of Blood: The Book of War ($25.00, Fall 2001): The Book of War provides everything you need to rule a nation, raise an army, and assault your enemies on the battlefield. With rules governing anything from small keeps to vast nations, your character can now be a hero both in the dungeon and on the battlefield. Fields of Blood: The Book of War is totally scalable to suit your campaign Inside you will find: A complete set of detailed wargame rules based on the d20 system mechanic to resolve combat at any scale. Rules for leading troops. Anything from a small squad of men to an army of thousands! Rules for governing. Everything from the cost of building and maintaining a small keep, to taxing a nation of millions. Rules for NPC nations allowing GMs to run several dozen opposing realms at a time. Leadership rules for every class, using your character's strengths to lead an army. Rules for using miniatures, or tracking the battles on a simple map. New prestige classes for every character type, designed for use with this system. Eagle-eyed scooper Scott Payne spotted an ad for Namsco, an Asian themed D20 System setting. He scanned a flyer with some details and points out that they have a website, which only announces "Coming Summer 2001." The four latest Adventure Keep modules from AEG have arrived in some stores. They include Princes, Theives and Goblins, The Illusionist's Daughter, Temple of the Iron Codex and Dawn of the Serpent. (thanks to Dan for the scoop) Viking Press announced in this press release that they've revised their release schedule. Gaming Survey at Gygax.com: Gary Gygax is helping a friend by hosting a gaming-related survey for her so she can gather data for some academic research. If you've got a few minutes, why not stop by and see if you can help? Think of all Gary's done for you! :-) Kezner's Root: Here's Mark Plemmons of Kenzer & Co.: ...the first Kingdoms of Kalamar module, Root of All Evil, is off the presses and is being shipped to distributors this week. Distributors should be receiving their copies early next week. Root of All Evil is a 64 page module, retailing for $12.99. Of the 64-page total, 48 pages contain the adventure details, NPC statistics, encounter tables, etc. The remaining 16 pages, as well as the inside covers, contain DM maps and player handouts, and includes the Kingdoms of Kalamar's own 'ImageQuest Adventure Illustrator.' This section is designed for use by the GameMaster during play. The adventure text prompts the GM as to the precise time that each illustration (scenes from the player's point of view) should be displayed. Mark was kind enough to pass along three sample images (the first you can see above, here are the second and third). Reviews: RPGAction has posted a review of Dragon Lords of Melnibone (Chaosium). A huge load of reviews at RPG.net, including those for... Adventure Keep: The Crypt of St. Bethesda (AEG) Adventure Keep: Out of Body, Out of Mind (AEG) Adventure Keep: Jerimond's Orb (AEG) Adventure Keep: Kurishan's Garden (AEG) Diablo II: To Hell and Back (WotC) The Speaker in Dreams (WotC) The Standing Stone (WotC) The Horror Beneath (Nightshift Games) The Witchfire Trilogy: Book One -- The Longest Night (Privateer Press) Galal's Grave (Fiend Games) In the Belly of the Beast (Atlas Games) The Tide of Years (Atlas Games) A Lion in the Ropes (Troll Lord Games) Thieves in the Forest (Atlas Games) The Forge of Fury (WotC) D&D Gazetteer (WotC) The Malady of Kings (Troll Lord Games) The Mortality of Green (Troll Lord Games) Thanks to Oren Douek for the scoop. May 21, 2001 D20 System News: Scooper Oren Douek spotted a description of the second adventure for Chaosium's Dragonlords of Melnibone, expected to release in July: STRAITS OF CHAOS. A D20 adventure on the high seas for levels 3-6. $8.95, 32 pages. Written by Shawn Havranek. The seas of the Young Kingdoms are fraught with peril. Some waters are more dangerous than others though all captains avoid the Straits of Chaos. Strange sea beasts, wild magics, and Dharijorian pirates plague the narrow strait and the weather can change from calm to storm within a drumbeat; but when Melnibonean warships are closing in even the bravest sailor may see the murderous straits as the lesser evil -- our heroes soon find themselves in terrible peril. Appendix includes new prestige classes, spells, and monsters. Word from Mystic Eye Games is that their first published D20 System adventure, The Pit of Loch-Durnan, has shipped and should be on shelves late this week. Web-enhancements for this adventure will be posted soon. Their monster book, Nightmares & Dreams, has gone to the printers. New free monsters will be posted to the website once a week for the next three weeks (a new one went up today). Curious how the D20 Ravenloft campaign setting is coming along? Read this progress report posted at Kargatane, the official home of Ravenloft on the web. (thanks to Angelsboi for the scoop) Community News: MonteCook.com has been updated with a FAQ about magic item creation and pricing, character information from his Ptolus campaign, and other stuff. (thanks to Oren Douek for the scoop) Bruce Cordell's site has been updated with an Excel character sheet he used while 3E was in development; it is filled in with the stats for a character he plays in Monte Cook's Ptolus campaign. (thanks to Oren Douek for the scoop) Scott Metzger has created a guide to all of the free D&D and D20 adventures he could find online, complete with synopsis and link. Some of them come from my site (conversions or the adventure contest), others from WotC's site, and the rest are from other sources. RPG.net has posted the second of a three-part interview with Gary Gygax. (thanks to Doc_Klueless for the scoop) Montreal RPG Hub is an RPG site with D&D campaign material and resources. Updates at Vincent Darlage's Conan D20 site (new NPC and monster), SubSe7en's 3rd Edition (new prestige classes), and DnD-es (new Spanish-language version of The Dragonlance Nexus called Nexo Dragonlance). Reviews: RPG.net has posted a review of The Malady of Kings (Troll Lord Games). (Thanks to Oren Douek for the scoop.) Role-Play News has posted a review of Defenders of the Faith. The SWRPG Network has posted a review of Secrets of Tatooine for D20 Star Wars. May 19, 2001 Forgotten Realms Launch Event: I normally don't post whole "press releases" but I figured some might want to see this one: WIZARDS OF THE COAST STORE HOSTS AWARD-WINNING GAME DEVELOPERS TO CELEBRATE LAUNCH OF LATEST DUNGEONS & DRAGONS CAMPAIGN SETTING WHAT: Roleplaying adventure game leader, Wizards of the Coast is hosting the Forgotten Realms Launch Party to mark the public debut of the new Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. Ed Greenwood, the creator of the Forgotten Realms world, and Rob Heinsoo, Sean Reynolds and Skip Williams designers of the campaign, will all be present to meet and mingle with game fans. The event is free of charge and open to the public. WHERE: Wizards of the Coast retail store Southcenter Mall 633 Southcenter Mall Tukwila, Wash. WHEN: Friday, May 25 5-7 p.m. MEDIA CONTACT: Vera Chen, Wizards of the Coast, (425) 204-5866. D20 System News: Fantasy Flight Games has posted some info-bits and illustrations from their forthcoming Traps & Treachery hardcover. AEG is apparently releasing a new D20 System product called Dungeons this week (one scooper has actually spotted it in a store). This one has flown under the radar, so much so that I can't even find a mention of it on their website. In any case, distributor info says, "Dungeons - $19.95 - this is a 120 page D20 System accessory designed to help you construct dungeons for your campaign." The scooper who spotted it in a store describes it as "a sort of survival guide for DMs and players, giving tips on how to build good dungeons, traps etc. for DMs and how to survive them for players. Also includes some new prestige classes, spells and magic items." (thanks to DMJeff, Greg, and Dan for the scoops) The Traveller D20 core rulebook will be written by Martin J. Dougherty, according to info posted on the Traveller RPG website. (thanks to The Shoveller for the scoop) May 18, 2001 D20 System News: Here's Green Ronin's Chris Pramas: Next month Green Ronin Publishing unleashes Legions of Hell, a d20 System Monster Compendium from the author of the AD&D Guide to Hell. Right now you can download a PDF preview of Legions of Hell, with complete stats and art for three nasty devils, from the Green Ronin website. Point your browser to www.greenronin.com, and don't mind the brimstone! New details on the Making of Weird Wars have been spotted at Pinnacle's website. (thanks to NeghVar for the scoop) According to this message posted by Edwyn Kumar of Columbia Games, "HarnWorld is supporting HarnMaster and d20 in all future publications, so the largest number of GMs and players can utilize the setting with the least amount of effort. Coming up next month is a 48 page location and adventure supplement detailing the trade outpost of "Trobridge Inn". The book is designed to allow both long time Harn gamers and new players alike to jumpstart Harn based campaigns and adventures. Included are magnificent full color maps, brand new artwork, and a fully realized NPC cast. The book appendix has all necessary HarnMaster and d20 stats for characters, creatures and spells." New in the Conversion Library: Classes -- Ranger and Paladin variants; Oriental Adventures -- Blademaster; Planescape -- Faction Prestige Classes; Rules -- Subabilities; Non-D&D -- Alternity to D20; Monsters -- Frost man and hyenodon. Official Website Updates: What's new at WotC? New Map-A-Week. A new Character Close-up. GenCon Preregistration info. Scoopers: Jerre, Alexander, Wraethu, Deadguy, forvalaka. Community News: World of Tarah is a D&D campaign site. The Empire of RPG is a D&D resource site, including a Videogame d20 section dealing with converting computer game stuff to pen-and-paper stuff. The Living Web is now accepting new players. Living Web is an online Forgotten Realms gaming community, much like Living City or Living Greyhawk, but free and open to non-RPGA members. Updates at ThirdEdition.net (new automated artwork submission system, new fan-submitted files), Defenders of the Muse (new setting material), James Wyatt's site (updates to Forghul campaign), Michael's Imagination (new Bluff/Intimidate skill rules), Sundered Sky (updated campaign, race and NPC information) May 17, 2001 D20 System News: Rob Kuntz, formerly of TSR Inc. and one of the "D&D originals," will publish fantasy D20 adventures under the Necromancer Games and Sword and Sorcery imprints. On deck are Kuntz's Maze of Zayene adventure series and his City of Brass series, "an epic set of adventures in the elemental planes of fire and ice, revolving around the occupants of the fabled City of Brass and embroiling the players in the struggles of the lords of the elemental realms." Check out the Necromancer Games website for the full press release, and my exclusive interview with Rob Kuntz from a couple of weeks ago. (thanks to many, many scoopers) Necromancer Games has also posted a web supplement for their Crucible of Freya adventure. (thanks again many scoopers) Paradigm Concepts has brought some freelance talent aboard to contribute to upcoming Arcanis releases. "Matt Forbeck of Deadlands and Brave New World fame, Shawn Havranek a regular Steve Jackson Games contributor and William Simoni author of Madness in Freeport have all agreed to provide material for the upcoming Codex Arcanis; these gentlemen join the Paradigm Creative team including Jarad Fennell and Scott Charleton, authors of the Canceri Chronicles and the Coryani Chronicles respectively. Codex Arcanis will be released in August of 2001." Fiery Dragon Productions has posted a couple new pieces of Claudio Pozas' art -- a minotaur and an ice mephit -- on their website as teasers for their upcoming counters product. Go, Claudio, go! Scooper "Forge" says there's some discussion about the potential product lineup for 2002 from Sword & Sorcery Studios on their forums. Tentatively, they hope to release Hornsaw: Forest of Blood, Calastia: Throne of the Black Dragon, Relics and Rituals 2, Scarred Lands Gazetteer: Termana, Scarred Lands: Ghelspad (hardcover world book), The Penumbral Pentagon, and Burok Torn: City under Siege. Plus, they're looking for input on other possible releases, so stop by if you want to have your say. May 16, 2001 GenCon Registration: A few items of note that appeared on GCOUPDATE-L (thanks to Pat for the scoop): Gen Con Goes Real: June 5th will be the start of a new era for Gen Con event registration. Beginning June 5th, we will offer real time registration for Gen Con online. No more waiting to find out if the event you really want is available. No more waiting two to three weeks to receive confirmation in the mail. You will know right away which events are available and you will receive immediate email confirmation. We are launching real time registration for Gen Con in cooperation with the Wizards of the Coast Online Store. This has been a big project for us, but we are confident that it will be worth it. Unfortunately, we will not be able to provide online event registration for Gen Con before June 5th. If you really want certain events, you can still mail or fax your event registration to us. Special Offer: For those of you who decide to purchase Gen Con registrations or events through the web site on or after June 5th, we will be offering a $5 gift certificate for purchases of $50 or more (in Gen Con registrations or events). Check out the details on June 5th at http://www.GenConGameFair.com. The Book: The Gen Con preregistration books mailed May 1st. The books do take two to three weeks to reach most mailboxes. If you have not received a book by May 25th, please send your full name and address to evtcustserv@wizards.com. Please state that you need a Gen Con book in the message. Realmswatch: New Forgotten Realms tidbits on the WotC site, including a look at Waterdeep and a further look at the setting's geography. (thanks to Brett for the scoop) Reviews: RPGAction has posted a review of Defenders of the Faith. Community News: Clan of the Tesseract is a Neverwinter Nights and D&D site. They plan to produce modules for the NWN computer game and accompanying materials suitable playing those adventures at the table. Updates at Nyambe d20 (African-style magic items, suggested reading, and a FAQ), Luthyr's d20 Warhammer site (new monsters, prestige classes, equipment, spells), Loremaster.net (updates to the multiclass calculator), Palaestra (house rules, new magic items and domains). D20 System News: Shadowlands, the free D20 System setting from Jagged Edge Games and hosted by EN World, has been renamed Umbragia: Realms of Shadow. The new D20 System Publishers forum has been a great success thus far. We've had posts from Green Ronin (Chris Pramas explains how the evil outsiders in the upcoming Legions of Hell differ from the demons and devils of the Monster Manual), Fiery Dragon, 7 Skulls Gaming, Mongoose Publishing, Privateer Press, Mystic Eye Games, Troll Lord Games, Paradigm Concepts, 0one Roleplaying Games, and OtherWorld Creations in the few days that the forum has been open. If you have a question or comment, drop it off here. Paradigm Concepts sent along cover art for their next "Canceri Chronicles" adventure, Fires of Insurrection. Guildhouse Games is a new D20 System publisher, with two inexpensive "comic book size" adventures due in early July. Check out their website for more details. 7 Skulls Gaming is a new D20 System publisher, featuring Battle Fleet, a near-future naval warfare game, and Drak, a fantasy campaign setting. Check out their website for more details. Want more info on the Farscape RPG coming from AEG this summer? This interview Ken Carpenter spills some beans. (thanks to Chris for the scoop) Feel the need to discuss the D20 System? You can join a new unofficial D20 System discussion group. May 15, 2001 Community News: MIDGARD is holding a contest for best "Interlude" short adventure (less than 2500 words). All submissions will be considered for publication, but the winner will receive copies of The Upside Down Tower and its sequel, Evil In The Heart, both published by Ubicorm IAC Game Company. The submission deadline is midnight June 15th. Submissions can be made to midgard@rpg-e.com. A'drakon is a D&D campaign site. Updates at Ps3E.com (new weapons, armor, artifacts, etc.), Big List of Feats (updates to Sword & Fist feat clarifications/corrections), and MonteCook.com (corrections made to variant ranger .pdf). Dragon #284: The 25th Anniversary issue of Dragon Magazine (June 2001) arrived in my mail today. Let's see what's inside, shall we? Bonus CD-ROM: We've already had a report on what this CD contains (check out the May 6th news for details). What I didn't know (and shame on all of you who didn't tell me) is that it's RPG Planet's very own Jamis Buck's Random Dungeon Generator that is provided on the CD! Congratulations to Jamis! Very exciting! This Month's Theme--Dragons: "Scale & Claw" is a guide to half-dragons, mostly as NPCs. "Draconian Tactics" is a strategy guide for DMs who want their chromatic dragons to be more effective in combat against the PCs. "Dragontongue" is a guide to the Draconic language, complete with lexicon. "Run for Your Lives" provides tips for DMs wanting to use dragons in campaigns. "Class Acts" presents the Dragonkith prestige class, devoted to serving or aiding a particular dragon. "Bestiary" reveals five new dragon-like "drakes." "Bazaar of the Bizarre" showcases new dragon-related magic items. "Vs. Dragons" helps PCs with their dragon-fighting tactics. Countdown to the Realms: It's over, and the Realms are here! (Well almost.) Presented are "ten reasons you'll love the book even if you hate the Realms," a new item (blade boots), the town "stat block" for Silverymoon, and a "by the numbers" list of interesting facts about the book (18 PC race variants, 50 new feats, 38 new spells, etc.). New Regular Features: Campaign Corner: Adventure hooks for different campaign settings (particularly currently "retired" settings like Ravenloft and Dark Sun). This month, we're presented with some handouts (notes, drawings, etc.) accompanied by the adventure hooks. Faiths of Faerun: Rather than relying on prestige classes to do the job, Julia Martin and Eric Haddock present "multiclass paths" and suggested feat progressions to give the feel of "specialty priesthoods" to the clerics of Forgotten Realms gods. This month we're shown a progression for the Magistrati of Azuth (they're cleric/wizards with a little more cleric than wizard toward 20th level), and the Watchers of Helm (they're clerics with a couple of levels of fighter gained early on). Elminster's Guide to the Realms: Ed Greenwood presents notes, NPCs, spells, and maps related to "lost places, familiar haunts, and strange sites in the lands of Faerun." This month it's Mrelgaunt's Turret, a crumbling tower held aloft by magic. Cities for the Ages: Presents history, maps, people, and adventure hooks drawn from historical cities of Earth. This month's installment is a look at 16th-century London. Other Stuff: Spotlight on Phil Foglio; results from Gary Gygax's RPG survey; a handy Skill Synergies reference chart; fiction; role-playing articles including this month's "The DM's Toolbox" by Johnn Four of Roleplaying Tips; Sage Advice; Dungeoncraft; Role Models; PC Portraits; more. Next Month: Secret Life of Halflings; Halfling Spellcasters; Elemental Evil goodies. Reviews: RPG.net has posted a review of The Silver Summoning (Fiery Dragon). The 3rd Edition has posted a review of Witchfire Trilogy I: The Longest Night (Privateer Press). (thanks to Oren Douek for the scoop) Official Website Updates: What's new at WotC? Chapter 2 of the Cliffhanger Adventure from this month. New PC Portraits. Scoopers: Bertman4, Jerre, Wraethu, and Alexander. Oriental Adventures Tidbits: WotC's James Wyatt, author of Oriental Adventures, has posted a page on his personal website describing what's in the book and what sources inspired him. (thanks to Eldar and Masked for the scoop) May 14, 2001 Community News: Vacuum_Elemental has put together a die roll generator for use in chat and bulletin board gaming. "What makes this one special (IMHO) is that it stores all of the rolls in a database. Users can then access a page with their scores and paste hyperlinks to specific roles onto their chat and bulletin board games. The site takes a minute to load but once you are connected it works great. Its all done on the server so you don't need to download anything." Netbook of Creatures 003: "Version 003 of The DND Community Council's Encyclopedia of Lifeforms Mundane and Magical (the Netbook of Creatures) has been released. This is a monstrous 350+ page PDF document with new cover art and some interior artwork. A special thanks goes to Encyclopedia Team Member Scott Greene (whose Creature Catalog is hosted by Eric Noah) for generously allowing the Encyclopedia to include his conversions." d20modules.com is a D20 System resource site with new house rules, prestige classes, feats, and spells. Genest - The Dark Lands is a D&D campaign site. Dragon Wars is a D&D campaign site. Birthright 3rd Edition is a D&D/Birthright resource site. Updates at Community3E (new classes, prestige classes, utilities, and character sheets), SubSe7en's D&D 3rd Edition (Monster Manual monster tokens complete), and Roleplaying World (new generic locations and articles). D20 System News: Claudio Pozas to Illustrate for Fiery Dragon: Check out the beholder illustration on the Fiery Dragon Productions website -- it was done by none other than RPG Planet's very own Claudio Pozas. Fiery Dragon's James Bell says it's from an upcoming product, Counter Collection. He adds that their newest adventure, To Stand on Hallowed Ground, is now available. Mongoose Publishing has added a web supplement for their forthcoming Slayer's Guide to Hobgoblins. "Deathwalkers Warband" is a an evil hobgoblin organization and includes stats for the group's leader. (thanks to Jerre for the scoop) Scrollworks Press will enjoy the skills of Michael Hammes, of Michael's Imagination, as a monthly columnist. May 13, 2001 Poll: Thanks to all of you who helped out this weekend by expressing your opinion on the D20 System forum situation on my message boards. I think we've got a solution that will work. My D20 System forum has been renamed D20 System Games (to focus on stand-alone D20 System games, plus more typical fantasy D20 System products if you'd like), and EN World now has a D20 Publishers forum where you can post your questions and comments about published D20 System products so the publishers can read and respond. (We've already had four publishers stop by in the past few hours!) The new poll concerns the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting book, coming out at the end of next week. Site Updates: I've gone through the D&D Links page and removed a few dead ones. I've also added a D20 Discussion section to my D20 System Guide -- it has links to official and unofficial message boards and other discussion groups related to the D20 System. May 12, 2001 Poll: As you can see in the Poll Archive, the majority of voters want to be rid of hit points entirely for a D20 System game that uses firearms. The next popular choices were "I don't care either way" and "stick with hit points but modify other rules." The current poll concerns my message boards. I've had a D20 System forum for some months now. Should it stay or should it go? GenCon PreReg Book: I got the GenCon 2001 Preregistration Book in the mail today. Here are some things that jumped out at me... D&D Seminars: Faiths of Faerun with Julia Martin Chainmail preview with Chris Pramas (two times) Dungeoncraft with Ray Winninger Mastering Master Tools (three times) Level 21+: Epic D&D (refers to "upcoming products like Deities & Demigods and the Epic Level Handbook") Sage Advice Live with Skip Williams Up on a Soapbox with Gary Gygax Spin a Yarn with Ed Greenwood Planar Preview (previews Manual of the Planes) Oriental Adventures Returns Reinventing the Forgotten Realms Adventure Builder's Workshop with "the D&D Design Team" Home Rules: D&D Your Way with "the D&D Design Team" D20 Related Seminars and Events: Coming Soon for the Star Wars RPG seminar The Dark Side Revealed seminar Harnworld d20 games Scarred Lands d20 games Farscape d20 games and seminars Dragon Lords of Melnibone d20 games Kalamar D&D games Message Board Roundup: There's a new forum at WotC for Defenders of the Faith. Sean Reynolds on Rangers and Two-Weapon Fighting: I believe the original question was this: Q: Because a ranger gets Ambidexterity and Two-Weapon Fighting as free feats, can a ranger with BAB +9 take Improved Two-Weapon Fighting as a feat (even though they haven't spent actual feat slots on TWF and Ambi)? My answer is yes (and the feat description confirms this). Rangers do _not_ get ITWF for free. [Official Boards] James Wyatt on why his Shining Blade of Heironeous prestige class in Dragon Magazine doesn't have access to the Glory domain from Defenders of the Faith: I wrote the Dragon article so the classes would be playable even if you didn't have DotF... thus, no Glory domain. Heck, yeah, give it to 'em in your game. [James Wyatt's Boards] Rich Baker on Realmspace info in the FR Campaign Setting: It's discussed very briefly--you get about one paragraph on Selune, on the Tears, and the other planets as a whole. It's more of a mention than these places received in the previous edition, but it's not a great amount of information. [Official Boards] Scoopers: The Shadow of My Former Self, Roland Delacroix, Ken New in the Conversion Library: Classes -- bladesinger, ranger variants, ship mage. Updates to other files. Community News: MonteCook.com has been updated with a new version of the Ranger class along with some other articles. (thanks to Matt Rossi for the scoop) Loremaster.net is a D&D resource site focusing on NPCs, and inculdes an online multiclass calculator that will calculate a characters total levels, hit dice, average hit points, base attack bonus, melee attack, ranged attack, saves, skills and feats. CyberCon is a an online RPG convention. "Quality games and GM's, seminars, guest speakers, contests, art show, auction, exhibitors, prizes, and more!" Reviews: The 3rd Edition has posted a review of Terror In Freeport (Green Ronin). MonteCook.com has posted a review of Demons & Devils (Necromancer). RPGAction.com has posted reviews of four Adventure Boosters (AEG). Master Tools Beta Up in the Air: Will there be an open beta test for Master Tools, and if so, when? Unknown at this point. WotC's Byrt Martinez says, "...beta is a couple of months away still, and we still need to decide how we're going to handle open beta testing." (thanks to Pat for the scoop) May 11, 2001 Kalamar Module Date Change: Mark Plemmons of Kenzer informs me that their first Kingdoms of Kalamar module, The Root of All Evil, will probably not be out by May. A few other products on the schedule are pushed back as well; you can see the new estimates in the Kalamar section of my Settings page. Master Tools Update: Scott from Fluid Entertainment delivers this week's .plan update. Among the many tantalizing tidbits is the news that the product now has a fourth quarter release date rather than the August release previously announced. Here are some excerpts: Everyone by now has (hopefully) heard about the mapper and the race, character, treasure and encounter generators, but what are the small little tidbits in these features that make for a cool product? Here's a list of features that have gained a little bit of attention -- just throwing everyone a bone here! A myrmarch formian has an attack with a bite of +13. Clicking on the "Details" button in the character generator shows me the following breakdown: Base attack bonus +12 Str bonus +4 Size modifier -1 Secondary attack -5 Multiattack Feat +3 It's a handy feature during combat, or even for someone who doesn't know the rules all that well yet. In the character generator on the "Purchase" tab, I can overwrite the size of a weapon, as per the chart on page 162 of the Dungeon Master's Guide. For example, if I want to equip my cloud giant rogue with an adequately sized Gargantuan light mace, it will recalculate the damage accurately from 1d6 to 4d6.... In the race generator, you can review the Monster Manual text descriptions of each monster. It's a handy reference, especially if you own a laptop.... In the mapper, I can print out my creations to 1/2 inch scale or 1 inch scale. I particularly like the 1-inch scale printouts. No more drawing my combat-heavy rooms with my messy water-based pen and my vinyl playmat. My playmat is still cool because it's so big, but any room that's up to 35 feet by 50 feet will fit on a single 8.5 x 11 inch page. And if you want to print to legal size paper (or a post card for all we care), you can. Final street version of Master Tools is slated for the fourth quarter. That's roughly a push back of two months, folks. And no, nothing's wrong with the product as it is. We all decided to add in a few more features to round out the product even further. It's additional development time to add more content, not fix or change anything that's already there. New Hosted Site -- EN World: I'm extremely pleased to announce that EN World will be moving to RPGPlanet within the next couple of weeks as my latest hosted site! EN World started out as a place to gather materials generated for the shared world-creation project, Daemonforge, but has grown tremendously since then. It now offers fan-submitted D20 System reviews, hosts the Shadowlands campaign setting from Jagged Edge Games, hosts the Midgard D20 adventures 'zine, and is moving toward complete automation for housing fan-submitted materials. And of course, EN World is leading the way for the "ENnies" D20 System award program later this summer. While the move is underway, EN World will still be accessible at www.d20reviews.com. And even after the move, that address will bring you to their new location here at RPGPlanet. We'll keep you posted on the move, and try to make it as seamless as possible. You will see some reorganization of the message boards as some existing forums and some new forums will be collected under an EN World category. Official Website Updates: What's new at WotC? Miniatures Survey. More about minis with Chainmail. A unique flesh golem in Golems 201. Personality Spotlight on Rich Redman and James Wyatt, co-authors of Defenders of the Faith. An opportunity to meet some of the folk behind the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. Community News: EN World is seeking help: Due to our rapid growth and the scope of our future plans, EN World is putting together a small team of web developers to assist us in designing and maintaining the website, databases and automated systems. This will be a voluntary position and will be quite demanding in terms of time. You will need to be able to work to specification and to meet deadlines. As we are a non-profit page, we will be unable to pay you - sorry! However, you will be working on a big secret project that is set to take the online D&D/d20 community by storm! We need people with the following skills: CSS, HTML, ASP, Databases, Photoshop + Illustrator. If you are interested, please email me at morrus@lineone.net. WotC's Sean Reynolds is running a contest. Describe a favorite character for a chance to win an autographed copy of Attack on Myth Drannor. (thanks to Pat and Der Verdammte for the scoop) You can join an e-mail discussion group for Kingdoms of Kalamar. (thanks to Scorpio for the scoop) Fizzygoo's D&D Resource Site has moved to http://www.geocities.com/fizzygoo/, and also has some new adventures posted. The World of Tar-Esthal is a D&D campaign site. Updates at Eyru (new monsters, swanmay template), SubSe7en's D&D site (more monster tokens), Dragonlance Nexus (new e-mail discussion group for conversion of Dragonlance rules to 3E), 3oni.com (indexes of monsters by CR for Dragon Magazine (#274 and on), Dragon Lords of Melnibone, Diablo II: Diablerie and the Psionics Handbook), OmegaOdd's Random d20 (new magic item and map), D20 System News: Traveller D20: The classic science fiction RPG Traveller will be published as a D20 System game, as indicated in this press release. You can learn more about the game and its publishers at these sites: Traveller RPG page QuikLink's Traveller RPG page (QuikLink is apparently the publisher of the game) Far Future Enterprises (owners of the Traveller intellectual property, licensing Traveller to Quiklink) EN World takes a brief look at The Upside Down Tower and Evil in the Heart (Ubicorm). Mystic Eye Games has posted another new monster for your viewing pleasure. Campaign Magazine for D20 System: You may have noticed in yesterday's interview with Rob Kuntz that Corsair Publishing is planning to produce a D20 System magazine dubbed Campaign Magazine. You can read more about it in this article at ICv2. Boards Are Back: They seem to be working. I'm told that for one thing I'll need to do some pruning of the big forums (General and Rules) to ease the load. May 10, 2001 Rob Kuntz Interview: When people talk about the formative years of D&D, everyone mentions Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. But who mentions Rob Kuntz? Learn how he was involved in years gone by, and how he plans on entering the D20 System fray by reading this exclusive interview. Message Boards are Flaking Out: No, it's not just you. :-) The server seeems to be having some trouble. No ETA on when the problems will be fixed. You know where to go now, of course ... to the Chat Cave ... er, "room"... May 9, 2001 Tweet Interview: You can read an interview of D&D 3E co-designer Jonathan Tweet at Computer Games Online. (thanks to Siobharek for the scoop) Official Website Updates: What's new at WotC? New Forgotten Realms stuff, including a sneak peek at the stats of Undermountain's Halaster Blackcloak (20 levels of wizard, 5 levels of archmage, and 5 "epic levels" -- yikes!) and more from Ed Greenwood on the far reaches of Toril. A new Cliffhanger has begun. New PC Portraits and Map-A-Week. Eagle-eyed scooper Henning Kristensen noticed the name of a new D&D product, The Book of Challenges, burried in some recent Celebrity Game Table bit. Scoopers: Angelsboi, WolfJack, Henning Kristensen, Jerre, Brett, Sonny Mendoza, Todd Antill. D20 News: More updates from Pinnacle -- a look at two feats in Deadland D20, and playtest and miniatures info for Weird Wars. (thanks to Griff and Steve Vogel for the scoop) EN World has posted a preview of To Stand on Hallowed Ground (Fiery Dragon). Mystic Eye Games is delaying the release of Nightmares & Dreams. They've increased the page count on this monster book, and expect it to ship "a few weeks late." They've also posted new and improved cover art for this product. Community News: The Gateway Campaign is a D&D campaign site. Vulcano's Reach is a Mystara and Neverwinter Nights site that has some conversion notes for monsters from OD&D. Grand Conjunction is a 3E Ravenloft campaign site. WotC's Sean Reynolds has posted an amusing photo of members of the band Barenaked Ladies fighting over a 3E Player's Handbook. The World of Kara has been updated, and has moved to http://www.worldofkara.com/. Updates at SubSe7en's D&D site (new monster tokens), The Sleeping Imperium (Grim-n-Gritty Hit Point and Combat Rules ver 2.0), Steve Mulhern's 3E Character Spreadsheet (ver 2.21b), and Michael's Imagination (new magic items). May 8, 2001 "And the ENnie Goes To...": Well, no one yet -- but come August you'll know which D20 System publishers have won the EN World d20 System Award in each of 12 categories. You can read all about it, including the list of categories and the bios of the members of the Nominee Selection Committee, at the EN World site (www.d20reviews.com). And don't forget -- once the committee has narrowed down the field, the community will be asked to vote on products in each category. We'll keep you posted! Publishers wishing to submit entries to be considered for nomination should look for the application rules and application form. Note that there are categories for Best Fan Website and Best Free Product, so you don't have to be a "publisher" per se to seek nomination. Dave Arneson Interview: Computer Games Online has posted an interview with D&D co-creator Dave Arneson. (thanks to Dan Hagy and Tanis Half-Munchken for the scoop) Reviews: AtFantasy has reviewed The Slayer's Guide to Hobgoblins (Mongoose). RPG.net has posted new reviews of Scarred Lands Gazetteer: Ghelspad (Sword & Sorcery), Kingdoms of Kalamar (Kenzer), To Stand on Hallowed Ground (Fiery Dragon), and Evil in the Heart (Ubicorm). May 7, 2001 New at EN World: Automated Submissions: We have launched the first of our automated online submission systems - the spell creation form. This form allows you to enter the details of your spell online so that it can be added to our database for easy sorting and searching - you can view them alphabetically or by class and level. Spells are displayed in standard PHB stat-block format for ease of viewing. All spells are subject to rating by the users of the site, so that you can easily pick out the best materials. Spell Competition: To celebrate the launch of our spell submission system, we are holding a competition. We invite you to use the automated spell form to enter your custom spells. The competition will last until June 15th. The person who creates the 'best' spell in our opinion will win the entire Freeport trilogy of adventures by Green Ronin Publishing. The first of these adventures, Death in Freeport, has been signed by the author, Chris Pramas. Midgard: We are pleased to announce the re-launch of Midgard: Online d20 Adventure Magazine, now hosted by EN World. Midgard is a submission-based provider of free adventures for d20 game systems. Midgard will be offering a prize for best adventure in each category of adventure they have. Submissions for the first category, "Interludes", are due by Friday, June 15th. The normal submission process is required for the contest entires see our submission guidelines. Future contests held every two months from that date will be announced. The ENnies: Watch this space . . . D20 System News: Updates to my D20 System Guide, including new product offerings from 0one Roleplaying Games, adjusted release dates throughout the page (based on new information on websites, etc.), and a look at May and June releases as well as releases scheduled for April or earlier but still AWOL. (thanks to Christoph the Magus for some scoops) Scooper "Revenant" passed along a link to a funny D20 System spoof: D20 Yahtzee. E-mail Bouncing: All sorts of e-mail I'm sending out is bouncing back. I'm not sure why, but it's probably something on RPG Planet's end. If I was sending something really important I'll try to send it again later; if not, please accept my thanks for the various scoops you've been sending my way. Poll: As you can see in the Poll Archive, the most common thoughts about WotC's ESD program are as follows: I know about the ESD offerings but I have not purchased any ESDs. ESDs are generally a good value for the money. I feel in the dark about which ESDs are available or coming soon. There is a product line that hasn't been released as ESDs yet that I am eagerly anticipating. The new poll asks about hit points. D20 System games like Pinnacle's Weird Wars and Deadlands will apparently use a hit point system with some slight modifications to other rules to accommodate the lethality of more modern firearms. Do you think this is the way to go? Should non-fantasy games use something other than hit points? Gygax Interview: Computer Games Online has posted an interview with D&D's own Gary Gygax. (thanks to Upper_Krust and Darin for the scoop) Community News: A new version of the Netbook of Feats, with 19 new feats, has been posted at the DND Community Council. (thanks to Mark and Jeff for the scoop) Big List of Feats and Their Respective Rulings is a place where errata and clarifications for feats have been posted. An Ansalonian Gazetteer has moved to http://gaz.dl3e.org/. Updates at Conan D20 (two NPCs and a monster), Fizzygoo's D&D Reference Site (added example of populating a nation using methods in the DMG), PS3E.com (new psionic powers, a new domain, and new spells), and World of Kalam (new section on Kingdoms). May 6, 2001 Message Board Roundup: Chris Pramas on the process of making miniatures: I make an art order for a miniature and pass it on to the Art Director, Jon Schindehette. The art order is routed to Sam or Todd, and a concept sketch is done. The AD, the D&D Creative Director (Ted Stark), and myself approve the sketch and then it goes to a sculptor. When the green comes in, the same people run another set of approvals, and this time we loop in a factory rep to check for castability. If there are any problems, Mike McVey makes fixes in house and then the green goes back for approval again. When everyone is satisfied, the finished green goes off the mold maker. [Official Boards] Monte Cook on criticism and product prices: ...as far as criticism goes, it's all good. The feedback we get, even if it's all negative (and it certainly has not been), would still make us do our jobs better. However... when it comes to criticizing how much money products cost, then I begin to wince. When it comes to entertainment dollars, there simply is no better value than an rpg product. When you consider that, say Sunless Citadel is something that you and five or six of your friends can all use to entertain youselves for three or four hours once a week for probably four weeks (at least), for the price of two of you going to a two hour movie once (not to mention other much more expensive hobbies), I find it hard to imagine that anyone saying "WotC prices are too high, they're cheating us out of our money" or whatever isn't really giving it enough thought. [My Boards] Scoopers: The Shadow of My Former Self. Kalamar Domains List PDF: Malcolm J. MacDonald was kind enough to make a .pdf version of the cleric domains list for Kingdoms of Kalamar. You can download it in the Kalamar section of the Settings page. Dragon & Dungeon Magazine Bonus CD Contents: Here's reader JTWombat with the scoop: Got my subscription to Star Wars Gamer today and in it was the bonus disk that's also going to be in Dragon, Dungeon, and Top Deck. So what else is to do but drop you a preview. Dragon: How to Create a Monster - a PDF version of the Dragon article by Skip Williams a Random Dungeon Generator - this is cool, it creates a random dungeon complete with inhabitants. Sage Advice - reprints of Skip Williams Sage advice columns from Dragon 274 - 280. The coolness here is a search feature. PC Portraits - collections form Dragon 270-278. Dungeon: Dungeon #1 - yep the whole original issue in it's entirety. Adventure - "Tinderbox" Adventure - "Gorgoldand's Gauntlet" Star Wars Gamer: the making of Star Wars Starfighter Starship Blueprints - favorites from the rebellion era Advert for Star Wars Demolition Top Deck: four Magic: the Gathering commercials from t.v. Duelist Price Lists Overall, a nifty little bonus. The disk runs a tad slow, but you can access much of the data and programs directly form the disk. May 5, 2001 History of D&D in Computer Games Magazine: Here's Computer Games Magazine Reviews Editor Benjamin Sones: "We've got a 2-part, 20-page feature on the history of Dungeons & Dragons (the first part) and on BioWare's upcoming PC game Neverwinter Nights (the second part) as the cover story in our June issue. The D&D history piece features interviews (well, pull-quotes from interviews, actually) with Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson, Jonathan Tweet, and others. The June issue should be on news stands May 15." Community News: Monte Cook has updated his website with new house rules for potions and suggested modifications to CRs for templates from the MM. (thanks to Oren Douek for the scoop) Sean Reynolds has added a selection of converted magic items from Dragonlance to his site, and added a new Drow NPC of the Week. (thanks to Der Verdammte for the scoop) Steve Mulhern's 3E Character Sheet has been updated to version 2.20. Here's what's new since the last version. (thanks to Kodiak for the scoop) Role Playing World is a D&D resource and campaign site. Resources include generic places (such as an inn or a bathhouse) for use in D&D games. Updates at SubSe7en's D&D site (new monster tokens, message board, mailing list), The Crossroads, and Black Falcon Aerie (spell and domain lists updated for The Tide of Years). D20 System News: Pinnacle's The Making of Weird Wars page has been updated with new playtest information and a look at how D20 System hit points can tweaked for a grittier style of play. (thanks to Steve Vogel for the scoop) EN World has posted an interview with Alex Fennell of Mongoose Publishing. Shadowlands 1.0.0, the free D20 campaign setting from Jagged Edge Games, has been posted at EN World. From Orion Cooper: "Thank you all for emailing me about playtesting Malls & Morons. I've chosen about 20 groups to help playtest, and that should be enough. Again thank you, and I hope to deviver this game by June. I think people will be pleasantly surprised." Poll: From Ian Swenson -- "I am interested in starting up a little D20 online business, but need to know if there is any interest for this kind of material from the community. I have placed a little poll on my webpage, and have described what I plan on doing there." Cook to Pen for Penumbra: This report at Sci-Fi Wire indicates that Monte Cook will be writing an adventure for Atlas Games' Penumbra line of D20 products. Beyond the Veil is a high-level adventure slated for December. (thanks to Darrin Drader for the scoop) Black Falcon Aerie has posted a review of The Tide of Years (Atlas Games). May 4, 2001 Official Website Updates: What's new at WotC? Defenders of the Faith web enhancements including quest ideas and spell worksheets. A look at the dragons as mounts section from Defenders of the Faith. Guidance of the Avatar, a new divine spell. Monster Sorter, includes MM, Monsters of Faerun, and the PsiHB. A new Map-A-Week. Scooper: Wraethu. Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting Reviewed: Let the last few weeks of hype commence -- the first capsule review of the FR setting book has been posted over at RPG.net. (thanks to Luke and Wolfspider for the scoop) May 3, 2001 Message Board Roundup: Gary Gygax provides a very brief timeline for the publishing of original D&D and AD&D: I wrote the first draft of the original D&D game in 1972, mailed it to about a score of wargaming buddies in various parts of the country. Most of them were in college, so soon photocopies of the 50 page manuscript were sent on to others. In the late spring of 1973 I revised the ms., it went up to 150 pages, and that new draft was sent to about 50 persons. The commercial game was printed and first sold in January 1974. I wrote the original AD&D MM back in 1976, and it was published in 1977. Then I did the PHB in 1977, and it was published in 1978. finally, I wrote the DMG in 1978, and it was first published in 1979. [My Boards] Sean Reynolds on the "order of operations" for combining metamagic feats: In terms of combining Heighten Spell, do the heightening first. So you'd heighten a fireball to 5th level (giving it a DC of 15+ your ability score modifier) and then could maximize it, which makes it 8th level. DO NOT do other meta feats and then Heighten Spell, or it gives a false conclusion: the above fireball maximized (6th) and thet heightened to 8th would not have a DC of 18+ ... the heighten is only by two levels. [Official Boards] Sean Reynolds on HD and CR vs. "effective level" for monster PCs: A creature's base HD is not the only indicator of what its effective level should be. Its CR is certainly not a good indicator of that. CR measures "how hard it is for a party to kill one in an encounter," which is often very different than "how much more powerful the character is compared to a human," which is what ECL measures. Give a creature Fast Healing 5 and that might bump the CR by 1, just because it's going to be a little harder to kill. Give a _PC_ Fast Healing 5 and suddenly you have a character that the cleric doesn't need to cure in between adventures, which is worth more than +1 over the lifetime of the campaign. [Official Boards] Sean Reynolds debunks a rumor that the FR book will be late: The book _is_ going to be released on time ... it has been printed (I've held a copy in my hands) and is making its way through the distribution network to the retail stores. [Official Boards] Sean Reynolds on how the Realms setting (doesn't) affect the rules for core classes: The design team was told that we shouldn't make design changes to "fix" things that we thought were "wrong" with the core rules. That's why you'll see for limited paladin and monk multiclassing, rather than a blanket "there is no multiclassing restriction for monks or paladins" rule in the book. [Official Boards] Sean Reynolds gives his best guess as to what's OK to do on a FR fan site: Currently we say something like "don't use more than a couple of our images on your site" As for the logo, WotC is probably a lot stricter about that - if you use it, make sure to include "The Forgotten Realms logo is owned by Wizards of the Coast and is used without permission. Use of the logo on this web site is not a challenge to the ownership of the logo." As for your own characters, items, spells, journals, whatever ... go crazy. Basically, you just need to make sure that it's clear that your site is not official in any way. [Official Boards] Bruce Cordell on bite of the wolf and similar psionic powers as they pertain to multiple attacks: If you gain extra attacks through any means, you may be penalized in using your normal and new attack simultaneously unless the power allows you to use the new form's extraordinary abilities (such as multidexterity, etc.). Of course, you can just use the bite as your main attack and not take any penalties. Or, you can bite and use your claws (or swing your sword) simultaneously, in which case the rules for using an off hand weapon kick in. If you happen to have Ambidexterity and/or Two-weapon Fighting, you are happy. Regardng deep impact and whirlwind attack combo: An attack is one swing of your sword, as far as Deep Impact is concerned. You'd pay the cost for each attack that was part of a whirlwind attack. [My Boards] Scoopers: PA, The Shadow of My Former Self. New in the Conversion Library: Monsters -- Angels; Other Game Systems -- Alternity FX Rules using D20 System (incomplete -- author seeks feedback); Adventures -- module L1: Secret of Bone Hill updated. Community News: Be sure to stop by Claudio Pozas' site for two new of D&D oddballs -- a dwarf druid and an elf rogue. Issak's 3e D&D site is a collage of information regarding the Greyhawk region of the Theocracy of the Pale. RPG.net has posted an interview with Gary Gygax. (thanks to Pat for the scoop) Tom Martin has created a combat example called Lidda and Hennet vs. Orc Assassins, complete with map. Updates at Black Falcon Aerie (feat, spell and domain lists include Defenders of the Faith info), and 3ednd.com (new Stupid Dungeon Master Tricks). Origins Awards Voting: Be sure to stop by the Origins Awards site to cast your vote in a number of game-related categories. (thanks to mearls and Coik for the scoop) And the ENnie Goes To...: Speaking of votes and awards, keep your eyes and ears open for the ENnies, a D20 System awards ceremony to take place this August. EN World and Eric Noah's D&D News are joining forces to have fans vote on their favorite D20 System products. We'll keep you posted! Four Million! Earlier today the counter at the bottom rolled over 4,000,000 hits since the site opened in August 1999. Thank you so much for supporting the site! May 2, 2001 D20 System News: Scoopers have spotted Sword & Sorcery Studio's Scarred Lands Gazetteer in stores. Green Ronin has announced a new product: d20 Character Record Folio, to be available at GenCon. "...the folio is designed to handle your character for the entire campaign. Its 16 beautifully designed pages include great add-ons like mini-record sheets for your paladin's warhorse, familiar, and cohorts, and adventure logs that let you track important events and NPCs." (spotted at GamingReport.com) From Orion Cooper: "I need playtesters for my d20 game, Malls & Morons. My email address is talath@psnw.com." Please contact Orion if you're interested. From Dave Mitchell: "I've been working on a trading card game that may interest people who play d20 games. Right now I'm looking for feedback on the rules and what I can do to clarify anything. If you are interested, take a look at http://opencg.org." Why is D&D a success and how does D20 help? Ryan Dancey discusses "network externalities" at RPG.net. Official Website Updates: What's new at WotC? Cliffhanger concluded. New PC Portraits. New FR stuff, including wallpapers, a new installment of Elminster Speaks, and a look at the Geography of Faerun. Scoopers: Dark Blackshield, Pierre-Louis. Reviews: About.com has posted reviews of The Malady of Kings and Dzeebagd (both from Troll Lord Games). Black Falcon Aerie has posted reviews of Witchfire Trilogy I: The Longest Night (Privateer Press) and Defenders of the Faith (WotC). RPG.net has posted reviews of Kingdoms of Kalamar (Kenzer) and NeMoren's Vault (Fiery Dragon). New in the Conversion Library: Adventures -- module DL1: Dragons of Despair. Monsters: Mountain Giant. Updates to other files. May 1, 2001 Community News: The Dragonlance Nexus has posted an interview with Jeff "Manual of the Planes" Grubb. (thanks to The Invisible Man for the scoop) The Netbook of Classes ver 001 is now available, with four prestige classes and one core class. Updates at Defenders of the Muse (two new prestige classes and a new feat), Subse7en's D&D Site (more monster tokens), 3oni.com (monsters by challenge rating for the MM, Monsters of Faerun and Creature Collection), Citadel Raven (new spells, feats, and weapons), and Thirdedition.net (up to 125+ user-submitted files, new mailing list). Black Falcon Aerie has posted new reviews of Diablo II: Diablerie and Monster Compendium: Monsters of Faerun. Protectorate is a Forgotten Realms campaign site. Message Board Roundup: Monte Cook on prestige classes that offer "+1 level of existing class" spellcasting and how that affects the ability to overcome spell resistance: Stack the levels that say +1 level of existing class with the existing class levels for caster level. (And I'd say psions work the same way.) [MonteCook.com Boards] Monte Cook discusses monsters with class and the lich template. [MonteCook.com Boards] Bruce Cordell on combining Stand Still and Hold the Line feats: Yes, Hold the Line and Stand Still can both be used simultaneously (and, for that matter, so can Combat Reflexes). You can use Stand Still and Hold the Line to stop charge attacks (the opponent stops 10 feet from you), so long as your opponent doesn't outreach you. (If your opponent has a longer reach than you do, the opponent can attack you without entering the area you threaten.) [e-mail quoted on Official Boards] Monte Cook on Planar Ally: I've been thinking for a while now that the HD limits on the planar ally spells are all too high. What the spells seem to overlook is that planar creature's HD is not a good way to measure power. As a house rule, I'd advise something more like: Lesser Planar Ally: Up to 6 HD (that's a barbazu or a hound archon, for example) Planar Ally: Up to 8 HD (that's an avoral, or a vrock, but not a pit fiend or a planetar) Greater Planar Ally: Up to 16 HD (that's all the high-end fiends, but not a solar) Or, better yet, perhaps CR should be used to judge rather than HD? Something like nothing higher than the CR of the minimum level a caster would need to be to cast the spell. [DND-L Archive] Scoopers: Oren Douek, Psionotic, J. Anthony Digaetano. D20 System News: EN World has posted a preview of Slayer's Guide to Hobgoblins from Mongoose Publishing. I myself was treated to a preview copy as well, and so I'll just say read this preview and assume a big "ditto" from me. :) The Guide to Hobgoblins is set for a July release. EN World also announced that they will soon be the new home of Midgard, the online D20 System adventure magazine. Pinnacle has posted some "making of Deadlands D20" info, including cover concept art and a look at the Gunslinger class. They also mention that the response to Deadlands D20 is so big that they're going to include both their own game system and D20 System stats in "all future products." (thanks to tsadkiel for the scoop) Christopher T. Miller, of the newly incorporated OtherWorld Creations, is interviewed at RPGAction.com. Scooper "Jasper" writes in to say he chatted with the folks at Paradigm Concepts recently about the lack of maps in their recent offering, Blood Reign of Nishanpur. Their response: We plan on putting a map of Nishanpur up on our website soon. It will also be included in our settings book, The Codex Arcanis in the Canceri chapter. Green Ronin's Focus on Freeport has been updated with a map and description of the Temple of the God of Knowledge. (thanks to Vortex for the scoop) Dungeons & Dragons, D&D 3E and AD&D are all property of Wizards of the Coast.