News Archive #23 June 2001 News from June 2001: June 30, 2001 D20 System News: The folks at Eden Studios say that their first two Eden Odyssey products, Akrasia: Thief of Time and Wonders Out of Time, should be shipping to distributors around July 5th. Troll Lord Games announced plans to publish a series of D20 System adventures by Ernie and Luke Gygax. The first adventure in the series, The Lost City of Gaxmoor, is targeted for a September release. The 96+ page adventure will be set in The World of Erde, Troll Lord Games' official fantasy campaign setting. Read the full press release. (thanks to Alan Grohe for the scoop) June 28, 2001 One Final Update...: I'll be out of touch for a couple of days. Last update before I go ... Claudo Pozas has updated his gallery with something for you Planescape fans. Enjoy! D20 System News: Thunderhead Games is a new D20 System publisher. If you visit their website and look at their list of talent, you'll see lots of familiar names -- members of the DnD Community Council, webmasters of 3E community websites, and several winners from my own Adventure Contest from earlier in the year. Their first product will be Bluffside - City on the Edge, a fantasy city sourcebook for the D20 System, due in December 2001. Gaming Frontiers, a quarterly D20 System magazine from United Playtest, Inc., has a brand new website. Read about the special free preview issue available at Origins and GenCon. Chat tonight with Chris Pramas of Green Ronin Publishing and Shane Lacey Hensley of Pinnacle Entertainment Group. Check out RPG.net for details. (thanks to The Bishop for the scoop) If you take a gander at the website for Pinnacle Games, you'll see that Weird Wars is now slated for a GenCon release, and they've posted a link to an interview with John Hopler about the game. You can also read about Weird Wars and Deadlands events running at Origins. (thanks to ReLOAD for the scoop) Scoopers have seen Green Ronin's Legions of Hell in stores. I've marked it as "now available" in the D20 System Guide. Scooper James Mishler spotted Brotherhood of Prophecy from Scarab Games in his local shop. I've marked it as "now available" in the D20 System Guide. From Scrollworks Press: Scrollworks 14 is in the mail! This month's issue features: Ambryl the Rogue - a new NPC for Faces in the Crowd, The Hope Chest - a tear jerking magic item, Michael's Imagination - handy rogue equipment, The Quiet Thyme - a detailed tavern with map and NPCs, Reviews of The Slayer's Guide to Hobgoblins and NeMoren's Vault, a closer look at the Deathstalkers RPG, as well as Freelancer bios, commentary, and "humor." Reviews: RPGAction has posted reviews of four Adventure Keep modules (AEG). PS3E has posted reviews of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (WotC) and the Book of Eldritch Might (Malhavoc Press). RPG.net has posted reviews of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting and Tome & Blood. (thanks to yves for the scoop) Miscellaneous Clarifications: The Sage on attacking with a torch: Treat it as a normal melee attack with a club. Anyone proficient in club or with simple weapons can use it. A hit deals 1d3 fire damage (no chance to set the target alight). (thanks to Robert Fisher for the scoop) Monte Cook on feats for grues in Dragon #285: According to the "How to Create a Monster" document (published in Dragon 276), elementals get feats based on their Int bonus, and none of the grues are smart enough to have feats. (Many of the elementals in the MM are wrong, by the way. The stupider ones should have no feats.) I have no idea why the editors of Dragon decided to add feats to two of those monsters. When I turned it over, the monsters had none. I guess they just thought the monsters would be cooler with them. And maybe they were right, I don't know. (on Monte's boards, thanks to The Shadow of My Former Self for the scoop) Anthony Valterra on when ESDs will be available outside the US (and in another message here): Don't hold your breath. Even if it were a priority (which it is not), I still have no idea how long it would take. And before someone tries to make an assumption - it is *not* that we think that non-Americans are not a priority - it *is* that D&D ESDs are *not* a priority for this company. (on DND-L, thanks to Mark Oliva and bushfire for the scoop) Official Updates: What's new at WotC? Author's notes, clarifications and corrections for Pool of Radiance: Attack on Myth Drannor. Realms Roundtable: It's Here 2 Scoopers: Black Moria, Thyle Community News: Looking to chat about the Forgotten Realms? Harold "Buddha_DM" Nichols has set up a chat room on the same server #dnd3e is on: chat.psionics.net port 6667 in #ForgottenJournals. PCGen has a new home at http://sourceforge.net/projects/pcgen/ -- you can pick up version 2.0.2 there. From The Adventurer: the editor position at The Adventurer E-zine is not a paying position. We are still looking over all the candidates. If you are still interested e-mail me at Jigsaw36@aol.com ASAP before we decide. Updates at Sean Reynolds' site (half-medusa template, new "rant" collumn), Realms of Evil (feats, adventure hook, spells), PS3E.com (new feat, items, beings, rules), World of Kalam (new creatures and races), Defenders of the Muse (NPC section added), Creature Catalog (new converted creatures). Thanks to Weeds for a scoop. June 27, 2001 D20 System News: Atlas Games announced a new "Coriolis" line of D20/Feng Shui crossover products, starting with Burning Shaolin, an adventure by Robin Laws debuting in October. (thanks to Grant Kinsley for the scoop) Scooper Greg Rozelle spotted Nightmares & Dreams (Mystic Eye Games) in his local game shop. I've marked it as Now Available in the D20 System Guide. Troll Lord Games announced that they'll be publishing a series of D20 sourcbooks by TSR veteran Rob Kuntz. The first volume in the Myths & Legends series will be Codex Germania: Northern Gods, Heroes, and Monsters with a release date in December 2001. You can read the press release here. (thanks to Allan Grohe for the scoop) Sword & Sorcery Studios has posted a sample monster from their forthcoming Creature Collection 2. (thanks to Forge and Flynn for the scoop) WotC's Anthony Valterra on Wheel of Time: When I saw the art for WoT, it was so beautiful my heart leapt up into my throat. I kid you not folks the interiors to this thing blow most covers of most products away. I was stunned, floored, amazed. I have heard that Robert Jordan is thrilled at the art as well. It is the closest anyone has ever come to his vision of the elements of his novels. I am also informed that Mr. Jordan is so impressed with the contents that he has turned over never before published material for inclusion in the book and will be doing the introduction. When we originally scheduled this book we did not see it as a very significant seller. Now everyone is scrambling because we think we may have a really huge seller here. The book trade is totally hot and we find ourselves in the awkward position of trying to cool down expectations. This really could be a huge huge product. The reason we were hesitant on WoT has more to do with the nature of licensing and less to do with the nature of WoT. What we have found is that we don't really sell anymore of a product if it has a cool license then we do of one of our own products. And we have the additional resource and money spent on royalties and approvals. But WoT is probably going to get big play in the book channels which means it may reach a non-roleplaying crowd. If that happens... well the upside is pretty flabbergasting. Of course that is still a sizable "if". Here he discusses what WotC will be doing to market Wheel of Time. [Official D20 Boards] (thanks to Brian for the scoop) Creature Collection II: Dark Menagerie Tidbits: Sword & Sorcery's new monster book appeared in my mail today. Here are some tidbits to tide you over until it appears in stores: I count about 162 monster entries, from Abyssal Lamprey to Wolfrat. There are five new templates: Belsameth Spider, Blood Sea Mutant, Bloodless, Conundrum Creature, and Hex Creature. There's a list of creatures by challenge rating, mixing in WotC's Monster Manual, errata'd CC, and CC2. Takes up about 18 pages (each entry includes creature name, climate/terrain, CR, and which book it came from). There are also Monster Summoning (for Summon Monster and Summon Nature's Ally) tables, again mixing in CC, CC2 and MM creatures. Not quite as handy as they could be because these lists don't tell you which monster is in which book, but still very welcome. The art is uniformly better than that in the original CC. About 246 pages long, priced at about $25, and hardback, this looks like a pretty solid collection on first glance. New in the Conversion Library: New section -- Monster Conversion Advice, includes a new file with a step-by-step guide to converting monsters to 3E from Basic D&D [Rules Cyclopedia]. Classes -- stalker. Updates to files. Reviews: OmegaOdd's Random d20 has posted a review of Thievery 101: The Periapt of Famidon (Wyvern's Claw Design). June 26, 2001 Errata and Clarifications: Some miscellaneous rules issues clarified... Kir-lanan ECL in the FRCS: The ECL table in Chapter 8: Running the Realms referred to an earlier version of the kir-lanan. The earlier kir-lanan was only a 1 HD monster, and we wound up making them substantially tougher. We're setting the ECL of the kir-lanan at +6 -- they're a little better than ogre PCs (a sample ECL +5 critter) due to their negative energy powers, flight, and favorable ability score modifiers. [Rich Baker on the WotC FR Boards] (thanks to Allister for the scoop) The Sage on Spell Errata (thanks to Aardy R. DeVarque): Prestidigitation Saving Throw: None. Post-errata Dancing Lights Saving Throw: None. Virtue Saving Throw: Will (harmless). Range for Wail of the Banshee: The spread extends to close range (centered on the caster). Components and Saving Throw for Bull's Strength, Cat's Grace, Endurance, and Eagle's Splendor: They should all be the same (except for Cat's Grace, which doesn't need DF). [Thus components V,S,M/DF for all except Cat's Grace, and saving throw Will negates (harmless).] The Sage on Spellbooks and Related issues (thanks to Aardy R. DeVarque): Boccob's Blessed Book -- What does "freely accepts spells" mean? No scribing cost, always holds 45 spells, still requires scribing time. Is there a way for a wizard to make a spell in a captured spellbook "his own" without rescribing the spell? No. You make a spell "your own" by scribing it into your book. Graeme Morris -- Are You Out There? If you wrote TSR modules UK2 Sentinel, UK3 Gauntlet, UK4 When a Star Falls, and UK5 Eye of the Serpent, would you drop me a line? Someone's trying to get in touch with you. Reviews: Black Falcon Aerie has posted a review of Tome & Blood (WotC). RPG.net has posted reviews of Tome & Blood (WotC) and The Crypt of St. Bethesda (AEG). (thanks to Carl for the scoop) D20 System News: Rejoice all ye peoples, for Malls & Morons is here! M&M is a free D20 System game featuring Freaks, Jocks, Nerds, Weirdos, Mall Rats, and Trekkies. I've added new D20 System publisher Vengeance Games to the D20 System Guide. They will be producing D20 System accessories, including a series of pregenerated character packs. Check out their website for more information. Twentysides.com has posted a brief Q&A with Kyle Charron of Fiend Games. Several scoopers have written in to say they've spotted four new Adventure Keep modules (AEG) in stores. Some have also spotted Midnight's Terror for Kingdoms of Kalamar, and Dead Presidents for Deadlands (Pinnacle). Community News: DM's Haven is running an NPC design contest. You can win some goodies from Troll Lord Games. EN World is holding another review contest. Call for Editors: The Adventurer E-zine is looking for a few good editors to assist with making the E-zine. We are also looking for submitters and artists. Contact me if you're interested at Jigsaw36@aol.com. I'm told that the Hungarian version of the PHB became available last week. (thanks to Robert for the scoop) Silicon Dragon is a D&D campaign and resource site. Kriegstanz is a Planescape-based comic in development, and the site has some 3E character and race stats as well. www.vacuumelemental.org now points to Vacuum Elemental's online game hosted at the WotC message boards. Crusaders of the Net have posted new versions of their Excel character workbooks. Updates at 3oni.com (feat, prestige class, and monster indexes updated), OmegaOdd's Random d20 (new feats and links), Justin Sluder's D&D Site, and Black Falcon Aerie (feat and spell lists updated for Tome & Blood). June 25, 2001 D20 System News: You can read a bit about the early development of Fantasy Flight Games' Dragonstar RPG on their site. (thanks to Doc Fortune for the scoop) EN World has posted a preview of The Bloody Sands of Sicaris from Paradigm Concepts. Community News: WotC's James Wyatt has updated his website with further notes about his Oriental Adventures campaign. WotC's Sean Reynolds has updated his website with a new Blade of Faerun and some information on painting miniatures. (thanks to Eric Heppel for the scoop) Updates at PS3E.com (new feats, creatures, items, rules), and Roleplaying Tips. Official Updates: What's new at WotC? Chapter 3 of this month's Cliffhanger is available. Scoopers: Angelsboi, Alexander. June 24, 2001 Future Realms Products? WotC's Rich Baker talks a bit about what products we might or might not see for the Forgotten Realms (on REALMS-L, thanks to Jason for the scoop): I'd love to tell you exactly what we have planned for the next couple of years in the Forgotten Realms product line, but it's our company policy that we can't discuss future product releases before they appear in a catalog. Even then, we need to be careful about what we say, because products can and do mutate in conception, physical specs, release date, etc., between the time we announce them in our catalog and we actually do the work on them. As far as revisiting places like Waterdeep goes, I'll say three things: First, some parts of the Realms are the real heart of the Realms as a game world and an intellectual property, and we need to keep them fresh and new. We're extremely unlikely to devote a precious product slot to Maztica again, but it's only a matter of time before we reexamine places like the Dales, the Western Heartlands, or Waterdeep in a 3rd Edition game supplement. Second, it's my intention as the Creative Director for this line that we're going to do a number of products on areas or topics that haven't been done before, or that have only been done a long time ago or incompletely. Balancing the second desire against the first is hard. Finally, when we do revisit areas or topics, we won't revisit them without having something new, interesting, and game-useful to say about it, and we won't revisit an area covered exactly by a previous 2E product without including "peripheral" areas that haven't been detailed before (or in a very long time). It's hard to imagine how we could detail Waterdeep at more length than [in] City of Splendors, but a Waterdeep section on a sourcebook devoted to the Sword Coast, or the North, or Big Cities of the Realms might make a lot of sense. Or, it might make sense to examine Waterdeep, Undermountain, and Skullport all in one supplement. Community News: A couple of Spanish-speaking scoopers report that the Spanish version of the PHB is available, at least in Spain. Gracias, guys! Helge Moulding is putting together an at-table RPG utility he calls Dungeon Master's Screen. Take a look at some screenshots and download the current version here. (thanks to Gerard for the scoop) Updates at Realms of Evil (new classes, poisons, spells, and Dark Sun stuff) and Sleeping Imperium (new D20 firearms rules). Master Tools Cover, Product Info: A scooper named Kevin spotted a page of information about Master Tools in a WotC promotional flyer. Take a look at this scan -- you can see, among other things, an ISBN number (0-7869-2006-8), a suggested retail price ($34.50, though as I understand it each retailer will set their own price), and a prototype box cover image. New in the Conversion Library: Monsters -- asperii, cath shee, ceramic figurine, crystal figurine, ivory figurine, mist wolf, yitsan, choker, chevall, bhut, Strahd zombie. Plus updates to other files. Gygax and More at CyberCon: Just to say thanks to the community for a great first CyberCon Online Convention, we've decided to open the Gary Gygax Seminar to the general public. That's right, we are inviting you to meet Gary at 13:00 Central Standard Time on Sunday in our CyberChat Main Stage. We have also opened the Vendor Booths to the general public and many will be on hand in CyberChat! Thank you, and enjoy! D20 System News: Anubium is a new D20 System publisher. They'll be producing downloadable D20 System adventures and supplements. They're also seeking writers and artists. Check out their website for more information. Wyvern's Claw Design is looking for a web designer to revamp their website. This is short-term work, after which folks at the company would maintain the site themselves. If you're interested, drop by the company website for more details. Nightmares & Dreams from Mystic Eye Games ships on Monday. Look for it in stores soon. June 23, 2001 Reviews: The ever-reliable Jesse Dean has written a review of the new Kalamar adventure, Forging Darkness, for AtFantasy.com. D20 System News: Sword & Sorcery Studios has posted errata and a list of magic item prices for Relics & Rituals. (thanks to Forge for the scoop) Mongoose Publishing has redesigned their website, which now offers additional free supplemental material including a new look at their forthcoming Demonology book. (thanks to Mike for the scoop) Spotted on the Mongoose Publishing mailing list: Orcs are being written right now, though a release date has not been scheduled for them. Goblin, Yuan-ti and Lizard Men have all been marked for Slayer's Guides, though whether we will actually get around to all of these races is anyone's guess right now! There is a section detailing the Yuan-ti in Demonology - The Dark Road. (thanks to Kesh for the scoop) I've updated the entry for Gold Rush Games. They'll be producing Starship Yakaze, a series of science fiction adventures for use with both the Fuzion and D20 game systems. Their first adventure in this line, Soul of the Shadow, comes out in July. Writers Sought: A new RPG company is looking for writers, editors, and generally creative folk to join its team. We offer a good place to launch into the market and more potential in earnings than most of the companies now. If you are intrested in being part of this new d20 company, then please send a short (1000 word) brief about what you think makes a good RPG product and include a sample of some of your most recent work. Also include a short history (about 500 words) of your previous history with game design and development if any and your experiance with RPGs in general. This offer will be open from now until July 7th at which time it will close at 12 midnight. Please send all submissions in RTF or text format with your name and contact information in the first part of the document and your name on the top right corner of each page in the document to insure proper indetification. At the end of this deadline, please allow for a two week timeframe, during which those that are chosen to come on board will be notified and signed up to work for the company. Please send all the submissions to SubmissionM@aol.com. Thank you for your cooperation and interest. Privateer Press has released a 29 page illustrated PDF adventure called Fool's Errand. You can buy it online right here. Official Updates: What's new at WotC? Fight Club presents Kissilsth, a yuan-ti cleric. New Chainmail info (I'm pointing you to the main D&D page as the Chainmail link seems to be broken). New Business of RPGs article. Scooper: Ronaldo. Community News: From LivingWeb: LivingWeb is now actively recruiting for DMs to join the team. We Need Dungeon Masters!! If you enjoy Dungeon Mastering in the Forgotten Realms, we are looking for people to help us here at the Living Web. We need players to help us develop ongoing campaigns, maintain activities and help to develop the many regions of Faerun, and to design and create new and exciting places and characters in Fareun. And most importantly, to DM games as often as you like via WebRPG (once a week, twice a week, once a month, whenever...) Currently active areas include the whole of The North, the Western Heartlands (just being activated) and the Moonshaes (just being activated). Please email us at livwebpc@hotmail.com or go to http://www.avidgamers.com/dndrpg/index.php and click "Apply Here" link. Updates at MonteCook.com (new "Line of Sight," new Ptolus setting material), Defenders of the Muse (new prestige classes). Scoopers: Randy. Kalamar's Forging Darkness Spotted: I've had several scoopers indicate that they've spotted the new Kingdoms of Kalamar adventure, Forging Darkness, in stores. (thanks to Greg, Darrin, and JGK for the scoop) June 22, 2001 Message Board Roundup: Jeff Grubb on the exclusion of Modrons in Manual of the Planes: Here I am worrying about whether we have provided too many options in the upcoming MotP, encouraging every campaign to have its own core cosmology, and the hottest topic is the Mighty Minions of Mechanus, those Nobble-Kneed Nobility of Nirvana, the Modrons. I stand by my decision to exclude them (No, they won’t let add anything at to the product at this stage- I’ve tried), so let's take a peek behind the design curtain to find out why.... (Long post, read the rest for details.) [My Boards] Ryan Dancey on WotC's place within Hasbro, profitability of the Psionics Handbook, why Dune D20 never appeared, and things he'd have done were he king for a day: First, nobody from Hasbro reviews anything with the RPG business managers.... Second, Nobody at Hasbro cares what the print run sizes are of an RPG product. All they care about is being told once a quarter that the RPG business is still profitable. That's about as far as the analysis goes, if it even goes that far. Third, the Psionics book sold way over the budget estimates and was nicely profitable, making everyone involved with the book, and all the executives at WotC quite happy. Fourth they didn't "agree" to do D&D, they allowed (and are still allowing) WotC to operate its business according to the desires of it's management, all of whom are formers owners of the business. The decision to publish any WotC product is made inside WotC, by WotC managers.... (Multiple posts in this thread.) [My Boards] WotC's T'ed Stark on Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil: I'm glad to see that TEMPLE is out at last. I've been waiting not-so-patiently to hear what people think of it. Personally (and take this for what it's worth, since I'm the CD for the D&D line), I think it's one of the best adventures I've ever seen. I've told Monte this, as well as Rob and the cartographers (those maps are amazing!), and everybody else involved. On the converting to the FR campaign setting: Right now, a group of guys mostly out of our production department are running TEMPLE in the new Forgotten Realms setting and are--so far--having no difficulty as well as a blast. [My Boards] Community News: Updates at PS3E (planar-related news) and 3oni.com (feat index now includes one-line descriptions for each feat). New Tome & Blood Forum at WotC: You can chit-chat about wizards and sorcerers to your heart's content over at the new official Tome & Blood message board. Must mean something, right? :) (thanks to Doug DeJulio for the scoop) June 21, 2001 Asgard Magazine Preview: Morrus has posted a teaser for the first issue of EN World's e-zine, Asgard. Take a look at what's in store... New ESDs: Drop by the WotC Online Store and you'll see several new ESD products available for purchase, including the 1st Edition core rulebooks. Note that pricing now varies by item. Stop by Bastion Press to pick up a revised ESD release schedule. (thanks to sk0766 for the scoop) Phone First: A number of people are reporting that their game stores are telling them they won't have "July" releases like Tome & Blood and Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil until Monday or later. As always, it's a good idea to call ahead to your local shop to avoid wasting a trip. Gygax to Host ENnies: Dungeons & Dragons founding father Gary Gygax has graciously agreed to host the EN World D20 System Awards at 9pm Central on July 29. He'll be on hand in the ENnies chat room (irc.slashnet.org, Channel: #ENnies) to announce the winning entries in the various categories. We hope you can join us for the festivities! While we're on the subject, just a reminder to publishers that the July 1 deadline for submitting products is rapidly approaching. There's also a category for best fan site -- if you run a good site with D20 content on it, please be sure to enter. Click here for details. Official Updates: What's new at WotC? FR Sneak Peek at Cyric New Elminster Speaks New Realms Roundtable New Map-A-Week Scoopers: Eric Heppel, Brett. Community News: Knights of the Green Table is a D&D campaign site set in a prison. Rhaxis is a D&D campaign site. Crescent Campaign is a D&D campaign site. Updates at PS3E (new feats, domains, items, creatures, rules), Death in the Valley: The Resistance (new Magic Items, Feats and Character Journals). D20 System News: Fiend Games announced several new developments today, including a new Fiend.NET area of their website for Project Planeshifter materials, which will be available exclusively to people who purchase Fiend Games materials (it's open now for previewing, though); discounts on Galal's Digital Grave for attendees of CyberCon; and news that Project Planeshifter materials will be published in the pages of Gaming Frontiers magazine. Check out the website for details. Shadow of the Exile, the second in the Witchfire Trilogy from Privateer Press, has been spoted for sale at Wizard's Attic. I've marked it as "available now" in the D20 System Guide. Eagle-eyed scooper Taylor Watson spotted the covers for two future releases from Privateer Press at Talon Comics -- Monsternomicon and Witchfire Trilogy III. 7 Skulls Gaming will be releasing a free high-level fantasy adventure in August called Iron Man. (thanks to meatpopsicle for the scoop) Citizen Games has posted rules for an alternative hit point system called Body and Vigor, which will apparently be used in their Desperado wild west game. (Spotted at RPGNews.com) Fantasy Flight Games has posted a sample race write-up from their forthcoming Mythic Races sourcebook. June 20, 2001 Poll: Not surprisingly, most of you (73%) would love to go to GenCon but can't for some reason. Some of you (11%) are going and looking forward to it. Some of you (10%) wouldn't go if you were paid. Check out the poll archive for detials. The current poll plays off of the one from last week about which edition of D&D you started with. Lots of you started with a version of Basic D&D, but as has been pointed out to me there have been many versions over a long stretch of years. So now I'm asking you to pinpoint when you first played D&D. I have a sneaking suspicion we'll see a lot of 1985 and earlier votes on this one. :) Exclusive Interview with WotC's Anthony Valterra: He says, "I set the schedule, the print runs, okay covers, decide on product mix, decide on product types that we want to put out in a given year, run analysis on the value of a given product and a given line, set strategy for RPGs in general, set guidelines for other parts of the company that interface with RPGs (such as localization and licensing)." He also secretly plots for world domination. He's RPG Business Manager Anthony Valterra, and you can read all about him and his leadership role in WotC's Roleplaying Games division in a new interview. D20 System News: OtherWorld Creations has posted some new materials for their Diomin setting, including four attractive maps and an article about the effects of age. (thanks to Chad for the scoop) Pinnacle's site has been updated with the announcement that Dead Presidents, the first Deadlands product with D20 stats in it, is now available. (Spotted at Gaming Outpost) From the Mongoose Publishing discussion group (thanks to Kesh for the scoop): Regarding future Slayer's Guides: Troglodytes are being worked on right now by the very talented Mike Major, of Games Workshop fame. Bugbears are provisionally planned for next year and Trolls we are considering for a free download from our (soon to be revamped) site. ...we are going to be introducing a 'new' (but very familiar, I guarantee) race in theseries later this year. . . Encyclopedia Arcane Series: As for the Encyclopaedia Arcane series, the next in line from Mongoose Publishing, Demonology has now passed the writing stage - we are currently engaged in layout, compilation of artwork and some final last minute playtesting to ensure everything still works as it should. The projects in progress that are currently occupying our attention are the Slayer's Guide to Kobolds, which will be deviating somewhat from our established format, and the second of the Encyclopaedia Arcane series: Necromancy - Beyond the Grave. Whereas Demonology can prove to be extremely dangerous, Necromancy will be downright creepy! US Availability: One last word to gamers in the US - we appreciate your patience up to this point, but there are only a few days to go before the Slayer's Guide to Hobgoblins goes on sale in your local shops. You will then be getting a simultaneous release of the Slayer's Guides to Gnolls and Centaurs, and from that point on, your releases will be in parity with Europe. Let us know what you think of the books as they turn up in your home towns! Community News: PS3E has posted an interview with Manual of the Planes author Jeff Grubb. Lots of interesting tidbits concerning the new book and its relationship with the Planescape line. PCGen 2.0.1 is available, updating and fixing bugs in last week's new release. (thanks to Greg for the scoop) A new version of RolePlaying Master, now incorporating Jamis Buck's online generators, is available. Daggerdale: The Wandsmen is a D&D campaign site. Updates at World of Kalam. Official Updates: What's new at WotC? Dragon Generator Prestige Class Contest Winners PC Portraits Scoopers: Brian Gute, Eric Heppel, Ronaldo Fernandes, Angelsboi, WolfJack. June 19, 2001 Reviews: RPGAction.com has posted a review of Slayer's Guide to Gnolls (Mongoose). Tome & Blood: Scooper Greg Currie scored a copy of Tome & Blood at his local game shop. He shares some details on what's inside. Everybody say, "Thanks, Mr. Currie!" :) Feats: Arcane Defense - Better resistance to a school of spells Arcane Preparation - Prepare arcane spells ahead of time like a wizard Augment Summoning - Summoned creatures are better than normal Chain Spell - Arc spells to additional targets Cooperative Spell - Cast spells to greater effect in conjunction with the same spell cast by another Delay Spell - Spells take effect after a short delay of your choosing Energy Admixture - Modify a spell that uses one type of energy to mix in an equal amount another type of energy effectively doubling the spell's power Energy Substitution - Modify a spell that uses one type of energy to use another type of energy Eschew Materials - Cast spells without material components (limited) Extra Slot - Cast an extra spell Extra Spell - Learn one more spell Greater Spell Focus - Increases the benefit of Spell Focus Greater Spell Penetration - Increases the benefit of Spell Penetration Improved Familiar - Choose a familiar from an expanded list Innate Spell - Cast a well-known spell as a spell-like ability Persistent Spell - Make a spell last all day Repeat Spell - Cast a spell that repeats the next round Sanctum Spell - Spells are more potent in a given location Sculpt Spell - Alter the shape of a spell's area Spell Specialization - Deal more damage with ray or energy missile spells Split Ray - Affect two targets with a single ray Subdual Substitution - Cause subdual damage with spells Twin Spell - Cast a spell simultaneously with a spell similar to it Widen Spell - Increase the area of a spell Prestige Classes: Acolyte of the Skin - Summons and wears the skin of a demon to gain fiendish knowledge (feats) , cold/flame resistance, and demonic powers. Alienist - A madden mage who deals with the terrifying reality of powers and entities from the far reaches of time and space, eventually becoming an outsider herself. Arcane Trickster - A thief/mage who utilizes magic to improve sneak attacks and can disarm, pick, and steal from a distance. Bladesinger - Elves who blend art, swordplay, and magic putting these mages side-by-side with their fighter counterparts (or at least a foot behind as they prepare spells to bolster their fighting talents). Blood Magus - Draws power from their very blood to empower spells to the point of even being able to substitute blood for spell components. Devastating touch attack at high level. Candle Caster - Empower candles with magic similar to certain meta-magical feats. Dragon Disciple - Tougher, stronger mages who can cast spells, claw/bite, and oh yes...breathe doom like a dragon... Elemental Savant - Harness the powers of air, fire, water, and earth for magical power to eventually transcend their mortal forms. Able to resist and focus elemental energies. Fate Spinner - Mages who twist the strings of fate to their advantage. Friends and foes alike may have their lives and deaths altered by these strange magics. Mage of the Arcane Order - Academic mages that focus on developing their powers and metamagical feats. By drawing upon The Order's energy matrix, these mages can call spells from a special spell pool. Mindbender - Dominating the minds and dreams of others, these mages can permanently thrall dominated creatures at high levels. Pale Master - These arcane masters of the dead can eventually summon greater undead creatures and even drain the life energy from living beings. Spellsword - A rugged spellcaster that can cast spells in armor and even cast a spell while striking an opponent with their sword. True Necromancer - A student of the arcane and divine arts that can raise greater undead creatures and invoke the fearful undead power of energy drain. Wayfarer Guide - A quick and brief study that allows magic users to use teleportation magics with great power and accuracy. New spells, magical tools and weapons, familiars, organizations, etc. Miller to Depart WotC: Steve Miller, an alum of TSR and an author at WotC, is leaving the company to pursue freelance work. Best of luck to Steve in his new endeavor! Community News: WotC's Steve Miller has a fledgling D20 System/D&D resource site with prestige classes, feats, characters, and other goodies for your enjoyment. The Magic Book is a spells resource site. Most of the stuff here has no stats, but you can find some nifty 3E spell sheets here. Did you know that Dork Tower's site is right here on Gamespy (host of RPG Planet)? I didn't. Updates at PS3E.com (new feats, creatures, items, rules, and domains). Get Out the Vote! It's that time of the month, when the D&D Top 25 Sites vote is reset. Be a pal, won't you, and vote for me? While you're at it, you can also vote for hosted site Creature Catalog, and partner site EN World. And then be sure to take a look at the many other fine sites on the list. New in the Conversion Library: No new files, but several updates/revisions. D20 System News: Monte Cook has posted an update to the billing situation regarding The Book of Eldritch Might (look at the 2nd message down). Twentysides.com has posted brief Q&As with Greg Benage of Fantasy Flight Games regarding two upcoming products -- Mythic Races and Traps & Treachery. Avalanche Games has posted a cover image and an updated release date for their next adventure, Greenland Saga. (thanks to Greg for the scoop) Spotted on the Necromancer Games website: In addition to Rappan Athuk II, the first module from Rob Kuntz titled Prisoners of the Maze will also be available at GenCon. (thanks to Shane for the scoop) From Monkey God Enterprises: Caravan of Hope shipped on Thursday and will be available shortly. Additionally our third product, Treasures of Elbard, will ship next week. June 18, 2001 Official Updates: What's new at WotC? Chapter 2 of this month's Cliffhanger has been posted. (thanks to Angelsboi for the scoop) WotC won an award for their public relations work related to the launch of the D&D 3E game. This press release provides more details. Oddly, my site isn't mentioned at all! ;) Malhavoc Payment Security: If you used a credit card to purchase The Book of Eldritch Might from Malhavoc Press, you might want to check out this note to customers regarding payments and security. D20 System News: OtherWorld Creations announced that Dave Webb has joined their staff as Vice President of Operations. Citizen Games will publish Desperado, a D20 System wild west game, in January. Take a look at their website for details and a sample character sheet. You'll find June's Focus on Freeport at the Green Ronin website. It includes a new monster, a new disease, a new spell, and an adventure hook to tie them all together. (thanks to Vortex for the scoop) Fantasy Flight Games has added a blurb about their forthcoming Mythic Races book to their website. They were also kind enough to send a cover mockup. Community News: From the DnD Community Council: "We have just released our June version of the Netbook of Magical Treasures and are now pushing 50 new magic items. I've also coded our information for use in Jamis Buck's treasure generator so that our information can be used side by side with that of the current information available in the generator. The files can be downloaded directly from our web site." EN World has posted an update to their Adventure Guide. Creature Catalog is back with new monster conversions. PS3E webmaster Brannon Hollingsworth has co-authored an essay about the future of Planescape for The Amethyst Circle e-zine. Issue #79 of Roleplaying Tips is now available. Justin Sluder's Unofficial D&D Site is a D&D resource site. Old Jack's Guild of Rogues is a D&D resource site. Adventurers' Fellowship is a D&D campaign site. Updates at Eyru (winner of Monster Design contest announced, new monsters, new campaign source material, new house rules). Reviews: Gaming Report has posted a review of Relics & Rituals (Sword & Sorcery Studios). June 17, 2001 D20 System News: Twentysides.com has posted an interview with Clark Peterson of Necromancer Games. Mystic Eye Games has posted some artwork previews from Nightmares & Dreams. Troll Lord Games has posted a new issue of their free company magazine, The Seeker. "Volume 2, issue 2 of The Seeker contains the returning columns, 'Women & Gaming,' 'Historical Footnotes,' and 'Game Master’s Theater,' as well as a preview of the major summer release, The Codex of Erde. The current issue also includes a letter from famous game personalities, reviews, company news, humorous anecdotes on gaming life, and details on the World of Inzae." Paradigm Concepts has posted the character creation guidelines for their Living Arcanis campaign. Community News: You can find a patch for Monte Cook's Book of Eldritch Might at www.montecook.com. It makes a few corrections to the .pdf file. (thanks to Oren Douek and Daeryth for the scoop) Guy Fullerton has set up a D&D Rules FAQ for your reading pleasure. If you'd like to help him in this endeavor, drop him a line. Updates at Realms of Evil (new spells, poisons, feats, traps, Dark Sun conversions, and monsters). June 16, 2001 Poll: Wow, I'm quite surprised. A whopping 53% of you said your first introduction to D&D was some incarnation of Basic D&D. That means a) most of my readers are pretty old, or b) you think "Basic D&D" means the D&D Adventure Game put out last year. :) 20% of you started with 1st Edition AD&D, 17% of you started with 2nd Edition, and 6% of you were first introduced via a computer RPG. Take a look at the complete results in the Poll Archive. The new poll is pretty straightforward. Vote your conscience! New in the Conversion Library: Classes -- chronomancer. D20 System News: Check out the entry for 6/8 on Fantasy Flight Games' "rants" page -- it includes sample art and info bits from their forthcoming Mythic Races sourcebook. The 6/1 entry has tidbits about Traps & Treachery. (thanks to Zoltán Déry and Ronaldo for the scoop) You can view the cover of Chaosium's Straits of Chaos for Dragonlords of Melnibone here. (thanks to Art for the scoop) You can view the cover of Necromancer Games' Rappan Athuk II here. (thanks to OctopusKing for the scoop) Community News: Did you know there's a "Best Fan Website" category for the ENnies? If you've got a great site, consider entering it! The Dungeon Crafter website has been updated in anticipation of the release of Dungeon Crafter 2, currently in development. Dungeon Crafter is a tile-based mapping program. James Wyatt of WotC has updated his personal RPG site with some information about an Oriental Adventures game he's running on his lunch breaks. Sean Reynolds of WotC has updated his personal RPG site with a new magic weapon. (thanks to Pat for the scoop) MonteCook.com has been updated with a Random Rune Description Generator and reviews of To Stand on Hallowed Ground (Fiery Dragon Productions) and The Longest Night (Privateer Press), among other things. (thanks to Oren Douek for the scoop) DnDResources.com is a D&D and RPG resource site. June 15, 2001 Official Updates: What's new at WotC? Autographed FRCS: Want to order an autographed copy of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting? You can now do so at the WotC online store. Be careful -- you can apparently only order 14 per week. ;) (thanks to Christophe for the scoop) FR Art Gallery: What could be better than having the illustrations from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting in electronic form? Includes holy symbols (even has bonus illustrations that aren't in the book). Reviews: RPG.net has posted reviews of Thievery 101: The Periapt of Famidon (Wyvern's Claw Design), Dzeebagd: Under Dark and Misty Ground (Troll Lord Games), Witchfire Trilogy I: The Longest Night (Privateer Press), and the Star Wars RPG (Wizards of the Coast). Community News: Fitz's D&D Stuff: includes "DM Screen" downloads, two small .pdf files with a few pages of condensed D&D charts and rules. (thanks to Gerard for the scoop) Updates at PS3E.com (planes-related news, new issue of The Circle Weave), Vulcano's Reach (new address, new monster conversions), and Walk the Road (new domains, domain lists from different products -- click "Workshop" to access). Product Ship Date Adjustments: I've received word and some confirmation that Manual of the Planes, which is in the WotC Product Catalog as a September release, will likely ship more toward the end of August; and likewise that Oriental Adventures and Enemies and Allies will ship toward the end of September. This jives with recent trends -- WotC's major "June" release, the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, appeared in many stores in late May, for instance. June 14, 2001 New in the Conversion Library: Monsters -- bloody bones, tasloi. Plus updates to other files. D20 System News: As reported yesterday, Privateer Press folk were interviewed at EN World, their next adventure in the Witchfire trilogy was previewed, and they've provided expanded rules for firearms in their Iron Kingdoms setting. In addition, Witchfire II is at the printer and may be in stores in about two weeks. And the preview issue of Gaming Frontiers magazine for D20 will feature some Iron Kingdoms fiction. Game Horizons will be producing a D20 "Master Adventure" series to accompany the Master Maze modular dungeon pieces from Dwarven Forge. The folks at Game Horizons are looking for artists, as indicated in the press release found here. Paradigm Concepts has posted some goodies on their website, including a prestige class from Blood Reign of Nishanpur, and maps from Bloody Sands of Sicaris and Spear of the Loghin. Community News: PC Gen 2.0, now cross-platform, has been released. Claudio Pozas has posted a new update -- an original illustration of Balsag the Hunter from Sunless Citadel. Scott Green informs me that his computer troubles are nearly over and the Creature Catalog will be back in action shortly. Soul's Fury is an online D&D campaign site. "Nik" is looking for some players, so drop him a note if you're interested. AtFantasy.com has begun posting prestige classes and other goodies from the "Sword Styles" threads in the House Rules forum on my message boards. World of Gailem is a D20/D&D campaign setting site brought to you by Gamer's Outlet. They're looking for folks to contribute to the setting. Updates at Chronicles of Oakthorne (setting info), Cale Nadere (government and geography info for Dalenthas' original Ledirak setting) and PS3E.com (new feats, items, beings, rules, domains). Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil Sneak Peek: Scooper "Old Timer" got his hands on a copy of Monte Cook's new "mega" adventure. Swipe the text below with your mouse to reveal some minor spoilers (nothing big, just names of chapters, sections, and sidebars) along the way: An interesting cover by Brom. 190 chock full pages of adventure, +2 pages of advertisements, + 16 full color map pages The type size is quite small. Smaller than previous WotC modules, it looks to me to be the size of what's in the FRCS. Introduction Part 1: Hommlet and Environs Chapter 1: The Town of Hommlet Chapter 2: The Moathouse Chapter 3: Ghost Town and Ruined Temple Part 2: The Temple of All-Consumption Chapter 4: The Hamlet of Rastor Chapter 5: The Crater Ridge Mines Chapter 6: The Inner and Outer Fanes Part 3: The Rebirth of Elemental Evil Chapter 7: The Recovered Temple Chapter 8: The Fire Node Appendix 1: New Magic Items Appendix 2: The Worship of Tharizdun Appendix 3: NPC Statistics Appendix 4: Player Handouts Sidebars: Town of Hommlet A Side Adventure The Dynamic Dungeon The Keys Hamlet of Rastor Designing Side Treks Operating an Ore Cart Foreshadowing Alternate Climaxes Drawbacks to Demonic Additions Using Varachan Difficulty of the Inner Fane Sleeping in the Inner Fane The Triad The Origin of the Grand Alter Lareth The Elemental Plane of Fire Magical Misc: Some magic-related news... Sean Reynolds confirms what I reported back in January -- there will be a Bladesinger prestige class in Tome & Blood. (on REALMS-L) Sean Reynolds indicates that "gem magic" will appear in Magic of Faerun. (on REALMS-L) WotC Customer Service on "Chosen of [Deity]" stats/rules for FR: "Currently there is no template for this, however sometime in a future Dragon they are thinking about doing something like that." Scoopers: Pat, Jason. Official Updates: What's new at WotC? New Map-A-Week. Ed Greenwood talks about the new FR setting. Forgotten Realms Screensaver. Scoopers: Brett, Brannon, Wraethu, Angelsboi. June 13, 2001 Community News: EN World Updates: Preview of Shadow of the Exile (Book II of the Witchfire Trilogy) by Privateer Press and an interview with Matt and Etien Staroscik. Firearms Rules for Iron Kingdoms setting (Privateer) on Publisher Download page. Closing date for spell competition and adventure competition is Friday. Caliban will be writing a 'Sage Advice' type column for Asgard Magazine called 'Consult the Oracle'. Any questions for the Oracle should be sent to me at morrus@lineone.net. All questions for Issue 1 of Asgard need to be in by June 18th as we begin putting the pdf together on June 20th ready for a release at the end of the month. Other regular articles include: a cartoon strip two serialized novels set in Daemonforge short stories d20 system news interviews with d20 system publishers and writers previews of d20 system products 'StoryCraft', a monthly column by Angelsboi 'Slayer Sense', another monthly column 'Worlds Apart', a monthly column by Jesse Dean of the AtFantasy Alliance prestige classes by RangerWickett, one each month, as penance for his 'Faux Tome and Bood' fan-submitted articles (please send inquiries about these to morrus@lineone.net) Jamis Buck's Monster Generator Poll vaporized recently, but it's back up. He'd like you to vote again if you have moment to express your opinions about what you'd like to see in a monster generator program. Logical Choice game shop in Australia puts out a regular newsletter; you can read the web version, which includes short D&D and D20 product reviews, contests, and product news, here. Updates at PS3E.com (new contest), Star Wars RPG Network (new conversions), DnD Community Council (new staff members, DnDCC itself is reviewed), and Vincent Darlage's Conan D20 (characters from the story "A Witch Shall Be Born"). D20 System News: Fantasy Flight Games announced they are creating a space-fantasy setting in October 2001. "Dragonstar is an exciting, all-new crossover setting that combines the epic fantasy of the world’s bestselling roleplaying game with the action and adventure of classic space opera. Dragonstar is a universe of magic and machine, science and sorcery, a universe where dragons rule a galactic empire and humans, elves, dwarves, and the other major races struggle with an ancient and terrible legacy." You can read more about it in this press release. Sinister Creative will be producing a D20 System pirate game called Skull & Bones. It will include rules for voodoo magic, ship-to-ship combat system, and an 18th century Caribbean setting. You can visit the Skull & Bones website to read the first of the weekly updates for this game. Bastion Press has new mailing lists, a new logo, an adventure design contest, and a schedule for WotC's ESD program. (thanks to Pat for the scoop) Scooper Garthor the Halfbreed spotted information on more D20 products coming from Reaper Miniatures. Given that these products aren't mentioned on their website, that's quite an accomplishment. PS -- if you've seen Reaper's Eldest Son product (which was supposedly due in April), drop me a line. More Partner Sites: I've added my final two partner sites to the list on the left: Star Wars RPG Network at www.swrpgnetwork.com: You may recall that for a few months after it was first announced, I attempted to keep up with Star Wars D20 news. And you've likely noticed that I report little to no Star Wars D20 news on the site despite coverage of other D20 System products here. There's a reason -- why duplicate the work of the fabulous SWRPG Network? I heartily recommend the site to anyone with an interest in the Star Wars RPG. Roleplaying Tips at www.roleplayingtips.com: Not specific to D&D or 3E by any means, Johnn Four's site has been one of the few "generic" RPG sites on my links page for some time. Roleplaying Tips has been featured in the pages of Dragon Magazine for the last couple of months. June 12, 2001 Message Board Roundup: Sean Reynolds on sea elves: We mentioned them because they exist. We never statted them because you can't play them as PCs ... because they start to drown after (Con) hours. That's a short short adventuring career waiting to happen. [Official Boards] Sean Reynolds on the gp value of regional starting equipment: All of the regional equipment is worth about 300 gp. [Official Boards] Rich Baker on time travel: No time-travel in Magic of Faerun. It's pretty unlikely that we'll explore time travel as a campaign model in any D&D product anytime soon. If we do anything on time travel, it'll probably be a special feature of a unique adventure, as opposed to something as in-depth as Chronomancer or Tangents. [Official Boards] Sean Reynolds on the population of Faerun: ...I believe it's about 68 million total for all of the countries and regions presented [in the FRCS book]. [Official Boards] Sean Reynolds on Spellfire: Spellfire, as presented in Magic of Faerun, is balanced and there's no reason why a spellcaster couldn't have it. [Official Boards] Sean Reynolds on "beginning play" with regional feats: [This quote from the FRCS, "if you are not a preferred class for a region, you can not begin play with a regional feat"] ...means you can't take the feat at first level. You _can_ take regional feats from your home region at later levels. [Official Boards] Sean Reynolds on Toril's cosmology and the Manual of the Planes: MotP is about creating your _own_ cosmology for your world. Like all core books, it uses Greyhawk examples, and as Greyhawk uses the Great Wheel, it presents the Great Wheel as an example cosmology. Greyhawk's cosmology has no binding effect on Toril's cosmology. Sean Reynolds on Thunder Twins. [Official Boards] Sean Reynolds on magic items inconsistencies in Into the Dragon's Lair: Into the Dragon's Lair was written before the 3E D&D rules were finished. The ring of vampiric regeneration was something that was dropped (I think) from the DMG before it was printed. Likewise with the ring of deflection ... for a while that was the name, then we changed it back to ring of protection to be consistent with older books. [Official Boards] Sean Reynolds on "treated as an outsider": It means that for spells, items, and effects that only affect humanoids, they don't affect you any more because you're not a humanoid. It also means that for spells, items, and effects that affect outsiders, you are treated as an outsider. You don't get the other default abilities of an outsider, such as darkvision. You are "treated as an outsider," you do not "become an outsider." [Official Boards] Sean Reynolds on what is a "tough fight": A CR-appropriate challenge is one that causes the PCs to expend about 20% of their resources - not a touch fight, but taxing in the long run. [Official Boards] Sean Reynolds on why dracoliches don't get the shaft: ...they get resistance to types of weapons, better natural armor, immunities, better damage, and so on. Their Cha goes up, increasing their spell DCs. And finally, they have the hard-to-kill cycle of the lich phylactery going for them. Sure, they have fewer hit points, but they can come back again and again.... [Official Boards] Sean Reynolds on regional feats for Silver Marches and Great Rift: I think we had feats for those regions at one time, but they didn't make it into the book. So.... The Silver Marches are part of the North region. People from the Great Rift are nonhumans of some sort and can always pick a racial "region." [Official Boards] Official Updates: What's new at WotC? New Cliffhanger Adventure. New PC Portraits. Scooper: Angelsboi. Community News: Partner Site Updates: PS3E.com has new feats (Improved Quick Draw), items (Death's Bane, Moebius Ring, Blood Rune Armour, Tongue Charm), critters (Busen, Bladeling, Carcene Diakk), rules/essays (Dynamic Parry rule, Monsters of Faerun), and domains (Song). Scott Metzger's Guide to Free and Converted Adventures has moved to EN World. Prince Nightchilde has set up an e-mail discussion group for sharing DMing tips. Subscribe here. Updates at Sean Reynold's site (new Drow NPC, new Blade of Faerun entry). Reviews: RPG.net has posted a review of Touched by the Gods (Atlas). (thanks to Oren Douek for the scoop) DM's Haven has posted a review of Touched by the Gods (Atlas). D20 System News: D20 Schedule Updated: I've updated my D20 System Guide with a look at June, July, and "Summer" releases. As I did my research, I noted a number of release date changes, which have been made throughout the guide. Publishers, if you see a mistake please let me know. Pinnacle has updated its website. You can view a new promotional poster for Weird Wars. And Deadlands D20 is now at the printer and "should be back in time for Origins" in early July. (thanks to AJeff02 for the scoop) Fantasy Flight Games has posted a preview of what the interior of Traps and Treachery will look like. They also sent along the final cover image for that book. Mystic Eye Games has posted their final free monster before the release of their monster book Nightmares & Dreams. They also announce a delay, page-count increase, and price increase for their forthcoming Mystic Warriors. Partner Sites: I'd like to call your attention to the new Partner Sites area in the bar on the left, beneath the poll. The sites here are some of the most content-rich sites I've encountered, and I encourage you to visit them. EN World at www.d20reviews.com: You'll note that EN World is now listed as a partner site rather than a Hosted Site; EN World (for a few different reasons) will not be physically moving over to RPG Planet after all, though our sites will remain partners in the truest sense of the word (webmaster Morrus will continue to moderate several forums on my message board, we're still partners for the ENnies, etc.). EN World features D20 System reviews and previews, settings, and resources. DnD Community Council at www.dndcommunitycouncil.org: The DnD Community Council has had a link in my Vital Links area since it started. It is home to a number of growing D&D netbooks. Planescape 3E at ps3e.com: PS3E is part of Planewalker.com, the official Planescape fan site. Brannon Hollingsworth and his crew do a great job of updating frequently with new 3E stuff. And Planescape has a special spot in my own heart. :) June 11, 2001 Pool of Radiance: Attack on Myth Drannor Update: Here's WotC's Business Manager, Anthony Valterra, with the scoop on the new Forgotten Realms adventure appearing in stores: This product is a 3E game but was supposed to release last year around October, coinciding with SSI's Pool II product. Well as we all know electronic games can be notoriously late. We rescheduled the product for March of this year and then were informed that the computer game was moving again. At that point we got an "okay" from SSI to release in June whether the product shipped or not. June came and we were informed that the product was moving again. The "hiccup" you are seeing is that we got the information about the delay so late that some shipping had already happened. So after some internal debate we just let the product go. Since the release was not organized it will appear here and there fairly randomly for the rest of the month. This will also explain the look of the cover (pre 3E FR). Dragon 285: I received the July 2001 issue of Dragon Magazine today. Here's a peek at what's inside: There are really two themes this month. The first is Haflings: Larry Elmore's cover captures a svelt halfling rogue as she sneaks out of a home she's just burgled. "Walk and Riddle: The Secret Life of Halflings" takes you deep into the halfling culture. "Little Wizards" investigates the potential of halflings as arcane spellcasters. The Lightbearer is a guardian-type prestige class for halflings and gnomes. The other theme is Elemental Evil: "Four in Darkness" by Monte Cook explores the concepts of evil elementals and evil clerics who worship the elemental powers. Included are new divine and arcane elemental spells, stats for elemental grues, and a new template for "demonically fused elementals." A poster map of the village of Hommlet is included. "The Bestiary" includes new evil elemental monsters. Other D&D goodies: Chris Pramas provides us with a look at the Empire of Ravilla, one of the nations of the Sundered Empire region, which is located "in Western Oerik on the world of Oerth." The lands of the Sundered Empire are also the setting for the forthcoming Chainmail miniatures game. Newer Tome and Blood cover art is revealed in the previews section, and we're teased with facts about the book (50 spells, 40 magic items, alchemical and mundane items, alternative and improved familiars; prestige classes like the bladesinger, spellsword, blood magus, mindbender, and "acolyte of the skin"; 24 metamagic feats like Extra Spell, Twin Spell, Chain Spell, and Energy Substitution). "Campaign Corner" provides handouts and plot hooks for the Realms, Greyhawk, Birthright, and Planescape campaigns. "Faiths of Faerun" provides a prestige class for the Silverstars of Selune. "Elminster's Guide to the Realms" looks at a locale near Neverwinter called The Shrine of Swords. "Vs." provides advice for battling pixies. "Sage Advice" looks at psionics. There are two pieces of official errata included: Inflict Pain -- The correct duration is instantaneous. Skate, See Sound, Psychofeedback, and Improved Vigor -- All four of these powers are available to psychic warriors. Dave Noonan in the Spotlight. He talks a bit about the new Manual of the Planes, indicating that it contains "probably forty pages of new monsters" including yugoloths, new spells, five prestige classes, and rules for using githzerai and githyanki as character races. He's also working on an unannounced project involving castles (likely the Stronghold Builder's Handbook). More: Fiction, "Cities of the Ages" (Prague this month), etc. Community News: Scott Metzger has updated his Guide to Free and Converted Adventures. New Adventures Added: Jaguar and Jackal, Crouching Illithid, Hidden Chimera,The False Messiah, The Legacy of Maanzecorian, The Gith Triangle, The Circlet of Gith, Enemy of my Enemy..., The Tomb of Zerthimon, Silvery Highway, The Escape from Kipwell, Unification, Fides and Philosophia, DL2 Dragons of Flame, I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City, A Frigid Demise, A Poison So Foul, Flames of Revenge, Eyes of the Sultan, Chains and Shackles. Theocracy of the Pale has moved to a new address: http://www.thepale.org. Updates at Fizzygoo's D&D Resource Site (new artificer prestige class). D20 System News: Troll Lord Games to Publish Gygax's Canting Crew: According to this press release, Troll Lord Games will be publishing a series of hardcover RPG sourcebooks by original D&D co-creator Gary Gygax. The first of the series, a guide to the criminal underworld in fantasy cities and tentatively titled Canting Crew, is slated for November 2001. The series will be written for the D20 System but will also contain appendices with rules information for Gygax's own Lejendary Adventure game as well. Gary talks about it more in detail in this thread on my message board. Jesse Dean of AtFantasy.com has written a review of Slayer's Guide to Gnolls (Mongoose Publishing). June 10, 2001 Poll: Well the previous poll is moot -- Gary Gygax wasn't kidnapped after all. Seems "PA" was pulling our collective legs! The nerve! If you care, you can see the results in the poll archive. This weeks poll asks about your roots. Did you start your D&D hobby with 3rd Edition, 2nd Edition, 1st Edition, Basic D&D, a computer RPG, or in some other way? D20 System News: Good-bye to Port City Games: We at Port City Games regret to inform you that we are closing our doors. We are going to take the time to assess certain matters and determine where we want to go in the gaming community, if indeed that is where we decide to go. Fantasy Flight Games will be releasing another batch of Legends & Lairs adventures in September. See their entry in the D20 System Guide for specific titles. (thanks to Zoltán Déry for the scoop) Dungeon Crawler is an e-zine that sometimes features D20 System adventures. The May/June issue, for instance, has a mini D20 adventure called Chains and Shackles. Official Updates: What's new at WotC? A Frigid Demise is a new free PDF adventure by Monte Cook. New Map-A-Week. The Miniatures section has been updated with an article on painting minis. Scoopers: RBB, Angelsboi, Kesh, steve Corrections and Clarifications: Several rules-related tidbits for you: MM Errata -- Ghost Telekinesis: WotC's Dave Noonan says, "Ghost TK only works on objects." Mounted Combat: WotC's Dave Noonan clarifies: Does the mount's Strength have any impact on damage dealt? No, the mount's strength doesn't matter. The rider's strength makes a much bigger difference. What does the corrected version of the Cavalier's Full Mounted Attack ability do (from Sword & Fist)? Ordinarily, if your mount is moving, you can only make a single attack even if you would otherwise get more than one per round. This class feature lets you make all your attacks even if your mount moves. Red Wizards: What's the benefit of the Enhanced Specialization feature of the Red Wizard prestige class (from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting)? WotC's Skip Williams: It's something you *have* to do upon becoming a Red Wizard, there is no benefit (except ... it opens the door for the rest of the class's abilities). Scoopers: Chris Staufer, Bradford C. Walker, Ed Bonny. Community News: Elsewhere is a campaign site for a D&D play-by-e-mail game. 3EDnD.com, home of the Stupid Dungeon Master Tricks, is moving to RPGd20.com. "Tricks and Tools are being converted to game-neutral, d20 System format." Updates at RealmsOfEvil.Net (new spells, 10 new feats, new poisons), The 3rd Edition (class-specific character sheets), Sean Reynolds' site (new contest, win a signed copy of the Living Greyhawk Gazeteer), Vincent Darlage's Conan D20 site (revised all of Conan's stats, new characters from the story "The Tower of the Elephant"), Eyru (new campaign material, new poll, new artwork). Scooper: Pat. June 9, 2001 D20 System News: RPGD20.com is a D20 System news site from the folks who brought you RPGNews.com. From James Bell of Fiery Dragon Productions: Here's our cover for the upcoming release, Nature's Fury. The cover was painted by Brian LeBlanc, and the adventure was written by Mike Mearls and myself. Again, we've put two scenarios under one roof: Mike's adventure for 6th-level characters concerns a snow-covered town (in the middle of summer), a dimensional portal, and bugbear politics; My adventure features a treasure-hunt for an ancient wizard's amulet, frozen deep within a drifting iceberg. The adventure is 40-pages long, included counters (by Claudio Pozas) and handouts, and will be available for purchase in August. Justice Gibson has set up a message board for discussing Shadowrun to D20 conversions. Grinning Goblin is the newest addition to the D20 System Guide. This publisher offers a subscription plan for its .pdf adventures. The Scrollworks newsletter will increase from 16 to 20 pages beginning with the July issue. There will be no increase in the subscription price. Scooper "Bandersnatch" got some more information on the Asian-themed D20 System setting, Namsco: NAMSCO will be comparable with Wizard's of the Coast's Oriental Adventures, that will detail how to run a campaign in the main eastern settings (Feudal Japan and Ancient China), though it in itself will not be a campaign setting. NAMSCO, however, will be a campaign setting, specifically modeled after feudal Japan; particularly its political and military structure. Though we are using elements of Asian mythology and religion, the spiritual elements within the setting will reflect the nature of a fantasy setting. The main book will include no new core classes, the classes detailed in the PHB and the upcoming Oriental Adventures will all be playable within this setting. There will be detailed description on the setting; its history, political structure, and, the values of the people who dwell within it. We are including a multitude of spells, feats, prestige classes, weapons, and, monsters. Reviews: Black Falcon Aerie has posted a review of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. Dark Moon Design has posted a short review of Touched by the Gods (Atlas Games). (thanks to Gerard for the scoop) June 8, 2001 Community News: New stuff at MonteCook.com, including errata for Monte's Book of Eldritch Might and magic item creation FAQ. (Thanks to TJ for the scoop.) From the DND Community Council: "The Netbook of Feats has been updated for June with 60 new feats. The NBOF offers 159 OGC feats for use in your campaign or publication." Agramainyu, who brought you the Combat Reference Sheet, has released the first of what will be several reference sheets, starting with a "Player Reference Sheet". He will be making the MS Word .doc versions available for those who want to edit them. Check his site for the new sheet and for more updates. Mark Shute has developed a few online generators for D&D and CyberPunk 2020. Of particular interest is a spell-book builder -- you specify the wizard's level and intelligence, select the spells in the spellbook, etc. Check it all out, at the Laurel Cadre Online HQ. (Spotted at Jamis Buck's site.) Vacuum_Elemental has updated his online die roll database. He adds, "We are gaming with it on your Story Hour board, and we also have a new message board WotC gave us. The Wizards board is called "Real D&D Adventures with Vacuum's Die Roller". We've got about 10 games going on right now, and we're looking for more DMs. We use the die roller so people can see the server's rolls and ASCII grids in courier font for combat and movement." Kalamar Errata Posted: You can find the current errata for Kingdoms of Kalamar using the links below to download .pdf files: Page 91 - We've addressed the issue of the incompletely described Temple of the Overlord in Alnarma. This change necessitated altering the NPC reference charts. Here are two PDFs which replace pages 253 & 257. Additionally, Diety Domains were not listed in the book. Here is a new page 273. Welren's listing in the NPC reference chart has been adjusted to reflect his standing as an Archmage. June 7, 2001 Master Tools Tidbits: WotC's Byrt Martinez was kind enough to answer a few questions about Master Tools over on their message board: What data will be in the initial release of MT? Currently, the plan is to include the data in the 3 core books only. This includes all of the items, spells, monsters, skills, feats & classes available in those books. The supplemental books are planned to be available separately as expansions, either as data sets or upgrades to Master Tools. System specs? Currently, the specs are as follows: Windows PC (Win 9x/2000), Pentium II, 200Mhz, 32MB RAM, CD-ROM, DirectX compatible video card capable of at least 800x600. Which version of Access is needed to get to the data? MS Access 2000. Printing options for character sheets, etc.? Printing options are TBD. August Dragon to Feature Shannara Campaign Material: According to this post from assistant editor Matthew Sernett, the "surprise" featured in the August issue of Dragon Magazine that editor Dave Gross alluded to a while back is as follows: The August issue is our special Shannara issue! The world of Terry Brooks is explored in a complete mini-campaign with: Magic items, including the Sword of Shannara Legendary characters, including Allanon and Walker Boh A new prestige class: the Elder Druid A poster map of the Four Lands And an exclusive preview of the new novel! If you're a Shannara fan, this issue will blow your mind. Never visited the Four Lands? This issue will be your primer to Terry Brook's fantastic world. D20 System News: On the Message Boards -- Monte Cook and Mike Mearls write Underdark materials for Fiery Dragon: Mike Mearls is working on a trilogy for us, which will come out next year. It's going to be VERY cool. Monte Cook is working on a project involving those crazy Drow. That will also come out next year. Reminder to Publishers -- ENnies Deadline Approaching: Morrus of EN World has asked me to remind D20 publishers that you only have about 3 weeks left to submit your entries. Sovereign Stone D20 Chat Log: You can read an abbreviated chat log concerning the Sovereign Stone campaign setting here. You'll find details on what's going to be in the initial releases includingrules for creating new spells. Scoopers: Psion, Chris. Community News: Nutkinland is back! Is it a twisted, Bizzarro version of my boards or just a not-at-all-moderated place to hang out? You be the judge. Warning: Not for kids. Things get kinda racy over there... In case you need a refresher, here's my shocking Nutkinland Exposé, detailing the rise and fall of the previous incarnation of this message board. Furyondy, Land of Adventure is a campaign site for a Greyhawk PBEM game. Updates at DM's Haven (historical overview of entire Troll Lords game line, new articles for DMs), Ps3e.com (new feats, essays, items and creatures), Black Falcon Aerie (spell, feat and domain listsupdated to include FR Campaign Setting), Michael's Imagination (new prestige class for bards). New in the Conversion Library: Adventures -- Dragons of Flame (DL2) and Dwellers of the Forbidden City (I1); Classes -- another Cavalier prestige class; Dragonlance -- 5th Age Conversion Notes, DL/Star Wars Crossover Notes; Oriental Adventures -- another Kensai prestige class. June 6, 2001 D20 System News: New Adventure Available from Wyverns Claw Design: Thievery 101: The Periapt of Famidon is the second installment in the Thievery 101 product line. It is intended for a 1st or 2nd level rogue and can be used shortly after completing SR1-1 or just as a location for a break-in in your campaign. The Watchers give the PC the task of stealing the Periapt of Famidon. A combination shop & residence containing it's share of traps and surprises await the rogue. Is the PC up to the challenge? 17 Pgs. $2.95. It's available for purchase and download in .pdf format now. From Mystic Eye Games: First and foremost, we are adding the next free monster in the countdown to Nightmares & Dreams, our creature collection. This time it is a frisky little pest called the Cat Nap. Check it out at our site. We are also extremely proud to announce that we will have a mini-adventure in the new Gaming Frontiers magazine preview that will debut at this year's Gen Con. We will be sharing the pages of this debut with the great talents of Fiend Games, Atlas Games, Privateer Press and Troll Lord Games. This mini-adventure story will feature one of our free monsters. Jump on our forum and let us know which one you think it is. As usual, we will back this adventure up with some enhancements immediately after Gen Con so look for them in our Free Stuff Adventure section then. Namsco Website Update: A while back a scooper reported on Namsco, an Asian-themed D20 System setting, and gave us a web address. I didn't list them in the D20 System Guide because I actually didn't know if that was the name of the company or the name of the setting. It's apparently both. In any case, they have an entry now. And their site has been updated a little. Scoopers: Alzrius, Angelsboi, Daniel, Chad. Official Website Updates: What's new at WotC? More of the Divine is a web enhancement for the new Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting book. A Sneak Peek at the Forest of Wyrms in Realmswatch. New PC Portraits. Scoopers: Todd Antill, Baastet, Angelsboi, Brett. Message Board Roundup: Greg from Fantasy Flight Games talks about their Mythic Races D20 book: The book will feature 30 original races, not ones drawn from real-world mythology. That said, some of the races will certainly be familiar: there will be a "faerie" race, a humanoid feline race, and others that you've seen before... but hopefully with cool twists on 'em! Others will be a bit more unique, such as a race of "risen demons" (counterparts to "fallen angels") -- demons who, through whatever accident of fate, have redeemed themselves and ascended to the Material Plane to live out their lives as mortals. In addition to the standard information on each race (following the format in the PHB), each listing will also include a racial prestige class (along the lines of the dwarven defender) and in some cases new culture-specific weapons and equipment. [D20 Publishers Forum] Sean Reynolds on the "regional bonus equipment" bundles in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting: Pick one set; you don't get all three. [Forgotten Realms Forum] David Eckelberry on Prestige Domains: ...I think that we wish we had provided other means of accessing the prestige domains generically—not merely through prestige classes.... The most obvious way for this to work is through a feat accessible only to clerics. Put a requirement on it as something such as cleric level 9+, and then allow the feat's benefit to be to allow the cleric to exchange one of his normal domains for a prestige domain of his deity. Why exchange and not simply grant? The granted powers of many of the prestige domains are better than a feat (Celerity, Glory, Madness, and Mysticism, at least). [My Boards] Keith Strohm on pricing for D&D stuff: (Several posts, too much to summarize neatly.) [My Boards] Scoopers: The Shadow of My Former Self, Gerard. Familiar Names: Though it's not directly D&D related, Raymond Lau of Alderac Entertainment Group announced the members of the "L5R Story Development Team" recently on L5RINFO-L. The team includes WotC's former D&D brand manager Ryan Dancey, and Don Perrin, an author in the Dragonlance line and the president of Sovereign Press, as well as Andrew Heckt and Rich Wulf. You can read more here. (thanks to Yoritomo Lee for the scoop) Defenders of the Faith Clarification: Scooper "Seth" passes this on from Skip "The Sage" Williams, who clarifies the meaning of "+1 level of existing class" on prestige class tables. If the class table has a "Spells" column and the entry in that column reads "+1 level of existing class" then your caster level goes up along with your daily spell allotment. GenCon RPGA Events Confusion: A few days ago I reported some RPGA events at GenCon were incorrectly listed in the prereg book. I'm told that some of those "corrections" are now incorrect. I don't have any answers for you but I've been urged to point you to WotC Events Customer Service at 1-800-529-EXPO or evtcustserv@wizards.com if you have questions. Reviews: RPG.net has posted several reviews: The Book of Eldritch Might (Malhavoc Press) The Book of Eldritch Might (Malhavoc Press) (yes, twice :) Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (WotC) The Standing Stone (WotC) Star Wars RPG (WotC) Gaming Report has posted a review of Slayer's Guide to Hobgoblins (Mongoose Publishing). Scoopers: Oren Douek, Yves. Community News: Andrew's Greyhawk Campaign is a D&D campaign site. Updates at Palaestra (tattoo magic, new poll, new adventure logs, character spellbooks, feats), Rasta’s Folly (changes to Deep Gnomes and other 'Power Races' to make them usable at ECL +0, new monster template), Planescape 3E (feats, items, rules, monsters), Clan of the Tesseract (new downloads section), RPG.HMImages.com (updates to ClassCalc, Two-Weapon fighting vs. single weapon fighting comparison spreadsheet, ManaDrive), Sean Reynolds' site (new drow of the week, updates to Dragonlance magic item conversions), Fantaseum (RPG mood music reviews), and The Shards (new prestige classes, setting information). Thanks to The Shadow of My Former Self for a scoop or two. June 5, 2001 Poll: As you can see in the Poll Archive, most of you would like more Generic Locations, Character-Related Stuff, and Rules Expansions from D20 publishers. Thanks to all who participated. The current poll asks a question of utmost importance. Take it seriously -- the results go on your permanent record. Master Tools Update 6/5: It's been nearly three weeks, but here's the most recent update on Master Tools. It's not exactly earth-shattering and continues to focus a bit much on the mapper. I have to say I'm much more interested in a) a list of what books other than core are included in the data, b) what version of Access one would need to get to the database to customize it, c) what output formats will be available for the character sheets (I really like doing sheets as HTML files), d) what printing options will be available for character sheets, e) computer system requirements. That sort of things -- the nitty gritty. Ah well, there's always next week. D20 System News: Living Imagination Inc. will be debuting a new D20 System product -- the Twin Crowns, Age of Exploration Fantasy campaign setting -- at the Origins Game Convention in July. See their new entry in the D20 System Guide for more information. Sword & Sorcery Studio has updated its release schedule, including products from Necromancer Games and Fiery Dragon Productions. I've adjusted the dates accordingly in my D20 System Guide. (thanks to Forge for the scoop) June 4, 2001 Community News: EN World has posted a preview of Slayer's Guide to Gnolls (Mongoose Publishing). Prolific Dragonlance conversion guy James O'Rance now has a shiny new home for his Dragonlance conversions. All of the links to his stuff in my Conversion Library now point to this new site. The 3rd Edition has added a new comic strip, Big Stick, as well as over 30 new items to their resource section (character sheets, spell sheets, etc.). Sean Reynolds has a new feature on his site -- he's creating magic swords for different Forgotten Realms deities, including notes on how to figure out their pricing. (thanks to Eric Heppel, Pat, and Dazza for the scoop) Scott Metzger has updated his guide to free and converted D&D adventures. D20 System News: Thrilling Tales, a quarterly pulp gaming/fiction magazine from Sinister Creative, will use the D20 System. The first issue, shipping in July, features tales by Doc Savage author Will Murray, Feng Shui author Robin Laws, Brave New World author Matt Forbeck, and more. The Thrilling Tales D20 Pulp rules will be written by Hong Kong Action Theatre! and Underworld designer Gareth-Michael Skarka, who will also serve as the magazine's editor. Updates to my D20 System Guide, including current links to product info for Fantasy Flight Games, additions to product info for Atlas Games, and updated product information and release dates for Sovereign Stone. (thanks to Costello for a scoop or two) Medals and Promotions in Weird Wars: From the Weird Wars mailing list (thanks to gathomas for the scoop): Promotions: At the end of each mission characters that have advanced a level may check for promotion. Basically you roll 1d20, add your character level, and any modifiers due to medals your character has earned. There are two different tables for enlisted men and officers. Advancing on the officer table is much more difficult. It's not possible to reach the top of the officer table (which is capped at Colonel) without a chest full of medals. Medals: If your character does anything heroic during an adventure, he can earn a medal (like Zeke feeding his hand holding a live grenade to the demon during our playtest). For this to happen, the ranking officer has to put in a recommendation for a medal or your superiors have to hear about it in some other way. Then you roll on the medal table and add any modifiers like being severely wounded in the act (knocked below 0 hit points). If you roll high enough, you get a medal and an XP bonus. Higher medals have more XP attached. From Agatha Blades: "...we here at Agatha Blades are looking for a few playtesting groups for our modules and worldbook. If anyone is interested, please have them contact us at trix@cowtown.net." Monte Cook is "working on something for ... Fiery Dragon Press ... that will be about dark elves," according to a post on his message boards. (thanks to RBB for the scoop) If you have questions about The Book of Eldritch Magic by Monte Cook (Malhavoc Press), you might want to check Monte's message boards for threads like this one where questions get answered. June 3, 2001 FR Accessory Tidbits: No Elven High Magic rules in Magic of Faerun: "Elven high magic is best handled by some of the epic spellcasting rules in the Epic-Level handbook. It's cool stuff." (Sean Reynolds on FR-L) The FR book mentions "drug running" among illegal activites of certain organizations. So where can we find out about these substances? "See Lords of Darkness." (Sean Reynolds on FR-L) Scoopers: Pat, Jason. Reviews: RoleplayingWorld has posted reviews of Sunless Citadel (WotC) and Thieves in the Forest (Atlas Games). Black Falcon Aerie has posted a review of Monte Cook's Book of Eldritch Magic (Malhavoc Press). Community News: EN World has posted a preview of Legions of Hell (Green Ronin). From the DnD Community Council: Version 002 of the Netbook of Classes has been posted. RPGAction.com has posted an interview with Andrew Troman, the new chairman of the DnD Community Council. Adventurer E-zine "is a monthly magazine that has been around since march of this year and is devoted to the third edition of Dungeons and Dragons. We accept quality submissions of third edition material and are eager for new submitters. We also have a section to answer questions related to the rules which we answer to the best of our ability." Dragonlance Nexus has posted an interview with Steve Miller. CyberCon, an online role-playing convention, has posted most of their Game Schedules and Events Schedules. You can sign up for these events. CyberCon is also holding an auction, costume contest, best of show poll, interactive fiction writing contests, art show, etc. Eastern Empires is a section of CitadelRaven featuring Asian-themed feats and prestige classes. The Chronicles of Oakthorne is a fan site for the Scarred Lands setting from Sword & Sorcery Studios. Silver Dragon's Home is a D&D resource site. The Scrying Room has posted a new "Tales from the Mythal" installment, this time taking a look at the Arraccat, a new monster created specifically for Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor. Updates at Nyambe d20 (spells, campaign history and map, and artwork), RoleplayingWorld (new reviews, articles and locations), Loremaster.net (prestige classes from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting added to the online multiclass calculator), PS3E.com (new monsters, multiclassing rules, Planescape product news), Black Falcon Aerie (feat and spell lists updated for Monte Cook's Book of Eldritch Magic; new PCs, NPCs, and NPC groups), Megadungeon (teaser adventure, cyberwear and sanity rules for d20), and CitadelRaven (new spells and a feat), New Arabian Adventures (new version of the netbook available). Official Website Updates: What's new at WotC? Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting launch event photos. Excerpts from the FRCS, including Elminster's stats. Personality Spotlight on the FRCS designers and editors. Clay golems featured in this month's installment of Golems 201. Dirge of Discord in the Spellbook. Updated D&D Character Sheet (look on the right toward the bottom under "Hot Downloads"). Scoopers: Dark Blackshield, Sean A. Veira, Daeinar. Magic of Faerun Cover: Thanks to Robert, Pat, and Asharim for pointing out that WotC has posted a new cover for Magic of Faerun. June 1, 2001 Magic of Faerun Tidbits: What's in the fortcoming Forgotten Realms accessory Magic of Faerun? Well so far... Incanatrix Prestige Class and Spellsinger [prestige class I assume] (Sean Reynolds on FR-L) 50 new cleric spells, 40 new druid spells, 20 new bard spells, 20 new paladin spells, 20 new ranger spells, and 100 new mage spells. By "new" I mean "new or converted from a previous edition." (Sean Reynolds) War-Wizard of Cormyr is a prestige class in Magic of Faerun. (Sean Reynolds on the FR message boards) Scoopers: Todd Antill, Christopher Way. D20 System News: Troll Lord Games has overhauled its website at www.trolllord.com. New sections of the website include Retail Support, Free Stuff, and Message Boards. Viking Games has added monthly their column to their website. On the RPG.net forums, John Nephew of Atlas Games reveals a new product coming up this September: En Route is a collection (128 pp) of mini-adventures/vignettes/extended encounters, none of which should be longer than an hour to play, to be inserted into, between, around, or in lieu of longer scenarios. (It's inspired by such previous books as the Citybook series, the Country/City/Castle Sites books, the Side Treks in Dungeon magazine, and so forth.) (thanks to Psion for the scoop) Mystic Eye Games has posted a new monster, the Dream Elemental. (thanks to Angelsboi for the scoop) Green Ronin Publishing has posted a new Focus on Freeport. (thanks to Dave for the scoop) From Paradigm Concepts: Fires of Insurrection Delayed: Fires of Insurrection, the third volume in the Canceri Chronicles has unfortunately been delayed due to production difficulties related to printing. As soon as the situation is cleared up we will send the product out to another printer. This delay will not affect any of our future releases which are on schedule. Blood Reign of Nishanpur Sold Out! The last few copies of Blood Reign of Nishanpur were sent off to distributors this week. We would like to thank all of the distributors and retailers that helped us make this product and The Spear of the Lohgin a success. Sicaris off to the Printers! The D20 System adventure The Bloody Sands of Sicaris is ahead of schedule and should be at the distributors by mid-June. Reviews: AtFantasy.com has posted Jesse Dean's review of Touched by the Gods (Atlas Games). NWN Online has posted a review of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. Dungeons & Dragons, D&D 3E and AD&D are all property of Wizards of the Coast.