New in the Conversion Library: Deities and Priesthoods --
Babylonian Gods; Monsters -- rhagodessa, crystalline dragon, diabolus.
Community News:
- Daeloron is a D&D resource and campaign setting site.
- Herocraft has resources for D20 and a campaign setting,
Dark Aerth.
- You can read a brief preview of Terrors of the Deadlands,
a Dark Sun 3E accessory soon to be released at athas.org.
- Scooper PLCM points out that you can download the errata
for the French-language version of the Player's Handbook here.
- Updates at James Wyatt's Aquela (info on his Oriental
Adventures seminar and events).
Poll: The results of the previous poll show that when it
comes to 3E, you are most impressed with the Multiclassing
system, Feats, and Skills.
Prestige Classes, the way Monsters are handled, and Classes
came in next. Thanks for participating!
Yesterday we learned about the products coming out in early 2002. Which
ones are you most looking forward to?
Errata - Tome & Blood - Arcane Trickster's Ranged
Legerdemain: Original sentence: "He can make only one ranged skill
check each day, and only if he has at least one rank in the skill being
used." Corrected sentence: "He can make a ranged
skill check only if he has at least one rank in the skill."
[Source: Skip Williams] (thanks to Oren Douek for the scoop)
Living Greyhawk Journal Preview: From scooper
"Flynn": The latest Living Greyhawk Journal, Vol I, #4. includes a new prestige class
(Silent Ones of Keoland-for spontaneous arcane casters; recognized and
approved for use in LG Campaigns), several new monsters (Qallan,
Necrophidius, Dune Stalker, Nyrrian Boatcrusher), and news from around
the Flanaess.
D20 System News:
- Privateer Press is running a contest -- win a steamjack
t-shirt.
- Bastion Press has announced a new line of "d20 Guides"
including d20 Guide to Arms & Armor, d20 Guide to
Villains, and d20 Guide to Alchemists and Herbalists, all
due in early 2002. They also announced the winners of their recent
monster design competition. And you can also download this week's
freebie, a new map.
- When Mongoose Publishing juggled their schedule recently,
they sneaked in a new product title: Gladiator. What is it?
Mongoose's Matthew Sprange explains: "Due
for release after Necromancy, Gladiator is, at this time, an 80 page D20 supplement
fulfilling three primary goals: 1. It will introduce gladiatorial
arenas into campaigns - how they are run, what sort of places have
them, what is needed to support an arena in a city, etc. . . 2. New
rules for gladiators, including weapons, skills, feats and prestige
classes to allow players to compete within arenas, whether by choice or
through slavery. 3. Most exciting, Gladiator contains
a complete D20 based game through which players each control their own
stable of gladiators. New fighters can be bought, sold and traded, full
experience/campaign rules are given, as well as a huge number of
gladiatorial matches that allow a wide variation of differing combats -
miniatures can be used, or not, as players wish. Gladiator can be used either as a short break from regular campaigning
or as part of an entire league, with players constantly competing with
one another to become the most successful stable of the arena."
- RPG Source has made a number of changes to their product
lineup.
- Jim Pinto of AEG estimates that their next D20 release, Evil,
will hit stores "middle to late next week."
- Fiery Dragon has another art preview by RPG Planet's very
own Claudio Pozas. (thanks to Dazza for the scoop)
- Fantasy Flight Games has posted a little tidbit about how Traps
& Treachery is coming along. Sounds like we'll see it in stores
very soon. (thanks to Dazza for the scoop)
Official Updates: What's new at WotC?
- The Ministry of Winds is a free adventure for 6th-level
characters written by Monte Cook.
- Personality Spotlight shines on Monte Cook.
- The Business of RPGs looks at the Open Gaming License.
- Scoopers: Oghma, Omedon.
ENnies Nominations Announced: The EN World D20 System
Awards nominees are shown below. Visit EN World at www.d20reviews.com
to cast your vote for your favorite in each category, then join me, EN
World webmaster Russell 'Morrus' Morrissey, guest presenter Gary Gygax,
and the nominees on Sunday, July 29 at 3:30pm Central Time in the
ENnies Ceremony Chat Room for the awards ceremony.
Before we get to the list of nominees, let me say a couple of things:
- A great big "Thank You" to
Morrus for coordinating this project, and to Liquide for setting up the
technical side of things. Without them these awards literally couldn't
have existed.
- Another great big "Thank You"
to the selection committee. They did a lot of careful reading, thinking
and debating in order to present to you the best five nominees in each
category.
- Finally, a brief explanation. You no doubt will see some
categories and think, "Why isn't Product X nominated?"
As you may recall, there was a pretty specific procedure for submitting
products to be considered for nomination. Certain publishers, for
whatever reason, opted not to participate. So if you see any "obvious
gaps" in the different categories, that's why.
And now, here are the nominations. Be sure to vote!
The EN World d20 System
Awards 2001
In association with Eric Noah’s
Unofficial Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition News
Nominees for Best
Adventure
Death in Freeport (Green Ronin Publishing)
NeMoren’s Vault (Fiery Dragon Productions)
The Longest Night (Privateer Press)
The Bloody Sands of Sicaris (Pardigm Concepts)
The Pit of Loch-Durnan (Mystic Eye Games)
Nominees for Best Rulebook or Accessory
The Book of Eldritch Might (Malhavoc Press)
Legions of Hell (Green Ronin Publishing)
Slayer’s Guide to Hobgoblins (Mongoose Publishing)
Umbragia: Core Rulebook (Jagged Edge Games)
Nightmares & Dreams (Mystic Eye games)
Nominees for Best Setting
After Winter Dark (Troll Lord Games)
Iron Kingdoms (Privateer Press)
Umbragia: Realms of Shadow (Jagged Edge Games)
The City of Freeport (Green Ronin Publishing)
Shattered Empires (Paradigm Concepts)
Nominees for Best Writer
The Bloody Sands of Sicaris (Scott Charlton - Paradigm Concepts)
Death in Freeport (Chris Pramas - Green Ronin Publishing)
NeMoren’s Vault (James Bell - Fiery Dragon Productions)
The Longest Night (Matt Staroscik - Privateer Press)
The Book of Eldritch Might (Monte Cook - Malhavoc Press)
Nominees for Best Art (Interior)
Legions of Hell (Various - Green Ronin Publishing)
Demons & Devils (Brian LeBlanc - Necromancer Games)
Slayer’s Guide to Gnolls (Chris Quilliams - Mongoose Publishing)
The Longest Night (Matt Wilson & Brian Snoddy - Privateer Press)
Nightmares and Dreams (Various - Mystic Eye Games)
Nominees for Best Art (Cover)
The Longest Night (Matt Wilson - Privateer Press)
The Pit of Loch Durnan (Mystic Eye Games)
Demons & Devils (John Masse - Necromancer Games)
The Slayer’s Guide to Gnolls (Anne Stokes - Mongoose Publishing)
Madness in Freeport (Brom - Green Ronin Publishing) |
Nominees for Best
Cartography
Madness in Freeport (Todd Gamble - Green Ronin Publishing)
Fool’s Errand (Brian Snoddy - Privateer Press)
Slayer’s Guide to Gnolls (Nathan Web - Mongoose publishing)
Into the Darkness (Jon Geraghty - OtherWorld Creations)
The Silver Summoning (Michael Johnstone - Fiery Dragon Productions)
Nominees for Best Editor
The Book of Eldritch Might (Sue Weinlein Cook - Malhavoc Press)
Death in Freeport (Jennifer Clarke-Wilkes - Green Ronin Publishing)
The Silver Summoning (Michael Johnstone - Fiery Dragon Productions)
The Slayer’s Guide to Hobgoblins (Alexander Fennell - Mongoose
Publishing)
Fool’s Errand (Brett Huffman - Privateer Press)
Nominees for Best Free Product
The Hunt: Rise of Evil Setting (Mystic Eye Games)
Focus on Freeport #5: Holiday in the Sun (Green Ronin Publishing)
Umbragia: Core Rulebook (Jagged Edge Games)
Outpost Qether (OtherWorld Creations)
The Wizard’s Amulet (Necromancer Games)
Nominees for Best Official Website
Green Ronin Publishing
Fiery Dragon Productions
Malhavoc Press
Mongoose Publishing
Necromancer Games
Nominees for Best Fan Website
SWRPGNetwork (Co-Webmasters - Rodney Thompson & Grayson Shepard)
PS3E (Brannon Hollingsworth)
Jamis Buck’s RPG Generators (Jamis Buck)
Creature Catalog (Scott Greene)
Conan d20 Fan Website (Vincent Darlage)
Nominees for Best Publisher (Overall)
Green Ronin Publishing
Fiery Dragon Productions
Privateer Press
Mongoose Publishing
Necromancer Games |
2002 D&D Products Spotted at Amazon.com: Eagle-eyed
scooper "Rab" found all sorts of D&D goodies coming up in January
through April of next year:
Lord of the Iron Fortress
Adventure for 15th-Level Characters
by Andy Collins
January 2002
$9.95, 48 pages |
Bastion of Broken Souls
Adventure for 18th-level Characters
by Bruce R. Cordell
February 2002
$9.95, 48 pages |
Forgotten Realms Dungeon Master's
Screen
by Mike Selinker, David Eckelberry
February 2002
$12.95, 32 pages |
Masters of the Wild: A Guidebook
to Barbarians, Druids, and Rangers
by Mike Selinker, David Eckelberry
February 2002
$19.95, 96 pages |
The Wheel of Time: Prophecies of
the Dragon
(D20 System)
March 2002
$29.95, 192 pages |
Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying Game
(D20 System)
by Monte Cook and John Tynes
March 2002
$39.95, Hardcover, 320 pages |
Deities and Demigods
by Rich Redman, Skip Williams, and James Wyatt
April 2002
$29.95, Hardcover, 224 pages |
D20 System News:
- The ENnies are Here! The nomination committee is
done, the publishers have been notified, the voting area is almost
ready to go. Later on today, look for instructions on how you can cast
your vote for the best D20 System products! The voting for the EN World
D20 System Awards will take place for the next week, and the awards
ceremony will take place online on July 29th with guest presenter Gary
Gygax. Keep your eyes peeled!
- The Andwan Legacy, a new adventure from 0one
Roleplaying Games, is now available. You can buy the .pdf download at
the 0one website.
- The Karagatane message board has an interesting post with
information on Ravenloft D20 products from next year: the first books on the 2002 schedule are
going to be Van Richten's
Arsenal (new weapons, spells,
artifacts and prestige classes with which to better hunt the fiends of
the night) and the first Ravenloft
Gazetteer. (thanks to
Justin for the scoop)
- Scott Metzger of Yo Yo Dyne Technologies has prepared D20
Stat Blocks for Summon Spells. From Celestial Badger to Vrock, they're
all laid out in stat block format with fiendish or celestial templates
applied where needed.
- The Amazon.com scoop above seems to indicate that WotC's
Call of Cthulhu won't be out until March instead of January 2002 as
originally announced.
- The Amazon.com scoop above revealed two new products for
Star Wars D20 coming in 2002: New Jedi Order Sourcebook (February 2002)
and Tempest Feud (March 2002).
Reviews:
- Monte Cook has posted a review of Legions of Hell
(Green Ronin). (thanks to The Shadow of My Former Self for the scoop)
- Atlas of Adventure has posted a review of Creature
Collection II (Sword & Sorcery).
Community News:
- Sean Reynolds on Gamer's Tavern Reminder: The live interview with Sean K. Reynolds is
Saturday night on Gamer's Tavern. The show starts at 9 PM EDT, and the first
hour will be for fans to call in with their questions for Sean.
- Crosswalk Press is the personal site of the author of
Citizen Games upcoming Desperado: d20 Wild West gaming
supplement.
- Larry's D&D Rules is a D&D resource site.
- From the DnD Community Council: The following Netbooks are in need of a team
leader, if any of these are an error, please let me know ASAP. I have
not heard from any of these team leaders in two months, or they have
lost their teamleader recently. If anyone is interested in heading any
of these books, please let me know.
- Races: Basically a
Netbook which will contain a variety of Player Character Races
- Divine Magic: Basically
a Netbook which focuses on the use of divine magic. (Probably contains
mostly Divine Spells.)
- Steam: A Netbook devoted
to Steam Age information
- Cities: A netbook
devoted to city development.
- Equiptment: A Netbook
full of new and interesting equiptment
- Familiars: A netbook
full of new familiars, common and special
- The Planes: A Netbook
devoted to playing in the various planes
- Shadows: A netbook
focused on shadows, illusions and such.
- Conversions: A netbook
devoted to explaining good ways to convert items from the previous
editions to 3e.
- Worlds: A netbook
devoted to world creation and development
- Munchkinism: A netbook
devoted to power playing and how to control it.
- NPC's: A netbook chalked
full of various NPC's
- Save the Theocracy of the Pale! We are having a debate over at the Theocracy of the Pale
forums. We are trying to decide what to name our 'church'. I say we
should keep it as the "Theocracy of the Pale". Pholtus is the god of
law and the church and state are one and the same. The Theocracy is a
nation, not a region. We will create a separate name for the department
of the Theocracy that governs the clergy, but the church is not a
subset of the government; it IS the government. There are only a few
dozen people voting and we could really use your help. The other
suggestions include "Church of the One True Path" and "Church of the
Blinding Light". To vote join the Theocracy egroup (only take a few
seconds, you won't get spammed for joining) at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ThePale.
- Updates at Defenders of the Muse (new monster, updated
prestige classes), James Wyatt's Aquela (two campaign journals
updated), Domain of Goo (new monster), and MonteCook.com (new magic
item, new rant, new review, plus the World's Shortest Adventure), Cale
Nadere (added Chapter 6 - Equipment - to Complete Ledirak Worldbook),
Black Falcon Aerie (new prestige class; updates to the feat, spell,
domain, and magic item lists to include Pool of Radiance and Touched
by the
Gods; new poll).
Official Updates: What's new at WotC?
- Realms Personalities: Meet Rornar, an orc-hating dwarf. Is
there any other kind?
- New Map-A-Week.
- Miniatures painting article.
ESD Schedule: You can find an updated schedule of older
D&D/AD&D products slated for release ESDs over at the Bastion
Press website. (thanks to Michael for the scoop)
D20 System News:
- Chaosium's two Melnibone D20 adventures have been delayed
and are now expected to ship in August or September. (thanks to
sir_ollibolli for the scoop)
- Mongoose Publishing has posted a revised product schedule.
The schedule now reflects US release dates, which should be in synch
with UK release dates starting after Slayer's Guide to Centaurs.
- Pinnacle's website indicates that Deadlands D20
and Weird Wars will ship on July 31st if you preorder. (thanks
to Peter for the scoop)
- Mystic Eye Games has posted the web enhancement for Nightmares
& Dreams on their website. (thanks to Dazza for the scoop)
- New product info from Sovereign Press -- Escape into
Darkness is an adventure for Sovereign Stone due in
November. (thanks to Dazza for the scoop)
Community News:
- Cabalan's D&D Pages is a D&D campaign and resource
site.
- World of Barlarna is a D&D campaign setting site.
- Updates at PS3E (new submissions), Jamis Buck's Generators
(updates to various utilities from contributors), and Wheel of Time RPG
Info Page (Updates on magic items, book character stats, hero/prestige
classes, cover art, channeling, city maps).
Master Tools Delay Explained: WotC's Anthony Valterra
talks about why Master Tools has been pushed back until 2002 on DND-L:
Factors that impacted this
product:
1) Hasbro sold all rights to electronic products for all WOTC brands
past present and future to a company called Infogrames.
2) Although we were allowed to continue Master Tools that move pretty
much wiped out our Electronic division.
3) The product became the responsibility of D&D business group;
until this time we had had very very little involvement in the process.
4) Some design choices were made along the way. Due to #1 above those
choices are no longer viable.
5) This meant restructering the product and re-negotiating our contract
with Fluid. In addition we had to figure out what was being done and
what needed to be done.
6) All of this meant an inevitable delay in the product.
As everyone knows WOTC went through alot of re-organization in the last
six months. Those changes impacted this product more than most.
Thanks Five Million! As of this evening, my hit counter
has registered 5 million hits on the
front page of Unofficial D&D Third Edition
News since opening day back in August 1999. Thanks to all of you
for your scoops, your questions, your contributions to the Conversion
Library, your participation on the message boards, and your support
over the past two years! :-)
Master Tools Release Date Pushed Back Again: WotC
customer service sent this message in response to a query about the
release date for Master Tools (thanks to Pat for the scoop):
Master Tools has officially been
pushed back. We are hoping for a release date of sometime next year. We
felt that we wanted the product to be the best it could be and a value
for our loyal customers. Unfortunately making things better takes a
little more time.
Miscellaneous Forgotten Realms Tidbits:
- FRCS Errata -- Serusan Language: Serusan uses the same alphabet as the Aquan language
(i.e., Elven). There is no Aquan alphabet. (Sean Reynolds)
(thanks to Amos for the scoop)
- In a recent FR chat, the names of three of the prestige
classes from the upcoming Magic of Faerun were revealed: Harper Mage, Harper Priest, and War Wizard (of Cormyr).
(thanks to Firebelly for the scoop)
Reviews:
- Twentysides.com has posted a review of To Stand on
Hallowed Ground (Fiery Dragon).
- RPG.net has posted a review of A Lion in the Ropes
(Troll Lord Games). (thanks to Rick C. and Yves for the scoop)
- RPGAction.com has posted reviews of Touched by the Gods
(Atlas), The Pit of Loch-Durnan (Mystic Eye), and Kingdoms of Kalamar
(Kenzer& Co.).
- I don't normally mention rebuttals, but WotC's Ryan Dancey
has responded to Mark Oliva's mixed review of the Forgotten Realms
Campaign Setting -- you can read his comments here.
D20 System News:
- Fantasy Flight Games has posted some new artwork related to
their Dragonstar line of products on their website, and mention
that a free Dragonstar preview booklet is being prepared for
distribution at GenCon. (thanks to Doc Fortune for the scoop)
- Kargatane has posted pricing and page count information for
the three Ravenloft books coming out this fall. (thanks to Alzrius for
the scoop)
- Bastion Press has posted details of their "E-venture
Contest." (thanks to Dazza for the scoop)
- Thunderhead Games has added a new product to their lineup
-- read about Interludes: Brief Expeditions to Bluffside here.
- Roc Games is apparently going to get into the D20 computer
software biz. Check out their new Computer Applications forum for ideas
of what sorts of products they might be creating. (thanks to Christoph
the Magus for the scoop)
- Gareth-Michael Skarka of Synister Creative Systems says the
first issue of their Thrilling Tales pulp fiction/gaming mag
will be out in August. Read more in this thread on my message board.
(thanks to RickG for the scoop)
- Four Horsemen Games is a new D20 System publisher planning
on producing adventures and a fantasy campaign setting as well as
sci-fi and superhero games. (thanks to Teknokon for the scoop)
Official Updates: What's new at WotC?
- Second installment of James Wyatt's Perilous Gateways
series. Includes stats for yuan-ti slaver Zstulkk Ssarmn of Skullport.
- Scooper: Brett.
Community News:
- WotC's Bruce Cordell has updated his personal website with
over 20 new psionic powers. (thanks to Jarrod for the scoop)
- Updates at Chain of Command (War Zone Mage Set review),
3oni.com (indexes include material from Legions of Hell and Shadow
of the Exile), The Shards (new prestige class, skyship info), Black
Falcon Aerie (new prestige classes and NPCs)
Magic of Faerun Tidbits: Eagle-eyed scooper "The
Shadow of My Former Self" spotted some interesting spell names at Sean
Reynold's site. "[Drow of the Week] Kekkusauree
has the following Wizard spells from MoF: Gedlee's electric loop (lvl 2, evocation), gutsnake (lvl 4), and summon
undead V (lvl 5)." That last
one looks interesting -- a necromancer's version of summon monsters?
Sean also indicated recently on REALMS-L that blast scepters
will be detailed in Magic of Faerun. (thanks to Pat for the
scoop)
Official Updates: What's new at WotC?
- Chapter 2 of this month's Cliffhanger.
- New PC Portraits.
- Scoopers: Angelsboi, Alexander, Doc Fortune.
Reviews:
- Mark Oliva has written a review of the Forgotten Realms
Campaign Setting (WotC).
- Gaming Report has posted reviews of Thievery 101: Joining
the Watchers (Wyvern's Claw Design) and Dead Fire (Dark Portal Games).
- Atlas of Adventure has posted reviews of Touched by the
Gods (Atlas Games) and The Silver Summoning (Fiery Dragon).
Both reviews are on the same page.
- DM's Haven has posted reviews of Fool's Errand and Shadow
of the Exile (Privateer Press), and reviews of A Green Place to
Die and The Succubus Bride (Guildhouse Games).
D20 System News:
- Green Ronin Publishing has announced a new Asian-themed
creature collection book coming out this fall: Forest demons, heavenly dragons, shapeshifting foxes, and
hungry ghosts thirsty for revenge -- all stalk forth from the legends
of Asia! Surprise players with bell spirits, bat-ninjas, demonic oni,
the Chinese Phoenix, and the legendary Monkey King! These all-new
monsters thrive in every environment from bamboo forests to samurai
castles, from raging oceans to mist-enshrouded mountains, and from the
depths of Hell to the harmony of Heaven. Jade Dragons and Hungry Ghosts
includes more than 50 fully-illustrated monsters from the legends of
Japan, China, Burma, Vietnam, and Malaysia, brought to life by such
renowned artists as rk post, Quinton Hoover, Michael Phillipi, and Tony
DiTerlizzi . Authors include ex-Dragon editor and TSR designer Wolfgang
Baur, Dragon Fist designer Chris Pramas, Greyhawk guru Erik Mona, and
Forgotten Realms stalwart Steven E. Schend. The book also boasts a
special introduction and featured monster by original Oriental
Adventures designer David "Zeb" Cook! $14.95, 64 pages, September 2001.
Read the full press release, and check out the cover.
- Monte Cook's Malhavoc Press is now able to resume selling The
Book of Eldritch Might .pdf through his website. If you didn't get
a chance to buy one before I highly recommend it; at $5 this book of
magic is a steal. (thanks to Dan and Dazza for the scoop)
- Hekaforge Productions will be releasing Gary Gygax's Castle
Wolfmoon, a dual-system adventure for both Gygax's Lejendary
Adventure game and the D20 System. Read more here.
- PDabble Games is a new D20 System publisher. You can swing
by their website to read campaign setting information and download a
free 32-page adventure; and they have a second you can buy ready to go
as well.
- A new piece of fiction at Synster Creative's Skull
& Bones site.
- Avalanche Press has posted cover art for their next
release, Ragnarok: Tales of the Norse Gods, on their website.
- Thanks to Dazza for a bunch of scoops.
Poll: As you can see in the Poll Archive, the results of
the last poll indicate that most of you (67%) DM
at least half the time when you are involved in a D&D game.
I kind of suspected -- I think DMs are often the ones looking for new
material and ideas to spice up their games, news on upcoming products,
or rules clarifications. Thanks for participating.
The current poll asks you to reflect on the game as you've experienced
it over the past year. What's really working for you?
Community News:
- Athas.org, the official Dark Sun site, has posted a new
project: a "quasi-official" file detailing the Weapons of Athas.
- EN World has posted a "preliminary version" of a sourcebook
for Daemonforge. This isn't the final product but could give you a good
idea of what's coming up. EN World has also posted an updated version
of Scott Metzger's Adventure Guide.
- Updates at James Wyatt's Aquela site (updated OA game
notes), World of Kalam (more new creatures) and PS3E (new submissions
of creatures, items, a feat and a domain).
- Scoopers: Alzrius, Dazza.
Message Board Woes: As many have noted, WotC's message boards have been down for a
couple of days after an announcement was made about an upgrade to their
boards.
Update: They appear to be back online, though loading
quite slowly, at least for me. You may also have to adjust
bookmarks/favorites you might be using to jump to a particular forum.
Thanks to Patrick Hoffman for the scoop. Take a peek...
And as many have pointed out, searching was disabled on my forums recently. It's been pretty
conclusively demonstrated to me that the searching function on my board
during peak hours is what has caused recent slow-downs and crashes in
the server. In fact, I turned the searching back on today, and voila --
instant crash. That's not good!
What does it all mean? Likely, it means that in the short term
searching will not be restored to the forums (grrr!), and in the
long-term it means that we've once again grown too big for our
britches. I'm told that the move over to ForumPlanet may be coming a
little sooner than expected.
DMG Errata Soon? WotC's T'Ed Stark talks about the delayed
errata from the DMG (thanks to Greg Currie for the scoop):
Dale is currently "cleaning
up" the errata compilation for the DMG. We had all our necessary
meetings and debates over the content of the errata (save for one small
one regarding the master potion list, which we'll have today). When
he's finished with that, I and some of the designers will review it one
last time to make sure nothing is amiss, and then we'll send it over to
the web team to post. I expect that to happen this week, but, then, I
expected to be done with this back in April or, at the latest, May.
Again, I apologize for making you and our other loyal customers and
players wait for this errata, and I do assure you we are working as
hard as we can to get the errata out to you as quickly as possible. We
will do this without letting any other project slip, however, and that
is the major challenge.
D20 System News:
- Guildhouse Games has sent out information on two D20
products scheduled for release at GenCon: A Thief's Tale
presents a guide to Tulinos, the city of thieves. It also contains four
scenarios tailored to the subtler adventurer: "A Day at the Races,"
"The Big Score," "The Duronson Monster," and "Evil Unearthed." Red or White, an adventure for the d20 system, invites characters to
discover the glory of wine and pursue mysteries within the quaint
little town of Thentis. Recommended for characters level 5-7.
- Troll Lord Games announced that their lastest D20
adventure, Felsentheim: Dogs of War, is now shipping.
- Anubium has updated their website with new fiction and a
piece of art from their upcoming adventure, The Toad God's Treasure.
- You can view a 5-page pdf excerpt from In the Depths of
Blackwater on the Nightshift Games website.
- Sword & Sorcery Studios has posted two additional
monster previews from Creature Collection 2 on their site.
- Skeleton Key Games has a correction for the price of their
Magnetic Adventure Tiles: The intro
sets of Adventure Tiles will sell for $12.95 each and the boards will
be $29.95.
- Scoopers: Dazza, Clarence.
Corrections and Clarifications:
- Errata -- Forge of Fury --
Page 5, "Wait and Watch" section: Map isn't marked despite text
reading, "Player characters keeping watch from the spot marked "Start"
on the Stone Tooth map .....": Just use the
point on the far bottom left side of the map where the dotted line
starts. [WotC Customer Service]
- Errata -- Forge of Fury -- Where's Mr. Roper?
You should place the Roper in the
middle of the strip of land just south of the river in that area.
[WotC Customer Service]
- Treasure for templated NPCs -- How much treasure does an
11th level NPC with the vampire template have? The character has double standard treasure for a CR 7
creature (the "standard" vampire is CR 7), plus equipment for an
11th-level NPC. [Skip Williams]
- Scoopers: Tony Evans, Chris Staufer.
New in the Conversion Library: Adventures: Eye of the Serpent (module UK5); Classes --
another ranger variant. Plus updates to
other files.
D20 System News:
- Bastion Press has posted another freebie on their website,
this time a map of The Hidden City.
- Minor updates to the D20 System Guide -- new future
products listed for Fiery Dragon Productions and for Deadlands
D20 from Pinnacle.
- You can find new artwork and expanded product information
for Mystic Warriors from Mystic Eye Games at their website. You
can also read through a list of "schools, academies and cults"
presented in this product on their message board.
- More of our very own Claudio Pozas' artwork is being
showcased at the Fiery Dragon website.
- The folks at Atlas Games were kind enough to share a peek
at the covers for two forthcoming products: Maiden Voyage (which should
be ready for GenCon), and the Feng Shui crossover adventure, Burning
Shaolin.
- (thanks to Dazza for the scoops)
Official Updates: What's new at WotC?
- For the Forgotten Realms, a new series by James Wyatt on a
sinister network of portals. Here's the introduction. In part one,
check out info on the Serpent Hills and read about a new creature: the
ophidian.
- Scoopers: Dazza, VoceNoctum, Brett,
Community News:
- The Dungeon Dimension has a new home at
dungeon3e.tripod.com.
- Chain of Command has some looks at potential box art for Chainmail.
- PCGen 2.0.5 is available.
- New Drow of the Week at Sean Reynolds' site.
Community News:
- Updates at Sean Reynolds' site (new Blade of Faerun, new
contests), Logical Choice (new newsletter with product reviews), and
World of Kalam (new monsters).
D20 System News:
- From Paradigm Concepts and Green Ronin Publishing: Paradigm Concepts, the publisher of quality
D20 System products such as "The Bloody Sands of Sicaris," announced
today that it has elected to feature the City of Freeport in their
Arcanis: the World of Shattered Empires campaign setting. In
discussions with the management of Green Ronin, publishers of the
Freeport line of D20 System adventures including the Origins Award
winning "Death in Freeport," it was decided that in order to seamlessly
adapt the city into Arcanis that William Simoni, author of Madness in
Freeport, would author the section detailing the archipelago wherein
Freeport is located. "I think this sort of alliance is really what the
Open Gaming License is all about," said Chris Pramas, Freeport creator
and Green Ronin founder. "If some of our fans discover Arcanis and some
of Paradigm's fans discover Freeport, everyone wins in the end." "This
melding such well matched settings can only serve to strengthen both
companies and the D20 System market as a whole," said Paradigm
President Henry Lopez, "I feel this type of cooperation is a testament
to the strength of the Open Gaming concept." Read
the full press release here.
- RPG Action has posted an excerpt of Diomin: State of
the Nations Vol. 1 (OtherWorld).
- Scooper "Hugo" has spotted The Succubus Bride from
Guildhouse Games in his local game shop.
- Scooper "Trolltetram" has spotted Shadow of the Exile
(Witchfire Book II) from Privateer Press in a game shop.
Official Updates: What's new at WotC?
- A web enhancement for Tome & Blood includes a
spell summary list combining the spells from the PHB and T&B, a
corrected bladesinger prestige class, and sample spell books for
wizards from 1st to 20th level.
- A web enhancement for Return to the Temple of Elemental
Evil includes over 20 new encounter areas. Be sure to grab the maps
that go with it.
- Scooper: Temprus.
Reviews:
- RPGAction.com has posted a review of Fool's Errand
(Privateer).
- RPG.net has posted reviews of Return to the Temple of
Elemental Evil (WotC) and Legions of Hell (Green Ronin).
- AtFantasy.com has posted Jesse Dean's review of Midnight's
Terror for Kingdoms of Kalamar (Kenzer).
D20 System Guide Facelift: With over 60 publishers and
their products listed all on one page, the D20 System Guide was getting
a bit big for its britches. I've split up the company lists
alphabetically -- it should load a lot faster now. You can browse by
alphabet or select a specific publisher's name from a list. Let me know
if I messed up any links. The page has a new address as well.
Community News:
- Updates at 3oni.com (descriptions added to prestige class
index) and The Shards (new race and setting information).
D20 System News:
- Pinnacle has posted a brief errata list for the Origins
edition of Deadlands D20. (thanks to Dazza for the scoop)
- From Living Imagination: We're
releasing Broadsides!, a compendium of Naval Adventuring rules for
the d20 system, due out in October of this year. The book will include
new skills (and new twists on old skills), rules for designing and
buildign ships, brand new naval prestige classes and feats, new
monsters to populate the oceans with, sample adventures, and a complete
rules system for tactical ship to ship combat.
- I updated product information for Skeleton Key Games,
adding information on their forthcoming Magnetic Adventure Tiles
product.
- From Grinning Goblin Adventures: We will be making our adventures available to purchase singly
a priority now, and we should have the code in place towards the end of
the month (hopefully sooner) but until then we have a preview page in place,
so that gamers can take a look at what we have to offer.
- Drachengilde is a new D20 System publisher, producing a
German-language campaign setting for release this summer.
- Thunderhead Games has posted cover art for their
forthcoming product, Bluffside: City on the Edge.
- Children of the Grave Press is a new D20 System publisher.
They're running a design contest.
- A Green Place to Die from Guildhouse Games has been
spotted in stores. (thanks to SkavenY2K for the scoop)
- Necropolis, the Necromancer Games fan site, has posted
cover art for the first of Rob Kuntz's Maze of Zayene series of
modules.
Official Updates: What's new at WotC?
- New Map-A-Week.
- Waterdeep Weather explores the game effects of various
weather conditions.
- Scoopers: Angelsboi, Walt Starr.
New in the Conversion Library: Monsters -- darkhood, darkwing, decapus, deep glaurant, giant
two-headed troll, rock reptile. Plus updates to other files.
D20 System News:
- The Kargatane has posted news about more specific release
dates for the Ravenloft D20 books coming out this fall. According to
the site, we'll see:
- Ravenloft 3rd
Edition, October 8th
- Secrets of the Dread Realms,
November 5th
- Denizens of Darkness,
December 10th
- (thanks to Draeke for the scoop)
- You can download an 11 page pdf preview of the Sovereign
Stone Campaign Sourcebook. It includes the table of contents for
the book, as well as previews of races, classes, magic rules, and
setting information. I actually thought the title page was the most
interesting -- I saw lots of names I recognized, from the expected
Larry Elmore, Margaret Wies, Tracy Hickman and Don Perrin, to
illustrators like Stephen Daniele and Jim Holloway, to old school TSR
folk like Timothy Brown, Zeb Cook, Jeff Grubb, Lester Smith, and James
Ward. (thanks to daz for the scoop)
- Troll Lord Games has announced a few new products and
shuffled some release dates around a bit. Check out their entry in the
D20 System Guide for more information.
- Mystic Eye Games has some new free downloads for you,
including "Denizens of Loch-Durnan III" and an expansion to an
adventure published in the Gaming Frontiers Magazine preview
that was distributed at Origins.
- Folks have spotted Creature Collection II from
Sword & Sorcery Studios, Shadow of the Exile from
Privateer Press, and The Greenland Saga from Avalanche Press in
stores.
Community News:
- Updates at Michael's Imagination (new article), The Pale
(Living Greyhawk character creation guidelines v.1.3 posted) and DM's
Haven (mass combat system, city adventuring article, Scarred Lands
calendar).
Reviews:
- RPG.net has posted reviews of Demons & Devils
(Necromancer), Fool's Errand (Privateer Press), and Legions of Hell
(Green Ronin). (thanks to yves and Brian for the scoop)
- Gaming Report has posted reviews of To Stand on Hallowed
Ground (Fiery Dragon) and A Lion in the Ropes (Troll Lord Games).
(thanks to yves for the scoop)
- AtFantasy.com has posted a review of Fool's Errand
(Privateer Press).
Kalamar's Coin Spotted: Scooper Oren Douek has
spotted the new adventure for Kingdoms of Kalamar, Coin's End,
in his local game shop. I've noted it as Now Available in my sidebar.
Rules Clarifications from the Sage:
- Assassins and Spells: Can an Assassin who doesn't
have Spellcraft add spells to a spellbook? According to Skip Williams, "The assassin gets 2 free spells each level, just as a
wizard does. To add more spells, he/she needs spellcraft."
(thanks to Peter K. Campbell for the scoop)
- Persistent Spell Feat: A Persistent Spell (feat
from the FRCS and Tome & Blood) must have a "personal range
or a fixed range." So is a touch spell a "fixed range" spell? Skip
Williams clarifies: "For persistant spell,
personal range is "fixed", touch is not." (thanks to Pat for the
scoop)
D20 System News:
- OtherWorld Creations will be producing a new campaign.
Forbidden Kingdoms, described as a "pulp world" set in an alternate
Earth circa 1900, features new classes such as The Academic, Explorer,
Idle Rich, and Mystic.
- Roc Games, after a long absense, has updated its website
with product information and other news. (thanks to Christoph the Magus
for the scoop)
- From Scrollworks Press: Scrollworks Press is offering single issues of its monthly
print journal for sale. A meager $2.00 will give a prospective
subscriber a feel for what Scrollworks,
the Journal of Scrollworks Press is all about. If $2.00 is a financial hardship, the
publisher suggests looking in the following places: under the couch,
your little brother's pockets, pay phones, or simply use your lunch
money. Who needs food when you have RPGs? Learn more at Scrollworks Press -
Once there, click SUBSCRIBE.
- From Thunderhead Games: We are happy to assist one of our friends Steve Miller who has
written for TSR/WOTC in the realms of DL, FR, Ravenloft, Greyhawk and
Star Wars d20. He is having an NPC contest and Thunderhead Games and
artist Scott Purdy have joined in the fun. Go to Steve's
site, check it out and when you
are there click on the NPC contest button, the winner gets to have his
NPC published in an item written by Steve, as well as an ink portrait
(.jpeg) of the NPC done by Thunderhead Games’ artist Scott Purdy!
Contest ends 7/25 so get those fingers typing.
- From Green Ronin Publishing: Hell in Freeport, the latest in Green Ronin's popular line of
d20 adventures, is changing...for the better. The adventure was
originally solicited at 64 pages with an MSRP of $14.95. As it turned
out, Hell in Freeport is even more of an epic than we expected. As
a result, we are increasing the page count to 88 and the MSRP to
$18.95. The 24 extra pages include an 8-page, full color map insert.
Please make note of these changes. We expect Hell in Freeport to ship the last week of July.
Community News:
- Gaming Report is running a contest; the prize is a copy of Magic
of Faerun.
- Fantasy World Builders Forum is a message board community
-- the name says it all.
- Developers of an online RPG tool for the D20 System would
like you to take their survey.
- Origins is a D&D Greyhawk campaign site.
- Spanish fan "Foreverelf" says, "...the Creature
Collection from Sword & Sorcery is
now on stores here (translated into spanish). It´s been
translated and distributed by La Factoria de Ideas who incidentally own
the rights here over all White Wolf products."
- Obelisk Games, a D20 System resource site, is seeking
contributions.
- Updates at Citadel Raven (new spells), Cale Nadere (cover
image for Ledirak worldbook), and Eyru (NPC stats added, new session
log, tweaks to custom feats and custom domains).
Official Updates: What's new at WotC?
- A new Cliffhanger has started.
- New PC Portraits.
- The link to the recent Map-A-Week has been fixed.
- Scoopers: Pat, Angelsboi, Alexander, Doc Fortune.
Changing of the Guard Followup: WotC's John Rateliff
writes in to clarify yesterday's announcement regarding some changes of
positions at the company:
Chris Perkins replaces Thomas
Reid, who's left WotC to concentrate on writing fiction (cf. his
latest, the GH novel TEMPLE OF ELEMENTAL EVIL, out about a month ago).
Ed is still in charge of the core D&D line and Rich Baker of the
Realms; Chris is responsible for Star Wars, Wheel of Time, and d20
Cthulhu.
Changing of the Guard at WotC: A few folks are changing
positions at WotC. Check out this thread:
A few weeks ago, STAR WARS
Gamer and Insider Editor-in-Chief Chris Perkins accepted a job as Creative Director for Wizards
of the Coast. Unable to
contain his enthusiasm for Episode II any longer, Dave Gross leapt at the chance to take
Chris’s place, leaving
DRAGON Magazine after five years as Editor and then Editor-in-Chief.
Contributors and old chums can reach Dave at vader@wizards.com.
Replacing Dave is
DRAGON veteran Jesse Decker,
who started at the magazine as Editorial Assistant, soon graduating to
Assistant Editor. Jesse returns to the team as Editor-in-Chief after
working at TOPDECK Magazine as Managing Editor, then serving the
Wizards of the Coast website as a content provider. Contributors and
well-wishers can reach Jesse at dragon@wizards.com.
Jesse, Dave, and DUNGEON Magazine Editor Chris Thommason (dungeon@wizards.com)
are logging on to Wizards Live tonight at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time to chat about the change,
answer questions, and mock each other in front of an audience.
It’s their favorite thing to do, really.
All three of the boys promise to keep a close eye on the message boards
over the next few weeks, so if you’d like to weigh on in what
you’d like to see in DRAGON, DUNGEON, STAR WARS Gamer, or STAR
WARS Insider, now’s a great time to post to the message boards.
Dragon #286: The August 2001 issue of Dragon
showed up in my mail today. Let's peek inside...
- This month's theme -- Shannara: Monsters, a
new prestige classes, characters, magic items, poster map, and
gazetteer: everything you'd need to play a mini-campaign in the Four
Lands. Includes an exceprt of the new Shannara book by Terry
Brooks.
- Praise for Jamis Buck: Dragon staff identify
the uncredited Dungeon Generator on the CD that came with issue #284.
Even sports Jamis' logo and link. :)
- For the Realms: "Elminster's Guide to the Realms"
reveals Shattershree's Rest, an old tomb. "Faiths of Faerun" presents
the Nightcloak prestige class for clerics of Shar.
- Other D&D Stuff: "Cities of the Ages" details
Venice circa 1320. "Vs." provides advice for battling vampires. The
Chainmail column looks at "Ahmut's Legion" and presents D&D stats
for Slaughterpit Gnoll Zombies.
- Sage Advice: All sorts of useful questions and
answers, including the following official pieces of errata:
- Defenders of the Faith -- Sacred Fist prestige class -- Ranged spells okay?: Sacred fists can use
whatever spells they have freely, whatever their range entries. Sacred
fists cannot use weapons; spells are not "weapons" for purposes of the
sacred fist's code of conduct. Passing references to a ban on ranged
spells are unwanted artifacts from an earlier version of this class.
- Defenders of the Faith -- Sacred Fist prestige class -- Spells: The level 0 and level
5 spell lists are errors. [They only get spells
levels 1-4 as shown on the class table.]
- Defenders of the Faith -- Hospitaler prestige class -- Spells: The first entry
(Spells) is incorrect. Use the second entry (Spells per Day) instead.
In addition, Table 3-7 should have a Spells per Day column, which
should read "+1 level of existing class" at each level.
- Defenders of the Faith -- Hospitaler prestige class -- Turning Undead: Hospitalers gain the
ability to turn undead at 3rd level, not 1st level. The character turns
undead at her hospitaler level, -2. This stacks with undead turning
from other classes. Add the hospitaler level -2 to the class level for
any other class that has turning ability. For example, a 6th-level
cleric/4th-level hospitaler turns undead as an 8th level character.
Note that paladins also use their class level -2 to determine their
undead turning level, so a 6th-level paladin/4th-level hospitaler turns
undead as a 6th-level character.
- Defenders of the Faith -- Master of Shrouds prestige class -- Ghosts and Vampires
sidebar: The sidebar in question shouldn't be there at all (it was
supposed to be cut from the book).
- Defenders of the Faith -- Battle Rod -- Provides +2 morale bonus ... to what?: Saves against fear
effects.
- Player's Handbook -- Heavy Horse and Heavy Warhorse Speed (discrepancy with
Monster Manual): The Monster Manual is correct.
- Next Month: Planar stuff, including four new
demiplanes from Jeff Grubb; "When Celestials Attack"; and another
demiplane and associated creatures; plus new psionic feats, fiend
hunter prestige class, and the Dreadmasters of Bane.
Reviews:
- DM's Haven has posted reviews of the latest Adventure Keep
series from AEG and Brotherhood of Prophecy (Scarab Games).
Community News:
- Dungeons & Dragons Adventures is a resource site for
both 2nd and 3rd edition D&D.
- From PS3E: Bloods
and Cutters of the Net, I am looking to build a listing of sorts for
materials that are inspirational for Planescape DMs and players. I am
looking for things like books, novellas, short stories, music,
websites, mythological sources, movies, and anything else that you can
possibly come up with, as well as a reason for *why* the particular
resource is a good one for Planescape. I know that in the past there
have been several threads that dealt with this subject, but I am
planning to make this one a bit more permanent. I am planning on using
this list in some of our Official Products to help newcomers to the
setting and I plan on giving credit for all of those that assist in
this endeavor. Please give the ol' tiefer a hand in this, eh? Send an
email to me at ashy@planewalker.com, with the subject, "Inspirational Planescape
Info" - thanks, bloods!
- Updates at Chain of Command (link to several photos of
Chainmail minis), Sean Reynolds' site (new Blade of Faerun and Drow of
the Week), Domain of Goo (new prestige class), How to Draw Fantasy Maps
(instructions for drawing mountains).
Community News:
- Breaking Sword is a D&D campaign site.
- Updates at PS3E (new submissions), Roleplaying Tips (issue
#82), Black Falcon Aerie (spell, magic item, and cleric domain lists
updated to include the info from Return to the Temple of Elemental
Evil), Wheel of Time RPG Info Page (new info, Charles Ryan Q&A)
and Realms of Evil (new submissions).
D20 System News:
- Goodman Games will be producing Dinosaur Planet:
Broncosaurus Rex, a D20 System game set for a November 2001
release. "It is the year 2202 on the planet
Cretasus, an Earth-like world populated by dinosaurs. The two dominant
factions in galactic politics - the Federal Union of Planets and the
Confederate States of America - struggle for control of the planet.
Characters can be staunch loyalists or complete impartials, or they may
hail from one of several independent factions. Adventures abound on the
newly settled planet, with aliens, warp pirates, the dinosaur nations,
intergalactic trade, and rustlers, ranchers, robbers, and wranglers to
round out the universe." Take a look at www.broncosaurusrex.com
for more information.
- Matthew Sprange comments on the unique finish on the cover
of Slayer's Guide to Hobgoblins (Mongoose Publishing): This was a silk finish that we chose to mark our first
release - the rest of our books have the more common gloss laminate
finish.
Official Updates: What's new at WotC?
- Khemed is a new NPC for the Forgotten Realms.
- Scooper: Oghma.
Eric at GenCon 2001: I've set up a page for my GenCon
2001 report. Right now it's a little bare but it does have my schedule
in case you'd like to track me down and say howdy.
D20 System News:
- Kargatane, the official Ravenloft site, has posted
some tidbits about new Ravenloft D20 products to come out from
Arthaus (White Wolf) in late 2001.
- Dragon Scale Counters will be offering up illustrated
counters for the D20 System. (thanks to Jim L. for the scoop)
Message Board Roundup:
- WotC's and Green Ronin's Chris Pramas files a report on
Origins [My Boards]:
- I've been running Chainmail demos for the whole show and the response has been great so
far. Felt real bad in the one game that the war ape scored two
criticals in two rounds, obliterating an opponent each time! Meanwhile,
Hal Mangold and Chris McGlothlin (fine fellows both) were manning the
Green Ronin booth and selling scads of Legions of Hell.
Their tag line seems to be, "Can I interest you in some EVIL?".
- Deadlands d20 is out from Pinnacle. It's 200 pages, with a nice Peter Venters
cover. I've only skimmed but it looks like Pinnacle did a nice job of
converting the cool parts of Deadlands into the d20 system. Pinnacle also had a Deadlands/d20 adventure called Dead Presidents,
written by the aforementioned Chris McGlothlin (the only friend I have
who would guard my back with a Civil War rifle!).
- A new company, Skeleton Key, was here
with a dungeon tiles mounted on magnetic strips. They sell boards to
mount them on too. We liked them so much we started using them for
D&D demos in the WotC booth. The magnetic feature is really nice,
because those tiles will stay where you put them.
- Avalanche Press had their 2nd d20 module on hand, The Greenland Saga. Looks like more historical goodness.
- The Slayer's Guide to
Hobgoblins [Mongoose] and the part
two of the Witchfire Trilogy [Privateer] were on hand at the Wizard's Attic booth.
The hobgob book has some kind of weird coating that blurs the otherwise
nifty cover art. Don't know what's up with that. Eden's first two d20 books were out as well.
- Fast Forward, a new company with some old TSR hands like Tim Brown and
Lester Smith, had a booth and were showing off covers for their
upcoming d20 adventures.
- And just to show you how
out of control d20 is right now, I ran across another company I had
never heard of before (and believe me, I pay attention!) with a 250 odd
page campaign world they had just printed. Wacky.
- Next stop: GenCon. Green Ronin should have
both Hell in Freeport and the d20 System Character Record Folio for the big show. See you there!
- Dragon Art Director Peter Whitley and artist Dennis
Cramer (among others) on the "gory illustration" of the halfling
wallowing in orc blood and brains in Dragon #285 [long
thread, multiple pages] [Official Boards]
- Scooper: The Shadow of My Former Self.
Community News:
- Aquerra is a D&D campaign setting site from message
board regular Nemmerle.
- The Worldbook is a D&D resource site with "a collection of generic but unique places and things
that can be dropped into any dungeon, city or even world."
- A new version of the Netbook of Feats is now available from
the DnD Community Council.
- WotC's Sean K. Reynolds will appear on Gamer's Tavern on
July 21st, starting at 9 PM EDT. The first hour of the show will be
taking questions to ask Sean, and the second half of the show will be
his interview.
- Updates at Palaestra (new race, new maps).
Official Updates: What's new at WotC?
- "Fun with Prestidigitation" is an excerpt from Tome
& Blood.
New in the Conversion Library: Monsters -- aspis,
bone snapper, coffer corpse, death dog, killer frog, flind, giant
leech, giant pterosaur, giant snapping turtle, ice golem, leucrotta,
moon dog, ratling, verbeeg, white widow spider; Adventures --
Chapter 6 of Scourge of the Slave Lords.
Plus updates to other files. The Conversion Library is 500+ files and
growing!
Community News:
- Earthdawn D20 is a new conversion site for the Earthdawn
RPG.
- Shadow Reavers is a site for a superhero comic series. If
you search around through the Heroes, Villains and Mythology sections,
you'll see a link for Gaming Stats for various characters and creatures
in the comic -- which are in D20 System format. (thanks to Kapture for
the scoop)
- WotC's James Wyatt, author of the forthcoming Oriental
Adventures, wants to know what part of the book he should preview
during his OA seminar at GenCon. Vote in his poll even if you're not
going to GenCon -- the stuff that he previews there will no doubt show
up here.
- The Bard's Abode is home to the home-brewed Kolanor
campaign setting for D&D.
Reviews:
- "Kapture" has posted a review of Return to the Temple
of Elemental Evil (WotC).
Origins Awards: The 2000 Origins Award ceremony was held
yesterday. Here are some of the winners of note (thanks to Vic for the
scoop):
- Best Roleplaying Game: Dungeons
& Dragons
- Best Graphic Design of a Roleplaying Game, Adventure, or
Supplement: Monster Manual
- Best Roleplaying Adventure: Death in
Freeport
Check out the complete list in this thread on my message
boards.
D20 System News:
- I've updated the list of upcoming products for July and
August 2001 in the D20 System Guide. As I did my research, I noted a
few date changes and have incorporated them throughout the guide.
- Check out the cover art and a description of what's inside
of Encyclopaedia Arcane: Demonology, The Dark Road from Mongoose
Publishing. (thanks to Zoltán Déry for the scoop)
- Origins attendee "FungiMuncher" spotted the following
products available for sale: Creature Collection II (Sword
& Sorcery), Akrasia, Thief of Time and Wonders Out of
Time (Eden), and Slayer's Guide to Hobgoblins and Slayer's
Guide to Gnolls (Mongoose Publishing). I've marked them as "now
available" in the D20 System Guide.
- As noted above, Green Ronin's Death in Freeport has
won the 2000 Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Adventure. Congrats to
Chris Pramas!
D20 System News:
- Monte Cook's Malhavoc Press, like Necromancer Games and
Fiery Dragon Productions, has teamed up with Sword & Sorcery
Studios. SSS will apparently publish a print version of Monte's Book
of Eldritch Might, among other titles. Click here to read the whole
press release, and be sure to read this note from Monte. (thanks to
Paragon for the scoop)
- Thunderhead Games has posted some free downloads, including
a race and two critters.
- Bastion Press has posted the first of a series of weekly
downloads. This week it's a new monster.
- Wyvern's Claw Design is planning a new adventure for one DM
and one bard PC, and a free supplement to their most recent offering, Periapt
of Famidon, should be available in July. Read their entry in the
D20 System Guide for more info.
- Updates at the Viking Games website -- a new installment of
their monthly column.
- WotC has produced an updated official errata list for the Star
Wars RPG. Grab the 9 page PDF file here. (thanks to John for the
scoop)
Community News:
- Chain of Command has posted a brief report from Origins
about Chainmail.
- Updates at Claudio Pozas Art & Design (new aasimar
portraits), Creature Catalog (new conversions), and PS3E (Planescape
news).
Oriental Adventures Prestige Classes: WotC's James
Wyatt reveals a bit about how things are organized in the forthcoming Oriental
Adventures (thanks to David for the scoop):
There are prestige classes in three
different chapters of the book. There's a general "prestige classes"
chapter near the beginning, which is more general in focus. However,
the tattooed monk, the witch hunter, and the shadow scout (Hiruma) are
all found in this chapter, just generalized somewhat. Then the Rokugan
chapter and the Shadowlands chapter include additional prestige classes
that are specific to Rokugan.
Rules Clarifications: Couple of miscellaneous tidbits for
you...
- From the Sage: If a specialist wizard has a restricted
school of illusion, and picks up a level of sorceror, are they
restricted from using illusion spells as a sorceror as well? No.
- From Sean Reynolds: How long does it take for a
creature with Scent find a concealed opponent's location? It takes "a move-equivalent action" (NOT a partial
action as mistakenly listed on pg. 10 of the MM) to pinpoint the
direction of the creature.
- From the Sage: How does the Spell Specialization feat
from Tome & Blood work with spells that provide multiple
"attacks" with each casting of the spell? The
+2 damage applies to each attack you make, not to each spell.
- Scoopers: Matt, Chris.
Reviews:
- About.com has posted a review of To Stand on Hallowed
Ground (Fiery Dragon Productions).
Official Updates: What's new at WotC?
- New Map-A-Week.
- Monster Mayhem concludes its look at golems.
- ESDs and Other Electronic Products: WotC's online
store is now selling the Fiend Folio and the Slaver's Series
(A1-A4) from 1st Edition. Also, as noted by a couple of scoopers, WotC
will be selling classic novels as electronic downloads shortly. It's
not clear from the information provided if these will be PDFs or in
some nice e-boook format.
- Scoopers: Eric Heppel, Cam and Vaasta.
New in the Conversion Library: Monsters -- birds (magpie, piranha, sprackle), blackball, brain
collector, coltpixie, crone of chaos, vapor rat; Classes --
another ranger variant. Plus updates to
other files.
Message Board Roundup:
- Monte Cook on the "Grue Feat" situation: Elementals get their Int bonus plus 1 feat/4
extra HD. If the elemental has a negative Int modifier, you count it as
0 so chaggrin start with 0 feats. They're small elementals so they have
a base of 1 HD and 4 extra HD, giving them 1 feat. 0+1=1... The grues
[in Dragon #285] are correct. Two should have feats and
two should not. [MonteCook.com Boards]
- Monte Cook comments on Return to the Temple of
Elemental Evil in several threads:
- Thoughts on the difficulty of the first encounter. [My Boards]
- Using the adventure in the Forgotten Realms. [Monte's Boards]
- On a RttToEE web enhancement. [Monte's
Boards]
- Monte and Andy Collins on playtesting. [Monte's
Boards]
- Scooper: The Shadow of My Former Self.
D20 System News:
- More on Campaign Magazine: The premiere issue, available at the upcoming GenCon game
fair in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as well as from local retailers in
August, features major previews of the new d20 Deadlands from Pinnacle Entertainment, and d20 Sovereign Stone
from Sovereign Press, as well as an adventure by John Tynes, and an all new
science fiction campaign setting including new alien races and gadgets.
Other items include a preview of the new 3rd Edition Computer
Role-Playing Games, a guest editorial by John Wick, and reviews of
several new d20 game supplements. The first issue features a full color
cover by Larry Elmore, with interior artwork by Brian Schomburg (staff
artist for Fantasy Flight Games) and Brett Hawkins and Greg Marshall
(from computer game developer Human Head Studios, Inc.) Future issues
will continue to bring you all the best in d20 gaming, including
articles and adventures by the best authors in the business. Issue 2,
due in October will be horror themed, with an adventure from Paul
Beakley, art by Andrew Trabbold and cover art by Brom. Price: $4.99
(USD). Format: Full Color Cover, and black and white interior. Scooper:
Tim Gerritsen.
- Fast Forward Entertainment, whose designers include TSR
alumni Timothy Brown, Lester Smith and James Ward, will be producing
some D20 System adventures. Check out their entry in the D20 System
Guide for more information.
- Fiery Dragon Productions will be producing an adventure
titled Beyond All Reason, with a cover by RPG Planet's very own
Claudio Pozas, in early 2002. Take a peek at the cover here.
Community News:
- EN World Launches Asgard Magazine:
Issue 1 of Asgard, the d20
System magazine, is available for download at EN World - for free! Asgard contains d20 news, previews and interviews, resources
for your games, articles, cartoons and fiction. It has come in at 60
pages of material (and that's with no ads). Issue 1 also includes a
free bonus adventure, Rites of Passage, donated by Asgard's sister
publication, Midgard Magazine. Also in Issue 1 are original monsters from the
creators of the Creature Catalog, two new
prestige classes - the High Sorcerer and the Blind Assassin, a lengthy
interview with Eric Noah and the first chapters of Swords of Templemount
and Keep Going, two novels set in Daemonforge which will be
serialised in Asgard. Plus much, much more! So, head on over and download
it from EN World at www.d20reviews.com.
And then read it thoroughly. And then come back here and tell me what
you liked and disliked about it, so that I can make sure that Issue 2
is even better.
- RPG Central is an RPG resource site including some D&D
3E materials (for instance, the Assassin from the CRPG Diablo II
presented as a D&D class).
- Updates at Sleeping Imperium (new version of Grim-n-Gritty
Hit Point and Combat Rules), PS3E (new feat, creatures, items, rules),
World of Tar-Esthal (setting info updated), James Wyatt's Aquela
(prestige class), The Pale (new organization, NPCs, and file for the
D&D Character Generator), Chain of Command (photo of a hobgoblin
mini from the Chainmail game) and the Creature Catalog (new monster
conversions).
Official Updates: What's new at WotC?
- Final chapter of the current Cliffhanger.
- New PC Portraits.
- Elminster Speaks #19.
- Scoopers: Angelsboi and Thyle.
Reviews:
- RPG.net has posted a review of The Pit of Loch-Durnan
(Mystic Eye Games). (thanks to yves and Doug for the scoop)
- Castle Steelstone has posted a review of Tome &
Blood (WotC).
- DM's Haven has posted a review of Slayer's Guide to
Hobgoblins and Slayer's Guide to Gnolls (Mongoose
Publishing).
D20 System News:
- Minor updates at the Avalanche Press website include a new
section for their D20 System products and mention of a new product, Jade
& Steel. (thanks to Synicism and Ronaldo for the scoop)
- Updates at the Anubium website include artwork previews and
fiction.
- In the Depths of Blackwater (formerly known simply
as Blackwater) from Nightshift Games has shipped and should be
in some stores now.
- New Adventure Keep modules from AEG (The Red Isle, The
Last Defender, The Lash of Malloc, Honor Among Thieves) and Legends
& Lairs modules from Fantasy Flight Games (The Tuggarth
Gauntlet, Lost Hunt, The Dark Tribe, The Black Stairs, Voyage to Storm
Isle, The Thief's Gold, Sign of the Skull, The Wreyland Serpent)
have been spotted in stores.
- Product dates have changed for a few companies --
OtherWorld Creations (summer-fall product schedule reshuffled), Troll
Lord Games (Dogs of War will likely hit stores in mid-July
though some copies should be on hand at Origins), and Citizen Games (Secret
at Greenrock should be out by mid-July). Check their entries in my
D20 System Guide for details. (thanks to SkavenY2K for the scoops)
Community News:
- A couple of new 3E-related news-and-rumors sites have
appeared.
- Wheel of Time RPG Info Page is just what the name
implies.
- Chain of Command is a new/rumors site for WotC's
Chainmail miniatures game.
- The 3rd Edition has posted an inverview with fantasy author
R. A. Salvatore.
- Castle Steelstone has a new address at
www.castlesteelstone.com and there are some updates such as a review of
Tome & Blood, Craft of the Mind v1.1, and a dice
roller.
- Updates at James Wyatt's site (update to Religion and
Roleplaying page), Creature Catalog (website redesign), Black Falcon
Aerie (psionic items added to magic items list, new weapon and armor
special abilities lists), Sean Reynolds' site (new Blade of Faerun),
Roleplaying Tips (issue #81 available), and DM's Haven (contest,
reviews, articles, spell worksheet), and 3oni.com (indexes updated to
include material from Tome and Blood).
New in the Conversion Library: Monsters -- lots of dinosaurs, giant elk, giant oyster, grangeri, kopru,
megatherium, phanaton, phororhacos, rakasta, sabre-toothed tiger;
Adventures -- Chapter 5 of Scourge of the Slave Lords.
Poll: With over 7,000 votes in, the results of the last
poll asking "When did you first play D&D?"
are:
- 1981-1985 - 33%
- 1980 or earlier - 24%
- 1986-1990 - 18%
- 1991-1995 - 13%
- 1996-1999 - 7%
- 2000 or later - 4%
- I don't play D&D. Stop asking me! - 1%
Now I want to know if you're usually the Player or the DM.
Well?
Message Board Roundup:
- WotC's Charles Ryan answers lots of Wheel of Time
RPG questions:
- Who is Charles Ryan? I'm the lead designer and editor for the
Wheel of Time RPG.
- On low-level Aes Sedai Characters: Ultimately, we decided that full-fledged Aes
Sedai just wouldn't work as first-level characters. Channelers in the
Aes Sedai tradition (and there are other traditions, of course--Wise
Ones, Windfinders, and Asha'man--as well as wilders) start as Accepted.
Becoming a full Aes Sedai requires the character attain a prestige
class, generally available at 5th or 6th level. As Accepted, 1st-level
initiate characters answer to their mentors in the White Tower--they
don't have the freedom to just run out and go adventuring like most
other character types. That's something of a challenge for the player
and GM, but, well, it goes with the territory.
- On Warders and Wolf Brothers: Both are prestige classes.
- Does WoT use Hit Points or
Vitality/Wound points? Hit
points. As for why, well, the combat system is simply closer in most
regards to D&D than to Star Wars. There is one difference, however:
WoT makes much heavier use of subdual damage. For example, there is no
method of healing that actually eliminates hit point damage--the
healing done by channeling, healer's balms, etc., converts hit point
damage into subdual damage rather than eliminating it altogether. The
victim must rest, then, to give the subdual damage time to go away.
- How does channeling work? A channeler's ability to cast weaves is based
on slots, like in D&D. Most weaves can be cast at variable levels,
though--so you can create fire using a 1st-level weave slot and get one
result, or create fire using a 6th-level slot for a much bigger result.
Weaves have Affinities (powers: air, earth, fire, spirit, water)
associated with them, and whether you have all, some, or none of the
Affinities affects the slot requirement as well. Channelers willing to
take risks can overchannel, attempting to cast weaves more powerful
than their slots, or to cast weaves when they've run out of slots. In
short, the system has a lot of flexibility and reflects the way the One
Power works in the books very nicely.
- On insanity: There is a madness mechanic. It affects not
only male channelers, but also Wolfbrothers.
- How many characters from the books are
statted in the game? Fifteen or
sixteen of the principal characters are fully described and statted. We
would have loved to do more (our wish list was probably forty
characters long), but there simply wasn't space.
- [Wheel of Time Boards] Scooper: Brian.
- WotC's Bruce Cordell on how sorcerers can be a Mage of the
Arcane Order from Tome & Blood: Official Ruling: If sorcerers take the opportunity cost to
take Arcane Preparation instead of some other feat, they qualify for
entry in the Arcane Order. Like a wizard, the Sorcerer must 'prepare a
blank slot' for each spell and at each level he would like to a call a
spell after a night's rest. Those 'blank slots' are not available to
the sorcerer for use with his regular spells, but must remain reserved
for a possible spell pool spell. Like a wizard, the sorcerer can't
change his allocation of normal slots and prepared blank slots until
another full period of rest occurs. Official Update: HOWEVER, it takes
a sorcerer a full round casting time to actually cast any spell he's
called from the spell pool. Thus, if he's calling a spell on the fly,
it will take him two full rounds to cast the spell (one to call, one to
cast), to the wizard's one full round. (You'll eventually see this
update as errata). Chalk it up to the sorcerer's unfamiliarity with
casting 'prepared' spells, since that's how they are 'stored' in the
spell pool. The sorcerer gains no benefit from the "new spell" prestige
class ability, since he has no spellbook, but gains all other benefits
(except, from a pure story point of view, sorcerers are looked down
upon in the Arcane Order, 'cause those wizards are so darn snooty :-)). (more...) [WotC's Boards] (thanks to Bob Huss for the scoop)
Boards are Back: For now, anyway. :)
Reviews:
- Monte Cook has written reviews of Slayer's Guide to
Hobgoblins and Slayer's Guide to Gnolls (Mongoose
Publishing).
Community News:
- Haunted Heroes is a Ravenloft D20 conversion site.
- Updates to EN World (Adventure Guide updated), Monte Cook's
site (new race, Tumble and Concentration skill variant rules), and
PS3E.com (new feats, creatures, items, rules).
- Scoopers: Oren Douek, Sceptic.
D20 System News:
- You can grab some free PDF downloads to accompany Shadow
of the Exile (Witchfire II) from Privateer Press.
- Green Ronin announced plans for a new product in 2002: The Monster Slayer’s Handbook will be the first of Green Ronin’s Classbooks.
It will introduce a new core class to the d20 System, plus a bevy of
new equipment, prestige classes, and organizations. [Author Steve]
Perrin is best known for his work on the classic Runequest RPG, but
he’s no stranger to D&D. He wrote such Forgotten Realms
titles as Dreams of the Red Wizards and Under Ilefarn, and the hellish Fires
of Dis for the Planescape line.
- Mystic Eye Games has posted a web enhancement for The
Pit of Loch-Durnan -- you'll need the password from the product to
access it. Also, they've updated their product schedule through
February 2002.
- Monte Cook offers up a tidbit on Book of Eldritch Might
II from Malhavoc Press: ...the reworked
bard--and let me stress, this is a COMPLETELY reworked bard, with his
own music-based style of magic different from standard spellcasting--is
going to be in Book of Eldritch Might
II, but that's not going to be for
quite a while. (on Monte Cook's message boards, thanks to RBB
for the scoop)
- Eden Studios has posted a preview of the artwork wrapping
around from back to front on the cover of their forthcoming Fields
of Blood: The Book of War.
D20 System News:
- Read a preview of a chapter from Mongoose Publishing's
forthcoming Demonology book. (thanks to jhixon for the scoop)
- Skeleton Key Games is a new D20 System publisher.
Official Updates: What's new at WotC?
- Character Closeup features Rask Urgek, a half-orc.
- New Map-A-Week.
- New installment of Miniatures Playhouse.
- Excerpts from Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil.
- Scoopers: Angelsboi
Errata and Clarifications: Some miscellaneous rules
issues clarified...
- Defenders of the Faith Errata -- Warpriest
Prestige class: ...the 4th level [Prestige
Domain] ability should grant access to the Divination prestige domain. [Read
the rest of the thread at WotC's Boards] (thanks to Alasar and ksac for
the scoop)
- The Sage on defender swords and their ability to
overcome damage reduction: In any case where the
sword's bonus is relevant, only the bonus curently devoted to attack is
relevant. When the chartacter assigns the bonus, he/she can't change it
again until his/her next turn. (thanks to Matthew Olivia for the
scoop)
- From WotC Customer Service (thanks to jsaving for the
scoop):
- The casting time for a wish/miracle spell is given as 1
action. When one uses wish/miracle to duplicate a spell whose casting
time is unusually long (such as hallow), does the casting time remain 1
action? No. It duplicates it, so it will require
the same new cast time.
- Suppose I wish to duplicate a metamagicked spell (such
as a maximized fireball) using wish/miracle. Do I apply metamagic to
the wish/miracle spell itself or to the spell being duplicated? To the spell being duplicated.
- Can I duplicate a metamagicked version of a spell even
if I don t have the appropriate metamagic feat? Yes,
as long as it is still within the spell level that the wish/miracle
allows you to cast.
- According to the epic-level rules in the Forgotten
Realms sourcebook, characters cannot take the "+1 bonus spell level"
ability unless they first gain "20 levels in a spellcasting class." Do
archmage levels stack with wizard levels for this purpose? Yes, you have to have 20 levels of casting, things
like the archmage who still progress in spells as their other class
will count.
- If a cleric gains levels in a prestige class that gives
+1 caster level, the levels stack for spellcasting purposes (including
domain spells) but not for class features such as turning undead. Do
the levels stack with respect to the granted powers received from
cleric domains? No. They do not get the extra
granted powers, EX. Destruction domain + (cleric level) damage so a 9th
level cleric with 5 levels of warpriest would still have +9 to damage.
Community News:
- Gamma World D20 is a new site for running Gamma World using
the D20 System. Visit the companion e-group.
- Click here to read about the German version of the Player's
Handbook (in German). (thanks to Mark Oliva and Dominic Wäsch
for the scoop)
- Wsmith is archiving completed stories from my Story Hour
forum on his website, D&D Hall of Adventures. Drop him a line if
you have a completed story for him to archive.
- Updates at Charles Greathouse's Generators (dragon stat
block generator works in Netscape now; update to character stat block
generator), James Wyatt's site (update to Forghul campaign journal),
Black Falcon Aerie (lists of magic items from the DMG, Sword &
Fist, Tome & Blood, Defenders of the Faith and The
Standing Stone), Vincent Darlage's Conan D20 site (new NPC and
monster stats), and Palaestra (New feats and spells, new campaign info,
expanded Level Equivalent Experience Chart, adventure log updates, and
random name charts).
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