Gaming Tonic
Explorer
New Dungeons & Dragons book announcements, piles of themes, and some great backdrops are just a taste of what Wizards of the Coast has delivered for your reading enjoyment. Since we have so much to get to, let's get to it.
- According to amazon.com we can expect [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Menzoberranzan-City-Intrigue-RPG-Team/dp/0786960361/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322500169&sr=1-1"]Menzoberranzan: City of Intrigue[/ame] in August of 2012. I will see if I can find out any details for you about this next week. The cover is eye catching and we all love the drow. We are already [ame="http://www.enworld.org/forum/4e-discussion/314599-august-2012-menzoberranzan-city-intrigue.html"]chatting about it at EN World here[/ame].
[*]Matt James delivers new themes in Character Themes: Heroes of the Moonshaes in Dragon 405. Matt gives you two new themes, the Sarifal Waywarden and the Callidyrr Dragoon as well as a new twist on some Neverwinter themes. Thanks for the suggestions on altering pre-existing themes for use in our home games.
[*]The Eye on Eberron by Keith Baker is focusing on Taer Syraen, the Winter Citadel. A fortress of ice ruled by an archfey where winter truly dwells. This is a great piece for setting an adventure or as a possible threat to the PC's in your game. Plus old man winter is upon us and why not fight him if you can.
[*]New Monsters, a Book of Vile Darkness Excerpt by Bart Carroll gives you a sneak peek at the Nhagruul Dragonspawn. This sample of a great paragon tier challenge makes me really want this book and perhaps Santa will see that this book is under my tree.
[*]Court of Stars: Baba Yaga, Mother of All Witches by Alana Abbott in Dungeon 196 gives you a look inside the hut. A great epic tier threat as well as some great ideas about how to work in the witch and her minions into your game.
[*]Epic Campaign 16 and 17 are out this week. Aaron Williams has created a seriously hilarious comic that makes me laugh out loud. Take a minute and catch up if you haven't been keeping up. You will wish the rest of your group was this witty.
[*]Not Fair Assault by Shelly Mazzanoble in her regular monthly column Confessions of a Full Time Wizard muses over the death of Kevin the Barbarian, her unwitting development in Lair Assault and player vengeance on smug DM's.
[*]Monte Cook gives you A Different Way to Slice the Pie in Legends and Lore this week. Attacks of opportunity and the evolution and how they may be unnecessary in your game is the subject. There are three polls at the end of the article so make sure you are giving feedback.
[*]The map and art galleries for The Madness of Gardmore Abbey are here for you. I really like the map selection and can see using several of these for other locations in my own game and the artwork is excellent as we have come to expect.
[*]Shawn Merwin gives a Backdrop: Moonshae Isles in Dungeon 196. We get an excellent look at the power players in the Moonshaes, tips for running a Moonshae campaign, stats for new foes to challenge your PC's, beautiful maps, and several magic items. This is an excellent article with lots of amazing details, don't miss it.
[*]Creating an Evil Adventurers an excerpt from The Book of Vile Darkness gives you a glimpse of what you can expect for a PC with an evil streak. The Demonologist paragon path is given as an example and it is pretty wicked.
[*]The theme is apparently themes. Logan Bonner gives you Character Themes: Born from the Feywild in Dragon 405. The Wild Hunt Rider and Oracle of the Evil Eye are two great themes that really show the diversity the fey aspect can provide in your game.
[*]Modern Fairy: Joining the Party by Tracy Hurley takes a look at the recent rise in popularity of fairy tales and how to use these modern versions of fairy tales to enhance your game. There are a hoard of great examples and links to help you out, this article is really useful so go use it.
[*]Behind Every Good DM by Chris Perkins in his regular Dungeon Master Experience article shares feedback from several of the players in his campaign. This is a great idea for all of us to stop and do from time to time to make sure are games are satisfying the DM as well as the players.
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