Recent content by OB1

I'd argue that it's not combat, but the monster ecosystem that makes D&D special. It's an amazing bit of world building that can really drive campaigns and ground them. One of my big problems with Age of Umbra specifically (and DH in general) is that the monsters are built only to be a...

Law and Order is an interesting comparison. It changes cast, directors and writers (PCs and DMs) all the time and remains Law and Order, but if it was suddenly set in Laos (Setting) and changed to a relationship drama about police and lawyers (system) I don't think people would consider it Law...

Spot on. And that tight control was even in their Daggerheart Age of Umbra campaign, in a system specifically built to be player directed.

That's great insight. Yeah it wasn't any singular thing that led to the increase in the amount of improv being done by the cast to stretch things, but the more they rely on it (for any reason) the more of a slog the show feels, IMO.

Yep, and happened right about the time that they decided to ditch as much D&D IP as possible, creating a bigger workload for Matt. The response to that was to rely on the PCs to improv longer so they could stretch the story beats out and give Matt time to build things from scratch. It...

Fair enough. I think they'll do one more long form campaign before moving to the short stuff. Numbers might have been down for C3, but they are still on an episode by episode basis far higher than any of their other content and when taken as a whole represent 10s of millions of views. My own...

On the one hand, I agree, some of the epicness in Gathering Storm might not have been quite as epic without 3 million words before it. But on the other hand, feature films work different. A good director can take you to those heights very quickly. I'd love to see an anime-stye long form...

So, I really wonder if in the lead up to the release of Daggerheart, some people weren't conflating what other people were saying about Daggerheart (that it's a system built specifically for CR) and what CR said about it themselves (that it's a system they are publishing via Darington and...

Honestly, I know this isn't what the article meant, but this is a GREAT idea. It's now my headcannon that after BG3 Astarion eventually founds that city and is it's mayor. I imagine a 60/70's Vegas vibe with the vamps taking the place of the mob and some pretty severe punishments if you don't...

Wow, wow wow. Just finished The Gathering Storm. What a ride. And just absolutely epic. Can't wait to finish the next two. And got me thinking right off the bat, I bet, if Sony wanted, they could plan a film trilogy that just covers the final three books, but still uses the show as a...

Will never forget the two times I saw Ozzy in concert. Once at Ozfest in SoCal in 2007 and the other at Ozfest Tokyo in 2013. That second one, I was 30 feet or so from the stage, and couldn't believe I watched him jump off speakers as he played. Dude knew how to put on a show (both Ozfest in...

Agreed. Think Age of Umbra shows the problem with this system and horror/survival themes. It’s too much on the players side to create the right mood.

Yeah, I see a lot of 4e roots in DH. And because it's not D&D, the game can experiment in ways that D&D couldn't/cant. The brilliant fix to 4e that DH has made is how the hope/fear mechanic plays into "encounter/daily" powers as a self balancing resource throughout the 'adventuring day'.

3e Manual of the Planes. It's been a constant source of reference and inspiration for me for 20 years now. I've used it more extensively in 5e games than I did in 3e.

I was wondering the same thing. In fact, I'd be surprised if this move doesn't mean even more 5e compatible content coming out of DP. Exandria could easily support 3-4 more setting books with APs and mini adventure compilations. Why not try to become the largest D&D 3rd party publisher at the...