February 2011
It is in February next year that D&D starts getting products again, with the Fortune Cards of Nentir Vale. That's about 8 weeks away according to their site, and I don't know a thing about them!
Let's see what Previews has to say about them. Hmm - not mentioned. Oh well. Does anyone know anything about them?
It's been interesting watching my friends buying Gamma World packs (I'm not involved in a game at present). They really enjoy them. It will feel very, very odd buying packs of cards for a game of D&D. This is a product that has potential, but I'd like to know something more about it first!
We also have the new deluxe DM Screen coming out in February. Sadly, I'm not a fan of Wayne Reynold's art, but if the contents of the screen are identical to that in the Essential's DM Kit, I'll be very happy with it. The first deluxe screen was very good, the Essentials one is better.
For those who want a book to take home, read on the train, or something like that (but not in the car when driving), there's Heroes of Sword and Spell, which takes an Essential look at five of the Player's Handbook classes. (Cleric, Fighter, Rogue, Wizard... and Warlord).
The most exciting thing about this book is the errata. No, I'm wrong: the most exciting thing about this book is that it gives the rules for integrating Essentials characters with non-Essentials characters. Yes, I know how to do it and you know how to do it (I think), but the new Essentials character doesn't yet. But he or she will. Thanks to this book.
Although I'm unconvinced on the Red Box, I'm very happy with a lot of the other Essentials products. This "transition" book might not be the most exciting for someone with the old PHB, but it might just prove a lot more useful than it appears at this stage.
March 2011
Only one book this time, but it's an interesting one: Heroes of Shadow.
Sadly, the Necromancer is making a return to D&D. Why sadly? Well, because it'll mean the characters are reanimating the bodies of the enemies that were supposed to kill them and uhyjupjjjjjjjjjkjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj (sorry, cat jumped on keyboard)... I mean, upsetting the natural state of thing where monsters are meant to kill PCs, not other monsters. You can tell I'm a DM, can't you?
Oh, and the Assassin and the Hexblade.
Which means my profoundly warped players are going to really enjoy this book. Not quite as much as if it had included the warlock, but it's still going to be fun seeing how these classes, none of which are entirely sane, will be presented. I know there have been previews, but this will be in an actual book, and I like books, even if I no longer have the shelf space to hold them.
Interestingly, it seems like the Necromancer isn't actually a class in itself: it's a way of life for some wizards. Along with Nethermancy, which is the wizard path for the shades.
April 2011
New classes are all very good, but the Essentials line is lacking one major thing at present: Magic Items. Oh, it's a big lack. I mean, there weren't that many items in the original books when I think about it, but even the short list in the PHB seems like a massive cornucopia of items compared to what's in Essentials.
And so, Mordenkainen's Magnificent Emporium. A book that promises items of three rarities, with descriptions to make them more interesting than their powers yet allow, and that the DM should secrete away from their players because DMs should be bastards.
Yes, the unintended consequence of magic item rarity: you need to confiscate any copy of this book your players might buy, rip out all the pages which have non-common items, and then give it back as the "expurgated" version. The one without the gannet.
It's good to be a DM.
For those players who are *also* DMs, well, I suggest removing the bits of their brain that remember magic items, and putting them in jars which they can access when the DM. Like in Fringe. That'll teach them to take on two roles at the table!
Seriously, this book is the one I'm most waiting for. April seems such a long time away...
May 2011
There are more products announced for June and beyond, but I'm a little hazy as to what they are - or mean. Let's just finish with the D&D Product for May. Which is awesome, because it's a boxed set on the shadowfell: The Shadowfell: Gloomwrought and Beyond
Well, when I say "shadowfell", mostly it's about Gloomwrought, a major city in that dark plane. Cards, an Adventure, Monster Tokens, a Campaign book (128 pages!) and did I mention a deck of 30 cards? This is - at present - the most innovative of the upcoming products, and the most risky.
It also will provide me with even more problems with shelf space. The Essential books are great: hardly any space required. Boxed set? Urgh.
Things seem to be getting interesting as we move further into 2011...
Cheers!
It is in February next year that D&D starts getting products again, with the Fortune Cards of Nentir Vale. That's about 8 weeks away according to their site, and I don't know a thing about them!
Let's see what Previews has to say about them. Hmm - not mentioned. Oh well. Does anyone know anything about them?
It's been interesting watching my friends buying Gamma World packs (I'm not involved in a game at present). They really enjoy them. It will feel very, very odd buying packs of cards for a game of D&D. This is a product that has potential, but I'd like to know something more about it first!
We also have the new deluxe DM Screen coming out in February. Sadly, I'm not a fan of Wayne Reynold's art, but if the contents of the screen are identical to that in the Essential's DM Kit, I'll be very happy with it. The first deluxe screen was very good, the Essentials one is better.
For those who want a book to take home, read on the train, or something like that (but not in the car when driving), there's Heroes of Sword and Spell, which takes an Essential look at five of the Player's Handbook classes. (Cleric, Fighter, Rogue, Wizard... and Warlord).
The most exciting thing about this book is the errata. No, I'm wrong: the most exciting thing about this book is that it gives the rules for integrating Essentials characters with non-Essentials characters. Yes, I know how to do it and you know how to do it (I think), but the new Essentials character doesn't yet. But he or she will. Thanks to this book.
Although I'm unconvinced on the Red Box, I'm very happy with a lot of the other Essentials products. This "transition" book might not be the most exciting for someone with the old PHB, but it might just prove a lot more useful than it appears at this stage.
March 2011
Only one book this time, but it's an interesting one: Heroes of Shadow.
Sadly, the Necromancer is making a return to D&D. Why sadly? Well, because it'll mean the characters are reanimating the bodies of the enemies that were supposed to kill them and uhyjupjjjjjjjjjkjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj (sorry, cat jumped on keyboard)... I mean, upsetting the natural state of thing where monsters are meant to kill PCs, not other monsters. You can tell I'm a DM, can't you?
Oh, and the Assassin and the Hexblade.
Which means my profoundly warped players are going to really enjoy this book. Not quite as much as if it had included the warlock, but it's still going to be fun seeing how these classes, none of which are entirely sane, will be presented. I know there have been previews, but this will be in an actual book, and I like books, even if I no longer have the shelf space to hold them.
Interestingly, it seems like the Necromancer isn't actually a class in itself: it's a way of life for some wizards. Along with Nethermancy, which is the wizard path for the shades.
April 2011
New classes are all very good, but the Essentials line is lacking one major thing at present: Magic Items. Oh, it's a big lack. I mean, there weren't that many items in the original books when I think about it, but even the short list in the PHB seems like a massive cornucopia of items compared to what's in Essentials.
And so, Mordenkainen's Magnificent Emporium. A book that promises items of three rarities, with descriptions to make them more interesting than their powers yet allow, and that the DM should secrete away from their players because DMs should be bastards.
Yes, the unintended consequence of magic item rarity: you need to confiscate any copy of this book your players might buy, rip out all the pages which have non-common items, and then give it back as the "expurgated" version. The one without the gannet.
It's good to be a DM.
For those players who are *also* DMs, well, I suggest removing the bits of their brain that remember magic items, and putting them in jars which they can access when the DM. Like in Fringe. That'll teach them to take on two roles at the table!
Seriously, this book is the one I'm most waiting for. April seems such a long time away...
May 2011
There are more products announced for June and beyond, but I'm a little hazy as to what they are - or mean. Let's just finish with the D&D Product for May. Which is awesome, because it's a boxed set on the shadowfell: The Shadowfell: Gloomwrought and Beyond
Well, when I say "shadowfell", mostly it's about Gloomwrought, a major city in that dark plane. Cards, an Adventure, Monster Tokens, a Campaign book (128 pages!) and did I mention a deck of 30 cards? This is - at present - the most innovative of the upcoming products, and the most risky.
It also will provide me with even more problems with shelf space. The Essential books are great: hardly any space required. Boxed set? Urgh.
Things seem to be getting interesting as we move further into 2011...
Cheers!