Dragon 382 - Ampersand: Looking Back

[Shroomy]

In this article, Bill looks back on 2009 and more interestingly, unveils an extensive preview of Hammerfast and a relatively shorter preview of The Plane Above. The backstory to Hammerfast certainly sounds interesting and its not what I expected.

Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (Looking Back)

 

[Keefe the Thief]

I was absolutely uninterested in Hammerfast, because
a) i thought they would do a "traditional dwarfhold, only in POLand" and
b) because i felt no pressing need to add a dwarfhold to my campaign.
This however? Sold 20 times. That´s city-built-on-top-of-the-Tarrasque-stlye awesomeness.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

The Penny Arcade Podcasts also feature Hammerfast. The background described there definitely got my attention.

 

[ferratus]

The part I love most about this Hammerfast is that the orcs and the dwarves obviously still hate each other, and thus will be feuding, but the priests of Moradin and Gruumsh are sacrosanct. Thus, both sides will freely use minions, sponsored gangs, and adventurers to do kill off each other's associates while never really being able to achieve absolute victory.

Since it is illegal to even do that, you probably end up with a cold war under the surface with lots of spies and assassins, which the victory is determined by catching a priest in the act of conspiracy, and thus leading to his death.

Throw in sacrosanct or hidden tombs, and this is a great, great, town to do a thieves' guild campaign in. I was going to get this based on having a convenient guidebook for a dwarf stronghold, but this actually makes me want to run a adventures in it.

Add in the Orcus stuff from the Keep on the Shadowfell, the Temple of Yellow Skulls, and the Demon Queen's Enclave... and it seems the power of undeath is strong in the Nentir Vale.

 

[JoeGKushner]

And once again, I'm baffled that this is for subscribers only. Is it a nice peak? Sure. Have they shown more without requiring a log in? Yeah. It there were some exclusive ultra cool content and graphics I guess I'd see why it needs to be logged in to view.

 

[JustKim]

When I first started reading about Hammerfast I thought it would be a great fit for the Ghostwalk stuff, which is very cool. But the more I read, the less I like. Hammerfast seems like Moria if Tolkien's dwarves had decided the balrog was not such a bad guy. Count me sincerely disappointed.

I guess someone at WotC decided that a dwarven setting book that was opulently dwarfy would not hook readers, but that was exactly what I wanted. This sounds like an interesting setting book, so I'm sold in that regard. But this is not my Hammerfast.

 

[Nahat Anoj]

Having orcs and dwarves living together is an interesting twist, as is Gruumsh and Moradin forming a loose compact. While I imagine the two races for the most part would live separately from each other, there is potential for some cool overlap. Like a dwarf who becomes an adherent of Gruumsh or an orc who follows the ways of Moradin.

I think at some point before or just after Hammerfast is published, they should give orcs the full PC treatment. Yes, MM orcs work in a pinch, but I'd like racial feats, paragon paths, and the like. Perhaps orcs can be a DDI exlcusive?

 

[MrMyth]

And once again, I'm baffled that this is for subscribers only. Is it a nice peak? Sure. Have they shown more without requiring a log in? Yeah. It there were some exclusive ultra cool content and graphics I guess I'd see why it needs to be logged in to view.

Because it is something that the writer of the article felt like tossing out as part of his column. It didn't 'need' to be subscriber only - but it didn't need to be free, either. It didn't 'need' to be anything.

I remain similarly baffled by the idea that the writer of Ampersand should refrain from sharing previews because non-subscribers won't have access to them. Or that he should write a new article specifically for non-subscribers to share this preview, even though WotC already has a ridiculous amount of such free preview articles.

If you are genuinely bothered by not having access to it without being a subscriber, then clearly it has value and appeal to encourage subscription. If you aren't, then I don't see the issue. If you are bothered that they would 'charge' people for free preview content, I recommend being satisfied with all the other previews of upcoming material they release on a regularly basis, or the monthly column specifically devoted to sharing upcoming previews. If that isn't enough, I recommend waiting for the book and then just buying the content yourself...

 

[renau1g]

In FR, haven't orcs and dwarves come to some sort of neutrality up in the Savage north area (the recent Drizzt books I think had this IIRC)

 

[TerraDave]

When I first started reading about Hammerfast I thought it would be a great fit for the Ghostwalk stuff

You mean, it isn't Ghostwalk.

I am not sure what to make of it. Sometimes these things can be too much, and/or are hard to pull off (See Revenge of the Giants, or, of course, Ghostwalk).