Gaming Tonic
Explorer
This week we find out a lot more about what Wizards of the Coast, with the help of the fans are attempting with the new edition of Dungeons & Dragons. Some epic level elemental princes are presented for your games, Lair Assault prepares to hack and slash, and lots of other great stuff for your games was released. Now lets read what Monte thinks.- Monte Cook talks more in Uniting the Editions, Pt. 3 about what we can expect to see and not see. The poll is a great idea and pretty inclusive. See what the readers at EN World are saying about this article and poll here.
[*]Greg Bilsland and Matt James collaborated on the Attack of the Tyrantclaw, the new Lair Assault beginning March 1st. Perhaps starting at sixth level will increase your odds of survival but I wouldn’t count on it. Make sure to check out Matt’s work on the upcoming Into the Unknown: The Dungeon Survival Handbook in May.
[*]Claudio Pozas delivers a megapiece called Elemental Patrons and Palaces. This is a great backdrop piece to be worked into your existing campaign or a brand new one. I like the continuous delivery of sample quests as these save me time when I am looking at an article and asking myself, "Ok now how do I use this in my game?" You have to be excited about all the support the Players Option: Heroes of Elemental Chaos is receiving.
[*]Ed Greenwood delivers a Sembian fortune in The Enchanted Painting of Manyshield Hall for the Eye on the Realms series. I am enjoying the attention that the Realms is receiving and this article tells the story of a wonderful plot hook to paint a great adventure.
[*]Lords of Chaos: Olhydra and Yan-C-Bin by Michael E. Shea delivers threats at sea or in the air. There are some tough minions of the elemental princes for your players to battle, or the elemental princes themselves. We can't have enough epic tier threats.
[*]Designing Chaos: Class and Themes by Robert J. Schwalb discusses how to use the many options from the Player’s Options: Heroes of the Elemental Chaos in your games. There is even some talk of Dark Sun and Al-Qadim and how this books works in those campaigns. I really want to see what they have done with the sorcerer. There is still a lot of time for 4E campaigns.
If you missed Monte Cook's Blog: Wizards Like to Roll Dice Too then you need to stop what you are doing and go read it. I think spell casters are such a part of the game that you have to give them the time they deserve. Just keep it balanced. Other gamers are talking about this here.
[*]Rodney Thompson answers your questions about the game in Rule of Three. This week it is, you guessed it, three questions about the next edition of D&D. It is good to see so many fans asking great questions about their hobby. I think the next edition and the community are on the right track.
[*]I sat down to read Bookwyrms: Everlasting Characters by Nina Hess expecting a pretty standard review. What was delivered was a much meatier guest piece by Richard Lee Byers, author of The Masked Witches, Brotherhood of the Griffon Book IV. This look at what goes into a book is easily applied to a campaign.
[*]Robert J. Schwalb also gives some of his insight in Blog: Fighter A-Go-Go. As is pretty standard he also puts a poll so that your opinion on the topic can be heard. What does fighter mean to you? I think 4th Edition changed the way a lot of gamers looked at the iconic class. Not so second fiddle anymore. Here is a thread where everybody is talking about it.
[*]Chris Perkins shows you his skills at Map Fu in The Dungeon Master Experience. Chris goes over the pros and cons of using wet erase maps at your table. A couple of clever suggestions for putting together good maps are also provided. I really like the one about how to draw realistic looking rubble.
[*]Blog: A Close Call with Negative Hit Points by Bruce Cordell quickly examines the negative hit point mechanic in the previous editions. The focus then turns to what would work best for the players in a new edition. One opinion is definitely the front runner on the poll. That is why house rules were/are invented.
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