Gaming Tonic
Explorer
The new iteration and what the open playtest will look like, what it means to the future of D&D and the current edition have really seemed to get the fans talking. This week Wizards of the Coast gives us lots to look forward to for the 4th Edition and asks what the players of the game want in the next edition. - Monte Cook muses on The Genius of D&D in his weekly Legends & Lore article. He reveals what elements are important to him in character design and asks the same question to the readers. I really think we can take a look at the articles and the polls attached to them to get a good gauge on where the game will go.
[*]Amazon.com now lists Ed Greenwood Presents Elminster's Forgotten Realms: A Dungeons & Dragons Supplement. I will see what I can find out about this hardcover due October 16, 2012 in the next few weeks.
[*]Monk, another Heroes of the Elemental Chaos excerpt by Bart Carroll presents several options for the disciplined warriors. The book will offer two new monastic traditions and you can get an advanced look at the Eternal Tide tradition as well as several new powers.
[*]Character Themes: Heroes of the Elemental Chaos opens the cover of the soon to be released supplement and give you a look at the Janissary theme. Themes were a great edition to the game and I hope to see a whole lot more when the book hits the streets. Would you keep themes in the new edition?
[*]Tracy Hurley looks at Gamer Resolutions for the new year in Joining the Party. There are always great tips and lots of different links to things you may have missed around the internet. Lots of these and more can be found on the news page here at enworld.org.
[*]Rodney Thompson takes the reins on Rule of Three and answers your questions about what everybody around the Wizards of the Coast office are working on, playtest feedback on the next edition, and what submissions are not needed for Dungeon and Dragon magazines. My playtest starts Tuesday and I love what I have seen so far. If you failed to do it before get signed up.
[*]Take a look at the reprints of the 1st Edition Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual. The purchase of the book supports the Gygax Memorial Fund and will be used to memoralize Gary with a statue in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. If you never got to play the earlier editions and want to see what we used to play then please pick up copies. It might also help you with your playtest feedback if you know more about the history of the game. You can read the En World announcement and fan feeback here, and even more fan reaction here.
[*]The +5 Crossword of Slaying, Part 3 by Chris Perkins will give you something to both test your mind and your knowledge of the history of the game. I find myself fixated on filling in all the answers without looking it up on the internet. My bookshelf is a fair resource in my mind.
[*]Book Wyrms by Nina Hess gives you some insight in where the books of Dungeons & Dragons are now and are headed in the future. There is some great insight into the electronic publishing plans of Wizards. This is a monthly column and hopefully we will find out a lot more about electronic distribution plans in the future.
[*]Brian Cortijo delivers Crowns and Mantles: The Ranks and Titles of Cormyr in Dragon 407. This is a nice long article that gives you even more information about the kingdom. The details are incredible and notice that all that information is edition non-specific, so you are good to go using this in any of your games. The illustrations by Hector Ortiz and Claudio Pozas are top notch and inspire kings.
[*]Slave to the Rules a new article in the Dungeon Master Experience by Chris Perkins offers some excellent advice on rewarding players and parties for creative problem solving in your games. The focus of these articles and the polls at the end let me know what changes we may see in the game in the future. The playtest backs it up in my opinion.
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