Geek Ken

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Geek Ken) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:00:00 +0000

It's lunar new years so I'll be busy stuffing my face with relatives and not likely be posting much new stuff for a bit.

I've always found Asian mythology pretty interesting. Their dragons have a different legend associated with them. Dragons in Asian cultures are typically more benevolent and tied with prosperity compared to the horrible beasts of Europe. The Korean dragon is different as it is more of a chimera of animal characteristics, with the eyes, teeth, ears, and such from particular animals.

I haven't really tried out an Asian-themed D&D campaign. I might try doing that sometime. It might make for a very different break from the typical medieval structure of most fantasy games. Demons are particularly common as well as evil spirits, so that might be a nice focus for an evil villain group aside from the regular orcs and goblins.

True Asian dragons might be difficult though. But I've been thinking their alignment might be towards particular races or even the fey. Korean dragons commonly have strong roots with agricultural spirits. So while they are not evil, they might be a problem for players serving as a powerful ally for other races. I'll have to think about that and maybe dip my toe into an Asian-themed campaign in the future.

Expeditions of Amazing Adventure: The silent spirits of Solemoore Woods

noreply@blogger.com (Geek Ken) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 22:00:00 +0000

North, skirting the borders of the icy tundra plains, are vast tracks of woods. The eastern region of the many forests is known as Solemoore. A handful of villages are nestled about the edges of this grand wood, many filled with adept ice fishermen and trappers. Lumber is another major source as a trade good for these communities, where stout men carefully remove aged timbers from the forest and send cut logs down the lone frigid river that snakes through Solemoore.

Well over a century and a half ago, the dark cleric, Nergahar, had been a scourge to the land. Driven by a frenzied, forgotten god of old, he committed all manners of atrocities as dark rituals. His sole purpose was to open a rift into the Nether and draw out an aspect of his foul god, a nameless creature of ancient evil from the Astral wastes. His mad intention was to bring such an aberrant force of destruction into the world in order to lay waste to mankind.

Some claim that he succeeded in his dark task, but it was himself that become fodder to the evil creature that spilled forth and receded back into the Nether. Others claim that the Nether opened for an instant, utterly destroying the mind of Nergahar, and he wandered the woods as a gibbering hermit until his death. Some even claim that the very ritual that destroyed Nergahar, was altered and refined by the necromancer, Al'Khameed, and this wielder of the black arts inflicted this foul magic onto the lands of Kymoria.

None really know what was the cause of the curse within Solemoore Woods, save that the bleak forest is now pocked with spirits of the dead. Silent apparitions can sometimes been seen drifting among the thick trees. No birds fly through the woods and the pines do not whisper with gentle swaying of branches when cold winds blow. There is an unearthly stillness in the forest. A continual gloom of thick clouds carpet the still landscape, with a reprieve of clear skies only coming once or twice a month.

Few woodland creatures can be found in Solemoore now and most seem stricken with the toll of constant fear. Most deer and other game have patches of grey fur and the very young are an infrequent sight. Moving through the woods at times can be maddening, as if everything in the wood had become muted and ever silent. Sound seems to dampen off into nothingness. A fine mist covers the forest, making navigation through the woods a treacherous task, with even the most seasoned trackers known to lose their bearings.

It is these unusual characteristics that have also made Solemoore woods a haven for bandits. Those with enough bravado and iron nerve have been known to keep camps deep within the woods. They are able to strike at passing caravans and raid villages with some impunity, as they know efforts to track them will be hampered by the silent woods. Such groups of bandits do occasionally vanish though, swallowed up by the tomb-like quiet of the woods. Only a lone member might be seen, stumbling from the woods with hair white as snow and eyes wide with a look of utter terror. They incoherently mumble of lost spirits calling their companions into the black maw.

Despite this occasional dark fate of bandit gangs, their continual presence can be difficult for some communities in Solemoore. Many a village mayor has offered substantial rewards to an adventuring company willing to track down bandit camps within the woods. Even odder recruitment efforts have come from wizards seeking to know more of the woods and the secrets within.

It is not uncommon that some young wizard, emboldened with a scrap of information taken from an ancient tome, to seek employment of adventurers to join in an exploration of some rumored lost ruin within the silent woods. Typically such expeditions become exercises in frustration as navigation through Solemoore woods is difficult. Many of an adventuring party have stumbled out of the bleak forest after a week, recounting days of traveling in circles and bewildering attempts at orienteering (with many rangers too embarrassed to talk further of the matter).

However, some never return, seemingly swallowed up by the woods. Villagers when pressed will whisper that a scant few parties of brave warriors have entered the woods only to have a lone member drift aimlessly out months later stricken with form of madness, muttering about the hunger of the forest, the consumption of life, and a dark maw within the woods, with the rest of their companions never to be seen again.

Sorylian scythe frigates

noreply@blogger.com (Geek Ken) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 22:00:00 +0000

I've finally finished my Sorylian frigates. The models have a fair amount of detail, but I went through a few color schemes before I found something I liked which might have muddied some of the models a bit. I'm working with Vallejo acrylics which is something new. I like the paints but you have to water them down a bit and in the end the color can bleed a bit. Takes a few coats if you've thinned it out too much, and it took me a few tries to repeatedly get the right consistency.

Still I am fairly happy with how they turned out. I might have to try and work on some more dramatic color selection to bring out other details, but for now I wanted to give the frigates a uniform look. Still have to play a game. Might have to break out the models for a spin soon.

WotC rolling out a new edition

noreply@blogger.com (Geek Ken) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:09:00 +0000

I expect various blogs will explode this week with news of a new edition of D&D rolling out sometime next year. Having a larger group of playtesters and getting more feedback from folks I imagine is a solid step in getting an edition out that people will like, I still think there is such a division over 4E and non-4E mechanics it’ll be tough to seal it up.

Pathfinder had to have struck a nerve with suits at Hasbro. Here is this game effectively a version of D&D and selling well enough to either take a major chunk out of 4E sales, or compete with it neck in neck. Somebody had to have been thinking about trying to woo that group back into the WotC fold. I guess a new edition would be a vehicle for that.

Thing is, if 4E rolled out and was like Pathfinder I’d be disappointed. Patherfinder seems like a fun game. I just think it’s just a step too close to 3.5, tweaked a bit but nothing really innovative. I’m certain for many that is just fine, however I think a more dramatic change to certain mechanics was a step in the right direction.

There are a lot of good things about 4E and a fair amount of problems. I don’t want to bring out a laundry list right now. As many folks might clamor about how awful 4E is, and are eager to bring D&D back to earlier editions, however you still have people that like 4E. I just wonder how a new edition is going to get these different camps under the same tent. I expect a very modular rule system that is light and heavily arbitrated by the DM by default, with increasing rules and complexity as optional rules.

One thing I do expect, a game that isn’t so dependant on a battlegrid (or a least rules that can drop it more easily). While I like the tactical play of combats, I do think it’s a limitation for getting people into the game. You really need a lot of ‘stuff’ on hand to run a game. Again, while folks can wing it and play without miniatures having some more concrete rules would help tons with new players. So I expect miniatures and a grid will still be around, but either be an option or less tabletop intensive alternate rules will be available.

If anything, at least I’ll have plenty to blog about over the next year.

Gamma World is the Gateway RPG to D&D

noreply@blogger.com (Geek Ken) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 23:00:00 +0000

So Gamma World has been released for a while now. I’m certain a lot of folks since it's release have taken some time to put down the sword and shield, and taken a swing at wielding a vibroblade and suiting up in Mk. 2 power armor. Something I have come to realize playing Gamma World a bit, it's a great way to get folks into RPGs and I think works wonders as a quick tutorial for 4E D&D mechanics as well. There are a couple of reasons why…

Few character generation choices – Just about every thing when making up a character is done randomly. You roll on a table and this is what you get. Instead of having to figure out what at will and encounter powers you want, the choice is made for you. Unsure about how to assign ability scores? No worries! You get a bonus to some and just roll for the others.

Best of all everyone else is going through the same process. So that new guy is not stuck thinking he made a bad choice (or feeling lost as a more ‘knowledgeable’ player picks them out). Also as many of the additional powers and gear are random items represented as cards that are drawn and discarded, at most the player just has to decide whether to use a power during a fight. Which leaves more time to dwell on the…

Simplified mechanics – The core of the 4E game is there, but the math and book keeping is easier. No need to write down how many arrows you fired, you either have ammunition or you go hog wild and run out after a fight. No healing surges to muck around with during a rest. You heal up to full hit points. The bonus for hitting and dealing damage with a weapon is easier to calculate. The framework for D&D rules are there, things are just more simple.

Easier setting to grasp – I really think with TV shows and with movies, sci-fi is a little more easier for people to pick up compared to fantasy. Gamma World is envisioned to be 150 years after a sudden blending of alternate realities from a scientific experiment that went awry in 2012. The world is wild and crazy with all sorts of mutated creatures and technology, but the backdrop is a run down civilization taken from the vista of someone’s home city that they currently see around them.

Likely you’d have to explain to a new player what a glaive is. You most likely wouldn’t have to do the same talking about an automatic rifle. I think even the most fantastic futuristic artifact might be easier for a person to understand compared to many fantasy-centric items. When the GM talks of a fur covered beast wielding a stop sign and a trashcan lid for a shield, they get it. This helps with getting the player more relaxed and open to trying more creative ideas and actions.

Creativity is encouraged – How exactly is a player a pyrotechnic rat swarm? With all the random chart rolling, I think Gamma World really ends up pushing players from the start to think about their character. I feel the player has ample opportunity to describe their looks and how they utilize their powers. Much of the mechanics for abilities and powers are handled through such an abstract way, it gives the player a lot of freedom to describe how these abilities look and feel in the world. This freedom to envision what their character looks and acts like is further reinforced by the game philosophy…

Things are fun and temporary – You want loot and high quality gear, but you only get to use it a few times before you have to junk it. You might have this great mutant power, but shortly you will get something else to replace it. The game is made to be zany fun with things constantly being in flux.

Also, you don’t need to be mired down in some elaborate quest to save a kingdom. The game seems to work best as a few short sessions with a lot of action. You aren’t after a pile of gold pieces and gems, or to stop a ritual from being cast by an evil cult. You are after some weird technology hidden away in some ruins (being represented by drawing a card from a deck).

Your character is assembled quickly and randomly. If you get wiped out simply pull out another sheet, roll a few dice, and keep playing. The lethality of the game reinforces how disposable your character is. You don’t have this pressure to work up some elaborate past for your character, mostly because the next fight might result in him being only a pile of ash. I think this all reinforces how much the game should be a lighthearted stab at adventure and having a good time. No need for the heavy campaign story, just sit down, roll some dice, and pray that leaky fusion rifle doesn’t obliterate your character when it’s fired.

So the next time someone wants to know more about D&D, and possibly thinking about sitting in on a session, consider making that first jump with Gamma World. As I mentioned I think it's a great game all in one box. It has a frivolous theme and a lot of crazy random mechanics to illustrate how much fun RPGs can be. That idea of fun is something every new gamer should take away from their first sitting, and I think Gamma World does that very well.

Post redux

noreply@blogger.com (Geek Ken) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 09:30:00 +0000

When I was notified things were a little fluid at This is My Game, I was unsure about the status of the site. I ended up archiving a few articles I posted there. Likely throughout this year you will see them re-posted and likely tweaked a bit here.

I still think This is My Game is still running, but going through some changes of the administrative hats. Once the construction dust settles I think you might find me still making some guest posts there.

Review: Super Dungeon Explore

noreply@blogger.com (Geek Ken) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 09:30:00 +0000

Periodically I’ll be participating in the game night blog carnival, which gives me a chance to review some board games that might be a good break from your typical RPG session nights.

Soda Pop Miniatures are responsible for the adorable dungeon crawl board game, Super Dungeon Explore (SDE). This is a game for 2-6 players with a relatively odd theme. Despite the trappings of a fantasy game at first glance, it really is themed more like an over the top video game. It’s an odd choice, but if you jump into the game approaching it like an anime-themed version of Gauntlet rather than a serious dungeon exploration game, there is a lot of fun to be found.

Players form up into a team of heroes to face off against a single player (or Console) that runs the baddies. The goal for the heroes is to wipe out the final boss monster, while the Console tries to eliminate the heroes. There are 8 heroes to choose from, while the Console gets a choice of 2 enemy types to field and one epic boss, or up to 2 minor bosses. The progression of the number of heroes is a bit odd, being either 2, 3, or 5 heroes against the single Console player. But you can have players field more than one hero, giving some flexibility to the number of players. I’d even consider allowing 2 players to play the Console, splitting the number of models to control or take alternate turns controlling the final boss.

Each side activates a hero, or a set number of monsters, and play alternates back and forth until every model on the board gets an action, ending the turn. Each model has a number of action points that allow them to do things like move, attack, or open chests, in any combination. The Console gets to spawn monsters at specific points. The heroes can attempt to destroy these points to reduce the number of creatures that pop in each turn.

As heroes inflict wounds, there is a special loot track that moves along and resets once the turn is over. At set intervals, heroes can obtain special loot to help them out. Another track records the damage from all models (both heroes and monsters) that continually progresses over the game. As this damage meter moves on, more powerful monsters can be spawned. So those 8 bit monsters can be replaced by 16 bit baddies (I’m not kidding about the video game theme).

If the damage track progresses too far, a boss gets to spawn. This also happens when the heroes manage to destroy all the spawn points. This becomes a neat factor with game play as heroes easily can use more powerful items to equip their characters, gleefully killing anything in their path. However with each monster they drop not only does the loot meter move up, but also the damage meter, increasing the likelihood of more powerful monsters being able to spawn in later turns.

Combat is a relatively simple affair rolling certain colored dice, with the opponent doing the same. If the attacker scores more hits (indicated on the dice) compared to their opponent, they inflict a wound. Most monsters have a single wound so this removes them from play (allowing them to be respawned later). Inflict enough wounds and a hero can also be wiped out, only to be able to respawn if a fortunate relic or treasure is found.

Monsters and heroes are not only represented by models, but also have a special card describing all their abilities and powers. There is quite a bunch too, from special moves, to different attacks. Additionally certain powers key off of certain abilities, that in turn may target particular defences. What you end up with is a surprisingly tactical game, with the heroes trying to maximize their actions during a turn to reduce the enemies on the board and what might pop back in later.

As the general artwork goes, it is very colorful and playful. The design of the loot cards is pretty neat, as they line up in particular orientations to the hero cards. The counters are also bright with several types indicating different status conditions. The figures are resin and surprisingly detailed. They assemble well, but expect to take some time gluing them together. I got mine done in a night, but I’d expect to take an afternoon or two to get them completed if working at a leisurely pace.

The models are quite a bit of pieces and fortunately there is a guide sheet you can now download to give you an idea how to assemble them. Most of the figures have wide slots and scored pegs that fit snugly into the main figure. Just about everything fit together without a hitch. Still, expect to fill some gaps with squadron putty and trim off a bit of flash. The only exception was the dragon boss model. That was a bit of a pain to assemble and I’d recommend tackling that first as it is easily the most frustrating to put together. After that, all the other pieces will be considered cake.

Sadly there are some negatives with the game. While the cards are pleasant to look at and colorful, they are printed on pretty flimsy stock. I opted to put mine in plastic sleeves, especially as they get handled so much. I seriously doubt they would stand up to typical wear and tear very well. Additionally the box is very cheap being corrugated cardboard. Expect to tape up the edges of that box also to reinforce it.

The rulebook does fairly satisfactory job explaining things, but I still ran into some hiccups determining how particular powers resolved. Also while there is a quick summary chart at the end of the rulebook, a play sheet or two would have been a welcome edition. Given the amount in the box, with color board sections, cards, and miniatures, I’m surprised they didn’t bother with a few sheets giving a quick summary of play and a short description of different status effects.

The game screams expansion, especially with the Console monsters. This leads to another detraction with the game, repetitiveness. While there are quite a few hero options, the Console is limited to two choices of monster factions. Even worse, there is one epic boss and limited mini-bosses. After a few plays, you are going to get the feeling of sameness, fighting through hordes of creatures to face the same end boss that has the same powers and the same game effects. I’m certain more content is in the pipe, it’s just a shame that different power cards for bosses weren’t initially included.

The Good - The models are nice and painted up I think would be gorgeous. The theme is light and playful. I think the mechanics move well and the game captures that feel of a frantic battle game, with hordes of minions being cut through until everyone has to gang up on the final boss creature. All the while, there are nuances to most of the models (both hero and monsters) with enough abilities and powers to keep things interesting. It also feels pretty balanced, so each player can give it their all and no one side has to pull any punches.

The Bad - Surprisingly the cards and game box are pretty flimsy. While there are enough heroes to mix things up and keep them fresh (8 out of the box), the Console forces are a bit limited. The greatest offender is the single epic boss monster. I can see keeping it limited based on the models, but no reason a few different cards could be introduced to give it different abilities. That is the biggest slight with the game and I think repeated play will have that feeling of ‘sameness’ creep in.

The Verdict - I’m a bit torn. As a miniature wargamer this is a good buy if the theme appeals to you. You get a pleasant little skirmish game with a ton of models that will be fun to paint up. The game is light and is a refreshing take on the typical dungeon crawl of other more serious games like Descent, or the recent WotC adventure board games.

However as a board game enthusiast I would tell folks to pass on this. I think the investment (both money and time assembling the figures) is simply not worth the asking price. You will end up with a game that will start to feel a little repetitive with frequent playthroughs although I’m certain more models and expansions are in the works.

In a way, I fall into the same bit of advice I give to folks that are interested in getting into Warhammer Fantasy or 40K, don’t buy it for the game unless you are planning on enjoying the modelling and painting aspect. That is the greatest flaw with Super Dungeon Explore. It seems more of a vehicle to sell miniatures than to sell a game. For folks that love miniature games and the painting hobby, you’ll get a lot of mileage out of the SDE. If you are a straight up board game fanatic, it will be much less so.

I’ll end this with a plea to Soda Pop Miniatures. Late next year when SDE has been out a while and hopefully you’ve rolled out an expansion or two, revisit the basic game. Rework the components and release a ‘game console’ version. Bump up the box and card quality. Throw in some summary play sheets. Add maybe another map board. Dump the miniatures and include all the heroes and monsters as cardboard counters. Throw in another monster faction, or at the least a few epic bosses and mini bosses. At a reduced price (say around $35 USD) I’m certain folks would pick this up. SDE is a fun game. It’s a good game. I think the inclusion of miniatures meant cutting some corners, not to mention bumping up the price, which ends up being factors that keep it from being a great board game.

Secret Santicore 2011 is available

noreply@blogger.com (Geek Ken) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 04:15:00 +0000

Zak S., the guy that runs Playing D&D with Porn Stars, came up with a pretty nifty idea. Send in a generic D&D campaign idea and roughly how many pages you'd take up in a publication. A raffle for slots would be taken up. The winners would be notified and then have until the 3rd week of December to submit their material. It would be packaged up in a nice pdf and be available for free.

Secret Santicore is out and available at Giblet Blizzard. Most of it is geared towards OSR, but a good chunk is fairly system generic. And I dare say about 99% of the book could work with a 4E game with a little elbow grease. It has a ton of ideas, tables, and fodder for your game. Not to mention an old pal of mine that runs the excellent blog, the Fearless DM, has got some of his stuff in there.

I salute the guys and gals that got this together. You all did a fantastic job and nod to Zak S. for coming up with the idea. I'll have to try and get into this next year if folks consider doing another one.

Suggested gift RPGs in a single box

noreply@blogger.com (Geek Ken) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 09:30:00 +0000

With last minute shopping or that potential gift certificate burning a hole in someone’s pocket by next week, what kind of RPG would be a good buy for getting a person into the hobby? Both Pathfinder and D&D have some nice boxed sets. However both also have a looming library of other books associated with them. Some potential RPG fans might be a little leery of getting into a game with so much out there. So what about other games that are a full ruleset right out of the box, or a complete game between the covers of a single book. I’ve got a few suggestions for folks then.

Mouse Guard - An adorable setting where mice have their own simple medieval society fighting for survival in the wild. This is the game for a group of storytellers. Using a simplified Burning Wheels mechanic, players select goals and traits rolling regular 6-sided dice to gain successes against the game master, or against each other. Failure usually means more complications and setbacks in achieving goals rather than simply not completing a task.

I feel this game works better with an experienced GM that is confident enough to lay out a framework for adventures and able to adjudicate fairly on the fly. However given the collaborative nature of the game, if you have a group full of imaginative players that burden of coming up with adventure ideas can be shared. Mouse Guard is a great buy for players that enjoy telling a story, although the setting might be a bit limited. I’d also heartily recommend passing one of the graphic novels around as inspired reading before running a game.

Savage Worlds Deluxe - The Explorer’s Edition was a steal at $10 USD. The price of the book has gone up but I still think this is a solid buy for a very flexible RPG game. The core mechanic is based on rolling a single polyhedral die to beat a fixed target number. The better the skill or ability, the bigger the die. PCs usually start out rolling a lowly D4 or D6, but with emphasis on select skills and improved natural ability, they can move up to rolling a D10 or D12. Of course all of these rolls are coupled with an extra D6, allowing a player to choose the best of either die roll.

It is a very quick and dirty mechanic that leads to fast gameplay and is a ton of fun. Best of all, you can play just about any adventurous setting imaginable. From pulp action, supernatural horror, fantasy, superhero, western, or sci-fi, Savage Worlds gives the GM tools to run just about anything. Better yet, it is able to do so with fluid rules that doesn’t get bogged down relying on a difficult, convoluted tome of a rulebook. The emphasis of the game is on imaginative, cinematic, over-the-top action. What results is a very fun game that encourages players to commit heroic acts, with a fair amount of uncertainty for success. Consider throwing in 3-4 sets of polyhedral dice for a complete gift.

Gamma World - The latest edition of Gamma World is a hoot. Just about everything needed to play is in the box. It is a lighter toned take on the radioactive post apocalypse setting compared to other games. The game offers a streamlined version of the 4E D&D rules that plays very fast and is surprisingly light. Combats can be a little regimented, but can be quite deadly adding some brutal tension to fights.

Fortunately character generation is a snap revolving around random die rolls for abilities and powers. I was a little skeptical at first about this. But somehow it just clicks and I’ve found my players loving this process which, oddly enough, seems to generate more character roleplaying ideas than expected. People have lamented quite a bit about the cards in the game. However if you really wanted to shoot for a personal alpha mutation deck, you could still get 6 PCs around the table and have a few extra (in a pinch you could do a draft and allow for up to 8 players with 5 cards each). Don’t buy into the hate rumors, you don’t need to continually buy more cards for the game. In fact you don’t need to ever pick up any cards other than what you get in the box set.

What you do need however for a complete gift is a few sets of polyhedral dice (blows my mind WotC didn't throw in a cheap set). I’d add that you might want to consider a dry erase battlemap also, but a few printed blank 1” x 1” sheets does wonders too. It is a surprisingly fun game and light hearted enough to get even the most stiff-backed player into a roleplaying mood. Good fun there right out of the box.

So those are my picks for someone getting into RPGs. Each has something folks could likely pick up, start playing, and best of all comes in a single book (or box).

Passage of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act

noreply@blogger.com (Geek Ken) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 09:00:00 +0000

I really avoid talking about politics and world events, simply as this is a blog about D&D and games. This is a hobby for me. Something I do in my spare time and for fun.

However, some things are happening in my homeland that worry me. I am a United States citizen. Living outside the US, I tend to get a different perspective on events and news that come out of the country. I would agree that post 9-11 aspects of our society have changed. Sadly, I feel that Americans have willingly allowed civil rights to be curtailed in the name of national security. The most recent passage through congress of the NDAA is another event that furthers this opinion (can be found at this link here).

Buried within this military funding bill are some astounding provisions to essentially allow the military to detain individuals deemed as terrorists. On the whole, I imagine this was designed to lay down concrete regulations on what the military can do to people they detain on a battlefield that are not representatives of any standing army, and are more aligned with criminal elements or terrorist organizations. I can understand the need to clarify this nebulous situation. It is nothing new, as some legal opinions have come about supporting this opinion.

What stands out however is that this extends to individuals that support terrorists (not people engaged in attacks, or planning to, on US personnel or territories). Further, there does not need to be any evidence to support these claims. A statement can be made that the individual is deemed a threat to national security, allowing for the indefinite detention by the military. No court. No judge. The Defense Department says they are terrorists, they are locked up.

Some have worried about how this might impact US citizens and there has been some changes made in the bill that passed the senate. I’ll point out this exemption:

Page 430

APPLICABILITY TO UNITED STATES CITIZENS AND LAWFUL RESIDENT ALIENS.
(1) UNITED STATES CITIZENS.
The requirement to detain a person in military custody under this section does not extend to citizens of the United States.

I am not a lawyer, but I am concerned immensely about this ‘does not extend.’ This bill clarifies not only does the executive branch has the authority to detain terrorists, but that it is the military’s duty to do so. They are required to lock these folks up. However if you are an american, they are not required to lock you up. This does not state that americans are exempt from this law. It just says that the military are not required to detain you. If the president thinks you are a threat to national security, he can voluntarily seek to have you jailed in a military facility as it comes down to his final discretion.

This worries me. It might be vetoed, but I don’t think it will. The recent occupy Wall Street movement throughout the US has captured the pulse of some americans that are not happy with the economy and current political situation. I really feel that many of the upper echelons in our government found this movement distressing. You had a lot of folks from very different backgrounds becoming very vocal with their dissatisfaction with the status quo. Now with the passage of this bill, I fear that 10 or so years down the road, you may very well have more pronounced protest organizers detained (even for a short term) under the grounds that they are terrorists, and are there to incite civil disorder. This act may very well be an effective means to silence any public opposition at key political events. Want to curb protests at a party’s delegate convention for a national election? Round up the organizers weeks beforehand. They don’t have to be locked away for years, just held for a month or so to quiet down the most vocal protests while a convention goes on.

As for myself, I do some work in developing countries. I am amazed that the state of our civil rights could degrade so much that I could be picked up, declared a threat to national security, jailed indefinitely, and never see a courtroom, ever. It boggles me that America has gone down this road with this perpetual war on terror that it’s citizens have allowed their liberties to be cordoned off in the name of national security.

Recent events in the Middle East with the Arab Spring are hopeful, but scary at the same time. On one hand you have the people of these countries sweeping forward to have a more open, democratic process in their countries. In the wake of that is a lot of uncertainty. More fundamental, non-secular elements might rise to power in these nations. But the younger generation, the folks more connected with the world, might not want to see such authoritarian overseers. I’m hopeful.

However, it saddens me in the USA it seems the opposite. The brightest democracy in the world. The best country in the world. It seems to be moving in the other direction away from freedom, due process, and a nation of liberty for all. That gives me pause. I hope we citizens wake up and realize something is wrong in America.

Basic attacks or just hack it with your sword

noreply@blogger.com (Geek Ken) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 08:49:00 +0000

Having my campaign filled with new players, I will admit that sometimes options can be a little daunting during their combat turn. Between the at wills, encounter powers, and class abilities, it can be a bit of information to process when they step up to the melee plate. There is this general idea among the group that each player should try to maximize their actions during their turn. Sometimes they pull off coordinated maneuvers getting a lot of synergy from their respective abilities which is really cool. But sometimes, things can slow down as they are unsure what would be the best course of action.

That’s when I pipe in, ‘Just make a basic attack.’

At will powers seem to be the bread an butter for most player combat attacks. They should be. They are often focused on key ability scores that translate into substantial bonuses for damage and to hit rolls. However at times I do find that they can curb options for players, where basic attacks open up a more free form of potential actions. Can’t quite make the distance to get into melee? Charge in and just make a basic attack. Still a bit too far even with a double move and all your powers are melee attacks? Throw that hand axe and make a basic attack. I tend to see new players so focused on their powers, they begin to ignore the option of just using the lowly basic attack.

Movement effects are optional - There is something a lot of new players forget about with powers that have movement effects, you can ignore them completely (PHB pg. 57). I’ve had players get into an optimal tactical situation and fret a little about using some power which employs a shift, or some other forced movement. That movement is completely optional. So if a player wants to just crank out the hurt and not bother dancing around, remind them that all that forced movement on a power means they can do it if they want to, and not that they are forced to.

Weapon proficiency is your friend - Making attacks using key ability score powers helps tons in getting past a monster’s defence. However weapon proficiency bonuses are worth noting too. At times I’ve found my ranged-heavy PCs cornered or surrounded, so that making ranged attacks is difficult. I try to remind them of that option of making a basic attack with a melee weapon. While it may not be the most optimal attack, they do get some form of a bonus to their to hit rolls.

Melee Training feat - There is a little gem of a heroic feat locked away in the PHB2 (pg. 187). Melee training allows a player to select any ability score other than strength with melee weapons they are proficient with. For melee basic attacks, they get a full bonus for that ability score with to hit rolls and ½ the ability score for damage (been hit with errata). Now non-strength characters have another option in place of other powers. That wizard might not be to hesitant to hit something with their staff if backed into a corner knowing they can use their intelligence modifier as a bonus (and don’t forget the weapon proficiency bonus to boot).

I am seriously considering giving this feat away as a freebie my next campaign, but just limit it to one proficient weapon type of their choice. I might even consider keeping this limitation in and house rule a similar feat for ranged weapons also.

Heavy thrown weapons - Fortunately there are weapon types that give a little flexibility for ranged attacks using strength instead of dexterity. Suggest that fighter to think about picking up a javelin or a throwing hammer. It gives them just a little bit of tactical flexibility if their mobility is hindered during a fight, and still allow them to make some kind of attack.

I’ve found once I started suggesting making basic attacks as an option, my players have begun to think beyond the stack of cards in front of them. The ranged rogue in the group has picked up an enchanted sword as a backup weapon. The warlord now opens up combat hurling a javelin before making a charge into the fray. I’m getting players doing bull rushes, kicking over braziers, throwing chairs, making all sorts of improvised attacks. Even the group sorcerer has stepped up and hacked away at a lowly minion with their dagger, rather than sacrifice a move action to get some distance for a ranged attack.

So I implore DMs out there if your players get locked into turn indecision, encourage that basic attack. Push PCs into realizing there are other things they can do in fights outside that list of powers. More importantly, those options are not horrible actions for PCs to take. After some time don’t be surprised if your players start coming up with some creative attacks and trying to use the environment in fights too.

EDIT: Kind folks have pointed out the Melee Training feat here was wrong. So I hunted down the right errata and corrected it.

Thoughts: Mordenkainen's Magnificent Emporium

noreply@blogger.com (Geek Ken) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 03:18:00 +0000

WotC released a new magic item book and I’ve had a month or so to finally read through it thoroughly. It’s an interesting departure from the previous adventure vault books, being pretty sparse on the number of items and having more emphasis on descriptions and providing a back story of the items themselves. Add to that additional mundane items, armor, weapons, and a bit of rules for henchmen, and you’ve pretty much have a concise rundown of the book content.

The magic items are a mixed bag. Some classic AD&D items return and get a 4E treatment. Just about each item entry has some details on the item’s history and lore. It seems they are making an effort to put some wonderment and flash back into magic items, and I think it’s a nice touch. There is a nice section on giving magic items story elements. I think there is a fairly good spread of items to cover just about any class or item slot, giving your PCs some new things to drool over.

Cursed items are also included. I really like the idea that curses are pretty much item properties that a DM can slap onto just about any existing item. The emphasis seems more on using cursed items as a vehicle for story elements, rather than befalling your players with a ‘gotcha’ situation. There are lots of suggestions for introducing cursed items and I especially enjoy the idea that item curses might be tied to a very beneficial item. So that awesome sword might make a PC an absolute monster in combat, but having this great power comes with a trade off. It’s a nice idea and gives the players tough choices.

There is also quite a few new equipment, armor types, and a few additional weapons. I expect much of the weapons were additions to the stock essentials books. There are also some neat superior implements to give them a unique twist. However these require a feat to use. I appreciate the option and allows a small work around with your min/max PCs (especially as there is a cap on the bonuses from feats). I expect that tying superior implements to feats also can curb some abuse, but it does give that ‘chicken or the egg’ conundrum for players. They can’t get the benefits of a superior implement unless they take the feat, but might not take the feat unless they have access to such an implement. This is something that will require some DM to PC communication for certain.

There are also some tables describing the value of certain trade good along with approximate costs for different housing. Combined with the additional equipment, I like having this handy. It allows me as a DM to explore other types of rewards aside from the normal magic item or gold option.

This is sort of an important book as it is the first jump into magic items post-essentials. This leads me to a bit of a sour taste with the book. A handful of items have been presented before in the adventurer's vault books (AV). Granted some of the properties have been tweaked, but why they didn’t just stick to being in the errata I don’t know. It would have been nice to just present new, never seen before, items to the 4E game. I get the idea that WotC wants to abandon all the earlier books, and not saddle new DMs coming in through essentials with having to pick up the other AV books. I can see this simply besides a few older magic items being included, they also provided the rules for PCs making alchemical items. If this is the case however, I think they made a huge omission with the henchmen.

The lauded henchmen rules are also here. For the most part they give the DM an idea of how different hirelings could be introduced into the game (and most are very fragile with combat stats effectively like minions). There are examples of companion characters, which effectively give the players a chance to round out a party with another man-at-arms henchmen. But are there any rules for them? Nope. You’ve got to dig out the DMG2 to get those rules. I am very surprised with representing certain magic items and providing alchemical rules, the companion rules got left out. A quick and dirty version could take up one page. In the end, new DMs coming in from essentials are pretty much left to using examples in the book and will have to wing it if they wanted a higher level NPC.

Another huge beef with me is making this an independent game store only purchase. I get trying the throw some support back to the smaller retailers. And I think having an initial limited release for 6-8 months including only these retailers a nice gesture. But totally avoiding the larger book distributors is pretty harsh. Some folks just might not have the option to get this book at smaller retailer, and that is doing nothing towards some independent retailers taking advantage of this (last I checked some were selling this book at $70+ on Amazon). Next time, here’s to hoping WotC considers giving the FLGS a 6 month head start and then open up distribution to other retailers.

So is it worth your dollar? If I were a new DM and jumped in with essentials, I’d say an emphatic yes. Aside from the magic items, you have a lot of armor, weapon, and equipment options for the PCs. Otherwise I see the books as a very optional purchase. If your players want to explore other weapon focus feats or you wanted to dabble in curses, this is something you’d likely want to buy. As always, more magic items are nice to have but if you all ready have the adventurer’s vault books you likely have enough items all ready. For the DM that has much of the 4E material, I’d consider picking up Mordenkainen's Magnificent Emporium as a nice stocking stuffer, but not that must have book.

Expeditions of Amazing Adventure: the Floating City of Phomparr

noreply@blogger.com (Geek Ken) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 09:20:00 +0000

Nestled in the center of the great swamplands is Phomparr, the floating city. This city is a dizzying network of canals and streams broken up by small marsh mounds of thick vegetation. It is rumored that hundreds of years ago, a cult following a primeval destructive god spread throughout the land. The populace offended Melora by worshiping this primitive god of a past age. They had cut swathes of trees and cleared the land for large temples of stonework. In her fury, Melora raised the river waters making the land a swampy marsh, with ground so soft no stone foundation could be laid.

Phomparr declined but slowly crawled back from this great cataclysm. While much of the land could not bear a stone walls, trees with thick tangles of roots sprung up easily. Simple structures of light wood and bamboo could be made, elevated up as platforms above the flooded swampland. While Melora washed the land with her fury, she also imparted her gifts of life. The tropical swamp exploded with verdant growth as a myriad of fresh vegetables and fruits could easily be cultivated, and the dark waters were stocked full of fish.

Now only great public meeting halls and temples are the common structures seen within Phomparr, precariously balanced on long stilts of bamboo and timber. Some more wealthy citizens try to elevate their status having such homes above the waters and motes of tangled roots and grasses. However, most of the citizens happily live their lives on small boats. It is common to see teeming markets of fresh food and dried fish among the tangled network of canals within the city. Despite the ancient calamity that befell them, the resilient people of Phomparr have remained and flourished in this wild tropical swampland.

The city of Phomparr is widely known for their great markets. Many adept trappers and herbalists delve deep within the swampland wilds, returning with unique flowers, roots, and wild beasts. The markets are a bustling affair of trading and auctions for fresh goods and exotic plants and animals. At times such trade is a dizzy affair for those not familiar with the rapid exchange of words, hand gestures, and goods the local citizens engage in. But if one has a quick tongue and a sharp sense of commerce, unique goods can be purchased. As such, many traveling merchants make the dangerous trek through the wild swamps to Phomparr to seek out wondrous animals and plants, items that would turn a great profit in the more temperate neighboring lands.

The people of Phomparr have little need of a city guard. Many take up slights against family honor by a quick thumping of heads to the offending family. Occasionally though, a darker deed is committed. Such evils are punished through a quiet formation of a townsfolk mob that see to the sinking the responsible party’s boat. For without a boat one is doomed in Phomparr, as this exiles them to a harsh life in the unforgiving remote swamps as tribal wildmen.

More zealot followers of Melora as of late have become an increasing vocal minority within Phomparr, seeking to destroy any standing structure. They see constructed temples to Melora as an affront to the god, and especially have ire towards those citizens that seek to live in stilt houses. This has caused some friction between the more wealthy citizens and some of the lower class. However most citizens would agree this fringe element of Melora worshipers are too fanatical in their beliefs.

Scrolls for 4E - Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Geek Ken) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 10:57:00 +0000

Last time I talked a bit about how I use scrolls in 4E, now I’d like to offer my house rules for creating them.

To create a scroll, the player must have the ritual feat. Players can only create scrolls with spells (or powers) that they are capable of using. So they cannot create scrolls for spells that are of a different class, or those of a higher level. Any power except at wills or class feature powers can be created into scrolls. Additionally, no power with the martial keyword can be used to make a scroll.

The time needed to create a scroll is in days equivalent to the level of the spell. One more day is required if the spell power is a daily. Each day is spent writing a condensed version of the spell’s power and requires many special reagents and magical inks. In essence the spell is cast and key fragments of the spell are bound to special parchment. Each day also requires an extended rest. If this cycle of work is broken, the entire process must be restarted (but does not require any additional materials or costs for reagents).

The cost in gold is equal to the level of the spell X 50 gp. The exception is for daily powers, which double the base cost for the scroll. Example, a level 1 daily spell would cost 100 gp to prepare (50 gp X level X 2), the same cost for a level 2 utility spell (50 gp X level).

Rituals can also be created as scrolls. In order to prepare a scroll, the player must have access to a written version of the ritual. To prepare a ritual scroll the player uses similar rules and time as those for scrolls. Note that players are not bound to using the same class or power source when preparing a ritual scroll, however they cannot prepare a ritual scroll that is higher than their level.

The component costs for preparing a ritual scroll are doubled. If the ritual requires a focus to be expended, that focus must be present when the ritual scroll is cast. For example, View Location can be bound to a ritual scroll, but the focus must also be present when the scroll is used. It is not ‘stored’ in the magic of the scroll.

Casting rituals from scrolls is a difficult task, as the ritual is truncated to select power words, diagrams, and key movements of the hand. Any skill check made using a ritual scroll incurs a -5 penalty.

Time to cast is dependant on the original casting time:

10 minutes or less - instantaneous
30 minutes - 10 minutes
1 hour - 30 minutes
Greater than 1 hour - half the casting time (ex. Raise dead would take 4 hours instead of 8)

It is expensive and time consuming to create scrolls. Additionally for many rituals, if time allows, it is likely better to cast a ritual carefully, rather than trying to quickly fire one off from a scroll. Sometimes the expedited time is helpful (say being able to cast a knock ritual quickly) but for more powerful rituals, most likely it is better to take the time to cast it normally.

I also wanted to be sure that there were key powers from classes that remained exclusive. Magic missile is such a staple power in the wizard’s repertoire, it would be silly to spend the time and effort to transcribe such a minor magical power into a scroll. Rather, it would be more useful for the wizard to spend his time preparing a spell of more power. I’d use this reasoning if players are clamoring to create a stockpile of Healing Word scrolls.

Allow players to buy scrolls also and use the costs for creating a scroll for an idea on the price (quick rule of thumb: 50 gp X level and double it for a daily power). However I would really encourage using scrolls as treasure. The costs for creating them can serve as a guideline for replacing an equivalent in treasure. The flavor alone might be something players enjoy, as a low level wizard might appreciate the ability to fire off a warlock’s Vampiric Embrace. As I’ve mentioned before, for some villains having a few scrolls tucked away in a chest within their lair just seems appropriate. Hope folks find this inspiring to try and put scrolls back into their 4E game.

Scrolls for 4E - Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Geek Ken) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 10:50:00 +0000

Looking through the random treasure tables in Pathfinder’s Gamemastery Guide made me realize that I miss scrolls in 4E. I've noticed I'm not the only one as Blog of Holding has been thinking about this too. I’ve parsed out rituals as scrolls in my game, but I miss honest-to-god, one shot spell scrolls. I always felt they gave the PCs a little flexibility. Plus I think they represent classic loot for some baddies. Nothing like raiding a necromancer’s tower and scoring a few scrolls in the process. So here is a few house rules I use for scrolls in my game:

Players must be trained in the ritual feat to use scrolls. Using a scroll is a standard action. The scroll must be read from one free hand (typically a minor action to produce from a pouch, tube, backpack, pocket folds of a cloak, etc.). The reader must be unrestrained and able to speak. Once the scroll is used the magic fades from the page and the parchment becomes too brittle to write on.

The spell (or power) expended from the scroll is based on the reader’s abilities and skills. The spell cannot gain any implement or weapon modifier bonus from the player. The spell’s power emits from the scroll, and the player can manipulate it somewhat, but not direct the spell through a wand, staff, or other magical focus as an implement.

Characters may use scrolls for any spell equal to their level or lower. If a player is not trained in the power source of the spell on the scroll, they must make a moderate DC check to successfully cast it. The DC value is based on the level of the spell being read from the scroll.

This check has no skill training or ability bonus modifier. The player does gain a level bonus for this check. If the player fails this check, they expend their standard action but the scroll is not used (and may be attempted again). In effect, the player gets about halfway through the spell and begins to fumble lines, and not understand specific symbols and words on the scroll. Note this check is not made if the scroll user is trained in the same power source of the scroll spell.

Example, a 4th level wizard is attempting to cast cure light wounds (2nd level divine utility power). They must make a moderate skill check to use it, as the wizard draws power from the arcane. The DC for using the scroll is 13 (appropriate for a moderate level 2 check), and the player would only get a +2 bonus to this roll (level modifier bonus for a 4th level PC). If they were attempting to cast Shadow Veil (2nd level utility warlock spell), no check would be needed as the power is drawn from the arcane source.

I use this as it allows PCs to dabble in other spell sources, but still requires a bit of luck to pull it off. Granted the higher the level of a player in relation to the spell being cast means they will get a better shot at reading the scroll correctly. However if they want to avoid this completely, it’s best to stick with similar spells that draw from the same source of power.

I also have tinkered around allowing rituals to be cast from scrolls too. However this is a bit much for now. I’ll get on to how I allow players to make scrolls in part two.

Hey, WotC! Give us a Nentir Vale campaign setting all ready.

noreply@blogger.com (Geek Ken) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 08:27:00 +0000

So a while ago a Nentir Vale campaign setting was floated out there, but was pulled from the line of upcoming products. I imagine that a bit of the material got rolled up into threats to the Nentir Vale, as there is some background info in that book to my understanding (didn’t pick it up, so can’t say anything concrete on that). It looks like the Nentir Vale and the surrounding region will be a blank slate which is a shame and something that needs more attention, especially for new DMs.

I get the focus WotC had when 4E rolled out. Work on presenting the rules and help with explaining the nuts and bolts of the game. As for describing a campaign world, let the DM decide. Why bother putting all this work into describing possible histories, legends, and a fantasy lore that most DMs are just going to cherry pick from, or at worst ignore completely. Nope, best to just reinforce over and over, ‘this is your game, play the way you want, make the world the way you want.’ I personally found this direction a little refreshing. Let people play what they want, don’t saddle it down with all this canon of past editions.

Of course the failure with that comes with new players. I expect most people that rolled into 4E all ready were playing D&D. They had a grasp on making up their own campaign, or at least had a slew of older edition books to draw inspiration from. But what about the new DM? As much as I loved the idea of ‘just make it your own’ I think new DMs needed a little more guidance. I think if I was a 13 year old trying to get a campaign running, I’d need some help and a lot of background to get some adventure ideas.

Given this void of a D&D world for new DMs to play around in, the writeup in the DMG was not too bad. A fleshed out town with a few ideas, beginning adventure, and a sketch of the surrounding lands. Add to that the Keep on the Shadowfell as a free pdf download, and there were a few things out there to keep a group busy. But I expect folks were restless to get a new incarnation of other settings, so Forgotten Realms rolled out.

I really feel that that was one of the big reasons Forgotten Realms sort of fell flat when it released. You had this entire idea of a wild, untamed land in need of heroes, that Forgotten Realms had to be altered and reworked to fit with this new idea of a campaign world. So many changes were made, and this idea of vast expanses of uncivilized regions (something not quite in line with much of Forgotten Realms) seemed to saddle this setting. Likewise I think that was what made Eberron and Dark Sun shine so much when they were released. Simply put they were allowed to be the different settings/worlds that they were. Forgotten Realms had to be the new default setting for 4E, and 4E had these core concepts of a setting that ran counter to established lore so much so, that a lot had to be changed to bring this setting in line with the generic D&D setting 4E needed.

Make Nentir Vale the generic setting - Let Forgotten Realms go. Reintroduce a new world that has the core classes and races, and the default pantheon as part of its world. Let the other campaign settings revel in what makes them different (like drow, swordmages, the underdark, portal circles, etc.). Everything in this new setting would be reinforced by material in the core books. If a new group picks up a campaign setting, they have this entire new pantheon and mythology to wrap their heads around. They likely have new races and new classes as options, it can be a little overwhelming if you are new to the game. Offer a setting that supports what are in the rulebooks, not new material that alters and amends what they are trying to become familiar with. A Nentir Vale setting would help with this and best of all, fits perfectly with the points of light theme.

Use available products - With Keep on the Shadowfell, Thunderspire Labyrinth, and the Pyramid of Shadow, WotC all ready has a heroic adventure path with this setting. Add to that a few other books they’ve put out like Hammerfast, you’ve got a small line of products that would sell if they had some support. WotC all ready has a lot of material available, they just need something to help tie it all together. A campagin setting would be a step in that direction.

Let the fans do the heavy lifting - A lot of fan made material is out there. Why not announce more source material for the Nentir Vale would be a new series in Dragon? Let folks submit their historical timelines and thumbnail sketches of the surrounding regions. Let them offer ideas of what is in Harken Forrest or the Witchlight Fens. Better yet once most of this is printed in Dragon, at the end of the year compile it into a single PDF and offer it to folks with a DDI subscription. A print version would be great, but a compiled digital form is workable too.

Blurbs and short highlights are fine - We don’t necessarily need a complete detailed history and a full description of each region, just flesh out the surrounding lands a little more. Give the players an idea what certain regions a particular race would call home. Write up a few paragraphs on particular kingdoms and lands. Spend more time and material on presenting potential threats and villains for the players to face off against. We don't need volumes of material, just something for inspiration.

Stick to the heroic tier - Getting up to level 10 is just fine here. We don’t need to dip into world cataclysmic events and gods. Keep it focused on the lower tier to help new players get into the story. Spreading out appropriate threats to higher tiers cuts off story avenues for a new DM. Keeping everything heroic means just about any villain or evil faction could become a potential story for the DM to use.

Give us a generic setting in the Netir Vale. Give new DMs some more information and a world they can play with that adheres to the limited fluff in the rulebooks. Combined with Kobold Hall, and a few one shot adventures in Fallcrest, new players could get a solid start in their adventure career. They could branch out further heading to the Keep on the Shadowfell (just drop the first part with the kobold hideout and you’d have a solid adventure to shift into). They then could follow it up heading to other locales, or stick with playing the published adventures. In the end players could have a grand campaign all throughout the Nentir Vale and potentially move on to other parts of this new world if needed. Give Nentir Vale some support, WotC!

Initiative combat cards

noreply@blogger.com (Geek Ken) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 02:11:00 +0000

I’ve sort have gone full circle with tools to keep track of combat. I toyed around with some different programs and found a few I liked. But of late I’ve sort have gone back to keeping track of stuff with paper and pencil. Maybe if I pick up a tablet I’ll try out combat manager programs again, but I’ve found that a laptop on the table sort of adds another divider between myself and the action.

I’ve whipped up a combat sheet and like using that. But I thought I might try using something a little more visual in keeping track of initiative order. So I made up some initiative cards that would also have some info on the PCs and monsters.

I made them to fit on an index card for some added bulk. I ended up placing self-laminating sheets over my cards. That way I could use a dry erase marker and get a little more mileage out of each individual card. I also included a format so that the card could fold in half. They can be used as stand up tents or be slipped over a DM screen. This might be more useful if you want to allow PCs to keep track of the order (the other side is blank so it can be freely written on).

One big drawback is that they do take up a bit of space on the table. However I like that I have just about all the important stuff right on the cards. I can also split the HP box into sections of 2-3 columns so I can use one card for a few monsters.

The big plus is I can turn cards sideways as I go through the initiative order indicating they've had their turn. Players can see where they fall in line with the turn order and know when they are on deck. Plus if I have to shift things around, it is just a matter of switching the card order (for delayed actions and such). I hope folks find them useful for their game.

Get off my 4E lawn

noreply@blogger.com (Geek Ken) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 09:02:00 +0000

A while back I let my DDI subscription expire. I simply found I wasn’t utilizing it as much. I enjoyed reading the content in Dragon and Dungeon, but wasn’t really using it in my game. I found much of the online tools lacking compared to other offline programs (like.. cough... Masterplan... cough.. or power2ool).

There has been some improvement. I tooled around with the monster builder and liked that. The compendium was neat. The few times I used the character builder I found it pretty useful. So there are some promising tools there with DDI, just not quite something I am using in my game to maintain a subscription for.

The big thing that I do see becoming a problem is player errata. Granted aside from Dungeon and Dragon online mags, I think the character builder is almost an essential tool now. Despite what people say about the powers and feats available, once you start parsing down what race/class you are playing, choices start to limit a bit. Stick to particular campaign settings and you get even more limited options. You can build a character without DDI.

However without DDI you cannot build a PC that is using the current character rules. It seems that WotC is making a complete pass through the old classes in the PHB. October errata rolled out another list of changes, this time for the rogue. Granted if you are maintaining your character via the character builder, this is no big deal. If not, you have to print out those changes and keep em handy, likely also highlighting powers/abilities in the PHB to remind you they’ve changed. It’s getting unmanageable.

Now for the regular gamer Joe that plays with his buddies every once in a while. The whole falling behind in errata is simply not a big deal. They can play D&D to their heart’s content with all the books they bought and have a grand time. But sitting down with another group. Bringing a character into organized play. Suddenly that could become a problem if they aren’t rolling up the PCs using the latest iteration of the the character builder.

I’m glad WotC is continually going through material and making sure stuff that is broke gets fixed. But at the same time I’ve realized that so much has changed from the original core books, you are being pushed into maintaining a subscription service to keep up with the rules.

Now, you don’t have to do that. You can simply hole up in your basement with your buddies and have a ton of fun playing 4E. But if you want to play with other folks, things can get a little bumpy. I am seeing things parsing out even more between folks that’ll be using DDI to make up their PCs, and the poor sods using the printed rulebooks.

I think I’ve become that crusty old gamer sticking fervently to his worn books, muttering about past days where they didn’t have to keep a subscription to a database to roll up characters. Others will roll their eyes at me, gently pat my hand and tell me to go sit in the corner quietly, while they continue their conversations about the new Magic Missle Mk III. Yeah, I think throwing in the towel with keeping up on the errata and letting my DDI subscription lapse has turned me into that old hermit gamer. I just hope I don’t become too out of the loop that I have no idea what is happening new with D&D, but I think this blog has all ready starting to become obsolete.

The long campaign

noreply@blogger.com (Geek Ken) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 09:49:00 +0000

I’ve looked over my adventure log and realized that our homebrew campaign of Terrene has gone on for over a year now. Most of my campaigns have gone on for 4-6 months. Granted I think when I was younger I could get a near weekly game in. Right now I try to run our D&D game every other week, and a handful of times we’ve only managed to get something going once a month.

Still it has been a long time. The group is currently level 5. I think I dragged out the leveling curve a bit when it all started. Most were new to the game (or new to 4ED), so I wanted players to have a bit of time to understand the mechanics of the game and their potential. Since then I’ve noticed the group is really getting some synergy in combats, and all of their characters have grown a lot, fleshing out their motivations and backgrounds more.

To be fair I’ve also run a sandbox game of sorts. There is an overarching story, but at the beginning I always gave the players an option B. So at a potential plot crossroads they could always stick to the main story and tackle the next objective, or run off and do the second option. Granted I do drop in some small elements to build on the main campaign plot, but most of the time it was a designed as a diversion for the main story. I think the players like this, as they have some direction but still have some opportunities to explore the world. The downside is that it can drag things out a bit for the main story of the campaign.

As things have gone on, I think the group is ready to try something different. As for myself, I’ve found Terrene is losing its luster. I’m ready for a change of scenery and want to run a different campaign. I’ve been chomping at the bit to run a Dark Sun campaign, but I think my group is leaning towards Eberron. I’ve stolen a lot of ideas from that setting for the current game, but I might explore the idea of subterfuge among the dragonmarked houses.

No mater what I’ve decided I’m going to stick to a shorter campaign run. I’m also considering throwing off the idea of a major story arc all together. I’m thinking instead of running a sandbox type of game, with the main objective of the group being to raise their status within one of the houses (or at least raise the status of their chosen patrons). I think I want to try and narrow down the scale and work on the PCs backgrounds also.

I really want to explore the concept of making the player’s backstories fodder for adventures. I’m sort of going down this road now, and I think it’ll help add some closure to the campaign if some of these issues are resolved. When starting this new campaign, I think I’ll require something meaty from every player.

So I am curious do folks run a longer game? If so what has make you wrap it up? Or are shorter campaigns of 4-6 months something more people like?

Dipping a toe into space fleet battles with Firestorm Armada

noreply@blogger.com (Geek Ken) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 08:38:00 +0000

It’s been ages since I painted minis. Moving to Korea I had to pack up a lot of my miniatures and hung up painting for a while now. But the bug has crept up again and I’ve had a long hankering to get back into painting.

I recently picked up Firestorm Armada and really like the miniatures. I’ll post my impressions on the game once I get a few games under my belt. For now I thought I’d share my painting exploits. Below are a few pics of the Sorylian Collective fleet I am working on.

The figures are pretty nice. A mixture of resin and white metal, they have a fair amount of detail. Some of the miniatures are pretty big. Notice the battle cruiser with the coffee mug in the background as scale. I’m looking forward to finishing these guys up and seeing how they do in the vast reaches of space (which also happens to be my living room floor).

Obsidian Portal - An essential campaign tool

noreply@blogger.com (Geek Ken) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 13:35:00 +0000

I’ve gushed about Obsidian Portal before. It is a fantastic tool to keep your campaign organized and share information with your players. I particularly like that I can parse out information that is public and have other parts that are for the DM only. I have to say that there is a lot of functionality for free accounts too. There are definite advantages to subscribing to Obsidian Portal, but I like that the folks operating it haven’t hamstrung a lot of features for free users too.

Since I’ve been using it a while I thought I’d pass on a few basic tips for maintaining your campaign:

Start small - Don’t get carried away when you begin your campaign write up. Keep your topics and links down to 3-4 sentences. It’s a tool mostly for you as a DM, so use it as such. Initially having pages and pages of history, and page long descriptions of every location might sound cool, but in the end you are making a lot of work for yourself. Keep it a framework and slowly add the details you need.

Keep an adventure log - One of the best features Obsidian Portal, it’s a great tool to keep track of your campaign. Just get into the habit and update it regularly 1-2 days after your latest game session. You don’t need to write down every nuanced NPC conversation or detail every combat. Just try to cover the highlights of the session.

The adventure log is a really wonderful tool. It helps chronicle major events in the campaign. Best of all, players can access it to refresh their memories which is ideal if some players have dropped out of being a regular at the table. You can email a link of the last session before your game night, and then players can easily get a recap of the past session. Best of all, you don’t have to saddle 1-2 players in keeping a log book of all the important NPCs and locations, everything can be accessed in the adventure log.

Note the important stuff - Don’t get bogged down with every NPC the players come across. Don’t write out a description of every location the group went to. Just note the bare bones and let the campaign grow. Likely you give a lot of detail and description while you are running your game. It works giving the captain of the guard, the shady bartender, and the cankerous priest names during your game. But don’t think those details have to ever need to see the light of day in campaign writeup.

Another important point is once you’ve committed to putting it in the campaign log, you’ve made it part of your world. Keeping things to just the important bits helps prevent you from having problems with continuity. It also helps in making things flexible in your world. Just having the highlights of a particular region allows you to fill in details later if needed, and allows you to switch out characteristics if the story leads that way.

Don’t be afraid to metagame - Especially for the adventure log, there is nothing wrong with listing the exp and treasure gained after a session. Not everything being written needs to be a narrative tale of events. The DM section of pages is also a great use for this. Don’t be afraid to put in those notes to help you with organizing and planning future sessions.

Use a map - I’ve found it immensely useful to give the players a map so they get a better grasp of the world they are running through. If anything, it can spark their imagination and lure them into traveling to some far off location. Obsidian Portal also has a feature to allow you to link webpages to your campaign map. If the players want to know the significance to the Keep of the Eastern Pass, they can click on the map link and be taken right to the proper page. It’s a great tool.

Get your players involved - This is a great way to have your players contribute to the campaign world. Get your players to add some detail about certain regions or historical topics. Another great thing to get their input in is with the adventure log. Rotate the duty and have each player be responsible for providing a chronicle of the past session. Don’t hesitate to allow your players to add to the campaign world.

Use it as a reference - Sometimes it's hard to keep all the details straight of past events, or try and remember the highlights of a historical timeline. Obsidian Portal is great for a reference to your campaign world. However, try to try to keep it streamlined. I fell into the trap of having a bit too much detail when I started it up. As I kept up on my campaign, I began to keep simpler details and recognize it was there to help me with keeping particular ‘facts’ of the game world straight, but it didn’t have to be some encyclopedic tome of the land.

Don’t expect the players to read it - In the end, Obsidian Portal is a tool to keep your campaign organized. Don’t expect your players to use it much. Approach it more as a tool to help you as a DM for your game. Some of my players love the campaign site. They like being able to understand certain political factions and found the adventure log especially helpful. Others really could not care less about it. Don’t get into a tiff if your players don’t read what you put up. Concentrate more on making Obsidian Portal work for you and help organize the game you DM.

Fun Flicks: Troll Hunter

noreply@blogger.com (Geek Ken) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 11:07:00 +0000

So as 'found footage' films go I think it is a pretty tired theme for movies. Yet for the Norwegian fantasy horror movie, Troll Hunter, it works great.

In a nutshell the movie follows some Norwegian film students out to get some documentary footage on bear hunters that hunt down animals which leave protected areas and become a threat to the public. The students find out about a mysterious poacher that many of the hunters complain about. After all, they have to obtain a special licence from the government to kill these bears, and this poacher runs around killing bears illegally. As the students attempt to interview this poacher, they begin to realize this hunter is after other prey.

It's a pretty fun movie that is less on scares and more on dark humor. But I'll say there are definitely a few bits that get the hairs raising up on the back of your neck. I understand that the movie will be getting a US remake treatment. I think it's pretty sad that distributors think a wonderful film like this just isn't US market material. Instead you have to get a studio to basically refilm the entire thing for the english dialogue (come to think of it, why not just bring back good old dubbing?).

Granted sometimes remakes can do wonders. Of recent mind is Hammer Films', Let Me In. But I'm more partial to the Swedish original, Let the Right One In. Still I guess if Hollywood is stuck in a rut for ideas, it's great to give a nod to foreign films.

As for D&D, I'll admit the movie gave me a few ideas. Overall it captured that excitement in exploring the unknown. I'll have to add the tension of laying down bait to capture a potential monster was exciting too. It's inspired me to consider the one shot adventure of having a group look into hunting down some mysterious beast. Getting the party come up with ideas to track, hunt, and trap (or kill) such a monster could be a big part. Nothing wrong with a good old Jabberwocky hunt I think.

Oh and for you folks responsible for Norwegian tourism, please push to promote this little gem of a film from your country. I found the scenic footage stunning. Odd to think such a small quirky film could capture the beauty of Norway so well.

Board Game Review: Jump Gate

noreply@blogger.com (Geek Ken) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 09:54:00 +0000

Jump Gate is a sci-fi themed, 2-6 player game. From Matt Worden Games it revolves around space exploration and gathering of resources. I managed to pick it up from Fun Again Games which released their own version of the game with a bound color rulebook and a larger box for all the components.

The objective of the game is to claim resource cards in various sets. As players explore and claim cards, some resource cards are linked with a black hole. When these cards are claimed, a player drops one of his tokens onto the black hole tile. When a total of nine tokens are collected on the black hole tile the game ends.

It can also end when all the planets are claimed and the only unclaimed resource cards have black hole icons on them. Having a low amount of tokens on the black hole tile is important, as the player with the highest amount of chips there gets a large penalty to their final score. This adds an interesting twist to the game, as players might have to balance out picking up a specific resource to fill out a set, potentially getting a lot of points, while at the same time contributing to ending the game and possibly having too many markers on the black hole tile.

Players travel around different planets moving around in a circle in either direction. Additionally they have a set of navcomp cards. These cards do a lot of game functions. They allow a player to utilize the jump gate and travel to a planet of their choosing. They also allow a player to scan and claim a planet, all of which is done by matching up the symbols and numbers on the planet with the proper navcomp cards. Additionally, many navcomp cards can also allow the player to have special actions (basically allowing them to conduct game actions without paying required navcomp cards).

Each planet starts with most resource cards hidden. As players travel around the planets, they can scan them, adding a player token to the planet tile. When the planet is finally claimed, each scanning token allows them a choice of the revealed resource cards. This becomes an important strategy as players race around the table trying to scan planets, allowing them to gain resources later in the game. Bonus points are also awarded to players that scan or claim planets.

Once a planet is claimed (and after others that scanned the planet have claimed their choice of resources) the remaining resources are up for grabs. Anyone that orbits the planet has a chance to pick up a card with no restrictions. Again this adds an interesting choice for players. Discarding specific navcomp cards, if a player scans a planet they can ‘stake a claim’ on future resources and gain extra points, however to get these resources someone must also later claim the planet. At the same time, once the planet is claimed then anyone can swoop in to take up the remaining resources freely without having to use navcomp cards.

At the end of the game players score points for claiming and scanning planets. Also the player that has the most tokens on the jump gate tile get a bonus. However, most of the victory points are earned for collecting recourse cards in various sets. The meat and potatoes of these points are from gem resources. Not only do you want to claim a lot gem resource cards, but also try and focus on having one color to make up your total. Additionally many other resource cards offer more points making a pair (dark and white energel) or forming up a large set (water), while others just offer a high point bonus. As all this is being tallied, the player with the most tokens on the black hole tile gets a penalty to their score.

This scoring can make for some interesting gameplay. To get a lot of points you need to focus on specific card sets. Meanwhile you want to claim resource cards to prevent your opponents from doing the same. This sort of makes for some cut throat play as players race from planet to planet scanning and carefully picking up select resources, all the while watching your opponents and trying to see what resources they are trying to collect. If players are going for the same resource, this can be a a little hectic trying to pick up the right cards that will offer a large point bonus at the end of the game.

Recently Jump Gate has been picked up by a larger publisher and will be released as Space Mission. The German release offers much nicer components and the rules have been worked over a bit for more streamlined play. There is no black hole tile in the German Version, and play ends when a certain number of special resource cards are discovered. Another tweak is with the scanning action. In Space Mission, players can look through resource cards and actually ‘claim’ a resource that will be picked up later once the planet is developed. It’ll be interesting to see how folks enjoy the different games. I might even consider trying out the Space Mission rules with my version of Jump Gate (it’ll require modifying the resource cards though).

The Good - Jump Gate is a pretty fun set building game. It captures the theme pretty well as players try an race around the board scanning and claiming planets at the right time. There isn’t much direct interaction with other players, but picking up certain resources and claiming planets can impact other players. Additionally there are more planet tiles than what is used to play, allowing for a slightly random layout of worlds each game.

The Bad - There seems to be a scoring dump when the game ends. You have to parse out a lot of resource cards into various sets, and it can be a little difficult to know exactly how many points you have as you are playing (unless you take the time to re-tally your score each turn by yourself). Also as strategy goes, it really seems that players need to rush in and scan as many planets as possible initially. Even though there are other options, it seems to push players onto one strategy track if they want to score a lot of points. Also I will say the components are a bit spartan and simple, even with my boxed edition that is supposed to be the more 'upscale' version. However, it’s hard to knock the game for that given it is from a smaller publisher.

The Verdict - Overall I enjoy Jump Gate and found it much more engaging with more than 2 players. While direct player interaction is limited, you do get a feel that you are at times in a frantic exploration race with other players. Getting to scan worlds before your opponents allows an opportunity to get choice resources when it is claimed later, and also allows you to plan out what resources to collect. While this at times seems to be the best strategy, having other players in the mix can muck up things quite a bit, so you have to be flexible with your plans.

I feel adding up victory points at the very end can be a little convoluted to tally. This also means it's somewhat nebulous to gauge how well certain players are doing during the game. The components are a tad simplistic and low quality, but I bought my copy for about $15 USD and consider it a bargain for the game inside. I think Jump Gate captures that feel of space exploration very well and makes for a fun game.

Randomizing the threat for attacks of opportunity

noreply@blogger.com (Geek Ken) — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 09:43:00 +0000

I like the idea of attacks of opportunity. It encourages players to position themselves in support of each other, and form up ranks to protect more fragile party members. However, I’ve been seeing in our games it’s becoming sort of a drag on combat.

I’ve noticed at times my players agonize a bit whether to move a particular route due to the threat of attacks of opportunity. This also drags the group’s sorcerer and bow-wielding rogue into action paralysis, as they struggle over deciding to fire off an attack or suffer the wrath of that orc standing toe to toe with them. I really want to encourage movement over the battlefield. 4E seems to really thrive on that. Yet, I’m finding the threat of attacks of opportunity starting to impede the maneuvering of the PCs.

I decided I needed to throw in a random chance if an attack would happen. Overall it would cut down the probability a player would get hurt, and still be a possible threat. This way, there was a chance a player could get hit running across the room, but not saddle them down with having to decide some precise dance of moving square to square in order to avoid a single attack. I work out my house rule as follows:

Roll a D4 - A player provokes a possible attack of opportunity as per the rules. Instead of it automatically happening I roll a 4-sided die. On a roll of 1-2 the player suffers an attack of opportunity and I make a basic attack rolling to hit verses their AC as normal. Otherwise, they don’t provoke an attack of opportunity and get to continue on with their action.

Chance of attacks increase - Each time a player potentially provokes an attack during their action, I increase the chance by 1 and this is cumulative. So if a player charges by two gnolls (possibly provoking an attack from each) the first roll is a 1-2 on a D4, the second would be a 1-3 on a D4.

Third chance and you’re attacked - If the player manages to provoke another attack of opportunity a 3rd time during a turn, I don’t bother rolling to see if it happens. The PC provokes an attack of opportunity as normal.

This works for the baddies too - This also goes for monsters, so everyone is using the same rules. Any time an attack of opportunity might happen, I have the players roll to see if they’ve got a chance to make a swing. I’m still playing around with this. I like the idea of balance (what is good for the players is good for the monsters too), but it can also put a wrench in the player’s tactics.

Some builds and powers take advantage of attacks of opportunity. Having that now a random chance might not go over well with some groups. Also while it will make fights more dynamic with movement, taking away that that edge of potential attacks for the players might mean fights drag out (less attacks of opportunity mean the monsters stay on their feet longer).

So far though this has worked great with my group. Assuming a normal melee attack vs AC would hit half the time, throwing this random chance of an opportunity attack means a player actually taking damage from a hit would be about 25%. This scales up slightly if the player keeps provoking attacks of opportunity, until the point the turn plays out as per the rules.

This means a player can take a gamble and possibly tempt an attack doing a desperate action. If they rush headlong into danger however, the odds stack up against them. Also there is still a fair chance an attack of opportunity will occur, it doesn’t eliminate it. So shifting is still a tactical option.

As I mentioned my players have been enjoying this tweak. It’s just enough to allow them a little breathing room if they provoke a single attack. In turn they’ve begun to make bolder actions in combat, something I want to encourage. I’d be interested if folks have changed how they run attacks of opportunity in their game.

Thoughts: Neverwinter Campaign Setting

noreply@blogger.com (Geek Ken) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 10:25:00 +0000

I managed to pick up the new campaign setting out from WotC while on holiday and I think I will echo what many have said, this is an amazing book. It’s chock full of story hooks and adventure ideas all squeezed into a pretty small landscape within the Forgotten Realms. There is a lot going on here in the book and I think WotC has really set the bar high for other campaign books to follow.

Themes - Aside from the nuts and bolts of the setting and locales, I really like the inclusion of character themes. Immediately players have an option to include something in their background that can align them with particular factions in Neverwinter, and give them some motivation or goals. For the DM, they immediately can have some hooks and adventure ideas to reel in the players. I could easily see the first session being folks just rolling up their characters, seeing what themes they might pick up, brainstorming their background a bit, and giving the DM a checklist of ideas to take the campaign off in a certain direction. It really has the potential to effortlessly mesh the main adventure story with the characters.

Heroic Tier - Looks like WotC has been digging through the character builder a bit and come to realize that people like the heroic tier. Some might consider it limiting, but I think it was a great decision to put a cap on the expected levels for the region. I think it gives the DM a broad assortment of villains, movers, and shakers in Neverwinter and allow for a lot of possibilities right from the start. Honestly I like heroic tier. I’ve yet to dabble much in the paragon tier (and haven’t even tried epic). It just seems that the high end of PC levels makes for a very different type of D&D game, with truly epic threats becoming a bit too large in scale for me. Clawing up through the heroic tier seems more manageable and engaging.

Lots of Tidbit Info - Much of the book is scattered with sidebars giving more detail and ideas to the DM. It breaks up the main text well and is a great way to disperse some story ideas without overwhelming the DM. Clearly outlying the goals of a particular villain is a given, but having that additional sidebar on the same page giving suggestions and ideas for adventures is a huge plus.

Politics and Factions - There are a lot of different groups vying for power in Neverwinter and the book does a pretty decent job of laying out the different relationships each has with other groups. There are a lot of options with the potential of enemies becoming allies for PCs (and vice versa). It’s a shame something like this wasn’t done with the other campaign settings. It really gives the DM a foothold in the politics of the region and allows options for that kind of game. Of course all of this could be skipped if you wanted a traditional hack and slash campaign, but it’s nice to have this type accessible.

Another thing I enjoy is that much of Neverwinter is dynamic. There are guidelines for the DM if certain groups take control (or if particular villains get defeated), so the landscape of power can change. There are also a ton of different groups in the region. So much so, you could run 2-3 different campaigns focused on different factions, and still have a lot of territory to explore. I could easily see a dual campaign going with different groups running simultaneously in Neverwinter. Paths might cross and outcomes could have an effect on the story for other groups, but you could also have such intersections a rare event. Things are that broad with the factions in the region and it allows for a lot of replay.

Embracing Wild Fantasy The underdark, demons, abysmal creatures, and the Shadowfell, it’s all here. You can have that gritty explore the ruins and tame the wilds kind of campaign, but it also allows for some pretty unusual locales. I especially enjoy the inclusion of Evernight, effectively a shadow version of Neverwinter, which throws down the framework for a planar campaign. Pretty fun stuff here and I’m glad that the book gives out a ton of ideas breaking away from the more traditional fantasy themes of past books.

Revisiting Forgotten Realms - I think Forgotten Realms as a 4E campaign setting sort of got a bad rap. Granted a lot of the canon of previous editions was thrown under the bus, but I got what WotC was going for with the new Forgotten Realms. They really wanted to push the points of light theme and it works.

Still, it seemed that each additional campaign setting that came out got better and better in presentation and material. Forgotten Realms seemed to have been kicked to the curb. That’s really a shame as there’s a lot of flavor with the underdark, spellplague, and constant demon incursions. As a high fantasy setting, it invokes a lot of imagination and seems to pull the right strings for making a ‘classic’ D&D campaign. I’m happy to see WotC hasn’t abandoned this setting completely. Hopefully they’ll look at sketching out more regions and groups through DDI content and other books.

To wrap up, I think the Neverwinter Campaign Setting is a great book, especially if you are looking at delving into a Forgotten Realms campaign. There is a lot here, and a DM should expect not to try and digest the whole thing from the start. Rather, I feel it is better to work with small pieces of the game world and run with it. There are so many options and ideas, you can easily revisit Neverwinter and run a different campaign all together the second time around. A good buy if you are looking for some inspiration in your game too.