James Wyatt: “The githzerai’s evil kin are great villains, and we want to be careful about how often we turn villain races into player character options. Making the drow a playable race spent a lot of that currency, and we don’t want to overdo it.”
Mike Mearls: “While sometimes it’s fun to play against stereotypes, we don’t want every villainous race to go the way of the drow.”

This is an argument that I agreed with originally, but the more I’ve thought about it the more I begin to dislike the argument. When it comes to the core books for a game system, especially with a brand like D&D,  a lot of attention needs to be paid to the racial balance and how that effects the game. The drow are the obvious first choice to fill the iconic “villainous race gone good” conceptual space, but I believe once you get further into a system and provide more abundant choices the concern of overloading a player with too many options for villainous races greatly diminishes.

While the drow may be the iconic D&D villainous race, your average DM running in a custom campaign setting may be just as likely to have a githyanki PC as any other monstrous race. This argument is inspired by the fact that in my current game one of my players (Joshx0rfz) has been playing a githyanki for 14 levels and his choice of that race has added a great deal to my campaign, the world it is played in, and the ongoing plots of the game. For the designers of D&D to say that the drow has taken up certain real estate is meaningless with regards to my game world, and unfortunately as a result anyone playing a githyanki has less options for feats and paragon paths than other races.

Even beyond my own campaign world, I feel that the “bad race gone good” concept can be approached from more directions than how it is handled with the drow and the githyanki are one of the best representations of this. In researching more about the races, githyanki are at least faithful to their own kind whereas the drow will kill their own family in service to lolth and the githyanki have some strong and definitive personality traits that can play really well as an adventurer. Though I had hoped the githyanki would be represented in the PHB3, I can understand limited print space and the restrictions of publishing, however the above argument scares me that Wizards may not be planning to release a full write-up for the githyanki any time soon. That’s why I am going to create my own!

Githyanki

Xenophobic and militaristic, these warrior people are both dedicated and fierce

Use the githyanki racial traits found in the back of the Monster Manual with the following changes:

Skill Bonuses: +2 History, +2 Insight  (added Insight)
Danger Sense: You have a +2 racial bonus to initiative checks.  (added ‘racial’ to the bonus)

It was through bloody uprising that the gith people earned their freedom from their mind flayer overlords, and that spirit of uprising lives on in the githyanki. Despite their common heritage with the githzerai, very few traits still link the two races. After fleeing to the Astral Sea, the githyanki cherish the strength and organization that led their ancestors to freedom and share a collective belief that their kind have truly earned their freedom among the stars. After centuries of militaristic upbringing, many githyanki have become xenophobic and cruel as they sail the currents of the astral sea and set up strongholds between the domains of the gods. While the githzerai contemplate and seek their place in the universe through meditation, the githyanki know their rightful place from birth to be at the top of all things.

Play a githyanki if you want…

• to be a calculating, commanding leader who has strong planar ties
• to have a strong will and natural telekinetic powers
• to be a member of a race that favors the Artificer, Swordmage, and Warlock or slightly favors the Battlemind, Psion, and Wizard

Physical Qualities

Similar in physical appearance to the githzerai, the githyanki are taller than humans and extremely gaunt but muscular. They also share the same angular features, pointed ears, deep set eyes, and flattened noses set high on their faces. Their skin also tends toward yellow tones, though the githyanki have skin that shades occasionally into brown or orange. Githyanki also have spare frames and an exotic appearance, are taller than humans and slender to the point of being gaunt, but with a more muscular build than other gith. All githyanki have dark patterns of spots on their skin, typically around the eyes and along the shoulders, elbows, and knees. Githyanki typically have long hair, accentuated by braids inlaid with metalwork and gems. Both genders let the majority of the hair flow freely or tie it to stick out in large tufts. Githyanki hair is typically black, but red and brown sometimes occur.

Githyanki clothing reflects their militaristic lifestyle, often as a makeshift combination of cloth and armor adorned with ornate designs and jewelry. They are often seen wearing wrapped or draped cloths with pieces of finely worked metal used as pauldrons and chestplates worn over top, and they take great pride in their metal working particularly of silver and gold. Most githyanki express themselves through designs in their armor, weapons, and wearing piercings or jewelry in their hair.

Githyanki use a unique form of circular rune based writing called tir’su, and they speak deep speech as a result of years of slavery at the hands of mind flayers. Githyanki live about as long as humans.

Playing a Githyanki

Githyanki do not have families, instead they are a part of a military cadre that they belong to from birth. Details and names of parents and siblings are unknown and considered meaningless in comparison to the integrity of a military training unit. Nothing is easily given to a githyanki during the first years of life, as the young must learn to seek out and obtain what they desire by the most efficient means. Often their efforts involve a weapon, one of the most important possessions of a githyanki and the primary instrument in their pursuit of conquest. Most githyanki set out from their citadels and sail across the astral sea, or even the other worlds, searching for treasure and relics to add to their holdings.

Although the githyanki are often cruel and disdainful towards outsiders, their militaristic culture includes a strange sense of honor and duty that results in a rigid mindset focused on the greater good of their race. It is a rare occurrence for githyanki to attack another of their race, and it is equally as rare for a githyanki to stand by or not take action when their people are in danger. The result is a small number of githyanki that have worked with outsiders to eliminate threats to the members of the cadre or to the citadel in which they live. A few accounts have been recorded of githyanki that adventure with groups made up of other races forming unique psychic bonds that allows them to relay commands and messages in the midst of combat with short phrases or gestures, much like the bond a githyanki commander will form with their githyanki subordinates.

A cunning and direct race, their culture is built upon the idea that whatever is taken by force has been earned by merit. To a githyanki any obstacle, no matter how large, is simply a challenge to be overcome through greater intellect and perseverence. While a member of a different race may never be able to earn the respect of a githyanki, a certain level of military or intellectual prowess may earn the trust of a githyanki for a time. Githyanki attack mind flayers on sight and are often most cruel toward their githzerai kin.

All githyanki know that their eventual fate lies at the feet of their lich-queen as she consumes the souls of the most powerful of their race. While most githyanki accept this as their duty and service to the race, some will naturally view it as yet another obstacle to be surmounted. Building a life as an adventurer outside of the astral sea may seem like the best escape from fate, but the servants of the lich-queen cannot be avoided forever.

Githyanki Characteristics: calculating, cruel, disciplined, intolerant, militant, organized, suspicious, terse, vengeful

Male Names: Glathk, Hra’cknir, Ilzin, Klar, Lel, Merzim, Ral, Ru’kal, Sar’yel

Female Names: Alith, Laathik, Mlara, Pari, Rad’na, Uzera, Ythenu

Githyanki Adventurers

Three sample githyanki adventurers are described below.

Lel is a githyanki swordmage who was nearly killed when his cadre was defeated by a group of rrathmal githzerai. Instead of putting him to death, the githzerai trained Lel in their enlightened path and educated him in how to survive a soul rending death at the hands of his lich-queen Vlaakith. After returning home, Lel approached Vlaakith and sacrificed himself to her. He did not die, however, at least not entirely. Using the psychic methods of the githzerai a shred of Lel’s essence was preserved in the husk of his body and for the first time in known history a githyanki escaped the lich-queen’s grasp. Descending from the astral sea to the material world, Lel awoke in an unknown land to a new life of adventure. Combining the training of the githzerai with his githyanki upbringing, Lel took to seeking further enlightenment as an arcane sword-master vowing one day to return and free the rest of his people from their bond of servitude to Vlaakith.

Mlara, a githyanki star pact warlock, narrowly avoided death as her home citadel was ransacked by a group of rogue angels and maruts. Had it not been for her mysterious pact mentor’s warning, she surely would have died with all of her kin. Floating between worlds in the astral sea, Mlara was picked up by a group of adventurers. She had decided that picking her up was their mistake, but quickly changed her mind when she discovered the objective of the rogue angels and maruts. They were part of a cult trying to resurrect the dead god on which the githyanki capital city of Tu’narath rests and the adventurers had been working to stop them. It seemed Mlara would need their help to protect the entire githyanki race.

Glathk is a young githyanki warlord who was on an early mission into the material plane to establish a scouting post. Unfortunately his groups entrance into the material world was noticed by a group of aberrant foulspawn that tagged along and caused havoc amongst their ranks. Glathk later found himself as the only survivor of his cadre, stranded in the material world, and suffering from a strange form of nausea. His headaches quickly grew into strange psychic feedback that only ceased when he wandered into a nearby settlement. Cursed by his exposure to the Far Realm and by his exile from the Astral Sea, Glathk’s only respite from psychic backlash could be found in the presence of intelligent beings of what he considered lesser races. It wasn’t long before the foulspawn exploited the tear between worlds again and assaulted the settlement where Glathk was living. As the meek guards of the town began to falter before the aberrant creatures, Glathk jumped to their aid and organized a glorious defense of the town.  Inspired and motivated by his latent psychic leadership, the town guards exalted Glathk as their savior and champion and the githyanki found a new calling in life as a protector of lesser races. At least until he could remove the curse of the far realm.

–

Please let me know what you think of this write up for the githyanki race, and share any stories you have of them in your own games!

As it is homebrew week here on Critical Hits, I’m going to forego my usual flavour-based rantings in order to share with you my beginners guide to homebrewing. For those of you who are unaware of my RPG portfolio, I’m a mad as a hatter homebrewer. From humble (and undoubtedly parentally annoying) beginnings at the age of eight, I have been building ‘adventure’ games for my family and friends non-stop. My first game system didn’t go down so well as I spent most of my time trying to convince my older brother and parents to spend their weekends sitting at the table to hear me rant on and on about imaginary monsters and villains that they had no concept of. Since then I’ve continued relentlessly in the homebrew department to the point where I am running weekly games for two groups of six players. Below I’m going to share with you some of the basic tips I have picked up over the years.

Fantastic Isn’t Always Funtastic!

This is an easy trap to fall into repeatedly when you start out building homebrew campaigns and RPG systems. Fantastic and clever ideas for rules and campaigns don’t always relate to fun gameplay for your players. Before you devote your time and effort into developing components for your homebrew, run the idea by your players and friends to gauge their excitement for the idea. Then when constructing your homebrew, continue to ask yourself ‘is this fun?’ With the entertainment of your friends and family at the forefront of your creative process it is unlikely that you will end up with a boring or frustrating homebrew.

Complexity Is Thy Enemy

When starting out in the homebrew field, keep things simple for both yourself and the players. Simple rules and mechanics in your system are easy to remember by everyone involved and have less chance of becoming broken or unusable. Simple mechanics also consume less of your valuable time when you are creating them. One of the primary benefits for running a homebrew system should be the ease with which new players can join in on the fun. Unless your name is Chris Perkins or Monte Cook, chances are any new players will be unfamiliar with your system and massive complex rulebooks can be very daunting to newcomers. Three to four rule mechanics should be enough to cover the entire breadth of your gameplay to start off with. Once everyone is comfortable with the system feel free to add more mechanics and complexity if you won’t, just don’t overdo it. A different mechanic for searching, and bartering, and negotiating, and bribing the guards isn’t necessary.

Small Steps

Creating campaign worlds, unique monsters and player races can be a lot of fun, however it is very easy to get caught up in the creation of vast empires or small minute details, causing you to spend way to much time constructing your Homebrew worlds. Don’t be afraid to start of small, a couple of detailed notes for each component of your world should be enough to start playing with. Then as you add details throughout the game or brainstorm during daydreaming sessions, take notes and build upon things as they are needed. Your players don’t need a detailed history that covers every calendar date in history, nor does every city need to have rich characters and culture when you first sit down to play. A benefit of homebrewing is that the world and setting are of your own creation. So whether a detail within the world was crafted over weeks of thought and effort, or is merely an immediate reaction to a player’s in-game question can remain a mystery.

Pride Before The Fall

Homebrew systems are very personal constructs: you spend your time and effort building something for your friends and players to enjoy and when someone gives you feedback, or a player comes up with an idea on how to change something, it can come across as a very personal attack on your beloved homebrew baby. One of the biggest pieces of advice I can give to anyone starting out in the homebrewing department is this: do not let your pride get in the way of the fun. I’ve seen several homebrew games fail and dissolve very quickly, because the DM or creator is unwilling to change anything or accept genuine and constructive feedback. RPGs should be enjoyed because of the input of everyone involved, not just the DM. If a player has an idea on how to better a rule mechanic, try it and see if it works. If a friend comes up with a great idea on the motives of an NPC, work with them and incorporate it into the system. Other perspectives will see problems you can’t or refuse to. Players love to see their NPC’s and creations flourish within your homebrew setting. Being open to change and outside input can only improve the gaming experience for everyone involved.

One final point concerning jealousy between homebrewers. If someone else uses one of your mechanics or unique monsters, don’t tell them they can’t because you built it, therefore you own it. Encourage them and enjoy the fact that other people enjoy you creation enough to use it in their own games. As they say, imitation is the highest form of flattery.

So there you have it, my beginner’s guide to homebrewing. With these simple guides in place you should be entertaining your friends and daydreaming the hours away constructing your next monster race in no time. Don’t forget: happy homebrewers are good homebrewers.

Character Creation

Have your players choose a base class. This will be the delimiting factor that will prevent possible wide-scale/hardcore abuse and keeps certain feats a viable choice (i.e. multiclassing.)

At character creation, and again when a PC levels up, allow them to choose any power from any existing class list without modifying them at all. Naturally, they will still be choosing from a set of powers that likely compliments their existing attributes. But, this deviation from the normal system opens the game up for any array of powers and abilities or the combination thereof. You may just be surprised how it all plays out and the choices your PCs make. It will open up new options and allow for characters to break the normal modes of play that some in the D&D community are not in favor of.

With this system change, you will find that any combination of possible builds will inspire your PCs to create diverse and truly unique characters. Here are some rules that I suggest. As always, mileage may vary:

• Characters must choose 1 At-Will from their base class.
• Starting Hit Points for all characters equals their Constitution score + 12.
• Each character gains an additional 8 Hit Points at each level.
• All feat prerequisites must still be met in order to take a given feat (i.e. Channel Divinity, etc.)

Class Features

One of the cool things about 4e is the neat class features that are associated with each class. You can still keep these features and just keep them attached to the base class the PC chooses. This can represent the propensity of a character to lean towards a specific profession in life and could make for some unique and enjoyable character histories. This will also help balance out additional benefits gained through the multiclassing feats.

In example, with this system you can take your dwarf and choose the base class of a fighter with a warlord at-will. So instead of a straight fighter, you can mix in some leader abilities. There is also nothing stopping you from dropping a barbarian power in there at some point as well. This goes so on and so forth and you will soon see the benefits of this immersive system change.

Try it out, and let me know what you think. It could be a great reprieve from the standard play of 4e. You, as the DM, are encouraged to adjust these simple changes accordingly and they by no means are all-inclusive. Take care and have fun!

For more ideas, come visit me at Loremaster.

Back in the early 80’s, when I was little, computers weren’t as fancy as they are now. It was the era of the c64, the Apple ][, and (in my family’s case) the TRS-80 Color Computer. These computers had, more or less, similar capabilities – both in hardware and in the software available to them. If you wanted games, you could usually find the “official” version and a couple shareware clones. The same went for productivity apps. I can remember several flavors of word processor applications and monthly budget apps (the latter of which was outrageously fun to use at age 7 — imagine allocating 78% of your income on “poop and poop-related expenses”). As the years passed, the keyboards became detachable, and the names on the fronts of our computers changed, one thing remained: you usually had a couple of options if you wanted to do something in particular. Less so in gaming, of course. (I still suffer the occasional flashback fromthe bloody DooM vs. RoTT wars on my BBS.)

How you got a copy of some of this off-brand software has changed a great deal over the years. The major retail chains would carry a lot of the name-brand software. The shareware and freeware was largely available through mail-order, or occasionally you could get a copy at a computer show or on a little rack at the back of a little dimly lit computer shop run by some guy who almost invariably had a Unix Beard. Granted, this wasn’t viewed as a terrible inconvenience back in those days. I mean, the mere act of loading anything from your tape drive or 5 1/4″ floppy took 5 minutes sometimes. This all changed with the BBS. Now, with the advent of the 300 baud modem, you could tie up your phone for forty-eight hours in the privacy of your own home to download a 100k program instead of driving an hour to the closest shop. As modem speeds got faster and BBSes proliferated in the late 80’s and early 90’s, though, the concept of buying a shareware floppy at a shop started to seem silly — you could usually get whatever you wanted in short order because your friendly local SysOp had found it somewhere and posted it for download. When the Internet showed up, suddenly we could get stuff directly from the developer. Ironically, you can walk into a Wal-Mart today and pick up a CD filled with hundreds of (usually 5-year-old) shareware apps, stocked on the same rack as the big-name software. People from all walks of life use computers today, and they have tons of choices and lots of places to get all the software they need. With the advent of the Internets, there’s never been a better time to be a small software developer. No longer do they have to worry about the overhead of sending physical media to their users. They can push automated updates to their software, adding functionality and patching bugs. All they have to do is get their name out there and make sure their software is good enough to keep the people who show up coming back.

That is, unless you’re an iPhone developer.

AARRGGRRGGRGH

For those who haven’t been living under a rock the last several years, iPhone apps are only available through the App Store, Apple’s (literally) one-stop shop for all your iPhone needs. You don’t go to Best Buy to pick up a sweet new game for your iPhone. You can’t. It’s not to say that there is no third-party development for the iPhone. Apple loves touting the fact there are over a hundred thousand apps for the iPhone, especially when competitors show up. But they’ve always been weird and cryptic about what apps can get in and which can’t. And they have, on occasion, let apps in only to take them down later – never giving a reason. Just recently, they decided to arbitrarily cut, en masse, on the order of five thousand “sexy” apps from the App Store. Infuriatingly, some were left, like the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit app and the Playboy app. Today, I read a report that Apple was trying to cut out “cookie-cutter” apps, which best I can tell means simple apps designed to show a single RSS feed for a company or some other simple function. Yes, it’s incredibly vague. That’s why it’s so maddening.

Strangely, it seems like Apple’s new and improved strategy is to go for fewer, better apps now. I don’t think the “sex” ban has anything to do with customer complaints about indecency at all. I think they’re suddenly horrified upon the realization that a large portion of their 100,000 apps utterly suck (as is the way with software) and Apple is basically the equivalent of one of those girls who refuses to admit she farts or poops until one fateful night three years into the relationship when finally the truth is revealed in the form of a startlingly violent F sharp, doing irreparable psychological damage and sparking demands that this incident never be spoken of again. This explains why big name “sexy” apps are staying around and all the little ones with slideshows of bikini pics are disappearing. It also explains why Safari doesn’t suddenly block all pornography. I don’t mind that they want to clean house so people can find great stuff easily. In fact, that would be quite nice. It’s just that there is no other means of getting anything in any other way (aside from jailbreaking your phone, which has its own set of hazards). If Apple had some other means of buying applications for the iPhone aside from the App Store, this wouldn’t even be an issue. They could impose all the weird restrictions they wanted in their store to further whatever company directives they chose, and everything would be just great. People wanting something else would just go to the nice little browser on their phone, and download whatever they wanted. Except, oh yeah, they can’t.

RRAAARRGGGGHHHH

My problem with all this goes far beyond simple inconvenience as a user at not being able to purchase/download whatever programs I want whenever I want them from whomever I want. I am a programmer by trade, and I have been so for a decade. I currently work in-house doing web development, and this doesn’t affect me directly right now, but I have worked freelance to pay the bills before. It does not take a whole lot of effort to see how having an app denied from entry to (or worse, pulled from) the App Store is going to affect a small developer’s bottom line. Back in the early 80’s, one guy might write a game. Today’s game credits can go longer than movie credits, and development cycles can go years. Even for smaller apps with fewer people working on them, it’s still absolutely ridiculous that people can work for months and create a working product only to be given a vague, flat “no” — crushing any hope for income for their hard work. Nobody ever finds out specifically why. I find this an extremely inadequate means of feeding one’s family, and I utterly fail to see why anyone would voluntarily take this kind of risk. I guess the legend of the guy that wrote iShoot is pretty compelling.

I had a couple ideas that I wished Apple might do instead, so as to make the process more fair to developers – but I honestly can’t see them liking anything better than the “sit back and let everybody fight over the right to get into our good graces” plan. Fortunately, there’s some change coming down the pipe in the form of better competitors. Many devices using Android or Windows Phone 7 both have what it takes to match the iPhone’s features – if the apps can be found. I’m not naive enough to think one is going to simply rise up and crush the iPhone. I am, however, hoping they get popular enough to make Apple sweat enough to play nice. I currently want to give Adobe a hug for announcing AIR for Android. This is going to let a lot of developers quickly make a program once, and have it run on several different kinds of devices. I plan to write apps for my Droid just for the explicit purpose of my own personal “up yours” to Apple. The first app will be a “poop and poop-related expenses” tracking program with pictures of Slave Leia in a metal bikini integrated into all parts of the user interface.

Today I’d like to touch on a subject that we’ve never directly asked before, as far as I can remember, and that subject is specifically which RPGs you are gathering around the table to play. Back in October I asked about genres and settings for RPGs, with Fantasy coming out in a massive lead with Sci-fi in second, then Modern and Horror close behind. With that in mind, today I’m asking:

This is really a tough question to get exactly right, so I apologize if your favorite system or current game’s system is not listed. I strongly encourage you to share in the comments so that we can get a clear idea of which games all of you are playing. I also encourage you to vote for any games you’ve played in the last few months even if it’s not still going on at the moment because getting a long running game can be difficult and I’d love to see the variety of games that people are playing!

(Note this game was played 2 weeks ago… I kept no notes, so details will be sketchy)

Being Deadly Cool on a Mound of Corpses (Continued)

As the party schemed, hidden behind a pile of warclank spare parts (i.e clockwork mechas) near the gigantic pile of humanoid corpses, the ghouls and blasphemes continued their Dance Macabre. The ghouls were trying to snatch pieces of relatively fresh “meat” from the pile while the reconstructed undead kept them at bay with beams of  death-laced energies.

While I fully expected my players to charge the pile to recover the dead agent’s body, they totally surprised me instead.  After planning for 10-15 minutes, they came up with the following:

Mike: Vorian (Githzerai Monk) slowly sneak up on the pile by crawling on the corpses, laying near-motionless, creeping slowly to the agent.  Then the rest of the party will be ready to support me if we decide to trigger an ambush. They’ll be hidden just there, behind those tarps.

I must say that this was ballsy and cool.  There were 6 monsters on the pile (all non-minions) and 6 ghouls around it.  I explained the rules of engagement if things went south along with how the Ghouls would likely react (go for corpses or the PCs).   Then I asked Mike to roll a first stealth check, ignoring all opposed check rules that the PHB2 has.  This was pure ‘Mouseguarding it” against an unerrata-ed “moderate” level 14 DC (and much faster to adjudicate).

He aced it.

Chatty: Slowly, inexorably, you creep toward the dead agent as the surrounding undead walk by, sometimes even stepping over you as they move around about their grisly business.  Still, you finally reach your goal unnoticed…

Mike (and others): Yes!

Chatty: Only to find out that the agent’s watch arm has been hacked off! You see no watches lying around.

Mike: No freaking way?!

Chatty (Smiling): Yeah… how ’bout that?  What now?

Mike: I guess my Monk returns back.

Chatty: Play another stealth check.

Mike: I miss…

Chatty (Smiling that evil DM smile players HATE as I went into ‘plot twist’ mode): As you slowly crawl down the pile, one of the blaspheme disciples steps on your hand and looks down, eyes growing wide.  Roll initiative.

Party: Awwwww  man!

Mike won initiative, got a well earned surprise round and pulled another one on me.

Mike: So, there’s a lot of noise here with those Frankensteins fighting and these huge chainsaw clankers right?  I mean there”s a lot of action going on all around us?

Chatty (Warily): Yea…?

Mike: Then I use my power that teleports me and an adjacent enemy to bring us here…

“Here” being right in the middle of the rest of the party, all waiting behind a series of obstacles, within line of sight of the monk… but exactly out of sight of all other monsters.

Suffice it to say that I eventually ruled that the monster was killed, hooligan mob style without the monsters noticing anything.  I would be lying if I said I didn’t resist the idea a little bit (old habits die hard after all), but the Rule of Cool won out.

This is the kind of brilliant play I love having players surprise me with (once I recover).  Yes, I ”lost” a combat scene, but all the elements I prepared for this encounter made it into this scene… except the stats, which I can always recycle.

The Factory of Improvised Scenes

The other PCs were already moving behind the clockwork meat wagons to see if the arm was in it. Being very careful to stay out of sight. They didn’t find it.  A series of rails (I mean, actual rails for the wagons) led into the main factory.  My players decided to follow them…

(Ha! Talk about subversion)

(Also, by some byzantine law of the state of Maryland, I must warn you that the above link leads to the TV Tropes Wiki, you have been warned).

As the players entered the factory, I described how the rails led to another area where the body parts were dumped, sorted and ministered to by those stitched-up sentient undead constructs.  All around the party stood floors over meshed floors covered with automated manufacturing lines stretching over several football fields’ worth of area space and rising several stories high.

(I was basically describing one of those camera shots that go slowly backwards to show just how damn big an area really is)

The southern space was devoted to making blasphemes,  those Frankensteinian humanoids while the northern part was making autoclanks.  Over all, 60-80′ up stood a central command centre, on a mezzanine, where a 9′ tall cupola-like structure of orange-white crystal.

Everywhere, deafening noise, choking smoke, the tear-inducing acrid smell of acid and explosives…

Everywhere, hundreds and hundreds of completed “units” standing to attention, motionless, menacing.

Franky: Whoa… where the hell do you get all those ideas man?

Ya know? There are many reasons that make me love GMing so much. Those exact moments are way up there. 

Cya soon for part 3.

Home Above the Clouds

Just before the frigid north of a large continent lies an immense mountain plateau. The plateau is commonly known as Angel’s Table to those who live below the sheer cliffs that make it all but inaccessible. Atop the cliffs, a scenic landscape of rolling plains and small forests cover the immense majestic plateau. The creatures and tribes of this unique and exotic landscape call it Talmanthian. Below are the details for a unique and unexplored landscape for your party to explore, and possibly discover the ancient treasure and secrets of this remote landscape.

Table of Angels

The immense plains and thick wild copses of trees are mainly untouched by the world below, with flight being the primary method of accessing Angel’s Table. Clouds constantly break and roil around the massive limestone cliffs like a sea of white and grey that hide the plateau from below for most of the year. From above the constant ocean of clouds veils the world below, with many of the nomadic tribes of the sprawling plateau believing the world ends at the sheer cliffs of their homeland. Melted snow and ice from the northern reaches of Talmanthian flow across the land in small creeks and brooks, converging upon a great lake in the south east of Angel’s Table. This lake houses many species of unique fauna that are only found upon the plateau as well as a kingdom of merfolk that live upon the lakebed. Countless nomadic tribes of Humans, Elves and the unique Uqwauy roam endlessly upon Talmanthian, each with their own folklore of the origins of their homeland. At such altitude, trees grow slowly and fruits and grains take many years to come to harvest, thus hunting the animals and birds of the region has become the primary source of food for the tribes of Talmanthian. The scope of the plateau allows the tribes to live in relative peace, rarely clashing over rights to a particular herd of beast, however the harsh landscape means these rare clashes between tribes are often brutal wars that only end with the complete destruction of one tribe. This harsh lifestyle has bred fierce and survivalist warriors within all the species that call Talmanthian home.

Wanderers of the Plains

A species of humanoid-bipedal horses, the Uqwuay roam the endless plains of the plateau in nomadic tribes. With a great respect for the land they live upon and undying loyalty for their family and tribe, the Uqwuay are often ignored by the few adventurers that visit Angel’s Table, as they are believed to be simplistic beasts. In truth, this intelligent race of horse-men has learned to live in harmony with the almost barren terrain of the plateau, and is the most willing to communicate with the few adventurers that encroach upon their isolated homeland. These noble vagrants spend their time following the numerous snowmelts and rivers to stay with the most luscious of the slow growing foliage the covers the plains of Talmanthian. The Uqwuay hold their connection to the land in highest regard and anything that they find to be desecrating their sacred home are viciously and constantly attacked until either repelled or destroyed. These attacks are swift and powerful as the warriors use skirmishing tactics to constantly charge at their enemies with spears and staves, whilst archers and magically imbued Uqwuay attack from a distance. The speed and strength of these noble warriors is rarely matched in the high altitudes of Talmanthian, with very few warriors able to stand against their sweeping tactics. The countless tribes of Uqwuay are filled with powerful warriors and skilled rangers, but positions of respect are held for any Uqwuay that becomes magical connected with nature, especially wardens. The communal society within the tribes ensures that all members are cared for and no single member misses out on food or medicine. Often the Uqwuay will take in and heal injured and sick creatures they find in their travels, including injured humans and elves, who actively hunt these horse-like people.

A Harsh Lifestyle

It is unclear how humans came to live upon the remote cliff tops of Talmanthian, but like the rest of the places of the world they have found a way to adapt to the harsh conditions and thrive. However the survivalist environment and lifestyle has bred savage and vicious clans of humans that attack outsiders and prey on sight. The lack of a stable food source upon Talmanthian has encouraged the human tribes to revert to cannibalism in order to survive. Tribe members that fail to provide through hunts, or prove weak within the ceremonies of fire that each tribe holds, often are sacrificed and feasted upon for the betterment of the tribe. Humans not known to the tribe are immediately killed, unless they can kill their attackers first. Any outsider that kills a tribe member upon the battlefield is offered the prime cut of meat then challenged at the next fire ceremony for a permanent place within the tribe. This vicious and barbaric lifestyle has left no room for the weak and over countless generations of life upon Talmanthian, the humans have evolved beyond their softer counterparts from the world below, making just one Talmanthian a severe challenge for a squadron of veteran warriors. Shamans and mystics control every aspect of the human tribes from their lavishly decorated huts that mark the centrepiece of each human camp. These fire and cloud worshipping mystics delegate everything for their tribes. From mating engagements and hunting parties to cooking and gathering duties. The power to hear the will of the clouds at worlds end and manipulate the life giving flame marks these shamans to their people from a young age. Each child with the gift of Fire and Cloud must engage in the trials of the lake in order to gain the status of shaman. Each child that passes this test is delegated half the tribe and sent away to create their own separate settlement. 

Ghosts in the Trees

Within the copses of gnarled and warped trees the cruel and spiteful Elves of Talmanthian lurk. Banished skyward by their old gods many millennia ago for unspeakable crimes, these malicious creatures have found life upon the harsh and untamed plains enjoyable. The long-lived elves are small in number but their magic and abilities far surpass the creatures and tribes that surround them. A twisted desire to kill and pillage all life is evident in the self etched scars and tattoos that adorn the pale skin of these spiteful creatures. Countless trophies hang from their thin necks and the hilts of their ancient blades. The toughened tribes of Talmanthian have developed methods in which to repel these evil beings when attacked on the plains and learned which forests to keep a distance from, but when these psychotic killers begin to track a target very few things have ever lived to tell the tale. No living creature has ever returned from the forests of Talmanthian since the elves arrival. An ancient pact for power and immortality with a primordial demon from the abyss known as Whethal is the cause of elves banishment and source of the deranged lust and ghostly powers. Within their blood lies a demonic infection that could possess any living elf with the deranged fury and blood lust in the space of minutes. These demonic aspects of Whethal have strived endlessly to reach the surface world again, as the urge to spread their joyous infection burns fervently through their veins.

In A Lake Above the Clouds

The great lake that lies within the southeast of Talmanthian is known by countless names; however, its inhabitants call it Horm. The merfolk city that lies beneath the vast crystal like waters of the lake is unlike any other in the world. Coral spires and pearl buildings cover the immense limestone lakebed. The sun-dappled merfolk that live in these waters have been collecting the worlds information for generations. Within the grand coral spires, endless libraries and vaults house a concise history of the world and of the innumerable kingdoms that have risen and fell throughout the years. Powerful secrets, world ending knowledge and maps to mighty artefacts are all held within a lake above the clouds. Merfolk dug tunnels in the limestone bed lead to subterranean tunnels and rivers that exit out into the worlds oceans, rivers and sewer systems. The merfolk of Horm are masters of illusory and transmuting magic. Masking their pristine city from the prying eyes of any that live above the water with powerful illusions. Their presence within the courts and armies of the world goes unnoticed through their powerful transmuting spells. The ruling council of elder magicians deals with all intruders that either seek out the knowledge of Horm, or stumble upon the location by accident immediately. The only penalty for any crime within Horm, is death.

What Happens On The Plateau…

Scholars and explorers have forgot the isolated plains and secluded woods of Talmanthian. The towering and sheer mountainous cliffs ensure that only the most steadfast and dedicated will ever see the sprawling summit of Angel’s Table, but for those who seek adventure, this isolated location holds many treasures and countless perils. Kings and Wizards have hidden their fortunes and relics of power buried within the soil of the plains and left untouched for countless years and forgotten by all but the faded scrolls of ancient libraries. The Elven aspects of Whethal have begun working fervently to return to the world below in an effort to infect their cousins by capturing and training the dragon broods that soar over the enormous plateau. The fate of countless kingdoms and people in peril could be saved with a single scroll from the endless libraries of Horm. Curious adventurers and wizards have endeavoured to summit the grand peaks of Angel’s Table, only to never return, their fate unknown. Whilst ancient and confusing riddles hint at the monumental mountain imprisoning a forgotten god for reasons not yet deciphered. All these reasons and many more call out to adventurers throughout the world.

Back in early February, I wrote about Three D&D Tips I Learned from Dragon Age. Today we’re going to take a look how the action RPG Mass Effect 2 can make our games better as well.

I will warn that, while I don’t plan on any direct spoilers in this review (omg, I can’t believe they blew up the Citadel!) I might step into the story just a little bit. If you want to be 100% spoiler free (Woo! You sleep with Miranda) you may want to read this when you’ve finished getting most of your crew killed by giant Aardvarks.

Let’s dive right into the tips.

Focus On Your Strengths

Bioware showed they were listening to their audience when they made Mass Effect 2. They got rid of a lot of the fluffy bits we hated like driving around in that horrid moon buggy and focused the game around the two things they did best: meaningful conversation trees and third-person combat.

Whatever game system you choose, play to the strengths of that system. D&D 4th edition has the most refined combat system I’ve seen in a tabletop RPG. While this might turn off a lot of groups, many others love the game for its detailed combat system. Instead of trying to find ways around it or trying to add in a whole lot of other systems, play to D&D’s strength and enjoy the big battles you’re going to have.

This, of course, depends a lot on your desires as the dungeon master and the desires of your players, but, assuming you already play and enjoy 4th Edition, don’t worry too much about what the system lacks. Instead focus on what it does best – combat!

Avoid Tedium

Unfortunately, Bioware replaced the moon buggy with their new planet scanning mechanic, a boring and painful system for gathering up resources. What a snoozer.

Don’t be like Bioware in this area. Don’t add in tedious mechanics, story arcs, or sub-quests for your players. Every aspect of your valuable time at the table should be focused on fun meaningful things. Don’t add in a boring skill challenge just because you feel like one should be there – make it important! Instead of a skill challenge for traveling across the countryside in a pair of ox carts, have a skill challenge to defend the carts from packs of marauding bandits led by your main villain.

In short, don’t add filler to your game. Make every bit of time count towards something fun. If it feels boring to you, cut it out.

Unlike Bioware, we’re lucky enough to be sitting with our players while we’re playing. As a DM, you can see when you’ve lost the attention of your players and the excitement of the game. If this happens, do something! Don’t keep going because you don’t want to stop in the middle. Kill off that boring brute that just won’t die or cut off your skill challenge early when you feel the energy leaving the table.

Change Up Your Combat Environments

Good 4e DMs realize the importance of environmental effects. So does Bioware. All throughout the missions in Mass Effect 2 you’ll encounter a variety of changing environmental effects that offer advantages to you and to your enemies alike. “Shepherd, watch out for those falling exploding boxes!” you might hear or “Don’t cross the green lines or you’ll awaken nasty guys!” These little changes to the environment are what change the missions enough that you don’t feel like you’re doing the same thing again and again.

In 4e, the battle environment you build is as important as the monsters you choose. Put in effects that might challenge your players or give them an advantage against their foes. During the game, reward on-the-spot environmental choices your players might make by using the all-power DMG page 42 damage per level chart.

Build Deep Dialog Trees

Like Dragon Age, Mass Effect 2 has a wonderful, deep, and rich mesh of dialog trees. There are many decisions to be made throughout this game, though the game itself is relatively linear if you think about it. Think about how you can add a similar decision tree to your own game, even if the game itself is relatively linear. What choices can your players make that have real effects and real consequences without derailing your game? Don’t presuppose the answer, make both or all answers viable. As you build each night of adventure ask yourself what choices your PCs will have in front of them.

Handle Loot Differently

Inventory was a mess in the original Mass Effect and they learned this lesson well in developing Mass Effect 2. The limited loot and the upgrade system is a lot more elegant if a little less randomly interesting. Carefully consider your own loot system in your D&D campaign. Some DMs prefer random loot, some prefer to just let players pick what they get, others use a wish-list system. Try a mix of different systems and lean towards the one players seem to enjoy the most. Remember that they won’t necessarily enjoy picking their own gear all the time, a surprise piece here and there can add a lot of excitement and flavor. I tend to lean towards loot templates such as “level 24 or below Sword” or “Level 19 or below Plate or Scale armor” that gives players flexibility but still points towards a specific type of item.

Don’t follow the model of Mass Effect, however, where you simply heap random loot on your players over and over, filling their character sheet with items they will never use and end up selling at 1/5. If you’re going to do this, just give them a lot of cash and let them buy what they want.

Many PCs Per Player

Mass Effect has a wide range of characters available in a large stable ready to fill your three-person squad. Consider this idea in your own campaign or mini-campaign series. Have players build two or three PCs and let them switch them in and out throughout your campaign. Make sure these characters have a basic backstory, perhaps even arrange a night of adventure based on their background story as they do in Mass Effect 2. This also gives you greater flexibility should things turn dark and characters die. Even a total party kill can result in the second run PCs getting a chance for vengeance.

The folks at Bioware sure know their roleplaying games and there’s a lot we can learn from them. Consider your play-through of games like Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age as cross-training to pick up game design ideas, tips, and tricks. Those above are just the tip of the iceberg. Remember your quote from T.S. Eliot or Picasso or whoever the hell said it:

“Good artists borrow. Great artists steal.“

The most important ingredient…

The most important ingredient in any campaign is a skilled DM who has the time and the energy to carefully design and create his world, and the talent to communicate his setting effectively. The next most important ingredients are willing players who share common goals with the DM. Players interested in hack-and-slash adventures should not be matched a DM interested in careful plot structuring and detailed mystery solving.

Douglas Niles, The Dungeoneer’s Survival Guide, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons,1986

Okay, hold your horses.  Why didn’t I know about that book before? I mean, I bought the Wilderness Survival Guide (X-mas gift I wrapped for myself when I was 15-16) when it came out. I disliked it so much that I threw it away and never used it, disgusted that I would ask my players to roll percentiles EACH DAY for food and shelter.

After discarding the book, I automatically assumed that the DSG would be as bad and I promptly started looking at this new generic RPG by Steve Jackson Games.

This one paragraph from the DSG and the following 2 pages about player types (Adventurers, Problem-Solvers, Roleplayers) would have opened my eyes on many aspects of DMing I had no idea even existed!  I think Robin Laws probably developed upon those in his seminal work “Robin Laws of Good Game Mastering“. Or Robin and Niles had a few beers together back then.

That assessment, which I discovered in the last 5 years is now one of my guiding principle as a DM. Yet, 25 years later, I know that many GMs still scoff at the importance that they need to actually understand and deliver what players actually seek in a RPG. The same goes for players.

What do you think about that? Do you agree and if so to what extent? If not, what constitute your references as being ‘most important” in a RPG game/campaign?

Do you feel that the door that Niles opened in that book was explored further during 2e’s era?  I wasn’t there… I never actually read the 2e DMG, but I know that the game took a heavy Storytelling turn to keep it’s market share with White Wolf games. Did that shut the door to the adventurer and puzzle-solver players?

Let me know in the comments!

On Character Death

Now and then a player will die (sic) through no fault of his own.  He or she will have done everything correctly, taken every reasonable precautions, but still the freakish roll of the dice will kill the character. In the long run you should let such things pass as players will kill more than one opponent with their own freakish rolls at some later time.

Yet you do have the right to arbitrate the situation. You can rule that the player, instead of dying  (again, sic!), is knocked unconscious, loses a limb, is blinded in one eye, or invoke any reasonably severe penalty that takes into account what the monster has done.  It is very demoralizing to the player to lose a cared-for player character when they have played well.

When they have done something stupid or have not taken precautions, then let the dice fall when they may…

Gary Gygax, Dungeon Masters Guide (p. 110),   Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 1979

Did I ever tell you that I learned reading English with Gygaxian prose?  I mean I was reading Grade 8 “English as a second language” crap back then, but in the school bus on the way home, I was reading the DMG and trying to decipher what a bell curve was, or why it wasn’t okay to let your buddies bully you in playing a dragon character.

Oh man Gary, we so miss you!  I really wish I could have met you earlier in our lives.  I would have loved to kid you gently about killing players instead of PCs. I would also have paid you a few coffees or beer to argue that saying that “you can kill PCs because they kill your monsters” is the lamest argument I have ever heard.  You’d probably have given me a ‘you kids think you know everything” look and sipped your drink quietly.

This densely written paragraph made me smile.  It’s cool to see that even early in the game’s history, Gary expounded that the FUN part of the game had to come ahead of Lady Chance’s wiles.

I can imagine Gary look over his game screen (half-glasses and all) when one of his players missed a saving throw against poison while having taken all the steps to avoid it. As the player’s face falls and the rest of the party prepares for the ceremonial separation of loot, Uncle Gygax likely laughed in a low self-effacing way and went something like.

“Tell you what son, how about that poison coursed through the whole of your leg before that antitoxin you harped me about for hours takes effect.  So instead of dying, you now have a shriveled, gangrened limb, all eaten up by the poison and chronic infection (insert cute made-on-the-spot Gygaxian subsystem to simulate diseased legs) and maybe, if you bug me about anti-poisons again, you may have to cut it off real fast or die. Be more careful where you step next time, you hear?”

Player (relieved to keep his level 4/3 Half-Orc Fighter/Cleric): Right, right! Thanks chief!

I think Gary was way less of a hard-ass than I initially imagined.  I honestly think that he wrote Tombs of Horrors as a “Fine! I’ll make you a damn killer dungeon for the convention so you’ll all leave me alone about it from now on!”

The key difference of his game (AD&D) and hence, his style vs later versions, is that he kept the burden of the rules on his side of the screen.  I think that as long as you didn’t bore him, he was really fair.  Sadly, in the pre-internet era, the “Be fair first, a jackass second” school didn’t always take.

And Gary’s writing style was not the easiest to read. Many new DMs, probably never got to page 110.

So what do you think about Gary’s thoughts on PC death?  I happen to be 100% okay with it… although I would rather inflict severe story penalties/constraints instead of physical… after all, failure needs to be fun, no?

Your turn!

The game uses the PDQ2 system, designed by Chad Underkoffler. This game emphasizes story over mechanics, and the PDQ system is quite conducive to this style of play. Vox extends this ruleset with a Karma mechanic, which creates an economy of dice that move around the table between the players and GM. Karma dice are awarded at the beginning of play for things like bringing snacks or producing outside game materials like artwork or short stories, and during play for things like creative roleplaying and certain game mechanic triggers. Karma dice are spent by the players to roll additional dice to improve a character’s roll (entering The Zone) or to invoke the concept of Synchronicity, spending a certain number of dice to dictate facts about the game world or create and detail NPCs at appropriate moments. Players can also gift dice to other players or may use them to get some information from the GM by experiencing a temporary feeling of Deja Vu.

The book is split into two parts. One is intended for the player (Lux), and the second for the GM (Nox). Strangely, the introductory adventure is in the players’ section. It is a tightly crafted intro to the game’s mechanics and also sets the tone for the ensuing adventures, taking the players through an auspicious meeting with a colorful character in a disabled subway car and later leading them into a tangled web of intrigue involving a mysterious group of people. The game’s designers suggest this adventure can be used in several ways. It might be a real series of events that occurred, or it might be a shared hallucination or dream the PCs shared. Either way, it is intended to set the tone of the game going forward: mysterious, dark, and fraught with peril, all accentuated by the mystery of the voices in their heads and what they mean.

The game includes four separate settings in the GM’s section of the book, which can be used independently or, as the game suggests, can be interwoven into a single frenetic storyline. There is a modern day (or near-future) setting called Oversight; Facility, a futuristic insane asylum style setting; Currents, a 1920’s era setting in Buffalo, NY starring Nikola Tesla; and Victorian England with the Queen usurped and on the run in the streets of London, called Reckoning. In each, the timeline is slightly altered due to the presence of the Vox affliction. Political unrest and upheaval are common themes, as are secret societies. The settings are each quite detailed and prominent characters from each setting are treated with lengthy descriptions.

Vox suffers (or benefits, depending on your view) from a lack of concrete direction. “The Truth”, meaning the true origin, meaning, and goal of the voices, is left up to the GM. Several suggestions are made regarding the truth of matters in the GM section, but less experienced GMs running the game will find it difficult to parse all of these into a cohesive vision of the game world. The game also depends on spontaneity, as the players can use Karma dice to throw a wrench into the GM’s carefully laid plans. This is a game that requires some combination of an experienced, skilled or wildly creative GM to manage successfully. Excellent charts crafted to help the GM make some of these decisions on the spot are included, including a random name and personality type generator, and most of the game’s lists are organized such that you can roll 2d6 to select an option at random.

The PDF is well-constructed, including hyperlinks on the menus and a friendly layout for reading on a mobile device. The game is clearly influenced by a number of films, books, and other roleplaying games, many of which are credited as inspirations. Those that jumped out at me right away were Unknown Armies, Lovecraft, Paranoia, Don’t Rest Your Head, and Illuminati. All in all, Vox is a fascinating and elaborate game that delves into the depths of the human psyche. With the right gaming group and a talented GM, it could be intensely entertaining–however, it might not be the right fit if your group or GM is inexperienced, or if you’re looking for a more hack-and-slash-centric RPG.

Vox is available from DriveThruRPG, and is on sale until March 8th.

Some of my recommendations follow, in case you don’t want to flip through the literally hundred plus pages of discounted product:

• Doctor Who Time & Space Adventures, reviewed here
• Snows of an Early Winter, reviewed here
• Mouse Guard, discussed here and winner of an Origins Award for best RPG
• Shambles, a great game by A Terrible Idea where you play as a zombie (instead of against them)
• Starblazer Adventures. a gigantic science fiction RPG we hope to review soon
• Ptolus, the classic Malhavoc Press title easily adaptable to any version of D&D
• Savage Worlds core book, which was already darn cheap
• Deadlands Reloaded, the weird west setting for SW, which we talked about at DC Game Day
• Amethyst: Hearts of Chaos, which fans of 4th Power are going to want to check out
• Anything from Evil Hat… seriously, it’s all good
• And of course, lots, lots more… literally thousands of products

Check it out and let us know if there’s anything else that’s a “must purchase.”

Full press release below:

March 3^rd, 2010

DriveThruRPG Once Again Celebrates GM’s Day With It’s Biggest Sale Ever!

(Atlanta, GA) – March 4^th has become well known in RPG fan circles as “Game Master’s Day,” or GM’s Day, a day on which all gamers honor and celebrate the folks who take the time to set up and run roleplaying games. As a part of this celebration, dozens of publishers on DriveThruRPG are offering hundreds upon hundreds of products for sale at 25% off.

“There is no bigger or more important sale for us,” said Sean Patrick Fannon, Marketing and Communications Manager for DriveThruRPG. “Not only is this a powerful and important way to celebrate the most important part of any roleplaying game – the GM – it is vital to our publishers, enabling them to boost their revenue at an important time in their development cycles.”

With what is traditionally called “Convention Season” right around the corner, such a sale is a great way for gamers to get their hands on all that has come out so far. They also strongly support their favorite publishers, thus making sure new products can be made, published, and brought to market at the various conventions around the country and around the world.

“We are very proud to serve the health and diversity of this fantastic hobby,” Steve Wieck of DriveThruRPG, shared. “For a long time, there have been many claiming that RPGs are dying out. They must be missing what’s happening at DriveThruRPG. We had over 300 new RPG releases last month from a diverse group of amazing publishers serving enthusiastic customers all over the world. GM’s day is a great way for us to celebrate the hobby we love.”

The GM’s Day Celebration sale runs from the morning of March 3^rd through the morning of March 8^th this year. Fans should log in and delve into the huge list of titles on sale. “While they are at it, “Sean Fannon adds, “we hope customers remember to use the ‘Buying for someone else’ option at check out – after all, this is supposed to be a time to celebrate their GMs!”

DriveThruRPG.com is the world’s largest source of RPG products available for sale. It is an industry leader in modern business and technology developments for the tabletop gaming fan. For more information, contact Sean Patrick Fannon (sean@onebookshelf.com)

This week’s inquisition has more to do with a late article by myself. After snowmageddon and snowpocalypse hit the east coast, I found myself playing a great deal of video games. I had a good bit of down time and so did all my friends. We were all stuck in our respective houses and still wanted to hang out with one another. This isn’t exactly a new thing to me but it did get me a bit nostalgic for the times when my friends and I really could hang out all the time and play games of various types for long stretches of time.

Fortunately (in this case), the internet and increased connectivity has made the world a smaller place. We were able to play games, goof off, and have a good time. My roommates who weren’t accustomed to this sort of thing went a bit stir crazy and couldn’t comprehend why I was fine with being stuck at home for a week. For me it was a great opportunity to catch up with friends and relive some of the old days before we all had jobs and responsibilities. So, after this rather longwinded story, I began to wonder how many people like myself keep a good contingent of friends online.

One of the great things about the internet is that it has provided me the opportunity to meet and interact with people I never thought I’d be able too. For now, I’m going to bask in my nostalgia and ignore the seedy side of it all…

Force Field of Dreams

When I was a little kid, I was into watching baseball with my great-grandpa. My favorite player was Ron Cey, who played for the Cubs. They called him the Penguin because he was short and he kind of waddled, and at the time he had a .300 batting average. I didn’t know what that meant, but I knew it was better than anyone else’s. Ever. As a boy growing up in the midwest, I always had dreams of being a professional athlete, but trying out for baseball a couple of times quickly crushed those dreams. (Apparently, they have special pants that only go to the calf, and you do NOT, in fact, pull your socks up over your jeans. Who knew?)

After that, my desire to have anything to do with sports pretty much vanished. Sure, I’d watch the Super Bowl with my family every year (mostly for the commercials), and I played a little Tecmo Bowl. But, for the most part, it was like I’d decided my place in the world – and sports didn’t fit into that equation. Once I got into my teens, I even started to see athletes in a negative light – mostly due to a bunch of asshole jocks at my high school, their pack mentality, and their willingness to fit me into lockers. My opinion of sports improved somewhat once I got into college, though my interest never returned. I didn’t have anyone bullying me anymore, and had 5 years of martial arts training (which ironically, never really struck me as a ’sport’, since we rarely competed). I could separate assholes from athletes once again. I’d still pass if somebody wanted me to go see a baseball game.

IOC = Intellectual Olympic Control?

When it was an Olympics year, though…. I’d find myself in front of the TV watching stuff I never thought I’d expect. I was excited about the U.S. Basketball “Dream Team” when they first started allowing professional players. Figure skating and gymnastics always fascinated me with their spectacular moves and technical difficulty. This year, I was riveted by curling (and not  because of the unusually high concentration of attractive women in the event, either). The whole damned world gets really excited about swimming. SWIMMING. In a non-Olympic year, if I asked any of my friends to come over and watch swimming with me, I would be met with weird looks, laughter, and possibly masturbatory hand-motions.

I once begrudgingly brought home a used copy of Madden ‘07 so a friend would stop pestering me to play it with him. My wife, upon seeing me take it out of the bag, uttered words that would stick with me forever: “You brought sports into our home??!” This same woman told me she almost cried when the U.S. hockey team tied the game with seconds remaining in their match vs. Canada yesterday. There is clearly some sort of mind control at work here. I wish it would work all the time. I like getting excited about real things of little actual consequence that are happening in realtime, and I especially like doing it in groups. I find it strange, then, that professional sporting events don’t have much appeal to me.

Orcs vs. Humans?

Two years ago at Gen Con, the Indianapolis Colts were playing a game in the nearby stadium. I will never forget seeing all the people with blue jerseys and facepaint glaring at all the nerds and gamers (many of whom were carrying broadswords), who were glaring back. I felt like I was about to watch a riot unfold. Is this what keeps me from watching football? An old tribal hatred? Did my clansmen have the same experiences I did growing up? How the hell do we stop this? (For the record, I would gladly give my life if it meant that nobody would ever receive a swirlie ever again.) And yet, on occasion, I find people like my friend Dave (no not that Dave), who are into sports for nerdy reasons. He thrives on stats, and keeps track of all the players. That is the fun for him. And he’s a big of a geek as I am. He is a mystery to me, and perhaps an example to follow.

I daresay enjoying the Olympics makes me feel more connected to the rest of the world. I suppose the Olympics does work its secret “togetherness” magic on me after all. Somebody call me when the NBA or NFL figures out how to do the same trick.

This is going to be another of those non-RPG, exceedingly personal posts.  It seems I write at least one a season.  Feel free to skip.  I’ll be back soon, this post explains why I’m not really ‘here’.

I find it interesting that I made the exploration of failure in RPGs such an intense interest of mine because I’m currently living with the consequences of failure in my own life right now.  Don’t worry, nothing major, but important enough that it may affect “The Plan” if I don’t play my cards more carefully from now on.

As many of you know, in my quest to free time to write more, I’m currently prepping a series of teaching seminars for a local university. I started teaching them to corporate clients that require short technical and management courses to train their employees. So far I did 2 classes and I have my 3rd on Wednesday this week.

The idea behind this is that since these seminars  pay 3 times my current  hourly salary, I will be able to progressively phase out my old day job and work less hours to maintain my family’s quality of life.

However, as I’m just starting and have 5 or 6 courses to prep for, I have to work MORE in order to get the ball going.  As I had initially planned my schedule, I thought that if I would be able to cover my D&D game prep, do some short blog posts and do the course prep by making notes for myself and giving all participants a book on which I based my material on.

Last week, I had to teach a one day introductory MS-Project 2007 course to a private client group.  It was a last minute request from the Uni and I got about 2 weeks to prep it.  No sweat I thought,  I had taken 3 MS-Project classes in the last 8 years and I had about 90 hours of Project Management training in 2006.  Heck, that’s what my day job currently is, this should be easy right?

I built a course on the basics of MS-Project. Since there are no recent, easily available French manual for the current version of the software, I ordered English ones.  I mean what could go wrong right? I could wing the rest!

The class was a fucking disaster… and not the kind where an insufferable  keener says that getting 95% in a test is a disaster.  As the course progressed (the first half was great), I realized that I didn’t know enough about many of the software’s functions that the participants wanted to know about.  Moreover, instead of coming out and saying I didn’t prepare the course to go much deeper than basics, I tried to wing it by doing some exploratory teaching…

Those who’ve worked with MS-Project will likely groan out loud by now.  That piece of software is exceedingly finicky and does not respond well to the ministrations of an increasingly panicky teacher.

Bottom line, the clients became visibly and vocally frustrated as I flustered more and more and lost all confidence.

Those who follow my antics may know that I have long suffered from anxiety attacks when I’m in a depressive states.   They have always been focused on one thing, and only one thing:

“Oh Shit, I’m going to fail and lose everything!”

And here I was, in front of 11 confused and frustrated adults, living exactly what I dread the most: I was making a damn fool out of myself because I didn’t prep properly and I didn’t check with the client enough to target their specific needs.

Of course, I came back home after the course, my spirit crushed and my dreams of making it as a seminar hot shot seriously jeopardized.  The next day, at my day job, I was displaying clear signs of slipping back in depression and I could read the worry on the faces of my colleagues.

Then I got an email from the client asking me to call her…

I had 2 choices here.  Let my feelings take over and go into full on anxiety spike or bite the fucking bullet, call the client and see how I could salvage this. I was scheduled to give the same course to the second half of the client’s group this week.

As I expected/feared, I got served with a list of things that the participants didn’t like or would have preferred (better examples, better preparation, better mastery of content and more importantly, French class notes that they could written on during class and brought back home ).

The client was cordial, empathic even, but quite firm.

As she spoke, anxiety made way to annoyance and anger. Yes, the course went bad, and it was mostly my fault… but hey, I had 2 weeks to build it, I had other shit going on and I only spoke to the client like 5 days before the course while my prep was already done based on the course’s catalog description!

Instead of lashing out, a lose/lose proposition for all parties, I took note of her feedback, thanked her for taking the time to share it with me and we agreed on a clear set of things I would implement in the next class, with the rest of the group.

Chiefly among those was preparing the aforementioned set of class notes that would replace the 20 manuals I had the university order.

Again, I was angry, mostly at myself for falling for rookie mistakes.  I have 5 other courses to prep for, I could not really afford spend more time on this.  But that’s what being a professional means, You put your name on the line, you deliver or you give the spot to the next contestant.  I agreed to the list and went about my business so that hopefully I could salvage the contract and my rep with the university if I pulled the next one off.

I also focused my anger and promised myself that I would NEVER make myself the fool again in a seminar.

My anger became near-monomaniacal focus and triggered the mother of all work crunches, one I hadn’t had in ages!  What followed was 30 straight working hours (i.e. I slept, ate and took about  2 hours of breaks a day) over 3 days where I produced a formatted and fully edited 35 page MS-Project course booklet complete with screen shots and exercises.

I dumped it at Staples this morning to get it printed and bound at my expense.

Now that the red mist is slowly receding, I realize that the experience was cathartic. First, I’m no longer anxious or angry (well less angry).  Second, I learned how to create some pretty kick ass course notes, how to manipulate a rather complex French grammar and spelling app, how to prioritize my stuff better and how to plan my time around it.

Far more importantly, I’ve learned, hopefully once and for all,  that even if I fail miserably, even if I see my perceived credibility drain from the looks of people in front of me, even if people start challenging me about what I know or what I do…

It. Didn’t.Fucking.Kill Me.

It never did.

It never will… at least if I manage not to be dangerous (a must read! 5 Chattys!).

Being a very bright, risk adverse, rules abiding child, I grew up with very low exposure to failure.  yet I grew being deathly afraid of it. Fearing failure to the point of developing a psychological pathology is one of the biggest barrier to development and growth a person can have to deal with.

That’s probably why I try so hard not to fail at DMing and as a writer. I’ll likely struggle with that crap all my life.

But fuck me if I didn’t kick part of these stupid inner demons to the curb this week.  It felt GOOD to fight back!

So yeah… I’m starting to learn that falling down is part of life… Getting up is the real trick.  Took me only 37 years to realize it.

That’s why I slowed blogging to a crawl.  I also suspended my D&D game so I could save the prepping time (we’ll play boardgames instead).  I have to prepare several more courses that are scheduled for the month of March, April and May.  I want to do them right and I will make sure they are up to my (now adjusted) quality standards before focusing on other projects.

Wish me luck for Wednesday.

Last year, I played Mass Effect. It was pretty much destined to be a good game due to the tried-and-true BioWare formula: fantastic writing wrapped around a pretty good game engine for everything else.

There were a few things that annoyed me about the first game, most notably the strange and unwieldy inventory system. You had a lot of different weapons and they all had upgraded versions marked with Roman numerals (a MkIII shotgun was better than a MkII etc.) and you got sufficiently many of these that you would literally have to clean out your inventory every 10 missions. This was a pain. A large part of the game was flying to other worlds and cruising around in a moon buggy with a big gun on it. This part was a personal favorite of mine (it turned on my inner 8-year-old’s ‘wheeeeee I love outer space!!’ mode), but there were a lot of people that hated the buggy.

BioWare clearly decided to listen to user feedback on the sequel, though I don’t know that it made the game better for it. Let’s start with the positives. The inventory system was pretty much completely gutted and massively simplified. Now you find or build a weapon once, and anybody who has proficiency in that weapon type can automatically use it. If your main character can’t use a particular weapon type at the start of the game, there are opportunities to change that later. This is especially great if, like me, you didn’t know how amazing the sniper rifle is. You can use minerals you’ve collected to upgrade these weapons, as well as your armor, abilities, and the ship (which is REALLY important if you want a non-depressing ending). At the end of the day, all this is way more streamlined, and now managing your stuff doesn’t get in the way of the good stuff anymore. The combat gameplay is also much improved, and now it’s a lot more cover-based.

Now for the bad stuff. My beloved moon buggy is gone. You don’t get to roam around planets and shoot stuff with your big huge gun and make sweet jumps over craters anymore. This makes me very sad, but the rest of the game is good enough that I can forgive this. The new mining mini-game, though, is soul-crushingly awful. In the first game, mining consisted of going to planets and pressing a “scan” button. It was kind of like those when you see instructions hand dryers in public restrooms that have been vandalized and changed to read “PUSH BUTTON – RECEIVE BACON” – but you got minerals instead. This somewhat boring system was replaced by having to run a little targeting reticle incredibly slowly over the entire surface of a planet, and launching a probe when you detected minerals. Scanning an entire planet is quite literally a 10 minute process, and you’ll want to be scanning the whole galaxy full of them if you want enough minerals to trick out all your stuff. You can buy a ship upgrade that can speed your scans up this somewhat, but it is still a frustrating waste of a VERY large amount of time. I kept falling asleep on the couch while mining, and when I would wake up and see the mining screen still on my TV, I had to fight the urge to throw my controller at the screen. (I am grumpy when I wake up.) I’m Commander Shepard, dammit. I have lots of people on my ship that can do this crap for me. Or have Tali’Zorah write a super complex program that makes the reticle go up and down and fire a probe when it finds something. It’s called COMPUTER SCIENCE. Perhaps it is a lost art that died with the Protheans?

The Crunch And The Fluff

The “running around and killing stuff” portion of the game has also been streamlined, and now combat relies much more heavily on using cover. So much so, in fact, that it’s almost too obvious. If you see a bunch of waist-high stuff lying around, you can pretty much bet at least one bullet is about to try to make sweet love to your head. For some reason, a lot of your powers won’t work on enemies that are shielded in some way – and there are three separate types of shields that require different methods to take down efficiently. This means you’ll have to make educated guesses on who you’ll be fighting, and make educated guesses as to what party members to bring to have the right mix of countermeasures. On the “Normal” level of difficulty, I found the fighting to be a little bit easy, but still exciting enough that I never got bored. There are “boss” characters in most areas, but usually it’s just somebody with a little extra shielding that you can hear calling out some variation on “Space feces! It is Shepard! Kill him or her!” Several “boss” areas consist of defeating waves of opponents. There are a couple fights where they throw something ginormous and unexpected at you, and these battles are not very hard either. Though I haven’t played them, I suspect playing on higher difficulty levels would be more frustrating rather than fun because the only real ways to scale the difficulty are to add more guys (of which there are many already) or to make the AI cheat more. Overall, I found the combat fun but mediocre.

That being said, if you come into a BioWare game for anything but the writing, you’re missing the point. This game, like all its well-written brothers and sisters, has great character development and a plot that doesn’t bother waiting around with its twists. You’re put at odds with some of the people you met in ME1 right out of the gate, and I found many of these omg uncomfortable moments more exciting than getting shot at. You also get to decide the outcome of a few events from the first game by “remembering” events via a teammate asking you how they transpired. I forgot a few names from the first game and wound up with a complete asshole ruling the Council. Oops. Sorry about that, humanity. Martin Short Sheen plays the Illusive Man, your boss for this game (well, sort of), and the performance makes you feel like you’re in a deliciously old sci-fi movie from the late 60’s or early 70’s. He sits in a director’s chair and smokes while plotting humanity’s total domination of the galaxy, and he’s got an awesome view of a closeby star to help him think just because he CAN. Just like the first game, you have to go find and convince most of your team to join you. However, every last one of them has some sort of personal problem they need your help with. In the story, helping them frees their mind so they can focus on the mission. A little hokey, but their subplots are all so good I got over it fast. Even if you don’t care about any of that (and if you don’t, why the hell are you playing a BioWare game?!), you need to complete these quests for your crew because doing so unlocks their SECRET POWER. That’s right, they each learn to do something new once they’re loyal. Again, a little hokey, but I got over that really fast when I started capping people in the dome with WARP BULLETS. Additionally, you will need to have most (if not all) of your crew loyal if you intend to get an ending that doesn’t depress you.

SPOILER-FREE ADVICE ON GETTING A GOOD ENDING:

1. Get your entire crew loyal.
2. When it’s time to do the last mission (you’ll know) do it IMMEDIATELY.
3. Don’t leave people who don’t usually run around and shoot things with you to fend for themselves.
4. Pick the right people for the right job.
5. Upgrade your ship fully (you can leave the med-bay out, though).

Ignore this advice, and live with the guilt forevermore (or until you do another playthrough of the end like I had to).

The Most Important Part Of The Game

There is one more very important element to this game, and I think you all know what it is. WANG. DANG. SPACE POONTANG. I was a little disappointed in the sex scenes in this game on a couple fronts. I played Dude Shepard, so I cannot vouch for the level of titillation the sex scenes for anybody but the female crew. Unfortunately, both Mass Effect games are unlike Dragon Age in that the space-booty you have locked your reproductive torpedoes onto keeps its shields up until the end of the game, right before you go on your final mission. I’m not sure if this is how they handle birth control in the future, or what. Dragon Age was much kinder in this respect. It was kind of nice to sleep with Leliana about a third of the way into the game, and then hook up with Morrigan and carry that guilt with me all the way to the Battle of Denerim. However, Mass Effect 2 does take one unfortunate cue from Dragon Age in that the sex scenes tend to feature an awful damned lot of clothing during the long-awaited galacticoitus. Did someone delete all the 3D models for nipples at BioWare? Is that why everyone is wearing a bra, a snuggie, burlap, or a full environment suit?

SPACE-CONCLUSION

Overall, the things I loved about this game vastly outnumbered the things I didn’t and shot them in the face with warp bullets. It’s not the best shooter you’ve ever played. It’s not the best RPG you’ve ever played. Hell, it might not even be the best BioWare RPG you’ve ever played. But it is a very tasty blend of a lot of different things, and it all works out into a great game that I can happily recommend. I just wish they’d left out the stupid mining part and gave me a little galactic sideboob.

RPG Curse Words

Character death. Total Party Kill. These words have long been the bane of DMs and players. DMs face scornful players and upset friends when a beloved character dies, and a possible coup when a TPK comes around. Players see their invested time, work and creation disappear before them with a single roll of the dice. Nobody, DMs and players alike, enjoy the idea of starting again or losing a beloved character within the game. However if death is never an option, if DMs fudge rolls so nobody dies, then the thrill and tension of grand battles can very quickly dissipate and the campaign can grow stale. While there are already several methods of resurrection and many ways to cleverly avoid death already in existence, here are some flavourful ideas that may provide an interesting twist on death and resurrection, for the next time a PC kicks the bucket.

Heavenly Tricks

The numerous gods of the realms have the power to take and grant life as they wish. When a PC dies, their benevolent god may choose to restore their life upon them in payment for their duty and service. This gift is usually reserved for the greatest champions of the gods, the mightiest of Avengers, the most steadfast of Paladins and the purest Clerics. However there is one god, who freely hands out this amazing gift to any follower of any god.

Mezanerin is more commonly known simply as the Trickster, and he is an entity capable of taking on any form he desires. Throughout the years many heroes and scorned gods have tried to kill Mezanerin, and some even believe they succeeded. While not a true god, Mezanerin is immortal and immensely powerful. This conniving Trickster will often appear before the spirit of powerful adventurers in the form of the god they feel closest to, offering to restore their life in exchange for more devout faith within the god. Agreeing to the verbal contract places a curse upon the warrior’s soul, diverting all their faith to feed Mezanerin’s ever-growing power. Fables and legends of Mezanerin state that a cursed soul can only be redeemed by another who refused an offer of the Trickster, but the exact details of such a ritual are unknown as any who refuse Mezanerin tend to stay dead. For the remainder of their life the cursed warrior will have Mezanerin appear to them, requesting certain tasks be accomplished in payment for their life. Some are trivial tasks such as drinking from a particular well within a certain town, while other commands are more morbid and sinister, with entire families being killed for Mezanerin’s inane plans. No one knows what the Trickster’s goals or intentions are except for the demi-god itself. Some believe it is an entity of pure chaos, intent on destroying the realms. Others believe the enigmatic entity is a protector of the realms, commanding its indentured clergy to complete numerous tasks that stave of the end of the world. However the true intentions of the mimicking god may never be known.

A Price Too High

Unfortunate adventurers can often find help with resurrecting their fallen comrades within most cities and some towns. Clerical Priests and Tribal Shamans will often offer their services of resurrection to passing adventurers, usually for a price. In some circumstances the price is far too great.

The smooth ageless features of the cleric Hilis should warn seasoned adventures of the impending danger. Her nubile skin and firm body are often accentuated by ceremonial robes unfit for a clergy member of her status. Her sharp crystal blue eyes hold the unforetold wisdom of countless years, while her thin lips are often pursed as if her mouth were permanently soured, much like the words she throws at the rest of her clergy. Hilis is famous within her hometown, and questions about her are quickly answered with smiles and regaling stories of miracles and acts of generosity. Ask about her age, and be met with blank stares and confused looks as people stutter over their answer before simply stating that Hilis has just always been around. This miraculous cleric is made all the more benevolent through her acts of generosity. Hilis refuses monetary payment for any of her acts of miraculous healing and resurrection, instead she requests that one drop of blood be spilled in the name of her saviour. Polished to a perfect shine, the inside of this silver chalice is half filled with the dried blood of the countless people Hilis has saved.

For many of the grateful souls that Hilis has healed, a single drop of blood is a highly acceptable payment in return for the life and well being. When some of the poorer inhabitants of the area offer more blood than asked out of simple gratitude, she graciously denies. The ageless cleric actually gains her powers from a Warlock’s pact, made countless years ago on the verge of her own death. A horrific demon offered the young Hilis eternal life, beauty and power in return for the completion of a simple task: to collect a drop of blood from sixty five thousand willing donors. This task, after countless years of using her Warlock powers to heal and raise the dead, is almost over. When the final drop of blood is given freely into the chalice, the seals holding the almighty demon within the Abyss shall break. Unleashing a demonic presence across the realms that would bring about the end of days. If discovered for her evils, Hilis will quickly flee from any form of confrontation. The ageless Warlock uses her fame and presence within the area to rally support and protection from the people around, countless people will rally against any that wish Hilis harm, willingly risking their own lives to protect the healer they love so much. These mobs of protectors refuse to listen to reason or logic and blindly act in anyway they believe will protect their innocent and miraculous cleric. A final confrontation with Hilis can be resolved quickly as the Warlock has only healing spells and abilities. However if Hilis is able to willingly shed her own blood into the chalice, it acts as the last drop, unleashing a far greater threat across the realms.

Life of a Reaper

Death is an inevitability for almost all within the realms, the multitudes joining the ranks of the immortals. As such the Reapers of the world are forever engaged with collecting the lost souls of the fallen. It is not widely known that reapers are flesh and blood… mostly. They walk upon the material plan like any other, guiding the truly lost to their final resting place. Reapers are not born, but chosen. Epically powerful heroes can often be chosen whilst on the verge of death. As a Reaper stands over the fallen hero, they can offer them a chance to change their destiny. This offer is reserved for only the greatest and most noble of heroes. Reapers have a deep seeded disgust for any malevolent spirit that remains upon the material plain to inflict harm or revenge. Ghosts, Spectres, Wraiths and every other ectoplasmic entity will flee from the presence of a Reaper, whose powers grant the ability to instantly smite the undead. Reapers have families, friends and enemies. They are not completely immortal but they can be killed with enough perseverance. Excessive physical harm will fell a Reaper; they are also particularly weak to weapons smithed from pure iron. A regenerative ability keeps them standing far longer than any other mortal, and they can also see clearly into the ‘shade’, the demi-realm where spirits and souls wander. A Reaper will often develop more abilities when they become particularly successful at guiding the lost. As each soul is guided to the afterlife the Reaper is slightly empowered by the passing. Telekinetic abilities can manifest in numerous ways and they can also become capable of entering the shade, moving freely through walls and obstacles.

Products mentioned: Masterplan Software, Dark Platypus Action Stands

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The elemental energy that surges within you also courses through your blade.

A dragonborn fighter is one of the toughest adversaries, not only because of the racial boost to strength  but also because of the ability to combine combat challenge with a breath weapon to mark multiple creatures at one time. With the Honorable Blade paragon path for martial characters presented PHB Races: Dragonborn you gain even more ways to utilize your breath weapon to maximum effect. The level 11 path feature Dragon Breath Action allows you to use your dragon breath power whenever you spend an action point, even if it has already been expended during the current encounter. In addition, the Draconic Sidestep encounter attack power allows you to use your dragon breath power another time even if it has already been expended, giving you a minimum of three dragon breath attacks per encounter. With the ability to mark any target that you attack, this allows you to change the course of a battle several times. If you also take the Hurl Breath feat you can use your dragon breath up to a range of 10 as an area burst 2, which allows you to mark a large number of targets from a distance.

If you decide that instead you want to be a dragonborn who embraces the primal spirits, making a dragonborn warden and multiclassing into fighter can be a very effective tactic. The new Daunting Breath feat allows you to mark each target hit by your dragon breath power until the end of your next turn, effectively duplicating the ability of a full-fledged fighter. Add in the Surprising Breath feat and every creature hit with your dragon breath is not only marked for a turn, but also grants you combat advantage. At paragon tier you can still take the Honorable Blade paragon path due to MC into fighter, and you also gain access to the Spirit Breath feat for primal classes that allows you to regain the use of your dragon breath power whenever you use a daily primal attack power that has the keyword matching your breath weapon. Thankfully you also get the Draconic Blade path feature at level 11, which allows you to add the damage type of your breath weapon to all damage dealt with your melee weapon. In this way you can use your dragon breath power an average of four times per encounter (if you use a daily power). Each time you do this, you mark every target hit and they grant combat advantage to you.

If you happen to be a dragonborn with an acid breath weapon, you can also take the Corrosive Breath feat in the paragon tier that causes each target hit by your dragon breath to take a -2 penalty to AC for one turn. Empowered breath from the PHB is also a good choice, upping your breath damage to d10’s, and to top things off you can take the Dragonbreath Warrior feat from Martial Power that adds 1W damage to your next attack after using dragon breath. Once you enter the epic tier, you can take the Dissolving Breath feat from PHB Races: Dragonborn that replaces the -2 to AC with a -3 to all defense for one turn after being hit by your dragon breath. Draconic Restoration is another must-have feat that allows you to regain your dragon breath when you use your second wind, particularly brutal when combined with Epic Recovery from MP that lets you use your second wind twice during an encounter. Draconic Triumph is another new epic feat that lets you regain the use of your dragon breath power whenever you reduce a nonminion enemy to 0 hit points, so the more monsters you take out the more you can use your breath weapon. Dragon Warrior is an epic feat from Martial Power that lets you regain your dragon breath power when you are first bloodied in an encounter, which brings your total up to an average of seven dragon breath attacks per encounter plus one for every nonminion you dispatch. Each one of these breath attacks marks, gives a -3 penalty to all defenses for one turn, and grants you a bonus 1W damage on your next attack. Not to mention the fact that you’re laying down a small amount of damage with the breath weapon itself to a large area each time you use it.

Whether you choose to go the warden/fighter or the straight fighter route, these feats all allow you to clearly differentiate your character from a defender of any other race. Furthermore, you have the ability to change the flow of battle by marking numerous targets from a distance and laying down large penalties on them at the same time. If you do choose to make a fighter in this way, I also suggest the Marked Scourge feat from Martial Power that requires the Combat Challenge class feature and adds your wisdom modifier to damage against a marked creature once per round.

The elemental power of the dragons flows in your blood more potent than any before you.

If you’re looking to play an arcane dragonborn character, then one of the most thematic choices would be a dragon magic sorcerer. The dragonborn’s natural bonuses to strength and charisma boosts both of the main stats for a dragon magic sorcerer. The Draconic Spellcaster feat from Arcane Power is a must have, as it grants you a +1 to hit with any arcane power that shares a keyword with your breath weapon. Similar to the martial build above, if you take the Ninefold Master paragon path from PHB Races: Dragonborn for arcane characters, your breath weapon becomes a very useful asset. Breath Expertise is a level 11 path feature that makes your dragon breath attack count as an arcane power belonging to all of your arcane classes, which means your bonus to hit with Draconic Spellcaster applies to it as well, but even better you can add your implement’s enhancement bonus to the damage rolls for your breath.

This path also shares the same Dragon Breath Action feat as the martial path, allowing you to use your dragon breath more times per encounter. Ancient Soul is a new feat in this book for dragon magic sorcerers (it also makes your dragon breath count as an arcane attack power) that lets you regain the use of your dragon breath whenever you take damage of the type that it deals. If you structure the rest of the build around taking powers of the same type as your breath weapon, or with feats such as Adaptable Breath that allow you to change the type of damage your dragon breath does, then you should be maximizing the bonuses you get. Using some of the same feats detailed in the martial build, you should be able to use your breath weapon an average of 3-4 times per encounter and blasting enemies with arcane powers the rest of the time.

Divine retribution delivered by cold, draconic hands.

Last but not least you can make a truly terrifying dragonborn paladin with a very similar build to the martial one detailed above. The new Io’s Challenge feat for paladins adds your constitution modifier to the damage taken by a creature from your divine challenge if you are bloodied. In addition you should take the Draconic Challenge feat from Divine Power, which places your divine sanction on a target hit with your dragon breath, and combine it with a cold breath weapon and the new Frost Breath feat at paragon and Freezing Breath feat at epic and every target you hit with your breath weapon will be immobilized until the end of your next turn and most likely take damage from your sanction as a result.

If you’d like a different choice, the Platinum Templar paragon path in PHB Races: Dragonborn is a nice compliment to this build (and finally a Bahamut specific divine paragon path) gives you the Polar Breath feature at level 16 that has your cold breath weapon slowing enemies that they must save against to end. It also has a great level 20 daily power, Misty Breath, that turns enemies to a fine mist as a really cool effect for your dragonborn character to have as a breath attack.

The most powerful of dragons, and gods, returns.

This new epic destiny is a great compliment to any of the above mentioned concepts, granting the Breath Mastery feature at level 21 that lets your dragon breath power ignore any resistances or immunities of targets and allowing you to choose the type of damage it deals each time you use the power (between acid, cold, fire, lightning, or poison). After using your dragon breath, you also gain a +2 to attack and damage rolls with powers that deal the same type of damage as your breath weapon. Draconic Incarnation is another level 21 feature that simply and gloriously increases your strength and charisma attributes by 2.

As an avatar of the deceased god Io, you also gain elemental wings that grant you a constant fly speed and the ability to hover. Best of all, you gain the ability to discorporate like divine beings do. Once per day when you die, you retreat the astral sea until you succeed on a saving throw, at which point you return to life and can immediately spend a healing surge. Assuming all of that isn’t enough for you, the overall quest for an epic level character that becomes an Avatar of Io is to find a way to return the god to life – in some cases possibly becoming the extremely powerful god yourself!