Can anyone out there give me a compelling reason why I, or any other gamer of my generation for that matter, would want to buy the next version of D&D?  I have no real desire to purchase a game I already own well meeting my needs, that being to tell a great long-running story to a group of friends and family on a Saturday night.  It seems like a waste of money to me.  I'm not a collector so why buy?  I buy the books for entertainment purposes, in other words to use in crafting and improving our games.  I own so much core and supplemental material now, I haven't even begun to use everything in my existing arsenal.  This includes material dating back from the current version to when I first started playing over twenty years ago.  I've barely scratched the surface and will be playing long into retirement on what I already own.  The good news is that the 3.5 material I haven't purchased yet is about to get a whole lot cheaper.

D&D isn't as cool as it used to be when it wasn't popular.  Wizards of the Coast is simply catering to a new generation of gamers raised on video games and MMORPGs, neither or which are at all particularly effective at limitless interactive story-telling.  So the proposed virtual table top fails to interest me too.  I like real dice, real metallic miniatures, vinyl mats, dungeon tiles, and my trees and rocks.  Still, if I were to consider using one, I'd use Fantasy Grounds which looks a whole lot better (it looks far more friendly an accessible to those with visual imparements). What gamers really need are more tools for running games and generating game ... Read More »

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Campaign News The Wizard's Scroll

With still twenty-four hours left to go the fellowship decided not to stand idly by and wait for death on spidery legs to find them.  The dwarves, Hilda and Draupnir, lead the way back through the cave complex to the chamber where the fellowship had slain the horrific umber hulk after a long running battle.  Soon they were met with a sight that both disgusted and reviled them all: a dozen large spiders now occupied the room and they'd cocooned the hulk's body.  They were hungrily sipping blood from its decaying corpse.  The spiders seemed slow to respond or notice the intrusion, perhaps in a state of torpor from feeding, but rose to the attack after Ivellios fired the first double bow shot at a spider clinging to the ceiling in the chamber.  The spiders surged forward, crawling over the floor, over the ceiling and even over one another to bite at the dwarves with mandibles dripping poison and blood.  After only a minute or so of battling the spiders did a huge brown and yellow-haired beast of a spider run up from the rear to join in the fray.  Hilda seemed to draw the angry insects like a veritable spider magnet, as she sprayed goo everywhere with strikes from her mighty axe.  Her rage at the spiders knew no bounds.  Ivellios continued to fire double shots from his bow at spiders crawling toward them across the ceiling, as did Saille with her staff; they'd hoped to prevent them from passing overhead and dropping behind them.  After a long and gory battle, the spiders met with eventual defeat.  The majority of the fellows stood dripping with spider guts, their footsteps crunching on dead spider legs as they prepared to enter the next chamber.

They feared the worst, or at least the unknown, as they walked cautiously into the next chamber, a cavern featuring a large hole in the ceiling.  With a tentative plan to explore the hole, from ... Read More »

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Campaign News Valley of Obelisks

The journey from the half-burned-down barn between Oakhurst and the Sunless Citadel was uneventful except for a light morning rain that continued on into the afternoon.  The fellowship was somewhat drenched on their approach to the ravine leading into the complex, but none the worse for wear.  Investigating the area, they made note of a few recent camp fires (within the last two weeks) near the outer edges of the ravine.  The weather had fouled any tracks, however.  Shadow too noticed that the rope they'd once used to lower themselves into the ravine, to a platform below, was missing.  Had someone cut it down to make entrance into the Citadel more difficult?  No one could really say.  Nevertheless after a brief exchange of ropes and a few quick knots, the fellowship easily replaced the missing rope and repelled down into the ravine, dropping this time to the top-most platform overlooking the remains of the fallen structure.  All seemed quiet in the dark depths below.

Thorne took the lead down the long switchback stairs that would take them to the now-familiar entrance into the crumbling structure.  Little seemed to have changed after the brief time they'd been away from the crumbling place once occupied by dragon cultists.  The stairs were still rubble strewn, though easy to navigate.  There appeared to be no dire rats this time, though Thorne soon noticed the presence of three twig blights feeding on the fresh bodies of goblins on the parapet below.  Shadow lit the platform with a flaming arrow and a brief battle ensued.  The blights were easily dispatched, mostly with bow fire.  One of the small tree creatures had even conveniently fallen into a pit trap blocking the door, allowing the elves to pepper it with arrows from on high, whilst still on the stairwell.  Holly had a second chance to view more dea ... Read More »

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Campaign News The Sunless Citadel

Shadow and Thorne sat with Erky in the tap room of the Ol' Boar Inn in Oakhurst.  Shadow seemed to be contemplating their path ahead whilst sharing a bowl of boiled eggs with Thorne.  He munched on crispy toast and fatback bacon, swilling down ale with gusto.  Shadow too found it pleasant not to be eating trail rations for a change.  Still, they both knew that the Sunless Citadel had claimed too many lives for their comfort.  Shadow and Thorne also knew that only they two were insufficient to face whatever continued to lurk in the darkness down the old road.  That and the very thought of admitting defeat seemed to trouble at least Shadow.

They had also not yet accepted the gnome Milo into their fellowship.  His begging to join them in whatever endeavors lie ahead seemed to have had the opposite effect.  One thing else was certain.  Erky Timbers didn't favor his brother any more than they did.  Still, they were now very short-handed.

Erky sat sullenly near Shadow, clearly with some trouble on his mind as well.  He had earlier insisted that he would find his way home with the next traders that came through Oakhurst.  Erky was leaving and yet Shadow wondered at his mood.  He certainly had Milo and the fouled relationship with his father on his mind but he should have been happy to have been freed from goblin captivity and now looking forward to the prospect of returning home to his wife and children.  He broke the silence.  "Shadow, I have a favor to ask," he said at last.  "I'm not sure I can make the journey home alone and would like to ask that you and Thorne come with me."

Shadow had wondered whether the gnome could make it home on his own.  She halted though, noting the eavesdropping of a young Halfling at the ... Read More »

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Campaign News The Sunless Citadel