Legendarius's page

I played 2E for a long time back in the 90s and have a lot of the campaign material for Greyhawk, Ravenloft, Planescape and Mystara and have slowly been picking up items from eBay, etc. that I didn't have. When I ran 2E games, most of them were set in Ravenloft. The 2E era definitely provided many of the great settings and fluff for the game.

I haven't played a 2E game since 2000 since we pretty much switched to 3E right away after wrapping up our last adventures. Overall, for us, 3E made a lot of improvements but really captured the flavor of the older games. The main area of improvements for us were the skill system which unified thief skills, non-weapon proficiencies, etc., the base d20 roll + modifiers mechanic and Fort/Will/Reflex saves based on the target versus saves based on the source of the effect like poison. It was good to see half-orcs and monks and barbarians back in the core rules again too. I think 3.5 and PF have continued to improve upon this version and really provide a ton of options.

Would I play 2E again? While I would never say never, I'm much more inclined to either take 2E materials and change them to 3E (or 4E or perhaps 5E) or simplify it and go with BECMI/RC which I like for the low complexity. 2E is a good game but for the most part I prefer the way other editions/versions handled various aspects of the mechanics.

L

Although I appreciate 4e as a game, and have even run a campaign of it, I had my issues with it and believed that I still preferred 3.5. However my recent experiences of running the 3.5 Freeport Trilogy and having to GM pre-written NPCs I found myself longing for the ease of use of 4e's NPC stat blocks.

...

I'd be curious to see which stat blocks in the Freeport trilogy you spent time converting (if at all) and what options you chose as I'm currently running those adventures using Pathfinder rules as the main RPG item at a yearly game weekend we have. We ran Death in Freeport last year and for the most part I ran it on the fly using either stat blocks as shown in the module or direct replacement with PF monsters from the Bestiary.

I too find I've enjoyed different aspects of 3E/PF, 4E and older editions and I'm looking forward to what they come up with for the base 5E/Next rules and if that becomes my new goto version or if it provides content/house rule ideas I can apply to a previous edition.

L

Hey Killer, been a while since I looked at this thread, thanks for bumping it. Thanks too for the recommendations regarding retooling Return to the Tomb of Horrors for 3.5/PF. I do live in Northern VA, out in Loudoun county. Wish my schedule permitted some time to work in a campaign right now. It sounds like you and your gang have a lot of fun and I really enjoy a lot of the classic adventures.

L

I agree with a lot of what I read above. For me, a sandbox game is generally an open ended game where the players choices (and the consequences of those choices) drive the game. The setting is one with multiple locations, characters and organizations that relate to each other in various ways and there is a general course of events that will happen as time moves forward. There are almost always multiple stories in the background. Without the outside interference of the party, things will change in certain ways. But there are no major outside story pressures pushing the players to go to either A or B. The players pretty much decide what interests them and in some ways self limit their choices by choosing to follow certain leads or explore certain locales. When the caravan gets robbed the PCs can choose to chase the bandits, tend to the wounded, escort the survivors to safety or just ignore the situation at their own leisure. The game goes on regardless of what they decide to do. But what happens next can be influenced by that choice.

L

Relative to the 4E=New Coke comparison, from what I recall, for a while after they reintroduced Coca Cola Classic, Coke had two versions on the shelf at once and for a while it left them with more shelf space and therefore a bigger presence in the grocery stores. I can see with these reprints and 4E books to be followed by Next, that it might do WotC some good in that there are more choices on the shelf that all send money home to them. An idea like this could also leverage existing older materials that make use of just the new D&D core. So, when Next is released, they could have a bunch of products that take advantage of various options and the full game and then also have a D&D Classics series of module reimaginings that just use the simple core: say Keep on the Borderlands, Village of Hommlet and Isle of Dread for example.

As to Monte leaving, to me it's a little disappointing but if folks think that him leaving means all that he contributed to the game and produced in the last X months is now gone they aren't thinking it through. Many times on a project people come in and then leave for various reasons, take a new assignment, move to a new position. It's just not practical or logical in most cases to try to remove or undo what they've contributed to the product.

I like their plan so far for the playtest. I think keeping it specific and structured will yield better results for them as they fine tune what they have. Too many variables in the mix and you can't tell as easily what change produced what result.

L

I still have more copies of 3.5 base books than I know what to do with.

I have to agree with this.

This I don’t get. A lot of folks already have one or more copies of the 3.0 and/or 3.5 D&D rules from 2000/2003. I know personally I have one copy of 3.0, the standard copy of 3.5, the deluxe copy of 3.5 and the pocket books of the D20 SRD from Mongoose (basically 3.5 without WotC specific art and IPs) along with the 3.5 Rules Compendium not to mention Pathfinder and other D20 variants (Arcana Unearthed, Iron Heroes, Everquest, etc.).

I understood reprinting the AD&D 1E books from the 70s/80s (coming to stores in July in theory) since those are classic and a lot of people don’t have them or want copies for collections or nostalgia reasons. But with Pathfinder the game most of the existing 3.5 rules fans already migrated to, and given how nice the PF material is, why would I want to buy 3.5 again, or even for the first time?

Not as a consumer that it's bad per se that they are releasing these, but as a company I wonder how many they expect to realistically sell. I'm just having trouble figuring out their strategy, especially while still selling some 4E products and beginning the 5E playtest.

L

I like how it's pretty much a brutal beast. Too bad for our hero there really isn't any treasure in its lair. Great special effects for the day. Love the way the dragon moves.

L

Bacon rocks for sure.

Relative to the BLT, I agree that you need to use Hellmann's mayonaise (called Best Foods west of the Rockies I believe). A fresh vine ripened tomato is key. I spent summers at the Shore in NJ and Jersey tomatoes were great for this, especially in late July/early August. You need a bit of salt for the tomato, some course sea salt works nicely. Fresh ground black pepper applied to the mayo on both pieces of bread. As for the bread, I think it needs to be lightly toasted and relatively thin, say a nice piece of rye bread although white works fine too. Lastly, the lettuce has to be fresh and crispy, and iceberg works well here, although other varieties can be used. I like relatively thin strips of bacon cooked just past chewy - the strip still needs to droop if you hold it from one end. I don't mind a nice slice of American or cheddar cheese.

Making me hungry.

L

I'm very interested in this idea of turning X4/X5/X10 into an adventure path. X5 was the first module I ever purchased back in the day and have had X10 probably since it was new. I recently got a copy of X4 off of ebay to complete the series. Are you including any content about Sind from the Champions of Mystara boxed set?

I'd probably just ignore Wrath of the Immortals as far as this proposed AP goes. Assume AC 1000 as the starting point using the gazetteer content to help shape the war, provide War Machine statistics, etc.

L

Another idea - the Doctor has to go back to where his previous selves were in order to capture information or something from the TARDIS back then. So they integrate his visits to earlier selves by showing him finding his way back with he and his current companions intentionally try to avoid contact with the older group, although naturally some interaction occurs. Kind of like the Deep Space Nine episode with the original series Tribbles episode. They could do that using older footage for the original series along with newer original footage featuring the new series Doctors and companions. If they took this approach I'd like to see the encounter with the 8th Doctor feature original material and his companions, maybe based off the novelizations and comics, to possibly include as was mentioned showing Doctor #8 regenerate into Doctor #9.

L

I never got to play these video games but they sound fun. Mystara is one of my favorite settings and this sounds like a good foundation for an adventure path. Are you kind of assuming the adventure takes place around 1000 A.C. at the time the Gazetteer series is set? I look forward to hearing more about the campaign.

L

Make the story as told by a bunch of roleplayers playing the Cubicle Seven or old FASA version of the Doctor Who RPG.

Oh, and I want to see the TARDIS control room redesigned again. Maybe with another round of glitches for the chameleon circuit too, but naturally she ends up looking like a police box again at the end.

Wang Chi: Here's to the Army and Navy and the battles they have won; here's to America's colors, the colors that never run.
Jack Burton: May the wings of liberty never lose a feather.

It's quite possible that a lot of folks will buy D&D Next even if they don't play it to mine for ideas. I think there will be a lot of folks who are system switchers who play different campaigns with different systems who might play D&D Next one night, Original D&D a different one, Pathfinder for their monthly game and use 4E for their annual tactical battle scenario.

I'm looking forward to hearing more about the playtest when it becomes available.

L

One idea might be to have the current Doctor/companions with him having flashbacks to earlier events that show the older Doctors and their companions. So as it goes along we see each Doctor in his own mini story and it builds up the current primary plot and provides the background and answers to questions that come up.

I'd love a rich, well covered documentary that talked to both the characters and story as well as the actors, writers and other behind the scenes folks. Walk through each season at a high level. Talk about the stories. Discuss the impact and audience reaction to it. Have interviews with the cast and crew from that part.

Oh, and leading up to the 50th anniversary have some remastered versions of some of the best episodes of the old series.

Sounds like an interesting project. I've had the old Savage Coast module a long time but never really read it and then recently picked up the two Red Steel boxed sets. I'll have to get those Dragon issues (or find whatever it is I did with my Dragon CD-ROM compilation). I need to sit down and read the material.

What about instead of a prestige class, maybe using some sort of feat tree where there is a base feat maybe you get for free upon exposure and then as you go up in level you can take additional powers by taking new Cinnabar feats when you get your new feats?

Now on top of that you could maybe have some sort of prestige class that built off of that feat framework but you'd effectively have to be higher level, have a minimum number of Cinnabar feats, etc.?

L

I think I'd want to see a multiple Doctor episode of all four of the Doctors from the recent show (and maybe Doctor #8 too) - something like The Five Doctors but on Earth. Would also need K9 (or multiple K9s). Some of the older Doctors maybe as voice overs?

I'd like to see some of the older companions from the original series as their older selves, after they left the TARDIS and aged appropriately.

I think a scene with the Doctor by Sarah Jane's grave site would be a nice touch.

Needless to say, the Master, Daleks and Cybermen all need to make an appearance in some fashion.

A cameo with some of the Torchwood crowd would be good.

I really have no idea what they'll actually do though. I hope to be pleasantly surprised.

Nothing in particular that I don't want.

L

Edition:
I have to say that my favorite edition is the classic BECMI/RC version of the rules which originally came out in 1983 when I started gaming. It's probably fair to say that we actually played more first edition AD&D back in the day but I really like the more streamlined rules.

Modules:
Of the old school modules my favorites are B2 Keep on the Borderlands, B5 Horror on the Hill, X1 Isle of Dread, I6 Ravenloft and the Desert of Desolation series I3-I5. Never got a chance to play any of the A/G/D/Q/T modules back in the day unfortunately.

L

I chose the Ranger. Not that they are a bad class per se (and I like them thematically), but I find it too easy to replicate their repertoire with other classes, in particular the fighter with the right feat choices, in particular with some druid multi-classing. I've yet to play a Pathfinder ranger so I'm not sure how much they've improved since 3.5.

L

My impression from watching the video was that they were just saying they hadn't committed to any specifics about what old campaign settings they would support and in what fashion. Outside of the video, I thought I read that Forgotten Realms would be the main setting supported out of the gate but after that nothing was decided.

My pure speculation, not based on anything, is that they're going to setup the base game/default setting using the Forgotten Realms as the base (Realms deities as examples in Core with a Nentir Vale sort of generic setting that fits in Realms, etc.). They'll later (within a year) release a more deluxe and detailed Forgotten Realms product, either a hardback book or boxed set.

After that, I think they'll go for a new campaign setting before they rerelease existing material.

As for me, I'd love to see a return to Greyhawk or Mystara, but I kind of doubt it.

L

Sounds like a great campaign. Loved reading about the Witch-Doctor fight. Good stuff.

L

I finished watching the video this morning. I think it provided a nice overview of where they were going. I liked how they replied to the business focused questions and how they talked about how the newer board games, etc. help them in terms of sales of the D&D brand and letting the RPG be itself (or however they phrased it). I like that they aren't trying to make the next edition have 30+ books you need in order to play. It sounds like they can move away from a couple books a month model to having a few big releases for the RPG each year (with each book supporting multiple option "modules" in addition to the core) coupled with a few of the board games and similar products that are part of the overall D&D brand. It also sounds like electronic DDI type support is going to continue. I think this is all a good thing.

I'd like to see them take a Paizo approach of some stand alone adventures and maybe one adventure path per year. I don't want to see a return to a lot of splat books of the Complete X or Y Powers variety and fortunately it doesn't seem like that's the intention at the moment.

L

I think a big difference that games and other electronic media bring to the table and what gets the developers/publishers concerned so much about piracy is the ease with which perfect copies can get made. When I was young, it was just as illegal to take a book, photocopy the pages and then sell that to a third party. But it was a pain and expensive on my part. It was possible to record a copy of a music record, tape or CD I bought onto a cassette but it was time consuming and the quality would suffer. Old video games based on cartridges were hard to duplicate for most people. Modern digital reproduction is perfect and convenient.

I do believe that a used games market should stay in business if they can make it work. That said, there needs to be a way to separate my ownership of the physical media (making copies for myself, etc.) from the license. I should be able to setup the software and use it all I want, but if I decide to sell or give it away, there needs to be a way to turn off my ability to use it, even if I have a copy of the media that I sold. Then, it's reasonable for the publisher to charge an activation fee (less than the total price paid for the software media production and distribution) to reactivate it by the new owner. This might mean though that an internet connection is necessary to play, or at least install and activate for your machine, a game and you won't be able to take that used copy and play it until you connect back to the publisher.

L

I have a few of these 2nd edition one-on-one adventures myself but have never done a direct conversion of any of them to Pathfinder. For the most part, they seem to be more story driven and less combat/dungeon delve so I would think you could get by as Paladin says with straight up conversions for most of the generic monsters and NPCs. I would take the main villain type NPCs and do a custom build for those probably, incorporating Pathfinder items and spells. My main rule of thumb for these kinds of conversions is flavor over form.

Bill Lumberg wrote:

Dark Sun! The first box-set was the best version. TSR made a big mistake in having the setting follow the events of the novels. The great appeal for me was the overwhelming sense of oppression and brutality as everyday facts of life. Killing off the sorcerer-kings undermined the setting.

Apparently the 4e Dark Sun winds the timeline back to just after the first novel to recapture that first box set feel. Not sure if it succeeded or not as I have yet to read the 4e Dark Sun (bought the books though!) and am not familiar with prior versions of Dark Sun.

Yeah, I like that they set the 4E version right after Tyr becomes free. I think that creates an interesting political environment to serve as the backdrop for the Dark Sun setting with different factions vying for power. If I run anything longer than a one shot in 4E someday it'll probably be Dark Sun even though I tend to play either Pathfinder/3E or Basic/Rules Cyclopedia. I really liked those two Dark Sun books.

As to the original question of the thread, I have to say Ravenloft hands down as my preferred setting of the two. I like the gothic horror theme, the "common" gothic monsters like werewolves, golems, ghosts, vampires and undead in general are great fun. Strahd is my favorite D&D NPC of all time and is really fun to run as a DM. The setting works whether you treat is as a demiplane or if you just insert some or all of the domains as territories or islands in a more traditional campaign setting. The key is the Dark Lords and the lure of the Dark Powers to corrupt the good and the innocent.

I have to go with Planescape for this one. I have most of the materials that TSR produced for the setting and found it a lot of fun. Great source material. Fantastic art, layout and style. And it was such a shift in the way you look at the game world.

I think while I like the idea of magically powered flying ships I tend to fall into the outer space in my prime material plane is just like outer space here in our universe and that natural scientific laws are just as true in the game world (so gunpowder works and gravitational force is based on the mass and distance between objects for example). True magic can override the natural order but otherwise things work as you'd expect them to. So I just didn't really get into the crystal spheres and phlogiston physics. Now if these ships are off sailing the Astral Sea or moving through the Elemental Plane of Water I'm cool with that. But here on the prime? Not so much.

L

Apparently the 1977 basic rules, if they didn't come in a boxed set originally did come in a box by 1978 along with the B1 module per the "Basic Set (3rd Printing w/B1)" that I see on Noble Knight's listing. The Moldvay/Cook B/X Basic and Expert rules were released in 1981 and I think the 1981 Basic included B2 and the Expert included the blue cover X1 Isle of Dread. The 1983 Mentzer BECMI Basic and Expert sets with the Elmore covers didn't include an adventure in the basic set (?) but the Expert set came with the orange cover Isle of Dread.

To me, the first edition AD&D books and the 1983 basic and expert sets are the most iconic, key versions.

I'm definitely interested in getting my hands on the reprints.

L

I have to say that overall I really enjoy this show. But there are certain things that require suspension of disbelief in terms of their decisions.

Is it just me, or do way too many people in this show regularly venture out on their own? At night, or in the woods, or out of sight of their friends. Umm, there are killer zombies out there and they’ll like eat you.

And while on the subject of bad ideas, to me that farm doesn’t seem overly defensible. They have very few people and no real defenses like walls, fences, trenches, etc. Shouldn’t they have a way to seal off the farm house and hole up if a bunch of the living dead show up for a snack? I mean have a stocked pantry, storm cellar, well for water (and/or rain barrels), and so on?

The other thing that gets me with them is they make these runs into town to go to the drug store to get stuff. Umm, take a couple of pickups and some shotguns, roll up to the store, take everything out, and move it to your home base. Why keep making trips into town when town is full of walkers and other trouble?

Also, there’s that big car pileup they ended up at right before they found the farm. Why not take a few trips out there with a posse and drive some of those cars back to the farm? Easier than messing with siphoning gas and it gives you spare cars and parts if you need them.

Just my take. It's fun looking at the actions of the characters in terms of how a PC adventuring party would likely address them.

L

I have nothing against people using point buy methods but for me I really like the idea of rolling up my stats at random and seeing how those stats inspire me.

None of the above.

In the last five years I've played D&D 3.5, D&D Rules Cyclopedia, D&D 4th, Pathfinder, Conan D20. I don't recall anything else but my RPG sessions have been relatively rare.

L

I think the impact of save or die is much more pronounced with the more recent editions of the game that it was back in the day. Here's why I say this. Back in the day PCs had much lower hit points, especially at low levels. A first level basic PC might only start with 1 hit point and at most might have 11 I believe (fighter with max on d8 hit die and CON bonus of 3). And when you hit 0 hit points, by the book you were dead. No hovering on death's door or negative hit points or death saves. This means it was very possible for one or two hits during combat to kill the beginning PC, even without a save or die effect. An extreme effect like poison or turn to stone killing that PC in a save or die was quite reasonable.

That said, it wasn't as big a deal when you could create a new first level character in under five minutes without any tools other than dice and a pencil. My brother and I were making some characters using the 1981 basic book the other day and we made a whole party up in under 30 minutes.

A second factor was that there wasn't an escalating DC for how hard the save or die would be. By high levels, most PCs had something above a 60% chance of succeeding at the save. At very high levels I think almost all of the saves were 2s meaning a 95% chance of success.

So, in a nut shell, low level PCs were weak but easily replaced if they met an unfortunate end - something that could easily happen every encounter. High level PCs had a great chance of shrugging off lethal effects, but the risk was still there to create tension.

Nowadays, I'd hate to spend a lot of time working on a PC to have him dead from one hit or one failed save - especially if making the PC without a character generator.

To strike a balance I might use a system where if you aren't bloodied, then you get a bonus equal to your CON bonus or something on your save for an instant death effect but no bonus if bloodied. Some effects like poison I might do something like continuing damage for failed saves some number of rounds until you succeed but a save that fails on a roll of one strikes you dead.

L

Calibos: Release the Kraken!

The movie has been a favorite for a long time. Classic D&D style plot to complete a quest to save the princess. The battle with Medusa is best. Great monsters.

The visuals are certainly showing their age nowadays and in a lot of ways the stop motion animation seems weaker than earlier films like Jason and the Argonauts with the skeleton battle. Part of the reason is that the Star Wars wave of movies had kicked in and this movie seems more like it had been made long before.

L

It was a great show and movie was good as well. I liked Animaniacs a lot too, especially Pinky & the Brain.

Pansy, the problem, I must have fruit!

Using the classic Shady Dragon Inn accessory I presume, converted?

Watched this the other night. It was kind of fun to watch but I think the show would be better if it went beyond just the joust. Other medieval themed combat exercises should be included. Bring in Fencing and Archery. And in addition to the two teams squaring off with one eliminated player via the joust, I think they should be competing for different prizes and striving for "achievements".

Still, I plan to watch it and see how it develops.

L

Creepy Dolls? <shudder>

This sounds like a fun campaign, looking forward to hearing more about it.

I'm personally all in favor of a statue and think it's a nice gesture for WotC to make this donation. I think it'll be a great way to respect Gygax's memory. He should be honored for what he gave the world. I don't live in the area but I would love to visit the statue some day and chat it up with the other gamers gathered around. Naturally, I would want to check the statue for traps or secret compartments. :-)

L

There weren’t too many stellar ones. The vampire one was good. I liked the commercial-in-a-commercial one for VW where the dog loses weight to be able to run with the car and then it shows the Mos Eisley cantina and the aliens are watching it and the Vader kid chokes out the one bar patron who makes a comment. I also like the Kia one where the guy gets too much dream dust from the sand man and is dreaming about racing the car with all of the models and Motley Crue playing Kickstart My Heart and then he busts into the chick’s dream where she’s riding the horse and gets her. The Stamos yogurt one was funny too.

L

I think one way the DDI could be a more valuable and desirable product even for people who don't play the current or previous versions of D&D would be if they focused heavily on edition/system-neutral products like map making, campaign organizing, character/monster visualizers, adventure flow charting, virtual table top play, etc. There are a number of good programs from third parties to do a number of these things but a great suite from WotC would make the DDI really attractive. It of course, still needs online access to all of the current rules (ideally multiple versions of the rules) and tools for creating characters and monsters (and lets not forget magic items and other treasure) to aid preparation and play. And the DDI needs to have a set of Apps for the various smart phones and tablets too.

L

I have a DDI subscription. I don't play 4E at the moment (and aside from some demo runs haven't) but I enjoy the online magazine content and the tools, although I certainly hope to see a much expanded and improved tool suite as they go forward to 5E. As long as the monthly subscription cost stays fairly reasonable I intend to keep mine.

I too download most of the PDFs from the magazine and read them offline or print them out so I don't feel like access during the game would generally be an issue. Most of the time, my connection would be up so it's not much of an issue in any case.

L

The style in the games I run and play in usually is along the use the rules as written but if we don't recall the rule and are too lazy to look it up or there isn't a hard and fast rule the GM wings it and that's that. While the older editions encouraged more of the GM fiat style of play, in an odd way, the more codified newer rulesets make it a lot easier for the GM to adjudicate on the fly. The simple rule of roll a d20, add some modifiers and try to match or beat a DC can be used for most anything. For most anything else, you either do some random chance the DM comes up with or he or she makes a ruling on the fly based on what would best drive the story - even if that ruling is happening behind the DM screen and the players aren't in the loop.

Mind you, I and the DMs I've played with are not arbitrary in our rulings. They go by the book if they know it and if not they come up with some rule and use it consistently.

L

Curious what comic store you are referring to. My folks live down in Wildwood and it might be good to take a little side trip next time I visit them.

L

I might be in the minority for saying this, but I don't believe that WotC will succeed or fail with 5E based on whether or not they have an open license of the game. I know if the products they produce are ones I like then I'll buy them and if they aren't I won't. It's only been about 10 years now but as many people will I think agree there was a glut of d20 product produced that was weak to be generous.

WotC could certainly offer a closed license to certain premium third parties, possibly free of charge, and have some great products made for the new version of the game. I think we all can agree there are some great content producers out there like Paizo, Kenzer, Green Ronin and Fantasy Flight Games who set the standard for quality in this hobby and would be great to have on the team.

I do think the idea of having the basic rules of the game (not necessarily the finished rule books with art, layout, etc.) available free of charge in PDF or a browsable SRD format is a good idea and aids play.

I don't think they are unreasonable to ask for people to subscribe to a service to provide online tools and content, in particular if they make the effort to keep the tools current and provide new features and tools to as many platforms as possible.

Me, I'm hoping they make a great game above all else, regardless of how open or closed the brand and the system are.

L

I just picked up this great book and am really looking forward to getting to read it in detail. Here are some first impressions.

This has the same quality construction level and great paper as the Aces & Eights hardback I have from them (the first printing). It’s got a leathery cover with a monster scale look and feel to it and the beastial eye staring back at the reader. Inside the book each critter pretty much always gets a two page spread, some longer for groups like humans and hobgoblins and whatnot that have multiple versions.

The upper left has a drawing of the beast, in a sketch style similar to Leonardo Da Vinci that is a nice change for the usual (but still very nice) full color art of most modern monster books. It has some commentary under the drawing by various contributors to the book (aka NPCs who talk about the monsters in character).

On the lower left page are three things – an illustration of its footprints/tracks, a high level map of Telene (Kenzer setting) with the areas where you can find the monster highlighted in red - it’s habitat range like you'd find in a nature guide for birds or other animals - and a size comparison of the creature with a silhouette of the monster and a human.

On the right page is more of the description and also the stat block that shows the various attack and defense and saves and the like with its crawl, walk, jog, run, etc. speeds. The stat block for Hackmaster is a diamond with attack at the top, defense on the left, damage on the bottom, etc. and it’s easy to read. At the lower right under the stat block is things like yield, whether you can eat it, etc.

Pretty much if you take the classic 4th edition Hacklopedia books, cut back on some of the humor, and jack up the style and presentation and you get this book. I like that this book has at least as much ecology, background and fluff for each monster as we saw back in the day in the old AD&D 2nd Edition Monstrous Manual.

Why I’m not at home sitting in front of the fire reading this beauty right now is beyond me. I really hope that the "advanced" Hackmaster core books when they come out are as nice as this book is. Even if I never end up playing the game this is a fantastic addition to my game shelf.

L

I think this is a great idea. Kind of like how they've done the limited release miniatures sets (just got an Orcus the other day). I think a classic release a year would be a good strategy. The combination A, T and GDQ modules as collector classic editions would be nice.

L

When is WotC releasing 5E in stores?

I think masybe the reason why a stable ruleset is key for WotC now, is possibly DDI and hopefully the virtual tabletop. If the rules keep changing they will have to keep changing the tools - but a stable ruleset will allow the tools to mature and grow rather than be overhauled every few years.

Rather than make X amount of money buy selling people new core books every Y years, they can likley make X x Y amount of money in DDI subscriptions in that same period, especially if they can get the VTT working.

I agree with this assessment. I believe their online products and services tied into D&D are key to their long term financial success with the game and frequent rule changes make this difficult. Considering their issues with software to date I'm sure they find themselves concerned in this area. I think if they can get the core of the game nailed down with a handful of evergreen "essentials" type products for the stores and have the various options something you can easily take or leave with the online support they have the best chances of success. I think they should also stick to the early 4E method of one campaign setting a year with a few key products for it (I'm partial to a single big boxed set with player and DM books, adventures and maps myself). And they need a lot of adventures. A few key adventure paths/series and a super module each year in print with numerous smaller ones online in Dungeon.

L

Dark Herald, which rules set are you using? AD&D 1st edition, Pathfinder, etc.?

Any house rules in play?

Greyhawk has always been one of my favorite settings as well (since I got the 1983 box set when it came out) and will likely be the setting of choice whenever I get the chance to run a regular game again - likely either one of the Dungeon APs (Age of Worms probably), Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil or Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk.

L

I see no reason not to continue to pickup dungeon tiles and map packs which have universal usefulness regardless of edition. The new miniatures that are coming out, in addition to possibly being a fun skirmish game, will have usefulness at any D&D table. Some of the adventures, while they'll require conversion to varying degrees if you don't play 4E might be an ok choice on a case by case basis too.

I think that at a high level the only books I'd probably avoid for sure would be heavy crunch books with feats or powers or the like. Fluff if you like it works with any edition.

L