Legendarius's page

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

This has been touched on some in a few of the other threads but specifically I am curious what people think will be the format of D&D 5E when it first hits the store shelves, or what their ideal format is.

Will there just be a single boxed set, perhaps of the lower levels, as with the old D&D Basic sets or the Dragon Age RPG?

Will there be the traditional three book set - PHB, DMG, MM?

Will there be a single core rulebook like Pathfinder?

Will they have a low cost intro/basic box and then the full game in a hardback book?

Will there be an initial string of modules like Sunless Citadel for 3E or Keep on the Shadowfell for 4E?

Will there be a 5E essentials concept, perhaps with releases of dungeon tiles sets again or perhaps miniatures?

As an aside to that, what online support via the DDI will (or should) be available at release?

L

So in the spirit of Halloween, I'm running a game of the original I6 Ravenloft module (although using RC D&D vs. AD&D 1E) and was wondering what people think I should do at this stage. Note, there will probably be spoilers in here (Strahd's a vampire!) but given the age of the adventure it's probably not a big deal - let the reader beware.

Things have just gotten started and the PCs received a letter via a gypsy courier from the burgomaster of Barovia to come help. They show up in town (no encounters on the road and they didn't wander off the road) and after a short stop in the tavern, catch up with the burgomaster's son who indicates to them the letter is a fake and takes them to the mansion where his sister Ireena is holed up along with the burgomaster's corpse. They got the basics that the manor has been under attack and they have learned Ireena has been bitten a few times by the vampire but there haven't been any attacks in the last few days (to coincide with the letter to get the PCs to come to town?).

I guess at this point, should I bring on an initial attack as nightfall comes?

Should Strahd be in this first wave (but escape regardless as a mist if nothing else)?

What might get the party inclined to go to the church and/or the gypsies at this point versus trying to go straight up to Castle Ravenloft?

As an aside, I kind of like the idea of the dead burgomaster being animated as a Strahd zombie and attacking the party from within the manor as wolves, etc. attack from the outside.

Thoughts?

L

I recently stopped in a game store and they had a copy of this old 2nd edition supplement in a discount/used bin for $5 so I picked it up. Unfortunately, I realized later that the book is supposed to have a poster map or similar in the back of the book and this is missing. Does anyone have this book that can give me a summary of what the missing fold out from the back of the book contained?

thanks,
L

My brother and some friends and I are going to get together in a few weeks to play a bunch of games and we also plan to go out and see the new Conan movie. One of the theaters near me has the D-Box motion seats that have motion/vibration synchronized with the movie. I've seen similar things in theme park theaters but haven't experienced D-Box yet. What do people think about it? Is there a lot of motion? Are the seats quiet or can you hear the system? Is it worth the upcharge (in addition to the 3D upcharge)?

Here's a link:
http://www.cobbtheatres.com/d-box.asp

L

So, my brother and I were chatting the other day and I was wondering what people thought about a Rebels vs. Imperials scenario to replicate the classic opening scene from Star Wars where Darth Vader's ship disables the Tantive IV and captures Princess Leia. I think it would be fun to run a Star Wars minis scenario for this where the Imperial player has the goal of recovering the stolen Death Star plans and capturing the princess while the Rebels need to hold off the Imps until the plans can be placed in R2-D2 and jettisoned in the escape pod. I don't have my one scenario book handy so maybe some or all of this has been outlined in the Ultimate Missions - Rebel Storm book.

I'd like to have this be something that could be run in less than 2 hours.

Curiously, what would you use for deck plans for the Tantive IV and/or what posters, Galaxy Tiles, etc. would you use?

What scenario rules would you set? For example, where do the rebels setup, can the Imperial player know initially which miniatures are the Princess vs. the droids? I assume all Imperials enter via the door they cut open. How many rounds before Vader arrives?

How many miniatures would you include? I assume the rebel side is fixed, but can the Imperials keep bringing in more stormtroopers at some rate? It's a given that if the rebels don't block the Imperials well enough that in time the superior Imperial force will overrun them and win.

Which miniatures would you include? I assume the base stormtrooper and rebel trooper (grey uniforms with white helmets) plus Vader (which version?) and Leia and the Droids. But other commander types, droids, etc.?

I'd love to hear what people think.

L

By chance I was in a local Target store last night and saw where they had a bunch of the now out of production Star Wars miniatures from WotC on sale, specifically the Imperial Entanglements set. The boxes, each with seven miniatures, were specifically marked as 70% off items for $3.99 each. I picked up six boxes and I like the mix of 42 miniatures I got.

Does anyone know if Target got a lot of these on the cheap, have any other sets for sale anywhere at a discount, etc.? I have a lot of the miniatures and I don't plan to pick up too many boosters, but I don't mind picking up a few sets when they're priced like this. Three of the minis I got were going for $10, $10 and $16 on mini market as individual items. I like getting 42 minis for less than the price of three rares.

L

I saw where Margaret Weis Productions is going to be releasing a Smallville RPG based off the TV series this year. I've been a fan of the series since it started, even if sometimes the story arcs weren't always great. For those who are thinking of picking this up, what sort of features do you hope the game has? What style of play do you think it'll support?

L

http://www.margaretweis.com/component/content/article/38-fp-rokstories/67-s mallville-the-rpg

How would you folks create a character that was like the old school elf from classic D&D (basically an armor wielding fighter that could cast spells) using Pathfinder? Obviously the race would be elf. But what would you do for class? I know I could alternate levels between fighter and wizard but I kind of like the idea of both magic skills and fighting skills improving simultaneously. Anyone use some kind of hybrid rules? Maybe a Pathfinder conversion of the 3E Duskblade class? How would you keep it balanced. Old D&D limited elves to 10th level and they had to get more XP per level as a balancing factor. What would you prefer?

L

Not sure if there have been any discussions on this topic but I wanted to toss the idea out there to see what people thought or have seen developed. As we all know each character has a level and certain abilities, skills, feats, powers, spells, etc. As the character goes up in level they improve and gain new options. Now I have seen things before like tactical feats where if character X has it and character Y also has it then they can combine to do certain things.

That says has anyone ever developed a concept of the party as a character? So the group as a whole starts as a level 1 party. As the group gains experience the party gains levels as a group too. Parties have abilities, feats, etc. in addition to notoriety and fame. So the group might gain certain benefits or take certain penalties.

I can see the group character being used in things like political negotiations, mass combat, commerce/trade and so on.

I'm not proposing this in place of the individual characters. I'm looking at this as a system that complements the characters. Each PC can influence certain actions the group takes and there can be new individual feats/talents that aid group skill checks.

The party can be seen as having different roles too. To forgive a little 4E nomenclature, you could have a party that's a leader, a controller, a defender and so on. The group can start as being of type X just like a character is class Y and then gain new types, or even prestige types that have certain entry requirements.

From a player perspective, the group as a whole decides what new options to take for their group character when they go up in level.

What do you think?

How would you implement it?

How would you handle things like character level discrepancies, changes in the group composition due to new PCs, dead PCs, etc.?

L

I see this description on amazon.com but it doesn't have a product image and it still shows up as a pre-order even though 10/15 has come and gone.

Imagine you could go anywhere. This world or countless others, encountering strange alien races, new cultures or hostile environments. Now imagine you could travel to any time. See the pyramids and the Sphinx (back when she had a nose!), discover who (or what) really built Stonehenge, meet the first Emperor of Japan, or travel into the far future as humanity spreads to the stars. Where would you go? With Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space, the power is in your hands! You can go anywhere or anywhen in the universe. It's not going to be easy. It'll probably be dangerous. The universe is a hostile place, full of Daleks, Slitheen, Krillitane, Sontarans, Plasmavores, Cybermen, Sycorax, Judoon and worse. There will be fear, heartbreak and excitement, but above all, it'll be the trip of a lifetime.

Has anyone seen an early copy of this game, or for that matter the final copy? Did they offer play tests or the like at Gen Con? Is it based on a new game system entirely or is it a tweaked version of an existing engine? The publisher's website is pretty lacking on preview material and information about this game, and really has been for a long time now.

L

I recently received the Castle Whiterock boxed set from Goodman Games for my birthday and it looks like it would be a really fun campaign if you're in the mood for a classic dungeon crawl/hack-n-slash game.

I like how each level has a basic ecology to it, a set of specific enemies, etc. I also like how they outline how the different groups in the dungeon relate to each other and the historical background of the dungeon.

What do people think of this super adventure?

Has anyone run a campaign that made use of some or all of the dungeon?

What were some thoughts on the NPCs and organizations in the adventure and how they should be played?

L

I have a copy of the three core books for the Everquest pen & paper RPG based off of D20 from a while back now. I was wondering if anyone has played this game and could comment on their experience with it.

In particular, I was wondering how well the mana magic system worked.

Has anyone brought the mana system into a standard 3.X game?

Has anyone adapted any of the classes or races from the game to a standard 3.X game?

thanks,
L

I picked this book up over the weekend having been a Freeport fan since the beginning. Content wise I think the book is really nice but I was a little disappointed to see that only one of the chapters was printed in color and most/all of the big art pages in that chapter were reprints of covers of the older Freeport books. Don't get me wrong, great art but they really could have gotten at least a few new pieces and I think the whole books should have been done in color. I can't believe the production price would have been that significantly higher for color. I would have paid a few dollars more if that's what it would have taken. Just gives it a bit of a cheap feel. Come on Green Ronin, you guys can do better.

L

Back in December during the holiday sale I placed an order (864875) that included a number of items and the Critical Fumble Deck. At the time I placed the order, the Critical Fumble Deck was supposed to be out in January so I figured I'd wait a few weeks and get my order. I didn't want to place two orders since I didn't want to incur the higher shipping costs. Well, since then, the Critical Fumble Deck's release date keeps slipping further out into the future (it now says April!). Is there any chance you could just ship me the remainder of my order which apparently you have without any additional shipping and then send the deck when it becomes available? A couple weeks delay is sometimes expected and I don't mind that but 2-4 months is a bit much.

thanks,
L

I assume these new Galaxy Tiles are to the SW RPG what the Dungeon Tiles are to the D&D game? So I assume we'll have tiles for things like cantinas, starship decks, spaceports, etc.? Presumably they are made to support both the minis game and the new revised RPG.

What type of tiles would you like to see?

From the classic trilogy I think it would be cool to have the Mos Eisley Cantina, a Star Destroyer bridge, a rebel base like Hoth, an Ewok village, an Imperial bunker, and so on.

L

Just got my new issue of Dungeon this weekend and was very happy to see that the first adventure serves as an introduction to the old B4 Lost City adventure and can tie in with the conversion that was done for Zargon a while back.

Anyone planning to run this in Mystara and, if so, where are you setting it? My assumption would be the Emirates of Ylaruam as I believe this is where the Lost City was traditionally located.

That being said, has anyone done a V3.5 conversion of Lost City? What domains and favored weapons did you give to the gods of the Cynidiceans (spell?)?

The setup for the adventure seems to imply a more traditional D&D setting than the male-dominated, arabian inspired, desert-based Emirates. How would you suggest reconciling this if you run Masque of Dreams?

L

After reading recent Savage Tide adventures and also
seeing the Core Beliefs: Wee Jas article in Dragon I
broke out my old copy of the AD&D 2nd Edition Scarlet
Brotherhood supplement. Having not looked at it in
years, I forgot how many deities are listed in there.
Some, like Wee Jas and Kord are part of the core
pantheon for 3.x but there are many other deities
listed there. Does anyone know of a good reference
converting the more obscure entities - at least in
terms of cleric domains and favored weapons?

On a side note, I liked the 2nd edition specialty
priests which had different power mixes (not all had
turn undead for example), weapon and armor
proficiencies, spells available and so on. It made
clerics a little more varied than just a different
set of domain spells. Thoughts on the best ways to
incorporate the concept without radically altering
how the cleric is designed in 3.x?

L

I know this has come up in the past, but I was curious what the status was on the creation of online, searchable, printable indexes of Dungeon magazine content. I'd be particularly interested in:

1. A list of all of the adventures (at least the 3.x) ones along with character levels, general setting(s), campaign, author and of course the issue and pages they appear in.

2. An NPC list - to include not just critical threats but also NPCs/advanced monsters from within the adventures

3. A new monster list.

4. A list of related adventures indicating the sequence to play them and the issues they appear in.

Dungeon is great for having awesome adventures that you can play as a whole but it's just as good for mining individual components - but it can be hard to search at times. I would think there are already some good fan indexes out there that could be used as the basis for the continually updated official index here at paizo.

L

Hello.

Does anyone know of a list somewhere that has all of the 3.0/3.5 NPCs from the various Dungeon adventures/critical threats by issue and CR, perhaps with a brief description like race/class/level/templates?

thanks,
L