Dungeons and Dragons and Pathfinder

I for one have been playing Dungeons and Dragons since the early 80's as I recall it could actually be 1979 specicfically the year Star Wars came out. I have been there though all the the devil worshiping days and the fall of TSR to the WOTC, with all the different editions. To this day I enjoy the gaming experience fully.

Now I know that with the 4th edition and bringing back the brand as just "Dungeons and Dragons" many hard core DnD fans choked and croaked at the current state of that franchise, for example: "what the fuck is Wizards trying to do to Dungeons Nd Dragons into a card game like Magic the Gathering, why ruin what Gary Gygax and Arunson created?" I have heard many such statements and I for one disagree. I love the new system as I love the 3.5 system that is now called Pathfinder. With the current game rules it makes so much more easy to bring people into this great table top gaming hobby, it connects people at the tale versus playing a video game.

With the Dungeons and Dragons system you teach someone how to play a great table top RPG, as they learn the game with the simple and efficient rules of fourth edition, you can the talk about the mechanic of 3.5 the Pathfinder system that allows more avenues of exploration. The work your way to true roleplaying rather the hack and slash. I do enjoy a good hack and slash though.

From Games Information Blog

I thought this was very cool. I was checking my email today and got this great surprise my blog was used to as an example of "100 Pen and Paper Roleplaying Games You Should Play Before You Die" in fact it is the 1. Dungeons and Dragons. Thanks to Gamesinfodepot.com for using my blog.

Now shoo, go read the full list.

clipped from www.gamesinfodepot.com Games Information Blog 100 Pen and Paper Roleplaying Games You Should Play Before You Die Pen and paper roleplaying games are now a small-ish hobby. But if you’re a fan of this type of recreation, there are a few pen and paper roleplaying games which might be considered essential. Here’s my list; check off the ones you’ve played, then give the rest a try. 1. Dungeons & Dragons - The original game that started the pen and paper roleplaying hobby. Play any and every version of it that you can. Dungeons and Dragons is fun. Fantasy Roleplaying Games All pen and paper roleplaying games are “fantasy roleplaying games”, but this particular subcategory refers to “fantasy” in terms of the more traditional sense of “sword & sorcery” type fantasy.

Famous People Who Play Dungeons and Dragons

Here is a small list of famous people who play Dungeons and Dragons, on the list Stephen Colbert, Vin Diesel, Wil Wheaton, Hulk Hogan, Seth Green. Here is an URL for a larger list

Wil Wheaton is still Playing D&D

clipped from thetorchonline.com Tim Duncan, Judi Dench, John McCain Mike Meyers claimed to play D&D on Inside the Actor’s Studio. Vin Diesel, a longtime player, wrote an introduction to the book Thirty Years of Adventure: Celebrating Dungeons and Dragons. Judy Dench was reportedly introduced to the game by Vin Diesel. Matthew Lillard has played (and apparently beat) kids for charity. Basketball player Tim Duncan is a long-time player. Robin Williams has played for charity, but admits to playing at home as well. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were introduced to the game by Kevin Smith. Daryl Hannah supposedly plays (though I could find no coroberating evidence). Jesse McCarthy and Lauren Graham have at least touched a D&D box. Joss Whedon played D&D in college. Stephen Colbert was a big player as a kid and still plays now. Will Wheaton reportedly played on the set of Star Trek: The Next Generation (stop the presses!). clipped from www.youtube.com

So is Dungeons and Dragons More like Magic?

I get this feeling that I am playing Magic the Gathering sometimes while playing this latest incarnation of Dungeons and Dragons. 4th edition seems like Wizards has decided to merge Magic into the Dungeons and Dragons.

So is this a bad thing or a good thing? What's your opinion?

Dungeons and Dragons for Almost nothing to free.

With the 4th edition of Dungeons and Dragons around the corner many of us gamers will be purchasing this new edition when it comes out. I know I will and I am glad I have a Paypal account that is set up as a money market also.

I came up with this plan because I will be spending my money on the new products. Only I want to do it in a cost effective way and I would like to earn some money along the way.

Paypals money market account is easy to set up just say yes to that option as a member of Paypal. PayPal Money Market; 30 day yield 4.70%; Min Invest None; Web address paypal.com; Phone number 402-935-7733. The 30 day yield means you will get paid this interest every 30 days.

I have decide to put $35 dollars in my Paypal money market every time I get paid because that is the estimated price of new books. After 30 days I earn $1.65 ( 35 X 4.70% = 1.645 + 35 = 36.65). Now I get paid bi-weekly so $70 dollars a month x 4.70% = 3.29 + 70 = 73.29. The other great thing, is compounded interest so $70 + $73.29 = $143.29 x 4.70% = $6.73 + 143.29 = $150.02. By May you should have earned $57.54 in interest that equals about 1 1/2 books.

Imagine what you could do if you just kept on going build it up to $900 x 4.70% = 42.30 thats a book a month basically for free.

You could do this with new video game releases or systems you could keep on growing that money market and pay for just about anything with the interest earned.

The downside is that you do have to pay taxes because on the interest you earn because it is consider income.

Give it a try and let me know what you thing.

Danger in the Wilderness: Steal This Hook

From Wizards

Wolf at the Door -- Forgotten Realms

Thesk straddles the western end of the Golden Way, the trade road that connects far-off Kara-Tur with the main part of Faerûn. Because of this, Thesk is a very wealthy nation and handles a lot of trade. "I want you to go to Two Stars," says the woman seated across from you. "I have a certain property coming in on a caravan from Shou Lung, and I would like to have it 'diverted' from the Golden Way before it reaches Telflamm and gets taxed. All you have to do is meet with a merchant named Beavom Tastald and give him this, and he will give my package into your keeping. Take it south on the Cold Road into Nethentir and meet the Spry Jewel of the Sea. The captain will take it off your hands."

Assuming they agree, the PCs find themselves traveling the Golden Way toward Two Stars in very wintry weather. It is unseasonably cold, so much so that trade has been slowed on the Golden Way through Thesk and Rashemen. The farmers curse the weather because crops have been ruined (assuming you place this adventure in a season other than winter). And to top off everything, reports of monsters in the wilderness increase as one travels eastward from Phsant.

About a day's journey from Two Stars, the PCs come across the remains of six people and two large wolflike creatures. The people have been eaten to the bone, their possessions lie scattered around and hidden underneath the snow; to their credit, they apparently took down two of the wolves before succumbing to the rest of the pack.

In Two Stars, the PCs find that the caravan they are waiting for has been delayed, or at least that it has not arrived yet. While they wait, they may encounter the following possibilities:

d100 Adventure Directions

00-50 At the Crossroads Tavern, a member of the Gallidy family sees the PCs and tries to hire them to determine where the monsters are coming from. Monsters are bad for business.

51-80 Beavom Tastald notes the PCs' interest in the delayed caravan, and he offers to pay them to travel the Golden Way and find it, or at least discover what happened to it. This leads the PCs into Rashemen, where they are attacked by winter wolves.

81-00 A farmer in Two Stars, or encountered along the road, could ask the PCs to find a missing relative (who has been mauled by winter wolves).

d100 Story Elements

Choose or randomly generate story elements from the table below, or make up your own.

00-40 Winter wolves from the Sunrise Mountains in Rashemen have expanded their range into Thesk because of the unusually strong winter storms. Packs of them ravage the countryside and eat farmer and merchant alike. If the winter subsides, the wolves would retreat to their normal range.

41-55 The storms center in northern Rashemen and are not natural. Wizards are causing them, and the spread of winter wolves is an accidental side effect.

56-70 Winter wolves are not the only monsters to spread into Thesk. Remorhazes, cold worms, frost giants, and other fell creatures pose dangers to the residents of Thesk and Rashemen.

71-95 The caravan carrying the package the PCs are to pick up has been attacked by ravaging winter monsters, and the package has been taken by frost giants into the Sunrise Mountains.

96-00 The winter has brought a trio of white dragons out of the northern Sunrise Mountains, and they have taken to attacking Mulsantir on a regular basis. The PCs could be asked to solve this problem too, and the dragons might be in league with the wizards causing the storms.

Campaign Adaptation

Frostburn is probably your best friend for this adventure, since it involves an area that has become a frostfell area.

Eberron: The Talenta Plains and eastern Karrnath are good for this adventure, since the winter wolves probably live in the mountains of the Mror Holds. Winter in the Talenta Plains could be a cause of considerable problems with the dinosaurs.

Greyhawk: The Duchy of Tenh is a natural place for this adventure, but Geoff or the March of Sterich could work too. The wolves (and weather) could even spread as far as the Hold of the Sea Princes.

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Dread Gazebo

From Dread Gazebo

Part of BlackHammer's adventure in RPG Humour

The Dread Gazebo has earned its place in the canon of gaming legend, along with Phil Foglio's Phil & Dixie strips and Gary Gygax's dice probability charts. So here it is, reprinted with permission (the exact words used were, "use it with my blessing, live long and prosper.")

The Tale of Eric and the Dread Gazebo
by Richard Aronson [aronson@sierratel.com]

In the early seventies, Ed Whitchurch ran "his game", and one of the participants was Eric Sorenson. Eric plays something like a computer. When he games, he methodically considers each possibility before choosing his preferred option. If given time, he will invariably pick the optimal solution. It has been known to take weeks. He is otherwise, in all respects, a superior gamer. Eric was playing a Neutral Paladin in Ed's game. He was on some lord's lands when the following exchange occurred:

ED: You see a well groomed garden. In the middle, on a small hill, you see a gazebo.
ERIC: A gazebo? What color is it?

ED: [pause] It's white, Eric.
ERIC: How far away is it?

ED: About 50 yards.
ERIC: How big is it?

ED: [pause] It's about 30 ft across, 15 ft high, with a pointed top.
ERIC: I use my sword to detect good on it.

ED: It's not good, Eric. It's a gazebo.
ERIC: [pause] I call out to it.

ED: It won't answer. It's a gazebo.
ERIC: [pause] I sheathe my sword and draw my bow and arrows. Does it respond in any way?

ED: No, Eric, it's a gazebo!
ERIC: I shoot it with my bow. [roll to hit] What happened?

ED: There is now a gazebo with an arrow sticking out of it.
ERIC: [pause] Wasn't it wounded?

ED: OF COURSE NOT, ERIC! IT'S A GAZEBO!
ERIC: [whimper] But that was a +3 arrow!

ED: It's a gazebo, Eric, a GAZEBO! If you really want to try to destroy it, you could try to chop it with an axe, I suppose, or you could try to burn it, but I don't know why anybody would even try. It's a @#$%!! gazebo!
ERIC: [long pause. He has no axe or fire spells.] I run away.

ED: [thoroughly frustrated] It's too late. You've awakened the gazebo. It catches you and eats you.
ERIC: [reaching for his dice] Maybe I'll roll up a fire-using mage so I can avenge my Paladin.

At this point, the increasingly amused fellow party members restored a modicum of order by explaining to Eric what a gazebo is. Thus ends the tale of Eric and the Dread Gazebo. It could have been worse; at least the gazebo wasn't on a grassy gnoll. Thus ends the tale of Eric and the Dread Gazebo. A little vocabulary is a dangerous thing.

The above is Copyright © 1989 by Richard Aronson. Reprinted with permission. The author grants permission to reprint as long as all copyright notices remain with the text.

"Eric and the Gazebo" was written and copyrighted by me in 1986. It was based on an event at a role-playing game, but the addition of several jokes moves it out of journalism, or at least into Docuhumor. Some of the people at the game retold the event, each with their own spin, but I was the one who told it to Lee Gold, editor of the fanzine "Alarums and Excursions," who insisted I print it up for her. After reprinting in several amateur publications, it leapt to "The Mensa Bulletin." I then foolishly allowed a reader to reprint it on the internet (who knew from internet in 1989). For many years his was the only interent reprint which even mentioned that there was a copyright on it (thanks, James Chu). Eventually I became a professional game designer for Sierra On-Line and the late lamented "ImagiNation Network" and after having been accused of stealing my own story at a gaming convention I have spend several hours every year protecting my copyright, especially since I incorporated E&tG into a chapter of my as yet unpublished novel. "
Richard Aronson, Feb 15, 2000

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Looking Back at D&D Miniatures

Dragon

Miniatures in the Ancient Times of Role-Playing

by James M. Ward

The year 1974 was one of my luckiest times, because I met Gary Gygax and he kindly asked me over to his house to learn D&D. As a complete stranger, I was warmly welcomed. I sat on his side porch and Brian Blume, Gary's partner in the company, taught me how to roll up a character. I rolled a good Intelligence and Dexterity and made my first, magical character. We sat and played, without using any miniatures, yet I simply can't describe how much fun I had, and continued to have, as the weeks and months went by.

Miniatures filled Gary's house. He liked to play miniature games as well as role-playing ones, and all time periods were represented from ancients to WWII. The medieval wargame rules Chainmail had been published, and the fantasy version was being written and playtested. Miniatures for fantasy games weren't being made in 1974. Scruby wouldn't start his fantasy figures at 30mm until 1975. Ral Partha was just a gleam in Chuck Crane's and Jack Hesselbrock's eyes and wouldn't start until 1975 as well. Grenadier was also a start-up company in that year. All of these companies would end up making wonderful fantasy figures.

I'm not sure which came first, playing with figures in the Boot Hill western RPG or playing with figures in the D&D game. I do, however, have a distinct memory of miniatures in both games. In the D&D game, Gary put out the first bugbear figure. Naturally, as enthusiastic gamers, we all wanted to get in and strike at the monster. Before miniature figures, all six of us would have just swung away. Now that we had figures for our characters and the foes we faced, we realized the difficulty of fighting in close quarters. Our figures showed there wasn't room for all of those warrior and cleric bodies to crowd into the action. Imagine our horror and disgust when only three of us were able to chop at the bugbear. Suddenly, we had to think about tactics. The need to know who did the most damage changed how we played the game.

As a side note, in that early time (1974-75) when there were no commercially-available figures for wizards, dwarves, elves, and halflings, there were plenty of human warriors from historical games. It was possible to approximate dwarves and halflings with 15mm human figures. What there were, however, was lots of fun, plastic Western figures. We had cavalry, Indians, townsfolk, sheriffs, and Texas Rangers. I was just learning how to paint miniatures in those days, and it sure was enjoyable working on my player characters and other figures that I needed for the Boot Hill campaign. I was Don Diego Ward with two sirviente (servant ladies) following me all the time. No one knew until the bullets started flying that those two ladies were greased lightning shots who carried pistols in their clutch purses.

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D&D Podcast

If you are looking for the latest in the D&D world and you just don't feel like reading then you want Dungeons and Dragons podcast I have placed the up to date version here for you convenience.

clipped from www.wizards.com

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