Tag: Wizards of the Coast

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Editorial

Weekend in the Realms 2009

the-icy-queens-crossing-cover

On Saturday I participated in the 2009 Weekend in the Realms. “The Icy Queen’s Crossing” is an Living Forgotten Realms adventure for character of 1st to 4th level. Although pre-generated characters were provided, players were free to bring their own LFR character as long as they weren’t above level 4.

One of the things that made this event unique is that the “adventure takes place in the aftermath of the events depicted in the new Forgotten Realms novel The Fall of Highwatch, which was released on November 4.” Previous events have been tied to the release of gaming products like the PHB 2, the Monster Manual 2 and the DMG 2, but this is the first time a 4e adventure has been tied to a novel.

The purpose of these “event” games is to bring new players into the fold. These games are played in public settings, usually game stores and public libraries. Experienced players can meet new people and new players can get an introduction to D&D. It’s win-win. The adventure is straight forward and doesn’t require any background or familiarity with the game. With that in mind, here are the ups and downs of my experience playing in the 2009 Weekend in the Realms.

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Book Reviews Eberron Editorial

An Interview With Eberron Author Don Bassingthwaite (Part 1)

don-bassingthwaite-aWhen I was reading the excellent Eberron novel The Word of Traitors I discovered that the book’s author, Don Bassingthwaite, lives in my hometown of Toronto. I sent Don an email and asked him if he’d like to do an interview for Dungeon’s Master and he said yes. A couple of weeks later I had the pleasure of sitting down with Don at a local Starbucks where we discussed his road to success as a writer for Wizards of the Coast.

Although the interview will be presented in print and in multiple parts, when we’re finished we’ll make the complete interview available as an audio download.

Before we get started I think it’s only fair to give a shout out to Don himself. You can read all about Don and follow him at his own website DBassingthwaite.com. You can also visit the Don Bassingthwaite page at Wizards of the Coast. It has a mini bio as wells as a list of the Forgotten Realms and Eberron books he’s written. They also provide sample chapters of his recent works for download.

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Class Discussions

PHB3 First Look: The Seeker

seekerThe Seeker, the most recent Player’s Handbook 3 preview content, was released a few weeks ago. This past week my regular gaming group began a new mini-campaign, which gave me the perfect opportunity to play test the Seeker.

I was actually rather excited about playing this new primal controller, due in part to my growing appreciation of the controller role.

In reading the Seeker class in Dragon #380 it became clear to me that the designers enjoyed creating this class. Many of the powers were developed and tested during earlier editions of Dungeons & Dragons, however from a mechanics standpoint they didn’t fit those earlier visions. Enter 4e and those idea’s have a new format to find life.

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Class Discussions

Necromancer: Heroic Tier (Revised)

Necromancer
Necromancer

Today we revisit the Necromancer and powers for the Heroic Tier. One of the things I miss most from 3e are specialist Wizards. I’m honestly surprised that this hasn’t been addressed by Wizards of the Coast. Though I suppose they have decided to go in a different direction with the Wizard class in 4e. A big thanks to Wyatt of Spirits of Eden who provided a critique on our original post of Necromancer Heroic Powers.

On a day to day basis I’m amazed at the amount of people who are finding Dungeon’s Master by searching the key word ‘Necromancer’. These posts, which are amongst our first, continue to get a lot of traffic. This revision of our original Necromancer Heroic Tier postcleans up some of the language and also adjusts the power level of the powers. With 4e having been out for a year and a half we’ve had the opportunity to play through heroic tier, and that combined with Wyatt’s observations bring this post back to the forefront, just in time for Hallowe’en.

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DM Resources Player Resources

A Dragon’s Horde of D&D Resources

As players and DMs we love our tools and toys. The things that make playing Dungeon’s & Dragons even more enjoyable. Assembled here is a list of resources that are available on the web that I’ve found of use during my time playing D&D. I won’t pretend that this is a complete list, indeed in some cases I’m directing you to even more lists of great D&D resources.

I hope you enjoy and feel free to point out other items that might be of interest to others.

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Editorial

All Men Are Created Equal… Except the Revenant

Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, Halfling. Since the first edition of D&D players have had a wide variety of fantasy races to choose from when creating their characters. With 4e D&D the list of races is quite extensive and it continues to expand with every new version of the Players Handbook and with every monthly update of the character builder. The worlds of D&D are full of tolerant people willing to accept everyone based on deeds rather than their race. No matter what race your PC happens to be, he’s usually accepted as a hero and welcomed into villages, towns and cities. An adventuring party that consists of a Dragonborn, a Drow, a Half-Elf, a Tiefling, a Half-Orc and a Gnome doesn’t draw attention, ridicule or suspicion as they enter a tavern for the first time. We don’t question it; we just accept that this is how things work when you’re playing D&D.

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Book Reviews

Review: Word of Traitors

word-of-traitors

Word of Traitors
(Legacy of Dhakaan, Book II)
Don Bassingthwaite

An Eberron Novel

Word of Traitors is without a doubt the best Eberron novel to date. It’s book two of the Legacy of Dhakaan trilogy. If you haven’t already read The Doom of Kings, book one in the Legacy of Dhakaan trilogy then be forewarned that this review will contain spoilers.

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Player Resources Skill Challenges

First Look PHB3: Skill Powers

Player's Handbook 3It’s been a few weeks since Wizards of the Coast released the latest preview content for the Player’s Handbook 3: Skill Powers. During that time I’ve read over and digested the new information. Overall, I like what I see.

There was a time when I was worried about the direction 4e was going in, but with the recent release of the Dungeon Master’s Guide 2 and the preview content made available to DDI subscribers those fears have been abated. So just what is WotC provided in this latest offering?

“Skill powers are utility powers that you qualify for not based on your class, but by virtue of your training in a particular skill.” In other words more options for you.

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Book Reviews

Dungeon Master’s Guide 2: Skill Challenges

dmg2The Dungeon Master’s Guide 2 comes out today and I’m very excited to have my copy! As there have already been several sneak peaks and advanced reviews, I’m not going to spend time rewriting what’s already out there. Instead I want to talk about something that is important to the team here at Dungeon’s Master, skill challenges.

That there is an expanded section on skill challenges in the DMG 2 is no surprise. Wizards of the Coast knew that there was more work to be done on the subject.

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Categories
DM Resources Editorial

What Does World of Warcraft Have To Do With Your D&D Campaign?

Change is coming to World of Warcraft with the announcement of the new expansion: Cataclysm. Whether you’re familiar with WoW or not change in fantasy games can be a good thing.

With the launch of 4e D&D, Wizards of the Coast brought change to the Forgotten Realms by advancing the timeline almost 100 years. This kind of change is pretty major and significant, but what about the smaller changes. I’m not talking about world breaking change. You don’t need to redefine the geography or have the PCs survive an apocalypse. I’m talking about smaller, subtler change to keep things interesting for the PCs.

When was the last time you brought change to your game?

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