A Role Playing Games Blog
Just my two cents
What about The Ruins Perilous? A review…
2January 31, 2011
Rite Publishing has recently unveiled a new Patronage Project, The Ruins Perilous for the Pathfinder RPG. I received the first two rooms for review and here are my thoughts. The model they are using is what they define as a Ransom Model, where participants pledge a contribution, and once a goal is met they release the next room in the series. If you pledge a certain amount ($3.00) you get some extra materials, like the maps of the room, a monster token, etc. I must admit that the model itself is not completely clear to me, maybe I don’t know enough of these types of projects, but let me say that after reading the first two rooms I think this is a great project to support.
Each installment of The Ruins Perilous gives you a room in a dungeon level, each level apparently will have 18 rooms, and the rooms will all form a mega-dungeon. The two rooms I examined for this review are the Ruined Guardhouse, the entrance to the ruins themselves and the Ruined Gate beyond. The write ups for both are excellent, with “boxed text” (not really boxed here but in italics) to be read or paraphrased to the players. The descriptions are crisp, very useful and imaginative reminiscent of old school dungeons but with a modern touch.
The text refers to other rooms that will be part of future releases, and I like this because it shows there is a plan behind this, but if you want to just use bits and pieces to populate your own games it is perfectly possible to do this and simply make your own connections. The accompanying art and maps is top notch, great cartography and the pieces of the map (which come both in black and white versions) print nicely and fit together perfectly. There is a back story about the ruins being the testing grounds for an adventuring guild, the Questor Society and ties to the Questhaven Campaign Setting, another Rite Publishing Patronage Product.
Each of the installments I read have encounters appropriate for 1st level characters and each has a new creature with a complete write up and a paper token to print. The new creatures are my only worry; will they have a new creature for each room? It can be daunting and a little implausible, well as implausible as monsters in a fantasy game can be. New monsters are a big draw, and I love them as much as the next GM, but I’d like to see some rooms with traps, or some other role-playing encounter, not necessarily combat. Mind you this is a minor quibble, the Ruin Perilous seems like a great addition to my gaming collection.
I really don’t know if they are hitting their goal, but I wish them the best. This is a cool idea and an excellent tool for dungeon lovers! If it sounds interesting make sure you check it out.
Fortune Cards, my two cents…
6January 11, 2011
There’s been a storm in the Twitterverse and the Blogosphere, a storm of FORTUNE! (Fate would have sounded much cooler, thanks designers at WotC for ruining my opening line; you are the cause of all evil!) Well that does seem a little bit extreme, but I had NO idea what the D&D Fortune Cards until I started reading tweets about them. So I went to the Internet to find out what they were and found this.
I don’t play D&D 4th edition anymore and have only marginally kept up with the newest incarnation of Gamma World where similar cards seem to come from. I try not to write about D&D much since I don’t play, and my last rant on 4th edition was a little angry. So I’ll follow Newbie DMs advice oven on Twitter and take a deep breath.
The thing is, I don’t think the idea of the Fortune Cards is bad per se. I recently wrote a post about Paizo’s Plot Twist Cards and the use of that sort of tools in the game. From what I read, and the two samples posted in the webpage, Fortune Cards are aimed at enhancing combat. I think circumscribing them to just combat is a missed opportunity. Other similar tools like the Plot Twist Cards, the Swashbuckling Cards, or the old TORG Drama Deck, are designed to enhance combat and role-playing, they engage the player in the storytelling.
Making the cards combat oriented also reinforces the view that D&D is a combat game and not a true role-playing game. I don’t agree with that statement, you can role-play with any rule system, even a combat heavy one. And besides I think they are gearing their product to their target audience, obviously if you are playing D&D 4th edition you enjoy the way the game is nowadays. Will the idea of Fortune Cards slow down combat? I have no way of knowing, but from using similar products I don’t believe they would be a major complication to players used to the system.
Which brings me to another point Newbie DM made that I agree with (and I paraphrase here) Wizard of the Coast produces D&D to make money, just like all other game companies, and they have the right to make money of their products as best they see fit. I recently read a column by Javier Grillo-Marxuach on his year without Star Wars which only tangentially has to do with what I’m writing about (and happens to be a great read), but makes the point that as attached as we might be to something the owner/creator can do with it as they please. We have NO say about WotC does with D&D; all we can do is play the games we like and support the companies that produce the games we enjoy.
Having said all that (and can you believe all that was a disclaimer so I could finally rant!) I think there is one thing WotC may be doing wrong. Well two… First of all making the cards collectible, i.e. random, and having different levels of rarity. I guess there must be some crossover market between role-players and collectible card gamers, but I don’t think every single D&D player is a CCG collector or vice versa. I’ve played the collectible game before, with CCG in the distant past and with the D&D miniatures recently. With the minis at first I did not mind, heck copies of extra minis just expanded my collection, but it came to a point where I could no longer rationalize getting 10 pig carrying peasants searching for a beholder, so I gave up.
From the echoes out there in the Internet I gather many D&D fans are not too keen on the collectible aspect, of the miniatures in the past and the upcoming Fortune Cards. WotC must have other data; after all they are still in the CCG business. But they did drop the completely random minis and tried another strategy, which apparently did not work as well either. Still the collectible Fortune Cards are a smaller investment, is not a requisite for playing and they believe it can enhance a players enjoyment so more power to them if they can sell it to the fans.
The one thing that did bother me was this quote from the Fortune Cards page: “For some Wizards Play Network programs aimed at experienced players, Fortune Card purchase will be a requirement to participate, but our broadly-appealing programs like D&D Encounters will feature their use without such a requirement.” How will dealing with random Fortune Cards challenge experienced role-players? I can understand this for CCG, but for an RPG? It just seems to be a way to make a quick buck, the cost of playing built into the buying of cards. Again they have the right to make money, but the rationale here, without further information on how it will works seems strange.
Still I don’t think the current economic environment supports this type of strategy. I can understand the need for a company to create a revenue stream and find new ways to sell their merchandise, but I believe the RPG market is better served by quality products, exciting rules and new ideas, not bells and whistles. I can’t wish them ill, I agree with the idea that a healthy D&D brand is good for the RPG business, that may be changing, but so many still associate D&D with RPGs in general that I hope them all the best.
But what do I know… I can’t blame them for trying to try new things, they want to entice new players to try out the game and I know that younger gamers may have different expectations. What do I know I’m just a grognard.
That’s my opinion, your may be different, and I would sure love to hear it!
PS – A big thanks to Newbie DM, I learned of the Fortune Cards from his tweets and he made some excellent points, even if I don’t agree with all of them. ¡Gracias!
What about the GameMastery Plot Twist Cards? A review… (And slight ramble!)
1January 4, 2011
With such a convoluted title to this post, I better make some sense out of this!
What is this post? First and foremost a review of the GameMastery Plot Twist Cards… What are this cards I speak of? Well they are part of a series of GameMastery Cards produced by Paizo that illustrate treasure, items, NPCs, etc. While I was originally intrigued by the idea I was less than thrilled when I got the original cards. True having a card with the image of a certain piece of equipment or a magic item may be cool but I discovered that I forgot to hand them out or some players really did not care for them. Maybe I was not using them effectively. Paizo has gone on to produce decks themed to their different Adventure Paths and I imagine this must be a boon for those who play the Adventure Paths.
However the fine folk as Paizo then produced the Critical Hit Deck and the Critical Fumble Deck, both excellent products. So after these two excellent products I was really interested in the Plot Twist Cards. Please indulge a little detour on this review… Let me tell you why.
Since beginning my, currently in hiatus, Pathfinder RPG campaign I wanted a different feel to it. I wanted to encourage swashbuckling actions and the feel of action/adventure movies. To accomplish this I implemented the use of Action Points (the old D20 variant that appeared in the 3rd ed version of Unearthed Arcana not the new Hero Point rules recently published for Pathfinder, I began the game long before the book where they appeared was published) and included Scratch Factory’s Swashbuckling Cards to allow the players to alter the game in significant ways.
Over the last couple of years I have embraced the idea of shared storytelling where players influence the flow of the game. I have not gone full indie, all narrative no GM, “dice be dammed we are telling a story” storytelling just yet, but enough to allow the players to impact the flow of the game in significant ways. I don’t use all the Swashbuckling Cards; I revised them all and removed two I believed might prove problematic.
I also allow players to draw two cards per session and use them, either for the effect described or as a free Action Point. As a GM I also draw two cards I can use during the game with any opponent or NPC or use as Action Points for the player’s opponents. If I feel a certain card would simply ruin the game I can refuse to accept it and immediately give the player a new card. I have only done this once in over a year of playing.
My players have embraced the cards and their inclusion has greatly enhanced the game. So along come the Plot Twist Cards, I saw the cards and snatched them right away. They come with their own rules and each card has an evocative title, a small illustration and various suggestions how the card may be used in game. They are excellent as even the seemingly negative cards have suggestions that may be beneficial or fun. The idea is that player can use the cards to help them or make things more challenging, depending on the story they create together with the GM.
I doubt my players would use any of the cards to make things harder for them. They may prove me wrong, but I don’t see it happening. Each card also has a rules bonus or penalty that can be used instead of the more esoteric opportunities presented by the card.
I think the open nature of the cards, the need to interpret and come up with possible applications for the cards will be the hardest aspect of the Plot Twist Cards. The Swashbuckling Cards I’m currently using, while open in many instances, have a specific effect that may need adjudicating, but it’s easily applicable. Rarely have we spent more than a minute or two clarifying a doubt on the card’s wording.
The Plot Point Cards require more interpretation and are much more open ended unless you simply use the penalty or bonuses printed on them, but if you limit yourself to this you are robbing yourself of the myriad opportunities the cards bring. They present a true opportunity to include the players in the creation of a collaborative story.
The rules that come along with the cards call for the GM to give two cards to the players at character creation, and an extra card when they go up a level. This seems too little for my current campaign, but that is the feel I am going for, larger than life adventure. The suggested pacing may work better for a traditional campaign.
Will my players like the Plot Twist Cards? That remains to be seen, I plan to show the cards to the players and discuss it with them. I am a little concerned with the open nature of the cards, I can see some players embracing it, other struggling, but I think that is part of the magic of the Plot Twist Cards. They encourage role-playing, to me that is a good thing!
Here is looking forward to the Condition Cards…
What about Advanced Feats: The Cavalier’s Creed? A review…
3December 28, 2010
Ok let me say it outright, I love the cover! After complaining about previous covers in the Advanced Feats series, with the exception of The Witch’s Brew, I must say this is my favorite cover thus far. It has action, it tells a story and it makes me want to read what’s behind the digital cover.
After such a stellar first impression I sat back with great expectation to read The Cavalier’s Creed, the 4th installment if the Advanced Feats series published by Open Design. They provided this review copy of their new book aimed at another of the classes introduced in the Pathfinder RPG Advanced Players Guide, the Cavalier.
Some personal details in the interest of full disclosure, I am a big fan of the AD&D cavalier originally presented in Unearthed Arcana. My favorite character, and the one who bore the name Sunglar, was a Cavalier/Paladin under the rules presented in the AD&D 1st edition Unearthed Arcana. The Pathfinder cavalier is NOT a rehash of that class, being its own creature, but I could not avoid making the connection and more goodies for the class is a big plus.
The book is 16 pages long, 12 of those pages actual gaming content when you discount the cover, adds and the OGL. The layout on these books improves with each installment and this is not the exception. The normal two column layout is adorned with flair and details, shields, silhouettes and woodcuts that enhance the theme of the book, giving it an air reminiscent of jousting tournaments, very fitting with the class.
The Cavalier is the odd one out of all the new classes in the Advanced Players Guide, it’s the only non-caster. The opening discussion on the class and its abilities touches upon this and all relevant abilities a player should be aware of. Be mindful, the fact the cavalier is not a caster doesn’t make it any less versatile. The cavalier’s orders offer many role playing opportunities and the challenge and tactician abilities change the tide of battle and give flavor to the class. Specifically the Cavalier’s Creed refers the reader to more Teamwork Feats available in Kobold Quarterly #15, a fine and entertaining publication on its own right.
The builds at the end of the book cover traditional knightly archetypes of myth and literature, the Green Knight, the Tawny Knight and the Black Knight. Notes on historical bucklers and horsemanship, while short, are very informative and really invite the reader to further research historical details for their games.
But, what about the feats, that’s why you are readying a book called Advanced Feats after all if? (Not really, the book is chock full of other useful information, but I digress.)
There are 30 new feats, all useful to the Cavalier, but like in previous Advanced Feats books, many are useful for other classes as well, here are feats of particular interest to combat heavy characters. The author notes on the feats are always informative and interesting form a game design point of view. Many feats play off the classes specific abilities, which is always good. Some generally useful feats, like Campaigner (need less rest and food, accustomed to being on the road) and Bravery (resistant to fear effects) are useful for building knightly or military themed characters even if they are no specifically cavaliers.
Clever Critter, meant for the mount is simple, it makes the mounts just a little smarter, but very useful. Many feats enhance Leadership. Moral Chameleon allows the character to change orders and there are plenty of combat and teamwork feats to make your cavalier interesting.
The author, Sigfried Trent, continues to impress me with his rule insight and mastery of the rules. While there are many feats products out there, many have balance issues and I always think twice about letting my players pick from those books. This is not the case here, the Advanced Feat series are books I would allow my players to use sight unseen, and this is my campaign we are talking about here, so this is high praise! This, and previous installments of the Advanced Feats series, are a great digital stocking stuffer for your friends who love Pathfinder or play these classes.
If you are curious here are my previous reviews on the Advanced Feats books dedicated to the Alchemist, Witch and Summoner. Here is looking forward to the Oracle and the Inquisitor!
Revisiting the new D&D comic book
2December 22, 2010
I hate being wrong, but not this time! Let me elaborate…
I wrote a previous post about the new Dungeons & Dragons comic published by IDW. I was less than impressed by their preview issue #0 and declared this a less than stellar debut. However my good friend Luis, who is also one of my regular players and works at the local FLG(comic)S, insisted that the new series was good and encouraged me to give it a try. I got issues #1 and #2 and after reading them I must say that despite my trepidation this is an excellent comic book.
I must concur with my friend Luis, the humor is spot on, the pace excellent and the art and writing top notch. The character are still stereotypical, the human fighter, the dwarven paladin, the elf ranger, the halfling thief, ahem sorry rogue, and the tiefling warlock, but the writer fleshes them out on the longer stories, they are still stereotypical enough that someone with passing knowledge of D&D can identify them, but the little details the writer peppers the story with makes them come alive.
The story proceeds swiftly and takes the character from one complication to the other and covers a lot of the typical troubles adventuring groups face, the local authorities that distrust them, or outright hate them, possession by evil powers, shape changers, and orcs. All in two issues! The humor is also fitting to the feel of D&D. At every table I have sat on, even among the most dedicated immersion role players, there is always room for a laugh, and this comes through in the character quips and conversations.
On my previous post I gripped that this did not feel like a comic book based on 4th edition and that it was a missed opportunity, and I have to take that back. It includes details like Fallcrest, the races and classes from the game and a comment by the Halfling that she has learned to bind her own wounds which I took to be a very covert reference to healing surges. I speculated that powers should be part of what the characters do on the comic book do, but upon reading the story I realized how awkward that would have been. These are all things that should be familiar to players of this edition, specially a new player who is getting his first look at what D&D when they read the comic. In fact is an excellent comic to hand to a new player who wants to know what a D&D adventure should be like and say “something like this”.
I think the creators of the comic crafted a story that will appeal to new fans of D&D, the new races are there, the new esthetics of the races as well (even a funky gnome wizard), references to the cosmology; while at the same time appealing to fans of older editions with fun classic fantasy stories. The plots are smart and play on the classic tropes. There are zombies, but the zombies are orphan zombie kids. There are orcs raiding a caravan, and the players are there, but they are looking for a shape shifter hiding in the caravan.
And if you absolutely, definitely, NEED to have some D&D 4th edition content, each of the issues I read has a character sheet for one of the main characters in the back. I did not read them extensively as they are for a game I’m not currently playing (except for one detail which I’ll get to in a minute).
Are the comics perfect? No, these are not the most profound stories. It’s a frolicking, light fantasy comic based on the D&D game. The art while excellent is a little off here and there, and I hope the writer can keep the momentum and humor going, even when the action comes to a natural lull at some point. I do have one nitpick (and it wouldn’t be one of my reviews without nitpicking)! The character sheet for the fighter and leader of the group in issue #1 listed his languages as common and dwarf, and in issue #2 he challenges the orc leader to single combat, in orc! Maybe this was the one phrase he knew, sort of like the phases in foreign languages one picks up thought time even if one does not speak the language. This is a minor nitpicks to an otherwise solid two issues.
Issue #0 was not a good representation of this comic, I guess they tried to cram as much as they could in a few short pages and it did not live up to the possibilities. Issue #1 and #2 did. I’m along for the ride. Guess this means my pull list at the comic store now includes two comics, Dungeons & Dragons and Knights of the Dinner Table.
What about In the Company of Minotaurs? A review…
3December 21, 2010
“I know they accuse me of arrogance, and perhaps misanthropy, and perhaps of madness. Such accusations (for which I shall exact punishment in due time) are derisory” The House of Asterion (tranlsation), by Jorge Luis Borges
I love minotaurs, ever since first hearing the classic story, but I blame my love for them in role playing games on Dragonlance. The minotaurs of Krynn inspired me as a teenaged DM and when I first began working on my home brewed world there had to be minotaurs. As the world has evolved and changed through the years they have remained. Call it a throwback to my youth, personal taste or just the fact that minotaurs are COOL! Just look at World of Warcraft, they have Tauren, if WoW does it, it MUST be cool.
Ever since I switched my campaign to the Pathfinder RPG rule system I have NOT converted the minotaurs. I have also become a fan of Rite Publishing and their supplements supporting the Pathfinder RPG. When I saw on their Facebook page that they had published a minotaur sourcebook, In the Company of Minotaurs, I had to check it out. Would these be the new rules for minotaurs in my campaign?
Ok so let’s start this at the beginning, the cover. What can I say? I was less than overwhelmed. (Am I to be known as the guy who complains of covers?) The cover drawing of a minotaur is really bland. The minotaur is simple and the cover lacks emotion, he just stands there in front of an arch. It needs more action, more savagery, it just needs something. The minotaur on page 1 was VERY nice, I would have preferred that minotaur for the cover. But besides that piece in page 1 I was unimpressed by the art, serviceable but not inspiring. In their defense I have searched for minotaur art online and there is a dearth of good minotaur art, with counted exceptions. So besides the art, what about the content of the book?
Let’s start with the origin of the Taurians, as minotaurs are called in this book. I like the classic mythological feel to the story, loved the Asterion reference, and while I am not wholly sold on the Great Bull of Heaven made man and starting a line of minotaurs, and their ability to mate with other races, their origin feels classic but very creatively adapted to a “traditional” fantasy setting.
Their society and culture is functional if a little trite. I like their idea of their homeland being the Lightless Labyrinth and the details are interesting enough to get a creative GM going. The role of women and how the race reproduces mating with other races, how females of the species are treated, it all chafes me the wrong way. Perhaps I am being too politically correct; it may work for others, not for me.
There are two type of Taurians, the pure kind, more the traditional minotaur you expect and half-breeds called Mereitaur, which have some minotaur features but not all. The pure Taurians seem a tad bit overpowered when compared with other races in the Pathfinder RPG, but may be workable. The Mereitaurs are an odd bunch, I am not sure I can visualize the “sort of” minotaurs, but the mechanic works with the Taurian origin and society as presented.
I loved the inclusion of the alternate racial traits Pathfinder style, the favored class options and the class archetypes; they went out of the way to give the Taurians all the options of the other races in the Pathfinder RPG. The Racial Paragon class, the feats and equipment are very good as well. This is a 22 page PDF, take away the cover the Open Gaming License and the ads and you end up with 17 pages of background and rules.
Overall about half this book was useful for me. There are feats, ideas and rules, especially in the later part of the book I found of use. While I loved the background, it’s not one that would fit my campaign, but it made a very interesting read. I would have loved a mechanically more generic minotaur that I could simply drop in my game. If this is what you are looking for, the book may not be for you. If you are looking for a classically inspired, interesting, if not totally balanced race, but with lots of role-playing potential, pick up the book. They won’t be the rules for minotaurs in my campaign. Your experience may be different. This is just my opinion and your mileage may vary.
The Pathfinder Role Playing Game Reference Document UPDATE!
0December 17, 2010
My love for Pathfinder is well known around these parts. It is my poison of choice for fantasy gaming and the rule system I use for my homebrew campaign. Over the last few years I have begun to use technology more and more to run my games and currently I GM with my laptop at the table.
One of the most useful tools I have for this is the Pathfinder RPG Game Reference Document. It lets me reference the rules online and I find myself using it more than the book or the PDF. Imagine my surprise when I navigated to the page today and was surprised by the addition of the classes and rules from the Advanced Players Guide and rules from the GameMastery Guide, including the most wonderful NPC gallery from the GameMastery Guide.
What can I say but thank you Paizo! They continue to provide quality and useful tools for their fan base. Don’t be cheap, this does not replace the books, there is much more in the book itself so don’t sell yourself short. If you don’t want to make a big investment, Paizo has greatly prized PDF copies of both books, so you have no excuse. I think I have a company crush, again thank you Paizo.
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