Let the gaming resume!

So tomorrow we are picking up our regularly scheduled gaming group. I'm stealing from a variety of sources for inspiration but a tip of the hat goes to Randy for his achievements post. I'm also going to blatantly rip off Gabe's (of Penny Arcade fame) loot table idea. There was a time when I'd scoff at these types of things and rant about character motivation and story arc, but I'm really loving that we can side step occasionally and have a night of Descent like fun with our gaming. I'll try to remember to post an update on what worked and what didn't if my memory doesn't fail me. What about you? Is you gaming group getting freed from the Carbonite of the holidays now?

We Could Use Some Activity Around Here...

For my part, I post this article about "The Decamer Campaign" from Gnome Stew. Basically, it's a GM thought experiment where you take the 10 monsters you think are stupidest and try to construct a campaign out of them. What he comes up with is funny and interesting. I doubt any of us are looking to start up any new campaigns, but if anybody has lists of 10 stupidest monsters, I'd love to hear 'em.

Also, more to the point: If anybody knows a GM that they think would like to post/read on the blog, I think we might want to open this thing up a bit and get more folks posting/discussing.

Microsoft Surface as a gaming table

I just saw this video this morning and have some mixed feelings about it.

First off, I doubt Surface will be in the average consumer price range. Second, I get the impression that the technology itself is physically large and heavy. While I think something like this is surely on the way, I think it will be much more likely to be tablets/palmtops and or projectors. That being said, the animated dire wolf was awesome. I totally thought that it was one step closer to the 3d chess game we saw in Episode 4.

Regardless of all my grumpy criticisms, I love that we really are sitting on the cusp of future gaming world. Looking at the comments in this Gnome Stew article I can see that not everybody is fond of technology in their game space. In fact, some of the comments seemed down right Ludditian. I tend to run a tech tool heavy game because the fun of play isn't about doing math or tweaking stats, but in narration and story. The moment I have to look up a rule or pull out a calculator I suddenly get drawn out of the game. So the more of that I can front load and have ready to go, the more enjoyment I get from the game.

Of course this has bit us once or twice in terms of software bugs or typos, but that weighed against bogging down in the 4e rule set, we'll continue to risk it.

How tech heavy are your games? Does everybody at the table have a laptop or palmtop to run their characters/encounters? Would you use this Surface product if it was affordable or would you miss minis?

Savage Encounters "spoilers"

Not sure I buy any of this. But if this really is indicative of the miniature selection of the set, I'm not too surprised if WotC has pulled it.

Alleged Savage Encounters images

Update: as of (at least) 10 PM Sunday, it's back on the Wizards product catalog

Wizards "Save My Game" Call-In

Today through Sunday, you can call Wizards and talk to 4E designers and DMs about your questions. 4 - 8 PM Central each day. I intend to call and ask about those pesky shaman spirit companions.

Adventure Log

I've been toying with this idea for a while, and I decided to go ahead and make one for the campaign I'm currently running.

Inspired by the DMG2 idea of Achievements (and I know that probably makes all those "D&D 4th Edition is just a pen-and-paper MMORPG" folks really feel like they were right), I created an adventure log for my current group, The Wandering Wolves.

The notion behind it is to give it to one of the players, who will then track a variety of things, including crits, natural ones, failed saves, etc. by making hash marks next to the characters' names. In addition, there's a big space to record treasure received, notable quotes and unusual events of the night.

The top (larger) boxes are for remembering events, and that will be translated into blog adventure summaries. The others are just kind of for fun, although I have created a series of "Achievements" that are "unlocked" by each player when they get them. I figure with each achievement, I'll give out a bonus die, kind of like I've been doing for role-playing bonuses.

These are all very much in playtest mode, and I haven't even run it by the players yet. If everybody in the group hates the idea, we won't do it and I've wasted two hours making a document in Photoshop. :)

Does anybody (Ben, Kevin?) know how to shrink a PSD file down to a more manageable PDF? I saved it as a PDF, but it was still 13 MB, and I'm sure there are some options in Photoshop when saving to make it a more manageable size. It's not a *huge* deal, as it's very much for use with our group and I'm going to print it from my computer, but I'd just like to have an easier to upload version for backing up, etc. And if anybody wants the PDF to make their own version, let me know and I can set up a yousendit.com URL.

Also, just in case anyone is curious, here are the achievements I've come up with so far, reserving the right to create more in the future:

Achievements:

GROUP RECORDS (These don't give bonus dice, they have special benefits, usable once per session, to whoever currently holds the title at the beginning of each session - My notion with these is either a little reward, or, in the case of failures and ones, to sort of counterbalance a night when dice are just screwing with you)

Most Critical Hits - Reroll one missed attack and keep the better result

Most Natural Ones - Turn one natural 1 into a critical hit instead

Failed Saving Throws - Turn one failed saving throw into a success

Highest Damage (Single Blow) - Reroll damage on one attack and keep the better result

Most Damage Taken (Single Blow) - Force an enemy to reroll damage on one attack and keep the worse result

Killing Blows Scored - Finish one foe when he is reduced to 5 or less hit points (GM will do this automatically)

Highest Attack Roll That Missed - Add +2 to one missed attack roll (GM will tell you beforehand if this will turn it into a hit or not)

CRITICAL HITS
Heavy Hitter - 25 Critical Hits
Boom King - 50 Critical Hits
Precision Striker - Deal 5 critical hits in one session

SAVING THROWS
Unlucky - Fail 10 Saving Throws
Did You Walk Under A Ladder? - Fail 10 Saving Throws In One Adventure
Did You Piss Off A Gypsy? - Fail 10 Saving Throws in One Encounter

SINGLE BLOWS
WHAM! - Deal over 50 HP of damage in a single blow
Mano a Mano - Deal all the damage required to kill a foe, without a single assist from allies

DAMAGE TAKEN
Ooh! That's Gotta Hurt! - Take over 25 HP of damage from a single blow
Tough Guy - Take over 25 HP of damage from a single blow without being knocked out or killed
Juggernaut - Take over 50 HP of damage from a single blow without being knocked out or killed
Didn't Flinch - Take over 50 HP of damage from a single blow without being bloodied

KILLING BLOWS
Slayer - 15 Killing Blows Scored
Master Slayer - 30 Killing Blows Scored
A Name To Fear - 100 Killing Blows Scored

The Stormhawks Website

Don't know why I didn't post this here sooner. I used Google Sites for the layout and am really pleased with how it's turned out so far. I'm behind in the write-ups, but that's usual for me as I'm a lazy bastard.

I'm having a great time writing up articles for the Korranberg Chronicle though and I'm in the process of creating a full on journal (a real one) for the Lich that is running around causing my players some problems.

Check it all out...here.

Randy's Gaming Links Episode 5

More skill challenges than you can shake a stick at.

Actually, I guess you could shake a stick at them.

I'm just not sure why you'd do that.

GANAKAGOK (or "let's break from D&D for a moment")

Picked up this game last week and I'm dying to try it out. It's a small indie RPG that plays as a hybrid between storytelling and roleplaying. Kevin, are you familiar with it? It's very much along the lines of the high-concept indie games we talked about last week.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

Its setting and premise are extremely specific. It concerns a mythic era for an Eskimo-like people (the Nitu) who've hunted and lived all their lives on a giant island of ice called Ganakagok under an eternal night of stars. But Dawn is coming, for good or ill, and the players' characters are the ones who sense it. It's like being part of a creation myth where the first appearance of the sun is the final act, and the players are charged with determining whether that final act is inspiring and adventurous or dark and tragic.

In each session (and it always runs as a single session only), the players draw cards from a tarot deck and use the wildly varying themes on them as inspiration for everything from character creation to the role of their character in the story. The game's mechanics create loves and hates between the characters and their allies, produce monsters to fight (like the dread Cannibal Ghouls), and even helps the players produce a kick-ass map of the mythic lands of the Nitu!

What I like best is that in the end you've built a STORY. And it doesn't rely on the players adventuring together - in fact, a key aspect of the story may be that they're at odds. But everyone is constantly contributing, even when it's not their turn. The main goal is to build a MYTH, and because myths are filled with tales of both greatness and sorrow, even a tragic turn in Ganakagok can be exciting (consider the rise and fall of Achilles).

At the very least, it is WILDLY DIFFERENT. And I'd like to run it. Soon. I know I can wrangle my brother into it, and I mention it here to put a bug in your ears. If anyone's interested in joining in, let me know.

Skill Challenges

Great (and funny) article on skill challenges by Austin local and Wizards writer Ari Marmell. He uses footnotes! My favorite one?

"If you’re anything like me, you get at least a faint twinge of dislike any time your DM brings in an NPC to save you from a bad situation.4"

"4 If you're a lot like me, you're sitting at home in your underwear right now, writing a column about player agency in RPGs. But please don't tell me if you are; that's just creepy."

Other uses for Healing Surges

Great overview of alternative ways to use Healing Surges. http://www.roleplayingpro.com/2009/09/22/the-healing-surge-dm%E2%80%99s-little-helper/

That being said, we've yet to encounter heavy usage of Healing Surges. I'm not sure if it's because we are resetting between gaming sessions and so they really don't have as much time to run down or if it's because the player's just really aren't taking that much damage. In fact, the damage department seems either feast or famine.

I've heard that defender classes should feel like they are being knocked down and pop right back up, but the one time we've seen that the players felt the encounter was much too hard. I'm still struggling to get the feel of the combat just right.

role playing in 4e at last!

I'm really glad this guy took to time to write this up. I have a feel this is really going to rock our weekly game TO THE CORE.

http://www.stargazersworld.com/2009/09/24/breaking-news-roleplaying-finally-possible-in-dd-4th-edition/

The Assassin

I'm not a big fan of the class from the past, but I kinda like the new take on it, especially for a more morally ambiguous campaign. Dungeon Mastering has a pretty good rundown of the philosophy of the class and how it contrasts with the rogue.

More random goodness

This morning I found this link from Gnome Stew.

http://www.trovetokens.com/4e-npc.html

It is a quick NPC generator. Unfortunately not background or story, just stats, but if you need something like this it does a great job. I'm still looking forward to finding a really loosely defined NPC background generator that is compelling and yet not a wall of text.

Random Treasure Generation

Here is a random treasure generator that I find incredibly helpful when running a game. Pick the level and number of characters and all the various types and groupings of treasure and magical items. From there the web app will generate a treasure package tailored to your world and characters.

http://www.asmor.com/scripts/4eMagicItems/randomTreasure.php

Randy's Gaming Links Episode 4

Two links of note:

The Cartographer's Guild, a message board where folks post up maps they've made. Invaluable if you're using a projector, and while you have to join to be able to read the group, it's a painless join-up process and they've got a ton of great maps and mapmakers.

The Eberron Wiki, a resource for Eberron players and GMs.

Getting My Map On

Can you tell:

• Which creature is bloodied?
• Which creature is healthy?
• Which creature has initiative?

Crossposted at austingame

Randy's Gaming Links Episode 3

This is someone's rundown on GenCon, which was most interesting to me for this:

"4. Hunter’s Quarry and Sneak Attack Do Max Damage on a Crit – I have a signed statement to that effect. Take that, Dungeon Masters who have been robbing me of damage"

Isn't this completely contradicted in the Player's Handbook, or have I been playing the game wrong? If this is correct, I have cheated numerous players out of crit damage. And as I'm about to play a Rogue, I want to make sure I know if I get to max out my Sneak Attack damage. :)

Dark Sun?

I was a huge fan of Dark Sun back in the day. I'm really curious to see if they can do it as well as they handled Eberron's Campaign Guide.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4news/20090814

What do you guys think?

Cool idea for more narrative combat

Killing Minions with Style, which I got to from another good post, 4th Edition and the Case of the Hideously Long Combat. Both worth a read. (They're short.)