In the revision of Dungeons and Dragons that is Wizards of the Coast’s 4th Edition, Power Sources have been created as the explanation for why the heroes of the game are so, well, heroic. As an example, the quintessential Wizards of the game can cast the spells that are their raison d’être because they can … Read more
When I ran my 4E D&D playtest campaign, I decided to make it larger than life. That meant going planer. The churning unpredictability of the planes, the potential for exotic locations, the alienness of its inhabitants calls to my imagination. The Plane Below: Secrets of the Elemental Chaos, which details 4E’s churning elemental wastes, is … Read more
I’m one of those who loves the printed word. PDFs are handy, but when it comes right down serious reading, I want my books and magazines culled from dead trees. As such, I was happy to see a review copy of Dragon Magazine Annual show up in my inbox. Although my D&D 4E playtest campaign … Read more
In November I had the chance to do something I’ve never done before: play Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition. Technically that’s not true – I’ve played D&D 4E plenty of times as a Dungeon Master, including my gaming group’s playtest campaign. But I’ve never sat at the table as a D&D 4E player. The last … Read more
Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition gets its second full campaign setting with the release of the Eberron Campaign Guide, a setting that combines pulp, noir and everyday magic and offers a sharp break from standard D&D fare. It’s a setting in which civilization advances not through technological breakthroughs, but arcane ones, giving rise to trains, … Read more
In the waning days of World War II, the Nazis awoke the world-strangling Midgard serpent, nearly triggering the Norse end of days known as Ragnarok. Their plan was foiled by the Americans, who flew an atomic- bomb-laden aircraft into the Serpent’s miles-wide eye, slaying it in blinding flash of nuclear fire.
Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition is seeing a nice publicity bump from its second round of major book releases as PHB 2, Arcane Power, Monster Manual 2, Eberron Campaign Setting and DMG 2 all hit the stands over the next few months. Right now the focus is on the just-released Monster Manual 2, which a … Read more
One of the first computer games I remember playing was Adventure!, a text-based RPG that was based on Colossal Cave, a piece of interactive fiction developed at MIT in the early 1970s. It shared its DNA with what would become one of the most popular IF franchise: Zork. I played Zork I, but not its … Read more
Wilderness of Mirrors by John Wick 17 pages MSRP: $5.00 Buy it from Indie Press Revolution A few years ago I ran a short-lived Spycraft 1.0 PBEM campaign. It barely made it out of the briefing stage, ultimately succumbing to the asynchronous maladies that doom most play-by-email games. The campaign lived on in the back … Read more
War. War never changes. But thankfully, it does gets upgrades. Fallout 3’s all about those upgrades, presenting the best damn post-apocalyptic America this side of Thunderdome. Just as in the first Fallout from the late 90s, you stumble out of a subterranean Vault and blink at the toxic wasteland. Only now it’s rendered in millions … Read more