:88E:
Salutations to all! It is a new day friends, as the NKUY news report begins life anew in its very own thread. The move was a tough one to be sure, as any moves tend to be. Furniture needed to be carried, address cards filled out, mail forwarded, all the usual things. Thankfully the arduous task is done and this reporter can continue his never ending quest to feed the momentous ego that has served him so well till now, and hopefully for many years to come. And now, to the report!
First off, we were graced with a couple new releases today, one of which being an article concerning a great tiefling empire called Vor Gragal. In it we are introduced to three tiefling houses that control this empire, each of them ruled by beings that help give their race a bad name. A warped necromancer, a sadistic, clothing-challenged vampire, and the wonder twins Krumos and Kaieta, with their space monkey Gleep. Ok, there is no space monkey, and nothing says their twins, but they are brother and sister. I thought it was a really interesting article, and converting it to Eberron, shouldn’t be too terrible a task. At the very least, it could help to explain the relative uncommon appearance of tieflings to this point, as their great empire was destroyed, scattering them to the four winds, so to speak. Heck, with a little creative license we could say that the concept of the Dragonmark Houses, were based on the three houses of Vol Gragal, where family lines held sway over the government. One of the more interesting inclusions to me is the Spear of the Skylord or more specifically, its shards. I could see these being mistaken for a type of dragon shard. A campaign could then be run to collect the shards to form the spear, making it necessary to travel thoughout Khorvaire collecting items created from them, whether though hook, crook, or conflict with their current owners. I do love a good quest.
Next, our virtual magazine was graced with part 2 of a newly titled “Confessions of a part-time Wizard” article “The Secret Lives of Dungeon Masters”. I’ve found in general that Shelly Mazzanoble has a pretty good wit, so I tend to enjoy her articles, though I haven’t read her book quite yet. This one is no different in that category though not exactly an eye opening perspective either. Perhaps someone who has never DM’d before could find a few good tidbits of advice bantered about, but in general it’s nothing we DMs shouldn’t always be aware of. The humor is worth at least a quick perusal. I have to say though, it comes across a bit like a 4e propaganda piece, but that is not unexpected in any way, shape, or form. One last thing, though I have the utmost respect for James Wyatt, I have to partially disagree with one bit of advice he did offer. A marked creature should, in general, go after the one who marked them, but not exclusively. If this was the case, then marks such as Divine Challenge, would offer pretty much no benefit except, maybe, during opportunity attacks.
Third on our list of new releases is the final preview for the Against the Giant’s Miniature set. If you remember the old AD&D Dungeon Master’s Guide, then the appearance of a certain Efreet as a mini will be a welcome addition. I am pretty excited about a new huge figures, as they tend to be my favorites of the minis line. On a bit of a side note, I am proud to say that I am anxiously waiting for the day when my players reach that wonderful level when the appearance of my Colossal Red Dragon will be a forgone conclusion. Fiery death from above!
I think that will be it for tonight. Some may have noticed I was lacking a bit on the babbling supposition tonight and if you miss that aspect, I really am sorry. I seem to have had a disagreement with my back earlier today, it all coming down to a simple physiological debate. I wanted to get some fresh air and go shopping, and it wanted to spasm like John Belushi doing his Joe Cocker impersonation on SNL. Needless to say, it won, and so it’s kind of put the kibosh on my ADD ranting for the evening. Course, if you weren’t a fan, then this was a treat, but be warned, your peace will hopefully not last long. ;)
PS. If you don’t know who Joe Cocker is, or god forbid John Belushi, and have never seen the skits I am talking about, then I have one thing to say. I think I am getting old!
Do you experience feelings of dread in your dungeon or keep?
Have you or any of your family ever seen a death wight, dolgaunt or rakshasa?
If the answer is yes, then don't wait another minute. Get to a messenger station and contact the professionals.
Eidolancers!
Our courteous and efficient staff is on call twenty-four hours a day to serve all your extraplanar elimination needs.
We're ready to believe you!
Another day blooms, and with it the unrelenting egotism of the NKUY news report returns yet again! And the news is weighty tonight considering the veritable wheelbarrow of content WotC has released, though considering the speed at which the end of the month is approaching, this shouldn’t be a surprise.
We begin with the article most important to our beloved setting. As many of you know we have finally been graced with Keith Baker’s articleForest of Flesh. Thanks to the posting of DBlizzard, we already have a place to discuss the merits of the article, and it’s begun with gusto. Looking at that thread, I thought I would throw in my two cents here, not concerning the information on the forest specifically, but more so the hidden treasures I have noticed that could be helpful with the 4e home brewing of Eberron until it’s official release. The main thing that tends to stick out in these types of releases, at least to me, is the offering of new creatures and powers. Now, the Skinweavers are fantastically disgusting, and the creep factor they will deliver can be truly disturbing. I can already see a DM, possibly someone like me, taking a party NPC, one they have come to know and form an attachment to, and have this happen to them. The shock alone will be fantastic. I am not cruel enough to make it a family member, as of yet, but who knows what depths I could sink to in the future as my DM omnipotence begins to corrupt me. The most tantalizing aspect of them to me though is a certain little ability called Arcane Mimicry. That’s right folks, this little baby sees you doing an at-will or encounter power, and poof they got it too. Does anyone else hear the siren call of the Spell Thief attempting to sneak it’s way into 4e? I sure do, and this definitely gives me hope that, in Keith’s mind at the very least, the concept is still alive and well. I am currently working on a 4e write up of this class, and hopefully I can share it soon, since I would love the feedback.
Next from the wheelbarrow is dumped our next Dungeoncraft article. This is part four of the series concerning your first 4e campaign, begun before the release of the rules. James Wyatt continues his demonstration on how to design your campaign world, expanding on the concept of the “home base”, the place where your PCs will be refitting and spending their off hours. Now, mister Wyatt is apparently considered the Master DM of the wizard’s staff and from reading his articles and other material I have no real doubts in this. As such, this series can be very helpful as a step-by-step example of how to form your own world and what you should be concerned about when it comes to filling it. I know from personal experience that at first it’s very easy to become overwhelmed with the concept of filling your entire world so this lesson like approach can be very helpful. I would go so far as to suggest Mr. Wyatt consider doing a sort of Campaign Creation for Dummies, kind of product as it would be very helpful for the game designer in all of us.
Our next bit of content comes in the form of an adventure for 8th level characters called Sleeper in the Tomb of Dreams. Free adventures are always a joy to receive, even regardless of the quality since it provides an outline at the very least for the construction of a new one. That being said, this seems to be not bad at all. The one thing it really misses, which I am seeing to be a trend, is information on how you could fit it into either FR or more importantly Eberron. That being said, my personal thoughts consist of lessening the timetable from 100 years to just 4 or so, and making the paladins generals of conflicting armies that met in Cyre before the mourning. Their battle could of coincided with the events that caused the destruction of that kingdom. Just add some cosmetic flair to the encounters, making them more fitting to the Mournlands, and poof instant Eberron placement. Least that is my take on it. The oddness of the tomb just seems to fit into the Mournlands in my mind. Course, I am sure there are as many takes on this as there are posters, so who knows, maybe a post will pop up that asks that very question some time soon.
At this point your probably thinking, what else could there be? Now my usual answer would be something to the effect of “your lucky we got this much”, instead I get to continue to babble on for at least a couple more paragraphs. Yay me! For instance, another PvP podcast has popped up as well, and we all know how much I am enjoying these. They are just plain fun to listen to, and apparently just as fun to play. They’ve swapped DMs for their current run and we’re now getting to hear a bit of voice acting from Jim Wyatt. Least I believe it is him, course it could have been Jim running the games till now and Chris taking over, but I think I will just go with my guy and say it’s Jim now. Being the responsible reporter I am, I plan on releasing this with no verification what so ever, and instead just hoping it works out for the best. Hmmm, perhaps with this kind of journalistic integrity I will pursue a brighter career in the future with the Enquirer or at least Fox News. ;)
My image spotlight tonight is going to be pretty easy as yet another aspect of the “wheelbarrow of releases” today includes 4e wallpapers. They are all pretty sweet, considering they are from the books themselves. I really like the art since it now has a more Eberron feel to it, which I suppose is no surprise considering the artists who did some of the Eberron art are now on staff, least that is what I hear. I am going to focus my attention on the one that got away, so to speak, namely the concept art as opposed to the stuff that actually made it in. Now, I have to say, I am not sure if I am all up on the new unified tiefling look, with the really large horns and massively thick tail, but I must admit this is a nice sketch.
Keep 'em comin'!!!:D
Lord of Blades: "Why, ir’Kulan? Why? Why do you do it? Why? Why get up? Why keep fighting? Do you believe you're fighting for something? Something more than your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know? Is it freedom or truth? Perhaps peace? Could it be for Cyre? Illusions, ir’Kulan. We living constructs know you are a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence without meaning or purpose. And all as deluded as Merrix himself, although, only a human mind could invent something as insipid as patriotism. You must be able to see it ir’Kulan. You must know it by now. You can't win. There's no point in fighting. Why, ir’Kulan? Why? Why do you persist?"
Cyran Avenger: "Because I choose to."
It’s back! Yet again, though forces beyond the stations control conspired to prevent this reporter from being able to sit up and type, the NKUY news report is here to share the events of the day. Though in this case, it’s the events of the last few days and probably nothing really new to any of you. Still, persistence is said to be a virtue of sorts, so Jelly and I will continue our pursuit of truth. Ok, Jelly will most likely just continue to try to consume any and all things in his path, while I look for truth, but the drive is still the same.
Now, the first and most important news on anyone’s lips is obviously the release of an Eberron class! That’s right, you all know and love him. That master of magical devices. That infuser of mystic power. The one, the only, Artificer! I have to say, this is one of the aspects of Eberron in 4e that I personally was most concerned with. Being the only true new class that was ever introduced by the setting, getting this one right is vital in my mind to keeping the true spirit of Eberron alive in 4e. That being said, I feel this concept is, at the very least, moving in the right direction. Understanding that this is a playtest version of the class, I am happy to see that perhaps we may get some sort of constructive say in how to make it feel even more like the class we love. As it is right now, it is a potentially very potent build, although quite singular in purpose, but this is to be expected considering it is based on the one and only option they have current, the battlesmith. Still, I see infusions as well as controller abilities that could even rival the wizard, least in the sense of avoiding friendly fire. Also, since “multi-class” has been such an emphasis in conversion advice articles, I would of liked to see the multi-class feat for Artificer as well, though I am sure it will be released with the final product. The emphasis on powers is comforting, as I feared they would go the “bonus to rituals” route, which is a path I hope is never taken with any class, at least as a primary benefit. That being said, I do believe that some sort of benefit in the Enchant Item arena is necessary for the final ECS version if for no other reason than to demonstrate how this class is capable of creating the amazing marvels such as Lightning Rails and Sky Ships, including the concept of binding. The only benefit that I perhaps see so far, listed under the Components section, would be the ability to transmute mundane materials into components. This throw away line is almost definitely to be interpreted to mean for their infusions and powers, but for the more creative, or sneaky depending on how you look at it, could be applied to any rituals they do. If it is the later, you have just made the artificer one of the wealthy classes imaginable. I tend to believe it isn’t, mainly because of WotC’s attempts to make 4e the most balanced system in, well apparently, all creation. Plus the last line of the section seems to lend credence to the first reasoning. Still it is something to ponder, least if you want to drive your DM crazy with semantic RAW arguments. ;)
Another very interesting discovery today was thanks to a bit of sneaky ingenuity by the poster Vickrin. Thanks to them, we can get a bit of a sneak peak of the next issue of Dragon magazine (as well as Dungeon, pointed out by Vindaloo). Nice bit of investigation, both of you. Who knows, maybe the station could use a couple new reporters later down the line. :D
I have to say, I am both excited and concerned by what I see, or frankly, don’t see in these TOCs. Another article about Mordain, a very welcome addition. The beginning of the new adventure path, very sweet. A new segment called The Bazaar of the Bizarre, which I personally am the most intrigued by. All enticing things to look forward to. And of course the afore mentioned Artificer. My concerns though consist of the sheer absence of a conversion article for H2 when it comes to Eberron. Sure, FR gets theirs, but where is the Eberron love? Is it just the matter of spreading out their content, as has been proposed on another thread? If that’s the case, then I call foul as it is nothing more than a matter of laziness if you’re not creative enough to come up with something else to fill that article’s space in a future magazine release. Come on WotC, though the Articifer is a fantastic surprise release, and any article from Keith is going to keep us hoping for more, don’t forget that the adventure conversion can potentially be the most important type of release you could give to us. What better way to keep us enticed and waiting for the new ECS, than to enable our Eberron escapades to continue with official adaptations of adventures that can be cited as visions of our future 4e setting. You started out strong with the KotS conversion, so don’t drop the ball now. And while you’re at it, release adaptations for the rest of the adventures in Dungeon as well. And let me say, I am not just asking for us here in the Eberron boards, but for those on FR as well and any future campaign settings that you begin to market. Teasing us with new little tidbits and creatures in each conversion is probably one of the best marketing ploys I can think of, save for perhaps a small gnome who loves being a monster. “Rawwwr”
Glancing over one of the newest items, part four of Converting Your Character has been released as well. In it, we have advice concerning characters from the 3.5 Player’s Handbook II. We have suggestions for The Duskblade, Dragon Shaman, Knight, and Beguiler. As I said before, advice concerning using multi-class is getting a bit tiresome, but at least they are making the attempt. The most interesting inclusion is the idea that the Swordmage from FR could be a good replacement for the Duskblade, helping to narrow down what the Swordmage might be capable of doing.
In podcast news, part six of the Penny Arcade/PvP podcast is available. As usual, it’s a funny little romp and feels more like a “real” role-play session, least the kind I am used to. The only thing that differs in my mind is the bleeping of the more severe curses that comes out of my players, though let’s face it, that would probably derail the rp every time. Still, the idea of having a beep button just to screw with my party would be a riot. I could add a sect that is something like a decency league. Yes, I see it now, the Eberron Societal Righteousness Band, basically a bunch of zealots that go around adding beeps and putting black bars in front of anything they deem offensive to the societal morals of Khorvaire. They could even go so far as demanding all adventurers and creatures wear a visible raiment displaying the level of offensiveness the righteous band believes it represents. Yes..yes..an ESRB notice or emblem. It almost sounds like something that could happen in reality!
Finally in our image spotlight tonight, we make a quick trek to the deviantArt galleries for this sweet little portrait. Dark, mysterious, and usually intimidating, the drow of Xendrix exude a sense of the exotic few can equal. This picture definitely does them justice, drawn by fuuryoku, and titled Deadname.
Carl’aen’s spirit: “So I jump airship in Khovaire and make my way over to Thrane, and I get on as a squire at the Silver Flame in what’s now Flamekeep. A squire, you know, a man-at-arms, a squire, a sidekick. “
Nods at his descendant believing he understands him.
Carl’aen: “So, I tell them I'm a pro sidekick, and who do you think they give me? Tira Miron herself, first paladin of the Flame, the flowing surcoat, the grace, poise......striking. So, I start on this quest with her. I give her the greatsword. She hauls off and whacks one---big hitter, that Tira---hard, into a ten foot troll, right at the base of it’s skull. Do you know what that Tira says? ‘Flame of righteousness... grant me strength.’“
Looks at his descendant as if that is some deep revelation and then continues.
Carl’aen: “So we finish off the whole quest and she's gonna stiff me. And I say, ‘Hey, Tira, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know.’ And she says, ‘Oh, uh, there won't be any gold, but when you die and your spirit finally departs from this realm, you will become one with the flame.’”
Smiles and looks a little proud.
Carlaen: “So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.”
Hail yet again, my fellow Eberronites! Due to some staff difficulties, namely the consumption of my laptop by Jelly, as well as some not so minor physical injury, sadly I have not been able to post as often as my ego would like. Hopefully starting tonight, that will begin to change. My laptop seems to be in functional shape, save that I will be typing from memory as all the letters have been removed from the surface of the keys. In related news, keep out an eye for my upcoming infomercial, “Gelatinous Ooze, the new universal solvent”. As for the injury, well they make this magical concoction called “muscle relaxers” so I am pretty safe in that arena, though perhaps not the most lucid. With that in mind, forgive any oddities in future posts as it may not be me talking, but the alchemical solutions.
News, news, let’s bring out the news! So what did we get today? A few little tidbits to tempt the palette, I suppose, though nothing yet of the meaty Eberron variety. First, of course, I have to point out that part 7 of the PvP podcast has been released! That’s right, the further adventures of Jim Darkmagic and Splug the goblin turncoat. Do I have to say yet again how much I enjoy this podcast? Probably not, but I will anyhow. It is great! It’s everything having fun with D&D should be, regardless of any edition crap. Just a bunch of buddies getting around a table and doing ridiculous stuff for no other reason than to have fun. What more could you want? Ok, maybe there is the whole winning the lottery thing, but outside of that?
This day also gives us a nice little taste of one of the behind the scenes movers and shakers of the nine hells. I am talking about a little guy named Beleth. So, what can I get from this article you may ask? Well, other than the fact that Mr. Unblinking Eye, Asmodeus loves to micromanage? Sadly in an Eberron sense, not much. Since so far most tend to go by the idea that all fiends are part of the Lords of Dust concept, and still apparently are such as shown by Orcas in KoTS, all this rising and falling stuff doesn’t exactly fit cleanly into the setting. Still there are some great ideas to pick from, least of which being Beleth himself. Who can’t use another sneaky, powerful, connected to evil powers bad guy in their campaign? I know I’m always on the look out for new talent, and this guy has at least a 95mph fastball and a change up that could make you cry. Not to mention his roadies, including an assassin imp lord? An imp lord! Seriously! Who new they ever rose past peon? All and all, it’s just one more resource we can use for ideas to say the least, and heck that is always a good thing.
Want to steal some npcs from Faerun? Well, now is your chance since we got an except from the upcoming Forgotten Realms CS. Couple characters that might strike your fancy and it never hurts to have a fleshed out flavor personality to throw into a game when you need it. Need an eccentric wizard, just grab this Curavar fellow, though you might want to change his little catch phrase. Then again, maybe he is so eccentric he can keep it and just have some odd connection to the realm of Faerun in some way. Heck, why not right? And who doesn’t need another half-elf lady who loves to throw soirees? Alright maybe you don’t need another one, or a first one for that matter, but keep an open mind. One of the best sessions I feel, as a DM, I have run so far involved the masked ball from Whispers of the Vampire’s Blade. Having another pre-made personality to throw into that kind of situation is always a good thing.
I am going to end this now, since as I said the alchemical substances are playing a bit of havoc with my mental acuity at the moment. Got to work back into the swing of things, so to speak, so I hope you guys bear with me for a bit. In the mean time, go crazy with those Eberron campaigns and keep the posting up. I love seeing our boards active since, at the very least, it always gives me something interesting to read. Speaking of interesting to read, Missecat’s idea of an imprisoned lycan ancestor held by some shifter tribes is a pretty sweet idea and I encourage everyone to take a look at the thread and give some feedback. I know I may swipe it at some point. ;)
Player 2: And an slayer.
Player 3: And a rules lawyer.
Player 4: A prima donna.
Player 5: And a power gamer.
Player 1: Does us paraphrasing a classic 80’s flick get us our stuff back? Sincerely yours, The Adventurers Club
:fight!:From the era of hair ballads and the brat pack comes the NKUY news report! Your last stop for paraphrasing and outright butchering of movie and TV quotes, with a little news thrown in. I’m SM and with me, as always, my partner in crime Jelly the gelatinous cube. We’re here to bring you all the news that you’ve probably already seen, and maybe one or two things you haven’t. So as always, let’s get down to the nitty gritty with our first item of the night.
It’s conversion time yet again as the 4e suggestions for converting you 3.5 characters continues with the Complete Divine. Now this book is a relatively simple thing to deal with, as shown by the article. The Favored Soul and Shujenga can be accomplished rather easily with either warlock, wizard or cleric builds. The fact that no multiclass combinations were suggested is a welcome surprise considering, as I have mentioned before, that seems to be the fall back position for any advice that is given. What got me excited was something I was truly not expecting, homebrew advice! That’s right, with the Spirit Shaman we are actually given a suggestion of changes to make, to the cleric class, so it fits better with being a shaman. First I have to say thank you to WoTC for this change in advice tactics and request that continue. As I think about it though, perhaps there is alternate reasoning for providing this kind of help that doesn’t involve them actually listening to the requests of those who’ve commented about the articles. Maybe, just maybe, this was given because a “shaman” class will be in an upcoming product? It’s been theorized on one of the blog threads that shaman could be a PHB II class, and if that’s the case it’s no wonder they would have actual advice on changing a core class on hand to give us. A sort of sneak peak perhaps that allows people to play a shaman and then convert them relatively easily to the upcoming official release? Of course this is nothing but a simple conspiracy theory, but hey I wouldn’t put it past them. Whatever the reason, please keep this kind of thing going, it’s what many of use are looking for.
As to the next release, let me just say that on a personal note I am not very happy with the FR centricity of the DDI releases of late. Now, I do understand that the FRCS is coming out in just scant weeks, but dangit, my CS isn’t here till next year and I am a whiney impatient person who needs more Eberron goodness! So, come on, I know you gave us a play test and all, and I know we're getting a dispatch as well but how about a Thunderspire conversion, or an ecology that actually mentions Eberron? Is that too much to ask? Maybe, but like I said, I am not known for my patience so start releasing stuff again before I cry! That being said, the next releases involve, as you may of already noticed, FRCS excerpts, specifically, a Loudwaterencounter and a Backdrop on Cormyr. What can I say about them other then they are not bad. As I have said before, having an extra encounter on hand, just like an extra NPC, can be a very useful little thing in a pinch. The same goes for a kingdom, since there is nothing that says you can’t take interesting tidbits and locations from Cormyr and throw them into our setting. Heck, a couple new paragon paths aren’t too shabby either, even if you have to change the fluff a bit for them to work. All in all not bad releases, though I personally don’t have enough knowledge of Faerun to tell what has been altered and how much I should be upset about it. If there is cause for concern for you FR fans, then I feel your pain. Hopefully though, it will only be in an empathetic sense, as hope springs eternal that I won’t be shredding my books when a year has passed and I am reading the 4e ECS. Sovereign Host be with us all.
Our third story tonight is a bittersweet tale of excitement and woe. That’s right folks, the last installment of the PVP podcast has been released, and with it the final adventures of Jim Darkmagic and crew. What can I say, it was funny as usual and the group was obviously tenser with the end fight here and the fact that they were already knocked unconscious once and presumed dead. I have only one true criticism concerning the podcast, and that is that it ended. Now, I don’t mean ended as in there will be no more, though I am obviously disappointed by that. No, what I am alluding to is that when the last encounter was over, that was it. Heck, the DM didn’t even have a summation prepared. You know, the usual kind where the adventure is summed up and accolades and events are shown to happen as a result of their great accomplishments. There was nothing, just a simple “the place is starting to crumble and, oh yeah, the bad guy has a +2 dagger you can take”. I don’t know about the rest of you, but that left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. If, as a new player, I had gone though the game and ended up with a final moment containing as much fanfare as playing a game of poker, I would have been sorely disillusioned. Ah well, perhaps, since the taping cut off rather abruptly, there was more discussion and fun to be had that won’t be shared. Here is hoping that is the case and I am crossing my fingers for more of these kinds of releases in the future.
Now a report from the “Around the Forums” desk. Gamer_Zer0 has posted a thread concerning a weekly updates he creates which are sent to many of the staff at WoTC. In the thread he actually prints the latest update he is sending containing items of concern mentioned by posters and issues around the boards, including the ability to just connect to the DDI. On another thread, a poster discovered an interview session with Mike Mearls containing some insight on the creative decisions involved with 4e including things such as action points, the planes, and the death of grapple. It’s worth a quick read if nothing else. There also appears to have been an errata update for the three core books released a couple days ago. Not a huge change, but enough to check out if your keeping your books current. Personally I think errata should yet another reason why we should receive free updatable pdfs of the core books, once we’ve purchased the hardcopy. I know they say this is too much of a headache to accomplish, but it would also make it a lot easier to record the changes. As a fan of print, I find I will never resort to writing in a core book, and having to reference a print out was always a pain in the buttocks, as Forrest would say.
I leave you tonight with our image spotlight recipient. From artist Panhandl of the Eberronfanart gallery on DeviantArt comes the mac daddy of warforged, Flash. This guy is one bad mo…HUSH YOUR MOUTH. I’m just talking about Flash. Without further ado, I give you:
Lady Suzan: It's because it's what you love, Rock. It is who you were born to be. And here you sit. Thinking. Well, Rock ir’Bobbi is not a thinker. Rock ir’Bobbi is a barbarian. He is a doer, and that's what you need to do. You don't need to think. You need to fight. You need carnage. You need to go out there, and you need to swing your blades. You need to tear it up. You need to grab ahold of that line between death and chaos, and you need to wrestle it to the ground like a demon rakshasa. And then, when the fear rises up in your belly, you use it. And you know that fear is powerful, because it has been there for billions of years. And it is good. And you use it. And you ride it; you ride it like a skeleton boar through the gates of Mabar, and then you slaughter, Rock. You SLAUGHTER! And you don't slaughter for anybody else. You slaughter for you, you know why? Because a half-orc takes what he wants. He takes it all. And you're a half-orc aren't you? Aren't you?
Rock ir’Bobbi: Lady Suzan, I never heard you talk like that... Are we about to get it on? Because I'm as hard as a dragonshard in an ice storm right now.
Hello viewers! It’s time again to delve into the mental recesses of a truly self-involved egomaniac and hope that something interesting oozes from the mire it contains. In other words, it’s NKUY news report time! We got hit with a few little tidbits since my last post, including three just tonight, so without further ado, our first story.
First off we got another FR preview, this one having to do with xenophobic elves, hot semi-desert landscapes and a legendary warrior with a canine fetish. It’s an interesting preview, if you’re into FR, and it could translate some to Eberron. In fact, let’s give it a shot. Maybe they are a lost tribe of Aeranel who survive in the mournlands, altered by the magic there and given this new version of imitation Dragonmarks called spellscars. Hmmm, that ain’t too bad. Heck, using spellscars seem only fair, they were obviously based on Dragonmarks anyhow. Hear that Forgotten Realms? I’m taking em back! Taking them back for every devoted fan of Eberron who fears their settings uniqueness is being stolen. Taking it back for every poor magewright and artificer who can’t yet create a simple airship or bind just one elemental! For all those poor unheard masses who fear their voices will never be heard, I AM TAKING IT BACK!
Clears throat and takes a breath.
Umm..moving on we have the excerpt Eminence of Aurant, which speaks of an kingdom who believes all places of the dead are part of their principality. This could definitely be an underground movement started by perhaps a karnathi zombie that gained true sentience and with it, it’s own belief system and purpose. Heck, the dead are people too right? Could even switch it up a bit, and make it a “good” organization since it’s purpose could be something like undead rights, similar to the ones given to warforged at the end of the war, but working behind the scenes. Definitely could add to the “world of grey areas” that Eberron is a master of.
Next we have a 12th level adventure called Haunting of Kincep Mansion. Now, I can’t really talk about this, other than bring it up, since my players might actually read this little post sometime and I plan on running them though it pretty soon. What I can say is I like that idea of an adventure designed to raise the party one level, at best, helps to allow more games to be run throughout the growth of the players. I can say one thing though, this adventure succeeds for one big reason in my mind, it’s non-specific when it comes to location or setting. There is nothing I have read, least after my first perusal, that ties it to a setting, or even the 4e points of light. That means no time consuming conversions of monsters or locations. Just pop it on a hill near a town or village, as it suggests, and you good to go. A much better treatment in my mind than Heathen, for example, which was too setting specific with its POL elements.
Our three new additions for tonight start with part 7 of the Converting your Character series. In this one we are given suggestions for the Tome of Battle supplement. I do appreciate the effort and breaking down the disciplines into the roles they would fit best is helpful to an extent. I am disappointed though, as my glimpse of some homebrew in the last article raised my hopes that this would continue, but it wasn’t to be so. In fact, it came back to the old standby of “multi-class” and we know how much I am not a fan of that. Next article is supposed to cover psionic classes. Let’s see them do that in 4e. Oh wait, I know, multi-class!
Addition number two was the next in the Confessions of a Full-Time Wizard articles or “the further adventures of a DM in training” or even “Bribing with food is the secret to good role-play”. It was fun to read, and I can’t wait to see how it turns out. Admittedly the “breaking up the evil dog fighting ring” is not exactly my type of RP, but as “New DM” suggested, pull from your own experiences. With that in mind I believe my next adventure will involve my players attempting to get good seats to see Dark Knight. Sounds simple, but first they need to stop at the comic store to pick up this weeks comics, with their new mascot Gimpy. They then have to run a skill check to get Gimpy away from the long boxes, as he searches for the first and only appearance of Manphibian, in a reasonable amount of time to be able to still get good seats, as well as buy a large coke and a bag of M&Ms from concession. I think that’s about a level 20 skill challenge, with a 5 complexity. This doesn’t include the two combat encounters, the first one when they try to park and get into a conflict with a bunch of “superfans” in full Batman/Joker regalia. The second being preventing the supposed “oblivious” intruders who attempt to cut in front of them in line. All in all I think that should get them up to the next level plus they may discover the hidden treasure of a pair of broken sunglasses and keys to some random vehicle both skillfully disguised as under the seats trash. If things begin to get a bit slow, I may throw in the “Annoying Seat Kicker” encounter solo as well, but we’ll see since they are a solo brute a couple levels higher and I fear a TPK. :P
Finally, we have an article I was pretty anxious for. Specifically, one concerning Character Concepts. Apparently this will be an ongoing series, which I think is a really good idea. Everyone needs a bit of guidance now and then, and if they happen to do a concept that your working on as well than all the better. There is just one thing that really stuck out in my mind. Both of the builds in this article were supposed to be types of wizards, the first a teleporter, the second a warmage. The thing is, neither of them even started out as wizards, and instead just picked it up as, guess what, a multi-class. Is it telling that these “wizard concepts” can’t be done using a wizard as a base? It’s not exactly something you can ignore at any rate. Now, I am not as down on the 4e wizard as many seem to be, but I do believe they are a sub-par class compared to the others, and for Eberron they make almost no sense. Starting off as a warlock and multi-classing into wizzie to make a more “old school” feel wizard is something I would do for flavor. That said though, I didn’t come up with the 4e wizard so when the designers do that for sheer function, then the class is obviously on the bottom of the totem pole, so to speak. Still, I like both builds and outside the irony of neither of them being true wizards, they’re something to work with.
For tonight Art Spotlight we have an item from an artist named Cloud. He is beyond talented and his work seems very familiar to me, though perhaps it is just the style. He even does requests from his site, though you do have to sign up for what is probably a bit of junk mail, though it may be in Italian so no big loss there. Also don’t know what his turn around times are for the art, so who knows. Anyhow, here is what he titles a sorceror. Personally, this pictures just screams warlock with an infernal pact.
Rock ir’Bobbi: Lady Suzan, I never heard you talk like that... Are we about to get it on? Because I'm as hard as a dragonshard in an ice storm right now.
Toad Man: “You have a drink named Douglas?”
Goodnight folks, I’ll be here all week. Don’t forget to tip your waiter!
I laughed.
Really hard. :P
*fades out*