News in Review for Sept 20 to Sept 26 2010
This past week was heavily focused on D&D Essentials, with not only several “official” Player-content articles in Dragon Magazine, but also new Essentials module in Dungeon Magazine. And D&D Encounters Season 3 also kicked off this past Wednesday, called Keep on the Borderlands, which will be using D&D Essentials Characters for the next twenty weeks of play.
For more details about the D&D Encounters this week, Dungeon’s Master.com posted a look at the D&D Encounters Season 3 Characters, and an overview of the first experience of the season in D&D Encounters: Keep on the Borderlands (Week 1).
And for dungeoncraft articles, there were several great selections this week from the D&D Blogger Community. Definitely check out the inspiration and moving blog by Chris Sims about how Loss Builds Character when applied to NPC design as well as Player-Character design. And ChattyDM was inspired to re-think how dungeon-delves are created in his post Re-examining the Dungeon: Section, Factions and Fronts, which has some great ideas for creating “living” dungeon settings.
On the Neuroglyph Games front, my Wednesday review at EN World was about the Dark Sun adventure Marauders of the Dune Sea, and I also reviewed The Vault of Darom Madar, a Dark Sun adventure by Aeryn “Blackdirge” Rudel in Dungeon Magazine.
Looking to the future, work is continuing on the second Doombringer Saga Adventure module, which I hope will be released in October, and we have just begun playtesting of the third Doombringer adventure. And make sure to check back later this week for the next installment of the Passive Perceptions webcomic!
So until next blog… I wish you Happy Gaming!
- In this week’s Preview Archive, Peter Lee post the last Lords of Madness Preview 6 with five Heroes!
- WotC’s Peter Schaefer pens the new Winning Races: Genasi, and offers backgrounds and a Paragon Class for members of the secret society of freedom fighters known as the Amethyst Sea.
- WotC has released a new Gamma World Excerpt today, looking at how the game creates Character Origins.
- Chris Sims pens a new Dark Sun Feature article this week, introduces Monster Hunters of Athas.
- Terraleon at EN World News post a couple reviews of Courts of the Shadow Fey and Kobold Quarterly #14.
- Kobold Quarterly has a new creature to hunt down hapless adventurers: Check out the Spectral Wolf!
- Mike Shea posts a commentary on Critical-Hits.com, and discusses What I Want from Published Adventures.
- At-Will.com’s Jester follows up his 4E Drinking Rules with Advanced Dungeons & Flagons: The Drunkard Theme – with a Paragon Path, Feats, and an Epic Destiny in addition to the new Theme!
- Mike Shea at Sly Flourish.com offers his recommendations on Four Things Every Solo Monster Should Have.
- WotC’s Robert J. Schwalb writes a continuation of the adventure from the new “Red Box” in this month’s Dungeon Magazine – check out The Dungeon of the Ghost Tower, an adventure for 2nd Level Characters.
- In honor of the release of the Lords of Madness Miniatures line, Jared von Hindman has a selection of inspirational illustrations in Cartoon: Lords of Madness!
- At RPGNet.com, Daniel Weber takes a look at a new Essentials product in Review of Heroes of Fallen Lands.
- In this month’s D&D Alumni column, Bart Carroll takes a look at the “Knights” across the D&D versions, focusing on the “old” Cavalier Class in Alumni: Unearthed Arcana.
- WotC’s Mike Mearls writes a Class Acts article in this month’s Dragon Magazine, and presents a new specialty for the D&D Essentials Mages Build, for those Wizards who like flames, and study Pyromancy: The Magic of Fire!
- In this new D&D Essentials Feature article, Rodney Thompson creates some combat options for the Knight, Slayer, and Thief builds, using a Weapon of the Common Man: Staff Fighters.
- At Blog of Holding.com, Rory discusses Skill Challenges and DCs in the Rules Compendium!
- Linnaeus at Critical-Hits.com writes a new Review: “The Key of Fey”, a module by Emerald Press.
- Ameron at Dungeon’s Master.com has a sneak peek at the D&D Encounters Season 3 Characters, all with the new D&D Essentials Builds.
- Kobold Quarterly offers a new “side trek” adventure, ready for play in almost any setting with just a few tweaks from a DM – check out Secret Lairs: The Snow Star Cavern!
- At-Will.com’s Ryven Cedrylle has a new angle on uses for another skill in Serious Skills: Arcana.
- At Greg Bilsland’s In the Eye of the Beholder blogsite, the WotC Designer discusses the Asymmetry in Games, and how it applies to the development of the Essentials builds.
- In this month’s Dragon Magazine, the Bazarre of the Bizarre takes a look at Grifnar’s Arms, with several “Common” Magic-Items to add to almost any campaign setting!
- Wizards of the Coast has released the Art Gallery from the recently released Rules Compendium!
- At The Other Side.com blogsite, the infamous wizard from the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide is given new stats: check out Emirikol the Chaotic for 4e!
- Chris Sims over at Critical-Hits.com pulls inspiration from his own life experiences to write a designer’s commentary on how Loss Builds Character.
- Ameron at Dungeon’s Master.com discusses his experiences with D&D Encounters: Keep on the Borderlands (Week 1).
- Robert J Schwalb posts a commentary on design philosophy in his recent blog, Reexamining the Dungeon.
- Wizards of the Coast released some new Forgotten Realms Fiction by Paul Park: check out Watchers at the Living Gate!
- WotC has released another new Gamma World Excerpt this week, examining the Gear that Characters can use.
- WotC’s Stephen Radney-MacFarland pens the new Save My Game column, giving tips and news about the Essentials Survival Guide.
- RPGNet.com has a Review of the Plane Below: Secrets of the Elemental Chaos by Ryan Isaacson.
- Wimwick at Dungeon’s Master.com has some thoughts on his new Rules Compendium and Heroes of the Fallen Lands in The Essentials On D&D Essentials.
- ChattyDM at Critical-Hits.com considers ideas about dungeon design in Re-examining the Dungeon: Section, Factions and Fronts.
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