Continue reading ‘Icosahedrophilia Podcast, Episode 158: The Tomb, Part 4’ »]]> I’ve kept you waiting far too long, adventure fans, but I’ve finally gotten episode 158 of the Icosahedrophilia podcast ready for your enjoyment! In the first three parts of this adventure, you’ve heard our heroes defend themselves and the Lemurian infirmary against an invasion of hostile undersea creatures, including the weresharks Ripp Fangfin and Shredd Bloodgill. In “The Tomb, Part 4,” the battle undergoes a change of venue, and old foes resurface! Please listen now or subscribe via iTunes, Zune, or plain old RSS!

This episode features the following segments:

Weighing Anchor

Tracy Hurley of the Tome Show calls for your initiative roll.

The Staging Area

I briefly summarize the campaign backstory and review the situation at the end of “The Tomb, Part 3.”

The Weather Report

The undersea battle experiences a change of venue, and old enemies resurface!

The Prop Shop

I describe the battlemap setup and some of the miniatures accessories that we used during the battle at the tomb proper. The pictures below show the setup from the players’ point of view and from the DM’s point of view.

Sea Shanties

As always, our theme and bumper music comes from “Racing the Wind” and “Gallows Jig,” from the album Phantoms of the High Seas by Nox Arcana, ©2008 Monolith Graphics. “The Tomb” also features, in the background, several tracks from Erdenstern’s album Into the Blue, ©2008 Erdenstern. All tracks are used by permission of the copyright holders.

I hope that you enjoy(ed) listening to “The Tomb, Part 4,” and that you’ll join us when the adventure continues in “The Tomb, Part 5”!

Continue reading ‘The Injustice of it all’ »]]> If you’re a DC Comics fan and you own an iOS device, you’re probably already playing Injustice: Gods Among Us. You might also be playing the console version and/or following the companion digital comic. I’ve enjoyed playing the game so far, and thought I’d share here the review I left in the iTunes store.

The Good: Visually, this game is top-tier. It’s a lot of fun to see different characters, and different versions of the same character, do their thing. There’s enough variety in the various maneuvers to keep things interesting. Learning the enemies’ powers and patterns also keeps the game engaging. It takes a long time to collect enough credits through gameplay to collect new characters and advance existing ones, but on the other hand, I’ve played for hours without spending a dime. Also, this is a nice way for those of us who don’t own a gaming console to enjoy the Injustice franchise.

The Bad: (1) Balance between characters involves a complex mixture of level, “metal” (bronze/silver/gold), support cards, and upgrade status. This can make it frustrating when your level X bronze basic character gets owned by a level X–10 elite gold character. On the other hand, this cuts both ways, so your level X Batman or Superman can own level X+10 enemies. This isn’t so much “bad” as “really takes some getting used to.” (2) The synergies between the console and mobile versions are cool, but those of us who don’t have consoles feel shut out of desirable features. I shouldn’t be required to buy a console to enjoy the iOS version to its fullest. I’d be glad to pay reasonable fees to unlock some of the console-synergy exclusives, if that were an option.

The Ugly: For characters with asymmetrical faces, the little character portraits in the upper right- and left-hand corners of the screen are mirror images of the character models in the fight. This particularly affects Deathstroke and Harley Quinn (the version with the red-and-green hair).

Update: The version 1.4 update really improved the game by giving the thumbnail portraits three power level indicators, making the special maneuver buttons more responsive, and adding “live updates” for the damage potential of rapid-tap maneuvers. All of these make the game more fun to play. New characters are great too, but … Lobo? Red Son Solomon Grundy? Was there a groundswell of fans clamoring for these? How about Aquaman or Captain Marvel next time?

Continue reading ‘Icosahedrophilia Podcast, Episode 157: The Tomb, Part 3’ »]]> Episode 157 of the Icosahedrophilia podcast has been up on iTunes and in our RSS feed since April 29, but I was so busy with graduation, grade reporting, a special lecture program, and starting a summer class that I’m only just now finding time to post the show notes. Sorry about that! If you’ve listened to episode 156, you heard two weresharks join the battle at the undersea infirmary where our heroes had been recuperating from a previous, enervating undersea battle. In “The Tomb, Part 3,” the PCs continue their struggle against Ripp Fangfin and Shredd Bloodgill, and learn that they have bigger fish to fry! Please listen now or subscribe via iTunes, Zune, or plain old RSS! Follow the “more to say” link below for a rundown of all the segments featured in episode 157.

This episode features the following segments:

Weighing Anchor

Jeff Greiner of the Tome Show and the Vorpal Network calls your initiative roll.

The Staging Area

I briefly summarize the campaign backstory and review the situation at the end of “The Tomb, Part 2.”

The Weather Report

Our heroes continue their struggle against the weresharks Ripp Fangfin and Shredd Bloodgill, and learn that they have bigger fish to fry!

The Prop Shop

I review some of the rules that I got wrong during this session (can anybody spell “charge”)?

Sea Shanties

As always, our theme and bumper music comes from “Racing the Wind” and “Gallows Jig,” from the album Phantoms of the High Seas by Nox Arcana, ©2008 Monolith Graphics. “The Tomb” also features, in the background, several tracks from Erdenstern’s album Into the Blue, ©2008 Erdenstern. All tracks are used by permission of the copyright holders.

I hope that you enjoy(ed) listening to “The Tomb, Part 3,” and that you’ll join us when the adventure continues in “The Tomb, Part 4”!

Continue reading ‘Where’s the 4e in D&D Next?’ »]]>

In all the Internet chatter about D&D Next, one recurrent theme is the complaint that “there’s not enough 4e in Next.” According to the vision cast for D&D Next from the earliest announcements pictured the next iteration of D&D as one that would unite aficionados of all D&D editions, at least from the Holmes basic rulebook onward through AD&D, BECMI, 2e, 3(.5)e, and 4e. Judging by the comments on message boards, Twitter, and Legends & Lore columns, many players are currently finding it easier to see the influences of AD&D, 2e, and 3e than the influences of 4e on D&D Next. Here’s a brief transcript of one such exchange:

@redcometcasval Uhhh… do you really not see all the 3e/4e that’s basically the entire core system?

— Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) April 22, 2013

The shared heart of 3e/4e

Note well Mike’s use of “3e/4e,” a reminder that the core mechanics of 3e and 4e remain almost identical. Here are a few things that 3e and 4e have in common with each other, but not with earlier editions:

• A core task resolution mechanic in which you roll a d20, apply any relevant modifiers, and compare the result to a simple target number (AC/DC) to determine success or failure
  
• Ability scores with modifiers of m = (a – 10) ÷ 2 (rounded down), applicable to a wide variety of situations
• Defense numbers that increase (rather than decrease) as they improve
• A small number of common saving throws/defenses based on characters’ abilities
• Race/class combinations limited only by mathematics
• Global/unified level advancement pace and limits (all classes need the same number of XP to advance a level; all races can attain the system’s maximum level in any class)

In my view, all of these are good things, and improvements on pre-3e iterations of D&D. More to the point, however, they are all features that appear in D&D Next—not in exactly the same form as in 3e or 4e or both, but nevertheless with a recognizable heritage. I think the presence of these kinds of core elements in 3e, 4e, and Next accounts for at least a measurable portion of Mike’s apparent exasperation in the tweet quoted earlier.

They say the heart of 4e is still beating in D&D Next, and from what I see, I believe them.

Where have all the powers gone?

However, when 4e fans (and I include myself in this category) wonder where to find 4e elements in D&D Next, they probably are not thinking about the elements that 4e preserves from 3e. Instead, they’re evidently thinking about features unique to 4e—and some of these are clearly gone from Next, at least in the form 4e fans have grown accustomed to seeing them. Tactical or miniatures-based (skirmish-game-style) combat is one obvious lacuna, but let’s set that aside since speculating about that optional rules module is pretty much premature at this stage for most of us. Also, I don’t think the essence of 4e is the presence or absence of dragonborn, tieflings, goliaths, etc., and I feel certain there’s a place for those races in the future of Next. Let’s focus instead on the biggest “rollback” in Next: the disappearance of the at-will/encounter/daily/utility power (AEDU) power structure.

It’s important to keep in mind, I think, that 4e’s AEDU power structure was not quite as big a step away from 3e as it might superficially appear. In every edition of D&D that I have played (Holmes basic, AD&D, BECMI, 3.5e, 4e, and Next), players have had abilities limited to n uses within timespan t. The most obvious such abilities are, of course, spells, most of which are functionally “daily powers” for spellcasters in non-4e D&D. In AD&D, “laying on hands” is a once-per-day class feature for paladins, and curing diseases is a once-per-week class feature. It doesn’t really make much difference whether this feature is presented in a text paragraph as in the AD&D Player’s Handbook or in a power stat block as in the 4th edition Player’s Handbook.

Indeed, lay on hands provides a good example of how 4e’s AEDU template could be limiting: 4e’s lay on hands is an at-will power limited to uses per day equal to the paladin’s wisdom modifier, but it could just as easily have been a daily power with a similar caveat. If an “at-will” power is really usable “at will until you’ve used it n times in the adventuring day” or an “encounter” power is really “twice per encounter” or “three times per encounter,” is the AEDU structure really all that useful? Even with the color-coded power cards and whatnot, the maroon band on your cause fear power doesn’t actually mean the same thing as the maroon band on your healing word power. From a player’s point of view in terms of bookkeeping, it doesn’t make any difference whether healing word is an encounter power usable twice per encounter or an at-will power limited to twice per encounter—the effect is the same.

Therefore, I don’t think it’s important to have the terminology of at-will, encounter, and daily powers in order to have the phenomenon of such powers, and that phenomenon is present in D&D Next just as it was present in all other editions of D&D—not in the same proportions or presentation, but present and accounted for nevertheless. There’s 4e chocolate in 5e’s peanut butter.

There’s another power-related phenomenon, or set of phenomena, that deserve attention as we evaluate how much of 4e is discernible in Next. I call this “decoupling” attacks from rider effects. 4e fighters can choose a 1st-level power called spinning sweep, a melee attack that deals 1[W] + Strength modifier damage and knocks the target prone. The rogue has topple over as a 3rd-level choice, which is exactly the same effect except that it’s keyed to Dexterity instead of Strength. The paladin can choose thunder smite at 7th level, which deals 2[W] + Strength modifier thunder damage and knocks the target prone. At level 7, a 4e two-weapon ranger can choose sweeping whirlwind, which deals 1[W] + Strength modifier damage to each adjacent enemy, pushes each target back, and knocks each target prone; compare that to the fighter’s vorpal tornado, which is almost exactly the same power as the ranger’s sweeping whirlwind, except that its push effect is weaker and it’s ten levels higher (same targeting, same damage). It’s reasonable to ask why the fighter and the rogue need two different powers to represent brute-forcing and finessing your opponent to the ground. It’s also reasonable to ask why fighters figure out how to trip their opponents at 1st level, rogues take until 3rd level to figure it out, why a paladin needs magical thunder to knock an opponent down while a fighter can actually “sweep the leg,” and why a ranger can suddenly go from no melee attacks that can knock enemies down to a melee attack that can knock eight enemies down at the same time. And it’s reasonable to ask why all of these expert combatants forget how to trip their opponents or are unable to pull it off more than once per fight using these encounter powers. Yes, it’s fun to use these powers in combat, but in some ways the differences between the listed classes and powers are somewhat absurd. The differences are clearly driven by the need to combine different mechanical elements in different ways to create unique powers for each class rather than by a consideration of how things might should work in “real fantasy life.”

In Next I see a “decoupling” of riders from effects, such that being able to trip your opponent becomes its own separate thing, the Trip Attack feat. As of the March 2013 playtest packet, at any rate, any melee combatant can gain a “power”—even though it’s not called that—essentially equivalent to the 4e fighter’s spinning sweep. By taking Trip Attack and also choosing the Deep Wound option for his or her Death Dealer class feature, a 5e fighter can in effect create a new “power” just like spinning sweep, but dealing 1[W] + 1d6 damage. At the same time, a 5e rogue can can take the Trip Attack feat and use a finesse weapon to achieve the same results as topple over, but at 1st level. A 1st-level paladin or ranger can learn to trip a single opponent, without having to resort to magic. And so on.

This is not to say that every 4e power can be recreated in Next by some combination of feats and class features. They can’t be, and they shouldn’t be. But personally, despite loving 4e, I don’t mourn the passing of powers—because they’re not really gone, just like they weren’t really new in 4e, just implemented in a more overt and standardized way. The packaging of powers might be gone, but the effects of powers are still present and, in some ways, more accessible and more useful than ever.

Continue reading ‘Icosahedrophilia Podcast, Episode 156: The Tomb, Part 2’ »]]> In last week’s episode, our heroes survived what looked like certain death, only to find themselves and their mysterious Lemurian benefactors under attack! It’s another undersea battle, and it continues in “The Tomb, Part 2”! Please listen now or subscribe via iTunes, Zune, or plain old RSS! Follow the “more to say” link below for a rundown of all the segments featured in episode 156.

This episode features the following segments:

Weighing Anchor

Micah Wedemeyer of Obsidian Portal calls for your initiative roll. Yes, that’s two episodes in a row for Micah, but I want to keep the Obsidian Portal Reforged Kickstarter in listener’s ears!

The Staging Area

I briefly summarize the campaign backstory and review the situation at the end of “The Tomb, Part 1.”

The Weather Report

More dangerous enemies join the battle in the undersea infirmary!

The Prop Shop

I comment briefly on the relationship between the previous adventure and this one, and how my plans changed due to the players’ resilience. I also mention the Dungeon Tiles used to lay out the battlemap, and identify the giant fish miniatures as Crypt Koi from the Dreamblade miniatures game.

Here’s what the battlemap looked like shortly after Ripp and Shredd joined the fight:

And here’s a close-up shot of Ripp (right) and Shredd (left):

If you’d like to see them, I have uploaded Ripp’s and Shredd’s stat blocks in both PDF and .monster format.

Sea Shanties

As always, our theme and bumper music comes from “Racing the Wind” and “Gallows Jig,” from the album Phantoms of the High Seas by Nox Arcana, ©2008 Monolith Graphics. This episode also features, in the background, several tracks from Erdenstern’s album Into the Blue, ©2008 Erdenstern. All tracks are used by permission of the copyright holders.

I hope that you enjoy(ed) listening to “The Tomb, Part 2,” and that you’ll join us when the adventure continues in “The Tomb, Part 3”!

Continue reading ‘DriveThruRPG reviews for March 2013’ »]]> During March 2013, I only managed to post four reviews for DriveThruRPG. One of these was for Dungeon Delve, a 4e “classic” now available in PDF through OneBookShelf’s new D&D-branded storefront, D&D Classics. Dungeon Delve shows its age, but is still a great source for quick combat-oriented 4e scenarios if you don’t mind updating the monster math, or living with outdated monster math.

• 2e Adventure Tiles: Labyrinth Core Set by Ed Bourelle for SkeletonKey Games. The 76 (!) 6″ square tiles in this set offer you a myriad of straight, diagonal, and curving corridors and small (up to 3 x 4) rooms with which you can create a wide variety of maze-like dungeon layouts. (Read more at DriveThruRPG.) ★★★★★
• Dungeon Delve by David Noonan, Bill Slaviscek, et al. for Wizards of the Coast. When you want to run D&D 4e but you don’t have a lot of time to prepare, Dungeon Delve offers a nice selection of short, combat-oriented mini-adventures. … From the perspective of mid-2013, when this book was (re)released as a PDF, it appears a bit dated (you can tell that it’s from the early days of 4e) but still offers a lot to a hurried (or creative) DM. (Read more at DriveThruRPG.) ★★★★
• Dungeon Props, Kit 1: Karamas’ Deathtrap by Stefano Cocciardi and Danilo Moretti for Inspired Device. This product includes both a printable prop—a circular maze that changes as the PCs move through it—and a storyline to help DMs use the maze. (Read more at DriveThruRPG.) ★★★★
• Hex N Square Graph Paper by Lawrence L. Bertoniere. This simple product is exactly as advertised. If you need a quick grid in PNG format, just make a copy of the included files and go to town. Very straightforward, inexpensive, and useful. (Read more at DriveThruRPG.) ★★★★★

Continue reading ‘Icosahedrophilia Podcast, Episode 155: The Tomb, Part 1’ »]]> I think I’ve kept you waiting long enough, adventure fans! At the end of our previous adventure, “Fathoms Below,” we left our heroes unconscious underwater, and some of them were even inside a giant electric eel! How can the campaign continue? This episode, the first in a six-part adventure called “The Tomb,” resolves the cliffhanger, but danger lurks at every turn! Please listen now or subscribe via iTunes, Zune, or plain old RSS! Follow the “more to say” link below for a rundown of all the segments, as well as links to the stat blocks (in PDF and Monster Builder format) of the creatures the PCs faced in this undersea battle.

This episode features the following segments:

Weighing Anchor

Micah Wedemeyer of Obsidian Portal calls for your initiative roll.

The Staging Area

I briefly summarize the campaign backstory and review the situation at the end of “Fathoms Below.”

The Weather Report

How can the campaign continue after an apparent TPK? This episode resolves the cliffhanger, but danger lurks at every turn!

The Prop Shop

I comment briefly on the relationship between the previous adventure and this one, and how my plans changed due to the players’ resilience. I also mention the Dungeon Tiles used to lay out the battlemap, and identify the giant fish miniatures as Crypt Koi from the Dreamblade miniatures game.
Here are our heroes, resting peacefully … where? In a morgue? In an undersea YMCA?

And now they’re fighting fish. Remember what happened last time they fought fish?

Sea Shanties

As always, our theme and bumper music comes from “Racing the Wind” and “Gallows Jig,” from the album Phantoms of the High Seas by Nox Arcana, ©2008 Monolith Graphics. This episode also features, in the background, several tracks from the album Into the Blue, ©2008 Erdenstern. All tracks are used by permission of the copyright holders.

I hope that you enjoy(ed) listening to “The Tomb, Part 1,” and that you’ll join us when the campaign continues in “The Tomb, Part 2”!

Continue reading ‘DriveThruRPG reviews for February 2013’ »]]> With everything else I had going on during February 2013, I only managed to review one product for DriveThruRPG:

• Dungeonlands Original Soundtrack by Alex Cottrell for Savage Mojo. Let’s start with the most obvious plus: this is beautiful, inspiring music. … Now for the bad part: if you’re thinking about using these tracks as soundscapes to score an RPG session, I think you’ll be disappointed … [because] the tracks don’t loop. At all. … And so the value of this product depends on its purpose. I won’t be using any of these tracks at the gaming table, because of the looping problem I mentioned earlier. However, I’m very glad to have this music in my listening library. It’s great for inspiration while I plan and prepare as a GM. (Read more at DriveThruRPG.) ★★★★

Continue reading ‘Icosahedrophilia Podcast, Episode 154: Fathoms Below, Part 4’ »]]> Here we area again, adventure fans! I hope you’re ready for an exciting conclusion to the Broken Promise crew’s battle against a ravenous giant electric eel and other hungry deep-sea predators! “Fathoms Below, Part 4” brings the “Fathoms Below” adventure to a shocking end—so please listen now or subscribe via iTunes, Zune, or plain old RSS! Follow the “more to say” link below for a rundown of all the segments, as well as links to the stat blocks (in PDF and Monster Builder format) of the creatures the PCs faced in this undersea battle.

This episode features the following segments:

Weighing Anchor

Ethan Parker of the Gamer’s Haven podcast calls for your initiative roll.

The Staging Area

I briefly summarize the campaign backstory (referring listeners to the Story Thus Far recap episode for a more detailed history of the campaign). I also briefly recap parts 1 through 3 of “Fathoms Below.”

The Weather Report

The PCs who are still on their feet try to defend themselves and their fallen comrades from hungry undersea predators!

The Prop Shop

I comment very briefly on the developments in this episode, and fill you in on my President’s Day weekend plans—which, as usual, involve OrcCon. I also promise to provide the stat blocks for the custom monsters used in this adventure, and here’s the fulfillment of that promise: you can download the stat blocks in PDF or Adventure Tools/Monster Builder format. Most of these creatures were built on a war shark chassis, with some parts switched in and out to make each species distinctive. If you haven’t seen the photos, step back to the show notes for episode 153.

Sea Shanties

As always, our theme and bumper music comes from “Racing the Wind” and “Gallows Jig,” from the album Phantoms of the High Seas by Nox Arcana, ©2008 Monolith Graphics. This episode also features, in the background, “Leviathan” by Erdenstern, from the album Into the Blue, ©2008 Erdenstern. All tracks are used by permission of the copyright holders.

I hope that you enjoy(ed) listening to “Fathoms Below, Part 4,” and that you’ll join us when the campaign continues in “Common Cause, Part 1”!

Continue reading ‘DriveThruRPG reviews for January 2013’ »]]> Happy new year, adventure fans! It’s been a long, long time—on the order of four months or so—since I last posted any updates about my DriveThruRPG/RPGNow reviewing. I apologize for that … but part of the story here is that I haven’t accepted very many review copies during that time. I still have a small backlog of ten or so older items before I get everything cleared from my “to review” list. Most of those are older ICONS modules from Adamant Entertainment. Once I get all of those reviewed, I’ll feel better about accepting new review copies.

So without further ado, here’s a summary of the two reviews I posted during January 2013. Yes, I realize the list is disappointingly short, but perhaps enjoyable or useful to you nonetheless. I used to try to post these summaries once a week. For 2013, I’m going to a once-a-month recap instead. I think that will help me actually do the recaps on schedule.

• Deities and Demigods (1E) by James M. Ward and Robert J. Kuntz for TSR. When my friends and I were first discovering AD&D back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Deities & Demigods was one of my favorite rulebooks. I must have learned, or perhaps mislearned, more mythology from Deities & Demigods than from Hamilton and Bullfinch combined. Although the copy I bought upon its original publication in 1980 eventually passed to my brother and then into obscurity, a friend recently gave me his childhood copy. I’m delighted, nonetheless, to have access to the book in PDF format. (Read more at DriveThruRPG.) ★★★★
• Heroic Moments: The Possession of Dr. Diamond by Bill Olander for Purple Duck Games. In this single-scene scenario, a supervillainous plot goes horribly wrong, creating even more problems than if the supervillain had simply succeeded. With a reasonably interesting villain and a combat encounter that’s more than just throwing punches, “The Possession of Dr. Diamond” definitely adds up to fun, and in terms of its storyline it’s a worthy addition to the Heroic Moments line. … It’s definitely worth the price and few ICONS GMs will regret buying it. (Read more at DriveThruRPG.) ★★★★
• The Sidereal Schemes of Dr. Zodiac by Steve Kenson for Adamant Entertainment (now distributed by Ad Infinitum Adventures). I missed out on a chance to get to play this adventure at a convention when ICONS was first released, so I’m delighted that it’s available for purchase. Originally written as an introductory adventure for players new to ICONS, The Sidereal Schemes of Dr. Zodiac provides plenty of action and fun for any ICONS group. (Read more at DriveThruRPG.) ★★★★

The following didn’t make the cut, that is, I couldn’t give them more than ★★:

• Hunters Inc. (ICONS Edition) by Plain Brown Wrapper Games. Half a dozen grammatical errors just in the table of contents for chapter 1 did not bode well. Stat blocks that consistently list abilities in a nonstandard order didn’t help any. An inability to punctuate the focal superteam’s name consistently (it often appears, almost nonsensically, as “Hunter’s Inc”)  sealed the deal. ★

If you know of my love for ICONS but you’re wondering why I don’t have reviews of any of Fainting Goat Games’s more recent Improbable Tales or Justice Wheels releases, well, that’s because I have been doing some editing work for FGG, and that sort of disqualifies me from reviewing those lines.