"Fun Mali Fun... Hoy Hoy! ... Fun Mali Fun..." (Popular Northern druidic folk-song)

Hey all,

Want to see a picture of absolute Fail?

On the left is an illustration from Swordmage Essentials 382. It shows a swordmage holding a shield in his off hand. Go figure that one out.

Now, for all of you who have always accused WotC of having writers do Class Guides without having an inkling of what they are writing about just as long as it sounds good, or that Dragon articles are written by random bespectacled overweight men who have the ability to make really crappy swordmagi?


Hey, you are god damned right.



---> Last Saturday was fun. I ran "Kings of Morose Hill" (a DnD adventure set in Morose, Caen) for my brother and a few of our friends.

For me personally, I felt that it turned out rather well. As I had not DMed for quite some time and now that my original campaign has been derailed for the time being, I decided to test out several ideas I had previously planned to debut in Chapter Two.

• Visual Progression Skill Challenges - I went with Skill Challenges that showed the encounter's progress by flinging (yes, flinging) colored chips onto the table. (red- failure, blue,green,yellow-success). Any good idea that a player comes up with during the encounter but does not fall into the success/fail categories gets a +2 one-off token that can be used to modify a single skill check in that ongoing Skill Challenge. With this new system, the players were up for it, and the visuals of two red chips on the table - knowing that a third will automatically fail the Challenge- is priceless. Gaining the one-off token put a smile on their faces and let them know that participation pays off.
• Less Linear Skill Challenges - The ones I experimented with were less linear and could encompass many skills if needed. I saw a marked improvement in the players' participation, and I felt the challenges progressed more naturally, and that the new design smoothened out previous kinks in the system. Overall, I think the updated Skill Challenges worked, and even though I had to spend more time designing them; it brought me one step closer to refining a less constrictive system where the players can feel free to do what they feel is right and not feel stifled by the rules.
• Initiative Cards - These 4x4 plain calling cards helped tons with Readying and Delaying sequences. I will invert an initiative card when a player/creature delays, or turn the card sideways if they readied an action. Whenever a Delayed Turn or a Ready action triggers, the appropriate initiative card will then be placed on top of the current creature's card. Personally, it made my DMing more manageable, and with less effort needed, I can concentrate more on tactical or role-playing options available. I will improve it by placing vital stats (HP, AC, NADs?) of the creature on the card itself instead of always having to refer to my notes.

I also learnt several things along the way.

• Length of One-Off? The session started at midnight and ended at about half past five in the morning, which is approximately five hours. We were getting close to a conclusion in the second quest, but that might have taken another forty minutes or so to wrap up. Thus, my "One-Off" time estimation is still not good even thought I had more than a One-Off in mind when I wrote this adventure, which might have caused several discrepancies.
• Custom items (Magical/Mundane) - They are fun and add flavor and lore to an adventure. Some can even turn out to be useful in other ways when the right opportunity arises.
• "Fun" Factor - No harm done to slightly over-power the players, a mob or even an event if it results in  creating a memorable scene. Of course, the premise cannot be too far-fetched (not hard to do in an already mythical world of sword and sorcery), so experiment and find the right amount of pizazz and fun to add to your DnD sessions.

---> Lest I forget, Christmas is just around the corner, so a loud and boisterous "Merry Christmas" to all four of you my faithful readers out there.

Drive carefully, avoid opportunity attacks if possible, and enjoy yourselves. C'yall on the flip side.

My Gift: A One-Off at the Chalet of Seven (Updated: Kings of Morose Hill)

Hey all,

This Saturday, Pongtau -- our former Warlock, has invited us to a chalet of six, and that is with me and Shane included. Before you get into fits talking about the minimum number required for a healthy chalet, please allow me to change the subject. I am not usually the one who brings cheap wine or salty snacks, but for this special occasion, I will bring along with me a unique One-Off. (read: a single session DnD adventure which can last for the night.)

These few days, I will be working out the details of the adventure (tentatively named Kings of Morose Hill), set along Pelor's Way in the town of Morose, as shown in the map below.

Traditionally, Morose is a popular stop for wagons and weary travelers looking to journey between the southeastern region of Caen, via the Plains of Pelor, towards Sccor, City of the North or vice versa.

The town of about eight hundred is known for its numerous graveyards and the particularly short lifespan of their small population. The reason being that many of their inexperienced youths are swayed by the tunes and promises of the village's head- Victor "Third" Montgomerie, who runs "The 3rd Reich"- a thriving adventuring guild, supplying local men for out-of-town expeditions.

How it all started ...

The party of five (hopefully) starts out as a typical bunch of fledging adventurers who stumbled upon a magical ornate chest amongst a mysterious wagon crash near Morose. Excitedly, they return to town in the dead of the night with their find, and make a shocking discovery in their "secret" hideout (the backroom of an unused farmhouse).

What it all means?

The ornate chest might contain item/s and information which will lead to several custom backgrounds for the characters involved in the adventure. (( More to be revealed at the start of the adventure proper.))

"On the rainy week before Christmas, WotC gave to me..." (sings)

Hey all,

Singapore is all dark, rainy and wet these past couple of weeks, and it makes me want to turn emo make an assassin (Ninja!), a monk or something shadowy (warlock?) to embrace the changing season. It helped that WotC released "More Toys for Assassins" earlier on today so I should be able to get working on a shiny new dark 'un in the Character Builder update later tonight.

With Shane thinking of a ranged rogue, Shell rolling an assassin (Ninja!) himself and Vek a cloth-clad avenger, I will try not to accelerate our party's demise with a wrong turn into an ill-advised class. But it never hurts to come up with a few new concepts, and if all else fails, I do have my reliable wizard build or Sunny the SNSD Paladin of Pelor to fall back on.

I grew up on Ninja gamebooks (Way of the Tiger) and AD&D, where the monk and assassin (Ninja!) classes were so flavorful and historically accurate in what they could do. Even now, these classes might not be the strongest or optimal in DPR (damage per round), but the joy of a classic monk brutalizing stuff with his bare fists is...
ki-learly unmatched.


The assassin (Ninja!) class is obviously not a suitable choice for going unarmed fighting, but they can fake it and go without a double handed melee weapon by taking their pick of short-ranged implement powers in the class. With this build, the assassin (Ninja!) can utilize a light shield in his off hand too.
On the other hand, the Monk and the Assassin classes are flexible enough to warrant holding an ordinary double staff (A fullblade/urgosh might favor the Assassin as they do have [w] dice powers, unlike the Monk) for the AC bonus and allow their personal Ki Focus to power both their implement/weapon attacks.

Anyhow, it's way cool that these "Oriental" classes are in 4E, be it that WotC does not want us to see them as Oriental classes and omitted "Ki" as the keywork for its power source just in case it sounded too.. Oriental. Yellow, Oriental, Chi-sh or whatever their PR personnel want to call it, I just know that these classes can only get better.
The Assassin (Ninja!) is a DDi subscriber-only product and will still be supported in future, while the full Monk class will be out next year in PHB3 with even more feats, paths and powers. Not to mention many more Ki foci choices too.

Personally, I cannot wait to get my hands on PHB3 as I am a lifelong Monk fan-boy. The rest of the Psionic classes are just gravy to me. By the way, the Ardent (Psionic Leader) preview came out today as well.

Heals? Power Points? Leader? Heals?

Our current healer-less SoW party scoffs at these keywords.

And why they could not come up with a better name for the class beats me. There is already an Ardent Champion paragon path, the Ardent Strike at-will power and the Ardent paladin class feature etc to further confuse a 4e player. I would even have taken Mantle-ist, over classes like Shock, Missile or an Astral (all connected to common at-will powers).

No worries, it might just be the yuletide holiday mood and the festive resting of the braincells which led to this unfortunate event. I just hope that this is not a benchmark for the future naming of classes to come.

If not, Alex might have a ready-made job for him at WotC. (Maybe a primal class called a "DearDear" or something which excels at maiming fawns, bears and other British wildlife)

*Shudders*



LATEST UPDATE: Vek has left my Ca-en campaign due to work/character constraints and I wish him the best in our alternate SoW adventures. I will be looking for a fourth player and thus, Chapter 2 is indefinitely canned until then.

Winter on Earth, Autumn in Caen, and hell to the person who took my handphone.

Hey all,

Rainy season in Singapore is officially on, wrecking havoc on my regular "Tennis at 5pm/8pm" readied actions.

Talking about relentless natural forces, the folks over at WotC have churned out several new DnD 4e articles, with the latest one rounding out the fighter (again), with new powers given to shield, polearms and spear builds.

Due to their DDi concept of a monthly e-magazine chock full of class/power/item/feat/skill updates, power creep in 4e is inevitable and quicker to rear its ugly head due to the sheer number of new options the game has to be given with each passing month.

Of course, these choices are all purely optional because not everyone has access to a DDI paid subscription, or a DM who agrees to non-corebook content. But if they read the largely accessible DnD 4e forums, the said information is readily available and a few players might feel short-changed at not being able to incorporate the content into their game. Worse still, they might lament that the adventure is not flexible enough to adapt to the ever-changing landscape of 4e.

Take Winged Horde for example, a new Wizard at-will that came out in Class Acts 381 last month. It is basically a vs. Will area burst 1 (expandable to 2) which targets only enemies for 1d6 + Int + modifiers, and stuck on with a situationally cool ability (target cannot make opportunity attacks until the end of the caster's next turn.)

And its nearest competitor and former Wizard area burst staple- Scorched Burst -- a vs. Reflex area burst 1 (expandable to 2) which target unfortunate friends and foes alike for 1d6 + Int +modifiers and has a perennially constant effect of doing nothing else apart from damage. Hooray for "massive" damage vanilla powers.

This is but one of the many powers that have been rendered dead weight due to new content coming out. It is true that the wizard has been improved tremendously since its 4e inception, but when you put in goodies such as Winged Horde, I think certain older powers must be changed to fit other roles.

[For example, why not boost the damage of Scorched Burst from a 1d6 to a 1d8? It can have a slightly higher base damage at the cost of not being able to aim "smart" and having no control element whatsoever. The 1d8 will also do less than other area striker builds while maintaining a role in the wizard at-will powers as being the most "damaging" elemental area burst in their arsenal, thus making it less obsolete.]

Also, WotC has to help out other lesser used classes as well instead of just piling the love onto one or two already established classes.As I was mentioning before, the 4e fighter class has seen many passes made at it, and this article further broadens the already deep and much improved class. Do not get me wrong, I love my fighters and my paladins and what not, but aren't rogues, warlocks and clerics in the game too?

Emphasis must be given to the malnourished, and the players will be happier with broader choices in a wider range of classes.

Anyway, that is just 4e imploding on its own, as I seriously fear it might crumble under its ever-increasing weight.

But on a brighter note, the situation on my side looks fine. My regular playgroup enjoys playing with new content, including embracing all of the November Nerfs (tm) with as little ranting as humanly possible.

We just need to continue to strive to find a balance between encounter grinding and meaningful skill challenges so as to mold the 4e system into a more open-ended RPG. The players will then able to choose actions without fear of complicated rules that takes minutes to complete. (Yes, jumping horizontally and vertically or even both at the same time, I'm looking at you!)

Weekly, inroads to smoothen out our brand of  4e have been made. I have had long discussions with Shane about ambiguous rules and the need to speed up session play. We clarified our group's take on the Blind/LoS rules, "stealth before combat" house-rules and several other minor details on delaying/readying.

Now, time for some Secret Information!

*shrouds the next few paragraphs in shadowy swirls*

I am in the midst of penning a short prelude (lv 5 to 7?) preceding the current timeline in my campaign.

This installment goes back about half a decade in time, when Maya was still a sleepy infant settlement ruled by Hevok the Barbarian. Watch out for a certain Smutt McScurvy- a young pirate eyeing a particular drinking establishment in town. Unique in itself, the party could be sailing the high seas for treasures untold! 

With all that is currently brewing in Southeastern Caen, players will be able to better understand how Maya and her inhabitants first started out, and differentiate first-hand between fact and popular myth. 

Chapter 2 seems likely to start in January or so, so be ready for several primer articles ushering in new mechanics/background information this month.

Until then, stay dry and safe, talk to y'all soon.

"Rats Live on no evil Star." (A conversation piece edited for your taste.)

Hey all,

"Radio killed the Radio Star, Radio killed the Radio Star.." And rats live on no evil star. *garble garble*

The last line might have been pushing it a little, but palindromes have been around for ages, and I for one have been intrigued by them since young. Back to the front, and front to the back, always constant, yet so different at first sight.

Okay, an update on Chapter 2 of my Caen Campaign. Shell recently revealed to me that his current campaign arc will end in about a couple of months, which means that mine will probably start in December thereabouts. For the campaign-related articles that I promised the last time to ease the players into the new chapter, they will appear weekly in the month of November.

In this day and time, Humans residing in Singapore have a lot on their mind, be it pondering on their next life quest or deciding on what item/s (vehicles, entertainment, necessities) to spend their gold pieces dollars on, or just basic responsibilities. DnD is a past time and not a full-time job (nor is it mine), so releasing the campaign-related information a few weeks before the start of Chapter 2 actually makes a lot of sense.
Our attention span can only last so long, and this way, the players would be able to recall and use some of the information, or jot it down somewhere for future references.

Recently, I had a conversation with an old friend of mine. He was mildly interested in joining the DnD sessions and being a Singaporean Gamer, until he realized that he did not want to be: a typical Singaporean Gamer.

The above images depicting typical "Singaporean Gamers" must have gone through his mind. No wonder he was scared. Composing himself, he gave me his initial view of my players and my sessions (without seeing or knowing my players.)

• min/max abilities, 
• not wanting to role-play much but just see the game as a goal-oriented activity (rat-race).
•  requires a great deal of help from the DM for quest-related information that are not obvious in the first place or tied to an ostentatious amount of XP. 

Yes, our DnD players do have some of those traits but to a certain extent, except for a select group who has all of those qualities. I retorted that there are many different players who derive joy from DnD in other ways rather than the traditional "role-play" way. Then he said something that was rather narrow-minded but made some sense.

"I understand that there are different people around. But why play a role-playing game without much role-playing? The environment should encourage non-linear play, interaction between the characters, and the goals should just be markers of your path through life."

He continued, "But this is impossible amongst typical Singaporeans. They worry too much about making the right move, how not to look "foolish" to their other gamer friends so that they can succeed and not be considered a failure. DnD originally allowed one to be a hero, and for one to act as one in his own way.

He laughed cynically (he is compulsive at that), "But for typical Singaporeans, they never were comfortable in doing things their own way. Our society does not promote that. We turn out to be mere unfeeling robots, squeezing the life out of an activity that is supposed to be fun and natural, and trying to win a non-competition."

I kept quiet for a while after his rant. I wanted to tell him that what he said was totally not true of my gaming clique. But I did not want to lie. I have many players who take the game this way. They feel pressured, angry and dejected after a session. Rare are the days when players recall fondly of gathering up to adventure in a faraway world, killing mythical creatures and saving a damsel in distress, instead focusing on whether they got the most out of a situation or what could have been.

But there is hope yet. I told him that I can see that in the right environment and setting, those same gamers will role-play. That plays a big part in making someone come out of their private shell and be someone else.
I mean why bother if there is no difference if one role plays or not,-and I'm not talking about XP or rewards here-, just that would it have made a difference at all?

Also, another thought struck me. If my friend was stuck in an environment where nothing you role play matters, he might just turn out to be the typical Singaporean Gamer that he hates so much.

I too, have a bit of those traits in me as well. But the desire for me to play/win with a certain style is very strong and tends to overwhelm my Singaporean instincts. I purposely roleplay out most actions to minimize the impact of the move just being a cold and calculated, min/maxed Singaporean Gamer move.

This is also one game that I can min/max my character but I do not need to min/max my actions. The min/maxed character simply gives me the option to do so if there was a situation that arose- aka "be ready for anything".

All I am saying that is we might never be amazingly eloquent gamers like some ang-mos or arty-farty dudes are, but the keyword here is "some". Not all of them are eloquent and cool, and I know of a few who are even worse than "Typical Singaporean Gamers".

All we need is to maintain a certain style and the simple joy of going into something without actually coldly calculating every move (unless we are dying of course), then we can go beyond our "Typical Singaporean" roots, and leap into the untapped realm of our imagination.

Singaporean imagination. *grins* An oxymoron no more.

The Positive Evolution of 4 Point Oh. (Recent Musings of FieTheDM)

Hey all,

The DnD website had been redesigned a couple of weeks back and me for one, feel that it is an upgrade over the previous installment. Its magazine front is much more eye-catching, and there is a certain gloss and structure to it that makes you want to read its content.

Just like the 4.0 game itself, the newly integrated website (nicely linked to its forums etc) strives to change itself for the better over time so as to entice people to look, to try and ultimately, hope to engage its core crowd enough for them to click a link or play the game. That I feel, with the exception of the ugly new forums, is a step in the right direction.

4.0 has been going towards the direction of multiple but much shorter adventures (delves they call it, or "3 to 4 encounter" sort of dungeons/quests), which can loosely link themselves to a main storyline or an end-goal. I am heartened to see this change as many potential DMs are intimidated by having to make a really long dungeon romp if they are just starting out and this delve-concept provides chew-sized pieces -easily digestible- for the creative mind.

The new Chaos Scar campaign is one example. It actually returns to old-school role playing roots. The plot structure is more open-ended now, with the description of the region given, and only the start and end-goal stated. How the DM and the players get there (to the end-goal) is entirely up to them.

Simple. Clean.

Hooray for simplicity and allowing decisions to affect the game-world. Wonder why it took them a whole year to realize that DnD featuring the ideas of the players, and allowing them to immerse themselves in the world by being able to contribute/change it will make a happy campaign?

WoTC's action-first "Movie Scripted"-driven plotline is still around, but is no longer the default pace for every single minute of the campaign, but rather encouraged at given points in the adventure.

New DMs reading and wanting to start a campaign in the Chaos Scar region will thus find that free reign had been bestowed on them. Some say that with freer reign comes greater power comes greater responsibility comes a greater chance to do wrong too, but without a clear right or wrong, the new DMs would be more willing to imprint their own ideas and style on the campaign, which was tougher to do in the tightly scripted Scales of War or their previously published adventure material.

For example, Shane had to alter whole parts or delete complete encounters to place some of his own designs in Scales of War, to give the campaign his own feel. I totally agree with that choice, but more often than not, the adventure still feels like Scales of War due to its pacing and inherent railroading of choices, as being participants of an action movie is the campaign's trademark.

If so wanted, Chaos Scar can allow freedom of movement between quests and adventures, to the point that a party (without proper planning or background evaluation) can venture into a dungeon not meant for their "skill" or "level" and get royally crushed by over-leveled creatures.

This leads back to the DM's discretion. How he plans the control of "his" Chaos Scar will alter the mood and the pace of the campaign. I can safely say that if three new DMs run the open-concept campaign next week, their individual sessions will almost be like playing three largely different campaigns, flavored with their own unique journey from Point A to B- which is the party's goal.

It is early days still, but let us all applaud this small step in 4.o, which makes a giant leap in the direction of old-school gaming. Folks, not everything old is obsolete, or everything new -great-.

In fact if you give Old a go, it might actually turn out to be gold.

The newest addition to Gamer-dom and a free passport to Nerdaria.

Hey all,

My brother's (Shane) son Christian is gonna be one tomorrow! Here is a huge shout out from me to our newest Gamer-dom addition.

*issues the boy a passport to Nerdaria*

Christian will soon be able to mumble coherent words, so... watch out world! That simple fact itself will make him a better role-player than Alex ever was.

Umm yes, that one. Alex the 6-year old drama student; he does try his best to act like a retard role-play, but alas.

I hereby dedicate this article to Christian Caden Kwek. May he grow up to learn that pure DPS is not always good and that Uncle Fie adores him.

"Care for a left handed forehand, kiddo?"

"Wake me up, when September ends." - A lazy blue dragon's quip.

September is well on its way, and the week-long school holidays are over. Our 2 DMs have been hard at work, churning out bi-monthly sessions for us to play in. Najip had quit Shane's SoW campaign, leaving us with 4 players again (sounds familiar?).

I thought hard about switching characters to make up for his loss, but the thing is if Sunny is not in the party, we will kinda lack a "tank" role sorta character too, even though she is not a master at keeping hate. The current party will just have to sort ourselves out and play without a member with proper ranged and AoE again.

During Shane's SoW session, Sunny was wielding her new "Solar Enemy" power, which marks out choice targets for her shortsword to smack with. As a child of the Sun, Pelor had granted her this power, and one day at paragon level, she might walk the path of a Morninglord (mistress).

As a party, the four of us worked rather well as a team, with Vek soaking hits and damaging mobs as a respectable off-tank, Kat healing like I have never seen a healer heal before (in fact, I have never seen one deal zero damage before too), and Shell going down to mobs like I have never seen before. He is rather squishy, and that is the life of a melee ranger. Or is it? *grins*

Alvin- the new addition to Shell's adventure, is sticking to two sessions a month (aka Shell's adventure), so I will postpone my adventure until Shell takes a break from his. He proposed a level 10 break so that Alvin can get some closure when his adventure ends. I respect that and will stick to this plan unless altered.

Thus, my promised Caen/Chapter 2 article posting will be delayed until a week or so before my campaign proper starts. I want the information to be fresh in my players' minds as they can be put to use in parts of the campaign.

Lastly, on to something cool that I have been doing for the past week when not sprucing up my campaign, tuitioning, DnDing or playing tennis.

Champions Online by Cryptic Studios; the same company who brought us City of Heroes and Villains.

A visual DDi Character Builder on steroids disguised as a Super-Hero MMO. The Devious Lone Shark? Powerwoman or the innocent Obama-Girl?

This online game's character creation is so deep and fun that I could spend hours making a single character. The gameplay is okay, with generic quests etc, but seeing your character built up and succeed in the game is rewarding to say the least. And its one of those few MMOs that I do not feel the need to grind the levels fast. And for my personality, that is saying a lot.

These are but a few of the characters that I have created up to now. On the left is Leonardo, the Bladed Fury. He is my take on the TmnT and one of my improvised babies as the creator did not have any "turtle" looks or accessories. And that include the shell. I had to customise a bulky backpack to fit the "shell look and I have to say that it turned out rather well.

At the bottom (starting clockwise from the top right), is...

1. Triple H, the King of Kings - I am so asking for a name change on this character, which I predict will happen one day when I start playing Trips regularly. (Leonardo- formerly Teenage Mutant Non-Ninja Turtle, had already been smacked by the Cryptic Studios Name-Change Police.)

2. Lord Soth - I could not get to play him in my DnD sessions, so I recreated him in the MMO. A supernatural knight who condemns the weak and teleport/hovers above the mundane, his green and yellow scarf knitted for him by his deceased wife fluttering slightly in the cold air. Awesome.

3. The Cancer Stick - A reluctant super-cigarette whose dirty nails and toxic fumes can overwhelm and DoT villains to a sloooow death.

End-of-Summer Caen Update! (Pro-Tips brought to you by Weapons of War- "Pricey? But at least the item's REAL.")

Hey all,

Tighten your shoestrings, grab a bottle of Coke, buy the popcorn, slaughter a cow or two. The Heroes of Maya are coming back to a theater near you!

Yesterday, in the first of several update articles before our first official Chapter 2: The Blight of the Chained Demon (tBotCD) session, I presented my players- Shell, Shane, Kat and Vek with unique powers/feats, which reflected the impact of their actions on Maya's surroundings, society and livestock in general.

Next up (in a week's time, maybe earlier) will be an important background article which fleshes out the huge region northwest of Maya. It's the Greater Desert of Harsh's- Home of Countless Sandstorms and Nothing much except Yellow Sand and Men. Yerp, Castle Greyskill is located somewhere in that mess. Ignore the desert guide at your own peril. (Your passive Insight check says so. Take a 10 on that.)

Pro-Tips for the Return to Caen (Sponsored by WoW: You Can't Put a Price on Real.)

• Chapter 2: tBotCD rewards those who are involved in the action. Seemingly mundane details and items found in my adventures can sometimes be used to unlock bonus quests, powers or items.
• Combining items, trying it out with different NPCs or testing them at particular locations might be useful, just as long as it doesn't singe Aplocal's hair or scroll-freeze the entire port front of Maya.
• Keeeep your eyes peeled, your ears sharp and the party's notes near. You might want to assign someone, or take turns to keep notes, names or maps current and handy. Especially for the larger dungeons.
• The Card Reward Assistance System/s (CRASs) will be implemented by then (read left sidebar for more info), adding on to the common theme of rewarding immersiveness, roleplay, imagination and sometimes sheer luck.

Disclaimer:

Over the past year, our players has matured quickly and can be considered rather seasoned exponents of 4th Ed.

1. As of Chapter 2, I am stating clearly that I will refrain from roleplaying a Carebear giving too many DM prods, e.g. in Chapter 1, regarding the location of a certain Thieves' Guild information that I have distinctly stressed during our sessions.
2. Actions taken in battle will be final and conclusive.
3. Rules 1 and 2 will encourage the party to absorb themselves in the ongoing action and participate more actively, knowing that frequent lapses in concentration will result in them not being to unlock particular quests, not getting the full completion XP bonus, or cause indirect harm to the party.

• I will also appreciate it if the players feel a need to voice out something regarding their character, be it their short-term goals, long term concepts, or particular items and feats that they might desire, do let it out. With the additional knowledge, I can be better positioned to pass out relevant items (maybe not the exact specified one), but at least relevant to you, and for the campaign.
• Even better, try hinting at your goals and concepts during roleplaying in the session, which will help flesh out your character and your relationship with your teammates, resulting in greater satisfaction and motivation while questing in the lands.

As we countdown to Chapter 2: tBotCD, our current forays in the other campaigns (Shell's, Shane's) will definitely help improve our quality of gameplay. And did I mention the evolution of our playing aids? We have definitely come a long way since the flat hand-drawn cardboard figures that I used for the first few sessions of Chapter 1, and doodling the many status effects on paper, and what-not.

-Little Known Fact of the Day: The mobs used by me in the now infamous Swamp Boss battle, which killed both Weilian and Emo, were flat and cardboard.--

Rrrrrgh!

A couple of weeks back, Shane and I went down to Popular and chanced upon multi colored metallic book-rings which makes great temporary status markers. Hook them onto a spear-wielding Yuan-Ti, sling them onto the snout of an ugly Orc or even balance it on top of an angry Beholder. Explore the countless possibilities.

His square colored foam status markers are a hit with the players, especially my personal favourites - the RED 4x4 ONES !!! (We use these markers for more "permanent" status effects e.g. BLOODIED, marked until end of encounter, cleaved into a million bits etc.)

I will end this here for now, as Weapons of War does not pay me enough to stay awake beyond the midnight. Tomorrow, I will consult Aplocal at his quarters and hopefully find a new sponsor in the shape of our semi-retired Arlon Ablehands. I heard that he likes to sponsor up-and-coming heroes and writers alike. The pungent smell of lizard shaman at his shop does not thrill me one bit though.

"Why must Arlon put that grotesque mannequin in there again? And in the pose of a gay gymnast stuck in mid-air doing a jumping-jack?", I must remember to ask him the next time I see him.

See you in the next instalment of the Caen Update.

p/s: Added a Reference Section on left sidebar for easy access to campaign-related posts. Please feedback if links are broken etc.

Lo and Behold, Simple Ways and Customs of a Hero -- Book of Futures, Vol 1.

The tattered tome laid in Fel's hands. Suddenly, his eyes glow red, and arcane symbols impair his vision. He opens the tome again for the umpteenth time, and just as he expected, some of the the pages made sense. He could feel immense power coming from the tome, but is he the only one?

--Tome of Blood's Terminology--
Bloodcost: Before attacking with a Blood power, the bloodmage pays 1d4 hit points ( +2 additional hp at paragon tier, +4 additional hp at epic tier) for each target involved . This damage cannot be prevented or reduced.
Bloodlink: If the target has the bloodied status, he is considered to have bloodlink with the Bloodmage.


Blood Strike___________Bloodmage Attack 1

Tentacles of blood pierce the enemies, and bring them closer to the cause.

Encounter ♦ Arcane, Blood, Implement, Versatile

Standard Action ______ ____ _ ________Close burst 3

Target: One, two or three enemies in burst
Attack: Intelligence vs. Reflex
Hit: 2d4 + Intelligence modifier damage.

Bloodlink: You ignore the bloodcost for the target.
The target takes an additional d4 damage, and is pulled
to the nearest square adjacent to you.
If there is no such space available, the target remains in
its original location.


Bloody Retribution___ Bloodmage Attack 5

As stated in the Tome of Blood, revenge is sweet. Seeing it in action, even better.

Daily ♦ Arcane, Blood, Implement, Versatile
Immediate Reaction________________Close Burst 5
Trigger: A creature within burst bloodies you
Target: The creature that bloodied you
Attack: Intelligence vs. Reflex
Hit: 4d4+ Intelligence modifier damage. The target takes ongoing
damage equal to your Intelligence modifier (save ends). You ignore
the bloodcost for this target.

Effect: You may make a secondary attack against each enemy within 2 squares
of the target.
Secondary Target: Each enemy within 2 squares of the primary target.
Secondary Attack: Intelligence vs. Fortitude
Hit: 1d4 + Intelligence modifier damage.

Bloodlink: You may use this power as a standard action instead of a triggered immediate reaction against a bloodlinked target.

----------

Sir Guy, with his acts of bravery and selflessness told at immigrant campfires around the northern farmlands and the temple grounds of Pelor, ponders over his new-found status. Especially so after an encounter with several halflings at the after-party organized by Trogdor to celebrate Head-Captain Tel's promotion. At the back of his mind, the disappearance of Pelor leaves many questions unanswered.

Sir Guy's Merry Men of Movement and Miscellaneous ActionsS____________________ Farmlands Savior Utility 6

You whistle a merry tune, and a couple of halfling peasants appear, ready to do your bidding.

Daily ♦ Martial

Minor Action ______ ____ _ ________Personal

Effect: You gain an additional move action and a minor action for this turn.
You can also spend a healing surge.

Special: This does not take up a level 6 utility slot if your Farmlands faction

is "Savior" level or higher.

----------

Drefonis sits on the edge of the bed, playing out pivotal scenes in his memorable fights against Kystik and the Grandfather. His feints, his stealthy attacks, are etched firmly in his mind. He also recalled what Leeto had said to him regarding his next task for the Guild, and contemplates on the soundness of it all.

Dre's Measured Quickie_________ Dirty Leeto Utility 6

You feint awkwardly by gyrating your pelvis, while your dagger stabs at the unsuspecting victim's vitals.

Daily ♦ Martial

Move Action ______ ____ _ ________Personal

Effect: You roll a Bluff check against a target adjacent to you. If successful, you gain combat advantage and can make a modified basic melee attack (Charisma vs. AC) against the target.

Special: You can add your sneak attack dice to the damage against the target even if you have already expended it this round.


Quiet Step________________MoTG Utility 2

Softly, you meld into the darkness, making friends with the shadows.

Daily ♦ Martial

Move Action ______ ____ _ ________Personal

Effect: You become invisible until you attack or after 3 rounds has passed, whichever
occurs first.

Special: You can replace any rogue power you currently possess with this daily power.

----------

Trogdor rolls about in his bed, hardly able to sleep. He looks forward to visiting Castle Greyskill, where he can finally make amends with the Raven Queen and collect his reward from Hen-Lord Alan for returning Raven's Grasp to its rightful place. His alter-ego seems more placid, more controllable now, could it be a result of the new-found peace he has in his heart?

Creature of Havoc________ Trog's Character Feature

The wounds are many, too many, you scream for salvation and unleash the ...

Daily ♦ Psionic

Immediate Reaction ______ ____ _ ________Personal

Trigger: You are reduced to 0 hp or less.
Effect: You transform into a fearsome man-beast, with almost no control over your actions. You attack each creature in a close burst 2 (Str + 2 vs. AC), dealing 3d8 + Strength modifier damage with your savage claws and bite if you hit. You revert back to your original form after this attack.

Special: Your allies in the burst take only half damage if hit. If you are not holding a shield when this power is triggered, you deal an extra 1d8 to enemies in the close burst 2 area.

Heavy Shield Throw: This custom ability allows Trogdor to clumsily throw his heavy shield into the fray, usually out of desperation or in his preparation to harness his inner self.

Encounter ♦ Martial

Standard Action ______ ____ _ ________Ranged 4, (7)

Target: One creature in range
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: Strength modifier damage, target is pushed 1 square.

Special: On a critical hit, the target is also knocked prone.

The New Scales of War (Shane's Edition) and a random weather report.

Hi all,

Shane had his first Scales of War DMing session on Saturday, taking over Vek and bringing the new party (Fubar the Halfling Sorc and Kithen Ralph the Half Orc Ranger are the remnants of the original group) to the city of Overlook.

We had great fun in the city, exploring shops and giving epic chase to a child vandal who had just splashed paint onto the inn the adventurers were staying in. Ralph and Vek- who was playing Pantiless the Elf Avenger, scaled about 2524 buildings , leapt over 4421 obstacles before finally pinning him down with the help of the other members of the party.
Me, Fubar and Daigo (Kat) were chasing, intimidating, bluffing, and percepting the vandal from quite a distance away as we did not have the acrobatics and athletics skills of our two Special Olympians who were trying to outdo each other.

Do not worry guys! Everyone is a winner at the Special Olympics.

Shane was trying out new methods e.g. Players'/Mob Initiative cards to track the battle, post-it notes to confer penalties etc, and colored markings on the mobs to book-keep the various effects on them. All in all, I will have to say that most of it worked, so bravo to the new DM. The set up time was still rather lengthy, but the in-combat time was cut down significantly, especially with Shane rolling his results on his I-Phone instead of using traditional dice.

My gripe about Scales of War is still the lack of atmosphere in the non-town regions. Sometimes, I feel that the encounters are there solely to make up for the action element and encounter quota for the level.
There is this particular encounter we had at the monastery when we were 80 feet up in an indoor cavern of sorts, where we fought several Orcs and a few crossbowmen defending two single-file wooden bridges over a pit which we needed to cross to get further into the monastery.
Our previous encounter just before this occurred in a large lighted hall, where there were many staircases at the sides with Orcs swarming about but after we dispatched them, we discovered that they all led to nothing interesting.
Then boom, the dimly-lit "Cavern" of Single Filed Doom was next. A bit jarring for my taste. I do not see a link joining these particular encounters, just separate action scenes cut out from different movies and made to awkwardly fit.


And with all new parties, I made a new character to join in the fun. This time round, I am playing Sunny, Honey Bunny - the ridiculously charismatic female Halfling Paladin who was a former member of a popular Halfling girl-group (Drunken Tigress).
Her moods swings from being painfully cute with winks and pseudo-korean girl-band phrases (Geegeegeegeegee, Job yo?, OH Unnie~!) to being a pain in the opponents' asses, recklessly drawing AoOs so that she can charge into them with lethal momentum.
She is 3 feet 8 inches tall and about 81 pounds, and has a bright cherubic face with a sunny demeanour. Clad in sun-colored plate armor and brandishing a gleaming short sword of Charrrrging, she is a picture of um, stability.
Sunny is contemplating other deity choices besides Pelor, as the God of the Sun and Crops was her industrious parents' natural choice. Her personal shortlist now includes Corellon (Beauty) and Tiamat (Covetous, Wealth) as she is coming to terms with her own character and what she actually needs to fulfil her ambition.
Party-wise, she is slowly trying to find her feet and assume her role as the main tanker, and as her confidence grow, she will be an asset to the party, not to mention the intangibles - her "wholesome" good looks and sunny mood boosting morale for the hot-blooded males in her group.

As it was already fast approaching six in the morning, we stopped for the night after finishing the "Bridge" encounter and advanced to level 4 w/o the extra feat. Sunny swore she heard the other Orcs and what-else deeper in the monastery breathe a collective sigh of relief.

They will survive for another week.

"I got good news and bad news." - Vek

Hey all,

The Scales of War adventure that Vek was DMing for us has come to an unfortunate end. He cited lack of interest in being a DM and the added duties/commitment as the prime reasons for his decision.

Shane- the shaman (healer) in the original adventure, will take over DM duties in Chapter 2. The party will again be reformed to incorporate Kat, who will sacrifice War-War Lock to become our new healer. He is currently looking at a pacifist cleric build, but has yet to confirm his intentions.

I will be creating a new character too, as "Magicman" was politely declined by Shane due to his "hybrid is still a playtest" reasoning. As the DM, he has the final say so I might roll up a Paladin or a Barbarian instead. The new update to the Character Generator is set for tomorrow, and I will wait for that before making my decision. Divine Powers would have been in the database by then, and I can conveniently check if a new-age DPS paladin is viable.
My hand itches for a d12 or a 2d6 weapon wielding kind of character and these two classes fit the bill. Avenger can be an after-thought as well.

On to the good news.

The Monster Builder Beta has arrived in DDi! This gem of a building tool houses over 2500 monsters all ready for customization and cut/paste duties.

The Monster Builder is quick to fire up and easy to use for hassle-free encounter management.




Personally, I love the drag-and-paste feature in the program, where I get to shamelessly drag the firebreath power from a red dragon onto an unsuspecting domestic horse template. Firemare Kirin anyone?

Go check it out, aspiring DMs, and create your own flavor of madness today.



Ever felt like going back to DnD 3.5? Do you miss Weapon Finesse, splashing 1 level of something, the overly-complicated Grappling rules which felt like calculus, or the good ole' days when Intelligence didn't do squat to your AC and Charisma was the premier dump stat of the game?

I am Genie for your weeeeesh granted. (poof)

DDO (Dungeons and Dragons Online) Beta. The developers have decided that the game go F2P (Free to Play) game when it goes live on September 9th 2009. The Beta has almost forty good days left until it launches free next month. You can test if your rig can run the game smoothly, and if you enjoy their particular style of adapting DnD 3.5 to an MMO setting.

It is a good way for me to get a fix when the DnD "playing" pang hits my brain. The game runs smoothly, and I love the graphics when my character punches baddies into moosh, or decaptitates hapless minions with my super-aggressive Greataxe of Burrrnnnning.

DDO's graphics and gameplay is brilliant by F2P gaming standards, and can easily match some of the smaller existing MMOs in the market nowadays.

Don't just take my word for it, go try it out. What could go wrong? It is free to play anyway. You might just find your own personal gaming paradise online. (when taking a break from Mafia Wars of course.)

"People, please sit tight and hold on to your loved ones, we are about to dock in approximately three weeks to a month."

Hey all,

The month of August is nearing. There are many interesting dates to note during that period, like Singapore's National Day, Revenant/Divine Powers update on DDi Character Builder, my birthday (cough), and most important of all - The long awaited return to Caen for our Heroes of Maya.

As promised, from this week onwards until the start of the adventure proper, relevant background history of the immediate region will be published. I have also finalized official custom character powers/abilities for Guy, Fel, Trogdor, and Drefonis. This will be further touched on in its own home-brewed article down the road.

Watch out for all these and more!

For the past few days, the 9d20 site is going through a "growing pains" change. An additional sidebar has been placed on the right so that more information can be displayed efficiently without the need to scroll down all the way to the next lunar year.
With the expectation of new columns/previews/polls in the future, this change was necessary to prevent congestion and constipation of the various articles.

Do feedback comments to me regarding this, either in RL, sms, tweet, or shoutbox so that I know what the readers like/dislike. The different monitors and browsers used may also impact personal experience, so do let me know if my site is unknowingly providing grief to anyone.

On to something quite extra I read in the forums recently...

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The Stormwind Fallacy, aka the Roleplayer vs Rollplayer Fallacy Just because one optimizes his characters mechanically does not mean that they cannot also roleplay, and vice versa.
Corollary: Doing one in a game does not preclude, nor infringe upon, the ability to do the other in the same game. Many read 'optimizes his characters mechanically' to include more generally playing in an optimal way. Whether you do or not, Stormwind does not always hold. As we are discovering, you will sometimes reach moments where the choice indicated by roleplaying differs from the choice indicated by optimization, and you cannot choose both. Accordingly I would revise Stormwind as follows: Just because one optimizes his characters mechanically does not at all times mean that they cannot also roleplay, and vice versa.
Corollary: Doing one in a game does not preclude, nor at all times infringe upon, the ability to do the other in the same game.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

The entire thread can be read here. He just needed to write that the statement is not entirely true all the time and he saves like ten minutes of his life writing all these lawyer-aspirant stuff. Hey, maybe he does want to grow up to be a lawyer in real life.

DnD 4th Edition does make the roll-players want to optimize mechanically, as the game does away with the random stats generating of yesteryear and replace it with the default 22-point buy system.

The stat-mongers now have the ability to prepare a character from the get-go, and build it all the way to the upper levels, without needing to worry about "what if I cannot roll the charisma for the paladin that I wanted to make, and still score decent stats to meet the other pre-requisites?" or "whyyy did not have the luck to roll a half-decent rogue? I should have washed my hands before throwing the dice. I hope I get to play another game soon."
All these stuff are dealt away with the 22-point buy system and keeps them happy, but at a cost of lower numbers in the other "not-important" stats.

But think about it for a moment.

The role-players get a nice bite of the cake too. In the past, when they want to roleplay, they usually have to put a really high stat they rolled onto the roleplaying stat (aka Charisma) and the rest of their stats might be crap due to the luck of the other rolls.
Now with the 22-point buy system, no longer. They can have both role playing stats while maintaining decent stats, due to the ability to shape the characters themselves. These "balanced" characters are definitely playable and do not require much number-crunching. More people can thus enjoy 4th Ed in general, and get into the thick of the action immediately.

However, most turn their noses at such builds as they are not "optimized". However, it is not entirely true. There are several "balanced" stats character-builds that start to shine at 11th and beyond; which shows that with a bit of patience + the right group, you eventually get to have as much fun as Mr "Level 1 20 Strength Barbarian."

ELAMUSA. My recent Goliath ranger ("Staff" Diskount) in Shell's game might have to be shelved for a more well-balanced party setup. He does really well in the DPS department, and roleplaying him and his pet lizard was a serious blast. But Diskount + a melee pet is sometimes rather extra with the other 4 melee characters in the party.

Shell does put effort into maintaining an arcane presence in his world and my new character would fit into that mold, although he is a little bit unorthodox.

This versatile character maintains a close-combat feel while being able to shoot spells from far (20 squares). He can work just behind the spear fighter and the paladin, or go toe to toe once in a while when the time is right. He does not do mad damage like Diskount, but he fills the arcane void in the party, does decent damage, and will improve as time passes by.

He is an Eladrin, who lives to perfect the magic missile and swordmagery. His name? "Magicman". His origins? Found on his character sheet and in DDi.