Hola all. Massawyrm here.
Big week for D&D: a huge announcement, a new miniatures set and a really great book sure to be on almost every DMs shelf. So let’s get into it.
DARK SUN
Oh, hell yes. Way back in 2006, when my good buddy D&D Freelancer Ari Marmel were arguing (rather ferociously) the merits of a 4th edition (for the record, I was VERY much against it), our discussion turned from rules changes to marketing strategy changes. One of my biggest problems with how WotC ran 3rd Edition was that they put the focus on only two worlds – Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms – until they created a third, Eberron. And that was it. If you wanted another setting, you had to go 3rd party and only 3rd party, because everything that was coming out from WotC was from one of those three settings – all of which were variations on the same theme. And all of which were choking out new releases.
Back in the first edition days, all the rage was alternate settings; settings that bared little resemblance to one another. Spelljammer, Al-Qadim, Oriental Adventures, Mystara, Ravenloft, Hyboria, Dragonlance. There was always some new world to conquer coming out for TSR. What I wanted to see was a return to that – giving each setting a year to live and breathe with core product and some support releases before moving onto the next new world.
Well, I got my wish.
This past weekend at Gencon, WotC announced next year’s big Campaign Setting: DARK SUN. Fuck. Yes. One of the most popular old school universes is returning. When WotC, deciding against making a 3E version of it, instead released a Dark Sun PHB in Dragon 319…Paizo completely sold out of issue 319. You couldn’t find it anywhere. Distributors were hounded for years afterwards with orders for it that couldn’t be filled. People dug it. So now it’s back.
Here’s how WotC’s James Wyatt described the setting: Dark Sun is a sort of post-apocalyptic fantasy, a world that’s been blasted and ravaged by out-of-control magic. The arcane magic of the world draws its power from the life force of things around it, and if it’s not wielded carefully, it can transform nearby plant life into ash and drain other living creatures of their vitality. That’s why the world is a desert, its civilizations concentrated in a handful of city-states ruled by evil sorcerer-kings and its wilderness haunted by marauding nomadic bands.
The gods of the setting are absent or dead, replaced by elemental spirits tied to the ancient primordials. Shamans and other primal characters draw on the forces of sun, sand, wind, and precious rain. Wizards practice their magic in secret or openly serve the sorcerer-kings. And psionic power is more common than on other worlds -- which is handy, since this setting will come out a few months after Player’s Handbook 3, which introduces the psionic power source.
Sign me up. These will no doubt be put out the same way we saw Eberron and Forgotten realms handled. I for one am very excited. Of course that leads us to the inevitable discussion: what happens in 2011? And 2012? If 4E has the same lifecycle as 3E, we’re looking at eight years of releases – meaning eight settings? Share your pining for your old favorites below. And check out this WotC internal interview right here for more on the release.
ADVENTURER’S VAULT 2
There’s not too terribly much to say about this follow up to last year’s must have Adventurer’s Vault…except that it is another DM must have. The first half of the book is chock full of new weapons, armor and wondrous items, as well as expanded sections with a lot of the new items appearing in PHB2 (like totems). There are also a few new items types, including magical Tattoos (which are pretty cool), a very weird item type called Immurements (which summons a small area of pre-generated terrain to replace the terrain of where you are standing, and special lair items which don’t ravel with you but have advantages when you are at your home base. All very cool. This, of course, is everything you expect from AV2.
What you might not be expecting is the second half of the book: Item Sets. Easily the single coolest thing in the book, AV2 reintroduces and old school notion that goes all the way back to 1st Ed. Magic Items once wielded by heroes that have special added bonuses when all wielded by the same character. There are scads of these for all three tiers of play, complete with lore for each set and sets for every class and style of player. But there are also special GROUP SETS which are items that get bonuses when wielded by multiple members of a party, again each with their own distinct flavor.
While it’s definitely not a book that every player needs to have in their collection, every DM should. It’s a great resource with a number of very cool new toys to throw at the players, as well as a number of items that can be used to create more exotic, less Tolkien-like locales. A MUST HAVE.
Okay guys, back tomorrow with a reader submitted rundown of their Gencon experience. See you then.
Until next time friends, smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em.
Massawyrm
Got something for the Wyrm? Mail it here.
Or follow my further zany adventures on Twitter.
ADVENTURER’S VAULT 2
There’s not too terribly much to say about this follow up to last year’s must have Adventurer’s Vault…except that it is another DM must have. The first half of the book is chock full of new weapons, armor and wondrous items, as well as expanded sections with a lot of the new items appearing in PHB2 (like totems). There are also a few new items types, including magical Tattoos (which are pretty cool), a very weird item type called Immurements (which summons a small area of pre-generated terrain to replace the terrain of where you are standing, and special lair items which don’t ravel with you but have advantages when you are at your home base. All very cool. This, of course, is everything you expect from AV2.
What you might not be expecting is the second half of the book: Item Sets. Easily the single coolest thing in the book, AV2 reintroduces and old school notion that goes all the way back to 1st Ed. Magic Items once wielded by heroes that have special added bonuses when all wielded by the same character. There are scads of these for all three tiers of play, complete with lore for each set and sets for every class and style of player. But there are also special GROUP SETS which are items that get bonuses when wielded by multiple members of a party, again each with their own distinct flavor.
While it’s definitely not a book that every player needs to have in their collection, every DM should. It’s a great resource with a number of very cool new toys to throw at the players, as well as a number of items that can be used to create more exotic, less Tolkien-like locales. A MUST HAVE.
Okay guys, back tomorrow with a reader submitted rundown of their Gencon experience. See you then.
Until next time friends, smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em.
Massawyrm
Got something for the Wyrm? Mail it here.
Or follow my further zany adventures on Twitter.
There’s not too terribly much to say about this follow up to last year’s must have Adventurer’s Vault…except that it is another DM must have. The first half of the book is chock full of new weapons, armor and wondrous items, as well as expanded sections with a lot of the new items appearing in PHB2 (like totems). There are also a few new items types, including magical Tattoos (which are pretty cool), a very weird item type called Immurements (which summons a small area of pre-generated terrain to replace the terrain of where you are standing, and special lair items which don’t ravel with you but have advantages when you are at your home base. All very cool. This, of course, is everything you expect from AV2.
What you might not be expecting is the second half of the book: Item Sets. Easily the single coolest thing in the book, AV2 reintroduces and old school notion that goes all the way back to 1st Ed. Magic Items once wielded by heroes that have special added bonuses when all wielded by the same character. There are scads of these for all three tiers of play, complete with lore for each set and sets for every class and style of player. But there are also special GROUP SETS which are items that get bonuses when wielded by multiple members of a party, again each with their own distinct flavor.
While it’s definitely not a book that every player needs to have in their collection, every DM should. It’s a great resource with a number of very cool new toys to throw at the players, as well as a number of items that can be used to create more exotic, less Tolkien-like locales. A MUST HAVE.
Okay guys, back tomorrow with a reader submitted rundown of their Gencon experience. See you then.
Until next time friends, smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em.
Massawyrm
Got something for the Wyrm? Mail it here.
