Convention recipes
PAX EAST is Next Week!
Next week is PAX East. What does this mean? Glad you asked. For years, PAX has been the greatest blend of tabletop/video gaming in the industry, and for the first time, the convention will take place on the East Coast. Boston, to be specific. We’ll be covering it LIVE from the show floor, so expect a huge amount of news during the show. Keep an eye on both Gamervision.com and PenandPaperPortal.com for all of the news, previews, and interviews from the Penny-Arcade Expo.
So, anyone else attending?
Sanctioned Tabletop Tournaments Coming to Wizard Comic Con Tour
For the first year since forever, Wizard’s Comic Con will have sanctioned tabletop tournaments. In a press release about the announcement, tour producer Shamus said, “By setting up sanctioned gaming tournaments we can give our fans the space they need to do battle. Bringing in tabletop gaming tournaments gives players the comfort of a professional setting and draws a wide range of opponents for the truly competitive atmosphere that fans crave.” For fans of Warhammer, this is indeed great news. For the rest of us, it helps legitimize the hobby. Well, among… Comic Con goers, at least. Hey, it’s something. The press release is below.
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PAX 09: Next Few Sets of Chessex Dice Revealed
At PAX this year I saw that Chessex had taken a break from forging dice atop Mt. D&D to set up shop with trillions of dice on display. After talking to some of the people who run the company about why they don’t do press releases (see: they suck at internet), they pointed me towards some unreleased dice. I know, it might be silly, but I got excited at a chance to check out the upcoming Chessex sets, and some of them looked very cool. Here they are, you can expect to see these popping up in your hobby shops in the coming months. I have my eye on the orange ones, myself, what about you? Learn more »
Pen and Paper Portal/Gamervision at PAX!
Guess what! I’ll be at the Penny-Arcade Expo this week, covering video game news for Gamervision.com and RPG news for Pen and Paper Portal. Be sure to check back, because I’m meeting with Wizards of the Coast to find out information on future D&D happenings, as well as attending panels on all sorts of tabletop goodness. Be sure to follow me on twitter @jonathanhcooper and hit me up if you’re in town. We’ll roll some dice.
Have anything you want me to ask Wizards? Post it here, and I’ll be sure to ask them when we meet.
Review: Divine Power
Name: Divine Power
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
System: 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons
Once the basic rules of Fourth Edition were released, many thought that Wizards of the Coast was phasing out the reliance on Divine power. Before, a group without a Cleric was a group without a healer, and the game’s rules made it nearly impossible to proceed without some type of healing class. In comes 4E, bringing with it Healing Surges, Second Winds, and the ability to heal to full overnight. After a few months of play it became obvious that, while it’s possible to work without a healer, having a master of the Divine arts is still the way to go. With the release of Divine Power, WotC has added further support for the classes associated with the godliest of all domains, enhancing and improving them in many ways.
With Divine Power, the Avenger, Cleric, Invoker, and Paladin receive updates, with each getting a number of new classes, builds, powers, and paragon paths. On top of that, there are a goodly amount of new feats, domains, rituals, and Epic Destinies. It’s a holy book full of awesome stuff! Ouch, that’s a bad joke. I’ll keep this review wholly serious. Heh. Learn more »
WotC Previews The Witchalok
Wizards of the Coast has revealed a new class for Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition: The Witchalok! Fans of Penny-Arcade will likely recognize the class, as it has achieved somewhat of a cult following since it appeared in the PA comics. It appears that this will be the first of many new classes for the Player’s Handbook 3, which is due out next year. Here’s what WOTC had to say about the exciting new announcement:
Witchaloks are the heirs of a billion-year heritage of baleful sorcery—sorcery substantially more baleful than their magical contemporaries. Necromancers are, by Witchalok standards, insufficiently baleful. Defilers entertain children at Witchalok birthday parties. Liches are commonly used as a punchline in Witchalok stand-up routines. Tiamat is almost bad enough—almost, but not quite.
I, for one, cannot wait to try the class out, and have already rolled up a character with the preview PDF on the website, located here. Anyone else looking forward to the full Witchalok?
NYCC 09: Interview With Penny Arcade’s Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins
After being a fan of the webcomic for years, enjoying the first two episodes of Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, randomly shouting things like “I wish I could hate you to death!” to my loved ones, and bragging about how I “painted the line” any time I score a point in ping pong, I finally had the chance to chat with Penny Arcade’s Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins (you know—Gabe and Tycho) at New York Comic Con on Sunday. We talked about gaming, D&D, GameStop employees, and whether or not Gabe should draw on my hand during the interview.
Read on to find out what happened.
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PAX 08: CCP Interview
I don’t know much about White Wolf Publishing, as you will hear in the clip below. However, if you are interested in CCP, White Wolf, Exalted, or World of Darkness, I suggest you listen to the clip below. Let me know what you think, because I’d love to do more stuff with them in the future if it seems like something you all want to hear more about!
PAX 08: Hands-On D&D Insider
For the past few months I have been taking advantage of Dungeons & Dragons Insider, which is, as of now, free. It offers a huge amount of new content such as races, character classes, and guides on how to play and run Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition. In the near future, access to the website will cost money, and the occasional PDF of new 4E traps might not be enough to justify the $4.95 subscription cost. Luckily, the D&D Character Creation tools will soon be live, with the Virtual Game Table soon to follow, for a slightly higher cost.
These functions were supposed to launch alongside of 4th Edition when it came out a few months back and have been delayed relentlessly ever since. As of now, word is we can expect to see Character Builder this year with the Table a little into next, far from its original landing spot. I had a hands-on with both, and despite going in optimistic I left wondering if I will end up spending that money after all. Hear why after the jump.
PAX 08: Twelve Things Any DM Can Do to Improve Their Campaign
I just got back from the “Art of the Dungeon Master” panel at the Penny-Arcade Expo, which taught me many things (the largest of which being I need to get my ass in gear and play more D&D). The last question that was asked was for each of the four panelists to choose three things that any Dungeon Master can do to improve their campaign instantly. I took notes, but they often talked faster than I could transcribe, so if I get something wrong and one of the panelists read this I apologize, leave a comment and I’ll fix it immediately. Or just take credit for someone else’s words. I also didn’t get the fourth panelist’s last name, and it isn’t on the sheet with all of the session’s information, so if anyone knows let me know. Either way, here is the list:
Christopher Perkins:
- Use funny voices and take notes on what characters have what vocal styles. Copy celebrities for key NPCs, even if you can’t get it close you will still give them a unique and signature voice. He also says to give different races different accents, and revealed that throughout all of his campaigns the Drow race has had a French accent and Gnomes all speak with lisps.
- Use a folder full of maps, take them from the internet or books or wherever. It will make you seem infinitely more prepared when the party finds an outhouse and you have a map for the dungeon underneath it.
- Don’t spend months or days creating a campaign, instead write a 3-10 page document detailing the world and give it to the players before the first session. It will help them create their own characters and give them help with backstory.
Click the little thingy that says something to the effect of “Read More” to, well, read more.
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