Review: Underdark (4th Edition D&D Supplement)

Name: Underdark
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
System: 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons

There are few places in the world(s) of Dungeons & Dragons as ripe for exploration as the Underdark. As the home of the Drow, Mindflayers, and other shadow-dwelling horrors, it’s one of the most disturbing, dangerous places unfortunate adventurers can end up. Despite this, past 4th Edition books only briefly touched on the caverns, something the release of the supplement, Underdark, hopes to fix.

For those looking to explore the dark, underground world, the book definitely comes packed with plenty of content. The opening pages deal with the violent creation of the Underdark, which hinges on the dark god, Torog, and his descent into the ground and battles with primordials. Though, for as detailed as it is, the writers are sure to include the fact that there’s really no way the average adventurer would know this. In fact, it might not even be the way it happened, as different legends tell of different ways the world was created. It’s left open for interpretation, something that Dungeon Masters can easily use to their advantage when throwing their adventurers into the Underdark.
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Review: The Plane Below: Secrets of the Elemental Chaos

Name: The Plane Below: Secrets of the Elemental Chaos
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
System: 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons

Different people play Dungeons & Dragons for different reasons. Some enjoy spending time in cities, exploring different locations and getting involved in the politics of the world. Others prefer the outdoors, setting up camps in the wilderness and battling against nature. Many players would rather delve into a dungeon, finding keys for locked doors and disabling traps in hopes of finding a large chest at the end of the journey. There are also those, though, that want something more… abstract. For those, there are the planes. With the release of The Plane Below: Secrets of the Elemental Chaos, one of the more chaotic areas in D&D is detailed, and laid out for players and DMs to explore.

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I Caved or: How I Learned to Stop Caring and Sign Up for D&Di

After a year of dragging my feet, using friend’s accounts, and messing with the trial information, I’ve finally caved in and paid money for D&D Insider. In fact, I went all in, spending $70+ on the one year account, instead of messing around with going month-to-month. Right now, I’m downloading all of the tools and preparing for my next campaign, exporting PDFs instead of scribbling notes in a binder. I’m making folders instead of, well, buying actual folders. No post-it notes, no highlighters, just lots of megabits and binary nonsense. Why? There are a three main reasons, and they’re reasons that just about anyone who plays 4th Edition should do the same. Learn more »

Take a Break from DMing; It’ll Make You a Better DM!

I used to be a full time DM. I started off as a player, but after my regular group broke up I didn’t want to stop, and started DMing some friends. I had a lot of fun, but as time went on I realized my stories weren’t as interesting as they were in the beginning, and while I was technically sound and knew the rules, something was… missing. After a few failed campaigns my girlfriend, who posts here as FemJesse, said she wanted to try her hand at faking 20′s as a DM. Eventually I caved, after much deliberation (and a party where I burnt my DM screen and threw my dice in the air), and said I would be fine passing the torch. I figured, if nothing else, it would give me the time to play I craved so much. She’s been doing a wonderful job, and given me some of the best D&D sessions I’ve played. However, after nearly a year of her campaigns I’ve realized what I was missing, and why my sessions began to suffer. Learn more »

D&D + Surface = Need New Pants

I’m not going to bother writing a rant about this; just watch the video. Some people, who I can only assume are from the future, have mushed Microsoft’s Surface together with Dungeons & Dragons. The results? Something better than Wizards of the Coast has been able to do in the past three years while trying to launch the online D&D Game Table. Wow. Just watch.

Before anyone leaps up and starts defending D&D as an experience that doesn’t need electronics, I point my finger at D&D Insider, the tools that let players create characters with a computer program. My groups have used nothing but in the past year, and I can’t recommend the program enough. On that same note, this is best used if not taken far too seriously, since toying with rules is part of what makes D&D so fun. My only issue is that I’m never going to be able to play like this, even if I did drop several thousand dollars on the Surface. It’s a work in progress, and will never get the licensing or rights to be released as it should. Please, Wizards of the Coast, hire these young scholars, let them build the tools you haven’t the ability to. I love you, 4th Edition D&D is all kinds of awesome, but please admit when you can’t do something, and take advantage of those who can.

Cool Awesome Half-Baked Ideas

The Beholder’s lair was shaped like a teardrop with the bottom flattened out, suited perfectly for the vertical movement of the floating eye-monster. Several bookshelves were placed against the walls, wabbling with every step, obviously not used to the pitter-patter of footsteps. The beast itself laid slain, killed by the three adventurers: Tyran, a Golliath Barbarian; Annika, a Genasi Swordmage, and Norrin Radd, a Dragonborn Warlock. They were attacked while passing, and decided that the effort of self-defense should be rewarded with pillaging the abberation’s chamber. Norrin took out the group’s prize possession: a bag that turned all it enveloped into gold, which the group used in every situation. Living creatures it would not slay, but items and magical objects would give their full worth in coin.

The bookshelves in the room in question were filled with different knick-nacks, such as tomes and other objects, but four stood out: brains in jars, letting off a glow. Right away, Tyran tossed one in the bag, and immediately grabbed another. Before he had a chance to place it in, the object twitched, and fired a blast at the Barbarian. It was a magical object, and now the three remaining brains were attempting to defend their well bring. Quickly, Tyran pushed the one in his hands in, and Annika did the same with another, causing gold to spill onto the floor. The one remaining made its intentional clear by firing more shots at the adventurers, floating up twenty feet, well out of reach. With a flash, it dominated the mind of the Genasi, and the two remaining friends seemed like they were out of options, and needed to strike their ally.
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What I Learned from Playing D&D With Chris Perkins

At the Penny-Arcade Expo, I had the pleasure of playing in a short D&D session with Wizards of the Coast’s Christopher Perkins, best known (recently) for his voice on the Penny-Arcade podcast, DMing the adventurers. Sitting down to play, I didn’t really think there was much I could learn from a short session with the Dungeon Master. I figured it would be like jumping into a video-game, enjoying a quick session without actually taking anything out of it. I have a lot to learn.
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Penny-Arcade’s Gabe Reveals New D&D Book, Cover

If this was previously known news then I’m late to the party: Gabe (Mike Krahulik) from Penny-Arcade was tapped by Wizards of the Coast to wor on a cover for the “Players Strategy Guide,” which he says is aimed at teaching players to make solid characters. The artwork, above, is a stark contrast to what many D&D players are used to seeing on their covers – something I think might work for them. The concept is strong too, but might be a bit more fitting in 3.5. It’s pretty hard to make a lame character in 4th Edition, at least in my experiences. Even so, a learners guide is a good call, and I wouldn’t be opposed to a DM Strategy Guide. The DMG is good and all when you have some experience, but something a little more… guiding might be time and money well spent for WotC.

DnD Adventure Tools: Monster Builder a Critical Success

Wizards of the Coast recently released a new beta application in the D&D Insider section of their website. It’s called “Adventure Tools,” and accompanies the powerful Character Builder. If you had messed around with a D&D Insider account you might have seen something like this before as a Flash-Based tool, but this one is much more well developed. In fact, they have little in common besides the name and overall goal.

Adventure Tools looks like its going to do for the DM what Character Builder did for the player. Right now, upon starting the application, there are five circles at the bottom of the screen. Only the leftmost one is highlighted and reads “Monster Builder.” Monster Builder has a built-in library of almost all the enemies introduced so far into 4th edition, including named bosses and unique monsters from the different modules. They’re easy to find thanks to a great search engine that lets you search for names, keywords, level ranges, and more. Beyond viewing them, there’s option to copy and edit existing monsters to better suite your needs. That said, some monsters are missing from the program. I’ll have to admit, I’m disappointed that I couldn’t de-level Tiamat to level 5 out of curiosity, just to see how the program would handle it. Learn more »

House Rule: Need to Reach Negative Con + 1/2 Level to Die

In the past, we’ve had posts about a DM who is scared to wipe the party and a player is afraid to die. In other words: death in Dungeons & Dragons is serious buisness. In fact, it can ruin someone’s day even if it is handled tastefully. Because of that, and because we think the main way a player should die is from a powerful blow (not bleeding to death), my group has come up with a house rule. In 4th Edition, players die at either negative bloodied or when they fail their save three times. We changed this rule. Learn more »