Rise of the Eldrazi Review

Recently, I was given a pack of cards from the newest Magic the Gathering set, Rise of the Eldrazi. Over the course of the next few days, I played with the deck in dozens of games, seeing how the new mechanics work against previously established MTG rules. While I wasn’t able to get time in with all of the cards (naturally), my time with the ones I did have gave me a good insight into what Wizards of the Coast was attempting with the new set, and I’ve already found myself playing more Magic, and eagerly anticipating new releases. Learn more »

PAX East 2010: Duels of the Planeswalkers’ Second Expansion Packs Avatar Awards

During the Penny-Arcade Expo, I had a chance to play a little of the second expansion pack for Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalker. As you might expect, it felt very similar to the core game, to the point where it’s hard to accurately point out differences. That’s because most of the changes come in the form of new decks and cards, and I doubt any of you have memorized the cards that were in the first game to begin with. There were some other elements, however, that did stand out, and are worth getting excited for. Namely, the avatar rewards, which might drive some people to pick up the game and expansion solely to get the gear. Learn more »

Short Q&A With Wizards about PDFs

After I heard the news of Wizards of the Coast pulling PDF support I immediately went to my contacts and arranged a Q&A with someone who could hopefully explain the issue further. I sent over about 7 questions and three came back, which is better than nothing. Here are the answers:

Why did Wizards of the Coast decide to pull support from PDFs?

Unfortunately, due to recent findings of illegal copying and online distribution of our products, Wizards has decided to cease the sale of online PDFs.

Can you comment on the rumors of DRM D&D material, by way of Amazon’s Kindle service or anything else?

I’m not sure where these rumors came from, but they are just rumors.

Do you have any comments on the RPG community’s reaction to the news?

We hope the community understands that Wizards is exploring other options for digital distribution of our content.

Any thoughts? It appears to be stuff we already knew, but it’s good to hear it reasserted sometimes.

UPDATE: I don’t want to post the other questions, but they were about D&D Insider.

Wizards of the Coast Pulls D&D Support

Reports are coming in that Wizards of the Coast has decided to pull all support for PDFs, taking out all legal ways of obtaining digital versions of their Dungeons & Dragons books. They’ve also begun several lawsuits against eight offenders reportedly distributing their property illegally. On the one hand, they have a right to protect their works, which are being heavily pirated due to easily accessed PDFs. On the other hand, they seem to be taking pages right out of the RIAA’s book, which is never the way to go. We’ve seen how much lawsuits have stopped music piracy, and removing the only legal way to attain their material will do little to stop that issue.

Rumors are they might be looking for a DRM solution, which means they want me to stop flooding their inbox with Amazon messages when I click “I’d like to read this book on Kindle.” A few weeks back Pen and Paper Portal posted an article asking if RPGers would be interested in E-Book versions of popular RPG manuals. The results seemed mixed, with some favoring paper, some wanting PDFs, and a few asking for Kindle versions.

Even so, this is another double edged sword they seem to be impaling themselves on. Surely some will embrace the format, but there will be a large group that will favor getting the illegal copies so they don’t need to jump through hoops associated with DRM. Seeing as Wizards has made a point to embrace computers with their D&D Insider experience, this just doesn’t seem to be the best way to handle the situation, and hopefully it will all be sorted out very soon.

Would You Buy RPG Books on an E-Book?

As soon as I got my hands on my Kindle 2 I wanted to put all of my D&D books onto it. I’ve heard the PDF support isn’t that great, but I imagine Wizard of the Coast’s recent foray into “technology” should land them squarely onto the E-Book. When asked for a comment, they didn’t seem willing to commit to the device, instead insisting that their efforts are devoted to D&D Insider, but I imagine it wouldn’t be too difficult to move the books to Amazon’s future-book. I mean, if it’s security they’re worrying about, they should work on fixing the leaks they already have, since Amazon seems pretty secure.

Would you use an E-Book for D&D or any other RPG? I imagine holding every book – and being able to rule search instatly – would be fantastic.

Oh, and in relation to the image above, check back soon for a review of Dungeon Delve and the Player’s Handbook 2.

“If you were that dumb you wouldn’t have lived this long.”

One time a large, red dragon save my D&D party by showing up, blowing fire on the enemies, grabbing the adventurers, and flying off. Gliding low to the ground he let them go, and one party member chuckled as he took a swing at him, trying to slice at his powerful claw.

He hit and did 3 damage.

The dragon spun around and attacked him, easily biting him in half in one turn. The player looked at me, stunned that I would kill his character for “no reason,” but that is where it ended, with his body…well, some of it, lying in a field.

Usually, when a character tries to do something unusually stupid I let it go; it’s their choice, after all. They can drink that water, read the old scroll, or stab the sleeping giant. Sure, whatever, your loss. But every so often, for the sake of keeping a realistic campaign, I feel the need to step in and ask them, very clearly, if they are serious and ready to accept the consequences. Whenever I get a confused look, or they ask why, I have the same, simple answer:

If you were that dumb you wouldn’t have lived this long.

Eventually an irate Orc would have sliced their throat and left them to die – it’s the way the world works. I have to remind them that their character simply can’t be that stupid, and can’t seriously “like biting gnomes” or “feel the need to always burn down forests.”

Has anyone ever had to cut a player off for their own sake, or to simply keep a sense of realism in their campaign?

And the Winner is…

The votes are tallied, the Jedi Order has spoken, and the winner of the Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Setting book is…

SCOTT! With the submission below. Thanks again to Scott and everyone else who submitted their entries. Here is the winning submission:

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…

Five hundred years since the founding of the GALACTIC REPUBLIC, hundreds of worlds under the protection of the monastic JEDI ORDER have united against the encroaching HUTT EMPIRE.

But like the Republic, the Order has grown more quickly than its founders expected. Some Jedi question their traditions. One Jedi Knight, XENDOR, has proclaimed emotion, not meditation, the path to mastery of the Force. Even Jedi Masters have been swayed.

Meanwhile, on the capital CORUSCANT, the JEDI COUNCIL makes plans to suppress this DARK SIDE of the Force.

The FIRST GREAT SCHISM of the Order is imminent…

And of course an honorable mention to MadBrewLabs for his submission, which he turned into a video below. If he wants to make a video is Scott’s entry as well (since I’m far too lazy) I’m sure no one would argue that he’s wicked awesome. Hey, maybe he will get sent something as well for his effort, who knows!

Scott, send me an e-mail at Coop@gamervision.com to claim your reward, and stay tuned to Pen and Paper Portal for more chances to win prizes, as well as news, blogs and reviews of nerdy, nerdy goodness.

Wizards of the Coast Cuts Staff

Well this is crap.

I was reading some D&D news over at Geek Related and saw that there have been some layoffs at Wizards of the Coast. I cringed as I read that the very first person I met from the company, Mike Lescault (Gamer Zero), has gotten the axe. The only other confirmed firing was Linae Foster, D&D Licensing Manager. Apparently something similar happened after 3rd Edition launched, which sucks.

I’ll really miss seeing Lescault at PAX next week (was looking forward to him wearing more creepily short shorts for a man), as he was one of the people I met that got me even more into Pen and Paper and, in turn, this website. If you’re reading this Mike, and I know you are probably not, god speed, and good luck on future work.