International Tabletop Day

Today is International Tabletop Day, whose organizers encourage us to spend time playing games with friends and family. So dust off those board games and start playing!

NEW: D&D Game Launch May 4

I am starting (or more like relaunching) my game world on Saturday May 4th. It will be email based, so players can enjoy when they can on their schedule.

Background: As the world enters possibly another golden age, there are minor threats so far to this lasting period. Your role and choices could help or hinder the world as it matures.

Please email Strategic by Design if you're interested. Thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you!

One Year

Timothy and I started this blog one year ago today. We hope you've enjoyed reading our posts as much as we've enjoyed writing them. We'll continue bringing you gaming news and views for years to come!

Paladin Awesomeness

To be honest, I think all the classes in D&D Next seem a little bland, and the paladin is no exception. Still, it's my favorite class so far. As a front-line warrior with good attacks, good defenses, and great saving throws (the ability to make a Charisma save in place of any other save is a huge advantage), this character class really feels like an iconic D&D paladin. The 4th Edition paladin suffered from having to spread ability score points across at least three abilities (aside from those odd but effective builds in which players dumped Strength and focused on Charisma and Wisdom). The D&D Next paladin can focus safely on Strength and Charisma.

I know some folks have grumbled about the reintroduction of alignment restrictions, but I think the various paladin builds (known as "oaths") allow for a lot of variety. The paladin's oath/alignment determines the character's cleric-like Channel Divinity features (including typical paladin powers like Turn Undead and Lay on Hands) and their mount. Yes, that's right, the D&D Next paladin gets a mount! (And a useful one, at that.) The D&D Next version of this class reminds me of those great 3rd Edition paladins that I used to play.

Gang, when somebody starts up a D&D Next campaign, I've got dibs on the paladin! And that blackguard build looks really, really good at higher levels...

Gallery

Our "Front Porch Gallery" page has now been updated with a number of photographs from over the years. Check 'em out! And if you have any pictures that you'd like to share, just send them to me and I'll post them in the gallery.

More False Choices

As I alluded to the other day in my post about Sneak Attack, the game includes a number of false choices. In 4th Edition, Weapon Expertise and Weapon Focus are a perfect example. Do you want a little better chance to hit or do you want to inflict a little more damage? Ostensibly, if you wanted to do a little more damage, you'd pick Weapon Focus because it grants a +1 to damage. But you don't inflict damage if you don't hit, so if you really wanted to inflict more damage, you'd need to select Weapon Expertise, which grants a +1 to hit. There's no reason to select Weapon Focus unless you already have Weapon Expertise.

The current D&D Next packet includes another egregious false choice. A first-level fighter gets two Expertise Dice (ED) that he or she can use to activate various class features. These ED are recovered after a short rest or an extended rest -- or, the player can spend an action to recover one ED. In almost all cases (unless, for example, the player's only option during a round is to move), the player would have a tactical option (such as making a standard attack roll) far superior to giving up an action to regain one ED. A fighter in D&D Next is a high-accuracy, high-damage character whose attack rolls play a large part in resolving the encounter, so I think we want to encourage players to be making as many attack rolls as possible.

I suppose it's good that this ED recovery option option exists for those rare cases in which it would be useful, but I would hate to see players falling into a round-by-round pattern like this: Action Using ED > Recover ED >Action Using ED > Recover ED > etc.

D&D Arcade Action

Anyone remember the old D&D arcade games from the '90s? Well, they're coming back! Unfortunately for me, these super fun video games will only be available on platforms that I don't own, but maybe someday...

Complexity Creep

From the get-go, the D&D Next team has insisted that there would be a simple and streamlined core game, to which layers of complexity could be added if desired. However, it seems that with each new playtest packet, complexity is creeping back into the rules. One good example is with the role of feats.

Feats are no longer optional because some classes (e.g., fighters and rogues) get bonus feats as part of their class features. Not using feats would cripple these classes in comparison to, say, the paladin or cleric. Core class abilities like the rogue's Open Lock and even the ranger's Dual Wielding must now be handled by feats. Even some traditional actions like Bull Rush have been redesigned as feats; in other words, you can't perform a Bull Rush action if you don't have the feat. Of course, rogues would spend feats to acquire abilities like Pick Pockets, and fighters would spend feats to acquire abilities like Disarm, but now, unless they make some major changes, feats are a mandatory part of the core game.

Druids Do It All

At first glance, I was indifferent to the D&D Next druid. A fellow playtester has now changed my mind -- the druid is seriously broken. This class can tank like a fighter (through Wild Shape forms), dish out damage like a rogue (again, through certain Wild Shape forms and add-ons like Shape of the Dire Beast), heal like a cleric, and cast spells like a wizard (including many spells from the wizard's own list!). Plus, the druid gets all sorts of cool flavor powers like monks and barbarians do. I think this class needs to get nerfed a wee bit.

Sneaky Sneak Attack

When my friend James and I were looking over the playtest packet yesterday, we both noticed the sorry state of Sneak Attack. This is supposed to be an iconic class feature for the rogue -- perhaps even more so than, say, Turn Undead for the cleric -- but its current incarnation does not appear to be a viable tactical choice.

To use Sneak Attack, the rogue takes disadvantage on the attack roll to gain +1D6 damage on a hit (the damage increases as the rogue goes up in level). As you may recall, the D&D Next "disadvantage" mechanic means that the player rolls a D20 twice and takes the lower result. This is a huge penalty to accuracy. I'm doubly disappointed because I had hoped that the designers had learned their lesson from 4th Edition, where modifiers to hit and modifiers to damage are often presented as roughly equal alternatives (e.g., the Weapon Focus and Weapon Expertise feats). Of course, they're not. Accuracy is far more important. So in D&D Next, why would a low-level rogue ever take such a massive penalty to accuracy for such a small damage bonus?

Well, it turns out that the situation is a bit more complicated. Depending on the type of rogue, the character also gets one of the following two features:

• Backstab: Advantage on attacks if there is another creature hostile to the target within 5 feet of it.
• Isolated Strike: Advantage on attacks if there are no creatures hostile to the target within 5 feet of it.

A rogue with Backstab, for example, is going to try to tag-team with allies in order to gain advantage (roll D20 twice and take the higher number) every round. That's a significant bonus to accuracy. If the rogue wants to use Sneak Attack, then, the advantage from Backstab or Isolated Strike would cancel out the disadvantage from the Sneak Attack mechanic and the rogue would therefore make the attack roll with no bonus or penalty. Weird, huh?

But is that even a good choice? We've already established that taking disadvantage to gain a small damage boost is a poor tactical option. How about the advantage-cancelling-disadvantage situation that would allow a rogue to attack nearly every round with a normal attack roll and Sneak Attack bonus damage? That's a pretty good option, but is it better than foregoing Sneak Attack and simply making normal attacks with advantage every round? At lower levels, when the damage bonus is only +1D6, you're still better off taking advantage on regular attacks because the huge bonus to hit outweighs the measly bonus damage.

So not using your class's iconic combat feature is arguably the superior tactical choice for a large percentage of characters. I think they need to go back to the drawing board on this one.

New Packet!

The new D&D Next playtest packet is here! There's a ton of new material in here. I just gave it a once-over with a fellow D&D enthusiast and we're in agreement that this iteration is a step in the right direction. The new classes look interesting and reasonably well balanced and the problem with damage bloat has been addressed, although the complexity of the core rules continues to increase. Sadly, the rogue got shafted on Sneak Attack. Take disadvantage on your attack roll for a measly extra 1D6 damage? Not likely. Anyway, more commentary to follow over the next few days.

Relic

Relic is an upcoming board game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. I haven't seen any advance reviews yet, but the website provides enough of an introduction that I'm sufficiently intrigued!

New Classes Abound!

Check out today's Legends & Lore column. We'll be getting a new playtest packet on Wednesday, and it's going to include the druid, the ranger, and three flavors of paladin (the good cavalier, the neutral warden, and the evil blackguard). And the paladin gets a mount! Huzzah!

Zero Charisma

Zero Charisma is a new D&D-themed movie about a gamemaster whose personality is described pretty well by the title. A couple of reviews here and here. Sounds like it's worth a look!

Print or Digital?: Update

An addendum to my previous post: This guy has it right.

Print or Digital?

The comiXology debacle continues. It's times like this when I'm glad my graphic novels are real physical objects that sit on a bookshelf, not ephemeral bits and bytes that disappear when the servers go down. And when you're buying digital comics (as with books on an e-reader), you don't even own a copy of what you've purchased. Because piracy is so easy with digital media, what you "own" is a license to view the content. Personally, I'd rather have the book in my hand.

I can't deny, however, that digital delivery of comics and (more to the point for this blog) gaming materials is here to stay. How will the purchase and use game products be different in ten years, or five, or even the D&D Next product that's (hopefully) right around the corner? Will my next Player's Handbook be a hardcover book or an app that I download for my iPad? Interesting times!

Game Design Merit Badge

As an Eagle Scout, I have fond memories of the years I spent in Scouting. What could have made it even better? How about a merit badge in game design? How cool is that?!

Free Comics, and Lots of 'Em!

Speaking of comics, Marvel is offering hundreds of digital comic books for free on comiXology. Act fast! The offer is good only until 11 PM Eastern on Tuesday of this week. The comiXology servers are having trouble keeping up with the demand, but it's an amazing offer for anyone who's even marginally interested in comics.

Cutter

IDW has a new D&D comic book series in the works. It's called Dungeons & Dragons: Cutter, and it's written by top-notch fantasy author R. A. Salvatore and his son Geno. The five-issue run begins in April.

Teasers

There hasn't been a lot of roleplaying game news this week, so I'll give you some teasers about upcoming Front Porch stuff:

• A campaign that's been on hiatus will soon return.
• A chance encounter with a Golden Age superhero has given me a major creative boost to flesh out the 1940s component of our multiverse.
• The two major Druid Cycle characters who are doomed to perish in 2013 are swiftly moving toward their heroic demise! How swiftly? Probably before the end of April...

Felicia Day

Did you catch the podcast of Felicia Day visiting the D&D offices?

Launch of the Multiverse

Today I sent out copies of the story "When Last We Left Our Intrepid Heroes" to Front Porch players past and present. This story marks the beginning of a new era in Front Porch gaming. Now all campaigns -- as diverse as The Druid Cycle and Cyberwars -- are part of an overarching multiverse setting. Timothy and Amy are about to start new adventures in the multiverse era. If you'd like to start a new story of your own, just let me know!