New D&D Mobile Game

There's a new D&D game coming out next year for mobile devices. Click here for details...and a video!

PHB Thoughts

I'm slowly making my way through the new PHB and I really like what I'm seeing. The Eldritch Knight (fighter build), Tempest domain cleric, and Oath of Devotion paladin are all characters I'd love to play. I have yet to study the sorcerer, warlock, and wizard classes, but I expect I'm going to add a warlock build to my list as well. If you've had a chance to peruse the PHB, what are your favorites so far?

Tyranny Preview

Click here for a preview of the upcoming Tyranny of Dragons comic book series, based on the Fifth Edition campaign of the same name.

Funded!

Take that, Hitler!

We did it. Against all odds, the Amazing Heroes Kickstarter has successfully funded! (Just don't ask me how much I kicked in!)

When we crossed the $30,000 threshold, all three Sutton lads celebrated by dancing and air guitaring to the dulcet tones of Motley Crue's "Kickstart My Heart."

DM Junior

We're less than halfway through The Lost Mine of Phandelver and already Matthew is clamoring to be the DM. He's working on his own tale about a town whose wealth has been stolen by a greedy dragon. His story is set in the Forgotten Realms*, but as a bit of a nod to the Front Porch multiverse, my wizard's name is Kentigern -- the same name I used for my wizard character during the big Front Porch fifteenth anniversary epic that Tim W ran back in 2003. Matthew has a really good grasp of the basic 5e game mechanics, but it will be interesting to see how he reacts to a wizard whose arcane spells will no doubt wreak havoc with his melee-heavy encounters!

* - Despite not being a huge fan of the Realms, I have to admit that I got a real charge out of hearing my kid talk about the Sword Coast! Baldur's Gate is going to be a lot more meaningful for him the next time he plays around with it.

D&D History

Click here for an interesting article on the history of D&D and its core rulebooks.

Dragon Whispering

The Augury spell. The Spyglass item. The amazing Revelation Quill. I love anything in the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game that allows me to sneak a peek into location decks. Most of the time, these items and spells help me locate the main villain so that I can get my characters ready for the inevitable showdown, but last night my monk used his Spyglass to spot one of the best Ally cards in the game...the Charmed Red Dragon! This beast can deliver big-time assistance in combat, but with a catch: Each time you play this card, there's a one-in-twelve chance that the dragon turns against you, breathes fire on all heroes at your location, and flies away. It's a chance I'm willing to take. Even if he loses the dragon, my monk will get the last laugh -- he's got solid resistance against fire damage!

Potion Power

My pre-ordered copy of the Fifth Edition PHB has yet to ship, so I'm biding my time with some Pathfinder card action. As soon as I started the final scenario of the penultimate adventure, I realized that closing two of the four locations would require skill checks -- one Diplomacy, one Perception -- that my characters could not hope to beat without major assistance from blessings. In the space of three or four turns, however, I managed to pick up two humble potions that made life a lot easier: one that allows a character to automatically succeed at a Diplomacy check, and one that allows a character to automatically succeed at a Perception check. Blind luck, but I'll take it!

Kickstarter Blues

It's not looking so amazing for Amazing Heroes, the first-ever Kickstarter to which I've pledged. I remain hopeful, but with only a week to go, we're still a long way from the $30,000 goal. I have a feeling that not even Stardust the Super Wizard can get us out of this jam!

Pathfinder Video Games!

A video game based on the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game? Yes, please! Click here for the scoop!

Blast From the Past: Reavers of Harkenwold

Today is our final Blast From the Past post on the great adventures of yesteryear, and we've reached the problematic, polarizing Fourth Edition era. I spent most of this period DMing Druid Cycle and Torchlight adventures, but I did run a couple of published modules, including the first D&D Encounters adventure and the surprisingly fun Revenge of the Giants, which I adapted for the Druid Cycle setting. Overall, I found the Fourth Edition adventure modules to be far too formulaic and linear -- a mind-numbing slog through overly long combat encounters.

Reavers of Harkenwold (2010) stands in stark contrast to the rest. Included in The Dungeon Master's Kit -- the DM-focused product that was part of the short-lived Essentials line -- this brief adventure (contained in two thin booklets) is refreshingly open-ended. The characters' choices drive the plot, which focuses on their involvement in a revolt against the cruel marauders who have taken over a peaceful little province. I haven't participated in this adventure either as a player or as a DM, but I'd have to say that it ranks first on my list of adventures I'd love to run.

Basic Rules Update

The D&D Basic rules have been updated. Click here to get the latest version!

Front Porch Quotes

"Bring it on!"

"You're not the only one who plays this game."

"I roll ones like it's my job."

"Whoa, haymaker!"

"I'm missing a finger!"

Over the years, numerous Front Porch player quotes have become legendary, at least among our little group. They're usually meaningless to other folks, but they remind us of all the fun we've had together. (Side-note: Eagle-eyed readers may have spotted a number of these quotes in "When Last We Left Our Intrepid Heroes," the short story I wrote to introduce the concept of the Front Porch multiverse.) Back in the old days, Tim W even kept a running log of player quotes in his infamous blue folder. Now I have them saved in a file in the Front Porch folder on my hard drive. A lot has changed for all of us since the first time Scott said "Nomenclature" or the first time Jason said "16 Dexterity," but even just perusing this list brings back so many great memories.

It's with great pride, then, that I add my son Matthew's first-ever quote to the list. His 5e fighter is a none-too-subtle fellow who's fond of shouting a strange (and loud) battle cry that I can only attempt to represent phonetically: Ah-WAAAHHH! During one recent adventure, the party was preparing to attack a key lieutenant of the main villain from The Lost Mine of Phandelver. As I was setting up the minis on the map, I noticed Matthew's whole body shaking. My heart skipped a beat. Was something wrong? Was he sick? He wasn't sick...he was in character. The next thing I know, he exclaims: "I just can't hold it in anymore! AAAHHH-WAAAHHH!!!" So much for the stealth approach.

Online Action?

The email-based Druid Cycle games have been pretty slow lately, as a lot of folks have been busy with other stuff. Any interest in switching gears and doing a bit of online real-time gaming for a while? The last time we had a big real-time campaign was Torchlight back in the 2009-2010 timeframe. Perhaps we could try out 5e. We could do a mini-campaign and run through The Lost Mine of Phandelver, or even a shorter two- or three-session adventure. Let me know!

A Hoard of Free D&D

Want more free D&D? Click here to be taken to the Hoard of the Dragon Queen page on the Wizards site. This adventure is part of the "Tyranny of Dragons" storyline and will set you back 30 bucks, but the online supplement is free. The supplement is a PDF containing all the magic items, monsters, and spells from the adventure. It makes a nice little addition to the Basic rules that were released last month.

PHB Review

EN World has reviewed the Fifth Edition Player's Handbook. Read all about it here.

Phan-tastic!

The Lost Mine of Phandelver is lost no more. I've now run every combat encounter in this introductory Fifth Edition adventure using a solo character and a slightly reduced number of foes (the adventure assumes a party of four or five characters, so I omitted a couple of enemies in each encounter so as not to stack the deck against my lone fighter). Playing through the full adventure with Matthew and Amy is taking a lot longer, but at least now I have some good experience with the mechanics of combat.

The verdict? This is really D&D. Kudos to Mike Mearls and company -- I think they saved the D&D franchise with this edition.

Groot

Click here to watch Groot -- aka Vin Diesel -- talk about playing D&D (and stealing potato chips!) in his youth.

Digital Comic Museum

The Amazing Heroes action figure Kickstarter project has a long way to go to reach its $30,000 goal, but I'm still holding out hope that one day I'll have Black Terror, Silver Streak (whose costume, natch, has not one iota of silver anywhere on it!), and their fellow Golden Age pals standing guard over the bookcase that contains my graphic novels. I really shouldn't be getting my hopes up, but...well...too late!

If you're at all interested in Golden Age superheroes, the Digital Comic Museum (click here to check it out) is worth an hour (or, in my case, a lot more) of your time. It's a treasure trove of old-timey public domain comics (in digital format, of course), all available for free.

More on Backgrounds

Click here for some additional details on 5e backgrounds, including the full list that will be included in the PHB.

Blast From the Past: The Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde

In this installment of Blast From the Past, I'll discuss my favorite published adventure from the Third (and 3.5) Edition era. Most of my face-to-face, pen-and-paper gaming time during this era was spent with fellow medievalist graduate students at the University of Rochester. We had a steady group of five or six people, with two of us (myself included) serving as the primary DMs. During my stints in the DM's chair, I used a variant version of the Druid Cycle setting, and Mike, the other DM, used his own game world as well. Consequently, I don't think I DMed or played in a single published adventure during this entire era.

That doesn't mean, however, that I don't have a favorite adventure. The Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde (2006) is an immersive, non-linear mini-campaign that takes PCs from level 1 to 6, but includes enough supporting material for a much longer campaign. Included in this set (rather than a single book, it's a folder containing several booklets, maps, and handouts) is a brief player's guide with character creation tips and new options to help players link their characters more closely to the adventure and its setting; the two adventure booklets, meanwhile, feature a streamlined encounter layout that anticipates the Fourth Edition design.

What makes it my favorite from this era? Aside from the aforementioned selling points, it's also something I read and re-read when Amy was pregnant with Matthew. I remember thinking to myself that one day I'd play through this adventure with my kid(s). That day is getting closer.