Monster Blues

The boys' Shattered Realm heroes had been fighting their way through a wight-infested ruin when they came upon a deep well in which a cry for help could be heard. After a few prudent skill checks, however, they began to suspect that the pitiful entreaties were actually a ruse. As we wrapped up the game session, a wraith emerged from the well to attack the party. With Matthew's rogue low on hit points, Nathaniel feared that one solid Life Drain hit would consign the rogue to an eternity of ghostly undeath. He pored over the wraith's stat block and, even after we tucked him in, he lay in bed stewing over the situation. I had to have a long talk with him about probability -- the odds of Matthew's rogue falling victim to the wraith -- before he agreed to go back to bed. Maybe (probably) this goes without saying, but it's not a good idea to let a six-year-old read the Monster Manual at bedtime...

More Minis!

Need more minis for D&D? Of course you do! Click here for a Kickstarter that needs some extra love as its end date is rapidly approaching...

Fun With Fireballs

Can you spot the sorcerer, the ranger, and the ranger's animal companion in this throng of skeletons?

When the boys' primary Shattered Realm heroes ran afoul of a vampire, the dastardly villain unleashed his horde of undead minions. The heroes lured the (literally) boneheaded creatures into a crowd around them, and then Matthew's sorcerer dropped a fireball in the middle of everything -- roasting heroes and monsters alike! The fireball did enough damage that it destroyed even the skeletons that made their saving throws, while the heroes had enough hit points to withstand the full force of the blast. It wasn't pretty, but it got the job done: 26 skeletons destroyed with a single spell!

Painting 101

Today I attended a fun painting class at my local Games Workshop store (Warhammer - The Summit in Reno). I got the chance to practice dry brush, wash, and other techniques, but I don't necessarily think the mini turned out any better or worse than the ones I painted a few months ago.

Once our house situation is sorted out, I look forward to painting the models from the First Strike and Know No Fear sets that I picked up a while back.

Game Balance

We were discussing 5e wizard cantrips the other day -- typical dinner conversation in our household -- and then Matthew switched gears to ask which classes get access to the legendary Wish spell. With no PHB handy, I speculated that the sorcerer and wizard could get it.

"As a cantrip?" Nathaniel piped up.

Heh. Wish as a cantrip would present a few game balance issues, don't you think?

Curses!

We wrapped up our brief Eberron adventure this evening, but not before the boys got their first taste of a true D&D classic: cursed magic items. Matthew's fighter put on an enchanted cloak that turned out to be more than he bargained for. Now the objective for our next adventure will be to find someone who can cast Remove Curse. As an alternative, Nathaniel suggested: "Don't worry, my paladin will be able to cast that spell in just five more levels!" Yeah, Matthew wasn't on board with waiting quite that long...

Starfinder Review

Click here for an early review of Paizo's sci-fi version of Pathfinder, Starfinder!

Our Visit to Eberron

Whether as a player or as a DM, I've never participated in an adventure set in Eberron. I must admit a somewhat fraught relationship with that campaign setting. Maybe it's the magic robots, or the fact that the main continent of Khorvaire makes me think of an old-time Chevy, but it's probably the history of the setting itself.

Eberron was created as the result of a contest held back in 2002, when thousands of gamers submitted ideas for the next great D&D campaign setting. Naturally, I jumped on that opportunity as well. The Shattered Realm setting was in its infancy, and the Druid Cycle world seemed too hard to distill into a one-page overview sheet, so I opted to submit the setting now called Torchlight, which in those days was known as Woden's Gallows. For those who haven't seen it, Torchlight is a low-magic, dark fantasy world based on the literature and mythology of Anglo-Saxon England (the focus of my graduate studies). I still can't believe I (and so many others) lost to a setting whose primary "hook" was magic robots, but...whatever.

Anyway, as the boys are crazy for D&D these days, I've cracked open a free Eberron adventure that I picked up years ago. I'm ignoring all the stuff about Dragonmarked houses and whatnot, and pretty much running it as if it's in a generic D&D setting. Even so, the boys want to take a ride on Eberron's infamous magic train, but I told them it doesn't have any stops in the Shadow Marches...