Flashback

I've played tabletop D&D three days in a row, and the Yankees are sitting on a 6.5-game lead in the American League East. It this the 1990s all over again?

Level Up...Again!

After missing two weeks due to our trip to SoCal, we sat down again last night and tonight for more of our family's Tyranny of Dragons campaign. The heroes completed the second chapter of the story, bringing them up to third level. Everyone is excited about how their characters are progressing -- perhaps none more so than Matthew, whose warlock -- Edgeren Strongstaff, a name that Matthew is quite proud of -- just acquired an imp familiar. I have a feeling that Edgeren and his imp sidekick are going to get themselves into a lot of trouble!

Handy 5e Resources

Click here to download Fifth Edition character sheets (in various formats) and pre-generated characters.

Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide

Following the release of the Sword Coast Legends video game is a promising D&D supplement called Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide -- click here for details.

It Never Rains in California in July

Holy crap, is it raining! I've never seen such a downpour in California before. We had planned on going to the park today -- our last day of vacation before driving back to Nevada -- but instead we're staying inside, playing Injustice. I'm reminded of something Amy told me, eleven years ago today, on our wedding day: "No need to worry about having an outdoor wedding. It never rains in California in July."

Got Her!

We got Hawkgirl! She's really amazing -- a perfect fit with my "A Team", which also includes the uber-suped-up duo of Lex Luthor and Catwoman.

Hawkgirl!

Hot on the heels of Hawkman's addition to the upcoming CW TV series, now the iPad version of Injustice: Gods Among Us has added Hawkgirl as a challenge character. Matthew and I are already well on our way to acquiring her. Are we entering a new era in which the Hawks once again take their rightful place as prominent DC heroes? Probably not, but I'll take what I can get!

Like Father, Like Son

Serious action figure collectors (like yours truly) are all about army building. If I'm interested in a line of toys, nothing makes me happier than finding a generic-looking soldier or vehicle of which I can buy multiple copies.

I think Nathaniel has inherited some of my tendencies. With his precious Legoland souvenir money (we spent a couple of days at Legoland this week and it was freakin' awesome!), the little dude elected to buy two identical Lego TIE Advanced fighters rather than two ships of different types. As he puts it, he's working on building up his Imperial fleet -- just like I'm doing for the Star Wars X-Wing game.

Hawkman!

This has nothing to do with gaming, but I can't even begin to tell you how stoked I am that my favorite DC superhero, Hawkman, is going to be a character on the upcoming Legends of Tomorrow CW TV series!

More on Siege

Click here for lots of additional info -- new NPC allies! new locations! -- about the upcoming expansion for Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition. There's even a trailer!

Siege of Dragonspear

Hat tip to Matt for the scoop: There's going to be a new expansion for Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition. Click here for details. I can't wait to see the shaman character class!

Mystics

Click here to check out the latest Unearthed Arcana article, which provides a draft of the Mystic character class along with rules for psionics.

Bath Time

It's bath time, and the boys are stalling by playing King of New York. Damn it! They knew my one weakness!

SCL Campaign Creation

Hell yes! Click here to watch a couple of videos about creating campaigns in Sword Coast Legends.

Level Up!

Our weekly family D&D campaign hit a milestone on Saturday when our fledgling heroes from the Tyranny of Dragons storyline reached second level. Amy was pleased to have the opportunity to start shifting her paladin into more of a striker (apologies for the Fourth Edition terminology!) role, while Matthew loved getting a boost to his warlock's Eldritch Blast spell ("I can do 19 damage if I roll the maximum!"). Nathaniel didn't quite understand all the options now available to his rogue as part of the Cunning Action feature, but he really latched on to the idea of avoiding opportunity attacks. In his brief D&D career, he's been kind of paranoid about opportunity attacks, so gaining the ability to move around without incurring them was pretty exciting to him.

Syrinscape

My favorite freebie from this year's Free RPG Day was definitely the voucher card for three free sound sets from Syrinscape. Between those and the two free sets that I got for signing up for an account, I now have a pretty robust set of sounds -- battle noises, magical effects, and even environmental sounds like rain and wild animals -- that I can cue up on my iPad during game sessions.

"Free RPG Day? Nobody Told Me!"

We showed up at A-1 Comics in Sacramento about an hour before their 10 AM opening time and we still weren't the first ones there. Even so, I managed (ahem) to end up first in line at the front of the store. When the dude opened the doors, a dozen or so diehards (not including my two little henchmen) filed into the store. Then the guy turned around, looked us up and down, and wondered why the hell we were all staring at him. None of his colleagues had told him that it was Free RPG Day! I explained what was going on -- or rather supposed to be going on -- and he rummaged around until he found the box of Free RPG Day stuff. Huzzah!

Once again, Paizo ruled the day with an adventure module, a new character for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, and a card with a product code for a few of the new Pathfinder RPG PC Soundsets from Syrinscape. Can't wait to check it all out!

Free RPG Day...Today!

Remember, today is Free RPG Day!

Free RPG Day 2015

Mark your calendars! Free RPG Day is this Saturday, June 20. Visit your friendly local game store for some free stuff!

Stumpley

It's hard to believe that Fifth Edition has been out for about a year now. I had promised Matthew that I would run a family campaign once Nathaniel was old enough to contribute, and now that time seems to have come. We're doing the Tyranny of Dragons adventure, with Amy as a half-elf paladin, Matthew as a tiefling warlock, and Nathaniel as a human rogue. For a little added levity, I've incorporated a churlish halfling monk NPC named Stumpley, or "Stump" for short. Only too late did I realize that his voice -- I still try to do unique voices for all the major NPCs -- sounds rather too much like MODOK from The Super Hero Squad Show. So I've adjusted it a bit and now he sounds like the unholy offspring of MODOK and Fozzie Bear. Oy. Well, at least the campaign is off to a good start!