I am not sure how many fans their are out there of Children of Fire. It’s a setting which is based around Angel vs. Demons. If you have seem movies like The Prophecy then you pretty much get the overall gist of what it is aiming more. Children of Fire can be found online via the Methods in the Madness site where you can get all the setting and rules for free. BUT what fun would that be. Ok yeah sure it’s free but if you try it and love it then I really recommend you help kickstart them into the printed version.They are a small publisher at the moment so I highly suggest to help them out. We at the RPG Hub had a campaign at one point during the summer many moons ago and quite enjoyed it. Perhaps will get around again to it at some point so we can pop out a review.
This one kind of swooped under my radar but I highly recommend this for anyone a fan of Arkham Horror boardgame. This one of course revolves around Miskatonic University and add’s some new locations. Now I wonder how long they can keep adding on to this boardgame. It seem’s to me already if you play with two expansions your number of cards added to the game is staggering. Despite that, this is a must by for me as I am a sucker for this stuff.
Is D&D Critically Failing?
With Gen Con coming along their is a lot of buzz around forums that there may be an announcement to a new edition. Now mind you this actually happens every year that their is talk of this kind. There is also the typical edition wars of why 2ed was better then 3rd and while 3rd is better then 4th, etc. After reading a lot of this ongoing debate and speculation I just have to say..why can’t we just love Dungeons and Dragons for what it is. Now I have been a roleplayer since 2nd edition and have seen a lot of things come and go. Some decisions I liked and some I didn’t. Back then the company was TSR and now it’s WotC. Either way, they tend to get beat on for their decisions. To make things worse Pathfinder seem’s to have surpassed D&D in sales.
When I think of the editions, I take a look back and yeah, nothing is perfect between any of them. 2ed made running games a bit of a drag. I couldn’t just throw simple creatures against my party. I had to wait till they were all an appropriate level because otherwise the wizard or the theif would definitely bite the dust or maybe the whole group. It was a bit ridiculous when you think of it. I remember running Hail to the Heroes for Mystara back in the day and the group nearly died from a simple creature. It was a mixture of purely bad roles and the nature of the mechanics. But it was a bit of a flaw that was there. Why was something that should be a no brainer fight so deadly. Oh and we had mechanics like THACO and armor class math to determine your ‘To Hit’. It was a bit wonky when trying to organize an adventure or hell even when playing. Also remember the bazillion books? From all the racial books to the equipment books, then there was the class books and oh yeah, the famous unique blue books. It was over saturated and something just about everyone disliked. But we learned to love it anyways because we roleplayed. It was a kill the monster and onto the story.
3rd Edition was much better. The system in my opinion just worked. Sure it also had it’s faults like the others but nothing really that I could insanely gripe about. Ok, magic was done much better. Players had more going power at the start. It was still work to run an adventure. The books were more DM and player centric in the crunch department. Adventures? What adventures? The generic setting in the core rules was supposed to be Greyhawk however we only really got a Greyhawk book much later on. It was not anything extravagant either. It was more of a book to tide those who were itching for one over. Gone were classic settings like Spelljammer, Planescape, Ravenloft, Dark Sun, Mystara. Fan sites were created and supported these sites. Oh did I love the Secrets of the Kargatane website. Some sites were just great support while others….not so much. But this was not TSR or WotC fault. This was the hard reality of the world we face even now of sales and sustainability. They needed to cut things down and for all intents and purposes it worked. Dragon and Dungeon were handled by Paizo and I even bought mags which was something I never did before.
Hey, remember the OGL? Holy crappers was that ever the must brilliant idea. 3rd parties came up from the ground and released awesome settings and alternative mechanics but all in keeping with the core rules of Dungeons and Dragons. It was fantastic. Sure some of the material was crap but there was something for everyone. Heck, even some of the best adventures and games were from other publishers who used the OGL. You pretty much had to by the core D&D rules because everything centered around them. From a company standpoint that is brilliant as your market explodes. Want to play X publishers adventures or settings, well you need to by the core D&D rules.
3rd Edition however did irk me in the sense that 3.5 came out. It was a good rules update and I liked it. But it made you by everything all over again. I think at this point I had a sense that things were getting a bit bloated on the ego side of things. It also didn’t seem like too long since the original 3ed books were out and suddenly we needed an update.
And then….4th edition. 4th edition was out very quickly. I remember a lot of hype behind it all. I also remember that suddenly the OGL was replaced by the GSL and that suddenly all the retro settings that 3rd parties had were suddenly gone. I also remember a lot of other companies that just gave in as to my understanding, they did not want to work within the GSL. God that was annoying and from all the good will that was built with 3rd edition it seemed like a totally dick move. But not all decisions are wise decisions. I lived with it despite the annoyance. The core rules came out and you know what, it’s a much easier game to play. From a DM stand point the difficulty of encounters is much more flexible. However on that note, the combat can drag on forever. Who the fuck thought it would take so long to kill a small group of kobolds. Like almost 2 fucking hours!!! And no, we are not playing it wrong which is the worst part. You have minions which dissapear fast but the named kobold is always the toughest and has a high hit point statistic. Also with all the players new abilities there is a lot of referencing. Since the game is more strategic combat wise, everything uses tiles, powers like mentioned need to be checked for how many squares are affected, etc. I remember in 2ed we used maps and combat tiles sometimes but it was more generic to know visually where you are and what you are doing and common sense on direction and range you made whatever attack.
But that is the thing right there. If you look back on ALL the editions there is change whether good or bad. I can go back and play each and be content. Of course you may be for one particular edition and that’s ok and this goes really for any system and not just D&D on it’s own. I think what get’s everyone riled up is that they want to see D&D succeed so much that people really get angry when things are not working out. I know I want them to succeed. To me they were always the number one for my roleplaying needs. Sure I played other systems but D&D was my first. But I think the best thing anyone can do is head on over to the Wizards community and open some dialogues. Help make things better and if your not happy then show it with your money.
If I had my wishlist of things I would want WotC to do right now to help fix things up would be the following:
- DDI needs to have something more to it then it does. It’s been a blessing and a curse. When their digital initive took place, WotC took away all PDF’s from other sites because piracy was apparently rampant concerning their books. Guess what, still is. But they need to provide support for their older material. They also should be competing against or absorb Fantasy Grounds. When 4th edition came out we were supposed to get a virtual table top. We didn’t and they lost some major points.
-We need a clear concise entry point into D&D. We got not only the core rulebooks but we now have a retro red box and the Essentials. Your confusing anyone new who wants to jump in and dividing your market up further. Basically they are causing themselves harm in the long run.
-I would like to see some good solid adventures. And not just a remake, I would like to see something new and epic taking you from the ground up. I don’t see why this cannot be done well enough especially from WotC.
-Novels…this is a bit of a sore point. Back in the day we had ton’s of novels on the market for all settings. But even now when I head on over to my local chapters the novel section is slowly dying out. The Dragonlance section which was by far huge has now dwindled to the point where not even many of the main arc’s are even present. Forgotten Realms has also died down. All the other setting novels have dissapeared aside from a few Dark Sun which appeared due to the setting coming out again. But why not the rest? Not worth it? Is putting out a Ravenloft or Spelljammer novel that upsetting to the market even if done in occasional little quantities?
But those are my little changes I would do and please note they are simply one mans lonely opinion. Maybe one day we will all move on from D&D to something else. It could happen but when I personally look back at every edition of D&D what I remember most is that despite whatever flaws or frustrations I had with a system or decisions made by WotC, I remember seeing a group of guys sitting in a basement around a coffee table or playing on a virtual table now that were further apart just having a good time.
Silent Knife Part 11
For those interested, White Wolf has released online Part 11 of the Silent Knife story. I highly recommend you jumping on it. It’s very accessible for those people with casual reading times as it’s in little chunks. Enjoy
Congratulations to a dear friend
I would like to take the time to congratulate my brother from another mother Curt who is also a staffer here at the RPG Hub on his just recent engagement. Now that just leaves two more to walk that aisle. It’s always a special moment when you see something great happen to a friend you have known almost all your life. Congratulations Curt, I think this is a critical success!
DC Universe Online: A Heroic Journey
Last January I had the pleasure of jumping into the beta for the DC Universe Online Game. Here are some thoughts and impressions that came to mind. Now mind you my impressions were based on the beta and covered a few levels before my time expired. I wish I could have gotten more gaming done with the time I had however that’s life for you. I really recommend people to try it out. A lot of initial issues you may have heard about have been addressed when retail and the first patch hit. But I was most pleased none the less with what I had seen so read on.
First off this is a superhero MMO obviously which brings us into the world of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and a plethora of other DC heroes. But what makes a superhero MMO work. How do we explain such a surge in the hero population in the context of the DC Universe all of a sudden? Well this is done rather interestingly.
If any of you missed out on the opening cinematic for DC Universe Online then I highly suggest you check it out. I was fortunate enough to play this on the PS3 which is a change as it is one of rare MMO to actually make it to a console. I was very curious as to how an MMO would handle on a console. I never played Final Fantasy XI on the PS2 having only played it via PC. I wasn’t sure what to expect at all.
Since I was not fortunate enough to have a disc of the game, I had to download the client followed by the game files. This went relatively quickly having taken only two hours. You get a lovely wallpaper to stare at and unfortunately did not have the chance to download in the background. I think that would have been more handy a feature having to wait two hours.
Once installed your greeted with the cinematic I mentioned before. We get what looks to be a huge battle going on in a wrecked city. Batman is wearing some sort of armored cowl which struck me as odd, Green Lantern was duking it out with Black Atom, Wonder Woman was kicking all sorts of android ass and we see Green Arrows slumped over body. What the hell is going on?! Wonder Woman even looked a bit older then I imagined. Lex was all armored up and hanging out with some other villainous chick. Finally though he jumps into the fray taking out Wonder Woman with this chicks help. He is wanting someone and that is Superman. Which made me think, where the hell was Superman? Green Lantern was taken out by Black Atom, Flash as well went down and Superman who was floating in front of the sun came down with a vengeance. He literally torched Black Atom and started to rip away at Lex. But the fool had to just check on Wonder Woman whose body was loaded up with Kryptonite and Lex ran Superman through with a Kryptonite tipped spear. Superman mind you looked with he was middle aged. Greying hair and looking more worn down with years of taking crap. This bring us eventually to Lex talking to the major three (Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman). Lex has travelled in time back to warn the three that Braniac would conquer all in the end. Lex had also brought robots that took powers from the heroes of that time and unleashed them on the present day saying they would need training for what was coming.
And enter me!! I decided to created a character who was more acrobatic but welded dual pistols. I thought that would be kind of cool. The character creator is very friendly for customizing your hero. You have big, small, powerful looking types and you have various subsets of looks whether it be cyborg, acrobatic, etc. Literally the options are incredible. It reminded me a bit of City of Heroes….only better. I went with an average muscular character who was partially cybernetic but who costumed himself in a futuristic outfit with a helmet to hide his cyborg features. For powers I selected he would be a gadget hero type who was acrobatic and of course had pistols. So I did not really have any special powers but you could say my acrobatics were enhanced more then the average person. The archetype of gadget man is more of a controller type of hero so will be good in crowds so ok, sounds great. And Feroximus was born.
So I had Feroximus was born, into a braniac vessel. I was surrounded by pods of others being enhanced. Oracle (former Batgirl) freed me and helped guide me on my escape. This is obviously the introductory adventure. So let’s get used to how things work. The PS3 remote was very efficient at doing what I needed. Square was my punch (basic attack), triangle my dual weapon power. If I pressed L3 down I could activate my acrobatics. It gave me this cool looking sprint but more then that I was able to grip up walls. I felt very much like Batman at this point. And better yet when I had acrobatics activated and jumped from a height I could hold X to glide down. All of it was pretty intuitive. Going through my menu was a matter of pressing start and L2 or R2 to go through the options. It was very solid thus far. I made my way though the base using my abilities to handle Braniacs android minions. I eventually made my way to the end where I was swarmed by bad guys. I had to knock out four shield generators so Superman could teleport in to help rescue me. So once I did my job, he appeared and helped me sweep up the bad guys. Now what is really cool is that it was not just Superman owning everyone. You actually felt like you were working together to handle the bad guys so it was a bit of a geek payoff in this respect. Finally when your all done you teleport out to a location of your choosing. So Gotham, Metropolis and….somewhere else I forget. I chose Gotham. Batman seemed more like a mentor for my style so why not.
By this point I am Level 2 and gained a power point. This let me spend a point towards my weapon ability to enhance it or I could open up another weapon utility tree. I was tempted to try staff but figured let’s try expanding my gun use first. Basically your skills, weapons, whatnot all have a tree like structure much akin to other MMO’s out there. Obviously you need to have the appropriate level as well as the proper points alloted to the previous enhancement on the tree.
I am slightly more buffed, level 2 and now I am in a Gotham City police precinct. Apparently this is a sub JLA headquarters which also contains a teleporter to the main JLA headquarters The Watchtower which is orbiting the earth. I have to admit I was rather lost at the start. I was in a room filled with other players running around, a few police NPC and no real objective aside from Oracle telling me to walk around. You eventually discover your initial surroundings and meet Nightwing, Robin, Commissioner Gordon which I found somewhat odd. I would not have minded meeting one hero there to start but seeing two iconic heroes and the commissioner makes me wonder why they are not out there fighting crime.
Suffice it to say, I got my initial mission from a communication from Batman himself. Scarecrow is on the loose causing havok in the city and I need to investigate and stop him. So out into the vast world I go! And boy is it rather big. My initial mission was right near the starting area which was great and typical. Combat was smooth and refresh rate was quick considering all the noob players like myself. Visually I can see Gotham being like it is represented in the game. Dark, moody and grimy. Scarecrows men have been infecting the city with fear gas so you see people hallucinating, henchmen causing terror and even as you spend time in the gas, you as well will see hallucinations. It’s very well thought out.
After completing roughly four to six mission I am now level 6. I have gained some power points but also skill points. Since I am in gadgets I could put towards things like traps or a special taser weapon. I also had another move for my weapons. The first was I would hold square down and I would dash forward shooting. The other move I would tap square three times and do a fancy combo kick attack. The missions all seem to arrive mostly via email from Batman and send you to an NPC. Sometimes you will run by a green I icon. You can interact at these points and investigate gaining a little clue to some mysteries going around.
Some elements like crafting are non existent. While this may not be a terribly bad thing I would have liked to have some side things to do. I am a gadget sided person so I should be able to create new gadgets to help along. Often crafting is inserted in a game to further draw our time into it trying to farm items but we will need to see how this will pan out later on. I think if there is one feature I would like to see in one superhero game is have a secret identity. Have your little roost with a career that could offer some small income but also offer some side quests that could lead to a new skill. A heroes life especially in DC is not always running around but also about their personal lives and how they divide the duality of hero / Average Joe.
The PS3 visuals are top notch. Everything was detailed and had a comic book feel to it. One surprise I forgot to mention was with my characters acrobatics I was able to climb up buildings and to my enjoyment you can reach the top no matter how high it is. I had even discovered an investigation point on one of the roof tops which was pretty cool. The menu’s were easily navigable however there is no voice chat as of yet and to chat you will need the PS3 chat pad to save yourself some frustration. Network wise I experienced some lag but I think it was due to the fact there are only 2 PVE beta PS3 servers up so hello population. Otherwise network wise it was smooth sailing which is very pleasing as I was also wireless.
Overall I think DC Universe has a very solid foundation. I think what will define it even more is end game progression and the new features it implements. The base foundation is there but as I mentioned I would like to see some sort of crafting going on or a base, apartment to make your home. With the possibility of comic book storylines coming over to DC Universe Online you see that the potential for expansion is huge. So more will come no doubt and patience will be needed but I think it is one of the first Superhero MMO that is really worth sticking by. At any rate in this persons opinion even in the beta state that I played it has thrown the gauntlet down to the other competitors.
All Flesh Must Be Eaten: The Waking Dead
Well, new from Eden Studios has been rather quiet for awhile so it was great to see that there is a free introductory adventure for All Flesh Must Be Eaten entitled The Waking Dead. It has prefab characters, quick rules and just about anything else to get your group going.
DC Adventures Heroes & Villains Preview
Green Ronin Publishing now has a preview for Vol 1 of DC Adventures Heroes & Villains. I never got around to checking this RPG out yet though it has me intrigued because I am a big fan of the DC Universe.
That Which Consumes
Fantasy Flight Games has a new asylum pack for the Call of Cthulhu LCG entitled That Which Consumes. Apparently this is the sixth expansion in the Rituals of the Order cycle. For those who have not had a chance to get into the Call of Cthulhu card game, I highly recommend it as it add’s a little diversity to the card game genre.
Mansions of Madness: Season of the Witch
Fantasy Flight Games have a recent service called print on demand. This allows them to print out products based on actual demand so financially, it’s a very viable solution for them considering the high quality of their prints. That being said, a new product expansion for Mansions of Madness entitled Season of the Witch is now available. Check it out and order up a helping of Madness. Below is a teaser description from their site.
A bright young Miskatonic University student has disappeared, having checked in to an infamous Arkham boarding house to study its reported supernatural properties. Now, as the celebration of Walpurgis Eve approaches, you and your fellow investigators are tasked with venturing into the decaying Witch House and solving a mystery that has plagued Arkham for generations. But are you prepared to face the horrors that await you?