Undermountain again - second verse, same as the first.

As each edition comes to a close, WotC/TSR seem to have released an Undermountain product.  Undermountain is by no means the "baddest" of the classic dungeons, but perhaps one of the most extensive.  Ed Greenwood's house dungeon for his Forgotten Realms campaign was cool in a lot of regards.  It was entered through a tavern (meme upon meme!), the initial release was partially mapped - resulting in a product that a dungeonmaster got to really make their own, and it had a "boss" that served as a plot device - making it more than "kill the baddies; take their treasure." 

EnWorld.org has a review of the new 4th Edition work on their site, today.  Undermountain, Underdark, and other old classics seem to be the great last push done every time a campaign/rules-set are coming to a close.  I'm not sure why.  Maybe it's the realization that there's only one last shot to capitalize on all of that intellectual property.  Maybe we're all just still scared of the dark.

Wizards of the Cost to do a limited re-release of the original AD&D books

As seen on Troll in the Corner, Wizards of the Coast is going to re-release the original AD&D core 3 books (Player's Handbook, Dungeonmaster's Guide, and Monster Manual) in special commemorative editions, to raise money for the Gary Gygax Memorial.  This will be a limited re-release.

Part of me has to wonder if there's an added benefit of this to head off some of the OAD&D resurgence with something that has a Wizards seal of approval on it.

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise! D&D 5th Edition

To me the biggest news of the morning isn't the announcement about the 5th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons (that's been rumored, wishlisted quite well, and expected since 4th Edition turned into the least playable thing to happen to gaming since the DC Comics RPG by Mayfair {Bazinga!}), no it was the circular reference between The New York Times covering the R&D that's going into D&D, linking to an article on the D&D website which in turn links back to the same NY Times article.  (Beware folks, it's turtles stacked upon themselves all the way down from here on out...) 

My unnecessary observation aside, I'm stoked about Wizards of the Coast moving away from 4th Edition (perhaps the least playable and least enjoyable RPG that I sunk money into over the years), and - according to the early speculation assumed from the blogosphere - moving towards something that should allow for the old-school Dungeon Masters to draw a graph paper map and populate it with monsters, or run a mock-up of World of Warcraft with powers and abilities.  (The left and right brain of nerddom, if you will.)

Morrus of Enworld.org fame was flown to Renton, WA to meet with the Wizards staff and unveil the plans for the new edition.  He has a great article to read, here. 

Yes, I'm a glutton for punishment.  I've already signed up for the playtests on the Wizards site, and am looking forward to this. 

I am also kicking myself that I neglected to list all of my 4th Edition books on ebay before it was too late.

The Escapist's Musings on The Past, Present and Future of Dungeons and Dragons

Those of you into gaming may well be aware of The Escapist online magazine, which profiles nerddom in all its stripes and obsessions.  A rather comprehensive end-of-the-year review of the history and trajectory of Dungeons and Dragons was just released.  Links to the Dickensian Past, Present and Future installments are here:

Past: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/features/9292-The-Ghosts-of-D-D-Past
Present: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/features/9293-The-State-of-D-D-Present
Future: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/features/9294-The-State-of-Dungeons-Dragons-Future

The interviews and much of the analysis is quite good, although I think there are some broad strokes with the knowledge base (assumptions about the reader's knowledge of certain game designers, primarily) and market influences (a bit more emphasis is placed on the Open Gaming License than I think a retrospective of all editions merited).  Still well worth the read. 

Call of Cthulhu - Conversation on EnWorld

There's a good thread on EnWorld.org right now about Call of Cthulhu.  A GM who will be running the game for some players is trying to wrap his head around Lovecraftian fiction and the best way to run the game.  Lots of great thought on their part, as well as the other posters. 

I added my two cents - nothing groundbreaking, but rules I try to live by when running the game for new players, which I often do around Halloween every year.  (ooo spooky)

Chime in on the thread over there and add your thoughts.






(my thoughts cross-posted, here)
Yeah, there are such a wide variety of authors of the mythos - even Stephen King, if you find some of his early stuff in his collections of short stories - that there's something for everyone. Chaosium has released tons of collections over the years that are worth browsing through in their online catalog, to see if something resonates more with you. A lot of folks like the August Derleth/Clark Ashton Smith stuff more, as it takes the stories and weaves together the mythos around them.

As to the game, I've been running it for about 20 years, and many of the published adventures have been handy for getting players who aren't terribly familiar with the Mythos into the game. The adventures in Mansions of Madness come from earlier collections and editions of the game, and many are good one-nighters to get folks used to the rules and feel. Secrets of New York and the New Orleans sourcebook are good for a sandbox game. If you get players into the idea of a long campaign, I still like Shadows of Yogsothoth a lot (although some veterans will say it's rather contrived - it works well for folks who don't necessarily eat sleep drink). Spawn of Azathoth, Return to Dunwich, Return to the Mountains of Madness - these campaigns work better with seasoned players who eat, sleep and drink Lovecraftian fiction.

For running the game, my biggest rules have been:
1) Make sure that the characters have appropriate skills to solve the tasks at hand - not to the level of it being a cakewalk, but if the only way to get off the glacier is the ability to pilot a plane, don't leave it to chance that no one took the character with the right skill to do that.
2) Make sure that players - going in - understand that they don't use their guns like swords in d&d.
3) Make sure they understand that years ago, when you needed info, you went to a library, not Google.
4) Role play. It sounds obvious, but CoC sets up some of the best opportunities for roleplaying I've ever seen. Take advantage of them!
5) Continuity - it's ok if the universe implodes on itself and ends in a game. You can play another another time and continuity doesn't matter - that last catastrophe didn't have to have happened. (There is a short story collection somewhere about what the world is like after the Cthupocalypse...)

Enjoy. It's a great Halloween game, if nothing else, for the party that would rather slay goblins and orcs.

-Tyler

Retro D&D for Dummies

Enworld.org has a great overview of the various Old School retro D&D clones that are available, right now. Many are available for free as downloads (or for a cost in print format). If the current versions of D&D don't tickle your cookies as much as memories of the old boxed sets that required you ink in your own dice with a white crayon, then check this article out.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/columns/310462-retroclones-older-d-d-editions.html

Who's up for some Google+ Call of Cthulhu?

I got a golden ticket!

Sure, before I've posted about playing pen-and-paper RPGs via Skype and via Google Wave (or as Reverend Jim would have said, "Gooooooooooooooglllllle Waaaaaave..."

But Google+ seems to have some opportunity to it - integrating workspaces with video chat, it seems ideal for gaming.

Drop me a message via my profile if you want to try some Call of Cthulhu or D&D if I get a group together for some gaming.

Death of the Miniature Dragon?

It's been well discussed elsewhere, but if you haven't heard the news, Wizards of the Coast is discontinuing miniatures for Dungeons & Dragons, as well as the monthly compilations of Dragon and Dungeon content, which in essence means the death of Dragon and Dungeon as magazines (online or off).

To put on my Abe Simpson hat, "I remember back in Nineteen Eight One or so when TSR - that stood for The Senile Roleplayer - put out the last set of lead miniatures for the original AD&D game came out - yep, they were lead then, in case the Russkies invaded, we could melt 'em down and turn 'em into ammo. Anyhoo, the last set was of a wizard's lair, and featured a large snake. My brother painted the snake bright red, and we lost the wizard, so it basically looked like a rather intelligent snake had a wizard's lair. And since we didn't cotton much to plotlines then, we just pretended that's what it was..."

So, we've seen Dragon and Dungeon die and be reborn before. We've seen official and unofficial minis. We've seen multiple edition wars. At the end of the day, we've all got lots of rules sets, great minis from Citadel and others still in production, and plenty of free content on the web in case things get worse. It's actually a good time to be a gamer.

Great interview with Marc Miller on DiceCast

How did Traveller come about? Was it something built rapidly after D&D came out, or in parallel? Why all the editions? Why did GDW fold?

All these - and more - are answered in a great podcast on DiceCast's blog containing an interview with Traveller's creator Marc Miller. Fascinating stuff!!!

http://dicecast.blogspot.com/2010/12/dicecast-special-holiday-interview.html

The whole thing is great, but the piece with Marc Miller starts shortly after the 10 minute mark. Other interviews cover WEG's D6 system, BESM and more.

New Skaven coming to Warhammer in January 2011

For those of you who find amusement (or terror?) in Games Workshop's rat-men army - The Skaven - check out the following link (and kinda lame but neat teaser video) about new minis for Warhammer.

Incoming: Skaven

Video: