Well, darn

I should be blogging about Dungeonpocolypse part two, scheduled to happen last night. Instead I am sitting in my recliner where I have been most of the last 24 hours after tweaking my lower back. I wish I could say I hurt my back lifting downed tree limbs or putting my lawn mower away for the season. No, I hurt my back putting bacon I had cooked for my son in the warming drawer for when he woke up. I bent down to place a sandwich plate with two strips of bacon in the drawer and felt a sharp pain. The pain continued to build through most of the day and in the early afternoon I canceled the game. It really sucks getting older.

In any event I should be able to reschedule for a few weeks out and get the game rolling again. The worst part of this "injury" is that I cannot do much of anything like paint miniatures or craft dungeon terrain. Not to mention that it is a beautiful fall day in central Ohio and I have many chores to take care of outside.

I have been debating with myself about which RPG system I will use going forward (after I finish my current campaign). I have been very partial to Pathfinder since WOTC created the atrocity that was 4th edition but the new Dungeons and Dragons Next has really impressed me. The books are beautifully illustrated and well organized. The rules for DnD Next are what 4th should have been; streamlined, familiar and emphasizing role-playing. Spells and spell books are back as are true healing spells (Clerics in 4th allowed the target to spend a Healing surge for when they cast a spell). Next has added a few other innovations including the level scaling of spells like cure, fireball and lightning bolt. The free pdf version covers the rules and 4 basic classes.

Pathfinder, on the other hand, is only very much like its predecessor DnD 3.5. The concepts are adjusted from 3.5 but the basic rules are very much the same. So much so that the entire library of 3.5 and open GL books are very much compatible with the rule set. Where DnD Next has a free basic rules pdf Pathfinder has a free rules website that contains all the classes and many of the monsters. The Pathfinder SRD also contains modified and home brew content.

Both systems are well supported with supplements (Pathfinder has a huge head start) and miniatures. The DnD next miniatures with their flying dragons are really special but are interchangeable between systems. Tough choices....any thoughts? 

More Geek Movies

A word of warning. These are movies I find entertaining for their geeky content. Some may find them cheesy or just plain bad. I am sorry if these recommendations fall into those categories for you. Remember that these movies are off the beaten path for a reason. 

John Dies at the End - A psycho-active substance allows people to see other dimensional beings so they can fight an "infection" from across the rifts of time and space. Lots of cool geeky moments and parts played by "that guy" including Paul Giamatti. Not for kids due to lots of language and nudity.

Odd Thomas - Odd is his name. He can see and sense things which allow him to solve crimes. There is a large spiritual storm brewing and Odd is the only one who can figure it out.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec. Adele goes to Egypt to bring back the mummy of the surgeon of Ramses to cure her sister. Then the pterodactyl causes issues for her scientific ally and mentor.

Journey to the West - Two demon hunters try to solve murders and destroy and imprison demons in ancient China. The Monkey King turns out to be more than they bargained for.

Solomon Kane - Based on  Robert E. Howard's 2nd most famous character. Solomon roams the land looking for redemption while vanquishing demons.

Man of Tai Chi - The hero is the world's greatest martial artist until an underground fight promoter turns him into a killing machine. The movie steams along until the final battle with Neo...er Keanu Reeves. Yes, really.

Nerd Movies

So, you say you'd like to watch a movie but you are tired of the mainstream fare. Then this is the list for you. All of the movies on this list are currently on Netflix. None of them are mainstream.

Dragonfyre - The Gateways  between the 9 worlds need guardians. The guardian of a major gateway to Earth is known as a great wizard. He's really just armed to the teeth. Elves, Orcs and Dragons meet superior firepower in this low budget Sci Fi/Fantasy mash-up. This movie has its moments of cheesy but it was made on the cheap. I would love to create a movie like this where the actions of the hero were controlled by gamers rather than scripted by film writers. 

Dororo -  A father trades the body of his son for demonic alliances and power. A Frankenstein like doctor creates a new body for the boy and he grows up to hunt the demons his father made a deal with. Every time he kills a demon he wins back a piece of his body. Bizarre fights using both live action and CGI. 

Bunraku - A comic book style adventure where two very different heroes team up to stop the evil town boss. The evil hench-bosses are numbered for easy score-keeping. All in a world that seems to be made of paper mache. Striking visuals and a cast you won't believe. 

War of the Worlds: Goliath -  Animated movie that is the spiritual sequel to the book War of the Worlds. In 1914 the Martian invasion is a recent memory, Nicola Tesla has broken the code of Martian technology and the earth defense force (ARES) led by Teddy Roosevelt are ready for the rematch. The movie does not wait long for that to come. Loaded with action start to finish this movie is great fun. 

13 Assassins - A brutal lord must be assassinated. An older samurai is chosen to carry out the task and gathers a force of 11 loyal men and a crazy demi-god to carry out the task. The movie is great fun from start to finish. 

The Host - A creature spawns after chemicals are dumped into the local river. One family gets caught up in a battle with creature while authorities have no idea what they are dealing with. There are some great CGI scenes depicting the creature mixed with live action humans. Very well done. 

Chocolate - A young autistic girl name Zen has an awesome talent. If she observes a martial art she is its master. Zen and her cousin embark on a quest to collect the receipts of her sick mother's loan shark book. They show up and at the addresses in the book and demand money and of course the bosses always send a horde of flunkies to dissuade them. Zen is more than happy to show them what she has observed! 

Dungeon-pocolypse

Below is the entrance to the fortress of Menedon. It looks peaceful enough. I scratch built the facade from cardboard, card stock, clay and hot glue.The tiles are actual industrial grade floor tiles that I painted and added walls made from cardboard strips. The walls could be made taller but they do not impede play at all in their current form.

The five groups lead by  (left to right, below) Casey, Don, Greg, Terry and Phil (thanks guys!) are teleported to the fortress to find that there are creatures guarding the entrance. Fiendish TRex, bullettes and Trolls, oh my!

Fast forward a few rounds later and the groups have invaded the next tier of the dungeon (below). You can no longer find different groups, though Casey's group is still mostly together.

Just as the force thought they were done outside a "little" surprise pops up. Below part of Terry's force chips away at the purple worm. The hunter in the fore-ground of the picture was eventually consumed.

So, this is where we called it a night. There are about 1/3 of the way through the dungeon. Only one casualty on the player side so far and only a few of the higher level spells have been used. There are also many wounded characters some more than others. 

Here is the list of what has been killed so far:

2 Fiendish Trex

2 Troll Slashers

2 Bullette

1 Behir

3 Fiendish Girallon

1 Purple Worm

2 Goblin Underboss

Lareth the Beautiful

1 Drow Cleric of Lolth

2 Teifling Blademaster

2 Yuan-Ti Half-blood Sorcerer

Half Orc Executioner

King Obould Many Arrows

Warduke

Bugbear Champion of Erthnel

Trogledyte Barbarian

Dark Moon Monk

We will try to schedule the next installment soon. I think it will go faster from now on because everyone is more familiar with what is going on now with the modified DnD Miniatures rules and I generally have fewer enemies from now on (really, hardly any, like one per room). In any case, there will be more pictures to come. If you participated and have better pictures you can send them to me or post them in the comments.

Been building

I am building a dungeon. Not a real dungeon but a Dungeons and Dragons dungeon.

I wanted to build something huge so this dungeon is 64,000 square feet in scale; in real size it is 36 inches wide by 72 inches long. The base is made of industrial floor tile which I found at a local flooring store for 88 cents a tile. The tile is a composite material that is already gray like stone. My original idea was to attach the 2.5D walls (ala DMScotty) using hot glue but I soon discovered that the hot glue would not stick to the tile. So, good old white glue was employed.

I used a combination of dry brushing, sponge painting and inks to give the dungeon the "lived in" look. During the construction I learned new ways that might have made the whole thing look better but I am going to run the game I had planned for them. I will post some pictures after next weekend's game.

Dungeons and Dragons Basic

It's here. The Dungeons and Dragons free Basic rule set. If you ever have played you should go download and read it. I have put the link below.

A few major changes to report from the last edition taken from one lunch time's reading. Healing Surges are gone and normal Clerical healing is back. In fact, all spell casting is back. The major difference there is that many spells have been condensed. Cure Wounds replaces the entire Cure series in 3.X. If memorized as a 1st level it cures 1-8 plus level and if memorized as a 2nd level spell then its 2-18 plus level and so on.

Gone are the old school minuses for wearing armor. Now if a character is trying to perform stealth maneuvers while wearing plate he is at a Disadvantage. This means he rolls 2D20 and uses the least favorable.

Characters can also have an Advantage. It works in the opposite manner. You roll 2D20 and select the better roll. I want that for attack rolls.

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/basicrules

Wizards of the Coast Starts the Sorry Tour

How exactly do you say your sorry for releasing a game system that was a huge risk? One that you justified by promising online play and easier access to new players. One that seemed to be making all o the character classes similar and forcing the use of miniatures or tokens. This is reality of the task Wizards of the Coast has with the release of the new Dungeons and Dragons edition (FKA 5th Edition)

WOTC is hoping that 5th Edition is the answer to that question. It is a little over a month away from the release date but this has been the edition where most of the surprises have already been revealed. The public play test of what is now to be called simply "Dungeons & Dragons" lasted well over a year. To get the play test materials all you had to do was ask. The answer to what is it like is simply that it is much closer to 3rd edition than 4th. It looks like they have removed all the MMOG power structure and returned D&D to its roots.

Now that Pathfinder has established itself as the main fantasy RPG how do you get players to even look at your new D&D rules? How about making them free? Yes, that's right the basic rules for D&D will be a free PDF download. Essentially WOTC wants to woo you back to the fold and a free copy of the rules as their gateway.

The other item that 4th edition was lacking in was third party support. The open licensing for 3.x editions and later Pathfinder ensured that many companies contributed material to the library of adventures and settings. The new edition is rumored to be working with third party designers right now to release non-official but authorized content for the new game. 

OK, so, root style play, free rules and third party support but that only gets us back to where we were before 4th edition. How about a spiffy new battle game based on the flight path mechanics of the Attack Wing games from WizKids? That's right Dungeons & Dragons: Attack Wing will be released within the year. It will add ground units to the Attack Wing system and dragons can move between the ground and the sky. It looks great and the dragon miniatures look like they'll be in 25 mm scale as will the other troops available.

Am I going back? I don't know for sure. I have leafed through the play test materials and pre-ordered the initial three books. I saw the Attack Wing game being played at Origins and I must say it looks very cool. But Pathfinder has become the new best friend when you old friend moved away. If he moves back you will always wonder if they'll move away again. The new D&D will have to go a ways to make up for its past misdeeds. As a game 4th edition was not bad, just not D&D. If they would have called Forgotten Realms Tactics or something like that they would have sold some new material while cultivating their existing audience. 

Here is the link where WOTC talks about free Basic D&D

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4ll/20140527