Month: September 2008

Categories
Books DnD Roleplaying

Recently in roleplaying…

4e specific:
Asamor does it again. Random 4e treasure parcels: Quartermaster
Item Previews from Adventurer’s Vault: Armor, Holy Symbols & Wands, Battle Standards, Reagents, Figurines of Wonderous Power
A level two adventure: Treasure of Talon Pass

The Barbarian will be ready for playtest this month.

From Greywulf: Each skill roll is an encounter and Complexity 1 Adventures.
A great series with lots of interesting characters with pictures, concepts, and stats: Character du jour

Traps: Setting DCs and Premade traps.

More character sheets
Rob Donoghue exults after playing recently. So does John Harper, on killing a red dragon. Back to Rob, writing about NPC spells and getting to play hard.
E-Z TILES Wilderness Set 1; a pdf with layers you can turn on and off to make varied tiles.

27 Monsters(pdf) by Asamor. Also, Goblin prison guard

Rebuilding Skill DCs; well written and persuasive.

General Roleplaying:
Advice: Prepare a game/setting character sheet.
Similarly, The Troops is a very cool setup for an organization. Filling it out provides recurring hooks and other useful bits.
Characters inspire the adventure.
Sequel to playing ball: Creative Vectors
A crude but powerful tool to end unfun roleplaying: The Rule of Lame
Burning Wheel actual play: The Bastard and the Knight, Part 2.
Inspectres in Space actual play.
Mage: The Awakening review.

Categories
Game Group

Next Game: Sunday September 14th

Due to birthdays and ballgames, we’re currently looking at playing on Sunday September 14th. Unless you suggest otherwise, we’ll start at 2 pm. If you can’t make it on Sunday, please let us know as soon as possible.

We left off last night with total victory over the Ogre town, the slaying of their King, Queen, Adept, and a mysteriously disguised dwarf cleric. After slaying the ogre leadership, burning half the town, and intimidating the survivors, the PCs returned to a nearby town with all the loot they (and their few remaining gnome allies) could carry. Among the loot were three books in dwarven; a children’s book, a journal, and a dark prayer book.

Categories
Games

Neverwinter Nights 2: Getting Mac and PC to play together

If you’re just looking for the solution:
1) The Mac player searches for and runs the 1.11 to 1.12 (1295) patch. Google’s the fastest way to find it– it’s hidden on the nwn site.
2) The PC player goes to nwvault.ign.com and downloads the 1.11 to 1.12 (1295) patch [even though they’re patched up to 1.13 (1409)], and the patch running program.
3) PC player unzips the patch running program and launches it. Select the patch and check the “ignore missing files” box. Ignore the scary warning. After a few minutes your version is set back to 1.12 (1295).
4) Launch multiplayer and find each other’s games.

The story follows.

Continue reading “Neverwinter Nights 2: Getting Mac and PC to play together”
Categories
Books

Hawk of May, Kingdom of Summer, and In Winter’s Shadow

One of my favorite trilogies– and my favorite retelling of Arthurian myth. This trilogy by Gillian Bradshaw is sympathetic and with characters understandable to modern readers.

Hawk of May centers on Gwalchmai, a version of Gawain, this time a son of Lot. He’s a compelling character, a weak warrior who finds a cause and his destiny. He’s the only really high magic character– everyone else scorns and disbelieves magic… in the daylight. The situation feels authentic, with numerous kingdoms in turmoil, striving and ignoring the looming threat nearby.

His mother, Morgawse, is half a goddess and completely consumed by darkness. Gwalchmai struggles with doubt (his own and others’), but finds a solid path. The relations between the brothers is very well written, and changes surprisingly as the story goes on.

Kingdom of Summer is trickier; while the viewpoint character changes (to Rhys ap Sion), the story focus really remains on Gwalchmai. Shifting the viewpoint allows us to see how extraordinary Gwalchmai is, particularly for his era and profession. Rhys is well motivated and clearly drawn, but he’s not the high magic hero of the first book.

In Winter’s Shadow was hard to enjoy the first time; I was unsympathetic to Gwynhwyfar and heaped the blame on her. Since she was the viewpoint character, I had a lot of problems enjoying the book. On rereading, I cut her a lot more slack and came to sympathize with her. Each time I fall a little more for her; her struggle is understated and her story starts late– the great efforts of her early years are short flashbacks, not lived.

Medraut is compelling, though his persuasion has to be chalked up as supernaturally effective and his motivation seems thin. Despite that, he’s an excellent foil, one on whom all of the characters can project their own darkness. Bedwyr becomes more contemptible to me, but I understand his pain and need for love.

The end is excellent; while you know everything is failing, you hope that some brightness can be saved and passed on. You’re rooting, even when all seems lost.

Categories
Books

Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay

A solid book in an analog of Italy. The nine provinces are divided among tyrants, and the name Tigana has been wiped from everyone’s thoughts by powerful magic. This was a reread.

It’s a tale of intrigue, compromise, and unlikely alliances. I enjoyed it quite a bit, particularly the characterization. Our viewpoint character has a lot hidden from him, but it’s a natural way to introduce us to the layers of plotting and history that are essential to the flavor of the book.

Categories
Game Group

Upcoming Game: Friday, September 5th

Right now plans are up in the air– Dad may wander over to the coast, but nothing is finalized yet. In any case, what is your schedule for Friday and this weekend? Even if he has to head for the coast, he’s encouraging us to play without him if everyone else can make it.

Sound off!