Monster Manual will be 352 pages long and Modrons are Back

It really is starting to feel like 1989-1995 again to me (but that was my heyday of the best gaming ever in college so I'm cool with that). Mike Mearls posted this morning that the Monster Manual is weighing in at 352 pages as they hopefully send that sucker off to the printers, and also mentioned that Modrons are back. I love Modrons....its starting to sound like Planescape's iconics are all returning. Good stuff!

I guess they're back from the Great March, then....

The PHB will have Tieflings!

I was curious if they'd be in the PHB or an optional "Planescape" race in the DMG (which apparently will include things like Warforged or Kender as setting-specific race options). This is wonderful new to those who, like me, find tieflings to be integral to their campaigns now. Tielfings occupy an interesting space in D&D's venerable cosmology....they appeared in Planescape first and wormed their way in as a meaningful AD&D 2nd edition player option around 1992ish, so while they're not exactly Old School in the pre 1989 sense, they have definitely been a thing in D&D for at least 22 years now, and quickly became more popular than many other interesting race options introduced around that time (poor Bariaur!)

Anyway, here's the page samples from the PHB released today on ENWorld:

This just keeps getting better and better.....now for the next big bugaboo: will they dare to put dragonborn in the 5E core PHB? Dragonborn are a great race, but they got an excessive amount of grief from some quarters, mostly those who could not abide the mammalian/dragon mix as presented in the art, and old schoolers who (for whatever reason) decided to draw their line in the ground at draconian beasts.....the y don't bother me in the least, though; I was adding dragonmen into my game as early as 1984, and worked out playable stats for them by 1989, so dragonborn have a comfy place in my game worlds.

Saturday After Action Report: D&D 5E

My Saturday group, which only has two overlapping players from Wednesday right now (plus a returning former player who's pretty much been biding his time until D&D 5E was officially out) met for a healthy session with 8 players and a decent character generation experience plus scenario. Unlike Wednesday I didn't drop a hobgoblin army on everyone....this session, while still somewhat limited to the monsters I have in the Starter Set plus Dead in Thay and the Crystal Shard resource that's floating around...was about a mission into the deep mountains where an ancient wizard (who may or may not be a Lich) appears to have pulled up and left.....leaving a power gap that a local magus wishes to explore.

The encounters for the evening included a orc scout and his ogre buddy who were looking for employment as guides (players accepted after a wee misunderstanding), a rampaging owlbear that almost escaped with the party's lead wizard, and later the following day the group found a green dragon's den....and a couple of the naughtier PCs decided to poke around and see what happened. The end result was a fleeing party, a dead wizard, and an assertion that maybe...just maybe....poking around the green dragon's lair (which was most obviously such) was maybe not the smartest idea.

Still....the PCs murdered the dragon's quasit lackey and also looted some loose treasure lying around in the debris, along with three green/gold speckled dragon eggs. So yeah, dragon's gonna be back.

All in all everyone had fun. Still too early to see if everyone enjoys the game for the long haul...as with Wednesday the Basic Set options really do feel just like a placeholder before the main course manifests in August. We need the core manuals, stat!

Some observations about the game from this session:

1. Most of the players at this session rolled characters that evening. Despite having at least two of every class no one felt like they were "occupying" the same turf as another player. There's still enough general customization thanks to the races, backgrounds and personality traits to help out in this regard....and some choices, like with the fighter, let you further add a twist to your general "style" to make you distinct.

2. A couple of my players weren't keen on the lack of "stacking" mechanics, and would have liked the idea that you could pick a skill twice to get extra benefit. I think this subsided a bit by end of session when they were more familiar with the way things worked.

3. Once again we ran the game sans board and minis and it worked great.....it was very fluid, and at no point did I feel the need to drag the stuff out. This remains as always a huge plus.

4. Wizards may have some impressive spells but they still need to beat your AC. Plus, they;re squishy. Also....the group figured out really quick that we were back to old school "don't be afraid to run, not all encounters are meant to be beaten" methodology.

$13 off any order of $39 or more on Chaosium.com

Check it out: Chaosium.com has a promotion this weekend for an automatic $13 discount on any order of $39 or more. Earlier this week I mentioned that BRP Enlightened Magic was out....it's a very good excuse to buy a copy, and speaking of Englightened Magic, I received my physical copy today, which was awesome....I think Chaosium's new site has fixed the order fulfillment issues I've had with them in the past.

So, I happen to not own a copy of The Laundry RPG yet so I ordered a copy on the discount....will talk more on both that and Enlightened Magic later....

Basic D&D 5E Opening Session After Action Report

The first Wednesday session of Basic D&D 5E kicked off with a bang. Eight players, a medley of fighters, rogues, wizards and clerics and a opening scenario involving an invasion of hobgoblins under control of an evil wizard siege a local town served as a suitable stress test to the system. The overall plot was basic: the small barony of Carismore has a hobgoblin problem, and a powerful local evil wizard has decided to send forth the marauding horde for as yet unrealized reasons. The siege of the town started shortly after everyone opened up and established their ties the area....the escalating conflict was designed to keep hurling more foes as time passed, to see when everyone broke and ran, basically. An escape to a tavern's basement cellar where a hidden secret passage led to an old smuggler's den and grotto concluded with a battle with stirges following the discovery of the old smuggler's loot. There was a crazy tavernkeeper dwarf with a Saw complex and a few other surprises along the way, including a shockingly unprepared local militia.

I did warn the players that it would be deliberately brutal....

So, a few observations about tonight's session:

1. Hobgoblins are exactly as badass as their stat block looks. Freakin' terrifying. The PCs literally circled wagons and tipped them over to get cover from the long range longbow attacks, and when the hobgoblins attacked in formation two PCs dropped immediately. Hobgoblins are a menace that will persevere for many levels.

2. Wizards and clerics, as presented in Basic at first level, are like modest cannons that do cool tricks and then twice a day fire volleys of death the effectively disintegrate the target. Sleep, however, remains the coolest spell at low level, hands down. Probably higher level too with the scaling rules for spells.

3. The absence of endless stacking rules and modifiers was a welcome relief to all. Shockingly good. Once the principle of proficiency was grasped and where it applied the numbers faded into the background. That said, at a certain point success/failure can get a little swingy. It became a lot simpler to simply go traditional old school and assume automatic success if a passive number (like with perception) was over any DC target.

4. We ran the entire game without map or minis. No one missed it and the combat mechanics were smooth and at no point did I think "we need a map to figure this out." We haven't had a D&D that ran like this since 1999.

5. Once you get knocked out, it can be tough to get back in to a fight. Comrades dropping in a group which has exausted healing can be a good reason to retreat to fight another day.


All told I thoroughly enjoyed running the game. It was fast, intuitive, and we got a lot done in one session. For me and my table? D&D is back and it's here to stay.

BRP - Enlightened Magic is out

Amidst all the furor over D&D 5E's release there is still other news out there. Yes! Hard to believe. One bit of news is Chaosium's recent reboot of their site...it's suddenly much nicer and easier to use. I just popped over and ordered the latest BRP sourcebook, Enlightend Magic. It looks good, hopefully will be just the book I need for my historical occult campaign that I'm always thinking about running....or even just a good resource to supplement my ongoing Magic World campaign, which admittedly has already got a cornucopia of coolness with the Advanced Sorcery book.

Once I get it (and I have a history of late order problems with Chaosium but hope the site change fixes that issue) I'll offer up a review....

Quiet Weekend

Not quiet in the sense that there were plenty of fireworks (and still are on occasion...New Mexico is pretty fireworks friendly) but not much tabletop gaming, lots of family fun and such.

Right now the plan is to try out some D&D 5E using the Basic set plus the various resources and Starter Set I've cobbled together, maybe rotate it Wednesday nights with my recently started Savage Worlds Science Fiction campaign (which was a big hit last week), and also do the same on Saturdays. I'd like to keep Magic World bi-weekly at least, but I can tell that the style and design of D&D 5E is going to go over very well with the interests of the Saturday gang.

Anyway, since I spent a nice three day weekend enjoying a pressure-free mini-vacation, there is not much to blog....but expect a lot more stuff for 5E, Magic World and Savage Worlds soon!

For today then I offer up some inspirational images gathered from my Tumblr blog Tachyon:

The Wizard's Amulet free for D&D 5E

Tenkar scooped it first, but Frog God Games has released a 5th edition compatible version of The Wizard's Amulet for free, under the OGL. Grab it here!

This was originally a free module released for 3rd edition D&D back when Necromancer Games surfaced in the dawn of the D20 era. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come....I would very much be keen on seeing conversion/support for Frog God Games books in 5th edition.....

My First Fighter in D&D 5E

Up for consideration: one spanky new level 1 fighter rolled up straight out of D&D Basic. All of the below was generated as part of the Basic D&D character creation process. 

I can never go back to Pathfinder again.

Davin Kormak

Race:     Human male      Class:    Fighter                  Level :   1

Alignment:         neutral good      Background:       Soldier (officer)

STR 16 (+3); DEX 13 (+1); CON 15 (+2); INT 11 (0); WIS  11 (0); CHA 12 (+1)

HD D10; HP: 12; Saves: STR, CON; Proficiency: +2; AC 16

Languages: Middle Tongue, Orcish

Skills: Athletics, Intimidation, Perception, Survival

Tool Proficiencies: cards, vehicles (land)

Fighter Traits:

Fighting Style:  Great Weapon Fighting (reroll 1-2s on damage dice with 2-H or versatile weapons)

Second Wind (use bonus action on my turn to regain 1D10+level in HPs)

Soldier Feature:  Military Rank  

Armor:  Chain mail (AC 16; stealth disadvantage)

Melee Weapons: Greatsword (+5 attack; 2D6+3 slashing; heavy, two handed)

Warhammer (+5 attack; 1D8+3 bludgeoning; versatile (1d10))

Ranged Weapon: Light crossbow and 20 bolts (+3 attack; 1D8+1 piercing; loading, two handed)

Equipment:               Explorer’s pack, Insignia of rank (house Kormak ring), Trophy from battlle (dagger), Deck of cards, Common clothes,  Belt pouch,  10 GP

Trinket:                      A silver skull the size of a coin

Personality Trait:    I can stare down a hellhound without flinching

Ideal:                          Live and Let Live

Bond:                        Those who fight beside me are those worth dying for

Flaw:                          the monstrous demon we faced in battle still leaves me quivering with fear

How to run Dungeons & Dragons 5E for the next month

Some people will be happy to run the Starter Set adventure....it looks to me like you could get at least five game nights out of it, and with 26 monster stat blocks you have enough stuff to craft an adventure or three of your own if you don't mind the limited range: hey everyone, it's mating season for green dragons in Chirak, so they're all over the place looting gold and cows as gifts for their green dragoness beloveds......yeah nope.

But luckily there's enough stuff floating around to help out. Obviously the soon-to-be-released free Basic D&D rules will offer up 100 pages of material for the core four classes and races, so that's covered. If you would like the latest menagerie of monsters take a look at Dead in Thay, the latest PDF release module WotC produced; it's got a robust bestiary with over 30 pages of monster stats. If you're cheap you can fish around for the playtest bestiary or find it stuck on your hard drive somewhere no doubt.

I suppose you could just make stuff up, too. I'm already considering how easy it would be to adapt Dungeon Crawl Classics to D&D 5E right now, for example. Use the baseline monsters in the Starter Set as examples of design, and it ought to suffice for a few weeks of gaming. In fact just about any old school style module will be really easy to adapt to 5E.

Anyway, if all goes well I may be running some 5E tonight, and definitely this weekend with a game already slotted for Saturday. The system looks good; the basic rules in the Starter Set are extremely easy to use. Maybe I'll run the Starter module, but honestly I love doing my own thing. Still....I guess it would be wise to try the module out, it'll give me something to blog about, at least!