Posts

Showing posts from 2008

Dragonlance Comics (Issue 13) - High Sorcery

Image
Lost and Found This issue is the beginning of a new story. It opens with two mages (one in white robes, the other in black) in some weird bizarre realm with screaming mouths embedded in floating mountains and giant eyeballs floating in murky dark rivers. The two are revealed to be Par-Salian and Ladonna, and they appear to have found something called the "The Lost Tower of High Sorcery". From out of the tower, strange strands of blue shot out and grab the two mages. As they are pulled into the tower, Par-Salian cries out. Just then, Myrella (last seen in " Raistlin's Pawn ") wakes up from a nightmare, screaming. She and Gnatch talk about the dream and come to the conclusion that it's just her nervousness at her upcoming Test of High Sorcery, which she is in route to Wayreth to take. Gnatch and Myrella also talk about Kalthanian, and it's revealed that neither has seen him in the two years since the end of the war (when the "Raistlin's Pawn"...

A D&D Lego Moment: Centaur

Image
As a big fan of LEGO and D&D, it would only seem fitting that one influence the other. The Centaur (Male) ( Note: This design is not completely mine, I did make some slight mods to versions I'd seen elsewhere online).

Comics - The Worlds of Dungeons and Dragons (Issue 2)

Image
Cover A Cover B Dark Mirror (FR); The Legacy (DL) The second issue of this comic finishes up both stories stared in issue #1 . Once again, I won't go into too much detail on the Forgotten Realms story, other than to say that I liked this more than part one. There was more action and twists here, while the first part just seemed to be a straight chase. I didn't like the art for Nojheim (the goblin); he looked too much like Dobby from the Harry Potter books and movies. For the Dragonlance story, this issue picks up with Raistlin and Palin alone in the archmage's laboratory, while the portal to the abyss is still open, awaiting the arrival of Takhisis. In the laboratory, Raistlin tries manipulating his nephew to embrace the quest for magic power above all else, as Raistlin had done years before. On the other hand, Palin tries to convince his uncle to close the portal and come back to Solace with Caramon and himself. Raistlin reveals that he will keep the portal open and that h...

Did You Know? 18

In the first edition Dragonlance Adventures handbook, pcs on Krynn could only be a max of 18th level? The rules stated that if a character went beyond 18th, the PC would leave Krynn for some other realm. I always figured this was an attempt to keep power levels somewhat under control, as opposed to Greyhawk (and later the Forgotten Realms) where plenty of NPCs exceeded 25+

Blogging on the phone

I just installed a new app on my iPhone so I can blog. Now the big question is will I write more of less?

Video - D&D PHB PSA

Another video series I stumbled on, "D&D PHB PSA", is a sometimes funny collection of skits relating to D&D. The general idea is that on each episode, a few people (iconic D&D character types) talk about issues personal to them. The first episode features Mialee, Jozan, Gimble, and Lidda in "confessional" style interviews. Note, some of the later episodes have a bit of NSFW humor. Creative Juices, the group that produces the series, currently have about 40+ episodes on-line, with each running around 15min each.

Comics - The Worlds of Dungeons and Dragons (Issue 1)

Image
Cover A Cover B Dark Mirror (FR); The Legacy ( DL ) For this new comic series, Devil's Due Publishing , which have successfully adapted the Drizzt books from The Forgotten Realms setting as well The Chronicles and Legends trilogies from Dragonlance , took that same idea and applied it to an anthology series. Since there are literally hundreds of short stories published for the various D&D worlds (including Ravenloft , Spelljammer , and Dark Sun in addition to FR and DL ), they created this book as an outlet to adapt those works into comic form. For their first issue, they feature two of the most popular characters across all the D&D settings, Drizzt and Raistlin . Cover Art A might lead you to think that this would be some kind of "crossover" story featuring both characters, but a quick scan inside the book clearly shows that the two main characters are in two separate stories. This issue contains part 1 (of 2) of the FR story "Dark Mirror", which appe...

Video - Fear of Girls

Stumbled across a new game-related web series, Fear of Girls. I've only watched the first episode and was cringing and laughing the whole time. Right now there's only two episodes, but #3 seems to be on the way.

Quick Update

Sorry about the lack of updates to this page recently. I've been out of town for the last few weeks without access to a computer. I had planned to schedule a few items over the month, but I ran out of time before I could get anything ready. I should be getting back on to some kind of regular schedule shortly, starting with the review of the new Worlds of Dungeons & Dragons comic as well as updates of my ongoing game.

Dragonlance Comics (Issue 12) - The Arena of Istar

Image
Blood Brothers This issue starts off with Tanis and Bas-Ohn Horak getting ready to fight Maquesta and Bas-Ohn Koraf in the arena. As we know from issue 11 , Maquesta and Koraf are the current champions of the games, and the medallions they wear are actually ancient magic items that the cleric Loralon is seeking. During the fight, Tanis and Maquesta face off, while the two minotaur brothers fight each other, while the sea turtles watch the games from a glass dome and the ghosts of the citizens of ancient Istar watch from the stands they filled centuries ago. Elsewhere, Loralon and the sea elf begin working on their part of the plan, by opening a crack in the wall that starts to floor the city. During the fight we learn that Maquesta blames Tanis for her ending up in Istar, and doesn't offer any mercy to her former friend. As the battle continues, Tanis disables and kills her. Meanwhile, the two minotaurs fight with Horak choking Koraf with the chain from the champion medallion he we...

Darkness and Light: The Secret

After defeating the demon dragon previously, the party spent a couple of days in the city of Dun Eamon. Due to their flashy entrance (it's not everyday a party of adventures shows up at the city gates with a dead large red dragon), their reputation preceded them throughout town. Staying once again at the Market Tavern, they found all manner of townsfolk interested in hearing their tale, not the least of which was the serving girl, Molly, who seemed to have developed a little crush for the half-elf ranger. Whenever she had the chance (usually when she should be working), the young girl would sit and listen to Hunter's stories and talk about her own dreams of being an adventurer one day soon. While the defeat of the dragon was a great accomplishment, it still didn't bring them any closer to finding the Gem of Amara, and that meant going back to the temple ruins. On the night before leaving, Bergin visited the bathhouse for a long soak and a massage, this time joined by the m...

Dragonlance Comics (Issue 11) - The Arena of Istar

Image
Cataclysm! Once again, we pick up right after the end of the last issue. We see Tanis roughing up Loralon and trying to learn the elven cleric's plan. It seems Loralon was in Istar at the time of the Cataclysm (a fact that surprises Tanis) and is now trying to retrieve powerful artifacts lost during that fateful time. Tanis, who's always been skeptical of the gods, sees little value in Loralon's quest. To help convince Tanis, Loralon takes the ranger into his memories to see what actually happenend all those years ago... Elsewhere, we see Maquesta and Bas-ohn Koraf practicing and the minotaur proclaiming that nothing, including his brother, would stand in his way of winning their freedom. Meanwhile, Tanis and the "elf-of-cataclysm-past" continue there look back at the events leading up the the destruction of Istar, including the hubris of the kingpriest. Back in the present, a female sea elf (with an outfit straight out of a Fredrick's of Hollywood catalog) is...

Darkness and Light: The Return

After having gone to the city of Dun Eamon to resupply and rest, the party returned to the temple ruins to confront the demonic red dragon lurking below. The party cautiously crept though the same passages and hallways they previously explored. In short order they found themselves in the same open hallway where they first encountered the dragon. Initially it seemed as if the dragon may have left this lair. Exploring the far end of the passage, they found a door that was all but falling off it's ancient hinges and singed from various fires and covered in huge gaping gouges in the heavy wood. Peering inside, the floor seemed to be covered from wall to wall in coins, silver bars, gems and all manner of treasures. The appearance of what clearly looked like the dragon's horde put everyone on edge... the beast was still here somewhere. They didn't have long to ponder that question before the hall filled with the rushing air and flapping wings of a large red dragon. As it passed ...

Dragonlance Legends - Comic News

As I mentioned before in my post on Dragonlance comics , work on adapting the second Weis and Hickman trilogy has been under way for some time. Tomorrow, the second of the three issue adaption of Time of the Twins (the first book in the Legends trilogy) should be available in comic and game stores. Devil's Due Publishing has a free preview posted on their site. While I liked the painted look of the Chronicles, I think the art work is even better this time around.

Dragonlance Comics (Issue 10) - The Arena of Istar

Image
Arena At the end of the last issue , the boat Tanis, and party were on was caught the the maelstrom known as The Blood Sea of Istar . This issue starts with Loralon saving Tanis and Bas-ohn Horak (head of the minotaur delegation) from drowning with the aid of a magical air bubble. The three are under attack from a large sea creature just outside the ruins of Istar. As the air bubble pops, Tanis and the minotaur find themselves inside ancient building; Loralon, nowhere to be found. The two are attacked and captured by the people still alive in the underwater city. Meanwhile Kitiara and Lord Soth look out at the ocean and wonder if the half-elf is still alive. They also discuss their plans for attack should the minotaurs form an alliance with the Solomnic knights. Back underground, Bas-ohn and Tanis escape from their cell and encounter a pair of giant fire beetles before being recaptured. They are give armor and weapons and forced to fight in a gladiatorial arena for the amusement of dra...

Did You Know? Civilized Monsters

For all their monstrous qualities, minotaurs, ogres, hobgoblins, and goblins all have established, recognized nations on Krynn. The minotaurs rule the two island nations of Kothas and Mithas (and on the content of Taladas, they lead the Imperial League). Ogres rule the warning nations of Kern and Bloten, while hobgoblins and goblins rule Throt and Sikk'et Hul, respectively.

Darkness and Light: An Interlude

After leaving the ruins of the temple, the party journeyed for two days to Dun Eamon, a city nestled in the nearby mountain range, also known as the Grey Citadel. Theo and Hunter had previous done some business there " a few months back ", but hadn't returned since. Since the Grey Citadel was closer than Flotsam, and they had already made a few contacts there, not the least of which was the artificer, Elinda Bannon, Dun Eamon seemed like the quickest place to gather supplies before return to confront the infernal red dragon in it's underground lair. Just outside Dun Eamon, where the road was narrow and close to the nearby marsh, the group was surrounded by a hunting party of jarak-sinn . The lizardfolk spoke to each other in strange gurgling sounds. If they were trying to talk to the party, it did no good, since no one could understand the foreign language. Clad in crude armor of animal skins, wooden shields (all emblazoned with the symbol of a red arrow), and wieldin...

Did You Know? The Lizardfolk of Krynn

Unlike most settings where there is just one monster known as "lizardfolk", on Krynn there are actually three such creatures that fall under that general category. Bakali: Thought to be an extinct race, these lizardfolk look more like bipedal crocidiles. Jarak-Sinn: This race probably looks more like the standard lizardfolk of other settings. In comparison to the Bakali, they are larger, more muscular, and more warlike. Troglodyte: These standard monsters also fall under the "lizardfolk" category, with no change to their game mechanics. Both the Bakali and Jarak-Sinn typically serve either the neutral godess Chislev, or the evil deity Takhisis. Both races are composed of mostly fighters, along with a few shamans in each tribe. All three types are covered in detail as PC races in the Dragons of Krynn sourcebook

Dragonlance Comics (Issue 9) - The Arena of Istar

Image
Blood Tide This issue starts sometime after the end of the War of the Lance (as seen in issue 8 ). Riva Silvercrown (last seen in issue 4 ), now a knight of Solomnia, is riding a dragon and almost gets into an airborne fight with a dragonarmy officer. Both are quickly stopped when Highlord Kitiara arrives on the scene. It turns out Riva and Kit are part of separate delegations, each seeking to form an alliance with the minotaur nation. Later, minotaur delegates are talking with Tanis, Riva, and a mysterious black-robed person. Kit interrupts and begins to present reasons to ally with her dragonarmy. The war-minded minotaurs seem to agree more with her reasoning than that of Tanis. In an effort to turn the delegates toward their thinking, the robed figures, revealed to be an elven cleric of Paladine, offers the head minotaur a special offer; the chance to journey to the location where his brother died to pay a proper last respect. Since this is a big deal in minotaur society, the delega...

New Schedule for Dragonlance Comic Reviews

I need to change the schedule for the Dragonlance issue comics reviews. I had intended to do a new issue each week, but I'm finding it a bit taxing and taking away from other topics and items I want to write about, so I'm going to make the reviews an every-other-week event. Next week, I'll have my review for issue 9, part one of "The Arena of Istar". See you then...

DM Tools - Heromachine

Image
Ulf Ironfist Lady Flame Bergin Heromachine is a nice little app that's been around for a long time. It's especially great for DMs who aren't very artistic (like me) that want to add more visual flare to their games. With a dizzying array of options, any user is just a few dozen mouse clicks away from building a character or NPC to printout and show at the next session. You start off choosing a body type (male or female and slender/bulky) and then selecting from various menus everything from boots, bracers, cloaks, weapons, etc. While Heromachine isn't specifically geared for fantasy characters, there are a good enough number of options to render a variety of fantasy types. Characters can be printed out and the data to build the character can be saved into a simple text file. Here's the text data files for the characters above. Note: there seems to be an issue where whatever is in the character's left hand is not properly save/loaded and doesn't actually app...

Dragonlance Comics (Issue 8) - Raistlin's Pawn

Image
City of Death This last issue of the Raistlin's Pawn arc picks up a moment after the end of the last issue . Kalathan is lying on the ground in pain and while Myrella and Gnatch are trying to help him, Raistlin is walking away unconcerned for the dark elf. Kalathan recovers and explains the dark mage's actions of hiding his thoughts of betraying the goddess Takhisis for a time within Kalathan, and compelling the elf to be in Neraka in time for Raistlin to "remember" and enact his plan. Elsewhere, Raistlin, Caramon, and Berem are in a chamber under the temple. Raistlin keeps his brother at bay while Berem, in an attempt to free his imprisoned sister, impales himself on the foundation stone--the gateway Takhisis uses to enter the world. Berem's actions cause the temple structure to weaken and begin to collapse. Everyone makes it out of the temple safely. Once outside, Kalathan confronts Raistlin and learns a dark secret. The dark mage reveals that Kalathan is actual...

Darkness and Light: The Serpent, and the Statue

Image
The party made camp above ground atop the ruins of the Temple of the Flaming Fist. They spent the night resting and treating their wounds from the barbarian attack they were lucky to have survived. * Bergin cast divine spells to heal the most wounded members of the party, * while Hunter used his herbal skills to treat the others. * Adow studdied the books and papers he'd found in one of rooms below, * while Greybear, Theo, and Jeswin helped make camp and prepare dinner. That night, while Hunter was on watch, he saw a wounded eagle being swatted around by a "playful" bear cub. He was able to befriend the little animal and send him on his way before the cub did any further damage to the eagle. With great skill, Hunter removed an unusually large black thorn that had temporarily crippled the bird. The rest of the evening passed by without further disruption. The next day the party returned to exploring the underground complex, still searching for the Gem of Amara. The party ...

Dragonlance Comics (Issue 7) - Raistlin's Pawn

Image
City of Death This issue opens with a beautiful splash page of Takhisis talking with Raistlin. She mentions that she would know at once if he was plotting to betray her. As he reaffirms his loyality to the goddess, we see Kalathan in the middle of another one of his "posessions" and fighting with the gnome and Myrella until he regains his senses. The three are just outside of Neraka and can see the twisted temple and two flying citadels in the center of town. As they make their way closer, the run across and fight a patrol of baaz draconians. Myrella realizes that Kalathan is being drawn to this city and uses a detect magic spell to reveal that the dark elf is under some enchantment. Using a tunnel to sneak into the city, the party fights a purple worm before exiting just outside the temple. As they sneak inside, they come to the main audience chamber and see Raistlin. In the center of the huge room, a half-elf and another warrior fighting over a crown. Just then, the trumpe...

Dragonlance Comics (Issue 6) - Raistlin's Pawn

Image
Wayfarers This issue opens with Gnatch and Kalathan journeying on foot (having given up the horse they were riding in the previous issue )to the city of Kalaman when they come across the dead bodies, scattered weapons and other tell-tale signs of battle. While looking over the scene, they are confronted and fight the river pirates responsible of the carnage. The elf puts up a good fight, but is overwhelmed in the end. Before he is killed, a wave of arrows wash over the area, killing the pirates, but not Gnatch and Kalathan. The soldiers responsible for the rescue (and those the river pirates previously killed) turn out to be part of the Dragonarmy. The dark elf joins their group and "kills" Gnatch by throwing him in the nearby river as a test of his ruthlessness. As they leave, Gnatch comes out with the help of a female river pirate who survived the arrow assault. Together the woman and the gnome head to Kalaman. Meanwhile, in the city of Kalaman, Raistlin prepares to leave a...

Site Updates

Just a quick note about some site updates... * I added some subscribe buttons (to the left) * I added a blog roll, replacing the feeds that were previously there. If you know of a good D&D or Dragonlance related blog, post a comment and I'll add it to the site (if it's appropriate). * I added a feed for my twitter account "dndblog". I'll be using this to post random bits too small for a blog post, but this can also be used for more real time discussions. Hope you like the new features...

Dragonlance Comics (Issue 5) - Raistlin's Pawn

Image
Night Flight The story starts off with a Qualinesti elf trying to tame a griffon. Afterward he follows a group of silver dragons heading for the city of Palathas. Before making it to the city, the elf is magically grabbed off the griffon and brought down in the forrest outside the city. There he encounters a mysterious gold skinned black robed mage who seems to know a lot about Kalthanan. In addition to his name, the mage also knows that the elf is an outcast, or dark elf, from Qualanesti society. The mage also uses magic to hide his "own dark thoughts" within the anger that Kalathan feels toward the elven society that exiled him. Afterward, the mage has no memory of what happened and warns the elf to never "cross the path of Raislin Majere again". As the mage walks away, Kalthan lies in pain as he hears a voice in his head saying, "follow him". Sometime later (probably the next day), Gnatch, a gnome, is unvieling a device for Lord Amothus (the ruler of Pa...

Darkness and Light: The Fist and the Fury

Image
After the events of the last few sessions ( A Different Keep on the Borderlands - Part 4 and The Test ), the rest of the party continued training and planning their next move. With the dragon contained, for a while anyway, the party needed to train and do some research on their next options. Hunter trained with Marcus, another local ranger in the area. Davyn, who had trained him in the past , was not available, still researching leads on Catriona , a missing friend that the party was also trying to find. Theo was able to train with Lynn, the dwarf who had trained him previously in Flotsam. Jesswin was able to train with some monks at a small shrine in the Temple District. Greybear returned to his druidic circle (several days outside of Flotsam) to train before returning to the city to meet up with everyone else. Bergin was able to train with some visiting clerics of Paladine. While Bergin is a priest of Kiri-Jolith, the two gods are closely aligned. The party tried different avenues f...

Commenting On...

I've kept commenting turned off for a while now, but when I looked at the blog stats recently, I've seen a lot more numbers than when I first started this. Since I don't want the conversation to be one sided, I'm going to turn on the comment feature. If you're a casual reader or first time visitor, I hope you'll take a moment to leave a comment, add to the discussion, and otherwise help enrich the experience here. You've heard me ramble on for months, now I look forward to hearing from you...

The Original D&D Movie - Dragonstrike

For many years, TSR tried to come up with ways to bring new players into the D&D game. Their own research had shown that there was a steep learning curve to the rules set (something that I think has persisted to this day). To that end, TSR created various versions of D&D lite, usually in the form of a board game, sometimes with cards and plastic pieces, and always with a full set of polyhedral dice. One such game was Dragonstrike . One of the things that made this game different was the inclusion of a video. Only a small part of the video casette (remember those!) is actually instructional, most of it is a live action/computer graphics short film depicting one adventure. Be warned that the CG is pretty bad, the acting not too much better, and the plot straight out of a basic adventure... on the other hand, it does have it's moments, illustrates some basic concepts and has a disembodied floating head DM (where else are you going to see that!) So grab a soda, and a small popc...

Dragonlance Comics (Issue 4) - Honor or Life?

Image
My Honor Is My Life The story picks up shortly after the events of issue 3 . Kitiara, top her dragon Skie, is leading her army, along with an unmounted red dragon, toward Castle Silvercrown. Inside, Riva and Vandar are talking with Fizban, without getting much information out of the old wizard. Riva leaves, with the dragonlance that was recovered from the monestary of Majere in issue 1 , to join up with the castle knights. She tries to bolster their spirits before the attack, but is quickly dismissed since she's a woman. Meanwhile as Vandar and Fizban talk, the young boy, Tip, appears, happy the old wizard is still alive. As Vandar leaves to meditate on his own, Fizban questions weither or not Angriff really died the way Vandar remembered it (as seen in issue 3). Outside, as the battle rages, Riva single-handedly kills the red dragon. This event turns the tied of the battle and instills the knights with renewed vigor. Just then, Kit arrives and launchs her attack on Riva. Back insi...

Dragonlance Comics (Issue 3) - Caught in a Dream's Clutches!

Image
Continuing my review of DC's Dragonlance comics series. Nightwatch The issue starts at night in Riva's bedroom at Castle Silvercrown. As Riva and Vandar kiss, Vandar is revealed to be a draconian. Riva quickly kills the creature before setting off to find the real Vandar in the castle. She encounters her father and brother (who was revealed last issue to have been killed several months earlier by a Sivak draconian) tethered to strings like puppets trying to stop her. After Riva cuts the strings that control them, the two crumple to the floor. Elsewhere in the castle, she finds Vandar chained and tortured by a hobgoblin. She quickly kills the creature and frees the monk. As they talk, it appears Vandar is trapped in the same dream as Riva. While taking a break to rest, Riva hears Vandar talking, but then sees that he's talking to his brother Angriff (Sturm's father). As the scene plays out, Riva sees the two argue about how to deal with the angry mob outside the castl...

D&D Rules - Time to Train

I was recently writing up a post about one of the recent game sessions (I'm about three sessions, or two posts, behind the actual campaign) when I started going off on a tangent about Training. As I started writing more and more on this "tangent" I realized this should be it's own post... Here's the conundrum I run into with training in the D&D game... on one hand I like the logic that characters need to train to gain new abilities and powers. On the other hand, I hate the fact that long term adventures need to "grind to a halt" to allow PCs a couple of weeks to train. I especially have this problem when the characters are in the middle of a big, epic, "save the world" kind of adventure. There are a couple of solutions, adventure-wise, but none that I like. I could just stick with dungeon crawls, so the characters can stop, train, and resume the crawl at their leisure. But I think a good campaign should have a bit more than just "break...