Dragonlance D&D Game Blog

So I recently ran across the Good Bad Flicks movie review channel on YouTube, and specifically found their review for the original D&D Movie. I found the review to be very generous, in fact, I don't think I've ever read a review that includes so many positive things about the film without being just a total "rah-rah" puff piece. Also, the review has some nice background information about the making of the movie, mostly at the end of the video, that I hadn't heard before. At less than 30 min, it's worth taking a look at. Here's the YouTube link: Dungeons and Dragons Movie Review - Good Bad Flicks

When thinking about Dungeons and Dragons, especially so close to Halloween, I naturally think less  of epic campaigns and warriors defeating great evil, and more of the classic things and got bump in the night. In the early days of D&D, few probably thought of the game through such a radical re-imagining--sure there were the classic creatures like werewolfs, mummies, and vampires, along with a plethora of other undead filling up the various monster manuals. But that all changed when TSR release Ravenloft . A module by Tracy Hickman (of future Dragonlance fame) and his wife Laura. The module is a radical departure from standard crawls, offering a haunted house, in place of the ubiquitous dungeon, and offering a vampire antagonist who is a fully fleshed out character with backstory and personal motives. Any while much of Strahd may look, at first glance, like a swipe on Count Dracula, he can be so much more, and most importantly, he was so much more than the standard vampir...

If you followed my previous posts about the upcoming Dungeons and Dragons Kre-o line ( here and here ), you know I am eagerly looking forward to their release next year. So you can image how glad I was to see preview images of some of the sets and details and prices on those products. Unfortunately, after looking over the images and product descriptions in greater detail, I'm a little less enthused than I once was. If you want to see more of the pictures and read the product information for yourself, check out the post here on battlegrip.com (the link will open in a new window, so you can look at the images and following along with my comments here). First, a couple of things I like about the sets. Variety of sets for different budgets. They have simple figure packs as low as 2.99, up to sets running as high as 24.99, so there's something for everyone. For the minifigs (or Kreons as Kre-o calls them), there are a good variety of armors, helms, and weapons across t...

After leaving Darsov at the basecamp last session , the party returned to the mountain lair of the black dragon Scourge. At the end of one of the crude hallways, they found a secret passage that lead into another shifting hallway, this one ending in large cavern with a pool of still water taking up much of the room. In the center of the pool was a old chest that looked like it had been dragged through the Maelstrom to end up here in the room, sitting on a ledge just underneath the water line. After Jes climbs into the water, which is up toward his shoulders. He starts making his way toward the submerged chest, but before he reaches the object, a hideous water naga rises to confront him. Theo, in an attempt to protect the party on the shore, pours oil on the water and sets it on fire. Three other naga rise from the water depths of the lake, but none of them move to attack. The naga soon reveal that they are the protectors of the "greatest treasure of the Stone Hammer clan....

There are a couple of movies coming out (hopefully) soon that look to be of interest to the gaming crowds. And no, I don't mean the Dungeons and Dragons movie that Hasbro is trying to put together at Universal once they deal with this lawsuit and that lawsuit . In case you haven't heard, they are... Zero Charisma - This movie is opening in limited release in THEATERS, actual theaters I tell you! It tells the tale of local popular DM (actually GM, they avoid D&D specific trademarks) who suddenly finds his sway over his gaming group challenged by the arrival of a new player to his group. This dark comedy looks like it will trod familiar geek tropes like living in the basement and lack of romantic relationships. We'll see if rises above the obvious to provide something interesting for movie goers.      Zero Charisma opens in limited release in the US starting tomorrow (Friday Oct 11), and is already available as a VOD selection depending on your cable provider....

I recently had the pleasure of starting a new book (all the while with plenty of other half-finished books scattered around me). The book in question was " Of Dice and Men ", by David M. Ewalt. I was eager to read this once I learned it was a non-fiction book about the history of role playing games, specifically focusing on D&D, but also touching on others. As a notoriously slow reader, and with plenty of time during my daily commutes to and from work, I picked this book up from Audible.com which not only offered the book in Unabridged format, but also indicated that the book was read, in part, by the author himself. I'm only about a quarter of the way through the book, but I'm really enjoying. The book starts off a bit clunky, with the first part focusing on the author's gaming group and the characters each plays. There's also a heavy bit of rules detail, that as a long time D&D player, I didn't need to sit through. If this was a printed or...

Stumbled on a great artist, Stefani Rennee, who has in his portfolio , wonderful renditions of Eric and Sheila from the 80's Dungeons and Dragons cartoon . Check it out from the link above. I was a fan of the series as a kid, and I admit that I kinda liked Hank the Ranger the best (let's be honest, he had one of the few offensive weapons in the group), when I re-watched the series a few years ago, when I bought the DVDs, I realized that Eric is probably the most realized of all the characters. I hope Stephani adds portraits for the other characters in the same style. I could easily imagine a one-shot game night where the players take on revised versions of those classic characters, and use the new artwork for reference. 

If you read my previous post, you already know about the upcoming Dungeons and Dragons Kre-0 sets that were announced at this year's San Diego Comic-Con. Just recently I found, on the Kastors Korner blog, images of more of the minifigs that will be appearing in the new sets. Just click on the link above and scroll down toward the bottom of the page to see the photo gallery. What's really interesting, besides what the figures will look like, and some of their accessories, is the fact that they draw on specific D&D IP, namely, key characters from the Forgotten Realms setting. Wulfgar, one of Drizzt's companions prior to the whole spell-plague time jump hints that we might see sets based on some of the earlier books, while characters like Lord Neverember and Isteval hint at sets and figures from the current Sundering event. I was excited when I first heard about these sets, now even more so!

I've decided for my final Gen Con post to touch on a subject that just recently came to light for me. With 2013, I've now gone to Gen Con four years in a row. On top of that I also went four times when the convention was in Milwaukee (long live the Safe House). In all that time I can honestly say that I've never had the "Full Gen Con Experience". And honestly, it's a myth (hence the title for this post). While the convention technically goes on for four days, five if you count all the Day Zero things--more of which seem to crop up every year--there is really just too much going on at any given time to take it all in. In all the years I've attended, I've only seen the costume parade once, stumbled in to the anime room once, and never played a game of MTG. I rarely attend the "Paint and Take" any more, though I love to look at all the contest entries, and I probably spend way too much time in the Vendor's Hall. But this is just my...

For my penultimate Gen Con post of 2013, I want to touch on a few other things I did or saw, or in some cases didn't see at the con. While a large appeal of the con is the chance to play all sorts of games, shopping in the vendor's room is just as big a drawl. With the chance to see up close and demo games you might not have known about, get a copy of an early release of a game (I'm looking at you Pathfinder card game fans), or get that sought after mini, or TCG card, not to mention all manner of costume accessories or home furnishings, it's easy to see why the room is always crowded. This year I didn't have a real shopping list going in to the vendor's room, but I still found myself in there nearly every day. Thursday's visit was to pick up the few must have items (gifts for friends and family). I tried to get in to the Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) booth to see what they had on site, but the wait line was too long (as in stretching around their booth an...

I had originally planned to write each day of Gen Con as it happened, at the end of the day. Unfortunately my schedule left me with little time at the end of each day to do a proper recap. Here now is the first in a series of posts about my Gen Con experiences. Check back for more posts about my con experience. Note: I just read a posting that seemed to indicate that Gen Con attendance was 49 thousand unique visitors, up over 20% from last year. Kudos to the Gen Con staff and planners, while there were more people this year, it didn't feel as congested in the hallways or the vendor's room as it had in the past. As I've mentioned before , one of my goals at Gen Con is to try new games, to step outside my comfort zone. This year, I actually did that a couple of times. One such game was Letters from Whitechapel, a game where one person takes on the role of Jack the Ripper, and the other players (up to 5) are the detectives trying to track him down.  Once the crime i...

Yesterday was the first official day of the convention, and what a whirlwind day it was. Things started out with me having to get up early so I could un-register for some events I didn't want. I was planning to take care of the events on Wed, especially with GenCon touting it's "24 hr a day service" at the Badges and Events booths. Unfortunately the 24 hr/day doesn't start until 7am on the morning of the first official day of the con, otherwise, they close at 9pm. If I had known that, I would have taken care of the event issues right away. And I can't fault GC for this, it was noted that Wed had limited hours, I just didn't see it. Anyway, everything got taken care of and I headed off to my first event, this year's version of the D&D Dungeon Delve. This time around, there wasn't really a dungeon, and little delving going on. Instead -- oh wait, I don't want to ruin it. Suffice to say, I had an ok time. I found myself knowing some of ...

So I'm now in Indy getting ready for the 2013 GenCon convention. Today is basically day 0, the convention hasn't really started, but on the other hand, it kind of has. Like last year, I drove out to the con, and had a great time with my car buddy Brad. It was a great chance to catch up on what we've been up to, what our respective families have been doing, and of course, talking about all things geek. Once we arrived and dropped off our gear, we headed over to the convention to get our badges. The line was super long, but moved much faster than we could have expected. In less that 15 minutes we both had passes and event tickets in hand. Next up, time to get the swag bag. Oh, wait there's no swag bag this year? Bummer, but the coupon book looked better than it had been in previous years, so maybe that will make up for it, especially since most of the swag I would ditch before leaving the state at the end of the week. One other little thing I noticed. In the past ...

As I get ready for GenCon 2013, I find that this year, unlike most others, I'm not heading off to Indianapolis with a list of must-get items. Now part of this is certainly due to the fact that this year Dungeons and Dragons is between editions, so there's no hot off the presses source book or box set for my favorite RPG, but it's not just the lack of D&D product that's reduced my shopping list to near nothing. I'm starting to wonder, is Kickstarter is to blame. Is it killing off, or at least diminishing, the excitement of the GenCon vendor's room? In the past I would circle around the Reaper Miniatures booth, or gaze longingly at the various Dwarven Forge setups. But thanks to Kickstarter, if I took part in the Reaper Bones KS from a while ago, or the Dwarven Forge Game Tiles KS from earlier this year, I'd have little reason to visit either location. Same for Larry Elmore, an artist I've admired since I read my first Dragonlance book, and who...

Ok folks, it's time for another round of Dungeons and Dragons video clips, courtesy of YouTube. First up, we have a clip that is supposedly from a 700 Club promo video. Needless to say, it offers a VERY unrealistic version of D&D. If the clip isn't funny enough, check out the comments on the YouTube page . Now to help cleanse your pallet a bit, here something a little more realistic, this time from PBS. Wait, D&D is just about story telling, and hanging out with friends? Inconceivable !

As I've mentioned before in previous posts , I'm a big fan of Lego, even using them in my Dungeons and Dragons games in various ways. I was surprised the other day to read about the license deal between D&D and Kre-o. For those who don't know, Kre-o produces a Lego compatible product, with bricks and other elements that fit with the various geometries of Lego pieces. (I'll save any discussion of the quality of Lego versus the knock-off brands for other sites and blogs.) Kre-o has recently released a number of sets based on license agreements, including G.I. Joe, Transformers, and Battleship (in line with the recent movie). Not surprisingly, all these products, as well as Dungeons & Dragons, share one common element, Hasbro. As the parent company it must have been an easy decision to award the toy brick building licenses to its own in-house brand Kre-o, as opposed to working with the leading, and much better recognized, Lego. On one hand I'm glad to ...

It's been a while since I wrote up a game session post. You may want to refresh yourself with the current story line by checking out these past posts . After meeting with Marzena, the dragon sage , and securing passage to the rumored island where the Black Scourge once made it's lair, the party set off... The ship's captain was heading for trade on several islands around the Maelstrom, putting the ship close to the Elian Wilds. The island, home to several jungle barbarian tribes wasn't one of the stops on the trading tour, so the party had to swim ashore on their own. If the party was alive in three week's time when the ship passed by again, they would be picked up, otherwise, there was a small trading outpost on the far side of the island where they could get passage back to the main land. The party heading to the island consisted of: Theo (kender thief) Hunter (half-elven ranger) Adow (human mage) Jessriel (human monk) Everyone had been previously ...

On Death of Pain - Part 2 This issue picks up just after the end of #33 . It starts with the healer giving us an update on Griffin, who was gravely wounded, and needed the care of the healer Tykel. While Griffin is responding well to the herbs that the healer is using, Skrum and Riva ask her to continue with the story of Miisia and the Blackgem. After a little dialog from Tykel (catching us up on the events of issue 33), we jump into the story with Lord Bylarr simultaneously threatening and trying to inspire his troops to press on. Lord Bylarr also dumps a lot of backstory on us explaining that while he has the Blackgem, he wants to destroy Marsval Solarzz, and that he needs to bring the gem to the same location Marsval was intending to go anyway. Seems to active the power, you also need to bring it to the one place were it can be destroyed (wow, that's an original idea). Marsval and Miisia travel through a snow covered mountain where they encounter some tribal elves. The elv...

Just a little reminder. If you are thinking about GenCon, the pre-reg deadline is fast approaching, this Saturday the 29th to be exact. One of the benefits of pre-reg is getting to save a few bucks on the cost of admission. This year, the cost savings is $10. And of course you need to register for a badge before you can book a hotel room, or sign up for any events. And this year there are plenty of events to check out, from a bunch of new D&D Next games, to the usual slate of board, card, and other rpg games. GenCon is one of the best places to try new games, or reconnect with classics that you might not have played in a while. Anyway, if you're interested, now is definitely the time to head over to the GenCon site and see what interests you. I'm sure you'll find plenty of somethings. See you at the con...

If you are using the new D&D Next rules in your game (like I currently am), there are a number of resources you should be aware of to keep up to date with the latest thinking of this still-evolving game. One resource that I seem to keep "rediscovering" is the The Tome Show . While I've been a fan of this podcast for a while for their D&D 4e coverage, I'm glad to see they are just as thorough in their coverage of D&D Next. This podcast covers a pretty wide swath in the D&D game space, with episodes covering the latest 4e book release, other episodes around their monthly book club, and some episodes featuring several DMs discussing their own ongoing games. For the D&D Next fan, The Tome Show is covering all the latest releases around the D&D Next rules, as well highlighting columns and online articles you may have missed. Their monthly news desk shows are a great way to make sure you aren't missing any details. The next few resources are ...

There seems to be a lot of Murder going on in Baldur's Gate, and it's a little confusing to this partial resident of the Realms. I mean, there's a GenCon event called Murder in Baldur's Gate , then there's the next D&D Encounters season to be called Murder in Baldur's Gate , and on top of that there's a listing on Amazon.com call, what else, Murder in Baldur's Gate . Are these all the same thing? If I play the GenCon game, is that going to be the same as the Encounters season, which is the same as what I can buy on Amazon? Or worse, is the GenCon game a teaser for Encounters? After the four hour GenCon event, I hope it doesn't end with a big... And is the Amazon product just a "for sale" version of the Encounters season? So unless you have a Delorean, with a working Flux Capacitor and Mr Fusion, I guess we'll just have to wait and see. In other news   GenCon 2013 is shaping up to look a lot different this year than ...

Recently, I've been having an issue running my weekly or even biweekly Dungeons and Dragons game. With five players, it's been difficult scheduling everyone for a convenient time. And even then, work or life was often rearing its head leaving us short at the game table. My general rule of thumb is that if I can get at least three players, then I'll run the others as NPCs for a given session, but even getting just three was problematic. Then one of my most consistent players had to drop out of the group, leaving us with 4 players and myself. It was definitely time to turn on the recruiting drive. There are a number of different things you can try. I'll list out what I did and what seemed to be the most successful for me. One of the things I did NOT do, was post a sign up at my local game store. It's 2013 folks, and since I do most of the session scheduling via email, I wanted someone at least tech-comfortable, if not tech-savvy. Other folks my have better re...

On Death of Pain This issue begins what would be the last TSR/DC Dragonlance arc. For the final 2 issues we have a new team, with writer Paul Kupperberg (brother of Alan Kupperberg who provided art for issues 29 ) and artist Grant Miehm. The story starts off with Riva and friends--we're back to the "Riva on Taladas" setting that had be the basis for about the last year's worth of stories, not counting issues 30-32--looking for shelter after a run-in with a minotaur patrol from the League of Minotaurs. Their companion, Griffin, is greatly hurt, and Riva sets off by herself to find help. In a nearby village, covered in the aftermath of a minotaur attack (seemingly separate from the attack that wounded Griffin). Riva comes across an old woman named Tykel who is a priestess of the cult of Mislaxa (the name for Mishakal the goddess of healing on Taladas) and who is willing to help her and her friends. After starting to tend to Griffin, Tykel begins to tell the stor...

If you're anything like me, then you probably have a bunch of games that you've purchased in the past, intending to run, but never quite getting around to. I have a bunch of games like this, and being the pack rat that I am, most (ok, all) are still in my possession. So, when I finalized my plans for GenCon this year, and realized that I would be in Indy with friends, some I haven't seen for awhile, I had an epiphany! I would dust off one of these never-played games and run a quick session during our time at the con. The game I selected? A lesser known game called Legacy: War of Ages . It was basically a riff on the Highlander movies, with all of the film's IP thinly disguised. There are a few unique concepts in the game, and it expands the world by including Vampires, Warlocks, and a few other nasties to challenge the immortal characters. Overall the original game never got great reviews, and while the few supplements that actually saw light of day were of dubi...

As I start getting ready for GenCon 2013 , I find myself thinking about last year's event, and since I didn't write a blog post about it at the time, here's... My Woefully Past Due Gen Con 2012 Report GenCon 2012 was probably my tenth GenCon overall, and my third in a row. While there's no point touching on any of the announcements or products available at the show, I do want to highlight a few things that really helped make this one of the most memorable visits ever. Trying New Things Every convention I typically sign up for a few D&D games, and 2012 was no different, playing in a few 4e events as well some D&D Next. In addition to this staple of the RPG field, I always try to sign up for something outside my comfort zone. In the past, it was trying new card games like 7th Sea or Death Angel, RPGs like Brave New World or Star Wars (back in the West End days), or board games like City of Thieves. In 2012, I was hoping to try out the new Marvel RPG game, bu...

As I ramp back up to writing this blog on a regular weekly basis, here's a few other news items I meant to comment on a while ago. In recent months, while many players eagerly await the release of "D&D Next", Wizards of the Coast has found numerous other ways to keep our interest in D&D going, including releases guaranteed to appease our eyes and ears. Recently Wizards has released a number of classic novels in audio book format on Audible.com . Previously only a select number of books (mostly those from the most well known Wizards authors like R. A. Salvatore or Margaret Wies and Tracy Hickman) were released in audio book format, and even then, mostly in abridged format. Now, thanks to the last releases, all in unabridged format, D&D fans can fill their ears with the works of the above mentioned authors, as well as many other books set in the D&D worlds of Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun, Eberron, Ravenloft, and more. Just check out the D...

As I've mentioned once or twice before, I'm a big fan of the Dwarven Forge terrain. Unfortunately, like many, the cost of Dwarven Forge is typically outside my budget, limiting my collection to a few basic sets. That's why, when I heard of Dwarven Forge's Kickstarter project I had to check it out and ended up backing the project in the first day. Like any Kickstarter project, there are a number of backer levels, from as little as $1 all the way up to $3500, but the $120 level is the minimum level needed to earn the various stretch goals that continue to be unlocked every few days. Originally the project was looking to raise $50K, a goal reached in just the first few hours of the first day of backing. Now with about 10 days left to go, the project has raised almost $800K, unlocking all manner of stretch goals. Originally the stretch goals were additional pieces (more walls, floors, doors, etc), but after listening to the backers on the Kickstarter forum, they s...