This post continues the detailed comparison between the D&D Basic PDF and the last playtest packet that WotC issued (10-14-2013). Part One of this analysis focused on races and classes; this time, we’re getting into more terra incognita, including one of the most-discussed paragraphs in the whole blesséd thing. Without […]
On Thursday, 3 July, 2014, the tabletop gaming world was… not rocked to its core, perhaps, but the vast majority of conversation was turned to the release of D&D Starter and D&D Basic for the new edition (which, for want of any other term, we distinguish as 5e). The former […]
The Bellringer’s Tomb For the past few weeks, I’ve gotten back into Below and Fallen London (formerly known as Echo Bazaar), two browser-based choose-your-own-adventure games. I’ve mentioned Echo Bazaar reasonably often in this blog, though it’s been awhile; I think my hiatus from the game ran nearly two years. I had […]
So I don’t have a long history with roguelike video games. Not to twist the knife for any geezers in the audience, but I was not yet born when Rogue was first released. I’ve played plenty of games that take place in dungeons – Diablo, Diablo II, Path of Exile, just to […]
I’ve mentioned Birthright a dozen or more times over the past few years of writing this blog, especially while playing around with SIFRP hacks, but I’ve never written a detailed post of why it deserves its place in the canon of D&D’s settings. If it weren’t wedded pretty heavily to its […]
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been playing a new iOS game called Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas. I play a lot of things I don’t care about, and this isn’t a dedicated review blog, so if I’m bothering to post a review, then spoiler: I liked it. It’s not a […]
It’s been a long time now since I first cracked the cover of Skyrealms of Jorune and began my detailed examination of this famously strange game. It’s been a pretty slow news week on the D&D Next front, what can I say? So here we are, in Chapter Two (Creating Your […]
Wow, crazy – this might be the last of my reviews of a new playtest packet. Or not; there are a number of notes in this packet that suggest that it isn’t quite as final as they’ve claimed, such as the reference to additional paladin paths coming out… eventually. Anyway, the […]
In the past couple of months, for whatever reasons of nostalgia (and reading about the new expansion of Lords of Waterdeep), I’ve been thinking about the Forgotten Realms setting – likely the single most loved and hated setting in all of D&D. Hence the title of this post quoting Bernard Cornwell, […]
A new playtest packet for D&D Next dropped last Friday, and in accordance with prophecy, I’m writing up my thoughts on same. They’ve hugely overhauled all of the classes – heck, they even changed the name of the wizard class – so let’s just jump right in. A quick glance at […]