Our good buddy Zzarchov over at Unofficial Games has taken a crack at some system neutral Sizzle Cards.  My personal favorite: WARDROBE MALFUNCTION!

The feedback that we’ve gotten on the Sizzle Card idea has been extremely positive.  Post up those ideas for Sizzle Cards and we’ll roll ’em up into a PDF similar to what Zzarchov has done.  I’m honestly a little afraid of what Vanir will come up with!  Thanks for taking this one the extra mile, Zzarchov!

Jonathan over at The Core Mechanic is shutting down his blog operations on July 1, and as part of his send off, he’s asking for everyone in the community to share their “I am a gamer” thoughts.

Check out his post here for more information on participating.

Over the weekend, most of our D&D crew packed up and headed out to Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve here in Colorado.  We had packed our gaming gear, however a smattering of bad weather on Saturday afternoon and some overly rambunctious children prevented us from actually getting to play D&D under the stars.  The weekend wasn’t a complete loss from a roleplaying perspective… I got all sorts of context surrounding moving through difficult terrain and what a desert ecology actually feels like first hand as we hiked to the top of some of the largest sand dunes in North America.

One of my fellow campers joked that we were probably one of the only camping groups to come to this site with a battle mat and D&D books in tow.  We all had a laugh and lamented that it was too windy and dark to play properly so we left our campaigning aside, but it got me wondering about all of the interesting places that our readers come from.

So I ask you this, gentle reader: What’s the most exotic locale that you’ve played a roleplaying game in?  Did the environment get in the way?  Did bears eat your dice?  Birds swoop in and snatch your mini off of the battle board?  Tell us about it!

Over the weekend one of our frequent commentors and all-round good guy, Todd Bradley, invited us to a D&D game that he is running.  This marks the first time that Stupid Ranger and I have played D&D with a  group comprised entirely of people we’ve never met before, so it was pretty exciting.  They have been running through a D&D 3.5 module named The Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde, and it seems to be fun so far!

Adding a little spice

Todd has employed a very fun method of adding a little flair to his already fun campaign: sizzle cards.  Each player gets to draw a slip of paper at the beginning of each session that contains a special action that the player can invoke to affect the game in some way.  I haven’t seen the majority of them yet, but I got one that said “That’s no monster, that’s a guy in a costume!” which I assume means I could’ve turned a monster into a costumed person.  Another player invoked a random rockslide.  Someone else in our group told me they had one before that caused a successful hit to cause arterial spray to blind the attacker for the rest of the battle.

The players informed me that this wasn’t all fun and games, and that the Dungeon Master had the option to interpret the card creatively.  My old DM used to do this same thing with any of the Wish spells, but it was certainly always fun to try!

There’s a lot of things that I like about this approach to adding some random behavior and fun to a campaign.  It gives the players a little irreverent control over their surroundings, and the element of surprise is there since nobody else knows what Sizzle Card you have but you.  I like that it keeps the DM on his toes too, I’m sure a lot of thought goes into the Sizzle Cards and how they can impact the planned portion of the module/campaign.  Finally, it allows the DM to use some of those random content ideas that invariably pop into mind when you have to run the game instead of play.

Todd informed me that this idea wasn’t originally his, so thanks to whoever originated this idea!  Also, thanks to Todd and his group of players for inviting us into their group.  I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of new post ideas originated from such a great group of people and much fun to be had as a result!

Kanati strikes once again with a freshly revamped Skythorn (now with 200% less Jheri-curl lampshade hair)!

As previously documented, I am currently playing an eladrin wizard who prefers fire-based spells.  Eaerenel is quite happy setting fire to the bad guys, and she can’t imagine life any other way.  This has presented a bit of a concern for character development as Eaerenel gains levels.  It’s not a problem yet, but it might be soon, because after perusing various Paragon paths, I haven’t found one involving fire.

I will say up front that I have not thoroughly examined every source book that includes Paragon paths, but I have taken a look at most of the options included in the PHB, PHB2 and Arcane Power.  And I haven’t found anything focusing on fire.

Eaerenel is not yet ready for a Paragon Path, but I like to be prepared.  I’m not interested in changing her focus from fire spells just to fit into the offered paths.  So in order to keep true to my fiery friend’s nature, I’m planning on adapting the Spellstorm Mage from the PHB (p.170), changing the keyword from Lightning to Fire.

And here’s my question for everyone out there: have any of you adapted or developed your own Paragon Paths?

During our last session of the Keep on the Shadowfell, we came to a difference in opinion regarding how much exploration to undertake, knowing that the Big Bad was still ahead of us.

The Debate

Our Explorers wanted to finish opening every door before taking on the Big Bad.  Not a bad plan, all in all; exploration leads to a higher the potential for treasure.

Our Skip Ahead-ers wanted to ignore the mundane sections and just get the combat out of the way.  Why waste time killing off minions when you could productively killing the Big Bad?

The Decision

Based on in-character votes, the majority decided to get the battle out of the way.  Not knowing if the Big Bad had any sort of early detection system in place that would give away our presence, we pressed on and skipped what appeared to be unnecessary doors.

The Result

We might have missed out on some odds and ends of things, and there might be some minions of evil wandering around the abandoned Keep.  But let’s face it, they weren’t really bright, and most were too lazy to think about leaving the dark, dankness of the Keep to seek vengeance against us for killing their leader.

The Metagaming Aspect

This debate in our campaign was a little… skewed.  It’s easy to consider the module and its specific end, as opposed to the unexpected where you don’t know what’s coming at the end, or where the end will be.  This is especially significant as the end of the night draws near… there’s extra pressure to just finish and ignore the peripheral rooms so everyone can get some sleep.

So while I sided with the Skip Ahead-ers during the session, I know that there is value to be had in the Exploration mode.  It’s important to remember as you are going through modules that just because you know there is an end, you don’t have to run straight to it.  Be aware of your character’s motivations, as well as the feelings of the rest of the group, before you decide if you want to open that door or skip ahead to the next.

Those of you who have been with us from the beginning may remember our short-lived Evensbrook comic. It was a great deal of fun, but ultimately the amount of work it took was more than I could handle. And so, since then, I have been gazing dreamily into the heavens, wishing that I could just write for the comic and the gods would send me an artist. As it turns out, our longtime friend Kanati has offered to step up to the plate and give the ol’ dire flail a few swings.  Though not quite the storybook ending I was hoping for (he did not, for instance, ride up on a white horse) — I, for one, could not be happier.

Here is a taste of things to come!

As Dante posted a few days ago, we have reached the end of Keep on the Shadowfell, and having reached this goal, those of us running multiple characters have to decide which one would continue adventuring while the other retired.

First Contender: Rynna the Bard

Rynna was introduced into our campaign in our “test a PHB2 character” phase.  Rynna is a Virtue of Valor Bard, so she’s up in melee, inspiring everyone to greater glory.

Why She Should Stay: With the Bard’s Leader role, Rynna offers some nice bonuses that help everyone in the party, as well as granting temporary hit points and healing surges.

Why She Should Retire: Our party also includes a Warlord, who offers similar bonuses.  Plus, we’re a very melee-heavy party; with the Avenger, the Barbarian and the Warlord all melee fighters, we’re pretty well covered in the “hit you with a sword” category.  Both of these elements have, at times, made me feel as if Rynna was superfluous, which detracts from my enjoyment as a player.

Second Contender: Eaerenel the Wizard

Eaerenel is a fiery sort of Wizard, because Fire is always a fun way to eliminate your enemies.  She likes to stand back and toss her spells from a safe distance, and she takes great delight in killing off multiple minions with a wave of her wand.

Why She Should Stay: Eaerenel has proven very useful in the “hurting a lot of the bad guys at once” role of Controller.  And her cantrips and rituals have been very helpful on more than one occasion.

Why She Should Retire: Like most Wizards, once her big spells are exhausted, she’s not as effective in combat.  And when all you can manage is a couple d4 damage as the end of the battle nears and your companions fall to the big bad’s attacks, you feel pretty miserable.

And the Winner Is…

Eaerenel the Wizard.  Her fiery nature is a good complement to the rest of the group and its dynamics of combat, and I have a lot of fun playing her.

In the end, my determining factor came down to how much fun I had playing each character.  I always had a good time with Eaerenel and her fire spells.  Rynna just wasn’t as much fun this time around, and I think it’s because her skills were too similar to those of other characters.

So Rynna will retire from this group, quite happy to have enjoyed a rousing good battle against evil.  She’s too much of a free spirit to stay tied to one group for too long anyway, so she’ll take a short break from adventuring to write her songs about this experience, then move on to something new.

We’re happy to return to the webcomic world!  We’re also happy to welcome Kanati as our resident artist.  He is also my recent co-DM and often fills the roll of the little devil that tells me do to terrible things to my players.

This particular pearl of excellence is the result of a random series of non-sequitors in our last campaign!

I’m still getting used to this new web comic manager, so mind my dust as we get this all sorted out!