If you buy any of the Next Adventures (Such as the Dead in Thay adventure) they come with the playtest rules. I'd imagine they will continue to do something similar for the other adventures.
He's being much too coy. As I've said before, I'm kind of amazed that Hasbro's PR department lets the D&D Next team get away with as much poor use of social media as they do.
That they're being evasive rather than plain-spoken, speaks volumes. I have no doubt that the game designers are very excited about their product and very apprehensive about its marketing. While I might be willing to put down $20 for a good starter set, I'm not willing to pay anything for a well-packaged scam.
Seems it will be like the last pages of "Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle" adventure: there will be just pregenerated characters and what to change on your sheets when they level up from level 1 to 5.
Seems not perfect but AT LEAST it will offer more hours of gameplay than the Red Box of 4th Edition.
I was sold on the starter....I am now unsold. What can I do with the "starter set"? I bet there is a great paragraph in there explaining what a role playing game is.
I'm in the same boat. There's NO reason that "Starter" can't be "Basic", aside from poor decision making processes. I expected a product equivalent to the Pathfinder Beginner's Box, minus the flats and map mat to keep the cost low.
I'm seriously considering un-pre-ordering the Starter Box. I'll probably wait until we get more details about its actual contents.
Why would any of us buy a "starter set" when the real game is on its way? (Not that I'll buy that either.) Isn't a "starter set" aimed at someone who has never played and would like to start? Are you guys really interested in a starter set?
Basic D&D will be released the same day as the Starter Box for players. It will be a free PDF with character generation for Rogues, Fighters, Clerics, and Wizards with Humans, Dwarves, Elves, and Halflings from level 1 to 20. This way, everyone who's not a DM can make a character away from the table. This is fairly old news.
Shadow of the Apocalypse
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Nobody knows what brought about the Time Before The Shit Hit. Or they do,
then they are not going to tell you or they do not give a fuck. What does
it mat...
Chagrinspire Adventure Seeds by Tier
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*Blogger not showing many any other ppls blogs - just kill it with fire and
a few others from 9 years ago - this stu...
Champions III: Another Super Supplement (1984)
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From the web:
*Champions III* modifies and adds to character and GM information provided
in *Champions* and *Champions II*. The book goes through the pro...
Wall-Top Lair
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By Nickolas Zachary BrownFive CataclysmsFive CataclysmsLevel ... 5? 8? The
carcass of a dead city is to many, a ruin. But to others, it is an
opportunity. ...
Friday Roundup 12/13/2024
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End of another busy week.
- Computer RPG as a training device, perhaps? This 1979 CRPG has you play a
doctor and prescribe treatment for patients. Pretty n...
The Monstrous6 Magic System
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From the PDSH wiki entry for John Force, Magic Agent
Well, I had a "*Real *Monstrous Matters" post that I was working on, as
I've been enjoying putting one...
What I Would Do If I Owned D&D
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Since in my previous post I raised the question, it is only fair that I
deliver my own thoughts on the important matter of what *I* would do if I
owned D...
The Tarot of Pips
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Somewhere in your dice collection is a die like this one, the humblest of
dice. Although you don't know it, this small white die carries with it a
secr...
Brindlegrit Gatehouse [map]
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Yes, I occasionally still do draw maps! I through this together this week,
and decided to color it out and play a little with shadows and highlights.
I lik...
Ælf-Adal - VotE Remastered Development
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Their Origins in Dream
They come from out of Nightmare, though whose, or why, no-one remembers
now. They may have been the dying dream of a coma-locked god,...
The d6 Sceptres
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Give your Knights something better to whack with.
*The Butcher’s Bludgeon*
d10 Long
When the wielder *Smites*, the attack gains both +d12 and *Blast*.
C...
Blue Sky Temple, Revised
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Last week, we made a crowdsourced dungeon on Bluesky.
It was fun and it yielded a cool dungeon with a lot of good ideas mashed
together.
This week, I ...
[CAMPAIGN JOURNAL] News on the March! Episode IV.
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This post continues the series of brief play reports I have been posting on
Discord. This does not cover every single session (sometimes, recon and
setup...
Against the Court of Urdor - Part 4
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*The Broken Temple, the Dread Wolves, the Tower of the Morning Star, and
Soggy Fields.*
*February 1000 2AH* (Second Age of Humanity)*: 1st – 12th. *
(A rec...
A real encounter with quantum goblins
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Here is one experience that might be worth discussing.
I (accidentally?) "quantum ogred" my players this week. I also used some *improvising
*and *encounte...
Gaslight news
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Greetings again, I have a bit more Victorious news this week, as the
crowd-sourced game Gaslight Victorian Fantasy by Battlefield Press
successfully made i...
Pirates and Necromancers, a Play Report
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Over the Thanksgiving weekend we did a lot of gaming ranging from
“off-table” domain level stuff to some solo adventures to spell and magic
item rese...
Games, Grinches, and Good Ideas...
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As we enter the holiday season, yours truly can't help but remember what
was doubtless the most important (and consequential) Christmas gift to ever
grac...
City of Scorn
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City of Scorn is one of the centerpieces in my current Shadowdark Campaign.
I've never spent the time to draw each sector. Each of those black squares
i...
Warsmith's Words: Magic Trev the Sorcerer
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Greetings fellow Warsmiths! A very quick update to share a picture of the
latest addition to the Iron Warriors. This is Magic Trev the Chaos Sorcerer.
I...
Fokker D-II and D-III
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The Fokker D-II was a fairly mediocre and uninspired successor to the E-III
monoplane responsible for the “Fokker Scourge” of 1915-’16. The D-III
impr...
OSR: Magical Industrial Gunboats
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Here's some useful information for river-based adventures using *Magical
Industrial Revolution*. Skip to Part 3 or click this PDF link if you just
want t...
Quick Convention Report: LongCon 2024
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[image: Quick Convention Report: LongCon 2024]
Last weekend I was able to attend LongCon in Longview, TX. I had a work
trip to the Nashville area that en...
Welcome new Greyhawk Fans!
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With the publication of the new Dungeon Master’s Guide, there are doubtless
going to be a lot of new D&D players interested in my favorite setting, the
Wor...
D&D Player’s Handbook 2024
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Being an incomplete, visual review of the 2024 Player’s Handbook. I got a
copy of this almost entirely on the strength of the new cover art: (This is
the “...
Concerning the Future of Traveller
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I have been a fan of Traveller for a long time and have bought various
books over the years from just about every Traveller licensee, as well as
from Ma...
Grimdark vs. Eucatastrophe
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Noisms has some interesting ideas in this post about his desire for some
depth to his grimdark, and turns to Gene Wolfe and Tolkien for relief.
Now, it ...
Musings on Sleep in OD&D – Is it Over-Powered?
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Link to discussion
Let’s look at the sleep spell in Men & Magic:
>Sleep: A Sleep spell affects from 2–16 1st-level types (hit dice of up to
1 + 1), from...
It's been a bit
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Hey everyone, I hope you are doing well! I've had a lot going on and
haven't had much time to blog lately. Heres a recap of gaming events and
other st...
Session #12 & Adventure Sites Compilation
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Firstly, I wanted to let everybody know that Adventure Sites I by Coldlight
Press is now available as a free download on DriveThruRPG. It includes my
own...
Jim Ward's Adventure in Gygax's Wonderland
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Last weekend at GaryCon, many of us raised a glass to the memory of Jim
Ward, who passed away just days before the convention. Ward was very
helpful to m...
The Economy Engine, v0.2
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I made a thing. For D&D 3rd edition, so it might not be that interesting to
a lot of people. But I made it and I think it’s cool. The 3rd edition
Dungeon M...
*'s in SpaaaaaAaaaace
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A lot of SF (including a certain 2D6 RPG grandaddy) deal with ancient
aliens taking humans from Earth and dropping them, fleas and all, on one or
more w...
Last move - to self-hosting!
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As my vote regarding Substack in the “marketplace of ideas”, I’m moving to
self-hosting.
I’m now at (and hopefully staying for a long time at)
Blog: ht...
Time Rolls On
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Today is December 31, 2023, in the mid-afternoon. In less than ten hours it
will be 2024. 2023 2023 was a good year. But all years are good years. Both
goo...
This is an Important Game Mechanic
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*"That's the GM's Regional Map from my AOWG. And it's a damned good
regional map. It's not a good map for a Simple Homebrew Campaign. It does
some s$&...
Clean Your Room
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Looking back at my little blog here. That last post… wow, I was having fun
playing WOW Classic! That was August of 1999 and I was having a blast… it
was ...
Steve Jackson Interview
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James Maliszewski recently did an interview with Steve Jackson over on his
Grognardia blog. Steve chats about the beginnings of The Fantasy Trip and
upcomi...
ToAD Monster of the Week: Crocoman
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Now that I'm back doing the blog thing I thought I would use Tome of
Adventure Design to create monsters for The Black Hack.
Using the monster tables in th...
Strange, Dangerous, and Inhuman: The Fey and Fairie
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When I was a boy I loved fairy tales. Jack and the Beanstalk, Puss in
Boots, Rumpelstiltskin - I devoured all of it. My fascination that there
was a strang...
New Map of the Elf Empire and Southern Isles
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I’ve been having fun developing a new map-drawing style that I think is
finally reaching a certain level of maturity. And yeah, it owes a lot to Matthew
Ad...
Dungeons & Dragonmead Fall Schedule
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*As you know, I run public classic Dungeons & Dragons games at **The Loaded
Die**/Metro Detroit Game Night's Board Game Nigh at **Dragonmead**, in
Warren...
Fiction in Airhde
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On a whim this weekend, I picked up some fiction off the TLG store. *A
Houseless God & Other Tales* and *The Mirrored Soul & Other Tales*, both by
the T...
Ravensburg Reboot: Streamlined City Map
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I mentioned in my last post how I was tweaking and reworking parts of my
Ravensburg setting. Today I streamlined the city map. The old map had lots
of redu...
And Now the News Draft Download on Patreon
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It's self-styled Throwback Thursday and *having just released the 34-page
draft booklet of Hill Cantons news to my Patreon backers* I am going to
indulge m...
The Withered Crag available now
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I just enabled the sale of the PDF version of The Withered Crag at
DriveThruRPG a few minutes ago, and the custom print version will be
available startin...
Annihilation Rising Goes live
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The latest in Fail Squad Games’ Quick Kick projects has gone live and needs
your support!! This project is only running 11 days and ends on 5/28/2019!
...
James's Celebration of Life
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We could not have asked for a prettier day for James's service. It was a
bit chilly and windy but gorgeous. A heartfelt thank you to all that joined
us tod...
Trap Tuesday: A step back
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I will get back to Tomb of Horrors soon. I found a topic that was
interesting enough to take a break. While interacting in a 5E group on
Facebook I talked ...
Let's Talk About Pacing!
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The idea, I think, is that the RPG is ultimately about the long game. Even
rolling back to the early days of Basic & Expert, the goal of the player
was...
Profane and Profound Prep Part 2
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This is part 2 of my work to edit my magic items for a DMsGuild release,
along with adding cursed items along the way. Here is part 1. Bone of a
Saint 8000...
Logan Noir (2017)
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Synopsis: In the near future, an aging Wolverine, while caring for an
ailing Professor X, takes a job to escort a young mutant girl to safety.
The young gi...
Please, I don't do paid advertisements - don't ask.
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A little note since people have asked me about this. My video channel's
*not* an advertising platform, so I'm not available for hire if you want to
promote...
New website!
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Slowly but surely, all the content here will make its way — in updated
form! — to my new website: timbannock.com. For fairly obvious reasons, that
site wil...
Please Update Your Link!
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If you're seeing this, it means your link to the Greyhawk Grognard blog is
out of date.
Please update your link to www.greyhawkgrognard.com (RSS feed is
h...
Total Sales for WB:FMAG
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Hi Folks,
It's been a long time since I provided an update for the sales of White
Box: Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game.
*LULU*
Print: 396
PDF: 433
*OBS*...
How can We Destroy this Campaign World?
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d12
1. You must trick a bard into strumming the *Chords of Fate* on the *Lute
of Annihilation*
2. Legends tell of thermonuclear weapons beneath megadunge...
Mord Mar - Session 5
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We had another successful delve into the dungeon yesterday. The delvers:
Moira, the Magic-User
Radovan - Human Cleric (of Odin?)
Khazgar Stonehand - Dwarf ...
A Small, Quiet Plea
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There has been a great deal of discussing political agendas, social
grievances, and personal attacks within the little corner of gaming that is
my hobby....
Bundle of Fantasy Age
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Bundle of Holding: Dragon Age/Fantasy Age: Available until March 12. PA
Presents: Fantasy AGE Freeport live play Green Ronin in 2018 The Fantasy
Age RPG ma...
New Free PDF Module: The Hyqueous Vaults
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A new dungeon module—written in celebration of OSRIC's 10th Birthday—by
Rebecca Dettmann, Allan T. Grohe, Jr., Jimm Johnson, Matthew Riedel, Alex
Zisch, a...
Swords & Wizardry Light: Session # 6
-
Two months after our last session (thanks to things like 8th grade finals,
a 4 year-old's birthday and party, Father's Day, etc.), we finally had our
next ...
Alright, so I'll buy absolutely nothing of your precious 5e stuff. Well played WotC marketing department, well played indeed.
ReplyDeleteBet you can use char gen from the playtest packet.
DeleteAnd for the people that didn't playtest? Where do they stand?
DeleteIf you buy any of the Next Adventures (Such as the Dead in Thay adventure) they come with the playtest rules. I'd imagine they will continue to do something similar for the other adventures.
DeleteBet you can figure something else to do while the other books come out if it's so rough for.
DeleteNo Character generation in the Starter set, well they f'd up. Not worth the purchase price now.
ReplyDeleteThis is confusing. They have a starter set, but not putting basic character creation. That's not a starter set to me, but what do I know.
ReplyDeleteHe's being much too coy. As I've said before, I'm kind of amazed that Hasbro's PR department lets the D&D Next team get away with as much poor use of social media as they do.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Twitter here is demonstrating just how much it can be abused. Someone make the guy stop and write a complete paragraph, for gods' sakes.
DeleteThat they're being evasive rather than plain-spoken, speaks volumes. I have no doubt that the game designers are very excited about their product and very apprehensive about its marketing. While I might be willing to put down $20 for a good starter set, I'm not willing to pay anything for a well-packaged scam.
ReplyDeleteIt tells me character creation can't fit in a starter box set. I really wanted that, perhaps an SRD? or ...ugh...an online generator?
ReplyDeleteChargen well-explained runs about six pages.
ReplyDeleteSo... They couldn't charge another dollar for it? Troubling.
"Break out the AD&D 1e Player's Handbook?"
ReplyDeleteAnd play that instead? Great idea!
Ha! I'm with you, Lamont.
DeleteThey really should have included levels 1-5 for char gen, not just pregens. Sigh. Concerning that they couldn't figure even this basic bit out.
ReplyDeleteSeems it will be like the last pages of "Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle" adventure: there will be just pregenerated characters and what to change on your sheets when they level up from level 1 to 5.
ReplyDeleteSeems not perfect but AT LEAST it will offer more hours of gameplay than the Red Box of 4th Edition.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI think everyone here is equating Starter Set with Basic Set.
ReplyDeleteThis product seems to be an intro to the game and not a standalone without ever buying the books product that you all want.
I was sold on the starter....I am now unsold. What can I do with the "starter set"? I bet there is a great paragraph in there explaining what a role playing game is.
ReplyDeleteI'm in the same boat. There's NO reason that "Starter" can't be "Basic", aside from poor decision making processes. I expected a product equivalent to the Pathfinder Beginner's Box, minus the flats and map mat to keep the cost low.
DeleteI'm seriously considering un-pre-ordering the Starter Box. I'll probably wait until we get more details about its actual contents.
Dan, it is equivalent, but only for the DM and $15 cheaper. The player's section is a free download and is better since it goes to level 20.
DeleteWhy would any of us buy a "starter set" when the real game is on its way? (Not that I'll buy that either.) Isn't a "starter set" aimed at someone who has never played and would like to start? Are you guys really interested in a starter set?
ReplyDeleteBasic D&D will be released the same day as the Starter Box for players. It will be a free PDF with character generation for Rogues, Fighters, Clerics, and Wizards with Humans, Dwarves, Elves, and Halflings from level 1 to 20. This way, everyone who's not a DM can make a character away from the table. This is fairly old news.
ReplyDelete