I like fantasy comic books over the traditional super-hero stuff. Give me Conan, and Sinbad, and Red Sonja (hubba hubba). Nothing made me happier, and then sadder, then the recent Worlds of Dungeons & Dragons comic line by Devil’s Due Publishing. It had iconic characters, great art, and great stories by some of today’s top fantasy authors.  And POOF the comic suddenly stopped (if anyone knows what happened, please leave a comment). So, I was very happy to see IDW , not only take up the reins of this prestigious comic line, but inside were teasers for new Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun, Ebberon, and Salvatore/Drizzt comic goodness.

But there is more to this story.  There is a reason why am I writing about a free comic preview from August in December.  Well in November, issue #1 came out, followed by #2 this month. And, I wanted to point out how really cool this series is!

Two words… Marketing GENIUS.  This is a great example of two companies working together, using their individual talents, to create one really cool product. For in the last several pages of each of these comics, is a D&D 4E adventure. And not just any adventure. It is the story just told in the comic, brought to life for the game table.

So here is my take on the new Dungeons & Dragons Comic:

The comic itself is fun, campy, and adventurous. Funny and cool situations mixed together in an interesting adventure. It really brings the feel of playing a role-playing game into a comic. Other high-fantasy comics have gone the serious route (and that is really good too), but expect a lot of situational humor and jokes that only those who regularly sit at a game table will get. I guess a better way of explaining this is that this comic series more captures what it is like to play D&D rather then one that captures a story in a fantasy novel.

The adventures are also very good. Created by Wizard of the Coast’s Bill Slavicsek, these short sets of encounters (aka a delve) can be plucked and added to any adventure. But of course, they can also be played together to recreate the events in the comic series.

The only negative thing I can say about this product, is that if you want to run these adventure for your group, and you want it to all be a surprise, then you will have to keep your group from reading the comics.  And good luck with that!

Dungeons and Dragons comics are available through IDWs online store, other online merchants, and your friendly local comic shop.

Let us know what you think!

Stuart

For Under the Tree

Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game by Wizards of the Coast.

This game had given me mixed emotions this year. I was excited when It was first announced, for it was Ravenloft, the world I love the most. I was upset when I first found out the game was based on D&D 4E rules, because I thought I wanted a different board game experience then that. However, I was re-excited when I actually played the game, because it is GOOD! The modified 4E rules makes an excellent boardgame. Its fully customizable and easy to design your own adventures or create your own components. It is a great board game to bridge the gap between your RPG friends and your Board Game friends. And best of all, you can play it as a 1-player solo adventure. And the game actually works really well in this mode (though I found it sad that I had no one to brag at, after i landed my killing blow). This is a Co-Op game, which is the hot stuff now. This game is definitely worth a grab.

Shootin’ Ladders: Frag Fest by Smirk & Dagger Games

Now to the opposite of the co-op game, a backstab and kill all your friends game. Take a first-person-shooter video game, rip it out, throw its essence into gingerbread men, and throw them on the old-school Shoots-and-Ladders board, and you have a recipe for cookie carnage. I first played this game at GTS this year, then again at Gen Con. This game blew me away (literally). A great party game or a “waiting for the rest of your friends to show up” game. Basically, everyone assumes the role of a gun-toting gingerbread man on a conquest to be the last-cookie-standing. You pick up equipment and ammo along the way, and take cover behind obstacles on the board where possible. Everyone has a small character sheet, similar to MechWarrior, that tracks damage to parts of the body. The best part, when you deliver the killing blow to one of those body parts, the part is ripped off the character sheet and given to you as a souvenir. I love the small of frosting in the morning! It smells like…[sniff, sniff]… victory.

Stocking Stuffers

Poo: The Card Game by Wildfire LLC (Published by Sandstorm Productions LLC)

Poo is one of those games that I constantly look for. Games that gamers can play with there non-gamer friends/family and both parties enjoy it. And what can be more fun then monkeys throwing their feces around the table? In this fast-paced card game, each player takes the roll of a monkey, with the cleanest monkey being the winner. There are poo throwing cards, defense cards, cleaner cards, and event cards. You will be playing this game in minutes, and playing for hours. Great for kids and great for parents.

Back to the Future: The Card Game by Looney Labs

In celebration of the 25th anniversary of Back to the Future (dang, has it been that long?), Looney labs has taken the engine of their popular Chrononauts time-travel game and repurposed it for B2TF. The idea behind this game is that you have a timeline of events laid out on the table. You are a descendant of one of the characters in the movie, and you have to alter this timeline so important events happen in your favor. The first to do this wins. This game covers the entire timeline of all three B2TF movies, and is a lot of fun to play as a fan.

Digital Gifts for Friends Far Away

Age of Cthulhu: Horrors from Yuggoth by Goodman Games

Earlier this year, I reviewed volume 3 of The Age of Cthulhu line, Shadows of Leningrad and found it to be a fantastic supplement. I am pleased to say that volume 4, Horrors from Yuggoth, stays true to its lineage. Designed to run on Chaosium’s BRP system and the Call of Cthulhu RPG, this chapter brings you to Norway on an international rescue mission to find famed arctic explorer pilot General Umberto Nobile. Set in the 1920’s this adventure is colored with real historic elements. But in that history, you have all the intrigue, adventure, and Cthulhu culting that you have come to love in this series. While available in book form, it is also available in digital form for easy gift-giving.

Freeport Companions by Green Ronin Publishing

In the times of 3.x D&D, the world of Freeport was one of my favorite locals. Pirates, Blunderbuss, and Krakens, oh my! Well this world is still alive and well. Designed to work with their The Pirate’s Guide to Freeport book (which is a good gift as well), their companion books are designed to bring these rules and mechanics to various game systems. Currently available are Companion books for 3rd Era, True20, Savage Worlds, Castles & Crusades, and now Pathfinder. I applaud Green Ronin for taking their great product and giving it life in many other systems. All of these products are available in PDF format.

I hope all of readers have a save and enjoyable Holiday season. Please post in the comments what kind of gaming gift you are passing around your table this year?

Stuart

Abstraction is the refuge of both the pretentious and the extremely nerdy. Dictionary.com’s first definition of abstract is “thought – apart from concrete realities, specific objects, or actual instances: an abstract idea.” Who would waste their time with something “apart from reality, specific objects, or actual instances”? Oh right.

A nerd!

Abstract thought is surprisingly useful for a nerd. Thinking of something in the abstract is a good method to understand a form of communication or expression. Painting abstract pictures will help a painter understand what colors, patterns, and shapes will help them make appealing compositions. For a writer, studying plot structure will help them understand how to best use their format to create compelling narratives.

Practical abstraction is a process of separating form and content, or message from messenger. Abstraction helps find useful patterns and can help make new connections that are otherwise obscured by content. In certain ways most TV shows use the same abstract plot every single episode. These structures are purposely used by writers to help build compelling stories. The structure becomes a series of blanks the writers fill in. Each episode hits the same beats, has similar lengths between commercial breaks and ends in almost exactly the same amount of time. This structure, devoid of characters and specific events is a practical use of abstraction.

This article is about how gameplay creates a story, and that popular games are usually capable of generating compelling stories. I will skip the part where I define what a game and a story are. But here are a few perhaps unexpected examples of stories.

This is a story

This is also story

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Qxd7 5. c4 Nc6 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. O-O g6 8. d4 cxd4 9. Nxd4 Bg7 10. Nde2 Qe6 11. Nd5 Qxe4 12. Nc7+ Kd7 13. Nxa8 Qxc4 14. Nb6+ axb6 15. Nc3 Ra8 16. a4 Ne4 17. Nxe4 Qxe4 18. Qb3 f5 19. Bg5 Qb4 20. Qf7 Be5 21. h3 Rxa4 22. Rxa4 Qxa4 23. Qxh7 Bxb2 24. Qxg6 Qe4 25. Qf7 Bd4 26. Qb3 f4 27. Qf7 Be5 28. h4 b5 29. h5 Qc4 30. Qf5+ Qe6 31. Qxe6+ Kxe6 32. g3 fxg3 33. fxg3 b4 34. Bf4 Bd4+ 35. Kh1 b3 36. g4 Kd5 37. g5 e6 38. h6 Ne7 39. Rd1 e5 40. Be3 Kc4 41. Bxd4 exd4 42. Kg2 b2 43. Kf3 Kc3 44. h7 Ng6 45. Ke4 Kc2 46. Rh1 d3 47. Kf5 b1=Q 48. Rxb1 Kxb1 49. Kxg6 d2 50. h8=Q d1=Q 51. Qh7 b5 52. Kf6+ Kb2 53. Qh2+ Ka1 54. Qf4 b4 55. Qxb4 Qf3+ 56. Kg7 d5 57. Qd4+ Kb1 58. g6 Qe4 59. Qg1+ Kb2 60. Qf2+ Kc1 61. Kf6 d4 62. g7 1-0

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algebraic_chess_notation

These are rare examples of purely abstract stories. It’s amazing that with a little knowledge of how to play these games, these otherwise meaningless works can be compelling. These stories sort of defy traditional thought on what stories are, yet they are popular forms of story. Did you know across Asia records of go matches have been kept since ancient times? That currently in Korea there are TWO television stations focused on showing games of GO? What makes the stories told by GO so compelling?

Like I mentioned before, successful tv shows are written by people who understand the abstract nature of plot structure. Each episode follows rules for how the story starts, plays and ends. Games are a natural parody of this structure. Games have rules for how they start, play and end. These rules are the abstract structure that generate a story.

When I watch a professional game of GO I get a sensation of mystery, seeing distant parts of the board develop and eventually all tie together. It’s comparable to a story where seemingly unrelated plots tie into a larger narrative. It’s a combination of skilled players and the rules of GO that create these compelling stories. When I play GO the stories told are simpler and far less nuanced.

If games are capable of creating compelling stories, It’s a little strange that so few games that focus on story actually use gameplay to build that story. The common video game tells a story with cut scenes placed between segments of more traditional gameplay. Even most table top rpgs break down into story and gameplay segments.

Are there any less abstract games that use play to build a story?. Thematic board games and miniatures games can often produce stories worth retelling. Strategic war games like Axis and Allies have systems that model how countries fought in WWII, each time the game is played a new story about the WWII conflict will be told. Maybe japan can successfully invade America’s west coast or any number of non-historic scenarios can play out.

While GO and Axis and Allies can produce “stories” these lack what we commonly associate with storytelling, things like characters that speak dialog and can shoot or poke things. This kind of storytelling is demanding. With video games the challenges are clear, story usually involves assets that are hard or impossible to generate endlessly, each new branch of a story requires more art, animation, writing and voice acting. Valiant efforts have been made to give player’s more choice when it comes to a game’s story elements. Usually resulting in incredible amounts of assets being generated for each possible choice. However even these story choices are made apart from the standard gameplay, it’s rare for game play to truly drive the story.

The material challenges video games face are absent for Table top role playing games. And yet most role playing games do not have rules for how to start and stop playing. And if they do it’s usually in the form of a module that ties the gameplay to specific characters and events. So with a little abstract thought we now have a new question to ask “Can game play generated story be used in an RPG?

[/fruit]

[seed]

If you want an answer to that question check out www.SeedRPG.com SeedRPG uses gameplay to inspire the story, meaning there is little to no prep before the game, it also uses cards and junk to help you play the game. My goal is to help more people play rpgs more often. SeedRPG will have a public beta launching in October, I hope you will check it out!

The Adventures of Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer: Shadows of Mirahan

The Adventures of Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer: Shadows of Mirahan arrived today and I decided to give it a review.  Whether they know it or not, almost every geek is familiar with the artistry of Frank Frazetta. In addition to his fantasy and science fiction paintings, his work has graced the covers of novels, comic books, posters, and even several 70’s rock band albums.

In 2007, Image Comics put the story of the Death Dealer into a graphic novel, and it became their #1 hit that year. Being a fan of Frazetta, and being a fan of gothic/horror fantasy, this was a must read for me. And it was great! The dialogue was a little campy at times, but the story was classic and the artwork was AMAZING! It earned its place as one of my favorite graphic novels.

Along comes Goodman Games, and their adaptation of that wonderful graphic novel into a 4E D&D adventure.

Let me just say, that this is one of the hardest reviews I have ever had to write. There is SO MUCH cool stuff in this book that I want to tell you about, yet I know I can’t because I don’t want to spoil the fun for you! This book is pure genius. It is one of the best adventure publications that I have seen for 4th Edition.

Story:  This is the highlight of this adventure. Going into it, I was trying to figure out how they would adapt the story of the Death Dealer for a group of people (the PCs). The story line shoots off in several directions and locales, which would be hard when you need a mostly linear plot for an adventure. What the author ended up doing, is placing the PCs into the story as their own sub-plot. All of the plots in the original Death Dealer story are happening around what the PCs are doing. This is great, because it still creates a new adventure for those familiar with the Death Dealer story. You get to play in the story instead of play the story.

Artwork: I don’t need to even cover this. Frazetta’s work is amazing. Jay Fotos and Nat Jones’ work in the Graphic novel is amazing. And this module pulls most of its artwork straight from those sources. The layout of the adventure is straight forward and easy to follow and the text is easy to read, even with a darker page background.

Challenge Level:  Folks, you need to bring your A game and a bit of strategy and smarts to this adventure. If your table is a bunch of mooks, you’re going to have your heads decapitated by the Shadow Horde. The combat in this adventure is deadly serious, as appropriate to the world of the Death Dealer. The author has made some advanced rules that you can adopt into 4E. They cover an expanded and alternate use to action points, increased critical ranges, and my favorite, critical effects charts to make those critical hits more deadly. The adventures supports characters of level 7 to 9.

World Info: In addition to the appendix of advanced rules, there is another that talks about the world of Iparsia. This adventure could easily be adapted to any campaign setting. However, if you wanted to run it in the true world of the Death Dealer, this adventure gives you the tools. It talks about the different lands, giving you racial traits for each. There are also a few new feats that melee characters will lust for.

There is also an appendix that has all new monsters. This book is worth its weight, just to bring 4E life to the horrific and evil creatures of the Shadow Horde. I so desperately want to tell you about Dazaka!  Those familiar with the graphic novel know what I am talking about. But I can’t. I don’t want to spoil your fun.  Good luck against that one. :)

Another appendix gives you pre-generated characters. And these characters are straight from the graphic novel. You have Adelia, Lambau, Owen, Rian, and Lorthos.

The Death Dealer: It is recommended that the players should not play as, or fight the death dealer in this adventure. As the adventures states, “The Death Dealer is an engine of destruction that is nigh unstoppable by anything short of divine intervention.” In keeping with cannon of the story, there is no way for the Death Dealer to be on a level playing field as the PCs. However, he has stats at the end of the book for the GM to do with as they please. I don’t think it would be spoiler advice to tell any potential PCs who run into the Death Dealer to NOT piss this guy off.

The bottom line: This is a must-have 4E product.  If you can’t find someone to run this adventure for you, you need to run this for someone. And any DM, even if they don’t want to run it, can use it for its resources. In addition to the great monsters and advanced rules, I suggest implementing Chapter 1 into whatever adventure you are running. It is great fun.

At $9.99, it is not going to break your bank. and at 96 pages, it will keep you entertained for hours. And if you buy the book, Goodman Games gives you a code inside to download the PDF for free.

I personally hope that this product is successful and that it spawns more adventures in the world of Iparsia.

Side Note: Amazon.com has the hardcover Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer by Image Comics on sale as of this writing. The graphic novel  enhances the game experience with this adventure and is worth a read..

Reviewer Disclosure: I received the PDF version of this product gratis from Goodman Games (though I would have bought it anyway).

Haaldaar

Living Arcanis Modules Year 3

Living Arcanis Modules Year 4

Paradigm Concepts

Trask, The Last Tyromancer

Eoris--The Third Contact

enough rules to make it playable without the main book and finally gives some of the long-awaited details about the system. I have not had time to read through it thoroughly, but it is beautiful and includes  excellent maps. I will do a more complete look at the adventure and the rules tomorrow.

I highly suggest you also download the maps as well. In a new twist; there are two versions of the maps, standard and sized for a plotter-printer. I have never seen this before from a gaming company, but I like it.

Also, the game is now actually for sale. You can get a base book for $59.95 or one of the special “chest” editions with a subscription to the web site, art book, etc for between $59.95 to $94.90.

Trask, The Last Tyromancer

The guys over at D20Pro.com , producers of the excellent D20Pro Online RPG Tabletop , are offering a d20 module for download…free!

The module, entitled “Kobold’s Revenge: Die Adventurer! Die! ” is a  romp through a cavern system with the players controlling a group of lowly kobolds, bent on slaying the heroic meat….er…humans.

Although designed for use with the D20pro online tabletop software, the download includes a PDF that allows anyone to run the module without the software.

As to module quality, I did a quick read of the module and found it to be an entertaining take on the standard dungeon crawl.  It is clearly written and has all the parts you need to run the adventure.

If you are interested in learning more about the D20Pro tabletop, I did a review of it last month. You can read my review here .

You can click here for the download page. Go forth and take advantage of free gaming goodness!

D20Pro has a booth at Gen Con this year. I highly recommend dropping by for a demo of their product. My game group sat down for a demo and walked away with enough licenses for all of us.  I promise it will be worth your time.

Trask, The Last Tyromancer

Living Arcanis –click on “Invisible Kings” or “modules.” You can also see my writing efforts under “Invisible Kings–>Midake.” Module Count= 30+

WitchHunter: Dark Providence From the folks at Paradigm Concepts who gave us Arcanis. Relatively new, so get in on the ground floor.

Dave Arneson’s Blackmoor- -Registration of game required, but Arneson is a legend, so worth checking out these offerings. Module Count=50+

Gamma World Fan created, but of high quality. Better than many offerings on Rpgnow.com Module Count=2

Shadowrun Missions: Ready for some violence, chummer? Module Count=25

RPGA offerings: Joining the RPGA is required to download. Also, they have an monumentally stupid ordering system that forces you to order weeks in advance. Get past those obstacles and there are literally dozens of modules. The RPGA has modules for download for the following campaigns:

EDIT: The campaigns below are all on the RPGA site.  Sorry it was not clearer in the original post.

Greyhawk

Kingdoms of Kalamar

Star Wars

Eberron (aka Xen’Drik Expeditions)

Module Count: BIG!

I am sure there are more, so please let me know of any others.

Happy gaming!

Trask, the Last Tyromancer

If you are interested in downloading the full module, including NPC stat blocks, maps and reward certificates (useful in “Living Arcanis”), you can click on the link below to directly download the zip file from www.livingarcanis.com.

Download Trask’s Module with maps and stat blocks

If you just want the main module in pdf format, click below.

Download Trask’s Module

Alternatively, you can take a quick look at the module using the embedded Issuu.com reader below. Click on “open publication.”

I am anxious to hear any feedback on my effort, whether good or bad. Please post any thoughts, questions or suggestions in the comments.

Trask, the Last Tyromancer