Month: October 2014

Book Bout-Book Review of The Legend of Drizzit: The Collected Stories  

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Book-The Legend of Drizzit: The Collected Stories

Author– R. A. Salvatore

TL; DR-Context hurts an otherwise excellent short story anthology.  85%

 

Basics-Wizards of the Coast gave everybody a GenCon present with this collection of short stories written by R. A. Salvatore.  Each story is from a different part of Drizzit’s life and the Forgotten Realms in general.  Each story narrated by different famous people ranging from Sean Aston to Weird All Yankovic.

 

Characters-I’ve never been a huge Drizzit fan, but this collection of short stories featured characters ranging from a young King Battlehammer to dragons is a fun listen.  Each character was well developed in the short period you got to spend with them.  My main complaint is each character was adrift in the sea of the history of the realms.  Everybody was a full character, but there was little context to each character besides what I knew about Drizzit from reading the books previously.  That kind of randomness hurt the overall story of Drizzit and his legacy as the stories range from long before Drizzit to the current day. 4/5

 

Setting– R. A Salvatore does a great job bringing the Forgotten Realms to life.  I enjoyed the different stories and parts of the world that I got to experience.  The each story’s world is well constructed and felt like a real place.  However, like with the characters, you won’t be able to place the setting in time and space with the other stories.  Unless you know where each location and story takes place, you will be somewhat lost as each story will feature a completely random place. 4.5/5

 

Story-The different stories are all well done.  Each story is a self contained bite-sized story explaining a bit of the history of each character in Drizzit’s legacy.  It was fun to learn so much back story in a quick way.  However, these stories really don’t have a context if you don’t know the world or how they’ve interacted with Drizzit.  Some stories feature connected characters and settings, but unless you’ve been reading Drizzit books for the longest time, you won’t have a clue who is being discussed and why. 4/5

 

Audiobook Extra but not Extra- This book is free through audible.com, so you get an audio anthology.  Each story gets a separate narrator.  Some are there because they are famous.  Ice-T was fun to listen to for about five minutes as he struggled to deal with the “nerd shit” (his words, not mine!), but others were excellent readers.  You know who I really want to hear do more audiobooks?  Wield Al Yankovic!  He has a little bit of the nerd slur to his speech, but honestly he did an excellent job as a narrator being serious when he needed to and an even better job bringing the characters in his story to life!  That was an amazing surprise. 4.5/5

 

Summary-This was a fun listen.  I think I’m more of a Drizzit fan now that when I went in.  The stories really helped me better understand the people I’ve been listening to for such a long time as well as build up the understanding of the Forgotten Realms.  This book isn’t bad, but what hurt this book a lot was the lack of continuity.  Everything was free in space, and that lack of connections or explanation would leave new realms reader lost in a sea of words.  If Wizards and Audible get a chance, I’d love it if Mr. Salvatore would give a minute or two introduction to each story and explain who the major player is in this story and who they are to Drizzit’s story.  Do that and I’ll revise this to a 100 % easily.  But as it stands it a 85%.

Blurbs from the Booth-What I want in the DnD Adventure League

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First off, I love the Dungeons and Dragons Adventure League.  I’ve run a crap load of games and loved every minute of it.  I think I’m at least a decent GM who knows a ton of Forgotten Realms lore.  But, I need some help.  Here are I few things I think would make the Adventure League better:

 

1) Small change to the format of the adventures I know its space, but I would really love it you could give me an itemized list of the major stuff in the room/location at the top of each location right after the name and place on the map.  Like this:

Genera Features:

Mossy Cave full of gold

Traps:

None

Monsters:

1-Party one- 6 Kobolds

1 Wizard

2-Party two- Giant Dragon of death

Items:

Awesome sword of Awesomeness

All the gold ever

Why?  Well I read my adventures before every game, but when you’re going through the adventures and you have limited time like the 3.5 hours at GenCon, it’s hard to remember all the stuff that’s in a place or you have to take time and skim read the entire passage.  All the adventures WotC has put out including the Hoard of the Dragon Queen have all the important information buried in the text.  I hate having to reread a half page of text and explain to my players everything in the room that I just read and make it interesting.  Again, this isn’t hard, but a small change will really help me make sure I hit all the high notes in every adventures.

 

2) NPC mentors  My players are getting high enough to get mentors.  It might be time to consider providing NPCs who can mentor the players either through letters or items.  I don’t think these should be anywhere near as cool as real, honest to Amaunator PC mentors, but if my players don’t have one, then they won’t know how awesome one can be.  And, most likely won’t mentor other PCs in the future.

 

3) Starting above 1st level  Let’s start something really controversial!  I’d like the option to start above 1st level.  I’d like generic PCs to give players at 1st, 5th, 10th, and 15th level with items and such that they could/world have gotten had they played the previous adventures but not the awesome renowned points.  The first level five and up adventures are going to roll out soon, and new players are going to come to the store and be turned away as the two groups I have at my store won’t be able to keep a level one wizard alive during a CR eight encounter.  Giving me pregens for several levels will really help.  Pathfinder does that, and it’s amazingly helpful!

 

4)World Guide Even more controversy!  Everybody I know wants a world guide.  What the heck is up with the Realms?  Who’s still a god?  Who isn’t?  Who’s pretending?  What the hell is a Phlan?  Right now, we have the old 3.5/4e stuff.  But, there was a whole Sundering book series that people didn’t read that told them about the new 5e realms.  But, none of those books really talked about Phlan.  Heck the Sword Coast got a book, but only tangentially.  My players don’t really know the state of things.  Things are up to 110 years out of date, so imagine using a 110 year old map to understand European politics today!  Don’t give me hints.  Right now my players need firm answers to what the heck is going on.  And I think most GMs do too.

 

Those are my ideas.  I love the game, but give me the proper tools and layouts and I can make my games even better!

Daily Punch 10-10-14 Uncontrolled Aggression flaw for Pathfinder

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We all fly off the handle sometimes.  How about a problem that you ahve to face in Pathfinder because of it?

 

 

Uncontrolled Aggression

When you get mad, all you see is red!

When you take damage from an enemy, you must make a DC 5+Creature CR will save.  If you fail, that creature must die.  You can not stand to see the creature taken alive or knocked unconscious.  Other player characters are immune to this effect.

Daily Punch 10-09-14 Clockwork Horror monster for DnD Next

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There are a ton of magical suites of armor in DnD Next, how about some not so magic suites of armor?

 

Clockwork Horror

Armor Class 19 (natural armor)

HP 45 (7d8+14)

STR: 18 (+4) DEX: 10 (+0)  CON: 14 (+2  INT: 1 (-5)  WIS: 1 (-5) CHA: 1 (-5)

Damage Immunities poison, psychic

Condition immunities blinded, charmed, deafened, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned

Damage Vulnerabilities Thunder Damage, Adamintine weapons

Senses tremorsense 60ft

Languages –

Challenge 2 (450 XP)

False Appearance While motionless, the armor is indistinguishable from a normal suit of armor standing in a corner or hall.

__________________________________________

Actions

Charge The armor may act as if it has the charger feat

Slam Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target

Hit: 7 (1d6+4) bludgeoning damage. or held weapon damage

 

The clockwork horror remains motionless until the central spring is tripped.  Then, the horror uses tremorsense to target the closes intruder.  It continues until the source of the motion is eliminated.  Wizards who use these guardians must remember that they are not programmed to sense friend or foe, and some unfortunate wizards have become targets of their own guardians.

 

 

Thoughts?

Ring Side Report-RPG Review of Trail By machine

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Product– Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-01: Trail by Machine

Producer– Paizo

Price– ~$4

System-Pathfinder

TL; DR– Good intro to the Year of the Sky Key, but some plot flaws. 97 %

 

Basics– Pathfinders-time for some basic training!  Go to the old Red Redoubt and survive a few simple tests of pathfinder skills.  All goes well until something mysteriously sets off the eons old redoubt powering up motors long dead.  Can you figure out the ancient, yet futuristic technology of the Red Redout of Karamoss to escape?

 

Mechanics or Crunch– This one has a decent mix of old and new items and mechanics.  It eases the players into the new, fantastic technology that players can pick up while exploring Numeria.  Also, this scenario presents rules for converting enemy characters to good characters in the society setting.  It’s a fun way for players to reform others by thought, action, and speech. 5/5

 

Theme or fluff- The Adventure has some interesting twists that will throw your players for a loop.  I won’t spoil them here, but they are pretty fun.  However, if the players do the smart thing, and instantly leave when they have their goal, they will only get to explore roughly HALF the area and miss all the items and faction boons!  A simple change in where some doors close would really help this adventure force the players to experience the cool technology and locations offered here. 4.5/5

 

Execution– Trial by Machine is done well.  The picture on the front of the module is nice as its something you can show your players to help them understand what they are fighting.  I would have liked a few more pictures to help my players with some of the more fantastic enemies and locations, but the art included isn’t bad by any means.  The text is decently put together as it’s not too cramped and laid out well. 5/5

 

Summary– This is a fun one.  I really like the Sword and Circuitry concept of the year of the sky key and the Iron Gods campaign, and this get that into the Pathfinder Society.  This adventure eases the players in slowly to robots and other fun technology things while teaching them how to interact with technology and new items.  You might have to do a bit of GM fiat to make half the adventure happen, but if you do, the players will have a much better time than if you just let them leave after half an hour of Pathfinder! 97%

Daily Punch 10-08-14 BioBox For Shadowrun 5e

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My players built this custom during their last Shadowrun game.  I think this needs a build here.

 

BioBox

Why sneak in when you can be delivered?  the biobox was designed for insertion/extraction jobs.  The box is sized for one human, two human, troll, or two trolls.  The box is led lined, interlaced with biological material prevents assessing, and temperature controlled to prevent thermal scans.  While not standard, the box can be upgraded with air tanks as it is air tight, sound dampeners, electrical warfare devices for electronic dampening, and medical equipment for keeping a target unconscious.

 

Item                   Cost                            Restriction

human                  2,000                             10

two human          3,000                             12

troll                        3,500                             14

two troll               5,000                             16

Ring Side Report-Dual Board Game Review of Eminent Domain: Escalation

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Product– Escalation expansion to Eminent Domain

Producer– Tasty Minstrel Games

Price– ~$25  here http://www.amazon.com/Tasty-Minstrel-Games-PSITTT5001-Eminent/dp/1938146808/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412735641&sr=8-1&keywords=escalation+eminent+domain

Set-up/Play/Clean-up- 45 min (2-now 5 players)

TL; DR– some good, but drastic changes the game 85%

Basics– In the future, there is only war!  Escalation is the five player expansion for Eminent Domain.  The game play doesn’t change from my original write up here https://throatpunchgames.com/2014/05/05/ring-side-report-board-game-review-of-eminent-domain/.  This expansion adds another player as well as character roles, additional research cards, new planets, and roles for the larger ships in the base game.

Mechanics– I really loved the base game, and was excited to get my hands on the expansion.  However, the expansion makes some drastic changes to the base game that severely shift the mechanics of the game.  This expansion allows some research cards to be bought using fighters instead of research.  This means that war cards become the default strategy as now a hand full of red warfare cards can buy you either research or planets.  The roles for larger ships allow fighters to more easily capture planets further enforcing this.  Instead of now trying to balance research, colonization or attack, and survey, any player will now just choose to focus on surveying and warfare.  This changes the flow of the game, and not for the better.  This is chiefly evident in one power that lets a player conquer another player’s planets.  The player who does the conquering doesn’t even have to pay for the planet; the stock of points in the middle pays the person the planet was stolen from.  This shifts the play from light deck building to “get all the red cards first” game.  It makes the game much less fun.  Hands down the best part is the expansion are cards for a fifth player.  The new planets and research cards are interesting, but many of them feed into the problem of war being so dominent.   2.5/5

Theme–   If you like the change in mechanics, then you will love the theme.  I don’t, but I can see how the theme changed.  The universe is at war now, so the cards and mechanics will reflect it.  I might not personally like the change, but it’s done well.  4.5/5

Instructions-The rules are short and get the new changes out to the players pretty well.  It doesn’t have the text book problem, and it gives a great explanation to all the changes.  Well done. 5/5

 

Execution– This is a good expansion for its parts.  The instructions are laid out well.  The cards all have great art and stand up well to shuffling.  The tokens are well done.  I like what I see here.  Heck, even the expansion box can fit in the original box. 5/5

Summary– I’m not a fan of this one.  I love the addition of a fifth player, but the changes to what warfare cards can do are just too drastic.  While you can’t get all the research cards for a victory, you can get enough to easily stomp you opponents.  Also, you can now get research cards and planets that produce new ships each turn, so every turn you will almost be invading two planets a turn feeding this problem even more.  It changes a game with an awesome balance between colonize, trade, and warfare to a hostile game of war.  I didn’t have as much fun playing this.  However, the instructions are well written, the expansion is put together well, and the mechanics, while not my favorite part of this expansion, really do reflect the theme.  If you want Eminent Domain, but need to attack your fellow players, this is the expansion for you. 85%

Daily Punch 10-6-14 Persecuted flaw for Pathfinder

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Here is one I’ve been thinking about for a bit

 Persecuted

It might not be your fault, but people just don’t like you.  It may be racism, speciesism, or just plain hatred, but you get the worst end of the stick when it comes to people.

When you make any social interaction with another creature, the GM rolls a d6.  On a 6, the creature’s starting attitude is two steps worse toward you and any group you a known to be a part of.

Daily Punch 10-3-14 Tome of Knowledge for Pathfinder

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My players are a bit flustered in Pathfinder Society.  They hate always having the wrong still on the wrong day.  Let’s see if we can fix that.

 

Tome of Knowledge

Aura medium transmutation; CL 10th; Weight 1 lb.
Slot none; Price 3000 gp

Once per day, by reading this book  the reader can change known knowledge skill to one other knowledge skill.  If the new skill is not a class skill for any of the characters classes, that character does not get the training bonus associated with having ranks in that skill.  This effect last for eight hours.

Craft Wondrous Item, Barrow Skill; Cost 1500gp