Monthly Archives: November 2011

Whither 5th Edition?

Referring to D&D, of course… I suspect it’s close- within the next couple of years.

Rich Baker has had a couple of interesting Rule of Three columns, where he (and other designers) reflect on different parts of 4th edition. Baker mentions that powers between different classes seem very similar, which has definitely been a complaint of mine, and he’s noted that some of the real benefits of 4E also have costs. He also mentions that 4E is mostly a striker show, which I think is true to a large extent. And Monte Cook’s Legends and Lore column has certainly been provoking, as has his return to the WotC fold. Monte has asked some really interesting questions in Legends and Lore, and discussed the game’s history as well as the role of complexity in the game. So far, I like what I’m seeing.

Now, what are the odds they’ll bring back the OGL? =P

Heroes of the Feywild is coming out tomorrow, or two weeks ago if you’re close to one of the favored FLGS stores that can sell it early. Living near one of those stores, I picked it up last week. Solid book. I think I liked Neverwinter a tad bit better overall, but HoF is definitely fun. New races- pixie, hamadryad, and satyr, and several new class options, including the barbarian berserker, the bard skald, the druid protector (I think) and the wizard witch. The themes are a lot of fun- I particularly liked the fey beast tamer, which gives you your own magical beast companion. They’re all decent, though, and I wish they had more room for themes and epic destinies in the book. I was also happy that the pixie was relatively close to the one I made for a home game a few years back, at 4Es advent.

Mine:
Pixie, Not Quite The Greatest Race That Has Ever Existed (inside joke based on a wiki-editing war)
Tiny Fey Humanoid
Ability Bonuses: +2 Dex, +2 Cha
Sorta tiny: Treated as a small character for most purposes, including reach
Speed: 5 (flight)
Languages: Common, Elven
Skill bonuses: +2 stealth, +2 nature
Fey Origin

The official version isn’t identical, but it’s close enough that the player who was playing a pixie can walk right into the “real” version without much modification.

Game Night

Attended a game night this past weekend, and played some fun stuff. Five people playing, which limited our options a tiny bit, but still had plenty of games to try out.

First game was Ricochet Robots, in which you slide robots around the board to get them to a certain point. They only stop when they hit a wall or another robot; the point of the game is to get the robots to their goal in the fewest number of rules. It was a neat game, but not really my cup of tea. Part of the problem was that I was really tired when we started playing, and there were at least a couple of rounds where I didn’t try very hard. ^^;

The next game was Last Call: The Bartender Game. Players are randomly assigned drinks which take a certain number of bottles of specific colors to make. Each bartender starts with several bottles of one color, and you trade bottles around between bartenders, gathering different colors to specific places so you can make the drinks on your cards. If you trade a bottle in one round, you can’t trade it in the next round and you go to the bottom of the initiative track, to borrow a D&D term (basically, you go at the end, but then someone else goes at the end the next round, bumping you up, etc.). The goal is to accumulate the fewest number of ice cubes which you get when making drinks that are “watered down” (which happens when you make a drink but there are some extra bottles at the place you’re making them). Pretty quick game.

The next game was 7 Wonders, which I really liked. Mostly a resource management game that at least thematically reminded us of Sid Meier’s Civilization. Had fun with this one.

The final game of the evening was Betrayal at House on the Hill, which I absolutely loved and will probably purchase soon. In it, your group explores a mysterious old house that you’re trapped in. You play certain characters that have speed, might, knowledge, and sanity stats, which you use during your encounters. The map is randomly generated through the placing of tiles as you explore, and you draw event, item, or omen cards as you encounter them. Omen cards also give you the dreaded haunt roll, which you will fail eventually- and that’s when the titular Betrayal happens. At that point, you figure out which betrayal occurs based on the omen card, characters there, and some other factors, and one person leaves the group and has his or her own evil goals to fulfill, which the group has to stop/escape/survive/defeat. There are apparently many many different betrayals that can happen. This particular game, I apparently was feeding people to the house in exchange for a sort of immortality. ^_^ Lots of fun.