This idea is so cool and so impractical and a bit expensive at the same time. I wish I had the free time and the money to burn on something like this.
Combine the dynamic, visually rich experience of a video game with the fun and intense social interaction of a face-to-face, pen and paper game.
Wanna know more? Visit Pen, Paper, & Pixel.
I wasn't sure of the credibility of this or if it was a rumor or not. It would appear that Wizards of the Coast is poised to announce the upcoming release of another updated version to the most popular table-top role-playing game ever, Dungeons and Dragons.
'D&D 4th Edition' Announced at Gen Con
Wizards of the Coast is announcing at GenCon today that it will release the 4th Edition of its category-leading Dungeons and Dragon roleplaying game in 2008, the first full new edition in eight years. The three core books will be released next summer on a monthly schedule: Player's Handbook in May, Monster Manual in June, and Dungeon Master's Guide in July. Pricing and page counts of the new products will be consistent with current packaging. Graphics have been updated, art will be used on the covers, and interior design has been opened up to make the books less intimidating to new players.
I'm guessing after review that this is for real. Read the full article at ICv2.
There are other sites that seem to be corroborating this story. For instance, EN World has a thread called 4E: What we know, however, it's not loading for me at the moment so it must be disabled or crashing at the server level from all the traffic.
Perhaps the best possible proof for me was that the Wizards.com server appears to be down right now --also most likely from the traffic.
We're Experiencing Technical Difficulties
Unfortunately, due to an extremely high load on our web servers, we have been unable to bring you our normal web content. We apologize for the inconvenience and ask that you please try again in a few hours! Our technical team is aware of the problem and working on it.
Thank you for your patience!
It seemed to me that they had just released version 3.0 and then they followed it up very quickly with version 3.5. The 2nd Edition came out in the early 80s or something and I didn't buy my copy of the Player's Handbook until 1996 or so. However, they are coming so fast right now that I haven't even had time to get 100% familiar with the new rules.
Thanks to Chris Flipse via del.icio.us for the above links.
A recent article I stumbled onto on Wizards.com had an interesting format for listing statistics for a specific location or building, in this case a school. The article outlines a few details and flavor information about a new character class for Forgotten Realms that from what I can tell is not defined in the article, but in an accessory called Tome of Magic. What caught my eye was the way the location called the "House of the Unnamed" was described. After a paragraph of text description…
One of the only academies in the Realms devoted to truename magic is found in Velprintalar in Aglarond. Little more than a cluster of four study groups, the House of the Unnamed is a small haven for truenamers from the eastern Realms. Located in a small grounds building adjacent to the House of the Four Moons (a temple of Selûne), the House of the Unnamed contains the largest library dedicated to truename magic in the Realms. Other libraries such as Candlekeep or the one found in the Leaves of Learning may contain more volumes of interest to truenamers but none are as well-catalogued or concentrated as in this school. The school is run by Elthenhelm Hamastyl, brother of High Steward Nerrol Hamastyl, the Simbul's representative to the Royal Council and the leader of Selûne's faith in Velprintalar.
…The article had a little table with some good details specifically for the DM.
House of the Unnamed (Minor Arcane): AL NG, LG, CG; 13,000 gp resource limit; Membership 19; Mixed (14 humans, 2 half-elves, 3 gnomes); Dues All members must spend 3 hours, 4 times a week, scribing and enhancing the library (at least 26 weeks of the year, though not consecutively).
Authority Figures: Elthenhelm Hamastyl (NG male Damaran truenamer 14).
Important Characters: Study group leaders: Sarlisha Kjenth (CG female Rashemi sorcerer 2/truenamer 7), Maaruel Vench (LG female Rashemi truenamer 8), Nelinarian Tansmith (CG male half-elf fighter 3/truenamer 6), Maerwûn Venedel (NG female Chondathan truenamer 9).
Associated Classes: Truenamer, spellcasters who dabble in truename magic.
Associated Skills: Knowledge (any), Speak Language, Truespeak.
Requirements: At least 5 or more ranks in Truespeak; at least 5 or more ranks in any 2 knowledge skills; ability to speak at least 3 languages.
Favored in Guild Benefits: None.
I have not played in Forgotten Realms. Whereas the details about "truenamers" didn't really interest me, the special way that the notes for this location were laid out was something completely new to me and caught my eye. It's a new kind of statistic block that I'd find useful for my own notes or adventures. I'm not sure if this is something Wizards has used in other places in an official capacity or if it was just the creation of the author of this article, but I think it would be handy to standardize and reuse.
See the full article on Wizards.com.
Are you interested in learning more? Well it turns out that there was a book called the "Tome of Magic" for both 2nd edition and 3rd edition. I recalled the second edition one from years ago as I think I borrowed a copy of it at some point. They are both still available at Amazon.
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