Eagerly awaiting 4e...

Well, I'm back from the mountains, trying desperately to get caught back up at the office. During my normal email checking regiment, I noticed that my order containing my 4e core rules set shipped so it is speeding its way to me as we speak.

I have gotten a chance to check out SR's Players Handbook, which looks downright phenominal. I've had the opportunity to review some of the other books courtesy of a few friends, but there is no better measure than getting the books in your own hands and reading them with your own eyes.

I might end up doing a summarization of my thoughts about the new rule set, but you will likely not see an extensive review of each book. The reasons for this are many, but the greatest of these is that I would rather *play* the system before reviewing it fully. Just reading through the book and determining which "alarm states" that occur in the DM's brain are real and which are just needless worrying isn't enough. I want to live, eat, and breathe 4e for awhile before I render my final verdict.

For that, I will need Vanir, E.L Fudge cookies, an old priest, a young priest, and four to seven willing associates. Once I gather these components I will be ready to talk shop!

RIP Eric Wujcik

This is a day or so late, but unfortunately I just heard that we lost another legend in gaming. Eric Wujcik, who some of you may recognize as one of the founding fathers of Palladium Books.

I myself spent a great deal of time playing Robotech and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles back in high school, and their games were my first exposure to non-D&D roleplaying games. Thanks for bringing a little joy to me in my godawful teenage years, Eric. We'll miss you.

4E Link-stravaganza

I've been occupied as of late reading through the new 4E PHB, so I realize that I haven't been posting much, but it's for a good reason!

While I'm still in the process of reading, check out these other fine 4E posts:

DungeonMastering's 4E Celebration in Haiku

Chatty's Initial Thoughts & Game Day Recap

Gnome Stew's Martin Ralya's First Impressions

D&D Nerd's List of Reviews

I'm sure there are more, but I haven't spent a lot of time reading the blogs lately, as that would have detracted from my reading of the PHB. So if I missed your post, please feel free to add a comment and include a link.

I'll be happy to share my thoughts from a player perspective soon!

I'm never doubting terrain rules again...

I have lived in generally one area, the midwest United States, for my entire life and as a result I have gained a very sheltered world-view. Until this year, I had never flown on an airplane or even seen a mountain, let alone actually go up to the top of one.

I had the good fortune of being selected for travel to Colorado earlier this year on business, unfortunately it was a very short trip and I didn't get a chance to actually visit the mountains. That all changed for me this week. As I write this I am near Denver once again, and Sunday I had the good fortune to get a guided tour up Mount Evans.

Being a "flatlander" from the Midwest, I was told that I would need lots of water and to be prepared for the thin mountain air. No problem, I thought, I exercise regularly and won't have much of a problem.

WRONG! As we approached the summit (which is 14,264 feet above sea level), I noticed that I had a pretty decent headache going and that walking 20 feet to the observation area made me feel like I had just gone on a pretty difficult run. I drank my water and felt better, however it took me until today to shake the headache completely.

So how's this relate to roleplaying? Easy. As we headed up the mountain, I got some pretty distinct (and somewhat frightening) views of drop-offs and loose gravel. I thought to myself all of the times that I've eschewed the D20 movement rules for difficult terrain... let's just say I won't be doing that from here on out. There's no way you can run full boar in that elevation if you're not used to it, and there's even less of a chance that you don't slip and fall on gravel, snow, or ice.

I might entertain arguments that a Toughness feat, a high constitution, or something similar might make it less difficult, but let me tell you... it was rough up there.

I will be back at SR Central late Wednesday night, so until then I will leave you to the cool jazz stylings of Stupid Ranger and Vanir!

The Monster Mash

Yax's Sunday morning quiz was a fabulous query involving monsters! I'm proud to say that I managed to pass this one with an 84% (I usually fail spectatuarly!), mostly by guessing on the Devil/Demon portion.

I love the Sunday morning quizzes, even when I fail spectactulary, because they are fun and there's a lot of good Red Dragon in there. This one was especially fun as there's a little aside to one of our favorite creatures. I won't tell you which one, that would give it away!

Take a peak at the Sunday Morning Quiz - Mystery Monsters and see how you well you can do the Monster Mash!