Neitherworld Stories

May 19, 2008

4e: Minions, mooks, and extras, oh my!

Today’s 4e preview is about minions. Essentially, a minion in 4e is an opponent that is made to come in a horde. You can wade through them, dropping them left and right, but you can’t ignore them. In 3.x, this was very hard to accomplish. Someone of sufficiently low level to be dropped with a hit or two was often...

May 16, 2008

4e: Economic downturn

Earlier this week, Wizards posted a preview about the treasure-economy of 4e. As has been noted elsewhere in the blogosphere, it is rather rigid. I understand the reasoning. In 3.x, magic items make an enormous difference in terms of character power level… and, therefore, game balance. Today, the preview was specifically about magic items. One of the stated goals of...

May 14, 2008

Cooler Tool?

So, I’ve mentioned the usefulness of Google Docs and such for gaming in the past. Today, I’m looking at Zoho. Those who have tried both seem to prefer it over Google. In addition to the typical apps (word processor, spreadsheet, presentations, etc.), Zoho seems to offer a free/integrated wiki, planner, chat service, database, and web conferencing service. I haven’t poked...

May 12, 2008

Monster Overhaul: Secret Weaknesses

It is a bit weird how, in D&D, Vampires have a bunch of weaknesses: garlic, holy symbols, running water, etc. Few other monsters, have any such weaknesses; a few are blinded by strong light, and that’s about it. The reason that vampires have such weaknesses, of course, is because they are a part of real-world folklore. We have a lot...

May 12, 2008

Attention Shadowrun Fans…

If you like to mix your cyberpunk with elves, go read Justina Robson’s Keeping It Real. I’m in the middle of it now, and I’m enjoying it. The premise of the setting is that there was a quantum explosion in the near-future that ripped a hole into other (magical) realities. A quote from one of the Amazon reviews, “I found...

May 11, 2008

Iron Man

Angela and I went and saw Iron Man last night. I was impressed for all the usual reasons – good acting, good story, great visuals, and enough fidelity to the source material that the deviations didn’t bother me. What’s more, the movie succeeded without the overabundance of supervillains that plague superhero movies these days. This is really heartening. Hopefully, it...

May 9, 2008

A spell! About food!

Shocking. I know. An early excerpt from Elmer’s spell book… The material enclosed in the box below is released via the Open Game License. Epicure Divination Level: Brd 1, Sor/Wiz 1Components: V, SCasting Time: 1 standard actionRange: PersonalTarget: YouDuration: 10 min./levelYou may glean a great deal of information from the food you eat. With a single bite of food, you...

May 8, 2008

Exalted intro

Last night was the first session of Doug’s Exalted game. I’ve played a lot of Exalted, but it was new to Doug, Jeff, and Pat. The game last night consisted of an introductory combat. A couple of Dragonblooded on a giant, flaming bird attacked the airship we were riding. Jeff gives a rundown here. Pat hadn’t actually given his PC...

May 7, 2008

Blood Shark

I entered one of the Sinister Adventures dark challenges, but I didn’t win… so I have this monster write-up sitting on my computer with which I’m unlikely to ever do much. So I give unto you:SPAWN OF DAJOBAS Size/Type: Large UndeadHit Dice: 12d12 (78 hp)Initiative: +6Speed: 15 ft. (3 squares), swim 60 ft.Armor Class: 19 (-1 size, +3 Dex, +7...

May 6, 2008

The state of my gaming life

Gaming is entering another transitioning period. My Monday night group is currently playing in a postapocalyptic nWoD/Morrow Project game. I’ve had some frustrations with it, but we had a really good game last night. The dynamics of the game are interesting. We have far more firepower and better equipment than almost everyone we’ve encountered (and certainly everyone with whom we...