Yesterday WotC announced the first D&D book to hit the shelves both virtual and physical next year (if we don’t count the gift set that lands in January), Call of the Netherdeep. Which will be its second book in collaboration with the Critical Role folks, and due to arrive in March.
For me the announcement is a bit of a dud. Which is fine. I’m not a Critical Role fan. It’s not aimed at me. Not everything WotC release for D&D has to be.
Just like out of the three books that make up the last third of this year, only one has me excited and will see me parting with scarce pennies. A big hint to which is dragons.
Am I complaining about the ones I’m not interested in? Nope. Although I would have preferred WotC chosen a different MtG plane to do than Strixhaven. But I appreciate there are some misguided folks out there that like it!
Which reminds me that given Mark Rosenberg has said WotC see Ixalan as a major failure recently. I’m very unlikely to see a return to Ixalan both in MtG and D&D. So if I want to play in Ixalan I’ll have to make do with the Plane Shift pdf that was done, and the art book.
Also announced by WotC in the last week was that Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons has had its release put back by about a week. Which is a nothing delay in this day of shipping chaos. I can wait until I throw money at them for it. Oh wait I just told you which book I’m excited about.
Last night saw the (for now) fortnightly Friday Evening gaming for Fenland Gamers at our regular hosts The Luxe cinema.
As usually I got there early to set up the tables. Some-one has to do it. It saves time and means some-one is there to welcome folks as they arrive.
Last nights session was one of our best attended, if not the best, with eight members turning up for gaming plus one member of the general public who joined us.
We split into two groups for gaming, of four and five. Although thinking about it we could have gone to three groups of three.
However we did what we did, which saw Jeff, Jonas, Rachel and myself battle over the planet Arakas in Dune Imperium. Whilst the other group played Istanbul, followed by Saboteur.
This was the first time I’d played Imperium with the full player count. Whilst the others were new to the game and chose from the one pip player boards, I went with Duke Leto Atreides a two pip player board.
I got the extra agent/worker pretty early on. What I found interesting was in the previous two plays with the lower player counts I didn’t think the extra worker made much of a difference, gave very little advantage. However in this full player count game I think it made a big difference.
Intrigue cards also proved to be very impactful in this game too. Plus we were seeing more cards in the trade row, and got to see some cards that required you to move down a space on an influence track as a payment. I hadn’t seen them come out before.
In this game apart from the opening water you get at setup, I never had water after that all game. I did get much spice either. I was all about the solari (money).
I think Jeff is correct and we played the Alliance rule incorrectly. Which needs double checking before the next game. So that kind of puts a big asterisk next to this win.
However even with the cloud over the victory I won. And I’ll take that. Imperium still pips Lost Ruins for me.
SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one.
It’s been a long long time since the previous session planning post for our campaigns next session. And we all know why that is. But we have a date now for the resumption of the campaign. Which means I need to refresh my memory (using these great notes I have on here) and also actually finalising the ideas and thoughts I’ve had in the intervening time.
I recently got hold of a copy of the Tome of Beasts 2 Pocket Edition (it’s cheaper than the regular version). Sly Flourish mentions this all the time.
I got a chance to browse the pages of this “alternate monster manual” this morning whilst waiting for Mum to get some blood samples taken. Within the first 5 or 6 pages I hit a creature that would be ideal for the campaign.
That creature is an Akhlut.
Akhlut (taken off a Google image search)
The Akhlut has the body, head and tail of a killer whale, and the legs of a large wolf. A true “seawolf”! But it looks sooo cool. The Akhlut has a challenge rating of 6. Might be a tad high for the party if more than one attacked at once. But that’s something I can tinker with at the table.
I just think the Akhlut has so much potential for my campaign. I like that they can also be used as a steed. So while I have the Sahuagin using sharks. I’m thinking that maybe merfolk or another aquatic life form could use the Akhlut or even a more Northern based tribe of Sahuagin. I think even some of the northern human tribes could use them as well.
I had a strong start all planned. Well at least in my head. It’s been bouncing around up there for a while.
The plan was to have pirates come rushing out of the tree line attacking the party who are camping on the beach. They would be unable to return to their ship because row boats would be coming towards the shore. Pirate ships anchored off shore.
However now I know about the Akhlut I think this is going to change. I think the fish the party have been cooking/preserving have attracted a pod of Akhlut. The look of surprise on the parties faces as they go from wonder at the majestic sea beasts swimming to “OMG! They are coming out of the water towards us!”
Back to having a date to aim for I also need to spend some time finishing off painting the 3D scatter terrain that Duncan did for me nearly a year ago. This will mainly be for the lost Ironstar dwarf mine the party are trying to find.
I don’t get all this fascination with halloween here in the UK.
When I was a wee nipper it was penny for the guy, and fire works night. Halloween was not a thing.
Like proms, halloween some how got bought over from the US, and caught on. I blame corporations for this. They needed another way to exploit money out of folks.
In the later post that I link to are links to D&D Beyond posts about running Curse of Strahd as a one shot.
However these are not the only resources out there for doing this.
The first ones to look at are from one of my usual sources that I keep mentioning on here Sly Flourish. Mike wrote the following post “Running Ravenloft / Curse of Strahd in a Single Session”. This is also backed up with a YouTube video (embedded below for those that would prefer to watch instead of read!).
Run Ravenloft / Curse of Strahd as a One-Shot Single-Session Halloween D&D Game
Another YouTuber/Author I like is Seth Skorkowsky. I particularly like his in-depth reviews that also contain advice on running the adventure being reviewed.
AD&D Review: Ravenloft
Although Seth’s review is for the 1e Ravenloft adventure it’s still worth considering. As Seth points out in the video you can pick this up on DriveThruRPG as a pdf only or as a print on demand physical copy. It’s very cheap considering. A lot cheaper than trying to get an original copy off eBay. And I may or may not have gone this route!
Another good YouTube video to look at is from the Dungeon Craft YouTube channel.
How to Run Ravenloft in One Night (Episode #162)
Don’t forget you can always come up with your own one shot set in the Ravenloft universe. You can use the Curse of Strahd as your source book or this years Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft.
You can find some “inspiration” for your own one shot here.
Friday I was feeling I needed some game time. So on the clubs discord server I put out the call to see who was free for some gaming Saturday afternoon.
Luckily with a slight adjustment to the initial suggested start time two others could make it.
The initial games I had suggested playing were Lost Ruins of Arnak, Tapestry or Funkoverse (if there were only 2 of us). But during Saturday morning I had been tempted to take Dune Imperium. Even Wingspan for a fleeting moment was considered. It was a close call because which ever of the games I took I’d have to teach it because the game would be new to at least one person.
In the end I went with putting Lost Ruins of Arnak and Love Letter 2nd edition in the bag.
As usual I went a little early to start getting set up. I like to maximise the game time for the others playing.
I was still setting up when Jeff arrived, and almost finished when Julie turned up. Which meant I could start teaching the game to our noob to the game Julie.
Lost Ruins of Arnak
I like Lost Ruins but I think this second play cements my preference for Imperium. Well for the time being. The expansion may change that. After all the expansion does add one of the things I like better about Imperium the asynchronous player boards.
There is also a nagging feeling that in both plays we are not discovering enough new dig sites and focusing too much on the research track. It seems the game is more about racing up the research track than anything else. Although the margin between Jeff’s final score and mine was the two sites he discovered and defeating their guardians.
I did like how the blocking of some of the second spaces on the base camp spots in the three player game is random.
I did get some cool extra card draw going on, and at times despite there being fewer rounds than Imperium felt that I was doing more on my turns.
Jeff asked if the deck building side was more important in Imperium than Lost Ruins. And I think it is. Or more like it has a bigger emphasis. Although I do like how new cards in Lost Ruins are added to the bottom of your deck, so they come into play quicker.
The scores were much closer this time with Jeff still winning and starting his undefeated run with the game. Sadly I still managed to come last with a slightly better score than the first play.
Final score for Lost Ruins of Arnak
We finished off the afternoon with a game of Love Letter 2nd edition. Which was another new game to Julie. But this is soooo much quicker to teach.
The second edition is an update by Asmodee after taking over Love Letter from AEG. It increases the max player count from 4 to 6 players. The tokens have been upgraded from wooden cubes to plastic disks, and new art. Plus to accommodate the extra player count there are more cards, from 16 to 21. Which also sees some new characters/cards.
Firstly the number of guards has increased from 5 copies to 6. Two copies of new card The Spy (value 0) wins you a point if you were the only player to play or discard a spy during the round. Which is a pretty cool additional way to win that extra point each round. Finally there are two copies of the Chancellor (value 6) allows you to draw two new cards, add those to your hand, then place two cards of your choice on the bottom of the deck. It’s an interesting card. Great for burying a card and finding one you want.
Love Letter 2nd Edition
At the end of the day it’s still Love Letter and still great fun. Although this version will replace the first edition, especially when we want to make use of the higher player count. It doesn’t come close to knocking Love Letter: Batman off its perch as my favourite version of Love Letter.
Final scores for Love Letter 2nd Edition
As you can see Julie won, and once again I came last.
Despite coming last in both games I had a good time. It was exactly what I needed. However the heavy rain as we were leaving wasn’t! A big thank you to Jeff and Julie for taking the time out of busy weekend schedules to play some board games.
SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one.
There had been plans (well had asked for players interested) for running an Alien RPG one shot (either Hadley’s Last Hope from the core rule book or Chariot of the Gods). But with the loss of Nan I didn’t feel up to running the session so put the plans on hold.
With the imminent arrival of the next D&D source book Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons, and the current Sly Flourish Kickstarter I am starting to feel I could run our campaign.
Our campaign has been on hiatus since the start of the pandemic. So that’s a pretty long break.
I had been sharing those posts previously in the hope that others would find my thought process informative and for myself.
Now they come into their own and should allow me to pick up where I left off on the prep side. Naturally over the months I have given some thought to the next session. Especially what the strong start will be.
However before I continue on the prep of the next session I need to review those previous posts to refresh my memory. Oh and just as importantly get a date for the session.
The last day or two has seen more prominent D&D content creators picking up on a comment from the closing panel of last weekends D&D Celebration 2021, that D&D will get a major update in 2024.
But before I share with the world my thoughts about this, let’s look at a summary of the other snippets mentioned in the Future of D&D panel (YouTube video embedded below).
The D&D Celebration 2021 panel The Future of D&D
First up 2022 will see the arrival of the two remaining classic D&D settings that were mentioned last year. To further add to the mystery they will be published in formats that WotC have never published in before! Plus there will be hints/cameo of another classic setting plus there will be a fourth classic setting out in 2023. Whether that is the same setting that makes the cameo who knows?
There will be more adventure anthologies coming. Think along the lines of Candlekeep Mysteries.
2024 is the 50th Anniversary of D&D. Part of that celebration will see an update to D&D or the next evolution as it’s being currently pushed as. WotC started work earlier in the year on this. Which is why there were a couple of player surveys put out to gather feedback. The key part to pick out is that whatever this new version is called, it will be compatible with current 5e books. But as expected more details about this evolution of the core rules next year. And my guess is it will be about this time next year.
There was also an almost throw away line about new D&D digital stuff being worked on. We will have to be patient to find out what this is.
Arriving January (they did give a specific date, but I’m not holding them to that, after all shipping etc is a mess) is a new gift set of D&D rule books. That will be made up of an updated Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, and a new book Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse.
Monsters of the Multiverse collects over 250creatures from previous D&D books into one place and updated! These updates will be our first clue/look as to how things might be in the 2024 evolved rulebooks. Plus there are over 30 setting agnostic playable races in the book. Go watch the video for some examples from this new tome.
Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse will also be available separately at a later date (I assume to help push sales of the gift set for those that absolutely must have it at the earliest possible opportunity).
We also learnt that currently in development are two brand new D&D settings. Which may or may not see the light of day.
Next month we will see news of a new product for 2022 that apparently we’ve never been to before and is terrifying!
Boo! a sketch of a proposed alt cover for unnamed product
Plus a mystery product that sees the return of Boo. Which I’m assuming means Minsc won’t be too far away from him.
Let’s circle back to the new core rulebooks coming in 2024. There has been some discussion about will people be expected to buy everything again and throw out the old? No. As pointed out above all our 5e books will be compatible with the new edition of rules. So at worst you only need to replace the core rulebooks IF you want to.
There is nothing stopping you from playing what you currently have if that is what you are happy with. People are playing older editions now because that is what they prefer.
So when the new rules come out don’t feel pressured to buy them. You don’t need to buy them if you are happy with the stuff you already have.
I’m pretty sure this will need repeating again nearer the time.
The end of last week saw EN Publishing release the latest major Judge Dredd story arc supplement for the Judge Dredd and the Worlds of 2000 A.D. RPG, The Apocalypse War.
The cover!
So what is contained inside the 114 pages that make up this supplement?
Contents page
“The Apocalypse War supplement includes:
New origins, species, careers and Judge options
Expanded equipment and rules for Sov Block items
Three new scenarios plus guidance campaigns set in the Apocalypse War
A timeline and gazeteer of the Sov Block”
What I like about buying directly from EN Publishing is if you buy the physical copy you get the pdf included. Which is available instantly after you complete the purchase. So you can be reading the supplement while you wait for the physical copy to arrive. I know one or two other publishers also do this. I wish more did.
In other news there is a new Kickstarter that went live yesterday from the legendary Sly Flourish for his latest book The Lazy DM’s Companion.
For anyone not aware of my position on the Lazy DM approach and books I’m a big fan. I own both the other books in this series Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master and The Lazy DM’s Workbook, and love them.
“Each page of this 64-page book offers useful guidelines, an adventure or campaign generator, or a versatile map within which to build your own adventures.”
On the Kickstarter page is a 17 page sample from the book that can be downloaded, which you can use straight away. It really does contain some really useful/handy information such as info on improvisation during a session, safety tools, building situations, a core adventure generator, to name some of the pages.
Remember if you decide to back this project that VAT and shipping will be added on after the campaign has finished during the backerkit stage. So there is not a massive surprise Mike aka Sly has included some guide costs for this on the page (near the bottom).
It started out taking yet more clothes to the Salvation Army drop off spot in the Tesco car park. And ended with Jonathan somehow winning our second game of Dune Imperium!
I hadn’t planned on gaming. But after the roads in the area decided to throw spanners in the works for the majority of those planning to go to the Friday gaming session. Tied in with the petrol panic buying taking out others (what is this 2002 again?) I didn’t want Jonathan and Julie to be left high and dry at the last minute.
So I quickly got ready, grabbed a bag that already had games in it, and left for The Luxe.
I set up the new round table, and awaited the arrival of the others. Because I hadn’t made it to the previous Friday gaming session I hadn’t met Julie before. So introductions were made. Then Jonathan arrived and a game was chosen for the evening.
Our game for the evening was Dune Imperium.
Rules lawyering!
Winner, winner, chicken dinner
I thought Dune Imperium played ok with two players. But with three it was great. Taking into account setup, teaching the game to Julie, the whole thing took about two and a half hours to play. Which is pretty good.
If I was asked to choose between Dune Imperium and Lost Ruins of Arnak, which I both really like. Imperium edges it for me.
The unique player abilities (which I believe the Arnak expansion adds), the combat, twice as many rounds, the influence tracks, the worker placement plus the reveal stage, dual use cards, the take that element. Oh and that the scoring is much closer. Just tip it in favour of Imperium.
Boy do I look grumpy, must be my thinking face.
Photos taken by Jonathan
Next time I play Imperium I’m going to use one of the more difficult leaders to play. The fact they rank the leaders in order of difficulty to play is a great little touch.
Whilst playing we were asked a couple of times about the game we were playing. Now get this one of them had met/knew Frank Herbert! How frickin cool is that? Plus what are the odds that whilst we are playing a game based on the Dune books in a small single screen cinema, in a Fenland market town (some would argue with delusions of grandeur, after all it is the Capital of the Fens) we would bump into such a person?
I had a fun time despite everything going on. It was great meeting a new club member.
Whilst everyone else is doing back flips and cartwheels over the latest WotC D&D 5e adventure The Wild Beyond the Witchlight.
The new Dungeon Master’s Screen Dungeon Kit (DMSDK) seems to be flying under everyone’s radar. I’m not seeing any of the “BIG” D&D names talking about it. It’s all about the feywild or the upcoming Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons previews that are dripping out.
Don’t get me wrong I’m pretty excited about what Fizban has to say about dragons. Well as excited as I can muster considering. I have little to no interest in Witchlight. It’s just not for me. Which is fine. Not everything WotC does has to be.
However I do like a good DM screen.
With the arrival of DMSDK I now have four (if you don’t count the thin cardboard one from the Essentials Kit).
When buying a DM screen I tend to avoid adventure specific ones (although if I was running the adventure I might be tempted to get the matching screen) and go for the more useful for me general ones.
Naturally my first DM screen was the official WotC Dungeon Master’s Screen Reincarnated (DMSR) for 5e. Which I really like and is the screen I use the most.
However nearly a year ago WotC released the Dungeon Master’s Screen Wilderness Kit (DMSWK). I did a pretty bad unboxing video for it here. Which focused on running wilderness adventures.
I also have the Galeforce 9 DM screen for the Ghosts of Saltmarsh adventure book Of Ships & The Sea. Remember what I said earlier. Yes that breaks that rule. But mainly because this is aimed more at running campaigns that are at sea, so is more generic.
Which brings us to the latest addition to my DM screen collection.
Front cover
Back cover
Inside
As the name suggests the DMSDK is focussed on running adventures/campaigns in the depths of the earth. You know the dungeon part of D&D.
The player facing side of the DM screen has some beautiful art by the artist Greg Rutkowski that just evokes going into a dungeon.
Even if I didn’t need the tables on the DM side I’d quiet happily double up on the DM screens with this on the outside and most likely the DMSR behind it for me to use. I have done that before with the Saltmarsh screen and used the art to help invoke the mood and setting for the session and used the tables from the other screen.
On the DM side we get tables geared towards dungeon delving, along with the usual condition reminders. The tables look useful. But the real test to this is when you have to use them in anger.
Maybe in another post I should compare the information on the official WotC DM screens and see how much over lap there is. Definitely a project for another day.
DM Side of the DM Screen
After the DM screen there is a doubled sided sheet dry erase sheet which has a summary of actions players can take during combat. Then on the other side a blank grid for drawing on.
Front
Reverse side
Dry erase sheet
Unsurprisingly there is only one of these included in this Dungeon Kit. A second would have been nice for those that don’t have the other kit. I think this is a handy DM tool to include.
There are two sheets of condition cards included. Each sheet is nine cards. Giving a total of 18 condition cards. Three of those cards are tailored towards a dungeon adventure (brown and yellow mold plus green slime).
Example reverse side
Condition Cards
These condition cards use the same art as those from previous kits, just scaled and toned differently. Best I can say about this art is it’s functional.
I think these cards are so handy to have to pass to a player when they get that condition. It doesn’t just remind them and you they have that condition. But the reminder text on the reverse about the condition is very useful for the player to refer to.
I’m getting a nice little collection of these cards now.
As I am of the initiative cards that are included. These like their wilderness kit versions use the art from their respective DM screens.
You can use these a couple of ways. The first is as reminders to players and you where they are in the initiative order after everyone has rolled for initiative. Or taking a leaf out of the Year Zero system, shuffle and deal out randomly to determine players initiative order. Either way works.
Front of the Initiative Cards
Deck box
The included deck box also uses the DM screen art. But like all other WotC deck boxes they include in products (especially on the MtG side of things) you have to “assemble” the box. Describing it as flimsy is being generous.
Now onto the real star of this kit for me.
Included with this kit are four sheets of Dungeon Geomorph cards. We all know what a fan of this sort of thing I am. So nine cards per sheet, which gives us 36 Geomorph cards.
With the cross hatching, these cards have a Dyson Logos feel to them. I don’t know who created these. But they are nice.
Front
Reverse
Dungeon Geomorph Cards
These can be used while preparing for a session or on the fly at the table.
I’m a fan of these focused DM screen kits WotC have produced. I really like the little extras they add to them. Personally I think they are great for new and old DM’s.
P.S. for the record I was never a The Jam fan. Luckily one of their more popular hits gave me a song title I could use in the title of this blog post.
