Forum

Many times, the subject of a forum based game has come up here, I don't know if it's possible or not. But vote chess has taught me to patiently enjoy a very slow game. So, I would like to give it a try. I think the secret will be patientce, and not getting overly ambitious. But why not try? Baby steps. Let's create a forum for us to generate new characters, or even rebirth old characters you love at level one. We can see how many people are interested, what there experience is (none is required) and what kind of group we make. But before we start; -who's interested? please say "aye" -what version do we want to try? I reccomend the new one. -who want's to DM, or nominate a DM? -what method(s) should we use? any thoughts, preferences, or ideas, are greatly welcome. Please let us know what you think.

Combining the rules of D&D and Chess for one EPIC game! If you love D&D, and you love Chess (like me!), then you're sure to enjoy D&D battle chess. The rules are fairly straight forward and during sessions you can ask me (the DM) to come over and clarify. I'm hoping to get at least 20 regular players so we can start tournaments and leader boards. Click here to join (free!): https://app.roll20.net/join/165492/ApTicg How to play - https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0fKe4tEol1ILVpyeUwyUDlncmc/edit The Pieces - https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0fKe4tEol1IQXNPMGZ5dS04Snc/edit Gaining gp / character levels per game - https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0fKe4tEol1IS01WY3NiMk5VX2M/edit 2v2 mode (bughouse) - https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0fKe4tEol1IOXpNODlnWElmTWc/edit

I'm about 80% through this and really enjoying it... (It's written by a Level 15 Cleric, so you know it's gotta be good, right?) http://www.amazon.com/Of-Dice-Men-Dungeons-Dragons/dp/1451640501

AT LAST! The cycle is complete. Now I won't have to post any more pictures of books that you all could just as easily look at online! :D Whether the new DMG is an actual resource for me, or ends up being a very pretty coffee-table book remains to be seen. (As much as I love D&D, it's actually not my preferred system, at least in terms of games I'm willing to run.) As an aside, I think the cover of the DMG is subtly hilarious. The Player's Handbook shows PCs in a scrape with a frost giant. (Makes sense.) The Monster Manual highlights the one monster from the franchise that might even be more iconic than an actual dragon: the Beholder. (Makes sense.) But what about the Dungeon Master's Guide... They couldn't have a picture of a Dungeon Master... OR COULD THEY?? Enter Acererak, grand-pappy of all Liches and architect of the Tomb of Horrors, shown here in his younger days, draining the life from another hero... I guess if you're a DM, this guy is supposed to be your hero and spirit guide. :D LOL!

Red Dragon When legends, fairy tales, and fables speak of dragons without specifying a color—when they tell of kingdoms laid waste, virtuous maidens sacrificed, and valiant heroes sent home as charred corpses— odds are that they speak of the mighty red dragons. Also called flame dragons, fire wyrms, and mountain dragons, these horrific beasts epitomize the iconic dragon traits. All dragons are predators, but reds are the most voracious, consuming far more than they require. All dragons are greedy, but reds are avaricious beyond any point of reason, for they fully believe that all wealth belongs to those strong enough to take it (and no amount of wealth is ever enough). All dragons are prideful, but reds are arrogant in the extreme. They see themselves as the pinnacle of draconic perfection. Red dragons never forgive even the smallest slights. They kill over territorial intrusion, over the tiniest theft from their hoard, over an insult, or because they want to. These great beasts take satisfaction wherever and however they can get it. A red dragon unable to slay a person who offends it will go on a rampage, wreaking havoc and destruction upon any nearby communities. Only enormous monetary tributes can sate the legendary rage of a red dragon; only blood can cool and drown that rage. Red dragons are not mindlessly violent, however. Accomplished strategists, they spend their time developing vast arrays of tactics for use in every conceivable combat scenario. They recognize the hazards in attacking more potent foes—rare though such foes might be. They back down from fights they do not believe they can win, though doing so wounds their pride to the bone. A humanoid community that borders on a red dragon’s territory can sometimes forestall the beast’s wrath by offering frequent tribute in the form of treasure and tasty young adults. Some red dragons enjoy the power in ruling communities of lesser creatures, but unlike green dragons, who do so by subtlety and intrigue, reds demand obedience and slaughter all who fail to comply. Red dragons take interest in news of the world beyond their territories, in part so they know how their status compares to that of other reds. They might threaten homes and families in order to force humanoids to travel into the wild and obtain news. Most such unwilling messengers do not survive to return, but red dragons have no qualms about that turn of events. Humanoids are a renewable resource. Like most dragons, reds can survive on almost anything but prefer meat. More than any other variety of dragon, though, red dragons hate to eat anything else. Some starve themselves nearly to death rather than consume plants or inorganic matter. They eat any animals: humanoids, wild beasts, and even other dragons—the younger, the better. Their preference for tender meats gave rise to legends of dragons kidnapping young people. Reds fight equally well on land or in the air. They relish melee combat as an opportunity to showcase their superior strength. A red dragon never hesitates to use its breath weapon, though, when the need presents itself. It would rather reduce any possible treasure or magic items to ash than allow the bearers of those items to best it in combat: The dragon’s pride overpowers its avarice. Although red dragons might refrain from attacking enemies that seem too strong, reds never retreat from combat once any combatant sheds blood. Due to their hubris, red dragons fight to the death more than any other kind of dragon, even when they have the option to escape. Lairs and Terrain Although a red dragon’s first terrain choice is somewhere elevated and especially hot, such as a volcano or a sulfurous geyser, a red does not require such a location. It might take residence in a normal mountain peak, in rocky badlands, or on a desert mesa: any location where it can perch high and survey its domain for miles around. Red dragons loathe the cold, but cold does not harm them any more than it does other creatures. A few reds even make their homes among snow-capped peaks, because altitude matters to them more than temperature. A red that can boast a lair combining altitude and temperature, such as one atop a volcanic peak, considers itself fortunate indeed. Red dragons prefer large caves or complexes of caves, with access both to high vantage points and to the depths of the earth. Though they seek high ground for surveying their territory, they feel safer sleeping and storing their treasure beneath layers of rock. Because such complexes rarely occur naturally, red dragons frequently take over caverns dug by other races, or they enslave people to construct or modify their lairs. Red dragons looking for homes scour out and claim many an underground or partially underground community, such as dwarven cities and drow access tunnels. Because of this behavior, and despite their preference for high perches, red dragons occasionally come into conflict with purple dragons. Favored Treasure Red dragons’ favorite treasure is everything in their hoards, everything of value in other dragons’ hoards, and everything of value possessed by anyone else. So unabashedly and indiscriminately greedy are reds that no common preferences, habits, or patterns in treasure acquisition emerge. Although individuals might have specific preferences, the average red dragon does not care what form its treasure takes. Life Cycle A red dragon lays its eggs roughly five and a half months into the incubation time of twenty-two months. A clutch numbers two to four eggs, and all prove viable under optimal conditions. A red dragon is a wyrmling until the age of eight or so, and young until about 200. It attains elder status at around 950 and becomes an ancient around 1,900. The oldest known red dragon reached approximately 2,500 years. When it occurs, a red dragon’s environmental diffusion takes one of two forms, depending on its surroundings. In a mountainous or rocky area, the spot where the dragon dies breaks open, revealing one or more large, sulfurous geysers or small volcanic vents that emit foul-smelling and acrid smoke even when not erupting. In less stony and more flammable areas, a permanent wildfire results, never spreading beyond the boundaries of the diffusion and never burning out, regardless of fuel or weather. Physical Characteristics Red dragons are the largest of chromatic dragons. Their wings are vast in proportion to their bodies, making red dragons easily identifiable even from a great distance. Unlike the scales of other chromatic dragons, red dragons’ scales rarely blend in with their backgrounds—with the possible exception of backgrounds of raging fire. Conspicuousness suits these beasts just fine. They have no interest in hiding from lesser creatures. Two of the frills on the sides of a red dragon’s head aid in its hearing ability. Though not external ears— red dragons, like all chromatic dragons, have internal ears only—these frills help the dragon pick up sounds and determine directionality. Red dragons smell of smoke and sulfur. The air around them sometimes shimmers, as though viewed through a heat mirage.

I am toying with the idea of buying the Premium reprint of Unearthed Arcana but I'd like your thoughts on this book. I never bought it when it originally came out and there are many very mixed reviews, is it worth buying?

I could have had it earlier, but decided to save a few bucks on this one and go with Amazon... It's a beaut of a bestiary!    

Whoop, there it is! I'm not going to take pics of the inside, but I'm telling you: This one of the loveliest, most gorgeous RPG books I've ever held. The art is amazing and everywhere. And the rules so far seem like a tight balance of modernity and nods to the OSR crowd. This is a D&D I definitely want to play. And ALL the the core races and classes are here (including the Tiefling & Dragonborn races, if you're into that, and a Warlock class). Here's one interesting "stat": The 4th ed. Player's Handbook's chapter on Combat was 31 pages. In this new one? 9. For me, that's a step in the right direction. Save the room for, like, 90 full pages of spell descriptions. Joy.  

*FIXED

Who's excited? :) The "big three" core books are staggered to come out between August and November, which is kind of hard to take, but at least we've got the (relatively cheap) Starter Box to hold us over, starting in mid-July... It's interesting that WotC has admitted that the art for the PH and the DMG are inspired by content native to Greyhawk, despite the fact that Forgotten Realms is the only "official" setting for 5e so far. (That's King Snurre Ironbelly from the Hall of the Fire Giant King on the PH, and Acererak himself on the DMG.) Maybe a renaissance for Greyhawk is in the works. :) Source: http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?1631-Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Fantasy-Roleplaying-Fundamentals-%28D-D-Boxed-Game%29-Hits-Amazon!

    http://laughingsquid.com/dungeons-dragons-clue-classic-clue-with-dungeons-dragons-themed-game-pieces-and-game-board/

I have a good spot to suggest... The Storm Crow Tavern, in Vancouver, BC! I was there last night, seated under a large statue of Cthulhu, drinking Potions of Extra Healing and rolling a d20 to sample from their random shooter menu! The place is filled with NERD. Vintage copies of AD&D manuals, Steve Jackson "Choose-Your-Own-Adventure" books from the 80s, a wall of board games to play, swords hanging from the walls... really, too much awesomeness to describe. And the food was good too! Check out their menu...

Here you can post pictures of any of your D&D equipment, books, figures, etc. Here are my AD&D books all purchased around the late 70s/early 80s. I've not played much since I got married 15 years ago so most of the wear and tear occured between the late 70s and 1994.

Hi chaps I thought I'd start a post where you can place your favourite dungeons, floorplans and maps for the rest of us to see and be inspired. When I started playing D&D regularly with a group of guys we used to take it in turns to be the Dungeon master (DM) and we had many great adventures but it meant that we ended up with lots of different characters who had adventured in many different places. After a few years I decided to create a world map that would incorporate these places and thus give the characters a home. I have attached this map for you to have a look at. Dave

http://quizilla.teennick.com/quizzes/23799656/what-kind-of-dragon-are-you (It said I was an Earth dragon, haha!)

When you create your D&D characters how do you determine if your character is left or right handed? I don't know if this is taken care of in later editions but there was nothing in the first edition so we used a d6 and a d12. If the d12 was higher then you were right handed, obviously if the d6 was higher then you were left handed however if both came out the same then you were deemed to be either handed. if both die rolled a 6 then you were ambidextrous with no penalties for using two weapons.

I have personally never known anyone who committed suicide after losing a character; however, I do have a room mate who, during his teenaged years, lost 2 friends to suicide shortly after losing characters. There were 2 people involved in our group. Two of them, male and female, in the course of the game, role played a romantic encounter. I was immediately set off by their facial expressions, mannerisms, even breathing patterns, thinking to myself, "there is more to this than D&D". Not long after that, the two acted out what they had role played in the world of reality. The guy also lost a character that he cared about and was livid about it for weeks. Kept bringing it up and bringing it up. And it wsn't the fun-loving, "Man, the dice just weren't on my side, hahaha, what a game that was, oh well." No, he was angry and told everyone about it for weeks, even people who weren't involved in our group. Both of them were "asked" to leave the group. The guy was never allowed to return, but the female was in our group again and stayed with us until she and her husband moved out of state. It's my opinon that D&D isn't going to cause mental health problems, but involvement of D&D while having mental health problems can exhasperate the problems. I'm wondering: Do you guys consider this in your groups? Keep an eye out on the people playing? If so, what do you watch for?

Come on guys & gals, what type of charcter do you like to play? Are you hooked on magic or do you use brute force to stay alive? I still play AD&D from the late 70s and my favourite class is a magic user, then again I do like to play the odd dwarven fighter.