• D&D Gifts of Many Parts: A Holiday Shopping Guide

    D&D Gifts of Many Parts: A Holiday Shopping Guide

    There are a lot of great deals available on line. Which is fine if you must save money. But, I strongly recommend supporting your local games shop. My favorites are Destiny City Comics, Wizards Keep Games, Shane’s Cards, Tacoma Games, Mox Boarding House, Krampus Kave, Book and Game, and Digital Heroes.

    Supporting a local shop introduces you to great people, encourages them to host games and helps your city continue a culture of discovery and creation.

    Here’s some general overview of gifts before we head into my particular callouts as great purchases to amplify fun.

    Every suggested item is something I’ve purchased myself or from a company I have purchased from .

    Starting Up

    Stormwreck Isle (review at Strange Assembly) – The current Starter Set launched at Target, but is now available everywhere. It’s cleaner, simpler than the initial Starter Set (Lost Mines of Phandelver). If you have someone in your life who hasn’t played before but should this 10-20 dollar purchase is perfect.

    Stranger Things (review at Polygon) – Millions of people had their love of Dungeons & Dragons reawakened by Will in the Netflix series Stanger Things. There’s a box set available written as if the group wrote it. It can be hard to find, with eBay prices over $60.

    Player’s Handbook – Amazon has it so cheap you may as well give it to a friend who hasn’t said they’re interested in D&D.

    Adventures

    Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen (review at Polygon) – Send your party to war in the world of Krynn. The adventure’s main opponent is a death knight that rides death dragons and lives in a flying citadel. As war rages around you, you will have to deal with the chaos of war to attempt to save a kingdom as dragon armies ready to conquer the world.

    Journeys through Radiant Citadel (review roundup at ENWorld) – What I love about Radiant Citadel is that it doesn’t tell stories that I am familiar with — these are new tales by mostly new talent, all BIPOC. The art is vibrant and fantastical; the stories well written.

    Subscriptions

    DnD Beyond – The entry level (hero) subscription is perfect for people who create characters for fun. I have nearly 100 characters created because creating characters helps teach me about myself and the world.

    Warlock – Kobold Press is a third-party publisher that puts out unrivaled content mostly focused on swords & sorcery mixed with high fantasy. Their Warlock magazine-style subscription has the feelings of pre-2e D&D with rules perfect for modern play. I have several of their books, Tome of Beasts is an excellent collection of monsters.

    Arcadia – From MCDM, the creators of Kingdoms and Warfare and several other supplements, Arcadia is a full-color, fantastical to D&D-superheroes type of content. Many of their authors have freelanced for official D&D.

    T-shirts – I may just be including this because my body changed a bit during the years of stress related to the global pandemic. I need new shirts and frequently wear graphic T-s underneath flannel. Head to Heroes & Villains if you just want to give someone a one-off that’s stunning.

    Maps

    I cannot map. So I support these creators.

    Deven Rue creates amazing frame-able maps that equally belong on office walls and gaming table.s

    Dyson Logos focuses on dungeons. Most of their maps are available for free because of the strong Patreon support. Add to that support if you plan on using the art. Like Deven, Dyson has appeared in official products.

    For outdoor battle maps I love 2-minute Tabletop. They also create assets for a creator to blend and make their own maps.

    Watabou is where I head when I need a map fast and trust a procedural generator.

    Lifestyle

    Psuedodragon – I may get this one for myself. Who doesn’t want a smol draggo hanging out with you in the office? It’s about the size of a large textbook.

    Eldrador Creatures – These minis that aren’t official; they are perfect for fantasy play. You will need to stat them up. That’s one of the joys of playing D&D.

    My favorite fancy dice are from Artisan Dice. Their woods and stones are unique. For cases and Hope Shields I go to Wyrmwood. There are two places I suggest for people with personal 3D printers — Hero Forge for characters and mz4250 for creatures.

    As big of a coffee nerd as I am a D&D nerd, I’ve found one roaster that combines their passion for both to put out the highest quality — Found Familiar. Regular Gnoll is what I get when I want something with cream.

    Friday Afternoon Tea creates dozens of geek-inspired blends. Bard’s Blend is my most frequent purchase.

    What if you’re shopping for me?

    If you’re me you’ll enjoy everything listed above, as well as things on my wishlist.

  • Highlights from Geekwire’s interview with Wizards of the Coast President Cynthia Williams

    Highlights from Geekwire’s interview with Wizards of the Coast President Cynthia Williams

    Local tech website Geekwire has access to Wizards of the Coast, because they too are local. So sometimes, Geekwire dips into the world of tabletop gaming, the business. Much of the conversation between Cynthia Williams, Wizards of the Coast President, and Thomas Wilde is dedicated to big picture stuff. Now, I’m fascinated by that, but many of my readers just want to play Dungeons & Dragons.

    Williams has some thoughts that are important for players and potential players of the game that aren’t interested in business news.

    Yes, the word race is gone. But its replacement isn’t confirmed.

    I think it’s important to remember that One D&D (a new publishing initiative) is at the point of playtest. I don’t think that we have finalized that the word will be “species.” It’s a word being tested.

    Where D&D in the 80s was much more about escapism and simulation, modern D&D is about story and diversity, the amplification of teamwork.

    Our games teach that diversity is a strength. D&D in particular will teach you that together, you can overcome tasks, challenges, or an adventure that you wouldn’t have been able to on your own.

    …

    I love the stories of people playing Dungeons & Dragons and being able to express who they are in that game, which leads them to being able to express who they are in their real life. We’re very much cultivating that level of diversity as we’re inviting players in.

    There’s a push about the upcoming movie and mention of the next big video game release after Baldur’s Gate, too. Wizards owns six video game studios now.

    It’s interesting to see that Magic grew to a billion dollar brand even as it has issues with the fanbase. There’s also more evidence that the D&D side is hoping to hit that number, but through a different path that isn’t about microtransactions or a flood of book releases — instead D&D has a movie, a TV show and multiple video games to get to that number.

    Read the whole thing

  • Latest Honor Among Thieves trailer establishes Dungeons & Dragons through cast interviews

    Latest Honor Among Thieves trailer establishes Dungeons & Dragons through cast interviews

    In a departure from most genre movie rollouts, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves second trailer isn’t a new tease of action in the movie. Almost every scene is from the first trailer, with some small expansion. The latest version shows cast interviews. That cast clearly gets what makes D&D, D&D — heroes journeys, a group that works together and monsters.

    https://twitter.com/JohnFDaley/status/1599817017187762176

    To quote Edgin, Chris Pine’s character, “I’ve got a good feeling about this.”

    Previously some of the cast spoke about their history with the game. Those that hadn’t played until joining the project have either been coached up into what fans expect or learned to love it on their own.

    Much of what happens in these two trailers are things that happen at the table of the RPG. Discussions about what to do with treasure, how to acquire it, going to the bar to make plans. That’s typical Dungeons and Dragons.

    Daley and Goldstein, both players of the game, seem to have taken a serious approach to the non-serious topic. They capture the fun of the game with care and attention, because like their core audience they love it too.

    Each bit of video that Paramount, eOne and Hasbro put out about this heist movie make it seem better than the last. The hype seems to be building. Part of the promotional push includes sending cast to comic cons outside of the English-speaking world. Their latest appearance was in Brazil.

    Other D&D movie and TV notes

    Studio eOne (the third pillar of Hasbro) is for sale. But, the TV show and other Hasbro IP are still going to be turned into shows and movies.

    “I think buyers will still want Dungeons & Dragons because the brand is important, the script is good, and Rawson Marshall Thurber is an exciting piece of talent,” one person said.

    Deadline
  • Riff off everything — adding official monsters to your unofficial world

    Riff off everything — adding official monsters to your unofficial world

    Earlier today Wizards of the Coast released eleven free monsters in the Monstrous Compendium 2: Dragonlance Creatures. These are available for anyone with a free or paid account on DnDBeyond. You can access them through frontpage access.

    My campaign world doesn’t need more monsters, but it does need more ideas. That’s a great way to look at settings and adventures — they are other people’s ideas to put into your world. That’s a short cut to worldbuilding, and a great one.

    Goblins in the World of the Everflow are part of a smog-punk society building gadgets, very much like Tinker Gnomes, but grimy and greasy. Today’s release is an opportunity for me to use several new inventions in my world.

    The Nevermind Gnome Inventor has three inventions. The Flying Fangtrap is a springwork device with tiny wings that pinch and pierce to do damage and may even stop the movement of the target.

    In my world the Thunderscream gadget is an opportunity to latch onto the concepts from the Airmatics and Waterwerks Alliance. They could build a cannon of screaming sounds that damage like a breath weapon.

    Of course the Alchems Sisterhood would invent Flash Powder, the blinding simple fireworks that can aid the goblin to escape.

    The more complex Nevermind Gnome Mastermind has even more inventions that I will use at my table.

    Clockwork Claws that act like a third arm, or even a first or second arm; Chattergrab is essentially a grenade that is a bear trap; Phasmoball would be another invention from the Alchems.

    In just this one free download the World of the Everflow has six new inventions for goblins. You can borrow from official materials for your own world too.

    Maybe your world needs some undead knights? Use the Foresworn.

    Another variety of magical giantkin? Irda.

    Humanoid walruses? Thanoi.

    A unicorn older than every forest? Forest Master has impressive powers and is not the passive unicorn at the game’s core.

    Everything you encounter can be part of your session prep or worldbuilding, especially if it is a free release from the creators of the game.

    Fediverse reactions
  • NewbieDM Review: Dragonlance Shadow of the Dragon Queen adventure

    NewbieDM Review: Dragonlance Shadow of the Dragon Queen adventure

    Newbie DM reviews the new Dragonlance book and board game. Head on over and take a look. I’ll be borrowing the random actions to represent larger conflicts for the Uprising & Rebellion campaigns.

    newbiedm's avatarwww. Newbie DM .com

    Lets get one thing out of the way… Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen is not a Dragonlance setting book. You have to go elsewhere if what you’re hoping for is a Dragonlance Campaign Guide, or a 5e version of Dragonlance Adventures. It’s also not a sequel to Hoard of the Dragon Queen (in case you’re not sure what’s going on and think it may be). 

    And what’s going on is that WOTC has decided to revive the Dragonlance brand for 5th edition D&D, in the form of an adventure and a mass battles board game named Warriors of Krynn that allows you to play the same characters in both. A deluxe edition includes both those things plus a DM Screen and an alternate book cover. The adventure takes place in the War of the Lance time period–for those who don’t follow DL, it’s probably the setting’s most iconic time…

    View original post 1,441 more words

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