Dungeons and Dragons Coloring Book

G01-300x190reg Irons and Gary Gygax collaborated on a dungeoneering coloring book back in 1979.  The book is 30-some pages of room descriptions and lively black and white drawings that are guaranteed to inspire youngsters to color outside the lines.

The nice folks at Monster Brains have posted each page as an image to Flickr, found here in a complete set.  These pages have been meticulously scanned and should print well for your and your kids’ inking enjoyment.  Download them now before they disappear because of some copyright lawyer’s quest for promotion!

What better way to introduce the little ones to using their minds to create worlds?  Seriously, can you picture a better coloring book for an aspiring kid DM?

Images range from single, stand-alone creatures to complete scenes with aesthetic composition that spills out over the borders of the image.  Note the eyestalks rising high above the fold in this sample page.

It is unclear what exactly inspired the coloring book (though the original images in all the classic DnD modules and sourcebooks share many of the features that we find in these pages.  It is also unclear why there were not more of these projects.  So many coloring books out there are so bland; this leaves many of them wishing they could inspire.

To celebrate this online find, and inspired by it, we are busy putting together an updated fantasy coloring book for you to zoob out to or to introduce your young broodlings to role playing while they sit in the booth at T.J. McCluckeys or wherever you find yourselves for a family dining experience.

Keep an eye tuned to Claw/Claw/Bite for sample pages and for a future release date for the full coloring book!

And, happy coloring!


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Dungeonstone

Over the past 14 months, I’ve been slowly incorporating Dungeonstone into our role playing sessions, replacing handmade and Wizards-produced tiles in our more dungeon-oriented encounters.  The idea has been to create more 3d effects and to provide the feeling of walls and convey the close quarters of combat better than flat tiles.  3d terrain allows players and DMs to take advantage of corners, nooks, crannies, and to use tables, chairs, and anything else as cover, which undoubtedly makes encounters more exciting and action-packed.

Until recently, I’ve been using the resin and carbon infused diestone composite terrain unpainted, which has been fine to get the basic 3d idea across.  I have found that using the walls in various configurations yields interesting room properties and challenges for my players.  Choke points along the corners, raised platforms in the center of the room, and the narrow passageways provided by the set help evoke high intensity on the battlefield.  I’ve supplemented the terrain with my own hand-made and found additions (I’ll cover these in a follow-up post) to add additional character to our encounters.

This terrain is fully-compatible with Dwarven Forge products; I’ve mapped out a few rooms using DF’s sci-fi accessories to present futuristic dungeons full of strange equipment, and have linked Dungeonstone up to DF’s ice caverns with great success.

Now for the simple review.  This product is amazing!At $100 for a 97-piece advanced set, you’ll have enough pieces to map out a few full rooms with interesting features.  The basic set is $40 and comes with 43 pieces, enough to build one large room or a few small ones.

On top of all of this, the owner/sculptor/producer Leo is a nice guy; we’ve discussed his product and our respective campaigns at the past two OwlCons.  He’s quick to respond to questions and has a slew of tips for making the paint stand out on his models.  Paying him for his hard work and the quality of his results is only too easy; as I write this I’m considering order a few of his 4×4 and 6×6 tiles for quicker setup.

Dungeonstone is currently limited to flagstone-style dungeons; he hasn’t yet ventured into caverns or other non-standard architectures, but does have a crypt (with angled-walls, a skull-mounted wall as shown in this sample layout, and a stone sarcophagus set into a dais), wizard’s chamber (with summoning circle and rounded corners), and a working door and portcullis in his stock.

The only downside is the cost of shipping, but he takes care to wrap and pack the terrain in snug layers of paper and foam.  I’ve always purchased my Dungeonstone in person, so I can’t speak to the quality of the packing post shipping, but everything I’ve read online indicates his thorough packing stands the test of modern cargo transit.

I recommend picking up a set or two from his online store at Dungeonstone.com, or at any of the cons he frequents, including at least OwlCon and ChimaeraCon.  But get there early; I understand he sells out pretty quickly at these events.

Other dungeon terrain elements available in the Dungeonstone line include diagonal passageways, rounded corridors (my current favorite), rounded daises, and pre-made corridor intersections (3-way and 4-way).  These go a long way toward providing a flexible dungeons assembly kit.  Unfortunately, the sets don’t come with many diagonal or rounded passageways by default, but fortunately, they are available as an accessory in the online store.

My hope is that in the near future, Dungeonstone releases more large pieces to make rooms easier to assemble.  Yes, larger pieces may be more difficult to store (and perhaps they are difficult to engineer as well), but these pieces allow DMs to use the smaller pieces as room accents, nooks, and other interesting room features.  Other ideas for expanding the line include modular archways that rise up over the hallways and room intersections to added flair (I’ve hand-made a few of these using clay) and secret passageways that disguise well with standard walls.

In a future post, I’ll cover the painting, sealing, and mounting process that I’ve undertaken on my small yet growing collection of Dungeonstone.  This will cover paint selection, techniques, and other tips for making your terrain rock.


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The Art of the Session Recap

We are pleased to announce the release of The Art of the Session Recap, 28 pages of creative roleplaying session summaries, featuring selected submissions by Don Hupp, Panzer Leader, Oneinchsquare, Matt Harris, Lt. Col Colin Callahan, and 3 entries around a race of sci-fi beings known as the Watchers from S.D. Hilderbrand, Tom Walton, and Frank J. Kim..  Get it here for free!

Introduction

Many of today’s gamers, especially those with young families, can’t make every session of a weekly, multi-year roleplaying campaign.  I find it much easier to keep up with and interested in a campaign if a fellow player or the DM posts a recap on a wiki, a bulletin board, or even sends out a summary via email.  In addition to keeping players in the loop, these recaps provide players with a chance to digest the session’s material and to prepare for the upcoming session.  Furthermore, session recaps provide a more in-depth description of events, allowing the players to add the richness of the story, either in character or taking their turn as the narrator.

I find these journals, logs, and correspondences to be great time capsules of the campaign and memory logs when remembering adventures with friends. These annals provide additional flavor to the campaign world, and add perspective.  After all, no fun roleplaying world is purely the thought of one individual.

Unfortunately, in most campaigns, not every session is logged, transcribed, or otherwise captured by the DM or players.  DMs are often swamped making sense of dice rolls and character actions, while planning the next moves of the challengers in a given encounter.

Here are a few methods and ideas for inspiring players and DMs that you game with to keep an ongoing log of the adventure.

  • Set up a blog, wiki, or bulletin board (or all three!) and make sure your players have accounts and tutorials.
  • Take turns acting in the role of scribe of the session, ensuring that the key moments are covered.  Different players will cover the events differently, and this is fun to see play out.   Players may even challenge one-another to come up with increasingly creative and interesting session recaps.  Offer XP, perhaps even on a per-word or per-ten-words basis, to dispel the curse of writer’s block.
  • Players playing characters who are bards, historians, politicians, or others of the “literate class” of the campaign world have a natural stake in ensuring that the story is correctly told.  These players make natural scribes, allowing their characters to use these opportunities to feed back into the history of the world and potentially affect change by increasing the popularity of the party, or by casting the ruler of a land as a tyrant, etc.  This provides another avenue of agency.

My favorite session recaps are those written in character, or with the constraints, openness, and information dissemination methods of the campaign world in mind.

Thanks to all who entered or contest, and congratulations to those selected to appear in the collection.


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Owlcon XXXI Recap

Rocks fall.  People die.

Or so goes the motto of Owlcon XXXI, a fear-inducing slogan that seems right for the year 2012.   Owlcon XXXI is the third straight years of this great gaming convention that we’ve been able to attend, organized by the nice folks of FastWarp and Rice University.  Though there are not nearly as many events as say a GenCon, I prefer this con to the larger ones I’ve attended; it is manageable, with all events within a few buildings’ walk, and the organizers spread the 4-hour blocks of time out so that there is time for lunch, socializing, and hitting the vendor’s floor in-between games.  This also leaves ample time for pick-up games and for discussing gaming theories and mechanics and making new friends.

The first games start at 10am, providing enough time to sleep in, grab a warm breakfast at the hotel before walking the mile to campus for the day’s adventure.  We’ve found the Best Western on S Main to be a relatively inexpensive yet comfortable abode for the few nights in-between the gaming fun, and will probably be back unless we decide to crash with some of the locals next year.  If civilization makes it to 2013…

This year, I ran a rousing game of Junta on Friday night, and we had a full table, so all the cabinet positions were filled.  There was a lot of rhubarb-rhubarb going around the table, especially after the Amis stiffed us a few years running, or so reported El Presidente.  Two very bloody, effective coups transitioned the three presidencies over the four hours, shifting the ultimate power among three distinct voting blocks.  The competition was fierce with Damp pulling off a victory by a mere 3 million pesos.

On Saturday, I played three tabletop role playing games for the first time.  First, in tabletop Call of Cthulhu, I played Ed Wood, where I was trying to make a film in an old graveyard just outside of Burbank, when of course an alien vessel lands in a nearby valley.  After cutting a wall through the Scottish groundskeeper’s house into his garage, fighting off zombie hordes with a chainsaw and a pack of shovels from the back of a pickup truck, we made our way to the unidentified vessel. Sucked in by a black, tarry, tentacled monstrosity, we preceded to cut our way out and accosted our captors, who seemed to have an answer to all our inquiries and accusations.  Finally, after learning of his plan to take over the masses with media, we pretended to hook him up with an agent and made them a movie deal.  In the end I used him to profit from the production of a string of B movies.  Good times had by all.

Next, a player from the Junta game the night before brought his self-published Effigy rpg in and a group of us played a pick-up game for a few hours.  I played a burly gent known as “the Ogre” and chaperoned a party of motley freaks into the netherworld through a boarded-up portal in the back of a bar.  Of course!  Gotta love games set in the modern era, especially ones that have been hand-made by designers with artsy persuasions.  I need to find a pdf copy of the rules to run a one-off as a break from our usual campaign.  Xsemaj, you have a review copy to send us?

Finally, off to Feng Shui, a high-flying, cinematic game of Hong Kong Kung Fu.  Actions are taken in “shots”, which says a lot about the intended visuals. The story was well crafted, and the players were top notch (excessive jive talking aside), so the action had great flow, and we got in 5 solid scenes in four hours.  One thing I realized is that I am woefully behind in my knowledge of kung fu film tropes.  A mechanic I wasn’t fond of in this game is easily illustrated (and required a house mod to rectify): I ended up playing a slow character (well, two slow characters, after I swapped out of the hulk and into a wizard after one player had to leave due to an illness).  Mix this with one character being able to move every shot (usually you move every third shot), and over the course of the 4-hr session, I think I was able to make 8 or 9 moves.  This is something I would definitely change about the game.  Other than that, it’s a great setting and a simple system to learn.

Saturday night we went out after all the games were done, and had some mini excitement, then retired to the room to watch the original Star Trek pilot. Given this and my near-40-yr-old self, and I slept in on Sunday, then hit the vendor’s floor around noon, where we caught up with Michael from Skirmisher Press and Leo from Dungeonstone. These two vendors made great quality goods for planning adventures and executing encounters.  I didn’t get a shot of them, but I’m sure they’ll be back next year, as they see continued success.

As will we.

For the finale, the coup de grace of this year’s con, Adam and Damp played in my “Escape from Lost-In” Gamma World adventure.  I was surprised to see no other Gamma World games in the program this year.  It’s such a perfect one-off game for these settings.  Anyhoo, the goal was for the mutants to find various airplane parts scattered about the city of Austin after the end of civilization as we know it in 2012.  After surviving a shootout with some pigs on 6th Street, they learned form a local baron that they had to collect fuel, a fuselage, an engine, some rotors or a propellor, and a computer module to run the thing.

Beginning their exploration close to the scene of the shootout, the group explored the ruins of the UT tower, encountering a beast resembling a dracolich with lasers in its eyes.  After an intense battle where many flames torched the beast and a rat swarm’s dog turned on the rats, the mutants slew the beast, claiming the rotors in its nest as their own.

They made their way into the UT sewers using a map scribbled in a margin of a page of the Gutenberg Bible that they lifted from the wreckage of the Hairy Ransom Sunder.  After wandering the subterranean depths, they had to solve a puzzle, survive a falling ceiling,  a fend off cryogenci ooze that made its way up from the grates in the floor.  In the back chamber, they located enough fuel to fly them at least to the coast of the Gulf.

Finally, they made their way to an ambush spot along the old I-35 (now called either “dirty drive” or reverted back to East Ave.) to intercept the delivery of a few airplane engines.  After hatching an elaborate plan, they fought off the pigs driving and escorting the cargo, unlatching the flatbed from the rig, and taking the goods for their own.  This was the theme of the evening, and they were successful in their mission.  Now the big question of where to, now that the promise of a working plane is in their grasp.

We’ll be back next year, with new adventures in hand!


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Claw/Claw/Bite at OwlCon 2012

I’ll be running a few games at OwlCon 2012, Feb 3-5 at Rice University:

The Junta game appears to need more players to make the cut.  The Gamma World game is all full, but if you ask nicely and we’re only one over, I’ll make room for you.

Whether you come to these games or are going for others, I hope to see you there.  We’ll be walking the vendor floor, making contacts and catching up with Mike from d-Infinity and Leo from Dungeonstone.  If you see us in our CCB shirts, do introduce yourself and say hi.


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Pathguy’s Javascript Character Generator

I’ve begun playing with 4e character generators.  Yes, Wizards have their own generator, but I’m more interested in independent approaches to the problem.  I had a lot of fun working with PCGen to generate 3.5 characters (heck, I still use it!), which generates some great PDF character sheets that print nicely.  I’m hoping to find a 4e equivalent to PCGen.  Know of any decent generators?  If so, send them in to CCB!

In my quest to find a decent 4e character generator, I’ve started surveying the online scene (though I would prefer a stand-alone, cross-platform application).  The first link that I followed took me to Pathguy’s Javascript Character Generator, which presents itself in a large, single page and uses Javascript to drive the process.  This site has some nice features, notably the error-checking.  However, navigating through the large, single page (it would be better to only be presented with the choices available to you at each stage of the process) is a bit clunky.  In the end, though, you do get a usable character sheet.  I’ve attached it here (untouched from its output — note the multiple fonts and the check boxes to track remaining powers).

Srylyn Huertyl

Female Eladrin Warlord
Level 5
Good

Strength 18 (+4)
Constitution 13 (+1)
Dexterity 13 (+1)
Intelligence 13 (+1)
Wisdom 12 (+1)
Charisma 20 (+5)
Height: 5′ 8″
Weight: 170 lb
Skin: Tan
Eyes: Hazel
Hair: Silver Wavy

Maximum Hit Points: 45

      Bloodied: 22
      Surge Value: 11
      Surges / Day: 8 [includes constitution modifier]

Size: Medium
Speed: 5 squares [includes armor penalty]
Vision: Low-light

Initiative: 1d20 +3 = 2 [half level] + 1 [dexterity]
Base Strength Attack: 1d20 +4 = + 2 [half level] + 4 [strength] – 2 [wrong armor]
Base Dexterity Attack: 1d20 +1 = + 2 [half level] + 1 [dexterity] – 2 [wrong armor]
Base Constitution Attack: 1d20 +1 = + 2 [half level] + 1 [constitution] – 2 [wrong armor]
Base Intelligence Attack: 1d20 +1 = + 2 [half level] + 1 [intelligence] – 2 [wrong armor]
Base Wisdom Attack: 1d20 +1 = + 2 [half level] + 1 [wisdom] – 2 [wrong armor]
Base Charisma Attack: 1d20 +5 = + 2 [half level] + 5 [charisma] – 2 [wrong armor]
Armor Class: 21 = 10 + 2 [half level] + 7 [Scale] + 2 [if carrying heavy shield]
Fortitude Defense: 17 = 10 + 2 [half level] + 1 [warlord] + 4 [strength]
Reflex Defense: 13 = 10 + 2 [half level] + 1 [dexterity] + 2 [if carrying heavy shield] – 2 [wrong armor]
Will Defense: 19 = 10 + 2 [half level] + 1 [Eladrin] + 1 [warlord] + 5 [charisma]

If your campaign uses the fixed-enhancement bonus system [PH2/Dark Sun], level 5 characters get +1 on attack/damage (1d6 extra damage on a critical hit) and +1 on all defenses. These bonuses do not stack with magic items.

Armor: Scale (45 lb)

Shield: Large (15 lb)

Attacks:

      Unarmed Melee: +4 [base strength attack] vs AC; damage 1[W]=1d4+4 [strength bonus]
      Longsword

v

      : +7 vs AC [+4 strength attack] [+3 proficiency]; damage 1[W]=1d8+4 [strength bonus] 4 lb (Heavy blade) versatile
      Sling: +3 vs AC [+1 dexterity attack] [+2 proficiency];damage 1[W]=1d6+1 [dexterity bonus] range 10/20 0 lb (Sling) Load free
      Direct the Strike [special]
      Intuitive Strike +4

w

      [base strength attack] vs will
      Guarding Attack +4

w

      [base strength attack] vs AC
      Lead the Attack +4

w

      [base strength attack] vs AC
      Warlord’s Strike +4

w

      [base strength attack] vs AC
      Stand the Fallen +4

w

      [base strength attack] vs AC

v

      Versatile weapon. Add +1 to damage if using two-handed.

w

    Weapon-based power. Apply adjustments for proficiency, situation, feats, magic, etc.

Base Saving throw: d20 vs 10

Encumberance 4e

Normal Load:
Heavy Load:
Maximum Drag Load		 180 lb.
360 lb.
900 lb.
Encumberance 3.5

Light load:
Medium load:
Heavy load:
Lift over head:
Lift off ground:
Push or drag:		 100 lb. or less
101-200 lb.
201-300 lb.
300 lb.
600 lb.
1500 lb.
Languages: Common; Elven;

Rituals Known:

Skills:

Acrobatics: +1 = 1 [dexterity] + 2 [half level]-2 [heavy shield]
Arcana: +5 = 1 [intelligence] + 2 [half level] + 2 [Eladrin]
Athletics: +9 = 4 [strength] + 2 [half level] +5 [class training]-2 [heavy shield]
Bluff: +7 = 5 [charisma] + 2 [half level]
Diplomacy: +12 = 5 [charisma] + 2 [half level] +5 [class training]
Dungeoneering: +3 = 1 [wisdom] + 2 [half level]
Endurance: +6 = 1 [constitution] + 2 [half level] +5 [class training]-2 [heavy shield]
Heal: +3 = 1 [wisdom] + 2 [half level]
History: +10 = 1 [intelligence] + 2 [half level] + 2 [Eladrin] +5 [class training]
Insight: +5 = 1 [wisdom] + 2 [half level] + 2 [canny leader]
Intimidate: +12 = 5 [charisma] + 2 [half level] +5 [eladrin education]
Nature: +3 = 1 [wisdom] + 2 [half level]
Perception: +5 = 1 [wisdom] + 2 [half level] + 2 [canny leader]
Religion: +3 = 1 [intelligence] + 2 [half level]
Stealth: +1 = 1 [dexterity] + 2 [half level]-2 [heavy shield]
Streetwise: +7 = 5 [charisma] + 2 [half level]
Thievery: +1 = 1 [dexterity] + 2 [half level]-2 [heavy shield]

Feats:

Blade Opportunist
Combat Reflexes
Shield Proficiency — Heavy

At-Will:

      Melee Basic Attack: By weapon, damage 1[W]+4 [strength bonus] [standard action]
      Ranged Basic Attack: By weapon, damage 1[W]+1 [dexterity bonus] [standard action]
      Bull Rush: +4 [base strength attack] vs fortitude [standard action]
      Grab: +4 [base strength attack] vs reflex [standard action]
      Move grabbed target: +4 [base strength attack] vs fortitude [standard action]
      Escape: +1 [acrobatics] vs reflex / +9 [athletics] vs fortitude [move action]
      Direct the Strike [Level 1]
      Intuitive Strike [Level 1]
Other Standard Actions: Administer a potion; Aid another [revised: skill check vs. 10+level/2, success helps +2, failure hurts -1]; Charge [+1 to basic melee attack or bull rush]; Coup de grace; Equip / stow shield; Ready an action; Total defense; Sustain standard action; Some skills during combat (i.e., Acrobatics — fast escape; Bluff, Heal — first aid (use second wind DC10, stabilize the dying DC15, grant a saving throw DC15), Intimidate, Thievery depending on circumstances);
Other Move Actions: Crawl; Run [speed 7]; Stand up; Shift; Squeeze; Walk; may include some skills during combat (i.e., Acrobatics, Athletics); half of a Double Move (if taken in place of a standard action)
Other Minor Actions: Draw / sheathe weapon; Drink a potion; Drop prone; Load a crossbow; Open / close a door; Pick up an item; Retrieve / stow an item; Perception — active (as per revision), Sustain minor action; Some skills during combat (i.e., Insight)
Other Immediate Actions: Readied action
Other Opportunity Actions: Opportunity attack
Other Free Actions: Drop held items; End a grab; Talk
Other Non-Actions: Delay; Endurance checks; Insight to counter Bluff; Knowledge checks; Perception — passive
Short rest: Healing surges as available
Five minutes: Normal escape from restraints (Acrobatics)
One hour: Forage; Streetwise check

Encounter Powers:

      Second Wind

      Spend an Action Point [free action, not in surprise round]

      Fey Step [Eladrin][move action]

      Inspiring Word [minor action][2x/encounter]

      Guarding Attack [Level 1]

      Crescendo of Violence [Level 2 Utility][immediate reaction]

    Warlord’s Strike [Level 3]

Daily Powers:

      Lead the Attack [Level 1]

    Stand the Fallen [Level 5]

Eladrin

  • +2 Intelligence, +2 Dexterity or Charisma (already included; you chose Charisma.)
  • +2 Arcana, +2 History
  • Eladrin Education (already included)
  • Eladrin Will (+1 on will defense, +5 vs charms)
  • Fey Origin
  • Trance
  • Fey Step

Warlord

  • Canny Leader (+2 on perception and insight for self and all allies within ten squares who see & hear you)
  • This warlord chose the inspiring presence. Any ally in sight who spends an action point to attack regains hit points equal to half your level plus your charisma modifier. Can receive benefit from only one warlord at a time.
  • Inspiring Word (target spends healing surge and gains an additional1d6 at level 5)

Srylyn Huertyl’s Equipment:

64 lb
5 lb
2 lb
5 lb4 lb
2 lb
1 lb
1 lb
5 lb
1 lb
10 lb
10 lb
1 lb
1 lb
2 lb
4 lb
1 lb
_____
119 lb		 Weapons / Armor / Shield (from above)
Sling bullets (group of 20) x1
Backpack
Bedroll
Chalk
Flint and steel
Grappling hook
Poisoner’s Kit
Hammer
Mirror
Oil flasks x1
Pitons x10
Pouch (belt) x1
Rations (1 day) x10
Rope (50′, hempen) x1
Sacks x1
Soap
Sunrods x2
Waterskins x1
WhetstoneTotal

Magic items:

      Weapon:

      Weapon:

      Weapon:

      Weapon:

      Armor:

      Shield:

      Arms:

      Feet:

      Hands:

      Head:

      Neck:

      Ring:

      Ring:

      Waist:








Resistances:

Action Point Tally:

Daily Item Powers Per Day: Heroic Tier Milestones:  /  /  / 

Death Saving Throw Failures: 

More about Srylyn Huertyl: Trained on the shield at an Eladrin defense academy, Srylyn took to adventuring in early middle age.


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Critical Fumble Deck

A few years back, Paizo released a deck of effects caused by critical fumbles, and I stumbled across one this week at Half Price Books, so I picked it up.  They come roughly as a set of playing cards (same size, 52 cards, easily shuffled or handed out face down at the beginning of the session for dramatic effect, etc), with four effects per card to cover multiple scenarios for when an attacker rolls a 1 on the d20 and a Melee, Ranged, Natural, or Magic attack fails miserably.

These effects should provide most sessions with plenty of high-stakes outcomes without unbalancing encounters, especially if they are used on both sides of the action.  For instance, picture a dangerous troll clobbering his own brethren in his froth-filled bloodlust (and untimely critical fumble roll).

There are times when the storyteller will want to determine unique campaign-relevant effects (I am fully in favor of this, and really enjoy the challenge of having to think on my feet), but for those times when you’re looking for a quick effect without resorting to lookup tables or delaying the action, these cards should provide great action-packed flavor without much effort on the part of the storyteller.

The size of a regular playing deck, these cards are portable enough to take to cons and weekend sessions, and make a great addition to any GM’s tacklebox, especially if you can find it at half off!  The 52 cards provide enough variety that you shouldn’t encounter the same effects in the same session, or even across multiple sessions, unless you have cursed dice (I’m looking at you, Frank, and your much-maligned alien dice!).

Kudos to Paizo for thinking 4-dimensionally in their simple design of this useful role playing supplement.

Sample effects include:

  • Drop your weapon or have it lock up on you (ranged)
  • Spell backfires
  • Hit your companions or self instead
  • Take strength, dexterity, or constitution damage
  • Fall prone, being dazed or otherwise indisposed
  • Suffer -1, -2, or -4 to hit for 1d4 rounds
  • Sickened for 1d6 rounds
  • 1d3 of your spell effects are dispelled
  • Provoke attacks against yourself

 


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Happy New Year with New CCB Merchandise

Happy new year to you and yours!  We hope your 2010 has been as filled with greatness as ours, and that 2011 is even more prosperous and peaceful (but full of lots of fantasy and sci-fi battles acted out with plastic and metal minis on cardboard tiles and wet-erase battlemats!).

For those of you looking for a New Years or orthodox Xmas present for your gamer loved ones, head over to ourCafePress store and make a few purchases.  You’ll help support this magazine, blog, and our travel to cons to run adventures.  Here’s what the t-shirt looks like:

While you’re at it, visit Unicorn Rampant’s CafePress store to pick up some regal gear.

For those of you on the con circuit, we will see you at OwlCon, GenCon, and MilenniumCon over the next year!

May Avandra see you roll many cinematically-appropriate crits over the next year.


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Follow Us on Twitter

We have set up our blog to send out a tweet every time we post a new entry.  Follow us on Twitter @clawclawbite, or by clicking on the Twitter logo at the right.

Other means to follow us include RSS, Facebook (again, follow links on the right), and visiting our site on a regular basis.  See you around!

Note: This also serves as a test of our Twitter-WordPress connection.


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Get yerselves to OwlCon XXX!

We’ll be there at Rice University in Houston in person, gaming, talking dungeon-making, and even running a few games this year: High Water Marks andKeepsakes (see below).

We had a great time last year, playing a bunch of 4e DnD, Advanced Civ, Rail Baron, and immersive BattleTech in the pods, and vowed to return.  And so we will.  Look for us at these locations.  We’ll also likely tweet our locations @clawclawbite (also at http://twitter.com/clawclawbite).

Register here and attend as well, and you too will have fun the weekend of Jan 28-30, 2011.

High Water Marks 4 – 6 players
Sun1000 (6) Intermediate
Your 5th-level party starts off in a downtrodden village where it has rained a full fortnight. Among the muck, the fistfights and verbal ill-will broken out between the denizens hints at problems that run deeper than the water. With all the enemies afoot, you will soon learn that a more sinister plot faces the village from higher ground.GM – Stephen Hilderbrand
Keepsakes 4 – 6 players
Sun1500 (5) Intermediate
You and your 5th-level party are traveling on a road along the southern route in a expansive moor, a journey not without considerable challenges. While paying a toll under the shadow of a keep among rocky crags, it is recommended that you seek accommodations within, as a chilly rain has begun to fall, and the eerie glow of the overcast night is about to follow suit.GM – Stephen Hilderbrand

 


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