Gaming Tonic
Explorer
[news]The fans kicked their board posting into overdrive this week with today's Legends and Lore article by Mike Mearls. It really seems to have struck a nerve with the fan base both positive and negative. Besides that we find out about a 3.5 reprint and receive an excellent article about using ships in your Dungeons & Dragons game. I am working on a big interview so please keep your fingers crossed that all goes well. Now on with this weeks news. [/news]
- Mike Mearls gets things stirred up with Playtest Update in Legends and Lore. I think moving healing outside of the cleric spell list is a great idea. Some fans seem really upset by having to wait for the next playtest update as well, and that would seem to be the biggest shocker in this article. Lots of fans are talking about this article here.
[*]News about the 3.5 reprints can be found here. Fan reaction can be found here. Do not forget to take the poll if you want to see more of this sort of thing from Wizards of the Coast.
[*]Rodney Thompson answers questions about advantage/disadvantage and tactical combat for readers in Rule of Three. I don’t think he was very specific in his response to the question about domains. He does an excellent job at explaining domains and spheres and what they were in early editions but actually says nothing about what we can expect to see in the next edition.
[*]Jon Schindehette is mapping things out for us all in Cartography, in Dragon’s Eye View, and the path is good. Like a lot of gamers, I have a hard time with drawing maps when I am DMing and several good ideas to keep in mind are given that canl help us make more out of maps in our games.
[*]Blog: Reacting to the Reaction by Tom Lapille is a great tool for sorting out game mechanic specifics in your D&D Next game. This is a great idea to help out the gamers and make sure they are getting excellent feedback from the open playtest. If a bunch of gamers are confused by the rules or the way they are written then you will only have frustration and not feedback. I expect to see a lot more about action economy because it has been expressed several times as an area of importance. EN World fans are giving their feedback to this blog here.
[*]Lori Anderson takes to the seas in Unearthed Arcana: Ships in Your Campaign. This article provides excellent details on life aboard a ship upon the high seas. This is a very in-depth piece that outlines a ship’s crew, supplies, layout of each deck, and more. A detailed description of The Falling Star is provided, as well as a host of magical items for use in your nautical campaigns.
[*]Chris Perkins examines the need for a party to have The Moral Compass in The Dungeon Master Experience. I really enjoy it when my party has a moral compass that is true and good when I am the DM. It makes it so much easier to anticipate what the group will do next. Parties without a moral compass also seem to fall apart as Chris points out.
[*]Keith Baker gives us the Sovereign Swords in Eye on Eberron. This is another great article that is heavy in the fluff so it details the heroic group for use in any game in any edition. I wonder what could happen with the new edition and Eberron, but if we keep getting great articles like this with plenty of adventure ideas then hopefully it will continue in Dragon and Dungeon magazine.