25 Years Ago...

Alright, as I mentioned previously, Canada Post is on strike, which means I am not likely to get my Noble Knight Games parcel any time soon. Since that parcel includes the Monster Manual , Dragon #276, and Polyhedron #144 (they were sold out of the other October item, Into the Dragon's Lair ), I'm just going to have to use a PDF copy instead. I feel neither guilt nor shame, since I have in fact purchased these, and I'm not to risk waiting when the strike could go on for a month or more. So, enough of that; let's get to it, shall we? This is the third and final core rulebook for the 3rd edition of Dungeons & Dragons , the Monster Manual . The back cover promises us over 500 Fearsome Foes. Like the other core books, this one has a really awesome cover design that was actually made as a book and photographed for the rulebook covers. That is just so cool. This one features an eye inside an inverted pentagram, as you can see above. Spooky. I'm going to try to get thr...

So here we are with another Map-a-Week. This one, as you can see, is a wilderness map entitled The Journey . It is accompanied by another Legend . So this will definitely be a part of the Tasiri campaign, although I'm going to have to ponder what part it might be. There's a city at point 3, but it's straddling a river, so it won't be Daalfield . Same with the smaller town at point 4, in the bottom left of the map. There are 10 points, so let's figure out what they are. 1. Clinwick Lake. This lake drains into the river leading to Clinna Bay. I don't see any rivers draining into it from the other direction, but there has to be something, even if it's just some smaller streams. I'm not sure what's in it yet, though; I still don't have my Monster Manual . 2. The Town of Wolfwater. I like that name. It's by the lake, so fishing will likely be a big part of its economy, but it's also by the forest, which is where the wolves come from. 3. The Ci...

So, my Monster Manual  is supposed to be on its way, but Canada Post in their infinite wisdom has gotten themselves into a strike position, which means there is no mail being delivered in Canada right now. There's no end in sight, so I'm going to be without a physical copy of the stuff I ordered for a while. Well, that sucks. However, there are alternative methods to getting things like this, and since I have in fact purchased the product, I feel neither guilt nor shame at getting an online PDF copy for free. But first, there are a couple of online things to look at, one spell and one monster. The spell is arcane bolt . It's a 1st-level sorcerer/wizard spell that is billed as an alternative to the ever-popular magic missile . Basically, it's got a higher damage range (2-7 per missile instead of 2-5), but the target does get to make a saving throw to avoid all damage. You get one bolt per two levels up to a maximum of 5 bolts at 9th level. It can be defended against exac...

Well, we were on vacation for a week, so I wasn't able to post this on Sunday since I was in a hotel with no computer access. Ah, well...the sacrifices we make for family. Anyway, this will be a short post since I'm still recovering from the trip, but here is the  Volcanic Fortress  provided as our Map-a-Week offering. It's...well, it's the most coherent and usable complete map we've been given so far, I think. Instead of a bunch of smaller maps crowded together on a single page with no obvious connections, this is instead a complete fortress. Now, it's a 'volcanic fortress', which suggests that the 'water' we are seeing in the center of the map is actually lava. Okay, then. I can go with that. On the other hand, it could just mean that this is a volcanic region (as evinced by the several small cratered eruptions on the side of the map) and that this is a river running through it and going over a waterfall. I think that would be easier to work wi...