tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54245465360099558522024-03-13T04:26:16.041-07:00James Wyatt's MusingsJameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11343482046936121226noreply@blogger.comBlogger157125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424546536009955852.post-41691836449271887062015-06-08T20:37:00.000-07:002015-06-08T20:39:02.145-07:00Want to Read More?<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica;">
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">My story “</span><a href="http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/uncharted-realms/truth-names-2015-01-28" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(4, 46, 238); color: #551a8b;">The Truth of Names</span></a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">” drew a lot of attention for its portrayal of the first openly and canonically transgender character in the lore of </span><i style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Magic: The Gathering. </i><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">I jumped at the chance to write that story because it meant so much to me and my family. My teenage daughter is transgender (and a huge Magic fan), and seeing someone like her represented in the Magic Multiverse meant everything to her. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Well, she’s going to college this fall. And it turns out college is expensive. So I just thought I’d mention that if you want an easy way to support a transgender teen making the big leap to college, here’s one thing you can do: Buy my books! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In addition to my work on Magic, I’ve written five <i>Dungeons & Dragons</i> novels. This omnibus collects three of them in an ebook package that you can buy for only $10. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Will you find a transgender character like Alesha? Well, not exactly. But what happens when the changeling Darraun finds that he needs a way to escape a military camp?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The changeling who had been Darraun was getting comfortable in her new body, new identity, and new name—Private Caura Fannam, an enlisted soldier under the command of Major Rennic Arak. She wore her tawny hair pulled awkwardly into a tail down her back, a fashion popular with many female soldiers. A long shirt of leather studded with heavy steel rivets was standard issue for Aundair’s light infantry. She carried a short spear—not her favorite weapon, but easy enough to use: “Put the sharp end into the enemy,” she’d heard a training sergeant say once. In practice, she knew the hard part was pulling it back out in time to put it in the next enemy, which was why she preferred shorter weapons. But if all went well, she’d have no reason to use her spear as anything but a part of her disguise. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>There’s also a loving, platonic relationship between a human woman and a sexless warforged, a living construct:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“So what do you want to do with your freedom?”<br />Cart looked down at her, into her warm, brown eyes. He eased his arm free of her hands and wrapped it around her shoulders, pulling her close to his side. She put one arm around his waist and laid the other hand on his chest, and her head rested beside her hand. It was confusing to him—he hated the thought of being owned: her dismissive words to the Cannith warforged had cut him like daggers. But the urge to hold her close, keep her beside him, protect her—it was a fiercely possessive urge.<br />“Freedom is a strange thing,” he said. With her body so close to his, he slowed his step and she matched it, so they found a slower rhythm together. “Nobody owns me, but Gaven and Aunn and you seem to have a hold on me anyway. What I want to do is to be with you.”<br />“Freedom is the ability to choose your commitments,” Ashara said, “to choose what owns your loyalty.”<br />“Then perhaps I am yours after all.”<br />Her smile spread all across her face, touching every one of the tiny muscles beneath the skin—such an intricate construction, he thought, like the work of a divine artisan.<br />“And I’m yours,” she said. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So please think about it. For just $10, you can have the satisfaction of contributing to the education of a wonderful transgender teen, <i>and</i> get three novels to read as part of the deal! This omnibus includes a short story, never published anywhere else, featuring the warforged Cart and his beloved Ashara.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Are they any good? Well, you don’t have to take my word for it. Ed Greenwood, creator of the <i>Forgotten Realms,</i> says, “Every James Wyatt novel I read is a delight—may there be many, many more!”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You can buy <i>Draconic Prophecies</i> for Kindle from Amazon <a href="http://amzn.to/1B2u2c9" target="_blank"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(4, 46, 238); color: #042eee;">here</span></a>. If you do, I get a little bit extra thanks to their affiliate program. Or you can buy it for Nook <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/draconic-prophecies-james-wyatt/1100176461" target="_blank"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(4, 46, 238); color: #551a8b;">here</span></a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Or if you’re feeling very generous, you can make a direct donation to Sierra’s college fund <a href="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=QZHDUREADVUMW"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(4, 46, 238); color: #042eee;">here</span></a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Thank you!</span></div>
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Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11343482046936121226noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424546536009955852.post-43515876769952262872014-04-29T04:31:00.000-07:002014-04-29T04:31:20.646-07:00Another AppearanceA scattering of silver coins<br />
Litters the barren ground,<br />
Barely gleaming under the sullen sky.<br />
Rope and bough together groan<br />
As their ghastly burden twists,<br />
Slowly turning, surveying the fields around.<br />
The hanged man reeks of death.<br />
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His friend, betrayed, bewildered, comes<br />
On wounded feet, on dusty ground,<br />
Bearing a gift he could never accept.<br />
This one never feared the unclean,<br />
The touch of death, of leper, of sin,<br />
So now he clasps his dead friend's feet,<br />
And bathes them with his tears.<br />
<br />
More than his betrayal, this suicide<br />
Is proof of his misunderstanding:<br />
For if vengeance is due, it is due to him.<br />
"I came to show you," says his friend,<br />
"As I showed the others.<br />
But I think you have already seen."<br />
A kiss, and he is gone.Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11343482046936121226noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424546536009955852.post-41451138156645121312013-07-07T09:38:00.001-07:002013-07-07T09:40:31.662-07:00Neuschwanstein<br />
"Neuschwanstein was commissioned by King Ludwig the second, king of Bavaria, and built on the site of an old castle ruin called Hohenschwangau."<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"She sounds like she's reading right off Wikipedia," Frank whispered to his wife.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Mabel laughed. "She must do this five hundred times a day," she whispered back.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"Ludwig's goal was to rebuild the ruin in the authentic style of the old German knights' castles, as he wrote in a letter to the famous composer Richard Wagner. Wagner's operas inspired—"<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"Höchstes vertrau'n hast du mir schon gedanken," came a loud voice from somewhere out of sight, a strong operatic tenor.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The tour guide stopped, obviously surprised and thrown off her rhythm. "Um, well, speaking of Wagner's operas . . ."<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The singer's voice continued, accompanied by the rising hubbub of other tour groups and museum staff.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>She laughed now, suddenly engaged and clearly off her script. "What he's singing is an aria from Wagner's opera Lohengrin, which is the story of a mysterious knight who—"<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Suddenly the singer came into view. He was tall and thin, his blond hair reaching just past his shoulders. He wore a faded flannel shirt and blue jeans, hardly looking the part of the holy knight. His eyes were fixed on the tour guide as he continued the aria. "O gönne mir, dass mit Entzücken ich deinen Atem sauge ein."<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"This is his great declaration of love for Elsa, um, 'Oh grant me that with delight I may, um, breathe in your breath' . . ." She caught the singer's eye and faltered in her translation. He was striding toward her, a trio of security guards following at a cautious distance.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"I don't think this is part of the normal tour," Frank said.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"Sh," Mabel hissed.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The singer extended a hand to the tour guide, still singing: "Dein Lieben muss mir hoch entgelten für das, was ich um dich verliess."<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The tour guide took his hand, spellbound, but an older gentleman in the group offered a translation laced with a thick German accent. " 'Your love must be the highest reward for what I left behind, for your sake.' Lohengrin was the son of Parzifal, the knight who found the Gral, the, em—"<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"The Holy Grail," someone else finished for him.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The man continued. "He says, 'No destiny in God's whole world could have been nobler than mine.' The eternal life granted by the Grail, he gave up to be with her."<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Mabel's hand found Frank's and clasped it tightly. Frank started with surprise, then squeezed hers back.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The singer was standing very close to the tour guide now, holding her hand to his chest and gazing down into her eyes. "Das einz'ge, was mein Opfer lohne, muss ich in deiner Lieb ersehn!"<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"I bet he's her boyfriend," Frank whispered in Mabel's ear. "Hell of a proposal."<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The tour guide seemed to come to her senses, suddenly aware of her group watching wide-eyed. She tried to pull her hand away but he held it tight, she turned her head but he kept singing.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"So I ask you, steer clear of doubt," the older man said. "Your love is my proud reward."<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The tour guide managed to get her hand free and she stumbled back a few steps. He never took his eyes off her face.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"Because I don't come from night and suffering, from splendor and I bliss I come."<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>He stopped singing, breathing hard from what must have been a vocal exertion. He kept staring at the tour guide, though, as if expecting her to pick up where he'd left off.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"What— I—" She couldn't form words, couldn't seem to think straight, couldn't understand what had just happened.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"Elsa," the singer said, stretching out his hand to her again.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"It's Liese," she said.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"Elsa, take my hand," he said, his accent suddenly very American.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"My name is Liese," she said. "What's yours?"<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>He turned away suddenly, his face contorted in grief. "Weh uns, was tatest du," he sang softly.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"What are you saying?" she said.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"Elsa was not supposed to ask the knight's name or his origin," the older man explained in a whisper. "She broke her vow and he was forced to return to the Grail."<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"Who the hell are you?" the tour guide said again. "What do you think you're doing, interrupting my tour?"<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"Elsa," he said, pleading.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"I'm not Elsa! And you're not Goddamn Lohengrin! Stop it!"<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>He looked stricken. "Woe to us," he whispered.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"Look, can you be normal? If you tell me your name and ask me on a date, I'll go, OK? That was cool, what you did, no one's ever serenaded me like that before. Be normal, OK?"<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The security guards were inching closer now, seeing that things were going wrong. The singer just stared at his Elsa, tears welling in his eyes. Frank squeezed his wife's hand tighter.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"Can you get him out of here?" the tour guide called to the security guards.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"Elsa," the singer said. He managed to put an ocean of longing into those two syllables, begging her not to send him away.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"I'm not Elsa!" Her fists were clenched at her sides, her eyes blazing with anger.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The singer spun around, aware of the security guards for the first time, righteous fury twisting his face. "Elsa, my sword!" He stretched out his hand behind him, but the tour guide stepped up and planted both hands on his back, then pushed him away hard. He stumbled right into the closest guard's grip.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"Komm, Lohengrin," the guard said.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The singer looked back at the tour guide, pleading with his eyes, as the guards pulled him away. Mabel huddled closer, and Frank put his arm around her shoulder.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The tour guide took a moment to pull herself together as the guards got the singer out of the room. She straightened her skirt, tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her ear, and then turned to face her tour group again.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"Well," she said, "I am sorry for that interruption. It looks like another group is right on our heels now, so with apologies I'm going to move us along quickly for a moment. If you'll come this way."<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The group shuffled after her again, slowly at first, as if just waking from a dream.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"As I was saying, Wagner's operas inspired Ludwig's romantic vision of the Middle Ages, and he built Neuschwanstein as a memorial to that lost age."<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Back on script, as if nothing had happened, she chattered away as she walked the group briskly through the palace.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Frank kept his arm wrapped around Mabel's shoulders as they walked, smiling, at the back of the group.<br />
Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11343482046936121226noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424546536009955852.post-924182296619617312013-04-23T08:17:00.004-07:002013-04-23T08:17:31.688-07:00Falling snow(WriMuse prompt: Write about someone mentally ill losing control of a bodily function during a blizzard.)<br />
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<b>Falling Snow</b><br />
I have to pee.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>But I can't. It's snowing outside. The snow is coming down like ash like stars like a cascading waterfall like pee and I have to watch, I have to make sure.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I'm at the window looking out, watching it fall watching it collect and while I've been watching at least three inches have fallen, I can see on the ledge outside my window and that's not even accounting for the bits that fall over the edge and don't collect.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Little fallen flakes, hurtling from the sky to come to rest, briefly, fleetingly, on my window ledge and then—no! You weren't safe, you were close to the edge, and the ground is still thirty feet below my fourth-floor window. Fallen stars spend a brief time on earth trying to fit in with all the other stars, but they're on the edge, and they slip and there's no one to catch them as they fall.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I really have to pee, but I can't. What if the drifts rise to cover the door and there's a fire and no one can get out? How will they get us out? What if an angel comes down in the midst of the snow and the snow is just the dust shaken from its wings as it flies, gleaming in the moonlight, and I'm peeing and so I miss it? What if the angel carries all the fallen snow fallen stars up to heaven but it forgets me because I'm peeing? What if I don't see all the snow fall? Who will note the passing of the flakes that slip over the edge of the ledge? Who will mourn them, if not me, if I'm not there to see them and name them and lift them up to the angels' arms?<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I name them like they name hurricanes, Andrew Bessie Clarice Daniel Edward Francesca George Harriet Isolde James Kenneth Lamont Marcia Naomi Opheth why Opheth? Pandora Quentin Ronald Samantha Terrence with two Rs Ursula Veronica Wyatt Xavier Yu just Yu Zoe and start over at Alphonse Bruce Cameron Daniel no I did Daniel already and they're falling too fast, I can't name them all so I clutch my fist to my chest because I don't have a hat and I stand and watch them fall.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Maybe it's not so bad, falling from the ledge. Many fallen stars never reach the ledge, they fall all the way to the courtyard and there's so many down there. Some of them blow across the others like winding snakes, among them but not of them. Maybe it's better to be among the multitude, but who names them? Who notes their passing when they fall or when they melt if spring ever comes?<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I name the ones on my ledge. David not Daniel Elizabeth Frederick Grant Harold Imelda Josephine Karen Larry Maeve I like Maeve it's a pretty name the name of one of the nurses who's pretty.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I really have to pee. Nora Omar Phillip with two Ls Qu Qu Qu Querty maybe it's not a name but it is now Rachael with an extra A Sarah Thomas Umar that's a lot like Omar, maybe they're twins, but no, no two snowflakes are alike.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Or are they? The ones here on my ledge, they're the different ones, the ones who cling to the sky, resisting incarnation and desensitization and conformity and they keep us up here on the ledge except the ones that slip away.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I can't go to the bathroom or I'll miss them. And so I let the warm wet pee slide down my legs like falling snow, pooling and puddling by my feet, nameless drops all alike they aren't special like the snow. Like me.Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11343482046936121226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424546536009955852.post-67680250115088166292013-04-23T08:16:00.002-07:002013-04-23T08:16:18.135-07:00Catching up<br />
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Well. It's been nearly two years since the last time I posted anything here. Let's start with catching up a little bit, then I'll talk about my ideas for what to do with this space in the future.</div>
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My fifth novel, <i>Oath of Vigilance,</i> came out in August 2011. I'll have to add it to the Amazon links on the left there sometime soon.</div>
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I've just finished writing the third draft of my sixth novel, which is my first non-D&D-related novel. I'm writing it for me, because I'm a writer, and I'm taking my time with it because I don't have a deadline. The third draft is the first one I'm letting anyone read, specifically my wife. She will be the first person who can tell me whether it has any merit whatsoever—I'm just not sure, it's so different from anything I've done before.</div>
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So she'll read it, I'll revise it probably a zillion more times, and then we'll see. Maybe Wizards won't let me do anything with it—they'd be within their rights. Maybe they will and I'll try to get an agent and fail, and nothing will come of it. Maybe I'll get an agent who won't be able to find a publisher for it. Maybe I'll self-publish it, but honestly I think that's the least likely option. We'll see. I'll keep you posted.</div>
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And that's the relevant news, as far as this public forum is concerned. </div>
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So speaking of this public forum, here's what I'm thinking and why I came back to it today for the first time in almost two years. I am a writer. Despite the fact that I've made my living writing for well over a decade, I'm really only starting to own that as my identity. So at this point, I figure you're coming to this site because you're interested in what I write. More and more, that has less to do with D&D books (novels or RPG products) and more to do with other stuff. So maybe that doesn't have the appeal to you that my all-D&D-all-the-time blog had, and I'm sorry. On the other hand, maybe that's more appealing, which is great.</div>
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So right now I'm between drafts of my novel, waiting for my wife to read it and give me feedback so I can start on my fourth draft. But I still brought my iPad to Starbucks this morning, and I tried to figure out what to write, so I went to a fun little app (by Rasmus Rasmussen) called WriMuse and got a prompt and wrote a vignette. And it's the next post, which you probably read before this one.</div>
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Have fun!</div>
Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11343482046936121226noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424546536009955852.post-13241483281471727492011-08-01T13:48:00.001-07:002011-08-01T13:52:45.227-07:00Gen Con 2011<blockquote></blockquote>Hey, what's this fancy blog thing just lying around here? What's my login again?<br /><div><br /></div><div>Is this thing on?</div><div><br /></div><div>Oh, hello. I figured I'd pop in here and post my schedule at Gen Con this year. You know, in case you're there and want to say hi. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Thursday, August 4</b></div><div>4:00–6:00 Seminar: Art of Adventure Design</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Friday, August 5</b></div><div>2:00–4:00 Spin a Yarn with Ed Greenwood</div><div>4:00–6:00 Seminar: Art of the Dungeon Master</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Saturday, August 6</b></div><div>10:00–12:00 Seminar: D&D Product Line Review</div><div>2:00–4:00 D&D Live with R&D</div><div>4:00–6:00 Discussion with R.A. Salvatore</div><div><br /></div><div>Hope to see you there!</div>Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11343482046936121226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424546536009955852.post-83289899849923524712009-11-24T15:40:00.000-08:002009-11-24T15:43:29.290-08:00So I'm a junkie, right?And I've been clean now for six months, as I explained in my last post. But I'm really starting to jones for the stuff, you know? I keep thinking about it, and it's almost like I can taste it. But I'm good—I stay clean. I'm not going back. <div><br /></div><div>Sure, maybe I visit my dealer's web site once every couple of days. At least it's not every day. And maybe I listen to my dealer's soundtrack while I'm working. So what?<div><br /></div><div>Then today I get an email from my dealer. "Your account has been selected to receive 7 free days of game time. Come back! Come back!"</div><div><br /></div><div>It's a good thing I'm on a tight deadline right now. But I have a feeling that once that deadline is past, I'm going to spend 7 days reminding myself of all the reasons why I don't like this particular drug...</div></div>Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11343482046936121226noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424546536009955852.post-77446172031560830372009-11-14T20:31:00.001-08:002009-11-14T20:33:48.686-08:00World of WarcrackJust for kicks, I went and looked at my billing records for World of Warcraft. I played (or at least paid) from 12/25/04 through July of 2006, or about 19 months straight. Then I took three months off. Started again on 11/25/06, played for about 11 months, then took two months off. Started again on 12/31/07, played for 6 months, then took another two months off. Started again on 9/8/08 (right after my birthday), played for 8 months, and now it's been six months since I played.<div><br /></div><div>Yeah, I'm jonesing. So what?</div>Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11343482046936121226noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424546536009955852.post-46439447931704213502009-11-12T20:59:00.000-08:002009-11-12T21:21:07.338-08:00Mrgrglglglgrl!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.wowhead.com/uploads/screenshots/thumb/47359.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 124px; height: 150px;" src="http://static.wowhead.com/uploads/screenshots/thumb/47359.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><p class="StatBlock"><o:p>In the comments to my last post, Metz asked about seeing some of the stats for the WoW monsters I've been playing with. So, just for kicks, here are a handful of different murlocs, of the sort found around Lake Teronis in Ashenvale.</o:p></p><p class="StatBlock">As D&D monsters go, these are intentionally dirt-simple. They have one or two powers, which often very closely mimic powers possessed by the monsters in WoW. They're designed to play fast and easy. I wish, in retrospect, I'd done something to make them interact better with each other, but hey . . . they're murlocs. :)</p><p class="StatBlock">Have fun!</p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><b><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=3740">Saltspittle Muckdweller</a><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Level 7 Artillery<br />Medium natural humanoid, murloc<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>XP 300<br /></b><b>Initiative</b> +7<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Senses </b>Perception +5<br /><b>HP</b> 61; <b>Bloodied</b> 30<br /><b>AC </b>19; <b>Fortitude </b>19; <b>Reflex</b> 20; <b>Will </b>18<br /><b>Speed</b> 8, swim 8<br />m<b> Spear</b> (at-will; standard) • Weapon<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>+14 vs AC; 1d8 + 4 damage.<br />r <b>Spear</b> (at-will; standard) • Weapon<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Ranged 10; +14 vs AC; 3d6 + 4 damage and the target is slowed (save ends).<br /><b>Alignment</b> Unaligned<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Languages</b> Murloc<br /><b>Str </b>16 (+6)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Dex</b> 19 (+7)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Wis</b> 14 (+5)<br /><b>Con</b> 13 (+4) <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Int</b> 8 (+2)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Cha</b> 10 (+3)</span></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><b><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=3742">Saltspittle Oracle</a> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Level 7 Artillery (Leader)<br />Medium natural humanoid, murloc <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>XP 300<br /></b><b>Initiative</b> +6 <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Senses</b> Perception +7<br /><b>HP</b> 61; <b>Bloodied</b> 30<br /><b>AC </b>19; <b>Fortitude</b> 19; <b>Reflex</b> 19; <b>Will</b> 20<br /><b>Speed </b>8, swim 8<br />m <b>Staff</b> (at-will; standard) • Weapon<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>+14 vs AC; 1d8 + 4 damage.<br />r <b>Shock</b> (at-will; standard) • Lightning<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Ranged 10; +12 vs Reflex; 3d6 + 4 lightning damage.<br />R <b>Healing Wave</b> (recharge 6; standard) • Healing<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Ranged 5; the target can spend a healing surge.<br /><b>Alignment</b> Unaligned <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Languages</b> Murloc<br /><b>Str</b> 16 (+6) <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Dex</b> 16 (+6)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b> Wis</b> 18 (+7)<br /><b>Con</b> 13 (+4) <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Int</b> 8 (+2) <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Cha</b> 13 (+4)</span></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><b><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=3737">Saltspittle Puddlejumper</a> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Level 7 Skirmisher<br />Medium natural humanoid, murloc <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>XP 300<br /></b><b>Initiative</b> +9 <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Senses</b> Perception +5<br /><b>HP</b> 77; <b>Bloodied</b> 38<br /><b>AC </b>21; <b>Fortitude </b>19; <b>Reflex </b>20; <b>Will </b>18<br /><b>Speed</b> 8, swim 8<br />m <b>Spear</b> (at-will; standard) • Weapon<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>+12 vs AC; 2d6 + 4 damage.<br /><b> Rushing Charge</b><br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>When charging, the puddlejumper's speed is 10 and it deals +1d6 damage.<br /><b>Alignment</b> Unaligned <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Languages</b> Murloc<br /><b>Str</b> 16 (+6) <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Dex</b> 19 (+7) <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Wis</b> 14 (+5)<br /><b>Con</b> 13 (+4) <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Int</b> 8 (+2) <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Cha</b> 10 (+3)</span></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><b><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=3739">Saltspittle Warrior</a> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Level 7 Soldier<br />Medium natural humanoid, murloc <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>XP 300</b><br /><b>Initiative</b> +8 <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Senses</b> Perception +5<br /><b>HP</b> 77; <b>Bloodied</b> 38<br /><b>AC</b> 23; <b>Fortitude</b> 20; <b>Reflex</b> 19; <b>Will</b> 18<br /><b>Speed</b> 8, swim 8<br />m <b>Sword</b> (at-will; standard) • Weapon<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>+14 vs AC; 2d6 + 4 damage and the target is marked until the end of the warrior's next turn.<br />M <b>Sunder Armor</b> (recharge 4 5 6; standard)<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>+14 vs AC; 3d10 + 4 damage and the target takes a -2 penalty to AC (save ends).<br />M <b>Shield Bash</b> (at-will; opportunity) • Weapon<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>+14 vs AC; 1d8 + 4 damage and the target is dazed until the end of the warrior's next turn.<br /><b>Alignment</b> Unaligned <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Languages</b> Murloc<br /><b>Str</b> 19 (+7) <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Dex</b> 16 (+6) <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Wis</b> 14 (+5)<br /><b>Con</b> 13 (+4) <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Int</b> 8 (+2) <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Cha</b> 10 (+3)</span></span></p>Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11343482046936121226noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424546536009955852.post-69760019035927214932009-11-08T20:39:00.000-08:002009-11-08T21:10:16.306-08:00I'm still off the WoW habit, but...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FEfqcWmn144/SvegKOwxFJI/AAAAAAAAADs/He61TNiDUTk/s1600-h/IMG_5709.jpg"></a>I let my <i>World of Warcraft</i> subscription lapse in May. This might be the longest I've gone without playing it since I started, come to think of it, which could explain the cravings. <div><br /></div><div>In addition to the cravings for the actual computer game, which I keep denying because it turns out there's a lot about that experience I just don't enjoy, the cravings have been manifesting recently as desires to play D&D in the world of WoW. I think it's a cool world, and there's a part of me—a rather large part, it turns out—that would love to play a night elf warrior in a tabletop experience where I'm not button-mashing, where my actions make a difference in the world, where there's a DM to adjudicate my doing whatever I want to, and all those other things that make tabletop gaming superior, in my estimation, to computer gaming. In fact, there's a lot of it that feels like the best of both worlds: I can have the tabletop experience I enjoy while also playing the soundtracks to the game and making abundant use of visual aids and quest design from the computer game.</div><div><br /></div><div>So I've spent some time with the <a href="http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Tool.aspx?x=dnd/4new/tool/adventuretools">D&D Monster Builder</a>, statting up monsters from the game in D&D terms. I've spent a lot of time on WoW fan sites like <a href="http://thottbot.com">thottbot</a> and <a href="http://www.wowhead.com">wowhead</a> and <a href="http://www.wowwiki.com">wowwiki</a>, culling information about the world and its inhabitants and "translating" it into D&D content, from quests to monsters to storylines. </div><div><br /></div><div>When I was at GenCon, I bought a couple of WoW mini singles: a couple of nagas, a voidwalker, and a timberling who made an appearance in my Greenbrier campaign a couple of weeks ago, as a myconid sovereign. They were $1 each, so I felt that was a pretty good investment for monsters that would be Large in the game anyway. Doesn't help much for gnomes and night elves and other Medium critters, but they're pretty cool additions to my minis collection.</div><div><br /></div><div>So then today I got an idea. Using the 3D models of WoW mobs available on wowhead, I took snapshots of a bunch of monsters, front and back, printed them on cardstock, and turned them into stand-up figures, much like the Cardboard Heroes of old. Look:</div><div><br /></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FEfqcWmn144/SvefhbtN0VI/AAAAAAAAADc/F_Pzz7fWlLI/s1600-h/IMG_5706.jpg"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FEfqcWmn144/SvefhbtN0VI/AAAAAAAAADc/F_Pzz7fWlLI/s320/IMG_5706.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401961674776105298" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /></a><br /></div><div>That's a bunch of murlocs on the left, some nagas on the right (I decided to make them Large after trying them both Large and Medium), and satyrs in the front.</div><div><br /></div><div>More:</div><div><br /></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FEfqcWmn144/Svef2S6_u5I/AAAAAAAAADk/SqCymjHzHCY/s1600-h/IMG_5708.jpg"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FEfqcWmn144/Svef2S6_u5I/AAAAAAAAADk/SqCymjHzHCY/s320/IMG_5708.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401962033195236242" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /></a><br /></div><div>On the right, a demon and its cultists. Center, an abomination and three forsaken. Left, a worgen. And in the back are two orcs and two tauren.</div><div><br /></div><div>Still more!</div><div><br /></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FEfqcWmn144/SvegKOwxFJI/AAAAAAAAADs/He61TNiDUTk/s1600-h/IMG_5709.jpg"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FEfqcWmn144/SvegKOwxFJI/AAAAAAAAADs/He61TNiDUTk/s320/IMG_5709.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401962375675974802" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /></a><br /></div><div>These are the woodsy folk: a couple of furbolgs (I decided to make them Medium after trying them Large) on the left, a bunch of night elves toward the right (with a son of Cenarius and a dryad at far right), Gnarl the ancient in the back, and two draenei and a human (Delgren the Purifier) behind the furbolgs.</div><div><br /></div><div>I focused on creatures and characters to be found in Ashenvale, since that's where I've been putting most of my attention. It's aesthetically one of the most appealing zones to me, which almost makes up for its almost utter lack of good storylines. And Blackfathom Deeps is one of the only instances I've done, pathetically enough.</div><div><br /></div><div>So then it occurred to me that the work I did might be useful to other people. Want to print the WoW minis I made? Visit <a href="http://www.aquela.com/wow-minis">this page</a> and download the PDFs, and print them onto card stock. Want to make your own, visit <a href="http://www.aquela.com/wow-minis">the same page</a> and download the photoshop files, delete (or hide) the layers showing the WoW monsters, and add your own images.</div><div><br /></div><div>Caveats: I'm more or less happy with the Larges, but they don't stand up if you make the base too narrow. What I ended up doing was not cutting through the page margin at the top of the page, so I got a wider base on them. </div><div><br /></div><div>I'm really not happy with the Huges. They take up a row of three squares, rather than a box of nine squares. And it's just possible that all the Huges I did ought to be Large anyway. Thoughts on making effective Huge monsters in this format would be welcome, but it's possible that a flat counter is just better. I suppose one could get all fancy and make an X-shaped figure with four views of the monster... oh, geez, now I'm going to have to try that.</div><div><br /></div><div>Have fun!</div>Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11343482046936121226noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424546536009955852.post-11766397453601195822009-09-04T21:44:00.000-07:002009-09-04T21:47:04.962-07:00Dragon War interviewCheck out my interview on <a href="http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4dnd/booknookwyatt">Marty's Book Nook</a>!<div><br /></div><div>Early feedback is awesome:</div><div><blockquote></blockquote><blockquote>Just watched Book Nook. You, sir, are a giant goofball. I approve. —@AsmodeusLore</blockquote>High praise, indeed! Just go watch it. Then read the book!</div>Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11343482046936121226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424546536009955852.post-91667805944420577892009-08-04T16:58:00.000-07:002009-08-04T17:15:49.466-07:00My GenCon schedule<b>Thursday</b><div></div><blockquote><div>2:00 D&D World of Eberron seminar</div></blockquote><div><b>Friday</b></div><div><blockquote></blockquote></div><blockquote><div>10:00 Signing in Author Alley</div><div>12:00 Bringing Your Concept to Life panel (IIGoH)</div><div>2:00 Wizards booth</div><div>4:00 D&D World of Forgotten Realms seminar</div><div>6:00 Top 5 Best Gaming Products panel (IIGoH)</div><div>8:00 ENnies Ceremony</div></blockquote><div><b>Saturday</b></div><div></div><blockquote><div>10:00 I Want to Be a Dungeon Master seminar</div><div>12:00 D&D 4th Edition Extravaganza seminar</div><div>4:00 Wizards booth</div></blockquote><div><b>Sunday</b></div><div></div><blockquote><div>1:00 Religion, Fantasy, and Roleplaying talk (IIGoH)</div><div></div></blockquote><div>IIGoH is short for Industry Insider Guest of Honor, a role I'm proud to be playing again this year. </div><div><br /></div><div>Hope to see you in Indy!</div><div><br /></div>Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11343482046936121226noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424546536009955852.post-66385943138591391842009-07-10T19:31:00.000-07:002009-07-10T19:39:53.032-07:00A pair of random thoughtsFirst, in case you missed it on Twitter or Facebook, I did an interview last week with local public radio station KUOW (94.9). It's supposed to air at 12:26 tomorrow afternoon, and a couple of times over the next week, but you can listen to it now <a href="http://kuow.org/program.php?id=17934">on the web</a>.<p>I got thinking later about one of the things I said in the interview, and I realized that for a number of books that I've worked on, the funny little chapters are my favorites. To wit:</p><p></p><ul><li>The one I mentioned in the interview was the chapter in <i>Deities & Demigods</i> that presented Taiia (the god of a monotheistic religion from Aquela), Elishar and Toldoth (the dualistic religion practiced by my last 1st Edition AD&D character), and the dwarven mystery cult of Dennari (from the Roman campaign).</li><li>The chapter of <i>Oriental Adventures</i> where I talked about using dwarves as the Crab clan of Rokugan (and elves as the Crane) and talked just a bit about using Asian cultures other than China and Japan as sources.</li><li>In <i>Expedition to Castle Ravenloft,</i> the chapter with the three fanes you can use to weaken Strahd.</li></ul><p></p><p>I don't know what it is about those three chapters that I like so much, but somehow they feel like some of my most distinctive contributions to the D&D game. They're quirky and unique. They're me.</p>Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11343482046936121226noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424546536009955852.post-357917472197543742009-07-10T08:34:00.000-07:002009-07-10T09:01:41.923-07:00The dog food testI read <a href="http://daringfireball.net/2009/07/chrome_os_context">this</a>, talking about Google's Chrome OS, last night:<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 11px; color: rgb(238, 238, 238); line-height: 19px; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.6em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></p><blockquote><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.6em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">In short, will Chrome OS pass the dog food test: is it something Google’s own engineers will want to use?</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.6em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">I’m skeptical about the prospects of any new system or product that isn’t intended for use by the people creating it. Gmail, for example, is the best web mail system because it was designed to be used not just by “typical” users but by expert users, including the engineers at Google who made it. The iPhone is simple enough to appeal to almost anyone, but guess which phone the people who created it use?</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.6em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">Make something intended not for your own use, but for use by dummies, and you’ll usually wind up creating something dumb. The future of computing probably is in the direction of thin clients connecting to network services for storage and software, but my hunch is that Chrome OS is too thin.</span></p></blockquote></span><div>It struck me because it dovetailed directly with a conversation I'd had the day before about D&D 4e. Some people think that we designed the game for World of Warcraft players, or for kids, or for stupid people. We didn't. We designed it for us—and by "us," I mean not just the people inside this department who are lucky enough to play more D&D than just about anybody in the world, but also people like us: People who love the game and want the best gaming experience possible. People who had a great time playing 3rd edition but grew increasingly frustrated with its mechanics. People who still enjoy the tabletop experience of sitting down, face to face, with your friends and spending a couple of hours lost in fantasy. </div><div><br /></div><div>From my perspective, it was incredibly successful. I'm playing more D&D than I ever have in my life—five regular campaigns, plus frequent games with my son (and sometimes my wife). I'm having more fun while playing, too. And I still hunger for more—I want to get the old band back together and return to the glory days of the Imperium Romanum campaign (back in the SPQR!). From what I've seen, a whole lot of people feel the same way. </div><div><br /></div><div>Some people don't. Well, that has to be OK. No edition of D&D has pleased everybody. Some people still consider 2nd Edition a blight on the purity of the original AD&D, and some think it's been all downhill since "Advanced" first got appended to the name of the game. Fourth Edition can't please everybody, either. So play the edition of the game that makes you happy. </div><div><br /></div><div>But, for crying out loud, play the game. I have no patience for armchair generals who stir up the so-called edition wars without ever actually playing any edition of D&D. Play the game the way you want it, and lay off the people who don't like the game you're playing. But play. The D&D kitchen table is big enough for all of us.</div></div>Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11343482046936121226noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424546536009955852.post-38975295452019562002009-05-25T19:07:00.000-07:002009-05-25T21:30:29.704-07:00Night Below conversion, part 1As you might have seen me mention on <a href="http://twitter.com/aquelajames">Twitter</a>, today I started running the classic (1995) 2nd Edition AD&D superadventure <i>Night Below</i> for a party of three 3rd-level PCs, consisting of my wife's paladin, my bard, and a character my son made, of a class we've been working on designing for fun. So it's a little weird to be adapting it for only 3 PCs, when the original adventure is intended for four to eight ("the higher number is better").<div><br /></div><div>I started this project because gaming with my son, ever since I brought home <i>Dungeon Delve,</i> has consisted of a string of 3-encounter "delves" with very little plot or story, and I'm getting a little tired of that experience. To be clear, gaming with my son is in addition to five regular campaigns that have a lot more plot, story, and character stuff going on, so it's not like I'm starving for it in general. I just wanted this experience that we share as a family to be little richer, and get him more accustomed to a more traditional style of play.</div><div><br /></div><div>On the other hand, I didn't want to have to do a lot of work to create another campaign of my own. I'm running my Greenbrier campaign (the one I write about for my <a href="http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/duarch/dc">Dungeoncraft</a> column) on Fridays at lunch, and that's about all that I have time to prep for. Especially if I start writing another novel any time soon. So I really wanted to pull a superadventure off the shelf, do some tweaking as necessary, and play the heck out of it. I thought <i>Night Below</i> was a pretty strong candidate for that. It might still be, if I can get past this one hump.</div><div><br /></div><div>One of the things I really like about <i>Night Below</i> is the way it interacts with 4th Edition's quest rules. Just in the little bit we played today, I handed my players three Post-It notes with quests on them:</div><div><ul><li>Major Quest: Deliver Gordrenn's chest of arcane ritual components to Tauster in Thurmaster. Level 3 (450 XP). Tauster arranges to pay the PCs 110 gp (treasure parcel 9 for 3rd-level PCs).</li><li>Major Quest: Find Jelenneth. I haven't actually set a level for this one yet, because the PCs won't complete it until Book 3 of the adventure, when they'll probably be in the paragon tier. Tauster has promised them 150 gp, which by that time will be pocket change.</li><li>Minor Quest: Deliver Tauster's letter to Kuiper. Level 3 (150 XP). Tauster pays them 30 gp for this easy little delivery job, which I'll shave from another parcel.</li></ul>The adventure as written has a lot of little quest hooks like this, which should eventually lead to a situation where the players have a bunch of things they could pursue, and they get to decide which quest to work on next.</div><div><br /></div><div>The problem is that the quest to find Jelenneth seems urgent, which makes the players not interested in other matters. Kuiper suggests that they look for Jelenneth along Hog Creek—but the scene in the inn made it seem like she left abruptly. She didn't tell her sweetie that she was leaving and heading back to Thurmaster. Tauster clearly didn't instruct her to gather herbs along Hog Creek. Why would anyone accept Kuiper's suggestion of searching for her there?</div><div><br /></div><div>I think this is a surmountable problem. I think the next time we play, I'll have Kuiper sit down with the characters and say, "Look. You're probably right that Jelenneth was abducted—especially given what happened to you guys on your way into the area. Let's have a look around Hog Creek, if only because whoever took her might have come that way, especially if they're hiding out in the forest somewhere."</div><div><br /></div><div>Then they can run into Oleanna, who has an urgent problem of her own to deal with. With enough urgent problems on their quest log (as it were), perhaps it won't seem so terrible that they have no leads on finding Jelenneth. After all, they've got a werebear to help, orcs to deal with, and more of these kidnapping bandits.</div><div><br /></div><div>The first encounter in the adventure, "Capture Them Alive!" was easy to put together:</div><div><b>Encounter Level 4 (XP 524)</b></div><div>•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>4 human rabble (level 2 minion, MM 162)</div><div>•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>2 human bandits, armed with bows (1d10 damage, instead of 1d4+3 for the dagger) (level 2 skirmisher, MM 162)</div><div>•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Carlanis, human guard (level 3 soldier, MM 162)</div><div><br /></div><div>If they had captured a prisoner, I was prepared to give them another minor quest to bring him to justice in Milborne. </div><div><br /></div><div>My son was getting antsy after all the talk in Milborne, so I threw a "random" encounter at them between Milborne and Thurmaster (despite the adventure's instructions, "The PCs should not have any random hostile encounters during their trip to Thurmaster.") It was another simple encounter:</div><div><b>Level 3 Encounter (XP 450)</b></div><div>•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>6 goblin cutters (level 1 minion, MM 136)</div><div>•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Goblin blackblade (level 1 lurker, MM 136)</div><div>•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Bugbear warrior (level 5 brute, MM 135)</div><div><br /></div><div>I've started to sketch out a campaign arc, based on the tables of contents in the three books of the adventure. Here's what it looks like so far:</div><div>• <b>Capture Them Alive!</b><span style="font-weight:normal"> PCs are attacked by bandits on their way to Thurmaster. Level 3.</span></div><div><span style="font-weight:normal">• <b>Milborne and Beyond</b><span style="font-weight:normal"> Learn of disappeared apprentice. Goblin attack on the way to Thurmaster.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal">• <b>Lured Into Darkness</b><span style="font-weight:normal"> Four mini-adventures:</span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal">—Creeping Along Hog Brook: Kuiper and Oleanne help the PCs to fight orcs and capture the werebear. I've built Kuiper and Oleanne as simple supporting characters using some new rules coming out this fall, so I'll plan these encounters as if we had 5 PCs. I think that means the orc encounter is 10 orc drudges (level 4 minion) and one orc berserker (level 4 brute), which is not quite a level 3 encounter for 5 PCs. Oleanne leaves before the werebear fight, which I think will just be a cave bear (level 6 elite brute).</span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal">— Mystery of the New Mire: The PCs investigate the New Mire and deal with the Goblins of the Ring. There's a lot of goblins in there, but I want to try to encourage a diplomatic solution. I'm guessing the PCs will hit 4th level around this time.</span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal">— Peril on the River: Carry cargo on the river to Thurmaster, fight bandits. Tough encounter. Ranchefus will be a priest of Torog.</span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal">— A Kidnapping on the Moors: Search for missing pilgrims on Howler’s Moor. I might use a couple of shadow hounds (level 6 skirmisher) in place of the pack of death dogs in the original adventure, or I might stat up death dogs, depending on how creative I feel at the time.</span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal">• <b>Gazetteer of Haranshire</b><span style="font-weight:normal"> Side adventures TBD. My goal here will be to fill out the PCs' quest log, so that after the werebear incident the characters just have a ton of leads to pursue and quests to fulfill.</span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal">• <b>Ruins in the Thornwood</b><span style="font-weight:normal"> PCs fight the kidnappers at Broken Spire Keep. I think I'll be aiming to have the PCs at 5th level by this time. (The original adventure wanted them at 3rd by now.)</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal">• <b>Evil Below the Mines</b><span style="font-weight:normal"> PCs fight more kidnappers at Garlstone Mines. We'll be aiming for 6th level here (the original says they should be 4th).</span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal">• <b>The Orcs Below the World</b><span style="font-weight:normal"> PCs fight orcs at the gateway to the Underdark. Aim for level 7 for meaty orc encounters.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal">• <b>Into the Deep Dark</b><span style="font-weight:normal"> Talk to deep gnomes. Another thing I like about this adventure: "Do not play these deep gnomes as jokey figures of fun. They are emphatically not 'tinker gnomes' or the more frivolous kind generally."</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal">• <b>The Gnome Lands</b><span style="font-weight:normal"> The PCs have the opportunity to kill some trolls (level 9 brute), so it'd be good if they're level 8 by now. As written, these caves have 4 to 8 trolls each! 4e encounter design should make this interesting. There are also some troglodytes, which happily occupy a similar level range (6 to 8).</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal">• <b>Perils of the Long Path</b><span style="font-weight:normal"> Three mini-dungeons:</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal">—Grell Nest: Grells are level 7 and 11 in the MM, which lets me build level 8 or 9 encounters using both.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal">—Monsters at War: This area pits quaggoths against hook horrors (level 13). I know someone at the office has written up quaggoths, so I'll look into what they did and what level they're pegged at. There's a rakshasa in charge of the hook horrors, which might be a level 15 warrior—otherwise I'll have to craft a lower-level rakshasa than the ones in the MM.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div>—The Smooth Caverns: Ropers (level 14 elite), xorn (level 9 or 16 skirmisher), and crystal oozes (not done in 4e yet). This is getting pretty high-level, and I might need to skip this section.</div><div><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal">—Caves of the Slime Lord: Home of the weird, weird monsters, from piercers and lurkers to invisible stalkers and crystal oozes. Some assembly required.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal">• <b>Scales Before the Rockseers</b><span style="font-weight:normal"> Two cavern areas:</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div>—Caverns of the Reptiles: Home to a behir (in MM2 at levels 8, 14, and 24) and a shadow dragon (in adventure P3 at levels 8, 14, and 20, and in Draconomicon at 24). Looks like these two are evenly matched whatever level the PCs have reached by this time.</div><div>—The Halls of the Rockseers: Rather than introduce a new subrace of subterranean elves, I'm going to make the rockseers a distinct fey race that's elf-like without being elves. At least, that's the current plan. I guess I could just make them ordinary elves who happen to live deep underground (which is also my plan for the deep gnomes), but I'd be a little sad to lose their ability to meld into stone. Fun skill challenge material here.</div><div><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal">• <b>The Derro at War</b><span style="font-weight:normal"> I haven't decided yet whether to reinvent derro for 4e or just use the duergar from MM2, which include a number of examples at levels 11–14. There's a purple worm, a level 16 solo, which will be tough for 3 PCs.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal">• <b>The City of the Glass Pool</b><span style="font-weight:normal"> The home of the kuo-toa (level 12 to 16).</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div>• <b>The Deepest Darkness</b> The PCs regroup, consult with various allies, and make ready to descend to the Sunless Sea.</div><div>• <b>Exploring the Great Cavern</b> More derro. Fire giants (level 18). A group of demons led by a marilith (level 24 elite)—oh, that's going to need some work, since alu-fiends aren't in the game and succubi are devils now. Renegade illithids (level 14–18) and fomorians (level 16–22). </div><div>• <b>Isles in the Sunless Sea</b> More little mini-dungeons, with a human wizard, a bunch of undead, the pyramid of the ixzan, and some miscellaneous beasties. Some monster design required here.</div><div>• <b>Great Shaboath</b> City of the aboleth! Aboleths are level 17–18, so that's our target for the end of the campaign.</div><div><br /></div><div>I have just suddenly run out of steam. More later.</div><div> <p class="CoreBody"><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="CoreBody"><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="CoreBody"><o:p></o:p></p> <!--EndFragment--> </div>Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11343482046936121226noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424546536009955852.post-83588087084954740342009-05-14T17:01:00.000-07:002009-05-14T17:36:54.253-07:00ThukGenCon 2002: A bunch of friends sit down to play some D&D. We make up some hasty, 9th-level characters and then play. I don't remember who DMed—maybe Steve Schubert? I only remember some of the players. But I have the character, because for some reason I entered it into the character storage CGI script I wrote for my old website. Inspired by the T-shirt distributed with the announcement of 3rd Edition, I decided to make a half-orc barbarian/sorcerer. Because the shirt said I could.<div><br /><div>Thuk II was a chaotic good half-orc barbarian 3/sorcerer 6. Str 16, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 6, Wis 10, Cha 16. He had 54 hp, AC 21, Fort +7, Ref +4, and Will +6. He wielded a +2 greataxe, wore a +2 mithral shirt, +2 ring of protection, +2 amulet of natural armor, and +2 cloak of Charisma. Raging (once per day) gave him Str 20, Con 18, Will +8, AC 19. His skills were Intimidate +9, Listen +6, and Concentration +8, and he had Weapon Focus (greataxe), Power Attack, Blind-Fight, and Combat Casting as feats. His personality I summed up in a quotation: "Thuk smash!"</div><div><br /></div><div>His spells per day: 6 level 0, 7 level 1, 6 level 2, and 4 level 3. He knew (1st level) true strike, shocking grasp, burning hands, magic missile; (2nd level) blur, bull's strength; and (3rd level) haste.</div><div><br /></div><div>Thuk I, who died early in the adventure, was a barbarian 2/sorcerer 7. I changed the distribution of levels so that I could get a second attack each round.</div><div><br /></div><div>That's perhaps the weirdest irony—I wanted Thuk to be a melee guy who ran up and smashed monsters, enhancing his ability to do so with his sorcerer spells. That's why I chose the spells I did. But the system encouraged me to give him more sorcerer levels than barbarian levels, because I got more bang out of those bucks (more spells). Even in his revised form, Thuk was not a particularly strong character. I was fighting upstream to get a high Charisma (my save DCs started at 13), and my Strength was lower than it would have been as a straight barbarian. </div><div><br /></div><div>Now, I've been thinking for a long time, and particularly since we were intently working on Player's Handbook 2, that a half-orc barbarian/sorcerer in 4th Edition would be pretty awesome. So the other night, for kicks, I revisited Thuk.</div><div><br /></div><div>The new Thuk is a good half-orc barbarian 9 with the Arcane Prodigy (sorcerer multiclass) feat. Str 18, Con 12, Dex 16, Int 8, Wis 11, Cha 18. He has 75 hp, AC 23, Fort 22, Ref 20, and Will 20. He wields a +2 berserker greataxe, wears +2 bloodcut hide armor, and a +2 amulet of health. His trained skills are Athletics +13, Intimidate +15, and Perception +9, and he has Weapon Focus (axes), Power Attack, Arcane Prodigy, Novice Power, and Acolyte Power as feats. His personality can still be summed up as "Thuk smash!"</div><div><br /></div><div>Here's his powers: (at-will) howling strike, pressing strike, (encounter) furious assault, roar of triumph, vault the fallen, flame spiral, curtain of steel, (daily) rage strike, macetail's rage, vengeful storm rage, white tiger rage, (utility) combat sprint, swift escape. His weapon attacks are +12 and deal a base 1d12+6, while his sorcerer attack is +8, with a +4 damage bonus.</div><div><br /></div><div>When he hits 10th level, he'll take Adept Power and swap out one of his barbarian rages for a sorcerer daily. </div><div><br /></div><div>He doesn't have as much overt magic going on, but there's a lot more happening in his barbarian powers than just his basic attacks. His one sorcerer attack (flame spiral) is a close burst, so I don't need to worry about opportunity attacks—I just burninate the guys next to me. No Charisma penalty means my ability scores are better (even without the cloak of Charisma), and the barbarian has some good uses for that high Charisma score as well. </div><div><br /></div><div>This is a character I might actually like to play...</div></div>Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11343482046936121226noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424546536009955852.post-49227063665359762272009-05-13T20:53:00.000-07:002009-05-13T21:07:14.340-07:00My life, post-trilogySo it's been just over two months since I sent <i>Dragon War</i> off to my editor for the last time. How is my life different, now that I have all this extra time?<div><br /></div><div>The sad answer is that, mostly, I'm sleeping more. I guess that's actually not so sad, probably good for my health and mood. But instead of setting my alarm for 6:10 every morning, I set it for 7:10. For a while I thought I'd soon start getting up early again and do something productive with that time—go into work earlier, exercise, something. That hasn't happened. </div><div><br /></div><div>Since the early morning was my primary writing time, that's about all that's really different. Except now I read on the bus in the morning, instead of continuing my writing. So I've read a fair amount in those two months:</div><div><ul><li>Practical Demonkeeping, by Christopher Moore</li><li>The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov</li><li>The Glass Books of the Dream-Eaters, by Gordon Dahlquist</li><li>The Emperor of Ocean Park, by Stephen L. Carter</li><li>The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach about Jesus's Final Days in Jerusalem, by Marcus Borg and Dominic Crossan</li><li>Perdido Street Station, by China Miéville</li></ul><div>That's been fun.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then last week, two months to the day after I finished <i>Dragon War,</i> I woke up and started thinking about a new novel idea. I'm not going to talk about it at all, but it's still percolating in my brain. Work is getting really busy, so it might be a while before I have a lot of time to think more about it. But I think I have a good year or so to get the book written.</div><div><br /></div><div>In other news, apparently you should follow me on <a href="http://twitter.com/aquelajames">Twitter</a>. At least, that's the message I gleaned from <a href="http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2009/05/100-geeks-you-should-be-following-on-twitter/">this post</a> on wired.com. I come right after Steve Wozniak. How cool is that?</div></div>Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11343482046936121226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424546536009955852.post-34806701679063307102009-05-05T22:51:00.000-07:002009-05-05T23:01:16.146-07:00NonomotopoeiaI've been searching for this word for a long time, and I finally found it. It's the opposite of onomotopoeia—it's a word that sounds nothing at all like what it means. My textbook example is "pulchritude." I think "gibbous" might also go on the list, as tonight's moon is what got me thinking about it again.<div><br /></div><div>Unlike many fancy Latin-bred words that I learned from the writing of the late Gary Gygax, I know pulchritude because of the unusual choice of Gian Carlo Menotti to replace the credo in his mass with a verse from Augustine's Confessions, making it the Missa "O Pulchritudo". It's a lovely piece, performed with pulchritude by the William Ferris Chorale in the only digital recording I'm aware of. <a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=4IHlY/3ztRY&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252FWebObjects%252FMZStore.woa%252Fwa%252FviewAlbum%253Fi%253D209250926%2526id%253D209250828%2526s%253D143441%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30"><img height="15" width="61" alt="William Ferris Chorale - Menotti & Vierne" src="http://ax.itunes.apple.com/images/badgeitunes61x15dark.gif" /></a></div>Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11343482046936121226noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424546536009955852.post-55848366443944107442009-03-27T12:13:00.000-07:002009-03-27T14:00:39.488-07:00Player's Handbook 2This is from USA Today's list of the <a href="http://content.usatoday.com/life/books/booksdatabase/default.aspx">top 150 books</a> this week:<div><br /><div><a href="http://content.usatoday.com/life/books/booksdatabase/default.aspx"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 52px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FEfqcWmn144/Sc0mJqd3hvI/AAAAAAAAABg/eliBCQFljsM/s400/Picture+1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317948682454664946" /></a></div><div>And the Wall Street Journal's <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123812427656154713.html">nonfiction list</a>:</div><div><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123812427656154713.html"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 184px; height: 216px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FEfqcWmn144/Sc09yE9RFbI/AAAAAAAAABo/LR7drqIM_rk/s400/Picture+2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317974665527891378" /></a></div></div>Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11343482046936121226noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424546536009955852.post-81048491350311029162009-03-23T23:56:00.000-07:002009-03-24T00:12:28.245-07:00An open letter to sweetdragon.livejournal.comStumbled upon <a href="http://sweetdragon.livejournal.com/616664.html">this post</a> regarding a young woman's budding interest in D&D. I'm not going to go through the rigamarole I'd have to in order to post a reply directly, so I'm posting here to vent my spleen, as it were, in regard to the following comment:<div><blockquote>I now find myself downloading the 4th Edition Player's Handbook (Yeah. Downloaded. Fuck you; those things are expensive.)</blockquote></div><div>Dear Sweetdragon,</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm really glad to hear that you've been enjoying playing D&D, and particularly that you're engrossed enough in it to create such an extensive backstory for your character.</div><div><br /></div><div>But I'm deeply saddened that you don't think that enjoyment is worth your money.</div><div><br /></div><div>I worked for three years with a team of the best game designers in the world to produce the game you're downloading. I'm more proud of my name on the front cover of the 4th Edition D&D Player's Handbook than I am of any other book I've worked on. Oh, but maybe you haven't seen the front cover?</div><div><br /></div><div>The book retails for $35. I spent about that much taking my family to dinner and the $3 movie theater on Saturday night. Sometimes I spend it on just dinner. Two full-priced movie tickets plus popcorn and drinks will put you back about that much. It seems to be the going rate for maybe two hours of entertainment. Or I guess you could almost buy two DVDs, and have four hours of movies you can watch whenever you want to. </div><div><br /></div><div>Or you can buy the D&D Player's Handbook and play D&D with it for the rest of your life. How many hours of enjoyment is that illegal PDF going to give you? You don't think it's worth your money?</div><div><br /></div><div>OK, times are tough and money's tight for a lot of people. But look. You can buy a legal copy of that PDF from <a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=56692">RPGNow</a> for just $25. Or you can get the book from Amazon for only $23, or get the three core books as a gift set for $66.</div><div><br /></div><div>I hope Talia has many grand adventures and manages to overcome the evil within her and attain the holiness she seeks.</div><div><br /></div><div>And I hope you do the right thing and stop stealing my work.</div><div><br /></div><div>Thanks,</div><div>James Wyatt</div>Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11343482046936121226noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424546536009955852.post-68388188574610565742009-03-09T15:53:00.001-07:002009-03-09T15:53:53.070-07:00What class are you?<p align="center"><img src="http://www.wizards.com/dnd/class/images/banners/Avenger.jpg" /><br /><a href="http://www.wizards.com/dnd/" target="_blank">D&D Home Page</a> - <a href="http://www.wizards.com/dnd/class/index.asp" target="_blank">What Class Are You?</a> - <a href="http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/insider/characterbuilder" target="_blank">Build A Character</a> - <a href="http://www.wizards.com/dndinsider/compendium/database.aspx?searchterm=Avenger" target="_blank">D&D Compendium</a></p>Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11343482046936121226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424546536009955852.post-30191670387123560162009-03-07T22:27:00.001-08:002009-03-07T22:39:45.942-08:00Fantasizing about vacationFor a couple of weeks now, I've been thinking about taking a vacation—a <i>real</i> vacation. Most of the time I've taken off from work in last couple of years has been time I needed to catch up on writing the various books in the <i>Draconic Prophecies</i> trilogy. I started writing <i>Storm Dragon</i> in June of 2006, so they have been consuming my life for a while now. I've been dreaming about going to the beach somewhere and doing <b>nothing at all</b> for like a week.<div><br /></div><div>Then Amy points out that I can't do nothing at all for more than like three days, tops, before I start going batty. </div><div><br /></div><div>Earlier this week, I was thinking that I'm not really a workaholic. I mean, I work a lot. But not compulsively, you know? I work a lot because I have a lot to do. As soon as I don't have a lot to do, I won't work as much any more, right?</div><div><br /></div><div>Well, here's how I've spent the roughly 34 hours since I finished <i>Dragon War:</i></div><div><ul><li>Went to lunch with the family, browsed Best Buy (bought a video game for my son), had dessert at Cold Stone Creamery.</li><li>Took Amy on a date—Thai food for dinner, a brief stop at Barnes & Noble where I picked up a fairly mindless read (<i>Practical Demonkeeping</i> by Christopher Moore), then <i>Inkheart</i> at what has apparently recently turned into a second-run theater near my office.</li><li>Read the whole book I bought last night.</li><li>Played some of the Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels game we bought yesterday, as well as some Mario Kart and some Wii Play.</li><li>Went to Ikea and bought a dresser, then cleaned our bedroom and put away all our clothes.</li><li>Slept about 11-1/2 hours last night, with some interruptions.</li></ul><div>Now I'm getting antsy. Shouldn't I be, you know, frantically writing to try to get something done?</div><div><br /></div><div>Unfortunately, the answer is yes. I'm still behind at work, and I should be working this weekend to catch up. So the question is, will I get my work computer tomorrow so I can do that, or will I force myself to relax for one more day before plunging into another long work week?</div><div><br /></div><div>But unfortunately, I think this proves that even three days is optimistic, and maybe I am just a little compulsive about work. </div><div><br /></div><div>But for now, bed and another book. </div></div>Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11343482046936121226noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424546536009955852.post-16280880827668028362009-03-06T12:23:00.000-08:002009-03-06T12:26:32.447-08:00Dragon War is finished!The final draft of Dragon War, the third book in my Draconic Prophecies trilogy, is done and off to the editor! <div><br /></div><div>114,528 words of dragony goodness.</div><div><br /></div><div>And I am off to celebrate! :)</div>Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11343482046936121226noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424546536009955852.post-54027115713681474752009-03-03T21:56:00.000-08:002009-03-03T22:09:20.711-08:00<div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://robheinsoo.livejournal.com/12304.html">Rob Heinsoo</a> wrote:</div><div><blockquote><b> The 12345 Party:</b> I think everybody should have a party celebrating their twelve-thousandth-three-hundred-and-forty-fifth day of existence. By my figuring, it happens when you’re 33.82 years old, which you should be able to fudge as necessary.<br /><br /> Me, I’m just looking forward to my 23456 Party when I’m 64 and a quarter.</blockquote>I remember thinking that it would be fun to have a third-of-a-century birthday party. It would have been on January 7, 2002. It is particularly strange for me to realize that I was contemplating this seven years ago, when I had only been at Wizards for 2 years.</div><div><br /></div><div>Excuse me? Where has the last decade gone?</div><div><br /></div><div>In other news:</div><div><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FEfqcWmn144/Sa4aMzgItZI/AAAAAAAAABQ/OoqBzEogbo0/s320/03-03-09_2201.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309209818002142610" /></div><div>This means that when we go to Jeremy's house to play D&D on Saturday, we'll have one PH2 for me and my sorcerer, one for Amy and her deva invoker, and one for my son and his deva swordmage. I guess maybe that's one more than we really <i>need. </i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>Maybe.</div>Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11343482046936121226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424546536009955852.post-22179096043536143312009-02-28T20:52:00.001-08:002009-02-28T21:00:34.531-08:00Too busy to breathe...At work: Trying to finish work on DMG2 and help wrap up design on PH3, fill holes in other books, and . . . oh yeah, be a manager.<div><br /></div><div>At home: Revising <i>Dragon War.</i> Word count is pretty meaningless at this point. I have finished 38 chapters of 43 in the first draft. Unfortunately, in writing the first draft I was so ready to be done by the time I got to this point that I zoomed right through and left a lot of loose ends dangling. So now I have to do some significant writing, not just revising, and I'm down to the last week before my drop-dead deadline. Gah!</div><div><br /></div><div>And today we drove to Port Angeles to pick up a dresser Amy found on Craig's List. Lovely terrain, but a very long day.</div><div><br /></div><div>Good gaming lately: Mike Mearls mentioned on Facebook that he watched me fail about 15 of maybe 18 saving throws I rolled during our lunchtime game on Thursday. Thursday night we played 2/3 of the way from a side trek from <i>Dungeon Delve.</i> Friday the characters in the Greenbrier campaign fought some dolgrims and mad slashers, a warped goblin mindwrecker, and a darkmantle, while the Brier Haunt whispered to Oskar that this was the place to use the ritual scroll that Havrakhad gave him back in the village...</div>Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11343482046936121226noreply@blogger.com1