The Middle-Earth RPGs are heading into the West...(for now?)

In case you hadn't heard, both The One Ring and its D&D 5e variant Adventures in Middle-Earth are falling out of print soon as Cubicle7 and license holder Sophisticated Games have ended their agreement suddenly.

I ran The One Ring for my group and quite enjoyed it (and reviewed it here), and used the Mythic GM Emulator Deck to try Adventures in Middle-Earth. I think both are great systems and I can't make a strong recommendation for one over the other, but Cubicle7 has offered both in charity bundles:

The One Ring collection is available in two Bundles of Holding: The One Ring and The One Ring Journeys.

Adventures in Middle-Earth is simultaneously available in a Humble Bundle.

Sophisticated Games has hinted on social media that the games are not necessarily dead, but either way, both lines of plenty of material to support your campaigns, and this is your best bet to get them cheap (AND support charity!).

The Parable of Rulings, or "It's Okay To Make a Freaking Decision"

Warning: The following story has spoilers for The Curse of Strahd...but it's not really about The Curse of Strahd. Just didn't want anyone to walk in blind.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Tommy's Take on Adventure Most Fowl

Old school adventures are all over the place in the post-3rd edition retroclone wake, and Grey Fey brings us this adventure, involving goblins and pilfered chickens.

A Year With D&D Fifth Edition

So, a little over a year ago, I talked my friends into humoring me and giving Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition a try. They knew I had been staunchly anti-D&D for years and I don't think they took me seriously. Since I don't know how to do anything small, I set out to run The Hoard of the Dragon Queen for the group.

We are now closing in on the end of The Rise of Tiamat and the entire Tyranny of Dragons campaign. As appealing as Princes of the Apocalypse and Out of the Abyss look, odds are good that we are playing something other than D&D when this is finished, but we haven't decided for sure yet (and I am probably running at least a short campaign for my son).

So, I thought I would blog about my experiences as a DM for the last year. I have ran Rules Cyclopedia D&D, AD&D 2e (a LOT) and D&D 3/.5. I have read all kinds of books up and down the D&D lineage, including 4th Edition. I grew bothered by the rigidity of the 2e rules (though I loved the settings) and the insane amount of math and modifiers for 3rd edition (this being a huge part of the reason why I have never indulged in Pathfinder).

• The backwards compatibility is amazing. I have managed to pull items and monsters from Labyrinth Lord, 2nd Edition and 3rd Edition with only minor modifications and drop them into my 5e games with no fuss. This means that my available content was loads larger than the five books in the initial wave. I have peppered the campaign with magic items from the 2e Encyclopedia Magica and the 3e Book of Vile Darkness, and used Small Niche Games' Inn of Lost Heroes as a side trek in Hoard of the Dragon Queen to hugely dramatic effect. Huge win on 5e's part.
• Critical hits are bland. Doubling your dice roll and adding modifiers was too boring for us. We agreed to double damage after modifiers, and I added a critical hit chart I found online. This had led to great moments, like powerful enemies mortally wounded and bleeding out, and even one PC losing their hand in a fight. Everyone agreed that this was an improvement over Rules as Written.
• Despite simplifying things, it can still be easy to get lost in the Action, Reaction, Bonus action cycle. No one at the table gets too bent out of shape about anything, so if there's confusion, we just kinda roll with it and I look up the actual rule after the fact. This particularly comes into play when extra attacks are involved. Still better than trying to track a Fighter's 3 attacks every 2 rounds.
• Advantage/Disadvantage in place of the various fiddly modifiers is absolutely brilliant and I love it. Simplifying +/-  into "Roll 2d20 and take the highest/lowest"? Wonderful. And yes, it IS still possible for players to whiff a roll with Advantage, as one player in my game has rolled double 1s more than once while rolling with Advantage.
• The math for Challenge Ratings and the like is absolutely and gloriously borked. I learned very quickly that CR 5 may well mean that the beast will get smoked by a single level 5 Barbarian, while a couple of CR 1 guys may absolutely shred a group of level 4 characters. I *like* this. This makes the world feel more "real" and less like a well-balanced game, and causes level 12 characters to go "Let's see if we can sneak around that ogre" instead of "Just one ogre? Let's bag him".
• When the DMG came out, we added in Proficiency Dice (a die you roll instead of flat bonuses, that scales up as you level up). Coming from Savage Worlds, it made my group feel more comfortable with the mechanics. It also helped the whiff factor early on. Now that they are on to d10s as Proficiency Dice, though, I feel like it's a touch overpowered. Not sure I would use it in another game.
• We also added Hero Points, which are a number of points you can get per level that allow you to add a d6 to your die roll. Similar to Savage Worlds bennies, these were also met with universal approval. I would keep them in the future, but I think I might add the "scaling effect" of Proficiency Dice. Roll a d10 to try to make a Saving Throw still has a ton of risk, but also has enough reward to make you seriously consider it.
• Speaking of the DMG: Their Horror/Madness rules are frightening, and nearly led to a TPK in Ravenloft when most of the party was disabled by them (one PC was paralyzed with fear, while another was driven to rage and left attacking the closest thing to him...which was party members more than once).
• Legendary Actions are extra actions that certain monsters can take in a fight, giving them multiple actions on a round. Not only does this make certain monsters (looking at you, dragons) absolutely terrifying, but it also largely prevents a group of PCs versus a monster from turning into a one sided gang up curb stomp when the monster is attacking multiple times around (and then getting multiple attacks on a round). Throw in Lair actions and the PCs have had to earn their victories.
• Attunement is another great feature. Essentially, some magic items (namely really powerful ones) require Attunement. You can only attune to three items at a time. This prevents PCs from having loads and loads of items. The number of items our group owns has crept up through the campaign, but they are also level 15 now, and I have tried to keep magic items a little more rare but a little more powerful.
• I ditched the requirement for Spell Scrolls that state that the spell must be on your class' spell list and allow anyone to use the scroll...but if they fail, they risk the Scroll Mishaps table. I like my magic being just a bit more dangerous, what can I say?
• Combat isn't as fast as Savage Worlds, but it's not horribly slow. Much better than I remembered 3rd Edition being by a long shot. Even with the PCs at level 14-15, everything tends to run pretty quickly. I did give everyone index cards so they could write down the details of their spells and abilities for easy reference. That helps.
• I did think they needed Mass Combat Rules, so I ripped off the Savage Worlds/Army of Darkness Combat Rules. When they actually released Mass Combat Rules, I still preferred mine...but I love the Savage Worlds Mass Combat rules.
• God, I love the release schedule. So glad they aren't just flooding the market with books. A few adventure books, followed by a bunch of stuff released for free online? That's aces in my book.
• The Tyranny of Dragons campaign has been fun, and I have found it terribly easy to add my own flourishes to it (including adding in involvement from the Drow, a Lord of Hell and a side trek to Ravenloft). Are there parts that weren't detailed very well? Well, yes. But I have been GMing over 20 years. I can fill in a few blanks here and there. We have had epic moments, I have nearly driven one player to tears with story twists, and we have laughed hysterically at some of the events that have occurred. I call that a success, folks.

My initial reactions to the 5e Player's Handbook were very positive. This is why I cancelled my planned 13th Age game and ran 5e instead. A year later, nearing the end of a campaign that was fairly broadly panned online (for both being a "railroad" and for being "too open", somehow), we have had a blast, and I feel very secure in calling this my favorite version of D&D ever made, even if I'm not willing to call it my favorite RPG.

Great job, Wizards. I was looking for something to scratch that "D&D itch", and I found it. Keep up the good work.

#RPGaDay Day 17: Favorite Fantasy RPG

Favorite Fantasy RPG?

It would pretty much have to be D&D 5th Edition right now. Though, in a pinch, I could also answer: 

Either one.

#RPGaDay Day 6: RPG You Most Recently Played

Both as a player or a GM, my answer is the same:

I have been running 5th Edition for almost a year now, but my last foray into gaming as a player before this was also in 5th Edition, as part of an online game using the starter set.

#RPGaDay Day 5: Most Recent RPG Purchase

You would think this would be less complicated than it is, but here we are...

The Kickstarter for Leagues of Gothic Horror by Triple Ace Games just funded, so they were the last ones to get my money...

But the last product that I spent money on, and actually own in some capacity (PDF format), is Shadowfell: Gloomwrought  and Beyond, which may be the only 4th Edition book I have bought...and it's getting dropped right into the middle of 5th Edition.

Now, they got the money for this a while back, but the most recent physical product that I purchased and received (and which looks damn cool) is Feng Shui 2 by Atlas Games. I had no real prior experience with the original, but this looks like a ton of fun.

No. I have no idea why I can't just answer a simple question.

#RPGaDay Day 4: Most Surprising Game

Of all time? Or the past year?

Honestly, I never expected to play D&D again, much less fall in love with it again, so I could give a nod to Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition.

I could also mention Wu Xing, which combined some of my least favorite things in a deliciously over the top, playable package.

Ultimately, I probably have to go with Marvel SAGA. Having ran Dragonlance SAGA, I thought it sounded neat...I didn't know it would become my favorite superhero RPG in existence (and still is to this day!).

#RPGaDay Day 3: Favorite New Game of the Last 12 Months

Given that it has dominated my tabletop gaming since it came out, my favorite new game of the last 12 months is an easy one:

D&D 5th Edition is, to my mind, the best version of D&D yet, and is still holding up beautifully as the PCs in our game hit level 14 and we move closer to the end of our first campaign. It has been a fantastic job by Wizards that has won me over as a customer and fan over a decade after I had walked away.

Tommy's Take on D&D 5th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide

I have reviewed the Player's Handbook, the Monster Manual and the Hoard of the Dragon Queen...but I got sidetracked before I reviewed the Dungeon Master's Guide. Honestly, I think this review is going to be a bit better than it would have been, because the first impressions have washed away, and I've been using the book in play since it was released.

Tommy's Take on The Beast That Waits

The Beast That Waits is a new Swords & Wizardry adventure by Three Sages Games. I am not a Swords & Wizardry guy. However, I am a D&D 5e guy, and I have learned - from personal experience - that conversions to 5e are pretty simple...so I'm going to be looking at this through that lens.

Mass Combat for D&D 5th Edition

So, I like D&D 5th Edition. Quite a bit, actually. However, it's not perfect, and it does have one glaring hole that I love to put in my games these days: Mass combat.

I love Mass Combat. I love the idea of big army fights, but abstracted down to manageable levels, rather than putting the RPG session on hold to play a miniatures wargame. I love this concept so much that I managed to work mass combat scenes into my last two campaigns (Necessary Evil and Deadlands Reloaded). Mass Combat rules were one of those things I really hoped would be in the 5e DMG, but was not present, unfortunately...so when I was staring at a scenario that could easily break out into mass combat (Episode 6 of Hoard of the Dragon Queen), and the DMG wasn't a huge amount of help in this case, I put my thinking cap on...and went back to what had worked so well in the past:

I dug out Savage Worlds.

No, I didn't suddenly convert the game over to Savage Worlds. I love Savage Worlds, and I'll get back to it soon enough, but there's more than a few things that it does that has, and can, help me in D&D5e.

Like Mass Combat.

Unfortunately, Wounds and Bennies and Knowledge (Battle) don't immediately get along with D&D. I was looking at a potentially uphill battle...until I remembered that Shane Hensley had applied those same rules to a system that didn't have a leadership-style tactical skill, and the system also had a hit point system.

And so I dug out Army of Darkness from Eden Studios, written by Shane Hensley and featuring an adapted Savage Worlds Mass Combat system...and I went to work with the two books in hand, as well as the D&D books, and kitbashed in the following system (which got a playthrough Saturday night, and went pretty well):

D&D 5e Mass Combat Rules

Adapted from Savage Worlds and Army of Darkness rules by Shane Hensley

Tommy's Take on D&D 5th Edition Monster Manual

Monster books for D&D and D&D-like games are kind of a thing. No real surprise, then, that the second core release for D&D 5e proved to be the Monster Manual.

Here there be monsters...

And The Winners Are In!

Folks, last year's contest was...anemic, at best...it kinda cast a dark shadow over the whole year for me, with the seeming lack of interest and overall dip in blog traffic.

This year saw a record shattering 109 entries, and this year's Top Six is already the 6th most read post in the history of my blog. Additionally, the response to my other posts have been pretty amazing, so I am trying to get back on my Tuesday-Friday blog schedule and pump out not only reviews, but Tommy's Thoughts on some RPG topics and maybe some homebrew stuff...so thank you to everyone that reads this blog.

Next, a point of clarification: The D&D Player's Handbook was never a prize entered in the contest. Unfortunately, I was unable to secure prize support from Wizards of the Coast on that one, but I never predicate my Top Six on publisher support...I believe that's disingenuous, even if it means I have fewer prizes to give away.

So, that being said, our five winners are, as determined by the Invisible Castle dice roller:

Accursed - Thomas Shook
ETU - Rich Spainhour
Fiasco - Mike Dale
Firefly - Empress
Tianxia - Greg Kerner

Thank you again to everyone that entered this contest, and to my wonderful sponsors: Melior Via, Pinnacle Entertainment, Bully Pulpit Games, Margaret Weis Productions and Vigilance Press...this is my favorite thing to do every year, and if I had more prizes to give, I would give every one of you a prize!

Finally, thank you so much to everyone that still reads this little blog. I do this for the love of the game, and it always thrills me when someone tells me I helped introduce them to something they never heard of or never would have tried on their own.

Here's hoping for a productive 2015!

Tommy

Tommy's Thoughts: In Defense of GMPCs

First off, let me preface by saying that I'm pretty sure there's nobody out there that actually hates the idea of using NPCs, but its all in HOW they get used.

Tanjlock Sarlon - but you can call him Marty.

D&D Hoard of the Dragon Queen Actual Play: The Inn of Lost Heroes

Getting caught up on our actual play write-ups for those who are into such things...this is the continuation of our Hoard of the Dragon Queen game, except I decided to slot in the Labyrinth Lord adventure Inn of Lost Heroes.

No dragons here. Except the Dragonborn.

The previous posts are presented below:

Character Creation

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Tommy's Top Six of 2014 and Birthday Blog Giveaway

It's that time of year, in which I look back on the games I reviewed and played over the last year, and I pick out the six that were, in my opinion, head and shoulders above the rest, and worthy of your dollars.

The rules, as arbitrarily decided by me: 1) Only one product per publisher. 2) My primary exposure to the product has to have been between December 1st of last year through November 30th of this year, regardless of publication date. I don't watch my TV shows on the same day, or even week, that they air and I don't always buy and/or read books immediately upon release. 3) I can't have any involvement in the production of the book.

I have done this four times before:

Tommy's Top Six of 2010
Tommy's Top Six of 2011
Tommy's Top Six of 2012
Tommy's Top Six of 2013

This year, I have even put my money where my mouth is and purchased physical copies of all six books on my list.

Spoiler Warning: These are my Top Six.

Here they are, in alphabetical order, with six reasons why I selected each:

D&D: Hoard of the Dragon Queen Episode 3 Actual Play

And so the adventure continues...

Character Creation
Episode 1
Episode 2

D&D: Hoard of the Dragon Queen Episode 2 Actual Play

We had to take a month off for various reasons, but we did pick Hoard of the Dragon Queen back up a few weeks ago...I've just not gotten around to doing a write-up.

This is that write-up.

D&D: Hoard of the Dragon Queen Episode 1 Actual Play

Click on for the actual play of the first episode of D&D: Hoard of the Dragon Queen...but be warned that there ARE spoilers inside.