Inn Fighting and Three Dragon Ante
These are two games put out by WOTC. Three Dragon Ante is a card game and Inn Fighting is a card/dice game. They are both supposed to have the advantage of extensible rules that allow playing them in character during a Dungeons and Dragons game.
I’ve had Three Dragon Ante for awhile now and as a standalone card game its great. WOTC has even put the rules up online so that your players can easily snag a copy. (There is also a more straightforward presentation of the rules up on Wikipedia, FYI.) While I have not tried out the “in character” option as yet it looks solid. Basically if you have more than five ranks in any of a number of skills you gain a special ability to use while playing. I’ll report back on that once we have tested it out.
The History of Regdar
A rumination on race and gender in iconic Dungeons and Dragons art where Monte Cook tells of the insurrection against the marketing people and the sudden appearance of yet another white, male, human fighter.
Check it out, its great reading from one of the True Pros of the industry.
If Wizards Of The Coast Invented Chess
- There would be a new version of the rules every seven years. The idea that the rules could stay the same for thousands of years would be, frankly, laughable
- In the latest rules for chess, Pawns would be renamed Hellspawn Warblades. Similarly, the other pieces would be called Warknights, Warkings, Warqueens, etc
- There would be no rules for Castles. They existed in previous editions of the rules, but have been strangely absent in recent versions
- To be able to play chess, you need (at least) the three core Chess rulebooks – the White Player’s Handbook, the Black Player’s Handbook and the Boardmaster’s Guide. These are each 300+ pages, and cost at least $100 in total. In the latest edition, many pages have a single column of text beside a huge image covering the rest of a double spread. This is called good desgin, not spurious padding
- The number of chess pieces varies with each edition. Earliest versions of chess was intentionally vague as to the number of pieces per player; later editions set the number at four, then five. The idea of each player being able to handle 16 pieces at a time is viewed as impossible, and is not supported nor endorsed by the rules
- Wizards would release supplements titled “The Complete Bishop”, “The Complete Queen”, etc. Amazingly, people would buy these
- The board would be made of stiff cardboard. This would be viewed as a Good Thing
- The latest edition of the Chess Rules bears strong similarity to a game called World of Checkers. Wizards insists it isn’t, and even if it is, that’s a Good Thing too. This is despite the fact that World of Checkers is, basically, Chess for fucktards anyhow
- Pawns (sorry, Hellspawn Warblades) are just as powerful as all the other pieces on the board. In fact, all of the pieces are of exactly the same power level. This is called Balance. This is not a Good Thing
- In the newest rules, Chess pieces can move in any direction on the board
- Three words: Attacks of Opportunity
- The only way to get chess pieces is through purchasing random booster packs. Kings and Queens are rare, meaning being able to play a single game is all-but-impossible. Pieces soon appear on eBay for highly inflated prices
- Wizards will announce a Chess Initiative allowing people to play Chess (get this) online! This will require a paid monthly subscription to be able to participate. People will sign up and pay for this by the thousands
Hey, I’m only saying………
xposted by kind permission of the author, Greywulf. Original Here.
Wizards of the Coast: Taking the Dungeon and Dragon out of Dungeons and Dragons
FWIW, I think the yanking of the licenses from Piazo is merely the latest in a long line of errors of judgement by WotC. This one hurts not only Wizards but the whole of the RPG hobby, as it removes the two best known periodicals from magazine stands, and from the hands of devoted 3E fans.
What a great way to maintain consumer loyalty and build the base of RPG fans. – Gary Gygax
If the magazines were doing poorly, WotC wouldn’t care if Paizo put out others. No, it’s just the opposite. They’re doing well, and likely WotC products–probably specifically adventures–aren’t doing as well as WotC wants. There’s been some loud voices at WotC crying that Dragon and Dungeon (particularly Dungeon) are too good a value. They’re too good for the customer, and smart customers buy them rather than regular products. This was true when WotC put out the magazines, and it’s been true under the Paizo banner as well. I’m guessing declining sales gave these voices the evidence they needed to axe the magazines. – Monte Cook
Another WOTC Tombstone
Wizards of the Coast were not happy with cancelling Dungeon and Dragon magazines. They have just killed Dragonlance too:
http://www.dragonlance.com/features/articles/10040.aspx
Now I always thought Dragonlance was basically crap. No offense to fans of the setting, just not my cup of tea. Even so this piles on thick and fast with the cancellation of dragon and of Dungeon. Are we finally hitting the point where Hasbro’s bean counters are making the calls (as many have feared since they gobbled up WOTC), or are we reaching another point of diminishing returns like TSR did before WOTC bought them? Either way it does not seem to bode well for D&D or its players.
ब्लडी हेल मैत्री, यू दीद थिस दिद्न्त यू ??
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