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| Autres commentaires laissés par cet éditeur: |
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This and the others in the HHQ series can be a great one on one introduction to RPG's. I am actually going to introduce my fiance to the hobby with it. :) She told me she wants to play a plumber for her first character. It's going to be a BLAST! :)
| Classement: | | [5 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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GREAT BOOK... i loved the ilustraitions... thanks for put it to download...
| Classement: | | [5 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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Great module for a low-level introduction to a larger campaign. I would give it 5 stars but some of the pages were cropped on the scan. They really need to fix this.
| Classement: | | [3 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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As mentioned above, some pages are cropped in the scan. Also, after WotC recently reversed their block on PDF sales of old products, I read that these scans were re-done and OCRed. That did turn out to be true in the case of The Temple of the Frog, which I bought before the ban, and re-downloaded from RPGNow when it was available again. The maps that had been missing before were suddenly back in the new and improved scan. But The Sinister Secret of Salt Marsh still seems to have been scanned in the old haphazard way with no one having checked if the images scanned right, and it's of course not OCRed.
Still, it's worth not having to slog through the garage to run this module again.
| Classement: | | [4 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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Originally posted at: http://diehardgamefan.com/2013/04/10/dungeon-magazine-annual
-vol-1-dungeons-dragons/
Every Dungeon Master has their own individual strengths and weaknesses If you were to poll the people that I play with, I assume most of them would indicate that my main strength is that I’m a good idea man. I can come up with backstories for all sorts of random NPCs and I can make fully-defined worlds for them to explore on the fly. On the flip-side, none of them think I am a tactical genius. Quite the contrary, most of them probably think the monsters they come across are well below par when it comes to the intelligence scale. It’s simply a fact and my group is well aware that a lot of my monsters are just going to charge and hack away. What they probably don’t know, however, is that I am no good at designing dungeons. I can’t draw, even with the aid of graph paper, my original dungeons are generally uninspiring. They don’t know this, however, because what I generally do is swipe dungeon layouts from other sources.
This is why Dungeon Magazine is a godsend for me. Dungeon Magazine provides you with full adventures for your group to run with, from detailed maps of the overworld and that random castle you want them to explore, to full bios and stats for townsfolk and the monsters that plague them. If your strength lies in the fact that you are a tactical genius, you can run the adventures fully as written and not have to worry why that Lich wants the Eye of Whatever. Conversely, for me I can take a dungeon and leave everything else at the wayside. I’ve got my own plots and demons, thank you very much. Dungeon Magazine is an adaptable resource for a DM.
The Dungeon Magazine Annual provides you with five pre-made adventures. Now, a word of warning here: if you are not the sort of DM who can modify the material you’ve been given, this might not be worth your time. The adventures presented range from the heroic tier (entry-level) to the epic tier (god-level) so you get a nice mix, but if you’re not particularly good at modifying the difficulty level of pre-published adventures, your 2nd level party of adventures is going to get absolutely annihilated by that 7th level dragon. Even if you’ve got a 7th level party, if you can’t modify the rest of the adventures, 80% of this book will be useless for you. As I have no trouble switching monsters out or simply altering their stats, this wouldn’t be an issue for me.
Since these five adventures run 161 pages, I’m just going to hit you with the basics of each adventure and some quick opinions.
Menace of the Icy Spire, by Sean Molley. Set in the Forgotten Realms campaign and designed for a 2nd-level party, your goal here is to storm a warlock’s tower and destroy a magical artifact that is causing a plague of winter to expand out from the tower in a flood of ice. As this is an entry level adventure, it is relatively straight forward. Your players will face a skill challenge while navigating through a storm and then face a series of battles whilst working their way to the top of the tower.
Winter of the Witch, by Stephen Radney-MacFarland. This is a 22nd-level adventure, putting this in the epic tier. A Winter Witch has returned from exile and the only way to stop her is to acquire a sun talisman and destroy her once and for all. In order to find the talisman, your players will have to storm a monastery taken over by minions of Orcus, then it’s off to a glacier to fight a dragon, before ending up in the Feywild to fight the Winter Witch. As pointed out in the creator commentary, most supplementary materials for D&D focus on monsters for heroic and paragon tiers, so most of the monsters for this adventure are brand new.
Throne of the Stone-Skinned King, by Logan Bonner. This adventure takes place in the Scales of War campaign and is for 15th-level parties. As such, it is very tailored to people who have been playing Scales of War since they created their characters and who intend to follow through to 30th level. This adventure plops you down in the middle of the githyanki war and sends your group to the Feywild to convince a Formorian king from assisting the githyanki. This adventure focuses very much on skill challenges, utilizing three of them, one of which is a Level 5 difficulty. I hesitate to really go over much more for this particular adventure, but suffice it to say this is one of the turning points in the whole campaign.
Storm Tower, by Christopher Perkins, D&D’s most prolific author. This particular adventure was designed specifically for the guys from Penny Arcade, PvP, and Wil Wheaton. It is for parties of the 3rd-level and like most of the heroic tier adventures, it is straight forward. A tower housing a gold-plated skull has been taken over by brigands and they need to be eliminated. The commentary mentions that this adventure was very much designed on the fly and the fact that it is mostly just a series of encounters is pretty evident. This doesn’t necessarily make it bad, but it’s definitely simplistic. This particular adventure features art from Mike Krahulik (Penny Arcade’s artist) and while not everyone likes his art style, I do.
Heart of the Forbidden King, by Luke Johnson. Set in Eberron for a 7th-level party, this adventure is just as straight forward as Storm Tower. Your party learns of a creation forge and is sent to investigate. They then fight a ton of war-forged. On the plus side, the encounter works and the addition of a war-forged dragon is a great idea. On the other hand, the adventure literally begins with the party’s arrival at the dungeon and ends when they kill the dragon.
All of the adventures are well written, albeit simplistic in some cases, and accompanied by the as-usual great official D&D illustrations. How much use you’re going to get from the Dungeon Magazine Annual really depends, however, on how versatile you are. If you are one of those tactical geniuses who runs adventures as written and that is it, this book isn’t going to be of much use to you. Even if you start out with 3rd-level characters to take advantage of Menace of the Silver Spire, it’s not going to sync up with Storm Tower, which will not sync up with Heart of the Forbidden King, and definitely not with the Scales of War adventure. However, if you’re someone who can easily modify adventures to suit your own needs, or you are just looking for some pre-made dungeons to disguise your own deficiencies, this annual will be very helpful to you, and I’d recommend picking it up.
| Classement: | | [4 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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Originally posted at: http://diehardgamefan.com/2013/04/10/dragon-magazine-annual-
vol-1-dungeons-dragons/
Whereas Dungeon Magazine focuses on pre-published adventures for the Dungeon Master whose skills don’t lie in the arena of adventure creation, Dragon Magazine is for the DM who is looking to expand his toolbox. Dragon Magazine is not for someone who is simply looking to crack open a book and run an adventure, but rather for someone who has a pretty good grasp of what is needed for a successful adventure and is simply looking for some new ideas to enhance what they’ve already come up with. The Dragon Magazine Annual #1 gives you fourteen articles to help you with your world-building.
Demonomicon of Iggwilv: Yeenoghu by Robert J Schwalb. The Demon Prince of Gnolls has been around since 1st edition and he’s gone through some rough times. This section of the book seeks to reconcile some of the contradictory elements of his lore and restore him to a place of power in the D&D universe.
Creature Incarnations: Kobolds by Mike Mearls. This section seeks to expand upon the race of monsters my players have always known as Cannon Fodder. You’re provided with some strategies to help the average Kobold become a little bit more imposing, helping to define them as crafty trap-makers and provide them with an assortment of job classes to make them unique. Most interesting to me was the Kobold Victory chart, a good idea wherein a roll of the die determines what kind of victory taunt/buff a Kobold might gain upon killing someone, but really, when is a Kobold ever going to kill someone?
The Ashen Covenant by Ari Marmell. Whereas most evil cults in D&D are stereotypically evil, seeking to murder people for pleasure, this subunit of the Cult of Orcus is aiming for bigger and better things. They want to create a world where everyone who dies is raised from the dead as a zombie. You’re given the full modus operandi of the cult, plenty of adventure hooks to get your party to go after the cult, stats for the cult, and a handful of magic items related to the dark magic.
Mithrendain, Citadel of the Feywild by Rodney Thompson. A basic city plan, although this city happens to be in the Feywild and has 40,000 inhabitants.
Wish Upon a Star by Bruce R. Cordell. This one is a primer on how to build a star pact warlock. Differing from a generic warlock (if there is such a thing), this type of warlock has sworn allegiance to questionable entities from another world. Included is a full complement of powers and feats for the class.
The Bloodghost Syndicate by Mike Mearls. It’s The Sopranos, as done by goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears. The only map in the entire collection is found in this article, as the Syndicate’s base of operations is rendered as a dungeon in and of itself.
Intelligent Items: Smart Swords by Logan Bonner. Intelligent Items differ from most exotic items as they act more like sidekicks to the party rather than MacGuffins with special powers. Included are a sampling of intelligent items and directions on how to create your own. Perhaps most importantly, there are ideas how to get rid of an intelligent item if you introduce one into your adventures and realize how awful of an idea that turned out to be.
Fight! by Robert J. Schwalb. This article shows you how to set up arena fights, gives you a few sample arenas to use, instructs you how to use the crowd to your advantage (and, possibly, the player’s disadvantage), and gives you some victory conditions that move beyond the “kill them all” mentality.
We Who Are About to Die: D&D Gladiators by Robert J. Schwalb. This section provides background and feats for the gladiator class. It also provides you with ways to utilize your at-will powers with items that normally wouldn’t do any real damage (like a net or bola).
The Longest Night by Chris Sims. What if, instead of giving out toys on Christmas, Santa showed up and robbed you. And what if, instead of a jolly fat man, Santa was a red dragon that could burn your entire town to the ground. This section is basically just a scenario to set up Santa Dragon, and I am perfectly all right with that.
Playing Dhampir by Brian R. James. Feats, paths, and powers to play as a dhampir. The article goes out of its way to establish that the dhampir is adaptable to any race, provided they end up picking up the Vampiric Heritage feat.
Master of the Planes by Robert J. Schwalb. This section gives you a few epic destinies for those players and campaigns where travelling between the various planes are common. Some of the examples provided include feats and powers of a Keybearer (who slips between the planes at will), a Planeshaper (who can create matter from nothing), and a Punisher of Gods (about what you’d expect).
Playing Shadar-Kai by Chris Sims. If you’ve ever wanted to play a character who was Shadar-kai, here’s a racial build for you.
Art of the Kill by Robert J. Schwalb. The final article shows you how to be an assassin if you want to be someone beyond a mere rogue. Suggested builds are included for bounty hunters, guerillas, and revolutionaries, among others.
Your mileage here is going to vary. The annual is well made and beautifully illustrated, but if you have no interest in, say, dhampir, or if your campaign has no use for gladiatorial combat, large parts of this book may not be relevant for you. On the other hand, there’s Santa Dragon, which I am convinced every DM in the world needs to know about. There is a lot of potentially good information here, but you’ll have to peruse the article listing to see if this is truly something that you may want to pick up.
| Classement: | | [4 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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This adventure takes me back. It has good replay value. The old school random monsters and loot tables can make a a return trip entertaining. It also is difficult without being unforgiving which is crucial for a beginning adventure. Especially in Basic Edition Dungeons and Dragons. The scanned page are also top notch.
| Classement: | | [5 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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Although I have never run it, this adventure is the one you want if you want to run a Mystara adventure in the Grand Duchy for experienced players. I can't think of a more detailed, atmospheric, engaging and entertaining published Grand Duchy adventure. Only Rahasia rivals this as far as the B-modules go. Proves the UK TSR guys really knew what they were doing.
On the other hand, starting DMs and players might find this a little overwhelming due to the level of detail and the sandbox style play, so would be best trying out one of the other B-modules first - B1, B2 & B9 are all good starting points.
Pleased with the OCR quality too. Thanks drivethru!
| Classement: | | [5 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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A very basic set of generic adventures for use with low-level characters. Easy to adapt to any setting and any game system. I use these to "audition" new players. Probably not something a heavily experienced group of gamers would enjoy, unless they fancied a bit of old-school vanilla style dungeon-crawling for light relief.
| Classement: | | [4 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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The content is interesting and varied - some DMs will use the adventures, some will just steal the Ghosts and write their own, some will just re-write the entire thing, but there's enough in here to stimulate the imagination... probably the best of the 3 books in this series. Useful if you want a ghost in your campaign, regardless of if it's Ravenloft or not.
However, very disappointed with the scans of the Children books! Ravenloft books were always going to be tricky given their page setting and layout (swirly grey border, faint fonts, oversized first letters etc.) but if I pay money for a product I expect a sharper image and reliable OCR. Amazed really, given the usual excellent OCR quality of drivethrus materials.
| Classement: | | [3 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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When you want to run D&D 4e but you don’t have a lot of time to prepare, Dungeon Delve offers a nice selection of short, combat-oriented mini-adventures. The adventures span the entire range of character levels. Encounter areas can be built using the older sets of Dungeon Tiles, which is great if you happen to have those sets and a bit of a pain if you don’t (though you can always use Gaming Paper, Chessex mats, or other strategies). You can get some replay value from the encounters by taking the video-game approach of imposing time limits (measured in rounds), adding enemies, making enemies harder, changing the terrain effects, and so on. This might even be a good way to let players try out different character concepts. The monster stat blocks reflect the initial wave of 4th edition math, so DMs will probably want to either use monster stats from more recent sources like the Monster Vault (or Compendium), or you might be able to get away with just doubling static damage bonuses to monsters’ attacks. From the perspective of mid-2013, when this book was (re)released as a PDF, it appears a bit dated (you can tell that it’s from the early days of 4e) but still offers a lot to a hurried (or creative) DM.
| Classement: | | [4 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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As a starting point for new players of ‘Dungeons & Dragons’, this module is nothing short of brilliant. In my experience, beginner modules tend towards superficiality, focusing purely on combat mechanics as a way of introducing new players to roleplaying. Cordell Mearls take a far more balanced approach, blending a story with all of the iconic elements of good fantasy with a varied plot requiring the PCs to think, fight and talk their way to through the adventure. There are hidden cults, a range of helpful NPCs (including the retired sage, the gruff but hilarious blacksmith, and the quisling), the discovery of knowledge once forgotten and a tale of redemption woven into this story – which will leave parties (new and old alike) feeling as though they have firmly experienced a fantasy roleplaying game.
The material is presented in a logical format that flows well and provides the novice DM with enough charts, quick-start rules and stat blocks to make this as non-threatening an experience as possible. For the players, you’ll find pre-generated characters and a streamlined set of 4e rules. The last 46 pages of the book are devoted to all of the encounter maps, which aren’t strictly required and are rendered so well that they could simply be used to set the scene for encounters.
Overall, the production values are high, the story is sound and provides ample opportunities for customisation (you could simply change the names of gods, etc and place it into your favourite campaign world), and there are plenty of avenues to expand this adventure. The town of Winterhaven captures the border-town feel extremely well, and is generic enough that the principles could be applied to any town in any campaign setting.
If Wizards of the Coast were seeking a 4e product to showcase the line (given that this is free), then they have chosen wisely. As an AD&D player, this has given me the final push to buy a 4e ‘Players Handbook’ and find out what all the fuss is about.
| Classement: | | [4 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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‘Deities & Demigods’ is a classic D&D sourcebook which gives ideas and statistics for incorporating a range of real-world and notable fantasy mythoi into a ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ campaign. Most of the entries follow the same format, being an exploration of the pantheon, their aims and history, and then the statistics and descriptions of each member of the pantheon.
Usage will vary with this book depending on what you need. Primarily, it is a book of gods, so those DMs building their own campaign worlds will benefit most, as it can be a little difficult to insert these characters into established settings (although, if you’re playing a ‘Planescape’ campaign, it will be relatively easy).
What impressed me was the quality of the scan and the inclusion of additional functionality such as the bookmarks and Table of Contents. The text is extremely clear, the pages white and clean (unlike the slightly yellowed appearance of my physical copy). This is a really nice PDF, and if it is indicative of the attention to quality of other out-of-print TSR products, then Wizards of the Coast should be commended.
| Classement: | | [4 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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I bought the original module in print many years ago and love running it for new players. I saw it in PDF and had to have it. I've been selling my old modules when I buy the new PDFs.
| Classement: | | [5 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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I bought the original module in print many years ago and love running it for new players. I saw it in PDF and had to have it. I've been selling my old modules when I buy the new PDFs.
| Classement: | | [5 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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