Archive for the D&D 4e Content Category

Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Emporium

Posted in D&D 4e Content, Dungeons and Dragons with tags , , on September 20, 2011 by boccobsblog

pic via Wizard's.com

Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Emporium drops today from Wizard’s of the Coast. According to their website:

Welcome to Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Emporium, a wondrous collection of magic items—each one with a story to tell. This tome provides Dungeon Masters with a ready assortment of treasures to tempt greedy players, along with historical nuggets and alluring adventure hooks that set these items apart from your run-of-the-mill flaming sword or bag of holding. This book adds rich flavor to the treasures and trinkets presented within, and a dash of inspiration for Dungeon Masters looking to liven up a monster’s trove. Hold on to your magic hats—everything must go!

This 160 page D&D 4e product sells for 29.95

Madness at Gardmore Abbey Boxed Set

Posted in D&D 4e Content, Dungeons and Dragons, Gaming News, Product Review with tags , on September 19, 2011 by boccobsblog

pic via Wizards.com

Tomorrow Wizards will release Madness at Gardmore Abbey. According to the Wizards website:

This deluxe adventure takes heroes into the ruins of Gardmore Abbey, a monastery that was once the base of a militant order of paladins devoted to Bahamut. According to legend, the paladins brought a dark artifact back from a far crusade and stored it in their abbey for safekeeping, and evil forces gathered to assault the abbey and take it back. What the legends don’t tell is that this artifact was actually the Deck of Many Things, a force of pure Chaos.

This adventure brings characters into the extensive dungeons beneath the ruins—dungeons that are warped and twisted with the raw forces of Chaos surrounding the cards of the deck.

I am glad to see that boxed sets are making a comeback. While I personally prefer 3.5e. I do miss the box sets from second edition. You really felt like you were getting your money’s worth because along with the books, you got poster maps, handouts, code wheels, 3d cardboard terrain, etc.

Another awesome aspect of this adventure is that it comes with a deck of many things. While this artifact has ended or destroyed more campaigns than it’s helped, it is still an icon of D&D.

This boxed set comes with a bunch of cool stuff:

  • Four 32-page books that present the adventure location of Gardmore Abbey, new monsters, enemies and allies, quests, and encounters.
  • Two double-sided battle maps depicting dramatic locations in the adventure.
  • A die-cut card stock sheet of monster tokens.
  • A die-cut card stock sheet of dungeon tiles.
  • A deck of 24 cards — 22 cards presenting the Deck of Many Things plus 2 Treasure Cards.

 

The adventure begins tomorrow and will retail for 39.99USD

Example of the DoMT artwork:

D&D Lair Assault Starts Today!

Posted in D&D 4e Content, Dungeons and Dragons with tags , on September 1, 2011 by boccobsblog

pic via Wizards.com

Lair Assault starts today! What the heck is Lair Assault? Well:

If you think you have what it takes to brave the fiercest foes, fight the toughest battles, and conquer the vilest enemies, we have a new Dungeons & Dragons play experience for you! Starting in September, gather your master tacticians and rules experts together to kick down the dungeon doors and begin the assault! D&D Lair Assault is a new Wizards Play Network in-store program that pits tactically-minded players against a super challenge where the difference between victory and defeat is dependent upon your game knowledge, ability to adapt, and a little bit of luck. You’ll pit your wits against some of the most difficult encounters you’ve ever played. Each challenge is a mega-encounter that plays in just a few hours, but many will need to make more than one run at it in pursuit of victory. D&D Lair Assault challenges are available for a few months, and stores can schedule their sessions at any time during that period.

So round up that group of powergamers you love to hate and head to your local game store! Event runs through Nov. 30th.

Link to Lair Assault 

Neverwinter Campaign Setting Drops Tomorrow

Posted in D&D 4e Content, Dungeons and Dragons, Gaming News, Product Review with tags on August 18, 2011 by boccobsblog

Made popular by a string of video games (including the first ever MMORPG), and  a series of books by R.A. Salvatore, the city of Neverwinter is now its own campaign setting.  According to Wizards.com:

A heroic campaign set in one of the most popular regions of the Forgotten Realms world.

Reduced to ruins by supernatural cataclysms, Neverwinter rises from the ashes to reclaim its title as the Jewel of the North. Yet even as its citizens return and rebuild, hidden forces pursue their own goals and vendettas, any one of which could tear the city apart.

Neverwinter has long been one of the most popular locations in the Forgotten Realms campaign world. This book presents a complete heroic-tier campaign setting that plunges players into the politics, skullduggery, and peril of a city on the brink of destruction or greatness. A wealth of information about Neverwinter and its environs is provided: maps, quests, encounters, and statistics — everything a Dungeon Master needs for his heroic tier adventures.

If you didn’t snag a prerelease copy at Gen Con, Neverwinter drops tomorrow and retails for 39.95 USD

 

Worldwide D&D Game Day

Posted in D&D 4e Content, Dungeons and Dragons, Gaming Culture, Gaming News with tags , , on August 1, 2011 by boccobsblog

August 6th is D&D Game Day. Every year Wizards of the Coast celebrates Dungeons and Dragons and debuts a new product, this year that product is the Neverwinter Campaign Setting. According to Wizards.com:

D&D Game Day is a one day event spotlighting a key product release in an exclusive adventure. This year, D&D Game Day spotlights the Neverwinter Campaign Setting with an exclusive adventure entitled Gates of Neverdeath. Hired on as caravan guards to protect precious cargo bound for the city of Neverwinter, the characters are introduced to the intrigues and danger that await in this fabled Forgotten Realms locale. For the first time, players will create their own D&D characters at the event and play in a prelude adventure to the upcoming D&D Encounters season!

What Do I Need to Play?
Just bring your dice and a copy of either Heroes of the Fallen Lands or Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms (or both if you’d like). Character sheets and other materials will be provided. At the store, you can pick up your copy of the Neverwinter Campaign Setting if you want additional options for your character. You’ll make a 1st-level character as a part of the D&D Game Day experience, and will be able to continue to play your character in the new D&D Encounters season, the Lost Crown of Neverwinter!

So if you’re unable to attend Gen Con this year you can still head to your local game store and join in on the action.

Need to know where the nearest participating store is? Click here

Another 101 D&D Quest Ideas

Posted in D&D 3.5, D&D 4e Content, D&D 5e, D&D Fifth Edition, D&D Next, Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder with tags , , , , on July 27, 2011 by boccobsblog

Many of you may remember the post we did several months back entitled, “101 D&D Quests Ideas”, it has been one of the most popular articles on the blog and one of the most searched terms by readers using search engines like google to find us (in fact if you google, “D&D Quest Ideas” B3 is the first hit- woot!). So we turned out another 101 D&D quest ideas usable for any fantasy-themed RPG, but written with D&D and Pathfinder in mind. Enjoy! (And a big thank you to Dave R. and Adam A. for submitting quest ideas)

1. A minotaur was victimized by a wizard, and now he will hire you to lead him through his own labyrinth to his treasures.

2. A painter has been using magic to easily duplicate his own paintings to sell as originals. But a fowl art critic with a penchant for theatrics is on to him and has sworn to reveal the secret unless he is permitted to marry the artist’s only daughter. The artist hires you to eliminate the critic who knows too much.

3. The sun set 26 hours ago. The world is in panic. The Drow are invading, and only the heroes can stop them.

4. A madman who thinks he is a prophet is slaughtering the livestock of the local farmers in the hopes that it will bring forth Ibanirox, the Night Eater, a long forgotten (and made up) deity of immense power. The farmers offer the group 20 gold or 3 cows per adventurer.

5. A theatre director hires the party to keep his lead actor (who is marked for death by a crime syndicate) alive long enough to perform in front of a powerful monarch. The assassins attempt to make his death scene a real one.

6. A tribe of kobolds has taken up residence in the sewers and has been hunting dogs and cats as food.

7. The pc’s are sent after a powerful artifact/weapon that will make their patron unstoppable.

8. The pc’s are hired by a Gensai sorceress to recover her mephit familiar from an enemy.

9. A character notices an error in a broadsheet posted in the city square, and quickly realizes that the paper has been forged to deflect guilt from a minor noble. The noble hires thugs to “dissuade” the party from investigating further by stealing some of their gear and shifting their attention to the thieves.

10. Mind flayers are performing perverse rituals on local orc tribes and granting them psionic abilities. The party must find and destroy them before psionic orcs destroy the kingdom.

11. Ancient prophecies predict that a star will fall at a precise location on a certain day. Whoever is first to grasp the star will receive a wish. Various dark factions camp and await the coming of the star, intent on making their wish.

12. A devil/caster/demon/warlock has set a fire using hell fire and it can only be quenched by the waters from a spring in Celestia

13. A Devil prince coerces you to sabotage the wedding of one of his political rivals.

14. A besieged city holds a tournament to mock their enemies. The King asks you to sneak into the city and win the tournament to demoralize them.

15. A wizard believes he has discovered the location of the wreckage of a legendary battleship, but so has his rival. You must recover the arcane weaponry from the wreck before the opposing team does.

16. You are hired to perform a filibuster in the legislative body of a monstrous nation. It proves dangerous.

17. An ancient and complex prison facility for extraplanar criminals is malfunctioning. The party must repair it as a group of imps attempts to use the facility against them.

18. The party is sent to investigate the disappearance of a missionary cleric in a vast and dark jungle. Investigation reveals that the cleric has instead been converted by the demon-worshiping jungle people and now mobilizes them against his former mission.

19. Gnolls have dug up the severed head of a lich in the desert, and it has promised them great power if they reunite him with his body.

20. A band of Drow (or similarly evil humanoids) comes to town claiming to be not evil and seeking asylum.

21. Ghostly dryads haunt the grove where their tree was destroyed and they can only be put to rest if the grove is replanted.

22. A werewolf, seemingly immune to wolfs bane and silver terrorizes a village. He is in fact a barghest.

23. A ruined tower is in fact a colossal animated object.

24. A yeth hound poses as a wounded blink dog.

25. The pc’s seek an item buried within a grove sacred to a centaur tribe.

26. A delver tunneling under the city is causing earthquakes.

27. The characters are sent to a primitive island to retrieve an item/find a treasure/seek an npc. The island is filled with dinosaurs, near-humanoids, and dire animals. As the pc’s explore the island they begin to devolve, as do their animal companions, mounts, familiars, etc.

28. The mayor, sheriff, high priest, has been replaced by doppelgangers.

29. A white dragon is freezing ships and carrying them off to his glacial home.

30. A major port is now home to spawning dragon turtles.

31. Dryads have taken loggers hostage.

32. All news and shipments from a dwarven stronghold have stopped; the king frees a Duergar attack.

33. Ettercaps have poisoned village children and carried them off, the pc’s know they have a limited window in which to rescue the children before they are eaten (as ettercaps like to let their dinner hang and liquefy before eating).

34. Hippogriffs, run off their mountain roosts by a red dragon, have begun devouring cattle.

35. All the townspeople in a village have contracted lycanthropy and become were-moose at the full moon. The group must discover that the alchemist upstream of the village’s water supply has been experimenting with dangerous chemicals to turn his beloved pet albino moose, Alabaster, into a sentient best friend.

36. The pc’s break a law in an unjust and evil land while doing something good, but are later pursued by a zelekhut for their actions.

37. The elementals that power a dwarven forge have broken free and must be captured without harming them.

38. A thief tells the party about a dragon graveyard that contains the treasure of a dozen hoards, but is haunted by ghostly-dragon guardians.

39. The pc’s require the help of a lillend, but she refuses unless the party’s bard can impress her with his musical abilities.

40. Ice mephits have frozen the town’s well.

41. Merfolk are waylaying ships from traveling over a sacred coral reef.

42. A gelatinous cube, used to eat waste, has escaped the sewer and must be lured back down.

43. Drunken satyrs have carried off a number of women from the village.

44. Will o’ the Wisps are luring people to their swamp.

45. All the animals in the village have collected on a hill nearby and refused to come down.

46. A splinter cult of Drow are kidnapping townspeople and sacrificing them to a powerful aranea sorceress, they worship as an avatar of Loth.

47. The pc’s hired by a local politician that fears he will be poisoned at an upcoming banquet.

48. Thieves have stolen dragon eggs and put the entire town in jeopardy as the angry mother wreaks havoc.

49. The “haunted forest” is actually filled with awakened creatures.

50. A mage’s guild seeks thieves to steal an artifact that will hamper the use of magic. They plan to use it to control all magic in the city.

51. A stray cat taken in by the pc’s is the familiar of an enemy spell-caster.

52. Mongrelmen living under the city are demanding citizenship and full rights.

53. The local wizard’s college wants to hire the pc’s to capture some new familiars.

54. A con artist posing as a priest is fleecing peasants.

55. The pc’s must stop an angry mob from attacking a peaceful tribe of orcs.

56. A glacier has been discovered with an enormous, nightmarish creature inside and the ice is beginning to melt.

57. The pc’s are asked to serve as guardian to a young noble whose parents have been killed.

58. The pc’s must smuggle a message into a besieged city.

59. A dying dragon holds a contest to give away pieces from its hoard.

60. Lizardman-half-Mindflayers are being spotted in the marshes outside town.

61. A vigilante is killing evil criminals in town. The party is hired to capture him, while the people view him as a hero and champion of good despite his methods.

62. Something has driven all the game from the kings hunting grounds.

63. Prisoners are being sold to mindflayers.

64. Marble carved from a newfound quarry is animating.

65. The prison has been taken over by the prisoners.

66. When the well goes dry, the villagers discover a glowing portal to Sigil.

67. A wizard/engineer wants help capturing elementals to power airships.

68. A wizard polymorphed into a chimera is attacking caravans.

69. The pc’s must acquire an artifact from the hoard of a fiendish-black dragon that resides in the swamps of Othrys on the plane of Carceri.

70. People are disappearing and paintings of the missing are showing up in the inn/temple/manor.

71. Fiendish weasels are terrorizing a farmers chicken coop. The family is on the edge of hunger and ruin.

72. A group of wild elves hire the pc’s to escort their clan to a new home in the Beastlands.

73. Something is causing the dead to rise from the local cemetery.

74. After a dark omen all cure spells function as inflict spells.

75. Wererats are stealing children and infecting them with lycanthropy.

76. After a Drow priestess is hanged, women in the city begin giving birth to spiders.

77. The pc’s encounter a strange man on the road how casts a spell on them/gives them a potion, shortly after they arrive in town to see (with their arcane sight) that half the town are actually changelings.

78. A farmer finds a possessed tablet in his field and begins going on a killing rampage.

79. The city’s most powerful adventurers return from questing in a temple of Tharzidun.

80. A child has been bitten by a rare spider, and the only antidote requires some of the spiders venom.

81. A vampiric bard is dining on the finest artists in town.

82. A pc learns that his family lost a powerful legacy item to a dragon. The item is still in the dragon’s hoard.

83. The party is left to raise a brood of silver dragon wyrmlings after their mother is slain.

84. A child is possessed by a demon and must be exorcised.

85. The pc’s are shipwrecked and must build a raft to escape.

86. A child in the slums is spouting doomsday prophecies and is gathering a large following.

87. The pc’s are drugged and forced into naval service by a violent press-gang.

88. The party’s warriors are invited to participate in the alabaster cup (Com. Warrior).

89. The party is approached by an npc that claims to have detailed evidence of an assassination plot. The npc even shows them plans that he stole from the assassin. After the attempt is made, the pc’s are framed and they detailed evidence is found in their room at the inn.

90. An awaken golem is creating an army of warforged to wipe the lands free of living beings.

91. A barbarian horde threatens to invade unless someone can defeat their leader in single combat.

92. The new mayor of a rural village is a Rakshasa.

93. A massive egg has appeared in the village square and cracks are forming.

94. Each night eerie organ music can be heard from the ruin manor on the hill; in the morning, a townsperson is missing.

95. Lightning continues to strike the same gravestone every night for the last week.

96. A wizard, pretending to be goodly, hires the pc’s to retrieve his “stolen” spell book from a rival.

97. Cultists have obtained a scroll of Crushing Fist of Spite (BoVD) and intend on releasing it on the countryside.

98. A party member’s soul has been purchased/stolen/bartered for, by Asmodeus and the party must debate the Devil lord to get it back.

99. A gnoll army sweeps from the north, their leader wields what appears to be the Triple Flail of Yeenoghu, Demon Prince of Gnolls.

100. A Cauldron of Zombie Spewing (BoVD) has been unearthed in an ancient ruin by clerics of Neurull.

101. A mad cleric has resurrected the stuffed monster in the party’s favorite inn.

Another 101 quests

The first 101 D&D Quest Ideas can be found here.

 

Buy me an 1/18 of a cup of coffee
D&D 5E Core Rulebook Gift Set
Dungeon Mayhem – D&D Card Game
Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica
Waterdeep: Dragon Heist

Monster Mash-Up Round Two

Posted in D&D 4e Content, Dungeons and Dragons with tags , on July 20, 2011 by boccobsblog

The Monster Mash-up contest is heating up. Eight monsters have been eliminated and the second round has begun.

The round two match ups are as follows:

Were-Chimera vs. Enfield

Grivvin vs. Displacer Cube

Intellect Tyrant vs. Strigethid

Displacer Dragon vs. Medusa Hydra

Vote here.

(They turned down my Vampiric Weasels, so they can all go to Hell as far as I’m concerned)

Fortune Cards: Neverwinter Released Tomorrow

Posted in D&D 4e Content, Dungeons and Dragons, Gaming News with tags , , on July 18, 2011 by boccobsblog

pic via wizards.com

On July 19th Wizards will release their next set of Fortune Cards. The next set will feature a Neverwinter theme to coincide with the release of the Neverwinter Campaign Setting set to release in August.

The response to Fortune Cards has been mixed to say the least. Some players adore any opportunity to add to and modify their game in new and exciting ways, others see them as a just another attempt to get their money.

If you’re unfamiliar with how the cards work; here’s an explanation from Wizards.com:

At the start of each encounter, shuffle your deck and draw a card.

You can play one card per round. It requires no action to play. The rules on each card state when you can play it and what effect it has. A card takes effect just once unless it states otherwise, and you discard the card when its effect ends.

You can have only one Fortune Card in your hand at a time. At the start of each of your turns, you can do one of the following:

  • Discard the card in your hand and draw a new one.
  • Draw a new card if you don’t have one in your hand.
  • Keep the card that’s in your hand if you haven’t played itThe cards will come in booster packs of 8 cards and retail for 3.99 USD

Example cards:

 

 

 

 

 

We would be interested in hearing from anyone that uses Fortune Cards in their game. What do you think of them? Do they improve game play?

For more info on Fortune Cards click here

D&D on Facebook: Heroes of Neverwinter

Posted in D&D 4e Content, Dungeons and Dragons, Gaming News, Video Games with tags , , on June 24, 2011 by boccobsblog

from their Facebook page

Since D&D Tiny Adventures went belly up there hasn’t been a true D&D game on Facebook. Well that is about to change. Atari, the makers of Daggerdale, are currently working on a D&D game for Facebook set in Neverwinter. The game will use 4e mechanics and be turned-based.

According to a review at Joystiq.com the game, “closely resembles Wizard’s already-super-popular franchise” (McElroy).

No release date has been given.

For more information check out Joystiq’s full review

Screen shots from Joystiq.com :

   

3 Games of Chance for Your Fantasy RPG

Posted in D&D 3.5, D&D 4e Content, D&D 5e, D&D Fifth Edition, D&D Next, Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 16, 2011 by boccobsblog

Gambling is a reoccurring theme in fantasy novels, games, and films. I guess since they have no TVs or Xboxs all Orcs have to do when they have down time from their pillaging is to throw dice and play cards. Today I wanted to show a few games that could be used in-game to add realism and depth to your campaign’s tavern experience.

For brevity’s sake I will not be going into rules or mechanics of each game, but I will provide links to their site so you can find more information.

Three Dragon Ante

This is supposed to be the premiere card game in the D&D multiverse. TDA works well as a stand-alone card game and is quick and easy enough to be worked into an adventure without taking up the whole night. TDA (and really all of the games mentioned today) give you a great opportunity to role play and let those charismatic players shine. One thing that I really like about TDA is that it has a section in the rule book that lets you us character skills to affect the card game. This option really lets players feel like they didn’t waste those skill points and have a great deal of fun in the process. At the link provided above, you can get a free copy of the rulebook and TDA quest ideas.

Harrow

Not to be outdone by Wizards of the Coast, Paizo has created their own card game for the Pathfinder world. Harrow is a stand-alone card game that can be played in-game or out. One cool feature about Harrow, is that it is can also be used as a future telling device as well. According to Paizo’s website, Harrow features the artwork of Kyle Hunter, whose comics have appeared in Dungeon Magazine.

The Red Dragon Inn: Gambling? I’m In!

This is actually nine games inspired by Slug fest Game’s The Red Dragon Inn, and can be used interchangeably. I had a chance to demo this game (not all nine, but the main game and two others) at last year’s Gen Con and they were all easy to learn and enjoyable. The game includes a 90-card deck and rules for all nine games that can be played as a stand-alone or in-character in any fantasy RPG.