Leaving Wilderland: Upcoming Supplements for TOR

A recent announcement by Cubicle 7 revealed the 2014 releases for The One Ring.  Rivendell has been on the schedule before, and was originally slated for a 2013 release.  It looks like it will be a combination of a regional sourcebook along with a decent amount of player options (including two much sought-after Cultures, and rules for magical treasure).  Not much of a surprise here.

The revised core rulebook is an interesting twist, and I think a necessary one given the switch to hardcover for the more recent books.  Even though hardcover books are a little more expensive, their durability makes them well worth it in my opinion.  I suspect the list of errata will be small, but this is still worthwhile even for some that already have the slipcase set.  I know that my copies have binding issues, like many, and while the pages are all attached with the string, the glue has completely failed.  Functional, but not very pretty.  I'm not sure if I'll personally pick this one up since I have limited funds, already own the core books, and plan on purchasing books for other games, but it would definitely be nice to have.

Ruins of the North looks absolutely phenomenal, because Cubicle 7 has set a strong precedent with Tales from Wilderland.  I typically don't run published adventures, though I will occasionally mine ideas from them, but this adventure anthology is top-notch.  I've read through the whole thing twice already just for pleasure, without intending to actually run it.  I've also run pieces of a couple of the adventures in the book, but even without running it I'd say I've gotten my money's worth.  In short, these adventures do a great job of showcasing how to effectively roleplay in Middle Earth.  Everything from the tone, the style of adventures, and the description.  Middle Earth is a tough setting to GM for, but Tales helps get you in the right frame of mind for it.  I expect Ruins will be just as good.  I've never been this excited about a published adventure before.

The Adventurer's Companion will probably be the best "bang for your buck" for players.  Really, TOR hasn't had any supplements that cater particularly strongly toward players, with Lake-Town being the closest but still mainly a GM resource.  I expect it'll fill the niche of "PHB2" quite well, and it's probably a great way to go about adding more Cultures as opposed to handing them out piecemeal over several GM sourcebooks like the Men of the Lake and the Dunedain.  It'll also be a really quick way to expand the game geographically all in one fell swoop, essentially adding most of the "missing" Cultures from all over Middle Earth.  I honestly didn't expect Bree-folk to be in the same supplement as Riders of Rohan and Men of Gondor, and I didn't expect Dwarves of the Blue Mountains or Elves of Lorien at all!  I'm personally holding out hope for the Druadan, and possibly the Dunlendings, as these would be little-represented Cultures from the legendarium that have a lot of potential for being fleshed out, much like the Woodmen.

The Horse Lords of Rohan will scratch an itch felt by a LOT of TOR players, as Riders of Rohan are easily the most-requested playable Culture based on online discussions.  Granted the Culture itself will be in the Adventurer's Companion, but a GM-targeted regional sourcebook is arguably just as valuable.  All the more so since it also covers Fangorn and Isengard.  I found Heart of the Wild to be absolutely brimming with potential seeds, and I suspect this book will as well.

Overall, it's a very exciting time to be a fan of The One Ring!  While many fans have felt a bit boxed in by the game's restricted support for just Wilderland, it sounds like it will be expanding to the far corners of Middle Earth pretty rapidly!  I was one of those players who actually thought Wilderland was perfect for Middle Earth roleplaying, but I admit that recently I have been itching to explore west of the Misty Mountains lately, and I look forward to how the game handles mounted combat with the addition of the Rohirrim.  I'll also be interested to see how they handle the power level of Rivendell and Lorien Elves, as I initially suspected that they wouldn't be playable Cultures.

Heart of the Wild!

After much waiting, the preorder for Heart of the Wild, the next book in the TOR line, is live.  This release has been much anticipated, especially given that we haven't gotten any new material (nor definitive news of new material) since the release of Lake-Town and the announcement of the delays on the upcoming books.  And as a bonus, the book will be hardcover!

There's a lot of upcoming RPG products so I'm not sure if I'll preorder this one or wait until later (13th Age and Edge of the Empire are both being released this month), but it definitely has me intrigued!  It's basically a source book for Wilderland, which will undoubtedly be chock full of random ideas that I can incorporate into future campaigns.  I was extremely impressed with Tales from Wilderland (and I don't generally like published adventures), so I'm sure this will be top-notch as well.  The game certainly needs some new variety of adversaries, and I was VERY pleasantly surprised at the new playable cultures (River Hobbits and Wayward Elves!).  It'll be especially interesting to see how the Stoors differ from the Shire-Hobbits, especially since iirc in the canon it's unclear whether they still frequent Wilderland at all, in which case they're probably just small, secretive bands of those who haven't quite cleared out yet.

In any case, thought it was worth mentioning since I haven't talked too much about TOR recently.  I haven't played it with my gaming group(s) for several months, though I am still running a PbP game on Roleplay Online and I'm liking the way the game complements the PbP format (if you're interested in lurking, just click on this link and request lurker status).

Anyways, after Heart of the Wild will be Darkening of Mirkwood, which is the big plot-point campaign that's been in the works since the game's release (hints of it are in the core book).  I'm guessing that'll be available this year as well.  After that there will be a Rivendell book, and that's the last we know anything about.  Looking forward to seeing how the line progresses, especially after the fiasco with the PDFs (presumed to be a licensing issue).

13 True Ways FUNDED!!!!

The 13 True Ways Kickstarter is officially over, and I'm very excited to see so many of the stretch goals met!  Perhaps most importantly for players who like a variety of classes, 3 additional ones join the ranks of the Druid, Monk, and Chaos Shaman:  they are the Necromancer, the Battle Captain, and the Occultist.  The Battle Captain will be a Warlord style class, and the Occultist looks to be a type of demon summoner (the Necromancer should be self-explanatory). 

It's awesome that an expansion for a game that hasn't even been officially released yet has garnered so much support.  Perhaps those that have followed the Escalation Edition shouldn't be surprised, as the quality of those drafts really speak for themselves.

Building a Better 5e

By now you've probably heard that 5e has been announced, and if so you're also aware that public playtesting is going to be heavily emphasized.  The idea is to let the fans have a larger say in making D&D how they want it, with the (probably unrealistic) goal of trying to please everyone by introducing a modular system that caters to a specific group's preferences.

There's a lot of discussion circulating around the internet, so all that I will do at this point is list some things that I think would make for an ideal game.  I may expand upon these later.

1. Easy to DM, including encounter-building that is quick and intuitive enough to be done on-the-fly fairly easily.  4e does very well here, and 5e's going to need to be just as good or better to sit well with me (which may prove difficult due to possible complexities with modularity).
2. Class balance should follow 4e's paradigm where all classes are similarly competent across all levels (yes, exceptions exist in 4e but it's done better than any other edition in this regard).
3. Less feat bloat, and no "obvious" feats that virtually all builds take.  A corollary of this is that the underlying math should be ironed out right out of the box, eliminating the need for "feat fixes."  Feats like Expertise or Improved Defenses need to go.
4. Possibly have different categories for feats (combat vs non-combat?) that are gained at different times.  Feats like Linguist wouldn't have to compete with combat options this way.
5. A streamlined skill list (more akin to 4e than 3.5), but do away with 1/2 level scaling and introduce a mechanic with slightly more customizability (but not as fiddly as 3.x's skill ranks).  Perhaps training in x number of skills at character creation, and then at set levels (6, 11, 16, 21, and 26?  Maybe just 11 and 21?) you can assign a certain # of bonuses (+2?) to some skills.  Basically anything that prevents your training from being overshadowed by scaling abilities (or lack thereof) as you level.
6. More equitable distribution of skills.  I get that Rogues and Bards have a skill monkey flavor, but why penalize Fighters so heavily?  Also more liberal class skills.
7. A better magic item system, because this is my biggest problem with 4e.  Fewer items gained over a PC's career, less build-defining items, and make items feel more special.  When making higher level PCs I dread picking out equipment for them, as this takes just as long as everything else on the character sheet combined.
8. Martial classes that aren't prohibited from being "4e style."  In other words, I want the option at least of playing Fighters that get to do lots of cool things and has the same resource types as casters.
9. Leaders that heal/buff either as part of their attack, minor actions, etc.  Point being, a leader shouldn't spend their standard action just to heal.
10. Streamlined list of standardized status effects, much like 4e. 
11. At-will powers (or their functional equivalent).  No more Wizards needing to carry around crossbows as a backup.
12. Front-loaded class features.  For example, I hated in 3.x when I played a Druid I had to wait until level 5 just to shapeshift, since that's a class-defining feature.  I love that the 4e Druid's Wild Shape is not only available out of the box, but at-will.
13. Self-contained monster stat blocks that are at least as simple as 4e's, if not moreso.  This goes along with point #1.
14. I like the tactical depth of 4e combat, but action-paralysis can admittedly be a problem at higher levels.  I think 4e characters having 4 encounter powers, 4 daily powers, and 6 utility powers in addition to item, racial, and theme powers is too much.  I think that multiple uses of some powers, ways to modify certain powers (if kept straightforward), and/or "unlocking" uses of powers in combat would work better.
15. Some sort of momentum-building mechanic that allows for better variation in the length of the adventuring day (this sort of goes along with point #1 as well).  Action points are a good start, but they're not quite enough.  Unlocking uses of your daily powers as you win encounters or reach milestones would not only allow you to progress through lots of encounters, but it would prevent you from unloading all of your dailies if you know you'll have a single encounter day.  Resource management would be key here (i.e. getting to choose which dailies you unlock, and at what times, possibly options for doing so in response to battlefield conditions for a price) to keep things interesting.  Though many players would balk at the suggestion, some sort of mana system would work well here.
16. Surges or a surge-like mechanic.  Basically, anything that makes characters less reliant on a dedicated healer, with options like second wind or being able to heal up outside of combat for minimal cost (though obviously less efficiently than a healer could patch you).  
17. Preserve different monster types (minions, elites, solos) and roles.
18. Possibly less numeric scaling as you level in general.  I'd rather have dice be more relevant for damage than static modifiers at high levels, and there's no reason for monster HP to scale so high (obviously PC damage would scale more slowly as well).  
19. Keep F/R/W as defenses to actively target like AC, as opposed to reactive saving throws by the target.  Preserves the feel that the attacker is doing something, and for the superstitious among us allows the player to roll his/her own dice to determine an attack's outcome.
20. Get rid of +x weapons.  Obviously inherent bonuses can replace them in 4e, but I'd rather eliminate that source of scaling altogether.  They're boring, require you to fill your 3 main slots with up-to-date items (see point #7), and create situations where the DM screws you over by taking your equipment away, either requiring him/her to give it back (or alternative equipment) fairly quickly, or adjust monsters/encounters to compensate.

As you can see based on this list, I largely prefer the direction that 4e has taken the game.  Obviously if 5e radically departs from this paradigm (especially if it takes a more "retro" approach) I can always just keep playing 4e.  Indeed, I'd probably be more inclined to put a concerted effort into really fixing its flaws and catering more to my preferences if I knew that paid game designers weren't eventually going to do it for me.

First Look: Heroes of the Elemental Chaos Art

I recently discovered Tyler Jacobsen's blog, which showcases some of the art that he does (including some published D&D pieces).  He recently posted a first look at some of the new characters that will be in HotEC.  The new subclasses presented in this book will be the Elementalist (rumored to be a Sorcerer build), the Shugenja (rumors point to Monk), and the Sha'ir (a confirmed Wizard build).  Actually, truth be told the Sorcerer and Monk rumors may have been confirmed at some point (I vaguely remember reading that), but I can't be sure so I'm going to play it safe.  Anyways, the current speculation is that Anise is the Sha'ir, Galafaer is the Shugenja, and Scar is the Elementalist.  Now, the current builds for all of these classes should (interestingly enough) all be wearing cloth armor.  So if Scar's appearance seems problematic for a Sorcerer, the same would be true for a Monk or Wizard as well.

It is, of course, possible that he's supposed to be a different class with an elemental flair (and that a named Elementalist character is not included in the book's art); after all, HotF featured Rowena (a Warlock/Hexblade) and Viltham (a Wizard, likely Illusionist) in addition to examples of the 4 subclasses featured in the book.  It's also possible that this plate doesn't include all of the named characters from the HotEC art.  But what if Scar is the Elementalist?  There's already a precedent for Sorcerers fighting with weapons (namely daggers) in melee; what if HotEC simply stepped it up a notch?  After all, the Cleric (and Bard, and Warlock) supports both a ranged-caster archetype as well as an armored weapon-user, so what's preventing the Sorcerer from doing the same?  Sorcerers have a history of being a bit more physical (if only marginally so) than Wizards, and this would be a nice way to further differentiate the two classes.  A differentiation that is sorely needed in my opinion, since well-built blaster Wizards can already beat the Sorcerer at his own game. One of the more radical possibilities is a dual source Martial/Arcane Sorcerer. 

A while ago there were rumors (though I can't recall how reliable they were) of a simplified Essentials-style caster.  A boomstick Sorcerer, if you will, that functioned very much like the basic attack spamming builds (Slayer, Thief, etc).  Or maybe people just wanted such a build (why should spellcasters always be more complicated?).  This being the case, it's possible that the designers went the lazy route and made a MBA-spamming Sorcerer build, either like a Skald or a Slayer with an Arcane flavor.  I actually hope this isn't the case, because it strikes me as disingenuous.  A ranged basic attack spammer would have been interesting.  Sure, the concept has been touched upon with the Hunter and Seeker, but those guys aren't lobbing fireballs around.  A simplified design for a caster that just wants to make things go "boom!" is fitting.  Forcing the Sorcerer into the MBA (but with magic) spamming mold is much less so.  Since the "blow stuff up" ranged guy is out based on that picture, and I don't like the lazy MBA spamming possibility, I'm hoping that something much more innovative was done with the Elementalist.  Something similar to the Berserker's dual role, perhaps?  A unique take on a gish?  Maybe a character that plays as a defender until some trigger causes an uncontrolled burst of elemental energy to surge through his veins, turning him into a controller or a striker?  Pure speculation, of course, but that picture of Scar just begs for it!

On a related note, he also published plates of the HotF characters: Keldar, Andronus and Rowena, and Viltham, Lyrindel, and Nistyncia.  I'll just say that I love this picture of Lyrindel, and I'm at a loss as to why this wasn't included in the book.  All of the other pictures of her look a bit "cartoon-y," and some seem almost like caricatures compared with the art of the other characters.  I never got the sense for what a Hamadryad would really look like from the book's art, but this picture hits it perfectly.  She looks like a more alien version of a Elf, with the dark blotches giving her an almost reptilian flair.  Perhaps not the paragon of beauty that her Nymph aspect is supposed to evoke (nor does it have any plant-like characteristics reminiscent of the Dryad aspect), but I like it nevertheless.  I imagine this being her "default" form, with her racial power offering a peek into either her Autumn Nymph heritage or Dryad future (think Galadriel when Frodo offers her the Ring in Lothlorien).  A transformation that lasts only for a split second, but forever affects all who behold it.

Martial Power 2 Preview: Combat Styles

Today WotC previewed Combat Styles from the upcoming Martial Power 2. And there seems to be a lot of them! Lesser styles are feats that can be taken to modify at-will attacks (those listed for the feat), whereas greater styles affect encounter powers (again, only those listed). Styles only work while wielding a certain weapon, and they're also limited by class. It looks like there will be multiple greater style feats for each lesser style (likely to provide fewer restrictions on encounter power selection).

Overall, I really like this system. It serves to differentiate between weapons more (since the feats are weapon-exclusive), but since there's multiple styles per weapon it also allows you to make a unique character for any given weapon. What I like most about it is that it could provide some inspiration for backstory, as certain combat styles might be common only among a specific race or for a specific region. And despite being an extra "complication" for new players (in that it's an extra mechanic), it serves to guide players along a certain theme. If a newbie reads a description of a specific style and finds it interesting enough to base their character's fighting style off of that, then they conveniently have a list of powers specified in the feat(s) that are compatible. Those players intimidated by the thought of searching through 3 different books (PHB, MP, MP2) every time they level up just to pick the "best" power can rest easy; even sub-optimal powers will be more competitive with the bonus associated with a given combat style feat.

I'm actually pretty surprised that the developers have been able to keep the content for this book fresh and interesting. Of course the biggest variable that remains to be seen are the powers; there's already been some redundancy creeping into the system with just the first iteration of "Power" books, and I'm sure the authors were hard-pressed to come up with so many "new" things for a given class to do. Obviously the powers that are associated with the new builds will be unique (though they may resemble powers from other classes, which is fine by me). My concern is that the amount of redundant powers will be increased, and in that situation there's always one power that's "better" than similar powers, invalidating certain options. The classic example of this is the Barbarian's level 3 encounter powers Hammer Fall (PHB2) and Brutal Slam (PP). Brutal Slam is so much better than Hammer Fall it's sick; both do the same [W] damage, but whereas Hammer Fall knocks the target prone, Brutal Slam pushes it 2 squares, knocks it prone, and deals damage to an enemy adjacent to the target. Essentially, instead of tripping the guy you send him sailing through the air and he crashes into his friend. Brutal Slam has cooler imagery and it's mechanically superior. Hammer Fall, which used to be a decent pick, is not going to be picked anymore by players that have Primal Power. In effect, you've "de-valued" your PHB2 by picking up PP because certain powers become wasted space.

I'm not saying this is a huge problem; obviously with so many different powers to choose from some are bound to be great and some are bound to be sucky. What bugs me is that sometimes sub-par powers can be a viable choice if they adhere to a specific mechanical and/or roleplaying concept, but not if there's a better power that does essentially the same thing. It's probably not a big enough deal to worry about in the first set of Power books; I just hope that it doesn't become more widespread in the sequels.