Dungeons & Dragons Next Session 1

Okay... this was an exercise in frustration. First there was the usual "New System" issues, frustrated by the fact the rules are just familiar enough to make us unsure of the changes. a 20 sided die is used for nearly everything, just like 3rd edition and higher, the stats have attribute bonuses, like 3rd edition and higher, you have spell slots, like... wait... no, those are different... Well, the saving... nope, no saving throws or skills... no critical hit rules... okay, lets discuss it as things happened.

Frustrations and hassles getting everyone registered for the playtest. Once that was handled I had to molly-coddle one of my players who was VERY unhappy with the fact he was "being forced to play someone else's idea of a character" because all of the characters are pregenerated for the moment. Once that was handled and everyone had a basic understanding of their characters we began.

Since the setting was left completely up to the GM and his group, I decided, with the encouragement of my party, to run with the unfinished feel of the rules. The Keep that would serve as our home base is known as Keep [ERROR: NAME NOT FOUND], with Captain as the military leader, the Inn of the Shattered Shaft (the bar we got started in) is on Street, so on so forth. Even the players got in on the unfinished fun, with our wizard going by the name Alt-e For (Alt+F4) who seemed to be in a constant state of log-in limbo.

Once we began our game and headed towards the beginning area of the quest, I described the area between there and the keep as "an 8-bit, unfinished landscape" that suddenly became beautifully 3D rendered landscape we they reached the Scar where the monsters were known to originate.

After a, not so, pleasant discussion about which cave to begin exploring, they decided and headed towards the one closest to the mouth of the canyon. Standing outside the cave mouth, they began fighting among themselves as the wizard tried to cast light upon EVERYBODY, simply because he could cast it at will. This commotion brought the group to the attention of the goblins who lived inside.

These goblins took advantage of the situation and brought the caster to deaths door. After a hard fought near loss, where the goblins continued to bring in reinforcements, the party had to fight an ogre. Once the fight was won, the party limped back to Keep [ERROR: NAME NOT FOUND] to recuperate and regroup before their next foray.

Now that we covered how the adventure went, let us discuss the rules. Here is where we had some issues. There is a new mechanic called "Advantage" that is described in the very loosest terms, leaving EVERYTHING about it to the game master. Advantage allows you to roll one extra D20 for combat, keeping the highest roll, it is countered by Disadvantage, which has you roll 2D20 and keep the lowest. Now this is not necessarily a bad thing, it is not a good thing either, especially when the mechanic in question is such an integral part of the new combat system. The way it is set up, a halfling rogue can gain Advantage as a simple move action as long as there is anything to hide behind, EVEN ANOTHER PLAYER. A rogue with Advantage will strike with their sneak attack, so a halfling rogue strikes each round from hiding (that gives Advantage) so it rolls 2D20, taking the highest, and if this is not enough, a halfling is "Naturally Lucky" allowing two rerolls of any die PER DAY. Not per session, per day.

Our Halfling rogue, Den, showed us just how dangerous this combination of abilities could be until he failed his sneak roll and took a spear to the torso from the ogre.

Well, that is it for today, I will be running our next session over the next weekend, and hope to see you all here for the continued adventures of our motley group of adventures.

Family Guy Online Pt. 2

This installment I will be going over, briefly, the quest system. You get your quests from characters from the show, as expected, and each character gives you quests associated with memorable moments from their on-screen lives.

Some quest givers include Mayor Adam West, each member of the Griffin family, Bonnie Swanson, even Tomak and Bellgarde (the two blonde foreign guys). These quests range from combat, to collections, to destruction.

A personal favorite of mine is the quest for Herbert where you need to collect popsicles, string and a few other items, to help him catch... well... this IS Herbert...

There are also co-op quests as well, like the battle vs Crippletron (tm)... Enjoy, and until next time, this was Abucus, your Greybeard

Lois Class

To continue my Family Guy Online information, I will continue to discuss classes. The Lois (A.K.A Mom) class is the healer. This class has moderate hp, and has the best healing abilities, from the ranged, single target "Kiss the Boo Boo" to the AOE "Chicken Soup" heal over time ability.

They are also no slouch in a stand up fight either. The lois class gets some interesting weapons, like a frying pan, and at higher levels a gatling gun. While unable to deal out the damage of the teen class, nor take the punishment of the dad, the mom class is a good support and "middle of the road" class, good as a beginning class for solo players and players new to the system in general.

As the classes grow (and the level cap increases) there will be more known, and more abilities, and I can not wait to see where they go. If you have not tried this game yet, please do so, and feel free to play a Lois character, they do not need to be female.

Dungeons and Dragons Next

Dungeons and Dragons Next... The place holder name for the 5th iteration of a classic name. When I was accepted into this playtest I was extremely excited. The simple fact that WotC decided to work on a fifth edition so close after the disaster that was called D&D Fourth Edition gave me hope that it would be either a revisit to the success of 3.5 (not likely as Pathfinder has most of that market) or a complete reinvention of the system. Either way I was happy to see Fourth Edition going the way of the dodo.

After a small error in my registration process, which WotC customer support truly shined in setting straight, I got my play test packet. Taking time to read through these files, the simplicity of the starting rule set is not too surprising, especially as this is the first play test packet. I was a little disappointed in the fact we were given pre-generated characters instead of character creation rules, but I find this choice to be understandable. With the same characters sent out with each packet, they will be able to look at the input from each character and not have to wade through where the issue was with the way they were created, and which was a result of the rules themselves.

The characters are one of each of the four basic, stereotypical classes that people think about when they think "Dungeons & Dragons". One fighter, one wizard, one rogue, and two clerics (to highlight the new clerical magic system). The characters are all of the basic races from D&D, one human, one high elf, one halfling, and two dwarves.

There is a rules collection, a Dungeon Master info pack, and an adventure. My group will be getting together this weekend, and I will be getting their input to share with you all once we break from the first game. Wish us luck, and here is hoping that WotC will take the input of their players into consideration as this new version of an old favorite takes form.

Stewie Class

The first in my compilation of Family Guy Online classes will be the Baby class, based on everyone's favorite sociopath, Stewart Gilligan Griffin. The Baby class is a ranged DPS style class, focusing on quick attacks at range. they have less HP than other classes, but tend to have a wider range of attacks usable at a farther range.

Using ray guns, grenades and other inventions, you can rain death to your enemies at a distance, just don't let them close in. You are easier to hit up close, and have less hit points than the other classes. Be careful and remember... "WWSD" (What Would Stewie Do?)

Family Guy Online Pt. 1

This is a simple, browser-based MMO where you make your own Family Guy-style character and explore, quest, and fight in the Family Guy universe. The classes are all based on the Griffin family. As this game is still in beta, I can not get into anything too specific, but I can at least give you a run down of the "classes" and how they correspond to normal MMO classes.

The Classes are each based on one of the family members of the Griffin family, each sets a basic body type for your character as well as your basic abilities and potential. These classes are Baby (based on Stewie), Teen (based on Chris and Meg), Dog (based on Brian and set to purchase only), Dad (based on Peter), and Mom (based on Lois).

Each class has a male and female body type as well as a selection of head shapes. From there you choose other details to make the character your own, and dress them as you feel is appropriate. Each class has specific clothing, accessory, and ability choices that can only be used with them. As you level, you will unlock new items in the Store, where you will buy your abilities and new clothing options with in-game money called "Clams" (who would have guessed, right?). The amount of customization is not huge at this point, but I see it growing constantly, making it easier to make a character more your own.

I am a playtester in a few games, both digital and table top. I will be discussing these, and others, as I get into the practice and testing of these games. At the start, the games I will be discussing are Family Guy Online and D&D Next (the 5th edition release of the classic name).
 This will include my insights as Game Master, bugs, problems to watch for, and input form my players as well.