Who knew that Tom Cruise was a Dark Lord of the Sith?

Holy Escher, Batman!

This is a useful website to visit if you’re into weapon collecting, or even if you just need some visual aids for your next D&D session. There’s a section on fantasy weapons, too, which would be useful for making somewhat interesting-looking magic weapons.

I have three things I’d like to post about today.

*Underworld: Evolution*
Yes, I saw it yesterday. To sum it up: crap, but not in a bad way. I went into the first _Underworld_ movie with very low expectations, and came away pleasantly surprised. It wasn’t great art, but it was a fun and enjoyable movie, and I’m glad I saw it. I went into _Underworld: Evolution_ once again with low expectations (it is, after all, a sequel to a movie that I didn’t like enough to buy on DVD), and once again I was pleasantly surprised. I’m sensing a pattern here. At any rate, _Evolution_ isn’t as good as the first one; the first movie focused a little more on plot and character development, where as this movie focuses more on action and over-the-top gore. It’s still an enjoyable movie, provided you’re not expecting too much.

*Settlers of Catan*
I played this board game for the first time last night, and I really enjoyed it. For those who are unfamiliar with it, _Settlers of Catan_ revolves around building roads, settlements, and cities on a randomly-generated board, as well as gathering and trading resources. Settlements and cities are worth victory points, as are some other things, and the first one to ten victory points wins. It’s fun, easy to learn, and requires a fair amount of thought and strategy.

*More Playtesting*
I got to playtest my own card game last night with a group of three other people (I’m thinking of maxing the number of players out at four), and it was very productive. They enjoyed the game, so I think I’m on the right track, but there are a number of things I’d like to change now. I also have to find a way to decrease the length of time it takes to play a game with four people; it takes about half an hour with two, but about an hour and a half with four, which may be too long for some.

Well, I finally got a prototype for my card game printed up, and my wife and I played last night for the first time. It’s amazing what even one session of playtesting will turn up; there are a number of rules conflicts that have come to light, and we both found ways of making the gameplay more fun. I’ll be playtesting it again today (hopefully with two other people, so I can see how the dynamic changes in a three-player game).

I just got done reading The Game Inventor’s Guidebook, by Brian Tinsman. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to get a game published; it’s got a lot of very useful information in it. In addition to being useful as a source of advice, it’s also a very entertaining read; Tinsman has a sort of dry wit that’s very appealing. While I was reading the book, I found that it stimulated my imagination, got me thinking. Anyway, as I was reading, I was also designing a game (at first in my head, then putting it down on paper), and I plan on using the advice in the _Guidebook_ to get it published.

Something that I probably haven’t mentioned on this site before is that I have kind of a soft-spot for card-based games. I like _Magic: The Gathering_ a lot, and I also got pretty obsessed with _Age of Mythology: The Boardgame_ for a while, as it has a very appealing card-based mechanic for performing actions (you can ready my review here). At any rate, I’m designing a card game. Something that always strikes me when I get into a creative mode like this is how a game evolves as you write it. When I started, I had a certain idea of how the gameplay would work, and that idea changed on a daily basis. I’ve finally got it in a semi-stable state, and I can’t wait to print up a prototype and start playtesting it, mainly because I want to see how else it’s going to change as a result of no longer being developed in a vacuum. In any case, you may hear more about my game in future posts.

I’ve been toying with the idea of a more robust masterwork system for use with _Iron Heroes_, but it looks like the folks over at The Iron League have beat me to it.

Looks like a pretty decent system to me.

Ok, so I was stumbling the web, and I found this. It’s pretty entertaining, especially if you target a site you’re not fond of.

I’m a big fan of Iron Heroes, and also of Eberron. Neither of these admissions should come as any surprise to those who have read previous posts on this blog. I like both of these products so much, that I’m using _Iron Heroes_ as a ruleset for an _Eberron_ campaign, which I believe I’ve also mentioned in the past. I mention all of this again as context. One thing that I really like about _Iron Heroes_ is that it treats magic–both spells and items–as dangerous and unpredictable. The reason I like this idea is that I think it puts the magic back in magic. To me (and, I’m sure, to many others), D&D magic has become so codified and formulaic that it’s just another system, like grappling or feats. It’s not mysterious, and it’s not magical. Now, that being said, the _Iron Heroes_ magic system is certainly not without its faults, and the magic item system presented in _Mastering Iron Heroes_ is a little too similar to D&D’s for my taste. Sure, there are drawbacks to using magic items, but a lot of the abilities are the same. Not only that, but rationalizing extremely dangerous spellcasting and magic items in a high-magic setting like _Eberron_ is somewhat difficult. So, I’ve done a couple of things to resolve this problem.

The first thing I did was to lift the original magic system right out of _Iron Heroes_, and replace it with the system presented in EN Publishing’s excellent Elements of Magic: Mythic Earth. It’s a more flexible system that allows magic to be somewhat unpredictable and somewhat dangerous, but still common enough for _Eberron_ games. That didn’t really solve my magic item problem, though.

The thing about _Iron Heroes_ is that the PCs are powerful. Really powerful. They’re more powerful than their D&D counterparts, and the main reason for this is that it’s assumed that they’re not decked out in +5 full plate and mighty cleaving keen vorpal swords. The only gear they’re assumed to have is a weapon, and maybe some armor. So, how do you make magic items incredibly common, as they are in _Eberron_, but keep them from making _Iron Heroes_ characters way too powerful? My solution is simple. In _Eberron_, low-level magic is common, but high-level magic is still powerful, mysterious, and rare. What WotC means by this is that anything above 3rd level is pretty rare, but lower-level stuff is relatively easy to come by. My interpretation, for the puproses of my campaign, differs somewhat.

There are basically two kinds of magic: the first is “utility magic”, while the second is the really potent stuff. Utility magic is a way of describing the kinds of magic items that NPCs use to make their lives easier; this stuff is all over the place. Sharn still exists, flying coaches and all. House Sivis message stones can be used for a fee, and House Jorasco has a variety of healing charms that will make you feel better. However, it’s still pretty expensive. Not only that, but it’s generally not that useful in combat. Thus, it doesn’t really present much of a balance issue. Utility magic acts more like a plot device than an actual magic item system; it’s a way for me to make the world distinctly “Eberronian”. However, the potent stuff–magic swords, staves that hurl fireballs, rings that turn you invisible, and so forth–is really, really rare, and usually really, really old. These are the things that it takes a very powerful individual to create, and require a pretty significant investiture of life force; thus, they don’t get made that often. That said, they’re not unheard of.

I plan on allowing the PCs to have some of the really powerful stuff (heck, they already have an airship), but I’m not going to give it away like candy. They won’t get a +2 sword; they’ll get the Blade of Langnarn, forged by a great hobgoblin sorcerer for the warlord Langnarn, used to unite the tribes of Dhakhaan long ago. It may only be a +2 sword, but it’ll seem special because it’s got history. I like the idea of magic items being characters in their own right. I also like the idea of items developing over time. Perhaps that sword has a few dormant powers (or curses) that the PCs discover over time. Perhaps, because of its status as a powerful symbol of conquest and unity for the goblinoids, the Dhakhaani tribes want it back. And so forth.

This is just awesome. Take the test, and see what you are; it gives you alignment, race, primary and secondary class, and the Forgotten Realms deity that you worship. I took the test, and found out that I’m a Lawful Good Elf Bard/Ranger who follows Oghma. Interesting.