The wiki that my group uses as a campaign journal has been migrated to a new wiki software, and can be found here. Also, the two most recent session reports are finally ready for public consumption:

Into the Keep
An Unexpected Ally

Enjoy.

I just got done reading Arcane Power, WotC’s most recent class expansion book, and I thought I’d give my thoughts. In no particular order:

I love the new warlock pact. The vestige pact allows you to choose one of two “sub-pacts” after each short or extended rest, each with its own pact boon and its own augment to your at-will power, eyes of the vestige (which is a very cool power in and of itself). In addition, a lot of the new daily warlock powers give vestige pact warlocks access to additional vestiges that they can switch out for immediately upon using said power, and these vestiges last until the end of the encounter. The daily power vestiges tend to be a bit better than the basic ones you get access to, which is why they don’t stick around too long. The infernal pact warlock in my D&D campaign, Silus, is actually switching to vestige pact now that the option is available, which I’m all for.

Wizards get lots of cool new powers. Some classics return, and there’s a whole slew of summoning spells and illusion spells. What has me really excited about this is that Sredni, the party’s warlord, is multiclassed into wizard, and a lot of these new powers are right up his alley. Summoning servitors to do your bidding? Check. Using illusions to force enemies to do things against their will? Check.

The new sorcerer stuff is very cool. I particularly like the idea of a half-orc storm mage who zips around the battlefield as a bolt of lightning and tosses people around with thunderous magic. Very cool and evocative.

The swordmage now has an aegis that can teleport an enemy to him, and a lot of new powers that go along with that. Cool stuff, though I think I like being able to teleport and attack, personally.

The new prescient bard is thematically odd, but mechanically gets a lot of great stuff. The most interesting thing is that the lion’s share of the powers designed for the new build are ranged weapon powers, meaning that you can be an archer-bard now. Not quite an arcane archer, but pretty close.

The paragon paths and epic destines are all very cool. I like the arch-lich.

Lots of great feats. Some of the metamagic feats from 3rd Edition make a return, and there’s lots of new stuff, too.

Familiars. Oh, yeah. 4th Edition familiars are so cool that two of my players want one. The warlock is getting a familiar as part of his retcon; he had a feat that was only viable for infernal pact warlocks, so he’s swapping it out for a familiar. Sredni also plans on picking one up at the next opportunity, I think. I love the way they work; they’re simple and minimalist, but with tons of roleplaying potential.

Anyway, that’s all for now.

A little while back, I heard about Goozex from the PC Gamer Podcast. It sounded interesting and I had some games that I no longer really wanted, so I thought I’d try it out. It seems pretty intuitive and, if it works, it’ll be a great way for me to continue to get value out of games that I no longer play or plan on playing. It works for all three of the systems I own (PC, DS, and Wii), which is nice. I like the fact that that I can do something with those old games other than eBaying them or (shudder) trading them in to GameStop for a tenth of a percent of their retail value. I also like that I can put together a list of games I want, Netflix-esque, and wait for them to arrive once I have some points built up. I feel I can be a little bit riskier in my gaming ventures, since if I don’t like a game I can immediately trade it back and get the full value that I “paid” for it in return.

This all comes with one caveat, though: while I have traded games to Goozex, I have not yet received a game from Goozex. The issue arises from the fact that you’re relying on other gamers, who may or may not be at their computers for a few days. I was slated to receive a copy of Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword, pending the seller’s acceptance of the trade. However, because he never accepted, I never got the game. I was refunded my points and my trade token and put back in the queue, but it’s still irritating to be looking forward to something and not get it. I’m now slated to get Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and the seller has 25 hours to make a decision on that. Hopefully I’ll get a game this time.

Update: I’ve now received Puzzle Quest and Assassin’s Creed for the DS and Mass Effect for the PC through Goozex. I’ve also got Final Fantasy III for the DS, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time for the PC, and Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker for the GameCube all on the way. Not bad.