DnDNext Details Anounced (And a Hoax Update)

Now that Wizards has finally provided a firm date (May 24th) for the release of the DnDNext playtest some official details have started to trickle out (here). Mostly the designers at Wizards are trying to set some expectations: the playtest will include a very basic rule set with a minimal set of races and classes, although the playtest material will include pre-generated characters. I am also assuming Wizards will provide some avenue for actually providing the feedback they are looking for.

Special Visitor

I did want to make mention of a recent special event for our Sunday night DnD group (weekly recaps are available at Scott's Raveloft Redux blog). As was mentioned previously one of our members now resides in North Carolina while the rest of us still reside in the western suburbs of Chicago. As it happened Mark was in town this past weekend and was able to join us in person instead of via phone and Leo's gaming table software - woo-hoo! Mark was one of the original members of this group (30+ years ago) so there was definitely a lot of history here. It was nice to see him and his son Chris, if only for one evening.

DnD Encounters - Session 9 (04/25/2012)

This weeks Encounters session at The Gaming Goat was held as scheduled, but alas, without me in attendance. My work schedule required me to work the late shift this week, but I am supposed to be back to mid-shift after this week and - hopefully - should be able to attend the remaining sessions for this iteration of DnD Encounters. In lieu of me providing details of the nights adventure I have included a link to another summary from dungeonsmaster.com (Week 9).

Well, How About That!?! (Update: Hoax)

In a bit of surprising news Monte Cook announced he was leaving Wizards of the Coast and would no longer be participating the DnDNext effort. Monte has been in the RPG business for a long time and was actually employed by TSR in the halcyon days of ADnD and DnD3.0. He has been involved in other RPG projects in the years since then including the roll-out of Pathfinder. He was brought back in to the DnD fold to help build that bridge between the previous versions and it's current form, a stated goal of the DnDNext project.

DnD Encounters - Session 8 (04/18/2012)

Another fun night of DnD Encounters at The Gaming Goat, but first a quick word from Wizards. The April update for the DDI tools was released earlier this week (read more here). This release also includes information from this month's new game supplement book, Halls of Undermountain. I've started reading it and at least at first glance it is very well written and I look forward to seeing what else it has to offer.

DnD Encounters - Session 7 (04/11/2012)

DnD Encounters this week at The Gaming Goat featured only one table again this week. One of our regular DM's was out again and apparently might be for awhile, plus we were missing several of the regular players. We did have newcomer Bobby join us this week to sit in with Don, Zach, Nate, Steve, Dan, and myself, along with DM Clyde. The party had taken out several dwarven defenders in the underground temple last week - could they maintain their winning ways?

Wizards News (Updated X 2)

A few weeks ago I had mentioned that I hadn't heard much DnDNext news, especially concerning this weekends big gaming convention in Boston MA, PAX East, It turns out there will be several DnDNext playtest sessions, but with the same rule set that was used at DDXP at the end of January (here). There was also a scheduled seminar to provide further DnDNext news. Wizards has been keeping their cards held pretty close to their vests in regards to any real DnDNext announcements so I am not expecting a lot of news here, but it would be nice if they were announce a target date for general release of the playtest rules.

DnD Encounters - Session 6 (04/04/2012)

Last week (spring break in these parts) we had ~12 players, two DM's, and two rockin' tables. This week, due to shift changes and tests, we were down to six players and one DM. No matter, with Clyde as our DM we had another great week of Encounters (i.e., no TPK this week). This week the table had Zach, Zach, Nate, Steve, myself, and newcomer Dave. Dave played a rogue to give the party a little striking ability and our rogue turned out to be a key player for this night.