Sooooooo ... What Is Going To Happen With Your DDI Subcription?

The DnD DDI subscription model has always been controversial. The idea of having to pay a monthly fee for content was something new. The original DnD 4E character builder was a downloadable tool, and then switched to an on-line version based on MS-Silverlight so there was no tablet compatible version when new platforms came available, promised tools such as the character visualizer never materialized, and the tabletop tool was put out for beta testing and then cancelled. With the new 5E getting ready to roll-out next year (likely, anyway) ... well, I guess it can't get any worse.

DnD News

While most of my recent posts have been recaps of Friday Night Pathfinder fun our Sunday Night DnD group is still going strong (you can read about our current adventures here). However, DnD news has been rather sparse of late. The January update to the DDI online tools was announced this week (here) but given that this was the update that would have occurred from over the end-of-year holiday break there were little if any bug fixes.

Back to the Anvil

It has been several months since my last post but my itch has returned so let's get back to it. The reasons are many - I've got a million excuses of course - but the most substantial of the excuses are a new job and both of the kids moving on with their lives and leaving my wife and I behind with an otherwise empty house. We love them both and wish nothing but the best for them - and eagerly wait to see them again.

Wizards News

I wanted to include several announcements and links in here this post will cover a couple of different areas. First of all the June DDI update was released last week. There wasn't a lot of new material to include, and the usual smattering of bug fixes was always interesting to peruse, so I guess overall there really wasn't much to report here.

May DDI Update Released

The May update of the DDI tools was pushed out today (read here). There was the usual smattering of new data and bug fixes, but unless you were looking for a specific bug to be resolved I'm not sure there was much there. The new session of DnD Encounters started tonight with their character building session (game play will start next week), so it was certainly just in time for that.

March DDI Tools Update Released (Updated)

Wizards announced the monthly release of the DDI tools were available today (here). You might notice in the announcement that they identified the release as the "February update"instead of the "March update," so that link might be invalidated at some point.

Character Builder Update ... Not So Fast There Partner

Wizards is releasing The Shadowfell: Gloomwrought and Beyond boxed set tomorrow (05/17). There was a DDI CB update scheduled for tomorrow as well, one that would coordinate the latest tool updates and fixes with the release of the new material from the boxed set. As of last month Wizards finally gotten caught up by being able to provide updates to the CB tool in coordination with releases of new products and after several false starts appeared to finally be back on something resembling an actual release schedule.

New DDI Monster Builder Tool Released

As promised Wizards officially released the new web-based Adventure Tools yesterday, which specifically meant the new Monster Builder tool (the announcement can be read here). The announcement seemed to include as much text about what the new tool wasn't as opposed to what it was. Regardless, you can find the link to the new tool - and to the still available to be downloaded but never to be updated Adventure Tools - here.

Character Builder Updated (03/15)

Wizards announced today that the updated character builder tool was released. I had posted previously (here) that the update was to have been released a week ago, but apparently Wizards found a serious printing problem and opted to hold it back for another week. The Wizards formal release announcement can be read here.

News and Links

This is GM Weekend (Friday, March 4 though Monday, March 7). Online game stores are offering most of their PDF formatted products at 25% off. I have purchased from rpgnow.com and goodmangames.com in the past, but I know there are others. If there was something out there you ever wanted that was obscure, hard to find, out-of-date, out-of-print, or just long forgotten then this is a way to fill out your library with a little savings included.

Character Builder(s) - Updated

When Wizards released their new web based character builder (CB) tool last fall I played a little with it the first day it came out, but I suspect that most of the DnD world was doing the same. Basic network performance and system overload seemed to be the order of the day, it since it wasn't a necessary tool for me at the time I arbitrarily decided to just let it sit for a month or so. This would allow the initial surge to die down, allow Wizards to fix whatever bugs did come up, and then once things calmed down a little I would try it again.

The New Character Builder Tool

Wizards of the Coast made their announcement about the new version of the character builder here. For more information Wizards has also posted this FAQ. The first link includes screen shots as well if you keep moving to the bottom of the page.

KotS and TL News

Several items to discuss here as we wrap up Keep on the Shadowfell (KotS) and as we prepare for Thunderspire Labyrinth (TL). First of all each player will be leveling up their characters over the next week, so please make sure you download the latest Character Builder (CB) tool update, available today. I don't know if there is anything that will specifically affect our characters, but this break in play is probably a good time to ensure we are all on the same version. My download and installation went fine earlier this evening, although I really haven't had a chance to put it through its paces yet.

Character Builder Update Available

The May update to the character builder is now available (the monster tool also). I haven't loaded it yet but am doing so as I write this. I am not anticipating any problems though.

There is a lot of errata in this release - see here for the complete list. Any changes to the books of course get integrated into the CB tool, but there is a rules compendium that is being published by Wizards for release later this year. My guess is that you have to finalize your changes at some point so you can get product to the printer by a certain date so it can be shipped and released by a final date.

Character Builder Update Available

Mark had previously reported that he had encountered some problems when trying to level up his Cleric after he had installed the March 2, 2010, Character Builder (CB) upgrade. He had looked online and saw that the problem had also been seen by other users and had already been reported back to Wizards. I expected a bug fix upgrade at some point soon, but hadn't checked for a couple of days, and as I said it's available now. I downloaded the upgrade successfully and left Mark a text that the upgrade is available, figuring he could test it some time over the weekend.

Wizards News - Monster Stat Blocks Are Being Tweaked

Yesterday Wizards announced (here, subscription required) they are going to slightly alter the way monster stat blocks are displayed starting with products released in May 2010. When Monster Manual 3 is released in June its monsters will be displayed using this new stat block format. An example is of the new stat block format is given, but honestly, without a side-by-side comparison it's kind of hard to tell what is really different between the current and the new version.

News and Notes (Updated)

As a news note the March upgrades for the Character Builder and Adventure Tools are now available. The new source material (Martial Power 2) is included plus a smattering of fixes, this is the first substantial update following the annual Christmas holiday slow-down time. My personal bugaboo - the print limit on journal entries - is not fixed yet, but too be fair most of the open issues are for stuff that is pretty esoteric (known issues list here). As such I don't think there is anything that affects us as first level characters.

4E Kick-Off Meeting (12/20/2009)

After some discussion early in 2009 our Sunday Night D&D group has decided to give D&D Fourth Edition (4E) a try. The plan was that once Scott’s dungeon was completed that I would run a 4E adventure, Keep of the Shadowfell (KotS). Each of the group members has at least a copy of the Players Handbook (PHB) with the intention that we would at least get a chance to page through it before we started later in 2009 or early 2010.