4E

I've really been enjoying Google Plus as of late. Partly because there are so many awesome gamers using the service. Today I stumbled on this really neat house rules post from Moe Tousignant. His house rules are based on a blog post by WoTC employee Greg Bilsland.

I created a nicely formatted Google Doc for it here.

A great deal of the document is focused on Fun Points

5. Every player can collect fun points. Fun points can be acquired for a variety of reasons all of which are listed below. Fun points can be used for two things:
   1. Modifying a D20 die roll: After any standard roll (initiative, skill check, attack, etc) a player may spend any number of fun points to modify that die roll. This must be done before the results of the roll are known. Making a roll a 20 does not result in a critical hit.
   2. Taking a roll on the Fun Point Table: A player can trade in 10 fun points for a roll on the fun point table (below). These give a wide variety of in game benefits.

The Fun Point Table is a 100 item long random table that you roll against. Its chalk full of fun stuff. One of my favorites is:

76. My Name is Enigo Montoya Keep fighting even while at negative hit points. You still make death saving throws.

You can get Fun Points for one time things, like creating a character background, creating a treasure wish list, and other character startup tasks. You can also get Fun Points for reading up on the rules regarding your character and general rules, as well as for things like showing up on time. 

Its just plain cool. I've used a similar system in the past to encourage players to get their character backgrounds completed. But it was far simpler than this creative and fun setup. Thanks to Greg and Moe for post this. I love it!

I don't know how I managed to miss this, but the fabled Deck of Many Things has been in existence since April 2010! Rodney Thompson wrote it for Dungeon issue number 177.

Within the PDF provided it contains all the rules for the Deck as well as all of the cards to print. It has both sides of the cards so you can print them with a nice front and back. The following is from the introduction of the article

Of all artifacts to grace the world with their presence, perhaps none is more dangerous than the infamous Deck of Many Things. The artifact has appeared in every edition of DUNGEONS & DRAGONS®, and it first appeared in the GREYHAWK® supplement in 1975. Through each of its iterations, the Deck of Many Things has remained a dangerous and chaotic artifact. This 4th Edition update of the classic artifact retains much of the traditional version’s chaotic nature while bring- ing its mechanics more in line with what modern Dungeon Masters can use in their games.

I will be excited to see if they match up nicely with the newly released cards from Gardmore Abbey. Which we may be using tonight! Oh the excitement! I can barely contain myself.

Madness at Gardmore Abbey - From a mention in the DMG, to PAX, we finally come to the madness that torments Gardmore Abbey. [Wizards of the Coast D&D]

You can win "Maddness" by going to Newbie DM's site and entering the contest sponsored by Gator Games. I just entered the contest myself. Good luck to everyone, but I'm totally winning this sucker! :)

I've been waiting for an actual "deck of many things" since they started releasing cards over a year ago! It looks like Amazon.com is going to get an order from me shortly :). I know some people are still freaking out about all of these card sets being released. I still don't get why. WotC has very specificlly made it so you don't ever need to use a card deck for any D&D game. Its just frosting on the cake. Something your DM can use to spice things up, just like our very own A Hero, Rob, has with his 4e RavenLoft adventure. Its been fun adding in some randomn stuff. There should be a heaviness or a cursed feeling as we adventure there. Its fun when it affects us all in different ways. The deck adds something to the game.

These card decks are actually a part of the very core of the entire D&D gaming system. A random table is very Gygaxian. If you don't feel like purchasing an actual deck then go modify one of the good old tables in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd edition and use that. Print our your own cards or just roll the dice. Its no difference.

There is something nice about having a quality card with some nice graphics on it, instead of some ratty thing you printed on your 5 year old inkjet printer and cut out with a scissors like a pre-school project.

So for all of the old schoolers who love their 1st or 2nd edition games and are poo-pooing 4E for becoming a "card collector's game", just remember where the whole random table idea originated. The old editions are great. I love them dearly. In fact I would play any edition of D&D if there was time or opportunity. I've been seeing a whole lot of ridiculous and unnecessary edition wars crap on the 'Net the last day or two (Brought on by a 5E panic with Monte Cook being rehired by Wizards of the Coast).

I'd like to quote @dungonebastard yesterday on Twitter.

"Edition Wars are like trying to tell your best friend exactly why his prom date is ugly. You may be right, BUT YOU'RE STILL A DICK! #dnd"

Let's honor the past and even revel in it. But let's also respect the future. Relax! Its just a darn card deck :).