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Welcome to Time Stop, your Fourth Edition Dungeons & Dragons week in review. Or in this case your couple-of-weeks-in-review. I am Milambus, and I have returned with another fun-filled adventure through the latest and (or) greatest news in the world of Fourth Edition Dungeons & Dragons.
This week there will be a few deviation from our normal format. Those fine folks over at Wizards of the Coast have been such busy little bees, announcing so many new and interesting things, that I have decided to dedicate this article completely to covering their news. However, do not fear, I shall return soon with rantings and ravings from the RPG Bloggers Network and RPG Podcasts community. Ampersand
This month’s Ampersand article came out a week ago. In it, Bill Slavicsek basically opens up his mind and just pours information out to us. Since the article requires a DDI subscription I shall attempt to summarize its contents here.
First, WotC will be officially announcing the next campaign guide at GenCon Indy in August. This really is not a surprise since they have announced the last two campaigns in the same venue, but it will be good to find out what they have planned. Whichever campaign they announce, you should expect to see those books being released this time next year. My money is on Dragonlance, especially seeing how this is it’s 25th anniversary.
Beginning next week, June 15th, you will start to see DDI exclusive content being released. The first offering will be the new player race the Revenant. The Revenant will be an undead race with ties to the Raven Queen. The next announced exclusive DDI content is the Assassin class. Not much is known about the Assassin yet, except that it is being designed by Mike Mearls and will feature a new power source.
As was previously announced, Player’s Handbook 3 content will be debuting in DDI beginning in July. This content will be released directly into the Character Builder and the Compendium, skipping the normal playtest articles posted to Dragon magazine. The first content to be release will be the Psion class. 100 pages worth of content will be released to DDI before the book is published including: 1 build from up to 5 classes, new races, new feats and some “surprises”. If that isn’t enough, later this summer they will begin to release content from a “second key 2010 title”.
Character Builder & Compendium Updates
Last Tuesday was the first update for the DDI Compendium and Character Builder since WotC changed it’s schedule to the first Tuesday of the month. The following sources were added to the database:
- Monster Manual 2
- Dragon 374
- Dungeon 165
- Monk playtest
- Monster Manual: Dangerous Delves miniatures set
- The first iteration of the hybrid class system from Dragon 374
Using the Character Builder you may now organize your characters into folders. Adding and deleting them from the starting screen. Additional changes to the Character Builder include the addition of “Classic hero” character builds. Characters included:
- Drizzt Do’Urden, 21st level Drow Ranger
- Geran Hulmaster, 12th level Human Swordmage
- Japheth, 15th level Human Warlock
- Raistlin (Red Robe), 6th level Human Wizard
- Aeofel Elhromanë, 3rd level Eladrin Avenger (from D&D Podcasts, played by Wil Wheaton)
- Binwin Bronzebottom, 3rd level Dwarven Fighter (from D&D Podcasts, played by Scott Krutz)
- Jim Darkmagic, of the New Hampshire Darkmagic’s, 3rd level Human Wizard (from D&D Podcasts, played by Mike Krahulik aka Gabe)
- Omin Dran, 3rd level Half-Elf Cleric (from D&D Podcasts, played by Jerry Holkins aka Tycho)
RPGA
Several changes for the RPGA have been announced over the last couple of weeks.
First, a change in how Living Forgotten Realms events are to be reported was announced. Event organizers will no longer have to report character information when they report an event. This is a big change, it will make event report much faster and easier. It will remove the problem of character’s not being updated correctly in the database.
More LFR news came out the next day with the announcement of the new My Realms Adventures. My Realms are LFR adventures that the DM gets to write himself. The RPGA provides a packet of information to help the DM craft this adventure including story hooks for regions, guidelines for creating the adventure, and treasure parcel details.
WotC have been testing a new Dungeon Delve format for its Delve Night series. Some samples of the new materials that will be sent out can be seen on Gleemax. (WotC sell me a pack of those condition cards! A deck of 4-5 cards of each condition that a DM can hand out to players as conditions come into effect… sold!)
Chris Tulach has leaked images of the RPGA DM Rewards over Twitter this weekend. Front and Back. All you have to do to earn these awards is to DM 5 RPGA reported games, but hurry because the deadline is June 30th! (Note: You can report your home game to the RPGA to receive credit towards DM rewards.)
Conclusion
Whew, those guys at Wizards of the Coast sure have been busy, haven’t they? The fine folks at over at the RPG Bloggers Network and RPG Podcasts community have been busy too. I’ll be back soon to share their work with you.
Milambus, aka Jake Fitch, has been a lifelong player of video games,card games, and board games. With the recent release of the Fourth Edition of Dungeons & Dragons he finally decided to start playing tabletop RPGs. He keeps informed on all the latest news from WotC, and RPG bloggers/podcasters and then shares that information with you. 
Those boat tiles look sweet. I only wish I had known about that sooner. I love the D&D tile sets and would have jumped at the change to run RPGA adventures for them. Oh well. I’ll just keep an eye on Ebay and see if they pop up there.
It would be interesting if it was Dragonlance, but I’ve heard enough tangential bits to suggest against it. My money is on Dark Sun, but it’s not like there’s a shortage of options.
-Rob D.
I really want Dark Suun, but I can’t think about it too much –I get too excited