Make sure to stop by your FLGS and pick up some free swag! If your not sure if your FLGS will have free stuff, check out the official site to get a list of participating stores. From the site:
The goal of Free RPG Day is to inspire gamers to play a new RPG, which will in turn, create sales through local game stores.
These are the sponsors who have already committed to being a part of Free RPG Day 2010. This list is not final.
Alderac Entertainment Group
Silver (5 per box), L5R 4th Edition RPG Quickstart & Adventure
Amarillo Design Bureau
Store Sample (1 per box), Prime Directive Quickstart
Blue Panther
Store Sample (1 per box), Unique Color Knockdown Dice Tower
Chessex Manufacturing
Bronze (4 per box), Commemorative Dice
Columbia Games
Store Sample (1 per box), Harn Quickstart & Adventure
Exile Game Studios
Bronze (3 per box), Hollow Earth Expedition Quickstart & Adv.
Fantasy Flight Games
Gold (10 per box), Warhammer 40K Roleplay: Deathwatch Adventure
Goodman Games
Silver (5 per box), Age of Cthulhu Adventure: Abominations of the Amazon Adventure
Guild of Blades Publishing
Store Sample (1 per box), Heroes Forever Quickstart & Adventure
Paizo Publishing
Gold (10 per box), Pathfinder Module: Master of the Fallen Fortress
Q-Workshop
Gold (10 per box), unique dice
Skirmisher Publishing
Bronze (3 per box), d-∞, Volume 0
Troll Lord Games
Silver (5 per box), Castles & Crusades Quickstart and Adventure
White Wolf Publishing
Gold (10 per box), New Exalted 2nd Edition Quickstart & Adventure entitled “Under the Rose”
Wizards of the Coast
Platinum (15 per box), Dark Sun 4th Edition D&D Adventure
he goal of Free RPG Day is to inspire gamers to play a new RPG, which will in turn, create sales through local game stores.
So I figured it was time I watch one of the episodes of I Hit It With My Axe to see what all the fuss was about. I watched episode four because I thought by then they would work out the kinks and I could get a better idea of what the director was trying to accomplish. I was wrong. I came away from it with three distinct impressions.
1) People are fucking idiots. Reading the comments to the video, I noticed a lot of people posting that these girls weren’t “hot enough.” Holy shit guys, get some fucking perspective! These women are actors/strippers. When you see them in a video or on stage, they have on a lot of makeup, good lighting, they’re naked, etc. This is a video of them on their day off playing D&D. That’s like saying that Salma Hayek isn’t one of the most beautiful women in the world because that one time you saw her at 7:30 in the morning at Starbucks, she didn’t look like she’d spent hours working on her hair and the only reason you were there was because your mom made you get up for work, again, and Salma didn’t even acknowledge the cool new wolf moon tee shirt your mom bought you.
2) The editor is an idiot. Whoever edited this thing looks like they did three hits of meth before working on the reel-to-reel. I had at least three seizures because of the one-second cutaways. I may have had more, but I lost count after the aneurysm.
3) It’s fucking boring. It’s a bunch of people sitting around playing D&D. Whee! “I rolled a 14!” “I turn into a werewolf!” “My daddy didn’t love me!” “I’ve lost the will to live and am seriously regretting the choices I’ve made in my life!*” I love gaming at the table when I’m actually participating but watching other people I don’t know play is just… well, it’s just awful.
*Ok, the last two didn’t happen but I was hoping for it. At least that would’ve been interesting.
All in all, I must say that I was disappointed. With the amount of twittering I saw about it, I expected more… well… anything. But all I got was a poorly edited, poorly soundtracked video of a bunch of girls playing D&D. Not even a wardrobe malfunction dammit! Seriously, if this wasn’t touted as “D&D with Porn Stars!” no one would give a shit.
Many of us already do this around the table—make up variant names for our powers (the ranger’s claws of the griffon becomes claws of Kathy Griffin; the warlord’s steel monsoon becomes Gorilla Monsoon). In many cases, these new power names and their application are tied to movie quotes (as everything around the table gets tied, inevitably, to movie quotes… and so we’d be remiss not to mention Chatty DM’s warlord powers).
In today’s special feature, we decided to reverse-engineer the process, creating 4th Edition D&D powers based on movie quotes.
It goes without saying (but we’ll say it anyway), these are hardly game-legal. But it’s April 1st… and if anyone can convince their DMs to let you playtest the following—we say, more powers to you!
Predator
I Ain’t Got Time to Bleed
Utility
“You’re hit, man… you’re bleeding!”
Daily Immediate Reaction Personal Trigger: You take damage
Effect: Gain temporary hit points equal to the triggering damage.
Monty Python, Holy Grail
It’s Only a Flesh Wound
Fighter Utility 2
You are able to fight on, even through agonizing wounds. You can also continue peppering your opponents with witty remarks while you bleed at them.
Encounter Martial Immediate Interrupt Personal Trigger: An enemy damages you and you drop to 0 hit points or fewer
Effect: You are dying, but do not fall unconscious. You are able to stand (probably on one leg) but can take no actions other than insulting the triggering enemy while you are dying (and hopping). In addition, whenever an enemy moves adjacent to you for the rest of the encounter, you can threaten to either bleed at them or bite their knees.
Princess Bride
I’m Not Left Handed Either!
Dread Pirate Attack 5
Just when your enemy thinks they have you in a bad place (like a cliff edge), you switch your weapon to your other hand, show some fancy footwork, press the attack while showing your superior skill, and then knock your foe out.
Daily Martial, Sleep, Weapon Immediate Reaction Melee weapon Requirement: You must be wielding a one-handed weapon (preferably a rapier) and have your other hand free. Trigger: An enemy bloodies you
Effect: You switch your weapon to your other hand with a flourish and make the following attack.
Target: The triggering enemy
Attack: Dexterity vs. AC
Effect: Before the attack, you push the target 5 squares, then shift adjacent to the target (using Acrobatics or Athletics, if possible… especially if you can do a spinning somersault off of a bar, which gains a +10 bonus to the check).
Hit: The target falls unconscious (save ends).
Special: If the target is a Spaniard, it takes a –5 penalty to saving throws against this effect.
The Matrix
Dodge This!
Ranger Attack 9
You slide up behind your enemy while it’s distracted and gloating about its superiority, and attack from “up-close-and-personal” range. The attack is even more harmful to agents… uh, constructs.
Daily Martial, Weapon Immediate Interrupt Ranged weapon Requirement: You must be wielding a ranged weapon. Trigger: An enemy within 4 squares of you targets an ally (who you like to call “the one”) with a ranged attack
Effect: Before the attack, you shift adjacent to the triggering enemy as a free action and make a Stealth check with a +10 bonus to the check against its Perception. If you succeed, you make the following attack (without provoking an attack of opportunity).
Target: The triggering enemy
Attack: Dexterity vs. AC
Hit: 2[W] + Dexterity modifier damage.
Effect: If the target is a construct, the attack instead deals 6[W] damage and you score an automatic critical hit against the target.
Pirates of the Caribbean
And Really Bad Eggs
Rogue Utility 16
Drink up me ‘earties. Yo ho.
Daily Charm, Martial Minor Action Close burst 5 Requirement: You must have a broken compass. Target: You and each creature in burst
Effect: You gain a +10 bonus on the next d20 roll you make until the start of your next turn. Each creature in the burst other than you must drink from a flask or bottle of rum as a free action. Those who do gain 15 temporary hit points and grant combat advantage until the start of your next turn. Any target that does not partake must succeed on a saving throw; on a failed save, the target cannot take standard actions until the end of your next turn.
I posted this one year ago in remembrance of the death of Gary Gygax. I thought it appropriate to re-post it this year.
For my tribute to Gary Gygax on the two year anniversary of his death, I have created a new song sung to the tune of American Pie by Don McLean. For those who don’t know the tune, I’ve included a video at the end of the post. Feel free to sing along. I hope you like it and thank you Mr. Gygax.
A long, long time ago
I can still remember
How the gaming used to make me smile
And I knew if I took a chance
That I could make the players dance
And maybe we’d be happy for a while
But March the fourth made me whimper
When the news it was delivered
Sad news from the Troll Lord
And then on every message board
I can’t remember which of my dice
I chose to roll that very night
For the man who got it right
The day the DM died
So, bye, bye Mr. d20 Guy
Failed the final saving throw and then didn’t survive
And all around the world, the gamers did cry
Sayin’ thank you Mr. d20 Guy
Thank you Mr. d20 Guy
Have you read the PHB
And have you looked through the DMG
And what the heck is a drow (drough)
This is going to be so f’n cool
My dwarf barbarian will make you drool
And I really think you pronounce it drow (cow)
Well I know that things are looking grim
The dragon’s looking right at him
Made a percentile roll
I’m now hiding in shadows
I was a lucky halfling, that’s a fact
Stole lots of things and put ‘em in my pack
But I knew I could never go back
The day the DM died
I started rollin’
Bye, bye Mr. d20 Guy
Failed the final saving throw and then didn’t survive
And all around the world, the gamers did cry
Sayin’ thank you Mr. d20 Guy
Thank you Mr. d20 Guy
Now, for over ten years we’ve been rollin’ well
I even took my paladin to hell
But, boy, the rules have really changed
I was really sad to see half-orcs go
And what the hell is THACO
But, man, I really dig the weapon speed
Oh, and while the king was in L.A.
The jesters took his game away
The boardroom was adjourned
When the DM did return
And with pirates that would block the way
The king was told he couldn’t stay
But all that madness went away
The day the DM died
We were rollin’
Bye, bye Mr. d20 Guy
Failed the final saving throw and then didn’t survive
And all around the world, the gamers did cry
Sayin’ thank you Mr. d20 Guy
Thank you Mr. d20 Guy
Holy moley I’m checkin’ out the ranger
Two-weapon fighting makes him a danger
DM’s think he’s a pain in the ass
Player’s monk ran out of gas
Every flurry just seemed to pass
Leaving the bad guy without a scratch
Now I really like these brand new feats
My half-orc fighter’s really neat
I tried to run a game
Oh, but it just wasn’t the same
‘Cause the players have kids of their own
And no one remembers what to roll
And we were shocked down to our soul
The day the DM died
We started rollin’
Bye, bye Mr. d20 Guy
Failed the final saving throw and then didn’t survive
And all around the world, the gamers did cry
Sayin’ thank you Mr. d20 Guy
Thank you Mr. d20 Guy
Oh, and there we were just running the race
A generation losing pace
With no time left to game again
But come on let’s look through this brand new book
Man these powers really cook
You mean I get to play a dragon
And as I watched the gamers laugh
The memories came flooding back
Time it can go so fast
No living in the past
And as the dice rolled on into the night
I realized it just felt right
And I held back tears with all my might
The day the DM died
He was rollin’
Bye, bye Mr. d20 Guy
Failed the final saving throw and then didn’t survive
And all around the world, the gamers did cry
Sayin’ thank you Mr. d20 Guy
Thank you Mr. d20 Guy
I knew that when I read the news
I had just bid my childhood adieu
And I just sighed and turned away
I went down to the local store
Where I had gamed some years before
But the man there said that gamers couldn’t stay
And on the web the players mourned
About the game that he had born
Not a bad word was posted
The game master was toasted
And many folks admired the guy
Who’s rollin’ dice up in the sky
We told ourselves that we could cry
The day the DM died
And they were rollin’
Bye, bye Mr. d20 Guy
Failed the final saving throw and then didn’t survive
And all around the world, the gamers did cry
Sayin’ thank you Mr. d20 Guy
Thank you Mr. d20 Guy
They were rollin’
Bye, bye Mr. d20 Guy
Failed the final saving throw and then didn’t survive
And all around the world, the gamers did cry
Sayin’ thank you Mr. d20 Guy
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