Dungeons and Dragons Encounters: January 2014

2014-01-31

Future of D&D Encounters--Scourge of the Sword Coast?

I am so confused by what we are doing next season of D&D Encounters.

Historically, D&D Encounters is designed to get people into the shops--but it appears that the Module for next season will only be sold online as a PDF via Dungeons & Dragons Classics; which I think is good news for the people who cannot get out to shops and/or have been dying to play home game version of the Encounters adventures. But I am not sure what it means to the shops.

Here is the blurb for the adventure.

Scourge of the Sword Coast

Sundering Adventure III

Tito Leati, Matt Sernett, Chris Sims

Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle (available on www.dndclassics.com) chronicled the efforts of the Red Wizards to unlock the power of elemental nodes located in an abandoned temple dedicated to the Princes of Elemental Evil. A gate to the Nine Hells lay open for some time, spewing devils and smoke. The heroes who closed the gate could not know it then, but amid the chaos of battle, another threat emerged.

Find out more in Scourge of the Sword Coast.

I am not really sure how this is related to Ghosts of Dragonspeare Castle. Ghosts of Dragonspeare Castle is a $17 adventure by Chris Perkens which includes the D&D Next rules, I think. But I do not think it is part of the Sundering series.

Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle (D&D Next)

From

Wizards of the Coast

Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle is a D&D Next preview and mini-campaign comprised of four thrilling adventures, designed to advance characters from 1st level to 10th level. The book also contains everything a Dungeon Master needs to run the adventures, including D&D Next game rules developed during the massive public playtest, monster statistics, spell descriptions, magic item descriptions, and background information on the coastal town of Daggerford, where the campaign is based.

Against the backdrop of the Sundering, brave adventurers must protect the town of Daggerford against an insidious foreign threat while forging alliances, exploring dungeons, and battling monsters. The action moves from the Lizard Marsh to the orc-infested hills, finally culminating in a deadly altercation amid the crumbling ruins of the legendary Dragonspear Castle.

Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle includes pre-generated D&D Next characters, as well as rules for advancing these characters up to level 10. The book also includes the winning character sheet from our recent contest.

It would be nice if WotC would put out another Podcast explainging to use what the future of D&D Encounters looks like.

2014-01-30

Actual Play Legacy of the Crystal Shard--D&D Encounters S16 S7

Legacy of the Crystal Shard--D&D Encounters S16 S7

Another fun week of D&D Encounters at Mercenary Market!

Scott was in fine form playing Scar the Drow Ranger

Thor is still playing Abadon the Dragon Born Chosen of Tiamet Death Cleric.

Brian has a Human Bard named something like Bling--he is ridiculous & now has to always tell the truth or something.

New guy Alan joined us for the first time--he was turned on to D&D via PAX and knew the rules better than Brian!

A great addition to the table.

DM Curtis was again behind the screen.

We had drinks and lots of snacks this week--felt good to have skittles at the table again.

I forgot my dice so I used Thor's LofCS D20 and bought a new D20 from the shop--neither of them rolled well at all!

However, I did open with a crit on my initiative which is always fun!

This week was more fun then a lot of recent weeks--I think our table is just playing well together and having a lot of fun.

CHOC Infusion Center

Jack had his infusion at CHOC--we used to play video games while he was hooked up but lately we have been playing magic & watching youtube videos.

He has moved up a weight class for Benadryl and now he often falls asleep while getting his medicine--this is good because time goes by quickly.

we will be back at CHOC in 8 weeks.

UCLA Jules Stern Eye Institute

Jack had an eye exam at UCLA this week that involved a lot of testing, which was great news for us because it meant we could bring our decks!

the office had a fantastic end table that we could use--but it was pretty crowded.

and we had to use the couch arms to store stuff which kept falling off between the cushions.

The office staff thought we were awesome--and we spent a lot of time explaining magic to to some of the other patients.

Eventually we were able to move to a central coffee table that had a lot more space.

After the eye exam we went to lunch at Native Foods at the Camp.

Soul Bowl is still the greatest thing on earth.

The sunset was amazing when we got home.

overall not a bad day at the doctors.

Friday Nights Open Credit Cards

2014-01-26

Big Dumb Two Headed Creature goes 1-2

Another fine Friday Night Magic at Majestic Card Shop in Costa Mesa.

I was at the kids table where the drafting was all over the map & I got tricked into drafting for value. again. Largely because of this card handed to me deck 2 round 4...up until then I was in Red Green and this changed my strategy completely...and late round draft changes are generally not a good move for me.

Jack went with a Green White Heroic deck that did very well--I think he went 2-1 loosing first round to a red deck when he did not draw very well.

Derek was at his first FNM and of course won! He was playing Green Blue and did really well in all of his matches.

The adult table had some very strong players this week--Aggro decks are winning in draft--crusing mono black and mono blue strategies.

My promo card was a Swan Song--so the night was not a total waste!

2014-01-24

King of Tokyo--Kraken vs. Wind Up

Like most American Five Year Old boys, my son Cody is obsessed with Skylanders.

Last night we created a King of Tokyo score card for Wind Up, his current favorite Skylander, so that he could play him in our nightly game.

Cody is still very much about getting cards with energy cubes.

He really got into it last night--the game is designed for older kids, but Cody basically has all the rules memorized and is just working on strategy now.