A quick programming note and Gen Con quick hits

This weekend I had some issues with the Windows 10 upgrade to my study PC that ultimately took the better part of Saturday to resolve.  Since that is when I was planning on finishing up my Monday blog post, it will be postponed to my normal Thursday post.

In lieu of a full post, here are a few quick Gen Con news items:

Tribality  posted the demon lord write ups from the upcoming D&D Adventure League storyline Rage of Demons.

Wizards of the Coast and D&D 5e did really well at the ENnies, winning the gold in thirteen catagories.  The full list of ENnie Award winners can be found here.

Onyx Path Publishing has announced Vampire: The Masquerade 4th Edition.  I find this a bit odd as they are already publishing both twentieth anniversary versions of their classic World of Darkness material and a second edition of their new World of Darkness material.

Baba Yaga’s Hut found!

After my last post, I was a little chagrined when I suddenly remembered that Baba Yaga does exist in Dungeons & Dragons 4e.  Specifically, she is mentioned as one of the Archfey in the Manual of the Planes.

Baba Yaga lives in the heart of Murkendraw, a swamp as large as a sea.   Evil cultist, warped creatures, and all manner of horrible twisted life exist in this realm.

Baba Yaga’s appearance, attitude, and hut are not very different from how they were described back in Dragon Magazine #83 (or as they are described in Slavic mythology).

I still think my last post was valid, and that their has been a definite move away from traditional mythology towards a D&D specific mythology.  I am glad to see that Baba Yaga managed to buck this trend.

Perhaps I shoudn’t be too surprised to see her in the Feywild, as I have often thought that it was one of the best additions to Dungeons & Dragons 4e.

The fey were never handled well in previous editions of the game.  They were presented as mostly friendly creatures who at worst were harmless tricksters.  They seemed informed by the (sadly) modern view of faeries as half-naked tiny women flitting around on butterfly wings.

This always bugged me because the fey in mythology were always regarded as dangerous.  They were called “The Fair Folk” not because of their beauty, but because you did not wish to incur their wrath.  The slightest could result in you being horribly cursed or worse taken under the hill never to be seen again.

I am glad that this is the type of fey we find in Dungeons & Dragons 4e.  The section on the Feywild in the Manual of the Planes reinforces this by presenting a us with a dark mirror of the natural world.  It is a realm of both terrible beauty and abject horror.  More importantly, it is a dangerous place for mortals to roam as even the slightest mistake can bring down the wrath of its capricious inhabitants.

In fact, if I have a complaint about the Feywild in D&D, it is that I want to see more of it!  I would love to see a book similar to the Draconomicon or Open Grave which detailed the Archfey.  Of course, the realist in me realizes it probably wouldn’t sell well enough to justify the cost of producing it. 

Oh well, I suppose that is what Dragon and Dungeon are for.

Sorry for not posting.

Things got pretty busy this weekend, so there will be no posts for Sunday or Monday. My daily posting schedule should resume on Tuesday morning.

My apologies for the lack of posting

I would like to apologize for the lack of posting.  Things have been hectic at work and at home.  Next thing I know the eleven days have passed!

At first I was truly concerned because the local cleric is only level nine, meaning that I was two days too late to have a Raise Dead cast on the blog.  Luckily, after consulting with him I found out he had taken a mail order course and converted to 4th Edition, meaning he now had a thirty day buffer in which to cast the Ritual!

He did make me provide the components, which really sucked.  You ever go to your local Bath and Body Works and ask for 500 GP worth of Mystic Salves?  Trust me, it will get you plenty of odd looks.

Apparently I don't know what I am talking about

In my post The Forgotten Realms in 4th Edition, Part I, I wondered if Drizzt's inevitable new novel would respect the one hundred year time jump that the Forgotten Realms would be undergoing in 4th Edition.  What I didn't realize is that apparently it already has!

R.A. Salvatore's most recent Drizzt's novel, The Orc King, has a prologue and epilogue set one hundred years after the primary events of the novel.  The Spellplague is mentioned by name, so it is officially tied in to 4th Edition.  Heck, it is even labeled as "Forgotten Realms: Transitions, Book 1".

Oops.