Dragon Warriors

Skywalker · Post by **Skywalker** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 8:57 pm

Sleeping Gods is reaching retail this week! Woot!

Also, Magnum Opus has put up some demo samplers for those interested in the books:

Rulebook: http://www.magnumopuspress.com/wp-conte ... ampler.pdf

Bestiary: http://www.magnumopuspress.com/wp-conte ... ampler.pdf

Sleeping Gods: http://www.magnumopuspress.com/wp-conte ... enture.pdf

Read the description of the Grey Hood in the Bestiary sampler. Along with the Blue Men and the Kappa, that is some cool stuff
Plus the King under the Forest scenario in the Sleeping Gods sampler is an iconic DW dungeon crawl and very good.

angelius · Post by **angelius** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 9:04 pm

Nooo spending more money is a must!

I just got both the first ones, I have to unfortunately say that the bestiary was a little bit of a let down.
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angelius · Post by **angelius** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 9:05 pm

I also found that they lost a bit of the conversational tone in their writing after this revision.
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dachda · Post by **dachda** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 9:12 pm

angelius wrote:
Nooo spending more money is a must!

I just got both the first ones, I have to unfortunately say that the bestiary was a little bit of a let down.

The bestiary pdf sample looked good, can you elaborate on why you found it a let-down? thanks.
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Skywalker · Post by **Skywalker** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 10:01 pm

dachda wrote:
The bestiary pdf sample looked good, can you elaborate on why you found it a let-down? thanks.

Its pretty straight forward and old D&D Creature Catalog in feel. Its not overally long though at 88 pages and really should have been in the main book. Magnum Opus Press have already discussed the economics of the fact that they had to cut something from the main book to keep it at 256 pages but it still hurts.

Many of the creatures are your staple fantasy one. However, on a close read the book contains some very excellent critters. The Grey Hood* is perhaps the creepiest monster I have read and the Kappa and Blue Men* (undead vikings who ride the waves and challenge you to poertry contests) are good too
* both are in the sampler.

Skywalker · Post by **Skywalker** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 10:03 pm

angelius wrote:
I also found that they lost a bit of the conversational tone in their writing after this revision.

Weird. The text in the new book is almost 100% cut and pasted from the old books, so I am not sure how this tonal change would happen.

Skywalker · Post by **Skywalker** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 7:26 pm

My copy of Sleeping Gods has arrived. Very nice, loosely structured campaign from which to launch your own campaign.

So with the Rulebook, Bestiary and Campaign, I am all set for some Dragon Warriors gaming over the Xmas holidays

Skywalker · Post by **Skywalker** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 3:12 am

Cover art for Prince of Darkness is revealed:

The quality and appropriateness continue to excel.

jaybird216 · Post by **jaybird216** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 1:08 pm

Somewhat tangentially, Jon Hodgson and a few of his peers at Ninja Mountain offer a weekly podcast about the field of RPG art. It's a really great listen for fans of Jon, or for anyone interested in the creative process behind this happy hobby of ours. I believe they've mentioned DW once or twice in the past.

They just released episode 11 last Friday. It's available as an mp3 either directly from their site or from iTunes.
http://ninjamountain.blogspot.com/
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angelius · Post by **angelius** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 8:12 pm

Very cool. Thanks.
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Omote · Post by **Omote** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 1:23 pm

I just picked up Elven Crystals yesterday. Haven't had the chance to read it yet, but the campaign is already starting to brew in my head. The artwork for Prince of Darkness looks TOO SWEET!

Thanks Skywalker.

-O
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Skywalker · Post by **Skywalker** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 7:28 pm

Omote wrote:
I just picked up Elven Crystals yesterday. Haven't had the chance to read it yet, but the campaign is already starting to brew in my head.

The thing with Elven Crystals is that on the surface not much seems to have changed. However, around 75% of the encounters have extra paragraphs filling out the adventure very well. The end product is awesome.

FWIW if you want to run a longer campaign, I would look at:

1. The Darkness Before Dawn

2. Sleeping Gods - King Under the Forest thru to Sins of the Father

3. Elven Crystals

4. Sleeping Gods - The Greatest Prize

5. Prince of Darkness

Essentially, it would be a grand plot by demonic entities to corrupt the rules of Albion, Erewon and Glissom. It would probably run PCs from levels 1 to 10).

Omote · Post by **Omote** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 7:43 pm

I'm pretty sure I never read the original Elven Cryatals adventures, if I did I certainly don't remember them. That is why I have been excited about this release. Yay!!!

-O
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DangerDwarf · Post by **DangerDwarf** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 8:10 pm

This is another system I keep meaning to check out and keep forgetting to.

Gotta remember this one after pay day.

moriarty777 · Post by **moriarty777** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 10:32 pm

I'm still considering this one.

If they had lumped the Bestiary in the main book... they would have had an instant sale even if it meant a drastic increase in the price.

Or... if they made the Bestiary a hardcover and included Sleeping Gods, I would have gladly bought this and the rulebook.

Unfortunately, a hardcover rulebook and a softcover companion book seems a bit odd to me. It might have made more sense to have the rulebook a softcover as well to match the rest of the series.

It looks cool... it's both simple and has that old school feel and... since I've played a lot of these sort of things in my formative years before AD&D, I certainly am interested but I'm a bit put off by the format choices.

M
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Skywalker · Post by **Skywalker** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 11:22 pm

moriarty777 wrote:
If they had lumped the Bestiary in the main book... they would have had an instant sale even if it meant a drastic increase in the price.

FWIW the rulebook contains an appendix with all the stats and a short description of all the creatures in the Bestiary.

As a result, I tend to find that as a GM I only refer to the Bestiary between sessions when planning adventures to get the right flavour and full detail. However, when running the game, I need only take the corebook which is convenient. This is also why having the rulebook as a hardcover makes sense to me, as a it gets a lot more wear. In comparison, the Bestiary never sees use at the table so softcover isn't an issue.

Skywalker · Post by **Skywalker** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 11:24 pm

Omote wrote:
I'm pretty sure I never read the original Elven Cryatals adventures, if I did I certainly don't remember them. That is why I have been excited about this release. Yay!!!

It very old school in feel and a little Fighting Fantasy too.

Elven Crystals is the one adventure that made me take the step to GMing back in the day with Sinsiter Secret of Saltmarsh and The Enemy Within being close seconds.

DangerDwarf · Post by **DangerDwarf** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 11:33 pm

Skywalker wrote:
FWIW the rulebook contains an appendix with all the stats and a short description of all the creatures in the Bestiary.

That was going to be a question I asked.

Good to know.

moriarty777 · Post by **moriarty777** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 12:21 am

Skywalker wrote:
FWIW the rulebook contains an appendix with all the stats and a short description of all the creatures in the Bestiary.

As a result, I tend to find that as a GM I only refer to the Bestiary between sessions when planning adventures to get the right flavour and full detail. However, when running the game, I need only take the corebook which is convenient. This is also why having the rulebook as a hardcover makes sense to me, as a it gets a lot more wear. In comparison, the Bestiary never sees use at the table so softcover isn't an issue.

That is very good to know but how big is the appendix exactly... or how does it handle a creature like the Barghest which has various abilities mentioned beyond the statblock? Or is it more a case where the appendix contains a selection of common creatures like orcs and goblins for instance?

The more I think of it, the more I'm tempted about picking it up but I'm wondering if the Bestiary can be something that I can put off picking up till later.

M
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Omote · Post by **Omote** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 12:34 am

The bestiary appendix in the back of the DW hardcover is 15-16 pages long. It has every thing you need to use monstrous encounters in the DW game. What it doesn't have is detailed descriptions, ecology and the like. The actual Bestiary softcover book goes into lots of detail on all of the beasties.

By far, I think that DW is one of the best new-ish RPGs release on the market in 2008. Perhaps the very best.

-O
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Skywalker · Post by **Skywalker** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 12:58 am

moriarty777 wrote:
That is very good to know but how big is the appendix exactly... or how does it handle a creature like the Barghest which has various abilities mentioned beyond the statblock? Or is it more a case where the appendix contains a selection of common creatures like orcs and goblins for instance?

The Bestiary appendix contains the stats of all of the monsters in the Bestiary plus a small description. A lot of flavour is lost but mechanically they are almost complete*

*Some of the special abilities (the long ones often built into the narrative text) are considerably reduced in size and this might effect their full usage (I haven't checked each special ability).

moriarty777 · Post by **moriarty777** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 1:08 am

Well, this sounds awesome then. I'll certainly start off with buying the core book then in the very near future. Thanks for all your help guys!

M
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Skywalker · Post by **Skywalker** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 1:39 am

moriarty777 wrote:
Well, this sounds awesome then. I'll certainly start off with buying the core book then in the very near future. Thanks for all your help guys!

Cool. If you want, I can check my rulebook tonight to check the special abilities.

moriarty777 · Post by **moriarty777** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 2:09 am

Skywalker wrote:
Cool. If you want, I can check my rulebook tonight to check the special abilities.

That won't really be necessary but I thank you for the offer. I'm pretty much sold as it is already... at least as far as the core book is concerned.
M
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Skywalker · Post by **Skywalker** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 3:15 am

moriarty777 wrote:
That won't really be necessary but I thank you for the offer. I'm pretty much sold as it is already... at least as far as the core book is concerned.

Cool. I seem to recall the mechanics of the Gnome's spells being omitted from the rulebook as they have quite a list of them.

Skywalker · Post by **Skywalker** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 7:46 pm

Skywalker wrote:
Cool. I seem to recall the mechanics of the Gnome's spells being omitted from the rulebook as they have quite a list of them.

FWIW I did check last night. Most special abilities have their mechanics listed. However, a few don't, such as the Gnome's Embog spell.

serleran · Post by **serleran** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 7:57 pm

Poor gnomes. Getting dissed in every game.
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Skywalker · Post by **Skywalker** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 9:06 pm

serleran wrote:
Poor gnomes. Getting dissed in every game.

True, though Gnomes in DW are straight from British Folklore, being unpleasant creatures that inhabit bogs and lead people astray to their water deaths.

serleran · Post by **serleran** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 9:08 pm

That's why I love them so.

Or, the Nordic variety that is more like a dwarf than a dwarf.
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moriarty777 · Post by **moriarty777** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 4:03 pm

Well, I've ordered the core rulebook and I should have it by the end of the week.

It's funny. I'm currently (and perhaps finally) looking at purging a couple of titles from the collection and before a list of what's going on the chopping block is even finalized, I'm quickly filling those holes with something else!

M
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