Array
(
[TERMS_OF_SERVICE] => Array
(
[data_type] => int
[prof_ext_id] => 9456
[field_id] => 1
[field_title] => Terms of Service
[field_name] => TERMS_OF_SERVICE
[display_type] => comma
[value] => I have read and agree to the <a href="http://ww2.wizards.com/Company/Default.aspx?doc=SiteLegalNotice" target='_new'>Terms and Conditions</a>
)
)
Array
(
[ABOUT_ME] => Array
(
[data_type] => text
[prof_ext_id] => 9076
[field_id] => 1
[field_title] => About me
[field_name] => ABOUT_ME
[display_type] => comma
[value] => I've been playing D&D pretty much continuously since 1978, when I was 10. I've played each edition of the game except 3.0, and loved them all. I've been a member of these forums since 2005. Please check out my personal forum, <a href="http://community.wizards.com/wrecan/go/thread/view/111401/25328093/Unearthed_Wrecana:_Table_of_Contents">Unearthed Wrecana</a>!
)
[MOVIES] => Array
(
[data_type] => text
[prof_ext_id] => 9076
[field_id] => 2
[field_title] => Movies
[field_name] => MOVIES
[display_type] => comma
[value] => Casablanca, Chinatown, High Noon, Young Frankenstein, Star Wars, Star Trek II, Fight Club, and Indiana Jones, among others. But my guilty pleasure is anything post-apocalyptic and/or zombie related.
)
[TV_SHOWS] => Array
(
[data_type] => text
[prof_ext_id] => 9076
[field_id] => 3
[field_title] => TV shows
[field_name] => TV_SHOWS
[display_type] => comma
[value] => Once Upon a Time, Walking Dead, Doctor Who, LOST
)
[BOOKS_COMICS_AND_GRAPHIC_NOVELS] => Array
(
[data_type] => text
[prof_ext_id] => 9076
[field_id] => 4
[field_title] => Books, Comics, and Graphic Novels
[field_name] => BOOKS_COMICS_AND_GRAPHIC_NOVELS
[display_type] => comma
[value] => Currently, Song of Fire & Ice. Previously, the Classics (Shakespeare, Milton, Hugo, Dostoyevsky, Poe, Verne, H.G. Wells, and Kafka, in particular), as well as Andre Norton, Tolkein, Moorcock, Bradbury, and Stephen King.
)
[MUSIC] => Array
(
[data_type] => text
[prof_ext_id] => 9076
[field_id] => 6
[field_title] => Music
[field_name] => MUSIC
[display_type] => comma
[value] => Blues, Classic Rock, some Alternative.
)
[HOBBIES] => Array
(
[data_type] => text
[prof_ext_id] => 9076
[field_id] => 7
[field_title] => Hobbies
[field_name] => HOBBIES
[display_type] => comma
[value] => D&D. Duh.
)
[MY_GAMES] => Array
(
[data_type] => int
[prof_ext_id] => 9076
[field_id] => 10
[field_title] => My Games
[field_name] => MY_GAMES
[display_type] => comma
[value] => Dungeons & Dragons
)
[OTHER_GAMES_I_PLAY] => Array
(
[data_type] => text
[prof_ext_id] => 9076
[field_id] => 11
[field_title] => Other games I play
[field_name] => OTHER_GAMES_I_PLAY
[display_type] => comma
[value] => I still love Boot Hill, Gamma World, Top Secret, and Paranoia. (And Mage: the Ascension, which is how I spent my time between 2d edition and 3.5, but don't tell anyone.)
)
)
About me
I've been playing D&D pretty much continuously since 1978, when I was 10. I've played each edition of the game except 3.0, and loved them all. I've been a member of these forums since 2005. Please check out my personal forum, Unearthed Wrecana!
Movies
Casablanca, Chinatown, High Noon, Young Frankenstein, Star Wars, Star Trek II, Fight Club, and Indiana Jones, among others. But my guilty pleasure is anything post-apocalyptic and/or zombie related.
TV shows
Once Upon a Time, Walking Dead, Doctor Who, LOST
Books, Comics, and Graphic Novels
Currently, Song of Fire & Ice. Previously, the Classics (Shakespeare, Milton, Hugo, Dostoyevsky, Poe, Verne, H.G. Wells, and Kafka, in particular), as well as Andre Norton, Tolkein, Moorcock, Bradbury, and Stephen King.
Music
Blues, Classic Rock, some Alternative.
Hobbies
D&D. Duh.
My Games
Dungeons & Dragons
Other games I play
I still love Boot Hill, Gamma World, Top Secret, and Paranoia. (And Mage: the Ascension, which is how I spent my time between 2d edition and 3.5, but don't tell anyone.)
Array
(
[WHAT_EDITIONS_DO_YOU_PLAY] => Array
(
[data_type] => int
[prof_ext_id] => 9086
[field_id] => 1
[field_title] => What Editions do you play?
[field_name] => WHAT_EDITIONS_DO_YOU_PLAY
[display_type] => comma
[value] => Dungeons & Dragons (4th edition), Dungeons & Dragons (3rd edition and/or 3.5), Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (2nd edition), Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1st edition), Dungeons & Dragons Basic set (blue box), “Original” Dungeons & Dragons (three-volume boxed set)
)
[WHAT_SETTINGS_DO_YOU_PLAY] => Array
(
[data_type] => int
[prof_ext_id] => 9086
[field_id] => 2
[field_title] => What settings do you play?
[field_name] => WHAT_SETTINGS_DO_YOU_PLAY
[display_type] => comma
[value] => Blackmoor, Dark Sun, Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Mystara (aka The Known World) -includes Savage Coast and Red Steel sub-settings, Planescape, Ravenloft -includes Masque of the Red Death sub-setting, Spelljammer
)
[WHEN_YOU_PLAY_DUNGEONS__DRAGONS_HOW_OFTEN_DO_YOU_ACT_AS_THE_DUNGEON_MASTER] => Array
(
[data_type] => int
[prof_ext_id] => 9086
[field_id] => 3
[field_title] => When you play Dungeons & Dragons, how often do you act as the Dungeon Master?
[field_name] => WHEN_YOU_PLAY_DUNGEONS__DRAGONS_HOW_OFTEN_DO_YOU_ACT_AS_THE_DUNGEON_MASTER
[display_type] => comma
[value] => Always
)
[ARE_YOU_LOOKING_FOR_PLAYERS] => Array
(
[data_type] => int
[prof_ext_id] => 9086
[field_id] => 4
[field_title] => Are you looking for players?
[field_name] => ARE_YOU_LOOKING_FOR_PLAYERS
[display_type] => comma
[value] => No
)
[ARE_YOU_LOOKING_FOR_A_DM] => Array
(
[data_type] => int
[prof_ext_id] => 9086
[field_id] => 5
[field_title] => Are you looking for a DM?
[field_name] => ARE_YOU_LOOKING_FOR_A_DM
[display_type] => comma
[value] => No
)
[MY_DD_ALTEREGO_IS] =>
[ALIGNMENT] => Array
(
[data_type] => lookup
[prof_ext_id] => 9086
[field_id] => 10
[field_title] => Alignment
[field_name] => ALIGNMENT
[display_type] => comma
[value] => Unaligned
)
)
What settings do you play?
Blackmoor, Dark Sun, Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Mystara (aka The Known World) -includes Savage Coast and Red Steel sub-settings, Planescape, Ravenloft -includes Masque of the Red Death sub-setting, Spelljammer
When you play Dungeons & Dragons, how often do you act as the Dungeon Master?
Always
Over a month ago, I ran a poll designed to see what the community felt was an appropriate rate of progression for players in three areas: attack bonuses, skill checks, and saving throws. More than a hundred of you responded and now I am going to examine the responses.
UNEARTHED WRECANA
This thread shall serve as a sort of Table of Contents for my blogs and assorted musings. If you would like to follow my blog, subscribe to this thread. I will update the Table of Contents each time I post a new blog and post a reply to this thread with a link to it. As always, I appreciate any constructive comments made to the blogs (and I do periodically check to see if new comments are made to old articles). Alternately, feel free to start a new thread in this forum about any of my ideas. Thanks for following!
In this article, originally written in December 2006, I present a more rational (in my opinion) method of pricing and designing poisons for D&D Edition 3.5
In this article, originally written in December 2006, I use the NPC Adept class to explain how magic items can be created in quantities necessary to supply adventurers, and also explore how this affects the magic item economy and society in general. This article pertains to D&D Edition 3.5
I created a series of eight comic strips in which I criticize, with humor, various schemes by which players would try to manipulate Third Edition rules to make unlimited cash.
In this series, I highlight interesting D&D-related blogs written each month by forum members who are not "Featured", but worth reading. In the beginning of August, I also award those bloggers who show consistently great blog articles througout the prior year. These awards are known as the HoBbies!
In this article I propose revisions to the power block to make it more attractive to different categories of people who process information in different ways
In this article series, I review the history of classes in D&D, and try to devise a reasonable way to organize the divisions of magic, weapons, and implenets, and of martial, gish, and spellcasting classes.
This four-part article presents a new way to design creatures, like elites and solos, that are as challenging for a party as multiple creatures of the same level. The second article expands the idea with Piecework Minions. The third article introduces Piecework Companions. The fourth article uses the prior three articles to introduce Piecework Armies for mass combat.
This three-part article presents SARN-FU, a system I devised for running combat without the benefit of a battlemat. It is easy to run and works well for any edition of D&D, including Fourth Edition.
This six-part article describes a new method for designing social encounters that are both engaging and that do not rely exclusively on the "party face". All players can now participate in social challenges.
In this article I deconstruct magic items in D&D and offer a new way they can be included in a game so they remain wondrous without being overwhelming.
"Combat investment" is a phrase I coined to explain a phenomenon people seem to experience in Fourth Edition. Some players seem to concentrate on combat to the exclusion of roleplaying, even if they are accomplished roleplayers in other editions. I examine the problem and offer some tools to counter it.
This is a reprint from pages 99-101 of the First Edition Dungeon Masters Guide, which presented a handy set of charts for randomly generating personalities for your background NPCs. These charts can go a long away to prevent your less consequential NPCs from all feeling like carbon copies.
Based on my Long Division discussion of the nine "nonants" of magic, I developed a campaign world that can be used by any DM looking for an alternative to established D&D campaign worlds.
This article offers a more traditional take on Hell, as a prison realm, located not in the Astral Sea, but "below". It preserves devils as viable antagonists while preserving the damned nature of the infernal realm.
This six-part article introduces a new power source for simplified play and advanced roleplay. These characters are luckier than they are skilled, but can hold their own alongside traditional characters, and are a heckuva lot of fun to play.
A new type of player character to be played by the whole party. This is ideal for adding characters to supplement a small group, or even for playing one on one with a DM and a single player.
This article describes a mechanic that complements hit points and healing surges. For those uncomfortable with the notion that both can be restored after an extended rest, this mechanic will simulate the wear and tear that an adventure suffers in between adventures.
An alternate system of encumbrance that is almost as easy to use as the current system, but adding a few more challenges for people who want to add an element of resource management to the game.
This six-part article analyzes the present Skill system, offers some easily introduced new mechanics better tailored to enhancing the non-combat experience, and then proposes a massive overhaul of the Skill system for ambitious house-rulers.
In this ten-part article series, I review the Design and Development articles that preceded the release of 4e, and look to see what we've learned in the intervening years.
In this four-part series, I discuss the three elements of D&D that, while not as important as the three "pillars" are still important considerations for the D&D Next Design Team: 'Ludes, 'Sage, and Travel.
In this three-part article series, I delineate a series of rules for weapons that include options for very simple play, s well as options for more complex differentiation of weapons, as well as guidelines to design your own weapons.
This article discusses eight different categories of player abilities that the game might reward and polls for you to state what you want the game to encourage. (The poll ran only for April 2012.)
This article and poll asks people how much time adventurers can commit to pursuits other than adventuring. (The poll ran only from April 11-May 11, 2012.)
This poll takes the suggested advanced rules from one of Mike Mearls' L&L articles and asks people to determine which they might use. (The poll ran only from January 28, 2013 through February 28, 2013.)
This discussion thread and poll asked people to rate how much assumed progressionin attack rolls, saving throws and ability/skill checks they preferred int heir game. (The poll ran from March 5, 2013 through April 5, 2013.)
This article discusses what information should appear in a creature's stat block, and how it should be presented. In the first article, two different stat blocks are proposed for Next. In the second, a poll was added to let people state their own stat block preference. In the third, I discuss adventure blocks and include a poll.
My first article published for Dragon (Issue 422, April 2013), it details Hyrsam, an archifey so ancient that he remembers — and misses — a time before Corellon and the other gods discovered the Feywild. (Subscription required.)
The Alliance is one of the oldest (if not the oldest) LARP in the world. Founder Mike Ventrella asked me to design a very bare-bones tabletop version of the LARP for players to use at home when they can't make it to a live event. You can see these rules by getting the current edition of the Alliance Rulebook.
Back in the day, I worked for a company called Blond's Law Guides and co-authored some of their books. (Student guides for law students.) So, technically, I am also a published author!