To those of you who haven’t managed to deciphered what I”ve been doing lately, I can finally come out and say it: I’ve been play testing D&DNext. I’m honored to have been a part of the ‘Friends & Family’ beta test that ran up until today’s launch of the open playtest. It puts a smile on my face to know that I, among many others have helped shape the document you’re all reading through right now. I know it will change again, many times over even but I’m just glad to have been part of the initial process.

Blog Posts Ahoy!

Now, you’ll be happy to know that during all of this clandestine gaming and lack of blogging I”ve managed to do a lot with D&DNext so far. By a lot I mean that I’ve run 4e content, old 1e and 2e modules and was even about to try my hand at 3.x stuff before I moved into my new place but that fell flat. Not D&DNext’s fault, I blame home ownership on that one. So, while the playtest document you hold today is likely very different from what I’ve been using I’m sure (hoping) the core of it is very much the same. Now I haven’t gotten a chance to view the open playtest document yet, I wont be able to until later this morning. Once I’ve had my chances to look it over I’ll be blogging about some of the differences between the F&F playtest and the one we’ll all participating in starting today. Hopefully most of the changes I see will please me, but if they don’t look out – I’m prepared to start logical, tactful debate on the internets!

Some Thoughts (and Shameless Promotion)

I’ve already written some of my playtest thoughts down for Kobold Quarterly so I’d rather not repeat myself here. Speaking of KQ, you should really go read his interview with Mike Mearls that went up today. Not only is the interview refreshing and genuine, but it all takes place on the newly redesigned and super clean layout put together for KQ by Sersa Victory. You should also keep your eyes peeled over at KQ for a new feature series by yours truly.

What I can say about D&DNext after running it exclusively for the last several months is that it is the edition of D&D I plan on playing for a very long time. It is everything I was expecting and a lot more. Myself and my players have not had so much fun playing D&D in years and I’m absolutely ecstatic about it. So please, join me and the rest of the world in helping to shape our game for the better. If you’re going to be loud about it, at least be graceful. If you’re looking for some exquisite advice on playtesting then look no further, Dave Chalker’s got you covered.

That being said folks, I’m keeping this short. Get out their and devour those playtest documents, let’s make the best of this. I’ll see you all on the other side of the screen. Cheers!

Recently, I had the pleasure of working with the fine folks over at Kobold Quarterly creating a Krampus for 4e D&D. The article went live today and I really hope you’ll check it out. It strays a bit from standard D&D 4e monster fare, in that I baked a lot of narrative into its stat block – I’m pretty proud of this guy and I hope someone other than me gets some use out of him. I know I’m writing a small Christmas adventure as we speak, should the opportunity arise when family is over this upcoming weekend, so maybe some of you guys are out there crafting up your own holiday adventures as well.

It is hard to take a creature with so much lore and put your own twist/spin on it without completely malforming it into something else entirely. The stories about Krampus are varying depending on which sources you consult – sometimes he is a red skinned devil, other times furry, sometimes he has human feet, other times they are hooved, and he’s even been described as having one of each.

Fa La La La La, Constructing Christmas Devils!

In a game like D&D 4e, I wanted Krampus to feel extra cool, a worthy opponent to some high heroic tier adventurers. Being that his primary weapons are a bundle of sticks, chains and bells that jingle, and a burlap bag…I decided he’ need a little magic on his side in order to challenge those showboatin’ godlike 4e PC’s. Being that he is a Devil, I figured this shouldn’t be too much of a problem and so 3 and a half revisions or so later and here he is.

I wanted him to be a lurker, darting in and out of the battlefield, snatching all the PC’s up and taking them back to his den for a nice christmas dinner afterward. The kind where he eats them, not the other kind where he’d end up arguing with his inlaws after too much eggnog. Anyway, I envisioned him hunched over hurriedly snatching people up and teleporting out of tough spots and using the frigid chains draped around his body to entangle and bludgeon his enemies all while exuding this preternatural aura of fear and twisted holiday cheer all at once. His bag, of course it isn’t just any old sack – it’s a big black Bag of Holding

That Brimstone Gingerbread Flavor!

Here’s some quick blurbs of flavor text to go along with his powers, sometimes I really wish these sorts of things were included with 4e monsters so – since I’m not behind any super tight design constraints here, I’ve made some up. Also, if you like this sort of thing, definitely check out Beyond The Stat Block and contribute some of your own. Enjoy!