New Photoshop Phriday

AT-AT Attack

4E Psion Review @ Critical-Hits
Eberron Player's Guide Review @ D20 Source
KQ Trapsmith: Siwali Trade Safes
A Player's Loss

WoW News 07/10/09

South Seas Lore: The Eye—Maelstrom
Call of the Crusade: Sound Files & Transcripts *Sargeras makes an appearance!

Fall of the Gummi Bear Empire

http://fallgummibearempire.ytmnd.com/

Vice Versa

vice versa from jacques khouri on Vimeo.

D&D News 07/09/09

The Worst GM I Ever Had
The Worst Player I Ever GMed
Dungeons and Dragons Thru The Ages: Character Creation
83 free D&D adventures
Gozzy's Random Dungeon Map Creator
Gozzy's Random Cave Map Creator

WoW News 07/09/09

Patch 3.2's Raid Extension Feature Clarified
The Future of WoW Raiding Editorial @ Worldofraids
South Seas Lore: Zandalar Isle
Using Recount as a Tank
Using Recount as a Healer (part 1)
Using Recount as a Healer (part 2)

Guild Reports 07/08/09

*CW = Current Week
*PW = Previous Week

Top 20 character gear rankings according to WoW-Heroes.com

CW	PW	Move Up!	Name	Current Spec	Score
1	N/A		Zeniff	Retribution	2259
2	N/A		Fairlady	Holy	2254
3	N/A		Jinxed	Restoration	2194
4	N/A		Silvercloak	Fire	2182
5	N/A		Cthullu	Restoration	2174
6	N/A		Alentina	Restoration	2165
7	N/A		Joshiki	Demonology	2146
8	N/A		Moco	Arms	2112
9	N/A		Darkdayze	Shadow	2078
10	N/A		Silvershammy	Restoration	2073
11	N/A		Druida	Restoration	2066
12	N/A		Dalikus	Survival	2060
13	N/A		Drystin	Fury	2059
14	N/A		Ozarkskip	Retribution	2047
15	N/A		Marleigh	Restoration	1980
16	N/A		Ghostclaw	Balance	1971
17	N/A		Raleigh	Arms	1964
18	N/A		Alentia	Protection	1960
19	N/A		Dolespal	Holy	1958
20	N/A		Stromboli	Unholy	1948

Top 20 character achievement rankings according to Warcrafter.com

CW	PW	Move Up!	Name	Score
1.	N/A		Huddson	5110
2.	N/A		Omgloot	3970
3.	N/A		Joshiki	3905
4.	N/A		Misstee	3745
5.	N/A		Tiberion	3570
6.	N/A		Healingforyu	3510
7.	N/A		Rhodderick	3480
8.	N/A		Kosia	3425
9.	N/A		Niebla	3180
10.	N/A		Shugenja	2805
11.	N/A		Druida	2605
12.	N/A		Stromboli	2560
13.	N/A		Zeniff	2365
14.	N/A		Silvercloak	2130
15.	N/A		Darkdayze	2055
16.	N/A		Moonliyte	2055
17.	N/A		Marleigh	2050
18.	N/A		Drystin	1990
19.	N/A		Piedmont	1970
20.	N/A		Jinxed	1945

WoW News 07/08/09

South Seas Lore: The Broken Isles

10 Man Realm Progress

Ulduar
06/28/09 Razorscale
04/20/09 Flame Leviathan

Naxxramas
03/23/09 Kel'Thuzad
03/03/09 Sapphiron
03/02/09 Thaddius
03/02/09 Gluth
03/02/09 Grobbulus
02/09/09 Loatheb
02/09/09 The Four Horsemen
02/09/09 Heigan the Unclean
01/29/09 Noth the Plaguebringer
01/29/09 Gothik the Harvester
01/29/09 Instructor Razuvious
01/29/09 Patchwerk
01/12/09 Maexxna
01/07/09 Grand Widow Faerlina
01/07/09 Anub'Rekhan

Hey!

D&D News 07/07/09

PHB Set for Release in March, 2010
Origins 2009: D&D 4e Villains Seminar
Origins 2009: Monte Cook “Designing A Better Dungeon”
Monday Monster: Kulshedra
Role-Playing Games Designed for Busy, Adult Gamers

WoW News 07/07/09

Thrall and King Varian Arrive to the Coliseum Video
South Seas Lore: Isle of Kezan
South Seas Lore: Possible Raid Bosses
Cataclysm - Deciphering the DaVinci Code ... a new playable race?
Finding Blizzard's Cataclysm
Tom Chilton talks about 3.2 and the future of World of Warcraft
WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.2 Updated
Argent Tournament 3.2 Details @ World of Raids

Friday Night Recap 07/03/09

Adventure: The Merchant of Waterdeep

Characters Present
Lazarus - Level 8 Devan Invoker
Matches Malone - Level 10 Human Rogue
Orion Ravenclaw - Level 9 Human Cleric
Thwump - Level 9 Genasi Swordmage
Tragg - Level 10 Dwarven Fighter

The party revived Tortheldrin from unconsciousness and continued to make their way down the secret passage to what they presumed would be a secret door to the Summoning Complex (they assumed correctly). Upon entering they discovered a large square room on the ground floor level in the northeastern corner of the complex.

At this point there was a potential split among the party (the NPC’s in particular). Tortheldrin was frantic to reach his brethren in the main summoning chamber while Barnabus Hammerfast was frantic to explore the clerical offices upstairs which could potentially lead to a treasure trove of archaeological information. The party decided to follow Barnabus up the staircase and Tortheldrin reluctantly followed.

Once upstairs they discovered the main office of Halaa – the former head cleric of the temple. They came across two very important items – the journal of Halaa and a mysterious cabinet which was locked with an arcane ward and written upon the surface in deep speech.

“Here lie the remains of the far seer. Glory to him and may he soon rise again!”

Before attempting to open the cabinet – and with some more disagreeable scuffling with a reluctant Tortheldrin – the party read the journal of Halaa. Upon reading it they discovered that the secret summoning chamber they’d passed through the day before was a “Testing Chamber” of sorts – and that once Halaa discovered the means to not only open portals to the far realm using the summoning orbs, but to close them as well, he went public with his discoveries and revealed his research to the eladrin of Maal’Dyre.

For several weeks public summoning events were held in the temple. Bizarre and wondrous creatures and plants were brought forth from the far realm to be put on display before everyone. Fortune and glory was promised to the temple residents as this summoning magic was pronounced to be a “New Way” for them to follow. As all of the exhibitions resulted in one amazing spectacle after another (and without incident) they became enthralled to the promises of Halaa – until the fateful day when everything went wrong.

The journal – understandably – did not cover the events which followed that horrible occasion.

So then closing the book, the party mustered the courage to break the arcane ward and find out firsthand what was inside…

IT WAS A BRAIN IN A JAR!!

And it made a break for it! Flying frantically from its former enclosure the brain of Halaa shot directly towards a far western door in the chamber, all the while using its powers of telekinesis and mind control to keep the party members at bay. They immobilized it briefly (and brought it very nearly to bloodied) however it escaped nonetheless – opening the door and flying out revealing a walkway which served as a bridge over the temples main summoning chamber to an identical set of second floor offices on the far side of the complex.

Heroically the party pursued the brain of Halaa out on to the bridge and beheld a terrible site – the remaining eladrin holding a giant beholder at bay with the two other summoning orbs next to the main summoning portal on the floor below. At first they did not know what to do – to engage the eladrin or to continue the pursuit of Halaa. The decision was soon made for them however as Halaa went invisible and made his escape (presumably) to the offices at the far end of the bridge. The doors opened suddenly and then slammed shut. They could only assume that the brain in the jar – in its invisible state – had successfully made its way inside and locked the door.

Many quick exchanges took place between the party, Tortheldrin, and the eladrin - with the eladrin imploring them to hand over the third summoning orb so they could close the portal forever. Pressed to make a choice the party trusted their gut instincts and lept to the floor below in order to assist the eladrin.

It was an instinct that would betray them.

As soon as the eladrin leaders had the final orb in their hand – and having established a visual psychic link with Halaa in the adjoining temple offices – they feystepped out of the main summoning chamber and out of sight altogether. The party was left facing a nightmare from the far realm (the beholder) along with several knife wielding eladrin fanatics.

Needless to say the party made short work of the threat, but it was too late. The eladrin – and the orbs – were gone. Tortheldrin lay crushed at the knowledge his brethren had betrayed them, and the party at a loss for what to do next.

Total Experience Points Per Character: 1200
Total Treasure Parcels: 1 Body Slot item (avg. party level), 1 Ritual (avg. party level), 1 Wondrous item (avg. party level), Consumables equal to sale value of item of avg. party level, or Gold equal to sale value of item of avg. party level.

WoW Journal 06/26/09

The game has now officially morphed into "World of Argent Tournament"! No, not because I'm far from finishing it - but that it's been announced that it's going to be expanding dramatically in the next patch... which means that if you AREN'T done with what it has to offer now then you better start hustling because - according to what I've heard - you have to have the entire thing completed to take advantage of a lot of the new stuff.

So! Once you get it done Blizz releases a patch that keeps the whole thing right on truckin'. You could probably also call the game "World of Daily Quests" at this point. Part of me thinks they took a good idea (daily quests) and have gone full retard on it - another part of me likes this approach - and another part of me still thinks they could apply the same concept of reusable content in better ways (solo player instances anyone??).

At any rate my main goal right now is to get exalted with all the major city factions because once I do that I'll complete the Argent Tournament as it now stands. I'm exalted with Argent Crusade and can Champion for every Alliance city already. This isn't necessarily easy for me to do right now either given that I'm on a new toon for this expansion. My old Pally for example was already exalted with all the Alliance cities and I'd have it done already if I'd stuck with him.

As it stands however if I stick to only doing the 4 Ebon Blade daily quests once a day it will take FOREVER to achieve this - so I've had to be more creative.

The first thing I did was couple runecloth turn-ins with an Argent Dawn rep grind. Runecloth drops like crazy in Scholo and Strat, and after a week or so of running those places I hit exalted with Argent Dawn (got the Argent Champion achievement - woot!), got a few thousand rep with each city, and turned a pretty penny to boot by disenchanting everything I came across - it's amazing what illusion dust, greater eternal essences, and large brilliant shards are going for these days.

Even though that's a great way to do it there is a faster way - and that's to hit the noob zones (Anvilmar, Elwynn Forest, etc.) and do all the beginning quests. All those stupifyingly fast and easy quests are awarding 75 - 250 rep per turn in. Not only that but it's a great way to kick off my Loremaster achievement run.

Oh yeah! In between all of that I finished the Midsummer Fire Festival achievement.

But back to daily quests and old world content for a moment...

You pretty much have to accept at this point that daily quests are a certain part of the game. You can't really get around not doing them and you have to accept they'll take up a certain amount of time. That being said what are my goals in terms of daily quests over the long haul?

Well right now the first set of daily quests I'll be focusing on (not withstanding those tied to world events such as the Argent tourney) isn't a set of daily quests at all - but a long term grind for Baron Rivendare's death charger!

Ever since WotLK came out they bumped the drop rate for them up to %1. That means on the plus end it will take about 50 runs to get it, on the negative end it might take 200. Either way - considering you can make 2 runs in 30 minutes, the amount of money I can make selling the disenchant materials, and relative worth of the reward (THE MOST KICKASS MOUNT IN THE GAME) - it's not really any different than grinding any other faction for whatever end reward they have at exalted. The only thing I wouldn't get are the 10 achievement points for completing it - and let's be honest, that death charger (especially on a Death Knight toon) is worth LOTS MOAR than 10 measly achievement points. Hell I can get that many for falling a long way without dying!

After that's completed I'll move on to the old standbys - Oracles & Walrus Men in Northrend, Skyguard & Ogrila in Outland, and then the Furbolgs etc. in YE OLDE WERLD.

One more parting thought on the new patch coming up. They're upping the BAJEESUS out of the token system. Essentially Emblems of Heroism are going bye bye and you're getting the newer better ones for running the same old heroics. As cool as all that sounds I'm really kind of "Meh" about it. Right now I'm geared for beginning Ulduar and - if our raiding history is anything to go by - the overwhelming majority of my new gear will simply come from raiding.

The heroics and newer badges will be there if I need them for an extra few here and there to top off what I have if I'm close to buying something - but I really don't see myself going back to that old grind. I'd much rather be spending my time working on the Loremaster Achievement.

Friday Night Recap 06/19/09

Adventure: The Merchant of Waterdeep

Characters Present
Blackbird Enfuego - Level 8 Eladrin Rogue
Lazarus - Level 8 Devan Invoker
Matches Malone - Level 10 Human Rogue
Orion Ravenclaw - Level 9 Human Cleric
Thwump - Level 9 Genasi Swordmage
Tragg - Level 10 Dwarven Fighter

Encounter 1 – A Narrow Escape
Experience Points: 750
Treasure Parcels: None

After retreating to the Library the party prepared to rest while keeping a watch on the Forum from the windows of the 2nd floor. They didn’t get much sleep however.

Very shortly after bedding down 3 small squads of Dragonborn mercenaries began to investigate the center area of the temple compound. One burly crew of took over the Forum and two smaller squads of Dragonborns & Dragonspawn began scouting around. Before long they entered the Library and began to make their way upstairs to where the party lay hidden.

Fortunately for the party the Eladrin Tortheldrin told them of a rumor of secret hidden passages travelling between the Library and the Summoning Complex. These passages were rumored to lead to underground chambers where the very first summoning experiments took place. Blackbird discovered a passage just in the nick of time as the Dragonborn scouting party arrived at the top of the stairs, triggering the party’s arcane alarm. Fortunately for everyone involved the party managed to escape down the hidden staircase before the Dragonborn became aware of their presence.

Encounter 2 – From the Depths
Experience Points: 750
Treasure Parcels: Flankers Boots, +3 Throwing Hammer

After descending the hidden staircase the party discovered a spacious and ornate underground hallway curving southwest towards where the Summoning Complex would be located. Not long after travelling they discovered a large circular room with bookcases lining the wall and a large circular summoning pattern on the floor. Continuing on through the opposite side of the chamber was a hallway identical to the one they had come in from – and on either side of the chamber were two gaping jagged tunnels in the wall that appeared to have been crudely dug out by some sort of beast.

The party took this opportunity to attempt another rest. While the party was resting Blackbird and Tortheldrin decided to search the many books lining the walls. Blackbird discovered the ritual spell Phantom Steed! They also discovered what looked to be preliminary research on summoning orbs – a book which curiously mentioned the use of orbs only for opening summoning portals (and not closing them as Tortheldrin had suggested was the case).

While they resumed their search Blackbird looked over and noticed something strange – Tortheldrin was frozen in terror staring towards the entrance of one of the crudely hewn tunnels. He began stammering about seeing one of his former masters there – and sure enough there was! Only this was a hideous perversion of the former Eladrin – it was now a translucent skinned Aboleth servitor! In a matter of moments the chamber was flooded with others of his kind along with their master, an Aboleth Slime Mage.

The party was victorious – but not before Tortheldrin wound up getting knocked into unconsciousness by the Aboleth. After the defeat of the monster they followed the crude tunnels down to a single water filled chamber where the monster had made his home (and discovered FAT LOOTS!).


Total Experience Points Per Character: 1500
Total Treasure Parcels: Flankers Boots, +3 Throwing Hammer