Once more into the breach, adventure fans! Episode 99 of the Icosahedrophilia podcast presents “The Valley of the Shadow of Death, Part 4,” played on August 14, 2010! Please listen now or subscribe via iTunes, Zune, or plain old RSS. This episode features the following segments:

• Weighing Anchor: Chris Tulach of the RPGA calls for your initiative roll.
• The Staging Area: I briefly summarize the campaign backstory (referring listeners to the “Story Thus Far” recap episode for a more detailed history of the campaign), giving a more extensive summary of “Well Met in Markathesh” and parts 1–3 of “The Valley of the Shadow of Death.”
• The Weather Report: The guardians of the Shadowgate attempt to repel the PCs … violently.
• The Prop Shop: I describe the miniatures that I used to portray the Shadowgate’s guardians (see below for pictures). These minis are my Noble Knight picks of the episode.
• Dark Harbinger from the War Gods of Aegyptus line by Crocodile Games
• Asar Crypt Lord with Grisly Trophy from the War Gods of Aegyptus line by Crocodile Games
• Barrow Warden Mystic from the Dark Heaven line by Reaper Miniatures
• Sea Shanties: This episode features the following theme and background music, used by permission of the copyright holders:
• “Racing the Wind” and “Gallows Jig” from the album Phantoms of the High Seas by Nox Arcana, ©2006 Monolith Graphics
• “Firewalker” by Medwyn Goodall, from the album Tribal Nation, ©2005 MG Music

Apparently I haven’t downloaded the photos of the Shadowgate guardians from my digital camera yet. When I get a chance, I’ll put them right here.

I hope that you enjoy(ed) listening to “The Valley of the Shadow of Death, Part 4,” and that you’ll join us when the adventure concludes in “The Valley of the Shadow of Death, Part 5″! I plan to publish part 5 after the weekend, in order to give the players a chance to record any shout-outs they wish to put into episode 100!

I forgot to mention this in the audio, but if you shop at DriveThruRPG between now and September 10 (my brother’s birthday), enter the coupon code DTRPGAugust2010BlogPCast to receive a 20% discount on all products from the following publishers:

• A Terrible Idea
• Aethereal Forge
• Bailey Records, including:
• Amazing Universe: The Superheroic Music EP
• Pulp City: The Soundtrack, Part 1
• Chronicles of Ramlar Official Soundtrack, Part 1
• Crucifiction Games
• Dream Pod 9
• Fantasy Games Unlimited, including classic Villains & Vigilantes rules and adventures
• Final Redoubt Press, including the Echoes of Heaven multi-system module series
• Gold Rush Games, including the San Angelo: City of Heroes sourcebook for Mutants & Masterminds
• Goodman Games, a fantastic publisher of 3.5e and 4e supplements and adventures, including:
• Dungeon Crawl Classics
• Level Up magazine
• The Critter Cache series
• GM Gems and PC Pearls
• And much more!
• Highmoon Games, including:
• Domains of Adventure systemless location descriptions
• Heroic Moments adventures for 4C
• No Other Gods, an adventure for Testament
• One Bad Egg‘s back catalog
• Morbid Games
• OtherWorld Creations, including Murder of Crows and other adventures for Call of Cthulhu
• Palladium Books
• Rogue Games, including Colonial Gothic
• RPG Objects
• Savage Mojo, including Gamescapes Story Maps
• Tricky Owlbear
• Vigilance Press, including the Wargames series for Mutants & Masterminds

Don’t miss out on this great offer!

I fell a couple of days behind schedule, adventure fans, but here for your listening pleasure is the monumental, historic 100th episode of the Icosahedrophilia podcast, presenting “The Valley of the Shadow of Death, Part 5,” played on August 14, 2010! Please listen now or subscribe via iTunes, Zune, or plain old RSS. This episode features the following segments:

• Weighing Anchor: I call for your initiative roll myself on the occasion of this 100th episode.
• The Staging Area: I briefly summarize the campaign backstory (referring listeners to the “Story Thus Far” recap episode for a more detailed history of the campaign), giving a more extensive summary of “Well Met in Markathesh” and parts 1–4 of “The Valley of the Shadow of Death.”
• The Weather Report: The explorers emerge victorious from their clash with the Shadowgate guardians.
• The Prop Shop: I briefly report on my use of DM Toolkit, an iPad/iPhone app by Brad Talton for Level 99 Games, to run this adventure. Brad has also graciously provided me with three coupons for free copies of DM Toolkit, which I will pass on to the first three listeners who request them. For those of you who prefer lower-tech solutions, my Noble Knight pick of the episode is the GameMastery Combat Pad Initiative Tracker by Paizo.
• Sea Shanties: This episode features the following theme and background music, used by permission of the copyright holders:
• “Racing the Wind” and “Gallows Jig” from the album Phantoms of the High Seas by Nox Arcana, ©2006 Monolith Graphics
• “Firewalker” by Medwyn Goodall, from the album Tribal Nation, ©2005 MG Music
• “Spirit of the Rainbow Serpent” by Terry Oldfield, from the album Australia: Twilight of the Dreamtime, ©1994 by New World Music

I hope that you enjoy(ed) listening to “The Valley of the Shadow of Death, Part 5,” and that you’ll join us when the campaign continues in “The Nameless City, Part 1″!

I forgot to mention this in the audio, but if you shop at DriveThruRPG between now and September 10 (my brother’s birthday), enter the coupon code DTRPGAugust2010BlogPCast to receive a 20% discount on all products from the following publishers:

• A Terrible Idea
• Aethereal Forge
• Bailey Records, including:
• Amazing Universe: The Superheroic Music EP
• Pulp City: The Soundtrack, Part 1
• Chronicles of Ramlar Official Soundtrack, Part 1
• Crucifiction Games
• Dream Pod 9
• Fantasy Games Unlimited, including classic Villains & Vigilantes rules and adventures
• Final Redoubt Press, including the Echoes of Heaven multi-system module series
• Gold Rush Games, including the San Angelo: City of Heroes sourcebook for Mutants & Masterminds
• Goodman Games, a fantastic publisher of 3.5e and 4e supplements and adventures, including:
• Dungeon Crawl Classics
• Level Up magazine
• The Critter Cache series
• GM Gems and PC Pearls
• And much more!
• Highmoon Games, including:
• Domains of Adventure systemless location descriptions
• Heroic Moments adventures for 4C
• No Other Gods, an adventure for Testament
• One Bad Egg‘s back catalog
• Morbid Games
• OtherWorld Creations, including Murder of Crows and other adventures for Call of Cthulhu
• Palladium Books
• Rogue Games, including Colonial Gothic
• RPG Objects
• Savage Mojo, including Gamescapes Story Maps
• Tricky Owlbear
• Vigilance Press, including the Wargames series for Mutants & Masterminds

Don’t miss out on this great offer!

Once more into the breach, adventure fans! Episode 99 of the Icosahedrophilia podcast presents “The Valley of the Shadow of Death, Part 4,” played on August 14, 2010! Please listen now or subscribe via iTunes, Zune, or plain old RSS. This episode features the following segments:

• Weighing Anchor: Chris Tulach of the RPGA calls for your initiative roll.
• The Staging Area: I briefly summarize the campaign backstory (referring listeners to the “Story Thus Far” recap episode for a more detailed history of the campaign), giving a more extensive summary of “Well Met in Markathesh” and parts 1–3 of “The Valley of the Shadow of Death.”
• The Weather Report: The guardians of the Shadowgate attempt to repel the PCs … violently.
• The Prop Shop: I describe the miniatures that I used to portray the Shadowgate’s guardians (see below for pictures). These minis are my Noble Knight picks of the episode.
• Dark Harbinger from the War Gods of Aegyptus line by Crocodile Games
• Asar Crypt Lord with Grisly Trophy from the War Gods of Aegyptus line by Crocodile Games
• Barrow Warden Mystic from the Dark Heaven line by Reaper Miniatures
• Sea Shanties: This episode features the following theme and background music, used by permission of the copyright holders:
• “Racing the Wind” and “Gallows Jig” from the album Phantoms of the High Seas by Nox Arcana, ©2006 Monolith Graphics
• “Firewalker” by Medwyn Goodall, from the album Tribal Nation, ©2005 MG Music

Apparently I haven’t downloaded the photos of the Shadowgate guardians from my digital camera yet. When I get a chance, I’ll put them right here.

I hope that you enjoy(ed) listening to “The Valley of the Shadow of Death, Part 4,” and that you’ll join us when the adventure concludes in “The Valley of the Shadow of Death, Part 5″! I plan to publish part 5 after the weekend, in order to give the players a chance to record any shout-outs they wish to put into episode 100!

I forgot to mention this in the audio, but if you shop at DriveThruRPG between now and September 10 (my brother’s birthday), enter the coupon code DTRPGAugust2010BlogPCast to receive a 20% discount on all products from the following publishers:

• A Terrible Idea
• Aethereal Forge
• Bailey Records, including:
• Amazing Universe: The Superheroic Music EP
• Pulp City: The Soundtrack, Part 1
• Chronicles of Ramlar Official Soundtrack, Part 1
• Crucifiction Games
• Dream Pod 9
• Fantasy Games Unlimited, including classic Villains & Vigilantes rules and adventures
• Final Redoubt Press, including the Echoes of Heaven multi-system module series
• Gold Rush Games, including the San Angelo: City of Heroes sourcebook for Mutants & Masterminds
• Goodman Games, a fantastic publisher of 3.5e and 4e supplements and adventures, including:
• Dungeon Crawl Classics
• Level Up magazine
• The Critter Cache series
• GM Gems and PC Pearls
• And much more!
• Highmoon Games, including:
• Domains of Adventure systemless location descriptions
• Heroic Moments adventures for 4C
• No Other Gods, an adventure for Testament
• One Bad Egg‘s back catalog
• Morbid Games
• OtherWorld Creations, including Murder of Crows and other adventures for Call of Cthulhu
• Palladium Books
• Rogue Games, including Colonial Gothic
• RPG Objects
• Savage Mojo, including Gamescapes Story Maps
• Tricky Owlbear
• Vigilance Press, including the Wargames series for Mutants & Masterminds

Don’t miss out on this great offer!

Having spent far too much time today reading and reacting to other people’s opinions about the forthcoming fortune cards for D&D from Wizards of the Coast—including opinions from people who don’t play D&D 4e and just see another opportunity to bash WotC—I hereby embark on writing a blog post on the topic. I really should spend my time in better ways, such as getting episode 99 of the Icosahedrophilia podcast out the door. However, I feel a need to vent a little, and to speculate wildly about why some D&D aficionados have such a strong negative reaction to them.

For those of you who don’t already know, the WotC contingent announced at GenCon that WotC would publish, in the first quarter of 2011, a new product called fortune cards. Fortune cards will be sold in booster packs like the Gamma World mutation cards; each card will allow a player to influence the in-game action in some way. As far as I know, WotC has not publicly previewed any of the actual cards. However, imagine that card effects would be buffs, debuffs, and little effects like, “An enemy stumbles over loose rubble; slide the target one square.” Fortune cards add randomness, a kind of “fog of war,” to D&D encounters (with a lower-case e). In a typical use case (from early in the product’s life cycle), each player would bring a sealed booster pack of fortune cards to a D&D session. During that session, the player could use the cards in that pack to affect the action at the table.

Some of the D&D players—and non-4e-players who love to opine about 4e—who post on ENWorld and the Wizards Community forums have gone ballistic, or perhaps apoplectic.

Calm down, people.

As Matt James (I think) and others have pointed out in their tweets today, if Gary Gygax had put fortune card effects on a random table in the AD&D Dungeon Master’s Guide, such tables would be part of the treasured shared nostalgia informing the gaming experience for those of us who cut our gaming teeth on white, blue, or red-then-blue boxed sets in the 1970s and early 1980s. Let the manufacturers of Magic: The Gathering print them on cards and randomize them dicelessly, and it’s like the Abyssal Plague has already reached pandemic levels. I shall now attempt to diagnose this hysteria, relying solely on my own intuitions and guesses about gamer psychology.

Folk who already love to hate 4e love to hate every innovation that relates to 4e, so I’m not really going to address that segment of fandom. Those players—and may their gaming experience of choice give them many hours of great fun—have already removed themselves from the 4e target market, and most of them aren’t coming back … unless, perhaps, the more 3e-like class builds in Heroes of the Fallen Lands (etc.) draw some of them in.

Among folk who actively play 4e, I can imagine that DMs might object to the loss of control that fortune cards represent. Fortune cards put part of the story in the players’ hands. “What do you mean one of the monsters hears a sound behind it, gets distracted, and takes a –2 penalty to its next attack roll? I’m the DM! I’ll say what sounds are in the area and how they affect my precious monsters!” (If you read that previous sentence aloud, try to make your voice sound like that of Napoleon the bloodhound from The Aristocats.) The obvious answer to such DMs is, “If you don’t want fortune cards at your table, don’t allow them at your table.”

I’m afraid it’s not quite that simple, however. The fact that fortune cards will be an official D&D product published by Wizards of the Coast—an official product with actual mechanical consequences, unlike D&D MIniatures or Dungeon Tiles—may lead some DMs to fear a sense of “player entitlement.” I’m privileged to play with a group that exhibits a high level of DM empowerment; even when I adjudicate the rules incorrectly, my group usually goes along with it at least until the next potty break, instead of bogging the game down in rules lookups. And the players in my campaign are great about taking the “it’s your world” attitude with regard to what’s in the world and what’s not. One of the players, Steve, runs a warforged barbarian, but if I had said, “No, there are no warforged in my campaign world,” he probably just would have said “Bummer” and run a dragonborn or half-orc barbarian instead. However, I can imagine players who use WotC’s new-with-4e “everything is core” sensibility as a lever to try to force a DM to accept something the DM doesn’t want in his or her world. “You have to let me play a minotaur! It’s a standard race right here in Player’s Handbook 3!” Anxiety about feelings of player entitlement might be one reason that some 4e DMs who don’t want to use fortune cards don’t find “if you don’t want them, don’t use them” to be an unsatisfactory answer.

By the way, the kind of extreme control over the world represented by the attitude described above seems to me to run counter to some of the best DMing advice that I’m hearing these days on my favorite 4e-centric podcasts and blogs. Of course, there’s probably a selection bias operating here, but so many of the sources to which I look for DMing tips recommend giving players more, not less, control over the campaign world, specifically as a way to get the players more invested in the world and more invested in role-playing. Some of my players seemed a little confused in a recent session when they wanted to know whether the town they were visiting had a certain kind of establishment. My response was “Should there be, in a town this size?” After a few moments of silence and a tentative, “Uh, I think so,” I responded, “Okay. There is!” (These are not exact quotations, of course, just the gist of more or less how I kind of remember the conversation. You can hear the exact exchange on the podcast.) If fortune cards give players a little bit of control over the terrain, the weather, or even the monsters’ actions, I actually see that as a good thing.

A different kind of sense of player entitlement might explain why some 4e players would object to fortune cards. You might think that players would enthusiastically embrace more control over the story world. Sure, but players also embrace control over their money, and no player wants to be told that he or she must spend $3.95 per session on “accessory X” (unless “accessory X” is pizza). Some players may fear that their DMs will require sealed packs of fortune cards, thus imposing a kind of “entry fee” on even home games of D&D. Again, the only reasonable entry fee for a home game of D&D is bag of the DM’s favorite snack food.

Most of you who read the previous paragraph will already have thought of the obvious solution: the DM should allow, but not require, fortune cards. Despite the common-sense appeal of this proposal, it introduces another reason that enthusiastic 4e players might reasonably object to power cards: power balance among PCs. If Joe can afford $3.95 per week or fortnight or month or however often his group plays, but Jim can only afford $3.95 every other session, and Jack really doesn’t want to lay out the $3.95 at all, we have reached a point where you can buy, with real-world money, a mechanical advantage in-game … and many players will find that most distasteful.

Personally, I like the idea of fortune cards, but I would have preferred a different implementation. As the DM for my group, I would gladly purchase a deck of fortune cards to deal out to players at appropriate times. I’m less excited about the random booster scheme, but still very interested in finding a way to use fortune cards at my table in a way that bypasses the potential player frustrations described above.

As always, the comment thread is open for your thoughts.

Episode 98 of the Icosahedrophilia podcast is here, adventure fans, to present you with “The Valley of the Shadow of Death, Part 3,” played and recorded on August 14, 2010! Please listen now or subscribe via iTunes, Zune, or plain old RSS. This episode features the following segments:

• Weighing Anchor: Jeff Greiner, host of the Tome Show, calls for your initiative roll.
• The Staging Area: I briefly summarize the campaign backstory (referring listeners to the “Story Thus Far” recap episode for a more detailed history of the campaign), giving a more extensive summary of “Well Met in Markathesh” and parts 1–2 of “The Valley of the Shadow of Death.”
• The Weather Report: The adventurers defeat Gnash and his crew, then turn their attention to the Shadowgate—ultimately summoning and provoking its undead guardians.
• The Prop Shop: I describe the prop that I used to allow the players to interact physically with the runic cubes, and announce the winner of the runic cubes contest. (Nathaniel, if you’re reading this, please contact me with your postal address so I can send your the prize!) Since solving the puzzle required the players to use the power of their minds, I make Psionic Power by Wizards of the Coast my Noble Knight pick of the episode.
• Sea Shanties: This episode features the following theme and background music, used by permission of the copyright holders:
• “Racing the Wind” and “Gallows Jig” from the album Phantoms of the High Seas by Nox Arcana, ©2006 Monolith Graphics
• “Desert Battle” by Erika Lieberman, ©2009 Sonic Legends
• “Spirit of the Rainbow Serpent” by Terry Oldfield, from the album Australia: Twilight of the Dreamtime, ©1994 by New World Music

Here are the PCs’ guess as to the Shadowgate runic cube sequence, along with the “key”:

The PCs’ guess	The correct sequence