• Book of Rituals Preview Goodman Games has posted a PDF preview of the upcoming Azagar’s Book of Rituals. It includes the table of contents, introduction, and excerpts from the binding rituals chapter.
• Review of Medieval Bestiary: Orc Culture Get some Orc Power in your Campaign by checking out this review of the new supplement for the Feudal Lords Setting by Alea Publishing Group.
• Review of Combat Advantage #14 Add some savagery to your Campaign with CA #14’s articles on Role-Playing Mercenary Characters, a new Barbarian-Beastform Paragon Path, and conniving Goblin Crimelords. [Note - CA14 is available to EN World subscribers].
• Review of the Iron Gazetteer The book for 4E dwarves, reviewed at the Neuroglyph blog.
• Hump Day Hazard The tricks and dangers of the Magnet Stone hazard.

• A Coward's Life The Friday Funny provides feats for the less heroic hero.
• Spell and Blade New spells for fighting spellcasters.

• Interview with Ben McFarland (Pt.3) Rite Publishing continues with their interview of this ENnie award wining designer (Kobold Quarterly, Tales of Zobeck) as he talks about what makes a good Pathfinder product, his favorites, and what role his newest project Breaking of Fostor Nagar will playing the PFRPG community.

• Real American H.E.R.O.es For Spycraft 2.0, by Crafty Games. Fight for freedom — or crush it — in this brand new world of four-color military fantasy where the good guys wear green, the bad guys wear blue, and great notions like democracy and justice prevail over evil in half-hour segments! Recruiting starts today!
• Review of EXPO - The Magic of White City The RPG Examiner reviews the perfect setting for a turn of the century campaign: The 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.
• Review of Kobold Quarterly #11 The word from Mobius Adventures.

• Non-lethal weapons for your RPG: Barriers ‏ From caltrops to spike strips to sticky foam, the RPG Examiner takes a look at modern barriers.

• Combat Advantage #14: Savages

The nights are getting longer and a chill seeps through the window. Winter looms in the sky, instilling a sense of dread in your heart. Dark times call for dark characters and Combat Advantage delivers.

CA14 brings you the darker side of 4E. Try your hand as a merc and work for the highest bidder (but leave your morals at the door), tap into your inner beast with the Beast Warrior multiclass barbarian/druid paragon path, and take on the fortitude of Blades, a Goblin Warlord with a penchant for spilling blood... your blood.

COMBAT ADVANTAGE is a bi-monthly supplement for the 4th edition of the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game produced by Emerald Press.

• King of the Monsters Contest The arena is open! Kobold Quarterly is holding a monster design contest.
• Tiny Drake Monday isn't Monday without a tiny bit of monster love from the Kobolds. And in this case, it's literally tiny.
• Pathfinder Drake The second Pathfinder Drake by Mike Welham is now available for free at KQ.com.

• Reign of Discordia for the Traveller Game system Reign of Discordia is the core setting book in line of the same name by the celebrated game designer Darrin Drader and Reality Deviant Publications. RoD gives you what you need to know about the galactic civilization following the fall of the Stellar Imperium. Future sourcebooks and adventures will further add to the dynamic space opera setting presented in this core setting book.
• Plan Change for Dave Arneson's Blackmoor Blackmoor licensing is looking like it's going to end as Wizards of the Coast does not appear inclined to renew the license come the beginning of the year.
• Ingredients for a perfect horror gaming session The RPG Examiner reviews the perfect action horror game session to determine what went right.
• The Power Source #7 Skill ... Guidelines. Podcast.
  

The Riddle was old, for it was as old as the Gate, and the Gate had guarded the head of the Valley since men first walked upon the World. The words of the Riddle were an ancient secret, passed down from father to son, from grandfather to grandson, from uncle to nephew, and – in at least one case – from the most distrusted old man in the village to his worryingly young “friend”.

For more than five hundred generations a succession of Gatekeepers had kept their lonely vigil, climbing the steep winding valley each day to arrive at the Gate before sunrise, returning home to the village below only once the sun had set. Seasons came, and seasons went and still the Gatekeepers sat, and waited, through scorching sun and biting hail.

Waiting.

Eridu had been guarding the Riddle for fifty-two years now, ever since it had been entrusted to him by his father, as the old man lay dying from the cancer in his bones.

“The Visitors will come,” his father had told him. “As it says in the Prophesies, so shall they come.”

For fifty-two years Eridu had sat by the Gate, and in that time there had been no Visitors. Visitors, yes: curious children from the village; lost travellers; roving tax collectors convinced he was running some kind of scam. But none who greeted him as the Prophesies foretold.

Soon his vigil would end. He would pass on the secret of the Riddle to his great-nephew Pannon, and the five hundred and seventh Gatekeeper would be replaced by the five hundred and eighth.

Not today though. Not today.

Eridu waited.

• Pre-Order Azagar’s Book of Rituals Pre-Order the print edition Azagar’s Book of Rituals at a specialty game store or the Goodman Games online store and get a free e-book edition as well.
• New at the World of Farland: the latest chapter in the Darmon saga, “Strife on the Northern Banks”; a conversion of the Lord of Pride (15^th level solo soldier); and an update of the Farland metaphysics, planes, and genesis story for 4E rules.
  
• Virtual Combat Cards v1.0 Virtual Combat Cards has just released version 1.0.0. with new features. Virtual Combat Cards is a Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition combat tracker that runs on any computer and keeps track of all the information so that you, the DM, can focus on making your game more fun for everybody.
  

• Monster Madness: The Harvestman What looks like a six-fingered giant hand with an evil face? The Harvestman: part hand, part spider, all ventriloquist’s nightmare.

• Ashton Sperry's Paper Minis‏ Rite Publishing has released its first set of paper miniatures by artist Ashton "N'wah" Sperry (Pathfinder Paper Minis). This set contains monsters and NPCs from the adventure "A Witch's Choice" part I of the Rituals of Choice adventure path, and includes all the statblocks for their use in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.
• A theatrical adaptation of Paizo's Ennie-winning adventure "Burnt Offerings" has gone on stage at a middle school in Portland, OR.
• Paizo has started the open playtest for the Cavalier and the Oracle, two of the classes that will appear in the upcoming Advanced Player's Guide. Additional classes for playtesting will follow at two week intervals.
• The Snail is last in Remarkable RaceThe Zif, the last of the Remarkable Races by Alluria Publishing is now available for Pathfinder.

• Jonathan Roberts Tutorial Jonathan Roberts' latest map, The Dragon's Lair, is the subject of a tutorial series he is writing for readers of newbiedm.com.

• Updates from Critical Hits:
  • Convention Report: DC Game Day 2009
  • 5 Tips For Running Dungeon Delves
  • Preview: "Draconomicon: Metallic Dragons"
  • Preview & Review: "Primal Power"

• Fantastic Maps: The Dragon's Lair "There are times when a company pointing out a specific product isn't advertising - it's doing everybody a favor. This is one of these times." [Their words, not mine!]
• Check out the first trailer for SPACE FIGHT!^TM, the fast-paced starship combat game coming from EN Publishing!

• Book of Rituals at the Printer Azagar’s Book of Rituals has gone to the printer, on track for a late December release date. This is the first of Goodman Games’ Great Price books, featuring 300 rituals crammed into 160 pages for only $14.99.
  

• Trap Tuesday at Kobold Quarterly The Trapsmith returns, bringing swinging blocks of crushing OGL death to obliterate unsuspecting rogues...
• Paths of Power Coming Soon 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming is set to release Paths of Power: A Sourcebook of Base and Prestige Classes on Novermber 27th. Paths of Power details five new base classes (Anti-paladin, Gladiator, Samurai, Voyageur & Witch), three prestige classes (Child of Bast, Crypt Stalker & Envenomed), and four class options for player characters (Air, Earth, Fire & Water Elementalist “schools” for Wizards). Also included are three classes that are designed specifically for non-player characters, but that can be used for player characters as well (Captain, Courtesan & Sycophant).
• New OGL Monster Looking for a clever foe to taunt new parties or an alternate familiar for your evil wizard? Try the crimson drake, an OGL cousin of the psuedodragon.
  

• Dragon Age Design Diary Green Ronin's Chris Pramas has posted a design diary for the upcoming Dragon Age RPG.

• The Goblin Hulk A 48 page 4e Dungeons and Dragons campaign sourcebook as a free PDF download from Role Playing Public Radio. The Goblin Hulk is over 17,000 words, contains 5 new monsters, 2 new templates and 7 major areas. It is usable in most campaign settings and can easily be converted for any fantasy RPG system.
• Zone Effects In Use Clint has posted a short report with photos on how he used the Zone Effects and how well they worked in play.

• Monster Madness: Golcodulus The RPG Examiner introduces the Ondoculi guard dog, dangerous beasts who breathe two different kinds of breath weapons.

• Interview with Ben McFarland Rite Publishing has released the first part of their interview with the ENnie award winning game designer Ben McFarland (Tales of Zobeck) as he discuss his latest project Breaking of Fostor Nagar (for Pathfinder), what attracted him to the project, his design philosophy, and his opinion on the cartography of Jonathan Roberts.
• Add a Little Chaos Alluria publishing released the Remarkable Xax PC race for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game today.

• The Power Source Podcast #6 - Rule Zero B XVII.

Site News

You know, if I keep starting my columns with confessions and admissions, Morrus is going to start charging me for therapy. Still...

I can't run games the way I used to.

For most of my gaming life, DMing was far and away my priority, and my favorite role to take on. And I started that life early--got the good ol' Red Box as a gift in 1983, and never once looked back.

Of course, to be fair, what I was doing when I was nine years old was "DMing" in much the same way that going into the back yard to piss on a tree is "gardening." At that age, I so completely misunderstood some fundamental aspects of the game that, the first time I tried to run a friend through a module (Keep on the Borderlands, naturally), I handed him the map as a visual prop and just had him encounter every room or area in the order they were written in the book.

Yeah, I had me some learning to do.

• Two is Better than One!The Taddol, a 2-headed (1 character sheet) PC race was released today for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game by Alluria Publishing.

• Clan of the Grey Wolf The Clan of the Grey Wolf is a new gaming website dedicated to console gaming and RPGs. They are doing a charity event for Child's Play on 27 November.

"After working on this in the background for months, we can finally let the lid off our biggest project yet. Starting November 27, the day after Thanksgiving, we're going to hold a 1,000 song Rock Band Marathon for charity. All proceeds will be given to Child's Play, which (if you are not familiar with them) is a charity which donates toys, games, and books to children's hospitals worldwide. You will notice a ChipIn widget in the right sidebar that will allow you to donate money directly to Child's Play using PayPal. This will be active on the site from now until December 6."

Happy Guy Fawkes Day!

Remember, remember the fifth of November,

The gunpowder treason and plot,

I know of no reason

Why the gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot.

• Sanity Rules for Pathfinder Why break bones when minds are so fragile? Check out these sanity rules for Pathfinder at Kobold Quarterly.

• MagiQuest: A Harry Potter-esque live RPG The RPG Examiner stumbles across a Harry Potter RPG. And it's coming to a mall near you.

• War of the Burning Sky 4E #4: The Mad King's Banquet While Seaquen recovers from an unnatural natural disaster, the heroes undertake a quest to find allies in the nearby nation of Dassen before the Ragesian army arrives. But the heroes discover strange tidings surrounding Dassen's King Steppengard. What afflicts the King, and is Duke Gallo truly conspiring against him? Seaquen's survival depends on unravelling the mystery. What kind of feast can the heroes expect when they sit down to the mad king's banquet? Welcome to the fourth adventure in the War of the Burning Sky Campaign Saga. Throughout the course of the campaign saga, a party of heroes will become involved in an escalating war between mighty magical nations, and after many adventures, military battles, and mysterious intrigue, it will be up to them to decide who will emerge victorious and rule in the aftermath.
• You can buy the adventure separately at the link above, or you can subscribe to the whole War of the Burning Sky campaign saga with an EN World subscription for $3 per month. Already available to EN World subscribers is the first adventure, WotBS 4E#1: The Scouring of Gate Pass (in both 4E and 3.5 versions), with the following adventures released roughly bi-monthly.

• Book Review of the Men Who Stare at Goats The RPG Examiner reviews the book that inspired the movie and provides statistics for the First Earth Soldier advanced class.

• The Slime Has Has Come!Alluria Publishing latest Pathfinder PC race hits virtual shelves today with the Squole; the game's first player character ooze.

• Live chat with Rite Publishing Come join the chat Wednesday November 4th, 8pm PST (GMT -7), as Steven D. Russell and Jonathan Roberts discuss The Breaking of Fostor Nagar patronage project, Rituals of Choice Adventure Path, Feats 101 and their many other projects. There will be special prizes awarded to all chat participants.
• The quest for a perfect gelatinous cube miniature‏ The RPG Examiner describes how the gelatinous cube's transparent, blocky form made it a challenge for model designers to create...until now.
• Age of Cthulhu podcast All Games Considered has posted an Age of Cthulhu podcast, interviewing writers, editors, and artists from the Goodman Games' Call of Cthulhu line
• Monty Haul Gaming Table:

Hi I just wanted to drop a line and let you guy's know about Monty Haul's Tribute Series gaming table. What makes out table unique is the fact that the one table caters to:

War Gamers (standard war gaming accessory sizes catered for)
Role Playing (white board, recessed play surface, dice trays, pull out
trays)
LAN'ing (Easy cable management, pull outs to accommodate mouse and keyboard)
Dinner (Can be used as a dinner table available in Walnut veneer and
Beech laminate as a 4, 6 and 8 seater)

Site News

• New 4E Monster at KQ Halloween's gone but that doesn't mean the monsters leave. Straight out of the Empire of the Ghouls: 4E Monday Mycolids.

• OGL Ghost Feats While you were trick-or-treating, Lilith and Kobold spookhunters were out scaring up new OGL feats for ghosts!
• Mad Monster: Ondoculus The RPG Examiner reviews the ondoculi: two-headed, two-bow-wielding, spellcasting, flexy-jointed, super-smart humanoids that carry petrification swords.

• Feats 101 Think you have enough feats to choose from? Think again! Feats 101 gives you – yes, you guessed it – 101 feats. From new metamagic feats to feats that make use of your bond to your Animal Companion, Familiar, or Mount along with Combat Maneuvers, and Sorcerous Bloodlines. Wholly compatible with the Pathfinder Role-Playing Game, Feats 101 adds new agonizing choices to character creation and advancement without breaking the game.
  

• Open Design Podcast #6: Swine Flu edition is out Hear Robin Laws, John Wick, Tim Connors & Ryan Macklin of the Dresden Files RPG.
• Morbidgames Releases Gaslight Demons By Gloria Weber.

• To continue reading WotBS, Pt. 2 - The Irons Have Tolled, click here.
• To read the first part, WotBS, Pt. 1 - The Scouring of Gate Pass, click here.
• For more information on the War of the Burning Sky Campaign Saga for D&D 4E and D&D 3.5, click here.

• New for Community Supporter Subscribers:
  • Evocative City Sites: The Rogue's Gallery Tavern Kindly donated to EN World by Rite Publishing. Evocative City Sites: a modular systemless supplement detailing small locations that you could find in any urban campaign setting. Each site is detailed with its own cartography, a 1”=1 square scale map pack, two unique npcs, 5 adventure seeds, a high resolution image for your virtual table top, all presented in the unique, useful, and entertaining form of Owain Northway’s first person point-of-view guidebook.
  • Agate Companion (for Pathfinder) Kindly donated to EN World by Rite Publishing. The Agate Companion is an extraordinary magic item that you can smoothly integrate into any campaign at any level of play while adding an additional piece of roleplay to the mix. The Agate Companion is the first piece in the Reverse Design project, where game material is crafted based on pitches submitted by the patrons and staff of Rite Publishing on a single piece of evocative artwork.
    

• Lust Zombie The RPG Examiner explains the dark allure of lust zombies.

• Terror Bird The editor of Level Up! offers full 4th Edition D&D stats for a prehistoric nightmare with feathers.

• Greedy Zombie The RPG Examiner explains how greedy zombies keep the lights on in an apocalypse.
• Freebies from Kobold Quarterly:
  • Things of Madness and Desolation How to make variant monsters to terrify players.
  • Spawned in the City of the Nadir A free template and purple worm aberration.
  • Stricken Aberrant A new template and a white dragon aberration. Nasty.
  • Aberrant Feats A twisted set of feats for aberrations. Make your next illithid or beholder even stranger and deadlier.

• Free License and Publishers Friendly Art-Stock Crafting Zone Entertainment and Weird Dragon Labs present License and Publisher-Friendly STOCK-ART. This new line of stock illustrations is a useful tool for those publishers who do not have the necessary resources to hire professional artists to develop their products individually.