Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition - First Glance

I managed to filch myself a copy of the 4th Edition rulebooks of the venerable Dungeons and Dragons game, en route to either buying my own legal copies or shoving it aside as a passing interest. This is intended to be the introduction into a series of posts I'll be making as I slowly wade through all of this new material.

I've been playing this game since it was sold in boxed sets containing softbound booklets and its own dice, so naturally I was curious as to what horrible or beneficial changes they made when they transitioned from the 3rd (or 3.5) version of the game.

Oh, yeah. There were changes. Not as massive or paradigm-changing as, say, the move from 2nd Edition to 3rd. But they're there. And significant enough to see that there is no possibility of a clean conversion of characters from one version to the other.

A quick flip through the sections of the Player's Handbook gives tantalizing hints as to some of the changes. Some of the things I immediately notice:

1. Removal of some core races, and the introduction of new core races. There are more core races than there were previously.
   
2. Removal of some core classes, and the introduction of new core classes. There are less core classes than there were before.
3. Integration of epic levels into the core books.
4. Character abilities are split between powers (which include spells) and feats.
   
5. There are new twists to basic combat, such as being bloodied, or getting healing surges, ongoing damage, a new critical hit system, and minor actions.
6. Miscellaneous equipable items have deliberately been arranged into distinct slots. And there are less slots available than previously.
7. Weapon classifications (called groups) are more important now.
8. Introduction of rituals, and how they are different from spells.

All that from just 5 minutes of browsing. There's a lot of material to cover, which is probably a good thing. I'll probably have a lot to say once I get deeper into the books, so for now, it's time to read (when I can find the time).

Cayleigh's Latest Pics

Remember Cayleigh, my 2-y/o hyperactive spawn? Here are a few of my latest pics of her, proud father that I am...

The first couple of pics are from her play school. This one is of her discovering the joys that come with multicolored hoops; essentially her first attempt at rhythmic gymnastics.


The purpose of this ball is for the child to sit on, bounce around the room, and at the end of the process, roll off in a heap. My daughter preferred to use it as a handbag and a makeshift bludgeon to gently smack other kids out of her way. Go, my Daughter! Establish dominance!


Cayleigh had a pillow fort made. Just for her. After five minutes, she invited people to come closer... and watch her play as they sat outside looking in. Every palace needs its guardians at the gate.


This next set came from a local mall. Cayleigh loves fountains and loves baths. When she saw the play fountain area she couldn't help herself, so we just let her do her thing. It helped that we happened to have bath towels with us at the time...

"Hey! It looks like water."


"It certainly FEELS like water..."

"Y'know what? I think it IS water!"

"Hand me the towel. I can take a bath right here!"


Lastly, you know how sometimes your kid gets a look on her face, and you wonder what she could be thinking? Any guesses as to what's on her mind here?

Review: Robin 174

I may have to offer Dan Didio, DC's Editor-in-chief, an apology.

Let me explain.

I am among the many proponents of consistency in portraying characters, no matter who happens to be the writer, and no matter what the editorial fiat might lie behind continuity changes. This consistency stand of mine is one of the primary reasons behind my emotional and near-violent reactions to the Joe Quesada (Marvel's EIC) monstrosity known as One More Day.

Before OMD, I was among many who savagely criticized Dan Didio's decision not to have a memorial in the Batcave for Stephanie Brown, also known as the Spoiler. Even if you don't know who she is, suffice it to say that she was the latest member of the Bat family, had a friendship with Batgirl (Cassandra Cain), had a romance with Robin (Tim Drake), and even became the first mainstream continuity female Robin after Tim Drake quit for a time. She had a short term as Robin, since soon after she became the girl wonder, she was captured, beaten, tortured and shot by Black Mask. She was brought to the hospital of Dr. Leslie Thompkins to be treated for her injuries, but died. Among the first seemingly out-of-character decisions attributed at least in part to Didio was when the normally kindly and caring Dr. Thompkins was discovered by the Batman to have deliberately mistreated Stephanie, in order to teach the Batman an example. Then, even though she was Robin for a time, the Batman deigned to put up a memorial for her in the Batcave, an action many felt was akin to him dismissing her importance, value or sacrifice offhand.

For years after that, people were clamoring for her memorial. Dan Didio just smiled knowingly and kept saying no.

Fans, and myself, generally labeled him as a jerk for that.

Then the latest Robin story arc has a stalker dressed as the Spoiler following Robin around. Was it a deliberate insult? A tease? Clearly this wasn't the real Spoiler. Surely it was someone else dressed up as her. As the story arc wore on, there was anticipation for the big reveal of who this person was, along with the dreaded anxiety that came with the threat of a Superboy-Prime-Reality-Punch-resurrection, like they did with Jason Todd.

The grand unmasking came in Robin 174:


When the big reveal happens toward the end of this issue, we find to our surprise that it IS Stephanie Brown, alive, and briefly bringing to life the worries of a reality-retcon revival. Batman's expression here is priceless.


Of course, Robin has a much better reaction, after he'd gotten over his initial shock:

Yeah. Go Boy Wonder. Almost enough to make you forget that he also has existing hookups with two other girls. Still, excellent response.

She later explains that Leslie talked to her and together they faked her death, after which she stayed with Leslie when the doctor exiled herself in Africa. Batman of course states that he was suspecting this, which is why there was no memorial in the Cave. Good enough an explanation for me, at least for now. A faked death is so much easier to swallow than the various other back-from-the-dead garbage we've had to swallow recently.

So in one issue, Batman isn't more of a heartless bastard than he already is, Leslie isn't a vindictive witch, and Dan Didio redeems himself.

Did the DC EIC plan all of this from the start? Perhaps. It doesn't matter. Spoiler's back. Can't wait to see Batgirl's reaction.

Until we wait for that particular reunion, we have this to look forward to:

Final Crisis #1 - Other Takes

Seems many of my disappointed opinions are shared by other reviewers:

From Comic Book Resources

From Newsarama

To be perfectly fair, yes, the art is excellent. Salutations to J. G. Jones. Sadly, the greatest measure of a comic isn't its art, but the story behind it. And this issue is not going to be remembered for its good writing.

At least the book didn't leave as sour a taste in my mouth as Morrison's Genosha massacre storyline during his X-Men run.

Off-Topic: Smallville Season 8

Let me start by saying that I have only a passing interest in this show, mostly on a need-to-know interest on its departures from comic canon, and a curiosity on my part on how long they could go without it escalating into a Superman/Justice League Lite.

The latest major bit of news regarding the young-adult-angst-meets-metahuman-affairs show was that a primary member of the cast would depart at the end of Season 7. Sure enough, they announced that Michael Rosenbaum, who played Lex Luthor, wouldn't come back for another season.

So what do you do when the guy playing the major antagonist of the show leaves? Anyone even passingly familiar with the Superman mythos knows how integral to the equation Lex Luthor is. No one can replace that character.

As expected, the producers tried to compensate by bringing in another villain. Not one, but two. They announced a female lead as the primary emotional and intellectual antagonist. And as part of Clark's "physical challenge," they announced that Season 8 would introduce Doomsday.

Yes, Doomsday. The one character who has the bragging rights to saying he killed the Man of Steel, at least in the canon reality. And that was when Superman was at his prime.

In Smallville, Clark is still in the process of becoming Superman. If ever. Seems like a mismatch. Let's review, for the sake of those who have trouble picturing. We have this guy...


...potentially going up against this cheerful person:


Somehow that doesn't seem quite right. So people are speculating that this is going to be some tamer, weaker, less savage Smallville twist on the Doomsday character. Which, if you think about it, would make the villain more accurately called Weaker Villain Inspired by Doomsday, given that the essence of the true character is an indestructible, unstoppable, brutal, engine of death and destruction.

Hence the name.

So in my mind it'll end up one of two ways. A lameass blah version of Doomsday, or a dead Clark Kent at the season ender. Who knows? All I know is if they try to keep to the original version of the guy, that's one heck of an SFX budget they're building up.

Lex disappears, and likely, so does most of the show's charm. Funny how Luthor might have just "killed" Superman simply by falling out of the spotlight.

Review: Final Crisis #1 (DC)

Against my better judgment, I picked up a copy of DC's Final Crisis #1. Why the initial bias against the book? The DC universe has had its share of cataclysm stories before, the greatest of which is probably The Crisis of Infinite Earths back in the mid 1980's. Since then, however, the entertainment value of these planet- or universe-threatening crises has dropped significantly.

Zero Hour? Confused people running around in time with Hal Jordan's existential angst mixed in. Identity Crisis? Horribly anti-climactic "the attention-deprived psychotic wife did it." Infinite Crisis (you might notice at this point that DC loves to use the word Crisis to death)? It might have been a worthy direct sequel to Infinite Earths, if only Superman (Earth-2) could make up his mind as to what he really wanted, and if they hadn't turned on Alexander Luthor's "evil genes," and if Superboy (Earth Prime) didn't "mature" into a hormonal teenage whackjob.

Even the otherwise superb Sinestro Corps War story arc of Green Lantern (hey, they didn't use the word Crisis... yipee) had an epilogue which made my head throb. If you're curious, I can sum up the hinted-at future events as: Rainbow Brite and the Color Kids Royal Rumble Throwdown Meets Dawn of the Dead. Bring your Skittles and Trix kids. And try not to let the colorful sparklies hurt your eyes.

So it's not like that there's been a very good precedent of late with DC's cosmic-changing events.

And then there were the vague rumors. Like how this was going to be the time when "evil wins," or how an A-List hero (Martian Manhunter?) would be killed by some Z-list "super" villain.

But like I said, I picked up a copy (not necessarily mine) of the title and read through it, trying my best to keep an open mind.

Then I read it again.

You know what? I'm still confused. Confused to the point where I don't know where to begin sorting my thoughts on the material.

I suppose it would be good to start on what seems to be the premise of the whole book. Grant Morrison, who had a decent run on several titles, gets overwhelmed by his own cleverness by writing two plots into the book. First, some suggestively not-so-human-but-human-looking-guy named Libra is gathering as many villains as he can, regardless of competence or quality, in order to grant them their "heart's desire" and to "balance the scales" (woo, my name is Libra and I balance the scales... catchy). Second, as heroes are called into high alert by the death of Orion of the New Gods, someone going by the name "Boss Dark Side" is kidnapping children, giving them to "Granny," in order to teach them how to recite the "equation" (sigh). I'm calling it two plots this early because there isn't the slightest hint that either of the two are connected.

Now we've got the straightforward plot (Libra. Make Evil Win. Woot.), and the mysterious plot (New God dies. Deities playing with children. To what end? Dun-dun-dunnnnnn...) vying for attention in the same book.

I'm pretty sure the two are connected in some way, or at least, will be connected later on. And in a suitably Grant Morrison-esque fashion. Unfortunately, not everyone will want to wait till the end of 7 issues to find out just how they're connected. There will be people who will say to hell with it from the first issue and will wait for the collected trade paperback before getting back into the story. I know I would.

I don't mind a single plot with multiple perspectives or fronts. But multiple plots? Tends to get confusing, and draws reader attention in two separate directions.

The first installment of Final Crisis not only confuses the reader as to which direction the story is really going, but also lacks the substance worthy of a title with "Crisis" in it. As first issues go in a limited series, you'd ideally want to draw the reader in immediately. In this case, the reader immediately wants to know "where's the universal uber-threat?"

The reader is looking for something worthy to keep his attention. Final Crisis 1 first offers the death of Orion, a New God. Dead god. Seems worthy right? Well, only if you're not someone who is up-to-date with DC continuity. This is a publishing outfit that has difficulty consolidating continuity with consistency. Two previous titles dull the impact of Orion's demise. The appropriately-named Countdown to Final Crisis had Orion finally defeating his father Darkseid in mortal combat, on Earth no less, but suffered grave injuries at the time, and virtually disappeared toward the end of the series. The battle was witnessed by or was known about by multiple heroes. Also, the mini-series Death of the New Gods had the Source being instrumental in killing all of the New Gods of both Apokolips and New Genesis, in order to end the Fourth World and begin the Fifth World, and selecting Orion as its instrument in the final slaying of Darkseid (a link to the end of Countdown). The events of this mini-series were witnessed by no less than Superman himself. So where's the mystery here? Why are they speculating murder when they should be thinking about "died from injuries sustained in his fight with Darkseid?"

The issue is made all the more confusing when Superman and other heroes seem completely clueless when the Justice League has a meeting. Another one of DC convenient "plot-induced senior moments?" You'd think Grant Morrison wouldn't make such an error.

The other draw? Libra granting villains their heart's desires? Here's a pic of Libra killing J'onn Jonnz with a flaming spear. Supposedly while said Martian was incapacitated with "pyro tranquilizers." Right. No buildup as to where, how or when he managed to do this. Just "drag the Martian in so we can kill him as a demo to the big guns." Why did Libra choose Jonn? Some overweight Z-lister going by the name of The Human Flame wanted him dead for capturing him once. Libra's more than happy to oblige it seems. Instead of being overjoyed at the prospect of someone possibly being helpful in killing Superman, Mr. Lex Luthor is profoundly skeptical. As am I.

Of course, no guarantee that IS J'onn. Seems all too simple. Martian Manhunter deserves better. So does the reader.

Don't get me started on the inanity of the whole "Boss Dark Side" part of the plot. You're not fooling anyone. The kids with the glowing eyes and sharpened teeth were a nice touch though.

Verdict: Save yourself the headache. Wait for the TPB. And while you're at it, read DC Universe 0. Otherwise you won't understand a thing. Better still, read Secret Invasion. Entertaining you without the need for a Tylenol.

Starter Pack

This is my second attempt at writing a blog. Obviously, the first one fell flat, primarily due to neglect, because I had barely anything I wanted to talk about and I was busy adjusting to several lifestyle changes. Particularly fatherhood. So it's not like there wasn't anything interesting going on. There was a lot of stuff going on.

But nothing I wanted to write about.

Dunno why. Geeks like me usually aren't short of things they want to talk about. But at the time, the thought of putting stuff down on the Internet wasn't so appealing.

Things change though. Suddenly I'm once again dabbling into one or two dozen barely-related activities and interests, and the web provides its welcoming, greedy paws to my random desires to rant and rave about this and that.

Good.

Now that the obligatory self-indulgent whatever is done, here's the stuff I'm presently looking into or involved in:

1. Fatherhood - Last I checked, I still had an adorable hyperactive genius 2-y/o female larva running around. Oh wait, here she is. Yup. Still around. Growing too.
2. 2008 Summer Movie Season - Already seen The Forbidden Kingdom and Iron Man, both wonderfully entertaining films. Indiana Jones is next week. And more is to come, from the nice-to-see to the must-watch: Prince Caspian, Wall-E, Kung Fu Panda, The Incredible Hulk, Hancock, Hellboy 2, and of course, The Dark Knight.
   
3. Shadowmoor - Latest Magic the Gathering expansion. Hybrid spells. Funny mana symbols. A legendary Faerie Queen that eats opposing libraries, makes little faerie tokens, and hits like a dragon. What's not to love?
4. Secret Invasion - Y'know how for each of the two major comic publishers (Marvel and DC), every year they have to put out some huge, epic, universe-altering plot? Secret Invasion is the primary Marvel offering of 2008, and supposedly, it's a plot that's been several years in the making. Quick summary? The Skrulls have invaded. No, wait. They're already here. They've been here for a long time.The tagline of the event is pretty catchy, and very appropriate when shapeshifting invaders are involved. Who do you trust?
5. X-Men - The emo team of the Marvel universe continues to draw me. For a team that hasn't had a stable moment for several years, things are still going from bad to worse. The only upside to their present plight? There's a hint that the team as a whole is moving from New York (that city you might have heard of where about 95% of the Marvel universe resides), to the West Coast. Specifically, San Francisco, CA. Finally, we seem some decongestion.
6. Comics - Yeah, even though the two listed above are my present focus, I still take time to read a lot of other titles. Web archive versions of course. And hell, if I like them, I buy them. I like to think I'm serious about my browsing. Normally though I wait till the relevant storyline gets archived in TPB.
   
7. Role-playing Games - Still running Gotham Knights, my online play-by-post/email RPG. Also presently playing in a muck-driven Amber game (appealingly anime-twisted, for extra flavor). Very much interested in what horribly wonderful or nasty things Wizards of the Coast has done with Dungeons and Dragons, 4th Edition.
   
8. Greeting Cards, Tokens and Scrapbooking - The latest venture of my lovely wife, and one that I willingly got pulled into. We're still gathering materials and paraphernalia. The portfolio of our designs and offerings should be next. After that, we'll be giving out samples and taking orders. I never thought home-made greeting cards would make store-bought varieties seem so lame by comparison.
9. Plant Tycoon - Lovely game. Cute graphics. Good soundtrack. Excellent for stress relief. You grow and cross-breed plants. To get more varieties of plants. Then you do it again. And again. Along the way, you might accidentally discover the particular genetic lineage leading up to one of six varieties of long-lost magic plants. They're wondrous and sparkly and have special effects coz, well, they're magical.
10. Retro PC Games - Because I'm not crazy enough to pay over 40,000php just to be able to get the latest video cards and a system that can support them, I've gone back to playing games that were made when game designers were more concerned about playability and fun than "OMG teh grafix r so awesomez." Presently enjoying Zeus, Children of the Nile, and Master of Magic. Once I've had my fill of that, I'm going into Master of Orion 2 and Fallout 2.
11. Avatar, the Last Airbender - Seriously one of the best animated series ever made, even when compared to Japanese anime. I cannot remember the last time I was this captivated and entertained by a story. Full Metal Alchemist and Full Metal Panic come close, but still fall a bit short. Production and release issues aside, this series is that good. It's good enough to make me want to buy the full DVD collection, a privilege only The Lord of The Rings trilogy and the works of Hayao Miyazaki could claim.

That's the nutshell. I'll break down the nuts some other time.