Cityscape review

I had a chance to peruse Cityscape relatively well and here is my take on it.

The Good:
It has a pretty fair amount of information but doesn't go overboard with minuscule details. It has several city types (military, port, slaver, trading hub, etc.) detailed to the point that they can be incorporated into a campaign relatively easily but there is still plenty of room for customization. I like the description of the various city districts and a plot hook or two is listed in each. The section discussing guilds, houses and organizations is also well done. No new races where in this book.

The Bad:
It would be nice for newer players and game masters if this had a little more detail on how to actually build a city from the ground (or sewers) up. The worst thing about his book, IMHO, is that if you don't do a fair amount of city based adventuring or if you have a well established city you use, this book is about 50% to 75% useless to you.

Overall:
I like the balance between detail and being able to personalize the information about the cities described. If you like city adventuring this is probably worth while but if your group is more into wilderness/dungeon crawls you could probably passed it up.

Let us know what's your opinion of this book.

Quote of the Week promotion

In an effort to bring in a little more traffic to my site and business to my store I am going to give a store gift certificate to the first person that posts the correct source of the quote. It will be a $3 gift certificate that you can use on anything you purchase from me. Good luck with quotes.

Quote of the week (day or month or whatever)

I'm going to start putting quotes or short exchanges from books up periodically and let people guess where they come from. Mostly they will be from books I've just read or books that really left an impression. If nobody knows where it came from within a week or two I'll post the source. For today here it is,

"From there to here
and here to there,
funny things
are everywhere."


Good luck and Jeani you can't guess.

New WotC release Cityscape

Cityscape came out last week. The official description reads

"As Deadly as Any Dungeon

There’s more to adventuring than crawling around in dungeons. The city holds many avenues of peril and intrigue. It teems with adventure and offers unsurpassed opportunities and challenges. Dark alleys, busy guildhalls, rowdy taverns, fetid sewers, and palatial manors hold secrets to be discovered and mysteries to be explored.

This supplement for the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game reveals the city in all its grandeur and grimness. It makes the “urban dungeon” feel alive with politics and power, especially through influential guilds. This tome also describes new feats, spells, urban terrain, hazards, and monsters guaranteed to make the party’s next visit to the city a vibrant and exhilarating event."

I haven't had a chance to read it very much yet but will in the near future. Please leave your thought and reviews of this books. I have several in stock so let me know if you want one.

A thoughtful and reasoned opinion (what a rarity!)

I found a very thoughtful and reasoned post on the subject of religion Here.

Here is what she had to say

"I grew up in a relatively small town with a Catholic father and a born-again-Christian mother. My parents raised me Catholic because that was the deal they made when they got married. This is somewhat ironic, since my father never attended church regularly and still does not, while my mother attends church at least once, and often twice, a week. They sent me to a local Catholic church with a neighbor, and my father did make sure that I went through the First Holy Communion and Confirmation processes. My mother whispered things to me when my dad wasn't around about her beliefs and her church; I vividly remember her explaining to me sometime in the 70s how UPC codes were a sign from the book of Revelation that the end of the world was coming. (Please don't ask; it still freaks me out.)

As I got older, I thought a lot about these two Christian faiths to which I was exposed. Both made me uncomfortable for multiple reasons. I simply did not agree with many of these two churches' positions on social issues. I did not like the Catholic Church's insistence on form and rules over substance; the way that priests (at least the ones I encountered) treated their parishioners; I disapproved of the extravagance and showiness -- not to mention the purported infallibility -- of popery. I did not like the submissive nature of my mother's church, in which one had to give up one's life and apparently free will to a vague yet scary notion of an all-powerful god; the extent to which one had to perform mental gymnastics in order to live one's life according to What The Bible Said (which wasn't clear at all); and other things, too.

As a young adult, I had an epiphany (if you'll pardon the pun). First, I realized that I couldn't solve the problem of my dissatisfaction with these religions by playing pick and choose: e.g., I don't like the Catholic Church's attitude toward homosexuality, but I'll ignore that and go to church anyway. That felt dishonest to me, particularly since there wasn't much about either religion that I affirmatively liked.

I also realized that I did not have to choose one or the other of the faiths of my parents. I decided that what was important about religion, or spirituality, wasn't a pro forma adherence to what one's family did (in my case, that didn't even really solve the problem, since there were two not-always-consistent faiths) but rather a sincere belief in some religion or model of spirituality. Or none (although that's a belief in itself). I went through a phase of being nothing, and then when T. and I were engaged, we decided to check out some local churches, since we both wanted to get married in a church. (Yes, illogical, isn't it?) We found an Episcopalian church with a wonderful rector and extremely laissez-fair Episcopalianism seems to work for us. At least right now.

Lately, the issue of religion and politics has been all over the place. Every time an Islamist blows himself up (taking numerous others with him, natch) in the name of establishing an Islamist state. Every time a conservative politician talks about banning stem cell research. Each new incident of violence in Iraq where Sunni and Shi'ite are pitted against one another. Even on knitting blogs like Joe's, where I participated in an often-heated discussion about gay marriage bans.

The intersection of religion and politics raises unbelievably complex issues, and I've been able to come to only one firm conclusion: the only way to peace and prosperity -- in religion and politics -- is tolerance and acceptance of other's differences. That means that any religion that says "my way or the highway (to hell)" is a Bad Thing. I don't care what else a particular religion says or doesn't say; the very act of saying "my way is the only way" is, to me, the root of all evil. Islamists who would fly airplanes into buildings to kill strangers because those strangers believe something different. Fundamentalist Christians who would deny equal rights under the law to homosexuals because homosexuals believe that their sexuality is a given and not a chosen sin. Catholics who would ban stem cell research because it uses embryonic tissue and the Catholic Church says abortion is bad. And so on.

I believe that the founders of our government shared my queasiness at the establishment of any one religion by a political state. Most of them came from England, where the Anglican Church is intermeshed in government and which at the time was extremely intolerant of other religions. They purposely set up a government in which religious institutions played no role. The Constitution (in the form of the first amendment) prohibits the establishment of any one religion by our government. These principles are under attack by religious groups of all kinds. It doesn't matter whether they call themselves Christians, or Catholics, or Muslims, or Rastafarians, or The First Church Of The Immaculate Flip-flops -- the intolerance is the same. Certain groups (of course not ALL in all groups) want to enshrine their individual religious beliefs in our laws and thereby impose them on others.

This I do not understand. I believe in a country where anyone can worship anyone or anything they wish, or not, and that's their own personal business. Certain religious principles -- for example, human sacrifice -- cannot be allowed for obvious reasons, but otherwise, if you are worshipping your own god in your own way and not hurting anyone else, you should be given the freedom to do so. But getting that kind of respect for one's religion requires that you give it to others. And there's the rub. I have yet to hear a reasonable answer to the question "Why can't you simply live your own life according to your religion without attempting to legislate others into conforming to your beliefs?"

While I was mulling over this post, I ran across a news story describing how a manufacturer of religious toys tried to give a talking Jesus doll to the Toys for Tots program. Toys for Tots said no, thanks. The vice-president of Toys for Tots explained why: "We can't take a chance on sending a talking Jesus doll to a Jewish family or a Muslim family." And in a perhaps-not-shocking display of intolerance, the toy manufacturer's response was that "anyone can benefit from hearing the words of the bible." (Even if it's not their holy book and they don't believe it's the word of God.)

Our society cannot survive "my way or the highway" religion. We can't tolerate it in free toys for kids who don't have any, and we can't tolerate it in our legislature. It will surely lead to hell on earth for us all.

Not to mention a really un-fun Christmas for a bunch of poor kids."

I can't stress enough how much I believe religion, anybodies religion, should be kept out of other peoples lives. Has anybody else noticed that when somebody wants to discuss religion it almost always means they want to tell you about theirs and NOT hear about yours. Some of the comments on her blog about this are also very well well done.

Bookish meme

I saw this on my wife's blog and thought it sounded interesting. Here is what you do

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 4 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5. Don’t dig for that “cool” or “intellectual” book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.

"Thracia rarely visited Coruscant, dwelling instead on a variety of agricultural worlds as the whim took her. She traveled as the Force guided her, and she encountered an unusually great number of individuals strong in the Force. Most Jedi Masters who new Thracia suspected that she simply enjoyed getting out in the open, with the sun on her face and the simple people of the land as her companions. She was known, respected and well liked on several worlds in the Mid Rim and Outer Rim."

This is from the Powers of the Jedi sourcebook. (Insert shameless plug here)I have a few if anybody happens to need one.

Ewoks?!

"there is is no I in team…but there is an ewok in teamwork"

Now I remember why I like to work alone.

New WotC product & review: Blood War miniatures

These just hit the streets yesterday and for the most part I think they look pretty good. Here is a look at all of them but below are some of my favorites.


I don't care who you are, a Pit Fiend should make you think twice.



A Succubus, what isn't to like.



It looks like Phoenix to me but it's actually a Phoera from the monster manual III.




The Githyanki Dragon Knight is one that I especially like.



I have several cases in and please let me know what you think of this set.

Excellent joke

While walking down the street one day a US senator is tragically hit by a truck and dies.

His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.

"Welcome to heaven," says St. Peter. "Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we're not sure what to do with you."

"No problem, just let me in," says the man.

"Well, I'd like to, but I have orders from higher up. What we'll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity."

"Really, I've made up my mind. I want to be in heaven," says the senator.

"I'm sorry, but we have our rules."

And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell. The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him.

Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people.

They play a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar and champagne.

Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly guy who has a good time dancing and telling jokes. They are having such a good time that before he realizes it, it is time to go.

Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises...

The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens on heaven where St. Peter
is waiting for him.

"Now it's time to visit heaven."

So, 24 hours pass with the senator joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns.

"Well, then, you've spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now choose your eternity."

The senator reflects for a minute, then he answers: "Well, I would never have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in hell."

So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell.

Now the doors of t he elevator open and he's in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage.

He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags as more trash falls from above.

The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulder. "I don't understand," stammers the senator. "Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now there's just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable. What happened?"

The devil looks at him, smiles and says, "Yesterday we were campaigning...... Today you voted."

Star Wars Miniatures released Bounty Hunters

The Bounty Hunters were released at the end of September. There are some very cool minis in this set but at $22 a booster the price is starting to get out of hand. Here are some of the figs in the set: