[4e] Tikbalang: Guardians of Kalikasan

Now this is interesting.

It looks like a group working under the name of Nosfecatu Publishing has come up with a 4e campaign setting based on Philippine Mythology.  Titled Tikbalang: Guardians of Kalikasan, the supplement is now available over at DrivethruRPG.

The Buan Campaign Setting starts here! Explore Kalupaan with the Tikbalang, one of the most iconic creatures of Philippine Mythology. These feyborn creatures bear an affinity with the winds, and they protect the gateways leading to the fey realms with the subtlety of the breeze and the fury of the cyclone.

Tikbalang: Guardians of Kalikasan presents the players with a new character race – their motivations and culture, as well as the myths other races have regarding them.Game masters are likewise presented with three new tikbalang monsters, all at the lower paragon tier, as well as a skill challenge that can make for a memorable tikbalang encounter.

This 13-page product includes the following:

• A fully playable character race that favors the barbarian, paladin, and warlock classes
• Nine tikbalang feats
• Two racial paragon paths
• Three new monsters
• An optional skill challenge for dealing with the tikbalangs
• Two new rituals that are thematically linked with the tikbalang race

*While it is designed for the upcoming Buan Campaign Setting, this product can be adapted seamlessly to your D&D 4E Game.

It’s good to see that people are actually coming up with stuff from the Philippines.  It’s a small supplement at 13 pages, but all signs point towards it being only a part of a larger production, like a Buan Campaign Setting book.

4E DND Play Report I – Illyria, Magitech Setting

Hi there, Rick here.  Pointy asked if I could do a little report on how things are going in the campaign.  So here goes.

CHARACTER CREATION SESSION

My Illyria Magitech Campaign has been running for three sessions… so I suppose I’ll divide the report into three parts.  During the first session, the group and I held a character creation session.

Illyria was primarily a setting hugely based in Final Fantasy Magitech, Alexandre Dumas, and Elizabethan Europe – so to maintain the theme, I had to make sure everyone was on the same page. We had a few problems, with regards to character concepts… which include such crazy concepts like the purple elf and a mass-murdering demon worshipper.  I had to say no immediately.

4e Homebrew Setting: Illyria – A Renaissance Magitek Setting

I know I’m late for the homebrew carnival, but I’d like to take this spot to heartily promote a homebrew setting cooked up by RV, a fellow GM from my gaming group who came up with an amazing setting that mixes Final Fantasy with Alexandre Dumas and with a little bit of the Elizabethan Era thrown in for fun, all with the use of the 4e D&D ruleset!

Illyria is a setting where magic, fantasy and technology exist side by side. Magitech. Portals and Magical skyships, espers and engineers, summoners, and gunknights. Illyria is an unforgiving monarchy where the blood of dragons promote a person’s identity and social status. But still heroes arise in the name of the Queen, or in the name of the Country. Never both.

Please check out the full document HERE (PDF 1.6mb)

4e: Post-Mortem Analysis

This entry marks the last of my 4e articles as a GM for the time being as our 4e playtest cycle comes to a close, and a new series of 3 different games begins next week.  That being said, I think it’s time to go over the experiences and playtest reports and come up with a final analysis of 4e in terms of how it’s performed in my campaign

4e: Playtest Report #9

Note to self:  Towers make for terrible dungeons.

Team 1 heads out to a new town, to face a new threat as another villainous group attempts to capture the reincarnated hatching of Tiamat.  This time, Team 1 was more than prepared.

4e: Playtest Report #8

This week is Team 2’s turn to finish the dungeon that gave them so much trouble way back in 4e: Playtest Report #6.  There’s a feeling of improvement overall as the players finally found their groove and the characters rallied and started making a lot of progress in terms of group dynamics.

4e: Playtest Report #7

This weekend, Team 1 completes their adventure in Emerald Marsh, taking on a more story-aspected dungeon, a few run-of-the-mill traps, and a second run against the Guard Drakes and Needlefang Drake Swarms that gave them such a headache the last time.

4e: Playtest Report #6

This week, Team 2 begins their quest to stop a demon from realizing its plan to open a portal to the Abyss by sacrificing hundreds of lives to fuel a foul ritual.  Lacking one member (as the Ranger was not able to attend,) Team 2 heads off to find the temple ruins where the fiend was currently using as his base of operations.

4e: Playtest Report #5

Team 1 takes to the field today, settling in to their new location, a swamp town known as Emerald Marsh.  They arrived at a rough time for the town, as it was being torn apart by tensions between the churches of Melora (the goddess of the wilderness, and the sea) and Erathis (the goddess of civilization and cities.)  The rampant urbanization of the town is the result of the work of Mayor Tarrin, a halfling of some repute as a businessman.  Unfortunately, a string of disappearances of loggers from Emerald Marsh’s logging camp have raised fears and tensions, and this is where Team 1 comes in.

Villain Spotlight #2 The Thrill Killer

Welcome to the second installment to Villain Spotlight, where we go through the various villain archetypes that can be used for any game and any scale. Today, we’re looking at the Thrill Killer, one of the more common and diverse kinds of villains to be used in an rpg.  The Thrill Killer comes in all sorts of motivations, methods and madness, but they’re always good for a target of worthy adventurers.