TOPIC: Gaming News and Discussion

On Cariryn's suggestion, I've created a thread where we can post/discuss news, announcements and articles from the wider world of gaming. I will try to update this once a week, but anyone should feel free to post anything that catches their attention and may provoke debate within the community.

UK GAMES EXPO 2016
wwww.ukgamesexpo.co.uk/
In case anyone just emerged from a coma or the depths of the sea, this years UK Games Expo occurs at the NEC Metro Interpole, Birmingham between 03/05/2016 & 05/05/2016. Tickets available online. If you want to run a game/event at the expo, register on the site then submit an event entry form. Will anyone from the BCRPS be going to the expo or running an event?

D&D.5 NOW SUBJECT TO OGL (OPEN GAME LICENSE)
dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/system...ference-document-srd
Essentially, this allows third party publishers to create & sell content for D&D.5; new classes, new races, new items & new adventures. When D&D.3 went OGL, the result was Pathfinder. Looking forward to seeing what comes from this development. Does anyone from the BCRPS intend to produce anything for the game?

RETURN TO RAVENLOFT - NEXT OFFICIAL D&D.5 CAMPAIGN BOOK ANNOUNCED
dnd.wizards.com/articles/news/return-ravenloft
Curse of Strahd (levels 1-10) due for release 15/03/2016.
"Heroes from the Forgotten Realms and other D&D worlds can easily be drawn into Strahd’s cursed land. Once there, they must contend with the horrors of Barovia. Its people are melancholy, misshapen and grotesque, living in fear of the wolves and other creatures that serve Strahd’s evil will. The only hope for the trapped adventurers is to heed the warnings of a mysterious fortune-teller named Madam Eva. Drawing random cards from her tarroka deck, she directs adventurers to search Strahd’s domain for artifacts and allies to help the master of Castle Ravenloft."
Does anyone from the BCRPS plan to run this campaign in rotation 3 or 4? Has anyone played in or run the original Ravenloft adventure?

In response to my own post.

I do not anticipate that I'll be going to the expo this year. The main reason I've gone in the past is to run games, but it has slowly dawned on me that I don't enjoy running one-shots for a grab bag of total strangers.

I'm looking forward to seeing what Paizo do with the D&D.5 mechanics now they are OGL. A lot of folk on the Pathfinder forums are speculating that Pathfinder 2.0 could be on the cards as a result of this development. I hope this is true as while I like the Pathfinder world, I strongly dislike the system and how crunchy it is. A more accessible Pathfinder 2.0 based on the D&D.5 template would be of massive interest to me.

I will likely pick up a copy of Curse of Strahd but it's unlikely that I'll run it. I enjoyed reading Princes of the Apocalypse and Out of the Abyss, but I found the layout of both books to be dreadful and would not enjoy having to run either.

WHY THE TOMB OF HORRORS IS THE WORST ADVENTURE OF ALL TIME
johnwickpresents.com/updates/the-worst-adventure-of-all-times/
Blogger John Wick (no, not from the film) has published an article expressing his acidic distaste for the infamous Tomb of Horrors adventure for Advanced D&D. The article raises some interesting points about how DMing has changed with the evolution of the hobby, specifically in relation to player deaths and the dreaded TPK. What are your experiences of character death and did they result in someone getting punched in the face?

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Viggie wrote: "The article is correct about the old school that people get all nostalgic about (i.e.a lot of those TSR modules were crap). It also demonstrates what an arse John Wick is."

Cariryn wrote: "Cheers Mike, enjoyed reading that. (Why not post on the forum - would be good to discuss this topic more)."

mikeawmids wrote:
I'll be going again to play. At least the Friday and the Saturday. Will play in a game or two on the Friday then check out the new mammoth trade hall whilst it's still relatively quiet compared to the Saturday. Then just gaming on the Saturday. (Definitely doing the Cthulhu masters again). I did have a look at booking a hotel room on the (NEC) site. Last year I booked Fri/Sat night in the Ramada Encore for 85quid, but it seems all hotels this year are super-pricey. Might be tempted to drive each day. Has anyone else been looking at hotels. Gaz - have you booked in at the Hilton yet?

mikeawmids wrote:
This looks cool. I want to play in this if someone runs it. I've never played any Ravenloft stuff, but I have read a bit of it - nearly all of my info gained from perusing the selection in Virgin Megastores back when it used to have a huge section of gaming stuff.

mikeawmids wrote:
The author's writing style did start to grate towards the end, but not enough that I didn't enjoy reading it.
Some people at the club must own this/run this/played this. What are your thoughts? Anyone with any anecdotes worth sharing?