So, this was another project spurred by something said on Twitter. Two nights ago Jerry LeNeave (@DreadGazeebo) asked the following via Twitter…

Anyone know where I can find a nice high-res copy / fan-recreated map of the Caves of Chaos (aka B2 KotB). The 20+ year old scan is meh #dnd

Well, I had been looking at the map myself recently and decided to do a quick check via Google – see if I couldn’t link him to something. At a glance I couldn’t find anything and I thought… maybe I should make one!

Last night I started, and tonight I finished (I spent about 8-9 hours on it). Some quick numbers: It is high res (300dpi), 17″ wide by 11″ tall (5100 pixels wide by 3300 tall). The Photoshop .PSD file is about 760 megs and has somewhere around 400 layers. The full-sized higres JPG itself is almost 17 megs.

I want to thank @chattydm, @eldritchreverie, and @merricb for glancing over it really quick a bit ago. It’s nice to have a fresh set of eyes to make sure there is nothing glaringly obvious that I overlooked.

Download Options

Please feel free to download this and use it as you wish (even print it) I would just ask you keep credit to me in the image, and point people to this page to download it (as opposed to linking directly to an image). Each size has 2 options. The first is the regular version, the second (“No Trees”) has had the tree overlay removed, incase they get in your way.

Great for gaming use…

Large – (JPG, 479kb – slightly reduced quality – 1200×776)
Large, No Trees – (JPG, 454kb – slightly reduced quality – 1200×776)
Large, “Player” Version* – (JPG, 445kb – slightly reduced quality – 1200×776)

Good for printing…

HiRes – (JPG, 4.2mb – full quality – 2500×1618)
HiRes, No Trees – (JPG, 4.2mb – full quality – 2500×1618)
HiRes, “Player” Version* – (JPG, 4.1mb – full quality – 2500×1618)

And finally, this one is overkill unless you intend on printing it poster size, but here it is…

Full – (JPG, 16.8mb – full quality – 5100×3300)
Full, No Trees – (JPG, 16.9mb – full quality – 5100×3300)
Full, “Player” Version* – (JPG, 16.9mb – full quality – 5100×3300)

*The “Player” version of the map has no trees, secret doors, secret rooms, traps or room numbers.

Follow Me on Twitter!

Prior to mid-2011, when it came to my online activities, they were primarily Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) related. A majority of those who are watching me (I hate saying “following”) on Twitter came from this period of time before Epic Inventor (a video game I designed and do art for) existed. With that said, many have begun watching me lately due to my work on Epic Inventor. It is from these people that I have been asked the following question many times now… That question being, “What is this ‘D&D’ thing you have been talking a lot about?”

A Quick Recap (it’s relevant)

Last year was crazy, let’s start there. Right at the beginning of 2011 I played Pathfinder for the first time. A die-hard Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) DM/Player since the age of 12, putting 4th Edition D&D aside for Pathfinder was a little difficult initially, even if Pathfinder IS essentially D&D. The first six months of the year involved a lot of Pathfinder gaming, but also a lot of Terraria playing as we got close to the halfway point.

By the time July (2011) came around, Terraria was hot among my circle of friends. I had convinced most of them to try it earlier and many were still playing at this point. I could not have guessed, even at the beginning of the month, that in a few short weeks I would be designing and doing the art for a new game inspired by Terraria; a game that myself and two friends would work on together called Epic Inventor. By the end of July we were already a week into development with plans for a December(ish) release.

My D&D and Pathfinder playing came to an immediate halt. I was working 40 hours a week at “the day job” and around 40 at home on our new game. As we closed in on December there were weeks that we worked 60 to even 80 hours on the game. My “day job” was starting to feel like a side job – I could barely remember what I had done there by the time Saturday rolled around. On the other hand, I was having regular dreams about Epic Inventor and could tell you everything about any aspect of it, whether it was completed or not. Needless to say, there simply was no more time for D&D.

By mid-December (2011), we had released the beta version of Epic Inventor to the world… or at least to those interested in trying it out (they were indeed from all over the world though!). An article in Rock Paper Shotgun said the game had a “Bright Future”, and the attention spurred a huge wave of downloads on Desura as well as from our website… things got kind of crazy (a good crazy, mind you).

Today

Work on Epic Inventor is still regular, but the hours have toned down a lot. We are re-discovering what it is like to have free time and we’re beginning to relax a little (just a little). My free time has always involved a lot of D&D, so I felt like this was a good time to address the question I mentioned earlier. For many watching me now, D&D is something they are only just hearing of, or they have heard of it but never play it. As such, I will try and quickly explain what my involvement in D&D means.

D&D Is The Best Game Ever Made (IMO)

I’m not joking, I usually lead with that. That was my answer when asked about it last week, and it wasn’t the first time I have so boldly stated my opinion on the subject. The thing is, I truly believe it. You can do anything. Your imagination creates, and the rules help set your creations in motion. No video game has ever come close to being as enjoyable to me as D&D – and I love me some video games.

I rarely have time to explain exactly what D&D is (especially because when I am asked about it, an answer would usually require typing it out) so I generally link to the wikipedia article when I’m rushed, and say “Scroll down to ‘Play Overview’”. Sometimes I link to the Chris Perkins video, it depends. Often times I have found that directing people to the first Robot Chicken video gets them really hooked in (“That looks awesome!”). They get to see D&D in action which can explain a lot in a way that can’t be done well with words. Of course, I usually throw in a “it may not show the RP aspect as well, but you certainly get an idea for it and for combat, etc”. Your examples may vary, but that’s usually how I start.

Weem and D&D

I’ve been a huge fan of D&D for 23 years now. I love DM’ing it (running the game) and I love playing it. I also love talking about it, and as a graphic designer I love to find interesting ways to incorporate it into various visuals – usually stuff at least I will find amusing. Much of this was being done over at the popular D&D/RPG site ENWorld(.org), but I decided that I needed one central place to locate all of my creations for easy finding later (searching for things via EN World was getting harder and harder). That place would be a new website – one I would call weem.com (for my RL nickname of “Weem”), only that was taken… so THEweem.com it was, followed immediately by the Twitter account @theweem.

It is from here that I launched a number of projects – from “The Golden Girl Gamers with Wil Wheaton” (which Wil Wheaton himself enjoyed) to an April Fools prank site dnd5.com. But for all of the parody that happens here, I do get serious about the game and have written a number of articles about D&D as well as created tools and props, the most popular of which are my 4th Edition Condition Cards.

My involvement in D&D in this fashion (as well as playing it) is my hobby – I enjoy it a lot. I have no ads here, and am not paid for the work – it’s all done for fun. Additionally, I consider myself an ambassador for the game (as I feel many others are that I watch/follow) – not from a place of any authority or anything official, but simply as someone who wants to see the table-top gaming industry grow, especially this game. What I say, do and create here and on Twitter (when related to D&D) always has the goal in mind of bringing more people to the game.

The End (finally, am I right?)

I hope that answers the question to those of you who are new to watching me and were not sure what D&D was about, or why I was talking about it a lot. I also hope this wasn’t a TL;DR kind of thing, but I understand if it was – I’m long-winded, so it comes with the territory. If you are still with me, please hit me up on Twitter if you have any questions about anything (D&D or Epic Inventor related – or anything really). I do my best to reply to everyone when it comes to Twitter (I’m pretty good at making it happen).

Thanks for reading!

Follow Me on Twitter!

I had been thinking about names that day… words came to mind like “Era”, “Epoch” or “Age”. These words covered spans of time – something that could evoke a feeling and understanding that this game was meant to bring in players of all types… of all editions.

When I thought about D&D Generations as a name, it really made sense (to me at least). The second time I played D&D (I was 12) I played in a game that was DM’d by my friend’s Dad. Now, I have friends with kids old enough to play. Additionally, Generations really relates well, I think, to editions of the game as each edition is essentially a child of the previous.

The exercise of pondering all of this was being done purely for my own entertainment of course. My day job often involves trying to come up with names for various projects, businesses or websites. It also involves a lot of graphic work…

I’m a very visual person, and it was hard for me to imagine “D&D Generations” as the actual name of a D&D version without seeing it… so I decided to create it…

(Click images for a closer view…)

An interesting note here… the font used for the word “Generations” is the same font used in the “Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition” logo.

Anyway, I just thought I would share this. I was not asked to make this, nor do I expect WoTC to use the name or anything like that – they probably have plenty of their own ideas. This was strictly for my own enjoyment!

What do you think? Let me know on Twitter!

Dear Internet: we need a photoshop of the Monopoly Guy driving @amyokuda around in this car: pic.twitter.com/d8Xo5N51

So, here it is (click it for the full-sized version)…

I had just arrived home from visiting family and had a text from @SmittyHalibut about the challenge. It sounded like something I wouldn’t have time for, but when I quickly looked into the images available, I figured I would give it a whirl. Official time on this from start to finish was 45 minutes.

Anyway, it started with a tweet from Monte Cook today…

Someone with better photoshop skills than me needs to make an Occupy Waterdeep image. #fb

To which KatoKatonian mentioned me…

@theweem Hey Weem, I think @MonteJCook could use your PS skills.

…sometimes, that’s all it takes…

If you have some time (and love games!) check out his YouTube channel!

Back in 2001, I ran a Q&A with Zeb Cook [read it here], much like I did with Gary Gygax around the same time (found here Part 1 and Part 2). These interviews were lost to me for many years, until I ran into them last year (2010) and posted them.

The Temple of Air was also lost to me… until yesterday. While browsing some of my old sites via the Wayback Archive, I ran across it – something I had completely forgotten about. This piece was related to the interview, but followed the next day (if I recall correctly). He had mentioned the temple and when pressed for more details, it is the piece below that he shared. He indicated at the time (in 2001) that this piece was never published for Planescape, so I assume it’s probably not published anywhere else, but I could be wrong (he could have put it up somewhere online for all I know).

With that said, I hope this is something new for you to enjoy, but if it has turned up elsewhere and you have read it already, I apologize. Either way, here it is…

The Temple of Air

David “Zeb” Cook

Not all the temples found in Sigil venerate the powers of the Great Ring. There are more than a few beliefs that transcend the simple limits of orthdoxy to embrace the abstract. The Temple of Air is one such place. The Breathers hold that the very air of Sigil is imbued with holiness. Sigil’s air is the breath of centuries, bottled within the Cage. Each breath is the breath of someone who came before. A man breathes the taste of his wife, his uncles, and grandfathers and they have tasted the breath of fathers and lovers before them. The very air is what binds generations together.

So the Breathers, as most cutters know them, hold the very air of Sigil holy. It is the link to one’s ancestors, the receptacle of everything that has ever been. Breathing is more than living, more than art; it is a divine act. As such, it is not enough to inhale; the worshipper must learn to be conscious of every breath and to feel the essence of the past as it passes through his lungs. Breathing without understanding is futility.

The Breathers gather at the temple to learn the fundamentals of breathing. As such the grounds are not at all like a normal temple. There are no impressive displays to some mighty power, not even a modest house of worship. The temple is nothing but a simple compound wall laced with razorvine. Beyond the iron gate is what seems a garden with a circle of pillars. In truth it’s the entire temple – a polished marble slab ringed by pillars of Bytopian ivory, valuable to be sure but too massive to be the swag of any but the most gigantic knight of the post. On most days and in all weather a few worshippers sit on the stones, serenely communing with the air and all the spirits it contains.

The high priest of the temple, Grand-Duke Comolo, uncle to His Majesty Emperor Sindsaris of the House of Clouds on the Plane of Air, lives in a small set of apartments built into the far walls of the temple compound. He is attended by a modest staff of servants: a valet, two gardeners, a housekeeper, two maids, several spit-boys, and thirteen guards, all genasi of the air blood. He is hardly the image of a priest, barely atttentive to his own duties.

The Chant: Word to be had from the Miracle Man is that the duke’s in exile, cast out of the Airy Realm for his part in the Innsurection of the Strati. The guards and the servants are not his and the duke lives a virtual prisoner within the walls. It may be that among the Breathers are agents loyal to the duke, passing messages back to fellow plotters on the Inner Planes.

Marston Mouse-Ears believes there’s a vault beneath the marble slab where temple treasure is hid.

The Dark: The Miracle Man’s information is true; the duke has been banished to Sigil and his guards are his wardens, though not that he complains. He was a reluctant revolutionary. Of late, agents of the Strati have been joining the cult, intent on drawing the man back into their rebellious plans.

Marston is wrong. There is no treasure

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You find yourself sitting at your computer, staring at the screen before you. It seems a mysterious figure known as “Weem” has written an article on his website. At a glance, the work appears to be about a Dungeons and Dragons product he recently received. He goes on at length about how he came have it before finally arriving at what he calls the “Unreview”. You now have a very difficult choice to make…

If you choose to read about how Weem came to have the new Monster Vault, turn to page 1.
If you choose to simply read the Unreview itself, turn to page 2.
If you can’t be bothered with any of this, turn to page 3.

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PAGE 1
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The Matt James Show

So, a little while back (we’ll call it about two weeks ago) Matt James (@matt_james_rpg) was hosting one of his shows, and I figured I would drop in and listen as I have before. This particular show was an unboxing for the recently released Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale (video follows this article), a Wizards of the Coast product for which he contributed to.

Matt James

The show was interesting as usual (Matt’s an interesting guy after all), and despite the fact that I have not played 4th Edition since December 2010, I found myself very interested in this product. But this was of course Matt’s product – obviously he would be trying to build excitement for it, and it had worked… well played.

Now, here’s where things got really interesting… at one point he mentioned he would be choosing someone from the chat (essentially from the people signed into uStream and watching the video) and sending them a copy of the Monster Vault from the show. I looked to see how many were signed in… 8 (many more were watching but not signed in)… “Huh”, I thought, “Interesting odds… but I never win anything… but… what if I did?”. Immediately I felt bad… it’s been clear to anyone who visits my site the fact that I have been playing Pathfinder these days, not D&D. If I won, would anyone be upset at the idea it may not be used?

Immediately I did not want to win.

I hope I don’t win… Oh who am I kidding, I won’t win, settle down… I considered leaving the chat to avoid the chance, but the product had been intriguing me the more Matt discussed it. In the last month I HAD picked up the “Essentials” Dungeon and City Tileset boxes, as well as the first Monster Vault, all for use in Pathfinder. I bought the Monster Vault for the tokens really, and I would most certainly use the tokens from this new Monster Vault, at the very least.

Fine, I will stay… if I win, I will use the tokens… but I won’t win, so it’s no big deal… The show eventually came to the end, and to the time at which a winner would be determined. Matt would roll using a dice app (yea, he had no dice at his desk). He numbered everyone, I was number 8, and rolled…

…and I won.

I am one of those people that feels bad when they win something, regardless of the circumstances, and this was no exception. Although I had earlier convinced myself I would use the product, I felt bad for the others nonetheless. However, after having had a chance to look it over (and with the benefit of the passing of time), I can say… too bad suckers, I won and it’s mine!

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PAGE 2
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The Unreview

So, I don’t really do reviews.

It’s not that I don’t think I would be good at them, it’s just that I don’t want to say anything bad about a product/idea even if it is legitimately bad. Every once in a while though, I’ll talk about something I do like. One could call it a review, but I see it more of a sharing of tastes… like a, “here’s something I dig”, for example.

So with that said, I dig Monster Vault, Threats to the Nentir Vale.

Monster Vault, Threats to the Nentir Vale

Fluff, and Toilets

One of the things I have never been fond of with 4th Edition is monster info. Specifically, the lack of fluff. At this point, I have been around long enough and gamed long enough that I understand much about many monsters and can make up the rest. The fact is, I don’t NEED a lot of fluff, but I WANT it. Having decent fluff is what makes the difference between a book I will only look at once, and one I will take with me many times to that place where the reading magic happens…

…on the toilet.

Oh whatever, admit it – you do your best reading while pushing one out, don’t even give me that look.

Anyway, yea, I need my stat blocks broken up with chunks of fluff. Without fluff in-between, it feels like a brick, and I won’t want to buy it. A book full of stat blocks? I could make one of those from the Monster Builder in no time.

Monster Vault (NV) has the perfect balance for me between the two, after all, there can be TOO much (at least for a book intended to serve up a good number of monsters). In this case it was just right. I actually wasn’t sure what “just right” would be until I read through this – it’s exactly what I am looking for. On top of it all, the fluff is GOOD! My head was spinning not only with one-off or short adventure ideas, but whole campaign ideas as well. This was a book I knew I would be spending some time in the bathroom with (ok, that sounds bad… let’s just keep going).

The Listings (Creatures, etc)

What I really loved about this was the variety. There were listings for families, and various groups. For example, in this Monster Vault, there is a listing for “River Rats”, a “gang of common street thugs and con artists” comprised of stat blocks representing these various people. One of the things I took away from this book was that you could probably do a campaign setting book in this kind of format. There seems to be a LOT you can learn about the Nentir Vale just from this MV. It’s not just monsters, but it’s people and groups, factions and more. A full setting book could do more of course, but this is an interesting way to present the information.

Anyway, here are some of my favorite listings so far (I have not yet finished reading it all)…

1) The Cadaver Collector – These are big armored constructs that essentially go around scooping up the dead for nefarious uses by their masters. Awesome stuff! Combine that with some cool powers like imaling their enemies to one of the many spikes on their bodies and carrying them around with them during the fight? Yes please.

How epic is this tower? It has it's own fucking token! Are you not entertained?!?

2) Wandering Tower – This is a wandering tower (really Weem?) that changes its appearance. I mean, it’s still tower-ish in appearance… it’s not appearing as a traveling wand merchant or anything like that, but it has various structural forms to choose from I would imagine… It might decide based on the seasons… no white tower after labor day, for example. Anyway, this reminded me of a sentient fort I created in my first 4e campaign that gave the players a lot of trouble. Lot’s of fun, and again with the fluff – there was a lot for this listing and it was great. I came away with a lot of ideas here.

3) River Rats – I mentioned them above for a reason. This listing makes me want to make a halfling rogue and seek out Kelson… I’m ready to throwdown for the River Rats!

There are many other cool creatures in there, epic stuff like Dragons and more, so don’t let my current favorites downplay the epic in this book. I just happen to love the smaller scale stuff.

The Tokens

Yes, tokens. As I mentioned before, I’m not even playing 4e right now, but the tokens I love. I bought the first Monster Vault recently just for the tokens for my Pathfinder campaign. In fact, recently I pulled out this latest Monster Vault (NV) at Gator Games and said, “Mmm, tokens” before my brother reminded me, “Dude… you just won that book… you will have it pretty soon”… oh yea, I forgot.

The quality of these tokens (like those in the first MV) are rad, and the selection is great as it includes things I will be using again and again. For example, there are a lot of human/human-like tokens that will come in handy with my current Pathfinder campaign. We’re playing on Mystara with much of these early levels likely to be spent in a large city (Glantri).

The only problem now is… how in the hell am I going to organize and store all of these?

The End

The set also comes with a double-sided poster map which is cool, and that’s pretty much it. It was easily worth what I paid for it (ok, I didn’t pay for it so that was easy) – seriously though, this is one of my favorite 4e products. There are many reasons to get this, even if (like me) you are not currently playing 4th Edition. I want to thank Matt James for his show, which is awesome, and for the chance to win this product.

If you want to see the Monster Vault (NV) on Amazon.com, turn to page 4.
If you want to follow Weem on Twitter, turn to page 5.
If you want to follow Matt James on Twitter, turn to page 6.

Matt James Unboxes the new Monster Vault

My official (short) answer to this question is that yes, I am playing D&D when I play Pathfinder, but I make the distinction in the event someone may want to know more about it, or wants to know what edition it is I am playing, etc. If I was only playing Pathfinder (for example) and stated, “I am playing D&D”, I think the vast majority of people would assume I was NOT playing Pathfinder, thus the distinction is made.

With that said, I posed this question to the #dnd Twitterverse recently. I have posted the responses below, not in an attempt to sway opinions, but simply to share. This is of course anecdotal data, and I am not attempting to draw any substantial conclusions from it – the range of answers is indication enough that that this is a rather subjective topic as presented. We would have to (as others have mentioned) get into the debate of what D&D “is” before really deciding what systems/games qualify as well, not to mention find a better way to poll a wider array of people, etc.

The point is, this is simply for entertainment purposes.

Okay, here we go. I asked this question via Twitter, Facebook and Reddit. Here are the results…

Is Pathfinder “D&D” to you?

Total Responses: 55
Yes: 41
No: 6
Other: 8

Yes, Pathfinder is D&D to me…

@brianliberge: #Pathfinder is #dnd as far as I am concerned, yes.

@paulbaalham: ive always thought it was

@dmfumbl: #pathfinder is as much #dnd as 3.5, 3.0, 2e, and 1e. Never understood the argument against thinking that way.

@smittyhalibut: I treat it as such, yes.

@pedr: #pathfinder is definitely #dnd to me. I far prefer 4e but playing pfrpg feels just like playing 3.5 did

@exalteddarkness: I certainly consider #pathfinder to be #dnd, most certainly in spirit if not in name/publisher.

@sarahdarkmagic: I think it is but at times it can be important to distinguish.

@samldanach: yes. I feel that #pathfinder is #dnd

@zizazat: #patfhfinder is totally #dnd to me. Started w/ red box, played 2nd and 3rd. Pathfinder continues in that tradition for me.

@dysonlogos: I feel that #Pathfinder is (a) #DnD game, yes. But I understand people who don’t.

@richgreen01: yep #pathfinder is still #dnd

@charismacheck: Yes, I do consider it an upgraded version of DnD.

@the_blind_gm: the answer is of corse yes branding has little to do with the game at it’s core

@brainclouds: I’ve never read a Pathfinder core rulebook in my life, yet I understand everything when I read a module. So, in a way, yes.

@grahamemulliss: I would say no. Can’t really explain why in 200 characters tho.

@ldcomic: pathfinder is “all but” dnd to me. In some ways, more dnd than 4e ever will be.

@brindy: yes. It’s like a software fork. It’s 3rd edition revised continued on its own path.

@lowlyminion: Definitely. If you go by Mike Mearls’s recent “what are the bare essentials of D&D” post, there’s no question.

@ObsidianeCrane: Pathfinder is a version of dnd, like BECMI and AD&D. Like 1E AD&D it is a version I don’t enjoy as much as 4E (or BECMI back then).

@neceros: #pathfinder IS #dnd. Paizo picked up the slack where WotC left off. My table uses it as the core system.

@nikonraccoon: I think of #pathfinder as #dnd 3.75.

@captcalamitous: I went back to #DnD with #Pathfinder, I feel that #4e strayed too far, that’s a personal opinion btw #asshats need not reply.

Elsbeth [Facebook]: I don’t play it, but I still consider it to be D&D

Jody [Facebook]: Quick answer: Yes

TrueBuckeye [Reddit]: When my friends and I get together to play D&D, we play Pathfinder, so yes.

Laughing_Boy [Reddit]: Pretty much have to agree (with TrueBuckeye), here. Fact is, I have one group that plays Pathfinder and one that plays D&D 3.5, and I could imagine my characters in either game, no problem.

Not_Really_Here [Reddit]: Pathfinder is the evolution of D&D 3.5. Pathfinder is what D&D 4.0 would be if they went to improve 3.5, rather than re-make the D&D system like 4.0 now does (I don’t mind 4.0, I’m just stating it’s different).

cartmanbeck [Reddit]: Short answer: yes.

rednightmare [Reddit]: Is Lamentations of the Flame Princess D&D? I say yes to both. If has all the same tropes and conventions I expect from D&D then it’s D&D.

An interesting question is how much would D&D need to change for it to stop being D&D? I think that if the class system and d20 were taken away I wouldn’t consider it D&D anymore. Sometimes I think that 4e dances along the edge of D&D-dom. Not really mechanically, but with how the iconic races and classes have kind of been swept away.

dcampbez [Reddit]: D&D is almost like Kleenex or a Xerox generic for me when telling people what I am doing Friday night:

OLD ME:

Co-Worker: What are you doing this weekend?
Me: Playing Pathfinder (Or Eclipse Phase, Mouse Guard, Traveler, Outbreak:Undead, or whatever we are getting up to)
Co-Worked: Blank Stare
Me: It’s Like Dungeons and Dragons
Co-worker: Ah!

NEW ME:

Co-Worker: What are you doing this weekend?
Me: Playing Dungeons and Dragons
Co-worker: Ah!

Moves the conversation along faster…:)

Wakefield [Reddit]: It’s more D&D to me than 4th edition is, and it sure as hell put a fresh face on everything I liked about 3.5.

ShyGuysonStilts [Reddit]: Pathfinder is D&D 3.5++

W32Badwolf [Reddit]: Emphatically yes.

jcfalia [Reddit]: The only way that Pathfinder isn’t D&D, is that it’s not allowed to put the words ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ on the cover. But c’mon – it’s just as much D&D as any other version of D&D is.

Rayston [Reddit]: Yes. As in I know automatically without looking to closely that its not for me.

bobrogue [Reddit]: Me and my friends basically consider pathfinder what DND 4.0 should have been, it cleans up alot, rebalances things and gives alot more diversity to the game we switched awhile ago and never looked back.

insanityv2 [Reddit]: With all due respect, this is sort of a bullshit question. I have never seen anyone discuss of what “real” D&D without using it as a means to try and exclude people and try to assert some sad and imagined superiority.

So yes.

ExtremeMetalFTW [Reddit]: Yeah, it’s pretty much 3.5 with some (IMO) great revisions and since my group is full of noobies they call it D&D anyways.

Strebalicious [Reddit]: Considering it was designed to be used with all the 3.5 D&D material (with a few slight changes), I’d say yes. Inf fact, I never once considered it NOT to be D&D.

SmilerClark [Reddit]: It feels and tastes like DnD to me and my friends (who have been in a 3, then 3.5, now Pathfinder) game for the last seven years, but we prefer to call it Pathfinder. Mostly its out of respect for Paizo and their product, which we are really quite fond of. Paizo should get some kind of award for the masterful way they support their product line.

d1ngo: I say 3.75

No, Pathfinder is not #dnd

@phaezen: It may not be dnd to me, but for many people it is, and who am I to say they are wrong?

@wolfsamurai: [msg 1] It’s… not. It’s got the same bones underneath so it’s close, but it’s different enough that to me it’s not D&D. [msg 1] Right now, D&D is D&D to me. Pathfinder has similar mechanics, but feels more like it’s own thing.

@aliothefool: I don’t consider Pathfinder D&D. They’re both fantasy RPGs. Names are just names.

@nightchilde: No. D&D is D&D, Pathfinder is Pathfinder. I like both.

Moe [Facebook]: I was going to say yes but then read Ari’s “Hey, do you have a D&D game going right now?” and it made me reconsider. If I was running Pathfinder and someone asked me that question I would say “No I don’t, but I am running Pathfinder which came from D&D 3.5″ so I obviously think of it as something different.

AGNKim [Reddit]: Not at all. I don’t buy into the “Edition Wars”, as its all role-playing games and we nerds should stick together, but D&D will always be AD&D 1st edition, being 16, eating Doritos and wondering how cool it would be to meet Gary Gygax. And writing run-on sentences apparently.

Neither (that, or Weem can’t call it)

@hawklord2112: it depends. To my GF all rpgs are dnd

@mandarific88: [msg 1] Often times with Pathfinder I often preface it by saying “D&D, or in this case Pathfinder” or something. [msg 2] To me it’s the difference between, like, Oatmeal & Cold Cereal – both are for breakfast, both are technically “Cereal.”

@trachalio: That’s how Pathfinder was first described to me; it’s D&D 3.75. Haven’t played 3.5 or Path yet so don’t know if description is apt

@ampthebard: Any game of fantasy roleplaying can be #dnd if it covers some basic tropes. It’s the experience that matters, not the ruleset.

@miskatonichrich: [msg 1] it is based on 3.5 and since a lot of things were made for the D20 OGL. Dnd became settings, the D20 system was almost universal [msg 2] To some playing any rpg is #dnd because that is the Icon, like BandAid or Jello. Not technically correct but you will be understood

Frank [Facebook]: It is the spiritual successor and natural progression of the game as it stood with 3.5. I was just having this conversation with the store owner I run 4e at. In many ways I saw it as a pure system, meaning it was not bogged down with all of the additional glut of material official or not.

That being said with the Ultimate Books, the 3rd party support it can look as if they are taking some of the mistakes 3.5 and wotc took and continuing them. More class options, making more base classes, more feats more spells.

While I can say no it is not D&D in some ways yes it is. All that is missing is the old second edition spell reincarnate and there you go. D&D in a different body. This is the long form response.

Ari [Facebook]: I don’t think it’s any more or less “spiritually” D&D than any other edition, since it’s basically a variation on 3.5E. I’m no less likely to play it than I am most of the other editions, and if I were involved in a game and somebody casually asked me “Hey, do you have a D&D game going right now?” I’d probably say yes.

David [Facebook]: This presents us to the tangent of would you call Castles & Crusades or any of the “off shoots” D&D. On a pitiable level no they aren’t as they aren’t produced by TSR or their successors. On a game play level, yes they are a they use base systems derived from their D&D counterparts. Overall they’re games and as long as you’re having fun why classify.

In every campaign I run, I look for new/unique (to my players) ways to bring my players together at the start. I love reading about these from other players as well, so I thought I would share a few of mine.

This second idea (see the first) is one I used for my very first 4th Edition campaign.

Last Man Standing

The first game of this campaign began with me describing the troubles facing a small town. Compounding the ordinary issues that befall many small towns was an issue that many were not facing… regular trouble with Goblins.

The town was constantly harassed by them, or at least those on the outskirts were. Recently, it had become hard to recall a night were a farm was not raided, or cattle not stolen/killed. In fact, there were occasions recently where the Goblins had become so bold as to sneak their way into this small town to raid very specific targets. Of course this was very troubling – Goblins using excellent tactics, and showing great restraint to achieve very specific goals.

The problem was that while these incidents were occurring more and more frequently, nothing was ever done about them – at least nothing of any significance. The local guard appeared either reluctant or were too inept to act.

Goblins!

Everything came to a head one night when a large raiding party swept into town and began what would be a days long run of destruction. This consisted mostly of careless destruction, but was coupled with spurts of sophisticated tactics aimed at taking out key targets important to the defense of the town (of which there were very few).

Unfortunately for the players they all found themselves caught in this town with no immediately clear way to escape.

They were told beforehand that they would all be starting in the same small town. They knew which town and where it was located. I had also told them to think about what had brought them to this town – it was completely up to them. After my description of the events above, I confirmed what they had began to assume… this town being assaulted was the town they were all in.

I described how the local guard (led by a man whose name I don’t recall) reacted to the attacks almost immediately by going to few Inn’s and Taverns and strongly suggesting that any who could SHOULD be out helping defend the town. This call went up throughout the town and the players indicated that if they heard this, they would indeed go to help.

With that, I described how the young fell first, followed by the weakest, and that after two nights at the edge of town they had been pushed into the town proper. Fights were now taking place in alleys or even within various building themselves.

Finally, I described how the numbers (around the PC’s) began to dwindle until the four of them found themselves barring the doors of a random building, fighting off Goblins to do so.

“And so here you find yourselves, just the four of you, trapped in a building somewhere in town. The Goblins you were fighting seem to have given up on trying to get through the doors and by the looks of it, through nearby windows, have decided to move on to easier targets… what’s the plan now?”

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