Incoming Barbarians
Wizards of the Coast has published a table of contents for this month’s issue ofDragon. The articles aren’t up yet, but there look to be some interesting things in this one.
Most attractive: a playtest article for next year’s Player’s Handbook II barbarian class. This is the second playtest article, following the artificier — a leader class from the Eberron setting, in which I had no interest. Barbarians, though, are another matter. I look forward to seeing the article. Expect a review of the class once it’s up (provided Dragon is still free by that time — I don’t intend to subscribe to D&D Insider just yet).
Other promising-looking articles:
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Character Development: Hot Potato
Are your players starting to get predictable? Does your group include that guy who always plays a brooding loner with a katana, or a shining and virtuous knight? Do you want to shake things up a bit, but without being heavy-handed about it?
I have a character creation method I call the Hot Potato that I use when I feel a new campaign needs something a little different. Provided your players are reasonably mature, this method might work for you, too.
The basic idea is simple: Each player gets to write a part of another player’s background.
In its simplest form, you choose a player to start off the process. That player chooses another player, and states one fact about that other player’s background. This might be anything from “Your little brother disappeared mysteriously when you were ten years old” to “Your father was a stablehand in the Duke’s employ” to “Your favorite color is red”. Whatever statement is chosen is true for that character, and the player should work it into the character’s background and personality.
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Myth Direction: Dragons’ Teeth
Dragons’ teeth figure in two tales from Greek mythology: the story of Cadmus, founder of Thebes, and the story of Jason and the golden fleece. In both cases, the teeth, when planted in the ground, would grow into armed human warriors eager for battle.
Cadmus, a Phoenician prince, arrived at the site of Thebes following the advice of the oracle at Delphi, who had instructed him to follow a cow and to build a city wherever it stopped. Having found his site, Cadmus wished to sacrifice the cow, and in order to do so had to fetch water from a spring sacred to Ares, which was guarded by a dragon. Cadmus slew the dragon, but not before it killed many of his men. Athena gave Cadmus half the dragon’s teeth, and told him to sow them; when he did, the warriors appeared. He threw a stone among them, and, each thinking another had thrown the stone, they began to fight, until only five remained. These five, along with Cadmus, became the founders of Thebes.
Athena gave the other half of the teeth to Aeetes, king of Colchis, who later offered the golden fleece to Jason if Jason would sow them. Jason did, employing a similar strategy and successfully overcoming the challenge.
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