The Alliterates » Bruce’s News http://alliterates.com Bent on total word domination Mon, 21 May 2012 14:00:08 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 Goblins Care Only About Your Axe http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BruceRCordell/~3/ubRjQMlZOqo/goblins-care-only-about-your-axe.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BruceRCordell/~3/ubRjQMlZOqo/goblins-care-only-about-your-axe.html#comments Thu, 10 May 2012 16:19:00 +0000 Bruce R Cordell My axe kills goblins dead, regardless of the underlying game mechanics. 

"Goblins Care Only About Your Axe" is my latest D&D Next blog, where I touch on potential tension between describing fights wholly in the imagination for one combat, and using minis on a battle-grid in the next combat.
]]> http://brucecordell.blogspot.com/feeds/3084801464646858530/comments/default 0 Wizard with a License to Kill http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BruceRCordell/~3/UQXuJA4B_60/wizard-with-license-to-kill.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BruceRCordell/~3/UQXuJA4B_60/wizard-with-license-to-kill.html#comments Fri, 04 May 2012 17:41:00 +0000 Bruce R Cordell
Check out my latest D&D Next blog that treats the the role of multiclassing in a game with such robust backgrounds and themes.

 http://bit.ly/KlT4bp
]]> http://brucecordell.blogspot.com/feeds/6619499269124977673/comments/default 0 Pushing Beyond Low Earth Orbit http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BruceRCordell/~3/26OSFQeIIDQ/pushing-beyond-low-earth-orbit.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BruceRCordell/~3/26OSFQeIIDQ/pushing-beyond-low-earth-orbit.html#comments Wed, 25 Apr 2012 04:54:00 +0000 Bruce R Cordell
Pushing beyond low earth orbit never seemed so close as now: http://spacepush.com !!
]]> http://brucecordell.blogspot.com/feeds/8039911417319441220/comments/default 0 Wonderful Promotional Video http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BruceRCordell/~3/fXI5GIQrSVg/wonderful-promotional-video.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BruceRCordell/~3/fXI5GIQrSVg/wonderful-promotional-video.html#comments Tue, 10 Apr 2012 06:03:00 +0000 Bruce R Cordell Spinner of Lies, are connected. Demascus must contend with nothing less than a priestess of Lolth (even as he attempts to defeat all the ghosts of past incarnations).

]]> http://brucecordell.blogspot.com/feeds/7767609373188891472/comments/default 0 A New Abolethic Sovereignty Review http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BruceRCordell/~3/5TvfqVZHANc/new-abolethic-sovereignty-review.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BruceRCordell/~3/5TvfqVZHANc/new-abolethic-sovereignty-review.html#comments Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:04:00 +0000 Bruce R Cordell Even though I'm enjoying writing about Demascus these days, it's great when books in my backlist get some love. So it was fantastic to see a new review of my Abolethic Sovereignty trilogy (Plague of Spells, City of Torment, and Key of Stars) by the Crimson Bastards, a podcasting and game reviewing site.
"I have read several books by Bruce Cordell but I think that the books in this trilogy might be my favorites. From the beginning the Lovecraftian vibe these books bring to Faerûn captured my attention and didn’t release it until the story was complete."
Read the full review here! http://crimsonbastards.com/2012/01/review-abolethic-sovereignty-trilogy/
]]> http://brucecordell.blogspot.com/feeds/8439499733068393617/comments/default 0 Holy And/Or Radiant Damage http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BruceRCordell/~3/DxFwgkWLRrY/minor-point-but-one-of-potential.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BruceRCordell/~3/DxFwgkWLRrY/minor-point-but-one-of-potential.html#comments Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:45:00 +0000 Bruce R Cordell A minor point but one of potential interest to D&D players who've played multiple editions of the game. Can holy and radiant damage both live in the same game? (Another way to put it: can we get by with just the one and not feel like we're missing something?)

Take the poll here.
]]> http://brucecordell.blogspot.com/feeds/8544157159896780468/comments/default 0 So, Yeah, "D&D Next" http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BruceRCordell/~3/0qaa_M0H0jQ/so-yeah-d-next.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BruceRCordell/~3/0qaa_M0H0jQ/so-yeah-d-next.html#comments Tue, 10 Jan 2012 21:42:00 +0000 Bruce R Cordell D&D Next (as the cool kids are calling it), a project that will likely evolve into a new iteration of the Dungeons & Dragons ruleset. We intend that these rules connect with all previous versions, and indeed, the players of those games. Our goals are big, we own that. But they're good goals, and we won't accomplish them if we don't try. We want to create a rulset that can include players of every previous version of D&D because, after all, it's ALL D&D. The essence of D&D lies outside the mechanics, and we're on the hunt to bring this goal to ground.
]]> http://brucecordell.blogspot.com/feeds/5047440065014026241/comments/default 0 An Exercise in Sarcasm http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BruceRCordell/~3/YLag1m_YbK8/exercise-in-sarcasm.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BruceRCordell/~3/YLag1m_YbK8/exercise-in-sarcasm.html#comments Wed, 02 Nov 2011 20:46:00 +0000 Bruce R Cordell Herman Caine's 9/9/9 plan is easy to understand. That's why it's BETTER. Everything easy to understand is ALWAYS better. That's why iphones and electron microscopes are better than yelling and looking, because everyone understands exactly how iphones and electron microscopes operate. Shucks, I could probably whip either up in my barn in just two shakes of a lamb's tail.
]]> http://brucecordell.blogspot.com/feeds/4152700749764153197/comments/default 0 Imprisoned http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BruceRCordell/~3/llA_A60SB84/imprisoned.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BruceRCordell/~3/llA_A60SB84/imprisoned.html#comments Mon, 12 Sep 2011 21:14:00 +0000 Bruce R Cordell In the realm of the fantastic fiction and games, it's common to find imprisoned entities of terrible malign strength, secured by Ancient Powers of Good rather than destroyed. As for instance happened in the movie The Keep I watched last weekend with Batgirl.

The question is, why? Why didn't those Ancient Powers of Good who managed to imprison the Evil Thing simply not destroy it?

In my novel Sword of the Gods, and its sequel Spinner of Lies, this is something I've had to wrestle with. And this is what I've come up with, which works well enough for broader application:

Imprisoning defeated Evil Things and other cosmically powerful creatures is always better than killing them. Why? Because when they're killed, such entities reform/reincarnate somewhere farther down the time stream, but the where and when is impossible to predict.

By imprisoning an Evil Thing, you're guaranteed to restrict its movements in the future (assuming some clueless nazi/D&D adventuring party doesn't wander by years later and let it loose). On the other hand, killing the Evil Thing releases the essence into the multiverse, and that quanta of Evil Thing Energy will find purchase anew, eventually.

That said, a lot of great feedback was generated in comments where I first posted this, which I'm incorporating here as so: Different imprisoned Evil Things should probably have different reasons for escaping execution. Why? Because more options provide more story potential.

Possible reasons why a given defeated Evil Thing is imprisoned instead of dead:

• Death would release the slain Evil Thing to an inevitable reincarnation at an unknown time and place;
• Moral reluctance on the part of the victors;
• Inability for the Evil Thing to actually die (for whatever reason);
• The Evil Thing's potential as a weapon in some other conflict the victors are concerned about;
• The Evil Thing is linked to the Powers of Good so that to slay one slays both;
• The Evil Thing is an actual agent of a Power of Good and thus it is not so much imprisoned as kept caged until needed;
• And finally, some Evil Things are slain (we just don't usually hear about those in stories).

(Of course, if you're not an ancient power of good, but just a really butch mortal with weapons forged for a god, it's more viscerally satisfying to kill an Evil Thing than imprison it. A mortal's short life span means that killing a powerful demonic entity seems to get the job done well enough, so why worry about future generations?)

]]> http://brucecordell.blogspot.com/feeds/1760154254512371630/comments/default 0 Emailing Me http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BruceRCordell/~3/-YDgBh0W7Yw/emailing-me.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BruceRCordell/~3/-YDgBh0W7Yw/emailing-me.html#comments Fri, 19 Aug 2011 22:02:00 +0000 Bruce R Cordell Just click this link, which sends you to a google-mediated form that will get delivered to my email box.

I can't promise I'll answer, but I'll try :-).
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