Last year, Green Ronin launched the tabletop RPG version of Bioware's Dragon Age. One of the things that got me interested in the tabletop version was that its not yet another D20 variant, but a whole new system using a 3d6 mechanic. The fact that it is designed by Chris Pramas is also a plus.

Siroh, over at the Piazza has written a fantastic adaptation of Dragon Age for the Mystara setting, presented in a beautiful pdf which you can download for free here. Check it out!


-Havard

Metaorganizations are a component in Dave Arneson's Blackmoor MMRPG (Aka Living Blackmoor). They can also be of use for regular Blackmoor gamers as they provide information about various organizations and groups that operate in the setting. Unfortunately, some of these Metaorgs were never published and have been unavailable to the general public until now:


New MetaOrganizations
The final three MetaOrgs (as of December, 2010) that were released for the MMRPG were Followers Of The Gnome Pantheon, Scroll And Blade, and Ordo Elementarum, bringing the total number of available MetaOrgs within the MMRPG to nineteen.

Updated MetaOrganizations
There was a final update to the Blackmoor Military and Skandaharian Cultural Society MetaOrgs in August 2008 which revised the MetaOrg membership certificates. The Fairwind Circus MetaOrg was also updated at that time to clarify progression between levels.

Finally, as of January, 2009, the Silent Guard was updated to include a new entry-level membership tier named "snitch". The requirements for snitch are that the applicant cannot be evil, they must spend 1 TU to join, and they must have at least 1 rank in each of Gather Information, Sense Motive, and Knowledge (local). The benefit is a +1 on Listen checks to pick out pertinent information during an overheard conversation.

Thanks to the authors, I have been allowed to share these files on my website. You can download the metaorgs here!

With these files, along with the Mystara BC2300 Campaign Setting and the History of Dragonkind, you have no reason to lack reading material this Christmas!

Best Wishes for the holidays!


-Havard

The Mystara Fan Community, from their main headquarters at the Piazza, keep coming up with high quality setting material. Last month I talked about the excellent History of Dragonkind book. Today, the Beta version of the Mystara BC2300 Campaign Setting was released.

Mystara BC2300 draws on the legacy of Blackmoor as well as remnats from the Carnifex Civilization. At the heart of the setting you have lands like the Lizardman controlled Mogreth and the Shimmering Lands, described as the Last Beacon of Blackmoor.

The booklet, while a Beta version, contains enough information to run a campaign in this era, as well as maps of the countries of the setting. In the release announcement, it is promised that more products for this era are on the way. Clues to these products are also included within the booklet. One of the authors, Chimpman, is launching a BC2300 PbP campaign in the near future.  The Mystara BC2300 Campaign Setting can be downloaded here.



-Havard

Rumour is that WotC are working to remove many of their old free downloads. The Society of Torch, Pole and Rope has a list of the old school items that might soon disappear. Time to download them now.


-Havard