Instant high quality fantasy music

Every now and then the topic background music for gaming sessions pops up. Most of the time people discuss cd's featuring soundtracks or other genres that could enhance a session. I'd like to introduce you to a quick way to find the right music for your sessions.
Check out Radio Rivendell - the fantasy station. These guys have a very good selection of the best fantasy music around.
Have fun!

Motherland Campaign Setting part 5 - Lay of the Land

The Kingdom of Calhaligon stretches approximately 3000 miles in diameter from north to south and covers about 6000 square miles. Most of the land is wilderness (76%, 4600 square miles), the rest is civilized area (24%, 1400 square miles).

A total of 252,000 people of different races live in Calhaligon, with about 42 per square mile. Most of the population lives in urban regions (91% 231,840 people). Only 5 percent (12,600 people) live in cities. The rest (3%, 7,560 are wandering or have no residence). These number change slightly, depending on the season.
The biggest urban population centers are:
* Thunderhold 9445
* Gatetown 1635
* Elvenwatch 1520

The rural population is divided between the villages and hamlets, and five castles.
With the Winding Waters Calhaligon features a major lake. Smaller lakes can be found at other places.

The borders of Calhaligon are marked naturally by a large mountain range in the north and in the east. The western and southern borders are political borders that were subjects to many conflicts in the past.

As a kingdom Calhaligon is ruled by a monarch, Queen Lucya. The kingdom grants minor lords of the lands in exchange for their service estates or plantations, complete with any villages or serf who live there. These lords and ladies claim a portion of the crop, herd, or other goods, produced on on his land. From that portion he pays tribute to the monarch. Sometimes a stretch of land is granted to a faith. Then the rulers are noble-clergymen, that also run monasteries (like the Stern Tower), cathedrals and abbeys (the town of Ortwyn is such a place). Other towns are controlled by merchant-princes (Crossroads Inn), guilds (Gatetown) or wizards(Sundall).

Calhaligon consists of three dales that are ruled by the duke. Minor nobles report to the duke, who in turn reports to the queen.

Calhaligon has a relatively strong economy that consists of:
* Agriculture. Mostly in the river floodplains, and sometimes even in the grasslands.
* Fishing at the Winding Waters. the halfling population at Denderlum also produces great quantities
* Forestry. Calhaligon has large forests, however there are often conflicts with the druids, as they try to tease the hunger for wood of the big cities. The elves of Darkwood are known to cultivate the forest without disturbing the natural beauty of the woodlands.
* Herding. You can find large herds of animals grazing in the vast grasslands and sometimes in the mountains.
* Hunting/Gathering. The forests offer game and other goodies for those who dare to enter the sometimes dangerous woodlands.
* Manufacturing and crafting is normally found in the cities or in the mountains.
* Mining is found mostly in the mountains and sometimes in the Adder Hills.

(c) Copyright 2009 by Markus Brixius. All rights reserved.

Undead Template Locator

I've put together a list of all undead templates currently available, for your gaming pleasure.

I'd love to hear your stories of your undead pc's

Locator

Bone Creature – Book of Vile Darkness

Corpse Creature – Book of Vile Darkness
Crypt Spawn – Magic of Faerûn
Curst - Monsters of Faerûn, Lost Empires of Faerûn

Death Knight - Monster Manual II, Dragonlance Campaign Setting
Demi Lich - Epic Level Handbook
Draco Lich – Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting
Dread Warrior - Lost Empires of Faerûn, Unapproachable East

Evolved Undead - Libris Mortis: The Book of the Dead

Ghastly Creatures - Dragon #307
Ghost - Dragon #300, Savage Species, Ghostwalk
Ghost Brute - Libris Mortis: The Book of the Dead
Ghoul - Call of Cthulhu
Ghoul Lord - Denizens of Darkness
Ghoulish Creature - Dragon #307
Gravetouched Ghoul - Libris Mortis: The Book of the Dead
Gravewright – The Standing Stone

Half-Vampire - Libris Mortis: The Book of the Dead
Heucuva - 3E Fiend Folio
Husk Vermin - Drow of the Underdark

Keening Spirit - City of the Spider Queen

Lich, Dry - Sandstorm
Lich - Monsters of Faerun
Lich, Good - Monsters of Faerun

Monstrous Vampire - Ghostwalk
Mummified Creature - Dragon #300, Savage Species
Mumia - Ghostwalk
Mummified Creature - Libris Mortis: The Book of the Dead
Mummy, Greater - Deities and Demigods

Naga, Bone - Serpent Kingdoms
Necromental - Libris Mortis: The Book of the Dead
Necropolitan - Libris Mortis: The Book of the Dead
Mummy - Call of Cthulhu

Pennaggolan - Oriental Adventures

Revenant - Monsters of Faerun
Revenant - City of the Spider Queen
Revived Fossil - Libris Mortis: The Book of the Dead

Sepulchral Thief - Cityscape
Scion of Kyuss - Dragon #307
Shadow Creature - 3E Manual of the Planes
Shadowslain - Shadowdale: The Scouring of the Land
Silveraith - City of the Spider Queen
Skeleton – wizards.com
Skeletal Warrior - Dragonlance Campaign Setting
Spectral Mage – Magic of Faerûn
Spectral Minion - Dragonlance Campaign Setting
Skeleton Dragon - Dungeon 100
Spectral Creature - Savage Species
Spectral Savant - Complete Psionic
Swordwraith - 3E Fiend Folio

Tainted Minion - Heroes of Horror

Umbral Creature - Libris Mortis: The Book of the Dead

Vampire - 3E Monster Manual
Vampire Lord – wizards.com
Vampire, Monstrous - Ghostwalk
Vampire Spawn, Elven - Denizens of Dread
Vampire Strains - Denizens of Dread

Wight - Dragon #300, Savage Species
Wraith - Dragon #300, Savage Species

Zombie – wizards.com
Zombie Lord - Denizens of Dread
Zombie, Juju - Unapproachable East

Pathfinder Bestiary overview

I've put together some information from the Pathfinder Bestiary announcement thread over at paizo.com about the upcoming Pathfinder Bestiary. Have fun.
The upcoming Pathfinder RPG is a much improved version of the D&D/d20 rules. The rules are currently available as beta playtest at paizo.
Now paizo announced a monster book called Pathfinder Bestiary that will feature the same improvements of your favorite game for your critters.

Release date: July 2009 (a month before the PF RPG)
Format: Hardcover, cover by fan-favorite Wayne Reynolds
Content:
* Minimum 250 monsters approximatly one per page
* Contains mostly Monsters from SRD plus some from Tome of Horrors, Pathfinder (a few monsters from Adventure Paths or modules) & other sources
* Compatible with the 3.5 & the new Pathfinder RPG
* No Monsters as PC infos (maybe handled in a dedicated book)
* Alphabetical layout plus index or chart that breaks out monsters by CR and by type
* Much flavor text/ecology/society type information
Licence: Probably all content will be open content
Misc: Pathfinder Bestiary II seems to be inevitable

Get it!

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: The Pathfinder Bestiary

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Core Rulebook

Pathfinder Link Collection

For those of you who never heard of Pathfinder RPG or those who are simply newbies I've put together a list of links where you get all the free stuff to get started

PATHFINDER RPG BETA RELEASE - The core book. A nice free download. It's also available as a softcover book (pre-order at amazon.de Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beta Playtest (Pathfinder))

INDEX - Two guys from the paizo messageboards wrote an index for the alpha playtest rules. Very usefull, as the original documents has no index.

NEW FEATS FOR PLAYTESTING - Lots of new feats for your pleasure

MAGIC ITEMS ATTENDUM - Lots of magic items that did not fit into the book

PRESTIGE CLASSES - Some prestige classes that did not fit into the book

CHARACTER SHEETS

NECRO'S SHEET

ROB RANGER'S SHEET

When the hurlyburly's done - A Forgotten Realms CS review

I) I'm a Grognard. I don't like 4E. I never will. I won't support this edition. I'm a battleworn paladin in the Edition Wars. I'll smite 4E whenever I can!

II) I'm a huge Forgotten Realms fan for almost twenty years now. I had my best times at the gaming table in the Forgotten Realms. I love all stuff from Ed Greenwood.

III) It seems I have a problem! What should I think of the new FRCS?
Finally I decided to get a copy of the new FRCS. Mainly out of curiosity. Full stop. Here is my review:

The good news:
There is not much crunch in the new FRCS, but mostly fluff. Thus you can easily convert what 4E stats you find to your favorite system (like Pathfinder RPG). Most npcs even don't have a level given. So you are fairly free to play the setting with the rules you want.

The bad news:
The new Realms (or the Shattered Realms by some) feel very different for experienced FR gamers. You might feel alienated with some of the changes, like [spoiler] that the concept of magic with Mystra and the weave was never true, or what will happen to your favorite npcs, places, or organizations, or the sudden appearance of new empires, or the drastic changes in the FR cosmology[/spoiler]
The book also reads at some points, as if it was put together in a hurry. It lacks many explanations about what has happend during the time jump, which may annoy you if it comes to some of the major changes to the Realms, as well as these little lovely details you find in other FR books.

Conclusion:
The new FRCS really looks and feels like it has been designed like a completly new campaign setting with only as much information provided as needed to get things running. Which is basically what was WotC's idea for the Realms - to make them playable for new gamers who might feel overwhelmed by the tons of realmslore available.
The Realms feel flat and colorless, which is already announced on the back cover "lands of dark peril await" - Indeed, but IMO WotC has gone one step to far.

Here are my suggestions:
Don't buy the book...
... if you can't live with major changes to the realms. Don't buy it even if you are curious, because the new FRCS will even affect how you see the old Realms when you read it.
... if you like to find plausible explanations for the major changes
... if you are interessted what has happend during the time jump
... if you are an old school FR fan.

Remeber to tell WotC why you did not buy the book.

Buy the book...
... if you think that the old Realms are overloaded with too much Realmslore, but if you still like some of the elements of FR.
... if you are a new gamer
... if you don't care about anything at all

consider to play it not with 4E but with Pathfinder RPG.

As an alternative try the new Pathfinder Campaign Setting or Motherland Campaign Setting at 3POINT75.org, which is strongly influenced by the old Realms.

Poll results

In august we asked our visitors 'What products would you like to see pathfinderized?'
Here are the results:

1. Book of monsters 19
2. alternate classes, like warlock 17
3. campaign settings 14
4. Book of spells 11
5. Book of magic items 9
Book of feats 9
Book of skills 9
modern roleplaying 9
6. future roleplaying 7

Most people would like to see a book of monsters. As you might already know this may happen. There are plans to do a Tome of Horror (Necromancer games) Pathfinder edition.

Second place is 'alternate classes'. As some popular classes like the warlock are not part of the SRD, it is interessting to see what paizo, or other companies will do to make this come true.

Third place is 'campaign settings'. Obviously people are not happy about the way WotC changes their realms. Check out our new poll about this topic.

A 'book of spells' is fourth in line. Of course we have the massive spell compendium, but there is still much to do, for example remove absolutes.

'Book of magical items' is fifth. We already have a magic item compendium. Still some people would like to see basic items overhauled, and new items added to this book.

'Book of feats' is fifth. As PRPG claims to be compatible with 3e this is no surprise. However it would be nice to have a single reference with balanced feats.

'Book of skills' also fifth. PRPG changed the skill system slightly. Maybe a book about expanded skill use would be interessting to some people.

'Modern roleplaying' the pathfinder way is of minor interest for most people.

'Future roleplaying' as well, but check out WARP20 to change your mind ;o)

New poll:
We'd like to know...
If you could cast a powerful spell that would be able to steal a WotC campaign setting, and give it to Paizo, what setting would that be.