The 'bleah' standard healing potion

I think healing potions are lackluster as is. The DMG encourages folks to regularly dispense them in treasure parcels. As is out of the PHB, players spend a healing surge and gain 10 hp instead of their regular healing surge value. This is all fine and good until you hit about level 4, then the 10 HP boost is almost up to par with your normal healing surge value. As per DMG suggestions, you should keep shelling out healing potions up to level 9. By level 11 you should be switching to the higher tiered potions of vitality.

Maybe I am doing my math wrong, but I see severe diminishing returns from these potions well before players reach the next tier. Okay at level 1 or 2, healing potions are pretty spiffy. Past that however, their value really becomes minor (even negligible) compared to a player's typical healing surge value.

So I dumped healing potions in my game. I've instead ripped off an alchemical item from the Eberron's players guide. I modified my healing potions to add a specific value in addition to what a player would gain spending a healing surge. They've been working fairly well. I think I'll still have a problem when my group is teetering between heroic and paragon levels, but so far they are working tons better than the out-of-the-book varieties.

To mix it up, I do throw out the higher level healing potions occasionally. I don't associate a price value with them, but in a pinch I would drop the price by half if a player were to purchase one. Standard healing potions are a great value for a few levels, but quickly drop off in worth once a player gets well within the heroic/paragon tier. So I present below Digby's Healing Potion:

Digby's Healing Potion

Level: 3
Category: Curative
Time: 1 Hour
Component Cost: See below
Market Price: 120 gp
Key Skill: Heal or Nature (no check)

This green colored concoction discovered by the legendary gnome alchemist, Digby. This centuries-old recipe is well known among alchemists for its recuperative powers.


I hope folks find this a useful item in their games. Anyone else finding the 'official' healing potions lackluster? If so, has anyone been using homebrew items?

I'm out and about.

Posts will be slow to non-existent for most of November. Heading out of the country for a few weeks and likely will have little internet connectivity (nor the time to keep up on blogging). I will return with more blabbering of things D&D and gaming in the future. Till then why not enjoy this lovely map of Fallcrest from D&D Doodle which I must say is quite the cat's pajamas.

Board Game Review: Mall of Horror

Given that Halloween is just around the corner, I'm in the mood to post about things scary, spooky, and well... backstabbing, cut-throat board games.

The setup for Mall of Horror is classic George Romero zombie apocalypse. Various groups have headed off to the mall to hole up, and hope they can survive long enough before they are rescued. They are surrounded by the living dead and it is only a matter of time before zombies burst through flimsy barricades to eat one of the survivors.

The game is pretty simple. You have a certain number of pieces on your team, each with special abilities, and worth a set amount of points. You simply want to survive long enough (i.e. be one of the last few eaten) until the survivors are rescued. The person with the most points wins.

There are several rounds to the game. Players chose a member of their group to run through the mall and hide in a certain location, the only problem is each location can only hold a certain number of survivors. If you can't get into the destination you want, you have to hide somewhere else.

Also some destinations have special abilities. The security station can allow one player to look through the security cameras (and find out where the zombies are moving). The parking lot holds a supply truck where players can pick up various tools to barricade locations, or weapons to take out zombies. After the survivors settle in, the zombies move according to a random die roll. If you are lucky, you'll have few zombies at your location. If you are unlucky, the zombies burst into a section of the mall and then the real fun starts.

The zombies will feast on one player. Afterwards they are sated for a bit and wander off, leaving the remaining survivors. Who gets eaten is decided by a vote from the players at that location. This is a particularly gruesome aspect of this game. Want to man the security cameras? Want to loot the truck? Want the other guy to be thrown to the zombies? No random die rolls, everything in the game is decided by vote.

Each player is given a voting wheel that has all the player teams. To vote, they just secretly rotate their wheel to the team they want. Each survivor at a specific location gives the player a number of votes (some, like the 'guy with the gun' are worth 2 votes). Have enough votes on your side, and you get things your way.

What results are rounds of vicious deal making and backstabbing. Need some help raiding that truck? Sure. But you gotta help me vote that other guy gets thrown to zombies at the grocery. Get ready for some under-the-table deals and be ready to up your negotiation skills.

Granted a player can be eliminated, but that doesn't mean they get to sit out waiting for a winner. Each round they get to add another zombie to the mall (likely busting through a location, resulting a survivor being zombie food). Also for each tie, they get to decide the winner.

The Good - A relatively rules light game. With very nice components and nice art work. Quite a bit of randomness is in where the zombies move, so there is a lot of replayability. Plus the game is all about interaction with each other. The only solid strategy is being good at negotiation.

The Bad - The player pieces are a bit lack luster (basically stickers on wooden wheels). Too bad they do not match the quality of the zombie pieces. Also, given the kill-or-be-killed mentality, some people may not like the game.

The Verdict - This is a game not for the thin skinned, nor the easily bruised ego. I think it is a game best played with friends. I would not drop this down at a dinner party full of strangers and expect a fun evening. However, having your pals over for some beer and pizza, all the while cheering as someone has a member of their group eaten by zombies, well... it's just a lot of fun.

4E Campaign podcasts

As I mentioned before, when starting off a campaign I think DM's should freely loot what they can from other material. There are a lot of campaign primers you can pick up online, including from WoTC, that are free. There are two campaigns I want to bring up, mainly because they each include podcasts of players during actual game sessions.

The first is from Roleplaying Public Radio and their new world campaign setting. It is an intriguing setup as the players are part of a new group of colonists in a new land. Things are very fluid politically and there are a lot of moral quandaries and political factions for the players to get stuck in. The new world does have some indigenous tribes on its shores. How much effort should the players make to work with these groups?

One major obstacle is the need for massive labor. Labor is hard to come by so slavery might be an option for the colony. Should the players support such a thing? Also a goblin hulk is sitting off the waters of the colony. Goblins would be willing to do the bulk of labor on the cheap, but at what price in the future?

All of this has a backdrop of a larger story, where ruins of an ancient civilization are abound. Some players will be drawn towards these ruins through visions and dreams. Deep within those ruins lies the trigger for creating a new age, or will it bring the end of the world? Fun stuff abound here.

The podcasts are entertaining (if you are willing to put up with some NSFW junior high locker humor). While it is tailored to a particular group, just sitting through some of the player discussions regarding some of the sticker moral arguments is worthwhile. I think a DM could pick up a lot of ideas on what would work, and what would need some refining, when running their sessions.

Another minus for me in the podcast (aside from some of the coarse table-talk) is the painful recording of every fight. Playing out a combat is fun. Listening to people play is not. I typically find myself skipping much of the combats during the podcasts.

Still with its flaws, I think this is a great setting. Having the podcasts of actual sessions is also a huge plus as it serves as a reservoir for ideas. It can also highlight parts that can work (or need to be dropped/modified) for a session. Plus the setting is so open, I think a group would have a lot of fun tackling some of the political and moral elements of the campaign, all the while having the excitement of exploring a new land.

The other campaign podcast is Return to Northmoor which I've enjoyed a lot. The campaign is much more structured like a WoTC's scales of war. It has info on encounters and thoroughly providing notes for running a game session.

One particularly interesting concept of the campaign is the relationships the players have with each other. Additionally, much of their background has a tremendous impact on the main story. The players begin at the periphery of a large kingdom making their final run on a cargo raft to a remote outpost. They stumble into an arcane mystery which leads them to an ancient civilization related to each of their pasts.

I really enjoy these podcasts. They are broken down into two types. One is a thorough discussion on tips and pointers for running the material provided. The second is actual recordings of the play sessions. What I particularly like is that the play sessions are edited. Some of the more exciting elements of combat are left in, but most of it is truncated or skipped over, with emphasis made on group roleplaying. I think it is a great format, and something to emulate more (are you listening WoTC?).

Those are two I've been following as of late. Anyone else found some fun 4E campaign podcasts?