I haven't really been paying a lot of attention to WotC's site for quite a while now. So, I was really impressed when I finally got around to looking at the Vicious Venues feature. It has a ton of what Dungeon magazine would call Side Treks. The only deficiency is that there are, for the most part, no maps of the locations. On the other hand, if maps are needed for any of them, it strikes me that they are either easily made up on the fly or can be had elsewhere (maybe WotC's "Map of the Week" feature?).

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/arch/vv

Elite Opponents doesn't have as wide a variety on it yet as Vicious Venues, but I dig it anyway. It takes what are often fairly common D&D monsters (OK< except for the tarrasque) and uses the addition of classes, templates, and advancement to mix them up a bit.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/arch/eo

Both features have some nice, crunchy stat blocks to pillage, which is always a good thing, in my book. Both are nice little resources for a DM who needs something that's quick and easy. I have to say, I'd pay for a book of Vicious Venues, and if there were more Elite Opponents, I'd pay for those, too.

WotC gets a bad rap quite often, but they do offer up a lot of good, free content for D&D (and d20 Modern) players.

If they did a book of Vicious Venues, and included maps for all of them, I would TOTALLY buy it. That's the type of material I wish Wizards would release in print. We have plenty of Classes, PrCs, feats, etc., but not nearly enough by way of adventures and encounters.

It's been a while since I visited freqently myself. I actually remember being fond of some of the Random Encounters:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/arch/re

The last one they did, the city scenes, became the basis for a few plots in a city I was stirring together at the time.

Side note - the latest elite opponent is about rule-breakers (basically, template applications that don't follow the application guidelines.) The last one is a half-fiend deva. That reminds me of a creature I made once: a half-celestial succubus. I made it to emulate the idea of the Arturea someone made for planescape in 2e:

http://www.mimir.net/monsters/arthurea.shtml

'course, if I was going to do it again, I might use Green Ronin's Amalgam template instead of the half-celestial template.

*bookmarks*

There's a wealth of ideas in all the places some of the posters have mentioned. I really like the whole layout of Vicious Venues, just enough detail to spark the imagination and then these short cuts can go anywhere. Reading them, adventure hooks and plotlines came fast and furious. Cool.

Regards,
David R

Quote from: Caesar SlaadSide note - the latest elite opponent is about rule-breakers (basically, template applications that don't follow the application guidelines.) The last one is a half-fiend deva. That reminds me of a creature I made once: a half-celestial succubus. I made it to emulate the idea of the Arturea someone made for planescape in 2e:

http://www.mimir.net/monsters/arthurea.shtml

'course, if I was going to do it again, I might use Green Ronin's Amalgam template instead of the half-celestial template.

One of these days I'm going to apply the lycanthrope template to a bunch of buildings and put them all down by the docks of some port city... It'd make for a really dangerous were-house district.

:rimshot:

I've always been a fan of the vicious venues section, I even have them printed out and take the ones I think I might use with me game time. I also like the Steal This HooK! articles.

Quote from: CyclotronOne of these days I'm going to apply the lycanthrope template to a bunch of buildings and put them all down by the docks of some port city... It'd make for a really dangerous were-house district.

Damn.  That's bad enough to be funny.  So bad, I'd be tempted to use it.

I hadn't browsed WOTC's site in months - thanks for the heads up.

Yeah, definitely useful links!  Thanks!:bow:

Quote from: CyclotronOne of these days I'm going to apply the lycanthrope template to a bunch of buildings and put them all down by the docks of some port city... It'd make for a really dangerous were-house district.

:rimshot:

Ouch.

:heh: