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Screenshots for the sake of having screenshots.
Gamers' Hell has posted some fancy new Tabula Rasa Screenshots. From the We-Got-Them-And-Have-No-Bloody-Idea-What-They-Are-Department:

"This is a test of the emergency description system. Had Gamer's Hell taken 30 seconds and posted descriptions of the screenshots you would be reading it here. Remember, this is only a test. In the event of a real emergency we would be running in circles screaming like a mage with aggro. "

You can view the Tabula Rasa Screenshots at Gamers' Hell.
 

DnD players, look up from your dice and handbooks a sec!

Turbine's DDO team turned out at PAX in force, and has some spiffy pictures and captions to show for it. Luckily, Marut (today's profiled monster) didn't show up too; the pasty-white crowd was almost certainly ill-equipped to dispatch an extraplanar stone construct:

A twelve foot tall statue of a hulking onyx man in golden armor stood before us for a moment before speaking in a mechanical voice.

"YOU WILL GIVE ME THE STATUE AND REMAIN HERE UNTIL THE MISSION IS COMPLETE."

Clearly we were not going to agree to this command. Maruts are inevitables that represent the inevitability of death, and are lawful extraplanar constructs from Dolurrh, the Realm of the Dead. They hunt those who use unnatural means to cheat death. It's likely that this inevitable was hunting a powerful giant, and was sealed away rather than simply destroyed for unknown reasons.

I tried explaining to the inevitable that the giants of Xen'drik are likely dead, and its mission is complete.

"YOU WILL GIVE ME THE STATUE AND REMAIN HERE WHILE I ASCERTAIN THAT THE MISSION IS COMPLETE."

Sighing, I nodded assent to the marut while simultaneously giving the others the signal for attack. It would be a difficult fight, but I had faith in my comrades.

Free forum registration is required for the rest of this entertaining Dungeons and Dragons Online: Stormreach read, or just check out DDO's Pax pics here.

Time to shake the wrinkles of your tights, cape, and cowl.

Cryptic Studios is gearing up for the City of Villains expansion, but that doesn't mean they won't take the time to throw a free expansion your way! The #5 "Dread Forest" expansion adds new zones, zone events, skill sets, and a decreased death penalty:

Issue 5's new zone, Croatoa is a resort community north of Paragon City where several new villain groups are clashing, requiring the intervention of super-powered heroes to stop the carnage. Villain groups running rampant in Croatoa include the Cabal, a coven of witches, and the Red Caps, an evil gang of goblins who are in a bitter struggle with the Cabal for control of the zone. Also stalking Croatoa are the monstrous Tuatha de Dannan and the Fir Bolg, which are easily identified by their fiery pumpkin heads. The Croatoa zone is meant to challenge players from levels 24 to 35.

Issue 5 also introduces highly-anticipated new power sets: archery and sonic. These consist of ranged archery powers for defenders and blasters; trick arrows for defenders and controllers, sonic blast powers for blasters and defenders, and sonic debuffs for defenders and controllers.

"Archery and sonic powers are classic comic book powers and I am excited that we are able to give our players more ways to subdue criminals," said Jack Emmert, lead designer of City of Heroes and creative director of Cryptic Studios. "The new Croatoa zone will also provide exciting adventures and storylines that will challenge any hero venturing into the area. But that is our goal, to continually provide new, interesting content free to our players so they can find action and challenge around every corner."

Additionally, Issue 5 brings new zone events to Paragon City, including the Hellion Arson event, in which Hellion gangs torch buildings in Paragon City. It is the job of heroes to douse the flames and bring the arsonists to justice. Also, at the Troll Rave event, Troll mobs hopped up on an overdose of Superadine transform into "super trolls" then run amok, endangering the surrounding populace.

The new expansion also includes a change in the debt systems incurred when a player is defeated. Players who haven't yet reached level 10 will no longer receive debt when defeated, and players, regardless of level, will only incur half debt if they are defeated while in a mission.

Pull your communicator out of your hero's toolbelt and zero in on this link for more info: City of Heroes Issue #5: Dread Forest.

A busy day in Auto Assault...

NetDevil's newest "prologue" feature on the Auto Assault site comes in the from of an fragmented event log from "Day 189."

I appreciate the art involved, but these logs gives me a headache. Parsing through these things brings back bad memories of long nights in Tijuana involving lots of tequila, nightmarish fletching sessions in EQLive, an female NPC named Aryclauwynn, and... well, you know too much already!

02.28.22 Disturbance reported at Enhancement Facility 5.
02.42.41 Second disturbance reported at Enhancement Facility 5 (Designated: PEC5). Camp Security Terminator Detachment A/11/51 to investigate.
02.43.10 Mastermind Agrellex Minor posits that if the disturbance is similar to disturbances on 188.02.55.10, 187.01.23.09 and 186.01.45.21 this would account for normal Pike behavior.
02.43.15 CSTD cautioned.
02.43.55 Consensus taken by Agrellex, Cantor, and Optimus order use of force to stop disruptive Pike behavior in PEC5.

08.00.85 Viewer visits the Auto Assault "Recon: Chapter 7" page.
08.00.86 Ethec moves on to the next news piece.