Mount Hood

Dungeon Delving for Dummies: “Ghosts of Saltmarsh”

“Ghosts of Saltmarsh” is Wizards of the Coast’s most boring adventure guide

Stephanie Moschella |‌ ‌Digital Media Manager

For new dungeon masters, “Ghosts of Saltmarsh” is a suitable adventuring guide that lays out the groundwork ahead of time. However, for anyone that has played Dungeons & Dragons more than a handful of times, it is aimed extremely towards newbies and not seasoned players. There are many interesting moving pieces, including a haunted Shadowfell forest and hidden vampires; but, at the end of the day, it falls flat in comparison to some other campaign guides. 

With seven adventures and three new factions, there really isn’t a lot of new content in this guide. It is much too similar to the “Tales from the Yawning Portal,” with an assortment of adventures that can be added to any campaign. There isn’t one Saltmarsh adventure that screams “sea pirate shanty.” If anything, things can be taken out from this book and put anywhere else. This guidebook doesn’t convey these adventures well at all, and there is little to no character or story when it comes to these adventures. 

If DMs were planning on only running Saltmarsh ⏤ something that I tried to do ⏤ there will be a lot of times where they have to take full and utter control. With the lack of balance between adventures that are played in the lower levels compared to mid-to upper-levels, DMs have to throw a lot of freebies to their players. It’s hard to really push the boundaries of playstyle when it is almost set up for players to fail. 

I don’t get why so many people are saying this is a great adventure sourcebook. I know it’s hard to review campaign guides already, but it’s even harder when the book just kind of sucks. The artwork is amazing, and there are some characters that when heavily expanded on, can be great set pieces in a campaign. But that’s just it, it relies too heavily on the DM making choices to change and improve upon characters, which in the end, only the character name is something Saltmarsh provides. 

The location of Saltmarsh is cool I guess — the run down coastline town can be an interesting start to campaigns; but, honestly, within the first couple of sessions, it can become extremely small and claustrophobic fast. I just kept thinking about how glad I was for being born in the suburbs right next to a major city.

Overall Review: If DMs use parts of this adventuring guide in their own campaigns, it can add a fun and interesting twist. However, there isn’t anything new presented in this guidebook hence, it can just be dismissed. 4/10 would recommend to DM’s and players alike. 

Contact the author at smoschella20@mail.wou.edu

Dungeon Delving for Dummies: “Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide”

“Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide” is not Wizards of the Coast’s typical sourcebook

Stephanie Moschella |‌ ‌Digital Media Manager

Okay in actuality, “Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide” is technically not even a sourcebook. For dungeon masters ⏤ no matter how experienced ⏤ there will be absolutely nothing for them in this book. If you want a general overview of Faerûn and the Sword Coast area itself, then sure, spend $20 or so for this book. But, for people that have access to the internet, it is way easier to look up the information needed than to go searching through 50 pages. 

The Sword Coast honestly is an extremely generic setting for a Dungeons & Dragons campaign. It’s good for quick one shots with new and boring players or the Adventurer’s League ⏤ settings I don’t really define as actual D&D campaigns. 

There is a lot of lore here, and Wizards of the Coast does make it canon instead of flip flopping with conflicting lore like they did for the past 30 plus years. They retconned and reconstructed a lot of material into one convenient source book, but it still can only really be used in an god-awful traditional setting. 

However, WOTC will do anything for a cash grab, so they did cram some new content for character development. Besides the lore on the Sword Coast, other surrounding areas in Faerûn and a few deities, this source book puts a spotlight on class archetypes and new backgrounds. 

Not all classes get new archetypes and some only get expanded versions ⏤ which hinders a lot of character builds. However, there’s some interesting ones such as the Purple Dragon Knight fighter, the comprehensive Arcana domain for clerics and a storm related archetype for sorcerers. Bards and druids don’t get any new additions, but unless a player is trying to have sexy times with a dragon as an actual a-s dragon, there’s no point in playing these classes anymore anyways. 

Overall Review: For players that want an introduction to the Sword Coast region or D&D hoarders that want to collect all the books, go ahead and buy this. But, it’s pretty meaningless and not really worth the investment, so I would suggest just using online resources. 4/10 would recommend to DM’s and players alike. 

Contact the author at smoschella20@mail.wou.edu

Dungeon Delving for Dummies: “Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes”

“Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes” is Wizards of the Coast most essential source book

Stephanie Moschella |‌ ‌Digital Media Manager

“Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes” stars our friendly level 30 mad mage — he takes readers through the multiverse that includes realms like Greyhawk, Eberron and more. If dungeon masters have players that are looking to be thrown into some good ol’ political intrigue, there is some rich history here that can help with that. With six chapters that contain a plethora of new lore and dozens of options regarding general gameplay, it tops it off with a large bestiary of new foes to use against players. 

The first section of the book focuses on The Blood War, which was fought between demons and devils, each attempting to grab for power. They fought a lot in the lower planes, so if DMs were going to use this in a campaign, there shouldn’t be too much concern regarding players venturing there. Unless players have a pretty sadistic DM….

A large extension to the Tiefling race was added — many subraces, additional abilities and more personality traits can be used by players. Along with multiple race variations to elves, dwarves, halflings, and gnomes, there is also an entirely new race addition — the Gith. Players would be able to play a githyanki or a githzerai depending if they wish to hone their strength or intelligence skills. 

Although the race additions and bestiary are helpful, a large portion of the sourcebook is optional information to add into campaigns. It would be useful for newer DM’s and those that want a quick fix to creating lore, but for already ongoing campaigns, it can truthfully be disregarded.

For more modern DM’s, I would not suggest using any of the lore in this book. It dives deeper into why certain races are classified as “evil” compared to others, specifically the drow and duergar. This sourcebook provides a pretty lame excuse for being blatantly racist by deeming it as “world expansion.” From Mordenkainen himself, “dwarves are neurotic.” 

Overall Review: Between the name calling and race structured personality traits, this sourcebook typically sits on my bookshelf collecting dust. 5/10 would recommend to players and DM’s alike.

Contact the author at smoschella20@mail.wou.edu

Opinion: Self-love doesn’t have to be linear

Learn to like yourself first, and the rest will come later

Natalie‌ ‌Dean‌ ‌|‌ ‌Entertainment‌ ‌Editor‌ ‌

Valentine’s Day used to be simple and relatively stress free. Those were the days, when all we had to do as students was scribble a ‘xoxo’ on some cheap-o cards our parents bought last minute. The biggest stress was making sure everyone’s names were spelled right on the card. As we grow up over the years, we realize that there’s an external pressure to find someone “special” to spend Valentine’s Day with. And if you’re single during the holidays, then the next mission is to take that singleness and to “just love yourself” through it. In a world that puts a lot of pressure on loving yourself fully, right off the bat, what is someone to do if they don’t even like themselves? 

Thankfully, you don’t have to love yourself. At least, not right away. 

Self-love is important, but it has recently become the suggested quick-fix solution to people’s problems. If loving yourself was that easy, everyone would be doing it — and nobody would be struggling with the parts of themselves that they hide away. But life is not about loving yourself right away, it is about honoring the process of getting to know yourself and taking realistic baby steps. The saying is true after all: no matter where you go, there you are. 

It is not a race, and it takes active practice. Even though it can be difficult to put ourselves first, there are many approaches to personal growth. Some ways that may help is by practicing patience with yourself, and to show acceptance and gratitude to the body that has gotten you through a pandemic. If you’re sick and tired of being sick and tired, hold yourself accountable in the ways you want to change, and work toward those goals. 

Instead of being our own worst enemies, what if we tried being as patient with ourselves as we are with others, like we do with our loved ones? If they make a mistake, our first instinct isn’t to tear them down, it is to lovingly encourage them to try again. It is important to recognize when we speak to or treat ourselves poorly, and then try to be more understanding and patient. 

This last year has put too many people through the wringer, and it can feel like we’re going through the motions until we fully settle into our new normal. While the dust settles, it is important to know that this type of acceptance and love can’t happen overnight, and it is crucial to ask for support when needed. Love and kindness toward yourself is something that can be worked on anytime — not just because it is a new year, or because it is Valentine’s Day, but because you deserve to feel at ease with yourself all the time. 

Contact the author at ndean17@wou.edu

Dungeon Delving for Dummies: “Xanathar’s Guide to Everything”

“Xanathar’s Guide to Everything” is Wizard’s of the Coast’s most helpful sourcebook

Stephanie Moschella |‌ ‌Digital Media Manager

“Xanathar’s Guide to Everything” serves as a compendium of everything extra and more. With beautiful artwork scattered throughout and hilarious riffs from the notorious gang leader Xanathar himself, this is an incredibly useful guide for dungeon masters. This sourcebook is split into three chapters: Character Options, Dungeon Master’s Tools and Spells ⏤ alongside extensions on character names and advice for DM’s. Nevertheless, Xanathar and his pet fish, Sylgar, take readers on a wild ride through all the brand new content to play with. 

If DM’s have more role-playing than roll-playing players, the character option guide is a massive win. Combat-focused players might find this section a bit underwhelming, however, nobody cares about what they think. There are many revisited and revised class modifications such as the Samurai fighter and the Swashbuckler rogue, along with a completely new subclass, the Horizon Walker ranger. Another win for the four players out there that still play a ranger. 

A compelling addition are the racial feats at the end of chapter one ⏤ which cover races such as tieflings and gnomes. There are various supplemental tables that DM’s could use to expand a nonplayable character’s background with a roll of a die or can act as a helping hand for new players. 

This sourcebook covers those complicated questions that come up during games, like the rules around waking someone up, exhaustion, seeing someone cast and identifying the spell and what the hell adamantine weapons are. Knowing those little, but important, rules can make a game run smoother and improves the efficiency of the DM. It’s great to know what to do when a player falls off a cliff.

Half of the spells in the original 5th edition handbook sucked, so I always look forward to any new ones that come out. The major additions to the druid, sorcerer and wizard spell lists give a much wider variety for extensive combat play. From Xanathar himself, “danger is everywhere. Always keep one eye open.”

Overall Review: Although not everything is balanced, many things this sourcebook visited can help build an entire campaign. 8/10 would recommend to players and DM’s alike! 

Contact the author at smoschella20@mail.wou.edu

Student reactions to Trump’s 2nd impeachment after the Capitol attacks

Western students react to Donald Trump’s 2nd impeachment after the attacks on the Capitol 

Stephanie Moschella | Digital Media Manager

Do you approve of Trump’s 2nd impeachment after the Capitol attacks?

How many students voted: 79

Students who approved of Trump’s 2nd impeachment: 67 (84.81%)

Students who disapproved of Trump’s 2nd impeachment: 12 (15.19%)

Contact the author at howldigitalmediamanager@mail.wou.edu

Opinion: New Year’s resolutions are meant to fail

Making resolutions is nice, but fixating on our flaws is not

Cora McClain | Editor-in-Chief

Exercise more, eat healthy, keep to a study schedule, read 30 books by the end of the year, etc. — typical resolutions like these permeate throughout little (or long) lists we use for yearly self-improvement. Each year, we look in the mirror and list out all of our flaws and make meaningless lists on how to improve upon those flaws. Jokes have been made time and time again, but New Year’s resolutions usually last about as long as the holiday — one day or less. The way we construct our list of resolutions makes them so breakable.

Our New Year’s resolutions are reflections of our “perfect” selves: the ones who rock climb, the ones who cook, the ones who keep houseplants alive, but they are not ourselves. We create unattainable goals that are pass/fail with no wiggle room. Changing behavior doesn’t happen overnight, and too often we expect to be able to be at the level of our “perfect” selves by Jan. 1. It is simply unattainable, and only adds to a self-deprecating culture in which we don’t hold ourselves accountable.

That being said, I don’t hate goal setting; in fact, I think goal setting is the key to success. I just think that we put way too much pressure on ourselves to force ourselves to change who we are. Good positive change takes time and work, starting small and building towards that big change. Otherwise, forcing a huge change from the get go will only lead to lackluster results. We need to move towards kinder and more attainable goal-setting in order to facilitate change and improvement in our lives.

I have found a lot of clarity in how to create attainable resolutions in Leena Norms’ video on the topic, “Lies you’re told about new years resolutions.” She gives many tips on how to break the New Year’s resolution mold and look at the yearly tradition in a more creative and positive light. While watching her video, I discovered a trend — people aim too high and are far too harsh on themselves by believing New Year’s resolutions have to look a certain way. In reality, you can make anything a resolution, decide anyway to measure it and give yourself as much wiggle room as you need. It doesn’t always have to be “go vegan or go home.”

Contact the author at cmcclain17@mail.wou.edu

Press Release: Satisfactory Senate Resolution

ASWOU and WOU Faculty Senate approve the Satisfactory/No Credit grading option

Liz Marquez Gutierrez | ASWOU Senate President

WOU students: 

On behalf of the ASWOU Senate I am excited to share that the E-Satisfactory/NoCredit* grading option will be offered for Winter and Spring of 2021. The S*/NC grading option was offered last spring term to support students adjust to learning in a remote format due to the COVID-19 crisis, however, it was not a grading option for fall 2020 although ~95% of courses were offered online. 

As fall term began, we remained concerned about the mental health and well-being of students, understanding that learning in a remote format during a pandemic continues to be a challenge. In order to address this issue, the ASWOU Senate passed Senate Resolution 6.21 requesting WOU Faculty continue offering students the S*/NC grading option for the remainder of the 2020-2021 academic year. Additionally, Elizabeth Braatz who is a phenomenal student advocate, created a survey to collect student support for the S*/NC grading option to demonstrate how this grading option would greatly benefit students this academic year.

Thankfully, the WOU Faculty Senate voted to approve the S*/NC grading policy for the rest of the 2020-2021 academic year. This effort would not be possible without the support of students who filled out and shared the survey with their peers. I would like to thank Elizabeth Braatz for her incredible work in creating a survey to collect student support for this grading option and for presenting the survey results to the WOU Faculty Senate. I would also like to express my deepest gratitude to the WOU Faculty Senate for listening to students’ concerns and for their support of Senate Resolution 6.21.

On December 29th, 2020, the University Registrar sent an email to students providing more details about the S*/NC grading option. It is highly encouraged that students work with their academic advisor when deciding between S*/NC and A-F grading options for winter term as it may impact financial aid status or admittance to future programs (e.g. nursing school, law school).

We hope this grading option provides students the opportunity to successfully complete their courses as we continue to adjust to a new learning environment.

For more information, contact ASWOU Senate President Liz Marquez Gutierrez at aswousenpres@mail.wou.edu.

Two days left to enter the #SafeHolidaysOR Student PSA Contest

Governor Brown asks Oregon students to design PSAs on how to safely celebrate the holidays

Cora McClain | Editor-In-Chief

While the weather outside is frightful, the rise in Oregon COVID-19 cases is far less delightful. The easiest way to spread COVID is through large gatherings, even if those gatherings are with friends and family. The fact of the matter is, traditional ways of celebrating the holidays are less safe for everyone involved. 

The Oregon Health Authority has said that people in their 20s continue to be the most likely to test positive for COVID. To raise awareness, Governor Kate Brown launched the statewide COIVD-19 #SafeHolidaysOR Public Service Announcement video contest. The contest entails any and all Oregon students to answer the question “How Do You Plan to Celebrate the Holidays Safely?” in a 30 seconds or less. 

Whether a student attends a school located in Oregon or lives in Oregon while attending school out of state, any K-12 and college student is eligible to enter. Governor Brown will choose the winners of the contest, share the videos across her social media platforms and invite the winners to a video chat with her. 

The deadline for these videos is Dec. 18. There’s only a couple of days left to enter; so, if you are interested, get your video in soon.

A student can enter by submitting a PSA in video format through their form. If there are any issues submitting your video, email your submission directly to Sarah Dean at Sarah.Dean@Oregon.gov along with your name, city, school, and PSA title. 

Rules:

PSA Videos must:

  • Answer the question: “How Do You Plan to Celebrate the Holidays Safely?”
  • Be 30 seconds or less.
  • Observe proper physical distancing and other public health recommendations.
  • Be student created. An adult may assist with the video editing and filming, but the content must be student created.

PSA Videos must NOT:

  • Use music that is copyrighted. Royalty-free music websites such as freeplaymusic.com offer songs that can be used without violating copyright.
  • Use images of any kind that are copyrighted. Royalty-free image websites such as pixabay.com provide images that can be used without violating copyright.
  • Include violations of physical distancing or other COVID safety requirements.
  • Contain non-factual information, content promoting hate or discrimination, or other offensive content.
  • Include audio, images, or other footage of other people without their permission, and, if the video includes minors, without their parent/guardian’s permission.

PSAs that do not comply with contest rules will be disqualified. 

By submitting, you consent to have your submission featured on Governor Brown’s social media accounts. If your video is selected, you and your parent/guardian, if applicable, may be required to sign permission form.

For more information and ideas to include in your videos, visit the official My Oregon News article on the contest.

Contact the author at howleditor@wou.edu

Some examples of the video PSA from The Western Howl staff below!

“My immediate family and I are doing all of our gift shopping online.”

– Allison Vanderzanden | Lifestyle Editor

“I’m going to be celebrating Christmas with my roommates by watching a ton of movies throughout the day.”

Sean Martinez | Copy Editor

“I’m staying safe this holiday season by staying home as much as I can.”

Rylie Horrall | Managing Editor

Press Release: IFC fee autonomy is a win for student voices

President Johnson outlines IFC’s success against obstruction and clears up misinformation about the Incidental Fee

NJ Johnson | ASWOU President

Dear Campus Community,

The ASWOU Incidental Fee Committee will be charging a flat student incidental fee of $150 for winter term to all WOU students and President Fuller has confirmed that this will be collected by the University. This fee funds vital resources and programming such as the food pantry, student government, multicultural groups, and activities-based clubs which, during this pandemic, remain just as essential to the success and well-being of WOU students as ever.

I would like to thank the hundreds of students who took part by giving feedback in this process. While our campus community is a vibrant and diverse group of individuals with different perspectives, the overwhelming sentiment we heard was that students wanted us to protect funding for student jobs, access to the food pantry, multicultural groups and resource centers, student government, and activity-based clubs.

Just as they did earlier this year regarding Fall term’s incidental fee, President Fuller and his office attempted to obstruct this student led, democratic process this term. We filed an appeal with the Higher Education Coordinating Commission, and soon after, Administration officially recognized ASWOU’s fee autonomy regarding our right to fund these student led programs and resources. Amidst a host of other attacks on the rights of our faculty, staff, and students coming from President Fuller, this acknowledgement of the student voice is a huge win for this year.

Given some of the false information that President Fuller’s staff has been directed to spread to students, we wanted to provide some factual context regarding the student incidental fee.  First, this fee is less than the original fee that the vast majority of students would have paid were it not for social distance learning.

Second, while administration has targeted graduate students with the false assertion that this is a change to the structure of fees that Graduate students pay, the fact is that there is no change to whether graduate students take part in paying the incidental fee and are able to benefit from these paces and services it provides. Graduate students are often exploited by administration both as students and as workers, we acknowledge this unique circumstance and reiterate that we as ASWOU are here to fight for your rights and interests.

Third, this fee is the only amount of money you pay into WOU that students have democratic control over. We share the student body’s concerns regarding the cost of tuition and fees at WOU; a large amount of the work ASWOU does is in advancing legislative initiatives to combat the cost of attendance at WOU. Because of our commitment to fighting to keep the cost of attendance at WOU down, we have directed the Oregon Student Association to introduce legislation which will increase transparency and regulation around all fees that students pay, both the incidental fee and the large host of other fees which students currently have no democratic control over.

We encourage students to get involved in the incidental fee process in the upcoming terms through attending our hearings, filling out the survey forms we send out, and contacting ASWOU officials, whose email addresses can be found here. Information and updates can be found on ASWOU social media and wou.edu/ifc. We also ask students interested in more transparency around the large amount of fees charged to students at WOU to get involved this winter in working to pass state-level legislation which would better regulate student fees at public universities and colleges in Oregon. If you would like to be involved in the statewide student effort to pass legislation which regulates student fees, please contact Oregon Student Association at andrew@orstudents.org for info on how to do so.

Make no mistake that more work lies ahead to protect the legal autonomy students must retain in the process of assessing and distributing incidental fees. The overwhelming majority of students have expressed to us the importance of protecting the areas funded by the incidental fee and the rights students hold over this process. ASWOU will continue to ensure that students are kept updated on these matters and encourage every student to engage in the process for Spring 2021 and the 2021-22 academic year. Remember that when students are heard, students win.

For more information, contact ASWOU President NJ Johnson by emailing at aswoupresident@mail.wou.edu or by phone at (503) 838-8555

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