Robot Viking

You have to love it when two things you really enjoy mesh together perfectly. In this case, those two things are”D&D” and “getting stuff for free.”

D&D Experience, a D&D-centric game con held in Indiana, happened this past weekend. In a series of seminars, an assortment of Wizards of the Coast creative people illuminated the future of D&D for those of us who have been eagerly hanging on every word they’ve released about the secretive project. Here’s a brief analysis.

It’s been almost three years since Wizards of the Coast pulled all ebook versions of their RPG products from virtual shelves, and there’s no sign that they’re coming back. In the meantime, they’ve developed the Virtual Table, a way to play 4E D&D online. They’re heading in the wrong direction. Here’s why.

A limited print run of premium hardcover reprints of the 1st Edition D&D books will be published by Wizards of the Coast in April. Some portion of the profits will assist the fund to create a statue in honor of D&D co-creator Gary Gygax.

Since the big announcement of 5E, or D&DNext, or whatever you prefer to call it, there hasn’t been much concrete info on what the new edition would be like. Mike Mearls revealed a few interesting morsels of data in an interview at Gameinformer. What exactly will it mean to “unify” players of previous editions?

What kind of fiend is this launching itself out of the night sky to feast upon mortal blood? Duh. It’s a Fiend of the Shadows. She’ll make her appearance in the latest Magic expansion, Dark Ascension, continuing Innistrad’s tale of gothic horror in gruesome new directions.

Admit it, you’ve been waiting to see that headline for like five years now. The nerdy parts of the internet are burning down, of course.

The art of Innistrad is among the best in Magic’s deep history of fantasy art, and it looks like Dark Ascension will carry that theme too. Have you ever seen a picture that perfectly defined “terror” as well as this one? (Well, maybe this one).

A brand new Book of Vile Darkness, specially tailored for 4E D&D, was released this week. Just in time for Christmas! It’s got all kinds of advice on making your campaign, encounters, monsters and maybe even your characters extra evil. Eeeeeeeeeevil. Plus, a poster map!

Heroes of the Feywild is the companion piece to Heroes of Shadow, a player’s option book that offers new races and classes for characters who seek to explore the enchanted wilderness that lies beyond the firelight.

The latest Magic premium deck, Graveborn, came out a few weeks ago, and it’s packed with graveyard filling goodies. They’re all decked out with special foil treatments, too. I’m just not quite sure who these decks are for.

Wizards of the Coast announced last week that they’re bringing back Planechase as the multi-player format for this coming summer. It’s easily my favorite summer format since it’s so much fun, blends well with other formats and is easy for new or casual players to grasp. Plus, the new Planechase sets will have some goodies [...]

Scott Fitzgerald Gray has a bunch of high-profile RPG writing credits under his belt, including the 4E version of the classic Tomb of Horrors. He recently did an interview with one of my favorite gaming blogs, The Id DM, that touched on the necessity of being a renaissance man in the gaming business, how awesome [...]

I read Gary Ray’s Quest for Fun blog frequently. I find his insights into the world of the game store very insightful. Last month I was reading one of his posts (Adventure is Key) and it brought into crystal clarity a number of ideas that I had in my mind. It made me change a [...]