Robot Viking

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 [...]

Too early for a holiday gift guide? Hey, I didn’t say what holiday. Maybe this set of five pre-painted dragon minis would make a perfect belated Halloween gift for that special someone.

By now, RPG publishers have the campaign setting guide down pat. Slap together a few gazetteers covering the region, detail some important NPCs, add a few plot hooks and subversive organizations and you’re done. The Neverwinter Campaign Setting takes a different angle. This is so much more than a list places to visit and people [...]

At his blog of general geekery, Greywulf’s Lair, Greywulf himself lays out some of the missteps Wizards has made in the creation and promotion of the D&D brand, comparing them to the things Games Workshop does right in promoting Warhammer 40K.

The Legend of Drizzt is the third entry in Wizards of the Coast’s series of D&D based board games. It uses the same basic mechanics as the first two, but adapts the game to the Forgotten Realms, using all the major characters from R.A. Salvatore’s novels instead of generic heroes and villains.

The second novel in the Neverwinter Saga, Neverwinter, comes out next week. We asked author R.A. Salvatore about the changes he’s made to his iconic dark elf, Drizzt Do’Urden, how the Forgotten Realms have changed, and what it takes to write a vivid battle scene.