Robot Viking

Duels of the Planeswalkers lets you play Magic: the Gathering on your computer or gaming console, against the computer or online friends. It’s a standalone game — no card collecting — and it gets updated every year. It’s sort of the Madden of strategy/puzzle games, and this year’s edition is fantastic.

Into the Unknown is a book in a strange place. The edition it’s part of is on it’s way out the door. All the attention is on D&D Next, but 4E books are still coming out. The last one wasn’t so hot. This one is much better by virtue of being less about 4E and [...]

Now that the D&D Next playtest has been released into the wild, there’s no shortage of talk about the future of the new edition. Who better to ask about it than the lead designer himself, Mike Mearls?

D&D Next is still in the testing phase, so we don’t know how the final version will look. One thing seems pretty concrete though — a concept called “bounded accuracy.” What the heck is bounded accuracy? Nothing much. Just the solution to the biggest flaw that’s existed in every edition of D&D so far.

Once upon a time, we had a cookout at my house, tried out the new (at the time) Archenemy multiplayer format, grilled food and generally had a good time. So we decided to do it again! This time, Planechase 2 was being tested.

A closed “friends and family” playtest of the new D&D edition has been going on for a few months. Only certain <ahem> select people and sites were allowed to participate. But now they’re throwing the gates open and letting any old riff raff try out the new rules and offer comments and suggestions. Are you [...]

This is an image from one of the cards in the upcoming Magic set, Avacyn Restored. Does it make you uncomfortable?

Sabira d’Deneith is a Sentinal Marshal in the city of Stormreach, spending her days dragging criminals in to face justice and drowning her sorrows at the local tavern. A series of horrific serial killings sends her back to the dwarven holds to catch the killer, and she thinks she knows who’s responsible – the same [...]

The upcoming set for Magic: the Gathering tells the last chapter in the story of Innistrad, a plane that seemed doomed to despair as it was overrun by vampires, zombies and werewolves. Now it seems their angel protector, Avacyn, will be released from the Helvault — along with one seriously wicked demon. Our exclusive preview [...]

A massive new storyline will creepy-crawl across every aspect of the D&D landscape this year, as the Demon Queen of Spiders and her drow minions rise from their underground domains to take on the surface world. Rise of the Underdark will impact D&D RPG books, organized play, novels, a new miniatures game and even D&D [...]

We’re halfway through the new 4-issue Magic: the Gathering series by IDW, and it’s been chock full of stunning spells and bloody vampires. The likely-to-be-rare promo cards are a nice touch, too.

Wizards of the Coast’s board game department has a pretty solid batting average, and Lords of Waterdeep is another home run (but not quite a grand slam). As one of the masked lords, you’ll work through your agents to hire adventurers, complete quests and secure your political power within the City of Splendors.

Viewed on its own merits, Heroes of the Elemental Chaos is an adequate 4E book with a lot new class options and a grab bag of other stuff, and some pretty cool fluff about a new magical power source that isn’t really a power source, or maybe it’s the only power source. In the context [...]

Now that D&DNext has been announced, it’s clear that 4E’s time with us is limited. Still, we have piles of perfectly good 4E books sitting here. How can we make use of them? 4E is ideal for player-versus-player combat scenarios, so let’s do that.