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    Tabletop Gaming News for Wednesday, 19th June, 2013
    13th Age and Monte Cook's Numenera off to print!; CapCom's Chronicles of Mystara releases; and ENnies 2014 Judge applications open soon! 
    [13929/13929 views | 1 Comment ]


    [top]Dungeons & Dragons News

    • DM Volunteers Paying for D&D Encounters? I've seen various reports around the web (such as this one) that D&D Encounters is changing soon in that DMs will no longer receive the adventures for free. This apparently starts in August with Murder in Baldur's Gate which will cost volunteer DMs $34.95. [28 comments]
    • Fans + A-Series = Awesome! by Jon Schindehette -- "Come take a look at some of the art that Jon is showing off from Against the Slave Lords." [1 comments]
    • Wallpaper: Vault of the Dracolich -- "We hope you enjoyed this year's D&D Game Day, where thousands of players at local game stores came together for a day of great D&D fun! To help celebrate, we're pleased to offer the following wallpaper."
    • Hey, there's some WotC job openings. Mainly for Magic: the Gathering, but there's one for a Sr. Business Manager, D&D.
    • Chronicles of Mystara Releases -- "Capcom is pleased to announce that D&D: Chronicles of Mystara is available today as a digital download from the North American PlayStation Network and globally via Steam; the title is also coming to Xbox LIVE Arcade and the European PlayStation Network tomorrow, June 19." Penny Arcade has played a live a four player extravaganza of the game. [2 comments]




    [top]Pathfinder RPG News

    • The Dweomercat is a CR7 magical beast which appears in the new Pathfinder Tales novel, The Wizard's Mask by Ed Greenwood.
    • Kobold Press' Deep Magic Kickstarter has been mentioned on BoingBong.
    • Pathfinder designer Jason Bulmahn will be on the Know Direction podcast today at 5.30pm PST to discuss Ultimate Campaign, Mythic Adventures, and more.
    • Talking of Jason Bulmahn, he has written a new supplement under his Minotaur Games label - a tavern called The Lucky Dragon, complete with maps, NPCs, a gambling game, adventure hooks, and menus.

    [top]Tournaments, Fairs & Taverns is Sean's Pick of the Day

    "SEAN'S PICK OF THE DAY: Another one of those brilliant sourcebooks that all GMs should have in their collection. This one is a Pathfinder revamp of a classic 3.5 book that covers all the things a GM will want for when the PCs are dealing with games and challenges at fairs, carnivals, and taverns. A must-have for the library."

    Sean Patrick Fannon's pick of the day is the new Pathfinder version of our sourcebook, Tournaments, Fairs, & Taverns. I couldn't agree more. But if that's not enough:

    • "One of the best sourcebooks I ever laid my hands on - you can use it in any Fantasy/DarkAge Setting." [from RPGNow]
    • "This is one of the most universally useful books I have ever seen. It is also a fun read." [read at RPGNow]
    • "Tournaments, Fairs & Taverns is one of those extremely usable books. It’s the type of supplement that’ll see use in more than one campaign, more than one gaming world. It’s the type of supplement that can be grabbed and used by a GM working on a scene on the fly and can be used by a GM in the planning stages. Fortunately, T, F & T is good enough that you’ll want to use it in all these occasions." [read at Geek Native]
    • I loved the electronic version so much I had to order the print version for quicker reference." [read at Amazon]
    • I still have fond memories of this 74-page book. I have tried to find a way to use it in every one of my campaigns." [read at RPG Centric]


    Available for Pathfinder from RPGNow or Paizo.com.

    [top]RPG News

    • If you ordered a copy of 13th Age, your book is here somewhere.
    • And Monte Cook's Numenera went to press yesterday!
    • New Realms Publishing is holding a Six Days, Seven Adventures sale.
    • Postworld Games, run by Jim Pinto (L5R, World's Largest Dungeon), has released its successfully Kickstarted Toolcards: Fantasy. "Toolcards are easy-to-use cards that inspire the GM to run fast, exciting adventures. Names, monsters, treasure. Toolcards has it all. This basic deck is 100 double-sided cards featuring the most important elements of fantasy, NPCs, Monsters, Legendary Locations, magic items, and overheard conversations. Each card contains 9 pieces of information, with one side focusing on high fantasy and the other side on low fantasy."
    • Darkraven Fantasy Soundscapes is unleashed on Kickstarter by Ruby Nile Games. Darkraven Fantasy Soundscapes brings you up to 64, 12 to 15 minute loopable MP3 soundscapes for you to play in the background as you play your role-playing games in a fantasy world. You get everything from dungeons to haunted forests to castle courtyards to haunted ships and much, much more.
    • Brute Magic is an expansion for Brutes, the fantasy miniatures microgame that pits vicious fighters against each other.
    • Issue #3 of AFS Magazine, the zine of all things OD&D, is now available for pre-orders for $7.50 (in the US; $12 elsewhere). It includes "old school gaming modules, adventures, tables, and articles with a nod to the writings of H.P. Lovecraft, Jack Vance, Robert E Howard, and Clark Ashton Smith."

    [top]Community News

    [top]Want to be a 2013 ENnies Awards Judge?

    While the judges are hard at work whittling down the list of submissions to the cream of the crop nominations to be announced on July 14, I wanted to take the time to ask you a question: Have you ever wanted to be an ENnies Judge?

    If so, mark July 7 on your calendar. On that date, every person who wants to nominate themselves as a judge can do so by filling out the application. Anyone 18 or over, regardless of physical location, is eligible and can nominate themselves; no one will be turned away! In the end, the public-at-large will vote for the judges at the same time as they vote on nominations.

    So why not give it a shot? Keep an eye out for the announcement once the application is open to all. Good luck!

    [top]ORIGINS Attended Figures Up

    John Ward, Chief Executive of GAMA, posted the following:

    I want to thank all of our fans, sponsors, volunteers and GM’s for a great Origins show this year!

    Special thanks to our Show Co-Sponsor Mayfair Games, all out sponsors and exhibitors.

    Your support and participation made this year another successful event!

    Our attendance is up this year, with our final numbers at a whopping 11,573!

    That is higher than last year and here is the trend:
    Year Badges Day Passes Total

    2009 7,534 2,496 10,030
    2010 6,444 4,225 10,669
    2011 6,545 4,957 11,502
    2012 6,865 4,457 11,332
    2013 9,183 2,390 11,573

    I really want to thank everyone for the way we handled Wednesday and the Fire. I could not have asked for a more cooperative crowd as we left the convention center. I really want to thank the Registration staff for making sure that everyone got generics for the games that were interrupted and to the convention center for providing free pizza and water for us after we got back inside!

    I was very happy to see so many people enjoying themselves this year!

    I want to thank all the sponsors again for helping us to make the show bigger and brighter with great advertising, prize support for game events and tons of support.
    Thanks to everyone again and we look forward to seeing you next year!
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    Tabletop Gaming News for Tuesday, 18th June, 2013
    Dragonspear Excerpts; Playtesting Dragons; plus new boardgame from makers of Small World 
    [28825/15229 views | 5 Comments ]


    [top]Dungeons & Dragons News

    • Creepy and Crawly—Simultaneously! by James Wyatt -- Spiders, centipedes, scorpions, and more await you in this week’s Wandering Monsters column. Also, what should we do about that lamia? Find out what James has to say about this, plus please do provide us with your feedback! [30 comments]
    • Epic Campain by Aaron Williams --In this episode, the crew nears the climatic conclusion to Storm Over Neverwinter. The storm has arrived, and the fight is on!
    • Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle Excerpts: Adv 1 -- In today's preview, we peek inside Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle. The first adventure in the book's Daggerford campaign begins in Daggerford, during the public hanging of a Red Wizard. [22 comments]
    • Playtesting Dragons by Mike Mearls -- As you might expect from a game called Dungeons & Dragons, dragons feature prominently. This week, Mike shows you how these legendary creatures fit into the larger framework of the D&D Next rules set. [102 comments]
    • Against the Slave Lords is out! The hardcover collection of A1: Slave Pits of the Undercity, A2: Secret of the Slavers Stockade, A3: Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords, and A4: In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords are together again, complete with original black-and-white interior art. Added to the collection is an all-new fifth adventure -- A0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry -- that players can use to kick off an AD&D campaign that pits a group of adventurers against the evil Slave Lords! Module A0, designed for levels 1-3, sets the stage for events that unfold throughout the remainder of the "A" series.

    [top]Pathfinder RPG News

    • Mark Moreland takes a look at the new Pathfinder Player Companion: Pathfinder Society Primer, a 32-page player-focused sourcebook specifically designed for use in the Pathfinder Society Organized Play campaign. He includes two sample feats - Patient Strike and Versatile Spontaneity.

    [top]Boardgaming News

    • Some Kickstarter stories can end in tragedy! This game maker lost his home after his successful Kickstarter campaign led to complications. Thanks to El Mahdi for the scoop!
    • Suddenly find yourself needing a miniature for the Tarasque? Of course you do! This fellow's Kickstarter might have you covered.
    • Relic Runners is a new board game from Days of Wonder, the folks who brought us Ticket to Ride and Small World. It's a game of "jungle exploration on the run".
    • Senior Game Designer at Fantasy Flight Games and designer of X-Wing, Edge of the Empire and several other top of the line games, has announced via Facebook that, at the end of June, he will be stepping away from full time employment at FFG and taking on a freelance roll. He cites ongoing health issues as being the determining factor.
    • Starlit Citadel has reviewed Fantasy Flight's Star Wars: X-wing. It's pretty much all thumbs up, but well worth the watch if you are still debating about picking up this excellent game:



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    Tabletop Gaming News for Tuesday, 18th June, 2013
    Pretty Darn Fun (a look at new PDFs) 
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    by
    callinostros
    Article Preview

    As usual, there are at least a couple of new PDF releases I want this week. Which ones do you want? This week we have 9 new PDFs, 4 new WotC rereleases, 8 adventures for your favorite systems and the Spotlight of the Week is an OSR product, Monsters & Magic. They range from Oz to My Little Pony. Enjoy! ...
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    Tabletop Gaming News for Monday, 17th June, 2013
    Season of Sexism #2: The Fake Geek Girl; plus Origins Award Winners, and Red Aegis' designer dream team! 
    [51756/18782 views | 51 Comments ]


    [top]Season of Sexism #2: The Fake Geek Girl

    The second episode in our Season of Sexism! [See episode 1 here] Over the last few years there's been a particularly obnoxious phenomenon of men accusing women at conventions and the like of being "fake geek girls". This week we (badly) re-enact a couple of famous examples and ask folks at UK Games Expo 2013 what they think of the issue. Note that rants performed in this video are reconstructions of real rants and are performed by an actor. They do not reflect the opinions of EN World, the actor, or any of the interviewees. Next week we take a look at sexism in gaming art! [51 comments]


    [top]EN World News

    [top]RPG News


    • Check out this preview from FFG of Enemies of the Imperium, a supplement for Only War. There's also a FAQ and errata for Only War.
    • Matt James is heading up a new game company called Vorpal Games. He's been drafting in some great talent - Brian R James, Ed Greenwood, Erik Scott de Bie, Eytan Bernstein, Mike Schley, Claudio Pozas, Miranda Horner, and Erik Nowak. As I understand it, the angle here is that you don't play a character, you play a dynasty - each game session (of ten) you play a consecutive descendant. The character dies (either in-game or of old age) each session, but the real character - your dynasty - gains skills/powers. The game itself will be called Red Aegis and will be a Kickstarter project opening in July.

    [top]Community News

    [top]Boardgaming & Other News

    • Fantasy Flight Games has previews up for new runners from the upcoming Creation and Control expansion for Android: Netrunner. The three new Shaper identities will soon be featured in a deck building installment. Creation and Control is available for pre-order.
    • Triassic Terror is a tactical game from Eagle Games that has players trying to breed herds of dinosaurs and then migrate them across various terrain. Herds will be hunted by T-Rex and velociraptors and have to avoid dangerous terrain features such as volcanoes.
    • Critical Failures is a novel about a group of jaded 30-somethings who get sent to the fantasy world of their RPG. Author Robert Bevan says "It's comedy/fantasy. The language is strong and some of the humor is low-brow, but it's been doing pretty well".

    [top]2013 Origins Award Winners

    The Origins Game Fair took place over the weekend. During the convention, the 2013 Origins Awards winners were announced (these awards are voted for by attendees of the trade show). Congratulations to all the winners!

    Best Roleplaying Game
    Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Basic Games – Margaret Weis Productions

    Best Roleplaying Supplement
    Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Civil War Essentials Edition Event Book – Margaret Weis Productions

    Best Board Game
    Lords of Waterdeep – Wizards of the Coast

    Best Collectible Card Games
    Legend of the 5 Rings: Embers of War – AEG

    Best Traditional Card Game
    Doctor Who the Card Game – Cubicle 7 Entertainment/Treefrog Games

    Best Family, Party or Children's Game
    Quarriors! Dice Building Game – WizKids

    Best Gaming Accessory
    Metal Steampunk Dice Set – Q Workshop

    Best Miniatures Rules
    The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Campaign Starter Set – WizKids

    Best Historical Miniature Figure/Line
    Ancient Greeks - Victrix Ltd

    Best Historical Board Games
    Samurai Battles – Zvezda

    Best Historical Miniature Rules Supplement
    Flames of War: Nuts – Battlefront Miniatures

    Best Historical Miniature Rules
    Flames of War: Open Fire! – Battlefront Miniatures

    Best Miniature Figure Line
    Marvel HeroClix: Galactic Guardians – WizKids

    Best Game-Related Publication
    Battletech: Weapons Free – Catalyst Game Labs

    Hall of Fame Game Inductees
    Munchkin – Steve Jackson Games
    Dominion – Rio Grande Games

    Hall of Fame Inductees
    Lisa Stevens, Paizo Publishing
    Loren Coleman, Catalyst Game Labs
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    Tabletop Gaming News for Saturday, 15th June, 2013
    Free RPG Day, ZEITGEIST Hardcover Funded, 13th Age Pre-orders, plus Mystara Plagiarism! 
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    [top]Free RPG Day

    Today is Free RPG Day. The website, freerpgday.com, has a store locator which can help you find a participating location near you. There's only a handful here in the UK, unfortunately, but I imagine those of you in the US - especially in urban areas - should be able to find several nearby! One great bonus is Green Ronin's M&M Hero's handbook and more, free for 24 hours; or Paizo's We Be Goblins, Too! There's a full list of stuff on the website, including Frog God Games, Catalyst, FFG, and more. [5 comments] Also, EN World member MerricB reports on D&D Game Day and Vault of the Dracolich. [16 comments]

    Established in 2007, Free RPG Day works with participating hobby game retailers and RPG publishers to bring new and exclusive RPG quickstart rules and adventure modules into the hands of gamers.

    Consumers WORLDWIDE will be able to grab brand new material for a variety of RPGs --- no overstock, retail-priced or dead product here. The goal of Free RPG Day is to inspire gamers to play a new RPG, which will in turn, create sales through local game stores.

    On Twitter, @Asako_Soh posts a picture of his Free RPG Day haul:


    [top]ZEITGEIST Kickstarter Funded

    The Kickstarter for the ZEITGEIST Act 1 adventure path hardcover compilation funded on its first day. Thank you! We do have a number of awesome stretch goals - the first of which is for additional art, maps, and other content in the Act 1 Hardcover. After that, we have NPC/Item/Monster cards, and then a bonus adventure in the dungeon known as the Vault of Heresies!

    Thank you all for your support! We can't wait to print this hardcover! And with your help, we will be able to reach some of those stretch goals and print hardcovers for Acts 2 and 3, along with a whole slew of other exciting goodies! So if you haven't yet, please head on over and back the project! The more who do, the more awesome it will become!


    [top]Pathfinder RPG News

    [top]Dungeons & Dragons News

    • Art: Dragon 424 -- When you look at a dragon, you instantly see its size and power. What you don’t see but should be equally frightened of is its dark, inscrutable intelligence. Here now are a full set of the illustrations from Dragon 424.
    • Dragon #424 -- This month, meet the avalanche dragon and the typhoon dragon, the dragon that never died -- plus, earning achievements, and Martek and the Desert of Desolation!

    [top]RPG News

    • Kobold Press' Deep Magic is on iO9.
    • Reserve your copy of 13th Age & get the PDF now! Order at the Pelgrane Shop or your local game store. And if you pre-roder from your retailer, you get the PDF and they get a discount!
      • In other 13th Age news, Rob Heinsoo will be at Gen Con on the Introducing 13th Age panel and at the Pelgrane booth running demos.
      • And check out some 13 True Ways art - the Ambush Bug!
      • Hot off the Press!





    [top]Boardgaming & Other News

    • The Dice Tower's Tom Vasel has tweeted that he has the Lords of Waterdeep Expansion, Scoundrels of Skullport. It allows for a sixth player and has a new corruption mechanic.
    • It seems that a certain author, Tracey Alley, is being accused of plagiarism by the likes of Mystara's Bruce Heard and many others. [51 comments]




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    Tabletop Gaming News for Friday, 14th June, 2013
    Pathfinder + Cyberpunk; ZEITGEIST AP Hardcover Kickstarter; the DUNGEON BASTARD is back; plus a new TABLETOP from Wil Wheaton! 
    [100547/20472 views | 4 Comments ]


    [top]EN World News

    • Check out our review of NeuroSpasta, wherein Pathfinder gets a cyber-tech upgrade! "I was really excited reading through NeuroSpasta, and found D.E.M.’s vision of a cyberpunk near-future setting to be a refreshing change from the urban decay and sprawls that are the common tropes."[2 comments]
    • Class and Equipment is Kamikaze Midget's topic today! How closely is class associated with equipment for you? [4 comments]

    [top]ZEITGEIST Adventure Path Hardcover Compilation (Pathfinder & D&D 4E) Kickstarter

    I'd like to take a quick moment to mention EN Publishing's latest Kickstarter project. If you're familiar with our critically acclaimed ZEITGEIST adventure path, you may already have been aware that this was coming. If not, I do encourage you to take a look - we're very proud of this adventure path!

    Zeitgeist: The Gears of Revolution, an adventure path for the PATHFINDER RPG, and also for Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition, has completed the first of three acts, earning numerous rave reviews, and climaxing with a dramatic battle to save the city of Flint. As we begin to publish the second act, we're offering the chance to get the first five adventures in a beautiful hardcover compilation!

    Not familiar with ZEITGEIST yet? Our adventure paths always come with two free guides (one for players, one for GMs/DMs) and Island at the Axis of the World, the first adventure free! You can check them out for yourself - we're sure you'll like what you see! Don't just take our word for it - download them for free from right here!

    This Kickstarter has plenty of awesome rewards. Not only are there beautiful, full-colour hardcover compilations, but there are poster maps, NPC cards, bonus adventures, supplements, and more. By supporting the Kickstarter you not only get a gorgeous hardcover compilation of a top-tier adventure path, but that adventure path itself becomes even better!

    [top]Dungeons & Dragons News

    • Kim Mohan -- In this podcast episode, Wizards of the Coast bids a fond farewell to longstanding editor (and former Dragon Magazine editor-in-chief), Kim Mohan. With Kim's retirement upon us, we wanted to entreat him for tales of starting up in the industry, the major shifts he's seen in magazine publishing, and his thoughts on the future of the game!
    • Into the Pit of Madness #3 by Jason Thompson -- To help celebrate the conclusion of this program, the group tries their hand at the final D&D Lair Assault: Into the Pit of Madness. In this episode, the surprise Career Faire kidnapping has brought the group to Immersive D&D Lair Assault!
    • D&D DIY: Gelatinous Cubes by Tara Theoharis -- It's your turn to bring a snack to your regular D&D session, and you're tired of the same ol' Doritos and M&Ms. If you have at least 4 hours before the session starts, we've got you covered. Bring some delicious and on-theme Gelatinous Cubes...
    • Capcom Class Rollout: Magic-User -- Magic-Users are capable of unleashing a vast variety of powerful spells on their foes. The trade-off is a low defense and relatively limited melee ability, but they do have a cancelable defensive teleport for getting out of tight spots.

    [top]Community News

    • NewbieDM talks fond memories of 2E D&D with Mark Meredith from the Dice Monkey blog on a Google Hangout.
    • Kobold Press reviews In Thunder Forged, an Iron Kingdoms Chronicles novel by Ari Marmell.
    • They also talk animal companions, familiars, and mounts in the latest Old Hat Monsters column.
    • Gnome Stew reviews Battle Boards, a product which has recently been launched on Kickstarter (mentioned here earlier this week).

    [top]The DUNGEON BASTARD Returns

    The Dungeon Bastard is back, again offering valuable advice about gaming issues!


    [top]Boardgaming News

    • Fantasy Flight Games has taken a closer look at two of the models coming in the next expansion for Star Wars: X-wing. The preview focuses on the two support ships in the set, the Lambda-Class shuttle and the HWK-290, and how to use them.
    • Wil Wheaton's TableTop features Smash Up this week. Smash Up is a sort of deck building game with multiple factions that come into play randomly. Sort of. You have to see it.



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    Tabletop Gaming News for Thursday, 13th June, 2013
    GEN CON: BEHIND THE SCREEN; plus cover of Murder in Baldur's Gate; and Magic & Monsters, a new OSR game! 
    [118494/19633 views | 5 Comments ]


    [top]Dungeons & Dragons News

    • In this week's D&D Next Q&A, Rodney touches on how downtime interacts with the legacy system, healing and backgrounds.
    • Sedition and Eskryn’s Hot Bestseller by Ed Greenwood -- Nobles in various realms have to find unusual ways to communicate objectionable sentiments to each other. That’s where Eskryn’s bestseller comes into play. Find out more in this week’s Forging the Realms.
    • Wallpaper: D&D Encounters -- To help celebrate D&D Encounters, WotC has posted the following wallpaper -- offering a more detailed look at the Dalelands.
    • Vault of the Dracolich by Jon Schindehette -- Vault of the Dracolich is coming up for a combined Game Day and D&D Encounters experience. Jon walks you through some of the things you’ll see in this event. [2 comments]
    • The cover of Murder in Baldur's Gate (August 2013) has been revealed (pictured right). It's a 64-page setting book and a 32-page adventure plus a DM screen. [34 comments]

    [top]Roleplaying Games

    • Monsters & Magic, from Mindjammer Press, is a new Old School Renaissance game. "Combining the atmosphere of classic fantasy games with modern RPG mechanics, Monsters & Magic lets you use old school fantasy gaming material with little or no conversion with a new and innovative set of rules."

    [top]Boardgaming News

    • Fantasy Flight Games takes a look at Nightmare Mode for The Lord of the Rings Card Game. Developer Matt Newman discusses the purpose of Nightmare Mode and how it is implemented in the game and what it means to the average player.
    • FFG is also hiring for three positions. Associate Game Designer, Associate Game Producer, and Managing Game Producer are all up for grabs. Details on the positions and application details are all available on FFG's web site.
    • Mantic Games is looking for a Studio Painter and Hobby Specialist. If you have skills in painting and modelling, this could be the job for you.
    • Superfight, a super hero card game that plays as a cross between Apples to Apples and Cards Against Humanity is now available to purchase. It retails for about $25 and has a number of expnasions available for $10 a pop. If that is too steep for you, there is also a 99 cent print and play option.

    [top]Gen Con: Behind the Screen

    Peter Adkison, owner of Gen Con, also has a new film company called Hostile Work Environment. Its first project is a series called Gen Con: Behind the Screen. It's a comedy/satire series which stars Jen Page and various Gen Con employees and will feature cameos from game industry members. Peter Adkison says "My goal for Hostile Work Environment is to produce short films, web series, and, eventually, feature films specifically for gamers".


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    Tabletop Gaming News for Wednesday, 12th June, 2013
    New D&D Encounters; ZEITGEIST's Grand Convocation; and All-Female minis Kickstarter makes goal in 30 SECONDS! 
    [132873/14958 views | 1 Comment ]


    [top]Dungeons & Dragons News

    • Get ready to traverse the Dalelands for an artifact with the power to unlock the mysteries of an ancient elven civilization in Search for the Diamond Staff, the newest season of D&D Encounters beginning today.
    • Adventurers will also have the opportunity to play in a multi-table roleplaying event during Vault of the Dracolich Game Day on June 15. This annual event, which takes place at Wizards Play Network locations in over 40 countries, is a celebration of Dungeons & Dragons and a way for local communities to get together and play one of the latest releases.

    [top]Pathfinder RPG News

    • Meet Steven Helt, winner of Paizo's 2013 RPG Superstar game design competition.
    • On Facebook, Paizo posted a picture of Irabeth - Half-Orc Paladin from the forthcoming Pathfinder Adventure Path # 73, The Worldwound Incursion (Wrath of the Righteous Part 1 of 6).



    [top]EN World News

    • If you were part of the Rebuilding EN World Kickstarter and backed the ZEITGEIST softcover bundle tier, your books are on their way to you! I sent out over 70 books this morning to various locations around the world. I hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed writing them!
    • Speaking of ZEITGEIST, keep an eye out for our new Kickstarter for gorgeous full-colour hardcover compilations (with all sorts of other awesome things like bonus adventures, poster maps, NPC cards, and more!) which will be launching very soon.
    • ZEITGEIST fans should also check out the Grand Convocation launched by ZEITGEIST director Ryan Nock today. It's a chance to play the vilains of the ZEITGEIST adventure path and actually decide what happens later in the series! The various PCs playing ZEITGEIST campaigns will have to try to thwart whatever schemes you come up with, and the results of the Convocation will be included in Adventure Seven, Schism. Your decisions will influence the shape of the world in the final act of the campaign as the PCs try to topple you.
    • Rel talks about foxes and hedgehogs in his latest column. Well, not really, but he talks about some recent experiences.
    • This week's Do Not Pass Go (our boardgaming column) tackles sexism, following up on our launch of the Season of Sexism video series.

    [top]Community News

    • The Harbinger of Doom blog has posts about the new D&D Next playtest packet, Jack Vance (and what he means to the author), and some new monsters for D&D Next.
    • Critical Hits conducts an experiment in card game publishing with Criminals.
    • Gnome Stew provides fifty small resources to run a great cave based game. Lots of pictures of caves, maps of caves, cave sounds, challenges, hooks, inspirational books/movies - it's a really great list!
    • Kobold Press prsents the Glyph Mage paragon path -- "Glyph mages, also known as scriveners, master the arcane power of the written word. They summon living ink and use it to rewrite reality to their own ends. In the paragon tier, the glyph mage learns to extend runes to cover areas and aid his or her allies."
    • AICN's Tabletop column this week covers the latest D&D Next playtest package, and an interview with Jamey Stegmaier of Stonemaier Games; plus a roundup of a few Kickstarters. Although Abstruse has managed to completely mentally edit out my part in the Twitter conversation he refers to!

    [top]A Couple of Awesome Kickstarters

    • "Battle Boards" is a new type of gaming surface with a list of featres - system neutral, build-in grid, mobility, durability, rigidity, dry/wet erase, easy to project upon, and sticky! There are two grid options - an RPG grid and a 1-inch tactical grid.
    • An all-female miniatures Kickstarter which made its $12,000 funding goal in 30 SECONDS and now with nearly a month to go is sitting on $371,545 (at the time of posting this). "Three outstanding armies of decidedly full of attitude 28mm-scale female miniatures for gaming, painting and collecting."
    • Be sure to check RPG Kickstarters for more!
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    Tabletop Gaming News for Tuesday, 11th June, 2013
    A look at new PDFs; Language in Gaming; and Games on Business Cards 
    [153002/20729 views | 1 Comment ]


    [top]EN World News

    • Pretty Darn Fun (a look at new PDFs) -- While every week has a good number of excellent new PDFs, some weeks seem to offer us a virtual hit parade of high profile, high interest PDFs. This week is the latter kind. I had a hard time deciding between multiple potential Spotlight PDFs of the Week, but in the end I went with the offering that makes me personally excited to get to the game table for another night of adventure. So what do we have this week? 11 excellent new PDFs with another 6 new PDFs that I didn’t have room to fully describe but I still wanted to let everyone know about, 4 new WotC rereleases, 7 new adventures and the Spotlight of the Week, which is really 9 PDFs all in the same product line. [2 comments]
    • The Language of Gaming continues our recent discussion of language in our RPGs. [1 comments]

    [top]TO SLAY A... errr THE HOBBIT Trailer!

    The Hobbit, a movie based on my adventure TO SLAY A DRAGON (oh, OK, I might be a bit backwards there....) now has a brand new trailer! [38 comments]


    [top]Pathfinder RPG News

    [top]Dungeons & Dragons News

    • We Have a Hulk by James Wyatt -- Three hulking monsters await you this week in Wandering Monsters. Read more about the umber hulk, the chuul, and the gray render.
    • Epic Campain by Aaron Williams -- In this episode of the season, the crew has finally tracked events to Helm's Cathedral: "I'm guessing this asylum doesn't advertise that it has dragons among its patients."

    [top]Roleplaying Games News

    • RPG Geek has a handy-dandy list of noteworthy recent RPG releases.

    [top]Community News

    [top]Boardgaming News

    • Fantasy Flight Games has released Gearworld: The Borderlands. The game of scavenging, bribing, and bartering set in the steampunk post-apocalyptic future should be available from your FLGS now and retails for around $49.95.
    • Mayfair Games has announced an expansion set for Star Trek Catan. Featuring a map of the Known Galaxy, Federation Space Map Set is geared for three to four players, has victory tokens to implement a new scoring method, and can be expected some time in August.
    • Las Vegas, a 2012 Spiel des Jahres Nominee, is a dice rolling game that plays fast and appeals to a wide variety of people. You must roll dice to win the most money over four rounds to win this game.



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    Tabletop Gaming News for Monday, 10th June, 2013
    Season of Sexism #1: The Sexist Game; Star Wars goes BEYOND THE RIM; and What happens when adventurers aren't adventuring? 
    [175421/22663 views | 8 Comments ]


    [top]Season of Sexism #1: The Sexist Game

    I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that we filmed a lot of footage on the topic of sexism in gaming while at UKGE. Over the next few weeks, we'll be presenting a series of short featurettes, each addressing the issue from a different angle - from art to game design, to safety, and more. This is the first episode, "The Sexist Game", in which we introduce the subject by simply asking a number of people whether they feel that sexism in tabletop gaming is an issue. We asked a variety of people - gamers, designers, artists, publishers, cosplayers, and more.

    We hope you enjoy this first episode. Next week we delve a bit more deeply with "The Fake Geek Girl".



    On a similar note, check out 25 Things to Know About Sexism & Misogyny in Writing & Publishing (warning: contains some NSFW language).

    [top]Dungeons & Dragons News

    [top]Roleplaying Games News

    • Margaret Weiss Productions reports that all final Marvel orders have now shipped.
    • Cubicle7 has some new Victoriana Third Edition previews.
    • Kobold Press has launched a Kickstarter for Deep Magic -- "The Deep Magic project collects literally hundreds of spells. It offers variant magic systems. It updates familiar material, gathers new spells from a list of RPG designers you won’t believe, and it does it all at a very reasonable price."
    • There's an adventure coming for Star Wars: Edge of the Empire! It's called Beyond the Rim.




    [top]Community News

    • A city is a series of connected streets and avenues, so having explored the houses and people who live in Blackfen, this week The Kyngdoms take a look at the streets and alleys that connect them all together and the lighting (or lack of it!) that keeps the darkness at bay.
    • The Warden takes a look at the Pay What You Want model for publishing RPG books.
    • Fred Hicks looks at the same subject in Pay What You Want Isn’t (Really) About Sales.

    [top]Boardgaming & Other News

    • Fantasy Flight Games recently announced Daybreak, an upcoming expansion for Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game. With two supplemental game boards and hundreds of cards and tokens, Daybreak invites players to undertake desperate missions, struggle under the constant threat of mutiny, and bargain with Cylon Leaders driven by motives of their own!
    • Fantasy Flight Games has also announced The Trollfens, an expansion for Descent: Journeys in the Dark Second Edition that introduces new heroes, monsters, classes, quests, and more! Over the course of its five included quests (playable as side quests to a larger campaign, or as their own mini-campaign), heroes can discover and investigate secret rooms and rumors while the overlord spreads infection and brings a powerful new lieutenant into play: the massive troll Bol’Goreth.
    • Tom Vasel, from The Dice Tower podcast, has a video review of Leviathan from Catalyst GameLabs. The game is not in Tom's preferred style, being a miniatures game more than anything else, but he gives it a go anyway.
    • Play Unplugged has a lovely little unboxing video posted for Star Trek Catan. It is, as you might imagine, full of Star Trek things themed to Catan. Or Catan things themed to Star Trek. Your choice.
    • The Forest of Doom, Ian Livingstone's classic Fighting Fantasy role-playing book, is now available for iPhone, iPad and Android (well, Android now and iOS later this week) smart phones and tablets at the price of USD$5.99. Take part in one of the classic gamebook experiences that introduced a whole generation to fantasy role-playing games back in 1983!
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