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This week, Forbes contributor Jacob Morgan published an article about the evolution of work and the workplace, along with the obligatory Infographic -- albeit a well-made one. He based the work on extensive research, so unlike this column, it was not pulled directly out of his … imagination...

JJ Abrams made TV history with his groundbreaking series LOST -- and, love it or hate it, it's hard to argue that the show wasn't a significant accomplishment on Network TV, a landscape dominated by reality programming and multi-camera, laugh-track powered sitcoms. Just this past Thursday...

I've been chewing on all things FATE these days, liking a lot of what I'm reading in both the core rules and community offerings online. One of the ideas that has come out of that reading is a very interesting discussion of Fractals in adventure design. Ultimately, this is a mindset for...

This week I thought I'd take a walk through some of the darker corners of Kickstarter projects to see what might be good fun. There are some winners, so check these out while there's still time. These are kick starters for items that may have missed your notice -- they're not actual games, but...

In the earliest days of D&D, adventure modules came with Wandering Monster tables, meant to create urgency and risk for parties that take their time, prodding each flagstone of the dungeon floor with their trusty 10' pole. Since then, we've see the rise of Random Encounter tables used to do...

As we come down from GenCon, lets take a quick look at ideas for game-supporting gadgets that serve the non-combat pillars of our games -- exploration and roleplaying. GenCon's over. I've written a couple versions of a post-GenCon column, and each time I've ended up trashing it. Too much of...

I decided that this week I would get back to my column's gadget/tech roots and put together a list of the things to make sure you've got on your smartphone to help enjoy the biggest convention on the gaming calendar. And then, right when I was checking on the first item on the list, I ran into...

As we continue to get ready for GenCon, lets look at the bright side of Organized Play programs. And we'll look at the seamy underbelly while we're at it. Two More Columns til Gencon….Two More Columns til GenCon… So, 13th age just launched. The ink is still wet (but doesn't smell as good...

Lets look ahead to GenCon and daydream about the cool stuff we hope to find in the Vendor Hall. Added Difficulty: I'm not talking about booth babes. It's almost time. GenCon Time. It's almost time. I'm basically the guy who, like your dog, is waiting by the door, leash in his mouth...

Is the brand identity of Dungeons and Dragons something other games should be targeting? So You're Going To Sneeze. Do you reach for a kleenex? A Tissue? A Puffs? I'm betting that you do so in roughly that order. Most people will say kleenex (leading brand name), others will use tissue...

Boxed Text, or Read Aloud descriptions, can be the death of excitement and engagement in a game session -- or they can be a vital part of the player's engagement and enjoyment in the game. Save your game -- and keep your players plugged in -- with this four-step plan for better descriptions in...

Product suggestions for all budgets to keep your electronic devices alive through long days on the convention floor. Or a Zombie Apocalypse. When the zombies come, why should we have to give up our games? It's a summer of cons, and my 4th of July travel has given me a bit of a preview of...

As I often do, I was kicking around my RSS feeds looking for inspiration. This week, I came across an article called "Should Authors Help Other Authors." And, as usual, I consider applying the same question to DMs. And, really, it's a lame question. We do. Unlike writing novels, DMing is an...

It's time for another roundup of interesting/useful/odd products or apps that we've come across in our hunt for the perfect toys. 1. NoteBoard I came across a link to NoteBoard in a blog post on Gnome Stew -- about another product, All Rolled Up. Noteboards are fold-up whiteboards -- they...

Okay, guys. Here's the deal. I'm going to be in London the week of the 4th of July (mostly visiting family, but also some sightseeing and goofing off). So, if I wanted to visit cool game shops in town, where would I go? My wife's going to be dragging me to a bunch of shops for her...

Two ideas have been rattling around in my head this week. First of all, there's the big story about the US Government collecting mountains of data on phone and internet usage. Secondly, for some reason this week I started paying closer attention to google glass, augmented reality, etc. And...

The roots of fantasy are pretty well planted in Tolkien; and a very important part of Tolkien's work and interest was linguistic -- he developed complete languages for his books, including elvish, multiple human languages, Entish, and more. Other writers have used languages -- real or...

I stole the idea for this article shamelessly from this post about writing by Brunonia Barry: Why Do You Write? Think about those moments just after your friends leave your house after a game session. For me, it's a matter of trying to shake off that good, emotionally tired feeling long...

More than idle speculation.... I'm not making this up. Not completely, anyway. A little more than a month ago, Wizards posted a job looking for a Senior Business Manager for D&D. One of the job duties in the job description was "Provide strategic and tactical ecommerce and merchandising...

It's not a coincidence that the new microsoft office (Office 365) and the recently announced Adobe Creative Suite (including Photoshop) are being offered as subscriptions (rather than products). Everything is coming up subscriptions. You can subscribe to coffee, to tea, to cloud data...