Gaming is a great hobby, one I’ve spent most of my life enjoying as a whole while moving from system to system, player group to player group but in reflection I find that I can illustrate my past with RPGs in one basic role – Storyteller.

I’m one of the lucky few out there who seems always consigned to the role of preacher, and never groom or groomsman. What do I mean by this? Well its simple. In over 20 years of playing pen-and-paper RPGs I have almost always been the DM. Sure I’ve gotten to play in more than a few campaigns over the years, but by and large if someone gets excited about a new setting or rule system and wants to have adventures in it (including myself I might add) for whatever reason I end up the one tasked with learning the rules, building the world and running the adventure.

I guess it’s rewarding to be in this position of trust and pseudo-respect. (pseudo because players tend to only respect you insomuch as it benefits them over the long term – which is painful to admit but true). I’ve been at it long enough that regardless of the actual system I find it easy to weave together a story. I also  learned long ago that too much preparation is not only unnecessary to the fun, but can be detrimental to your mental health as a storyteller.

This month, Wizard’s of the Coast is really pushing the concept of Dungeon Master Appreciation month. A concept introduced within the monthly column by staffer/blogger/sorcerer Shelly Mazzanoble, the self-appointed D&D Player-in-Chief. Shelly’s column in last month’s Dragon Magazine discussed her realization that the DM in her colorfully discussed tales often goes unappreciated by his players, and from time to time it’s a good idea to thank the person facilitating the game you enjoy playing.

I see any role playing game as a collaborative effort. While I may frame and adjudicate story and rule points, I try and make sure my players are the real decision makers and storytellers in my weekly games. That said, sometimes being the DM gets tiring too. Being the one expected to judge and respond to the actions of the players, to play the roles of the various denizens of the fictional worlds not controlled by the players directly, and to help ensure that the needs of your friends are met during the campaign or session is a big responsibility for those of us who cherish it.

Players who really enjoy the game can easily forget that there is an element of work, logistics and planning to running a game and assuming the role of storyteller, and while the DM is a player, like the others, the nature of the role makes it a schizophrenic experience to say the least.

My suggestion is to keep this in mind as you play. Not everyone is a great storyteller or would want to assume the role of DM. Many players recognize their limits and also that they are not interested in the project management aspects that running a collaborative RPG require. The DM usually started out as a player in some game before they stepped up or were in some cases thrust into the role.

Let the DM play from time to time and you’ll find most of us are happier and better DMs.

Aside from giving your DM a break, consider how often you reward them for their good work. DM is by no means a thankless job. Most of us do it to gain the reward of being a part of a memorable campaign or to weave an interesting tale with our gaming buddies. Work with your fellow players to share your enjoyment of specific actions, remind the DM of a choice or twist or story detail that really grabbed or excited you. Tell them you enjoy their work.

Wizard’s of the Coast’s “DM Appreciation Month” activities center around using their excellent Twitter and Facebook team. @emilrodriguez and @betterwithmayo will be Tweeting using some new tags to draw attention to DM related celebrations. These tags include: #dnddm #worldbuilderdm #storytellerdm #actionmoviedm so do a search and keep out an eye for announcements alongside the normal #dnd tag.

I had planned to discuss the newly revealed Psion class for D&D 4.0 this week but at the risk of diluting the DM love I’ll leave you with a challenge dear readers.

Thank your DM, no matter what game you play in, no matter how long they toil and try to make the game fun. Then, if you have the inclination or interest – give them some time off. Pick up the cowl of Dungeon Master and try to tell the next story yourself. You might see your weekly or monthly game sessions just a bit differently from the other side of the dungeon.

Magic is like paper crack to me. I find it consumes my life when I’m playing it. It becomes my goal in life, I will forsake food, personal hygiene and even intimate relations when I’m on a bender. It’s a sad part of my life but I thought it was behind me.

Struggling through Magic addiction is a daily challenge. I fight to avoid the Magic cards at the grocery, I refused the free Magic tournaments at the local game store. I’d been clean for almost a year when it happened.

I’m ashamed to admit my weakness but here, amongst a gathering of others with my problem I feel relieved to admit it. I had a moment of weakness and I slipped up. It wasn’t with that shiny foil packaging, I wasn’t huddled in the alley behind the game store.. no, I gave in to Magic last in my home and there was no physical evidence left afterward, just a note on my bank account for the purchase of 2500 Microsoft points. ( I only needed 800, but I wanted some extras on hand to buy cards later)

There is something so insidious about the digital version. It’s too perfect a translation in fact. While currently I can’t sidle up to the counter and pay for my next fix of booster packs and I don’t have access to the thousands of cards in my physical library I have little doubt the masterminds behind my addiction already have the plan for my digital downfall in the works.

What the online version of the game does do is simulate the game table well. The selection of cards is limited to the current core set and the ability to customize and modify the included pre-built decks lacks a bit of flexibility but overall this is the first time a digital version of Magic has come so close to stealing my soul. There have been a few other digital choices over the years, and Magic is no stranger to the online play space but unlike the old PC game, the horrible non-Magic Battlefront game and the long running Magic Online, the Xbox version is just insidious because its invaded my gaming life.

The once safe retreat of my recovery has become unsafe. Playing against others is as simple as firing up the 360 and hopping into a ranked match against people who are obviously just as addicted as I am. I’ve found the computer opponents pale in comparison to the challenge of playing my fellow addicts (except Ron), which in turn fuels the addiction. I feel the burn. I want to win.

The current selection of cards makes the game feel like its far more about the strategy and the deck build than it is about the cards you own – a problem that often plagues the physical games I’ve played. This is also a problem as it pulls on my addiction to new cards, new strategies and new options. I can feel my craving to buy more virtual cards, to build my library beyond the basics offered in the game currently.

Maybe Magic on the 360 is a safe alternative to going completely off the wagon. So far I’ve managed not to run to the store and buy a case of the latest release, Alara Reborn but I had to be emotionally honest and share with you all that I’d fallen. I’ve failed to resist and I wanted to warn you that the temptation to succumb is strong even with the seemingly safe Xbox 360 version.

I have failed to resist it, and I have to admit that some part of me wants all of you to fail as well. If you’re strong enough to resist its pull then I admire you. If, like me, you’re only human and give in, well… I guess I’ll see you online. I’m afraid this is my last visit to Magic Anonymous. I think I can manage the addiction now, thanks for all your help and support over the years.

Greyhawk, The Forgotten Realms, Planescape, Ravenloft and the various other settings apparently just weren’t as marketable. The company wanted some fresh, new ideas. This opportunity became a chance to let the amateur and professional developers compete to see whose concept would become the next official D&D setting.

The result of that contest was Eberron – a fantasy world in keeping with the core of Dungeons & Dragons, but one that turned things on its ear just a bit with concepts like – Halfling plainsmen riding dinosaurs, living constructs, shapeshifters as player races and adding a very Indiana Jones/Tomb Raider pulp feel to its core adventures placing players in a world that operates on magic, outside the fantasy constraints of pseudo-medieval Europe or even an Asian fantasy amalgam.

Eberron was built around a different mythology and cosmic organization. There exists magic powered public transportation, airships and great dungeons of fallen civilizations alongside an invading alien force and mysterious magical elf ancestors who refuse to go off into antiquities and instead guide the path of the entire elvish race.
The new setting was a hit for Wizards, and spawned years of supplements and adventure and this year it is the setting of choice for the 4th edition upgrade cycle. Unlike last year however, Wizards seems to have learned that player options are more interesting to consumers than campaign background. When the Forgotten Realms received their update, players had to wait longer because the company released the setting information and not the character information book first.

Eberron is just the opposite – using the Eberron Player’s Guide and any old 3.5 edition book, players can quickly jump into a 4E Eberron based game. The book also shows some other evolutions from its Forgotten Realms predecessor in that it covers far more of the “how to play in Eberron” information before tackling the mechanics of new races, classes, feats, etc.

The Eberron centric setting info does a good job of introducing the world, establishing the role of a player in that world and gives some interesting hints about how adventures in the setting should work, guiding players in making dynamic persona. The three races are really not completely new. The Warforged saw print earlier online and while the new entry in the official setting book has some updates, D&DI subscribers might be a bit disappointed by the repetition. Changelings and Kalashtar however have not been replicated elsewhere and are excellent racial additions to the D&D core as well as necessary parts of the flavor of Eberron. Warforged and Changelings work well in just about any setting while the Kalashtar are Eberron specific but can be adapted easily enough.

The only new core class included in the book is the Artificer. This is basically an update of the class that was introduced in the 3.5 version of the Eberron Campaign Guide. Magic smiths who concentrate on forging new magical items, supercharging existing items and enhancing even non-magical implements, these characters also rely pretty heavily on alchemy as a tool of their trade and the book contains lots of additional alchemical objects. The new prestige paths and epic destiny options are interesting and could be used outside the setting as well but only if DMs are willing to export some of the settings concepts.

Unfortunately, playing in Eberron with all the setting’s unique races requires ownership of Player’s Handbook 2 as well. Why couldn’t Wizards also include the Shifter race, originally native to the Eberron setting? Images of the race liter the book and anyone unfamiliar with the second core book will likely be frustrated by the omission. While they are mentioned in the “Other Races” information, their absence is discouraging.

One interesting part of the Eberron setting that I know I’ll be integrating into my 4E campaigns (much as I did with my 3.x games) are the Dragonmarks. These mystical marks enable characters to do unique magic things, granting some element of power – however this is not to be confused with a magic brand that grants superpowers – Dragonmarks more often impact characters in more role-playing centric ways, granting bonuses to skills and can easily be worked into another setting and offer some interesting storytelling potential in Eberron as well.

Fans of Eberron and 4th Edition D&D will want this book. For non-Eberron players looking to add new items, races and a new class to their game it’s also not a bad investment. The world setting forcused books may not be considered core, but they have far more utility than the Campaign Guides that support gaming in these worlds. New items, weapons and equipment really enhance pulp-like feel of the setting. The book will not likely become one of the most used resources outside the Eberron setting but if you have the spare cash you could buy worse.

I say this in the nicest terms of course as a fan of said instrument of destruction. The long rumored Xbox version of Wizards of the Coast’s popular trading card game is available on Micrsoft’s Online service Wednesday June 17, 2009.

Magic the Gathering: Duals of the Planeswalkers recreates the game using virtual cards for a mere 800 Microsoft Points. Purchasers also get a code to claim a free foil card – Garruk Wildspeaker. Luckily the title features eight included dueling decks and a multitude of game modes including single-player, co-op custom and campaign modes.

Duels of the Planeswalkers also allows you to play against others via the service, customize your decks and I’d imagine get on the virtual paper crack train as updates to the game are released in future DLC sealed packs. (Though technically I don’t see an official mention of DLC for the game anywhere I’d bet if it sells well Wizards will be quick to capitalize on its popularity.. and face it they have 20 years of cards they could convert and sell to old timers like me – and the Xbox site mentions Content Downloads)

Duels of the Planeswalkers might just reintroduce the addiction to lapsed or recovering Magic players worldwide. I know it would rank right up there next to Rock Band 2 DLC for me in splitting my disposable income.  Especially since it appears to handle more than 2 players in a competition.. my preferred form of Magic.

I plan to download the title soon so look for a review in an upcoming edition of The Analog Gamer.

First things first, let’s all take a minute to wish happy birthday to the 4th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons. It’s been a year, and Wizards of the Coast has made great progress in the promotion and expansion of 4E.

Now, as you may have noticed, your usual Analog Gamer columnist, Shawn Sines, has graciously allowed me to step in this week and provide you with your weekly tabletop gaming fix. He’s done this because I have an axe to grind, and a point I want to make.

As a fairly avid player of Dungeons & Dragons, I tend to frequent a number of message boards dedicated to the hobby. In the year that 4E has been on the market, I have seen one thing on all these boards that really gets on my nerves: fights and arguments between players over which edition of D&D is the ‘best’ edition.

Here’s a news flash, people: There are multiple editions of D&D that are ‘the best.’ How can there be more than one ‘best’ at anything? Read on and see….

You see, I firmly believe that whatever edition of D&D you play, as long as you are happy with it and having fun, that’s the best edition for you. If you’re a long-time player of 2E, and you don’t enjoy 4E, no one is forcing you to play it. Conversely, if you’re playing 4E and loving it, more power to you! Your decision to play a particular tabletop game, be it D&D, Pathfinder, Traveller, or any other RPG, is yours. Make the one that makes you happy.

Sure, 4E is different from previous editions (although not as much as people like to pretend). That doesn’t mean that people who play it aren’t having fun. They are, just like you’re enjoying your game, whatever edition you may be playing. I’ve enjoyed all the editions of D&D, and I continue to have fun with them up to this very day.

None of this, however, means that you should be criticizing my choice, or anyone else’s choice. Be happy that many people are supporting all types of tabletop role playing, and that your hobby is growing. More players means more games, and more games mean more support from publishers. Everyone wins.

These ‘Edition Wars’ are no different from playground fights over whether Batman or Superman would win in a fight. They’re just as childish, and just as pointless. If you’re participating in these arguments, you’re part of the problem, not part of the solution.

Can’t we all agree on this? Is there really any benefit to continuing this infantile behavior? If there is, please, comment and tell me what possible goal you’re trying to achieve with this, as I can’t discern any positive outcome from it. Sure, it may inflate the ego of the people perpetuating it, or perhaps make them feel more ‘authentic’ or ‘old-school,’ but the reality is that these types of arguments smack of elitism on all sides.

In the end, we’re all grown ups (supposedly), and we should be able to allow everyone to enjoy the hobby in the way they see fit. If not, I fear for the future of tabletop as a hobby. After all, the idea of tabletop role playing is that a group of friends will sit down around a table together to have fun adventuring. If you can’t even chat in a civil manner with other D&D players, then you’re missing the point. In short, GROW UP!

The Star Wars SAGA RPG is officially one of my favorite games to read lining right up there next to the old West End Star Wars D6 RPG, Pinnacles’ Deadlands and Kenzer’s Aces & Eights. While I’m currently buried in fantasy mayhem in my two ongoing RPG games every new SAGA release not only entertains me and enriches my Star Wars fanboyish knowledge of the galaxy far, far away, but it also demonstrates that if I ever get the opportunity to play in a game rather than run it I’m going to insist it be Star Wars SAGA.

Every time I begin a discussion of Star Wars with a game group I seem to have the same frustrating results.. “Star Wars would be great if I didn’t already know how it ended.” Is the most common response I get.

It seems a lot of gamers have their impressions of what adventuring in Star Wars can be locked into the films they enjoyed. I’ve even had the “Star wars is a generational saga about the Skywalker family and their impact on the universe” George Lucas paraphrase thrown back a few times.

Well guess what folks, that may be true of the George Lucas story and his cinematic campaign, but this is an entire galaxy full of folks. Lots of planets to explore, many cultures to experience and lately even, thanks to Dark Horse Comics and Bioware/Obsidian lots of time to play within. I professed my love of the Knights of the Old Republic setting in a previous column, and with the reveal trailer for the upcoming Bioware Old Republic MMO making fanboys lose it, I think the resistance to playing in that setting may start waning.

Getting away from the 800lb. Gorilla in Star Wars: The Rebellion, Darth Vader and even the later Expanded Universe canon of the Yuuzhan Vong and New Republic can be a challenge.

How do you tell your own tale in a world so universally loved?

Well one answer is to use an era your players are not as familiar with, and to that end I’d highly recommend the “Legacy Era” based upon the ongoing Darkhorse Comic Star Wars: Legacy. Recently Wizards of the Coast released their Legacy Era campaign guide to help you do just that.

The Legacy era, as you’d expect from the name, deals with the period of time long after the New Republic. The universe has moved on but is not completely unfamiliar to those not well versed in Star Wars outside the films or cartoons. Many of the same elements still exist – there is an Empire, a Republic and the Sith are a major factor in the state of the galaxy. Jedi are rare and hunted but the Empire has its own form of force using knight. This is a good time to set any adventure and since the future is unwritten those who care to avoid changing the story have little to worry about.

For those who are simply collectors of the books or are looking to see what new mechanics races and crunchy bits populate the Legacy Campaign, Wizards has included the usual 5 races, including strangely the Yuuzhan Vong and the Chiss (Grand Admiral Thrawn’s people) –which possibly confirms that there will not be a New Jedi Order/New Republic era sourcebook anytime soon.

Every era book and supplement so far has added the usual variety of starships, vehicles and opponents suitable to each era along with expanding on the a core concept. Legacy, as you might guess, expands on the Destiny concept with the new Heritage and Legacy concepts. Players can now create characters with a historical link to earlier great names in the Star Wars saga without fear of “breaking the timeline” by making someone Luke’s long lost cousin Jobe.

These features grant little role-playing focused advantages or change a character in some iconic way to reflect the heritage, for instance Corran Horn, one of the main X-Wing novel characters was descended from the Halcyon line of Jedi and had trouble using telekinetic abilities but learned mind-influencing powers easily. Descendants of Admiral Ackbar gain military tactical skills. Etc.

The Legacy era is a darker time than most of the Star Wars settings. There is an awful lot of evil in the universe and without the Jedi order to establish light and order this is a great time to play scoundrels and fringers. Force use is not just limited to the Jedi/Sith axis either so players who want to expand their magic warrior ethics will find some less black and white options in groups like the Imperial Knights of the Emperor in exile, and pyromaniac Ember of Vahl.

This book continues the excellent trend of useful and well written Star Wars RPG books. The SAGA books all offer utility to fans of the franchise and RPG players alike. Even if you are not a huge fan of the future setting or dislike the comics there is a verdant ground for storytelling in this setting that shouldn’t be overlooked.

Guess what? Monster Manual 2 is more the same in many good ways.  Sure it is, at its core, just an updating of many previously published monsters. Monster tomes were of course written for previous editions, but in the case of Dungeons & Dragons there are so many iconic creatures that the first Monster Manual could not hope to contain every favorite -  just as combined Monster Manual 1 & 2 will fail to meet that goal.

The book’s cover creature, Demogorgon, follows in the wake of MM1’s Orcus and while “the big O” might have been the inspiration for the 4th Edition game (for the uninformed, 4E was called Orcus while it was undergoing internal development), Demogorgon and his crew really make this book sing as Wizards continues to flesh out the former Lords of the Nine Hells, reintroduces Cthulu Mythos Old ones and shepherds Metallic Dragons back into the official D&D rules.

It would be a simple thing to splay forth a list of all the monsters — new and old — that are included in this volume, but frankly you can find those sorts of details elsewhere. Instead I thought I’d focus on how useful the monsters included are in designing adventure scenarios. I’ve been running 4E for over a year but only now am I really preparing to run homegrown encounters.

For reasons I’d rather not discuss neither of my 4E games seem to be progressing out of the introductory adventures I choose for them with any sense of urgency, and in fact one group revolted and insisted that we transition back to D&D 3.5 – which presented some interesting balance issues using the original encounter designs included in The Keep on the Shadowfell and in converting 4E races and classes back to their 3.5E versions.

So as I prepared to wrap up the initial Scales of War adventure: Rescue at Rivenroar and began planning the next steps now that the “Nasty Midnighters” have saved the villagers, recovered the priceless junk and defeated the Orcs and Wight in Rivenroar Keep, I began to look through the options available to me in both the published monster sources.

The character mix in this particular 4E game leaves me plenty to play with – a Dhampyr Shadar-kai rogue, a drow warlock, a half-elf wizard, a cursed human fighter a dwarf beast master ranger, and their every faithful halfling cleric. The drow and Shadar-kai together offer some interesting opportunities to use foes included in the new book.

Unfortunately, the group is not ready to faces the forces of Lloth like the Bebelith or an assault from the Shadowfell by Shadar-kai assassins but the cover of the Monster Manual 2 alone inspired me. What if  Demogorgon were planning something and the players stumbled upon it? What if the Drow outcast was actually an unwitting aid to Demogorgon’s assault on Lloth’s abyssal power and the Shadowfell factions of the Shadar-kai needed this very unique Dhampyr Rogue to defend against the prince of madness and his forces? Instant plot hook and a timely perusal of the MM2 and I’ve outlined many of the core encounters that may lead the party into the depths of the Abyss and an ultimate confrontation with the two headed demon himself, with a nice side jaunt into the aquatic realms of Dagon just for good measure.

Long time D&D storytellers will recognize most of the enemies included here and some of the 4E changes might even possibly bother them. Metallic Dragons were the first to disappoint me honestly, though only for a moment, before I resigned not to allow their lack of “good” alignment to get in the way of my storytelling. Purists can cry foul all they want, I know who controls my game and I’m grateful for the official statistics that will save me hours of work reintroducing Gold, Silver and Copper dragons back into my story.

Ultimately, Monster Manual 2 is another step closer to making D&D 4E “feel” complete. It expands the bag of tricks available to a DM with respect to scenario design. New toys in the DM toybox if you will. Most of the book features iconic monsters and the new additions or expansions on enemies introduced in MM1 like the Shadar-kai makes this book, in retrospect, more likely to be used than any of the eight Monster books I own for D&D 3.x.

Wizard’s of the Coast can continue to mine the decades of published monsters and centuries of fantasy tales for years to come. However, while I’m content with the new options I’d caution them on following this exact formula over and over until the next edition of the game. Drawing from the well is acceptable so long as you innovate and add new tools – monster books might be an easy sell, but eventually GMs have enough options already and more are just simple variations or textual differences. Wizards seems to be embracing the concept of innovating with the Players Handbook 3’s Hybrid Class rules, lets just hope they introduce something as suitably exciting in Monster Manual 3.

This new special deck is designed to mix up and make the game a bit more multiplayer chaotic. Apparently along with the four custom Planechase pre-constructed 60-card decks, built around the concept of elemental chaos, the set introduces some new mechanics like the oversized 10-card plane deck and the six-sided planar die. This new card type will display some of the famous planar settings of the game’s long running fiction as well as introduce new play factors that will influence all the players in a game. Details are vague at this point but expect to see and read more about the changes wrought by the Planechase set as the pre-release furvor spins up nearing the September 4, 2009 release for the set.

Action figures, miniatures, battle maps, water damaged paper – I’ve used all of these things to make my games more real, more visual experiences for players but there is nothing quite as powerful as evocative language and suggestive imagery to trigger a player’s imagination.

Unfortunately, the process of running an RPG often drivels down to mechanical conversations concerning target numbers, attack modifiers and range values. This process creeps up on even the best storytellers as the math of the game can take over scenes of conflict though each group is likely to handle this immersion breaking in different ways.

Stepping back from the mechanics a bit I’ve seen that one of the best ways to get a player excited about their characters is to help them visualize them. Not everyone is a great fantasy artist, though if you’re lucky enough to have an artist in the group it is certainly a cool idea to get character or team portraits done, but the Internet is a great resource as well.

Thank the Google engineers for the unending repository of photos in their indexes or troll art sites like Deviant Art or Elfwood to find a drawing that matches your mind’s eye view of your hero. While having an image might shortchange the “my character is wearing…” introductory discussion during the initial roleplaying scene a bit, it can help reinforce the reality of the game or help you describe your character even if flowery writing and description are not your personal forte.

Complementing the character image, there is something powerful about selecting your own representative miniature as well. Often players have a very exact concept in mind and these can be hard to match with the selection of characters included in RPG miniature sets but it might also be an interesting exercise to start the other way around. Browse the images of the miniature catalog, find one that catches your eye and then develop your character from there.

Many of the miniature makers offer online images so you can scour their catalogs at leisure before ordering online or venturing to the local hobby store to find just the right look. Once you’ve found that mini I always encourage the players to customize them, change the weapon or repaint them to match – make them personalized to cement the sense of connection.

Wizard’s of the Coast recently revamped its miniature line away from the random skirmish game into tools that more closely support the RPG aspects of D&D 4E. These plastic, pre-painted miniatures were previously more useful to DMs looking to popular their dungeons with plastic foes but the new D&D Player’s Handbook Heroes sets are aimed firmly at delivering character-oriented miniatures of the iconic races and classes of the D&D 4E universe. Like most of the plastic miniatures the paint jobs vary from passable to good. Also included in the new 3 character box sets are exclusive power cards but subscribers to D&DI need not rush out just for these cards as they are included in the Character Builder updates as well.

Aside from helping players to connect with characters, props can also serve as tactile or auditory clues to help propel your tales. A tattered note containing a cryptic message from the leader of the Orc invaders has a greater impact on players if you can hand them a copy of it in person. While the description alone and text of the note is all that is needed, the use of a prop makes the item feel real, and important.

Using props does sometimes require an extra amount of preparation on the part of the DM but it usually pays off. I’ve seen games where I decided not to use a prop for an important discovery or communication and because it was little more than my reading it or a description two weeks later the players had forgotten it, much to my and their frustration. Props should be used to cement the importance of some things and the use of handouts is a good way to keep your players focused on an item or situation as well.

The latest edition of Dungeons & Dragons advocates the use of miniatures and a battle map far more than any previous version. While initial purists railed against this integration and change from the more freeform “suggested” format after playing 4E for awhile I’ve found the miniatures and battle map invaluable. So many character abilities in 4E rely on players thinking tactically that mere description can often sell a players’ options short. I’ve used minis for many of my games over the years and always found they helped players understand the foes and environment about them much better but nothing say you have to use them for every game – after all they can be expensive and hard to cart around if you’re not playing in the same location week after week or game after game.

There is one last area where props can really benefit storytelling and that is setting a mood for a game. Using candles during a game of Vampire may seem a bit silly and macabre but if it aids players and storytellers in setting the right mood then who should complain? Music and soundtracks can also punch up the emotions of a deadly encounter or long uneventful journey. Use the tools of the movie director to bolster your story, most of us don’t even realize the power a good soundtrack has upon us during a movie until we watch the same scenes without it.

There are some great pre-made or pre-developed tools and props out there to help you play and run your games. Below are just a few links to publishers and retailers I personally use for my games. Next time you’re sidling up to the table to become someone else think about how props can enhance your experience a bit.

Links:
Reaper Miniatures
Fiery Dragon Productions
D&D Miniatures
Chessex Battle Mats
Paizo Publishing’s Game Aids Store

There is one role that every player and game master takes on while playing a traditional RPG or wargame whether they know it or not – the role of teacher. No one enters the gaming hobby initially fully burst from the head of Zeus with the complete knowledge and understanding of any RPG system ever created… we have to learn them as we go. We learn to read the vast tomes of knowledge, listen to our companions and by playing and observing the choices and decisions of our gaming partners and our fearless storyteller. Our opinions on a system is just as easily colored by the actions of our fellow gamers as it is by any flaw in a rule system.

Too many times over the years I’ve ended up on the topic of role playing games and immediately the other member of the conversation will mention that “I played that once in high school/college/the military” and when I follow up with the next logical question: “Why did you stop?” half the time or more I get the “The guy/gal running things left.” While not every player is a future dungeon master, it says something to me that in many cases the person running the game becomes the glue with which these social gaming units are held fast and the cohesion of that unit is often not supported by the people who are enjoying it so much.

Role Playing games (or just about any hobby game including miniatures) require an atmosphere where players are introduced to a game or system or story and then helped along in creation of their character avatars. The process of making that connection can be very unique and is often the very point where a player will decide if gaming is for them or not. One bad experience, one unreasonable limitation or response from a dungeon master or fellow player will color the new folk on how long they will often spend in this hobby. A string of these things will eliminate all but the most determined. Often players rely on the storyteller to mitigate the rough edges of a gaming session without truly taking on the role of mentor or advocate for the newer players.

This is a social hobby, one often littered with arcane math, odd or unfamiliar language and a obscured by the public stigma which commonly represents it as an activity for pimply faced nerds who spend hours sitting in their parents basements dreaming up wild adventures for their fictional alter ego with their collection of similarly socially awkward buddies. The reality of course is often quite different. Sure, many gamers fit these paradigms: they have acne, live with parents or are not the most socially developed, but seldom is the responsibility of the player to promote the hobby, teach it and encourage a change to those perceptions well executed.

Bringing in new players is a joy for me. I personally love the thrill of watching someone develop a story, a character and come to recognize the creative freedoms of cooperative storytelling. I take very seriously that the best way to continue enjoying my gaming is by introducing the concepts to people who either only have the preconceptions of society and the media or in finding and including someone who had an interest squashed through bad experiences or lack of continued opportunity.

Whether I’m a player or a storyteller my selfish little goal is to make sure the people I enjoy the hobby with continue to enjoy it and that we regularly encourage them to invite friends or even to take up the mantle of game master themselves. I’ve found this tactic more often than not cements a long term love of pen and paper RPGs into those who might never have considered spending an evening drinking beer or soda while pretending to be someone else in a fantastic adventure.

New gamers are the target demographic for a lot of publishers these days. The recent announcement of the Green Ronin published Dragon Age introductory box set and the recent release by Wizards of the Coast of the D&D Test Drive makes it clear the tools are available to help gamers recruit/convert/introduce new blood into the hobby. The D&D Test Drive is not quite the same type product as the old D&D Basic Set of yore or the recent Introductory products but it does include a free copy of the first 4th Edition D&D Module – Keep on the Shadowfell and includes supplemental materials to introduce not just the latest version of the game, but also this whole wonderful pastime. Other introductory oriented products or player focused items like the recent D&D Heroes miniatures sets are aimed squarely at involving someone other than the Dungeon Masters in the game support process and also seem like good tools in the teaching arsenal.

Role playing games and minis are unlike most other forms of entertainment – they are powered by imagination, require little more than time and a few friends to enjoy, and are not nearly as passive a form of entertainment like film or television. If you ever lament that you aren’t playing in a game right now then maybe its time to take up your rightful role as teacher and grow the industry yourself. Go out, find other like minded players and build a group. The game publishers are trying to help and there is no greater reward than to have a new player’s eyes light up with excitement or demand that you make time to play because they’ve caught on to all the things that we veterans already know about RPGs and miniature games.

I talk weekly about the convergence of pen-and-paper gaming with the digital game space of video games but today I get to announce a convergence going in the opposite direction.. Green Ronin, publishers of the popular Mutants & Masterminds, True 20 and the current publisher of The Song of Ice and Fire RPG just announced that they will be taking the world of BioWare’s forthcoming Dragon Age: Origins and converting it into a traditional RPG.

Dragon Age, often referred to in hype releases as “the spiritual successor to Baldur’s Gate” (BioWare’s original Fantasy RPG based upon the Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms settings), will be getting a “box set” release in the summer meant to introduce both the world of Thedas (Dragon Age’s setting) and the concepts of traditional role playing to video game fans.

“We’re delighted to be working with Green Ronin to explore more of the Dragon Age universe through a pen and paper role-playing game. We’re excited to deliver Dragon Age’s unique dark, heroic fantasy to our audience in a brand new way—a perfect complement to the landmark game we’re launching on PC, Xbox 360, and PLAYSTATION 3 this fall,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, General Manager and CEO, BioWare and General Manager and Vice President, EA. “Our development teams craft rich, deep worlds, and this is an excellent way to expand the franchise.”

This is not the first RPG setting to make the transition from video game to paper – previously Everquest, Diablo, Starcraft and World of Warcraft have gotten a conversion to traditional RPG products at Wizards of the Coast and with White-Wolf’s Sword and Sorcery imprint. While none of those settings are still in active development this is the first time I can recall that an in-development video game property is getting a tabletop treatment before its even been released.

Who knows, maybe if Dragon Age grabs its audience Green Ronin and BioWare can negotiate to bring Mass Effect to pen-and-paper RPGs as well. I’d be first in line for a game based on that setting. Dragon Age feel like more of the same Tolkien derivative fantasy at this point unfortunately. You can read the full details of the press release after the jump.

Bioware and Green Ronin to Publish Dragon Age Pen & Paper Role-Playing Game
BioWare’s Highly Anticipated Epic Fantasy Video Game Gets the Pen & Paper Treatment

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (May 5, 2009) — Leading video game developer BioWareTM, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), today announced that Green Ronin Publishing will launch a pen and paper role-playing game (RPG) based on the highly anticipated video game, Dragon AgeTM: Origins. The pen and paper game extends the Dragon Age universe, making it more accessible to passionate RPG fans looking for another way to experience the epic fantasy world of Thedas.

“We’re delighted to be working with Green Ronin to explore more of the Dragon Age universe through a pen and paper role-playing game. We’re excited to deliver Dragon Age’s unique dark, heroic fantasy to our audience in a brand new way—a perfect complement to the landmark game we’re launching on PC, Xbox 360, and PLAYSTATION 3 this fall,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, General Manager and CEO, BioWare and General Manager and Vice President, EA. “Our development teams craft rich, deep worlds, and this is an excellent way to expand the franchise.”

“Dragon Age: Origins has been described as the spiritual successor to BioWare’s Baldur’s GateTM, one of the most highly-acclaimed fantasy computer RPGs in the world, so when BioWare approached us to do a pen and paper version, we had to say ‘yes!’,” said Green Ronin President Chris Pramas. “With our work on Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Black Company, and Thieves’ World, dark fantasy is in our blood and Dragon Age: Origins is the best in its class. An opportunity to collaborate with BioWare on Dragon Age: Origins was not to be missed.”

The Dragon Age pen and paper RPG will be available at card shops, and book and comic retailers in summer 2009. The first release will be a boxed set—perfect for new and experienced role-players alike. Green Ronin plans to release additional boxed sets and supplemental books, expanding the Dragon Age world even further.

Dragon Age: Origins from BioWare invites players to create their own heroes and join the fight against the darkspawn in a world of violence, lust, and betrayal. The game will feature deep character customization, challenging decisions, and a wealth of gritty, mature plots that, combined with the BioWare heritage, make it one of the most highly-anticipated releases of 2009. Dragon Age: Origins is scheduled to release this fall on the Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, and PC.

Dragon Age: Origins is rated RP by the ESRB. No PEGI rating is available at this time. For more information about Dragon Age: Origins, visit www.dragonage.com. Pre-order the game now at www.eastore.ea.com.

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About Green Ronin Publishing
Green Ronin Publishing is a Seattle-based company known for its dedication to quality books and games. Founded in 2000, Green Ronin has won more awards for excellence and innovation than any other game company in the new millennium, and took home the coveted ENnie Award for Best Publisher an unprecedented three years running. With great licenses like A Song of Ice and Fire and The Black Company, groundbreaking games like Mutants & Masterminds and Blue Rose, and a roster of top flight designers and illustrators, Green Ronin Publishing is a leading light in the hobby game industry.

About BioWare
BioWare develops computer, console, handheld, mobile and online video games focused on rich stories and memorable characters. Since 1995, BioWare has created some of the world’s best-selling titles, including the award-winning Baldur’s GateTM and Neverwinter NightsTM series, Star Wars®: Knights of the Old RepublicTM and SonicTM Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (for the Nintendo DSTM). Original BioWare-created intellectual properties include Jade EmpireTM and the 2007 Game of the Year, Mass EffectTM. With studios in Edmonton (Alberta, Canada), Montreal (Quebec), and Austin (Texas), BioWare is hard at work on the epic fantasy role-playing game, Dragon AgeTM: Origins, Mass Effect 2TM, the epic sequel to Mass Effect, and the story-driven massively multiplayer game, Star Wars®: The Old RepublicTM, as well as several unannounced projects. In 2008, BioWare was acquired by the world’s leading electronic entertainment publisher, Electronic Arts. For more information on BioWare, visit www.bioware.com.

About Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world’s leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, cellular handsets, and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTSTM, EATM, EA SPORTS FreestyleTM, and POGOTM. In fiscal 2008, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3.67 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA’s homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA’s products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.

*BioWare, Mass Effect, Dragon Age and Jade Empire are trademarks or registered trademarks owned by EA International (Studio and Publishing) Ltd. in the U.S. and/or other countries. EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS Freestyle and POGO are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Nintendo DS is a trademark of Nintendo. PLAYSTATION is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment. Xbox and Xbox 360 are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

When Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition launched last year, the cries of limits and simplifications roiled through Internet communities and among local gaming stores as fans of the previous game struggled with the changes introduced by Wizards of the Coast. I was one of the masses who noticed that the game by design limited the utility of some classes from previous iterations and introduced a limited number of choices for new players.  Over the last year I’ve begun to understand that what a lot of us were complaining about was a temporary concern if Wizards continued with the business and publication plan they had openly disclosed before the systems introduction.

The plan was simple – get the starting books in the hands of players, old and new and then build in new choices through later books. If someone was satisfied with the core options introduced in the Players Handbook then they need nothing more to enjoy the game. However players and dungeon masters who craved new choices could plug in the later support books like Martial Power to expand class powers, builds and feats or even the later Players Handbooks ( They, like the Monster Manual and Dungeon Masters Guides, will apparently be annual releases with new content ).

The 4th Edition D&D product line has grown at a reasonable rate. New classes introduced in later books maintain the same design style as the initial core offerings but I’m sure that like my players, just about anyone who has played since launch is tired of every Rogue using a Reaping Strike at level 1 or having the game world only apparently populated by two builds of every martial and arcane class.

While Martial Power saw release last year to expand the options of the Players Handbook martial classes – the Fighter, Warlord, Ranger and Rogue – This years addition focuses on the Arcane classes of Dungeons & Dragons like the Warlock, Wizard, Swordmage, Bard and Sorcerer.

Arcane Power serves to introduce two new “class builds” for each of the arcane classes – including those introduced in PH2 and the Forgotten Realms Players Guide, a bundle of new powers for each class and to support the new builds as well as new Paragon paths and Epic Destinies. Each class receives a chapter of the book with a final chapter covering universal arcane feats, options and equipment for any of the classes.

The book is, as advertised, a good resource for players of arcane characters. The new abilities and builds will interest fans of spellcaster types and might even convince some players who feel magic users are complex, mysterious characters to experiment. Notable additions for fans of the older versions of D&D are the return of Summoning and Illusion based magic systems.

Summoning slightly abandons the 3.x concept of planar creatures in favor of more energy and spiritual manifestations or planar creatures. The summoned creatures don’t act as independent characters and like the Ranger’s animal companion system introduced in Martial Power act only when a player character expends actions not in addition to the player themselves. Initially this concept bothered me a bit – I like the concept of added characters on the good guy team but I thought back and realized that combats always got longer, more complicated and drawn out whenever summoned creatures existed on either side.

The new system more truly reflects what would happen if in some way you could summon a creature to do your bidding, to subvert its will and force it to arrive and act at your whims. Once I put the system in that light I found it made more story sense and became mechanically simpler to manage for  players and GMs alike.

Another returning concept of the book applies to all the arcane characters not just one class – the Arcane Familiar is back.

Familiars in D&D games often served as a power cheat for arcane spellcasters. Wizards in many of my 3E games purposely threw the idea of getting a familiar out the window because either the available options were too mundane or the repercussions of losing a familiar in combat was too drastic and a likely event.

Familiars always felt like the sedentary or researching wizards tool. They were not active combat participants like a druid or ranger’s animal companions. Often they caused harsh penalties to be enacted on players or cost them lots of cash to acquire or replace, including penalties that punished arcane players when other classes could lose animal companions with impunity.

The 4E implementation however corrects both of these problems and adds an interesting new system into the arcane caster’s realm. Familiars are not real creatures, but bound manifestations that serve as companion and aid to an arcane spellcaster. The versions listed in Arcane Power tend to have fantastical shapes and forms and are encouraged to be presented with personalities and quirks that can set them apart from normal creatures they resemble.

Best of all they are no longer as vulnerable to death. When a players loses a familiar in combat it simply dematerializes and must be called again after a certain time has elapsed. The player is denied the minor bonus abilities of the familiar during this time but it doesn’t cause instant death or a loss of ability points as it once did.

Arcane Power is a great resource for anyone playing or planning to play an arcane character. The new options expand the seemingly limited selections of the core classes in interesting ways and reintroduce some familiar elements of editions past with a meaningful and balanced approach.

I’ll let the following interview with one of the game’s creators explain exactly what Untold is but lets just say this is not your normal pen and paper RPG concept. Click through to the jump to read through my interview with Brannon Hollingsworth, Untold’s co-creator and one of the talented folks from The Wandering Men Studios. You can also find out more about Untold itself on its official website.

Shawn Sines, Gaming Today(SS): So.. first question… the boilerplate one of course.. tell us a little about Untold and the concept behind the game itself.
Brannon Hollingsworth(BH): Untold is a brand new game from Wandering Men Studios – the guys that brought you the novel Skein of Shadows (published by Dark Quest Games). The game itself is what we’re calling a CBRGP – a Card Based Role Playing Game. The concept is exactly the same as any other RPG on the market, with one critical difference – all of the tools of the game are cards – there are no character sheets, rulebooks, or pamphlets needed once you understand the rules – just the cards!

SS: Do you still need dice? How are you doing conflict resolution?
BH: Yes – a d20 – we like to say that all you need is a deck and a die!

SS: Interesting, so the cards replace the character sheet and all resolution is done with a single d20?
BH: Correct, but the cards ALSO replace all of the rulebooks as well.

SS: Does that mean that the game cards are generic.. for instance you would have a “Strength: 20″ card, an “Endurance: 15″ card, I know that might not be what you call them in Untold but I think you understand what I mean right?
BH: It depends on which cards you’re talking about – the ABS cards are somewhat generic, as you state, so we have Strength 1, or Agility 9 cards, for instance, but even those cards have some interesting tweaks to make them more valuable and a better value for the customer.

SS: Do you have different cards to represent different abilities or powers or skills? How does one build a character using the Untold system to represent their character?

BH: Yes, every combat maneuver, spell, item, weapon, magical device, or cool move (a la feat) is its own, modular card. So, you can use these cards to build and customize your character however you want. In terms of abilities and skills, we’ve rolled those into a single card type: called ABS (Ability Based Skills) and they handle all of your skill checks (Listen, Spot, etc.) as well as any Ability-related check on might have (smashing down a door, leaping across a ravine, etc).

Building a character is very easy and very fast: select your race card, select your ABS cards (if you like), select your Path cards (if you like), and then your Power cards (if you like) – then you’re done!

SS: Since this is a card based does that mean players and storytellers will be forced to buy packs of random powers?
BH: Not at all! First of all, Untold has NO randomization at all. That’s one of the things that we knew we DID NOT want as an element of Untold – while it might be great for making money, it’s horrible on players, and players are the reason we created the game in the first place.

When you purchase decks or packs of Untold, you’re going to know exactly what you’re getting – the contents will be detailed on the website and on the packages. This way. if a player or GM (storyteller) wants more Power cards, they’ll know what they need and can get exactly what they want.

SS: Lets talk a little about the broader concept, Untold is not just a system right? Isn’t it also a setting? How would you describe the game world to a new player?
BH: Great question – Untold is much more than just a system – the underlying story of Untold is one that lends itself to endless expansion and customization. The basic story is three universes – not worlds, but universes have collided and what happens as a result becomes the backdrop of your game.

This way, players and GMs can elect to play in our “default” campaign setting, which is called Splintered Serenity, or create their own campaign setting based on the races we offer. Alternatively, they can simply integrate our races, powers, sites and concepts into their existing games.

SS: Does that mean that the initial game will include not just the setting specific races/abilities/tech but also more generic conceits like elves, orcs, aliens, etc?
BH: One of the things WMS has planned is additional “genre” expansions, so we will eventually have a “Wild West” deck, for instance, with cowboys and Indians, or a “Far East” deck with samurai and ninja, or even a “Space Opera” deck with aliens, blasters and odd-looking aliens.

As we bring in the new decks, we’ll have those races – one of the things we want players to be able to do is play in the worlds they already have, but use Untold cards to do so. For instance, I’m a long-time GM and I have thousands of dollars of “Setting Books” on my shelves that I would love to play, but I can’t because my players dislike the mechanics, or don’t want to learn a new system, or whatever. Untold could correct this problem – you have a single system that works anywhere and anytime – you just nab the cards that match your setting and you’re off to the races!

SS: Can you describe a bit about the races players will find in the “default” setting? What sorts of creatures/characters can you make out of the box?
BH: We have a number of new and interesting races in the Splintered Serenity setting.

There are the L’na, a race that comes from a world where where magic is the basic building block of life, the L’na are a mystical race generally given to the tenants of subtle balance and harmony with the world around them. Physically, L’na resemble animals, but they are far from simple beasts: they are, in fact, highly intelligent and spiritual beings that are the apex of magical “evolution” on Ai, their home-world. The L’na also represent two different aspects – Dawn and Twilight which helps determine their role in the game.

We have a mechanical race called the Klik. They are beings of metal and steam, gears and gyros, pistons and pulleys, the Klik at first glance appear to be nothing more than strange conglomerations of odd, physics-defying gadgetry. Yet, once one spends any amount of time in the presence of these assertive and driven beings, they are sure to redefine their perceptions of them. While the Klik could not be considered individuals by any means, as they continually strive to perform their part in the service of their Great Machine, they are anything but random collections of parts and pieces. They also have two forms – the Rollers and the Tripods, which generally reflect their locomotion as well as their class in Klik society.

The most human-like of the races are the Apoc. Apocs are the last surviving remnants of the world’s armies after an apocalyptic event has left the planet as they know it completely shattered. Designed long before this world-shattering event, but with it in mind, Apocs are genetically engineered to be the ultimate survivalists – they’re enhanced physical powers honed to cope with any form of external stress. With powers bordering on (and some far surpassing) the supernatural, the Apoc are truly the next stage in human evolution. They break down into High-breeds and Churls representing the relative culture of the character and resources at their disposal. The High-bred are clean and ordered while the Churl are savage survivors.

Of course we’re planning on expanding the races in future decks as I mentions to include traditional RPG character races but we think the Splintered Serenity setting offers some new and interesting concepts that you don’t see in every game.

SS: Where would one of our readers go to find out more about Untold? Are you selling it online or is it available at retail yet?
BH: We’ve already been approached by several stores in the Birmingham, Alabama are, just in response to our release at this year’s Imagicon (http://www.imagicon.org), and are furiously working to ink deals with them! We’re definitely looking to branch out into more FLGS’es and would love to hear from anyone who would like to carry Untold, receive in-store demos of Untold, or both! But for those who can’t wait to get their hands on Untold – you can purchase directly from our website.

SS: Thanks Brannon, best of luck to you and the Wandering Men with Untold. It looks like it is already beginning to get some attention. I notice you’re sponsoring an upcoming convention?
BH: Thanks, Shawn! Yes, we are – we’ll be at KWAKCON this weekend (April 24-26) in lovely Kokomo, IN! We’ll also be Guests at Mobicon (May 15-17) and more than likely at Play-On Con and DragonCon – the jury’s still out on those last two.

There are only a few more memorable lines spoken in the original Star Wars than when Obi Won refers to the Mos Eisley spaceport on Tatooine where Luke and he meet up with Han Solo and Chewbacca as a place where:  “You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.”

That fateful meeting set the tone for the scoundrel and privateers in the Star Wars setting and introduced us to our first bounty hunter as well (even if he did get blasted by Han.. alas poor Greedo).

Scum and Villainy is the latest book in the outstanding Star Wars SAGA Edition RPG line. Like the place that inspired the films dialog, the book introduces gamers to the seedy side of galactic life in a galaxy far, far away. Lovable rogues, mercenary privateers and less forthright businessmen get their own sourcebook concentrating on making the gray side of Star Wars’ black and white universe not only playable but interesting to set within an entire campaign.

No longer do force wielding Jedi or noble galactic soldiers need to be the sole focus of a Star Wars campaign. Instead players and GMs alike can spend some time wallowing in the mud, making backroom bargains and getting involved in illicit deals with high risk and big rewards.

Not everyone who wants to play a science fantasy RPG wants to run around wielding mystical powers or playing soldier and this book actually serves a wider audience even than the game setting it was designed to support. It only took me about twenty minutes of paging through the book on my initial perusal to realize that Scum and Villainy was actually the only real source book I needed to run any space based game featuring scoundrels and rogues in a d20 system.

This SAGA book features everything you might expect. While it is not in any way a gear oriented book it finally adds rules to replicate a few concepts we see over and over in the original trilogy – like freighter captains who’ve added more than a few “special customizations” to their ships for those sticky entanglements, bounty hunters whose knowledge of weaponeering leads them to create or enhance more effective armaments from commercial stocks, and vehicle jocks that recognize the need to upgrade beyond the manufacturer’s recommended limits even if it introduces a few bugs in the system with the inclusion of a rule system that allows players and storytellers to customize standard equipment, vehicles, etc.

What black market campaign would be complete without dark places to meet and exchange elicit goods? Need a system for creating secret pirate bases or space stations that are a little off the main hyperspace lanes? The book spends a good amount of time describing these locations and providing charts and recommendations for those who want to populate their games with such locations.

Scum and Villainy really does serve as a great reference to the fringe society in the Star Wars setting throughout various eras of play. A few new races are included including the shapechanging Clawdites and the reptilian Falleen. Players who’ve yearned to play as those obnoxious Jawa can even find that race included. In all there are 8 new races for play.

Classes are also a focus with a number of new talent options for existing classes and prestige classes like the Ace Pilot, Bounty hunter and Crime Lord and more than a few uses for existing skills. New feats many of which support the new tech system or expand options for any class and prestige classes like the Outlaw and Master Privateer really expand the options for players with goals of underworld domination.

Any book discussing the underworld of course also has to discuss the laws that these characters are working to undermine or avoid. If there was one area that the book let me down a bit it was in the discussions of how law and law enforcement worked in the Star Wars setting. Sure there is an overview of the major crimes, a table citing fines and possible punishments for these crimes but really not much discussion of the law keeping organizations and their relationships with the criminals of the galaxy. Maybe this would have been out of the scope of a book on the criminal elements of the Star Wars universe but its often important to know who the criminals are working against to help punctuate just how bad the bad guys can be.

After covering the new rules, the character options and the concepts of kit-bashed technology and law the book takes a large amount of space detailing a ready made fringe campaign setting and a number of hooks and mini-adventures that are completely suitable for introduction into an ongoing campaign. One of the nice things about dealing with crooks and thieves is that they work so well as both anti-hero characters and adversaries. It is easy to turn these situations into fuel for non-fringe oriented storytelling as well. Even the heroes of the films had frequent encounters with underworld agencies and often, as in the case of Han’s debt to Jabba the Hutt they served as the glue that kept the disparate characters together.

Scum and Villainy continues the trend of excellently written and useful sourcebooks in the Star Wars SAGA RPG line. Even if, like some of my players, you’re not fond of the Star Wars setting because of the pseudo-mystic nature of the Jedi, this book provides all the tools necessary to take Star Wars from a light fable into a dark, grueling underworld game and the d20 system at its core means industrious game masters can easily twist these mechanics to tell a game set in any setting, not just the one George Lucas licensed Wizards of the Coast to write about.

I’m a big fan of Joss Whedon’s Firefly setting and though there is an officially licensed RPG for that property I never cared much for the core mechanical system underneath, but this book immediately gave me all the tools I needed to replicate the world of Mal Reynolds, The Operative and the failed civil war between the Browncoat colonists and the Alliance. That utility alone would lead me to buy this were I not already a fan of Star Wars.

Combined with The Force Unleashed book fans of the SAGA system have at their disposal every tool they need to run a very different sort of Star Wars campaign. This is a must have resource for every Star Wars RPG fan.

“Here, There Be Dragons…” is a phrase you’d expect to hear in a Dungeons and Dragons game, so I guess it’s only fitting that one of the first monster focused books released for Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition would center on the iconic creature that is synonymous with the fantasy RPG experience.

The Dragonomicon series of books is not new to Dungeons and Dragons, in fact the two previous titles – a Forgotten Realms oriented dragon manual in the 2nd edition and a more fluffy, conceptual work in 3rd edition set high standards for what fans of dragons and even dungeons might expect from such a tome.

The 4th edition version takes a different tact than its predecessors. Sure there is still a bit of enjoyable fluff: things like the anatomy of dragons is discussed in the book, explanations of how a huge reptilian creature could possibly fly or breathe magical energy like fire or acid – but the book walks the line between a guide to species and a collection of game mechanics fairly well. This volume appears to be the first in a line of Dragonomicons and focuses exclusively on the chromatic varieties of dragon in Dungeons and Dragons.

Those who love dragons but don’t follow Dungeons and Dragon’s versions may not understand that they considers the various colors and types of dragons as distinct species. The two primary dragon types traditionally separated along a coloration line with the evil dragons being chromatic in nature i.e. red, green, black, white, brown, etc. while the good dragons were metallic – gold, bronze, copper, silver and so on. Aside from the colored and metal dragons there are also crystal dragons and other more esoteric dragon lines but the core of Dungeons and Dragons dragonology has always revolved around colored dragons and metallic dragons.

While 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons has backed off the hard and fast good vs. evil split – meaning you can on occasion meet a good elder red wyrm or an evil ancient Gold dragon, mechanically the various colors of dragons divide more along the lines of the monster roles they occupy.

4th Edition introduced the concepts of monster roles alongside the hero roles so while a Fighter class character is a Defender, an old Green Dragon is considered a Skirmisher and this book does a good job of explaining in non-statistical terms why that role was assigned. The behaviors and psychology of the creatures is expanded upon and their differences and perspectives from normal humanoids fairly clearly explained.

While dragons as opponents might fascinate player characters who for instance want to become dragon slayer knights or some other such fantasy archetype, the majority of this book is aimed at the person running the game. Most of the content in Dragonomicon I is meant to help Dungeon Masters integrate dragons into their campaigns and offers a lot of support material to make dragons not only an interesting enemy but also to help inform their lairs, hoards and associates.

The book provides a number of sample scenarios and plot hooks for DMs to integrate non-traditional dragon encounters into their games as well as a fair number of pre-designed drop-in scenarios for players at many levels along side an extensive list of remarkable lairs ready made for the big dragon encounter.

Dragonomicon I is not as interesting a read for players and DMs as its 3E predecessor as it lacks some of the more interesting dragon-related theory and contains almost no player oriented rule information, but as the first in a series of books it has potential on the whole to eclipse that work. The book includes three lesser known chromatic dragons – the purple, brown and gray, as well as a number of new dragon related monsters  or expansions of those listed in the core Monster Manual book – there are new Dragonborn, Drakes and Kobolds along new creatures like the Living Breath. These additions are well fleshed out and are immediately applicable in a 4E campaign which makes the book a better utility for storytellers to be sure.

The final part of the book includes updated information for a number of Dungeons and Dragon’s more renowned chromatic dragons. Information on the 4E conversions of Dragonlance iconic dragons like Ashardalon,  Ashardalon from the 3E Adventure Path modules and  Dargotha the Dracolitch is included but fans of these settings and characters will likely be disappointed by the simplified descriptions of the dragons. While there is setting detail and statistics I felt that the iconic dragons got a somewhat short shrift that reduced an often deep and interesting entity into a two paragraph description that didn’t capture the reason players or GMs should care about them or want to use them in their game.

Overall the Dragonomicon I: Chromatic Dragons is a good start to the series. I’m hoping that Open Grave: Secrets of the Undead, which is due out early in 2009, takes a similar approach with maybe a bit more player oriented material for the undead hunters in the group. A few unique class builds with new supporting powers might be nice, but I suspect it won’t happen since the design guide for 4E is apparently to keep player oriented products in the core releases with power or setting player expansions only.

I realize its been awhile since the last installment of The Analog Gamer and there have been a few big changes in the tabletop gaming market – Wiz Kids, one time golden goat of the plastic collectible miniature market has been shuttered by its parent company Topps, Wizards of the Coast announced it was making substantial changes to the D&D miniature product line and miniature company Rackham SA (producer of sci-fi battler AT-43) disappeared into the dust.

Things are tough all over but there is some hope on the horizon. Wizkids, the owners of the Shadowrun and Battletech intellectual properties recently signed a two year deal with Catalyst games to continue producing pen-and-paper titles in both series and apparently that will continue even after the death of Wizkids. Also there is a lot of interest from other miniature makers to acquire the HeroClix line and to continue the property at another corporation.

The refocusing of Wizards of the Coast on semi-random miniatures aimed at role playing gamers is a compromise tactic that will hopefully please both the hard core players/collectors of the miniature game and people like myself who are dedicated to the pen-and-paper RPG and prefer the ability to buy the minis we need for our campaigns rather than roll the dice and pray we don’t get too many random packs containing the Farmer and Pig mini or its equivalent.

Amongst all this doom and gloom however I find some respite in my love of the undead (I know that was an odd segue but stay with me…). The recent PC release of Valve’s Left4Dead has my gaming time filled with
hordes of the rampaging undead and with grim news impacting the tabletop hobby its hard not to feel a sense of dread.

To that end, and since Halloween is already passed I thought it would be a good time to take a look at some gaming products that focus on those most disgusting of enemies – the undead. I’ve spent hours playing with my fellow Filefront team members (feel free to join us!) trying to overcome the innumerable waves of infested in the video game but I spent some time thinking about how I could bring that same experience to my gaming table.

What games would support the tension or stress of being a survivor in a city overrun by undead enemies who lusted for nothing more than your juicy, juicy brains? Was there a way to put everyone in a game like this and still maintain the horror or cooperation elements?

So I went back to the gaming shelf to see what I could find. I’m a fan of undead, as a DM I’ve always favored them as foils of choice in my campaigns. The horror inherent in telling an adventuring tale where the big bad was once a champion of light turned to the horrors of darkness and surviving after their vainglorious sacrifice or failure is not a new hook. (Clue obligatory Warcraft/Arthas reference)

There are games of all types that portray the undead – from the Goth LARPer’s beloved Vampire to the gritty and often deadly Zombie Survival games like All Flesh Must Be Eaten , gamers recognize the attraction of undead as a foe. Horror games tend to be short and violent and I’ve run them using Chill, Beyond the Supernatural, Nightspawn and Call of Cthulu, and Hunter the Reckoning to make my players the victims.

Throw the Resident Evil scenario together, stat up some buildings, obstacles and enemies and go to town and see how much fun it is to actually run a game where as a DM I’m out to kill or convert the players. This is not my usual style of storytelling but as a break in a long-running campaign or on a night when not everyone can attend it makes for an often intense experience for all involved.

Moving outside the RPG arena, Twilight Creations has made a mint publishing their Zombies!! Line of multiplayer boardgames. These tile-based board games allow everyone to be victim and to control the zombies. There are 7 current expansions, bags of add on zombies, zombie dogs and even Zombie babes to increase the options.

Next year Wizards of the Coast is adding its second monster focused book, Open Grave: Secrets of the Undead to the 4th Edition library and I hope this book will live up to the 3rd edition version Libris Mortis: The Book of the Undead.

The tumult of the economy is enough real-world horror for me so I think for the time being I’ll dive into my escapism to cope. Gaming survived the boom-bust cycle of the 80’s and come through, so while
some of our favorite games or game publishers reorganize and disappear maybe we can pay tribute by playing their games instead of fretting about the future.

Oh and in case you’re wondering here is a little image to get you through the next zombie apocalypse yourself:

The best form of media convergence for me as a gamer has to be when a video game spawns a good tie in back to either film/TV or traditional gaming because then I can take my favorite universes into my other forms of entertainment.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and the forthcoming Star Wars: Clone Wars are two such examples of games or animation translating across multiple media properties. Is it surprising that it’s George Lucas’s baby that is making this leap? Absolutely not, but the first of these two multimedia launches, the much anticipated The Force Unleashed is now on the streets as a novel, a multi-platform video game, an expansion for the Star Wars miniature game and of course the delayed Star Wars SAGA RPG campaign setting.

Along with the release of the game and the RPG book, it appears Lucas licensee Wizards of the Coast thinks that The Force Unleashed is the perfect gateway dru.. er property to lure gamers into its Star Wars mini’s line as well.

The publisher is offering anyone who purchases The Force Unleashed RPG guide or the video game $5 off of their The Force Unleashed Huge Booster packs. The discount makes the packs $14.99 which is actually pretty good if you’re intending to run the game itself or as a side benefit to help your RPG campaign.

Soon after the hype and excitement over The Force Unleashed dies down the next big Star Wars tie in will arrive. Coming in October, the next expansion for the miniature game based on the recent Clone Wars film and past and future animated series will hit retail. Wizards promises that starter sets and booster packs will feature characters from the Genndy Tartakovsky shorts, the animated series and other prequel era tales will grace the set. Some highlights include: Durge, Asaji Ventress, and Captrain Rex.

Emmert found several analog or old school pen and paper and or miniature games; some new and some reinventions of old favorites. He snagged several minis games including Warmachine Legends, Monsterpocalypse and Pulp City. He also found the Jungle Temple from The Miniature Building Authority, a company specialized in producing miniature buildings and terrain for games. He also picked up a few RPGs including White Wolf’s update of its original World of Darkness Hunters source book, Hunter: The Vigil. He also grabbed Witch Hunter: The Invisible World and the latest version of the Wild Cards RPG.

If you can’t get to Gen Con yourself, it’s nice to get an idea of what new products to look for. Get a glimpse of Emmert’s picks and the methods to his madness in Jack’s Gen Con Holiday dev blog.

The era that brought Star Wars back to its core fantasy roots in Bioware’s excellent Knights of the Old Republic and the promising (but incomplete) tale of The Sith Lords on the PC and Xbox finally gets the pen and paper treatment in the latest edition of the Star Wars RPG.

The Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide sets the bar high for continued products in Wizards of the Coast’s Star Wars SAGA line by providing an excellent and well constructed overview of the mid-republic era.

While many players seem to favor the romantic conflicts of rebels and empire I’ve always been far more a fan of the far past of George Lucas’ universe. Partially, I think because Lucas himself is not around to despoil it with furry teddy bears toppling elite shock troopers and Rastafarian space klutzes. The Knights of the Old Republic setting portrays the galaxy far, far away during a turbulent time.

Early in the setting the Jedi hold sway but they aren’t the stale, stoic Jedi of the prequel trilogy. The order is disparate and scattered and one of many force using factions in the Republic. There are countless pressures and numerous foes who can stand up next to the Jedi in power so running a game in this era definitely feels more balanced and easily allows players to mix and match character types with ease.

The KotOR Campaign Guide does everything a guide to running games during this time should. It introduces new races from the fiction that are in prominence during this time frame, granting players even more options. It introduces technological equivalents to the beloved modern Star Wars tech like the predecessors of R2 and C-3PO, the Corellian YT-1300 and everything casual fans will know from the films but that were not around hundreds of years before The Phantom Menace.

The history of the era is well defined and laid out. Factions like the Mandalorians, Sith and Republic all get sections of the book devoted to explaining their role in a KotOR campaign and optional classes, powers and abilities unique to the era and the time. Characters from the two games and even the Dark Horse series are liberally ingrained throughout the book. Ever wonder what Darth Traya’s stats were? What about Zayne Carrick or Master Lucien Draay and his Jedi Covenant? Along with the descriptions you also get explanations for how to integrate these concepts into your games.

The best thing about the book has to be that it introduces an era where the players need not feel cramped by the “Big three” roaming around saving the universe. The Jedi Civil War, Mandalorian Invasion, Sith War and Dark War all provide great backdrops for just about any sort of Star Wars game without hamstringing you regarding the role your character will play in helping Han, Luke or Leia save the galaxy or fending off the Yuuhzan Vong invasion.

If there is a failing in this product it is simply that it can’t please everyone. The ancient Sith era, and the happenings of the old Tales of the Jedi comics are mentioned but not truly highlighted here. This is a book about the more recent Old Republic tales. Nomi Sunrider, Freedon Nadd and his uprising get mentions, but entities like Darth Bane are nowhere to be found in these pages.

Fans of the older era are best left finding a used copy of the classic D6 Tales of the Jedi source book and converting that information themselves. There is also a lack of information on Jedi and Sith artifacts, though Sith Alchemy and the special lightsaber crystals represented in the video games get game rules to reflect the variance in lightsaber tech during the KotOR era.

There are a number of additional campaign guides coming soon, including the delayed The Force Unleashed book that promises to open up the Jedi power base a lot. If Wizards’ staff can maintain this level or usefulness and quality in these products they will be easy to recommend.

While every RPG seemingly requires a book of monsters and enemies for game runners to use as opponents in their homespun adventures, Threats of the Galaxy has a slightly different approach than what we’ve seen in the past. I credit this difference to the approach players and storytellers have to take with a game like Star Wars. Despite the setting’s fantastic elements it is not quite the “Monty Haul” game that its cousin Dungeons & Dragons is, or at least I don’t think it should be anyway.

D&D seemingly was built to be a kill the monster, save the princess, get “Phat loot” sort of system. Taking the lead of George Lucas’ films and the expanded universe content surrounding them, Star Wars can cover the same ground but when was the last time anyone thought Luke or Han was in it for the +4 Lightsaber or the Biker Scout’s Stomrtooper armor?

The same can be said for the enemies in Star Wars.While most of the movie’s antagonists were generic white shelled clone shocktroops there were also bounty hunters and giant space slugs that got in the gang’s way on the road to overthrowing the corrupt Empire and its evil Sith leaders, unique challenges that require a bit more diversity than a simple horde of orcs in a fantasy setting to remain interesting for Star Wars players.

Threats of the Galaxy delivers these diverse opponents. Expanding on the base foes detailed in the core Star Wars RPG, and with only slight reprinting for completeness I believe, it begins by helping storytellers design encounters. The short opening section expands on the quick and dirty instructions of the main rules and  discusses elements like how environment can be utilized to make basic enemies more challenging or how variety can keep a game from getting too uninteresting for players. I mean after destroying a platoon of Stormtroopers in Clone Company 7 are you really all that excited the next time you encounter Clone Company 14?

The book itself breaks its rogues gallery into three basic categories: Characters, Creatures and Droids. Unlike most monster books, Threats introduces a rough character or creature type and then uses the wealth of Star Wars lore and characters to give practical examples for use in games. For instance in the section describing the core concept of a Dark Jedi the book also includes a section on The Reborn, a faction from the New Jedi Order time period and continues to include Dark Jedi Masters and a new character racial option.

Some of the character entries lack this expanded depth unfortunately (like the brawler and con artist) and that is one of the books failings – its just not long enough for me. I would have loved more details, more new feats, traits and races to give personality to even the generic enemy roles. Why not detail an interesting Gammorean Guard as an example of a thug, or a Lando Calrissian-like smooth talking con man?

I believe the choices came down to how much space the book provided. Unlike the D&D Monster Manual, the Star Wars line of books has so far been pretty slim on the page count while managing a fairly dense wordcount. The strange design of the books – with a more horizontal orientation than a vertical one is continued of course but the hardback books still feel a little light on content to me.

The creature and droid sections of the book follow similar design goals as the character section. New species and racial details or feats surround the more monster like creatures, while detail of droid models and equipment fill out the last section of the book. Were I judging the book purely on its page count of 160 pages I’d have problems recommending this for purchase, however the details and extra text that players and game masters alike can mine for characters and adversaries from just about every era of the Star Wars universe makes this a valuable addition the the Star Wars SAGA library for fans of that game.

Recently Wizards of the Coast released its upcoming Spring 2009 catalog and surprisingly it looks as though the Star Wars line will be getting a lot of attention. Aside from the previously revealed (and delayed) Star Wars: The Force Unleashed setting book it appears next year will bring us a Clone Wars setting book and one covering the popular Legacy era portrayed in the Darkhorse comics. Its been a long wait for many fans of the RPG for support like this but at least the force seems strong in 2009.