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.
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What if you could play as a walking war-machine construct? A golem of destruction with a pure heart and good soul? This concept might fit naturally into a modern sci-fi setting or even some good old space opera, but a number of years ago – in an attempt to spice things up and introduce some new ideas – Wizards of the Coast sponsored a contest to find its next D&D campaign setting.

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.
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One of this weeks’ Xbox Live release hint at a coming “nerdpocalypse”.

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.

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?
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Dungeons & Dragons is a game about fantasy characters fighting mythical creatures, overcoming great adversity and sometimes saving the world, or the kingdom, or the princess.. or themselves. What would the game be without monsters? Well a lot less interesting if you ask me, so when Wizards of the Coast released the second collection of foes for the 4th edition game I think it was easy to expect more of the same. But more of the same often means something lacks innovation, interest or excitement.

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.

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Magic the Gathering has been around a long time in the history of collectable card games but apparently the folks in the design and devlopment areas of Wizard of the Coast are not content to just keep cranking out new expansions for the mammoth card game. Come September it looks like players will get their hands on a new form of Magic called Planechase.

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.
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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.
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Players always want choices. More skills, more powers, more spells, more gear. This is a given in most of gaming – be it traditional tabletop RPGs or MMORPGs like World of Warcraft.

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.
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Along with the resurrection of the site.. we’ll be bringing back out regular editorial content as well. To kick off our first weekend back I thought I’d get The Analog Gamer back up and running quickly as well. First out of the box I wanted to take the opportunity to highlight a game I’m sure many of the mainstream RPG players have never heard of – Untold.

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.

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