Gary Gygax Dead at 69

What was first an unconfirmed Wikipedia entry has now been verified by multiple sources, including CNN:

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (AP) – Gary Gygax, who co-created the fantasy game Dungeons & Dragons and helped start the role-playing phenomenon, died Tuesday morning at his home in Lake Geneva. He was 69.

He had been suffering from health problems for several years, including an abdominal aneurysm, said his wife, Gail Gygax.

Gygax and Dave Arneson developed Dungeons & Dragons in 1974 using medieval characters and mythical creatures. The game known for its oddly shaped dice became a hit, particularly among teenage boys, and eventually was turned into video games, books and movies.

Gygax always enjoyed hearing from the game’s legion of devoted fans, many of whom would stop by the family’s home in Lake Geneva, about 55 miles southwest of Milwaukee, his wife said. Despite his declining health, he hosted weekly games of Dungeons & Dragons as recently as January, she said.

“It really meant a lot to him to hear from people from over the years about how he helped them become a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman, what he gave them,” Gygax said. “He really enjoyed that.”

Dungeons & Dragons players create fictional characters and carry out their adventures with the help of complicated rules. The quintessential geek pastime, it spawned a wealth of copycat games and later inspired a whole genre of computer games that’s still growing in popularity.

Funeral arrangements are pending. Besides his wife, Gygax is survived by six children.

It saddens me greatly to see someone so instrumental in the creation and expansion of a hobby we all love pass; he had a visionary quality that you rarely find. 

0 hp.  God bless and amazing journeys, Mr. Gygax.

Geek Hotline

Ever wonder who actually calls those phone sex lines you see commercials for at one in the morning?

Free Crystal Caste Dice….Mistake or Overstock?

I’m not sure how long this will last, but Crystal Caste is offering Dwarven Forge Copper d10 dice sets for free on their site.  It could potentially be overstock, a site mistake, or just a good deal.  I “bought” one set and got a confirmation sent to me for my order.  Can’t hurt to try, but act quick!

Free Dwarven Forge Copper d10 Dice Set

What Type of Gamer Are You?

We all know our play styles are different, so here’s a quiz of 25 questions that attempt to categorize what type of player you are.  While spot-on in some areas (see “storyteller”), the quiz did seem to raise some doubts (“tactician”, me?).  Anyway, have fun with it and see how accurate yours is. 

Law’s Game Style created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Storyteller. You’re more inclined toward the role playing side of the equation and less interested in numbers or experience points. You’re quick to compromise if you can help move the story forward, and get bored when the game slows down for a long planning session. You want to play out a story that moves like it’s orchestrated by a skilled novelist or film director. Storyteller 83% Tactician 67% Butt-Kicker 58% Power Gamer 58% Specialist 50% Method Actor 50% Casual Gamer 42%

4th Edition Core Books

Get your pre-orders in, the core books for 4th edition have just been listed on Amazon.com.  The release date is June 6th, 2008 and they’re priced at $23.07 before tax and shipping.  I’ve read that the books were going for more of a “magazine” feel as far as the contents.  More pictures, side tables and flair – less of the textbook-style pages that we’re used to.  I hope that doesn’t mean they’re skimping on the content, but we’ll see.

Player’s Handbook

DM’s Guide

Monster Manual 

Thanksgiving Downloads at ENWorld

The people over at ENWorld decided to give us some Thanksgiving Day goodness by offering a bunch of PDFs for free this week.  The books will be available for download from November 12th through the 16th.  Many of them look to be third-party and I can’t say I’m familiar with some of the settings/games. 

On the 16th, there is a WOTC book that is definitely worth the free download – “Book of Challenges: Dungeon Rooms, Puzzles and Traps.”  We’ve already missed the Monday downloads, so get in there and see if there is anything that interests you before it’s gone!

ENWorld Thanksgiving Downloads

Swashbuckling Cards

We’re still a month away from gaming, but that doesn’t mean I can’t prepare for our Christmas session a little earlier.  In the spirit of the season, I wanted to institute a little PC-advantage for our next get-together.  Let’s call it my Christmas gift to you.    A while back, I came upon this great idea called Swashbuckling Cards.  Basically, they mimicked luck, good fortune and irrational events that might befall anyone at any given time. 

The way they work is this: at the beginning of each session, the DM hands out two cards to each player (in our case I made a chart that each player can roll on – you know how we love percentage tables).  For the remainder of that session, each player can play their cards whenever they want to their (or the group’s) benefit.  Once a card is played, it’s gone for the day.  The player must use it on themselves, cannot trade with other players, and all unused cards are returned at the end of the session.

 30 of the 100 cards are listed as “at the discretion of the DM” because of their drastic nature.  I’ve highlighted them so I can get your take on them.  Take a look and let me know what you think – would they add too much of an advantage?  Should the DM also get 2 cards?  Could they add another element to the game, or are they better off left alone? 

Swashbuckling Cards

Darkon

Well, it’s one of those sleepless nights again.  I’ve just gone through the Godfather: Part II (on cable, no less, so I was treated to 2 extra hours of commercials), Session 9, and now I’m half-watching the original Creepshow at 2 in the morning.  If there is a silver lining to this cloudy night, it is this: I just saw a commercial for a independent movie called “Darkon.”

The documentary (running time 1:45) follows a group of Baltimore-based LARPers through their trials and tribulations while playing.  On the commercial alone, I’m not sure if it supposed to be a mockumentary, or if there is a more serious message to be relayed (I hope not – please, people, this is LARPing we’re talking about).  However, from the dialogue I did hear, they may be trying to achieve the latter – all the more reason to watch what is destined to follow in the vein of Trekkies. 

With images of an over-sized cardboard monster having bean-bags thrown at him by a kid yelling “sleep!” and “lightning bolt!”, I am heartily looking forward to this.  My TIVO is set.  Here are some links to the gaming group’s page, and the not-so-informative movie site:

The Darkon Wargaming Club

Darkon: The Movie

For those of you with DirecTV, the show will air on 11/12 at 9pm, Channel 550 (IFC).  There will be another showing on 11/13 at 1am for you night owls.  I’m not sure what channel it will be (or if it will even air) on cable, so you may want to check.  Come back with your comments!

RPG Superstar

How cool would it be to see something of your published in an offical book?  It might feel pretty good running an official adventure that YOU designed, or laying waste to those pesky NPCs with a weapon that you came up with.  Well, that’s exactly what Paizo has in mind for their latest contest: RPG Superstar.

From Paizo’s site: 

“Starting October 31, 2007, any ligible person will be able to submit an entry into the contest. For the open call, that entry will be a wondrous item using the 3.5 SRD. Each entry needs to be 200 words or less, and must include all of the proper mechanics and flavor. Judges will announce the top 32 entries on November 28; those contestants will advance to the first round of public voting, where they will be assigned a new design task, and their entries will be posted on paizo.com for the public to read, critique, and vote on. The designers garnering the most votes will continue to subsequent rounds, and the ultimate winner will earn a paid commission to write one of Paizo’s upcoming GameMastery Modules!”

I’m going to give it a go and see if I can get by Round 1.  For the complete list of dates and information, go to http://paizo.com/rpgsuperstar

D&D: 4th Edition Teaser

When I hear the words “4th Edition”, it conjures up (no pun intended) a mixture of emotions ranging from excitement to dismay.   While 3rd Edition vastly improved on the setbacks of previous releases, you have to wonder: when should a good thing not be improved upon?  Hasn’t the 3rd Edition ruleset “fixed” everything so that game-play can be easy and fast?  Yes, but we’ve all run into those scenarios where the set rules just don’t seem to apply, or they just produce ridiculous results.

With the core books for 4th Edition being released in June 2008, it makes me wonder how fast we’ll make the transition.  The last group I was in was playing 3rd while it was still in its beta stages, so I really have nothing else to compare it to.  In my opinion, I’d like to start sooner than later – if for no other reason than curiosity.  I know that Sam will probably be the first to get his hands on some of the books, so we may be counting on him for some up-front reviews.  ;) 

Anyway, EN World has a great summary of the new release schedule and what we can expect out of the new edition.  It seems that Wizards is adding another element called ”D&D Insider” which is a subscription-based program off of their site that allows GUI-driven games over the net.  It seems fairly intuitive, and the game-play looks fluid.  If you’re interested in seeing some of the new features, I’ve posted some videos from GenCon this year where Wizards unveiled it.  Mia and I got a glimpse of it at their booth, but these videos are the official presentation.

Last, but not least, here’s a teaser trailer for 4th Edition.  It’s pretty funny and gave me a chuckle this morning:

  

And here are the links to the other videos and docs regarding 4th Edition:

Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Presentation: Part 1 (go to 4:10 for the lecture)

Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Presentation: Part 2

Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Presentation: Part 3

Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Presentation: Part 4

EN World Unofficial D&D 4th Edition Info