Dune 3 Trailer

Oh baby...

MotU Trailer

HELL YES!

Darkwater

I've had this strange feeling in the back of my head for the past several months.

It's been a while since there was a new Warhammer Quest game...

Well, a new entry in that series is on the way. It isn't a second edition of Blackstone Fortress, alas, but Warhammer Quest: Darkwater sounds like a lot of fun!

Cypher Preview

The funding campaign for the new edition of Cypher System will begin soon. In the meantime, you can click here for a preview of the updates!

2001: A Space Odyssey

Although Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy is probably my all-time favorite cinematic experience, I think the greatest movie ever made is 2001: A Space Odyssey. I was delighted to learn that there's a board game coming out soon! Here's the link: 2001: A Space Odyssey | The Board Game

Monster Manual

Amazon says the new Monster Manual will be out on February 18. Once I have a copy, and I've read through it fully, I won't have any more excuses to put off converting the Druid Cycle world to 5.5. Let me make it clear, however, that I don't relish the thought of reviewing (and probably in many cases changing) the stat block for all 1312 named NPCs.

Dune: Prophecy

Dune: Prophecy debuts this Sunday, November 17, on HBO and Max. Here's to another amazing journey into the "Dune-iverse"!

Fingers Crossed...

Wizards called it One D&D for a while, and others are calling it 5.5. Call it whatever you want, I just hope it's good. Here's the review from EN World.

D&D 2024

Over a decade ago, I invested countless hours in playtesting what would ultimately become Fifth Edition D&D. I submitted vast amounts of detailed feedback through many rounds of playtest materials. (Click the "5e" label and dive in to those earlier posts, if you dare!) The game that was published in 2014 was, in my opinion, an absolute masterpiece -- the best version of D&D in the game's long history. 

Fast-forward to the present. I wasn't terribly enthused by the prospect of the 2024 revamp of Fifth Edition, and some of what I was seeing in the Unearthed Arcana playtest PDFs was as troubling to me as anything from The Edition That Shall Not Be Named. But you know what? I watched this video and now I feel a bit better.

The Walking Dead RPG

The official RPG for The Walking Dead funded on Kickstarter in just eight minutes this morning, and I'm pleased to say that I was one of the backers who jumped in right when the project launched. I'll be using this system (the same ruleset as the Alien RPG) for my upcoming post-apocalyptic campaign. (Even Amy is going to play in that one!) With a delivery date of November, I now have plenty of time to finish painting all those 3D buildings I've printed. Oh, wait, now it sounds like the preliminary digital rulebook will be available next month...

Doctors and Daleks

Yeah, I'm gonna be all over this...

Squats Are Back...?

Check this out and draw your own conclusions. Or maybe it's just an elaborate April Fools' joke?

New Edition...

Warhammer 40,000 has a new website, and soon also a new edition. One of the most frustrating aspects of this game (and its parent company) is the constant churn of editions. You buy a bunch of books and then, before you know it, they're all outdated. With the current (for now) 8th Edition, at least the core rules are free. From what I can tell, the rules for the upcoming 9th Edition will also be free, and codexes from the current edition will be compatible with the new one. That's a relief, but the FAQ also states that new codexes will be released for each faction, so only time will tell exactly how useful our current books will be. 

Return to Dark Tower

I missed out on their Fireball Island Kickstarter, but now Restoration Games is working on Return to Dark Tower, and I'm already drooling. I haven't seen anything about pricing yet, but damn, I really need to back this project!

(Side note: If you look back four years on this very blog, you'll find a post where I referenced the original Dark Tower board game and its classic Orson Welles television commercial, and how the game was in need of a comeback!)

More News on Aeronautica Imperialis

Click here for the latest details on Aeronautica Imperialis, the upcoming aerial combat miniatures game set in the Warhammer 40k universe.

Retro Fun

With the new Atari VCS coming in early 2020, I thought it might be fun to introduce the boys to the wonderful world of Atari gaming, so I picked up one of those cheapo mini-consoles that comes pre-loaded with Atari 2600 games. Nathaniel really digs the retro vibe, but I don't think Matthew can get past the forty-year-old graphics and sound. For my part, I've enjoyed revisiting old favorites like Adventure and Asteroids, hidden gems like Crystal Castles and Gravitar, and a few I'd never even heard of, like Secret Quest and Double Dunk. We'll definitely need to poke around online for the manuals, however, as it's not really obvious how to play some of these games; I mean, the original 2600 controllers had only one button, but the controller that came with our mini-console has nine!

Aeronautica Imperialis

So, yeah, Games Workshop just found another way to get my money. Check this out -- it's like X-Wing, but set in the 40k universe!

Essential Images

Click here for some images of the upcoming D&D Essentials Kit. It sure does look nice...

Essentials

Click here for some info on upcoming D&D products. One of them is the D&D Essentials Kit. I have to admit, the name brings back some unpleasant memories of Fourth Edition. Late in the run of that ill-fated edition, the D&D design team released a series of books and game aids that constituted the "Essentials" product line. The centerpiece was a pair of digest-sized Player's Handbook-style rulebooks with new builds for core character classes. Fourth Edition had already become so broken that new characters built using only the PHB were woefully underpowered compared to characters built using all of the available materials -- conveniently collated within the D&D Insider app. The Essentials builds were jacked-up so that new or casual players could bring simple but powerful characters to the table. My memory of this line is, essentially (pun intended), the last gasp of a failed experiment. I sincerely hope the new D&D Essentials Kit is a great new introductory set (akin to Paizo's Pathfinder Beginner Box and the super-cool new Starfinder Beginner Box) and not an attempt to monkey around with the beautiful Fifth Edition ruleset.

Ghosts of Saltmarsh

Matt, this one's for you! Keep those nautical-themed characters handy!