D&D Experience, the premier convention for fans of Dungeons & Dragons, is nearly upon us. D&D Experience offers players the opportunity to playtest unreleased game material, participate in the Living Forgotten Realms and Ashes of Athas organized play programs, and attend seminars hosted by R&D staff members from Wizards of the Coast.

The convention runs from January 26th to 29th. Like last year, D&D Experience is taking place in Fort Wayne, Indiana at the Grand Wayne Convention Center. Organizers at Baldman Games have arranged a special booking deal at the Courtyard Mariott. Visit Baldman Games for more details about ticketing and booking.

What really makes D&D Experience stand out among other conventions is access to the people who work on Dungeons & Dragons. Wizards of the Coast will be sending a delegation of staff members from R&D, Brand, and Organized Play to take part in the show. Staff members participate in seminars, run games (such as this year’s D&D Secret Special), sit down as players, and are available to answer some questions. You’ll never have a better opportunity to chat with the people who work on the game you love.

Events

D&D Secret Special: Caves of Chaos Playtest

Join the first public playtest of the next iteration of the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. The playtest offers players the chance to run pre-generated 1st-level characters through the Caves of Chaos, a four-hour D&D adventure. Wizards of the Coast staff will be running several tables each day. As part of the playtest, participants must sign a special non-dislcosure agreement for playtesters.

Adventure Description: For years, Castellan Keep has stood on civilization’s frontier, commanding a grand view of that dismal realm known as the Borderlands. A forlorn place, rife with monsters and terrors beyond imagining, adventurers have used this fort to seek glory and plunder in this dangerous realm, to unearth fabulous treasures and destroy foul monsters. Of all the haunts found here, none equal the Caves of Chaos in both danger and the promise of reward. Rumors abound of the wicked humanoids, the sinister monsters, and the dark priests that run amok in this dungeon. Only the most cunning and bold adventurers dare to face the dreaded caverns. Do you have what it takes to survive the Caves of Chaos?

Living Forgotten Realms: D&D Experience features the LFR Special (SPEC4-1 Cerulean Dreams) and the third 4th Edition running of the Battle Interactive (ADCP3-1 Swarm of Chaos).

The Battle Interactive is a unique event where multiple tables work together to overcome major objectives. The success or failure (and choices made by the tables) of all the tables are tallied together and affect the outcome of these events as they progress. Available only at conventions—and always premiering at D&D Experience.

Ashes of Athas: For players who prefer the merciless world of Athas, D&DXP 2012 will feature the premier of the fourth chapter of the Ashes of Athas campaign. A list of adventures that have come to pass before can be found on the Ashes of Athas website. This campaign uses 4th Edition D&D rules.

Living Divine: For players who want to explore this original campaign setting (and have a chance to be a god among men), there is an introductory adventure as well as a new Two-Slot Special (INTRO 1-10S As He Lay Dying). This program uses 4th Edition D&D rules.

Seminars

Charting the Course: An Edition for all Editions (Thursday)

Join Mike Mearls, Monte Cook, and Jeremy Crawford as they discuss the origin for the idea to create an edition of Dungeons & Dragons that encompasses all previous editions. The designers discuss the challenges in creating compatibility and balance, as well as the exciting possibilities such a system creates. Seminar to be followed by a Q&A session.

Class Design: From Assassins to Wizards (Friday)

Designers Monte Cook, Bruce Cordell, and Robert Schwalb discuss their approach to class design, including the difficulties in creating iconic versions of the classes that speak to players of all editions. Should the cleric be more martial or more healer? Does the default ranger have an animal companion? What level of complexity should the fighter have? Seminar to be followed by a Q&A session.

Future Products and Q&A (Saturday)

Mike Mearls presents upcoming D&D products for 2012, as well as a vision for the future of Dungeons & Dragons. Seminar is followed by a Q&A session. Other members of R&D on hand to answer questions as well.

Reimagining Skills and Ability Scores (Sunday)

The role of skills has fluctuated throughout the life of Dungeons & Dragons, and ability scores have been of varying importance in each edition. Find out what the design team has done to reimagine these aspects of the game, and how they arrived at a system to marry the two concepts more closely together. Seminar includes Monte Cook, Bruce Cordell, and Robert Schwalb, and will be followed by a Q&A session.

Special Guests

Mike Mearls: Mike is the senior manager for Dungeons & Dragons R&D. He has also worked as a designer and columnist for the weekly Legends and Lore column. His recent D&D credits include Player’s Handbook 3, Hammerfast, Monster Manual 3, and the Castle Ravenloft board game.

Monte Cook: Monte has worked as a professional writer and game designer since 1988. Monte was one of the three principal designers of 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons and the d20 system. He has worked on numerous RPG products, and has published two novels, numerous short stories, countless articles, and a comic book series for Marvel.

via Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page – Home (D&D Experience).

The first Underworld movie was amazing, so much so that it spawned three sequels. And while UW2 and 3 did little to live up to the original, the fourth installment hopes to revive the franchise with the return of Kate Beckinsale in her role as Selene.  The following review has some spoilers, so be warned.

The Good

Kate Beckinsale looks great

The sets keep the same dark feel as the original

The film is (for the most part) well-acted

The Bad

The film seems very rushed. And coming in at onlt an hour and twenty eight minutes it seems incomplete

I’m tired of 3d. I don’t see what it added. At 13 bucks a ticket I left feeling robbed

The film fails to bring anything new to the table

Scott Speedman is not in the film(except in flashback from the first film), but Michael Corvin appears several times and the body double looked nothing like Speedman and leaves you wishing that they just left the character out rather than insult your intelligence with a poor stand in

Handguns with 15 round clips still fire 78 bullets before needing to be reloaded (nothing new there, but it still irks me)

The Ugly

The new hybrid looks like Samara from The Ring, and does nothing in the film, save to look stupid and hang on people’s back.

The movie goes to far and abandons any physics what so ever. OK, I know, genre fiction tests, blurs, and often ignores the laws of physics, but UW4 goes to a level of absurdity that forces the viewer to suspend disbelief to such a level that it infringes on enjoyment.  My biggest complaint is the character Quint (played by Kris Holden Ried), he is a werewolf that has been injected with a serum that makes him regenerate instantly and increases his muscle mass. Fine, nbd, but the 150 pound Quint become literally the size of an elephant when in lycan form. How in the hell does a 150-pound man become a 1,000 pound lycan? Where does the extra mass come from? He shifts back and forth, back and forth, 150lbs – 1,000 lbs  Give me a break. A 150 pound man should be a 150 pound lycan.

Hollywood needs to stop trying to create bigger explosions every movie and try to write detailed stories and memorable characters.

Overall Underworld: Awakening is a complete train wreck and should be avoided (or at most, rented)

D+

Unfamiliar with Gary Con? Well according to their website:

What is Gary Con?
Gary Con is an annual gaming convention held in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. But Gary Con is more than just a convention. It is intended to be a living memorial to E. Gary Gygax, the father of role-playing games. It is a time for family, friends, and anyone whose life was changed as a result of the work of Gary Gygax to gather, remember, and toss a few dice around. Gary Con is also actively working with non-profit groups to raise money to build a monument in Lake Geneva celebrating the life and accomplishments of Gary Gygax.

If you enjoy the old school games (D&D 1ed, Star Frontiers, Paranoia, and Chainmail) then Gary Con is for you. That isn’t to say that new games aren’t played at the con, but there is an effort made to retain an old-school feeling.

Check out their website and show Gary some love.

1st Edition Premium Player’s Handbook

Gary Gygax

In 1974, the world changed forever when Gary Gygax introduced the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. The legacy of his innovative ideas and the extensive reach of his powerful influence can be seen in virtually every facet of gaming today.

To help honor his work and his memory, we created limited-edition reprints of the original 1st Edition core rulebooks: the Monster Manual, Player’s Handbook, and Dungeon Master’s Guide. These premium versions of the original AD&D rulebooks have been lovingly reprinted with the original art and content, but feature an attractive new cover design commemorating this re-release. Available in limited quantities as a hobby channel exclusive in North America.

Your purchase of this monumental book helps support the Gygax Memorial Fund—established to immortalize the “Father of Roleplaying Games” with a memorial statue in Lake Geneva, WI.

Item Details

Item Code: 02410000

Release Date: April 17, 2012

Format: Hardcover

Page Count: 112

Price: $34.95

ISBN: 978-0-7869-6243-3

via Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page – Product (1st Edition Premium Player’s Handbook).

Very cool. I may have to run a 1st edition game.

Mearls is the greatest resource that WotC has at its disposal and I feel confident the next edition of the game will be strong. Mearls has played every edition of D&D and intends to make the next version something any D&D gamer will recognize.

Also, Monte Cook has been re-hired. This is a great move of Wizard’s part, as Cooke is one of the most imaginative D&D writers/DM’s working today.

I know many people (myself include) have become jaded with D&D in the last few years, but I truly believe the next version will be the best yet.

Now lets hope they bring back Dave Noonan.

Read up:

Times Article

Mearl’s Article

Escapist Article

The Midwest Gaming Convention is moving to downtown Milwaukee this year.

Some Highlights:

• Starkid Productions will be in attendance
• A huge selection of LARPs, to include: Vampire, Call of Cthulhu, Shadowrun, Paranoia, and many more
• Several Magic the Gathering tournaments by Extreme Games

It is a long time until August so get your fix at the Midwinter Gaming Convention.

Their Site

I’m glad Wizards and Atari settled their feud, because this is pretty cool. You get eight D&D video games in this bundle.

According to the Amazon Page:

The Dungeons & Dragons Anthology: The Master Collection packages 6 of the most beloved classic RPG video games of the Dungeons & Dragons franchise and their expansions into a single SKU – the ultimate RPG package for the ultimate D&D fan.

The pre-order price is 19.99 and the game will be available on Nov. 15th

“Gen Con Indy 2012 will be our 10^th annual True Dungeon™ event, as well as Gen Con’s 45^th anniversary, and I am incredibly excited about how our new location will help us celebrate these important milestones,” said Jeff Martin, CEO/Owner of True Adventures, Ltd. “True Dungeon will be an exciting celebration of Gen Con’s 45^th anniversary as True Dungeon expands with an immersive story-scape area that players can enjoy before and after each two-hour adventure.”

“It will be possible for a group of gamers to spend an entire day immersed inside True Dungeon. They could arrive in the morning, speak with some NPCs for useful rumors, and then attempt to make magic items, gather information and obtain protective magic with a new event called “Truecraft,” noted Martin.

“After that, they could enjoy one of our famous two-hour adventures, and then they can sit down for a nice lunch.  A little later they could take on the epic challenge of True Grind, and then they can enjoy a round of adult beverages as they boast of their incredible victory.  Next, they could delve into a different two-hour adventure that would bring them back into the story-scape area at dinner time.  A quick meal and more drinks could then be enjoyed – as well as another session of “Truecraft”.  In short, gamers can spend the entire day immersed in True Dungeon’s fantasy setting.” said Martin.  Washroom facilities will be available inside the event space.

I picked up a copy of this book over the summer and was really blown away by the premise. The book is a work of experimental fiction by J. C Hutchins and Jordan Weisman. It is no doubt that the book turned out so well, it has two amazing authors attached to it. J.C Hutchins is the writer of the 7th Son series, and Jordan Weisman is the creator behind Earthdawn (1993), Shadowrun (1989), Wizkids games, FASA games, and the several Mechwarrior projects.

This book takes place mainly as a set of doctor’s notes about a serial killer patient, but it also contains phone numbers, websites and documents (ID cards, crime scene photos, etc) that all add to a twist the plot. If you find a phone number in the book or on a prop, you can call it and get clues, listen to voice mail messages, etc. The same is true for the websites, they are all real sites that serve to answer and create questions, deepen the experience and lead you to the ending of the book.

Several months back in a post about props, we talked about the game Witness, this book has that feel by providing actual props. But the book goes even father with the phone numbers and websites. If you read a name or a business, google it and it will probably lead you to a website. This is very cool stuff, check it out.

Personal Effects Website

The game centers around one very dangerous night at a castle in the provinces of the Lion Clan. Honorable Lion samurai stand vigilant watch around the castle, protecting it from harm. The Scorpion Clan sends one well trained ninja to infiltrate the castle for nefarious purposes… it may be to assassinate an imperial guest under the Lion’s protection, or poison the well, or steal the daimyo’s war plans for the coming season. Whatever the goal, the ninja has vowed to accomplish it, or die trying. Worse yet for the Lion Clan, the ninja has an accomplice: a traitor among the ranks of the Lion samurai whose true loyalty lies with the Scorpion.

The intruders move in secret, marking their positions on a small copy of the game board. They can move freely, but the faster they move, the easier they are to detect. Moats, walls, and most especially sentries all serve to hamper their movement. And if a guard stumbles across their position, the alarm will be raised!

I played this game at this year’s Gen Con and I have to admit it is a mixed bag.

• The board looks amazing, great artwork
• The miniatures are acceptable, nothing special (on par with Shogun minis)
• The game is a bit too rules intensive. The rules could have been slimmed down and streamlined considerably
• Once a ninja states that he/she is searching an area on the map the gig is up. You know that the ninja is adjacent to that square or very nearby and you can divert your guards to intercept. This meta-gaming seems like a huge flaw in the game design

It is a very cool concept, but I would wait for a second edition, allow AEG to iron out some flaws.

Game’s Website

Shots of the game demo: