Wiz-War from Fanasy Flight Games

It's come to my attention that there has been movement on the Wiz-War front.  In 1983, Tom Jolly had one of his game designs published and it was followed in 1985 by an expansion set, another coming along in 1993.  The game pits two to four players, as wizards, against one another in a quasi-arena contest to defeat one another.  This coming year, 2012, Fantasy Flight Games will release a new version with all new artwork, miniatures for the principles, and a few teeks to the rules.  Follow some of the links on the years above to check out the evolution of the game!

Fortune and Glory The Cliffhanger Game

Our regular gaming group has been taking a break from the RPGing over the holidays and mostly playing board games.  Next week, we give Fortune and Glory The Cliffhanger Game from Flying Frgo Productions a try.  We might even have a full eight players for the week, so we'll see how it goes.  Since I am trying to get a handle on this game, I've read the BoardGameGeek.com entry for it and dug up a bunch of videos that I thought I would share.  Enjoy!

There are a lot more with many details on how to play but I'll leave those to those of you who wish to search a bit for more.  Have fun!

"Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea" Kickstarter

There's a very cool retro RPG with a Kickstarter program called "Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea" and they are very close to achieving their goal f you'd still like to get in on the ground floor.  Check it out here!

Doctor Who Timeline

Fans of Doctor Who will love looking over this fantastic timeline of Doctor Who history from CableTV.com.  Enjoy!

Winter War January 27th - 29th, 2012

Just a quick note to make sure everyone knows that "The Midwest's Longest Consecutively Running Independent Gaming Convention!" is coming up in a month, again, and if you can make it, you'll have a blast.  Check out more on Winter War here!

Eco-Friendly Home Built from Scratch

There's a fascinating home that has been built by Simon Dale in Wales, UK, that is both practical and beautiful.  Read more here!

Happy Gaming to All!

'Twas a year filled with gaming, and let us be clear,

We could game all we want, and still need more year,

The boardgames were opened and laid out to play,

The card decks were shuffled for card gaming day,

The RPGs ready of types old and new,

The nights we spent playing them being too few,

And there were some games we used dice on their own,

They were fun, we enjoyed them, I'm picking no bones,

But I have to say that if given a choice,

Between sleeping and eating, while losing my voice,

I'd be gaming from Midnight to Midnight non-stop,

With sugar and caffeine ingested from pop,

Plus carbos and salt from the snacks to round out,

A diet that no dietitian would tout,

As suffucient nutrition for a growing boy,

Though growing, I am, if I may be coy,

But back to my point about gaming and stuff,

There's really not quite enough time, sure enough,

To get in the number of games that I buy,

And play them with all of the players, and try-

out all of the games that they also have bought,

It's enough to make any game lover distraught,

To see shelves upon shelves of unopened boxes,

As each maker of games and his ilk quite outfoxes,

My scheduling acumen and ability to,

Fit each in a place on my list of to-do,

But as the calender year comes to close,

And though some will say it's a bit on the nose,

I can say it's been worth it at any old price,

So, Happy Gaming to all, and to all Roll the Dice!

Star Wars Freeze Mob (Plus XMas Special and a Bit More!)

This was really well done by all involved.

And while we're on the subject . . .

Also, along the SW theme, an artist recently imagined what downtown Chicago would look like with invading Imperial Walkers . . .

And to end with a bit more humor, here's a joke I saw floating around on Facebook (Thanks, Kent!) . . .

Q: How warm is the inside of a Tauntaun?

A: Luke warm.

Jack the Giant Killer

There's a fresh, new version of Jack the Giant Killer coming in 2012 and the trailer has recently been released.  Enjoy!

Dungeon Bastard Holiday Message!

Oh, that Dungeon Bastard!  He just keeps rolling along . . .

New Hobbit Trailer

The first trailer for Peter Jackson's The Hobbit is available which you can watch here!

While we're on about The Hobbit movie, here's a video put together by YouTube's Maestro1990x showing the cast . . .

Jeff Dee Kickstarter Art Project

Jeff Dee recently ran a successful Kickstarter Project reviving his Egyptian Art from Deities & Demigods, which doubled the donation expectation, and now he's underway with re-creating his art from Q1: Queen of the Demonweb Pits, a classic TSR adventure module.  There's a couple of weeks left to jump in and be a part of this excelent project.  You can follow Jeff's projects in progress here!

Seussian Call of Cthulhu

What happens when Theodor Geisel meets H. P. Lovecraft?  DrFaustusAU over at deviantart.com has some thoughts on the matter and they are not to be missed.  Check it out here!

Most Popular Christmas Toys

dvice.com has posted an article on the "50 most popular Christmas toys from the last 100 years."  Check it out!

Weekly Gaming, Breaking from RPGs

My regular weekly gaming group has taking a break from RPGing for the holidays and this last week we played Domaine, a 2003 strategy boardgame for two to four players, and Red Dragon Inn, a 2007 card game but utilizing both the 2008 and 2011 expansions.  The links are to Board Game Geek's entries on the games and here are some pictures from the evening.  Enjoy!

10 Questions to Help Weed Out "Sciency" Non-Science

On the blog Science, I Am Just That Into You, there's a recent article outlining some excellent ways to root out falseness in claims that seem too good to be true.  Read more here!

Burdisson's Dwarven Ale

Nobody tosses a Dwarf, and Dwarves don't toss their cookies.  Looking for the refreshing taste of real Dwarven Ale, it's available from Burdisson here!

The New Space Race

In an article posted last night to cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com titled "Billionaire plans world's biggest plane for orbital launches" plans were revealed to follow up on the Rutan-Allen partnership, SpaceShipOne, with an even more ambitious space project.  Read more here!

Elf Ears for Realz

There's a new way to become more Elf-like if you don't mind a little surgery.  Read a news article and check out their video here!

Miniature 3D Printer

There's a fun TED talk, accessible on their YouTube channel, discussing a very small 3D printer.  Enjoy!

"Geek and Gamer Girls Song" Video

This one has been out for over a year and I never saw it before.  Enjoy the "Geek and Gamer Girls Song" video on YouTube from Break.com and Team Unicorn.

And the extended version -

Geekmas Tree

Thunderfoot of EN World has put up pics of his "Geekmas" tree.  Check them out here!

New Real Estate?

According to an article on the BBC website in the Science & Environment section, scientists have discovered a rather promising location to move for those folks who are tired of Earth.  It's a mere 600 Light Years away and might be a fixer-upper but it's the closest thing yet to new real estate we have found.  Read more here!

"Academic Earth" - A Learning Resource

I'd like to take a post today to highlight an excellent learning resource for everyone, freely available on the Internet, called AcademicEarth.org.  It includes courses from instructors of many top universities on a variety of subjects.  They also have a number of courses that can garner course credit if someone is looking to continue their education.  Check it out!

Sherlock Holmes A Game of Shadows Update

io9.com has a brief article (here) and nine new clips from the upcoming Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows film.  Enjoy!

Artist Darrell K. Sweet has Passed

Irene Gallo has report on Tor.com that Artist Darrell K. Sweet has passed away.  His inspirational artistry will long be remembered by many.  Read more here.

Game of Thrones - "Making of" Update!

There are a couple of new videos on HBO's YouTube channel for the Game of Thrones series production.  Enjoy!

"The 5 Most and Least Shameful Dungeons & Dragons Characters"

ToplessRobot.com has posted a new article called The 5 Most and Least Shameful Dungeons & Dragons Characters.  While I don't know if I agree with the entries, it is definitely interesting to see how they feel some of the characters fared over others.  Enjoy!

Vintage Dungeon Mags

For those who might be interested, and in the area, I spotted some vintage Dungeon Magazine copies at the Bloomingdale, IL, Half Price Books.  They have issues #3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, each for $10.  They are cleverly hidden at the bottom of the left hand stack in their vintage magazine section right near the central seating area.  They also had copies of Dragon Magazine Annual #1 as well as the 1998 amd 1999 Dragon Annual editions.  I consdered getting them all myself but just couldn't pull the trigger.  Good luck and let me know if you grab them!

MTV Geek Holiday Gift Guide (for Potential Gamers)

MTV Geek has put together a holday gift guide with suggestions for folks you know who might be potential gamers.  It' mostly introductory type games and they have some excellent ideas.  Check it out here!

Kings & Things

Last week for our Thanksgiving week game, our group decided that without a quorum for RPGing we'd give a boardgame a go and chose Kings & Things.  I've got a copy of the 1986 version and it's in very good shape, though I have had to replace the dice.  Board Game Geek says -

This is a classic Tom Wham game of warring kingdoms in a fantasy world and the legions of things that inhabit them. The board is made from hex tiles, which allows for a different board layout every time. Utilizing an interesting flipped counter element, players attempt to out bluff one another regarding the types of things they have in their armies.

It truly is a busy game with lots of replayability.  Like Catan games, it uses hexes for the game board that will be different each time you play.  With over 350 counters, there is a lot of variability from game to game.  Although there is some randomness to play, it's all fairly tightly balanced so that no one is ever out of any given game that you play even if it appears that one player might have an early lead.  Great fun!