Origins provided a plethora of new and interesting games, as usual. This year was slightly different as I also got my hands on a variety of gaming software that I shall review. In the next week (or so, no promises) I will post reviews/previews on the following:

1. d20pro , a virtual tabletop for online RPG gaming. Haaldaar and I played with it at Origins and found it cool, but I will give it a more thorough evaluation for my readership's benefit.

2.  Beyond Protocol kindly let me into their

I normally do not post about movies, but "Mutant Chronicles " was originally an RPG, so I will make an exception.

Teaser Trailer Link

Trask, The Last Tyromancer

Wandering around Origins, I came upon the Kenzerco booth and its display of the "Aces and Eights " RPG. "Aces" looked cool and won an Origins award, but I had already spent a bit more than my budget, so I had to save the "Aces and Eights" purchase (and review) for another day.   I did get a very brief introduction to the unique combat system, involving both dice and a deck of cards to determine hit location. I will not go into detail about the combat system, but the card decks that Kenzer uses

I was fortunate enough to attend the "Hall of Fame’s Guest of Honor Banquet" at Origins this year.   We arrived early hoping to get the most interesting "guest" in attendance.

The guest list included some living legends, such as Ed Greenwood and Reiner Knizia, among others. Haaldaar wanted to speak with Ed Greenwood or Mike Mearls. I was ambivalent. Any of the above mentioned three would be just fine. Sadly, there was also one "penalty" guest in attendance, Mathew Atherton aka "Feedback "

I survived Origins... barely. It was an excellent trip, I got to play some cool games and meet interesting people. I am dead from travelling, but here are some "coming attractions" for this week's  posts.

1. A report on having lunch with Mike Mearls, lead designer of "Dungeons and Dragons" Fourth Edition. I asked him some specific question about the future of  "Dungeons and Dragons"  and "Living Forgotten Realms."

2. Review of "D20pro," the best online tabletop utility I have seen to date.

Blogging will be light to non-existent this week as I am attending the Origins Game Fair .  I have tickets to some "Harvestlands ," a bunch of "Living Arcanis " and the 4th Edition "Return to the Moathouse." The moathouse  is a sort of sequel to the  "Temple of Elemental Evil, " a gaming classic.

I also signed up for the  "Hall of Fame’s Guest of Honor Banquet." Here is the blurb:

The Guest of Honor Banquet is a very limited-seating event that gives you an opportunity to share a meal and some

Update: I just got bag and scored a copy of a 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons module from WOTC entitled "Treasure of Talon Pass."  I also picked up a Goodman Games "Dungeon Crawl Classic" entitled "Punjar: The Tarnished Jewel. 

Get out there and get your free stuff!

This is the second annual freebie-fest with the laudable goal of increasing foot traffic into game stores. Show up and score an RPG. I have no idea what is being given away, but "game" and "free" in the same sentence is all I

Here is the link to the full document:

4th Edition GSL

 The "Game System  License" is the legal contract that 3rd party publishers must agree to in order to use the 4th edition rules. 

Most bloggers and message boards are humming with discussions about the various aspects of the license. I think this is the wrong approach. The GSL is here and there is not a damn thing anyone can do about it. Discussing its relative merits is pointless. A more sensible discussion will focus on these two

Phil over at the Chattydm.net site has a nice post with links to several 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons software tools.

Some of the items include:

4E Power Cards

Condition Cards

Character Sheets

Chatty DM Tools Link

It is worth a look for any 4th Edition player.

Trask, The Last Tyromancer