Gary Gygax's Hall of Many Panes

Gary Gygax's Hall of Many Panes
Author: Jeff Ibach
Publisher: Troll Lord Games
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2005-06-15
Genre:
ISBN: 9781931275330

As with most adventure modules, this one is packed with action...confrontation and combat. There is more, though. The players must think, as must their game personas. There is sufficient problem solving herein to suit most, even hardened veterans. The same is true for being in character, and role-playing with proper dialog-comedic, dramatic, and the rest are all possible here. As for the other elements of the game form, well, only unless you, the Game Master, wish to work them in will they be found. The adventure doesn't include much in the way of extensive exploration, as you'll see, although there are many unique and wonderful places to visit. Business, intrigue, politics, and so forth are not likely given the setting, save for innovative addition to the work. As for story, other than the backstory that opens the adventure, that must await the conclusion of the action, can then be told as a tale of what occurred. This is for gaming, not stage presentation, after all. This adventure is suitable for a party of six d20 adventurers of 8th or greater level. If the party is to be given a free hand in deciding the order in which the panes are accessed then a few of the characters should be of the 9th or 10th level. With just a little work of the GM's part characters of 11th-14th level could adventure here-simply increase the number of monsters encountered, add extra levels to the NPCs, or place horrific guardian creatures here and there as pickets for the areas already detailed.

Empire of Imagination

Empire of Imagination
Author: Michael Witwer
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 357
Release: 2015-10-06
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1632862042

The first comprehensive biography of geek and gaming culture's mythic icon, Gary Gygax, and the complete story behind his invention of Dungeons & Dragons. The life story of Gary Gygax, godfather of all fantasy adventure games, has been told only in bits and pieces. Michael Witwer has written a dynamic, dramatized biography of Gygax from his childhood in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin to his untimely death in 2008. Gygax's magnum opus, Dungeons & Dragons, would explode in popularity throughout the 1970s and '80s and irreversibly alter the world of gaming. D&D is the best-known, best-selling role-playing game of all time, and it boasts an elite class of alumni--Stephen Colbert, Robin Williams, and Vin Diesel all have spoken openly about their experience with the game as teenagers, and some credit it as the workshop where their nascent imaginations were fostered. Gygax's involvement in the industry lasted long after his dramatic and involuntary departure from D&D's parent company, TSR, and his footprint can be seen in the role-playing genre he is largely responsible for creating. Through his unwavering commitment to the power of creativity, Gygax gave generations of gamers the tools to invent characters and entire worlds in their minds. Witwer has written an engaging chronicle of the life and legacy of this emperor of the imagination.

Malice

Malice
Author: Chris Wooding
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2010
Genre: Adventure stories
ISBN: 0545160448

Everyone's heard of it...but nobody's read it. Luke, Seth, and Kady have heard all the stories about Malice-a secret comic about a strange, awful world full of tricks and traps, and overseen by a sinister master of ceremonies, Tall Jake. But if the rumours are to be believed, the children in this comic are real... Luke is the first to fall into this trap-and Seth and Kady are the next to follow. They have left our world and entered the sinister comic book. The question is-can they make it out alive?From acclaimed author, Chris Wooding, a novel that's half fact, half comic-and all thrills.

Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen

Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen
Author: Dylan Horrocks
Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
Total Pages: 230
Release: 2015-01-18
Genre: Comics & Graphic Novels
ISBN: 1606997904

Acclaimed cartoonist Dylan Horrocks returns with a long-awaited new graphic novel, the first since his perennial classic, 1998’s Hicksville. Cartoonist Sam Zabel hasn’t drawn a comic in years. Stuck in a nightmare of creative block and despair, Sam spends his days writing superhero stories for a large American comics publisher and staring at a blank piece of paper, unable to draw a single line. Then one day he finds a mysterious old comic book set on Mars and is suddenly thrown headlong into a wild, fantastic journey through centuries of comics, stories, and imaginary worlds. Accompanied by a young webcomic creator named Alice and an enigmatic schoolgirl with rocket boots and a bag full of comics, Sam goes in search of the Magic Pen, encountering sex-crazed aliens, medieval monks, pirates, pixies and ― of course ― cartoonists. Funny, erotic, and thoughtful, Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen explores the pleasures, dangers, and moral consequences of fantasy.

Rerolling Boardgames

Rerolling Boardgames
Author: Douglas Brown
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2020-08-28
Genre: Games & Activities
ISBN: 1476639272

Despite the advent and explosion of videogames, boardgames--from fast-paced party games to intensely strategic titles--have in recent years become more numerous and more diverse in terms of genre, ethos and content. The growth of gaming events and conventions such as Essen Spiel, Gen Con and the UK Games EXPO, as well as crowdfunding through sites like Kickstarter, has diversified the evolution of game development, which is increasingly driven by fans, and boardgames provide an important glue to geek culture. In academia, boardgames are used in a practical sense to teach elements of design and game mechanics. Game studies is also recognizing the importance of expanding its focus beyond the digital. As yet, however, no collected work has explored the many different approaches emerging around the critical challenges that boardgaming represents. In this collection, game theorists analyze boardgame play and player behavior, and explore the complex interactions between the sociality, conflict, competition and cooperation that boardgames foster. Game designers discuss the opportunities boardgame system designs offer for narrative and social play. Cultural theorists discuss boardgames' complex history as both beautiful physical artifacts and special places within cultural experiences of play.

Map Of Days

Map Of Days
Author: Robert Hunter
Publisher: National Geographic Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2017-03-28
Genre: Comics & Graphic Novels
ISBN: 1910620297

Richard can’t stop thinking about the clock. He lies in bed each night listening to its tick-tocking, to the pendulum’s heavy swing. Why does his granddad open its old doors in secret and walk into the darkness beyond? One night, too inquisitive to sleep, Richard tiptoes from his bed, opens the cherry wood doors, and steps inside . . .

Starfinder

Starfinder
Author: Paizo Publishing
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2017
Genre: Games & Activities
ISBN: 9781601259578

This four-panel scren is designed to speed up play and reduce the time spent by the Game Master searching through rulebooks.

Open Grave

Open Grave
Author: Bruce R. Cordell
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2009
Genre: Dungeons and Dragons (Game)
ISBN: 9780786950690

Provides information on the origins, tactics, myths, and lairs of a variety of undead creatures and threats encountered in the game of Dungeons and Dragons.

SuperMutant Magic Academy

SuperMutant Magic Academy
Author: Jillian Tamaki
Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015-04-28
Genre: Comics & Graphic Novels
ISBN: 9781770461987

Unrequited love, underage drinking, and teen angst rule at a high school for mutants and witches The New York Times and New Yorker illustrator Jillian Tamaki is best known for co-creating the award-winning young adult graphic novels Skim and This One Summer—moody and atmospheric bestsellers. SuperMutant Magic Academy, which she has been serializing online for the past four years, paints a teenaged world filled with just as much ennui and uncertainty, but also with a sharp dose of humor and irreverence. Tamaki deftly plays superhero and high-school Hollywood tropes against what adolescence is really like: The SuperMutant Magic Academy is a prep school for mutants and witches, but their paranormal abilities take a backseat to everyday teen concerns. Science experiments go awry, bake sales are upstaged, and the new kid at school is a cat who will determine the course of human destiny. In one strip, lizard-headed Trixie frets about her nonexistent modeling career; in another, the immortal Everlasting Boy tries to escape this mortal coil to no avail. Throughout it all, closeted Marsha obsesses about her unrequited crush, the cat-eared Wendy. Whether the magic is mundane or miraculous, Tamaki's jokes are precise and devastating. SuperMutant Magic Academy has won two Ignatz Awards. This volume combines the most popular content from the webcomic with a selection of all-new, never-before-seen strips that conclude Tamaki's account of life at the academy.

Explorer's Handbook

Explorer's Handbook
Author: David Noonan
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2005
Genre: Dungeons and Dragons (Game)
ISBN: 9780786936915

The ultimate sourcebook for players wishing to explore the world of Eberron, the "Explorer's Handbook" showcases the multi-continental aspect of the Eberron setting. This handbook encourages players to explore the entire world rather than remain fixed in one region.