Off Topic

So you want to play Dungeons and Dragons -- or any tabletop RPG, really -- but you, like me, are broke and can't afford all those books, and a ton of dice, and minis, and maps, and even more dice.

It's the start of a brand-new year, and that means our first-ever WRUP of 2022!

I am a firm believer that there are few things in the world as funny as a dog wearing boots for the first time.

The first time I realized I could just give players a level whenever I felt it was appropriate for the story, I almost fell over.

There are certain characters, settings, and properties that just feel tailor-made for a video game, especially when the industry is capable of turning major media into surprisingly good experiences like Guardians of the Galaxy — heck, even Oswald the Lucky Rabbit has gotten a game.

The subtitle to this post could just be and why is it Arcane because Arcane is one of, if not the, best video game tie-in stories I've ever seen Yes, even better than The Last Guardian, my previous favorite. The Last Guardian is one of the best novels ever set in a game world, which may not be a surprise as it features characters like Medivh and Khadgar and is written by Jeff Grubb, longtime AD&D designer and author of the Azure Bonds tie-in novel, which introduced Dragonbait the Saurial and yes I admit it I loved that book because it made dinosaur people canon in D&D.

It's the dawn of a new year, a time of renewed perspectives and expectations.

Sometimes our games -- the ones we play, that become part of our lives -- can actually get under our skin.

It's a Beholder, isn't it?

What kind of year would it be if we didn't close out with our collective Game of the Year (GOTY) choices?