Although purely an online game (can’t be perfect), Spectromancer is the latest brainchild of Richard Garfield, he who brought you Cosmic Encounter [Update: I knew that, duh!] Star Wars TCG and Magic: the Gathering. Other contributors include Alexey Stankevich and Skaff Elias. The system is based on Alexey’s popular Astral Tournament.

It’s a classical card game, and sounds like it combines elements of both ccg’s and rpg’s into an online format.

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Libraries are one of the champions of gaming in the U.S., strangely enough. This year’s national library gaming day will be held on November 15 around the country.

Hasbro will be donating a copy of Pictureka to every library in the country, trying to achieve a world record on number of simultaneous plays for one game.

Wizards of the Coast will donate enough materials for Dungeons and Dragons and Magic: the Gathering games to 1,000 libraries.

Video games (the nice kind) will also be on the offering. Scott Nicholson of Board Games With Scott is helping organize.

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Wizards of the Coast has made an announcement likely to get the attention of role players and minis gamers alike.  The D&D Miniatures line has been revamped and split into two offerings.  The first offering, D&D Miniatures: Heroes, will be split into six different packs, each consisting of three visible miniatures and power cards with “new class features.”  The three miniatuers will be two male and one female character representing one of the iconic character types in D&D.  The six packs available in Spring of 2009, at a retail cost of $10.99 US, will include:

• Martial Heroes 1
• Martial Heroes 2
• Arcane Heroes 1
• Arcane Heroes 2
• Divine Heroes 1
• Primal Heroes 1

Wizards has indicated that the Heroes line will be updated from time to time to provide greater player options.

The other new line is D&D Miniatures: Monstrous Manual, which will provide the monster side of the equation.  Things are a little more old fashioned with this line, with each pack having one visible miniature, one rare, one uncommon and two common miniatures (in addition to the traditional character cards).  The first set, Dungeon Delve, will include both medium and large miniatures with a retail price of $14.99 US.

Overall, its an interesting move by WotC and one that’s been called for by a fairly vocal segment of the gaming community.  However, I’m a little concerned with where this announcement leaves D&D miniatures as a standalone game, particularly in its competitive form.  While I’m glad to see this move (which makes me more likely to play D&D 4E in general), it does pretty much end the days of sealed D&D Miniatures tournaments…

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Frazetta's Death Dealer

Hrmmm…probably not the most helpful title…  Anyway, purveyor of D&D goodness, Goodman Games, has announced that they will be publishing two new products for use with Wizards of the Coast’s 4th edition game: Death Dealer and Ameythest!

The first product is based on the Image comic, Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer.  The first adventure (in what appears to be a series) is titled The Adventures of Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer: Shadows of Minahan and will take characters through the first story arc of the comic, bringing them face-to-face with the demonic hordes of the Mirhan.  The comic itself is based on the 1973 painting by Frank Frazetta and tells the story of a world torn by conflict until the mysterious Death Dealer arrives and slaughters both armies.  The two armies form an alliance, resulting in the disappearance of the Death Dealer until many years later when he mysteriously reappears.

The other new product is a re-release of the Ameythest setting most recently published by Dias Ex Machina.  The new release, titled Ameythest Foundation, will be a 256 page hardcover and PDF release (appearting at GenCon and in April respectively).  Ameythest is based on the proposition that traditional fantasy concepts (elves, dragons, magic, etc) suddenly appear in modern reality.  Goodman will be supporting the launch with an initial adventure and follow-up adventures appearing every three months thereafter

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A German bicycle fanatic has created a bicycle/chess board.

It is meant to be ridden by three players: one pedals and steers, while the other two play chess. Apparently, this is not his first bicycle/chess combo, either.

The installation is in honor of (yet another) world chess championships, this one in Bonn, Germany. Click the source to see the news video.

(source)

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Zombondo, makers of the well known game and book series “Would You Rather?” won a trademark dispute against Falls Media, makers of the less well known book and game series “Would You Rather?”

The games appear to be functionally identical. Falls Media had registered a trademark for the phrase, but the trademark has been overturned.

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Lomby Zombie is a print and play game for Halloween.

One player plays the zombie master, and up to six other players try to board up the house before the zombies can get in.

(download)

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The crystal Scrabble set is now for sale. The proceeds will benefit St judes Children’s Research Hospital.

According to the source, it is a “Swarovski” set. I didn’t know what that meant so I looked it up: it’s a brand name luxury crystal cutter.

And by the way: the game comes used. It will first be played on by Jimmy Kimmel, Daniel Kellison, Seth Green and Skeet Ulrich.

Bid on the set here.

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Episode 54 of Horror Etc covers Halloween board gaming.

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