Y’know what excites me? Other gamers who are so excited about the games they love to play, that they get together to make really cool stuff and share it with everyone else!

The latest hot concept I’m watching is called “fourthcore”. It’s an approach to playing Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition in a style reminiscent of earlier versions of the game. Fourthcore is unforgiving but extravagant. Fourthcore follows the rules of 4th Edition but its adventures are designed to be extremely difficult. For fourthcore, difficult doesn’t mean simply deadlier monsters, it means lethal traps, elaborate puzzles, unique opponents, and potent magics. Surviving a fourthcore adventure is meant to be a formidable challenge.

Headquarters for fourthcore is the Save Versus Death blog, where yesterday a team of volunteers released Fourthcore Armory, A Compendium of Treasures Mythic & Deadly. This free, 41 page ebook presents a range of magical weapons, armor, and other items in the fourthcore style. That is, while adhering to official D&D rules, these items are designed for both powerful and dramatic effects. I’m not talking about +4 longswords with some background story. I’m talking about powerful weapons whose use comes at a tremendous cost, or items whose secondary effects are as inspiring as their primary powers. A few, for example, are most useful with the death of their owners.

Also presented in Fourthcore Armory is a concept called “gambits”. These are essentially narrative powers (used to affect the story line) that are priced, distributed, and even crafted like magic items.

What am I going to do? Now I have another game to play!