Assault of the Giants, the next Dungeons & Dragons-derived board game from WizKids, is scheduled to hit retail in February. When it does, expect to see two versions. Both are meant for 3-6 players, with each controlling a particular clan of giants (hill, frost, fire, etc.). Both have players working simultaneously on a general war and the pursuit of goals unique to each clan. Both use the same map board and cards.

What’s the difference, then? One, the Standard Edition for $80, features 14 plastic miniatures molded in different colors. The other, the Premium Edition for $130, features the same miniatures but individually painted.

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Due out next month, Dungeonology is a different kind of D&D book. It has not a lick of rules for the game and probably not one thing the hard core gamer isn’t already intimately familiar with.

What Dungeonology does have is a nice selection of inspirational D&D art, easy conversational text, fold-outs, inserts, and a dragon hologram. The book contains brief blurbs on iconic D&D monsters, the risks and rewards of adventuring, beginner tips on weapon selection and marching order, highlights of magic spells and treasures, and an overview of the Forgotten Realms, including famous locations, notorious characters, and secret societies.

In short, Dungeonology isn’t a game supplement. It’s an introduction and inspiration, the kind of book you give to your young nieces and nephews to start them off on a lifetime of adventure. The kind that’ll have them choosing characters and itching to roll dice.

Duneonology ($25) is published by Candlewick Press in partnership with Wizards of the Coast. It was written by Matt Forbeck (in the voice of Volotham Geddarm) with an introduction by Ed Greenwood (as Elminster).

A complimentary copy of Dungeonology was provided by Candlewick press for review.

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Hitting stores today is Widow’s Walk, an expansion for Wizards of the Coast’s Betrayal at House on the Hill. Perfect for the upcoming spooky holiday, Betrayal at House of the Hill has players exploring a haunted mansion until one of them turns on the others and tries to kill them.

Widow’s Walk includes new floor tiles, omen and event cards, and 50 scenarios developed by celebrities, such as Angela Webber from The Doubleclicks, Max Temkin and Eli Halpern of Cards Against Humanity, and cartoonist Pendleton Ward.

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When I reviewed Princes of the Apocalypse, I commented that the first half of the book “can almost be used as just a setting book for the Dessarin Valley”. But that didn’t prepare me for what I’d find when opening up Storm King’s Thunder: over a fifth of this 256-page book is devoted to quick looks at an area that makes up the Dessarin Valley, and areas north of Mirabar, south past Daggerford, and as far east as Anauroch. Those “quick looks” are anywhere from a paragraph of few lines to a full page, several with suggested encounters (most centered around the giant activities that drive this book’s campaign). In the section before that, two major locations in the Dessarin Valley are detailed (and one location far to the north). Combine this with Princes of the Apocalypse, and you’ve got a fantastic gazetteer for your campaign. A section of Mike Schley’s Forgotten Realms map is used in that 50+ page setting section.

Your players will be at one of the three locations very early in the campaign, defending the location from attack. However, you’re not just playing your heroes, each player at the table is given an NPC they’re in control of. While the battle rages on, your heroes and these others aren’t necessarily in the same location. The NPC survives? They’ve got some storylines your players can follow up on, things that require your heroes to travel quite some distance to complete – one has your heroes escorting the character to the next town over to meet their boss who then tasks them to safeguard a wagon to a town way the heck far away after which they get an anonymous bundle that directs them to a town even further away in the opposite direction where they’ll get their final reward which is pretty cool indeed.

Storm King’s Thunder seems to have a lot of travelling involved.

It feels natural to compare Storm King’s Thunder to Princes of the Apocalypse. Both take place in the same general area (although this giant adventure can take heroes far afield from the valley). Both have a preferred story progression while including some free-form events. Both have a large section dedicated to the overall setting, tempting the Dungeon Master to make it her own. However, while Princes is set up assuming the heroes would tackle the elemental cults and temples in a level-appropriate manner, there’s nothing stopping a group of 4th level heroes from stumbling into an area designed for 7th level adventurers, complete with a staircase leading down to a place for 10th level heroes, Storm King’s Thunder has an adventure flowchart designed to avoid just that issue. This isn’t to say there’s a lack of choices for the players.

The adventure proper begins with a choice of the three locations mentioned earlier. If your heroes head to the major location far to the north, they don’t have the adventuring goodness that’s at the two different major locations in the Dessarin Valley. Likewise, the middle part of the campaign offers to take the heroes to multiple locations, but they only need to go to one to progress to the conclusion. This final act has some branching options as well. In other words, my group playing Storm King’s Thunder will most likely have a wildly different story to tell than your group playing the same campaign.

Storm King’s Thunder forgoes standard XP and leveling, opting to reward the players by completing goals. Each section of the book has a character advancement sidebar, giving direction for when the heroes gain levels. Thus, that middle part of the campaign where the players have multiple paths but only need one to advance the storyline, they all hit 9^th level when completing that mission. Less bookkeeping, more adventure, if you ask me.

The cartography is all over the place within this product. However, unlike earlier storyline campaign books, none of the maps are signed, so it’s difficult to tell who did what. You’ve got some things that look more like general fantasy maps instead of something worthy of the word “cartography”. You’ve got small maps that incorporate hand-drawn imagery to stuff that looks like it’s built using basic shapes in Illustrator or thrown together using different terrain packages in Roll20. Then you’ve got the map of Triboar, which looks completely hand-drawn. There are six different cartographers listed in the credits, all with differing styles. This probably won’t bother you, but in my day job as a graphic artist working with book layouts similar to this, it bugs the heck out of me.

The artwork, also with some varying styles, is much more in sync. Those NPCs your heroes could control? There’s eighteen of them with a large range of body sizes, skin color, and ethnicity (if you translate all the fantasy races over to “human”). The collage of images on the cover is impressive – you can see the standalone King Hekaton on the first page of the book and the combined illustration collage before graphic elements were added to it on the second page.

Several tie-ins to this storyline are available and planned, including an Assault of the Giants boardgame from WizKids, Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds ready-made adventures, and more.

A copy of Storm King’s Thunder was provided free for review by Wizards of the Coast.

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The latest story-line for Dungeons & Dragons saw its official launch this week with the full retail release of the Storm King’s Thunder adventure book ($50 suggested retail). Developed in-house at Wizards of the Coast, Storm King’s Thunder sees the player characters defending the Sword Coast in The Forgotten Realms against the depredations of ravaging giants.

The adventure covers character levels 1-11, for the first five in a more traditional progression and in the later levels with a modular approach. The book includes an adventure flowchart to help guide the dungeon master, as well as an appendix with suggestions for integrating it with other published adventures. Part of the story involves the characters making use of the giants’ own rune magic to craft new fantastic items.

For those playing Dungeons & Dragons remotely online, licensed versions of Storm King’s Thunder are also available in Fantasy Grounds ($35) and Roll20 ($50). The story line makes an appearance as an expansion to the Neverwinter MMO. And coming from WizKids are a Storm King’s Thunder Icons of the Realms miniatures series (later this month) and an Assault of the Giants board game ($100, May 2017).

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With live streaming of tabletop roleplaying games drawing larger audiences, Wizards of the Coast appears ready to take the trend to a new level and possibly a wider audience. On Sunday, the ongoing series Acquisitions Incorporated broadcasts live from the PAX West convention in Seattle to 300 movie theaters around the country. Tickets are available through Fathom Events. Attendees will also receive a 32 page Dungeons & Dragons adventure module, Cloud Giant’s Bargain.

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Shadows Over Innistrad is the latest set in Magic’s Arena of the Planeswalker line. It’s a full, base set, so you don’t need the first set to play like you did with Battle for Zendikar. Since I’ve already reviewed Arena of the Planeswalkers, I’ll cut to the chase with this new set.

If you were to only buy one Arena of the Planeswalker products, Shadows Over Innistrad would be the one to get. The box is packed full of great stuff, and even though you only get 4 Planeswalkers (the fifth figure is the werewolf form of another) you get more bang for your buck than with the original base set.

For starters, three of the four Planeswalkers are multicolored: Sorin (black/white), Nahiri (red/white), and Arlinn (red/green). You also get more miniatures overall in the box, including new Hero units. These are basically an in-between. More powerful than regular minions, but not as powerful as Planeswalkers. The Cryptoliths (plastic tree-like things) can be destroyed, unlike terrain in the original set.

Overall Shadows Over Innistrad comes across as more polished that the original base set. It’s also the same price, $30.

So like I said earlier: if you were to only to get one Arena of the Planeswalkers sets, this is the one to get. Realistically? Get one of each. Having all the extra figures, spells, and Planeswalkers only makes the game that much better. While the release schedule of items isn’t as aggressive as Heroscape’s was, that may be the saving grace in the end of Arena of the Planeswalkers. It would be really nice to see them do a base set, small expansion, then repeat the pattern each year.

A copy of Magic: The Gathering – Arena of the Planeswalkers: Shadows Over Innistrad was provided free for review by Hasbro.

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Would you like to be the primary person responsible for the Monopoly brand or help preserve games for museum archives or develop the digital version of a popular card game?

At Hasbro, the numerous open jobs include Senior Director of Global Marketing (“define and drive the global strategy for Family Gaming”), Design Manager (supervise technical design development efforts for a games category product line), and Product Designer (for “Phygital Games” combining physical and digital products). Subsidiary, Wizards of the Coast, is looking for, among others, a Director of Competitive Gaming and eSports for Magic: The Gathering, a Game Designer fluent in Japanese for Duel Masters, and a Principal Product Designer to oversee MtG R&D efforts and “develop strategic direction for block environments.”

Spin Master wants to hire a Public Relations Coordinator to manage outreach to press and a Senior Copywriter to author marketing materials.

Mattel has three Senior Designer positions open in the Boys Toy Box team for people with “a passion for action figures and/or game design.” Also positions for a Sr. Manager Digital Marketing and a Digital Producer.

ThinkFun is looking for a Product Manager and a Senior Product Manager to help organize the company’s projects, keep them moving forward, and manage quality.

Among the people that The Strong (National Museum of Play) is looking for are a Director of Conservation (to preserve games and toys in its collections), a Project Cataloger (to digitize and inventory games and puzzles), and a Teaching Host (to work with visiting school groups).

Ceaco (A.K.A. Gamewright) needs a Sales & Marketing Coordinator to assist with accounts, prepare marketing materials, and analyze sales data.

White Wizard Games (Star Realms) has an opening for a Digital Deckbuilder, that is, someone with experience in server-side apps and “a passion for card games.”

Thames & Kosmos needs a Purchasing & Planning Coordinator for analyzing sales data, managing inventories, and working with suppliers.

TOMY (Battroborg, Mr. Mouth) is recruiting for several positions: Brand Assistant, Digital Merchandising Manager, and Legal & Marketing Coordinator.

Toobeez (U.S. distributor of Funskool games from India) seeks a Junior Sales and Marketing Executive to help with social media, email marketing, and specialty retailer support.

The Toy Industry Association needs a Communications Specialist/Content Developer and a Director of Audience Relations. Both positions have a fair amount to do with New York Toy Fair.

Toyjobs is a specialty recruiter for the toy industry.

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The gang from My Little Pony play Dungeons & Dragons on this new t-shirt from Hasbro. Shirts run $25-29, with profits from the sale going to the Points of Light Foundation.

Join the adventuring party of Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and of course Pinkie Pie, for the most pony-riffic celebration of friendship this side of the Forgotten Realms!

Friendship & Magic

It’s How We Roll

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Hitting shelves on September 2nd with a $19.99 MSRP, the Magic: The Gathering Duel Deck: Nissa vs. Ob Nixilis pits two Planswalkers from the Zendikar block head to head.

Similar to previous Duel Decks, Nissa vs Ob Nixilis contains:

• 2 ready-to-play 60-card decks
• 2 premium cards
• 2 deck boxes
• 1 strategy insert
• 1 learn-to-play guide
• 2 spin-down counters

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