“Everyday I walk around post as Pvt. Anderson, but a few times a week I get to be Zander, the magic-user, and fight on the various quests he is on,” said Anderson. “For those few precious hours I get to forget the day-to-day worries of a solider and be somebody else; and at least in my head, be somewhere else.”

The OGRE Awards, most commonly known as The Oggies (after our mascot Oggie the Ogre), are a grouping of awards presented by O.G.R.E.s annually to leaders and members of the tabletop, card, live action, and party gaming industry for their products and services. Unlike other tabletop industry awards like the ENnies or Origin awards, the OGGIEs are not all limited to annual releases. Instead, they reflect the cherished games and people that members of O.G.R.E.s - around 3,000 across three countries - care for. The program began in 2010, and the first actual awards will be up for open voting beginning on September 1st, 2011.

In the late '80s as Dungeons and Dragons grew in popularity, Talbot's parents deemed it as "bad" and Talbot and his brother Adam Talbot were banned from playing the game. However, creating fantasy worlds was what Talbot did best, so he and Adam created their own role-playing game.

"My brother came up with the character's race, class and the types of monsters while I thought up the spells and magic items," he said.

They referred to their game as "A.P's Quest" or "Adam and Paul's Quest."

The organizers have enlisted a psychiatrist and some therapists for the project. They trained them as to how RPGs work (their RPG of choice is Warhammer Fantasy; 4e is too combat oriented) and they received training on how to run the sessions to ensure that each child encounters situations that can help them work through issues. The sessions, and the club, look nothing like therapy, which is the point.

The Wayne Foundation's vision is for a world without child slavery. Our mission is to provide young women who have fallen victim to commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking with a means of leaving the sex industry for good. The Wayne Foundation is committed to fighting human trafficking, child prostitution & child sex exploitation one victim at a time by providing individuals with a safe home environment that will empower them with the tools they will need to stop the cycle of abuse.

It is our intent to stop commercial sex exploitation within the United States through direct victim assistance, public outreach, and by directly working with those who shape the policies and statutes which impact victims and their abusers.

Every cent of profit made from this bundle will go directly to The Wayne Foundation to help them accomplish this mission. Not only will you get some great RPG and board game products, but you'll be helping Jamie and her foundation get off the ground and in to action.

I remember taking this psychology class in college and learning that you should watch how people are with waiters and in traffic because that is a good indication of their “human shadow”—the part of ourselves we try to hide from everyone. I think D&D is probably the best telltale for that. I’ve made some of the best friendships of my life because of the relationships my character had in the dungeon.

Sometime during the week of Monday, September 12th to Friday, September 16th post about what geeky hobby you love. Then, tell us why we should try it, too. Leave your fears (and edition wars) at the door. Forget about your latest rant. Tap into that well of positive energy and share in the excitement of all things geek.

Let us invite those who would stereotype us to sit at our table and share our interests. Let us combat being used as pawns for internet gaffes with the reasons why we’re awesome, why we love what we love, and why it’s good to be a geek.

The OGRE Awards, most commonly known as The Oggies (after our mascot Oggie the Ogre), are a grouping of awards presented by O.G.R.E.s annually to leaders and members of the tabletop, card, live action, and party gaming industry for their products and services. Unlike other tabletop industry awards like the ENnies or Origin awards, the OGGIEs are not all limited to annual releases. Instead, they reflect the cherished games and people that members of O.G.R.E.s - around 3,000 across three countries - care for. The program began in 2010, and the first actual awards will be up for open voting beginning on September 1st, 2011.

After spending all day on a computer at work, gamers Brandy Hamblet and Travis Fricke said that sometimes the last thing they want to do is go home and stare at a screen for entertainment.

"It's nice to be able to sit down with several friends at once," Hamblet said. "I probably wouldn't get to see some of these people very often outside of the game. I get social-ed out pretty quickly, but that doesn't happen with D&D. I always want to keep playing."

“The world of six thirty-something Dungeons and Dragons players is thrown into disarray when one of them announces he has enlisted in the Marine Reserves, and will soon be deployed Iraq. In this blisteringly funny and deeply affecting play, playwright Cameron McNary examines why we game, what it means to grow up, and what true friendship looks like.”

Broken Spirits is a sci-fi/action independent feature film about four young people who are pulled into an alternate dimension within our world and must fight their way back.

Many of the cast are American actors – including Vic Mignogna, Richard Epcar, Spike Spencer, and Cristina Vee – widely recognized for their roles in high profile Japanese animation films and series such as Full Metal Alchemist, Ghost in the Shell, and Neon Genesis Evangelion. We expect strong interest in marketing the film in the US and abroad.

Andy McPhee from Sons of Anarchy has recently joined the cast.

Spongebob Cthulhu: Come join Spongebob and gang as they investigate things man and sponges weren't meant to know as the Cthulhu collides with Spongebob!

The Maltese Fhtagn: What's with the black "bird" statue, pal? Hard boiled Mythos action in the 1930a. Bring your heater and a deck of Luckies, you savvy?

Whose Game Is It Anyways: Come watch Gnome Stew GM John Arcadian run a game with no prep. You provide the building blocks, he crafts the story on the fly.

Hellboy Versus the Hamburgler - The Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense has detected a shift in the world's fast food empires and they have sent in Hellboy to investigate.

Game Design is Mind Control (hosted by Luke Crane and Jared Sorensen)
Fundamentals of Setting Design (a discussion with Kenneth Hite)
GM Mastery
The Rules of Writing
Christianity and Gaming
Roleplaying Games Build Better Writers
Breaking into RPG Writing
Games for the Classroom
The Mad Taxonomy of Roleplaying Game Design
The Ups and Downs of the Publishing Industry
Game Design for Teachers

“Many of the fantasy and role-playing games are smack in the middle of the occult, and that’s the truth,” says Jack Gracie. Gracie is the spokesman for Tucson’s Christian Awareness Fellowship, a “non-profit interdenominational Christian group primarily devoted to educating the body of Christ concerning the cults and the occult.”

“In these games, kids are taught how to invoke demons and thinks like that. And now it has gone beyond a game.”

Cramond brought the fantasy game presentation to the symposium, ready to explain how in the early ‘80s she used a barebones version of Dungeons and Dragons to get middle school students to work together and absorb the material in a different way.

Cramond split the students into groups, introduced the game and got them started on an adventure based on the 12 labors of Hercules. She didn’t make students read about Hercules beforehand, however. She simply set the textbooks on a shelf, which students eventually discovered. To Cramond’s delight, the students read the myths in order to gain an advantage in the game, figuring out what they needed to do to pass.

“They thought they were tricking me,” she said with a smile.

It provides practice in personal interactions. “It helps you learn to deal with people, being diplomatic, speaking in public.” He adds, “Before Dungeons & Dragons, I would never have talked to a reporter. I’d be saying, ‘Please don’t talk to me!’”

Some gamers are frank about the stereotypes, some of which may be accurate. “For a lot of socially awkward teenagers like myself, D&D was a formative experience,” says proprietor Hardy. “It’s a structured social activity. If you go to a bar, there’s no rules, no guidelines. That’s awkward for some people. This is a structured way to socialize with people in a non-confrontational setting.” Hardy calls it “cooperative storytelling.”

It might be a bit weird - but at least these folks are out there enjoying the outdoors, using their imaginations, etc. Certainly no weirder than people who spend their weekends hitting balls into little cups with expensive sticks or casting hooks into water to catch fish you have no intention of eating!

So my mom took away my D&D books today because of Heroes of Shadow.

I'd bought both Heroes of Shadow and Paizo's Inner Sea Guide and had both of them on my desk (well I was flipping through the ISG) and my mom came in and asked how my day went. I told her it went great I finally got the two books I'd been waiting for.

So she starts flipping through my Heroes of Shadow and suddenly sees stuff like Soul Sacrifice and Shadow Sponsorship and things like that in big scary letters and she just freaks out. She starts yelling at me about how D&D is satanic and that I've been lying to her all along about it.

She took all of my d&d books and put them in a cardboard box out front for anyone to take =( It was gone this morning. That was over a 1000 dollars gone. I know WotC has no interest in turning our souls over to Satan (afterall they wouldn't see any profit in it, so why bother?) but couldn't they have hidden the darker themes of the book deeper inside it or something? I'm sorry. I know it's not WotC's fault. I'm just mad and looking for a target.

The Barclays have a visitor for the summer: Len, George's nephew. Jimmy is excited to have his cousin stay with them, especially when Len shows Jimmy a new game called Castles & Cauldrons-- it's even better than Zapazoids. Castles & Cauldrons (C & C) is a fantasy role-playing game. The players become medieval characters who use battle skills and other means to conquer their enemies. Len is "Luthor the Magician," and he names Jimmy "Jondel the Apprentice." Jimmy thinks the game is harmless-until Len takes it a step further, and imagination starts becoming reality. Plastic swords ring with the sound of steel; epic battles are fought against the forces of darkness and won. Jimmy is amazed by these things, but Len wants him to go further still, into incantations, spells, and conjuring-which sounds suspiciously like black magic. What's worse, Len swears Jimmy to silence. He's not to tell anybody about the game, especially his parents or Whit, because "they won't understand."

Whit suspects something is wrong with Jimmy after he and Len visit Whit's End acting strangely. One night, Donna's doll is mysteriously ripped apart, and she blames Jimmy and Len. Whit questions her about the boys' activities. Then George tells Jimmy that Len didn't come to Odyssey just to visit them. His parents thought it would be healthy for Len to get away from a "questionable group of friends." That night, Jimmy and Len go camping out in the forest. Len decides to include Jimmy in the ultimate C & C initiation: a ritual to summon Shalman, the most powerful magician of all. Len starts the ritual. Jimmy resists, but Len gets so caught up in it, he begins forcing Jimmy to participate. Just before things get ugly, Whit and George show up to put a stop to the ritual-and to Castles & Cauldrons. Whit destroys the game. Len gets some professional help. The Barclay family retuns back to normal, and everyone realizes that even Odyssey isn't immune from Satan's wiles.

Let’s be real. In the realm of sports and clubs that one could participate in, the Dungeons and Dragons club isn’t exactly the “hippest” option. It’s a fantasy game based on created characters and imaginary quests, and although apparently addicting, it’s relatively harmless. However, late last week, the School Board made a proposition to end the D&D club based on the belief that it “promotes death and violence”.

Those who play the game maintain that it has no such effect. D&D sponsor Mr. Gray said, “They are ignoring all the good things that it promotes like team building and critical problem solving. Plus, a lot of the kids playing lack social skills and it provides a safe setting for them to feel accepted.”

Prompter “You have just pulled a ten year old child of the deep end what do you do?”
Primary rescuer “I check for breathing-one, two, three, four…”
NPC freaked out mom “Oh my god my son!”

The other guards hold her back. One attempts to calm her down while the guard continues checking for breathing.

Guards are performing rescue on an unconscious victim.
NPC approaches “Hello my name is Doctor Herbert West I can take over”

Hello,

My name is Brandon and I have been a big fan of your site ever since I started playing Role Playing Games after high school. My very first Role Playing Game was Dungeons and Dragons 3.5e. I was raised in an Evangelical Christian home that forbid me playing these games and I didn't get a chance to play them until I moved out of my parent's home. Nowadays my parents thankfully are more accepting of my hobby and I have shared many games and ideas with my mom.

I've been playing since 3.5e and currently am playing White Wolf's World of Darkness Hunter the Vigil line of games with some friends every other Saturday. I have a very interesting conversation starter for people unfamiliar with role playing games. I work at Wal Mart and I always wear a d20 dice as a necklace.

People have actually asked me about the necklace when they come through my line and ask me what it means. I tell them I play role playing games and have a brief conversation with them while I am tallying up their groceries. So far all of my conversations have been pleasant and some people actually applaud me for playing such games instead of being in front of the TV or a computer all day.

I think nowadays in the 21st Century, people are growing tired of technology and it's a breath of fresh air for them to hear from someone who spends time with friends playing a game that isn't electronic.

Of course there will always be people like my mom and dad once were and people like Mr Rimer. However I think people are tired of electronics and are more open to the idea of playing a game with their family that keeps the TV and computers off. That's how I model role playing games to be and I think that it is a pretty good advocacy tool in our digital age.

That has been my experience in advocating for role playing games. Thought I would share that with you. I will also point people to your website if they want general information and have questions.

Sincerely,
Brandon
Edmond, OK

• or on Monday, if you prefer that your weeks start with that day.

"Fantasy role-playing like Dungeons and Dragons … and vampire gaming are alive and well," said Rimer. "There are people who take gaming to another level, one that results in deaths and suicides. In the world of gaming, there is evil."

Vampire gaming, in particular, will often lure people, then send them out on a quest that involves blood or sex, sometimes with deadly consequences, said Rimer.

“Now, there are sixes involved in the pieces of the game, but they take the pieces of the game, they would throw them in the incinerator or the fireplace and screams would come out, because there seem to be some kind of spiritual forces inhabiting those pieces…”