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The 1980 release of the colorized cover edition of T1 The Village of Hommlet is certainly a foundation of the RPG industry and an iconic piece for almost any role-player brought into the game from the late 1970s all the way up to 1990.Truly, it is an incredible piece of work, penned by Gary Gygax and established as ‘the’ introductory module for the new Advanced Dungeons & Dragons system. Now certainly, B2 Keep on the Borderlands and X1 Isle of Dread might be more popular because they were included in the Basic and Expert boxed sets respectively, but again, that...

Today at Art of the Genre I’ll be taking a look at Dragon #175 from November 1991. Published by James M. Ward and edited by Roger E. Moore, this probably long forgotten issue isn’t a blockbuster but it does contain a few seeds that can help players and DMs of 2nd Edition AD&D.I certainly don’t remember it, as I was in my 2nd year of college at the time and probably well into my encore comic collecting phase during the Marvel and DC ‘gold rush’ of that period. That being said, it is nice to be able to go and...

Now I’ve been a HUGE fan of Aldrec Entertainment Group’s Legend of the Five Rings since the game was in 1st Edition printing as an independent RPG. During my decade of playing it, I was always intrigued by what lay outside the Emerald Empire, and especially the Burning Sands which was often referred to in the fluff for the setting. You can then imagine how happy I was to see the 3rd Edition rules hardcover of The Burning Sands when I attended GenCon in 2010. The game details the lands beyond Rokugan, namely the pseudo-Arabian world although there is also...

My old DM Mark gave me a nice birthday present this year, The Mutant Epoch RPG by Outland Arts. Now both Mark and I are big fans of post-apocalyptic settings, so it was with great anticipation that I got this 246 page core book.Using the Outland System mechanic, creator William McAusland does everything you can do to make a game all by yourself. Not only did McAusland write and design the game, but he also did all the art for the book!Now I’ll admit, when I first saw the art, and especially the cover, I wasn’t thrilled. However, I know...

This week my gaming review will focus on Paizo’s award winning Pathfinder supplement, Ultimate Campaign.Now before I get into the meat of this one, let me explain a few things about myself as a gamer. First, the reason I game is to create, and because I create I’ve continued to play RPGs for some 30 years. However, as my life has become more complex and various moves continue to forbid me from enjoying a gaming group, I tend to have little chance to roll dice. What does that mean? Well, it means I get to game only once per year,...