Dungeons & Dragons & Gaming Link Archive

For a while now I have been adding to this growing list of RPG and D&D links on my computer. Continually devouring articles and searching for resources has been keeping me busy in my downtime. I figured it would be a nice thing to pass along some of the better links to these articles and resources.Without further adieu here is my list...

 Articles & Books

 Google+ First, if you have not already done so, I recommend heading over to Google+ and setting up an account and joining some of the gaming communities there. There are too many to list but for starters the D&D Next community is as good a spot as any to jump in. Google+, unlike Facebook, is a great place to meet new people. It's all right, not everyone is out to get you. Relax a bit, let down your guard some. Make yourself a gaming circle and add new people to it and share only what you want to with them. There are lots of great people out there just waiting to be your new friends. Now go find them!

What Is the Future of D&D and Tabletop Gaming? This is a fantastic article by Ethan Gilsdorf from over at GeekDad.com.  The website is cool too. As well, Ethan has a great book available called Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms. That's a mouthful for sure. I'm not done reading it yet but it is a strong book and may require a full review at some point.

The Surprising Inspiration for Dungeons & Dragons' Weirdest Monsters. This is a io9.com article that says some about the origins of the AD&D monsters and links back to the source article. They are both a good read. I remember chewing on those plastic monsters and dinos as a kid while watching Land of the Lost in the early 70s.

Here's what I'd do with 5th Edition D&D... This is a short read. Everyone has an opinion about D&D Next. This is am interesting take on it. I myself have recently tracked down the basic and red box D&D sets from my youth. Simple is always better. Imagination needs to fill in the blanks.

Dungeon of Signs. This is just a great gaming blog. Lots to read and see here.

Dyson's Dodecahedron. Another great gaming blog. This one has amazing maps. Delve deep and you will be rewarded. Top notch. Top shelf. Don't miss this site.

Heather Souliere Art. Personal art by Heather Souliere with lots of amazing maps. Very personal. Done by hand. The way it should be.

Gygax Magazine. The website says, "Gygax magazine was founded in 2012 by Luke Gygax, Ernest Gary Gygax Jr., Jayson Elliot, and Tim Kask. Our first issue was released on January 26, 2013 in Brooklyn, New York." I have already subscribed. Issue one is sold out but you can do like I did and grab the PDF over at DriveThroughRPG. Old School (quarterly) print magazine about gaming right to your door like it was the 70s again. What are you waiting for? Do it!

wreckreation.org This is a great blog by my best friend Colin. Here is what it's all about. Lots of great Eve Online tutorial stuff up right now at the top of the feed. I feel like he wrote those posts just for me! Thanks bro!

Forbes. David M. Ewalt writes articles about D&D for Forbes now and then. He also wrote this cool book, Of Dice and Men: The Story of Dungeons & Dragons and The People Who Play It. A man worth following and a book worth buying.

Everything I Need to Know I Learned from Dungeons & Dragons: One Woman's Quest to Trade Self-Help for Elf-Help. Women play D&D too and here is the proof. It's not all men at the gaming table. Don't be shy. They won't bite. Get a lady's perspective with this cool book.

Confessions of a Part-time Sorceress: A Girl's Guide to the D&D Game. Another one for the ladies. I have not read this one but I am curious. It's in my Amazon basket ready for my next order. Now if I could just get my wife to play! Maybe this book will help!

  
Playing at the World. Jon Peterson has written a masterful gaming tome. This is the end all be all resource for Dungeons & Dragons and the history of RPG gaming, backdated to the beginning of time. The book is written into 5 massive chapters. It's so comprehensive that the author even tells you how it's written and what to expect from it. The first and last chapters, (a decent sized book alone) are what held my interest the most. The center 3 chapters—the meat of the book—goes into insanely researched detail about the history of war gaming and how it all led to the inception of D&D. Everything is covered. J. R. R. Tolkien. Battle straggly war games. Everything. The last chapter gets back to D&D, Gygax and Arneson and ends basically around the time when most of us first learned about D&D. This is the book you need. it's the one you want. It has everything you ever wanted to know and tons that you didn't even know you wanted to know. Learn something new and delve into real actual history.

Resources

Here is a list of the best resources I've found online for D&D and gaming. This is not a complete list but a selection of my favorites. feel free to post below this entry with links of your own.

D&D Next Index. I'm not sure how I found this. I'm also not sure why I never see it listed anywhere on websites. Either way, here it is. A full resource of all the D&D Next game rules. It must be official. How could it not be? Use it before it goes away. Hopefully it wont.

Donjon. This is one of the greatest gaming resources you will ever find. Dungeons generators, inn generators, character name generators, treasure generators, etc. AD&D, D20, D&D 4e, Pathfinder, and more are all covered. May you be gaming enough to have a need to use them all. I'm still continually blown away by this free resource.

Pre-Generated Character Library. Over at dungeonsmaster.com they have compiled this fantastic resource of (mostly official) pre-generated D&D characters. In my opinion pre-gens are not nearly as common as they should be. Character creation for the many different editions of D&D can often be daunting complex to create, especially for those new to the game. A vast resource of hundreds of pre-gens from every edition should be made available by Wizards. I think it would help more people get into playing the game and at a younger age. All editions should be embraced with this idea of mine. Until that day comes this is the next best place to find pre-gens. They are mostly 4e but there are some D&D Next characters up there now. Download them. Print them. Use them. Sometimes I even laminate them so my kids don't destroy them.

Character Sheets by Dyslexic Studeos. This is another great resource. For creating characters for D&D or Pathfinder this is the link you need. The website is beautifully laid out and easy to understand. Make, create, download.

Mad Irishman. This is an insane resource for character sheets and lots more. Here is one great character sheet just to give you an idea what is here just waiting for you. From OD&D to Basic, all the way to 4th edition you will find what you want. There is a lot more there then just D&D too.

Reaper Miniatures

Hasslefree Miniatures

Pathfinder Miniatures

Strikezone

Wizards of the Coast D&D on Twitch. I'm new to Twitch. Like I went there earlier today for the first time new. Wizards was running a new D&D adventure. I had already played it Wednesday night. It was a nice video feed with three cameras and the maps and all. Very professional. Check out Twitch for this and more.

For now I'll end here with Geek Chic. This is for rich gamer or very dedicated games who save, borrow, or creatively pool resources into gaming furniture. They have amazing tables that cost a fortune, including the amazing Sultan. If you own any of these or have even seen them in real life please comment. I'd love to read what you have to say. is this stuff excessive? Sure. Would I get the Sultan if I had the money? You bet! Hehe. I cant complain. I have a pretty sweet gaming table of my own—an old Pier One table (picture not of my house) hand me down. I'll be using it till I get the Sultan. ;)

The Sultan Gaming Table. 

——Note—— More links can be added. Please post links in comments and after some time I'll add them to the blog here. Thanks.