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Dungeons have a primal allure to the inveterate adventurer in all of us. This month, discover the masters of the alluring dungeons, rare Underdark poisons, and the ecology of the gargoyle. Plus, the Inn of the Welcome Wench. We proudly present for your gaming pleasure, Dragon 423!

Dungeons have a primal allure to the inveterate adventurer in all of us. This month, discover the masters of the alluring dungeons, rare Underdark poisons, and the ecology of the gargoyle. Plus, the Inn of the Welcome Wench! Here now are a full set of the illustrations from Dragon 423.

Dungeons have a primal allure to the inveterate adventurer in all of us. This month, discover the masters of the alluring dungeons, rare Underdark poisons, and the ecology of the gargoyle. Plus, the Inn of the Welcome Wench! Here now are a full set of the illustrations from Dragon 423.

Several weeks ago, I was delighted to find a couple friends of mine in my hometown have been up to something exciting, and I thought what better way than to launch a new series of posts to revive this long-dead blog. [Let's Look At] is where I try to read through and dissect every chapter and corner of a new RPG that I have yet to play, and explore it with all of my musings about its design, some notes, and experimental plays to better understand it. I don't really intend these examinations to be a review of the game, but rants and raves may seep through the seams at times.    
Mutants & Machine-Guns A Gonzo Post-Apocalyptic RPG by Robertson Sondoh Jr. & Daniel Marcus of Experimental Playgrounds
Mutants & Machine-Guns: A Gonzo Post-Apocalyptic RPG is a post-apocalypse roleplaying game made by Robertson Sondoh Jr. and Daniel Marcus, who form the duo of Experimental Playgrounds. If you haven't heard of Experimental Playgrounds, these guys are from my far-away homestate of Sabah in Malaysia and they have been up making simple and free print-and-play boardgames/minigmaes that have gained some small notoriety on BoardGameGeek (check out their games that are available on BoardGameGeek) until now. 

Mutants & Machine Guns is the first RPG from Experimental Playgrounds and I'm excited to see a local RPG made by local talents. While it is still very much still in-development, the Experimental Playground folks were kind enough to send me a free copy of their latest version, which you can acquire at their website.

Disclaimer: While I do know both of the creators on a personal level, I do intend to view this RPG as objectively as any roleplayer would, giving my views that would hopefully be taken as constructive criticism to improve this game further.
Overview:
Sticking true to their love for simple to play games, Mutants & Machine-Guns is designed in the pocketmod format, which means that it is printable on an A4 paper and folded in 8 pages (10, if you include the character sheet and battlegrid). This makes it quite literally a very light RPG with all the rules (and then some) that can be fitted into a piece of paper to read through and learned almost at a glance.
Describing itself as a Gonzo Post-Apocalyptic RPG, the introduction to Mutants & Machine-Guns says that it takes its inspirations from classical post-apocalypse materials (movies and games) such as Thundarr the Barbarian, Gamma World, Mutant Future, Mad Max and Fall Out.
All you need to play this RPG, other than the necessary stationery and players, are just the easy to find D6s, which makes it friendlier for most gamers because polyhedral dices aren't a common thing you will see from where I come from.

Given it's format, I would generally breakdown the 'chapters' of this game down to the following, though they do not appear in that order:

1. Character Creation - the four main stats, combat-related stats, and task resolution 
2. Mutations - possible mutations that you can have as a character
3. Combat - combat rules, actions and healing
4. Wasteland Economy - equipment
5. GM rules - radiation and critters. 

So that's how I will be delving into each 'chapter' of the game. Look for more Mutants & Machine-Guns in my next post!

Several weeks ago, I was delighted to find a couple friends of mine in my hometown have been up to something exciting, and I thought what better way than to launch a new series of posts to revive this long-dead blog. [Let's Look At] is where I try to read through and dissect every chapter and corner of a new RPG that I have yet to play, and explore it with all of my musings about its design, some notes, and experimental plays to better understand it. I don't really intend these examinations to be a review of the game, but rants and raves may seep through the seams at times.    
Mutants & Machine-Guns A Gonzo Post-Apocalyptic RPG by Robertson Sondoh Jr. & Daniel Marcus of Experimental Playgrounds
Mutants & Machine-Guns: A Gonzo Post-Apocalyptic RPG is a post-apocalypse roleplaying game made by Robertson Sondoh Jr. and Daniel Marcus, who form the duo of Experimental Playgrounds. If you haven't heard of Experimental Playgrounds, these guys are from my far-away homestate of Sabah in Malaysia and they have been up making simple and free print-and-play boardgames/minigmaes that have gained some small notoriety on BoardGameGeek (check out their games that are available on BoardGameGeek) until now. 

Mutants & Machine Guns is the first RPG from Experimental Playgrounds and I'm excited to see a local RPG made by local talents. While it is still very much still in-development, the Experimental Playground folks were kind enough to send me a free copy of their latest version, which you can acquire at their website.

Disclaimer: While I do know both of the creators on a personal level, I do intend to view this RPG as objectively as any roleplayer would, giving my views that would hopefully be taken as constructive criticism to improve this game further.
Overview:
Sticking true to their love for simple to play games, Mutants & Machine-Guns is designed in the pocketmod format, which means that it is printable on an A4 paper and folded in 8 pages (10, if you include the character sheet and battlegrid). This makes it quite literally a very light RPG with all the rules (and then some) that can be fitted into a piece of paper to read through and learned almost at a glance.
Describing itself as a Gonzo Post-Apocalyptic RPG, the introduction to Mutants & Machine-Guns says that it takes its inspirations from classical post-apocalypse materials (movies and games) such as Thundarr the Barbarian, Gamma World, Mutant Future, Mad Max and Fall Out.
All you need to play this RPG, other than the necessary stationery and players, are just the easy to find D6s, which makes it friendlier for most gamers because polyhedral dices aren't a common thing you will see from where I come from.

Given it's format, I would generally breakdown the 'chapters' of this game down to the following, though they do not appear in that order:

1. Character Creation - the four main stats, combat-related stats, and task resolution 
2. Mutations - possible mutations that you can have as a character
3. Combat - combat rules, actions and healing
4. Wasteland Economy - equipment
5. GM rules - radiation and critters. 

So that's how I will be delving into each 'chapter' of the game. Look for more Mutants & Machine-Guns in my next post!

The lore of a crown, as well as the actual crown, can provide you with all manner of options in your game. Come see what Ed has to say about the Lost Crown of Athalantar and how you can use such an item in your game.

Joseph Wu Origami has added a photo to the pool:

One square, no cutting. Elephanthide coloured with acrylic ink.

Joseph Wu Origami has added a photo to the pool:

One square, no cutting. Elephanthide coloured with acrylic ink.

On behalf of the D&D team, we are sorry to hear about the passing of one of our community members: Mark "wrecan" Monack.

The 2nd Edition reprints are about to release, and so what better time to look back through the art of these books? In this D&D Alumni article, we do just that—but instead of taking the broader view of the entire forest, we'll consider two of its trees (or treants) in particular...

REF8010 has added a photo to the pool:

James presents three cults and asks you some questions about them. Come read up on Demogorgon, Baphomet, and Graz'zt.

merigreenleaf has added a photo to the pool:

Been working with dice again! :D That's an actual 10-sided die on there (my husband drills these by hand to turn them into beads) along with shiny green beads and a pewter dragon charm. The whole thing is about 3 1/2" long including the keyring loop.

I really wish the colors had come out better in the photo, though; they're more vivid in person. The die is a neat blue/green/yellow mossy kind of color.

Handmade by MeriGreenleaf (Elfling Creations).

Joseph Wu Origami has added a photo to the pool:

From Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death".

You've got questions—we've got answers! Here's how it works—each week, our Community Manager scours all available sources to find whatever D&D Next questions you're asking. This week: Subclass Basics, Subclass Customizing & Non-Vancian Subclass Options.

Event Registration for Gen Con opens May 19th at Noon (Eastern). In advance of registration, we wanted to offer an early look at the D&D events, seminars and gaming taking place at the con!

ridureyu1 has added a photo to the pool:

So hey, uh... there are several player classes you can choose from in Neclos Fortress. Like this human mercenary, who's, um... not as interesting as the talking apple.

ridureyu1 has added a photo to the pool:

Frankencthulhu?

At the tail end of D&D's 3rd edition, they introduced the Cult of Thoon, a faction of Mind Flayers that worships and seeks out the mysterious concept of "Thoon." Whether Thoon exists or not is up for debate, but in their studies they discovered Quintessance, an equally-mysterious energy source. With Quintessence, they were able to create the first Thoon Hulks.

A Thoon Hulk fills in for the mInd Flayer's biggest weakness - lack of physical power. These ten-foot tall constructs are part Mind Flayer, part machine, and all violence. They will destroy anything in their way, either with their axe hands or by discharging some of the lethal radiation of Quintessence itself.

Alma de Boneca has added a photo to the pool:

www.facebook.com/almadboneca

In this episode, we look back at the creation of 2nd Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons—and who better to enlighten us than R&D's Steve Winter! We ask Steve to share his stories behind 2E's development, including what classes were selected, the philosophy of campaign settings, and the ankheg's mysterious name change.