Most gamers have never heard of Braunstein. Sad but true. In the hierarchy of self-awareness you’ll find the circle of gamers who know what D&D is (a very, very large circle), then inside of that is the circle of gamers who know what Greyhawk is (large but smaller), and inside that the circle who knows what Blackmoor is (smaller still). And then in the very center, vanishingly small, are the people who’ve heard of Braunstein. Which is a pity, because Braunstein is the granddaddy of them all.

Braunstein: the Roots of Roleplaying Games by Ben Robbins. The first role-playing game was run by soldier David Wesely in 1967, his group including none other than D&D co-creator Dave Arneson. This past GenCon Braunstein was revived! Here's what the players had to say. Handouts from an earlier Braunstein revival. David Wesely's post-game comments. [via Rob McDougall]
posted on Sep 6, 2008 - View this thread

mySQLgame. Naturally, it's an alpha build. [via]
posted on Aug 28, 2008 - View this thread

Two Current correspondents are the first American journalists to venture into Mogadishu, Somalia after the infamous 1993 incident when two U.S. military Black Hawk helicopters were shot down by Somali militia. They film one of city street gun markets to show how easy it is to buy an AK-47, a machine gun or even RPG launcher. Their full-length video report Mogadishu Madness reveals the country under the self-proclaimed government of the Islamic Court Union, which was later overthrown with the help of the United Sates.
posted on Jun 26, 2008 - View this thread

Using OmniFocus to manage a 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons character sheet. Nerds. Dungeons and Dragons. Obsessive overuse of Mac software.
posted on Jun 25, 2008 - View this thread

If geeks talked about cookbooks the way they talk about RPG books, the results would not be pretty.
posted on Jun 19, 2008 - View this thread

Monster's Den: Book of Dread might be the best free dungeon crawl RPG on the web. If it ain't, it's damned close.
posted on May 14, 2008 - View this thread

Delta Green - be part of the conspiracy. The latest sourcebook for Delta Green, the cult modern day Call of Cthulhu setting, is being financed via fundable. If the target for funding is not met it’s release will be delayed... if it is released at all. A niche setting within a niche system in a hobby in decline, Delta Green is still intensely well loved by those who know about it, making them a good target for the ransom model. Will thinking outside the usual publishing business models save pen and paper RPGs?
posted on May 11, 2008 - View this thread

Magical dragon-faeries? Flaxen-hair'd elflords? Dank scary dungeons, reminiscent of Grandpa's basement? Kids' stuff. Whether you're a Camwhore, Emo Kid, or Troll, Forumwarz everything relevant about the Internet (i.e., Forums and IM) distilled down to a browser-based RPG. Buy warez from shady Russian dealers, upgrade your hacking/whining skills, pwn total strangers by crashing their web sites, and join or fight a shadowy government conspiracy. You have nothing to lose but your dignity.
posted on Feb 20, 2008 - View this thread

One Thousand Monkeys, One Thousand Typewriters is the largest online source of free role playing and story games. With so many choices, you may want to look at the winners of the 2006 Game Chef contest, with its interesting rules: Crime and Punishment, the RPG about being a writer for a crime procedural TV show; Liquid Crystal, about a robot with no memory; Time Traitor with its mysterious Factors; and the haunted house story Merryweather.
posted on Feb 15, 2008 - View this thread

Protector. ~Flash Friday~ Protector takes the mechanics of tower defense games, and adds an RPG element to it. Specialize, level up, and say goodbye to your free time. previously
posted on Feb 8, 2008 - View this thread

Looking for something unique to bring to your next gaming session? Star-spawn will cringe in fear when they see you have shown up to battle bearing these long-lost relics of R'lyeh. The dwarves have toiled long in the mines and quarries of Khaz Modan, and even crafted the bones and teeth of great ancient beasts to create deadly weapons for your gaming arsenal. Perhaps most impressive and prized of all these unique equipages is this rare trophy of the cold and frozen north.
posted on Jan 26, 2008 - View this thread

Fear of Girls: Episode 2 returns with the aftermath of Episode 1.
posted on Nov 14, 2007 - View this thread

DM of the Rings (comic). The Lord of the Rings if it were a Dungeons and Dragons game.
posted on Oct 27, 2007 - View this thread

Like Progress Quest but looking for something you can get a little more involved with? Hours of semi-interactive entertainment are now available! Save, load, and undo with the roguelike game Save Scummer. Level up with Statbuilder, where you must click to win. And try my personal favorite, NPC Quest, which gives you all the excitement of RPG inventory management while automating the boring battles and exploration. (NPC Quest is near the bottom; scroll down.)
posted on May 9, 2007 - View this thread

Hybrid: the roleplaying game. A Timecube style "role playing game." via Grand Text Auto
posted on Apr 11, 2007 - View this thread

Cthulhufilter: "Amid the sagging gables of old New England, evil lurks ... and squirms, and scuttles, and purrs." Welcome to the scary world of Pokethulhu, the free RPG where unspeakable horror meets japanese insanity. You can download it here (bonus: art by John Kovalic on the inside). More Cthulhu Cuteness.
posted on Nov 28, 2006 - View this thread

Earlier this year, the U.S. Army awarded one of its favored defense contractors, Raytheon, a $70 million contract to develop a new system to combat rocket-propelled grenades, which have killed nearly 40 Americans in Afghanistan and more than 130 in Iraq. Raytheon’s “Quick Kill” solution — which the Army concedes will not be fielded before 2011 at the earliest — won out over Trophy, the Israeli system championed by the Pentagon’s Office of Force Transformation.
posted on Sep 15, 2006 - View this thread

A Feminist Gaming Manifesto. (And part 2 is here.) "So wait, you’re wondering, maybe, why don’t these crazy men-folk just do that? I think the answer is actually pretty straightforward. People who themselves feel marginalized can’t bear the thought that they could be in a position of power wherein they could hurt someone in the same way that they feel hurt. Who out there hasn’t felt terribly marginalized? What happens, then, is there’s this conflation of “you’re doing something that makes me feel excluded or hurt” with “you’re a bad, bad man like those people with the bitch shirts.” You can’t handle that thought, so you try desperately to prove that it’s not the case. Guilt, or fear that you might be guilty, never did anybody any good."
posted on Apr 16, 2006 - View this thread

Cities is a cross between Urban Dead and Kingdom of Loathing.
posted on Jan 16, 2006 - View this thread

Lightning bolt! Lightning bolt! LIGHTNING BOLT! THE MOVIE. (qt) - the alternate trailer. (and the original in case you lost it)
posted on Aug 8, 2005 - View this thread

A Brief History of Game: A nine-part review of the major highlights in rpg history. Other interesting if generally unrelated pieces on the history of gaming, pen & paper or otherwise: "Where Have All the Demons Gone?", discussing the history of Magic the Gathering; A somewhat flippant piece by GameSpy; and some obligatory RPG theory regarding the historical popularity of various styles of RPG.
posted on Aug 5, 2005 - View this thread

Urban Dead is a browser-based, grid-mapped multi-player game where you play the survivor or victim of a zombie outbreak in a quarantined city centre. Tired of playing a pseudo-hero in a fantasy Kingdom of Loathing? Play a scientist, soldier, or ordinary civilian in a modern city, and try to avoid being infected. Or skip the "avoid" phase, and just play a zombie.
posted on Aug 1, 2005 - View this thread

Legend of the Red Green Dragon. LOTGD is "a browser based role playing game, based on Seth Able's Legend of the Red Dragon."

Create a character, flirt with Violet the bar wench, flirt with Seth the Bard! Survive through the worst in the forest outside of town! Host your own game!
posted on Jun 27, 2005 - View this thread

Lexicon: An RPG - The basic idea is that each player takes on the role of a scholar, from before scholarly pursuits became professionalized (or possibly after they ceased to be). You are cranky, opinionated, prejudiced and eccentric. You are also collaborating with a number of your peers -- the other players -- on the construction of an encyclopedia describing some historical period (possibly of a fantastic world).
posted on Apr 21, 2005 - View this thread

Illusion of Gaia and my cousin David
posted on Mar 29, 2005 - View this thread

Ever play Morrowind? Did you realise how obscenely gargantuan the backstory and associated literature is? I'm not much of a roleplay geek, but the sheer amount of work to produce this fictious world is kinda hypnotic. And as for this...
posted on Feb 15, 2005 - View this thread

I am Mr. Roarke, your host. Welcome to Fantasy Island! The virtual economy gets more interesting. (More inside)
posted on Dec 17, 2004 - View this thread

Don't Forget to Pack the Scimitar (NYT Link): Mainstream media covers Live Action Role Playing in a way that makes us sound only a little like freaks.
posted on Oct 22, 2004 - View this thread

Have time travellers really returned to our present to save the eventual savior? Or was it just an elaborate intricate hoax played by total strangers? The answer lies in part 2 of this bizarre real-life tale. I guarantee that you find this an amusing and quite entertaining read. Hollywood, please take notes. All hail Kolin Pope!
posted on Aug 31, 2004 - View this thread

Hear D and D players roll the dice in a fantasy battle with nefarious foes.
posted on Aug 18, 2004 - View this thread

That book is inappropriate We don't cotton to that kinda thing on my ferry son.
posted on Aug 11, 2004 - View this thread

Byronic Roleplaying?

Lord Vincent Smallpees (R51 D58 O21) wants to seduce Lady Margaret Whateley (R45 D55 O23), the wife of his best friend Alfred Thompson. He choses to tell her he's been loving her for such a long time, that his heart will shatter if she ever refuses to be kind, or something like that. His Actor choses to roll below Vincent's Despair ; he rolls: it's a 11, which is a Success. Cowabunga!

Welcome to Wuthering Heights: The Roleplaying Game. (More here.)
posted on Oct 2, 2003 - View this thread

Film Mogul is an online RPG that's "a simulation of what it is like to be a power player in the movie industry today." Take on the role of studio head, agent, producer, critic, or journalist and make virtual movies every bit as crappy as the ones that the real Hollywood churns out!
posted on Apr 6, 2003 - View this thread

In these difficult times it's a relief to know that Nethack is still being updated.
posted on Feb 25, 2003 - View this thread

How to survive any RPG - a 'one size fits all' guide to Role Playing Games. As anyone who has played the Final Fantasy series knows, RPGs are full of cliches. In my opinion, the best RPG I ever played was Chrono Trigger, (its referred two quite a bit in those two lists) and modern game such as Neverwinter Nights don't seem to hold my attention. Perhaps the way forward is to cross genres, mixing RPG with other games, such as First Person Shooters and Real Time Strategies.
posted on Feb 12, 2003 - View this thread

SmokymokeyS has been around for some time, but I've never seen it mentioned here. There's some great design and imagery to be found there, and they've been working on a Javascript RPG called Triglav, which although they say it's unfinished, seems pretty functional and very cool.
posted on Oct 4, 2002 - View this thread

Somewhere, beneath the cover of an innocuous-looking retail operation, those with true Power have built a facility to imprison forces man was not meant to know . . . things we were never meant to comprehend... dare you peek inside...
posted on Jul 16, 2002 - View this thread

Neverwinter Nights is out!!! After waiting 4 long years and wading through a fetid quagmire of let-down rumors and whatnot, I finally have a copy installed on my laptop right now! Run, don't walk to your local Software Etc. and see if they have a copy. Our local WotC didn't have a copy, and neither did our local Electronics Boutique or Best Buy.
posted on Jun 19, 2002 - View this thread

Progress Quest For the RPG player on the go. Its satire and a game (minus gameplay) at the same time.
posted on Apr 30, 2002 - View this thread

Best.
404.
Ever.
[Bear with; it's a little slow but yes it works.]
posted on Oct 23, 2001 - View this thread

Bin Laden starring in his own arcade game. Some people have too much free time, or, perhaps it's a stress reliever... or marketing scheme... or who knows. Bin Laden is becoming quite the famous guy... soon, instead of the faceless enemy in RPG games, it'll be him.
posted on Oct 15, 2001 - View this thread

Play one RPG, you've played them all. Or, "The Grand List Of Console Role Playing Game Clichés".
posted on Oct 14, 2001 - View this thread

Considering marriage? Now, with the RPG You Stupid Bitch! you can experience the bliss of marriage (or, as the author of the game puts it, "the struggles between two manipulative vipers") with only your imagination and some old D&D dice. In a more literary mood? Try the Wuthering Heights RPG. [Original link via Portal of Evil.]
posted on Sep 29, 2001 - View this thread

"He hit me for HOW MUCH?????" Famous last words of RPGers. Geeks of all kind will revel in it's nostalgic value. (via zannah.)
posted on Jul 18, 2001 - View this thread

I totally don't think that your Paladin would really do that, Sir Balroggan. Give in to your geek side and go find out what your alignment would be if you were a D&D character.
posted on Jun 18, 2001 - View this thread

Steve Jackson Games , the makers of such fine pen-and-paper RPGs as Gurps, has been running a blog since 1994. I've been reading it since 1996, and I just now realized: it was the first blog I've ever read. In addition to release information, they also post game industry news, personal stories, and even the Illuminated Site of the Week, all with intimacy and personality we've come to expect from blogs.
posted on May 22, 2001 - View this thread