Over at GamingReport.com, the inimitable Ken Hite shares choices for his annual Outie Awards in his latest Out of the Box column. He also recaps 2005 in gaming and does a fine job of it. Ken’s one of the most imaginative souls working in RPGs these days. For a free sample of why that is, be sure to check out …

Before J.M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan, died, he assigned the rights to his most famous creation to the Great Ormond Street Hospital. As a children’s hospital in London, the place happily accepted the gift, and the British government made a special exception to the copyright term for the book, extending it forever. How other countries and publishers choose …

I just got my copy of the latest Games Gazette in the mail. it’s a great, little print zine about games of all kinds. In this issue, publisher Chris Baylis trumpets the fact that the Games Gazette is 25 years old. Congratulations, Chris! You’re a gentleman and a scholar and a connoisseur of fine games. Here’s to another 25 great …

No joke. This year, my little hometown of Beloit, Wisconsin, hosts its first annual international film festival. It starts January 19th and runs through the 22nd. I’m looking forward to squeezing a few screenings in. The most interesting should be The Real Dirt About Farmer John, a documentary about a local farmer who runs a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm …

My pal Aaron Williams, creator of one of my favorite comics, Nodwick, landed a gig writing an issue of Spider-Man Unlimited. It hits stands today, so get yourself down to your friendly local comics store and snatch up this collectors-item issue! To whet your appetite for this slam-bang combination of Aaron and Spidey, you can read a free five-page preview …

The fine folks at Titan Games liquidate older games and supplements at every show they go to. They have this “buy one, get three free!” deal that draws in gamers like kids to day-old donuts. Now they’ve brought that bit of brilliance to the web. One of the secrets of games is that they never really die. Sure, they can …

The illuminating John McLintock wrote a two-part article about the old Games Workshop board game Space Hulk. As I read it, the memories flooded back. I haven’t played Space Hulk in years. I don’t even have a copy lying around any more. But I loved that game. While at the GW Design Studio, I worked on Deathwing and Genestealer, the …

I launched this blog/website just over two years ago, and it’s been a wild and wooly time since. I’ll leave the analysis of the past year and predictions for the next to others (or for a later time, at least). For now, let me wish all of you and yours the very best 2006.

The creators of ecto, the desktop blogging software I use to post on this site, are giving a 20% discount until December 26. If you’re in the market for an excellent Mac OS X blogging tool, you really can’t beat ecto. Do yourself a favor and check it out. (And, no, I don’t get a dime for recommending them.) 🙂

Rebecca (R. Sean) Borgstrom (of Nobilis fame) has posted an essay entitled “Structure and Meaning in Roleplaying Game Design.” It’s brilliant (like most of her stuff) and well worth a read if you care about RPGs.