Book Review: The Fallbacks - Bound for Ruin

Meet the newest Dungeons & Dragons party in the first epic adventure of The Fallbacks. To become renowned adventurers, this party needs to survive their first job.

Their first recovering a mysterious spellbook from a lost temple for a hefty payout. Tess hopes this assignment can turn her group of fledgling freelancers into a true team. But when their client is killed, their coin and his murderer both vanish, leaving the party to take the fall.

Stuck with a sentient, bloodthirsty grimoire and pursued by mercenaries and the undead, this is hardly the mission Tess envisioned. Her crew must save the day, get the gold, and clear the party’s name—which they haven’t even agreed upon yet! With the threats against them mounting, a single mistake will see this party over before it even begins. Can this band of mismatched misfits stay together in the face of danger? Or are they bound for ruin?

Book Review: The Fallbacks - Dealing with Dragons

The Fallbacks might not be Faerun’s first choice for saving the day, but if the money’s right they’ll get the job done. In this ragtag band of adventurers, each member plays a vital role: Tess the disciplined elven thief; Anson the courageous fighter; Lark the cunning bard; Baldric the wily cleric; Cazrin the inquisitive wizard; and Uggie, their pet monster who eats garbage. Squint a little and they’re the heroes Faerun needs.

Fresh off a harrowing journey into the infinite dungeon of Undermountain and the defeat of a powerful undead lich (with the help of a giant hungry worm or two), the adventurers are now a proven and dedicated team, ready for a new adventure which will take them to strange new realms.

Book Review: Ravenloft - Heir of Strahd

Five strangers armed with steel and magic awaken in a mist-shrouded land, with no memory of how they arrived: Rotrog, a prideful orcish wizard; Chivarion, a sardonic drow barbarian; Alishai, an embittered tiefling paladin; Kah, a skittish kenku cleric; and Fielle, a sunny human artificer. After they barely survive a nightmarish welcome to the realm of Barovia, a carriage arrives bearing an invitation from Strahd von Zarovich to dine at Castle Ravenloft.

With no alternative, and determined to find their way home, the strangers accept the summons and travel to the forbidding manor of the mysterious count. But all is not well at Castle Ravenloft. To survive the twisted enigmas of Strahd and his haunted home, the adventurers must confront the dark secrets in their own hearts and find a way to shift from strangers to comrades—before the mists of Barovia claim them forever.

Book Review: So You Want to Be a Game Master

More people than ever are discovering Dungeons and Dragons, the tabletop roleplay system that lets you adventure with your friends while playing as fantasy characters. But planning and running your own game can be intimidating to newcomers - where do you start?

Justin Alexander is here to help. He’s the writer behind The Alexandrian, a well-known trove for new and seasoned Dungeon Masters alike. He’s known for teaching readers about gameplay mechanics in a fun, approachable way, breaking down each aspect of gameplay to its barest essentials. He’s here to teach you everything you need to know about D&D, from understanding and enforcing rules to designing your own dungeons. There’s no need to suffer through dense game books – tabletop is meant to be fun, and Justin makes it easier than ever to start a successful campaign that your players will remember for years.

Book Review: Dungeons and Dragons Art and Arcana

Dungeons and Dragons is the most iconic and pervasive tabletop gaming franchise in the world. It is a seminal RPG (role-playing game) and the inspiration for video games like World of Warcraft and Zelda, fantasy art, and countless other facets of "geek culture."

This officially licensed illustrated history provides an unprecedented look at the visual evolution of the game, showing its continued influence on the worlds of pop culture and fantasy. It features more than 700 pieces of artwork--from each edition of the game's core books, supplements, and modules; decades of Dragon and Dungeon magazines; classic advertisements and merchandise; and never-before-seen sketches, large-format canvases, rare photographs, one-of-a-kind drafts, and more from the now-famous designers and artists associated with the game. This is the most comprehensive collection of D&D imagery ever assembled, making this the ultimate collectible for the game's millions of fans around the world.

Book Review: Arbiter of Worlds

Arbiter of Worlds: A Primer for Gamemasters is the definitive guide to building and running fantasy role-playing game campaigns. Its goal is to teach you how to build living, breathing worlds for your players to explore; how to host game and manage game sessions; and how to create powerful experiences of adventure that your players will talk about for years to come. Learn the secret to becoming a judge, an adversary, a worldbuilder, and a storyteller and become an arbiter of worlds!

Alexander Macris published this book independently in March of 2019.

Book Review: Welcome to Dragon Talk

If it seems like everyone you know is playing Dungeons & Dragons, it’s because they are! After nearly five decades, the iconic roleplaying game is more popular than ever. Famous Hollywood actors and directors, therapists, educators, politicians, kids, parents, and grandparents all count themselves as fans. In Welcome to Dragon Talk, hosts of the official D&D podcast Shelly Mazzanoble and Greg Tito and their surprising guests show how this beloved pastime has amassed a diverse, tight-knit following of players who defy stereotypes.

Book Review: Slaying The Dragon

Co-created by wargame enthusiasts Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, the original Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game released by TSR (Tactical Studies Rules) in 1974 created a radical new medium: the role-playing game. For the next two decades, TSR rocketed to success, producing multiple editions of D&D, numerous settings for the game, magazines, video games, New York Times bestselling novels by Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman, and R. A. Salvatore, and even a TV show! But by 1997, a series of ruinous choices and failed projects brought TSR to the edge of doom—only to be saved by their fiercest competitor, Wizards of the Coast, the company behind the collectible card game Magic: The Gathering.

Unearthed from Ben Riggs’s own adventurous campaign of in-depth research, interviews with major players, and acquisitions of secret documents, Slaying the Dragon reveals the true story of the rise and fall of TSR. Go behind the scenes of their Lake Geneva headquarters where innovative artists and writers redefined the sword and sorcery genre, managers and executives sabotaged their own success by alienating their top talent, ignoring their customer fanbase, accruing a mountain of debt, and agreeing to deals which, by the end, made them into a publishing company unable to publish so much as a postcard.