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Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Dave Arneson, whose fantasy role-playing game guided the socially awkward through adolescence, has rolled his last dice. Arneson, the Associated Press reports, died on Tuesday of cancer in St. Paul, Minn., at the age of 61. He and Gary Gary Gygax – who died last March -- invented D&D in 1974, and the game became a cult favorite among geeky teen boys, giving way, as ScientificAmerican.com tech editor Larry Greenemeier notes, to the nerd power of the 1980s embodied by Bill Gates. (It is also a favorite of a number of actors, including Vin Diesel, who...

Set both of your 20-sided die to 0-0, raise the Monster Manual to half-staff and spend your 14th level ranger's next several turns hoisting a few pints of ale - even if that does mean losing some hit points along the way. If none of that makes any sense, then you probably didn't take much notice when Gary Gygax died earlier this week. But for those of us who spent our Friday nights huddled around a hexagonal map scattered with lead figurines of dwarves and owlbears, instead of the spiked punch bowl at the junior prom, this is a very...

On the flight home this morning, I was unfortunate enough to have a bleeder sit next to me. By bleeder, I mean he was invading my space because he was large and his body was spilling over into my seat. I've seen worse cases than what I had today but let's hear your experiences.

Does the Israel Defense Forces believe incoming recruits and soldiers who play Dungeons and Dragons are unfit for elite units? Ynetnews has learned that 18-year-olds who tell recruiters they play the popular fantasy game are automatically given low security clearance. "They're detached from reality and suscepitble to influence," the army says. Fans of the popular role-playing game had spoken of rumors of this strange policy by the IDF, but now the army has confirmed that it has a negative image of teens who play the game and labels them as problematic in regard to their draft status....

remember exactly how it started: When I was a fifth grader, my mother encouraged me to read The Hobbit. So I did, and J. R. R. Tolkien's book filled my head with visions of wizards and warriors and dwarves and elves and goblins. A little while later, Mom drove me and a friend to a local toy store, where some guy was teaching kids to play a new game. It was called Dungeons & Dragons. This weekend marks D&D's 30th anniversary — Saturday is Worldwide D&D Game Day, and in a couple of weeks we'll see the publication of a...

<p>Finding local supplies of surgical masks depleted, villagers in southern Taiwan are strapping bras to their faces to guard against the deadly SARS virus.</p> <p>"I went to every pharmacy in the village and it's impossible to find a proper mask," a middle-aged man told cable television Thursday, his face partially covered by a dark red cup.</p>

THREAD 033 Dregs and Flakes Posts since 1/29/02 35,895

All Christians know--or should--that their children are constantly the targets of SATANIC ASSAULT. This eye-opening, heart-rending expose' of the conspiracy to entrap our children in the death-spiral of the OCCULT will scare you. Hopefully into ACTION!

THREAD 032 Dregs and Flakes Posts since 1/29/02 34,258

QUESTION: Shouldn't we respect the education of our many "Drs." in the issue of the Bible? ANSWER: Yes. IF there is any education associated with their degree.

THREAD 031 Dregs and Flakes Posts since 1/29/02 33,205

GREEN RONIN TO PUBLISH TESTAMENT CAMPAIGN SETTING Biblical Era to Come to Life for d20 Fans January 16, 2003—SEATTLE, WA: This April Green Ronin delves into the past with Testament: Roleplaying in the Biblical Era. Part history, part mythology, Testament is the d20 System campaign setting that's both instantly familiar and yet unlike any game world you have ever experienced. "I conceived this product as an alternative to the current crop of fantasy worlds," says Green Ronin President Chris Pramas. "Really, how many more vaguely Tolkien-esque fantasy settings do we need?" Veteran RPG and computer game designer Scott Bennie...

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GENEVA— The word spread like wildfire on role-playing websites Friday following the stunning news the Fantasy Gaming Institute had at long last engineered the heretofore unattainable 24-sided die. According to Eric Wallen, a 34-year old Radio Shack employee who's also an 18th level Mystical Elf known as Bilbo Bezzlebug with a +100 immunity to magic spells, the new invention is the greatest contribution to Dungeons and Dragons since the invention of Fiddle Faddle. "People used to say I was wasting my life with this role-playing stuff," Wallen said. "I can't believe how close I was to giving up my...