Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition had hundreds of pages of errata. Staying true to its MMORPG inspirations, the 4th Edition doesn't have errata; instead it has "updates". The first batch of these were released on June 11, and include updates for the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual. Visit the WotC site to download the files.

My review of Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition is up on SCIFI.com. I gave it a B.

Without a doubt, this was one of the hardest reviews I've ever written for SCIFI. It's hard to remain objective about a game that I've been playing, in one form or another for 20+ years, all the more so when the latest edition of said game doesn't fit with my current campaign or style of play. Although it may be difficult for longtime players to accept, 4th Edition does have its merits and advantages over 3rd Edition. I worked hard to balance those advantages against what I felt were the very real shortcomings of the new system, both as a game on to itself, and as the inheritor of the Dungeons & Dragons name.

It was made all the more challenging by writing it on the road; the rough draft of the lede and first few paragraphs were written at a hotel in New Hampshire the night before my nephew's baptism, the rest was banged out on my brother-in-law's Windows Vista laptop using Word 2007, also in New Hampshire.

Yes, Word 2007. Truly I'm willing to suffer greatly to get you, my noble reader, the best damn review possible.

Planewalker is a fan-created web site for TSR's old Planescape campaign setting. Based in Sigil, City of Portals, the campaign setting was released in 1994 and took players on a grand tour of the Inner, Outer and Elemental Planes, introducing them to realities that are changeable based on philosophy and belief. The web site hosts community forums, and extensive database of Planescape materials, downloadable reference guides, and much more.

Nuketown's passed 500 comments. At least a hundred of those came from this spring alone, which goes to show just how much better my new "open" approach to commenting is (in which anyone can comment without an account, but messages are screened by the Askimet anti-spam software before being posted).

The community's coming together nicely, and I have no doubt that the count would be even higher if I, ahem, got Radio Active out on the consistent, weekly schedule I always hope for.

It's an excellent milestone, and I'm hoping we'll reach the next one -- 750 comments -- by the end of the summer. Which means I better stop patting myself on the back, and start writing more blog posts...

As I write this, I'm in a Holiday Inn in New Hampshire. I don't have a laptop with me, but I've got a stack of Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition books next to me, and a review due Sunday night. A few years ago, I'd have been doomed, but now I've got access to the net via the hotel's lackluster Windows XP machine. The machine itself doesn't have Microsoft Word installed, but again, no problem: the net has what I need, or more specifically, Google does.

Sitting in Google Docs is a copy of my review, and with a few clicks, I've got the document up in front of me, cursor eagerly awaiting my input. I won't finish the review tonight (especially if I keep breaking away to Nuketown to write spontaneous blog posts) but that's ok. One quick save, and my Google Doc's updated, and ready for me to pick it up again once I reach my sister's house.

Laptop? Who needs a freaking laptop?

Today's the official start of our Dungeons & Dragons 4th mini-campaign, Planetorn. It's our testbed for 4th edition, and I expect the campaign to run about five to eight sessions, or until the end of the summer, which ever comes first.

Since this is the first night of the campaign I don't have time for a proper Game Day column, but I figured I'd post a few 4E friendly links:

• 4th Edition Power Cards: Trying to keep track of your characters powers without flipping through the Player's Handbook? Try printing out this color-coded power cards.
• 4th Edition Character Sheets: It took 'em long enough, but the 4E character sheets are online.
• H1 Keep on the Shadowfell characters: Curious about what 4E characters look like? Check out these sample characters from H1, the first module for D&D.
• Keith Baker - Skill Challenges: 4E's been getting a lot of heat about how skill challenges work (or fail to work). Keith Baker, of Eberron fame, explains how he uses them. Good DMing trumps simple math any day.

My gaming group held our first 4th edition playtest this week, pitting a group of first-level characters against a wandering band of goblins. The battle took place among a couple of low hills, with the adventurers surprising a band of goblins eating roasted dog around a guttering campfire. There was no role-playing component to the encounter; this was strictly a mechanical test.

My review of Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness is up on SCIFI.com. Short version: if you like Penny Arcade, and you like the Cthulhu Mythos, then you'll like this game.

Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition is upon us. I've spent last two weeks or so readying through the Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition core rule books, and my gaming group had our first character creation session two weeks ago. We'd hoped to jump into the game sooner, but alas I had a business trip to Tacoma last week, which delayed the first round of playtesting and the formal launch of the campaign to this week. Fortunately, the trip gave me plenty of time to read the books, and garner some some solid impressions of the new game.

Martin Rayla and the gang at Gnome Stew offer their impressions of D&D 4E. Martin starts off with his thoughts on the new edition from the game master's perspective, and then offers D&D 4e: Answers to Gnome Stew Readers’ Questions where he runs through specific questions from readers.