My Star Wars: Saga Edition game has hit the summer doldrums, as our Friday sessions fall victim to August vacations, Musikfest, and back-to-school crush. We're about three-quarters of the way through our Mandalorian Interlude story arc (in which we're all playing Mandos in the opening days of the Mandalorian War), and while it's been fun, we're looking forward to getting back to our regular characters. Thanksfully, the rest of the net is keeping the Saga Edition fires burning during our downtime.

Of of the Blackrazors' pet projects has been coming up with a fantasy version of Saga Edition; you can track the progress here. Little did we know that someone had already beat us to the punch with Sword & Sorcery Saga Editon. I've downloaded the rules, and I'm looking forward to reading through them -- in particular I'm interested in seeing how they handled the two most contentious areas of our own discussions: a point buy system for skills and the addition of a Vancian magic system.

The Financial Times is running an article about German/euro-style board games such as Settlers of Catan and Carcassone that covers why the games are so popular in German, how they've expanded beyond its borders to the UK and America, and the sustainability of this niche market.

It's a good read; I think there's a real concern here that the market is being over-saturated with board games, as the Germans pump out more and more new games. There's all the makings of a bubble there (and if we're talking bubbles, then it's already happened). But while the German market may be coming supersaturated, I think there's still plenty of room to grow in the United States. Heck, I think they've only barely touched on what's possible here -- sure my gaming group has been playing these kinds of board games for years, but the larger population still things board game equals Monopoly or Sorry.

One of my upcoming "Summon WebScryer" columns for Knights of the Dinner Table is going to be on geek holidays, those annual events of keen interest to (and usually created by) geeks. Knowledge of these events is usually spread online, and they're frequently the subject of Facebook updates, Twitter tweets, and blog posts, not to mention more than a few podcasts. Here's my preliminary list ... what am I missing?

• Free Comic Book Day: Free comics books from Marvel, DC Comics, Dark Horse, Archie and others.
• Free RPG Day: Free role-playing games from major and minor publishers.
• Read an RPG Book in Public Week: Promote role-playing game awareness by reading an RPG book in public.
• Game Master's Day: Reward your GM for all the work he or she does in running your campaign.
• National Novel Writing Month: Write a 50,000 page novel in one month.
• Game Chef: Craft a role-playing game on a given subject in one month.

On Thursday I was busy writing a one-shot Star Wars: Legacy Era adventure, and wracking my brain about where the crew of the freighter Dark Nebula might take a break while visiting Ord Killan. I didn't want to use yet another encounter in a cantina, so I decided to poll Twitter for ideas. I got a huge number of responses, which I've compiled below.

I used some of these ideas in my adventure, creating a gambling den frequented by the flightdeck crew (which the PCs didn't visit) and a high-profile swoop bike race for them to gamble on. I also made the race the big event being talked about in town and at the spaceport, and it became the backdrop at the Planetfall Cantina, a drinking hole that I'd used in a previous adventure, and included again for continuity's sake. Of course, having done the extra work, the PCs ended up going to the Planetfall Cantina (which is what I'd been avoiding at the start, but hey, whatever works). Still, I've got this great list, and I plan on using it again for future adventures. Many thanks to everyone who contributed!