Mongoose Publishing's latest edition of its homegrown magazine Signs & Portents is out. Issue #56 of the role-playing/wargaming magazine includes "An introduction to 760 Patrons" detailing a new mission-oriented source book for Traveller, "Conan Combat Styles", two alternative campaigns for Babylon 5 Call to Arms, "Cthulhutech Spells" and much more.

Wizards of the Coast has announced the D&D 4th Edition Game System License. This license replaces the old d20 license, and appears to take a different tact from D&D 3.x's Open Gaming License. Exactly how different is hard to tell from the announcement; if nothing else what used to be separate procedures and policies for d20 licensing vs. OGL licensing seem to have been combined into one set of rules.

Exactly what these new rules will allow you to do isn't spelled out -- the press release says it will let companies create fantasy-based games based on the 4E ruleset, and spell out what rules can be used in their games, but it doesn't say what rules can't be used. Which makes me wonder if we'll see the old d20 hamstringing carried over to the new edition (namely, if you want the d20 logo, then you have to rely on the core rules for leveling up characters, gaining experience, etc., as opposed to using the OGL, which lost you the logo, but let you create a self-contained games).

If you ever wanted to check out my "Summon WebScryer" column in Knights of the Dinner Table Magazine, but were never able to pick up a print issue, here's your big chance. Kenzer & Company is has posted Issue #132 as a free download.

It's a full-version of the magazine, including 26 pages of comics, plus a wealth of regular features. In addition to my column, which rounds up official and fan web sites dedicated to RuneQuest, theres also Mur Lafferty's print version of "Geek Fu Action Grip", which deals with the rise of social networking.

You can also check out the Lost Game Safari (reviewing Greyhawk Wars) , Tony DiGerolam's "Lookin' At Comics focusing on Dragon Con finds, and Noah Antwiler's infamous "A Gamer's Rant on the Movies", which takes on Babylon 5: Lost Tales. On the gaming side of things, there's "Treasures and Mysteries", "Deadly Trappings" Casting Call", "Bait and Tackle", "Dungeons: Ready to Occupy" and more.

Imagine a castle. Now imagine it as as your Dungeon Master's Screen. This is probably about as close as you can get to putting and actual wall between you and your players.

Certain game designers and players I know would probably say this speaks volumes about the adversarial nature of the GM/Player relationship in Dungeons & Dragons. Me? I'm waiting for the DM siege weapons so I can fling dice across the table at anyone who isn't paying attention. Or maybe a pencil-firing ballista... ok, yeah, that would poke and eye out, but damn it YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN FOCUSING ON THE GAME!

My brand-new, yellow-painted, Chaosium-sanction Call of Cthulhu dice by Q Workshop arrived today from Poland:

I've got to say -- these things are easily the most beautiful, well-crafted dice in my collection, and I'd put them up against any of those meteorite dice in a geek cred show down. I mean, sure, dice made from space rocks are cool, but when are you going to use them?

These dice are something you can use every week, and hell, they've got Elder Signs on them ("it's a tree ... it's a star!").

Visit Flickr for a full-size photo of the new dice. You can order a set yourself by visiting Q-Workshop's CoC web page.

The northeastern game convention MepaCon will be held April 11-13, 2008 at the Holiday Inn at 200 Tigue Street, Dunmore, PA 18512. You can learn more by joining the con's convention information group at Yahoo, contacting the convention organizers, or visiting the web site.

I'd like to attend, but I've got a lot going on in April, so we'll have to see. If nothing else it'd be great to go up on Saturday and run some Savage Worlds games, but that may have to wait for the fall.

Free RPG Day will be held Saturday, June 21, 2008. The event, inspired by the extremely successful Free Comic Book Day, features the following sponsors this year:

• Countess Games
• Goodman Games
• Mongoose Publishing
• Q-Workshop
• Skirmisher Publishing
• White Wolf Publishing
• Wizards of the Coast
• Green Ronin Publishing
• Troll Lord Games
• Chessex Manufacturing (Custom "Free RPG Day" Dice)
• Pelgrane Press

WotC will be giving away a free D&D 4th edition adventure, Q-Workshop will be giving away unique elven dice, and Green Ronin will be offering the Song of Fire and Ice quickplay rules. Specifics about what each company is giving away can be found on the Free RPG Day sponsors page.

Issue of #52 of Mongoose's in-house magazine Signs & Portents is out. On the war gaming side they've got a bumper crop of Babylon 5 stories with four new A Call to Arms articles, including three space combat scenarios.

On the role-playing side, they've got a Spycraft article entitled "The right tools for the right job" about designing a murder kit (obviously, an in-game murder kit), a Conan article detailing the "Ark of Delight", a sailing brothel and drug den that sounds like it could be easily ported to another setting, and "new initiatives" for the Paranoia RPG. Download the magazine from Mongoose's web site.

Hero Hooks is a new PDF compilation by the Atomic Think Tank community over at MutantsandMasterminds.com. The PDF is full of plot hooks for superhero games, divided into chapters for people, places, and things. There's also the "Mega-Matrix" random plot generator. You can get it from the "Mutants & Masterminds Adventures" section of the M&M web site.

While you're there you can also snag Bad Medicine, an adventure from the new Iron Age source book, and The Fight for Freedom City, an adventure in which heroes must deal with a new threat from the Crime League.

Trail of Cthulhu, a new horror role-playing game that promises to take the drugery out of investigating mind-blowing Mythos monstrocities, is scheduled to be released February 1, 2008 by Indie Press Revolution. The company is is accepting pre-orders for the game now.

The game uses the GUMSHOE system developed by Robin Laws for Esoterrorists, a mythos-like game itself in which modern-day investigators attempt to take down occult terrorists. The book itself is written by Ken Hite; developer Pelgrane Press has an interview where he explains the new game.

This game has risen to the top of my RPG wish list; my gaming group likes Call of Cthulhu, but it's been ages since we've played Delta Green or CoC (though there have been a few run-ins with agents of the King in Yellow in our Mutants & Masterminds game). I like this game's focus on adventure creation and providing a mechanic for helping stuck characters get over the investigative hump.