Gizmodo: d&d

Way More D&D on the Microsoft Surface

Mark Wilson — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 09:40:00 EST

The last clip was a tease. But here we see lots more sample footage as some brave Carnegie Mellon students make D&D play on the Microsoft Surface. Don't you dare pretend you're too cool for this. [Surface Blog via Kotaku]

Dungeons & Dragons on the Microsoft Surface

Mark Wilson — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:25:21 EDT

For thousands of years, none of us quite understood the point of the Surface. Then, a few Carnegie Mellon students armed with but blades and wits developed this D&D game, and they lightning bolted the naysayers away. [Microsoft via Kotaku]

D&D Soda Is Really Your Parents' Shameful Tears, Bottled

Mark Wilson — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:40:00 EDT

You're walking through a dark cave, clutching your enchanted bow when you realize, CRAP, you're really just in the back of a comic shop with some friends. And you're thirsty.

Jones feels your pain (and recognizes that severe geekdom is akin to any other profitable addiction), so they've started making D&D Spellcasting Soda.

Coming in flavors Potion of Healing, Sneak Attack, Bigby's Crushing Thirst Destroyer, Illithid Brain Juice, Dwarven Draught and Eldritch Blast, you can pick up a sixer for $11 or an even dozen bottles for $19.

And while we're not exactly sure what those prices translate to in real world money (gold pieces), we do know that our charisma level of 20 (technically 18 along with a +2 ring) means that we won't be paying full price. [Jones via technabob via neatorama via Geek Dad]

The Ancient Romans Were Gamers: 2nd Century Glass d20 Sold for $17,925

Jack Loftus — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 17:00:00 EDT

We can only guess what the ancient Romans might have thought about the latest revision of the Dungeons and Dragons rulebook (super approachable; they'd love it!), but we do know they were gamers. That's because an incredibly old, incredibly valuable Roman glass d20 was sold at auction by the famous Christie's auction house. For $17,925. Historians know the symbols are Roman, but have yet to figure out which game it was used for. Any guesses, Gizmodo readers/ancient gaming history buffs? [Christie's]

MIT Students Create Giant 20-Sided Die In Honor of Gary Gygax

Sean Fallon — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 19:40:00 EDT

I haven't played Dungeons and Dragons since I was a little kid, but I remember the time I spent geeking out with my friends fondly. So, when D&D co-creator Gary Gygax passed away earlier this month, I couldn't help but feel a little bummed. Apparently, a group of students at MIT felt the same way—which is why they erected this huge 20-sided die on the campus in his honor. It doesn't appear to be anything more than some cloth draped around a framework—but it is a fitting tribute nonetheless. [The Tech via Laughing Squid via CNET Photo via Eric Schmiedl]

Dodecasub Is 6,000 Watts of Music to D&D Freaks

Jason Chen — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 13:30:18 EDT

Ever wanted to play Dungeons & Dragons with your subwoofer? Too bad this Dodecasub (12-sided) doesn't meet the standard 20-sided tournament legal requirements, but you do get 10 separate speakers with 600 watts each—meaning you've got 6000 watts total. It's $2500, which is what your mom's electric bill is going to be if you use this in her basement. Still, unless you're trying to jellify your insides, there's no reason why anybody would need something like this indoors. [Audio Junkies via Technabob via Uber Gizmo]

20-Sided Fuzzy Dice

Travis Hudson — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 19:40:24 EDT

Fuzzy die are no longer reserved for the rock and roll lifestyle. Latest to land over at the Thinkgeek store is this revised pair of the classic car accessory—the fuzzy 20-sided dice. Hang these on your rearview mirror and roll 0D20 for chance to pick up a hottie on the ride back to your mother's house. –Travis Hudson

Product Page [Via Nerdapproved]

Projector Based Table Top Gaming

Jason Chen — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 07:30:37 EDT

This is a high-tech solution for the traditionally low-tech table top gaming—whose death knell has been sounded again and again, falsely, since the rise of computer RPGs in the '90s. For projector based D&D, the Dungeon Master scans in adventure maps and separate what the players should see and what the DM should see onto different layers in Photoshop before the game starts. The Photoshop image is then displayed on a table through a suspended digital projector during the game, allowing the game tokens to be placed directly onto the map.

When certain events happen, such as players advancing in the map or meeting an event, the DM erases part of the mask or reveals a new layer to show the appropriate map info—very cool. The downside is of course, the equipment cost and the time to set up all the maps and photoshop the appropriate portions.

Great idea nonetheless, that makes table top gaming a little bit more automated. A tip of the wizard hat to you, Jans. – Jason Chen

Digital Map Projection [The Hypertext d20 SRD]

Dungeons & Dragons Laptop

gizmodo.com — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 10:10:39 EDT

We're not quite sure what the point of having a Dungeons & Dragons laptop is, considering that if you're the type of person who might want one, you're also most likely to be the type that never leaves their mom's basement. Oh but wait, through the magic of portable computing and WiFi, you can count your pieces of electrum while sitting on the toilet. We understand now.

If you want one, you'd better hurry as they're only available in a limited edition of 100, as an Atari UK promotion for Dungeons and Dragons Online: Stormreach. Prices start at £999 for what's actually a Pegasus 650 gaming notebook, you can customize it up to a single-core 2.26GHz Pentium M, 2 GB of DDR 2 SDRAM and a 120 GB hard drive, and your choice of either an ATI Mobility Radeon X700 or a Nvidia GeForce Go 6600 graphics card.

Pegasus 650 - Dungeons & Dragons Online Stormreach Limited Edition Notebook [rock, via Tech Digest]