In the spirit of Free RPG Day this Saturday (June 21), Nerdvana has a gift for readers: The first person to e-mail us by midnight Friday, June 20, with the correct answers to these five D&D trivia questions will collect some sweet D&D Game Day 2008 gear:

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Who says nothing good comes free? First we had Free Comic Book Day, then D&D Game Day, and now Free RPG Day is fast approaching. (more…)

PENNY ARCADE

Today is the release date for the new Dungeons & Dragons game, and Saturday game stores worldwide will quake with the rolling of 20-sided dice as free demonstrations launch the fourth edition.

I wrote a little about the game in today’s Tribune, and I recently blogged about the demo that I’ll be hosting at Bookmans Phoenix from 9:30 a.m. to noon Saturday, courtesy of Wizards of the Coast.

The guys at gamer Web comics Penny Arcade and PvP recently sat down with one of the new edition’s designers in what was, for many of them, a first experience with D&D. You can hear the results in weekly, illustrated installments of the official D&D podcast (strong language and funny sketch alert).

With the latest versions of the Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks out next Friday, the dungeon masters at Wizards of the Coast have planned nationwide demos on next Saturday, June 7 — and yours truly will be hosting one.

Come find me in the community room of the Phoenix Bookmans store on the northwest corner of 19th and Northern avenues, just a mile east of Interstate 17 from the Northern exit. I’ll be the one wearing some kind of wizardly garb (just kidding — you hope).

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Grab your +2 holy avenger sword and dust off that old Crown Royal bag stuffed with your hidden polyhedral dice: The fourth edition of the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game is nearly upon us.

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A face only a mother could love?

Would $100 change your mind?

Wizards of the Coast, the RPG arm of Hasbro that rules the Dungeons & Dragons universe, is sponsoring a Photoshop contest seeking promotional art by fans to help publicize the upcoming D&D Fourth Edition game. (more…)

Gamers everywhere should pause their endeavors for a moment of silence: AP is reporting that Gary Gygax, the co-creator (with Dave Arneson) of the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, has died at age 69.

If you play any RPG, whether it be D&D at a kitchen table with pencils and paper, online with World or Warcraft or on a console such as the Xbox 360 with Mass Effect, you should know that none of it would have been possible without this man. He started it all with the miniatures wargame Chainmail in 1971, the foundation upon which D&D and all of modern roleplaying would rise three years later. (more…)

Do you want to see how people geeked out pre-WoW?

Then get thee to a local gaming store Nov. 3 and watch or join in Worldwide D&D Game Day. (That’s Dungeons & Dragons for the uninitiated.)

DNDInsider.com has all the information you need, including pre-made characters you can download and print in advance, and the event hosts will have all the weird polyhedral dice and other supplies you need to play.

It’s FREE, and there will be promotional gifts (while supplies last) that preview the new 4th Edition of the venerable tabletop RPG, due out in June.

Related stories: ‘Dungeon Masters don’t have levels, dork!’

Last weekend Indianapolis experienced “The Best Four Days in Gaming” - Gen Con. As the annual convention’s Web site describes it: Gamblers have their Las Vegas. Jocks have their Super Bowl. But we gamers-ah-we have our Gen Con. It’s the literal epicenter of premier gaming.

The big news this year was the surprise announcement of a new fourth edition of “Dungeons & Dragons,” to be released in 2008. D&D4E will debut in April with a basic product containing quick-start rules. The three “core rulebooks” - the “Player’s Handbook,” “Monster Manual” and “Dungeon Master’s Guide” - will then come out one a month starting in Maysimultaneously in June. (more…)