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…)

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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The Star Wars Expanded Universe (EU) is a wonderful place. It takes classic characters from the movies like Chewbacca, Emperor Palpatine and Han Solo and puts them through the ringer as only demented sci-fi and fantasy novelists can — killing some, resurrecting others and putting still others in the position of having a daughter who asks a certain bounty hunter who once had you frozen in carbonite help her kill her brother.

Yes, it’s not much of a secret by now that in the Star Wars — Legacy of the Force series of novels, Princess Leia and Han Solo’s son Jacen (love that name!) has embraced the dark side of the Force and even taken a Sith moniker for himself: Darth Caedus. And his twin sister Jaina Solo has decided to take him out rather than watch all her parents fought for go up in flames.

If you’ve never had the chance to sample the EU, or if you’ve simply lapsed a bit, the gods of tie-in fiction have granted you a reprieve: Now through May 13, when the series-ending Invincible goes on sale, you can download a free PDF, audiobook or eBook of the first volume in the series, Betrayal. See Del Rey for details. (more…)

Time was you had to be a scholar and visit Cambridge University to study Charles Darwin’s manuscripts.

Now you can just click your way to them, for free: http://darwin-online.org.uk.

In addition to the naturalist’s notes and books, such as the PDF version of his On the Origin of Species, first edition, you’ll even find his wife’s recipes — perfect for when you need feed your strict creationist friends some humble pie!

The day the site went live it got more than 7 million hits and crashed.

2009 will be the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species and will mark 200 years since Darwin’s birth.

Comic books began as a way for publishers to make money from idle printing presses by reprinting newspaper comic strips, but they have clearly taken on a life of their own. The industry celebrates this success each year and tries to bring new readers into the fold with Free Comic Book Day.

Free? Comic book? Day?

I’m there! And I’m dragging my little ones with me … or is that the other way around? (more…)

All you need to be the envy of your cubiclemates is a printer, a sheet of letter-size paper and this URL: http://home.comcast.net/~kymcat3/.

You can print out Cubeecraft paper toy versions of characters like Dr. Venture, a Stormtrooper, Super Mario and Mr. Stay Puft (pictured), just to name a few. There’s even a Super Mario Bros. coin brick.

And the best part? They’re free. But don’t waste time, because some of the downloads are limited edition.

Head on over to StarWars.com for a whole galaxy of Halloween-themed activities and goodies, including a downloadable audio file sure to scare the trick-or-treaters here. And don’t forget the pumpkin templates and character masks. And it’s all FREE!

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!’

If you have the new Nintendo DS game The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Nintendo wants to give you a gift for your opinion. Just head over to register your copy of the game and you’ll pick up a free Nintendo DS Feather Pen Stylus. It doesn’t do anything special, but it’s cool and it’s FREE! (You will need to create a My Nintendo account if you don’t already have one.)