DriveThruRPG announced a major incentive to the roleplaying gamer community today to incite donations to aid in rescue and recovery in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Called the "Gamers Helping Haiti Bundle," the product includes over a hundred products totaling over $1000.00 in retail value. For a simple donation of $20 – all of which goes to Doctors Without Borders to support their post-earthquake Haiti relief efforts – RPG fans can have this once-in-a-lifetime collection of gaming products.

Click here for more details. This is an incredible deal, and a great way to help out.

For fans of Joss Whedon’s Serenity, the long-awaited Big Damn Heroes Handbook sourcebook, by Cam Banks, will be released this fall. (We’ll post an exact release date soon!) Everything a big damn hero needs to be a big damn hero, including stats for both minor and major nefarious villains, is in this book, along with rules for spaceship-to-spaceship combat, descriptions of Chinese communities, and new ideas for running Assets and Complications. (And, of course, more ways for your big damn hero to cuss in Chinese!)

TFAW says it's coming October 28, Amazon thinks it'll be out December 31. But all of Margaret Weis Productions' materials have been well done with plenty of info presented in a very stylistic manner, and I've no doubt this will be a worthy addition to your fantasizin'. Eitehr way, order early for a better price.

"Serenity Adventures" is an anthology-style collection of five complete RPG games written by both new and established authors in the game industry. In it, you'll find "Ghosts of the Rebellion" by James Davenport (Serenity RPG), "The Best Things Get Better With Age" by Alana Abbot ("Into the Reach"), "Freedoms Flight" by Ted Reed, "Seven Arks of Cibola" by Billy Aguiar, and "Mother Load" by James M. Ward ("Metamorphosis Alpha"). Like the original book the interior graphics design is by 11th Hour, but there's lots of artwork by other artists in there as well and a cover by Digger Hayes.

On shelves now at TFAW and other retail stores. It's not in the store at Margaret Weis Productions yet, but you can preorder a copy signed by Margaret Weis and jamie Chambers (link goes to the store; search for "Serenity"). Or you can build a downloadable PDf immediately by going here.

In the meantime, the folks at MW have been producing little add-ons and extras for free download, such as Sam's Smuggler Emporium and a cortex newsfeed with some interesting info.

Shown above is the new Habitable Worlds map, depicting some of the notable worlds in the Core, Border, and Rim areas, with details. Even more astounding to me is the Astral Navigation chart to help you figure out how long it'll take for your characters to get from here to there in a moving universe. That's one you'll want to have printed as a poster, it's that good. And, like everything else at FireflyRPG, it's free!

The first product will be a collection of short adventures, each designed to be easily inserted into an on-going Serenity campaign. “Variety is our goal with the adventure product,” says Jamie Chambers, Vice President of MWP, Ltd. and the author/designer of the Serenity Role Playing Game. “We want to feature both the familiar and the new — to give Browncoats things they’ve seen before and many things they have not. Ultimately that’s our goal for all three of our new products.”

Six-Shooters and Spaceships will be the second product to hit store shelves, introducing new ships, additional weapons, and unusual technology. “Serenity is ultimately about its characters,” says Chambers, “but to ‘keep flyin’’ crews need a ship, guns, and a few nifty gadgets.” All the ships will have full-color visuals and deckplans, while the gear will include diagrams, descriptions, and full game stats for the Cortex System game rules.

The last of the new products is the Big Damn Heroes Handbook, a game expansion that will open up many options for players and Game Masters alike. “The idea is to create or expand on ideas that we just couldn’t fit into the core book,” Chambers says. “Character traits, campaign options, adventure ideas, new characters, more Chinese — it’s all going to be in the book.”

2008 is looking better and better…

Margaret Weis Productions has expanded its Serenity license, and will release three Serenity RPG products next year.  Early in 2008, it will release a collection of short adventures; late spring brings Six-shooters and Spaceships, a ship and technology sourcebook; and the Big Damn Heroes Handbook is slated for next summer, probably as a GenCon release.

If you haven't tried the Serenity RPG yet, you're missing out. Even if you're not a gamer the books are chock full of cool artwork by 11th Hour, character bios, 'verse information, ship designs, and much more. And if you are a gamer, you might want to cancel any long appointments.

More info on the game and available accessories here.

Last year my 14-year-old son made the great leap into non-computer-assisted gaming and bought his first set of role-playing game dice.

For the non-geek among you, gaming dice have anywhere from four to 20 sides, will direct every decision James makes for the next six years, and quickly became more important to him than any three relatives. Granted, he's lost them just about every weekend but then he doesn't always pay attention to where his family is, either. Their constant clatter (the dice, not the relatives) brought back fond memories even as I yelled at him to keep it down.

For over 30 years now "Dungeons and Dragons," the game he is starting to dabble in, has provided a rich haven for kids who enjoy the wonders of a dangerously overactive imagination combined with the never-ending delight of arguments about weapons encumbrance.

Players become knights, elves, dwarves, clerics, and other fantasy figures while the kid who controls the game (the Dungeon Master, or DM) tells them exactly what's about to kill them all. Then they describe their reactions and, based on their individual abilities, character classes, moral alignments, birthmark configuration, and the roll of the dice, events transpire.

DM: "The orc swings a massive club at you, with 2d8+7 damage. The princess you've been sent to rescue is screaming and helpless."

James: "I throw the princess at the orc and dive for the gold. Do I get to it before she splatters?"

DM: (dice clatter) "No, she was so mad she grabbed the club away from the hulking man-beast and now she's beating you in the spine with it while he watches and offers pointers."

James: "Can I still reach the gold?"

Rather than staying pent up in their fetid bedrooms playing video games all day and night, kids stay pent up in their fetid bedrooms becoming someone better than themselves, or at least someone easier to draw. Dragons are fought, wars waged, the helpless saved, and treasure earned, all without risk beyond eyestrain and self-inflicted malnutrition. And, since kids from the last three decades are still playing it — you're never too old, no matter what my wife says — D&D is more popular than ever. This is because D&D teaches valuable life lessons, lessons that will serve you well for the rest of your life.

You learn how to recognize honor, nobility, and self-sacrifice in others, and how to capitalize on it.

You learn how easily the arbitrary whim of one person can drastically change your entire financial situation.

You learn how to placate and bribe that person to improve your prospects. Whether it's with a well-timed handful of Cheetos before a devastating battle or a well-timed kick into the rough so your boss can win the golf game, it's important to know how to handle yourself in a greed-based economy.

You learn to never invoke anything bigger than your head.

You learn the all-important phrase, "And in this one D&D game I was in," a phrase guaranteed to quickly end all of your many, many first dates.

You learn the insightful, transcendent state achieved by living on caffeine and sugar for six days without sleeping, a valuable thing to know come the end of the fiscal year.

You learn to turn your imaginary friends into valuable allies.

You learn that when a religious artifact begins emitting light, you should close your eyes. Thousands of people could be saved every year with this simple safety tip.

You form lasting bonds with friends that will last forever, although this can backfire in the middle of a tricky business merger when the opposing representative turns out to be the guy you shoved into a goblin cave back in '84.

You learn the importance of selecting ceremonial robes that are easy to run in while still affording ample concealment.

You learn that, for some people, rules are all that matter. And you learn how to confound those people.

And now my son is learning those vital lessons the same way I did: at 3 in the morning, surrounded by his weight in empty Doritos bags. Now he's rummaging through my old, musty, gaming books, hunting for decades-old tips and storylines he can surprise his friends with. Now his dice bag contains some of my dice, as a way of passing the torch down through the generations.

Not my good dice, of course. I need those. There was this one time, in this game I was in…

If you're interested in the gawking option, or just want to see how the game has developed since your college days, head to Dragon Star Games in Holly Hill, Wild Gate in Deltona, Wizards in St. Augustine, or any of the central Florida Coliseum of Comics locations.

All is well, I got a copy, and eagerly dove in.

"There are lots of stories about the final days of the Unification War. Some tell about lost treasures of uncountable wealth. Some tell of curses and damnation. Others still tell of mutiny, treachery, and pirates. But only one legend combines them all, a story that leads to Frisco — the most dangerous, lawless mining town in the ‘Verse. Here it will take fast-thinking, careful diplomacy, and a steady gun hand to walk away breathin’. Everyone in the town has an agenda, even the little red-headed school marm who seems awfully familiar…"

I'm not going to go into detail — don't want to spoil any webmaster surprises, if you're a player — but this is a well-documented game with intrique, action, double-crossing, triple-crossing, a hidden treasure, and more unique characters than you can roll a die at (including an oracle who only speaks in Shakespearian verse). Plenty of plot to use or leave alone as you see fit, based on real happenings in Beaver County, Utah. And fully half the book is made up of maps, charts, diagrams, and lists so you can have everything at your fingertips.

There's so much stuff there, in fact, that it can be a little daunting at first since multiple versions of some events are provided for you to match up with your players' histories (characters who fought in the war will have different memories to draw from than those who didn't, for example) and care is taken to make the game equally playable by the Serenity crew, the crew of the Aces & Eights (the sample crew provided in the Serenity RPG manual) or a crew your players have rolled up. I strongly suggest reading completely through it first and deciding which elements you want. There are a lot of threads running through this one, you'll need to spin them out smoothly to draw your players in.

That's also why this is very much in the feel of the show, and there's no higher compliment. "Out in the Black" is written by Tracy and Laura Hickman, with a cover by 11th Hour.

Order it from Amazon, order a signed copy from serenityrpg.com, or even download a PDF from DriveThruRPG.com

One of the few problems with the award-winning Serenity role-playing game has been added as a free PDF download at the official site. Two-sided, with some simple charts, places for you to keep track of your life points, dice steps and plot points (as well as your stats and the like), it's designed with a classic Cortex look. Stylish, well laid out, and, like very company-designed character sheet from the dawn of time, it only gives you a half inch to write your name in : )

Download it here!

This award was voted on by the gamers themselves, and we have spoken. The Serenity RPG by Jamie Chambers and Margaret Weis excels at worldcrafting, is easy to play, and it's a fun and exciting system to bring you into the 'verse, not to mention a beauty to look upon thanks to the stunning artwork of 11th Hour. Now, a quick-roll system for whomping up characters would be nice…

More details on the game here.