What was it that got you through the Covid-19 pandemic? For some it was long walks; others turned to home baking. For millions it was video games, a booming industry which exploded in popularity over the pandemic years. Confined to our homes and with the lines of reality becoming blurred as everyday life shifted to screens, perhaps it was no wonder that so many of us were desperate to be transported to different worlds. In Playing with Reality: Gaming in a Pandemic, journalist and presenter Alex Humphreys, a passionate gamer herself, investigates this extraordinary boom in the gaming industry. Charting its rise, Alex interviews players and developers, sharing a glimpse of what was going on behind closed doors as studios closed and games were finished from home. Playing with Reality explores exactly what it was that made gaming a lifeline for so many, and what the future holds as we look to the metaverse.

A collection of Mythras rules for combat, conflict and character creation and much more.

This book addresses the ongoing scientific debates regarding video games and their effects on players. The book features opposing perspectives and offers point and counterpoint exchanges in which researchers on both sides of a specific topic make their best case for their findings and analysis. Chapters cover both positive and negative effects of video games on players' behavior and cognition, from contributing to violence and alienation to promoting therapeutic outcomes for types of cognitive dysfunction. The contrasting viewpoints model presents respectful scientific debate, encourages open dialogue, and allows readers to come to informed conclusions. Key questions addressed include: * Do violent video games promote violence? * Does video game addiction exist? * Should parents limit children's use of interactive media? * Do action video games promote visual attention? * Does sexist content in video games promote misogyny in real life? * Can video games slow the progress of dementia? * Are video games socially isolating? Video Game Influences on Aggression, Cognition, and Attention is a must-have resource for researchers, clinicians and professionals as well as graduate students in developmental psychology, social work, educational policy and politics, criminology/criminal justice, child and school psychology, sociology, media law, and other related disciplines.

In Orlandes City, nobles are being systematically murdered by a ruthless assassin no-one seems able to catch. Finding yourself thrust into the middle of a large conspiracy, you must make decisions that may put yourself and another most precious to you in great danger. Can you locate the Assassin in Orlandes before it is too late?

Learn how to paint exciting miniature creatures and elevate your tabletop experience, with Arcane Arts. Professional miniature painter and instructor Noxweiler Berf has created an immersive guide to painting miniatures for tabletop games. In his engaging and playful style, Berf demystifies the miniature painting process for the beginner and offers new perspectives and encouragement for advancing hobbyists. The guide offers the reader a number of milestone "quests" that will take them from the first steps of selecting a miniature figure, to understanding the visual cues that come from their choice of color and texture, to even developing scenic basing and preparing your miniature for game-play.

A new world beckons... Ancient magic flows through the grimy streets of Lawbrand's bustling Trade-Cities. Tensions between the ruling Sularian Church and the new generation of upstart adventurers threaten to ignite a firestorm of societal upheaval. In the wilds beyond Lawbrand's borders. Long-forgotten races and newly formed cults rise to claim their own territories - and exert their will upon civilization. And beneath it all, the ancient World-Serpent, Auroboros, awakens to devour all...

It's larger on the inside! Adventurers can carry all their equipment, weapons, items, and more with the official Dungeons & Dragons: Bag of Holding Magnet Set. This kit includes: * 30 2D magnets depicting iconic weapons, equipment, items, and more * a felt "bag of holding" * an illustrated mini "inventory" book

Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder with this officially licensed miniature figurine. * FIGURINE WITH LIGHT: A one-of-a-kind 3-inch figurine of the popular monster: the Beholder with a glowing eye * BOOK INCLUDED: Learn more about this iconic monster in this fully illustrated 32-page miniature book * PERFECT GIFT FOR D&D FANS: Display on a shelf, desk, or bookcase and show off your love of Dungeons & Dragons * OFFICIALLY LICENSED: Authentic Dungeons & Dragons collectible

Classic Fantasy brings Old School dungeon crawls to the Mythras rules. This book contains everything you need to emulate the fun of class and level-based adventuring, against the classic coterie of monsters, with the classic armoury of spells! If you've ever wanted to convert those old dungeon modules to a d100 system, then Classic Fantasy is for you.Packed with information and new rules additions, Classic Fantasy features a different approach to character creation based on classes such as the bard, cavalier, fighter, magic user, paladin and thief. Choose your race - human or demi-human - and then customize according to class, race and personal preference. If you're a magic user or cleric, the new magic rules for Arcane and Divine spells take the old staples such as Magic Missile, Charm, Fireball and more, and tailor them for the nuances of the Mythras system.For the more combat-oriented, the Classic Fantasy rules provide detailed miniatures-based combat adaptations for the traditional battle-board, complete with guidance on facings, positioning, and handling detailed movement.And of course, no book like this would be complete without monsters to kill and treasure to take! All the old favourites are accounted for, from Basilisks to Displacer Beasts, Grey Ooze to Gelatinous Masses, Kobolds, Gnolls, Hobgoblins and more. Forty pages of treasure and magic items helps you equip even the deepest dungeon with enough loot to satisfy the keenest adventuring party.

Adventure is just down the Yellow Brick Road... The award-winning author and illustrator of Neverland returns with another beautiful RPG setting book, in OZ: A Fantasy Role-Playing Game. While many have traveled with Dorothy Gale to the world of OZ, there is so much more to explore! But know this: there is more to the land and its inhabitants than the rumors might suggest. Appearances can be deceiving and like any good metal smith will tell you, the only way to tell a gold bar from a yellow brick is to hit it with a hammer. So begins Andrew Kolb's OZ: A Fantasy Role-Playing Game. While 5th Edition compatible like its predecessor, Neverland, OZ uses an urban setting pointcrawl instead of a hexcrawl, full of secrets to discover via underground trains and a monorail that loops around all four districts of OZ. With different neighborhoods to explore, factions to join, and questions to ask (what happened to The Slippers, anyway?) players can escape to the Emerald City for hours on end.

Defend yourself and protect your assets in a lair that feels as real and alive as your monsters with advice from Keith Ammann, author of The Monsters Know What They're Doing: Combat Tactics for Dungeon Masters. The world is a dangerous place-especially when you're up to no good. Whether you're a rampaging monster, a calculating mastermind, or the current possessor of the Golden MacGuffin, someone's going to come at you. Probably more than one someone. You can't know when, but you can choose where. You need to be ready. You need a lair. In How to Defend Your Lair, gamemaster Keith Ammann pulls back the curtain on an underrated but crucial part of any tabletop roleplaying game: the theater of battle. Say goodbye to encounters in randomly generated dungeons and hello to a game in which where the fight takes place is just as important as who is doing the fighting. This book teaches you how to use real-world principles of building security and area defense to create strongholds infused with flavor, informed by narrative, and complex enough to force your players to think strategically. You'll look at the strengths and weaknesses of both defenders and potential attackers, creating spaces that are strong enough to keep out ordinary intruders...and to provide thrilling challenges to extraordinary ones. Including more than a dozen fleshed-out sample strongholds, How to Defend Your Lair is a crucial resource for any RPG gamemaster who wants to push players to think about how to solve problems before running at them head-on.

Shoot, ram, skid, and loot your way through the ruins of civilisation with Gaslands: Refuelled, the tabletop miniature wargame of post-apocalyptic vehicular mayhem. With all-new material including expanded and enhanced perks, sponsors, vehicle types, and weapons. Gaslands: Refuelled contains everything a budding wasteland warrior needs to build and customise their fleet of vehicles in this harsh post-apocalyptic future. With a host of options for scenarios, environmental effects, and campaigns, players can create their own anarchic futures.

HARDCOVER. The Robotic Age is a game where man lives long side machine. Sentient androids are trying to find their place among people that, at best, don't trust them and at worst want to destroy them. Weapon technology is spiraling out of control, killer drones can be built in a garage, and anyone on the street can have enough cybernetic enhancements to make them a killing machine. The world is changing rapidly and no one knows if the new age will be that of peace, or dominance. Build the android, transhuman, cyborg, or human character you always wanted and equip them with the weapon of your dreams, from plasma cannons, to grenade launchers, energy swords and more. Explore cyberspace, fight for android rights, travel to mars, or just help prevent the world from descending into chaos in The Robotic Age.

In the course of a Dungeons & Dragons game, a Dungeon Master has to make one decision after another in response to player behaviour-and the better the players, the more unpredictable their behaviour! It's easy for even an experienced DM to get bogged down in on-the-spot decision-making or to let combat devolve into a boring slugfest, with enemies running directly at the player characters and biting, bashing, and slashing away. In The Monsters Know What They're Doing, Keith Ammann lightens the DM's burden by helping you understand your monsters' abilities and develop battle plans before your fifth edition D&D game session begins. Just as soldiers don't whip out their field manuals for the first time when they're already under fire, a DM shouldn't wait until the PCs have just encountered a dozen bullywugs to figure out how they advance, fight, and retreat. Easy to read and apply, The Monsters Know What They're Doing is essential reading for every DM.