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Brookhurst Hobbies, one of the largest game and hobby retailers on the West Coast, is now a member of the Wizards of the Coast Community!

You can call me Archfiend - I'm Brookhurst's online representative. Among other things, I make announcements and visit the forums of other online sites, I moderate our own communities... I get to talk to folks about games. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it ;)

Rather than talk about myself, let's get this thing started off right. We're starting up D&D Encounters nights on Wednesdays starting at 6:00pm. As most of the people reading this already know, this series of Encounters takes place in the world of Athas, the setting for Dark Sun, one of D&D's most brutal campaigns. I can't wait to get started!

Our weekly gaming lineup doesn't end there.

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I had deams about Dark Sun last night. I woke up gagging, coughing up imaginary sand, fearful of what my esthetician was going to say about the welts and blisters on my usually SPF-protected face. I was a mess. The sheets were balled up and the cat was pissed.

“I’m melting!” I screamed at Zelda. “Quick! Get in the freezer!”

Zelda gave me a look similar to the one I used to give anyone who dared to wear white before Memorial Day. Then she went back to sleep. Most cats would probably enjoy the heat.

“Don’t panic,” I told myself, as Zelda was clearly no help. I was safely in my Seattle condo. No food rations. No silt runners hiding behind my houseplants, ready to implode my worldly possessions with their stupid, little buggy minds. And certainly no blazing sun beating down

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It is my intention to contact Knightly Games and acquire permission to run the next season of D&D Encounters i.e. Dark Sun: Fury of the Wastewalker for 4e and if anyone is particularly interested I also possess and am willing to run 2e Dark Sun from my much cherished box set. As my herald level DM status is evidently insufficient. Fair enough. Hopefully, I'll be able to drum up enough interest in either game to actually get some gaming together over the summer break. Updates to follow...

D&D Encounters Season 1 is reaching for its exciting conclusion, with only two weeks to go! We've really enjoyed Encounters here at the office, and I get a lot of great feedback here on the group and also via Twitter (@CharlesMRyan).

I don't want to distract anyone from the tense conclusion of the Undermountain season, but I can't hold back on Season 2 much longer. This will be our first peak at the new Dark Sun setting (which will be getting a full campaign setting treatment later this summer).

Ah, Athas. How thy cloudless skies and scorching rays remind me of, well, anyplace but England. . . .

Sorry for the digression. Here's my point: If you want to take part in Season 2, you need to make sure your shop is getting ready for it. It starts on 9 June--just three weeks from now!--and any

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Over the past couple months the D&D Encounters players at Eclectic Games in Reading and Kingdom of Adventure in Kirkaldy have been lavished with D&D's love (in the form of pizza, drinks, snacks, minis, and other goodies).

Could there be another surprise package going out to a D&D Encounters shop this week? Make sure you get down to your FLGS on Wednesday to find out!

--Updated 11 May--

If there were such a package, it might contain a few preview pages from the upcoming PHB Races: Tieflings and Monster Manual 3 (to which yours truly might have contributed). . .

Are you running D&D Encounters? If so, and if you have a web site or page, WotC are producing weekly banner ads for each Encounters session that you can get your hands on. A little birdie tells me these sometimes contain minor hints about the upcoming session, so that will give your gamers one more reason to visit your site at least once a week!

If you'd like to post these banners to your web site, send me a DM and I'll see what I can do!

This could be yours--all yours! Well, not all yours. . . .

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Did a little searching in the database and found a shop not far from me. Sadly, it is over the Cheddar Curtain, but the reverse commute shouldn't be too hard.

Mailed the DM to introduce myself and get the lay of the land. Here's hoping he checks that inbox before Wednesday.

Week seven began with us opening a door with no keyhole with a magic key.  There was a staircase leading up to a large room (50 feet by 50 feet at least) with a large emblem on the floor.  Once we entered the room the door slammed shut and was sealed by some sort of magic that prevented us from leaving.  As soon as the door slammed shut a huge 10 foot by 10 foot orb appeared in the middle of the room and it was time to roll for initiative.  After that got sorted out it was time to take out the Orb that was flame resistant which precluded me from casting my Daily (can only cast once per gaming "day") Flaming Sphere spell but I did pick up a Staff of the Apprentice which added +1 to any implement-used attack (most of them since I'm a Wizard), this came in handy because I was

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The good folk at Kingdom of Adventure in Kirkaldy have received a big box of goodies, courtesy of your friends at D&D! Look for a festive atmosphere at tonight's D&D Encounters session, complete with pizza, snacks, drinks, and new minis and Dungeon Tiles!

If you've been playing D&D Encounters at KoA regularly, this is a big thank-you for participating. If you haven't quite gotten around to giving it a shot, there's no better time than this evening. Enjoy!

--[Update Thursday, 22 April]--

Sounds like our friends at KoA had a great evening: David, the owner, reports that the pizza disappeared in a matter of minutes and that they had a great turnout for the session.

You can catch a few photos of the event at the KoA Facebook page (bit.ly/9rctPU). Or you can follow KoA on Twitter at @KoAGames.

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