New Games for December 13 - 19, 2010

BOARD & CARD GAMES

Isla Dorada
Legends of unimaginable treasure surround the mysterious island of Isla Dorada. Several ancient civilizations once carved out a mighty empire on its shores, but the passage of time and the ravaging of wild beasts have driven them to ruin, leaving behind priceless artifacts and confusing maps to their hidden locations. The year is 1934, and your expedition has crash landed on this exotic island. Your chance for infinite riches is within your grasp. But you don't want to share the loot with the rest of the expedition, do you? Isla Dorada lets you guide your expedition through hazardous terrain and hostile territory, exploring the wonders of Isla Dorada while you compete to find the most treasure among your fellow explorers. But, watch your step! If the Island doesn't get you, your companions might!

DC Heroclix 75th Anniversary Boosters
DC Comics' extraordinary body of characters - from the earliest Golden Age heroes to the most modern - come to life in 3D HeroClix form! Commemorating the rich history as well as the exciting present of DC Comics, the DC HeroClix: 75th Anniversary Booster showcases more than 60 characters with exciting new sculpts and dynamic Special Powers, and showcases iconic stories and themes like Knightfall and the Death of Superman that shook comics to their core, as well as members of The White Lantern Corps - straight from the pages of DC Comics mega-hit Blackest Night!

Star Munchkin Space Ships
Star Munchkins are more over-powered than ever with Star Munchkin: Space Ships, which allows players to Captain the Horsefly, the Starfurry, or the USS Secondprize. Plus, they can buff their ships with a Quad-Mounted Laser or a Bridge, and let their new Sidekick, Otto, do the flying for them.

Hobbit Board Game
Join Bilbo Baggins as he ventures forth from the Shire on a perilous and legendary journey! Designed by Reiner Knizia, The Hobbit is a board game of bidding, chance, and treasure for 2-5 players. Taking on the roles of dwarves, players must guide Bilbo strategically on his quest to plunder the dragon Smaug's lair. But beware! Smaug is descending upon Laketown, seeking to ruin your quest. Can you lead Bilbo Baggins to the dragon's lair?

Agricola Tannenbaum Deck
When the farmers are done with their daily tasks and gather round the warmth of their hearth, stories are told of revenants and werewolves, unicorns and witches, and faeries and other creatures of the wood. And those who venture into the forest the next day to fell some trees might remember some of the tales... and shudder. A worthy follow-up to the X-Deck, this 24-card deck is another not-entirely-serious expansion to Uwe Rosenberg's Agricola.

Agricola The Goodies Expansion
Over the past years, many small expansions for Agricola were released, mostly in German language, as well as deluxe wooden pieces to complement the game. The Goodies Expansion contains: the legendary X-Deck containing 24 cards with alien encounters all over the farm; the O-Deck was created under the guidance of the Austrian Games Academy; the C-Deck based on famous people, places, and historic events from the Czech Republic; the looney L-Deck; all five double-sided theme boards (Western, Spring, Autumn, Winter, and Mars); a sheet with 70 stickers (35 adults, 33 children, one alien, and even a werewolf); plus a slew of Wooden Meeples.

Save Doctor Lucky Game
A cold night in the Atlantic. An errant iceberg, a titanic cruise ship, and one very lucky old man! Doctor Lucky is a charismatic and well-respected philanthropist with a heart of gold. Of course, you secretly hate the old coot, and you're probably going to try to kill him someday. But killing him aboard a sinking ship would be pointless. So you've decided to save his life instead - and do it while someone else is looking! That way, even if you go down with the ship, you'll at least go down in history! It's all aboard for crazy mayhem and boat-sinking fun for the whole twisted family in this new deluxe edition of Save Doctor Lucky, featuring a full-color, multi-piece game board, a deck of 96 cards, an informative rulebook, and pawns and stands for six players and Doctor Lucky himself.

Earth Reborn
Two human factions battle it out in a post-apocalyptic Earth in this modular, tile-based, miniatures board game.

Merchants & Marauders
In Merchants and Marauders, players take on the role of an influential merchant or a fearless pirate, both searching for their fame and fortune in the Caribbean during the Golden Age of Piracy. How you choose to play your luck, tactics, cunning, and negotiation skills will decide whether your captain gains eternal glory and immense wealth - or finds his wet grave under the stormy surface of the Caribbean Sea!

Defenders of the Realm
Our Liege is in desperate hour! From what grievous cause have these accursed races arisen? Orcs, Dragons, Demons, and the Dead make haste towards Monarch City. The King and Countryside of Monarch City is in need of valiant Heroes! Will you answer the King's call? Designed by Richard Launius (Arkham Horror) and legendary fantasy artist, Larry Elmore, Defenders of the Realm is a cooperative fantasy board game where players embark on a journey to defend the countryside, repair the tainted lands, and defeat the four creature factions before one of them enters the city.

ROLE-PLAYING GAMES

Bones Us & Our Dice
Featuring contributions by the likes of game designers Mike Selinker, Kenneth Hite, and Keith Baker, writer/actor Wil Wheaton, and writers Ray Fawkes and James Lowder, these are essays and anecdotes about the ways dice make us crazy, about the stakes we play for, and the thrill we get from not knowing what the next roll will bring.

Shadowrun Spells & Chrome Anthology
The urban fantasy world of Shadowrun returns with Spells & Chrome, featuring 17 new tales of life in a dark, dystopian future, where magic and the mythic races of elf, dwarf, orc, and troll have risen again, thrusting themselves into a technological world of cyberware, smartguns, and the matrix.

Vampire Requiem New Wave Requiem
Do you remember the 80s? Not that bubble-gum garbage you see on those so-called "music networks," but the real 80s? World War III was always on the horizon while sex, drugs, and money flowed like a river of blood right to us. Vampires were everywhere. The Masquerade was at its thinnest point, but we didnÕt care because the world was ours. Those were good times. This Vampire: The Requiem sourcebook offers a brief historical look at America in the 1980s - from a Kindred perspective - with a story set in 1983 Chicago, complete with a pre-generated coterie.

GURPS 4th Ed Low Tech
From the Stone Age to the Age of Sail, Low-Tech covers the basic tools used by historical adventurers and those still used by modern survivalists and post-apocalypse survivors when the high-tech toys fail. From antlers, rawhide, and stone knives, to warhammers, heavy mail, and early submarines, this GURPS 4th Edition sourcebook features information on everyday items and tools of every trade, as well as skills and traits that let adventurers make the best use of their equipment.

Gamemastering
Gamemastering provides both beginning and experienced gamemasters with instructions that are usually neglected in roleplaying game books: How to tailor the game to the group? How to prepare a game in no time? Can one learn to improvise? How to create and structure adventures? These and other questions are answered in detailed manner, complete with directions, exercises, and examples.