A lot to talk about today. I wish I could say it was all positive.

First, the good news.

SW Minis Alliance and Empire Preview 2 is up, featuring the Trandoshan Mercenary and Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Spirit. I wrote the preview for Obi-Wan, but today was the first time I'd actually seen a real picture of the mini (I've seen the artwork). I was expecting old Ben to be a translucent blue plastic, in true blue glowie fashion, so I was surprised to see he's, well, normal looking...for a mini, anyway. Rules-wise, he's a radically different piece in the SWM game, so check it out.

The next Saga Edition RPG preview (4) is up as well. This time it's seriously getting into details of the revised combat system. It's pretty revealing and explains the changes very well.

Now the not so good news for gaming.

Those of you who are or ever were RPG fans will be surprised, or more likely shocked, to hear that today, Piazo Publishing announced that Wizards of the Coast did not renew their license to publish the long-time D&D magazines Dragon and Dungeon. That would be a bombshell in and of itself. Worse is that neither magazine will be continued at all. Wizards apparently plans to roll this sort of content into the D&D portion of their website. There have been rumors and stories about such a section for awhile. I've been interested in seeing how it would be developed, but didn't see the loss of the magazines as part of the process.

So, there are a lot of disappointed gamers out there, myself included. I wasn't a big Dragonfan, but I subscribed to Dungeon, until just recently. This move will send shock waves through the gaming world for awhile.

I should also remind some readers that Dungeon was the home of Polyhederon for awhile, which published some official Star Wars RPG material for awhile after the cancellation of Star Wars Gamer Magazine.

Piazo wasn't caught unawares. They've got a new Open Game License series called Pathfinder, and I think everyone has seen them expanding their services for awhile now. Some of their recent moves make more sense in light of this. They have done a fine job with the magazines, so I expect Pathfinder will be of equally high quality.

The next bit of news is going to be beyond obscure for non-D&D fans, but old time D&D players will have a bigger connection than they realize. Tom Modlvay passed away. Who is Tom Modlvay? I didn't know his name, though I've worked in the industry for many years. Turns out he had a great impact on my early gaming experience.

He was the author of the Isle of Dread, the adventure included in the Basic D&D Expert set back in the early '80s. This was one of the most played modules of all time and had the second largest impact on my early gaming group after the Basic Set module Keep on the Borderlands....which he edited.

On top of this, he also developed the TSR '20&30's era Gangbusters! RPG, and wrote modules for Star Frontiers, an early sci-fi RPG. My friends and I had an extended SF campaign that probably hit every high point and low point in gaming style, but it was a blast.

Good times, those were.