Northeast Wars X

As first proposed on ENWorld, March 4th has become GM’s Day, an occasion on which to recognize the hardworking men and women who put in the time and energy to get games played. Certainly without GMs, Northeast Wars and every other gaming convention flat out wouldn’t exist.

So take the time to show your appreciation to your group’s GM for all the work they do. Some retailers have a GM’s Day sale; maybe you could pick up that supplement your GM has been eyeing. Or just say “thanks” the next time your group gets together. A little gratitude goes a long way.

Welcome, chrononauts, back to linear time and the third annual Pretend You’re a Time Traveler Day!

Invented by Dresden Codak, a forum user over at Koala Wallop, and promoted for a second year last December, Pretend You’re a Time Traveler Day invites people to spend a little time today acting out the part of a visitor from another era getting their first glimpse of late 2009. Dresden Codak gives lots of examples of what you might do, including giving random strangers a phone number they must call in thirty years’ time, being a Victorian inventor scandalized by contemporary fashions or dressing as a warrior from a dystopian future amazed to find other living human beings.

Those wondering just how they might have come to arrive in 2009 may find this instructional film of use.

Ahoy, matey! This nineteenth day of September be a celebration of International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Scrape the barncles from yer tricorner hat and sail forth into the day, bestowin’ salutations of a generally scalawaggy nature on all the lubbers ye may encounter.

If you’re not confident in your ability to cut a piratical pose with your vocabulary, check out the official International Talk Like a Pirate Day website. They offer not only handy glossaries and lists of key phrases, but photos and accounts of pirate-oriented doings all over the world in commemoration of this happy day.

It’s Free RPG Day, everyone! If you haven’t already, hustle down to your local game store for all manner of free adventures and quick-start kits. We mentioned it’s free, right?

If you’re not sure if your local store is participating in the promotion, be sure to visit the website, linked above, for a list of retailers taking part. And if there’s no such business in your area, don’t despair. Free RPG Day publishers often make the material available for download sometime after the day in question.

But, if you have the opportunity, do turn out for Free RPG Day. It’s as much about getting people into stores, talking about roleplaying and even getting into pick-up sessions as it is anything else. Show up, break out the lucky dice set and have fun storming the castle — or megacorp, as the case may be.

2009 marks the third year of Free RPG Day, an occasion not dissimilar to Free Comic Book Day, intended to get people trying out new games and worlds, as well as giving newcomers a taste of the hobby. On June 20th, friendly local game stores all over will offer a selection of free RPG materials to customers and visitors.

The goodies typically consist of short adventures and quick-start kits donated by a variety of game publishers. Past contributors have included White Wolf Game Studio, Goodman Games and Troll Lord Games, makers of fine products all. For a list of this year’s contributing publishers, visit the Free RPG Day site.

While at the site, you can also find a list of participating game stores. If your local establishment isn’t on the list, don’t despair. Many publishers make their Free RPG Day materials available for download a short time after the day in question.

Happy Towel Day, everyone!

Today, people all over the world celebrate the life and works of author Douglas Adams (1951-2001) by carrying a towel in his memory. Yes, a towel.

It all started with that wholly remarkable book Mr. Adams wrote, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It chronicles, among other things, the trevails of Arthur Dent, an Earthman as he tries to make it as an interstellar hitchhiker with his friend Ford, who comes from somewhere near Betelgeuse.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide, which happens to be a book within the book of the same name, has many useful nuggets of information about getting around the cosmos on less than thirty Altairian dollars a day, including that “[a] towel . . . is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have,” going on to list some of its many uses, including “avoid[ing] the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you . . . )” and convincing non-hitchhikers that if you know where your towel is, you’ve got all the more important stuff taken care of as well.

Stay hoopy, froods.