The D&D Experience (DDXP) happened in Indiana this past weekend, and people blogged about it. We’ve got some of the links here and on the D&D Next links page in our wiki. Please let us know if we missed something juicy.

Enjoy!

At Home

Articles posted here on The Gamer Assembly.

January’s theme at The Gamer Assembly is The Beginning of the End, in honor of the end of the Mayan calendar cycle.

Check out 3 Generations After the End, aka 3GATE, our system-independent post-apocalyptic setting which we’re developing this month.

3GATE: Entry Gate Pamphlet by T.W.Wombat lets us read the marketing blurb for Greybar City that’s handed out to every visitor passing through the gate under the watchful eyes of the robotic guards.

3GATE: View from the Bottom of Greybar City by T.W.Wombat gives us the real story of what’s happening inside Greybar City as found in the journal of an aging subversive.

Away

Content from people involved with The Gamer Assembly posted elsewhere across the Internet.

The State of the Nations by Chris Jackson presents part three of his Swords and Wizardry campaign world, Secaelia, this time discussing the conditions of everyday life within the two nations.

Race and Culture in D&D by digitaldraco at Daily Encounter makes the case for separating race and culture to allow more flexibility and PC options during character creation. Dwarves can like swords and bows too.

The Demi-Human Races by Chris Jackson presents part four of his Swords and Wizardry campaign world, Secaelia, describing the demi-human races and humanity’s opinions of them.

Wizards by Chris Jackson presents part five of his Swords and Wizardry campaign world, Secaelia, this time outlining the worst everyday threat to the residents of the two empires: Wizards.

Threats to Stability and Peace by Chris Jackson presents the final descriptive section of his Swords and Wizardry campaign world, Secaelia, which is an overview of monstrous encounters within the realms.

Way of the Werewolf: Feats for your Lycanthrope by Brian Liberge presents additional feats across all three tiers, as a follow up to the new Werewolf theme in Kobold Quarterly 19.

Notes From Abroad

Other interesting articles and cool links.

Wizards of the Coast went public with their announcement about the next edition of D&D on Monday 09 January 2012. We’re collecting D&D Next links in our wiki. If we’ve missed any good ones that you’ve read, feel free to let us know in the comments or join us in the chat.

Adventuring in D&D Next at DreadGazebo suggests that adventures form the foundation of D&D, not mechanics.

Class Design Seminar Video recorded by Dread Gazebo of Obsidian Portal. Check out the rest of the seminar and interview videos from DDXP as well.

Finding Success as a Freelancer gives some great tips for anyone freelancing in the RPG industry.

Narrative Is Not a Game Mechanic, Except in Roleplaying Games from Deeper In The Game concludes that despite accusations of a more videogamey feel to recent RPGs, they’ve actually moved away from the videogame’s prefab stories which provide a single limited experience and toward stronger improvisational narrative tools which provide an infinite variety of experiences.

This Homemade D&D Module (G2²: Habitition of the Stone Giant Lord) on BoingBoing caught my eye, which led me to PlaGMaDA.org. So many school-age memories sparked by looking at other people’s cherished character sheets, game notes, and hand-drawn maps.

Busted Game Theory by Kris Hansen points out that popular games tend to be imperfectly balanced, and perhaps that explains the problems folks have with systems like D&D 4E.

How RPG Rules Work by Vincent over at Lumpley Games shows the interactions between fiction, players, and realspace “cues” in handy graphical form. Read all the comments for gems like, “The goal of designing rules is to change social contract.”

Welcome to Kepler-22B attempts to crowdsource a newly-discovered world right next door to Earth and fill it full of science fiction RPG locations and encouters. Grab your sector now!

Follow-up on the Costs of the Writer’s Dice Kickstarter Campaign gives an insider’s view of a Kickstarter campaign from Daniel Solis, creator of Writer’s Dice. This straight talk about money and margins gives insights which may improve your RPG fundraising efforts.

MetaRoundup

A roundup of roundups featuring links of interest to the tabletop RPG community.

Please let us know about other weekly roundups in the comments!

Game Knight Reviews comes out with News From Around the Net articles on Fridays. Check out this week’s roundup to see a wizard arsenal from @deadorcs, Robin Laws on driving traffic with Google+, and Johnn Four interviewing Fitz about his Kickstarter habit.