Welcome to the list of what links caught our interest this week. The second week brings us a preponderance of steampunk and music links. Aside from the links, we’re unveiling two changes this week. First, we’ve changed the name of the column to The Weekly Assembly since it just seemed to fit a little better, and it gives me a vision of everyone from across the Internet wandering into my high school’s auditorium and taking seats. That image shouldn’t entertain me as much as it does, but then again I’m a simple Wombat with a low threshold of humor.

Secondly, we’re trying to find other sites that collect links and release weekly missives like this one. We’re specifically looking for RPG or other gaming links. If you know of any people crazy enough to curate a list of links, let us know and we’ll add them to our MetaRoundup list.

We’d love to hear feedback on what you think we’re doing right and wrong in The Weekly Assembly. Can’t start your Friday without it? Too many links? Not enough links? Did we miss a huge story? Should we group links by game system, campaign genre, both, or neither? Should we include links to your project? Want a link to the weekly list in your inbox instead of online? Please let us know what you think in the comments and we’ll take your suggestions into consideration. Thanks in advance!

And with that, enjoy this week’s Assembly!

At Home

Articles posted here on The Gamer Assembly.

* December’s theme at The Gamer Assembly is Favorite Gaming Memories.

* It’s Ok to Stop Before 30 by Brian Liberge asks: when should you end your campaign?

* Because Sometimes, Talking It Through IS the Best Option… by Daniel O’Crowe gives us the smooth and skillful Negotiator theme for use in D&D 4e, complete with optional powers.

* Swords to Ploughshares (Part II) by Chris Jackson explores options for taking combat off the table in a situation from his earliest written D&D adventure.

* Gaming Memories: Character vs. Player Hits Home by T.W.Wombat explores the game where social contracts weren’t made and feelings got hurt.

Away

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

* Got Loot – The Festive Blogfest Come join the community to blog about loot, treasure, swag, and booty during the last week of the year! Open to all, with guest blogger space available! Only a week remains before it starts, so get those ideas flowing.

* Gmail at the Gametable by Brian Liberge, guest blogging over at Hereticwerks. How to use technology at the game table to preserve a PC’s secrets in game.

* Warhammer 40,000: Black Crusade Review by Chris Jackson, at A Susurrus In Carcosa. A review of Fantasy Flight Games’ newest addition to the Warhammer 40,000 RPG universe, Black Crusade.

* Brent P. Newhall at The RPG Doctor recorded a playtest of an experimental rules-light game he’s developing, called Hangout. This particular game session takes place in the world of Tron and the rules are explained as the playtest unfolds. Enjoy watching Part 1 and Part 2.

* Brent also wrote a post ruminating on key questions one needs to ask about magic systems with his blog post How Does Magic Work?.

* Madly Plugging Projects from T.W.Wombat, at Wombat’s Gaming Den of Iniquity. A rundown of ongoing projects, including a plug for The Weekly Assembly here at The Gamer Assembly.

* Lamentations of the Flame Princess, by Chris Jackson, at A Susurrus In Carcosa. An in-depth review of the (in)famous “weird fantasy” RPG.

* Two cents on villages and towns of medieval fantasy, at Litte Drink Shop Nerd. A Portuguese article about creating and referencing fantasy towns features a full translation of Creating Fantasy Cities: Purpose by Brian Liberge.

Notes From Abroad

All other interesting articles and cool links.

* Got an RPG question? Ask it over at StackExchange’s RPG site. You’ll get great responses. Browse the hundreds of past questions as well – it’s a rich storehouse of great RPG ideas, from specific 4e rules questions to Dresden Files spell ideas to tips on cross-gender roleplaying. Go take a look!

* According to this post on the Wizards community boards, non-DDI subscribers can now access the Virtual Table for free. A DDI subscriber needs to generate a code to grant limited but free access to the Virtual Table.

* Also at Wizards, Tracy Hurley (aka Sarah Darkmagic) gathers links about dealing with winter holidays both in-game and out in her column Joining the Party. I’m tempted to put this column in the MetaRoundup for all the community links even though it’s monthly. Let us know if you think it fits.

* This week, Duke University unveiled the Edwin and Terry Murray Collection of Role-Playing Games, one of the first collections of RPGs available at a research institution. The collection is large and seems fairly extensive, so next time you’re in Durham, NC, try to explore the collection yourself and let us all know about your experience.

* The Krampus Christmas Carnival starts next week, complete with Creative Commons art from Steven Austin. If you have a yen to write something about Krampus, Kris Kringle’s demonic avenger, put your hat into the ring now.

* The Megadungeon Origins Table from Rolang’s Creeping Doom lets us roll up the oddest of dungeon origins. I’m particular to “The dungeon is a parking garage which is a zoo containing advertising executives.” Plenty of fun tables are being posted over there lately as part of his Unsecret Santa “help me make stuff by requesting oddball things” method of filling his blog hopper.

* Harlin’s Almanac: The Open Source Bestiary is currently in development over at At The Table Games. Josh Mannon came up with the idea for a book filled with Creative Commons art depicting common fantasy races, species, monsters, and creatures. Our own T.W.Wombat has been tapped to write as one of the scholarly commentators in Harlin’s Almanac, so please watch for the impending Kickstarter announcement.

* Jonathan Jacobs of Nevermet Press has partnered with SteampunkKindle.com for a contest called Sky Admiral Jules Verne vs. Mark Twainbot – A Match of Titans. Cast your vote before Decmember 21st with some added (gentlemanly) smack talk and you’re in the running for a free Kindle copy of Stories in the Ether, Issue #1 or #2. Looks entertaining, so check it out. And speaking of Steampunk…

* Just Glue Some Gears On It (And Call It Steampunk) is a delightful ditty from Sir Reginald Pikedevant, Esquire, who calls out those poseurs gluing superfluous gears on a hunk of ’80s crap to “fetch a pretty penny on eBay”. Thanks to The Mary Sue for calling these three jocular minutes to our attention.

* The brief overview of the movement given in What Steampunk Means applies to the RPG community. Everybody comes with their own definition of what RPG means, and everyone is absolutely correct. If you follow two simple rules, you’re in good shape. First, as the pagans say, “An it harm none, do what thou wilt.” And second, as this article says, “If you’re not having fun, then you’re doing it wrong.”

* 20-Sided Rhymes gives us 20 (of course) tracks of gamer tuneage, or as the album’s subtitle says, “A Compendium of Beats both Malevolent and Benign.” You’re sure to find something to entertain you on that album. Congratulations to Hipster, Please! for getting this project released into the wild!

MetaRoundup

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

We’re trying a new feature this week, so please let us know about other weekly roundups in the comments below!

* Game Knight Reviews comes out with News From Around the Net articles on Fridays. Last week’s roundup included over 30 links including art, music, publisher news, and product reviews. That’s a great spread of links! This week’s news tries something a little different, calling out 18 links and including a more raw list further down in “colorful grid” format. Take a look and give your opinion!

* Roving Band of Misfits publishes their Weekly Roundup column every Sunday. This week’s Lair Assault Edition includes a plug for Gamer Assembly and the Got Loot Blogfest. Many thanks for the exposure!

Thanks for reading!