This will probably interest my German readers: The Open Game Table Vol. 1 is now available for 19.95€ at Sphärenmeisters Spiele, my favorite online game shop.

According to fellow blogger Moritz Mehlem, Roland Bahr, the owner of Sphärenmeisters Spiele told him that he will offer the second volume, too, as soon as it’s available.

If you are living in Germany you definitely should check out this online game store. Prices are always fair and often orders are shipped on the same day. Roland usually has even the most obscure games in stock and he even answers questions via ICQ. This is a level of service that you don’t see often these days!

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Jonathan Jacobs and his team of editors is currently hard working on the second volume of the Open Game Table. When Vol. 1 came out each and every contributor was provided with a free copy of the book. Last year Jonathan sent out over 70 copies to contributors and reviewers and I think it took him quite some time to get even again.

This time he’s not able to raise all the money needed on his own, so he has started a fundraising project to pay for the money needed to print and ship the contributors’ copies. If you want to help Jonathan with this you can become a sponsor and support the OGT Vol. 2 by donating.

Sponsorships are ranked in levels from Community Sponsor to Legendary Sponsors and starting with Heroic Sponsorship, you can have your blog or company’s logo included on the back cover of the book. For more details on the sponsorship levels check out this chart:

 
For more details on the Open Game Table and the sponsorship, check out Jonathan’s blog “The Core Mechanic”. In my opinion this is a project worthy of your attention (and your donations)!

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On Saturday Jonathan Jacobs posted the list of nominations for Open Game Table Vol. 2 on his blog “The Core Mechanic” and it seems a few of my posts made the list, too. Yay me!
There were 135 nominations for Volume 1 but this time, 375 blog posts have been nominated. I fear the reviewers will have a lot to do this year.

And I agree with Jonathan when he considers this a massive success. The high number of nominations shows that the interest in a RPG blog anthology is even higher than last year. Perhaps we can even start dreaming about a Volume 3.
In my humble opinion, there are quite a few talented people out there in the RPG blogosphere and I am pretty sure Volume 2 of the OGT will be as good as Volume 1 if not better. Although I try to follow a lot of RPG blogs I always seem to miss a few of the true gems out there. But I am confident, that I’ll find a few of those great articles in the upcoming OGT. And while we are waiting for the reviewers to do their job, why not read a few of the articles that made it last year? If you haven’t done so already, you should really buy a copy of OGT Vol. 1 at Lulu. And if you already own a copy, why not give a copy away as a gift?

I am very happy that Jonathan decided to go ahead and create OGT Vol.2. By the way, if you have never heard of the Open Game Table before, check out this post to read about how it all started. And while you are at it, check out my favorite article from Volume 1: Berin Kinsman’s “Get Your Dice Off My Lawn!”

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Jonathan Jacobs has reduced the price of the PDF version of the Open Game Table: The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs, Vol. 1 to just $4.99 until the end of the month! If you don’t own a copy, yet, this is your chance!

And if you don’t know what the OGT is about check out the product information from Amazon.com:

Open Game Table is aimed at bridging the gap between the RPG blogging community and the broader table-top gaming fan base by showcasing the best talent the community has to offer. Within these pages are 47 blog posts from 32 top-quality RPG blogs, plus a Foreword written by RPG luminary Wolfgang Baur.

Packed with juicy content and over 60 illustrations, this book is Pure Gold. The book chapters include:

1 – Play Style;
2 – Game Play;
3 – Characters & Players;
4 – Monsters & NPCs;
5 – Encounters, Settings, and Locations;
6 – Adventure Design;
7 – Campaign Setting Design;
8 – Classes, Action, and Equipment;
9 – RPG History & Commentary; and
10 – The RPG Toolbox.

This anthology is the result of the hard work of nearly 100 volunteers, authors, editors, judges, artists, and designers. A true grass roots effort; it is a tour de force of the RPG blogging universe.

This book contains the articles of many members of the RPG Bloggers Network including my very own post about Firearms in D&D 4th Edition. If you are still unsure, if you want to buy it, check out what WIRED Magazine wrote about the OGT:

The Open Game Table Anthology is a treasure trove. A tome worth slaying a few orcs for. Because it had such a diverse range of material to choose from it has been able to collate not just quality writing and ideas, but a real breadth of discussion that you don’t get as often as you would like in role playing materials. There are chapters for GMs and DMs on Play Stlyle, Monsters and NPCs and Campaign Setting Design. There are articles for players such as "Advice On Being A Good Player". My favorite chapter was Chapter 9 which details some great historical moments and commentary on how RPGs have become what they are today. Open Game Table has two clear strengths: content and content. The quality of the content and the breadth of the content make this anthology worth the money. The amount of ideas for GMs on how to handle player conflict, managing scenes, improving your role playing are well chosen and topical. In many ways, this book is like a continuous improvement handbook for RPG groups across the globe. It has ideas and tips throughout each article that can help you create better games and engage better as an RPG Group and ultimately have more fun – which is what it is all about, really. Braunstein I personally would buy the whole book for just the section on RPG History. The article that describes a young Dave Arneson taking all before him in "Braunstein" – the world’s first ever role playing game – is delightful. The passion with which the author, Ben Robbins encourages us all to talk to those who were at the beginning of it all, and to capture and learn from that history is what an anthology like this is all about…

Check out the full review here.

To get your discount, please use this link: http://is.gd/548Ox

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