How very interesting.

I wont help prmote the abobination that is D&D 4th edition... i stick to ShadowRun thanks

*sigh*

Is it bad that I already knew that it was going to be us an Canada only?

Aaand it's US & Canada only. Excuse me while I get some ink and my "IGNORED!" stamp.

"Open to U.S. and Canada residents only."

Any word on whether or not you guys are ever gonna include the rest of the world in your contests? I know there are supposed to be legal issues or something, but a simple "no" or at least "not in the foreseeable future" would go a long way to prevent me from getting excited about a sweet contest and then getting all disappointed when I'm not allowed to play with the cool kids.

You have my i...

Oh, nevermind. England is exempt :(

Hmmm likewise here in sunny England.....

My group's been getting together off and on for probably 5-ish years now. The core remains the same people, but we usually have 1-2 spots open for other people we know to join in. The biggest problem with upgrading to 4.0 for us would be getting the DM all the books he needs to make a campaign in the first place. We tried once with a different DM the week 4.0 came out, but he really didn't change how he made encounters to the way you're supposed to in 4.0 so that game lasted all of 15 minutes maybe before we gave up. Our new DM would definitely try it out, but he wouldn't buy the new stuff on his own since he has everything for 3.5, thus the players have no reason to buy PHBs and such for 4.0 to try it out also.

well it has been almost a year since my group has really played. Since I moved to Chico in order to go to college we have not been able to game (note that Chico is about and 8 hour trip from my hometown). Though I love to game with them we simply haven't had the change to have any real games. A few of us got together when I went back for a couple weeks in the summer but it wasn't the same. It would be awesome to be able to see them all again. That Iand i could use some minis and books for my own game up here. ^_^

I actualy really enjoy 4th edition. I don't understand why there is so much hate. My gaming group has been playing for almost 10 years now, the past 2 1/2 with 4th edition. We were all really skeptical about the new edition but after 2 1/2 years we have gone from level 1-17 with out losing a single character.

This was an amazing thing coming from 3/3.5 where we all ways had to prepare multiple characters since you all ways lost a character each level We have actually been able to grow our characters which really is a new experience for us. Sure we have times where we have almost lost character but the game no longer feels like it's built specifically to kill your character.

Hurr Durr Derp:
"Open to U.S. and Canada residents only."

Any word on whether or not you guys are ever gonna include the rest of the world in your contests? I know there are supposed to be legal issues or something, but a simple "no" or at least "not in the foreseeable future" would go a long way to prevent me from getting excited about a sweet contest and then getting all disappointed when I'm not allowed to play with the cool kids.

My thoughts exactly. And that makes *counts* eight of us in this thread alone.

I would have loved to enter, but apparently, Escapist's promotional team don't understand that they're one of the most international websites around. Hurry up and let me try to win this stuff, gods damn it.

My gaming group should be considered because I am the director of my university's gaming club. Many of our members enjoy playing D&D and other role-playing games, but cannot afford to acquire source material and other things necessary for play. Should I win, I would give the material to Gaming Association of Penn State for our game collection. This would enable many more people to find the joy of role-playing.

My group started eight years ago with just me and a friend. Since then we have grown to six people. We haven't been able to play in ages because we've all gone to college two years ago. We try to play during the summer but we haven't had a lot of time. If we get the trip to Gen Con or the gaming supplies we will definitely be able to hang out more.

Two words. Fumble Chart. The greatest casual D&D invention ever made. That is why my D&D group needs to get back together.

My group hasn't fractured entirely yet. The guy who started it went off to join the military, and I am leaving to go to grad school (and will probably be joined by another member in the area of Tallahassee in the future, but the rest of the group is either going out of state for grad school, or not going anywhere).

If we win the trip, this will probably be the last hurray for us as a group before time gradually pulls us all apart.

Would be nice if they would promote other RPGs too, and if the contest would be not only useful for people who ARE already D&D gamers, and it would be nice if they didn't exempt "foreigners" from the contest.

You can do better, Escapist.com.

I know you could do.

I'm a little sad that they are not at least including the UK.

When 4e came out me and my friends were into D&D but because of various complex rules and character creation process we all were kind of out of it as well. Though when the game came out I remembered that all of my friends were nearly going ape shit over it and wanted to play it NOW! So a few days after my friends played the game at a convention they got some of the books, one opted to be a DM and here we are today loving 4e and all it has to offer. I know that some people will not like 4e but then again some people did not like 3.5 or even 3.0 when it first came out so I couldn't care less, since 4e is something me and my friends both enjoy and occasionally 'geek out' about.

Why my group should meet up with me...

About 9 months ago I emigrated to America from the UK... just as our party went to Paragon Tier.

I'd had my wizard resurrect Splug as his little helper, had married the party shifter, and was ready to kick into high gear when I got the call to move. I now live near the WotC offices but thousands of miles away from my old gaming group.

I'd love to be able to catch up again with all the guys, play a couple of games and find out what happened to ol' Splug.

Why aren't you guys giving away Core books?

Anyways.

My group should be reunited for the sole fact that we had the best bard in the history of the world. At one point, he used the Glue (or whatever that spell is that creates an adhesive on touch) cantrip to disable a crossbowman by casting the spell while the man was reloading, gluing a bolt to his hand and making him essentially worthless except as cannon fodder.

My group has been playing for the better part of a decade from playing 2.0 or 3.5 to our current setup with 4th edition. While our group for the most part has a love for the old style of playing, we have become accustomed to 4th edition, accepting that Wizards is going to stick with this "easier" style of gaming to the grave. With the massive success of MMORPGs aka WoW, the paper and pencil RPG has lost a following even from the most dedicated D&D players. So knowing this, my group has accepted these changes and made investments into the 4th edition. However, our group is crippled due to a lack of the new books and figurines. We have been spoiled by the WoW monster and are used to the visualization of the creatures and players. Because of this we often set a date or a week to play and end up cancelling because we have a raid to get to or we would rather do something with more visual stimulation. My group needs these supples to get back on board with the game and will hopefully find that love for 4th edition that we so eagerly had for 2nd and 3.5 editions.

I'd had RPs ruined for me previously, and hadn't touched one in about four years. Freshman year of college, a thin guy in a bright yellow sweatshirt (said garment was later called "The Horrifying Light Of The Sun") came up to me and asked if I'd like to be in a game. I asked, of course, what the concept was. He said "the Matrix, except inside the Matrix is typical fantasy." I was sold, but that brief description did absolutely no justice to what was to follow. He used modified 3.0 & 3.5 rules to make something I still look back fondly on. Not just for the game, which was well-paced, with an excellent mix of story and combat, but everything around it. The pregame ritual of getting snacks from the campus center. The post-game relaxation, feeling like something important, dramatic, and fun happened. The fact that gradually, those three guys (and one initial girl) who gamed together became great friends. There were other games in and out of school. Some worked (like my senior year fantasy game using 3.5 with my own setting), some didn't (like the convoluted mess that was my first DMing attempt), but I will always, always have Matrix Legends and D&D in my heart.

I considered us the John, George, Paul, and Ringo of tabletop gaming. And no, the female member was not the Yoko that doomed us all. The big scary real world split us up, but going to GenCon or even one of these prize packs would really add to the fun when we do get back together. And I can use them to twist innocents toward the Dark Side.

I DM for a group of five other people that can only play via the internet. Most of the people who I DM for are new to the game to boot. I have tried to get together a local game at my college, but the people who are interested are never available at the same time. Several of my friends who I have known on the internet, however, -can- arrange to get together at the same time once or twice a month.

I've met several of my players in the flesh before, but there are some whom I have never had the chance to meet. We are from all over the United States - Illinois, Ohio, Massachusetts and California, among others. Getting the chance to actually meet -everyone- would be really nice as well.

Explaining rules via IRC can get complicated, and it's difficult to help one of my players with a question simply because I can't look over a character sheet. I can't pull out my PHB and show them things - if we were together to play a game I could do that for my players.

My dice bag lies beneath my bed, gathering dust from disuse. We play online using a dice roller; there's no mystery left to rolling, no contested dice falling to the floor, no blowing on dice for luck, no clacking and no praying and no spilled Mountain Dew, there's just cold, dead math. We get the same result, but there's something missing; the ritual and anticipation and anguish of the dice is a joy most of my players have never known.

If we were to get together, I could be the DM I should be, and they could play the game as it should be played, if only for the one time.