I thought there’d be a whole raft of posts up on the happennings at GenCon over the weekend, but it seems those people lucky enough to be there are still travelling/catching up on sleep! 🙂

The one obvious update I saw is out there on the WOTC website, announcing that the next DnD Next playtest packet will be the last, as R&D start to concentrate on more specific targeted playtesting. From the point of view of someone that is just (finally…) about to start a DnD Next campaign, this is actually not a bad thing, as it means the rules will be fairly stable!

However, I am still a little surprised, as the last packet contained some fairly sudden changes (skills removed, classes becoming a little more rigid in terms of progression choice, with options pretty tied to specific subclasses, etc.), so I’d expected a bit more time for feedback on this (my general feel from the comments and other blogs is that these changes were not that well received …). I’m just starting to create a couple of sub-classes myself to fit into the new campaign, so we’ll see how it goes …

I was also pleased to see Kobold Press picked up a couple of Gold Ennies for A Kobold Guide to Worldbuilding. On flip side, a little disappointed that the Midgard Campaign Setting didn’t win anything, but I guess that is how the dice roll! 😉

Finally, a little tidbit of goodness I just came across – yes I know it’s been up for several years, but I like it! After posting my entry to this months RPG Bloggers Carnival at Evil Machinations, I was browsing the site, not one I’d come across too often before. There’s lots of great content here, but a series of articles “Beyond ‘Fred’“, which provides lists of potential fantasy game names drawn from real-world cultures, really took my fancy!! I struggle with names, especially if I’m trying to keep them consistent, so this definitely goes straight onto on my list of GM-useful links!!