I intended to write a column about world development and GMing this month, really I did! But the month was very chaotic, and my brain is feeling a little frazzled. So I'm going to be lazy, and in honor of the month of November and the American holiday of Thanksgiving, this month's column is going to be . . . Things Gamers Can Be Thankful For! There's a lot of things that gamers can be thankful for, although unless you're from a family of geeks, no one else will understand if you mention this during the annual "What I'm Thankful For" shtick around the table. But don't worry: here at CT, we understand you. So lets all join our hands, bow our heads in a strictly non-religious way, and count our many dorky blessings. A Good GM. That can make all the difference, can't it? Any game is more fun when you have a GM who's enthusiastic about it and runs a game that fits with your play style. While I may not always agree with either of the guys running our current roster of games, they both do a good job and make the games fun for everyone. Local Game Shops. Oh, sure, maybe you can get your sourcebooks cheaper from Amazon, but that lacks the human element of a game shop. After all, did Amazon host "Free RPG Day" early this year? I thought not! And does Amazon give you a place to play when the GM's wife gets mad and kicks you out of her apartment? Not hardly! My game store has the added benefit of special-ordering books and having them arrive just about as quickly as they would if I ordered them from Amazon. Lucky Dice. You know the ones. Maybe they don't always roll the best, but when you really need that natural 20 on a fort save or you're dead meat, they come through for you. Let's also be thankful for that special handful of d6s that rolls great stats. New Sourcebooks. Oh, sure, it's no big deal for D&D players. They have new books out every month. But when you play a smaller system, it's always such a nice thrill when there's something to add to your library. I'm personally thankful for the rash of new L5R books this year. Now if only EarthDawn would get crackin' on the new book front, too. I want my Way of Will, darn it! Mechanical Pencils. Making character sheet updates clean and easy. Your Fellow Players. Solo games are fun, but having a group of players is ideal. You get a nice variety of characters, and more different minds working on the puzzles and challenges that come up in the course of your average campaign. Plans That Come Together. Don't you just love it when you come up with the perfect plan to solve a problem in game, and then pull it off flawlessly? It's a nice little buzz of satisfaction. Even better when your plan isn't even close to what the GM expected the group to do. Genre Movies. Sure, maybe some of them are utter crap, but it's nice to see so many movies of a geeky persuasion. Book adaptations, video game adaptations, parodies and more, they're all out there. And of course, horror has been huge for the past few years! I can only hope that the genre trend continues, and that the good outweighs the bad. Holiday Weekends. More time for gaming! Hurrah! Next month I'll copy-and-paste... I mean, write my annual Geek Gift Guide, but I'll also try to have a real Playing God column. Until then, happy gaming!

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Copyright © 2007 By AJ Reardon E-mail AJ at: ErtheFae@aol.com Visit AJ at: www.erthefae.com