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	Archive through August 21, 2026	25		09/06 05:51pm

Eddie, no, I haven't. Never heard of it before (or totally forgot about it). However, when teaching my kid brother how to play chess, I would allow his queen to also move like a knight.


Garth L. Getgen

By Eddie E Crutchfield (Librarian101) on Saturday, August 22, 2026 - 10:34 am: Edit

Capablanca Chess is played on a 10 square board 2 additional pieces are added, an Archbishop and a chancellor. The Archbishop moves like a bishop and knight, the Chancellor moves like a rook and knight. It was invented by a world champion in the 1930s. The pieces start one on each side of the king and queen. Also a version that is played on the normal 8 square board where the pieces are placed in the bishop squares once the bishops have moved.

By Jeff Anderson (Jga) on Saturday, August 22, 2026 - 05:40 pm: Edit

Friendly (to ADB, Inc., I think*) game company "Steve Jackson Games" has two chess variants; "Nightmare Chess" (which has cards that add unusual scenarios every turn) and a game who's name escapes me, that features dice which are rotated to change into different chess pieces, from pawn up to queen, and has a separate facing for a new "Chess Piece" that is immobile and cannot be taken.

(* SJG gave us both GURPS, which has good Prime Directive modules AND a game called Ogre, which has a wonderful short story written by SVC. That's why I think they're probably friendly... )

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, August 22, 2026 - 11:57 pm: Edit

Steve Jackson and I are old buddies.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Sunday, September 06, 2026 - 05:51 pm: Edit

Hasbro announced that CEO Chris Cox will be taking over direct control of D&D, and Wizards of the Coast game company development divisions.

Apparently, the existing research and development department’s personnel will be released from employment.

Lots of rumors, fed primarily from past comments made by Chris Cox over many years about how he intended to change D&D “if he ever got his hands on it.”

His “Big Idea” is to change the books and game accessories from table top games to “Collectible Edition items” and bring in AI (artificial intelligence) in the form of game moderated chat rooms where AI game sessions of paying customers (subscribers) are entertained while they pay for the privilege.

It is only a coincidence that Wizards of the Coast employees were in the process of establishing a union.

There are a number of chat rooms where various opinions of this are being aired…not everyone is in favor of the changes and I imagine if anyone were so foolish as to venture a supporting opinion, well let us just say tar and feathers was one of the more kind and politically correct responses.

By Xander Fulton (Dderidex) on Monday, September 07, 2026 - 11:29 am: Edit

Welp, that will ruin that.

Nice thing about cardboard and paper, though - we'll always have the old editions to play. Best effort of tech bro executives can't remove printed material from our hands in favor of perpetual to-play service fees.

(Yet, anyway. [/shudders in Fahrenheit 451])

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Monday, September 07, 2026 - 01:11 pm: Edit

Well, I have to admit that I am in complete agreement.

I play first and second edition D&d, (tried 3rd, 4th and 5th editions. Wasn’t impressed)

Currently up to my knees in dungeon tiles production (print and paste) and having a great time.

Can’t imagine how the pay to play games are going to go with unsupervised AI controlling the game play.

Might as well throw consistency and game play concepts directly into the trash.

By Kevin Howard (Jarawara) on Monday, September 07, 2026 - 04:46 pm: Edit

Pay to play has apparently been going on for some time, though I haven't seen it myself. I'm hearing more and more stories from groups that meet online with a paid DM, $20 per session (I don't know if that's the DM's fee, or EACH player's cost).

This new change would only remove the paid DM with an AI?

But yeah, pen and paper, 1st and 2nd edition, though with homebrew.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Monday, September 07, 2026 - 06:00 pm: Edit

Kevin Howard:

Nothing wrong with “Old School”… internet outage, power failures or even electrical storms can derail all sorts of online gaming but pen and pencil games or even pushing card board star ships across a paper hex map wouldn’t be slowed down (assuming alternative lighting such as candles or local generator being used…)

Even using the latest AI is not going to work with detailed narrative games (d&d, traveler etc…) because the game will be dependent on the original programing, and unsupervised AI means the AI will be writing code as the game progresses which is its greatest weakness as it introduces errors over time which attacks the players ability to suspend belief in the game universe.

A good DM/game master etc has to interface with the gamers assessing the players judgment in the game.

An AI GM will not be able to discern between players actions or decisions in game context which introduces more error into the game.

Chris Cox has claimed that he plays in a gaming group with 30-40 other players that uses ChatGPT.

Hard to see how the majority of D&D players are going to be satisfied with such a system while being expected to pay for the subscription service at the same time the quality of the content experiences ongoing deminisjing returns.

By Steve Stewart (Stevestewart) on Wednesday, September 09, 2026 - 07:06 am: Edit

I have played DnD for a long time (about the same time I started playing SFB funnily enough) and I run 5e. However, Hasbro / WotC and their insistence on micro-transaction, AI in everything, and generally being a bunch of COMMENTS REDACTED have resulted in me moving to PF2e, which is great.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Wednesday, September 09, 2026 - 10:41 am: Edit

In my opinion, part of the satisfaction found in playing RPGs such as D&d, PF, or traveler etc… is the interaction between GM/player such as:


Player:


“I didn’t ask about how big the room is, I said “Cast Fireball !”

GM:

”Okay, roll for damage and then roll a Saving throw.”

By Justin Spaeth (Spants) on Wednesday, September 09, 2026 - 11:54 am: Edit

I have to say Steve the three action economy of Pathfinder 2e and Starfinder 2e are just the best. I feel so constrained when I play 5e with my friend who doesn't want to try anything new.

By A David Merritt (Adm) on Wednesday, September 09, 2026 - 12:21 pm: Edit

Just a thought, but Steve Jackson Games GURPS system will allow you to play just about anything you want. Including GURPS Prime Directive, which takes place in the Starfleet Universe.

You can also do, or blend, Dungeon Fantasy into it, or Horror, or Super Heroes, or whatever you want.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Thursday, October 08, 2026 - 09:41 pm: Edit

Bad news for Hasbro and its new CEO:

The developers, designers, artists, and writers behind Dungeons & Dragons, D&D Beyond, and Magic:

The Gathering announced their intent to unionize on October 6, 2026, under the banner of United Wizards of the Coast – CWA (UWOTC-CWA) in partnership with the Communications Workers of America.

Key Details of the Union Effort

• Who is involved: The Dungeons & Dragons team (including D&D Beyond) and Studio X (tabletop Magic: The Gathering and Duel Masters). This follows the earlier unionization of the Magic: The Gathering Arena team earlier in 2026.
• The demand: Workers have asked Wizards of the Coast and parent company Hasbro to voluntarily recognize the union by October 13, 2026.
• Core grievances & demands:
• Safeguards and protections against the adoption of generative AI and LLMs.
• Job security, layoff protections, and relief from crunch culture.
• Fairer wages, clear career paths, remote-work protections, and improved healthcare.

No response from Hasbro, but it is known that they had previously hired a law firm that specializes in opposing unionization efforts.

Don’t know how much they paid the law firm, but it appears to have failed.

Too early to say if unionization will help either the employees or Hasbro, but it could get very very expensive for Hasbro the more they fight the union.

I liked the pro-union slogan of the employees:

“Games for people, by people for games.”