Though New York Comic Con has come and gone, we here at Geekosystem were lucky enough to meet up with some amazing people at the massive celebration of all things geeky. Here’s an account of some of the mysterious creatures that leapt out and attacked us along our epic quest.

The only thing between Luke Crane and myself is a box set of his latest roleplaying game creation. He didn’t know I was coming, and I didn’t know I was going to see him, but it quickly becomes obvious that it didn’t matter all that much to him. Crane, who is the creator of the Burning Wheel roleplaying system, is a fast thinker and a fast talker. There’s nothing wasted about this man — he’s slim, with close cropped hair and a sharp mind. Which only makes sense, since Crane has spawned games that have cut to the very heart of roleplaying, and reworked it from the inside out in his games.

For the uninitiated, Burning Wheel is a pencil and paper role playing game in the vein of Dungeons and Dragons. There are dice, there are sheets of paper, and the players say their intentions instead of moving pieces around a board. But Burning Wheel, while drawing from the traditions established by D&D, is very much its own game. To take a superficial difference, the iconic 20-sided dice of D&D will find no home on a Burning Wheel table. The game shirks such exotic things, and uses simple, ubiquitous six-sided dice instead.

But as a game, there are deeper, subtler differences.

There’s always buzz about when the next PlayStation or Xbox is going to come out, or who’s going to win the next presidential election, but have you ever thought about how many more PlayStations, Xboxes or presidential elections you’re going to see before you bite the dust? Well, whether or not you have, this original Geekosystem infographic will tell you. By doing a little research, a couple of maths and ignoring a massive number of potential variables like premature death, bankruptcy, game-changing inventions, and the end of the world, I came up with 12 things that you will see before you die. Get ready to get pumped for the PlayStation 11.

Have you ever been sitting there at othe card table set up in Bernie’s basement, looking at that special someone over a pile of GameFuel cans? The way he or she holds those 20-sided dice, and how she or he always remembers your stats so you don’t have to look them up.

When he or she looked you in the eye, you knew this person had just rolled a natural 20 — straight to your heart.

(via Topless Robot)

Zach Anner is back! (ZachAnner on YouTube)

A Love Poem to Video Games (Kotaku)

93% of parents are around when video games are purchased. Hm. (Entertainment Software Association)

LEGOs make even A Clockwork Orange adorable! (Surf With Berserk)

Neil Gaiman on Internet piracy, selling more books (OpenRightsGroup on YouTube)

How to introduce your kids to D&D (The Mule Abides)

Anatomical sleeping bag. Thank you, Japan. (Weekly ASCII Store)

(Top pic via Neatorama)

Well, it’s January 1st, and you know what that means: we all need new calendars! And what could possibly be better than a calendar you can literally play D&D with.

Well, sort of.  Depending on your choice of editions, you might only need a twelve sided die to roll the damage on your great-axe, or to roll up hit points for your barbarian; and seriously, who rolls for hit points anyway?

And there’s the fact that once you construct this 3-inch papercraft dodecahedron with each month of 2011 printed on a side, it probably won’t be a truly random die.

That could be good news or bad news, actually.

(more…)

We personally got a look at 4th edition D&D on the Microsoft Surface at this year’s PAX East, and even though purchasing one is just a leeetle bit outside our price range for gaming accessories ($10,000) we still get super excited to see what new features get rolled out for the product.

Why? Because it reminds us that we live in the future now.

D&D Themed Sports Team Shirts (Geeks are Sexy)

Biggest Diablo News Ever At BlizzCon (That Videogame Blog)

Soon Neptune Will Complete Its First Orbit Since Discovered (Discovery News)

The ABCS of Lame Marvel Villains (Comics Alliance)

A Deleted Scene From Neil Gaiman’s Dr. Who Episode (Neil Gaiman)

Korean StarCraft Addicts Treated With Drugs (Kotaku)

Space Food Over the Years (BoingBoing)

(picture via Game Informer: Portland Bike Lanes Power-Up With Mario Symbols.)

Jones Soda is currently promoting a limited-edition series of Dungeons & Dragons sodas, in flavors like “Potion of Healing,” “Dwarven Draught,” “Illithid Brain Juice,” “Sneak Attack,” “Eldritch Blast,” and “Bigby’s Crushing Thirst Destroyer.” Tellingly, “Potion of Healing” is the only one that’s sugar-free.

The inaugural Penny Arcade Expo East sold out earlier this year, but I was never worried.  I’d ordered badges for me and my friend R in October.  And so, last Thursday, I made my way to New York Penn Station to begin my first weekend at that great gaming Mecca: PAX.

I learned a few things from my first PAX and my second con:

So, after the overwhelming media hogwash, you’ve still forgotten that tomorrow is Valentine’s Day? Or maybe you really meant to go out and get that nice thing, but it just slipped your mind (as always, the Penny Arcade sentiment is timeless). Have no fear, Geekosystem is here.

Below the cut you will find a sampling of the best geeky Valentine cards on the Internet, just waiting for you to print them.

You’re welcome.