Practical jokes, hoaxes and other funny events mark April 1st in several countries. Publishers and fans of Horror & Dark Fantasy enjoy a good laugh as much as anyone. Here is our ongoing list of April Fools jokes, events and news, stay tuned as we update with new links.

Wizards of the Coast – The new D&D site is certainly interesting. The Name Change Promotion is a great idea!

Steve Jackson Games – GURPS Tank! and a buyout offer from Atlas Games (who incidentally is being bought by Ronin Arts, which is being bought by, you guessed it, Steve Jackson Games).

White Wolf LJ – Shadows of Iceland via Bax’s Inside Awesomeness!

Mohawk Media – Mr. T Versus Dracula by Christopher Bunting.

The game of Dungeons & Dragons is, at its core, a game of epic fantasy. The characters we choose and role-play more closely resemble the mythological heroes of ancient times or modern fantasy literature. The nature of an epic fantasy adventure is that the hero(es) will face a great threat which will endanger the lives of innocents/family/the world. There will be a great struggle, but the outcome is never in question. Epic fantasy stories end with our protagonist overcoming the long odds and great trials to become a truly legendary hero. But this begs an interesting question.

What if the hero can not succeed?

Review by Vincent Venturella

The subtitle is The Book of Undead and that accurately captures the thrust of this entire work. For me, this work was long coming as I still have my copy of the 2nd Edition Necromancer’s Handbook on my gaming shelf (okay, shelves). That book allowed us to live out our darker desires in D&D; a game whose objective morality often prevents those who want a little taste of the dark side from enjoying themselves. That handbook, like Libris Mortis promises us the chance to peer deeper into the unlife of undead from every angle. Let’s face it, who doesn’t sit at work some days, when your boss is breathing down your neck, and Sheila from accounting is emailing you thirteen times an hour for the TPS reports, and dream of summoning a horde of the undead to wipe them all out.

It can’t be just me.

Review by Vincent Venturella

Wizards of the Coast sat down with The Darkwood Mask author Jeff LaSala recently for an interview: Wizards: How would you describe The Darkwood Mask to a reader thinking about picking it up? Jeff LaSala: It is an action murder mystery in a world where magic (or other supernatural power) is arrayed against you and […]