Cryptic’s free-to-play Dungeons & Dragons-lite MMO Neverwinter is one of those fun-looking games that I’ve only found the time to sink a couple hours into. As such, I’m a little jealous of the folks playing through some of the game’s newer high-level modules, including a jaunt through the Underdark and a recently added jungle filled with undead dinosaurs. This week’s module – the fourteenth to be added to the game – has my attention, as this one’s based on Ravenloft, the ridiculously bleak and gothic D&D setting.

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One of the main reasons I got into RPGs back in the day was that if you bought one, you were getting a lot of game for your money. That was important when there was only one birthday and one Christmas a year, and not much chance that some relative might pop their clogs in sync with Ultima VI coming out. Years later I no longer need the Grim Reaper’s help to fill my collection, and other genres have done their best to replace scouring maps for objectives with, y’know, game>, but there’s still few that can match it in terms of raw Stuff. It takes a lot of content to fill an RPG.

This week then, I’m turning the spotlight on a few small bits and pieces from various games that I think back on fondly. Not entire games. Just a few ideas and moments from them that stuck with me, whether I liked the actual game they were in at all. Add yours in the comments, yadda yadda, you know the drill. Also, I thought I’d try and pick a few things that aren’t brought up that often, hence the lack of, say, Heather Poe from Vampire: Bloodlines or any of The Witcher III’s awesome stuff. Got that? Cool.

Note: you can browse through the list using the arrows alongside the image at the top of the page, or using the left and right arrows on your very own keyboard.

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In this era of a hundred comic book movies a year plus spin-off shows, it’s getting harder and harder to remember that not so long ago trying to take a superhero off the printed page and onto some kind of screen was basically a recipe for failure, mockery, and a way of flying a promising creative career into a great big rock. Hell, even now most superheroes without the word ‘Bat’ in their name are still waiting for someone to even attempt a game, never mind make a good one. For every Batman on NES or Arkham Asylum, there’s an Aquaman or Superman on Nintendo 64.

On PC, it’s always been particularly weird. Especially when you look at which companies have tried and failed over the years to bring us the ultimate superhero RPG. Is there anything out there that comes close? Ignoring Freedom Force, since that’s not an RPG? Well, some! Enough not to have to hold out for a hero, at least.

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HO HO HO. Christmas is practically upon us, and games eveywhere… well, mostly online… are joining the party. Whether they call it Winter Veil or Frostfell, it’s a chance to deck the hubs with bonus XP and let everyone from elves to orcs don Santa hats and hand out treats to the good little wizards and barbarians. Here’s a few of the events going on around the worlds over the next week or so. Is there something cool happening in one of your games that you think folks would find fun? Wrap it up nicely in a comment and leave it under the tree. By which I mean the article. Sorry, that metaphor seemed to be going in a better direction at the start of the sentence.

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The most dangerous ideas are the ones so compelling, nobody wants to admit they’re bad. Also the atom bomb was pretty nasty, but that’s a bit out of a weekly RPG column. Instead, let’s pick one of the chocolate teapots that people keep mistaking for the Holy Grail – the idea that RPGs can hope to offer anything close to a classic DM experience. It’s a terrible idea. It’s not going to work. Stop wasting everybody’s time.

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“Go for the eyes, Boo!” That’s a quote from Baldur’s Gate. One of the characters says it when attacking enemies. His name is Minsc, and he is a silly man with a pet hamster named Boo. The joke is that he’s telling his hamster to attack, but it’s just a hamster – and he thinks it’s a “miniature giant space hamster” too!

If you enjoyed my dry retelling even though I’m just grasping at someone else’s lightning, if you still feeling a twinge of nostalgia at the mention of characters you once adored, hey, you might be into the news that Minsc and Boo are coming to free-to-play D&D MMO Neverwinter [official site].

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We’re not the world’s biggest fans of these traditionally sturctured fantasy MMOs, but Neverwinter is a rare exception. The game lured John into its embrace and cradled him there in a pleasing rhythm of free-to-play questing, levelling and monster-bashing for the length of a three-part diary series. That’s old age, in RPS-diary years.

So maybe you’re already playing it on John’s recommendation, or maybe you saw yesterday’s news about the Icewind Dale expansion and decided it was finally time to give it a try. In any case, we’ve got 10,000 free keys for an in-game booster pack, in case you needed an extra excuse to finally hit download, install and play.

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It’s been a good decade since Black Isle last took us to Icewind Dale, so how’d you fancy a return visit? This isn’t the noughties anymore, mind, so you may find the whole experience a mite different to those old turn-based RPGs. Curse of Icewind Dale, the third big free update for Cryptic’s free-to-play Neverwinter, launched yesterday to add new zones set in the chilly land and more modern MMORPG merriment.

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It looks like Atari, recently the focus of negative attention after Test Drive Unlimited developer Eden Games went on strike due to their treatment, are looking to gather some more cash. Via PCG we see Gamespot spotted the news that the publisher is selling Cryptic, the studio behind Star Trek: Online and Champions: Online.

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It was announced back in 2010 that Champions Online would be moving to a free-to-play model, but that has now been dated: JANUARY 25TH IS THE DATE. Needless to say, you can keep subscribing to unlock loads of the content that will now be available via the “C-Store”, or you can play for free and buy various content packs with micro-cash. Here’s an FAQ that may answer and questions you might have. I link to that because can’t answer them, not accurately anyway, but if you do> want to ask questions in the comments below I’ll have a wild stab at answering them when I wake up in the morning. Or I might just forget, or idly blog links to Minecraft texture packs instead. Anyway, you can already> play some of Champions for free, because there is a trial mode thing, or “demo”. Hooray!

You will remember, of course, that Champions Online wasn’t as much fun as City Of Heroes, which was a shame, but that’s life, eh?