Today's Saving Throw brings three new hall of fame submissions to you. In today's featured entry, Darkniciad tells us about how a neophyte paladin's unlucky first encounter led to the creation of a new deity in his world. Eggman tells us how he used a scroll taken from a wizard to later defeat her in a otherwise futile battle, and Bakado earns himself a golden caret by telling us about an interesting game of "ice soccer" and an unwise decision made by a fellow player character. Bakado, here's your caret:

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You may notice that the format for release dates has changed. This is mostly due to the fact that most of the publishing companies releasing tabletop RPGs and TCGs don't tend to report specific dates, and it turns out that at least some of the dates I had been finding were unreliable. Upcoming releases were listed up to a month in advance, and recent releases were listed two weeks back, roughly speaking. In hopes of helping to expand my coverage to more games and companies, especially those that do not report specific release dates, or any at all, each column will now look at only the week ahead and behind. Many titles are listed as coming out during a specific month; I will do my best to determine which week and report it then, but you may only see the month and year listed when I do so.

At any rate, not all titles will appear as "Expected This Week" in the Product Releases section since, in many cases, I won't be certain of the timing of many releases until they happen. They will appear as "Released This Week" as soon as I've confirmed they are available, though. Also, you may occasionally see some titles listed as "Off to Press." Some companies report this, and this is usually a sure sign that the product will be released within a month or so.

Now, assuming I haven't bored you to tears, or perhaps especially if I have, it's time to move on to the column!

The first tournament of 2006 Champs for the Magic: The Gathering TCG is to be held on March 18. 2006 Champs will have three tournaments over the course of the year, though each event has a different format. These are state and province-level events, not national or worldwide events. The March 18 event is to be in the Limited Two-Headed Giant format. The Limited format event is scheduled for June 24, and the Standard format event is scheduled for October 21.

Attendees for the March 18 event will receive an "Electrolyze" card while supplies last. The top four teams will receive a foil "Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind" card as a prize, and the winning team will receive a 2006 Champs baseball cap. Proof of residency is required in order to register. Interested players are asked to contact their local tournament organizer.

With the upcoming release of Exalted, Second Edition coming on March 20, White Wolf Publishing has made Return of the Tomb of 5 Corners available for free download. This item contains both demo rules for Exalted, Second Edition and a sample adventure "of epic scope." It has made available both to present the game to new players and to provide a valuable resource to longtime fans. Printed copies will be available at participating retail scores.

In preparation for the release of the Nights of Reckoning expansion for the Vampire: The Eternal Struggle TCG, Hunter: The Reckoning is available for free download from DriveThruRPG.com until March 20. Those downloading this free core book will also receive a coupon good for 30 percent off for orders of $20 or more of titles in the Hunter: The Reckoning line until April 30.

That wraps up another week of the Saving Throw and empties the small backlog I had for this week. Thus, next week is completely open for brand new submissions; remember that fan-made character sheets and other such tabletop-gaming-related forms are now accepted for the Fan Materials sections, and as always, Hall of Fame stories, guides, reviews, and for that matter, any other fan-made material are also more than welcome. Golden carets are available in trade for funny, embarrassing, or disastrous stories; of course, for embarrassing and disastrous stories, you must play a significant part in the disaster or embarrassing moment to earn a coveted golden caret.

Also, I've had an idea of posting the occasional tabletop gaming session. To do this, though, we need a gamemaster and players interested in having a game in #savingthrow on EsperNet. If you are interested in participating, especially if you're willing to gamemaster, please email me and let me know what kind of game you're interesting in running or playing in and when you might want to play. Also, anyone interested might want to start checking in on #savingthrow from time to time.

I'll be back next Wednesday with yet another Saving Throw. May you never take more than half damage.

Shawn "Wouldn't make a good statue for any stronghold" Bruckner