As a spellcaster in Dungeons & Dragons , it can be easy to feel overwhelmed by the number of options available to you. Some spells seem like easy picks. For example, being able to turn invisible to avoid attacks and slip by unnoticed? Yeah, Invisibility is always going to be useful. Being able to incinerate a room full of baddies? Yeah, Fireball is pretty awesome. Related: The most overpowered D&D 5e spells...

The film industry is changing fast, yet some things never seem to change. Throughout the years, we got used to watching certain character archetypes and patterns in our movies—some pleasant, some less so, but all of them entered our imaginations and shaped the way we watch stories. Yet, some of us grew to watch films with a more critical eye, and it’s clear now that some common character tropes of the past just don’t work that well anymore—to the point where they feel unsatisfying....

Ask anyone who plays games, and most of them will have stories about trying to get the most out of a game. This could be because the game is so good that you don’t want it to end, or it could just be that you don’t have anything else that you feel like playing right away. We’ve all run into the situation where we’re trying to squeeze the most out of a game....

If you’re a hardcore fighting game fan, or maybe even a casual one, you probably have an arcade stick or two lying around. These are great for fighting games, but sometimes they feel like too specialized a controller. After all, you’re not going to play Call of Duty with an arcade stick. That said, fighting games aren’t the only type of game you can play with an arcade stick. There are multiple genres that easily lend themselves to the arcade stick play style....

Back in the day, when you wanted to play Dungeons & Dragons , it was all done on paper and with books. This was fun in its own way, but it wasn’t always easy. Sure, there’s something authentic about picking up a book and looking up everything. It’s satisfying to use a pencil on paper, but it’s not the most practical. Nowadays, the internet has created a wealth of tools that can make playing and DMing D&D so much easier and more pleasant....

There are some shows you watch once, and that’s all you need. Especially in this age of binging several series a year, you may not need to go back to old shows the way you might have used to. On the other hand, some shows still deserve it. Science fiction in general tends to lean toward this sort of re-watchability for a few reasons. Part of it is that due to the settings, it’s more escapist than other TV shows may be....

HBO has joined the ranks of streaming giants Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ by debuting its very own streaming platform: HBO Max. HBO Max is the latest addition to HBO’s collection of streaming platforms, and introduces a ton of new streamable content. 1. HBO Max Has a Wide Collection of Shows and Movies for All Ages HBO Max’s lineup of shows and movies is too long to list, and there’s still more to come....

When it comes to creating a Dungeons & Dragons characters, there are three primary methods of determining stats: standard array, point buy, and rolling. The stats of character will determine how effective they are at various aspects of the game going forward, so allocating them is rather important. Generally, it’s up to the dungeon master to decide which method will be used for a game, but some DMs don’t care and let the players choose....

Before movies, we had photography—the stepping stone between making art and capturing reality. The first recorded photograph was taken in 1826 by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, but its blurry and hard to tell what it’s about. It’s titled “The View From the Window at Le Gras” and it took around eight hours to expose, which is hard to imagine with today’s instant phone cameras, right? Since then, photography has snowballed into a popular medium that’s practiced by professionals and the clueless alike....

Board game nights are one of my favorite things to do, but it only takes one bad apple to ruin an otherwise awesome session. Or worse, cause enough problems that the board gaming group breaks up altogether. Yeah, that’s happened to me. None of us ever wants to be that guy (or girl ), which is why it’s important to always keep board gaming etiquette in mind. You don’t want to piss someone off—even unintentionally....

Fantasy is huge these days. It’s actually been big for a while, but always floating just beneath the surface. It wasn’t until the titanic rise of young adult fantasy series (like Harry Potter , Artemis Fowl , and Grisha ) and the resurgence in adult fantasy series (like A Song of Ice and Fire , The First Law , and Mistborn ) that fantasy as a genre took the world by storm....

Why do we reach for sad movies when we’re facing something difficult? When you’re grieving and reeling from catastrophe, it might seem counterproductive to absorb yourself into downer movies. But it can actually be quite therapeutic. Watching somebody else go through heartbreak, loss, or illness—even if they’re fictional—can make your own pain seem more manageable. Here are the best movies about grief and loss that depict characters dealing with emotional suffering of all kinds....

As a hobby board gamer, I love all kinds of board games with all kinds of mechanics—but there’s something truly special about dice games . The cool feel of plastic in hand, the satisfying clack-clack-clack as you shake them up, the tense moments of bated breath as you toss them and hope for the results you need. It’s just so fun . Dice games may involve more luck than other kinds of board games, but that’s part of their charm....

You may have heard of femme fatales, but what actually are they? Are they just female villains? And if so, why not just call them that? The femme fatale is a very specific type of female character, one who utilizes her charisma, magnetism, and sexuality to get what she wants. Often harboring a dark or violent side, the femme fatale seduces her way out of trouble and often persuades lovers to do her bidding....

Everybody loves a good serial killer (not literally, of course). The latest buzz around Netflix’s Jeffrey Dahmer series starring Evan Peters as the notorious cannibal killer? Yeah, that says it all. But where do women fit into all of this? From No Country for Old Men to The Silence of the Lambs , men have always been the most notorious of killers in cinema. Aren’t women just as capable of murder?...

Science fiction has never been an easy genre to pin down. Space opera, cyberpunk, science fantasy, and hard sci-fi all exist within one overall label. But which is which? And who writes it all? Still, science fiction is a genre where you know it when you see it—and there are many fantastic authors working in the genre these days. This article is about modern sci-fi writers, meaning those who are still active and releasing new works....

The relationship between a father and son can be complicated. Maybe the son is full of teen angst, or maybe the father is too lost in his work, or maybe a traumatic event split them apart. Father and son have a unique bond unlike any other, and that bond can often come under strain. And what better material for a touching, emotional, and often cathartic drama? Here are our picks for the best movies about father-son relationships, across all kinds of genres and depictions!...

The Dust Bowl, the Hindenburg disaster, and Prohibition are all markers of the 1930s, a decade caught between two World Wars and spent trying to claw back a ruined economy. Most know the 1930s as the decade of the Great Depression, which lasted nearly the entire way through, starting in 1929 and ending in 1939 with the advent of World War II. Here are our picks for the best movies that take place during the 1930s—of the Great Depression and other subjects, too!...

Music is more important to the gaming experience than you may think. An amazing soundtrack contributes to the overall story and tone of the game, not to mention that it makes playing much more enjoyable. Some of the greatest soundtracks come from indie games. While indie developers don’t have the funding or the huge staffs of AAA studios, they don’t let that stop them from creating incredible music. The following indie game soundtracks are worth a listen!...

Who doesn’t love a good period drama? I love them to death, especially when they’re in the long format of a television series. To be transported back to a time when knights, gangsters, queens, or soldiers ruled their respective worlds undistracted by technology? It’s a wonderful way to escape the mundanities of modern life. Lucky for us, TV has tons of worthwhile period dramas. From the Tudor royal courts and Victorian London to the American Civil War or even 19th century sailors, here are the best period drama series of all time!...