Buying a computer game as a surprise for someone else is a snap: Find something with top reviews, plunk down $50 and you’re set.

Granted, “find something good and give it” works in theory but, when it comes to buying for tabletop gamers, there’s a hidden risk: You might have to actually play the game.

This year’s lineup focuses on stuff that you can be comfortable giving, and you stand a real chance of having fun even if you normally want nothing to do with funny dice games:

On August 9, 2011, Wizards of the Coast (WotC) announced the official winners of the Neverwinter Mass Adventure at Gen Con 2011 to be the drow (dark elf, right side of the photo) mercenaries of the Bregan D’aerthe faction.

The competition was held between three factions: The warrior (center) faction of New Neverwinter was a close second place, while the evil wizards of Thay were a distant last place. I’m glad to hear only a small minority of people want to be power-hungry wizards willing to sacrifice any number of innocents for personal gain, although 18% is still a bit high for my taste.

The Magic: The Gathering 2012 Core Set is now available in stores.

Core sets represent the ‘base cards’ for Magic: The Gathering (M:TG) for the coming year. They’re officially tournament legal but tournament players usually don’t buy many core cards.

In the coming months these cards will quickly be replaced in tournament decks by often more powerful and more interesting cards from upcoming expansions.

Title: Conquest of NerathPrice: $79.99Release Date: June 21, 2011Publisher: Wizards of the CoastAge: 12 and upPros: Plenty of nice pieces, the rules are very straightforward, game plays just as well with 2 or 4 players and plenty of carnage.Cons: The simple rules and setup make grand strategy and teamwork fairly limited, the linkup with Dungeons and Dragons is minimal and there are a few balance/design issues in the game.Overall Score: One thumb up and one thumb sideways, 82/100, B, *** out of 5

Wizards of the Coast has a new installment of its Duels of the Planeswalkers game coming June 15, 2011. These games allow players to try their hand at the immensely popular Magic:The Gathering collectible card game over PlayStation Network, Xbox Live and Windows. The game is tailored to newer players, featuring simpler rules and a limited card pool. Developed by the UK’s Stainless Games, DoTP passed the half a million sold mark in January 2011.

The Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) Encounters program has been a solid success for Wizards of the Coast (WoTC), but they’re changing the format to allow more options for players.

Wizards of the Coast‘s (WotC) latest hardcover book, Heroes of Shadow, is yet another new take for their fourth edition Dungeons and Dragons (4e D&D) role playing game (RPG).

Up until this point, characters in 4e D&D were strictly the good guys and had no serious option to play or act evil but Heroes of Shadow changes that paradigm. Players can now take on the role of traditionally evil villains including the Assassin (first introduced in 1978, but not seen much since) or Blackguard (a fallen Paladin, a common archetype to D&D), all worked out with their own special powers and features.

Wizards of the Coast (WotC) recently released its latest version of the Adventure Tools: Monster Builder for 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons ( 4e D&D).

The greatest strength of 4e D&D is how easy it is on the game master (GM) to prepare for play but keeping track of all the stats for monsters – and following the guides for creating new monsters – can be tough. The builder puts everything at the GM’s fingertips, giving him one more tool to simplify his job.

I can’t help but be a little confused at the name of Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012, the next planned version of the Duels of the Planeswalkers software which lets players play Magic: The Gathering online with virtual cards. It’ll be available on Xbox Live Arcade, Windows and PlayStation Network this summer, which would still be squarely in 2011 as near as I can tell. I guess the reasoning for the name is the software will include cards from the newest M:TG core set, which won’t finish with expansions until 2012…

PaizoCon, a tabletop gaming convention held June 10-12, 2011, in Bellevue, Washington, will feature author Ed Greenwood and fantasy artist Tyler Walpole as Guests of Honor .

Paizo Publishing, supporters and namesake of PaizoCon, has one major product, fantasy role-playing game (RPG) Pathfinder, which they support through a wide array of gaming supplies.