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You could try Fantasy Flight Games' adaptation of Doom to see what's possible.

Am I the only one who was really confused when these stories were not about the kind of Rogue Trader I expected them to be?

Runewars $99.95

Don't forget The Forge, a great place to find off the beaten path games.

Oh, and, of course, Troll Lord games for those of us in the "get off my lawn" demographic.

If your cheap, you can wait a year until Free RPG Day

Of course, me? I prefer boardgames. (and card games).

To clarify: Red November will apparently be Gnome driven.

Fantasy Flight Games bought the license from Games Workshop and intends to publish the rest of the Dark Heresy product line. http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/workshop-sabertooth-faq.html . On the other hand, the reviews I've read of Dark Heresy were not all positive. Great artwork and production values, but oddities around career path (none of the career choice freedom of the Warhammer RPG) and power level (PCs start out as space farm boys and don't get to be Inquisitors and their lethal retinue until they've accumulated massive amounts of experience).

I'm cautiously pessimistic about these Dungeons and Dragons 4 previews. Dungeons and Dragons hasn't been a quick pick up game since the basic set decades ago. The second edition was too complicated. The third edition simplified and unified the mechanics of the second edition, and then added in feats, attacks of opportunity, monster character levels, challenge ratings, and a host of other things to keep the game painfully complicated. The fourth edition looks like it expands character options further, and while more options are often nice, the last thing third edition needed was added complexity.

I think I'll stick with simpler games, like Savage Worlds (www.peginc.com) or Spirit of the Century (http://evilhat.wikidot.com/spirit-of-the-century).

On second thought, I'd like to amend my above statement - OCR is the second easiest application in AI, after game theory. A number of games have been completely solved (Connect 4), effectively solved (like Checkers, announced recently), or are very well done (Chess). Granted, they are not complex games (Find me an AI that can play Twilight Imperium well) but they are not trivial either.

• Kill Doctor Lucky - the award winning game of what happens right before Clue begins. I happen to own and love the Cheapass version as well.
• Battlelore - the best light wargame I've ever played
• Mystery of the Abbey - Clue for fans of The Name of the Rose and Brother Cadfael
• Puerto Rico - a classic eurogame and, for my money, the best "gateway game" there is. I'll play this over Catan any day of the week.
• Warrior Knights - an updated version of the '85 classic, and a terrific American-style boardgame (which is to say, there's direct player vs. player conflict). Where else can you be made Ambassador to the Orient and a Traitor to the Crown on the same turn?

Wait - the article says Sakaguchi is working on Blue Dragon, the xbox 360 game. Blue Planet the game is http://store.fantasyflightgames.com/index.asp?Page Action=VIEWPROD&ProdID=45

If you're looking for a cooperative game then why not try Arkham Horror from Fantasy Flight Games? It's your group versus the game itself and you all need to pool your energy and resources to stop the Great Old One from manifesting itself and destroying Arkham (and by extension the world). It's based on the Lovecraft mythos and is ridiculously fun to play. A bit of a challenge to learn but once you've played it a couple times you'll get the hang of a truly amazing game.

What's next? A board game made from WoW? Yeah, like people are going to sit in front of a board for hours while they painstakingly level. Then some noob (the dog) comes in and crashes the server (board) and everyone gets booted (pissed off and leaves).

You may want to check out the board game Descent: Journeys in the Dark for you basic hack 'n slash dungeon crawl needs. It's not really a role playing game, but if you like rolling dice to kill monsters in a dungeon without a bunch of "talking", this might be the game for you.

No, it's considered a board game. If anyone reading has tried it and enjoyed it, you might want to try Descent: Journeys in the Dark. It's Fantasy Flight's new board game set in the Runebound universe (from the board game of the same name) but with the Doom: The Board Game mechanics.

I'm not a table-topper, is Doom: The Boardgame considered a roleplaying game? Still interesting to read the rules posted on their site (they even have setups for DM and CTF?!)

It's been quite an interesting year for table-top games in general, not just roleplaying.

Not only is there already an RPG version of Warcraft, but there are 2 boardgames: A warcraft game based on warcraft 3 which has been out for around a year now, and an upcoming world of warcraft game board game, which is still in development, but looks absolutely insane.

Fantasy Flight Games just released a revised version of the Cthulhu board game, Arkham Horror. It's gotten high praise for its theme and immersion in the mythos (and mixed praise for difficulty, with some thinking its too easy).

Tom Jolly has designed some interesting board games. Wiz-War is tough to find these days. I've been playing it since around 1990, and have a huge custom set of my own which my friends are addicted to. So addicted that I can rarely get them to play Drakon, which sadly also seems to be out of print. Drakon takes about 30-60 minutes to play and is very accessible.

Cave Troll is also very accessible and playable in under an hour. I recommend Drakon and Cave Troll wholeheartedly.

It's a fairly simple, easy-to-play, diplomacy-style game based off of the book series by George R. Martin. An excellent excellent game.

In fact, anything by Fantasy Flight Games is almost certainly going to be good.

Doom: The Boardgame
Anything with 3 Cyberdemon figurines has to be good.

Based on George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, play A Game of Thrones. It's like Risk but deeper and better. Even better, A Clash of Kings, the expansion.

The books do not have to be read to enjoy the game but you will be missing out on some great books.

Based on George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, play A Game of Thrones. It's like Risk but deeper and better. Even better, A Clash of Kings, the expansion.

The books do not have to be read to enjoy the game but you will be missing out on some great books.

MWDA is a streamlined version of Battletech. The minatures contain the record sheets. The game plays pretty quickly and you can pick up second hand minatures on eBay cheap. An expensive game to play at the tournament competitive level - but cheap if you are just looking for something with your friends.

Of course you can play Classic BattleTech - though this requires a longer investment of time. Things are quite detailed and it can take quite some time to resolve rounds.

I play more MWDA now because although I miss the detail of classic BattleTech, being able to fight a company vs company level engagement in 2-3 hours (versus 2-3 days) is a big plus.

There is a new edition of Twilight Imperium out. Highly complex and takes a while to play - but a deep and rewarding experience.

The "future" version of Risk is quite fun as well.

I and a friend had been porting a board game to PC (referenced in my sig) and we had thought about open sourcing it (and still continue to do so), but we're unsure of the problems with patents and copyrights and such. Also, we had always planned on eventually trying to sell it to the company that manufactures the board game (because we're not trying to steal their customers, it's just something that would make a great computer game). If they didn't want it, we'd release it for free.

Does anyone have any info on what we'd need to know about making it open source, as to any copyrights the company that makes the board game (Fantasy Flight Games) owns and whether it could still be a commercial success while being open source? I also would have liked it to work under WINE (it uses HGE, which uses DirectX), but for some reason BASS.dll, the sound system, crashes under my friend's WINE.

Also, to check out stuff on the game, here's a post with a screenshot and trying to gather some help for the project. The company's page for Twilight Imperium talks about their new third edition, but since all we had played was the second edition, that's what we based it on.

To download it or get my AIM, go to our website.

The game's publisher, Fantasy Flight Games have just released additional rules that add difficulty levels. From "I'm to young to die" to "Nightmare", you can tailor the game to your players' skill.

You really don't seem to get it, but that's probably because you've got a fairly limited experience with board games.

The Doom game is a scenario-based tactical game ala the classic game Space Hulk.

The rules are available as a pdf, for those interested in perusing them.

The game has some similarities to Monopoly and Risk but is really a completly different kind of game. Most people to like Risk seem to really enjoy settlers.

That's a good way to put it. The recent German board game invasion has brought lots of games that serious gamers can play with non-gamers. (Gamer: n. One who enjoys table-top games including board games, war games, card games, and role-playing games, as a primary hobby.) Several friends who really have no idea what I see in something like Twilight Imperium will enjoy Settlers of Catan.

That said, I eventually grew tired of Catan. A game that does similarlly well with non-gamers and gamers alike is Carcassonne, a tile placing game about building and controlling roads, fields, and cities.

There's a genre jargon definition of sci-fi that is along the lines of having a rational explanation for how things work, but in English it means having blinkenlights and cool tech instead of dragons and magic wands.

So what category should Dragonstar go ? It has spaceships which use rocket engines to move in star systems, and magical teleportation artifacts ("starcasters") to move between systems, the idea being that technology has to obey the laws of nature, but magic can ignore them - but, on the other hand, technological items can be mass-produced while magical ones can't.

And of course, as the name implies, it has a star empire ruled by dragons.

It has both blinkenlights and dragons, blasters and magick wands, engineers and wizards. So, is it fantasy or sci-fi ?

The point being that sci-fi and fantasy are overlapping, not exclusive, genres.

is A Game of the Throne. one of those military conquest / diplomacy / resource management type games (based on George R.R. Martin's excellent fantasy book series, A Song of Fire and Ice). It's quite fun, and a total time waster. With 3 players, games take upwards of 4 or 5 hours. I haven't played it yet with a bigger group. My wife, who doesn't really like things fantasy or military, had fun playing it. Biggest draw is that there's no dice throwing and what random effects there are affect everyone, so on one can feel cheated by a lucky moment.

This is actually an area in which I have a reasonable amount of experience.

For card games:

You have two options for getting a good looking deck made cheaply. You can buy a pack of 250 sheets of cardstock ($7.00 - $10.00 depending on where you go) and have that precision cut someplace like Kinko's or CopyMax (in OfficeMax). Standard playing cards are usually 2.5" x 3.5", although some are 2" x 3". At any rate, you should be able to get at least 10 cards from each sheet, possibly more, giving you about 2500+ cards.

Alternatively, you can go to your local print shop and have them precision cut some 12-point semi-glossy stock for you. It will look a lot nicer, and shuffle better, but it will cost you much more (I paid $20.00 for 300 cards).

Before you print, you should make sure your card graphics are going to print at the right size. I did things the hard way in Paintbrush, which generally prints at 96dpi, so each card had to be 240 x 336 (for 2.5 x 3.5). More powerful paint programs are capable of resolution scaling and size specification. YMMV.

Now you're ready to print. Arrange your card graphics in page layouts. I generally use 8 cards per page so that there's room between them. Print out a page on regular paper. This is going to be your carrier page.

Get some semi-adhesive sticky notes. Cut the sticky part off and tape it, sticky side up, in the middle of each card graphic on the carrier page. Stick a card on each sticky note so that it completely covers the previously printed area. Print the page again, making sure to have it oriented such that it prints the right way on the cards. Peel the cards off, stick blank ones on, print the next page of cards. Repeat.

You'll probably want to get a corner-rounder punch from your local crafts/scrapbooking store. Do not get the one offered at Wal-Mart for $3.00. It will wear out after about 200 punches. Expect to have a sore thumb by the end of all this.

Pawns: Bearwood sells pre-painted pawns in a wide variety of colors, as well as a wide assortment of cubes, disks, and other potentially game-related items, all at a reasonable price. Note: Only the pawns come pre-painted.

Boards: I was lucky enough to find 8.5" x 11" thick cardboard sheets at the worst job I've ever had. They were being used in a shipping warehouse as padding material for heavy books. I absconded with several dozen, but I haven't seen them elsewhere.

If, however, you are wanting to make your board out of modular pieces, such as hexagonal or square tiles, your best bet is to find a game which already uses the same size and shape tile, and then print out, cut, and spray-mount your own graphics onto those tiles.

For hexagonal tiles, a copy of The Settlers of Catan gives you 38 3-inch diameter tiles for about $20.00 - $38.00 (depends where you buy it). Some places have been liquidating an old Fantasy Flight game called Thunder's Edge for $10.00, and it contains 30-50 Catan-sized tiles(I don't recall the exact count). Lastly, Fantasy Flight sells a game called Maelstrom for $20.00. It contains 150 hexes, but they are smaller than those previously mentioned. Check this pdf to see just how big they are.

For square tiles, a copy of Carcassonne has 84 1.75-inch tiles if it contains the River Expansion (72 if it doesn't), at a cost of about $20.00. Larger tiles may be available in other games, but I lack knowledge of them.

For circular tiles in a variety of sizes, nothing beats a good big set of Diskwars or Range Wars, going cheap at most of the places that sold it. Check

I still think that there wou

This is actually an area in which I have a reasonable amount of experience.

For card games:

You have two options for getting a good looking deck made cheaply. You can buy a pack of 250 sheets of cardstock ($7.00 - $10.00 depending on where you go) and have that precision cut someplace like Kinko's or CopyMax (in OfficeMax). Standard playing cards are usually 2.5" x 3.5", although some are 2" x 3". At any rate, you should be able to get at least 10 cards from each sheet, possibly more, giving you about 2500+ cards.

Alternatively, you can go to your local print shop and have them precision cut some 12-point semi-glossy stock for you. It will look a lot nicer, and shuffle better, but it will cost you much more (I paid $20.00 for 300 cards).

Before you print, you should make sure your card graphics are going to print at the right size. I did things the hard way in Paintbrush, which generally prints at 96dpi, so each card had to be 240 x 336 (for 2.5 x 3.5). More powerful paint programs are capable of resolution scaling and size specification. YMMV.

Now you're ready to print. Arrange your card graphics in page layouts. I generally use 8 cards per page so that there's room between them. Print out a page on regular paper. This is going to be your carrier page.

Get some semi-adhesive sticky notes. Cut the sticky part off and tape it, sticky side up, in the middle of each card graphic on the carrier page. Stick a card on each sticky note so that it completely covers the previously printed area. Print the page again, making sure to have it oriented such that it prints the right way on the cards. Peel the cards off, stick blank ones on, print the next page of cards. Repeat.

You'll probably want to get a corner-rounder punch from your local crafts/scrapbooking store. Do not get the one offered at Wal-Mart for $3.00. It will wear out after about 200 punches. Expect to have a sore thumb by the end of all this.

Pawns: Bearwood sells pre-painted pawns in a wide variety of colors, as well as a wide assortment of cubes, disks, and other potentially game-related items, all at a reasonable price. Note: Only the pawns come pre-painted.

Boards: I was lucky enough to find 8.5" x 11" thick cardboard sheets at the worst job I've ever had. They were being used in a shipping warehouse as padding material for heavy books. I absconded with several dozen, but I haven't seen them elsewhere.

If, however, you are wanting to make your board out of modular pieces, such as hexagonal or square tiles, your best bet is to find a game which already uses the same size and shape tile, and then print out, cut, and spray-mount your own graphics onto those tiles.

For hexagonal tiles, a copy of The Settlers of Catan gives you 38 3-inch diameter tiles for about $20.00 - $38.00 (depends where you buy it). Some places have been liquidating an old Fantasy Flight game called Thunder's Edge for $10.00, and it contains 30-50 Catan-sized tiles(I don't recall the exact count). Lastly, Fantasy Flight sells a game called Maelstrom for $20.00. It contains 150 hexes, but they are smaller than those previously mentioned. Check this pdf to see just how big they are.

For square tiles, a copy of Carcassonne has 84 1.75-inch tiles if it contains the River Expansion (72 if it doesn't), at a cost of about $20.00. Larger tiles may be available in other games, but I lack knowledge of them.

For circular tiles in a variety of sizes, nothing beats a good big set of Diskwars or Range Wars, going cheap at most of the places that sold it. Check

I still think that there wou

This is actually an area in which I have a reasonable amount of experience.

For card games:

You have two options for getting a good looking deck made cheaply. You can buy a pack of 250 sheets of cardstock ($7.00 - $10.00 depending on where you go) and have that precision cut someplace like Kinko's or CopyMax (in OfficeMax). Standard playing cards are usually 2.5" x 3.5", although some are 2" x 3". At any rate, you should be able to get at least 10 cards from each sheet, possibly more, giving you about 2500+ cards.

Alternatively, you can go to your local print shop and have them precision cut some 12-point semi-glossy stock for you. It will look a lot nicer, and shuffle better, but it will cost you much more (I paid $20.00 for 300 cards).

Before you print, you should make sure your card graphics are going to print at the right size. I did things the hard way in Paintbrush, which generally prints at 96dpi, so each card had to be 240 x 336 (for 2.5 x 3.5). More powerful paint programs are capable of resolution scaling and size specification. YMMV.

Now you're ready to print. Arrange your card graphics in page layouts. I generally use 8 cards per page so that there's room between them. Print out a page on regular paper. This is going to be your carrier page.

Get some semi-adhesive sticky notes. Cut the sticky part off and tape it, sticky side up, in the middle of each card graphic on the carrier page. Stick a card on each sticky note so that it completely covers the previously printed area. Print the page again, making sure to have it oriented such that it prints the right way on the cards. Peel the cards off, stick blank ones on, print the next page of cards. Repeat.

You'll probably want to get a corner-rounder punch from your local crafts/scrapbooking store. Do not get the one offered at Wal-Mart for $3.00. It will wear out after about 200 punches. Expect to have a sore thumb by the end of all this.

Pawns: Bearwood sells pre-painted pawns in a wide variety of colors, as well as a wide assortment of cubes, disks, and other potentially game-related items, all at a reasonable price. Note: Only the pawns come pre-painted.

Boards: I was lucky enough to find 8.5" x 11" thick cardboard sheets at the worst job I've ever had. They were being used in a shipping warehouse as padding material for heavy books. I absconded with several dozen, but I haven't seen them elsewhere.

If, however, you are wanting to make your board out of modular pieces, such as hexagonal or square tiles, your best bet is to find a game which already uses the same size and shape tile, and then print out, cut, and spray-mount your own graphics onto those tiles.

For hexagonal tiles, a copy of The Settlers of Catan gives you 38 3-inch diameter tiles for about $20.00 - $38.00 (depends where you buy it). Some places have been liquidating an old Fantasy Flight game called Thunder's Edge for $10.00, and it contains 30-50 Catan-sized tiles(I don't recall the exact count). Lastly, Fantasy Flight sells a game called Maelstrom for $20.00. It contains 150 hexes, but they are smaller than those previously mentioned. Check this pdf to see just how big they are.

For square tiles, a copy of Carcassonne has 84 1.75-inch tiles if it contains the River Expansion (72 if it doesn't), at a cost of about $20.00. Larger tiles may be available in other games, but I lack knowledge of them.

For circular tiles in a variety of sizes, nothing beats a good big set of Diskwars or Range Wars, going cheap at most of the places that sold it. Check

I still think that there wou

This is actually an area in which I have a reasonable amount of experience.

For card games:

You have two options for getting a good looking deck made cheaply. You can buy a pack of 250 sheets of cardstock ($7.00 - $10.00 depending on where you go) and have that precision cut someplace like Kinko's or CopyMax (in OfficeMax). Standard playing cards are usually 2.5" x 3.5", although some are 2" x 3". At any rate, you should be able to get at least 10 cards from each sheet, possibly more, giving you about 2500+ cards.

Alternatively, you can go to your local print shop and have them precision cut some 12-point semi-glossy stock for you. It will look a lot nicer, and shuffle better, but it will cost you much more (I paid $20.00 for 300 cards).

Before you print, you should make sure your card graphics are going to print at the right size. I did things the hard way in Paintbrush, which generally prints at 96dpi, so each card had to be 240 x 336 (for 2.5 x 3.5). More powerful paint programs are capable of resolution scaling and size specification. YMMV.

Now you're ready to print. Arrange your card graphics in page layouts. I generally use 8 cards per page so that there's room between them. Print out a page on regular paper. This is going to be your carrier page.

Get some semi-adhesive sticky notes. Cut the sticky part off and tape it, sticky side up, in the middle of each card graphic on the carrier page. Stick a card on each sticky note so that it completely covers the previously printed area. Print the page again, making sure to have it oriented such that it prints the right way on the cards. Peel the cards off, stick blank ones on, print the next page of cards. Repeat.

You'll probably want to get a corner-rounder punch from your local crafts/scrapbooking store. Do not get the one offered at Wal-Mart for $3.00. It will wear out after about 200 punches. Expect to have a sore thumb by the end of all this.

Pawns: Bearwood sells pre-painted pawns in a wide variety of colors, as well as a wide assortment of cubes, disks, and other potentially game-related items, all at a reasonable price. Note: Only the pawns come pre-painted.

Boards: I was lucky enough to find 8.5" x 11" thick cardboard sheets at the worst job I've ever had. They were being used in a shipping warehouse as padding material for heavy books. I absconded with several dozen, but I haven't seen them elsewhere.

If, however, you are wanting to make your board out of modular pieces, such as hexagonal or square tiles, your best bet is to find a game which already uses the same size and shape tile, and then print out, cut, and spray-mount your own graphics onto those tiles.

For hexagonal tiles, a copy of The Settlers of Catan gives you 38 3-inch diameter tiles for about $20.00 - $38.00 (depends where you buy it). Some places have been liquidating an old Fantasy Flight game called Thunder's Edge for $10.00, and it contains 30-50 Catan-sized tiles(I don't recall the exact count). Lastly, Fantasy Flight sells a game called Maelstrom for $20.00. It contains 150 hexes, but they are smaller than those previously mentioned. Check this pdf to see just how big they are.

For square tiles, a copy of Carcassonne has 84 1.75-inch tiles if it contains the River Expansion (72 if it doesn't), at a cost of about $20.00. Larger tiles may be available in other games, but I lack knowledge of them.

For circular tiles in a variety of sizes, nothing beats a good big set of Diskwars or Range Wars, going cheap at most of the places that sold it. Check

I still think that there wou

For the Video Game Type
Age of Mythology. - Awsome translation of the popular RTS video game. A unique style of play indeed. 2-4 players without expansion
Civilization: The Board Game - Not a direct translation of CIV III but provides players an opportunity for intense military, political and economic strategy. 2-6 players (standard and advanced rules)
Warcraft: The Board Game - Provides all the elements of the RTS Game in a very nice turn based style. The board is dynamic to allow for many different playing scenarios!
Frag! - Take a First Person Shooter like Quake and turn it into a board game. Run around collecting weapons to kill other players. Very fun for a quick game. Capture the flag to deathmatch rules.

For the War Gamer Type
Axis & Allies. - Classic WWII simulation. Will soon be updated with a new rules release. 2-5 players
Risk 2210 AD. - Beefed up version of the original RISK. Not my favorite game, but it is fun. 2-6 players I believe.

For the Formula One Type
Formula De. - Formula One simulation board game with real tracks! Rules for standard and league type play. 2-10+ players.

For the Fun Type
EVO. - Play as a species of dinosaur struggling to survive until the doomsday meteor hits. Great game for all ages. 3-5 Players
Drakon. - An evolving tile based board game that is different every time. The expansion is great! 2-6 Players

And Finally... For the Geek Type
Chez Geek. - This isn't a board game, but it doesn't matter. This is a must have for any gaming geek. Take everything funny (true or not) about geeks, design a wonderful card game and add in some hilarious flavor text and art and you have this game. I've played this game for hours on end with geeks and non-geeks alike. Huge laughs for all. Get this game. Trust me. Do it now. Oh, and the expansions are great too.

And no, I don't work for Steve Jackson Games.

For the Video Game Type
Age of Mythology. - Awsome translation of the popular RTS video game. A unique style of play indeed. 2-4 players without expansion
Civilization: The Board Game - Not a direct translation of CIV III but provides players an opportunity for intense military, political and economic strategy. 2-6 players (standard and advanced rules)
Warcraft: The Board Game - Provides all the elements of the RTS Game in a very nice turn based style. The board is dynamic to allow for many different playing scenarios!
Frag! - Take a First Person Shooter like Quake and turn it into a board game. Run around collecting weapons to kill other players. Very fun for a quick game. Capture the flag to deathmatch rules.

For the War Gamer Type
Axis & Allies. - Classic WWII simulation. Will soon be updated with a new rules release. 2-5 players
Risk 2210 AD. - Beefed up version of the original RISK. Not my favorite game, but it is fun. 2-6 players I believe.

For the Formula One Type
Formula De. - Formula One simulation board game with real tracks! Rules for standard and league type play. 2-10+ players.

For the Fun Type
EVO. - Play as a species of dinosaur struggling to survive until the doomsday meteor hits. Great game for all ages. 3-5 Players
Drakon. - An evolving tile based board game that is different every time. The expansion is great! 2-6 Players

And Finally... For the Geek Type
Chez Geek. - This isn't a board game, but it doesn't matter. This is a must have for any gaming geek. Take everything funny (true or not) about geeks, design a wonderful card game and add in some hilarious flavor text and art and you have this game. I've played this game for hours on end with geeks and non-geeks alike. Huge laughs for all. Get this game. Trust me. Do it now. Oh, and the expansions are great too.

And no, I don't work for Steve Jackson Games.

This is something I've noticed from several of the articles here on /.: We seem to be carrying around two definitions of the word "Adult". On one hand, you have the "mature, sophisticated, intellectual" definition, and on the other, you have the "porn, alcohol, and other age-restricted materials" definition.

Tragic though it may be, it seems that the latter definition is the more common one, even here on /., and we're supposed to be the intellectual crowd.

Enough maudlin, back to games.

On the American side of things, there's Cheapass games, Looney Labs, Out of the Box publishing, and for you linux/opensource/get-it-for-free-fans, Piecepack.

On the German side of the coin, you've got a bit of a quandry. Most German game manufacturers are GmbH, which is an abbreviation for something or another, but basically boils down to the fact that the company isn't allowed to export their products themselves. So, in order for German games to reach other shores, they must go through other companies. Among them, Mayfair Games, importers of the Catan series (pronounced cuh-tahn'), Rio Grande Games (Bohnanza is a good gateway game, while Peurto Rico and TransAmerica have been getting good attention from less casual gamers.), and on some occasions, Fantasy Flight Games, current makers of most Lord of the Rings board games.

For actually buying the games, I would suggest Funagain or Boulder Games.

Enjoy.