If you’re lucky enough to have a tabletop gamer to buy for this holiday season, we’ve found the perfect presents for them—including the most popular new games, incredible gifts for Dungeon Masters and Dungeon & Dragons players, and even a game designed to get you outside to literally touch grass.

And if you’re the tabletop gamer? Give someone one of these picks from our Holiday Gift Guide and you’ll immediately have someone to play with! Win-win.

The Deck of Many Things

The Deck of Many Things is a D&D magic item so legendary that most Dungeon Masters shudder when they hear its name. (Or they cackle, which is much worse.) Just in time for the holiday season, The Deck of Many Things is now available as a gorgeous gift set with updated rules, a 66-card deck (which includes the 22 classic cards), its own supplement guide for incorporating the reimagined deck into your game, and more.

Dungeon Masters will love its ability to create adventures on the fly complete with traps and puzzles; D&D players will find new character backgrounds, spells, and star-signs inside. ($99.99, available digitally on November 14 with the physical copy release date TBD)

Disney Lorcana

Lorcana is a Disney-themed trading card game that’s taking the tabletop by storm! While the first starter sets quickly sold out, more are on the way to stores everywhere. Rise of the Floodborn, the second chapter of the game, is due out in December.

In Lorcana, players take the role of Illumineers and use character and item cards to collect 20 lore and win the game. This trading card game is easier to learn than most, but still encourages thought-out strategy and card collecting. And have you seen some of the art? Pick this up for the Disney or TCG fan in your life, and be sure to grab a starter pack for yourself while you’re at it. (2 players, Ages 8+, $5.99-$49.99)

Linkee

Part trivia, part lateral thinking, and part party game, Linkee is the perfect gift for the social butterfly in your life. (It also has two-player rules if your gift recipient prefers to cocoon at home.) Each Linkee card features four short trivia questions. Players remember the trivia answers as they’re revealed, and once they see the connection between them, they shout, “Linkee!” The first team to successfully find the common link for the answers wins the card.

Work together as a team to find the connection and earn bragging rights for eternity. Well, maybe until the next game night. (2+ players, Ages 12+, $8.45)

Magic: The Gathering – Doctor Who

All we really have to say is “Doctor Who Magic cards” and you’ll know immediately who to give this to for the holidays. But, if you need a little more info, we have you covered. The new official “Universes Beyond” set features gorgeous art of 13 Doctors and their companions. These cards with Doctor Who-themed mechanics are now available to join the Magic lineup.

Choose your gift recipient’s favorite Doctor to find the perfect 100 card Magic: The Gathering – Doctor Who Commander Deck, and allons-y! (2 players, Ages 13+, $59.99)

Nine Arches

Nine Arches might be designed like a tabletop card game, but it’s intended to take you and your friends and family away from the table. The game includes a 54-card deck similar to tarot cards that are used to choose your next adventure. Cards feature activities like “dance party,” “caravan,” and “ghost.” With the drawn cards and input from each player, the group adventure’s is talked out. Will you do the activities all at once? One at a time? It’s up to you and the group. Then you’re all off on a real-life journey based on the prompts on the cards!

If your recipient is the type who appreciates experiences instead of plain gifts, you’ll wow them with this one. (1-5 players, Ages 13+, $34.99)

Potion Pack – Cantrip Candles

Whether your lucky gift recipient is a fan of tabletop role-playing games or video game RPGs like Baldur’s Gate 3, this three-candle set from Cantrip Candles will be met with delight when it’s unwrapped. The Potion Pack comes as a lovely gift set of 10 ounce soy wax candles in decorated glass containers.

The Health Potion, Stamina Potion, and Magicka Potion candles are sure to heal and reenergize any weary adventurers (or office workers) who lights them. And how can you pass up the opportunity to give someone a container labeled “Dragon’s Blood”? ($80.00)

The Practically Complete Guide to Dragons

Do you remember being a kid and re-reading your favorite book so many times you had every page memorized? This is your chance to give the youngest Dungeons & Dragons or fantasy fan in your life that same experience!

The Practically Complete Guide to Dragons is exactly what it says on the cover: an imaginative, in-depth look at the dragons that populate the D&D setting of Dragonlance. Written in-character by the kender Sindri Suncatcher, this guide to dragons is packed with personality—along with, you guessed it, lots of dragons. Dragon facts, dragon stories, dragon lair maps, it’s all here. Your lucky gift recipient will spend hours staring at the gorgeous art alone. ($39.95)

Sea Salt & Paper

The stocking stuffer-sized card game Sea Salt & Paper is a delightful set collecting game with a dash of luck to keep things exciting. Collect and play pairs of cards to score points and use their effects to earn even more points. If the player thinks they have enough points in hand, they can call for the end of the round or give everyone one last chance to try to beat them for bonus points. Reach the necessary number of victory points to win the game!

Not only does each card feature charming and original origami art, Sea Salt & Paper includes bold icons so that colorblind players aren’t excluded from the fun. (2-4 players, Ages 8+, $14.95)

Kelly Knox is a pop culture writer and the author of Star Wars Conversation Cards, Be More Obi-Wan, and the upcoming Star Wars Dad Jokes. You can still find her on Twitter at @kelly_knox.

The post Holiday Gift Guide 2023 – For the Tabletop Gamer appeared first on Nerdist.

If you’re playing Baldur’s Gate 3, and you probably are, chances are it has consumed all the thoughts in your brain. But who can blame you? This Dungeons & Dragons meets video game title has struck just the right chord with gamers everywhere. At the forefront of the game’s success are its well-crafted characters. (Whichever character you think is the best, we completely agree.) Now you can give a little extra life to whoever you are romancing with these Baldur’s Gate 3 Origin character-inspired candles.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is very immersive, but it doesn’t yet offer a scent-DLC. And that’s where Planeshift Candles comes in. The candle company shares, “Lighting a candle while playing at home immediately makes TTRPG play more of an immersive experience. Being able to breathe in the scents of the setting helps visualise the world and creates a more engaging experience, while playing together with friends or at home online.” We couldn’t agree more. And Planeshift Candles actually takes their Baldur’s Gate 3 character candles a step further when it comes to bringing the game to life.

The official description for the collection notes, “Each candle is inspired by a different Origin Character and has been designed based on their canon fragrance (if it is available!) and elements about their character.” Oftentimes, character-based candles rely only on the characters’ personalities to inform their scent. But in the case of these, there’s an actual scent to be inspired by. That’s taking immersion to another level.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Character-Inspired Candles and Their Scents

Right now, this line of candles includes the Origin characters: Astarion, Halsin, Gale, Shadowheart, Karlach, Wyll, and Lae’zel. Here are the key scents in each blend:

• The chief scents in Astarion’s Baldur’s Gate 3 candle are bergamot, rosemary, and brandy.
• The chief scents in Halsin’s Baldur’s Gate 3 candle are oak moss, honey, and basil.
• The chief scents in Gale’s Baldur’s Gate 3 candle are amber, parchment, and persimmon.
• The chief scents in Shadowhearts’ Baldur’s Gate 3 candle are black orchids, tea rose, and incense.
• The chief scents in Karlach’s Baldur’s Gate 3 candle are woodsmoke, cinnamon, and motor oil.
• The chief scents in Wyll’s Baldur’s Gate 3 candle are cedar, cardamom, and red wine.
• The chief scents in Lae’zel’s Baldur’s Gate 3 candle are leather, ginger, and lime.

How to Purchase These Character-Inspired Candles

If you check out the Planeshift Candles page and find that some of the candles are sold out, don’t despair! The Baldur’s Gate 3 candles will be releasing in pre-order waves that will be frequently restocked. If you want to snag your favorite, keep an eye on the Planeshift Candles social media pages. And soon, hopefully, your house will smell just like your fav.

The post These BALDUR’S GATE 3 Candles Let You Smell Astarion Whenever You Please appeared first on Nerdist.

Pickle candles are the real dill. Vlasic teamed up with candlemaker Candier to create a wax candle that looks and smells just like a jar of pickles. It even comes in a glass container with a metal lid and a Vlasic label slapped on it. If you find yourself in a bit of a pickle because they sold out so quickly, don’t fret. You can still pre-order one for $29 and it will ship in January 2023. So even if you just missed National Pickle Day on November 14, it’s always a good time to gift a pickle candle to the pickle lover in your life.  

We saw this dill-icious smelling candle thanks to DesignTAXI. Even though Vlasic sells more combinations of flavors and shapes of pickles than we ever thought possible, the candle’s waxy brine contains the classic dill whole pickles (also made of wax). Apparently getting the illusion right was a time-consuming process.

“Creating a candle that looks and smells like a real jar of pickles posed several big challenges,” says Krysten Kauder, founder of Candier by Ryan Porter. “Getting the wax pickles to look like they’re floating in clear liquid was really tough. So, everything had to be done by hand, including the placement of the pickles and pouring of the wax. After lots of rounds of research and testing, our team nailed it and produced a 100% wax candle that looks and smells like a jar of Vlasic pickles.”

This is not the first time we’ve seen an odd scented candle. IKEA sold one that smelled like their meatballs, but it sadly wasn’t shaped like the famous product. Chipotle’s lemonade-scented water cup candle both looks and smells like its inspiration. It’s also not the first time we’ve seen pickle-flavored snacks, thanks to the popularity of the Rick and Morty character Pickle Rick. That’s how we ended up with pickle-flavored seltzer and pickle-flavored Pringles. Dill with it. 

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post Pickle Lovers Will Relish the Scent of These Pickle Candles appeared first on Nerdist.

In case you thought you’d gotten away with filling your water cup with lemonade, Chipotle is here to tell you that they know. You were not the first to do it. But you can make up for it and buy their new lemonade-scented candle. The tin looks like their famous H2Ohhhhhh water cup. The candle itself has that pale yellow color reminiscent of all those times people start dispensing water but then, oops, “accidentally” hit the lemonade button too. The swag goes on sale August 18 via Chipotle’s online store. You also get a free lemonade with every purchase.

We saw this interesting product thanks to DesignTAXI. It’s the latest in unexpected tie-ins from Chipotle after last year’s burrito bowl-themed eyeshadow palette and cilantro soap. The online swag store has a lot more gear than I expected. If you’re a true fan you probably already own the flip-flops and fanny pack. Or even a t-shirt with your custom order printed on it.

The lemonade-scented candle goes on sale just in time to celebrate National Lemonade Day on August 20. Interestingly, National Lemon Day is August 29. Seems like that should come before lemonade, but what do I know? I will probably celebrate by listening to Beyoncé. But the faint smell of stolen lemonade wafting through my house is tempting.

There’s been plenty of other limited edition themed candles offered over the years. Like IKEA meatballs, Call of Duty, or Star Wars scents like bantha milk and sarlacc pit. Compared to those, lemonade-scented candles to commemorate petty theft from an international chain of burrito restaurants seems downright normal.   

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post Chipotle Knows You Steal Lemonade, Now Sells a Water Cup Candle  appeared first on Nerdist.

We’re already fans of upping your Dungeons & Dragons game with complementary candles. The next natural step is PC and console gaming! Wick & Skull is a candlemaker and official partner with Call of Duty, Dead By Daylight, and more. You’ll be in it to win it when the heady smell of smoke and leather fill the room from these conversation-slash-fire-starters. 

If you’ve ever wondered what survival horror smells like, Wick & Skull has got you covered. Darkness, despair, and horror is what the Dead By Daylight “Hex Totem” tin says; in reality it’s an aromatic mixture of smoke, leather, and amber. These are not candles that you have to put up to your nose and take deep breaths for a waft of scent. In fact, this one will stay in your nostrils (and brain) long after you light it.

Call of Duty: Warzone “Pacific” is more fruity and tropical. “Like a vacation with 150 friends,” describes the clever tin. This scent is both strong and surprisingly serene. The official candle inspired by Tiny Tina’s Wonderland is similarly sweet with notes of “dark plum, sugar crystals, [and] magical musk.”

And then there’s another Call of Duty: Warzone candle named “Gulag.” That doesn’t immediately sound like something you want your house to smell like. But the spicy fragrance of musk, amber, and coriander is an energizing scent that will kick you into another gear as you game.

Wick & Skull’s candles use a parasoy wax blend, cotton wicks, and essential oils for a burn time of about 35 hours. “We’re told the sense of smell is closely intertwined with memory,” says the company, “so together we can create even deeper gaming memories for all. We hope you’ll join us on our quest to enhance the gaming experience, and enjoy it as much as we do.”

Find these official gaming collaborations and more online now.

Kelly Knox is a pop culture and entertainment writer in the Seattle area. Her next book, Be More Obi-Wan, says “hello there” in July 2022. Follow her on Twitter at @kelly_knox to talk Star Wars, pop culture, and bad dad jokes.

The post These Candles Fill Your Home with That CALL OF DUTY Smell appeared first on Nerdist.

Going to IKEA is a thrilling experience for those who love the Swedish furniture giant. Traversing those aisles and buying things that you don’t need. Wondering when you will have time to put said things together. It is all quite the adventure. But, for some people, the best part of heading to IKEA might be the meatballs. The smell wafts through the air, enticing you to stop by and pick up a few to shovel into your face before you leave. IKEA knows the power of its meatballs and wants you to think about them, even when you aren’t in a store. How can they do this? With a HUVUDROLL meatball scented candle, of course.

According to USA Today, IKEA will offer the delicious-smelling candle as a part of its IKEA Store in a Box package. The collection of items aim to recreate the experience of being in one of their stores. Right now, the rest of the products outside of this candle are unknown.

IKEA

But we do know that the box is a part of an upcoming sweepstakes celebrating the 10^th anniversary of IKEA’s US Family Program. The free program gives away special offers and rewards to participants.

The sweepstakes will run from August 6 until August 22. (More details will presumably become available that day.) Unfortunately, there are only 1,925 candles available to win overall, so this is a limited-edition item for now. But, perhaps IKEA will step into the weird scent light and make this product available to purchase.

We deserve to smell this scent whenever we get a hankering for some meatballs. For now, those lucky people who score one will have bragging rights for the candle. And, who knows, perhaps it will become some sort of collectors’ item that future generations can observe and wonder why we were so strange.

The post IKEA Will Offer Limited Edition Meatball Scented Candles appeared first on Nerdist.

Cantrip Candles, a Los Angeles-based small business, has one simple goal. They want to help you take your D&D game to a whole new level. By adding a lit candle that will gently add the scent of a cave, tavern, seaside town, and more, a Dungeon Master can set a scene better than ever. And let’s be real. The soy candles just plain smell good.

Cantrip Candles

You can find candles representing all sorts of classic locations for adventure. Forests, caves, a chapel, a library, and more can all come to life in your game thanks to brilliant owner and candlemaker Christoff Visscher. Black Hound Tavern smells of whiskey and firewood to bring in the sense of a crackling fireplace in an inn. The spicy scent of incense makes Sanctuary both soothing and immersive. And pine and sandalwood will permeate the room to surround you in the outdoors with A Walk in the Woods.

You’ll want to keep Cantrip Candles’ soy candles illuminated long after game night is over. Gentle, cozy scents like Goldwheat Bakery and Sweet Fig Farmhouse are ideal for any time or place. (If we could buy Sweet Fig Farmhouse in bulk, we would.)

Cantrip Candles

Cantrip Candles offers candles in both 6 ounce metal tins and 16 ounce glass containers. The larger candles also come with a d20 nestled somewhere in the fragrant soy wax. You’ll also find matchsticks, a candle sample pack, enamel pins, and a lot more in the online storefront.

Word of mouth spread quickly among the tabletop community about Cantrip Candles’ incredible craftsmanship. Candles often sell out just minutes after more go on sale. The next candle restock is planned for November 19, 2020. Follow Cantrip Candles on Twitter for all the updates so you don’t miss a chance to make your D&D game come to life.

Featured Image: Cantrip Candles

Kelly Knox is a freelance entertainment writer in Seattle, WA who writes for Star Wars, DC Comics, and more. Her first book, Marvel Monsters, comes out in 2021 from DK Books. 

The post Set the Mood for Your Next D&D Game with Cantrip Candles appeared first on Nerdist.

It’s hard to find a gift for the film fan who already has everything. Their shelves are full of Werner Herzog boxsets and Criterion releases, they likely own all of the classics and have count films you’ve never even heard of in their favorites. So what do you get such a discerning cinephile? Well, A24 and Brooklyn-based fragrance studio Joya have come up with an intriguing and strange set of candles inspired by six genres: Horror, Western, Thriller, Noir, Adventure, and Musical.In case you were wondering the descriptions of the scents are as avant-garde as the concept with each of the candles getting short snappy specification, Horror is “Leathery. Dank. Not unsettling… but not settling,” Western is “Explosive. Sweet. Jarring,” Thriller is “Unorthodox. Roasted. Smoky. Metallic,” Noir gets closest to what sounds like an actual smell with “Velvety. Dark. A little spicy. Like rose jam,” Adventure is “Hot. Sand. Mayan ruins,” and finally Musical is “Green. Lovely. Dewy. Watery.”We’re most intrigued by these odd offerings, and according to A24 they even have a burn time of 50-60 hours, which is approximately 33 movies! If you want to grab one of these–or all of them–for a loved one then they’ll run you $48 each or you can grab three for $120! A high price, but maybe worth it to make the film snob in your life happy?Are you excited to sniff these genre candles? Just want to know what a western movie really smells like? Disappointed that the horror candle doesn’t smell more like blood? Jump into our comments and let us know!

Images: A24

The post Treat the Cinephile in Your Life With These A24 Genre Scented Candles appeared first on Nerdist.

It’s hard to find a gift for the film fan who already has everything. Their shelves are full of Werner Herzog boxsets and Criterion releases, they likely own all of the classics and have count films you’ve never even heard of in their favorites. So what do you get such a discerning cinephile? Well, A24 and Brooklyn-based fragrance studio Joya have come up with an intriguing and strange set of candles inspired by six genres: Horror, Western, Thriller, Noir, Adventure, and Musical.In case you were wondering the descriptions of the scents are as avant-garde as the concept with each of the candles getting short snappy specification, Horror is “Leathery. Dank. Not unsettling… but not settling,” Western is “Explosive. Sweet. Jarring,” Thriller is “Unorthodox. Roasted. Smoky. Metallic,” Noir gets closest to what sounds like an actual smell with “Velvety. Dark. A little spicy. Like rose jam,” Adventure is “Hot. Sand. Mayan ruins,” and finally Musical is “Green. Lovely. Dewy. Watery.”We’re most intrigued by these odd offerings, and according to A24 they even have a burn time of 50-60 hours, which is approximately 33 movies! If you want to grab one of these–or all of them–for a loved one then they’ll run you $48 each or you can grab three for $120! A high price, but maybe worth it to make the film snob in your life happy?Are you excited to sniff these genre candles? Just want to know what a western movie really smells like? Disappointed that the horror candle doesn’t smell more like blood? Jump into our comments and let us know!

Images: A24

The post Treat the Cinephile in Your Life With These A24 Genre Scented Candles appeared first on Nerdist.

What do you think it smells like in the galaxy far, far away? Naboo’s fields of flowers must be a delight to take in, but we imagine all that scum and villainy on Tatooine leaves the whole planet smelling a little rancor. Probably not very pleasant in the olfactory sense being stuck in a small spacecraft either, or to spend your days surrounded by big  unusual creatures either. In fact, the more we think about it the more we bet Star Wars downright stinks, which might explain why these new candles based on the original trilogy are weirdly unappealing.These three sets of five candles created by Numskull (that we came across at Technabob) will help you create a personal 4D-viewing experience by bringing the scents of Star Wars to your home. So long as you don’t mind if your home smells strange or even downright bad, because their official description says some smell “pleasant, some er…not so pleasant.” Their A New Hope collection has (the misspelled) Banther Milk, Wookiee, Trash Compactor, X-Wing Cockpit, and Cantina.The Empire Strikes Back candles seem like they might be the best smelling of the bunch, but who really knows because they are definitely the most confusing: Lightsaber Duel, Han Solo Carbonite, Millennium Falcon, Inside of a Tauntaun (yes, really), and Yoda’s Cooking Pot.The candles in the Return of the Jedi sound downright awful, with Rancor (ugh), Sarlacc Pit (like…why?), Jabba’s Palace (eww), Ewok (uh…?), and Death Star Destroyed (melted metal and flesh?).We’re not sure if these are for fans of the films or gag gifts for people who hate them, but whatever your reason for wanting them the individual five candle sets are available through Numskull, or at Merchoid where they are $36.99 each ($52.99 for the limited edition sets with an engraved plinth and a premium presentation box with a magnetic closure), or you can currently get all 15 for $127.99.You know what’s really weird about these though, even more than the scents? This might be the first time we prefer the prequels to the original trilogy. Naboo probably smells wonderful.Which of these candles do you think smells the worse? It would stink if you didn’t tell us your choice in the comments section below.

Images: Numskull

The post STAR WARS’ Most Unappealing Scents Become Weird Candles appeared first on Nerdist.