Admittedly, Dungeons and Dragons isn't always an easy sell on the uninitiated. Geekdom has made a huge surge in credibility over the last few decades, granted, but D&D still has a bit of a social stigma to overcome when trying to introduce new players. And once you get them to the table, it's occasionally a tough sell to explain that the campaign could take days, weeks, even months to complete (or, in our case, years. Stupid dragon, JUST GIVE US THE GEM ALREADY.) Once they've rolled up their characters and gotten into the swing of things, validation is surely near...but it's that first climb up the mountain that can be rough.

Enter the D&D board games... Wizard of the Coast's D&D gateway drug.

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Wizards of the Coast has a new in-store program in which characters will face 'mega-encounters' that will test players' tactical skills and abilities to adapt. Each encounter should take only a few hours, but should be challenging enough that it may take several attempts. More details will be released over the next few months, beginning with Character Creation rules in June. The Lair Assault itself begins September 1st.

You can check out the Lair Assault site here.