Turbine, the company behind Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach, has just announced that Eberron creator Keith Baker will write storylines and fiction for the massively multiplayer online RPG. The folks at Turbine continue to put great support behind their game, and are offering a free seven-day trial if you're curious. The fight against World of Warcraft is going to be a tough one, but with moves like this, D&D Online just might carve out its own kingdom (plus, they bought us drinks in Chinatown late last year, so we hope things work out).

Turbine press release follows:

Turbine Taps Eberron Creator Keith Baker For Dungeons & Dragons Online

Baker to Develop All-New Stories for Turbine's Popular MMOG

WESTWOOD, MA - May 1, 2006 - Turbine, Inc. announced today that Keith Baker, the original creator of the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® Eberron® campaign setting, will pen additional storylines and works of fiction for DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE™: Stormreach™ (DDO). The game is the first massively multiplayer online (MMO) roleplaying game based upon the iconic world of D&D®. DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE: Stormreach, developed by Turbine and published by Atari, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATAR), launched in North America on February 28th and quickly became one of the fastest growing MMOs in North America. The property is under license from the Hasbro Properties Group, the intellectual property development arm of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS).

"Keith Baker is the creative genius behind Eberron, the setting for DDO. His fiction is sure to engage and entertain our players in the months to come," said Jeffrey Anderson, president and CEO of Turbine, Inc. "We are delighted to be working with him."

A longtime fantasy devotee and game designer, Keith Baker's breakthrough occurred when he entered a contest in 2002 held by Wizards of the Coast, maker of the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS roleplaying game and a subsidiary of Hasbro. The contest sought an innovative concept for a new world in which fans could play DUNGEONS & DRAGONS. Chosen from more than 11,000 submissions, Baker's Eberron world won the contest and became Wizards of the Coast's setting for the third edition of DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, as well as the setting for DDO. Baker also published his first novel, City of Towers, which released in February 2005, to critical acclaim.

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE: Stormreach brings the essence of the classic pen-and-paper roleplaying experience - with an emphasis on small party-based dungeon crawling adventures - to the PC. Authentic features in the game include customizable characters; dungeons filled with devious traps; monsters and stories from the Eberron campaign setting; an on-screen d20 (20-sided die) and a dungeon master. The unique online world of DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE represents a new paradigm for the MMO genre with unique features including party-based quests, integrated voice chat, real-time action combat, and award-winning graphics.

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE: Stormreach is currently available online and in retail stores for $49.99. Additional information can be found at www.ddo.com.