| Roman Taxi (board game, Bucephalus) |
[Jun. 30th, 2009|04:58 pm] |
Sorry to start off with one so negative, but it's on the top of of my review list.
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/36228
Here we have a game of delivering historic Roman citizens to various
sites around Rome. Cute historic premise to start, but the game went
downhill from there. The play involves moving your taxi around the
board using colored squares drawn as cards, basically like Candyland
or similar children's games. There are some random event cards and
some time limits so your passengers do not get cranky.
We found that many of the event cards were boring, others were worded
such that we needed a FAQ to understand what they were supposed to do
exactly. The action of the game progresses very slowly, giving players
little chance for excitement. Very few choices are presented to the
player on his or her turn, so moves are often quite obvious.
During play sometimes one player's taxi would be in the way of
another, but resolving that was left to us, since it was not explained
in the rules. Blocking or leap-frogging would both be interesting, but
it was unclear. Finally, with four people the cycle of drawing from
face-up cards could be brutal, leaving one player out of the 'good'
moves for multiple turns in a row.
Overall we found this game disappointing. I think with some good
house rules (like a hand to choose from, faster movement and more
nuanced events) the game could be much stronger, but it is low on my
list for investing my time. |
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| VeriCon 2009 report |
[Jan. 29th, 2009|10:33 pm] |
I am still sore from the festivities, and just had a very good time up in Cambridge this past weekend with the past and present members of the Harvard Radcliffe Science Fiction Association. Thanks to the con staff who helped me have so much fun!
Friday I arrived early enough to meet some of the folks setting up, help out a bit with the program book assembly and find out who was involved with what. They were kind enough to move my events around to allow me to participate in some events I was very much looking forward to, including the LARP that night.
The Tale and the Twilight, written by HRSFA alumni who have done a series of similar LARPs, told a tale of heroes seeking to marry the daughters of the sultan through gaining favor and telling stories. I missed the window to sign up as a player and instead got the opportunity to know more behind-the-scenes info as an NPC (the Captain of the Guard). The group contained all sorts and though the game ran long it was very fun. Each character had some special qualities, motives, interlocking agendas and ways to help or hinder others. I highly recommend trying one of these LARPs if you get the chance, I enjoyed the evening very much.
Saturday morning (most convention events start at 10 or 11 am, not too early) I finally realized my efforts to play Capture the Flag with Stuff (tm), another famous and exotic HRSFA standby. Imagine an indoor, three team game of Capture the Flag with magical wands, potions, belts and glyphs. We got a good turnout and diverse players, some experienced and other brand new like me. The two games wore me out and proved much more fun than any Capture the Flag game I've ever played. The items almost got confusing when a few were interacting at once, but the expert players and the judge made sure that we all had good instruction.
After coming down from the adrenaline high of running up and down stairs for two hours I found some food and then ran Go West, a one-shot Dogs in the Vineyard module adapted from a home campaign I ran. The secret agents of the United States Geological Survey put a stop to the strange tax evasion and the mysterious missing persons, almost suffering a casualty themselves. The big tough farm girl got in some trouble, but she was saved by the faith healer and monkey. A very fun session, all pretty new to the system but getting the hang of things quickly enough.
The Dogs game went longer than intended thanks to players getting into the story and helping craft a collaborative narrative that rocked. We ended as some other events were starting up for the evening, and so I got some food and settled down to play some Race for the Galaxy. My goal for the evening: experiment with the first expansion to the game, since I already loved Race. After a few games I concluded that the expansion cards are useful to fill out some gaps and the goals added provide very nifty incentives to motivate different styles of play. I know have my own expansion in the mail from boardsandbits.com.
Sunday's main event drew a big crowd as folks woke up and filtered in. MST3K focused on National Treasure 2 this year, a whopper of a film with enough mediocre acting and writing to provide much amusement. The script our three hosts had written kept us laughing, as did their clever (and minimalistic) sketches that helped fully mock the plot holes and weird leaps of logic. The movie was never better than in that crowded classroom.
Lunch with some friends, new and old, capped off my weekend and I got on a long Amtrak train back to the Have'. I am very glad my friends finally got me to go to VeriCon and I will be back next year to repeat the awesome events. |
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| The Continuum |
[Jun. 23rd, 2008|09:01 pm] |
The Continuum (launching June 25th) cleverly mixes RPG, CCG, and tactical strategy elements into one web-based multiplayer game that is quite fun, but perhaps a bit too much for some to chew.
In the game you have units (the card equivalent) that are acquired randomly in various sized sets and have different rarities. Each of these units is a single combat character, and they can advance as they gain XP. The advancement increases overall power but also opens up options for customization to let you tune your units to different specialties, similar to Diablo or World of Warcraft.
Using these characters you build up armies, which are made of one or more squads of 1 - 20 units each. The simplest army tends to be one squad, usually of 20 units. Big battles can involve armies with 100-200 units on a side. My preference tends towards armies with 20-60 units, since each unit could potentially have special abilities you can optionally activate.
There are multiple different maps you can fight on, supporting variously sizes matches. Some are quite large with lots of room to maneuver, some have lots of power-ups you can pick up to boost your squads, and some are small and direct skirmishes. Maps can also contain items you can grab to then equip to your characters.
This game has been a bunch of fun in the month or so of Beta I was involved in. It hooked me in cleverly with the RPG advancement elements, and the customization of armies around different themes (a feature of CCGs and the like that I have always found fun) didn't hurt. The various elements fit together well, instead of pulling in different directions. They have a logical sequence, so they do not overload each other. You customize units, then you customize armies, then you customize strategy as you learn about an opponent and choose your actions in a fight.
While testing the developers have been good at both listening and motivating. Various quests and task checklists were given to stimulate different kinds of gameplay and to challenge players with odd circumstances, all with rewards from the game staff for completion.
This game is about to go live, and I'll be playing for at least a few weeks to see how things have been tweaked, to see the new content they are releasing (theoretically on a steady basis) and to keep exploring new strategies for my fights. I'd love to join anyone and give you an introduction to the elements at play. I'm not sure if this game has long term staying power, but I am liking it as my summer addiction.
https://www.thecontinuum.com/ |
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| Good fights and good stories |
[May. 11th, 2008|10:41 am] |
I want to think about this more, but also write about it now.
Last night I was talking with some friends, authors, and gamers (all cool people I like to chill and wonk out with) about D&D and fights and modules. We were discussing fight balance, strategy and what makes a fight memorable, fun and interesting.
I've long believed that a strong fight (or any sort of conflict) is one in which the goals are not completely plain. If we're talking about D&D combat I like to see objectives beyond just 'Let's kill them before they kill us' such as:
- Protect your friend(s)
- Escape from followers
- Rescue person or item
- Hold the line
- Dispatch specific enemy quickly
- etc.
One recent example for me that highlighted a clever use of this in video games was the finale of the arena fights in Jade Empire (Xbox). At the very end your fight is made more interesting by a time mechanic that rewards not just winning, but winning quickly.
Recent RPGA modules I've played do not tend to use this alternate goals all that much, which can make combat into a routine, or an optimization game. Some of us (mea culpa) can get quite good at this game, thus putting the writer/DM in a tough spot: 'How do I make a fight that is challenging to the very strong party while not overwhelming to the average, weaker party?'
I think one very good answer to this question involves changing the objectives of the fight. When the party has to dive into the ancient ruins, evade the unkillable golems chasing them, find the lost artifact and escape without the natives taking them hostage, you have an amazingly heroic, high-action 'fight' that does not require killing much of anything.
For my next post I want to write about motivations and desires, and ways to make RPG objectives more than one-dimensional. |
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| DDXP report and thoughts |
[Mar. 4th, 2008|09:55 am] |
Okay, time to collect more thoughts.
- Very little new info from Organized Play. No sign of a new D&D Campaign, just LFR. We're likely to see a new D&D Campaign style game in early 2009 when the Eberron Campaign setting comes out.
- Regions for LFR less significant than for LG. Four or five modules per year for each region, plus 12 non-region modules and some convention exclusives (not just for Gencon/DDXP)
- Campaign cards unlock Shadar-kai, gnome or orc as playable LFR races (all from MM). Gnome is sneaky, Orc is tough/brutish, Shadar-kai are smart and quick, and seem to have some sort of teleport power, like many fey.
- More compartmentalization for D&D expansion books. Martial Powers will have powers and feats, but not classes. PHB and PHB II etc. will be class books, and will also have Paragon Paths and Magic Items. A new Magic Item book is also coming out. No word on Epic Destinies.
- 4th Ed PCs have more options in a given round than previous low level PCs, with some small and some big powers. Number of choices will not go up substantially as level increases, but instead powers get replaced with newer, better powers. All PCs had some racial and some class powers.
-Roles are very important, at least in combat. There are four roles that we saw: striker (damage one foe, usually from a distance), controller (damage lots of foes), leader (damage foes while giving your party members benefits), and defender (battle up front and get hit a lot). It looks like this will encourage cooperative play, since everyone will know what their "job" is in battle, and each PC can do things to help others.
-Base attack bonus is static, not variable by class. Features, Powers, Feats etc. will add to attacks for certain kinds of characters. Our Cleric was generally rolling at +4 while the Fighter was at +6, at 1st level.
-First level characters are survivable, even against tough challenges, and all classes have something useful to do in any combat each round.
- Implements help with some powers. Magic items help with some kinds of attacks. Static bonuses, extra damage dice (including a d12 for archers!)
- No sign of the Warlord at the con, at least among PCs. Some NPC foes had powers that seemed appropriate to warlords, but there are some monster-only powers and abilities.
- Feats seem similar to Star Wars Saga, as do Skills. Some feats combine very well, like the Dwarf Fighter's. Some feats can give you abilities from other classes.
- Multiclassing is going to be very different. Instead of taking a different class, a PC would choose some powers/feats/? that grant increasing abilities from another class, to reflect a sort of dabbling. It's not a big chunk of new abilities, rather a gradually increasing access at the cost of your primary class's stuff. More granular choice this way.
- Magic Items often grant static bonuses to some rolls and also have a activation power, that could be Encounter or Daily. They often help allies too.
- Poison and other effects (like some necrotic damage from undead, or fire) have static damage each turn and you can save to end them.
- All duration effects have no set duration above 1 round, but instead allow a save (d20 roll, get 10 or higher to succeed) to end. Dying is slightly different, in that if you fail 3 times you are dead. Natural 20 on a Dying save means you are conscious again, with some HP.
- Skills condensed a lot. No Int bonus to trained skills any more. Minimum 4 skills per class. More creativity encouraged.
- Non-combat encounters encourage creative skill use to get to a threshold of successes over the course of a dramatic narrative scene. Wide freedom for GM to provide setting and let PCs take narrative control by trying to utilize their skills to achieve success. In our case it was a chase scene, where we used some Bluff, some spells, some Arcana, and some racial abilities to get away from the folks behind us. Very fun, very cooperative and very freeing. Reminded me a lot of the dramatic conflicts of Spycraft, or the narrativist conflicts in Dogs in the Vineyard.
- Ability modifiers are as 3.5, but then add 1/2 character level. Skills are as Saga, saves are similar. With ability modifiers going up, anything past level 2 or 4 will have no ability penalties anymore.
- Wizard spells use attacks based on Int, Rangers use Dex, Clerics use Wis. Each class rolls attacks with different stats based on abilities and powers.
- I played the D&D Open Qualifier, a 3.5 game with 5 characters provided. Each had about half a page of background and character opinions, but it didn't really come up in the module much at all. The game was fun, allowed some good thinking during the adventure, and let people shine. Overall I was not terribly impressed, and did not feel that it had much depth. It wasn't a bad game, but many characters didn't have much to do besides some fighting and planning. Fun adventure, not especially stimulating. |
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| Wii |
[Mar. 26th, 2007|10:56 am] |
Anyone else searching for a Wii?
Got any advice?
I'm officially on the market, and my preference would be to get a base system or small bundle (Raving Rabbids, Elebits, Play, Zelda, Monkey Ball are all interesting) at retail. So I'm contemplaying some Sunday drives to various stores, with some camping out possible.
Have any leads or recommendations? Let me know. |
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| WoW Armory |
[Mar. 6th, 2007|08:57 am] |
Anyone else having tremendous trouble accessing the Armory?
I can't get in to the main page, guild page, or my page.
I'd love to go spy on the specs and gear of my arena team, keep tabs on the other rogues in the guild, and see what the freakin homepage looks like, but it just never stops loading, no matter what. |
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| Ding |
[Feb. 22nd, 2007|09:25 pm] |
Bananapants (Azjol-Nerub, undead rogue) is now 70 and the proud owner of a Green Windrider.
Now time to attune myself for all kinds of crazy raids and get Heroic instances started. :) |
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| AnonyCon |
[Dec. 19th, 2006|10:51 am] |
AnonyCon went swimmingly this year, and we enjoyed the Marriott very much.
Now it's off for me to recover from the bug that all of the staff seem to have caught. Maybe in the next week or so I'll get to play something.
We met some great new people, had some awesome games and I think made this our most successful con ever. |
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| Return to the Kingdom |
[Jan. 2nd, 2006|08:10 pm] |
I've taken up Kingdom of Loathing again. I'm having fun with one hardcore and one non-hardcore character, and realizing that new stuff is there in all kinds of places I didn't realize. I can't wait to explore more of the Zodiac signs and trophies!
Come join me. Bananapants is my primary, in the clan Article Adjective Noun. |
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| So yeah, this weekend... |
[Dec. 1st, 2005|10:12 pm] |
Right, so I'm in Stamford, at AnonyCon. Lots of my friends will be here soon to join me.
This will be a tremendous weekend of me making sure other people have fun. We really, not just me.
So thanks to all who help, thanks to all who attend, and thanks to all for support. |
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| DDR |
[Sep. 26th, 2005|11:47 pm] |
Ah, how I missed you!
The special substance combining the rush of gaming with the endorphins of actual physical exercise.
It's been too long since a game made me sweat.
Dam Dariram, Butterfly, Drop the Bomb, Paranoia, and more.
I gotta do this more often.
(SY basement, free play, one pad only) |
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| Ascension is Nigh! |
[Jun. 9th, 2005|11:58 am] |
OMG!
Right now I'm climbing up the tower of the Naughty Sorceress, enjoying all the new puzzles and looking forward to the boatloads of content to be explored.
Now's a great time to get (back) into Kingdom of Loathing.
In other news, World of Warcraft is sucking up lots of my time, and I'm having a blast. I'm playing Alliance on Bloodhoof and Horde on Azjol-Nerub. |
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| Entering the World |
[May. 11th, 2005|11:17 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | 120 Minutes of Jick & Mr. Skullhead | ] |
I'm finally giving in, caving to the pressure, and embracing my inner calling.
I'm going to be an Undead Rogue.
Starting next week I'll be playing World of Warcraft. I'll be playing on Azjol-Nerub with a friend or two, trying to powerlevel so we can get to some guild-based high-level content by the end of the summer. I'll probably also have alts.
Do you play? Post here with info on your characters, and I'll try to say hi. I'll post again when I have definite info. |
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| Gaming Recommendations |
[May. 5th, 2005|06:08 pm] |
It's that time of the year again, so...
I'd like recommendations. For me. Yes, I'm selfish.
Is there some game, gaming product, accessory or cool thing you think I'd like, or you believe I should look into? Tell me here. Be as detailed as you want.
Summertime approaches. That means painting and gaming. Right? |
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| RFC: Convention Forums |
[Mar. 23rd, 2005|11:24 pm] |
I just had a very satisfying time setting up the AnonyCon Forums and now I'm fiddling with them a lot.
I'd kinda like to finalize the structure and appearance before opening it up to our 200 players, but I would love to have some feedback from the people who read this blog.
What sort of color scheme would make sense?
What categories are important, or missing, or ignored?
What content is or is not appropriate for this site?
Is this kind of thing even useful?
How can we use this to better build a community around our convention?
All this and more is flying through my head as I try to maximize the effectiveness of this newly created resource that I'm both proud of and anxious over at the same time.
So fire away. |
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| Katamari Damacy (and other stuff) |
[Mar. 11th, 2005|12:01 am] |
Wow.
This is an amazingly original game.
It is also the most psychedelic game I have played since Rez, and in refreshingly new ways.
The music I cannot get out of my head.
Well, off to a weekend of gaming, in which I run four different modules and hopefully embody an overly lusty halfling sparked with magic and chasing after anything that moves. Delbon Glittercheeks, here I come! |
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| Wikis + RPGs = great |
[Feb. 10th, 2005|11:34 pm] |
I think that wikis are wonderful tools, especially for RPG groups and campaigns.
It always becomes difficult for me, inevitably, to keep all the people, places and things straight in any sufficiently complex game I play. Sometimes I'll take notes, sometimes I rely on the notes of others, but it never fits together just right.
Enter the wiki, a collaborative medium with the ability to build on other people's thoughts and the capability for infinite revision. All that plus hypertext? Sliced Bread I tell you!
So anyway, I've got a collection of 'em here, and I'd love feedback, goading or other similar resources, if you got it in ya. |
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| CCGs |
[Feb. 10th, 2005|11:02 pm] |
Why are some CCGs really addictive, and some really sucky?
One thing about a bad CCG is the high turn angst (time waiting until you get to do something) or high decision paralysis (time spent figuring out what to do when you have too many options). I think many CCGs went to market without much playtesting, or only being playtested by designers and pros, and thus never given to a new person who would approach the game from a novice perspective.
The thing I like about some of my favorite CCGs (and games in general) is low turn angst. The less time in a game (which is about fun, right?) I spend waiting to get to do something, the better.
This is one thing that non-electronic games can learn from video games. It's great to come home at the end of the day and play some video games because I have no waiting to do and no delays to face. (Yes, this is not always true. Allow me my generalizations.)
So anyway, currently I'm interested in Pirates of the Spanish Main (part card game, part minis game) and A Game of Thrones (CCG I've been playing for a while now). We'll see if I tire of them like I did of the LOTR TCG (managed to get my fill through the beta of the online game) or others. |
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| Party Themes |
[Feb. 10th, 2005|08:03 pm] |
One of the things I find annoying about many RPGs is the lack of emphasis on party dynamics and unity.
Of course all the high-minded and cerebral gamers I play under motivate the players to form their own parties, but sometimes you have a GM who doesn't do this, or you are playing in a massively distributed campaign (like one of the many RPGA campaigns) and so there are only individual guidelines.
So what to do? I usually try to find a theme for the party. Sometimes this revolves around a specific member, sometimes it involves similar goals, or similar interests/professions. Some parties are very close, while others have internal stresses and disagreements.
What are your favorite party ideas, and what groups did you create that didn't work out as well as you had hoped? |
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