Articles by Dave Chalker
TheGame is Dave Chalker, a lifelong gamer, freelance game designer, Master of Arts, and son of Jack L. Chalker. Dave is the Editor-in-Chief of Critical Hits and so runs the place. He is the envy of geeks everywhere because he's dating e, the Geek's Dream Girl. (Email Dave or follow him on Twitter).
DDXP 2012 Recap: Running the New D&D and Playing Games
This year’s DDXP was a very interesting one, as I suspected. We were actually able to get there, unlike last year, though Fort Wayne’s weather seems persistant in its attempts to keep us out. In order to help finance the trip, and because I was one of the few who had an early look at the new D&D, I volunteered to DM seven four-hour slots of the new game to eager players. While I only ended up running four games of it (mostly because I was too tired to do any more than that), I had a blast and felt good about the games that I ran. Like everyone who played, I signed an NDA (though in my case, several months ago) that prevents me from discussing the exact rules being used. What I can discuss are some general feelings after running the game, some various impressions I heard as someone not involved with the design of the game but from talking to players, and tell you about the other games I played.
Into the Caves of Chaos
As was revealed prior to the show, the adventure that most (if not all) the DMs running the playtest was the Caves of Chaos, a portion of the original Keep on the Borderlands adventure. We used the same exact map of the caves, with the statistics updated for the new system. I mentioned to some of the other DMs how funny it was to be running an adventure released in 1979 on an iPad.
To be honest, I had some hesitation about this. For one, I wasn’t blown away with the game during my one short session as a player. Secondly, sandbox-style games have never much been my thing, either as a DM or a player. Every game I run I try to include a number of elements of the PCs influencing the world, but I prefer to focus on possible storylines rather than let the game work out the stories. Thus, the Caves of Chaos didn’t strike me as an adventure I’d enjoy running. I discussed with ChattyDM and THE Shawn Merwin about some ways to jazz it up a bit, including adding some 5×5 method elements (obviously my favorite implementation of sandbox-style) to it.
Well, I was wrong. Each of the four tables I ran went great, without adding else to the adventure. Part of that is that I feel pretty comfortable as a DM and rolling with the punches, part of it was how the system does a really good job of making me feel empowered as a DM, and most of it had to do with having 100% awesome players in every game (no matter what version of D&D they liked best.) Lemme break those each down a little bit. [Read the rest of this article]
DDXP 2012: “Charting the Course: An Edition for All Editions” and “New Products” Seminars
This past weekend was DDXP, and since this the new edition of D&D was announced recently, this was both the first chance the public would both find out directly from the mouths of the people making the game what it would be like, as well as try a limited demo of the new game. Like in 2008, questions about the new game were answered, and new ones were created. And just like back then, we were on the scene to report on the goings on to try to bring you a taste of the information available if you couldn’t be there.
Aside from all the games being run (of the new D&D, 4e, and every other edition), there were also four seminars run by Wizards of the Coast staff. I was able to attend two: “Charting the Course: An Edition for All Editions” and “New Product Seminar.” Vanir attended the “Class Design: From Assassins to Wizards” seminar. A fourth was unattended by us (because we were all making our way home.)
The following is a summation of the two seminars I attended with some of our commentary and thoughts. If you’d prefer to read the entire transcript, or watch the video, those are available elsewhere:
- Charting the Course: An Edition for all Editions (transcript) (report)
- Class Design: From Assassins to Wizards (transcript)
- New Products Seminar (transcript)
- Reimagining Skills and Ability Scores (transcript)
- All chat streams from WotC
- Video recordings the last three seminars
Charting the Course: An Edition for all Editions [Read the rest of this article]
Our D&D Greatest Hits: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition
Last week, Chatty DM told you about his experiences in AD&D (aka “First Edition”) as the edition that he started in. Many of us founding members of Critical Hits got our start in RPGs a bit later in the same game group playing AD&D 2nd edition. Now, that game group has expanded, split, mutated, split again, expanded, and changed a lot since then. However, we all still have some fond memories of those early days.
Like in Phil’s experience, we didn’t necessarily know the real rules (or particularly care). Some of the game play issues that would later come to bug us would be several campaigns down the road before they really became impediments to play. We played with a DM that liked to use 4d6 in order drop lowest, leading to playing fighters with 13th strength and paladins with 4 intelligence.
It was also the system that I would first run campaigns in. First, my utter failure of a campaign that mashed-up the video game Doom and D&D, or my much more successful followup that featured such unique NPCs as Lord Dort Invader, his Twelve Penetrators, and Gigantor the Great Big Robot.
From these memories of our early days, we’ve assembled a few of us who were in those games together to pinpoint what made those days of D&D so great. [Read the rest of this article]
Interview: “Atomic Robo The Roleplaying Game”
Maybe you’re a fan of the many award-winning Dresden Files Roleplaying Game, powered by the FATE game engine. Maybe you’re a fan of robots punching Nazis. Maybe you are a fan of both, in which case, there’s going to be a new roleplaying game for you!
Announced two weeks ago, Evil Hat Productions is going to be producing the Atomic Robo: The Roleplaying Game, based on the hit comic series written by Brian Clevinger and illustrated by Scott Wegener. The game will be designed primarily by Mike Olson, and managed by Evil Hat Co-President Fred Hicks. We sent them a few questions about the announcement and the game.
CRITICAL HITS: How would you explain the world and adventures of Atomic Robo to the uninitiated?
BRIAN CLEVINGER: Take The Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones, Buckaroo Banzai, and The Rocketeer; cram them into a robot; give that robot some pants; bam, you’ve got Atomic Robo. He was invented by Nicola Tesla in 1923 and our comic book follows Robo’s adventure ever since. He fought a pyramid, the planet Mars, Stephen Hawking (metaphorically), Nazis, a super-intelligent time traveling dinosaur who may be none of those things, and run of the mill mad scientists.
But not at the same time.
CH: What kind of campaign models are you envisioning?
MIKE OLSON: First off, one that gets started quickly. You could say character creation is going to be more action and less science: It’ll be a true pick-up-and-play game without a lot of character creation on the front end. That’s been an important design goal from my earliest conversations with Fred about ARRPG. The actual stories Brian and Scott tell in Atomic Robo are definitely informing how we’re thinking the game will play — not just in the sense of what happens in a story, but how they’re structured. The default campaign expectation will be one that takes place in multiple eras during Robo’s long life, even if Robo himself isn’t present, with each of those eras having its own treatment and distinct feel. But if you want to play a story that involves Jack Tarot in the ‘30s or Sparrow in WWII, you can do that too. Regardless, you’ll have the tools to run the kick-ass Atomic Robo game you want.
FRED HICKS: I’m particularly excited about the multi-era play. Moreso than Spirit of the Century, I think the Atomic Robo RPG will be exactly the right kind of game to handle a play-group with variable attendance. “Oh, only two folks are showing up tonight? Well, let’s jump back to 1971 and play out a smaller piece of this story there. Who wants to play Carl Sagan?”
CH: For those that aren’t familiar with FATE, what makes it a good fit for an Atomic Robo-based game?
CLEVINGER: FATE gives a great deal of freedom to model every weird idea you can imagine. And to do it on the fly. And then to destroy it in a spectacular explosion that may or may not have been accidental. If that’s not every single Atomic Robo story, then I don’t know what is.
OLSON: This may be a tough one for me to answer objectively — FATE’s my go-to system, and I love hacking it for various genres. But what makes it so strong for a character-driven book like Atomic Robo is how easily it lets players define their character through mere words, via aspects. The particular iteration of FATE we’re planning is going to be tailored to what’s important to a Robo story, including a special emphasis on Science (and “Science!”) that gives all that witty techno-banter mechanical heft. Look at that invasion from the Vampire Dimension. Does Robo save the day by punching them? Does Jenkins, by visiting horrific off-screen ultra-violence upon them? Nope. It’s quick-thinking new-hire Bernard. Using Science. FATE’s great at that — that’s what FATE does.
CH: For those that are familiar with FATE, what kind of changes are going to be made to fit it, especially since it has a Spirit of the Century vibe already?
OLSON: Spirit of the Century has been a hugely influential game for me and for a lot of other people, but I think it’s safe to say that FATE technology has come a long way since its publication.
HICKS: YES! Spirit was published in 2006. Six years! The whole landscape of FATE is just different these days.
OLSON: Right. And if the recent proliferation of FATE games has shown us anything, it’s that people love to tinker with it — and because it’s such a malleable system, tinkering’s both fun and easy. So even though we’re very early in the process here, I can say for sure that we’re going to take full advantage of everything the system has to offer.
For one thing, you won’t see any big lists of stunts. Like I said, character creation will be more action, less science. That’s not to say there won’t be stunt-like options for customizing your character, but just as in Dresden Files Roleplaying Game, the emphasis will be on coming up with your own based on some broad guidelines.
Likewise, the concept of Phases is great for Spirit of the Century and its meta-conceit that all of the characters are protagonists in pulp books who are Centurions in the Century Club. The default assumptions of ARRPG are much different, though. Sure, the PCs are likely to be Tesladyne Action Scientists, but their stories could take place anytime over a more than 80-year period. Instead of writing down past events in their characters’ lives, we want people to actually play them out, or discover them through play. The era-hopping thing is definitely part of that.
HICKS: Yep. And part of that whole multi-era thing, really, is that groups that embrace it will probably have people playing different characters in different timeframes — they can’t all be ageless heroes like Robo. So the whole phased character creation thing from Spirit and Dresden won’t really apply here — though there’s nothing stopping folks from importing the idea from other FATE games.
OLSON: One of the big things we have in store, as I alluded to before, is giving Science its due — making sure it matters more than mere “color.” But it’s hard to say much more at this point, simply because the real work has yet to begin — FATE Core is our starting point, and that’s still in development. But we’ll be previewing more throughout the coming months.
CH: Will there be any campaign tools in it that can be borrowed for other games, like City Creation was for Dresden Files?
OLSON: We’re talking about some random idea generators for missions, villains, and science-related catastrophes — I love that sort of thing — that would certainly be applicable for other games. The skill system we have in mind will be both unique to ARRPG and compatible with “mainline” FATE, and will in fact accentuate customization, so I’m sure that will find its way around. Most FATE gamers I know really dig hacking the system, so I’m sure that even stuff we don’t think of as being broadly applicable will get that hacker treatment.
HICKS: Yeah. I have a feeling that the gearheads out there like me are going to find Robo’s ideas highly portable. Really, if anyone looked at Mike’s work on “Strange Fate” for The Kerberos Club and wanted to see an iteration of it that was highly compatible with main-line, core FATE, they’re going to get that here.
CH: With villains like Edison’s Ghost or a brain in a jar with a robot body, will there be other examples of how to make your own villains in the Atomic Robo style?
CLEVINGER: I’m hoping for a whole array of play styles. There’s a century or so of history, so the game is a tremendous opportunity to play around with the parts of Robo’s world we don’t see in the comics. Want to play pulp adventurers from before Robo was created or from back when he was terrible at adventuring? How about a generational campaign with a character per player per era? Want to play as “bad guy” factions like Majestic 12? A team up of Robo’s worst arch-enemies? An alternate history where Robo was taken out mid-century? One where he and Tesladyne never came to be?
So, to finally answer your question, yes. We’ll have some guidelines on how to best cater villains and (their?) antagonistic organizations to best fit your needs!
OLSON: In general, my answer to any question that takes the form of “Will there be guidelines for doing X the Atomic Robo way?” is “Yes.” One of our most important design goals is making sure the mechanics support the kinds of stories we expect people to tell when they play ARRPG. That definitely includes Robo-propriate adversaries, from brain-in-jar science villains to time-travelling Dromaeosaurs and everything in between.
HICKS: Crystals!
Why I Oppose PIPA and SOPA
I realize at this point I’m by and large preaching to the choir here. Wikipedia and Google are much more likely to be people who have not yet spoken out against these two bills designed to stem internet piracy but that are likely to have wider ranging, dangerous consequences. If you’d like more information, many sites are providing it today, but I really like this point by point breakdown with examples.
However, I do want to speak briefly about why I think it’s important. You see, the house I grew up in was paid for by my dad writing books. If he were still around and writing, he’d probably be concerned about piracy in the book biz too, as well as ebook trends and everything else. It’s entirely possible that piracy could be affecting my livelihood if the last 10 years had gone differently.
In the world we do live in, my day job involves posting on the internet, and obviously that’s what this website is. The house I live in now is financed by the internet. If someone were to tell me suddenly: you can’t use the internet, I’d be in trouble. [Read the rest of this article]
The Road Not Taken: Alternative Directions For A Post 4e D&D
By now, the news is out that a new edition of D&D is on its way. While I’m looking forward to further playtesting on this new edition, I’m not quite ready to leave 4e behind completely. There’s still at least one more campaign I’d like to run using it.
Of course, as a game designer, I can’t help but still tinker with some of the pieces. I’ve done it before with the game, and have thought about further hacks. In the context of a new edition, there are any number of ways that an edition after 4th edition could go, while still building on the foundation of the game. While the publicly available info on the game seems to suggest that the new version will be different, hewing to ideas created in pre-4e editions, I have a few ideas for how a closer to 4e new edition could have gone. Here’s a few ideas for the D&D hackers out there. [Read the rest of this article]
New Edition of “Dungeons & Dragons” Announced
This morning, in the New York Times, and followed up by a new Legends & Lore article, it was announced that Wizards of the Coast is working on the new edition of Dungeons & Dragons. The combination of the WotC staff playing in games of all editions, plus the hiring of Monte Cook, plus the subject of the previous Legends & Lore articles, all added up to a “D&D Greatest Hits” edition, with the goal of bringing D&D players of all stripes together instead of driving further “edition wars.”
At the beginning of December, I was flown out (along with a number of other folks) to Seattle to consult on some upcoming programs. While not the primary purpose of our visit there, we were able to find out about this new game before the official announcement happened. Many of the goals were outlined for us, and we were given a very early demo. While there is a limit to what I’m allowed to talk about- not just for the usual secrecy reasons that they are notorious for but because of how early into the process it all is- I’d like to just put a few bullet points out there about my impressions of the entire presentation. [Read the rest of this article]
30 For 30
When the time came to figure out what I would be doing for my 30th birthday, I decided to give myself a quest. In the past, I’ve watched all of the Lords of the Rings movies (extended editions) back to back, and tried to drink 26 drinks in a single day each starting with a different letter of the alphabet (it didn’t go very well.)
Being The Game, the answer seemed obvious: 30 games in the course of one gaming party. After a bit of discussion with my fellow partygoers, we further clarified it had to be 30 different games. I succeeded, though with a little cheating. Here’s all what I played.
Game 0: Tetris with my Dishwasher
I didn’t count it, but fitting everything in my sink into the dishwasher with the added time pressure that people were arriving was one of the hardest challenges of the day.
Game 1: Toc Toc Woodman
This is a dexterity game that was recently brought to the US by Mayday Games. I enjoyed this one since the rules are very simple and clean while creating a pretty intense experience. You hit a plastic tree with an axe (two taps on your turns) and keep anything that hits the table. Bark on the edges is positive points, the cores in the center are negative points. A fun game that I’ll happily play once or twice occasionally but probably won’t become a permanent part of my gaming rotation.
Game 2: Fiasco “All The Damn Time”
I’ve wanted to pull this playtest playset out for a while, yet always rejected it since I rarely play Fiasco with a completely experienced group, and the playset heavily cautions against playing it with new people. While I agree it’s on the complex end of the Fiasco playset scale, and it certainly shouldn’t be a GROUP’S first playset, it worked fine with one new player.
This was without a doubt one of the funniest Fiasco games I’ve played in, while simultaneously being mind-bending and, of course, a Fiasco. You all play versions of the same person, unstuck through time and encountering each other. Each person as a result ends up bringing their own interpretation of the same character (as well as their own personality) which mixes quite well with the play. While the playset has the potential for a more introspective game, we went the other way bringing out the time travel tropes at rapid pace. Predestination paradoxes where the main character Sam convinced himself that he’s his own father because of a rumor he told himself, alternate timelines trying to scam each other, a temporal twin sister, a bag of heroin that gets dragged through time, and an aftermath involving Sam punching himself as a baby and eliminating all the others from existence were a few of the many highlights.
Game 3: Dominion, All Hinterlands Expansion
After the intense Fiasco session, I sat in on a game of Dominion using all Hinterlands, which I’ve only gotten to play with a few times. Due to some various action chaining, and some Noble Brigands making keeping high treasure cards difficult, this was a slow match.
However, Hinterlands has gone up to my top 3 Dominion expansions. Its effects that trigger in other times when playing them does make the decisions a bit more interesting than in other sets. There’s a lot to be said for just using my 3 favorite sets together (Hinterlands, Prosperity, and Seaside) along with the promos- especially since my custom box is too small to keep all the cards!
Game 4: La Strada!
My first cheat, especially because I am ALWAYS playing La Strada! And you should too.
Game 5: The Game
You just lost it too.
Game 6: Sorcerer (dice game)
As a third game played while also playing the Hinterlands game, I played this silly dice game with “the designer.” Here is the gist of Sorcerer:
- Start at level 1.
- Roll a d6.
- If you rolled anything but a 1, level up.
- If you roll a 1, you die at that level.
- If you get to level 20, you can roll to try and get into the pantheon of gods on a 4+.
- However, the pantheon is full, so that’s probably not an option anymore.
- If you’re playing competitively, you can stop rolling at any level.
- Did I mention it’s not much of a game?
Game 7: Legend of Drizzt
The latest in the D&D “adventure system” board games, and the only one I hadn’t played before. I played the allied version of Artemis Entrari because assassins are awesome. We kicked Shimmergloom’s draconic ass, even though Drizzt fell in a pit for a turn.
I didn’t realize this version of the game came with more playable characters than the others. We suspect the characters are better than the characters in previous versions of the game, too. There’s a few other cool twists in the cards without adding extra rules to the core engine of the game, which is good. On the other hand, I don’t know if the missions add enough for the game to make me excited about playing it a lot more.
I did ruminate with Sly Flourish (who had brought the game, painted minis and all) that it might be time to combine all three into one mega-game though, and customize it to only contain the most fun stuff. Now that’s tempting, and gives me a few ideas for other games.
Game 8: Rock, Paper, Scissors
I held off on playing this until my friend Mark showed up, who had called it in advance. I had to turn down at least 4 previous offers to play it. And then, I lost. Stupid rock.
Game 9: Hit A Dude
I hit a dude, and play passed to the left. I did not use the player’s guide, however.
Game 10: Get Bit!
A few folks there had never tried it and asked me to play, so we busted out my “primo” copy with all the extras from the Kickstarter campaign. We had 7 players interested, and because of the promo pink robot, 7 player sets. I didn’t want to jump into the Sharkspansion either with new players. I also couldn’t just sit it out, so we tried it with 7 players, which I have never tested before.
As expected, there’s lots and lots of ties early on, and goes longer than I’d like. However, it still works as a game if you don’t mind it being more chaotic and punishing. I wouldn’t recommend it officially for the published rules, though. The Sharkspansion is still the best way to add a 7th player, and in my oh-so-biased opinion, adds a lot to the game.
Game 11: Loopin’ Louie
A friend of ours brought this over, unaware of my tournament-level past. I taught him the tournament rules, and enlightenment was had. And then I won the mini-tournament, showing that my skills have not atrophied much over the years.
Game 12: Crappy Birthday
We had a crowd around, so I busted out this party game from Northstar Games. It was appropriate since it’s about recieving gifts on your birthday, and inappropriate since my party and gifts were not crappy at all.
This is a quick, Apples to Apples-ish party game about giving the worst gift to someone on their turn, from a deck of cards of gifts whose quality ranges wildly. I do enjoy playing this, yet I may try some of the optional rules about giving someone a gift you think they’d like and one you think they would hate, and go from there. Also, it usually ends far too quickly if someone gets a better hand of crappier gifts.
Game 13: Seven Dragons
I busted out this game to play with the “Rainbow Dragon!” guy from the promotional video.
I enjoy Seven Dragons more than its predecessor Aquarius, not just for the Larry Elmore dragons but also for the added gameplay improvements. This is one of those games that I’ll rarely suggest on my own but works well in a group of both gamers and non-gamers.
Game 14: Tic-Tac-Toe
The Main Event suggested this one and threw down a piece of paper and allowed me to have the first move. Somehow, I lost, in plain view of many partygoers. I suspect I’ll have to relinquish my title of “The Game” as a result, and you would not be wrong to take it from me.
Game 15: Hangman
I had my revenge on The Main Event in this game, who also screwed up the rules. Unfortunately, the message was “Y O U S U C K” so it indeed was a victory and great cost.
Game 16: Spot-It!
This real-time game, brilliant party game is easy to bust out for a short amount of time, choose your own preferred rules set with the same basic play (match the symbols on two cards, which is much harder than it sounds), play, and then be done in a few minutes while still feeling satisfying. Simple enough for kids to play, yet fun enough for adults as well (especially when you add swearing to everything), I’d say this is one of the hits of the year for me.
Game 17: Pit
As it was getting late into the evening, and some players were already leaving, I started to push for quick playing games to hit my quota. Pit is an old game, which I jokingly call a “shouting game.” It’s interesting because there are strategies there, and I have seen people (including those who have actually worked in the stock market) do consistently very well at the game. I know some basics and still haven’t figured out what the best way to play is. Still, for a game that goes that quickly and includes a bell, hard to go wrong with this one.
Game 18: Hey Waiter!
Another quick-playing game designed by my friend Anthony, you are given a stack of dishes (represented by poker chips) and try to serve them before your opponents do. We played partnership, which means you look for opportunities to help both yourself and your partner while blocking your opponents.
The design of the cards and the available actions gives it a bit of a learning curve for a pretty simple game, yet there’s some real decisions to make during it that make it fun. If you’re a fan of trick-taking games or similar, this one may appeal to you despite not being trick-taking at all.
This is also the point where I realized I was playing a lot of games with a “!” in the title.
Game 19: Falling
Another of my top 10 games of all time (alongside Loopin’ Louie and Dominion), Falling takes more time to teach the rules than it does to play, which means you can get in a few rounds of it very quickly, and each game still feels like a frantic rush… just like falling from the sky. This is a real time game where your only goal is to hit the ground last (which happens when the deck runs out). This game is hated by many but remains one of my favorites. I almost pulled out my other favorite real-time game (also from Cheapass) Brawl but didn’t make it happen.
Game 20: Jenga
This was one of the most intense games of Jenga I’ve ever seen, including a late game twist where one of the players developed a forceful strike to knock blocks away from the table where they would land with a violent fall. He ended up pulling this off three times, and was among one of the winners. The tower was very tall by the end, and went many rounds past where we thought it would. I also got to regale other players about playing Dread and getting really lucky with my pulls so that my complete bastard of a character got away in the end.
Game 21: No Merci (aka Geschenkt or No Thanks!)
This short yet brutal filler hasn’t seen much play lately, yet it’s still high up there. The rules are really simple: either place a chip (worth positive points) or take a card (worth many negative points.) Getting runs of cards means you lower the amount of negative points you have. That’s about it, except that random cards are removed from the deck, and are hidden, so you don’t know if the cards you need to connect are in the deck. There’s a combination of gambling on what will come up, as well as trying to milk points from other players at the right time and for the right amount.
Game 22: Mamma Mia!
Another great filler. Part memory game, part hand management, you play ingredient cards into a center pile along with pizzas recipes that have different requirements for the cards under it. When the deck runs out, you see if people were able to make their pizzas or not. You play for 3 rounds and see who has made the most pizzas.
I like this game because while there is a memory element, it’s is far secondary to smart card play. I managed to score all of my pizzas, easily winning.
Game 23: Magic: The Gathering Commander
Using two of my decks, we tossed down a quick one on one Commander duel: Kresh vs. my never before played Wrexial deck. I didn’t draw the right mana for most of the game, and Wrexial’s ability to pull instants from the graveyard didn’t end up helping that much. When Phage the Untouchable hit the table, it was over for me. I do have some tweaking to do with the Wrexial deck, yet I still like the idea and play of it a lot.
Game 24: Treehouse
One of the quickest playing Icehouse/Looney Pyramids games out there, I hadn’t played this in so long I forgot how all the different actions worked. Fortunately, I had a trained Looney Game Technician there to help me with it (and I won with a well-timed Aim.)
Game 25: Dots And Boxes
I managed to convince a few players that wanted to get to Risk Legacy (which I wanted as a closer) to help me hit my goal before we could play. Thus, this was the first of a few rapid-fire games.
I hadn’t played this since I was a kid. I won with some friendly assistance. I probably don’t need to play this again until I’m 40.
Game 26: Win, Lose, or Banana
I got a banana.
Game 27: High Card
I wrecked this game by pulling the Ace of Spades immediately. I have mad High Card skills.
Game 28: Texas Hold ‘Em
We dealt out two cards to everybody sitting there. Several people called. I folded my hand in this no stakes, no consequences game, then cashed out with as much money as I started with.
Game 29: Blackjack
Yes, my penultimate game of the evening was Blackjack, a game I’ve never played in a casino. After one hit, my 20 was enough to defeat the dealer. Good enough for me.
Game 30: Risk Legacy
This has been a frequent centerpiece at our Thursday game nights lately. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a game that could potentially define a whole new category of games.
Essentially, the game evolves, and is never the same from game to game. You make permanent changes to the board, the rules, the available resources, the other components: it all permanently changes with each game you play. As a result, a meta-storyline develops. You write on the board to name cities and immortalize the winners of conflicts. When certain events happen, you open envelopes.
In the game prior to this one, we opened two envelopes in the same game, and each was a mind-blowingly awesome twist that forever shaped how later games will be played. I’m trying very hard not to spoil anything just because of how cool it was to experience those.
The game we played was our first chance with the new stuff we unlocked in the previous game, and as expected, it made a big impact on how the game was played, and even had much more subtle repercussions in the strategy of the game I couldn’t predict. When people have asked me about the game, I’ve responded that it’s a really cool idea, but the game play is still Risk, so judge that carefully. I’m not a big Risk fan and didn’t play it much growing up, so I’m at a bit of a disadvantage when I play. Still, despite the fact that I’ve never won, I still look forward to every time I play just to experience more of the story we’re creating with the game.
In short, other than losing again (when so very close), it was a very satisfying close to 30 games in a single party.
Final exclamation point game title count: 6
Redesigning the Epic Tier
Both Sly Flourish and I have talked a lot lately about the issues we’ve run into at epic levels in D&D. While there are certainly rules issues, I believe fixing them all would take up a lot more than single column. However, I do have some ideas on alternate ways to restructure how the campaign plays out to put the focus on epic in a way I find satisfying.
As I experienced in my campaign, I never felt like there was enough actual epic storylines to justify a full 10 levels. When every combatant was supposed to be earth-shattering, it drained much of the impact away from each individual one. Plus, unless you’re just going on a tour of gods to kill, the variety of monsters ends up being a bit tough to manage- one or two times fighting a balor and his epic demon minions is cool, but the third or fourth? It loses a bit of its cool factor.
So what I propose is an alternate campaign plan that doesn’t focus on trying to make all 30 levels of a game operate similarly. It breaks out the epic tier into several segments with different focuses, and even changes a bit how many D&D campaigns are run. A good part of the inspiration for this was a 2nd edition D&D campaign I played in that borrowed heavily from the D&D Immortals Boxed set. [Read the rest of this article]
Review and Giveway: Dungeon Mapp for iPad
The iPad has proven to be a pretty handy tool for roleplaying games. Previous articles have talked about some of the common uses, and I’ve found in the months since getting mine that it’s a lot easier to carry around a gaming library with me, and as a result, I’m more inclined to buy gaming PDFs. However, they’re still not necessarily a platform to run tabletop RPGs from, despite having many of the functions.
Dungeon Mapp (iTunes link) fills in a missing piece of that equation for those who play RPGs on a grid, most notably the past few editions of Dungeons & Dragons and its spinoffs. Dungeon Mapp is an app for the iPad that lets a DM build dungeon maps (or wilderness, or several other terrain types), as well as populating the maps with extra features. You can then use it to entirely run your combats from within the app, placing party members, monsters, and managing initiative all from within the program. [Read the rest of this article]
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