Review: DungeonBuilder
I’m an unusual gamer in that I do most of my gaming online. I live out in the sticks of rural Florida so I can’t really find a real life group. I’ve come to prefer playing online for a few reasons other than that, but nonetheless, when I talk about tabletop games I often have to consider that I’m talking to people who play on tabletops. I often play through some fairly quirky methods. My current favorite is using Google Documents to “write the game” with players (with Invisible Castle for rolls). I also sometimes play using Skype and Gametable/Virtual Daivve. The latter, along with Maptools, is one of the more common methods for playing online, as the program provides dice and maps for your use.
Enter DungeonBuilder into this area. The two pieces of software I’ve linked above are free, but there are pay alternatives that offer a bit more pizzaz, such as Fantasy Ground, and Wizard’s own Virtual Tabletop (though the latter is currently a feature of a D&D Insider subscription, so if you want to play with it you have to pick up the entire package). DungeonBuilder is a browser-based digital tabletop alternative that is purchased by subscription. DungeonBuilder costs $19.99 for a yearly subscription for a GM and $8.99 for a player. Though this is a “launch special” so I’ve no idea how long it will last. The prices seem decent for what you get right now – I’m not sure whether I’d endorse raising them unless more features get rolled out or the webapp gets cleaned up some. While it is a useful program, it could use touching up. [Read the rest of this article]
Review: “Deathwatch: The Jericho Reach”
In the grim darkness of the 41st millennium, there is endless job security (mumble mumble). After taking a hiatus to attempt to slay the foes of my God-Wallet, I’ve returned with Deathwatch: The Jericho Reach. This product is easy to confuse with Deathwatch: Achilus Assault. Both of them are setting books about the Jericho Reach – a corner of the Imperium accessible only via a series of warp gates, under assault by many of the Imperium’s most clever, powerful and cruel foes: Chaos, the Tau, and the Tyranids. This is the setting crafted for the Deathwatch game line, and both the books are serviceable to develop a deeper understanding the area – but this one is focused more on giving everyone new toys to play with than Achilus Assault was. Achilus Assault was more involved with fleshing out in detail the history of the setting.
While the Achilus Assault focuses on the military realities of the Imperium in the Jericho Reach, including the history of the conflict itself and its political and military implications for the people within and without, The Jericho Reach is more of a ‘traditional’ setting book. The book boasts three chapters each involving one of the salients of the Achilus Crusade and the enemy it faces, and it offers information on several planets, installations, conflicts and enemies that can serve as home bases, or as objectives in the thick of the Crusade. The final chapter is a sample adventure incorporating some of these elements. I would probably recommend The Jericho Reach if you have to buy just one. [Read the rest of this article]
Dungeons and DJs: A review of DMDJ
I’ve played and run games with and without musical accompaniment, and if I had to state a preference, I’d side with music every time. It can’t just be haphazard use of music though. It’s best when the music is appropriate to the situation that we are currently in. Lord of the Rings OST is thematic, but having a scene specific for our arrival at the Fey Court or exploring the sewers is what I prefer. Opposing this is time and ease of access.
How much time is a GM going to spend to find just the right music for a scenario? I’ve spent a lot of time on it myself, and acquiring a solid collection of tunes is time consuming and expensive, representing almost a side-hobby in itself. After you’ve traversed that obstacle, then you need to construct a setup that you can use without slowing down the game. Often that means more prep, and more equipment: getting a sound system in place, setting up your computer, getting a selection of music easily at hand and organized. If you attempt to add sound to your game without taking all of this into account, you risk bland ambience, distracting shuffles as you set up, or both.
DMDJ from Blueface makes a solid attempt at easing these pains. As an RPG music soundboard and dice roller for the iPhone/iPad, it offers great “at your fingertips” control in a convenient and portable package, surmounting some of the difficulties of setting up sound in your game, though there remain issues to address. [Read the rest of this article]
Pain of Publication Review: “Dinocalypse Now”
Previously I’ve talked about my previous novel attempts, difficult revisions and cutting, actually getting work done, reviewed Low Town and Alloy of Law, and finally about writing knowing full well you are going to revise.
Background
Spirit of the Century is a successful and well-regarded gaming line done by Evil Hat Productions. Only being vaguely aware of the original game, I believed it was about airships during the turn of the century time. When given the opportunity to review a complimentary advanced review copy of Spirit of the Century original fiction by Chuck Wendig, I leapt at the opportunity. I was curious how I would perceive it knowing little about the license. Simply put, I was impressed. With Wendig’s mixing of pulpy goodness and a dash of panache, he effortlessly cooks up an exciting story set in the Spirit of the Century universe that stands on its own without knowing the original book. [Read the rest of this article]
Review: “Marvel Heroic Roleplaying”
(Editor’s note: as regular readers may know, several of the Critical Hits staff worked on or playtested Marvel Heroic Roleplaying by Margaret Weis Productions. Obviously none of us could make something resembling an impartial review, so we turned to our staff reviewer Wyatt to give it a read, as he was in no way involved in its creation. So enjoy this review from that perspective.)
Life has taken me on a divergent path than a lot of gamers I know. At the ripe young age when people seem to go into comics, I got into Pokemon, and then I watched exactly a million anime shows and read probably twice as many manga. As a child when a Limewire or Kazaa download purporting to be a fansubbed episode of Yu-Gi-Oh turned out to be porn, I was pretty disappointed.
I don’t really have a lot of experience with comics except that I watched The Death and Return of Superman fan-film (warning for language and things) which is absolutely hilarious, and some Marvel comics Hollywood movies. I have, however, played a lot of RPGs, and in the future Marvel Heroic Roleplaying might go into the rotation, though I doubt I will actually use the Marvel serial numbers in my game since I don’t have much attachment to Marvel. It is an interesting game with a versatile core mechanic that models comic book style adventures quite adequately.
Buckets Full of Dice
I’ve never played Leverage before, which seems like it would be helpful for potential new players, if they have experience with that system, since from what I hear Marvel takes after that game. It took me a while to get the hang of Marvel Heroic Roleplaying. The first few chapters lay out the dice system and all the trappings, but on a first read, you might find yourself bombarded with terminology, like Stress and Doom Pools, that the character sheet of Captain America can’t explain on its own. If you’re not an experienced RPG player, who can find analogues to these things in other games; it can be confusing to take in the casual mention of them until they’re fully explained. The glossary is at the back of the book – I think it would’ve been better if the glossary was right up front like the old White Wolf books, which also had this kind of problem. I have to admit I found it difficult to get through the mechanical sections of the book – it took me a while to work through the fairly dry explanations and examples. I think a more informal, hammy style of writing could’ve helped the book out. [Read the rest of this article]
Review: “Deathwatch: Mark of the Xenos”
One of the major issues I had with Fantasy Flight Games’ Warhammer 40,000 RPG systems was that there seemed to be a dearth of “monster books.” There were a lot of written adversaries but they were scattered around a lot of books, since there are four different game lines now each with different, specific focuses that required different presentation. In the Dark Heresy core book you can get some heretics and things of that nature, there’s some pirates, aliens and Eldar in Rogue Trader. Creatures Anathema added a lot of content for Dark Heresy, with Orkz and other aliens aplenty, but when Deathwatch came around, FFG shone a huge spotlight on the hitherto under-represented Tyranid and Tau. The need was really felt for a new compendium of creatures that could challenge a bunch of Space Marines, rather than a bunch of Adepts.
And like a Krootox rampaging across your gaming table, came Mark of the Xenos for Deathwatch. Mark of the Xenos is a “monster book” for Deathwatch, containing all the creatures found in Jericho Reach, giving the Achillus Crusade a hard time.
Up front, I will state my only grievance with the book. It is, of course, very focused on a certain region of the Imperium. There are no Eldar in the Jericho Reach for example, so there’s no Eldar in this book. To get my Eldar-killing on, I’d have to buy a module that features them, and get their stats there. Lure of the Expanse, for example, has a Pathfinder, Farseer, Warlock and Wraithguard fully written up. That’s a Rogue Trader book though. Dark Eldar you can find a lot of in Purge the Unclean, a Dark Heresy module. You’d have to put in a little homebrew time to get those Deathwatch-ready.
I would really like a book that just has every alien species and insane cultist archetype that the Imperium carves up on a regular basis, but Mark of the Xenos is nonetheless a very nice book with a hell of a lot of adversaries.
The book is divided into four fairly simple chapters: Aliens, Renegades, Chaos and a section for the Game Master. The aliens section is the most expansive, because there are a lot of aliens, and the Deathwatch is pretty primarily concerned with killing aliens. They are equal opportunity purgers, but they work for the Ordo Xenos primarily. [Read the rest of this article]
Review: “Rogue Trader: Hostile Acquisitions”
In the grim darkness of the 41st millennium, there are only cryptic, pseudo-feudal, mostly ineffective systems of law. The entirety of the text of Rogue Trader: Hostile Acquisitions, is based on this premise: as a Rogue Trader, you can undress and run rapturously naked around the house of the divine Emperor of Mankind, and He will be really disappointed in you, you stupid twit, but He won’t do much about it. Until at some point you might be so naked that the neighbors may call the cops. You will reach a new level of streaking debauchery, hitherto unforeseen by anyone. People’s eyes will melt at your glorious nudesensce.
And then a skull-faced maniac with arm-claws will murder you in your sleep.
Hostile Acquisitions is a very useful book for the Rogue Trader line because it helps define the actual power of a rogue trader. With the main book, you knew that the rogue traders were extremely powerful and exorbitantly wealthy individuals given power to conduct business and colonize worlds in the far reaches of space, with the blessings of the Imperium. Though you were essentially above the law, you probably didn’t know much about Imperial law (as a player) other than the pervasive “chaos and xenos are bad, and if I talk to them I’ll get cooties, and then I’ll be killed by a skull-faced maniac.” [Read the rest of this article]
Pain of Publication: Book Review of “Low Town”
Previously I’ve talked about my previous novel attempts, difficult revisions and cutting, and actually getting work done. Whereas I normally review books in a vacuum, this time I am reviewing a book and weaving some lessons learned into my own Pain of Publication series.
Low Town is the debut novel of fellow Dickinson alumni, Daniel Polansky. Mr. Polansky knew many of the same people I did in college, but even in a small liberal arts school like Dickinson our paths never crossed. It’s a damn shame because Low Town is a rollicking mash up of two great genres: noir and fantasy. The author skillfully weaves a first person narrative in a way that vibrantly develops the setting into a living, breathing, festering, and foul supporting character unto itself.
Setting
The book is named after the impoverished underbelly of the Imperial Capital and the vast majority of the action takes place in this fetid urban sprawl. The book follows a man simply known as The Warden: an independent drug dealer with a wonderfully checkered past. He ends up caught in a tangled web of child murders where his own conscience and the machinations of others forces him into solving one last mystery. Although we only see things through the eyes of The Warden, we get a good feel for the supporting cast and an incredible appreciation for the misery that is Low Town. The author pulls no punches depicting graphic violence and frequent drug use. There is a sense of history to the world, but the author walks the tight rope of unfurling the past slowly and only inasmuch as it bears an impact on the story of The Warden. Proper nouns and slang give Low Town its own feel without impairing the readability of the novel. However, only three or four characters besides The Warden manage to stick out. This did not bother me though, as the same word count that often goes into character development was instead packaged as setting development. Low Town was great, but if you like your fantasy noble then stay out of Low Town. [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]
Review: “Dark Delve”
I was checking my email yesterday when I saw a request to review an Xbox indie game called Dark Delve by a fellow named Mark Harvey. He even sent me a code to download it for free! Given our corporate policy to give great reviews to anybody who gives us free stuff*, I hope that my immortal soul was worth the $1 cost of the game.
Let me start this by saying I have a weakness for indie games, especially “studios” that are a one-person operation. I grew up on shareware games from the early days of PC gaming, back when 256 color VGA was a luxury. I played my c64 so much I broke a Wico Bat Handle joystick. THAT IS VERY DIFFICULT.
In the early 90′s, I used to run a BBS. I made sure to keep my filebase stocked to the brim with shareware games. A few software companies like Apogee, Id Software, and Epic Megagames put out some “commercial quality” games (remember Doom?), but there was a huge explosion of hobbyist coders releasing some really cool games. (One of my favorites was Galactix.) Even back then, these smaller games didn’t usually have the smooth polish of a commercial game (or especially a console game) — but they always had something compelling about them that kept me coming back.
For awhile now, I’ve been watching the Xbox Indie Games marketplace with more excitement than their regular fare. Sure, a lot of crap comes down the pipe, but occasionally I find something that transforms me back into a happy teenager and evaporates all my time for a day or two. I’m happy to say Dark Delve fits squarely into this category. [Read the rest of this article]
