 June 2004 Archive
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12:46 AM: Allan Sugarbaker says... My gaming group knows the pain of facing hordes of scaled races - lizardfolk, yuan-ti, draconians, and the like - in our D&D campaign. It would seem the next D&D Miniatures expansion, Aberrations, will bolster the ranks of my reptilian army.
12:16 AM: Allan Sugarbaker says... Steampower Publishing has posted a free download, Roleplaying Game Designate: Robots. Despite an earlier problem, the free electronic product is now of the printable variety, always a good thing. Go experience the machines for yourself, and let the lovely carnage begin.
11:27 PM: Mike Sugarbaker says... The Paranoia XP creator delivers an incisive travelogue/rant about Origins 2004 on his weblog. The awards ceremony definitely had problems (although the Hall of Fame parade actually preceded the asinine LukeSki, contrary to Greg's recounting) - for instance, when you tell the crowd to hold their applause between nominees and the winners to please keep it brief, you'd do well to shave a sentence or two off of the four-sentence bios you're reading off for each of 50 or so Hall-of-Famers. And to axe the musical guest. To do otherwise smacks of a certain disrespect of the currently-working professionals who are your bread and butter, even if it is to benefit and promote a spectacular and honorable history. But I digress, and Costikyan's complaints and suggestions are probably more salient than mine.
12:23 PM: Demian Katz says... Project Aon has just announced the release of the third World of Lone Wolf gamebook as a free online adventure. In Beyond the Nightmare Gate, you get to explore the dangerous Daziarn Plane in search of a magical item called the Moonstone. If you haven't played the first two adventures in the series, they remain available and have just had some revisions and corrections made. If you're a gamebook fan or if you just want to explore the world of Magnamund in preparation for trying out the new Lone Wolf RPG, it's definitely worth taking a trip to Project Aon's site.
11:11 AM: Mike Sugarbaker says... Brett & Board has the news (BoardGameGeek likely has it too, but seems overwhelmed with traffic right now) that Alan Moon's popular Ticket To Ride has taken taken top honors in Germany's annual Spiel Des Jahres competition. Tongue-in-cheek horror game Dicke Luft in der Gruft, Reiner Knizia's placement game Einfach Genial, Raja (published here as Maharaja), and St. Petersburg (just out in English from Rio Grande) were also shortlisted.
08:28 AM: Mike Sugarbaker says... Steve Jackson Games and Atlas were sharing a booth, and SJG was making noise about GURPS Fourth Edition, hitting at or near Gen Con. GURPS Dragons, new at the show, featured conversion rules for 4th Ed., billed as a sneak preview. Also new at the show was Transhuman Space: Toxic Memes, a book all about information and info warfare. Soon will come the day when a sci-fi setting in any medium won't be able to get away with not having this kind of material. Finally there was the first sight (my first sight, anyway) of Chez Goth, which is, blessedly, exactly what you expect.
08:40 AM: Mike Sugarbaker says... You have of course read our review of D6 Adventure. It and D6 Space are here at the show. West End Games' latest owners Purgatory Publishing have a great deal planned, including a revised edition of Torg to be released both as a PDF and a small print run of books. They're also setting new terms for licensing the D6 system commercially - the publishers of the quirky superheroes-as-deities game Godsend: Agenda have apparently taken them up on this. And, as always, a whole lot more coming. While Torg has some problems, we at the Cave have always been big fans, so it'll be interesting to see what becomes of it.
08:32 AM: Mike Sugarbaker says... I am giving it to Pirates of the Spanish Main at this point. It's simple, it's got some exception-based stuff in it but there's plenty of core gameplay for it to interact with, it's cheap, and it's ragingly fun. Even when you buy multiple packs per player, you are still in for less money than your average CCG (and I think you do want two packs per player - ships are much more effective when they travel in pairs, and while you get two ships in a pack, you want to be doing multiple things at once). Messrs. Ernest and Selinker have something they can be proud of here, and WK appears not to have blown it really. Fine stuff.
11:11 AM: Mike Sugarbaker says... Played GI JOE. They're only running a kind of abbreviated game here - character cards only, with no way to bring new ones out - but that's enough to get a taste of combat. You trade off hand-to-hand attacks, using the Boost values on the bottom of a couple of cards pulled from the deck - then you pull more cards off the deck to use the Bullet values on their sides to do the firefight. Not too many of these people who are close enough to one another to fight hand-to-hand die in the firefights, which fits nicely with the series, wherein nobody seemed able to hit the broad side of a barn with their weapons. (Sadly, I lack any information on air units, but hopefully the rules specifically state that the pilot parachutes out automatically when the plane blows up.) So this game feels almost like the old 40K CCG, and not so much like any other Wizards game. I enjoyed it.
06:37 AM: Mike Sugarbaker says... Well, I guess not the corners exactly. Social Games, having recently launched one of the only new CCGs that's at all gamer-y, is pretty findable. They have a whole new card set, Cyberpunk 2020, and were kind enough to give me some boosters. We've played a fair amound of the 2013 set, and it's good and solid, although, as I think I've said, awfully 1993 in theme.
07:19 PM: Mike Sugarbaker says... We got 'em - a couple were missed initially due to lack of visual aids and fleeting moments of disgust, but we should be all set now. Here's how it went down:
01:28 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says... Back in the day, Merwin wasn't that thrilled by West End's d6 system. Has the new version, in the form of D6 Adventure, changed his mind? And what about Lauren? Will she ever be able to tell Dirk how she really feels? And is Timmy still trapped in the well? Find out some of these things (well, just one, really) in our new review.
10:09 AM: Mike Sugarbaker says...
09:27 PM: Mike Sugarbaker says... I have several proper packs of Pirates of the Spanish Main in my hot little hands now, as opposed to just the promo ship in the schwag bag. The 12-page card-sized rulebook is fairly complete, at least for a two-player game. I hope to get to play tomorrow. These were sold as previews, the game doesn't hit stores until July.
10:06 AM: Mike Sugarbaker says... First, I would like to thank the PR folks with GAMA for helping my registration go so smoothly. Second, I am not even going to try to estimate how big the crowd is compared to last year. It seems like more, but it also seems that I'm always wrong. I have been here a few hours and the exhibit hall is just about to open - plenty of folks in line - but I have already learned a few things:
11:54 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says... Games Workshop might have read the latest post on Greg Costikyan's site, or maybe reality finally set in. Either way, as ICv2 reports, the Warhammer MMORPG has been called off. The website has the following announcement:
07:19 PM: Mike Sugarbaker says... Normally we like to wait until we get the full press release in email, but this is too funny not to post.
07:09 PM: Mike Sugarbaker says... Good gravy, I think LEGO is actually, kind of, sort of selling a combat board game (only on an Epic Duels kind of level, but still), in the form of these things. You can buy me some now.
12:29 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says... Looks like WizKids "has removed the Lord of the Rings CSG from its product release schedule. " Perhaps their product launches were getting too cramped again, which was one of the main reasons they cited for layoffs in the past. They'll reschedule it, no doubt.
02:36 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says... Now entering the noble field of - um, nobles, is Mongoose Publishing's Quintessential Aristocrat. How will it compare to The Noble's Handbook and other d20 products on the subject? Go pick up the 3.3 MB pdf for $10, and have a look.
11:28 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says... Now, I don't care much for "sealed" tournaments (opening the cards/minis/whatever, and playing with whatever you get), but then, I don't care much for tournaments in general. But as at least one person has pointed out to me, the Giants of Legend expansion of D&D Miniatures is virtually impossible to use in sealed tournament play. Why? Because one of the huge figures is 393 points all by itself (the Nightwalker), far and away the biggest of the huge guys. Wizards has posted alternate sealed competion rules which basically do away with all the restrictions of faction, number of uniques, and even whether you have a leader or not (you simply declare your smallest guy a "Commander 0"). There's also a pair of links to a Lost Temple map, complete with larger spaces between the walls, to allow the big boys room to move.
11:55 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says... Okay, now that we don't have to poke around on Ebay to get early glimpses of the Giants of Legend set (well, one day early at this point, but still...), let's have a look.
03:50 PM: Mike Sugarbaker says... Those of you with GBAs already know that it's the only device resembling a contemporary "game console" that the busy, thinking adult needs to own. Thanks to its portability and plentiful array of high-caliber turn-based games, it's one of the best things a gamer can do with time that's otherwise unusable. But you might not know that all 120 cards in the first set of WotC's Magic-lite-done-right CCG Duel Masters (plus another 60 or so from the first expansion) are available to be played with in Duel Masters: Sempai Legends, a GBA version of the game (with "RPG elements," meaning you control a guy that walks around). If you hate the expense and randomness of CCGs but still fiend for the days when Magic was simple, give a shot to the, um, lower expense and randomness, and competent single-player AI, of this version.
11:38 AM: Mike Sugarbaker says... That... actually sounds pretty dirty. But anyway, my eye was caught by the entry in this game's FAQ claiming that it "splits the difference" between a roleplaying game and a board game. Battlestations is a starship combat adventure game in which every ship action - firing the main guns, heaving to starboard, you name it - must be taken by a character. I love it when simulationist twists like that hold so much promise for stories... but then, I guess it's equally possible that this could get really tedious in the hands of the wrong GM. It's from a brand new company, so who knows about production values (although it looks like you could profitably combine their starship boards with the ones from Sucking Vacuum). I'll be peeping this scene out at Origins.
11:32 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says... With the new Giants of Legend expansion of D&D Miniatures streeting on Friday, it's only natural we'd see more previews. There's the June and Beyond preview at the WotC site, which shows a picture of and talks about the Bugbear Footpad, Bronze Wyrmling, Dwarf Sergeant, Ghast, Basilisk, King Snurre (a Fire Giant from G1-3 fame), and the Storm Giant. However, you can learn considerably more about some of the figures by prowling around Ebay.
12:48 AM: Allan Sugarbaker says... While most KublaCon 2004 attendees are probably thinking back on this year's show fondly, Merwin ran into a few difficulties. Well, several, actually. Read how even a good con can be painful with a run of bad luck, in Merwin's Convention Report: KublaCon 2004. Despite how it sounds, he did manage to enjoy himself once or twice during the convention. But the Force certainly wasn't with him.
09:24 PM: Mike Sugarbaker says... If you don't buy the rationale that it's only fair to get less player capacity in San Juan than in Puerto Rico, given the lower price point, you're in luck. This variant offers new role cards to take the card-game adaptation of PR all the way up to eight players. It has stuff to print out - you like printing, don't you? (Found via GameWire, which also serves up this hearty, evenly-caramelized index of Usenet posts about great German designers.)
05:04 PM: Mike Sugarbaker says... Hey, someone else is stepping up to the money pit: Games Quarterly magazine has its first issue on shelves, and is making most of its contents available online as well on its newly launched website. There's a board gaming focus, with some RPG and CCG articles as well. Maybe this will make up for the shrinking focus of Dragon and Dungeon.
02:18 PM: Mike Sugarbaker says... We have noted before the tendency of LEGO to put really astoundingly good time-sucking games on their website. This one is the best balance between a turn-based puzzle game and "real time" strategy I have ever experienced. Give it some time, you'll be surprised how deep it can be. In a similar, but more action-y vein is this.
10:51 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says... I've been pondering the significance of DriveThruRPG.com, which recently announced an exclusive agreement with Malhavoc Press to "offer Malhavoc electronic products as secure e-Books." These e-Books will make use of Adobe's Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology to keep the nasty pirates out there from copying the electronic game products so easily. A number of companies, including AEG, Chaosium, Eden Studios, Fantasy Flight Games, Fast Forward Entertainment, Guardians of Order, Sword & Sorcery Studio, and White Wolf have also signed on. A few of those aren't surprising though, when you learn that DriveThruRPG.com appears to be a White Wolf venture.
01:57 PM: Mike Sugarbaker says... Or, you know, the Gamer's Choice awards, whatever.
11:33 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says... Okay, no, not really. But Wizards does have a new barcode on every English booster pack of Magic, starting with the Fifth Dawn expansion. The barcode will allow for easy authentication of Magic product, as well as help WotC track down "illegal parallel importation" into the European Union and elsewhere. So beware: big wizard is watching.
10:33 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says... Politically Incorrect Games is bringing Dread to it's product line. In case you're now afraid of what that means, let me clarify: PIG has made an agreement with Malignant Games to bring back Dread: The First Book of Pandemonium under the Active Exploits Diceless Roleplaying system. Do away with your fear, and give Dread a try.
02:30 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says... Though I haven't had time to sit down and make a full report on things seen and done at KublaCon this past weekend yet, I should mention one of the gems I spotted there. Smugglers of the Galaxy is a boardgame of trade, piracy, and survival amidst the stars. From fledgling game company Playus Maximus, the game boasts a gorgeous board, lavish full-color cards, and an engaging system to boot. For 2-6 players, Smugglers of the Galaxy should be reaching stores soon, and carries a tag of $39.95. Fans of deep space exploration games, resource management games, or strategic games in general would do well to check this one out. |
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