I had a chance to sit down with Jesper Myrfors and Peter Adkison of Hidden City Games about Clout Fantasy – a game of dexterity and strategy for two or more players. This game is unique in that it uses a collectible poker chip that features high quality artwork. I
Live at GenCon ’05: Welcome to Indy
I was sent ahead to check things out on the day before opening day. After getting my hotel situation straightened out, I wandered around the Indianapolis Convention Center, getting myself reacquainted and reoriented. Overall it looks like it’s going to be a pretty good convention. The attendance looks good and
Live at GenCon ’05: Ticket to Ride wins Diana Jones Award
The winner has just been announced as Alan Moon’s Ticket to Ride by Days of Wonder, in what was the shortest Diana Jones Award ceremony yet (probably so the celebrating can commence). Runners-up were the other shortlisted nominees, Code of Unaris by Goldleaf Games and Dogs in the Vineyard by
Hecatomb First Look
A couple of us Cave dwellers got to play around with some Hecatomb TCG starters early last week. You would’ve heard about it in our OgreCave Audio Report last week if not for the aforementioned pooch-screwage. Now that I’m back from a cross-country jaunt, let me summarize what conclusions we
That board game WizKids was going to do
Yup. Tsuro looks very decent, probably more tactical and tense than the games it reminds you of… and for the components, the price is certainly right. But I can’t help but wonder if this is really where WizKids should go. I mean, for all the crap we give them, they
Another blow struck in struggle to separate RPG design from publishing
Legends of Alyria is a complete roleplaying game, not only published free on the web, but published using a free, automated tool. As the game’s creator says, “[W]hile I like the idea of game design, increasingly I’m finding that I don’t care for game production and promotion. I don’t have
James Ernest and Mike Selinker choose interesting name for new high-end publisher
With a press-release headline like “Titanic Games Takes to the Water – New Board and Card Game Company,” I happily admit that I had my knives out. I mean, come on, wouldn’t you? However, it merely appears that one of the best design teams out there has found a couple
Rocketmen First Look
Okay, so, new poly-card CSG whatever, due out at Gen Con and I don’t think it got a sneak release anywhere although I could be wrong. OgreCave obtained four packs and got sort-of-enough ships to play a three-player game. If we had played a two-player game we would definitely have
Ravenloft and Gamma World go back to WotC
I had forgotten that White Wolf even had Gamma World, but there you go. One last Arthaus Ravenloft supplement will be hitting as a free PDF download next month. I seriously doubt that Gamma World will ever resurface as an RPG (although it might have kicked a measure of ass
The other shoe gets deciphered
It is arguably only a matter of time between WARS and, well, this: GR points to a Virginia-based business paper called Inside Business, which in turn points to Decipher apparently melting down. Those up for a round of tasty schadenfreude can enjoy details like Decipher selling its offices and renting
Where’s this week’s Audio Report?
Uh, yeah I kinda screwed the pooch on that one. We recorded a quick talk about our experiences playing Hecatomb and Rocketmen, and about the Penny Arcade “CCG” kerfuffle, but the audio levels are way too low and the thing is just horribly noisy and unsalvageable. The worse news is
Draw more cards, Citizen
New details are up at the Mongoose site about Paranoia: The Mandatory Card Game. Designed for 3-8 players, this one looks to be an appropriately light-hearted bloodbath, given the proper feel by Steve Gilbert, co-author of the classic Paranoia adventure Me and My Shadow Mark IV. The card game product
How Neverwinter Nights fought its own mission statement
We all pretty much know that the attempted D&D-esque network play of Neverwinter Nights was too difficult to use for people trying to emulate the tabletop experience, but this first-person account by a frustrated GM really illuminates the problems we face when we try to take advantage of online play
And then Mattel got into it: Hot Wheels CCG
The Hot Wheels Acceleracers CCG has slick introductory videos and a Cartoon Network series backing it up. Can a Barbie CCG be far behind? Oh God no. Or oh God yes, I can’t quite deci — no, that’s a lie, a Barbie CCG would be horrifying de facto. I just
Sabertooth announces Penny Arcade CCG, geek culture implodes under own weight of self-reference
I am actually looking forward to this. I love the strip, and it looks like the creators have been deeply involved in creating the cards and artwork. It looks like the Penny Arcade CCG is designed around some Vs.-esque system where you can take any two decks from however many