Every year, there's always a lull in the schedule...a calm, once the end of the school year hits and we're gearing up for the Geek Storm itself: Free Comic Book Day, Lionel's Annual End-Of-Year LARP, and Origins.
It's in this lull that I'm usually just gearing up--getting ready for the chaos about to hit the fan. But this time, no...not so much.
Rather, I find myself in the midst of my own planning, trying to get everything together.
Firstly, the minis I ordered for WEGS SuperZ (and some other games) just arrived, which means that I've got to find some way to organize them all. The PlatinumChick is getting a little testy about having 200 odd minis cluttering up the apartment. Q, one of our kitties, keeps stealing them, if we leave them within paw's reach. Sterilite, here I come!
On top of this, I'm in the midst of putting together a full on D&D PvP blast session for some of the guilders. After developing some refresh mechanisms, as well as some random treasure tables for the players, they're getting ready to throw down some nastiness. Here's for hoping that it all goes down well this Sunday!
This is to say nothing of my own baby, "Dungeon Slam!" which is looking at getting a full revision before Origins! With a little luck, we'll throw down some Slam! on one of those late Columbus nights.
On a more serious note, though, I'd like to beg your indulgence for one of our fellow gamers:
Our good friend and fellow Witt-Wegger Nick, known to some of you from "The Life and Times of Nick", was recently involved in a motorcycle accident. It was a low speed crash, and he was lucky to survive. Nick, however, is currently in University of Cincinatti Medical Center, recuperating from significant facial surgery.
If you have a spare moment, give a prayer/thought/meditation/vibe out for Nick, who will hopefully be rolling with us again very quickly. And, if you ride...please, please wear your helmet.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
In Which The Warlock Is Unable to Take On His Original Plan...
So, remember my New Year's Resolutions? One of them was to include some images of the minis that the PlatinumChick and I have been painting, all this time.
Unfortunately, that's one resolution that just isn't going to take place. Grrr.
Despite my best efforts, I couldn't get a good picture of my latest attempt--a new figure for one of my favorite characters: Nordling. I finished painting him at our last game night, and really wanted to show off my (really pitiful) painting skills. But, at any rate, I might as well give you the background for him.
Nordling is a perennial character that I play during WEGS games, often frustrating El Willy to no end. Nordling's a "Humz Trickster"--something of a Human Rogue/Thief, if you want to put it in D&D parlance--and always seems to show up in the weirdest of circumstances.
Nordling's biggest quirk is the fact that he's survived every WEGS game I've ever played him in. He lived through his first appearance at "Pigskabb's Skool 4 Wizzards", getting away from Chef ToeGash. He survived the classic "Dwarf Walks Into a Bar", when Ebbs ran for the first time. He escaped from the clutches of the Column-Golem and Cthulhu, in "From Dusk Till Dead". He weaseled his way out of KlattaBarraBoo's tomb (and garnered some multi-classing into Mage, while he was at it!). And, most lately, he managed to sneak away from a wrathful Ring Reaver in "Over the Reaver and Through the Wyrds" at WittCon VI.
It's hard not to celebrate a character's success rate, when it's as high as something like this. In Ebbs' "Pyramid of Shadows" 4e game last year, I couldn't help but laugh when one of our henchmen--yet another human rogue--rolled a stat array that put any of our player characters to shame. That rogue, dubbed "The Goddamned Jim-Bob", became the great-great grandson of Nordling I...who weaseled his way out of Pigskabb's woods all those years ago.
As I've said before...it's no surprise that the cards for Tricksters are in yellow. ;)
At any rate, if I manage to get my camera to cooperate, I'll find a way to put up the pictures of the now-painted Nordling. Till then, some reminiscing will have to suffice...and some plans for the Power Play sessions at Origins. :D
Unfortunately, that's one resolution that just isn't going to take place. Grrr.
Despite my best efforts, I couldn't get a good picture of my latest attempt--a new figure for one of my favorite characters: Nordling. I finished painting him at our last game night, and really wanted to show off my (really pitiful) painting skills. But, at any rate, I might as well give you the background for him.
Nordling is a perennial character that I play during WEGS games, often frustrating El Willy to no end. Nordling's a "Humz Trickster"--something of a Human Rogue/Thief, if you want to put it in D&D parlance--and always seems to show up in the weirdest of circumstances.
Nordling's biggest quirk is the fact that he's survived every WEGS game I've ever played him in. He lived through his first appearance at "Pigskabb's Skool 4 Wizzards", getting away from Chef ToeGash. He survived the classic "Dwarf Walks Into a Bar", when Ebbs ran for the first time. He escaped from the clutches of the Column-Golem and Cthulhu, in "From Dusk Till Dead". He weaseled his way out of KlattaBarraBoo's tomb (and garnered some multi-classing into Mage, while he was at it!). And, most lately, he managed to sneak away from a wrathful Ring Reaver in "Over the Reaver and Through the Wyrds" at WittCon VI.
It's hard not to celebrate a character's success rate, when it's as high as something like this. In Ebbs' "Pyramid of Shadows" 4e game last year, I couldn't help but laugh when one of our henchmen--yet another human rogue--rolled a stat array that put any of our player characters to shame. That rogue, dubbed "The Goddamned Jim-Bob", became the great-great grandson of Nordling I...who weaseled his way out of Pigskabb's woods all those years ago.
As I've said before...it's no surprise that the cards for Tricksters are in yellow. ;)
At any rate, if I manage to get my camera to cooperate, I'll find a way to put up the pictures of the now-painted Nordling. Till then, some reminiscing will have to suffice...and some plans for the Power Play sessions at Origins. :D
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
In Which The Warlock Takes a Week Off...
Sorry to get your hopes up, cats and kittens--there's no post this week. It's Spring Break, and I'm relaxing.
I'll be back next week with a look at one of my favorite all-time characters...
Till then, game on!
I'll be back next week with a look at one of my favorite all-time characters...
Till then, game on!
Monday, March 30, 2009
In Which The Warlock Changes His Persona...Again...
With the demise of "Shadows of the Cold War", Kat has taken up the mantle of GM and is prepping us for our first session of Ravenloft this evening, using an Island of Terror of her own design.
I, for one, am ecstatic. In all my years of GMing--now almost to 15!--no one has ever run Ravenloft for me. I've loved the setting for years, as it was the second D&D setting I'd ever read, but no one would run it. I've run it myself countless times, but few seem to be up to task to put together Gothic Horror with Medieval Fantasy.
That is, until now. So, without further adieu...my Ravenloft character: Nadia Ir'Ralya, burgeoning sorceress!
Name: Nadia Ir’Ralya
Age: 28
Race: Human
Location: Port-a-Lucine, Dementlieu
Parents: Unknown (both). Raised by Varrek Ir’Ralya
Siblings: Unknown
Friends: Camille DelaCroix (deceased), Eriol
Faith: “Gods? Are you kidding me?”
Fav. Food: Blanquette des veau over potatoes, with deep red wine.
Pastimes: Juggling, practical jokes, drinking. When alone, drawing and writing.
Party Role: Stealth and reconnaissance, social skills, raw damage potential.
Strengths: Stealth, high damage capability, high defenses, versatile skill uses.
Weaknesses: Low AC. Low physicality (negative Str).
Background:
Varrek Ir’Ralya was a “second story man” working for the Bleakers—an up-and-coming thieves’ guild in Port-a-Lucine—when he came upon something that he, to this day, has never been able to explain.
Varrek was commissioned by his Guildmaster—the enigmatic Melancholy—to break into a house in the High End. Port-a-Lucine’s High End was the most wealthy and elite district, and this house was no exception. Varrek slipped his way in and began cleaning out the lower floors. When he got to the second floor, though, Varrek had no words to describe the strangeness found there. On the floor, a married couple—still in their bedclothes—lay scorched and bleeding. Scant 5 feet away, though, a young girl of 3 years old—presumably their daughter? –lay sleeping on the floor.
Varrek was immediately faced with a feeling he rarely felt: guilt. Taking the sleeping girl with him, he looted the remainder of the house and made his way back to the Guildhouse. While the Guild Undermaster wasn’t happy with Varrek’s choice, they kept the girl around as something of a mascot at first, but later as a trainee. Nadia, as such, grew up in the absolute roughest of circumstances…and reveled in it. She proved adept at stealth and lockpicking, as well as swindling and baiting hapless men in taverns. Nadia always had an ‘exotic’ loot about her, which attracted many…and often left their purses lighter.
While Nadia enjoyed her work and her training, she had few friends. Among those few were an elf, Eriol, and another orphaned human girl, Camille. Eriol was fun, but had the typical arrogance of the Sithican elves, which made him annoying for long periods of time. Camille, though, was something different. She was wild, like Nadia, and the pair would spar in the training hall with abandon.
However, Nadia was continually haunted by strange dreams—dreams of whirling colors and oozing, amniotic seas, in which…things…swam. In the darkest of these dreams, a hideous figure would float through the sea towards her: a tatterdemalion, but one of royal bearing. A proverbial King in Rags and Tatters. She would often wake up screaming from these dreams, with no one left to comfort her.
The dreams soon became worse, over time. In fact, Nadia began to manifest sorcerer powers as the dreams compounded…which led to tragedy. Nadia, at Camille’s request, tried to keep use of the powers to a minimum—keeping them only for emergencies.
Such an emergency came as the pair, alone with Eriol, attempted to lift a supposed “religious artifact” from the vaults of Councilor Dominic D’honaire, at the request of Guildmaster Melancholy. When the trio was caught by the guards, they attempted to fight their way out, only to be vastly outnumbered. Camille, swiftly surrouned, begged Nadia to use her sorcery. Nadia summoned her mental reserves, blasting out with waves of psychic fire, consuming the guards…and Camille. Nadia shrieked, but the carpets of the vault had begun to catch fire, and Eriol was forced to pull her, still screaming, out of the manor house.
Since that day, Nadia has kept to herself. Guildmaster Melancholy has all but forced her from the ranks of the Bleakers, putting her out on the street as a liability. As such, Nadia has stowed away on the La Perle Volante, believing that a new land might give her a new start. She worries daily about her burgeoning powers and how she possibly learn to control them. She has no friends, only underworld contacts, and feels like this world has abandoned her. If there was only a way to control this raw power, any price may be worth it.
I, for one, am ecstatic. In all my years of GMing--now almost to 15!--no one has ever run Ravenloft for me. I've loved the setting for years, as it was the second D&D setting I'd ever read, but no one would run it. I've run it myself countless times, but few seem to be up to task to put together Gothic Horror with Medieval Fantasy.
That is, until now. So, without further adieu...my Ravenloft character: Nadia Ir'Ralya, burgeoning sorceress!
Name: Nadia Ir’Ralya
Age: 28
Race: Human
Location: Port-a-Lucine, Dementlieu
Parents: Unknown (both). Raised by Varrek Ir’Ralya
Siblings: Unknown
Friends: Camille DelaCroix (deceased), Eriol
Faith: “Gods? Are you kidding me?”
Fav. Food: Blanquette des veau over potatoes, with deep red wine.
Pastimes: Juggling, practical jokes, drinking. When alone, drawing and writing.
Party Role: Stealth and reconnaissance, social skills, raw damage potential.
Strengths: Stealth, high damage capability, high defenses, versatile skill uses.
Weaknesses: Low AC. Low physicality (negative Str).
Background:
Varrek Ir’Ralya was a “second story man” working for the Bleakers—an up-and-coming thieves’ guild in Port-a-Lucine—when he came upon something that he, to this day, has never been able to explain.
Varrek was commissioned by his Guildmaster—the enigmatic Melancholy—to break into a house in the High End. Port-a-Lucine’s High End was the most wealthy and elite district, and this house was no exception. Varrek slipped his way in and began cleaning out the lower floors. When he got to the second floor, though, Varrek had no words to describe the strangeness found there. On the floor, a married couple—still in their bedclothes—lay scorched and bleeding. Scant 5 feet away, though, a young girl of 3 years old—presumably their daughter? –lay sleeping on the floor.
Varrek was immediately faced with a feeling he rarely felt: guilt. Taking the sleeping girl with him, he looted the remainder of the house and made his way back to the Guildhouse. While the Guild Undermaster wasn’t happy with Varrek’s choice, they kept the girl around as something of a mascot at first, but later as a trainee. Nadia, as such, grew up in the absolute roughest of circumstances…and reveled in it. She proved adept at stealth and lockpicking, as well as swindling and baiting hapless men in taverns. Nadia always had an ‘exotic’ loot about her, which attracted many…and often left their purses lighter.
While Nadia enjoyed her work and her training, she had few friends. Among those few were an elf, Eriol, and another orphaned human girl, Camille. Eriol was fun, but had the typical arrogance of the Sithican elves, which made him annoying for long periods of time. Camille, though, was something different. She was wild, like Nadia, and the pair would spar in the training hall with abandon.
However, Nadia was continually haunted by strange dreams—dreams of whirling colors and oozing, amniotic seas, in which…things…swam. In the darkest of these dreams, a hideous figure would float through the sea towards her: a tatterdemalion, but one of royal bearing. A proverbial King in Rags and Tatters. She would often wake up screaming from these dreams, with no one left to comfort her.
The dreams soon became worse, over time. In fact, Nadia began to manifest sorcerer powers as the dreams compounded…which led to tragedy. Nadia, at Camille’s request, tried to keep use of the powers to a minimum—keeping them only for emergencies.
Such an emergency came as the pair, alone with Eriol, attempted to lift a supposed “religious artifact” from the vaults of Councilor Dominic D’honaire, at the request of Guildmaster Melancholy. When the trio was caught by the guards, they attempted to fight their way out, only to be vastly outnumbered. Camille, swiftly surrouned, begged Nadia to use her sorcery. Nadia summoned her mental reserves, blasting out with waves of psychic fire, consuming the guards…and Camille. Nadia shrieked, but the carpets of the vault had begun to catch fire, and Eriol was forced to pull her, still screaming, out of the manor house.
Since that day, Nadia has kept to herself. Guildmaster Melancholy has all but forced her from the ranks of the Bleakers, putting her out on the street as a liability. As such, Nadia has stowed away on the La Perle Volante, believing that a new land might give her a new start. She worries daily about her burgeoning powers and how she possibly learn to control them. She has no friends, only underworld contacts, and feels like this world has abandoned her. If there was only a way to control this raw power, any price may be worth it.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
In Which The Warlock Runs Himself Ragged...
I swear, WittCon has the tendency to come around at the absolute worst times of the year.
You see, March is not only right in the middle of spring IEP/MFE renewals for my work, but is also the month in which all my weasels at school take their OGT exam. Needless to say, the stress level is a little high, particularly as WittCon nears, and I prep myself to run games like a madman.
Is it any surprise that I typically try to take the day before the Con off of work, as a personal day? Further, is it any real surprise that I didn't get to do so this year?
But, WittCon VI has come and gone, with a mass of great gaming memories for all. I must say, though, the dice were running more chaotic than usual as the weekend went on!
We began the weekend hitting up Rudy's Barbeque in Springfield with El Willy, before shuffling on over to Shouvlin to throw down my latest completed project: WEGS SuperZ. I was honestly pleased to see how well the thing came out--no doubt, running a reskin of an indie game for its creator is a little unnerving, but a great time was had by all. The party crawled sloughed their way through my intro adventure: "The Terrible Island of Doctor Crab-Clops!", slinging Plasma Blasts and Mental Bursts all the way. While I still have quite a few revisions to make--not the least of which being the 5 SuperZ races!--the game was strong and ran quickly around the table.
The day of WittCon, I started off by running the day's D&D Game Day adventure:
A Dark Night in Weeeping Briar for some of the Guild regulars. This was made even more interesting by the appearance of a Witt Torch reporter, requesting to play with us! She may have gotten more than she bargained for with our group, but it seemed like she had a great time, as the players bounced between encounters, generally breaking the game.
The second encounter of the game took place in a mill. Fire damage, naturally, caused bad things to happen. Naturally, with my luck? Natural 1 on the enemies' first attack roll...with a fire attack. The mill explodes in a fireball. I hang my head.
The third encounter involves several tough demons, led by a Mezzodemon. The party, thinking quickly, layers him down with status effects--dazed, blinded, and then Dominated. Naturally, this led to one drowned demon.
Hanging my head and carting off my minis-swag, I headed to my next game, my much anticipated (and filled!) Dark Heresy game: Survival of the Fittest.
I originally envisioned this game as something of a cross between honest-to-God-Emperor Dark Heresy and Paranoia, as the various Acolytes plotted against one another on the war-world Thanatos IV. Nick's Imperial Psyker, though, had other ideas.
Not once, but twice, he caused warp energy to burst out, incinerating himself and the party. The game was over in a matter of an hour, as the party descended into bloodied in-fighting. I laughed, but simultaneously hung my head. All those hours spent building characters and backgrounds...poof. Alack, alack.
By the time the third session came around, I was ready to kick back. And there's no better way for this gamer to relax than with some WEGS. In a matter of minutes, Nordling VI was well on his way to Arkeation.
Some explanation, I suppose, is in order. Ever since my first game of WEGS, I've nearly always run the same character--a Humz Lucky Trickster named Nordling. Nordling's had an unprecedented survival rate. Despite the lethality of WEGS, he's never died...not once! Even facing down the vicious mummy KlattaBarraBoo, he escaped. This time, he managed to weasel his way away from a RingReaver in El Willy's classic "Over the Reaver and Through the Wyrds".
By Sunday, we were all exhausted and ready to relax. Hitting up Jeet India and Bookery with Karl, Lionel, and El Willy was a welcome relaxation. Kudos to El Willy for getting Bookery aboard the WEGS train!
Oi. Stress and all, this whole con experience just makes me want Origins to come all the more! It's looking like another massive experience this year, cats and kittens!
You see, March is not only right in the middle of spring IEP/MFE renewals for my work, but is also the month in which all my weasels at school take their OGT exam. Needless to say, the stress level is a little high, particularly as WittCon nears, and I prep myself to run games like a madman.
Is it any surprise that I typically try to take the day before the Con off of work, as a personal day? Further, is it any real surprise that I didn't get to do so this year?
But, WittCon VI has come and gone, with a mass of great gaming memories for all. I must say, though, the dice were running more chaotic than usual as the weekend went on!
We began the weekend hitting up Rudy's Barbeque in Springfield with El Willy, before shuffling on over to Shouvlin to throw down my latest completed project: WEGS SuperZ. I was honestly pleased to see how well the thing came out--no doubt, running a reskin of an indie game for its creator is a little unnerving, but a great time was had by all. The party crawled sloughed their way through my intro adventure: "The Terrible Island of Doctor Crab-Clops!", slinging Plasma Blasts and Mental Bursts all the way. While I still have quite a few revisions to make--not the least of which being the 5 SuperZ races!--the game was strong and ran quickly around the table.
The day of WittCon, I started off by running the day's D&D Game Day adventure:
A Dark Night in Weeeping Briar for some of the Guild regulars. This was made even more interesting by the appearance of a Witt Torch reporter, requesting to play with us! She may have gotten more than she bargained for with our group, but it seemed like she had a great time, as the players bounced between encounters, generally breaking the game.
The second encounter of the game took place in a mill. Fire damage, naturally, caused bad things to happen. Naturally, with my luck? Natural 1 on the enemies' first attack roll...with a fire attack. The mill explodes in a fireball. I hang my head.
The third encounter involves several tough demons, led by a Mezzodemon. The party, thinking quickly, layers him down with status effects--dazed, blinded, and then Dominated. Naturally, this led to one drowned demon.
Hanging my head and carting off my minis-swag, I headed to my next game, my much anticipated (and filled!) Dark Heresy game: Survival of the Fittest.
I originally envisioned this game as something of a cross between honest-to-God-Emperor Dark Heresy and Paranoia, as the various Acolytes plotted against one another on the war-world Thanatos IV. Nick's Imperial Psyker, though, had other ideas.
Not once, but twice, he caused warp energy to burst out, incinerating himself and the party. The game was over in a matter of an hour, as the party descended into bloodied in-fighting. I laughed, but simultaneously hung my head. All those hours spent building characters and backgrounds...poof. Alack, alack.
By the time the third session came around, I was ready to kick back. And there's no better way for this gamer to relax than with some WEGS. In a matter of minutes, Nordling VI was well on his way to Arkeation.
Some explanation, I suppose, is in order. Ever since my first game of WEGS, I've nearly always run the same character--a Humz Lucky Trickster named Nordling. Nordling's had an unprecedented survival rate. Despite the lethality of WEGS, he's never died...not once! Even facing down the vicious mummy KlattaBarraBoo, he escaped. This time, he managed to weasel his way away from a RingReaver in El Willy's classic "Over the Reaver and Through the Wyrds".
By Sunday, we were all exhausted and ready to relax. Hitting up Jeet India and Bookery with Karl, Lionel, and El Willy was a welcome relaxation. Kudos to El Willy for getting Bookery aboard the WEGS train!
Oi. Stress and all, this whole con experience just makes me want Origins to come all the more! It's looking like another massive experience this year, cats and kittens!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
In Which The Warlock Inadvertently Causes a Mess on Interstate 76...
I am sad. No bones about it; I am disappointed.
My Monday night Heroes Unlimited game--"Shadows of the Cold War"--has gone up in flames. The remains of it are strewn across the north side of Pittsburgh (sorry, Keystone City).
My illustrious players were all set for a pre-planned road trip off to the wild locale of Centralia, Pennsylvania, after being led there by a mysterious message found in the sundry items of their fallen foe, Mr. Kisses. After some horrific happenstances at the Shining Stars Bar, Grille, and Restaurant (run by the always enigmatic Stephen Alzis), they were ready for a new change of scenery.
Unfortunately, they never got that far.
For whatever reason, my players have the horrible tendency to roll miserably when it comes to any Driving test. Regardless of system, every time that they seem to enter a car, their luck seems to fall down an abysmal shaft leading to certain doom. Last night was no different.
In Dark Heresy, a few months ago, my players died in a massive conflagration as they ran their transport into a bar, trying to escape from some gangers on their way to investigate a corrupted morgue. Only one escaped, running panicked through the hive being chased by chain-gun wielding gangers.
This time around, Lockshanks was the one to fall first. Falling asleep at the wheel after a long night of DJing, he skidded CheapShot's van/arsenal into a guardrail, then overcompensated, driving it into a jersey-barrier along I-76, on the northwest side of Keystone City. Two more crashes later, the van's fuel tank blew, with three of the four heroes inside. By that point, the fourth was nothing but a grease smear along the highway.
I must say, I'm really disappointed by all this. While the group has been a little bit off-topic, game was genuinely fun. People were truly into their characters and really heavily role-playing through scenarios. Makes me wish that I didn't "let the dice fall where they may"...
As such, we're switching gears for a tick. For the remainder of the WittKids' semester, we're going to run a few one-shots and give them some shots to GM. It gets them some experience and some more confidence behind the screen.
I'm just going to miss my Monday supers crew. :(
My Monday night Heroes Unlimited game--"Shadows of the Cold War"--has gone up in flames. The remains of it are strewn across the north side of Pittsburgh (sorry, Keystone City).
My illustrious players were all set for a pre-planned road trip off to the wild locale of Centralia, Pennsylvania, after being led there by a mysterious message found in the sundry items of their fallen foe, Mr. Kisses. After some horrific happenstances at the Shining Stars Bar, Grille, and Restaurant (run by the always enigmatic Stephen Alzis), they were ready for a new change of scenery.
Unfortunately, they never got that far.
For whatever reason, my players have the horrible tendency to roll miserably when it comes to any Driving test. Regardless of system, every time that they seem to enter a car, their luck seems to fall down an abysmal shaft leading to certain doom. Last night was no different.
In Dark Heresy, a few months ago, my players died in a massive conflagration as they ran their transport into a bar, trying to escape from some gangers on their way to investigate a corrupted morgue. Only one escaped, running panicked through the hive being chased by chain-gun wielding gangers.
This time around, Lockshanks was the one to fall first. Falling asleep at the wheel after a long night of DJing, he skidded CheapShot's van/arsenal into a guardrail, then overcompensated, driving it into a jersey-barrier along I-76, on the northwest side of Keystone City. Two more crashes later, the van's fuel tank blew, with three of the four heroes inside. By that point, the fourth was nothing but a grease smear along the highway.
I must say, I'm really disappointed by all this. While the group has been a little bit off-topic, game was genuinely fun. People were truly into their characters and really heavily role-playing through scenarios. Makes me wish that I didn't "let the dice fall where they may"...
As such, we're switching gears for a tick. For the remainder of the WittKids' semester, we're going to run a few one-shots and give them some shots to GM. It gets them some experience and some more confidence behind the screen.
I'm just going to miss my Monday supers crew. :(
Monday, March 09, 2009
The Warlock's Review: "Watchmen"
Anticipation is a funny thing. While the high expectations it creates often lead to heartache, the lead-up and hype for a movie often lend it even more weight once it hits the box office.
Watchmen has been among my most anticipated movies since it was announced nearly two years ago. When its release was nearly held up by 20th Century Fox, I was aghast. When the first trailer aired, pulsing along to a Smashing Pumpkins anti-ballad, I was in awe. And now, having seen it...
...it's honestly hard to breathe. As a fan, it's utterly mind-blowing.
In all honesty, never before has a "comic-book movie" been as faithful to its source as Watchmen. To be honest, I cannot envision another movie challenging it on this front. Scenes directly from the book are placed on screen one after another. Director Zack Snyder is flawless in this respect--his adoration for the book itself is phenomenal.
Several other critics have criticised this, both on the front that he has "embalmed" the movie (i.e. staying too close to the source material), or that his changes, made for time (the movie is nearly 3 hours, without the cuts!) were not faithful to his overall vision. Considering both arguments, as well as my own opinion, I dare say that he managed to walk a fine line in this respect. While changes to the book are present, they're dealt with smoothly and without hassle. However, scene after scene are pulled directly from the book.
I'm jumping ahead of myself. If you haven't read the book, or have much familiarity with the universe at this point, here's the basic summary. In 1977, the Keene Act is passed, banning acts of "masked vigilantism" following a massive police strike. Vigilantes have been active since WWII, impacting history in various ways, including the accidental creation of the first actual superhero, known as Dr. Manhattan (and played in a perfectly stoic manner by Billy Crudup). It's now 1985, and someone has started killing former vigilantes, starting with the fascistic gun-nut The Comedian (Jeffery Dean Morgan). Rorschach, a sociopathic (and still active) vigilante played by Jackie Earle Haley, begins to investigate.
As I said, the scenes are literally pulled straight from the graphic novel, and thus have a grim, edgy tone suited to this alternate history tale. Haley's gravelly tone narrates us through the world via Rorschach's journal, as he attempts to warn his fellow heroes. At the top of the list is Dan Dreiberg, better known as Nite-Owl (Patrick Wilson), who has fallen into despondancy and impotency.
By and large, the portrayals in this movie are near flawless. Haley's Rorschach oozes with loathing and menace, while Nite-Owl's near-fetishistic obsession with the costumed lifestyle display him as torn between his desire for a normal life and his primal need for the adrenaline rush of adventuring.
Opposite Nite-Owl is Malin Ackerman's Silk Spectre II, forced into the costumed lifestyle by her mother (Carla Gugino), now aging in a rest home. While Ackerman's portrayal is adequate, it does not carry the emotional weight of Haley's narration, Morgan's psychopathic violence, or Wilson's despondancy. The only truly poor performance I would assess for this film is Gugino's, which centers primarily around her age. The elder Silk Spectre simply does not look the part, particularly in the 1985 sections, where she looks just as old as her daughter, instead of 40 years older. Her delivery--too energetic and youthful--only exacerbates this feeling.
One of the few flaws I can find with this movie is with the sheer level of graphic violence in Watchmen. I had gone in knowing much about the violence, having read the book numerous times, but I was not quite prepared for the sheer intensity of the gore in this film. Fight scenes are choreographed with no punches pulled, and no strength unused. During a fight with some street thugs, Nite-Owl breaks a foe's elbow, cracking it in a hideous compound fracture. When invading a mob speakeasy, a gesture from Dr. Manhattan splatters gun-toting mobsters across the room. If you are weak of heart or faint of stomach, even the first scene--wherein the aging Comedian fights for his life and falls to an unseen assailant in his apartment--will sit ill with you.
Snyder pulled no punches with his violence, and I can respect that, but I do question the necessity of it. Whereas the book is just as violent, many of the actions are 'between panels', where it is understood what happens--a typical Shakespearean motion. On screen, the actions overshoot their visceral intent and roam into the unnecessary. The same can be said of the sex scene between Ackerman and Wilson, high above New York aboard the OwlShip. Were the scene half as long, it would have had the same impact--the sheer length and graphicness of it overshoots its intent.
Much has further been made of Watchmen's soundtrack, which brings together an ecletic series of tunes from across the late 20th century. However, I was more impressed by the score itself, penned by Tyler Bates. The background music was more subtle than expected, yet held a great deal of menace, particularly throughout Rorschach's theme, as well as that of Ozymandias, the adventurer-turned-businessman played adequately by Matthew Goode. While I own most of the soundtrack's songs as it is now--yay for being a classic rock junkie--I fully intend to go find the score itself as soon as I'm done here.
All in all, Watchmen is a difficult movie not to recommend. It is utterly faithful to its source material, and the experience of watching it is much like watching a horrifying accident. The story itself is midnight-black, which makes it hard to watch, when shown in all its glory on the screen. If you can stomach through the intensity of the violence, the movie will leave you stunned, with your jaw on the floor. It is, quite literally, the best (and most likely) fulfillment of the comic book lovers' dream.
Watchmen has been among my most anticipated movies since it was announced nearly two years ago. When its release was nearly held up by 20th Century Fox, I was aghast. When the first trailer aired, pulsing along to a Smashing Pumpkins anti-ballad, I was in awe. And now, having seen it...
...it's honestly hard to breathe. As a fan, it's utterly mind-blowing.
In all honesty, never before has a "comic-book movie" been as faithful to its source as Watchmen. To be honest, I cannot envision another movie challenging it on this front. Scenes directly from the book are placed on screen one after another. Director Zack Snyder is flawless in this respect--his adoration for the book itself is phenomenal.
Several other critics have criticised this, both on the front that he has "embalmed" the movie (i.e. staying too close to the source material), or that his changes, made for time (the movie is nearly 3 hours, without the cuts!) were not faithful to his overall vision. Considering both arguments, as well as my own opinion, I dare say that he managed to walk a fine line in this respect. While changes to the book are present, they're dealt with smoothly and without hassle. However, scene after scene are pulled directly from the book.
I'm jumping ahead of myself. If you haven't read the book, or have much familiarity with the universe at this point, here's the basic summary. In 1977, the Keene Act is passed, banning acts of "masked vigilantism" following a massive police strike. Vigilantes have been active since WWII, impacting history in various ways, including the accidental creation of the first actual superhero, known as Dr. Manhattan (and played in a perfectly stoic manner by Billy Crudup). It's now 1985, and someone has started killing former vigilantes, starting with the fascistic gun-nut The Comedian (Jeffery Dean Morgan). Rorschach, a sociopathic (and still active) vigilante played by Jackie Earle Haley, begins to investigate.
As I said, the scenes are literally pulled straight from the graphic novel, and thus have a grim, edgy tone suited to this alternate history tale. Haley's gravelly tone narrates us through the world via Rorschach's journal, as he attempts to warn his fellow heroes. At the top of the list is Dan Dreiberg, better known as Nite-Owl (Patrick Wilson), who has fallen into despondancy and impotency.
By and large, the portrayals in this movie are near flawless. Haley's Rorschach oozes with loathing and menace, while Nite-Owl's near-fetishistic obsession with the costumed lifestyle display him as torn between his desire for a normal life and his primal need for the adrenaline rush of adventuring.
Opposite Nite-Owl is Malin Ackerman's Silk Spectre II, forced into the costumed lifestyle by her mother (Carla Gugino), now aging in a rest home. While Ackerman's portrayal is adequate, it does not carry the emotional weight of Haley's narration, Morgan's psychopathic violence, or Wilson's despondancy. The only truly poor performance I would assess for this film is Gugino's, which centers primarily around her age. The elder Silk Spectre simply does not look the part, particularly in the 1985 sections, where she looks just as old as her daughter, instead of 40 years older. Her delivery--too energetic and youthful--only exacerbates this feeling.
One of the few flaws I can find with this movie is with the sheer level of graphic violence in Watchmen. I had gone in knowing much about the violence, having read the book numerous times, but I was not quite prepared for the sheer intensity of the gore in this film. Fight scenes are choreographed with no punches pulled, and no strength unused. During a fight with some street thugs, Nite-Owl breaks a foe's elbow, cracking it in a hideous compound fracture. When invading a mob speakeasy, a gesture from Dr. Manhattan splatters gun-toting mobsters across the room. If you are weak of heart or faint of stomach, even the first scene--wherein the aging Comedian fights for his life and falls to an unseen assailant in his apartment--will sit ill with you.
Snyder pulled no punches with his violence, and I can respect that, but I do question the necessity of it. Whereas the book is just as violent, many of the actions are 'between panels', where it is understood what happens--a typical Shakespearean motion. On screen, the actions overshoot their visceral intent and roam into the unnecessary. The same can be said of the sex scene between Ackerman and Wilson, high above New York aboard the OwlShip. Were the scene half as long, it would have had the same impact--the sheer length and graphicness of it overshoots its intent.
Much has further been made of Watchmen's soundtrack, which brings together an ecletic series of tunes from across the late 20th century. However, I was more impressed by the score itself, penned by Tyler Bates. The background music was more subtle than expected, yet held a great deal of menace, particularly throughout Rorschach's theme, as well as that of Ozymandias, the adventurer-turned-businessman played adequately by Matthew Goode. While I own most of the soundtrack's songs as it is now--yay for being a classic rock junkie--I fully intend to go find the score itself as soon as I'm done here.
All in all, Watchmen is a difficult movie not to recommend. It is utterly faithful to its source material, and the experience of watching it is much like watching a horrifying accident. The story itself is midnight-black, which makes it hard to watch, when shown in all its glory on the screen. If you can stomach through the intensity of the violence, the movie will leave you stunned, with your jaw on the floor. It is, quite literally, the best (and most likely) fulfillment of the comic book lovers' dream.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
In Which The Warlock Succumbs to the Inevitable...
When D&D 4e came out, one of their largest pushes was for the traditionally table-top game to take a step into the digital world, in a large way. Dungeon and Dragon, the flagship magazines of role-playing, were taken out of circulation, only to be replaced with online editions as part of something enigmatic known as "D&D Insider". At the announcement, other nebulous features were shown off...a 'virtual miniature' generator, an online table utility with chat functions, a character generator, and several other features.
And it was met, by and large, with a resounding "WTF?!"
As it seemed, people didn't exactly like Wizards of the Coast futzing around with their beloved magazines. And who would need an online game table, when it's much more fun to sit around a real one? And there were tons of character generators out there--why pay for one?
Nerdrage poured forth like a rushing river, as WotC slowly trickled out updates to their "D&D Insider" and Gleemax--their failed attempt at a social networking site--bit the dust. And all of it was free, so every angry geek with a wi-fi connection could dance on the monolithic industry's corpse...or so it seemed to said weaselous buggers.
I'll admit--I wasn't happy when the two magazines went to online-only format, but I was relatively neutral in the wars between pro- and anti-Insider gamer geeks. That is, until recently.
Both L-train and I finally broke down and purchased 1 year memberships to D&D Insider--at just around $5 per month, it cost me approximately $60 for one year of content, which granted me access to the Character Generator software, issues of both online magazines, several online utilities, and all preview articles (only about half of which are accessible to non-Insider visitors).
I came across this somewhat skeptically, as I wasn't sure exactly what I was...wanting. I used HeroForge, primarily, for character generation, and the magazine articles did not seem to increase in quality compared to the days of Paizo.
I'll admit now, I was utterly wrong.
The official character generator--built from the online compendium (another benefit of Insider membership--is updated monthly, and features a database of selectable WotC products, usable by campaign. The generator is intuitive to use, and is graphically smooth, allowing you even to import your own photos to attach to characters. Even without going through any sort of tutorial or help system, I was able to create a 30th level character, complete with level-appropriate gear, in about 20 minutes.
20 minutes?! Hell's bells--I was ecstatic! This sort of thing would take me hours to do by hand, or even in HeroForge. And, what's more, the Generator tells you whether the character is RPGA legal, auto-calculates all of the math for you (which has led to some player-favoring error-solving in L-train's game), and creates a beautifully laid-out character sheet complete with character cards.
While the character generator does lack a "Create a Character of X Level" option, which would make it perfect, the leveling system is of sufficient speed and quality to make it almost unnecessary. Seriously--it's that good.
That alone would be worth my $60, considering that it updates with all WotC products each month, but the magazine articles have seriously been increasing in quality. One of my favorites has been the "Wish Upon A Star" article, beefing Star Pact Warlocks--Ia!--but there are numerous others that bear mentioning.
In all truth, I'm completely satisfied with my Insider subscription, and have no regrets on it whatsoever. I look forward to what comes next very eagerly...surrounding nerdrage notwithstanding.
And it was met, by and large, with a resounding "WTF?!"
As it seemed, people didn't exactly like Wizards of the Coast futzing around with their beloved magazines. And who would need an online game table, when it's much more fun to sit around a real one? And there were tons of character generators out there--why pay for one?
Nerdrage poured forth like a rushing river, as WotC slowly trickled out updates to their "D&D Insider" and Gleemax--their failed attempt at a social networking site--bit the dust. And all of it was free, so every angry geek with a wi-fi connection could dance on the monolithic industry's corpse...or so it seemed to said weaselous buggers.
I'll admit--I wasn't happy when the two magazines went to online-only format, but I was relatively neutral in the wars between pro- and anti-Insider gamer geeks. That is, until recently.
Both L-train and I finally broke down and purchased 1 year memberships to D&D Insider--at just around $5 per month, it cost me approximately $60 for one year of content, which granted me access to the Character Generator software, issues of both online magazines, several online utilities, and all preview articles (only about half of which are accessible to non-Insider visitors).
I came across this somewhat skeptically, as I wasn't sure exactly what I was...wanting. I used HeroForge, primarily, for character generation, and the magazine articles did not seem to increase in quality compared to the days of Paizo.
I'll admit now, I was utterly wrong.
The official character generator--built from the online compendium (another benefit of Insider membership--is updated monthly, and features a database of selectable WotC products, usable by campaign. The generator is intuitive to use, and is graphically smooth, allowing you even to import your own photos to attach to characters. Even without going through any sort of tutorial or help system, I was able to create a 30th level character, complete with level-appropriate gear, in about 20 minutes.
20 minutes?! Hell's bells--I was ecstatic! This sort of thing would take me hours to do by hand, or even in HeroForge. And, what's more, the Generator tells you whether the character is RPGA legal, auto-calculates all of the math for you (which has led to some player-favoring error-solving in L-train's game), and creates a beautifully laid-out character sheet complete with character cards.
While the character generator does lack a "Create a Character of X Level" option, which would make it perfect, the leveling system is of sufficient speed and quality to make it almost unnecessary. Seriously--it's that good.
That alone would be worth my $60, considering that it updates with all WotC products each month, but the magazine articles have seriously been increasing in quality. One of my favorites has been the "Wish Upon A Star" article, beefing Star Pact Warlocks--Ia!--but there are numerous others that bear mentioning.
In all truth, I'm completely satisfied with my Insider subscription, and have no regrets on it whatsoever. I look forward to what comes next very eagerly...surrounding nerdrage notwithstanding.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
In Which The Warlock Uses His Time Productively...
One of the nice things about being an English teacher is the fact that once you set your kids on a research project, your days are pretty much just troubleshooting. There's no real "lesson planning", per se; it's all much more of helping each kid at whatever step that they're at. Because of this, I've had a significantly larger amount of "free-ish time" during my teaching day...which I've put to good use, of course!
Firstly, I managed to get some of my revisions for Dungeon Slam! done. On the 4th draft now, I managed to re-build all of the character cards from scratch. One of the biggest problems with the current incarnation is the amount of tokens necessary for Health and Arcana. Rather than tracking them with tokens, though, I now have a slider at the top and bottom of each character card--one for each stat. So now, players only need one token, which they can slide to their current Health and Arcana, and adjust as necessary.
Also, I've been reformatting many of the skills. Some of them were just outright too damned good. Others, like the Alchemists' Unique Skill--Brewmaster--were utterly weak. I've worked towards balancing these, but the results have yet to show fruit--that's what playtesting is for, children!
That said, the easy part is over with. The (much) harder part is to rebuild the monsters, the items, and the skills. That comes next...proably over spring break!
Speaking of playtesting, though, I also managed to finish my work on something that's currently being referred to as WEGS SuperZ Alpha. While I can't say too much about this one, mainly due to some unsurity on how it exactly fits into El Willy's WEGS-verse and the like, I can say that the first playtest went swimmingly! We had some issues with the Braintrust character, who was way overpowered, using Napalm Blast over and over, as well as with the Health and Spoint regeneration General Skills, but by and large, the Arks were performing exactly as intended!
Finally, I managed to finally put together enough cash for a subscription to Dungeons and Dragons Insider--Wizards of the Coast's online initiative for D&D 4e. My first impressions, thusfar, have been really positive, particularly with the Character Generator, but I haven't had my subscription long enough to provide a full review--expect one next week, cats and kittens.
So, what have we learned? When your kids are pretty much autonomous, you can just let 'em roll and get on with what's important: gaming!
Firstly, I managed to get some of my revisions for Dungeon Slam! done. On the 4th draft now, I managed to re-build all of the character cards from scratch. One of the biggest problems with the current incarnation is the amount of tokens necessary for Health and Arcana. Rather than tracking them with tokens, though, I now have a slider at the top and bottom of each character card--one for each stat. So now, players only need one token, which they can slide to their current Health and Arcana, and adjust as necessary.
Also, I've been reformatting many of the skills. Some of them were just outright too damned good. Others, like the Alchemists' Unique Skill--Brewmaster--were utterly weak. I've worked towards balancing these, but the results have yet to show fruit--that's what playtesting is for, children!
That said, the easy part is over with. The (much) harder part is to rebuild the monsters, the items, and the skills. That comes next...proably over spring break!
Speaking of playtesting, though, I also managed to finish my work on something that's currently being referred to as WEGS SuperZ Alpha. While I can't say too much about this one, mainly due to some unsurity on how it exactly fits into El Willy's WEGS-verse and the like, I can say that the first playtest went swimmingly! We had some issues with the Braintrust character, who was way overpowered, using Napalm Blast over and over, as well as with the Health and Spoint regeneration General Skills, but by and large, the Arks were performing exactly as intended!
Finally, I managed to finally put together enough cash for a subscription to Dungeons and Dragons Insider--Wizards of the Coast's online initiative for D&D 4e. My first impressions, thusfar, have been really positive, particularly with the Character Generator, but I haven't had my subscription long enough to provide a full review--expect one next week, cats and kittens.
So, what have we learned? When your kids are pretty much autonomous, you can just let 'em roll and get on with what's important: gaming!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
In Which the Warlock Learns from His Pain...
I have learned to dread Christmas. For the last two years, my beloved (and if you can't hear the sarcasm dripping off of that word, you're deaf!) Witt-Weggers have felt it necessary to 'gift' me with movies at each YuleTide. Now, by movies, I don't mean new releases, or the various blockbusters I've blogged about while here. Nor do I mean movie classics like Excalibur or Apocalypse Now.
I mean horrible, decrepit pieces of filth...the likes of which are not fit for human eyes. I mean movies like Blood Gnome, Elektra, and the dreaded Transmorphers.
You'll note that I don't link any of these. This is for your own protection. If you are so foolish as to look up any of these...well, do so at your own risk.
This tradition culminated this week with Wittenberg Role-Playing Guild's first ever "Iron Butt, Iron Gut" Marathon. Three of the worst movies ever made, in order, on Valentines' Day evening. While the task was a difficult one: Transmorphers followed by Mazes and Monsters, then ending with Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight, we survived (relatively) unscathed.
However, my enduring mental anguish has not gone by without some amount of learning. If anything else, each horrible flick has taught me a valuable lesson for GMing, which I share with you now...so that these movies may forever be buried and forgotten.
Zardoz--It doesn't matter how rich a world you create or how vast a world you populate; if no one can understand what the hell you're talking about, it's a lost cause anyway.
Mazes and Monsters--Plot twists are simultaneously overrated and underappreciated. Keep your players on their toes and they won't see the train through the coming headlights.
Idiocracy--Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers.
Dragonlance: DoAT--Lens flares make everything better. That is, I mean...you can have all of the voice talent in the world, but if your NPCs have dialogue that makes them sound like cardboard cutouts, your players will still be miserable.
Death Race 2000--Orwellian corporations controlling Roman-style deathmatches, regardless of arena, is an over-used trope. Just once, throw in a mega-corporation that generally HAS the world's best interest in mine, and see how your players squirm!
Flesh Gordon--Captured PCs are fun PCs because they're out of their element. While it's always a plus to see a group at their strongest, sometimes the best role-playing moments come out of when they have to improvise to survive.
SS DoomTrooper--Killing Nazis is always fun. Doesn't matter what system.
Raptor--Always have your setting details in order. Nothing's more infuriating than not being able to figure out what county your crime scene's actually in...to say nothing of "brushing" for fingerprints...
Transmorphers--In all games, the special effects are key. Magic, psionics, super-powers, Cthulhian spells, what have you...if they sound fake in your descriptions, they look fake in the minds' eye of your players. Describe!
Oh, and make sure your sounds syncs up...
I mean horrible, decrepit pieces of filth...the likes of which are not fit for human eyes. I mean movies like Blood Gnome, Elektra, and the dreaded Transmorphers.
You'll note that I don't link any of these. This is for your own protection. If you are so foolish as to look up any of these...well, do so at your own risk.
This tradition culminated this week with Wittenberg Role-Playing Guild's first ever "Iron Butt, Iron Gut" Marathon. Three of the worst movies ever made, in order, on Valentines' Day evening. While the task was a difficult one: Transmorphers followed by Mazes and Monsters, then ending with Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight, we survived (relatively) unscathed.
However, my enduring mental anguish has not gone by without some amount of learning. If anything else, each horrible flick has taught me a valuable lesson for GMing, which I share with you now...so that these movies may forever be buried and forgotten.
Zardoz--It doesn't matter how rich a world you create or how vast a world you populate; if no one can understand what the hell you're talking about, it's a lost cause anyway.
Mazes and Monsters--Plot twists are simultaneously overrated and underappreciated. Keep your players on their toes and they won't see the train through the coming headlights.
Idiocracy--Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers.
Dragonlance: DoAT--Lens flares make everything better. That is, I mean...you can have all of the voice talent in the world, but if your NPCs have dialogue that makes them sound like cardboard cutouts, your players will still be miserable.
Death Race 2000--Orwellian corporations controlling Roman-style deathmatches, regardless of arena, is an over-used trope. Just once, throw in a mega-corporation that generally HAS the world's best interest in mine, and see how your players squirm!
Flesh Gordon--Captured PCs are fun PCs because they're out of their element. While it's always a plus to see a group at their strongest, sometimes the best role-playing moments come out of when they have to improvise to survive.
SS DoomTrooper--Killing Nazis is always fun. Doesn't matter what system.
Raptor--Always have your setting details in order. Nothing's more infuriating than not being able to figure out what county your crime scene's actually in...to say nothing of "brushing" for fingerprints...
Transmorphers--In all games, the special effects are key. Magic, psionics, super-powers, Cthulhian spells, what have you...if they sound fake in your descriptions, they look fake in the minds' eye of your players. Describe!
Oh, and make sure your sounds syncs up...
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
In Which The Warlock's Dice Fall on Natural 20!
So, with a few exceptions, everything's been coming up Aces out here in Witt-Wegger land, which leaves me barely able to catch my breath, with all the madness that's ensuing. While work's been a bear recently, with multiple in-services and a massive state-qualifying debate tournament to judge, there's been a lot to celebrate out here!
First off, WittCon VI: "Have you Hugged an Orc Today?" is officially a WorldWide D&D Game Day premier site! We've already received the downloadable registration pack, complete with the scenario, characters, and even a trivia pack. While I haven't read the info thoroughly, I'm looking forward to busting out this scenario on some hapless adventurers on March 21st!
Further, I've finally decided what I actually want to run at this year's WittCon. While I've been tempted to run another session of Dungeon Slam!, I've been doing a lot of playtesting on the weekly game nights, which makes it a little less...well, novel. I had kicked around doing straight up 4e, perhaps with a Ravenloft or Planescape twist, but with the WorldWide D&D Game Day info coming through, that option's already covered. I had kicked around doing Stargate or Conan d20, but...eh. Nothing was coming to mind. And with Jules already planning a trip to Zendik Farms for her Call of Cthluhu game, what was left?
Oh yes...Dark Heresy! Indeed, we return to the depths of the Warp with a wicked little scenario I'm calling "Survival of the Fittest". Players will be in the role of Acolytes, searching for missing Inquisitor Xanthippus, who disappeared on the war-ravaged world of Thanatos during an Orkish invasion. But, as always, things are not as they seem...
On the plus side, my Monday Heroes Unlimited game has been utterly rolling. Our first session was spent getting the group together, as they investigated a mysterious warehouse housing a crime scene, which seems to be off of both the mob's and the polices' books. Kat's psychic, based on Scheherezade of the "1001 Arabian Nights", is slowly losing her grip on Sanity, as she delves into Object Reading and the like, while Will's Austrian strongman Manifesto utterly devastated some nosy dockworkers...
And oh, I can't wait for the arrival of my villain....they call him Mr. Kisses... :D
The only real down-side to recent events is that last year's WittCon vendor, Bob "Don't Call Him the Diceman" Kindle, was unable to make it down for this year's event. Hopefully, as the dread date nears, we'll have someone out for all your gaming supply needs!
First off, WittCon VI: "Have you Hugged an Orc Today?" is officially a WorldWide D&D Game Day premier site! We've already received the downloadable registration pack, complete with the scenario, characters, and even a trivia pack. While I haven't read the info thoroughly, I'm looking forward to busting out this scenario on some hapless adventurers on March 21st!
Further, I've finally decided what I actually want to run at this year's WittCon. While I've been tempted to run another session of Dungeon Slam!, I've been doing a lot of playtesting on the weekly game nights, which makes it a little less...well, novel. I had kicked around doing straight up 4e, perhaps with a Ravenloft or Planescape twist, but with the WorldWide D&D Game Day info coming through, that option's already covered. I had kicked around doing Stargate or Conan d20, but...eh. Nothing was coming to mind. And with Jules already planning a trip to Zendik Farms for her Call of Cthluhu game, what was left?
Oh yes...Dark Heresy! Indeed, we return to the depths of the Warp with a wicked little scenario I'm calling "Survival of the Fittest". Players will be in the role of Acolytes, searching for missing Inquisitor Xanthippus, who disappeared on the war-ravaged world of Thanatos during an Orkish invasion. But, as always, things are not as they seem...
On the plus side, my Monday Heroes Unlimited game has been utterly rolling. Our first session was spent getting the group together, as they investigated a mysterious warehouse housing a crime scene, which seems to be off of both the mob's and the polices' books. Kat's psychic, based on Scheherezade of the "1001 Arabian Nights", is slowly losing her grip on Sanity, as she delves into Object Reading and the like, while Will's Austrian strongman Manifesto utterly devastated some nosy dockworkers...
And oh, I can't wait for the arrival of my villain....they call him Mr. Kisses... :D
The only real down-side to recent events is that last year's WittCon vendor, Bob "Don't Call Him the Diceman" Kindle, was unable to make it down for this year's event. Hopefully, as the dread date nears, we'll have someone out for all your gaming supply needs!
Sunday, February 01, 2009
In Which The Warlock is Astounded by Circumstance...
So, planning is well-underway on WittCon VI: "Have You Hugged An Orc Today?" The schedule for events is taking shape, and the designs for this year's T-shirt are slowly being formulated. Yet again, we'll be looking forward to a visit from the one and only El Willy and his WEGSing krew, as well as from our friendly neighborhood Reaper Minis rep, Shane.
Ironically, though, this year's WittCon falls on the same day as many auspicious events! Our theme this year, "Have you Hugged An Orc Today?", comes directly from the UN's International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, though that's not all...
March 21st is also UNESCO World Poetry Day, Ba'hai and Iranian New Year's Day, the Vernal Equinox, and Namibian Independence Day.
All of that...feh. No big whoop. But..for a gaming convention...only one major concurrent holiday might matter: Worldwide D&D Game Day!
Yes, devoted readers, we're currently in the works to hold honest-to-God, RPGA-official, 4e D&D, fresh from Wizards of the Coast at your favorite neighborhood college con. Will we succeed? I sure hope so!
Ironically, though, this year's WittCon falls on the same day as many auspicious events! Our theme this year, "Have you Hugged An Orc Today?", comes directly from the UN's International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, though that's not all...
March 21st is also UNESCO World Poetry Day, Ba'hai and Iranian New Year's Day, the Vernal Equinox, and Namibian Independence Day.
All of that...feh. No big whoop. But..for a gaming convention...only one major concurrent holiday might matter: Worldwide D&D Game Day!
Yes, devoted readers, we're currently in the works to hold honest-to-God, RPGA-official, 4e D&D, fresh from Wizards of the Coast at your favorite neighborhood college con. Will we succeed? I sure hope so!
Sunday, January 25, 2009
In Which The Warlock Looks Forward to the Coming Months...
Finally, back on time! Naturally, I'm procastinating from my usual work, but that's life...I'm used to it.
I must say, though, I am utterly excited. This part of the year always stands as the beginning of great things across the board, but particularly in gaming terms.
First off, there's the upcoming gaming. With "Shadows of the Cold War" about to start, and Fred's 4e game in full swing, I'm up to my eyeballs in great gaming. Twice a week, at least? Can't beat it with a stick.
Further, I managed to sneak in a little playtesting of Dungeon Slam! this weekend, as well. While many of the issues that came up have been ones I'm much aware of--relative weakness of spellcasters, need for more Health and Arcana, overall game speed--this game was an utter success, as the players really went for the throat on the PvP. Between the Malevelolent Teleporter uses (which are just a touch overpowered), the Astral Thievery, and the utter wrath with which players went after one another...the game was fantastically played! I was utterly amazed at the virulence with which they went at it! When the Martial Artist got marooned in Skull Sanctum after having used Resist Arcana on several other players, I was laughing my head off! Karma works, children!
What amazed me most about all this was the fact that, with one exception, all of these players were brand new! Within the span of one evening, they caught onto the game faster than even some of the veterans I've had play. With no lies, I've never seen the Swashbuckler played as well as the way he was this past time. The player said it seemed somewhat broken, but I had to break it to him--the way he was rolling was exactly the way I'd intended it! He just stumbled onto some great combinations!
This gives me some real promise for the upcoming revision of DS. I really want to pump out a new revision before WittCon VI, which is coming up in March. Can't wait for that!
Further, the great Con season begins again! February begins with UD Con, over at University of Dayton, followed by WittCon VI in March, and then GloryCon after that...
...can't beat the gaming, particularly at Origins after that! :D
I must say, though, I am utterly excited. This part of the year always stands as the beginning of great things across the board, but particularly in gaming terms.
First off, there's the upcoming gaming. With "Shadows of the Cold War" about to start, and Fred's 4e game in full swing, I'm up to my eyeballs in great gaming. Twice a week, at least? Can't beat it with a stick.
Further, I managed to sneak in a little playtesting of Dungeon Slam! this weekend, as well. While many of the issues that came up have been ones I'm much aware of--relative weakness of spellcasters, need for more Health and Arcana, overall game speed--this game was an utter success, as the players really went for the throat on the PvP. Between the Malevelolent Teleporter uses (which are just a touch overpowered), the Astral Thievery, and the utter wrath with which players went after one another...the game was fantastically played! I was utterly amazed at the virulence with which they went at it! When the Martial Artist got marooned in Skull Sanctum after having used Resist Arcana on several other players, I was laughing my head off! Karma works, children!
What amazed me most about all this was the fact that, with one exception, all of these players were brand new! Within the span of one evening, they caught onto the game faster than even some of the veterans I've had play. With no lies, I've never seen the Swashbuckler played as well as the way he was this past time. The player said it seemed somewhat broken, but I had to break it to him--the way he was rolling was exactly the way I'd intended it! He just stumbled onto some great combinations!
This gives me some real promise for the upcoming revision of DS. I really want to pump out a new revision before WittCon VI, which is coming up in March. Can't wait for that!
Further, the great Con season begins again! February begins with UD Con, over at University of Dayton, followed by WittCon VI in March, and then GloryCon after that...
...can't beat the gaming, particularly at Origins after that! :D
Thursday, January 22, 2009
In Which The Warlock Fails His Saving Throw vs. Poison...
Apologies on the delay, faithful readers. I realize that when I post late, I usually open with an apology but this time...I have a legitimate excuse: food poisoning.
You see, your friendly-neighborhood Warlock has given up pop--carbonated beverages have been kept at a minimum since October, and I've kept to that pretty well by sticking to Kool-Aid and juice. Unfortunately, it was the latter that caught up with me. By the time that I was 3/4 of the way through the juice bottle...Jules had noted that it was over 3 months expired.
I, consequently, spent the last three days unable to eat anything, and have been pretty much latched to the toilet.
On the plus side, I am much on the mend and am looking forward to a full weekend of geekdom to come. On the downside, though, I missed out on much of last weekend's festivities...which included a portion of a visit from my former roommate, Karl!
However, we did have some time to wedge in a WEGS scenario--based on the D&D Tiny Adventures creation "The Haunted Streets of Agamentar--with some sweet LEGO props! I joined him behind the screen at first, but when a player had to leave early...it was up to Nordling the XIV to take to the fore!
Unfortunately for Nordling and his krew...the odds and gods were not on their sides. In the crypt of a dread lich, they fell quickly and mercilessly beneath no less than 5 consecutive Good Shots by Karl's dice...
Never fear, though! This Saturday brings some more "Dungeon Slam!" and hopefully some karmatic vengeance!
You see, your friendly-neighborhood Warlock has given up pop--carbonated beverages have been kept at a minimum since October, and I've kept to that pretty well by sticking to Kool-Aid and juice. Unfortunately, it was the latter that caught up with me. By the time that I was 3/4 of the way through the juice bottle...Jules had noted that it was over 3 months expired.
I, consequently, spent the last three days unable to eat anything, and have been pretty much latched to the toilet.
On the plus side, I am much on the mend and am looking forward to a full weekend of geekdom to come. On the downside, though, I missed out on much of last weekend's festivities...which included a portion of a visit from my former roommate, Karl!
However, we did have some time to wedge in a WEGS scenario--based on the D&D Tiny Adventures creation "The Haunted Streets of Agamentar--with some sweet LEGO props! I joined him behind the screen at first, but when a player had to leave early...it was up to Nordling the XIV to take to the fore!
Unfortunately for Nordling and his krew...the odds and gods were not on their sides. In the crypt of a dread lich, they fell quickly and mercilessly beneath no less than 5 consecutive Good Shots by Karl's dice...
Never fear, though! This Saturday brings some more "Dungeon Slam!" and hopefully some karmatic vengeance!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
The Warlock's Review: "Manual of the Planes"
I took a little bit of heat from gaming-buddy Nick, when I didn't update this Sunday, but I wanted to make sure that I had all of my ducks in a row before putting forward this post. Believe it or not, I actually had to do some research for this one.
One of my favorite things regarding the entirety of D&D, since I began playing, has been the cosmological aspect of it. The Great Wheel, in particular, was one of my favorite concepts--the simple idea that there was a verisimilitude within the cosmos, between the various Heavens and Hells out there. Fittingly, one of my favorite campaign settings has been Planescape, with its wacky, Victorian philosophical factions, its plane-hopping nature, and the omnipresent city of Sigil looming overhead.
When 4e came out, I was slightly perturbed that The Great Wheel, a D&D institution since First Edition, went the way of the dodo. In fact, I asked Mike Mearls about this change, last year at Origins, just after 4e's release. While he was not able to give me a whole lot of solace in this regard, I kept an optimistic outlook regarding the new cosmology, and was looking forward to this release greatly.
One of the reasons for my optimism was newness. The Feywild, The Shadowfell, the Elemental Chaos...all of these seemed to reek of the old Modernist adage, "Make it new!" Unfortunately, upon my reading, this seems not to be the case.
Manual of the Planes, in format, is a typical 160 page, full-color, hardcover release from Wizards of the Coast, with all the high quality that comes with it. WotC is the gold standard for book design in the RPG world, and has been since 3e, and nothing has changed here. I could even overlook the reused 3eartwork, if not for a few major sections...
My geek senses kicked off in this regard as I read (ironically enough) the section on Sigil. As I read, I could have sworn that I had read the section before, despite the fact that this was the first read through of 4e's Manual of the Planes that I had done. Then I realized it!
To say the least, I was chagrined. I was promised newness, and this was borderline plagarism. Entire sections of text were copy-pasted, with changes only made to eliminate 3e mechanics. For example, text was copy-pasted on the City of Brass's architecture, but the 4e version is shorter only due to the Planar Handbook's mention of "Continual flame spells"--something that no longer exists in 4e.
Lazy writing aside, I was further surprised by the utterly laziness in design decisions on the creators' choices. The Elemental Chaos was promised to be a "more accessible" elemental plane system, but the only three locations presented therein are ZerthAd'Lun (a githyanki city), the aforementioned City of Brass, and a few Abyssal layers--all of which had seen extensive treatment in prior books, both 3e and 4e. Nothing new.
While I was pleased with the creativity showing in the Feywild section--based around pseudo-Celtic fey courts and the 4 seasons--this pleasure swiftly dimmed in my reading of the following section on the Shadowfell. If you know me at all, you know my games tend towards darker themes (Ravenloft, anyone?), so the idea of the Shadowfell had peaked my interest. However, despite the fact that its chapter is a full page longer than that of the Feywild (16 pages, compared to 15), it includes only 1 locale, and few other stats. Oh, and the Dread Emperor gets a full page...that wonderful throwback to the decidedly mediocre Book of Vile Darkness. Yeech.
There were bright spots in this book, primarily in the new material. The "domain of night", Tytherion, was an intreguing addition, and the inclusion of various fey demesenes were a plus. By and large, though, these areas were hit or miss. Shom, a blinding desert wasteland, is included, but few details are given save that it was once the home of the illumian empire. Were illumians really so popular that they needed a one-page entry? Somehow I doubt it. It would have been nice to see that page, and other wasted space, go towards giving Far Realm (a fan, and personal, favorite) a better treatment--it currently gets 3/4 of a page, with a sidebar on Mak Thuum Ngatha--or, for that matter, a section on Dreamspace or more information on spelljammers, which only get touched on.
Players get a wee bit of material at the end of the book, with a handful of paragon paths based on the planes. However, this chapter feels tacked on, and really brings little to the party in terms of creativity. It feels as if the designers each picked a core class and a plane, then cobbled together a paragon path to combine them. And the Doomguard reference in the fighter entry? It might have been nice had factions actually been discussed in any length in this book, but such was not the case.
All in all, Manual of the Planes is a decidedly mediocre book, made worse by recycled material, a lack of focus, and a dearth of usable campaign hooks and the like. While the Feywild section was strong, it's the lone real jewel in a sea of muddy water. I still love the mechanics of 4e, but right now, the 'fluff' of the system has yet to sell me.
One of my favorite things regarding the entirety of D&D, since I began playing, has been the cosmological aspect of it. The Great Wheel, in particular, was one of my favorite concepts--the simple idea that there was a verisimilitude within the cosmos, between the various Heavens and Hells out there. Fittingly, one of my favorite campaign settings has been Planescape, with its wacky, Victorian philosophical factions, its plane-hopping nature, and the omnipresent city of Sigil looming overhead.
When 4e came out, I was slightly perturbed that The Great Wheel, a D&D institution since First Edition, went the way of the dodo. In fact, I asked Mike Mearls about this change, last year at Origins, just after 4e's release. While he was not able to give me a whole lot of solace in this regard, I kept an optimistic outlook regarding the new cosmology, and was looking forward to this release greatly.
One of the reasons for my optimism was newness. The Feywild, The Shadowfell, the Elemental Chaos...all of these seemed to reek of the old Modernist adage, "Make it new!" Unfortunately, upon my reading, this seems not to be the case.
Manual of the Planes, in format, is a typical 160 page, full-color, hardcover release from Wizards of the Coast, with all the high quality that comes with it. WotC is the gold standard for book design in the RPG world, and has been since 3e, and nothing has changed here. I could even overlook the reused 3eartwork, if not for a few major sections...
My geek senses kicked off in this regard as I read (ironically enough) the section on Sigil. As I read, I could have sworn that I had read the section before, despite the fact that this was the first read through of 4e's Manual of the Planes that I had done. Then I realized it!
the text for Sigil, as well as the City of Brass and several other locations, was taken nearly word for word from 3e's Manual of the Planes and the Planar Handbook
To say the least, I was chagrined. I was promised newness, and this was borderline plagarism. Entire sections of text were copy-pasted, with changes only made to eliminate 3e mechanics. For example, text was copy-pasted on the City of Brass's architecture, but the 4e version is shorter only due to the Planar Handbook's mention of "Continual flame spells"--something that no longer exists in 4e.
Lazy writing aside, I was further surprised by the utterly laziness in design decisions on the creators' choices. The Elemental Chaos was promised to be a "more accessible" elemental plane system, but the only three locations presented therein are ZerthAd'Lun (a githyanki city), the aforementioned City of Brass, and a few Abyssal layers--all of which had seen extensive treatment in prior books, both 3e and 4e. Nothing new.
While I was pleased with the creativity showing in the Feywild section--based around pseudo-Celtic fey courts and the 4 seasons--this pleasure swiftly dimmed in my reading of the following section on the Shadowfell. If you know me at all, you know my games tend towards darker themes (Ravenloft, anyone?), so the idea of the Shadowfell had peaked my interest. However, despite the fact that its chapter is a full page longer than that of the Feywild (16 pages, compared to 15), it includes only 1 locale, and few other stats. Oh, and the Dread Emperor gets a full page...that wonderful throwback to the decidedly mediocre Book of Vile Darkness. Yeech.
There were bright spots in this book, primarily in the new material. The "domain of night", Tytherion, was an intreguing addition, and the inclusion of various fey demesenes were a plus. By and large, though, these areas were hit or miss. Shom, a blinding desert wasteland, is included, but few details are given save that it was once the home of the illumian empire. Were illumians really so popular that they needed a one-page entry? Somehow I doubt it. It would have been nice to see that page, and other wasted space, go towards giving Far Realm (a fan, and personal, favorite) a better treatment--it currently gets 3/4 of a page, with a sidebar on Mak Thuum Ngatha--or, for that matter, a section on Dreamspace or more information on spelljammers, which only get touched on.
Players get a wee bit of material at the end of the book, with a handful of paragon paths based on the planes. However, this chapter feels tacked on, and really brings little to the party in terms of creativity. It feels as if the designers each picked a core class and a plane, then cobbled together a paragon path to combine them. And the Doomguard reference in the fighter entry? It might have been nice had factions actually been discussed in any length in this book, but such was not the case.
All in all, Manual of the Planes is a decidedly mediocre book, made worse by recycled material, a lack of focus, and a dearth of usable campaign hooks and the like. While the Feywild section was strong, it's the lone real jewel in a sea of muddy water. I still love the mechanics of 4e, but right now, the 'fluff' of the system has yet to sell me.
Monday, January 05, 2009
In Which The Warlock Realizes Some Irony...
...immediately after commending myself about my ability to update on time, this update is, of course, late. Oi. *hangs head* It's life.
But, on a more positive spin, things are finally rolling in our Friday night game. Unsere, my tiefling artificer/swordmage, is utterly fed up with getting followed around by everyone in sight, but at least she's finding her way out of Thromstorm! However, I can't help but feel just a touch of frustration, as what I had originally intended to be a more "supporting" character seems to be turning into the plot's lead. *shrug* That's the way of things, some days. Nothing like a 'reluctant hero' archetype!
Further positive, I've set myself on using Heroes Unlimited 2e Revised for my Watchmen/Call of Cthulhu game. Looking onto the rules, they're not quite so clunky as to shy the newbies to Palladium away, and it's definitely the best fit for the setting's feel.
That said, I'm definitely going to pare out some of the "bigger" powers, to fit with the feel of the world. I just can't imagine Nite-Owl or Silk Spectre roaming around with someone with "Alter Physical Structure: Plasma", who can melt through steel walls with his bare hands. I mean, the whole point of Dr. Manhattan was the fact that he was one-of-a-kind. Doesn't make much sense to populate the whole world with Captain Atom!
One of my bigger difficulties comes from the grafting of the Sanity system onto the Palladium stats. While "Mental Endurance" seems to be a great place to start, the character classes that rely on it most heavily--Mystics and Psionics--should be the first ones to go crazy, not the last! I think I may end up using an average of all mental stats, to form the Sanity base, but I'm still undecided.
We shall see, I suppose!
Next post? My 4e Manual of the Planes review!
But, on a more positive spin, things are finally rolling in our Friday night game. Unsere, my tiefling artificer/swordmage, is utterly fed up with getting followed around by everyone in sight, but at least she's finding her way out of Thromstorm! However, I can't help but feel just a touch of frustration, as what I had originally intended to be a more "supporting" character seems to be turning into the plot's lead. *shrug* That's the way of things, some days. Nothing like a 'reluctant hero' archetype!
Further positive, I've set myself on using Heroes Unlimited 2e Revised for my Watchmen/Call of Cthulhu game. Looking onto the rules, they're not quite so clunky as to shy the newbies to Palladium away, and it's definitely the best fit for the setting's feel.
That said, I'm definitely going to pare out some of the "bigger" powers, to fit with the feel of the world. I just can't imagine Nite-Owl or Silk Spectre roaming around with someone with "Alter Physical Structure: Plasma", who can melt through steel walls with his bare hands. I mean, the whole point of Dr. Manhattan was the fact that he was one-of-a-kind. Doesn't make much sense to populate the whole world with Captain Atom!
One of my bigger difficulties comes from the grafting of the Sanity system onto the Palladium stats. While "Mental Endurance" seems to be a great place to start, the character classes that rely on it most heavily--Mystics and Psionics--should be the first ones to go crazy, not the last! I think I may end up using an average of all mental stats, to form the Sanity base, but I'm still undecided.
We shall see, I suppose!
Next post? My 4e Manual of the Planes review!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
In Which The Warlock Celebrates His Centennial!
Well, devoted readers--oh, few of you!--we've reached our first real milestone. This, right here, is my 100th blog entry, and (almost) my 2 year blogging anniversary.
Well, I suppose I can't actually say the latter portion. I held a personal blog during college, which promptly disappeared, as the blog-service that I was using vanished. However, it's nearly the 2 year anniversary of this blog, so it warrants celebration.
To be perfectly honest, I'm somewhat surprised that I've been as on-time and as up-to-date with this blog as I have been. Averaged out, 100 entries over 2 years is almost exactly 1 update per week. Now, you and I both know that's not exactly the case--this past Origins alone had daily posts, which skews the average quite a bit--but still! Success!
I really wasn't sure what to write in this entry, though, to be perfectly honest. But, with it being New Year's Eve...I figured that I might as well go ahead with some New Year's Gaming Resolution:
1. Keep updating on-time! Been doing well so far, but Sunday's the day to shoot for...
2. A stronger focus on writing. Managing game design with Dungeon Slam!, writing up campaigns and WEGS Supers ideas, and doing the whole 'teaching thing' isn't exactly easy, but it's a balance that's gotta be struck. I can't just leave Dungeon Slam! as a summer project! Doesn't work that way...
3. More gaming-based reviews. While the movie reviews this year were a nice change--particularly considering the utterly loaded summer blockbuster season--this is a gaming blog...sort of. Speaking of, I've got some strong opinions on WotC's 4e Manual of the Planes that need to be divulged...to say nothing of some other recent purchases.
4. More insight into design. Some of my favorite entries of the past two years have been the ones based around understanding the principles of game design, as well as observations on the practical application of these. I remember particularly the entry on "how the Warlock changed 3e/4e"...that was glorious.
5. More pictures! Especially with how much the PlatinumChick and I have been painting, it'd be nice to set up a weekly painting progress book!
6. More "tales from the table" With a weekly D&D game once more, and my Watchmen-esque Call of Cthulhu/Heroes Unlimited game coming en route, there'll be plenty of gaming tales to be had. Here's for seeing some of those here!
Cheers, all! Happy New Year! Good gaming to all, and to all...well, something they enjoy, I suppose.
Well, I suppose I can't actually say the latter portion. I held a personal blog during college, which promptly disappeared, as the blog-service that I was using vanished. However, it's nearly the 2 year anniversary of this blog, so it warrants celebration.
To be perfectly honest, I'm somewhat surprised that I've been as on-time and as up-to-date with this blog as I have been. Averaged out, 100 entries over 2 years is almost exactly 1 update per week. Now, you and I both know that's not exactly the case--this past Origins alone had daily posts, which skews the average quite a bit--but still! Success!
I really wasn't sure what to write in this entry, though, to be perfectly honest. But, with it being New Year's Eve...I figured that I might as well go ahead with some New Year's Gaming Resolution:
1. Keep updating on-time! Been doing well so far, but Sunday's the day to shoot for...
2. A stronger focus on writing. Managing game design with Dungeon Slam!, writing up campaigns and WEGS Supers ideas, and doing the whole 'teaching thing' isn't exactly easy, but it's a balance that's gotta be struck. I can't just leave Dungeon Slam! as a summer project! Doesn't work that way...
3. More gaming-based reviews. While the movie reviews this year were a nice change--particularly considering the utterly loaded summer blockbuster season--this is a gaming blog...sort of. Speaking of, I've got some strong opinions on WotC's 4e Manual of the Planes that need to be divulged...to say nothing of some other recent purchases.
4. More insight into design. Some of my favorite entries of the past two years have been the ones based around understanding the principles of game design, as well as observations on the practical application of these. I remember particularly the entry on "how the Warlock changed 3e/4e"...that was glorious.
5. More pictures! Especially with how much the PlatinumChick and I have been painting, it'd be nice to set up a weekly painting progress book!
6. More "tales from the table" With a weekly D&D game once more, and my Watchmen-esque Call of Cthulhu/Heroes Unlimited game coming en route, there'll be plenty of gaming tales to be had. Here's for seeing some of those here!
Cheers, all! Happy New Year! Good gaming to all, and to all...well, something they enjoy, I suppose.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
The Warlock's Review: "Munchkin Quest" by Steve Jackson Games
When Munchkin Quest was announced formally, just about a year or so ago, I had already known about it--there were whisperings of it at Origins 2007, and there was a little bit of available for demo, on the final day of said convention.
This didn't stop me, mind you, but there was a little bit of a niggling doubt in the back of my head as I began work on Dungeon Slam!, asking me "Why are you going to start on a tile-based, backstabbing, dungeon-crawler boardgame when Steve Jackson--a man much more important than you--is about to do the same thing?"
My mental response was, of course, "huh?"
In this case, ignorance was the correct answer. While Munchkin Quest does a good job of putting forward the base Munchkin card game as a board game, it leaves much to be desired as a real dungeon-crawl.
Munchkin Quest begins just as the card game begins, with the characters at level 1, and they're quickly trying to blast their way through a series of monsters on their way to hitting level 10. While I only played the 2 player version of the game, I felt like the quintessential "backstabbing" of Munchkin was almost completely absent. Lionel and I spend most of our time on opposite ends of the dungeon, only staying together long enough to help each other through the lower levels.
While the Munchkin Quest game was a fun little diversion, it loses much of the simplicity of its card game predecessor. In addition to the expandable board--quite colorfully and boldly done in laminated cardboard, the sheer number of pieces and cards becomes almost mind-boggling. Lionel owns a 6 person dining room suite, and we very nearly took up the whole of it with the various pieces, cards and room tiles. That's a feat that Arkham Horror has a hard time doing, even with the 4 expansions it has!
Coupled with the sheer volume comes the complexity of the game itself. There are something along the lines of 5-7 major phases to each person's turn--again, longer than even an Arkham Horror. One of the more needless phases to me seemed to the monster movement--set to a colored die, the movement of each monster is determined by what color entrances and exits are lableled on the room tile that it is on, as well as whether the hallway pieces are "doors", "locked doors" or "secret doors". And this has to be done for each monster! This was a little much for me...
Similarly, each individual turn seems to last an inordinate amount of time. Despite only having 3 movement points, I (as a 3rd-4th level character) fought 5 monsters in one turn, looted 3 different rooms and bought and sold items. This is to say nothing of the massive amount of "Treasure" and "Deus Ex Munchkin" cards that I had gained through this, and consequently had to read and wrangle.
The raw simplicity of Munchkin was just...gone. Sylish, yes, and definitely capturing the feel of the original game, but there's just too much here. Speaking as someone who loves piece-heavy board games--again, AH is one of my favorites--the sheer volume of items, pieces, and tiles here make Munchkin Quest more tedious than anything else.
If you're a fan of the game, you'll definitely enjoy it. I was, once upon a time, and would have reveled in this game, had it come out 4 years ago. But now...it's a bloated, overly complex inflation of Jackson's storied franchise.
...At least I don't have to worry about Dungeon Slam! being too similar!
This didn't stop me, mind you, but there was a little bit of a niggling doubt in the back of my head as I began work on Dungeon Slam!, asking me "Why are you going to start on a tile-based, backstabbing, dungeon-crawler boardgame when Steve Jackson--a man much more important than you--is about to do the same thing?"
My mental response was, of course, "huh?"
In this case, ignorance was the correct answer. While Munchkin Quest does a good job of putting forward the base Munchkin card game as a board game, it leaves much to be desired as a real dungeon-crawl.
Munchkin Quest begins just as the card game begins, with the characters at level 1, and they're quickly trying to blast their way through a series of monsters on their way to hitting level 10. While I only played the 2 player version of the game, I felt like the quintessential "backstabbing" of Munchkin was almost completely absent. Lionel and I spend most of our time on opposite ends of the dungeon, only staying together long enough to help each other through the lower levels.
While the Munchkin Quest game was a fun little diversion, it loses much of the simplicity of its card game predecessor. In addition to the expandable board--quite colorfully and boldly done in laminated cardboard, the sheer number of pieces and cards becomes almost mind-boggling. Lionel owns a 6 person dining room suite, and we very nearly took up the whole of it with the various pieces, cards and room tiles. That's a feat that Arkham Horror has a hard time doing, even with the 4 expansions it has!
Coupled with the sheer volume comes the complexity of the game itself. There are something along the lines of 5-7 major phases to each person's turn--again, longer than even an Arkham Horror. One of the more needless phases to me seemed to the monster movement--set to a colored die, the movement of each monster is determined by what color entrances and exits are lableled on the room tile that it is on, as well as whether the hallway pieces are "doors", "locked doors" or "secret doors". And this has to be done for each monster! This was a little much for me...
Similarly, each individual turn seems to last an inordinate amount of time. Despite only having 3 movement points, I (as a 3rd-4th level character) fought 5 monsters in one turn, looted 3 different rooms and bought and sold items. This is to say nothing of the massive amount of "Treasure" and "Deus Ex Munchkin" cards that I had gained through this, and consequently had to read and wrangle.
The raw simplicity of Munchkin was just...gone. Sylish, yes, and definitely capturing the feel of the original game, but there's just too much here. Speaking as someone who loves piece-heavy board games--again, AH is one of my favorites--the sheer volume of items, pieces, and tiles here make Munchkin Quest more tedious than anything else.
If you're a fan of the game, you'll definitely enjoy it. I was, once upon a time, and would have reveled in this game, had it come out 4 years ago. But now...it's a bloated, overly complex inflation of Jackson's storied franchise.
...At least I don't have to worry about Dungeon Slam! being too similar!
Monday, December 08, 2008
Bonus Post! In Which The Warlock CrossDresses for his New Game...
I figure that I've been running behind on posts, so here's a bonus one. Our Friday night game has a new DM--Fred, who wanted some tweaks to the 4e system to make it more classless, and more RP-oriented. I had originally come up with two ideas--a flail-wielding elf fighter trying to rectify the situation between his estranged elven homeland and his former mercenary company, who was bent on invading said homeland, or an amoral human warlock raised by a thieves' guild and trying desperately to escape the consequences of her pact.
As such, I ended up rolling neither.... Naturally. :D
Below, is my newest character. It's been a while since I've played a female, so this should provide for something interesting...
Name: Unsere Sehkmet-Sabath
Alignment: Good, with slight Neutral Leanings
Age and Gender: 27, Female
Appearance:
Tomboyish, with a green ponytail and wire-rimmed glasses. Slight of build (5’3”, 120lbs.) Often wearing work-gear (overalls and the like), or grease-smudged traveling pants and comfortable shirts. Always wearing a belt full of pouches and various tools. Carries a bastard sword on her back.
Pop Culture Inspirations:
Lucca from Chrono Trigger.
Pepper Potts (Iron Man film)
New Hawkeye (Young Avengers comic book series)
Huntress (DC Comics)
CatchPhrases:
“Let’s go to work…”
“Science H. Logic!”
“A little magic can solve this…”
“Just like back in Applied Alchemy…”
Upbringing:
Born to a family of tieflings outside of Thromstorm, Unsere was very much a city girl. Roaming the streets was commonplace for her, weaving through the foundries of the city, and marveling at the various arcanotechnological devices being wrought around her. Unsere was the only child of Thamuz and his wife Shabriri. When Unsere was 6, her mother—having developed several psychoses that were designated untreatable—was institutionalized. As such, Unsere often was unable to attend school and was treated to ‘on-the-job’ training the in the Calixis forges with her father, who raised her primarily.
Adult Life:
Unsere attended the Great Academy of Thromstorm at 16, where she excelled in their arcanoengineering program. She also excelled as a fencer, preferring a longer bastard-sword to negate her foes’ often-longer reach. Following her graduation, she signed on with the Thar Acquisitions Company, who routinely sought various arcane supplies—mainly mithril ore, adamantine, and deep crystal—from the nearby Underdark mines. Unsere was one of several teams of ‘materials experts’ who were sought not just to procure high quality shipments, but also to defend them against possible incursion. She has made several contacts with the deep dwarves, tieflings, and even drow of the Underdark because of this. As such, she has often come into conflict with rival companies and with human bandits/claimjumpers from Undermine. Because of this, she was asked to take her first life in the line of duty—a human claimjumper.
Following this event, which haunted Unsere dearly, she resigned from Thar Acquisitions, gaining a position as an ArcanoEngineer at Gyrosys Fabrications, which specialized in golem and automaton creation. She was promoted to Lead ArcanoEngineer in her department approximately one year ago. However, Unsere has recently been finding significant errors and re-routed funding within the department she oversees at Gyrosys. These errors, of course, are the result of her supervisor, Kezar Uzarisa, who has been overseeing the creation of a new project—the merging of a stolen soul into a golem-shell…something known as Project Warforged.
Occupation:
Previously—-Acquisitions Expert and Material Procurer, Thar Acquisitions.
Currently—-Arcanoengineer, Gyrosys Fabrications—Engineering Division.
Religion:
Follows: “Science!”
Worship: No particular deity, though has been known to curse Gond Clockmaker at times.
At odds: Racial deities tend to rub the wrong way (Moradin, Corellon, etc.)
Family:
Father: Thamuz—Elemental forger, Calixis Corp.
Mother: Shabriri—Currently institutionalized at Shal-Dei Asylum.
Siblings: None.
Life Events:
Mother’s Institutionalization at age 6.
Graduation from Great Academy of Thromstorm at age 21.
First actual ‘career’, at age 22 (Thar Acquisitions)
First life taken, at age 22—a human claimjumper, from Undermine.
New job, at age 26—Gyrosys Fabrications, Engineering Division.
Promotion, at age 26—Lead ArcanoEngineer, Gyrosys Fabrications.
Discovery of anomalies in Gyrosys records—3 weeks ago (age 27).
Activation of Sheathan—current!
Networking:
Friends in Thar Acquisitions (Dwarves/Tieflings, primarily)
Business contacts among mining purveyors around Tornia.
Former professors at Great Academy of Thromstorm
Best friend/fencing partner, Daria Majestrix.
Enemies:
Near entirety of Gyrosys Fabrications.
Thromstorm militia and guard.
Kezar Uzarisa—Head of ArcanoExperimentation, Gyrosys.
Goals:
--Greater understanding of magics, and they way they work with the world around them.
--Understanding of the fiendish/elemental origins of magic, and the role of the sentient races within that.
--Comprehension of the sentience of Sheathan, as well as Kezar’s role within his creation.
--Discovery of whether Sheathen is, in fact, an actual soul.
--Escape the Thromstorm militia, and the far reach of Gyrosys.
--Find a way to treat Mom.
Social Int.
--Incredibly curious, particularly regarding Arcane magic and Arcanotech.
--Generally optimistic, though growing frustrated with continual lack of fairness.
--Believes in social justice, fairness, generally kind…
--Overly trusting. While nice, she’s not particularly “wise”.
--Easily embarrassed, particularly in risque situations.
--Somewhat tomboyish, and something of a ‘grease-monkey’.
Decisions:
--Can be flustered easily, but very determined once a course of action is chosen.
--Tries to be law abiding, in most things. Will break ‘minor’ laws without thinking.
--Feels for many ‘victims’—hospital victims, orphans (people who have been in her position)
--Absolutely fearful in asylums and the like.
Mannerisms:
Often gets nervous and stammers, if does not know what to do in a given situation.
Does not like bloodshed, if other sentient beings are involved—believes in right to life.
Enjoys cats and other small animals (would have had a familiar, in 3.5e)
Fascinated by any major arcane or arcanotechnological device—will spend hours enjoying them.
As such, I ended up rolling neither.... Naturally. :D
Below, is my newest character. It's been a while since I've played a female, so this should provide for something interesting...
Name: Unsere Sehkmet-Sabath
Alignment: Good, with slight Neutral Leanings
Age and Gender: 27, Female
Appearance:
Tomboyish, with a green ponytail and wire-rimmed glasses. Slight of build (5’3”, 120lbs.) Often wearing work-gear (overalls and the like), or grease-smudged traveling pants and comfortable shirts. Always wearing a belt full of pouches and various tools. Carries a bastard sword on her back.
Pop Culture Inspirations:
Lucca from Chrono Trigger.
Pepper Potts (Iron Man film)
New Hawkeye (Young Avengers comic book series)
Huntress (DC Comics)
CatchPhrases:
“Let’s go to work…”
“Science H. Logic!”
“A little magic can solve this…”
“Just like back in Applied Alchemy…”
Upbringing:
Born to a family of tieflings outside of Thromstorm, Unsere was very much a city girl. Roaming the streets was commonplace for her, weaving through the foundries of the city, and marveling at the various arcanotechnological devices being wrought around her. Unsere was the only child of Thamuz and his wife Shabriri. When Unsere was 6, her mother—having developed several psychoses that were designated untreatable—was institutionalized. As such, Unsere often was unable to attend school and was treated to ‘on-the-job’ training the in the Calixis forges with her father, who raised her primarily.
Adult Life:
Unsere attended the Great Academy of Thromstorm at 16, where she excelled in their arcanoengineering program. She also excelled as a fencer, preferring a longer bastard-sword to negate her foes’ often-longer reach. Following her graduation, she signed on with the Thar Acquisitions Company, who routinely sought various arcane supplies—mainly mithril ore, adamantine, and deep crystal—from the nearby Underdark mines. Unsere was one of several teams of ‘materials experts’ who were sought not just to procure high quality shipments, but also to defend them against possible incursion. She has made several contacts with the deep dwarves, tieflings, and even drow of the Underdark because of this. As such, she has often come into conflict with rival companies and with human bandits/claimjumpers from Undermine. Because of this, she was asked to take her first life in the line of duty—a human claimjumper.
Following this event, which haunted Unsere dearly, she resigned from Thar Acquisitions, gaining a position as an ArcanoEngineer at Gyrosys Fabrications, which specialized in golem and automaton creation. She was promoted to Lead ArcanoEngineer in her department approximately one year ago. However, Unsere has recently been finding significant errors and re-routed funding within the department she oversees at Gyrosys. These errors, of course, are the result of her supervisor, Kezar Uzarisa, who has been overseeing the creation of a new project—the merging of a stolen soul into a golem-shell…something known as Project Warforged.
Occupation:
Previously—-Acquisitions Expert and Material Procurer, Thar Acquisitions.
Currently—-Arcanoengineer, Gyrosys Fabrications—Engineering Division.
Religion:
Follows: “Science!”
Worship: No particular deity, though has been known to curse Gond Clockmaker at times.
At odds: Racial deities tend to rub the wrong way (Moradin, Corellon, etc.)
Family:
Father: Thamuz—Elemental forger, Calixis Corp.
Mother: Shabriri—Currently institutionalized at Shal-Dei Asylum.
Siblings: None.
Life Events:
Mother’s Institutionalization at age 6.
Graduation from Great Academy of Thromstorm at age 21.
First actual ‘career’, at age 22 (Thar Acquisitions)
First life taken, at age 22—a human claimjumper, from Undermine.
New job, at age 26—Gyrosys Fabrications, Engineering Division.
Promotion, at age 26—Lead ArcanoEngineer, Gyrosys Fabrications.
Discovery of anomalies in Gyrosys records—3 weeks ago (age 27).
Activation of Sheathan—current!
Networking:
Friends in Thar Acquisitions (Dwarves/Tieflings, primarily)
Business contacts among mining purveyors around Tornia.
Former professors at Great Academy of Thromstorm
Best friend/fencing partner, Daria Majestrix.
Enemies:
Near entirety of Gyrosys Fabrications.
Thromstorm militia and guard.
Kezar Uzarisa—Head of ArcanoExperimentation, Gyrosys.
Goals:
--Greater understanding of magics, and they way they work with the world around them.
--Understanding of the fiendish/elemental origins of magic, and the role of the sentient races within that.
--Comprehension of the sentience of Sheathan, as well as Kezar’s role within his creation.
--Discovery of whether Sheathen is, in fact, an actual soul.
--Escape the Thromstorm militia, and the far reach of Gyrosys.
--Find a way to treat Mom.
Social Int.
--Incredibly curious, particularly regarding Arcane magic and Arcanotech.
--Generally optimistic, though growing frustrated with continual lack of fairness.
--Believes in social justice, fairness, generally kind…
--Overly trusting. While nice, she’s not particularly “wise”.
--Easily embarrassed, particularly in risque situations.
--Somewhat tomboyish, and something of a ‘grease-monkey’.
Decisions:
--Can be flustered easily, but very determined once a course of action is chosen.
--Tries to be law abiding, in most things. Will break ‘minor’ laws without thinking.
--Feels for many ‘victims’—hospital victims, orphans (people who have been in her position)
--Absolutely fearful in asylums and the like.
Mannerisms:
Often gets nervous and stammers, if does not know what to do in a given situation.
Does not like bloodshed, if other sentient beings are involved—believes in right to life.
Enjoys cats and other small animals (would have had a familiar, in 3.5e)
Fascinated by any major arcane or arcanotechnological device—will spend hours enjoying them.
The Warlock's Holiday Schedule Unfurled...
As the holiday season rolls through, everyone finds things more hectic. Same old thing, here. With grades rolling through, and final projects getting turned in, the teaching life takes up more and more of my time...however, there's always time for gaming, but never enough!
My biggest priority right now, gaming-wise, at least, is to pump out a new revision for "Dungeon Slam!". It's been since last WittCon that I've done a full card revision, which means that it's high past due. Many of my cards are getting so marked up, that it's hard to read them!
What's more, the character cards--probably more than anything else--are getting somewhat beaten up. They're a little too small to read comfortably, and they really could use some more room to be functional on. In addition, I'd like to finally implement the "Health/Arcana" track system that I've been talking about doing. Formatting these in Publisher is difficult, but not impossible--finding the time, though...ugh.
Ideally, I'd like to have this revision done before the Christmas/Festivas/Boxing Day/etc. holiday, as many of the errant Witt-Weggers are rolling back into the Miami Valley. We'll see if this actually happens, but it should be an admirable goal, any way that you look at it.
My premiere notes for the WEGS Superz idea have come to somewhat of a halt, but only for a want of feedback. Definitely, I'd love to work up the Blaster and the Mystic/Psychic before break's end...What a New Years' Present that might be!
So, I guess it's time to take a deep breath and take the plunge. The holidays await, citizens!
My biggest priority right now, gaming-wise, at least, is to pump out a new revision for "Dungeon Slam!". It's been since last WittCon that I've done a full card revision, which means that it's high past due. Many of my cards are getting so marked up, that it's hard to read them!
What's more, the character cards--probably more than anything else--are getting somewhat beaten up. They're a little too small to read comfortably, and they really could use some more room to be functional on. In addition, I'd like to finally implement the "Health/Arcana" track system that I've been talking about doing. Formatting these in Publisher is difficult, but not impossible--finding the time, though...ugh.
Ideally, I'd like to have this revision done before the Christmas/Festivas/Boxing Day/etc. holiday, as many of the errant Witt-Weggers are rolling back into the Miami Valley. We'll see if this actually happens, but it should be an admirable goal, any way that you look at it.
My premiere notes for the WEGS Superz idea have come to somewhat of a halt, but only for a want of feedback. Definitely, I'd love to work up the Blaster and the Mystic/Psychic before break's end...What a New Years' Present that might be!
So, I guess it's time to take a deep breath and take the plunge. The holidays await, citizens!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)