Magic Dreams

I've been playing Magic Duels online -- it's a great way to learn the game -- and I'm starting to pick up the basics. Last night, I actually had a dream about Magic. In the dream, I was looking at a card (an artifact card, maybe?), which depicted a shield granting +2 to Armor Class. I kept staring at the card, wondering why a Magic card was using a Fifth Edition D&D rule. Weird. Anyway, it's funny that I had a Magic dream after buying my cards at a store called Dreamwell...

Magic Duels

Well, the MTG Duel Deck that I picked up earlier today doesn't really include enough information to play the game. I've looked around online, but the best option to learn the game seems to be a video game called Magic Duels. I'll give that shot!

MTG for Me?

I've played a lot of games over the years, but one type of game that I really haven't gotten into is the collectible card game (CCG). The most famous example of a CCG, of course, is the grand-daddy of them all, Magic: The Gathering. This game has been out for more than two decades, and yet I don't think I've ever even watched a game of Magic, to say nothing of playing one.

Well, perhaps that's about to change. My local comic book store is now starting to sell some game products, and I'd like to help them out. So far, they're only selling Warhammer 40k and Magic, and since I've already dipped my toe into the world of Warhammer, I figured I'd give Magic a shot. I bought a box that includes two decks of cards -- I'll rope Matthew into trying it out with me -- but not much in the way of instructions, so it may be slow going for a while, but it should be an interesting experience nonetheless.

ThingMaker on EN World

I'm not the only one who thinks that the upcoming ThingMaker 3D printer is going to be a boon for gamers everywhere. Click here!

Our Five Minutes in Nerdvana

Well, Nerdvana didn't quite live up to its name. The selection was mediocre, with a lot used books and games that looked like they had been sitting in someone's garage since the 1980s. Plus, the location -- right next to a sex toy store -- made it kind of difficult to keep two little boys from seeing stuff that would raise a whole lot of questions...

Tarokka

Sorry, Gale Force Nine. As much as I would like to buy the Tarokka Deck for the upcoming Ravenloft D&D adventure module, there's no way I'm paying nine bucks in shipping for a pack of 54 playing cards. What the funk, yo? Are they importing those cards directly from Barovia?

Nerdvana

So I learned from my friendly local comic book store guys that there's a gaming store in Carson City. Who knew? Nerdvana is kind of a hike from where I live, but I think the boys and I will need to check it out this weekend!

Movie Update

Click here for a minor (but interesting) update on the upcoming D&D movie!

Roadhouse Reached

We got back to our family Tyranny of Dragons campaign today for the first time in several months. At last the heroes have reached Carnath Roadhouse ("Roadhouse!"), and now they're hot on the trail of the lizardmen who will lead them to the headquarters of the Cult of the Dragon. It's awesome to get back into this campaign, and I hope after this one we can give the new Ravenloft module (Curse of Strahd) a try.

Ravenloft Preview Adventure

Free D&D! Click here to download the official Ravenloft preview adventure.

Cycle Time

Last spring, we put the Druid Cycle campaign on hold while I converted that massive world to Fifth Edition. In the meantime, the Druid Cycle guys have been playing in a mini-campaign in the revamped Shattered Realm setting. Today that mini-campaign came to an end, so very soon we'll return to Druid Cycle action. This ten-month hiatus between Druid Cycle adventures represents the longest gap in play since that world debuted way back in 1993.

ThingMaker

Okay...okay, dude...take it easy...

I'm having a hard time not freaking out about the upcoming ThingMaker 3D printer from Mattel. Wow...I foresee creating a lot of minis for D&D, board games, etc.

Zombie Fever

We've been sick all week, and no one more so than poor little Nathaniel. When he woke up this morning, still feverish and coughing, all he wanted was to play Zombicide. I was disappointed to have to make him wait -- Zombicide isn't exactly a "before work" type of activity -- but as soon as I got home, we grabbed Matthew and played through a scenario. He's not fully recovered yet, but board gaming is definitely a step in the right direction!

DCCSC Fencing

Hooray for Peyton! Anway...our fencing club now has a Facebook page! Douglas County Community & Senior Center (yikes, that's a mouthful!) Fencing, or DCCSC Fencing, can be found here.

Back on the Strip!

We had fencing last night for the first time in over three months because the leader of the program had been recovering from an injury. During that hiatus, I submitted the necessary paperwork to become an instructor at the local community center that hosts our fencing group. I think (I hope!) that process is nearing completion, so now our fledgling club will have two instructors for classical foil fencing, and I'll be able to step in whenever the leader of the program is unable to teach. I haven't taught fencing classes since Colgate, so I'm looking forward to it!

Snowy Sunday

It's a lazy, snowy Sunday here in western Nevada, so while we're waiting for the Pro Bowl (yes, some people still do watch the Pro Bowl!), we're playing King of New York and Star Wars: X-Wing. Just wish I had more takers for Zombicide and Ghostbusters.

Want!

Check out these awesome custom game tables that transform into regular tables! Or, are they regular tables that transform into game tables?

What's New?

Not much gaming news to report these days. The guys in the online group (Kevin, Scott, and Tim W) are coming to the end of their Shattered Realm mini-campaign and will be returning to Druid Cycle action thereafter. Otherwise, it's been pretty quiet. I've used the extra time to start reading up on the instruction of fencing, as I hope to get into coaching again at some point.

Dark Tower

Dark Tower was a D&D-like board game from the '80s and it totally needs to make a comeback. Don't take my word for it, though -- ask Orson Welles himself!

Heroes Have Landed!

The Amazing Heroes have landed!

Shown above are the figures in the standard packaging. The plastic is easily removed without damaging the card backs. I also received special "Artist Edition" card backs showing these classic heroes drawn by top-notch contemporary artists like Mike Allred, Sonny Liew, and Tim Seeley.

And here are the figures removed from the packaging. Back row, from left to right: Silver Streak, Captain Action, Champion of Mars, and Blank Slate. Front row, from left to right: Golden Age Daredevil (unrelated to the later Marvel character), Black Terror, Green Turtle, and Stardust. I've only included one Blank Slate figure in the images above, but I actually purchased a lot of those guys to use as villains and -- if I'm feeling brave -- to paint my own custom heroes.

Heroes Are on Their Way!

"We've been waiting for, like, a year!" Matthew tells me. It's actually been a lot longer than that, but the Amazing Heroes action figures from two successful Kickstarter campaigns are now on their way to our house. The boys -- myself included, of course! -- are excited for the action figures, but I'm also eager to introduce them to a related RPG mini-campaign (recycling the title Tales of the Ternion) that I've cooked up using these and other public domain Golden Age superheroes. The idea is to give the boys some more experience with roleplaying and cooperative storytelling outside the usual venue of D&D. I'm not sure how it will go, but it should be an interesting experiment.

Curse of Strahd

Ravenloft is back! The fan-favorite D&D setting comes to Fifth Edition in a new adventure called Curse of Strahd. Click here for details.

End of an Era

Today I cancelled my D&D Insider subscription, meaning that I'll no longer have access to the Character Builder software for Fourth Edition characters. There's no going back! In the past year I've converted the Druid Cycle campaign world to Fifth Edition -- all but the player characters, that is -- so it feels as though the brief, troubled 4e era is now over.

5e SRD!

Huge news! There's now a Systems Reference Document (SRD) and Open-Gaming License (OGL) for Fifth Edition D&D! There's also a Dungeon Master's Guild for those who want to self-publish D&D adventures!

Getting It to the Table

Every Monday evening, Matthew (and, starting in two days, Nathaniel as well) has hockey practice at the outdoor roller hockey facility up in Carson City. Yeah, outdoor...in January. It's cold. Fortunately, I can share my shivering with another hockey dad who's also a big board game fan. We chitchat through the practice, discussing our favorite games and whatnot. He's always looking for the opportunity to try out a new game with his family and/or his game group, but often laments that he has a hard time "getting it to the table."

I know how he feels. Our Tyranny of Dragons D&D campaign hasn't seen any movement since around Thanksgiving, or perhaps even earlier. We try to find time every week for some family game action, but with a growing library of games, and strongly different preferences among the four of us, I'm finding that it's hard to get any particular game to the table. I'm glad to live in a house full of game enthusiasts, but, damn, when are we going to get back to D&D?

Kits

Veteran D&D players who played Second Edition -- the edition we used during the earliest days of our Druid Cycle campaign setting -- may be familiar with the "kits" that offered customization opportunities for the core character classes. Some kits were completely and utterly broken, while others did little more than add a bit of flavor. The current D&D designers are toying around with the idea of kits for Fifth Edition. Click here to check out a draft of kits for the blade (bard), jester (bard), cavalier (fighter), and scout (fighter).

"He's an ugly little spud!"

Although the map tiles are kind of bland in comparison to the flavorful maps from Zombicide, the Ghostbusters miniatures are top notch. Each of the four Ghostbusters has his own distinct color, and the ghosts are generally translucent. Below, you can see Slimer flanked by some of his ghostly compatriots.

One of the main boss villains, of course, is the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, shown below with Peter for a size comparison.

And yes, it is possible for the Marshmallow Man to step on a Ghostbuster...

"Why worry? Each one of us is carrying an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on his back."

The boys and I tried out the Ghostbusters board game this morning, and it was a lot of fun. Here's a pic of our team as we successfully completed the first mission (by closing all the portals to the spirit world)...

Each hero has a limited number of actions per turn, and you really need to consider the most efficacious way to spend them. Do you work toward shutting the portals (the most common way of winning any given scenario) or do you try to hold down the rapidly increasing ghost population (your team loses if all available ghosts arrive on the map)? If a fellow hero gets slimed, do you spend your own precious actions to clean him up?

In our game, we ended up with three heroes (Winston, Peter, and Ray) on portal duty, while the last (Egon) was bustin' ghosts and attempting to deposit them back in Ecto-1. We had parked the car so far away, however, that Egon spent half the game trying to reach it. In the future, I think we need to do a better job of actually driving the car closer to the action. In any case, we're now ready to move on to the next scenario in this campaign.

Wow, It's 2016!

I woke up to a new year this morning, because somehow last night I had forgotten that it was New Year's Eve! I hope you all have a wonderful 2016!

Samurai vs. Shaman

I'm not at all familiar with the Shadowrun universe -- aside from a basic idea about the mix of fantasy and cyberpunk -- so when I started playing Shadowrun: Dragonfall, I looked over the available classes for something that would spark my interest. I opted for the shaman. The shaman was my favorite class in Fourth Edition D&D, despite its many drawbacks, so I thought it would be fun to try out a shaman in Shadowrun. Maybe it's just me, but the Shadowrun shaman seemed as underpowered as its 4e counterpart. I started the game over as a samurai, and the fights have been a lot easier!

Wedgie

Whew! Wedge got behind the Imperial Raider and gave it a wedgie, so to speak. With Wedge shooting it from behind, and my other ships tight up against its starboard side, the Raider was unable to fire its powerful forward guns or any of its aft-mounted weapons that can only be used at long range. We ran the risk of crashing into the Raider, but it was preferable to getting caught out in the open and obliterated by a turbolaser. Flying along with the slow-moving Raider, then, my three remaining ships -- two X-wings and one Headhunter -- strafed the aft section until it was crippled, and then the Raider was toast. I had some very lucky dice rolls on my side, though, so I won't gloat over the victory!

Ouch!

I'm playing X-Wing against Matthew and his new Imperial Raider, and my poor Rebels are really taking a beating. We shot down the TIE Advanced fighter escort, but the Raider's ability to unleash multiple long-range weapons is proving...troublesome. I went into battle with a full squadron of X-wings -- top-notch pilots and astromech droids for each -- and a few Z-95 Headhunters for cannon fodder, and already I've lost a third of my forces. My only hope is to get a ship or two behind the Raider, where it can't return fire. Come on Wedge, let's see some fancy flying!

Imperial Reinforcements

It was a Star Wars Christmas at our house, with the boys scoring a Lego Star Destroyer and TIE Fighter along with a TIE, TIE Advanced, and Imperial Raider for Star Wars: X-Wing. The Rebel Alliance is in serious trouble now!

Ignore the fact that the Lego TIE and the Star Destroyer are really, really not to scale...

Holiday Game Action

It's going to be a fun holiday vacation. We aren't going anywhere this year (staying home for Christmas for the first time in eight years!), but we'll have plenty to do. We'll have The Cloud Dungeon and Ghostbusters for new tabletop options, an old Lego Heroica game that Matthew desperately wanted for Christmas, some new Imperial ships for X-Wing, Shadowrun: Dragonfall (thanks, Matt!) on the computer, and, if I can muster the fortitude, the last round of battles in the iPad Injustice: Gods Among Us. Can't wait to get started!

I hope you all have a safe and enjoyable holiday season!

Star Wars Prep

I'm taking the boys to see The Force Awakens tomorrow, so today we're doing a bit of X-Wing action to get in the mood. Well, as if we actually needed to get in the mood!

This battle is taking place in a "graveyard" of destroyed ships. We'll see how it goes, but so far there's been a lot of stalking and not much heavy-duty combat. I think the odds currently are tilting in favor of Nathaniel's Imperial Decimator and TIE Interceptors. Matthew brought in the seldom-used Hawk to support his Millennium Falcon and A-Wing, and so far it's been a non-factor. Of course, anything can happen in a galaxy far, far away...

I Have Seen It...

...and I can confirm that it is good!

I'd Buy That for a Dollar!

You have less than 24 hours to join me in supporting a wacky Kickstarter in which you can contribute as little as a dollar to get a new RPG...details here!

T-70

So...I hear there's some big fancy-dancy movie coming out this weekend. But now does this mean I'm going to have to replace my fleet of X-wings with the new T-70 model?

Kickstarter Delivered

I've now supported four Kickstarter projects -- three of them funded and the fourth has more than met its goal with a few days left in the campaign -- and the first to deliver a product is a family-friendly RPG called The Cloud Dungeon, which arrived this weekend. With Zombicide occupying much of our gaming time and our long-languishing Tyranny of Dragons D&D campaign in serious need of some attention, I don't know when we'll get to Cloud, but I hope we can give it a whirl over the holidays.

Zombie World

"It's...Zombie World," Nathaniel sighed.

Indeed it was. The boys and I played a pretty epic Zombicide scenario today, with each of us controlling two human survivors. Our objective was to navigate through a city neighborhood and reach the exit on the opposite side of the map. Things started innocently enough when we began to search a building for gear. Unfortunately, Amy (the purple mini below) was killed by the building's undead occupants. The rest of the humans hustled back outside and started to head up the street, with Phil (dark gray) and Josh (orange) taking the lead.

Soon we were confronted with a choice: keep to the streets or try to find a shortcut through a zombie-infested building. I wanted to play it safe and avoid opening any more doors, but Matthew was intent on going through the building, so that's what we did. While the others moved through the building, clearing it room by room, Phil hung back to guard the rear and slow down the advancing horde.

It was curtains for Phil, but the shotgun-wielding cop took a whole lot of walkers with him before he died. The others managed to slip out of the building through another door and scurry to the exit zone, but not before Matthew's trigger-happy characters had drawn out even more foes. The pic below shows only the active zombies on the board at the end of the final turn -- it doesn't show the legions that were cut down during our frantic race to safety.

So, four of the six humans survived to see another post-apocalyptic day. It's the zombies' world, as Nathaniel said, and we're only living in it.

Raider Envy

My parents just ordered the Star Wars: X-Wing Imperial Raider set for Matthew for Christmas. Totally awesome? Yes, of course. But I'm wondering how Nathaniel is going to react. Granted, he didn't have any X-Wing sets on his own Amazon wishlist, but I foresee a five-star freak-out when he realizes that he'll only be able to use the Raider when his big brother allows it...and how often is that going to happen?

Legendary!

Tonight I completed Sword Coast Legends, and, all things considered, it was an enjoyable game -- if a bit too much like an MMO in terms of game mechanics. It's not in the same league as the Baldur's Gate family, but it's a solid D&D video game nonetheless. I would definitely recommend it.

For what it's worth, my final foursome consisted of my human paladin PC, the derro rogue Izhkin, the elf cleric Illydia, and the drow wizard Dalanir. This party configuration offered a nice balance of melee and ranged attackers, and all three NPCs had powers that allowed them to summon creatures. The back-to-back boss fights at the end of the game turned out to be kind of a long slog, but we chugged regeneration potions while spamming the bosses with summoned creatures, and I never really felt like the party was in serious jeopardy. There are tougher battles in the game -- including one against a mind flayer, its thralls, and a red dragon that pops in to breathe fire from time to time -- but the final showdown did have a certain cinematic feel to it, and there's a cool bit between the two fights where you have to make a choice that dramatically alters the way the end of the game unfolds. Heh. One NPC was really pissed at me...but when the fate of the Sword Coast is at stake, you've gotta do what you've gotta do!

Treason Season

'Tis the season...for treason! I'm nearing the end of Sword Coast Legends and just discovered that one of the main NPCs -- one I've been leveling up relentlessly and equipping with top-notch gear -- is actually a traitor. D'oh! There goes my ideal party configuration. At least I have another solid NPC who can fill that party role, but still...

Brains!

The name of the game is Zombicide, and it delivers what the title promises. You kill a lot of zombies in this game -- the base set comes with sixty-five plastic zombie minis, for cryin' out loud! -- and no matter how much firepower you're packing, there are always more brain-eaters than you can possibly defeat. You can't win the game by fighting alone, so you need to choose your battles carefully and keep moving toward your mission objectives.

The game plays fast, too. A typical Mansions of Madness adventure would take us at least two sessions, but in one afternoon today we played Zombicide's tutorial game twice and then a custom scenario that Matthew created. In all three games, I played grizzled cop Phil (very similar to the grizzled cop from a certain zombie-themed TV show you might have heard about), Matthew played young punk Josh, Nathaniel played Wanda the waitress, and Amy played...Amy, a feisty goth gal. Here's a pic from Matthew's custom scenario: Wanda (the light blue mini in the foreground) is looking up the street at the advancing horde while the others (in the upper right) hustle to the map's exit zone.

Wanda was far and away the most memorable character from the adventures. It's hard to see in the photo, but the Wanda mini depicts a waitress on roller skates, carrying a chainsaw. The character never begins the game with that weapon, but in two out of the three scenarios, Nathaniel managed to draw the chainsaw as an equipment card while searching buildings. The roller skates give this character incredible movement capabilities, so Wanda was zipping all around the map, churning her way through multiple zombies with every attack.

This game was definitely a hit in our household. I don't foresee Amy clamoring to play it regularly -- she's decided that she's more of a Eurogamer -- but the boys and I, at least, will probably dig into the vast online library of free scenarios and come up with more of our own, as well.

Zombicide

Zombicide arrived at our house today and despite my best intentions, I don't think I'll be able to hold out until Christmas. Sorry, kids, I guess you'll just have to get an early Christmas present! 

I think this game may work out a bit better than the excellent but fiddly Mansions of Madness. Like MoM, Zombicide is a cooperative game, but this one doesn't involve a DM-like player who is working against the others; instead, all players are on the same team, and the zombie antagonists move and attack according to a simple script. As players explore the city streets and buildings (set up using double-sided cardboard map tiles), they can battle the ever-growing zombie horde or try to outwit and outmaneuver their undead foes. I hope we'll be able to give it a whirl this weekend. Stay tuned for pics of our first foray into the zombie apocalypse!

Ameritrash...and proud of it!

A term I wasn't familiar with until I started getting heavily into board games is Ameritrash, which refers (disparagingly, as you can probably guess) to games with a strong genre theme (sci-fi, fantasy, zombies, etc.), usually involving individualized characters and a kind of narrative that unfolds during gameplay. Mansions of Madness, for example, would fall into this category. In contrast to Ameritrash games are the more "critically acclaimed" (scare quotes added to be snarky) Eurogames, such as the members of the Catan family and Carcassonne. Eurogames tend to have streamlined rules and very little dice rolling, and focus on competition for resources rather than direct combat. I don't have anything against the Euro style, and I own and enjoy many such games, but I'm kind of getting sick of the board gamers who look down their noses at anything that comes with plastic minis. I've got
Ghostbusters and Zombicide on order, and damn, they both look like a lot of fun. Isn't that the whole point of board games, anyway?

"We got one!!!"

Thanks to a nifty Amazon deal, the new Ghostbusters board game is now on its way to our house. Will I be able to hold out until Christmas, or will I drop this big box of ectoplasmic awesomeness on my boys as soon as it arrives?

Midway

Ah, the '80s! So much to love...including arcade games from Midway. The boys and I recently discovered an iPad app that gathers some of Midway's classic quarter-gobblers, including Spy Hunter, Rampage, and more. The only downside to the app is that the greatest '80s arcade game of them all -- Gauntlet -- remains locked. If I can pry the iPad away from Matthew and Nathaniel, I may just figure out how to unlock it!

d14...?

Okay, I'm intrigued. An ancient Chinese board game was discovered (click here for details) that involves rolling a fourteen-sided die. Dang, I wish the rules for this game still existed!

Mmmm...Pie...

So there's a baker in the Underdark who sells pies...fungus pies...

Roadhouse!

In our Tyranny of Dragons D&D campaign, the heroes are inching closer to discovering the headquarters of the Cult of the Dragon. In the next session, they'll reach a remote inn known as Carnath Roadhouse. The challenge for me will be getting through this episode without breaking into the "Roadhouse" bit from Family Guy...

Roadhouse!

SCL Survey

This month's survey on the Wizards site is about Sword Coast Legends. If you've played SCL, you can give your feedback here. I was pleased to see a question that asked about favorite NPCs and which ones we'd like to see in future D&D products. Bring back Hommet!

"I love it when the kittens explode!"

So says Nathaniel, who really digs the latest addition to our game library. Our first foray into Exploding Kittens was a three-player game with Matthew, Nathaniel, and myself. I amassed four of the six Defuse cards (the only cards that allow you to stop the little kitties from exploding) en route to a victory. In the second game, we managed to rope Amy into the action (she finds the game's humor to be rather puerile -- duh!), and a clever bit of card-counting allowed her to kill me off early in the game. Nathaniel, a notorious card-hoarder, outlasted Matthew and Amy for the win. The boys are eager to introduce their cousins to the game, so I suspect we haven't seen the last of those volatile felines.

Exploding Kittens

I was tempted to support the Exploding Kittens Kickstarter earlier this year, but ultimately didn't. I saw the game at Target yesterday and it just looked so tempting, so I picked up a copy. Looks like a hoot -- can't wait to play it with the family!

Sword Coast Map

Beautiful...high resolution...drawn by the remarkable Mike Schley...click here to download the best map of the Sword Coast you'll ever see!

Cool SCL Plot Twist

Spoiler alert! I don't want to give away anything specific, but I thought it was a cool plot twist in Sword Coast Legends when you're given the opportunity to recruit a character who has been bitterly opposed to the party. I figured this character would be a mid-game boss rather than a potential party member!

False Alarm!

Okay, never mind! I found another way to get where I needed to go, so -- bug or not -- I'm back in business.

Buggery!

Drat! My progress in Sword Coast Legends has come to a halt due to what may be a bug in my copy of the game. If I'm forced to start the whole thing over, I may just drop it entirely, despite the overall experience picking up considerably since I first started.

Rolling Thunder!

Okay, okay, Sword Coast Legends may be winning me over. I love the hilarious NPC wizard Hommet, and he's turning out to be something of a badass with his growing necromantic powers and new quarterstaff that has a flaming skull at the end of it. And he's not the only party member who's acquiring some interesting gear; my main character, a paladin, is now the proud owner and wielder of a rolling pin called Rolling Thunder -- in game terms, a club that inflicts massive lightning damage.

Star Wars Saturday

First an epic game of X-Wing (won handily by Nathaniel's Imperials), followed by some Lego Star Wars ship-to-ship combat, followed by setup for tomorrow's X-Wing battle, capped off by an episode of the amazing Star Wars Rebels. It was a Star Wars Saturday to be sure, and poor Amy was left out of everything!

Battle of Attrition

The boys have had a big X-Wing game going this afternoon, and ships are falling left and right. Nathaniel's Imperial fleet has lost all its TIEs, and Matthew has lost his beloved Luke/R2 combo. The Imperial Decimator and Boba Fett's Slave I are now hammering a lone B-Wing, but the remains of Matthew's Red Squadron X-Wings are just a turn away. This one is still anyone's game, but my money is on the Imperials...

Thoughts on SCL

I'm still not sure what I think of Sword Coast Legends. I suspect I'm still fairly early in the single-player campaign, and I haven't fooled around with the DM tools yet, so there's still a great deal to explore -- and I'm looking forward to it. Still, the game thus far has left me feeling somewhat underwhelmed. I had hoped for the second coming of Baldur's Gate -- an unreasonable expectation, I admit -- but what I'm finding is that SCL is more like a single-player Neverwinter. 

SCL really does feel like an MMO to me. The storyline is linear with bland side-quests ("Find me eight ooze samples!" and such) and the gameplay hardly resembles Fifth Edition (or any edition) tabletop D&D. Instead, characters have powers with cooldown timers as in any MMORPG, they never need to rest (electing where and when to rest is, of course, a major strategic component of "real" D&D), and they never truly die unless there's a TPK.

It's a fun game, though, and I have every intention of playing all the way through the campaign and then building modules with the DM toolkit. Creating my own digital Troya Nova -- or some other location from the Druid Cycle world -- will probably win me over to liking SCL more than I do now.

New 5e Options...Rangers, Take Note!

In this month's Unearthed Arcana post, we get some new Underdark-themed options, including a couple of new fighting styles for fighters, paladins, and rangers. The "Closed Quarters Shooter" style seems like a great fit for the chronically under-powered 5e ranger.

Farewell, Stumpley!

We made a bit more progress on our Tyranny of Dragons campaign tonight, and it was a memorable session indeed. The heroes continued to follow the Cult of the Dragon in the hope of finding their lair, but a wizard affiliated with the cult summoned a troll that killed off our wacky halfling NPC, Stumpley. It was a sudden and sad end for an NPC the boys loved (Amy, not so much), but I was kind of sick of the monk class and wanted to switch the main NPC to a fighter. So, alas, the Stump-meister had to go! Now the players have even more reason to despise the Cult of the Dragon, and I can introduce a new NPC ally the next time we reach a town...and Waterdeep is only a few miles away...

Map-tacular!

Now this is a map of the Sword Coast! I've said it before and I'll say it again: Mike Schley is an amazing artist!

Sometimes You Get Lucky; Sometimes You Get Eaten

We returned for more Mansions of Madness this weekend, and right from the get-go we had problems. The setup instructions for this scenario included only one ladder token (the rulebook indicates that ladder tokens appear in pairs, allowing characters to travel from one to another as if moving between adjacent spaces), which we found to be confusing; making matters worse, I misread my own story selections, so when the second ladder token eventually appeared midway through the story, it was in the wrong place. To make the scenario playable, the ladder had to be able to transport characters between three different rooms, so it ended up being more of a portal. Whatever. A weird ladder that leads to multiple locations isn't exactly out of place in the world of H. P. Lovecraft.

The excitement really started to increase once the team realized that an evil cult was sacrificing its own members in a blood ritual to summon horrific eldritch monsters from another world. As the investigators raced to save their old friend Marie -- who had attempted to infiltrate the cult, but was subsequently captured and imprisoned in the crypt of the old monastery -- they had to deal with monsters hunting them through the hallways. Tough-as-nails gangster Michael McGlen (Matthew) took one look at the shoggoth lumbering toward him and decided to challenge it head-on with his Tommy Gun.

Meanwhile, occult writer Gloria Goldberg (Amy) and socialite Jenny Barnes (Nathaniel) managed to rescue Marie from the crypt, and they decided to make a break for the exit. Michael, however, stayed behind to battle the tentacled monstrosity. He riddled that thing with bullets, but the creature broke his arm and inflicted so much horror on him that he was only one Sanity point away from going insane. Realizing he was likely beaten, he at last elected to flee.

As the ladies raced for the exit, with monsters hot on their trail, they encountered the cult leader guarding the only way out of the monastery. Jenny's ax broke as she hacked away at the frenzied foe, but at least he was down to only a single Health point. It was likewise for poor Gloria, who had been mauled by a zombie moments earlier. She raised her pistol to fire at the cult leader, knowing that safety was only a few feet away. All she needed to do was score a hit, and then she could use her move action to escape with Marie -- and the investigators would win!

Alas, it was not to be. When Gloria opened fire, she missed...and her own bullet ricocheted back at her, ending her life. What fate befell Michael and Jenny? We may never know...

Random SCL Thought

I'm enjoying Sword Coast Legends. It's a worthy successor to Baldur's Gate and other such classic D&D video games, and despite having very little time to devote to it, I think I'm making pretty good progress. But for whatever reason, whenever I hear the voice of NPC necromancer Hommet Shaw, I picture Ricky Gervais...

Desert Dude

Nathaniel played two games of Forbidden Desert with Amy today, and then another one tonight with me while Matthew was at a swimming lesson. Desert has become Nathaniel's go-to game, and I've never seen him so quiet and attentive as when he's setting up the tiles and cards for a game.

SCL Is Here!

Sword Coast Legends is out! (Hat tip to Matt for the news!)

4th to 5th Conversion

Driving one final stake in the heart of Fourth Edition D&D is a new document that explains how to convert 4e characters and adventures to 5e. Click here to download...

Kickboxin' Kate

The investigators made great time tracking down the clues, and soon they found the insane, poltergeist-possessed homeowner -- and his zombified wife, of course! -- in the garden. A massive battle ensued, with Jenny and Joe pumping hot lead into their foes. As the battle dragged on, however, Amy's character, the scientist Kate Winthrop, had little to do; we hadn't found a weapon for her, so she was forced to punch and kick, to no avail. The clock ticked toward the investigators' defeat, but Kate somehow landed a kick -- and here I'm thinking a Chuck Norris-style roundhouse kick -- that dropped the crazy dude and won the game for the investigators.

All in all, though, Amy wasn't a fan of Kate, so I suspect she'll try a different character next time. My hope is that she'll opt for reformed gangster Michael McGlen; he has a low Sanity score and his weapons include a tommy gun and dynamite...what could possibly go wrong?!

Beware of Ax-Wielding Maniacs!

We're well into our first game of Mansions of Madness, and the intrepid investigators are hot on the trail of a man who was driven insane by the death of his son and may well have murdered his wife. The clues suggest that he's out in the garden, but first the investigators are going to have to get past the ax-wielding maniac in the laboratory.

Kate the scientist (played by Amy) was able to use her flux stabilizer (yes, that's a thing!) to hold off the maniac for a while, but now he's coming after her. Fortunately, gruff detective Joe Diamond (Matthew) and gun-toting socialite Jenny Barnes (Nathaniel) are on their way. Let's hope they reach Kate in time!

The game has some interesting combat mechanics, including long-lasting physical and mental traumas (poor Joe, for example, is now seriously claustrophobic, and I have a "broken leg" card that I'm itching to play against the next hero who gets hurt). In addition to conventional hit point damage, characters can take horror damage that reduces their sanity; an insane character can be a major threat to his fellow adventurers -- possibly turning against them at the worst-possible moment. There's a magic spell that can restore sanity, but the most readily available "cure" for horror damage is our old friend alcohol. So, after Jenny took some horror damage, I heard a sentence I never expected a five-year-old to say: "Well, at least I have a bottle of whiskey!"

Mansions Unboxing

We cracked open Mansions of Madness this evening, and the boys were really excited to get their hands on the puzzles and other mini-games that are an integral part of Mansions. Meanwhile, I set up the minis and checked out the map tiles. As one would expect from Fantasy Flight Games, the components are all top notch. In this first pic, Sister Mary runs afoul of a Chthonian. She'll need more than her trusty crucifix to defeat this eldritch monster!

Next, Jenny Barnes, Michael McGlen, and Joe Diamond get ready to throw down against a band of evil cultists!

The sheer amount of stuff in this box is kind of intimidating, but it all looks super fun. Expect to see posts from our first game at some point in the next week or two.

Lex...in Limbo!

I had planned on making my final push in Injustice this weekend. Lex, Hawkgirl, and Catwoman are just one level away from winning! However, Mansions of Madness has arrived at our house a few days ahead of schedule (you rock, Amazon!), so I anticipate spending much of the weekend going through all the Lovecraftian awesomeness. I think it's going to take a while to get up to speed with this game, and in the meantime we also need to continue our Tyranny of Dragons campaign. Perhaps we'll do Tyranny this weekend and then dive into a full game of Mansions the following weekend, after I've had enough time to get familiar with the rules. From what I've seen, though, it looks like it's going to be an amazing game experience!

Mansions of Madness

The next addition to our family board game collection is Mansions of Madness (thanks, Kevin!), a cooperative game set in the world H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu stories. It looks very complicated, but it comes with tons of cool minis. Can't wait to give it a try!

If Someone Asks If We're a God, We'll Know What to Say

My boys love all things Ghostbusters -- the movies (even the second one), the '80s animated series, the Lego Ecto-1 set, etc. Now, as if in answer to prayers we had yet to pray, there's going to be a Ghostbusters board game...with minis! Click here to see some preview pics!

Game Time!

Kevin is in town for the weekend, and already we've inundated him with games. He squared off against Nathaniel in X-Wing and then we all played a game of King of New York, in which Kevin's giant robot was the last monster standing. Next up, we'll bring out Forbidden Desert, Ticket to Ride, and probably some form of Catan.

5e Prestige Classes

The latest Unearthed Arcana article focuses on the Fifth Edition version of prestige classes -- my most un-favorite part of Third Edition. There were some seriously broken options out there, and I rarely allowed them in campaigns of that era. Has the concept of the prestige class improved in the new edition? Click here and judge for yourself.

Last Level!

I've made it to the last level of the iPad Injustice game! Now it's time to beef up my team -- Lex Luthor, Catwoman, and Hawkgirl -- for the final push to victory!

Playmobil...Hockey?!

When I was working in Germany for a couple of weeks last year, I enjoyed wandering around the local Kaufhof -- a truly epic department store -- and perusing its massive toy section. I picked up a few pirate- and medieval-themed Playmobil figures for the boys as souvenirs, and every once in a while we set up all our Playmobil stuff for some genre-bending battles. 

Well, those pesky Germans have done it again. There's now a line of officially licensed NHL hockey Playmobil sets. Mein Gott, they're cool! There are skating players, goalies, referees, and even a Zamboni, but the centerpiece of this line is an arena playset. Kids -- and, let's face it, grown-ups like me -- can control the goalie with one hand and a skating player with the other. The skating players can actually shoot the puck (mit echter Schussfunktion!), so two players can go head-to-head and compete for the little plastic Stanley Cup. Team selection is limited to the NHL's Original Six, so I foresee Matthew as the Canadiens (his favorite team since he was a wee lad), Nathaniel as the Rangers (his favorite team as well as mine), and myself as the Maple Leafs. At least this way we can be sure that Boston will never ever win the Cup...

Epic Auto-Correct

The Druid Cycle guys have been doing a Shattered Realm mini-campaign lately, and like many of our games, it's conducted via email. With participants scattered across three different time zones, it's handy for players to be able to respond asynchronously using their computer, tablet, smart phone, etc. Smart phones, though, have that pesky auto-correct feature. In the current encounter, the heroes' wagon has been ambushed by bandits, and here's what I got from Kevin for his character's action on the first round of combat:

Hiring will use his Xbox trying to use the wagon as cover.

Ticket Record

Huge win for Amy today in Ticket to Ride. She set a family high score with 120 points. It was the first time we've had anyone break 100 points in a single game.

Escape!

After our weekly D&D session in the Tyranny of Dragons campaign -- Nathaniel's rogue purchased a wagon and learned some information about his missing father, and Matthew's warlock purchased a magical rod thanks to a loan (at an outrageous interest rate!) from Amy's paladin -- we decided to give Forbidden Desert another try, but this time as a two-player experience. While the boys busied themselves elsewhere, Amy and I entered the desert once again, and this time we were victorious! Here's a pic of the final game map...

Amy, as usual, was the water carrier (blue) and I was the navigator (yellow). We managed to locate all the components of the steampunk airship and get to the launch pad before we ran out of water. It was our first-ever victory at this game!

Two More

Just two more levels of iPad Injustice...the grim march to victory continues!

Progress!

Strong showing last night against the local instructor in my first-ever bout against him. My comeback is going in the right direction!

Dylan's Dad

We continued our Fifth Edition Tyranny of Dragons campaign today, and the player characters met with representatives of some of the key heroic factions in the Forgotten Realms world -- the Order of the Gauntlet, the Lords' Alliance, and the Harpers. As they discussed the growing problem of the Cult of the Dragon, the assassin Dylan (played by Nathaniel) spoke up and asked that these powerful organizations help him find his missing father. It was an unexpected request in a scene that was largely about setting up the plot for the next stage of the campaign. It was also rather poignant. Nathaniel wasn't trying to "act", as an adult gamer might; he was just saying what his character would say, and from the beginning Dylan's quest has been to find his long-lost father. I love how he works that background -- simple enough for a youngster to grasp, but still emotionally powerful -- into the adventures. I plan on rewarding him with a nice resolution that inserts Dylan's father directly into the Tyranny storyline. Dear old dad, I fear, has run afoul of the cultists...

Week Two

Week two of my return to fencing went well. Most of the folks who showed up for the "free play" night were historical fencers (lots of walking around in circles -- I don't quite get it), so they did their own thing while I worked one-on-one with a young classical fencer. It was a combination of drills and sparring, as much for my benefit as hers. I still have a long way to go before I get my precision and endurance back, but it was a good step forward. Give me a few more months and I'll be ready to take on Aldo Nadi himself -- of course, it helps that he's been dead for fifty years!

Bring on the Fun (and Pulled Muscles)!

My new fencing gear arrived today! Check it out...

I picked up an epee (the one with the thicker blade and the larger guard) as well as a foil because I think I'd gravitate toward epee if I ever got back into competitive fencing. Foil has all those wacky right-of-way rules, but epee is as simple as it gets -- whoever hits first gets the point, and the entire body is a valid target. Now I just need to convince someone at our local club to give epee a try...

The Cloud Dungeon

I just backed a cheap but cool-sounding Kickstarter game called The Cloud Dungeon. It seems like a great family game experience.

Chicago to...Chicago

It took us three sessions and nearly a week, but we finally completed our first game of Ticket to Ride. Amy (green) and I (black) pulled away from the boys in the latter stages of the game, but I ended up winning because of the bonus points for having the longest route -- a massive loop that started in Chicago, went all the way to LA, and ended up back in Chicago.

Etes-vous prets? Allez!

Well, I'm officially back into fencing now. This is a blog about gaming, of course, and fencing isn't exactly a core topic here -- but then again, neither is Hawkman. So, etes-vous prets? Ready or not, here comes a post about fencing!

Though I haven't been involved with the sport for as long as I've been involved with D&D (the latter has about a five-year head start), it's been a part of my life since childhood. I fenced for fun, I fenced competitively, and I even did a bit of instruction when I got to college and there wasn't an existing fencing program. After college, though, came graduate school and various part-time jobs, and research, and teaching...fencing just kind of fell by the wayside. For a long while, for many years, I didn't miss it. 

Then I did. 

Earlier this summer, I got back in touch with my old fencing coaches, a couple of guys I hadn't seen or spoken to in about fifteen years. During our family's recent visit to New York, Matthew and I dropped by one of their practices. It was great to reconnect with those guys, and by the end of the session I knew that my interest in the sport had been rekindled. I found a couple of fencing clubs in Reno -- an hour's drive from my house -- but then a nascent group emerged at the local community center, no more than five minutes from home. Last night I joined them for a bit of sparring, and although I've got fifteen years' worth of rust to shake off, and I'm fifteen years older now, and I had nowhere near the endurance or the precision of motion that I had in my prime -- I did okay. More importantly, it was fun. Next Thursday can't come fast enough!

Mace to the Face!

Ah, for Hawkman and Hawkgirl fans, there's nothing like a good-old mace-to-the-face to put a bad guy down for the count. That's Hawkgirl's "finishing" move in the iPad Injustice game, and there aren't many guys who can get up after taking a hit like that. Indeed, the Hawks' over-sized medieval weaponry is as much a staple of their characterization as their wings or their Nth metal belts. So why is the CW's bad-ass new Hawkman wielding such a dinky little mace?

See for yourself here.

I'm getting a live-action Hawkman and Hawkgirl on TV, so I realize that I have no right to complain, but...seriously, bro? Go back to the museum and get yourself a better mace. Otherwise, the costumes are pretty cool. It's not the classic yellow and green from the comics, but the style fits well with the costume design in the Arrow/Flash TV universe. Hawkgirl's helmet, in particular, is spot on. Can't wait to see these heroes in action!

Shaman-y Ranger

Wow, in today's Unearthed Arcana article (download it here), they're previewing a ranger build that kind of draws from the shaman of 4e in that it has a spirit companion. It's an interesting build, but they haven't revealed the higher-level features yet, so I'll reserve judgment for now.

Soo!

If nothing else, Ticket to Ride is going to teach my boys a much-needed lesson in the geography of North America. Everyone should be able to point out Sault Ste. Marie! (Full disclosure: I was only aware of the Canadian city of Sault Ste. Marie until I saw the Ticket game map -- I didn't realize there was a corresponding US city in Michigan!)

Ticket to Ride

Amy's parents got her Ticket to Ride for her birthday -- can't wait to give it a try!

Legos vs. Minis

Tim W., this one's for you!

Kids and Board Games

Parents, there are tons of great board games out there to play with your kids...and 538 has the data!

Double Down

Double XP for the next 72 hours?! Damn you, Injustice!

Force Friday

It's Force Friday, so I stopped by my local Target this morning to take a peek. There was indeed more Star Wars stuff than you could shake a lightsaber at. However, I'm soon to invest a lot of money in new fencing gear -- taking up an activity I abandoned many years ago -- so I resisted the urge to grab the new Lego Millennium Falcon and X-Wing sets. (Christmas is coming, boys!) I was pleasantly surprised to find the new Force Awakens-themed core set for the X-Wing miniatures game, with new pilot cards and upgrade cards, and new paint schemes to correspond to the ships' appearance in the upcoming film. I already have two of the original core sets, though, so the likes of Poe Dameron and BB-8 will have to remain a mystery to me until some Rebel (now Resistance?) player fields those cards against me someday...

Pathfinder Online

Sad news today about Pathfinder Online...see EN World's article here.