Narrow Escape

The boys and I delved into the first scenario of the mini cooperative game Dark Tomb the other day. (All components fit within a tin about the size of a modern smartphone.) Nathaniel is playing a spellcaster with a pet raven, Matthew is a rogue-like character, and I'm something akin to a ranger. The game plays quickly and we had fun discussing optimal tactics, but some lousy rolls set us back and nearly cost us a victory. As it stands, all three characters managed a narrow escape from the first dungeon. On to the second!

DC League

Next on my Sensible Soccer agenda is a league set in the Druid Cycle campaign world. I'm going to start small, with just four teams representing the three largest human cities in that setting: the Paladins and Imperials (Troya Nova), Racers (Riverton), and Golden Dragons (Prifddinas). That should be a manageable undertaking for the inaugural season, but I already have plans to expand the league with four new teams (a second franchise in Riverton along with three other cities) starting in Season 2. 

Free RPG Day

Get to your local game store for Free RPG day -- today!!!

Dark Tomb

We'll be doing some traveling this summer, but the boys and I will nevertheless have plenty of game action to occupy our downtime. A recent Kickstarter called Dark Tomb is perfect for travel: It's a cooperative, d20-based game that literally fits in your pocket!

D&D 2024

Over a decade ago, I invested countless hours in playtesting what would ultimately become Fifth Edition D&D. I submitted vast amounts of detailed feedback through many rounds of playtest materials. (Click the "5e" label and dive in to those earlier posts, if you dare!) The game that was published in 2014 was, in my opinion, an absolute masterpiece -- the best version of D&D in the game's long history. 

Fast-forward to the present. I wasn't terribly enthused by the prospect of the 2024 revamp of Fifth Edition, and some of what I was seeing in the Unearthed Arcana playtest PDFs was as troubling to me as anything from The Edition That Shall Not Be Named. But you know what? I watched this video and now I feel a bit better.

All I Really Want...

Random Thursday thoughts! All I really want -- aside from some patience, a way to calm the angry voice, and maybe deliverance -- is MultiVersus, but as a miniatures game. The obvious answer is CMON's Mayhem system, but it doesn't offer the full range of WB characters. In fact, it pales in comparison to what Restoration Games is doing with their Unmatched series these days.

Evercade Alpha

Evercade launched a revamped website today and it includes a bombshell development: They're getting into cabinets now! I don't know if I'll purchase the Evercade Alpha when it comes out in the fall, but damn, it's a pretty cool concept!

Tiffany, Heather, Cody, Dylan, Dermot, Jordan, Taylor, Brittany...

As part of my years-long (okay, decades-long) expansion of Druid Cycle history and lore, I've identified the reign of every Emperor/Empress of Troya Nova and every King/Queen of Teyrnas. Running through the lists of names, I can't help but speak them aloud in the cadence of the esteemed Cletus Spuckler when he calls to his prodigious brood...

Evercade Hall of Fame

Adding up all the games on all the carts, I probably have upwards of 200 retro games I can play on my Evercade systems. Of those games, I've completed probably about two dozen. Of those two dozen, only a select few merit inclusion in my new Evercade Hall of Fame -- games so awesome or so memorable that they rank among my favorite video games of all time, regardless of the era or system. 

Here is the inaugural class of Hall of Famers, presented in alphabetical order:

• Brave Battle Saga
• Captain Commando 
• Dragon View (Drakkhen II)
• Drakkhen
• Final Fight
• Flashback 
• Sensible Soccer

What's likely to be the next entry in the EHOF? Well, the first three Tomb Raider titles come out for Evercade in July...

Meet the Argos Achaians!

I had a lot of fun with a custom Sensible Soccer team featuring my childhood buddies from Horseheads. Although we lost our first World Cup tournament in the finals, we roared back the next time around to claim the Cup! For my next fantasy soccer experience, I'm going a bit further back in time...all the way to the Trojan War! Achilles, Odysseus, Ajax (the Greater and the Lesser) and all their companions from the Iliad will take the soccer world by storm as the Argos Achaians!

FCBD 2024

Heads up! It's Free Comic Book Day today!

A Sensible Obsession

Sensible Soccer is pretty much my new obsession. I have a huge list of custom teams, games, tournaments, and leagues in mind. One idea I'd love to explore is to create a soccer league based on the major human cities of the Druid Cycle campaign setting. Perhaps even a famous NPC or two might show up on the rosters! In the short term, however, I'm working on a Team USA -- complete with my 8-bit approximation of their real-life 2024 home and away kit -- populated by my neighborhood buddies from when I was a kid. Can't wait for my friends and I to start on the road to a World Cup!

Sensible Soccer

Sensible Soccer -- named for the company, although the game is pretty sensible too -- may just be one of the most perfect sports games I've ever played. I picked up an out-of-print Evercade cartridge basically just to get this game, and it hasn't disappointed. It's infinitely customizable and the gameplay is intuitive and fun. I foresee many, many tournaments and leagues in my future...

Back to the Tomb!

Just when I was wondering what else Evercade had up their sleeves...

Game Time = Family Time

Between Matthew's swim practices and meets, and Nathaniel's Boy Scout activities, and all the schoolwork for both of them, it's been tough to keep up any kind of momentum on our campaigns. It doesn't help that we're also juggling three campaigns at the moment, with the zombie-themed Dark Enigma (which also includes Amy) and two Druid Cycle games (one of which includes the boys' cousins). I've found myself kind of stressed out by the difficulty of getting everyone to the table, and when I gave it some more thought, I realized that game time is a proxy for family time. With the busy pace of life these days, we don't seem to have much time to sit down and just be together. 

Welcome Home

After their long trek through the snowy wilderness, our intrepid heroes have returned to the small town of Wenro, New York. Here's what awaits them...

Does this scene include all the zombie minis I have in my horde? No. No it does not.

Season 10 Awards

After an epic championship series, all that remains is to hand out the individual trophies for Season 10. 

Scoring Champion: Alf Smith, RW, Thistles
With a league-leading 18 goals and 36 points, the fiery forward won his first scoring championship, finishing five points ahead of runner-up Cyclone Taylor. Smith has always oozed with talent, but this season he put it all together -- and in doing so, he jumped from fourth all-time in goals to second, behind only the great Frank McGee of the Comets.

Forward MVP: Alf Smith, RW, Thistles
Bearcats phenom Joe Malone was the frontrunner for the first half of the season, but Smith sailed past him with an absolutely dominant finish. For the first time in his career, Smith was defensively responsible too, as evinced by his strong plus-minus (+8). 

Defenseman MVP: Dickie Boon, Bearcats
For the first time ever, the Victorias' Cyclone Taylor was not a top-three finalist for this award. Wow! This year's worthy runners-up were Fred Whitcroft of the Thistles (7 goals, 5 assists, +9) and Art Ross of the Bearcats (2 goals, 3 assists, and a league-leading +16). The winner, however, was the Bearcats' Boon, who put up Taylor-esque offensive numbers (8 goals, 9 assists) and finished second in the league in plus-minus (+12).

Goaltender MVP: Hap Holmes, Bearcats
Last season, the Vics' Bowse Hutton edged Holmes in the closest finish of all time for this award. Well, this season it was even closer! Holmes and Hutton both posted a .927 save percentage, but Holmes had a slightly better goals-against average (2.20 vs. 2.30). I don't track all high-danger/high-leverage saves, but I do make note of key moments when a goalie absolutely robs someone, and this year Holmes certainly had a lot more such "highlight reel" saves. So it's really a tossup, but I'm giving it to Holmes, who claims his second such trophy in his four-year career. 

Rookie of the Year: Frank Fredrickson, C, Bearcats
Fredrickson put up solid numbers across the board (7 goals, 13 assists, +6), although he definitely benefited from playing alongside Joe Malone. Even so, I'm very comfortable giving this award to Fredrickson over number-one draft pick Mickey MacKay of the Millionaires, who had good offensive numbers (7 goals, 6 assists), but had the second-worst plus-minus in the league (-17) and was a healthy scratch twice on a last-place Millies team.

Playoff MVP: Hugh Lehman, G, Thistles
Lehman outdueled the league's best goaltender, Hap Holmes, and finished his postseason run with a 2.25 goals-against average and a stellar .940 save percentage. He becomes the second player to win multiple Playoff MVP trophies (after -- who else? -- Cyclone Taylor) and he also has the distinction of being the first player to win major individual awards with two different teams; his first Playoff MVP trophy came when he was a member of the Millionaires. Had the Bearcats won the championship, this award would likely have gone to Malone (8 goals, 7 assists) for his offensive wizardry.

Quite a Saga Indeed!

Today I beat Brave Battle Saga, finishing off the final boss in a slog that took about a half-hour just for that one combat. 

I was rewarded with some fun cutscenes that wrapped up all the personal storylines. Families reunited! Old wounds healed! It was very sweet.

Yes, the main character's name is Tim, and yes, I had that Monty Python bit from Holy Grail running through my head the whole time...

The Curse Is Broken!

The Thistles are Creighton Cup champions! After ten seasons of futility and heartbreak, the league's most snakebitten team has finally won a title. In true Thistles fashion, they did it the hard way -- the really hard way.

Playing on the road in Game 1, the Thistles held a 2-0 lead late in the third period, but Bearcats captain Harry Trihey put his team on his back and scored twice to tie the game. In overtime, Scotty Davidson beat Hugh Lehman to give the Bearcats an improbable series-opening victory. The Thistles came home for Game 2 determined to get back on track. They got off to a great start when Jack Darragh scored on the team's very first shot. The teams traded goals throughout the game, with the Thistles managing to stay a goal ahead. In the waning moments of the third period, the Bearcats tied it yet again. This time, it was superstar Joe Malone tallying just seconds before the horn sounded. The stunned Thistles headed to overtime facing the possibility that they could be down by two games in this best-of-five series despite playing with the lead for about 90% of the time across both games. After two overtime periods, the game remained tied. Lehman and Bearcats netminder Hap Holmes made incredible saves, but at some point, one puck was bound to sneak through. Darragh ended the contest with his second goal of the game in triple overtime. The final score was 4-3 for the visitors. It was the longest game in league history, and Lehman set a record with 49 saves. Back in Bearcats territory for Game 3, the Thistles continued to roll by scoring again on their first shot. The Cats, however, notched the next three goals and skated away with an easy 3-1 win and a 2-1 series lead. Facing elimination, the Thistles had a must-win game at home, and they gutted out a 4-2 victory to force a winner-take-all Game 5, hosted by the Bearcats. 

Game 5 would prove to be an all-time classic. Late in the first period, the Thistles were hit with a double whammy when star defenseman Hod Stuart went down with a serious injury and the Cats' Dickie Boon scored after a desperate flurry of chances in front of Lehman. Stuart was ruled out for the remainder of the game, so the Thistles had to continue without one of their best players. Fortunately for them, their star forward stepped up his game; Alf Smith scored in the second period and racked up another one early in the the third to give his team a 2-1 edge. As the clock ticked away, I wondered if the Cats could manage to stage yet another amazing comeback to force overtime. Well, they sure did! The peerless Malone scored late in the frame, just as he had done back in Game 2, and the contest went to overtime. The first OT period was a quiet affair with only a couple of quality chances. In the second overtime, however, Smith broke in on Holmes with a chance to end the game and deliver a championship for his long-suffering team. (By this point, both Matthew and Nathaniel had come over to the table to witness these final dice rolls.) Smith knifed a shot past past Holmes's outstretched glove, and the game was over. It was a hat trick for Smith, but more importantly, it was a Creighton Cup for the league's unluckiest team. The curse has been broken!

Dune: Part 2

Dune is among my favorite novels. I love it on so many levels, not the least of which is that it's the primary literary inspiration for the Warhammer 40k universe. I'm such a Dune fan that I even adore the much-maligned 1984 movie, although it pales in comparison to Denis Villeneuve's more recent film. I'm so pleased that Dune: Part 2 is now premiering in theaters. The first part won six Oscars and introduced this story to a whole new generation -- including my own family! I can't wait to see what Villeneuve et al have in store for us in the second half!

First Contact

In our Dark Enigma campaign, a blizzard had trapped the heroes at a remote compound deep the wilderness. Today they received some unwelcome guests...

Clearly, something is amiss back in Wenro! The heroes will now begin a treacherous trek back through the snow to see what exactly is going on...

Crunch Time

First play of Game 1 of the Finals. I mean, the first play, right after the opening faceoff: Thistles winger and Season 10 scoring champion Alf Smith absolutely crunches Bearcats superstar Joe Malone. It's gonna be a series...

It's Finals Time!

The first round of the playoffs is in the books!

The Thistles will return to the Finals after last year's heartbreaking collapse against the Victorias. This year, the Thistles got a measure of revenge by dismantling the Vics in the first round, sweeping them 3-0 in the best-of-five series and outscoring them 10-5. Key players for the Thistles in the opening round (and strong contenders for the Playoff MVP trophy) included sophomore winger Didier Pitre (2 goals, 3 assists, +3), offensive defenseman Fred Whitcroft (2 goals, 3 assists, +4), and netminder Hugh Lehman (1.67 goals-against average, .956 save percentage), whose 44-save gem in the third game sealed the series win.

In the other series, the home team won every game, resulting in a 3-2 triumph for the top-ranked Bearcats over the Comets. Joe Malone led the way offensively (4 goals, 4 assists, -3), followed by Scotty Davidson (4 goals, 2 assists, -3), Harry Trihey (0 goals, 7 assists, +3), and Dickie Boon (1 goal, 5 assists, -1). Bonus points if you noted that most of the Cats' leading scorers had a negative plus-minus; they eked out a win in this series only because their power play clicked at a fantastic 26.67%. The Comets were the better team at five-on-five; they fought until the bitter end, coming up just one goal short in the fifth and decisive game. 

Next up, the Bearcats will host the Thistles in Game 1 of the Finals. These two contenders are the only remaining teams that have never won a Creighton Cup, so one way or the other, we'll get to witness a franchise win its very first title.

Plot Drop

I'm moving steadily toward the conclusion of the surprisingly wonderful Brave Battle Saga, and there are revelations left and right! In one cutscene alone, secrets were revealed about two of the four party members; one turned out to be the half-demon niece of a queen, and the other is...a cyborg, maybe? Now we're off to recover his memory chip, so...

Season 10 Playoff Preview

It's playoff time once again in Strat-O-Matic hockey! The Millionaires and Bulldogs won't be joining the dance this year, but here's how the other teams stack up for the first round of the tourney...

Bearcats (1st) vs. Comets (4th)

The Bearcats finished in first place for the first time in franchise history; their pennant is well deserved, too, as the Cats had the league's best goal differential (+18), best goal prevention (2.20 goals against per game), and second-best offense (3.10 goals scored per game). They were unequivocally number one at five-on-five hockey, and the top six players in the league in plus/minus were all Bearcats. Special teams were a different story, however, as the Cats ranked second-to-last in power play and their penalty kill was middling. Their first-round opponent, the Comets, had a hot second half, but still finished as the only playoff team with a negative goal differential (-11) and mediocre rankings in all major offensive and defensive categories. Head-to-head, the Cats were 3-1-0 against the Comets this year, so I'm picking the Bearcats to make their inaugural appearance in the Creighton Cup Finals.

Thistles (2nd) vs. Victorias (3rd)

It's a rematch of last year's Cup Finals! The Thistles allowed the Vics to come back in that series and thus were denied their first-ever Creighton Cup. Could it be time for revenge? The Thistles were a goal-scoring machine this year, with a league-best 3.25 goals scored per game, but the Vics counter with elite goal prevention (number two at 2.30 goals against per game). The Thistles had a league-leading penalty kill (89.16%), but the Vics had the top power play (21.67%). It seems that each team can counter the other's advantages. Not surprisingly, I guess, their head-to-head record was 1-1-2, and they both finished with a +9 goal differential overall. This one is a coin toss, folks!

Friends Knocking Down My Door

I'm at a natural pause point with Brave Battle Saga, so I've put that game aside for a few days to explore an Evercade cartridge containing nothing but Commodore 64 classics. How come no one has knocked down my door yet?

BBS -- TLOTMW

As titles go, Brave Battle Saga -- The Legend of the Magic Warrior is kind of an awkward jumble. (I'm sure its original Mandarin title has a nicer ring to it.) As games go, however, it's kind of a blast! BBS -- TLOTMW (wow, the initialism seems almost as long as the actual title!) is the latest game I'm working through on my Evercade. It was originally a Sega Genesis game released only in Taiwan, but now it has a full English version. The endless random encounters add unnecessary length and monotony, but the story is pretty fun (and occasionally downright funny) and there's a funky science-fantasy vibe that's getting stronger as I get deeper into the game. Anticipating later classics like Baldur's Gate, it opens with a single protagonist, but ultimately you pick up a rag-tag band of companions who all have their own personal storylines and motivations. Can't wait to see how it all plays out!

Milestone

Today's Druid Cycle adventure marked the one-year anniversary of the campaign I've run for my boys and my niece and nephew. (Well, technically, tomorrow is the calendar anniversary.) To celebrate this milestone, I invited Tim W to join the game session as his esteemed wizard Cathbad. It was awesome to have this new generation interacting with a living legend. They all participated together in a weighty discussion of how to protect their nation and avoid becoming embroiled in a burgeoning continent-wide conflict that I've dubbed "World War Druid Cycle." Considering that I've been laying the foundation for this storyline for the past year, I'm pretty sure it won't be the last time that Cathbad and the younger heroes will cross paths!

The Compound

In our Dark Enigma campaign, the companions have trudged through a Western New York snowstorm to a remote survivalist compound in search of information about the main NPC's missing sister. The compound and surrounding area are depicted in the photo below.

You can see Amy's stealthy huntress hiding behind a large bush in the foreground. The heroes managed to defeat the guards, and next they'll explore the compound for clues. Another storm is rolling in, however, so they'll need to wait it out here at the compound before they can hike back to town. I wonder what will have changed when they finally get back to Wenro...?

Welcome to Wenro

We're inching closer to starting our zombie apocalypse game! I set up the buildings that form the core of Wenro Center, a small community off of Interstate 86 in western New York. All the buildings (as well as the smaller terrain elements and townspeople) were printed on our 3D printer and -- for better or for worse -- painted by yours truly. 

Nary a zombie to be found! Well, at least, not yet...

This story is set in the same world and time period as our Tales of the Ternion campaign, but it's a horror/survival theme rather than comic book superheroes, and the title will be Dark Enigma -- named after a spooky campaign of yesteryear. Can't wait to get started!

All-Star Break

It's almost time for the NHL All-Star Game, and here in Season 10 of my historical Strat-O-Matic hockey league, we've reached the midway point of the campaign. The Bearcats and Victorias are vying for the top spot, the Thistles and Comets are jostling around in the middle of the pack, and the Bulldogs and Millionaires are in a race to the bottom. Some interesting team stats include the Cats' astonishing penalty kill (96.3%) and the inability of the run-and-gun Comets to dent the twine (a league-low 1.80 goals per game and an abysmal 8.33% success on the power play). 

Looking at player performances, I'm intrigued by Thistles star Alf Smith, one of the league's all-time greats but a player who has yet to win any sort of individual trophy; at the moment, he's leading the league in goals (11) and points (18), so he could snag a scoring title and possibly a Forward MVP award, although in the latter case he'll face a tough challenge from Joe Malone (9 goals, 3 assists, +4) of the Bearcats and quiet workhorse Dubbie Bowie (6 goals, 6 assists, +7) of the Victorias. The Cats' Hap Holmes seems like a lock to win his second Goaltender MVP in three years (1.90 goals-against average, .940 save percentage). Can he and Malone lead the Bearcats to their first Creighton Cup in franchise history?

It's Our Trophy Guy!

Here's a great article about Jim Creighton, the man for whom the championship series in my nineteenth-century Strat-O-Matic league is named.

2023 Goal Achieved

Looking back on the year that was, I could rattle off any number of gaming-related accomplishments. (Yes, granted, it's all recreational, but I view anything I learn or do as an opportunity to accomplish something.) I painted tons of 3D-printed terrain, delved into retrogaming, and ran a Doctor Who campaign that was pretty dang cool, but I think I'm most proud of reinvigorating the Druid Cycle world. Matthew and Nathaniel had played most of their D&D in my Shattered Realm setting, but in 2023, they leveled up to the big leagues. We started one campaign just for them, and then a separate one where their two older cousins join us via Zoom, and in both cases it's been absolutely fantastic. It's like 1998 all over again!

OUTRAGEOUS!!!

 It's outrageous that we've had to wait so long for a sequel to one of the most surprisingly fun superhero flicks I've ever seen. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom premieres today!

Rise of the Cavilliverse

Finally! Gotta admit, I was getting worried...

Domino Draft

In preparation for Season 10 of my historical Strat-O-Matic hockey league, I conducted another draft to add new players to the league. This year, the top two rookies are both enormously talented centers, a coincidence that ended up having a domino effect on the league. With the top pick, the Millionaires selected pivot Mickey MacKay, giving them a glut of middle-men on their roster. In need of scoring wingers and stay-at-home defensemen -- and seeing that the Comets had a surplus of both -- the Millionaires pulled the trigger on a blockbuster trade. They shipped center Duke Keats (himself a former #1 draft pick) and longtime captain Art Farrell to the Comets in exchange for offensive dynamo Frank Foyston and steady blueliner Lester Patrick. There was a lot of additional wheeling and dealing afterwards, with all teams except for the Thistles making at least one trade this offseason. The Millies and Comets made the biggest changes, but when the dust settled, I think the most improved team may be the Bearcats, who raised their ceiling by drafting skilled center Frank Fredrickson, and raised their floor by adding solid veterans Joe Hall and Fred "Steamer" Maxwell.

Season 10 Awards

Another season, another set of year-end awards! Who took home the hardware? 

Position Player MVP: Dan Brouthers, Blue Legs
Although his teammate Jimmy Collins was an early favorite for this trophy, Dan Brouthers earned his first MVP award with a season of solid all-around play. Brouthers led the league in total bases, tied for second in home runs, and even bested Cap Anson as the top defensive first baseman in the league. Sam Thompson of the Haymakers and Roger Connor of the Canaries were also in consideration. 

Pitcher MVP: Cy Young, Haymakers
The Haymakers floundered this year, but you can't blame it on Young, who nearly carried this team to the playoffs all on his own. Sporting a 6-4 record on a team that went 11-13 overall, Young pitched a league-leading 86 innings with a sparkling 1.88 ERA that was not only the best among all starting pitchers, it was one of the best in league history. Young outdueled the Resolutes' Christy Mathewson (4-3, 2.57 ERA) and the Blue Legs' Old Hoss Radbourn (6-1, 2.78 ERA) to claim his record-setting third Pitcher MVP trophy. 

Playoff MVP: Elmer Flick, Resolutes
The Resolutes are not a team of superstars, at least not among the position players. They work the count, take bases-on-balls, get slap hits, steal bags, bunt each other over, and hit sac flies. No one exemplifies Resolutes baseball like right fielder Elmer Flick, who got on board more often than any of his teammates and absolutely ran amok on the base paths. Connie Mack had that huge home run in Game 4, but Flick was quietly brilliant throughout the series.

Season 10 Championship

The winner of the James Creighton trophy in Season 10 is...

The Resolutes!

Game 1 was an absolutely incredible pitchers' duel between Old Hoss Radbourn of the Blue Legs and Christy Mathewson of the Resolutes. The two aces matched zeroes inning after inning. The game was scoreless in the bottom of the eleventh -- Mathewson was still pitching for the visiting Resolutes, while Radbourn had given way to Al Spalding for the Legs -- when King Kelly doubled home Nap Lajoie to give the hosting Blue Legs a 1-0 victory and a matching series lead. Adding to the sting of the loss for the Resolutes was a serious injury to starting third baseman John McGraw. In Game 2, Jake Beckley's RBI double ended the Resolutes 24-inning scoring drought (going back to the regular season). Meanwhile, this time the injury bug bit the Legs, who lost shortstop Monte Ward and right fielder Wee Willie Keeler, the latter of whom had recently homered to tie the game at 3. The visitors pulled ahead in the eighth on second baseman Bud Fowler's run-scoring single, and the tally held up as the winner in a 4-3 contest. With the series tied at one game apiece, the action shifted to the Resolutes' home park. Mathewson took the mound again but was not as sharp, giving up three runs -- including two on a single to reserve outfielder Harry Wright -- in the second inning. He was stingy thereafter, however, and his teammates started to chip away at the lead. Right fielder Elmer Flick drove in runs with three separate hits, including a walk-off double in the bottom of the tenth inning. The Resolutes now found themselves in a position to claim the championship on their home field if they could win Game 4. John Clarkson was good for the home side, but the Legs' Tim Keefe brought his very best stuff, striking out Resolutes left and right. A solo home run from Lajoie seemed like it might be enough for the Legs to even the series, but Beckley drove home Flick in the seventh to tie the game at 1. In the eighth, light-hitting catcher Connie Mack stunned everyone in the stadium by crushing reliever Spalding's pitch for a two-run shot. With the score now 3-1, Clarkson took the mound in the ninth and sent the Legs packing with three quick outs to end the game and the series. 

Congratulations to the Resolutes on their second title in franchise history!

Flashback

I won Delphine's amazing Flashback today, and the game was just as fun on my wonky Evercade as it was on the ol' Sega Genesis. At this point, I can put the Evercade EXP hardware aside and now load up carts on my new Super Pocket. First on the list is a collection of Atari Lynx classics!

Season 10 Championship Preview

The Canaries won't be able to end their title drought this year, nor will the Haymakers be able to add to their overflowing trophy case. This year's championship series will feature the game's best rivalry, the Blue Legs against the Resolutes. These teams have met twice before in the finals: In Season 6, the Resolutes trailed 2-1 in the best-of-five series and then stunned the Legs with back-to-back shutout victories to steal the title, and then in Season 8, when the Blue Legs savored sweet revenge by sweeping the Resolutes in three straight. 

This year, the Blue Legs finished in first place with a record of 15-9, while the Resolutes came in at 13-11. Both teams had identical +10 run differentials, however, with Pythagorean records suggesting that the Legs were a little lucky and the Resolutes a bit unlucky. Despite the identical run differentials, the teams had very different approaches. The Legs led the league with 3.92 runs scored per game and, not surprisingly, had more home runs (and extra-base hits of any kind) than all other teams. They had solid pitching, but their run prevention was bolstered by a defense that was perhaps the best in league history. The Resolutes, meanwhile, posted a spectacular 3.04 runs against per game, thanks to a diverse pitching staff that limited hard contact. Offensively, they played "small ball," leveraging their plate discipline and speed to manufacture runs. It will be fascinating to see how these two very different teams fare over the five-game series!

The Knight...Monsters...?

Over the summer, we learned that western Nevada was getting a minor-league hockey team (owned by Tim Tebow, to add a little dose of "huh?" to the news). The team's name and logo were revealed yesterday. Ladies and gentlemen, the Tahoe Knight Monsters will be taking the ice next season and filling our brains with cognitive dissonance. So they're both knights and monsters? I'm not quite sure how a dragon can also be a knight. (Okay, okay, I'll admit there's Ironside from the Druid Cycle campaign world.) The "Knight" part of the name clearly is meant to evoke Nevada's other two professional hockey teams, the STANLEY CUP CHAMPION Vegas Golden Knights and their top minor-league affiliate, the Henderson Silver Knights. Is Tahoe angling to become Vegas's ECHL-level team? I sincerely hope so, but if that's the case, why choose a teal-based color scheme that's so obviously linked to Vegas's bitter rival, the San Jose Sharks? Would any self-respecting Knights fan (of the Golden or Silver variety) be caught wearing teal? Well, this guy will, because no matter how much I detest the name or colors, I'm here to support our team, and I'll be completely decked out in Tahoe gear. I'll also be even more eager to get my hands on next year's EA Sports NHL hockey game for our Xbox, as that series includes all ECHL franchises, so my boys and I will be able to play as the local team!

EXP Stands for "Expired"

The good news is that I completed the Bond-esque Operation Stealth, one of Delphine's cinematic titles of yesteryear. The bad news is that my Evercade EXP now only works if it's plugged in -- a distinct disadvantage for a handheld game system. I'm going to try my luck with the Blaze Taito Super Pocket, which also plays Evercade cartridges. Here's hoping the lil' guy will give me portability when I need it. Next up on my list is Delphine's masterpiece, Flashback, which I absolutely adored on my Sega Genesis back in the early '90s.

No Running Allowed

It's hard to keep pace with all the wacky rule changes in Major League Baseball. From in-game rules to the ever-evolving (and now suddenly very controversial) playoff format, baseball feels like it's in a state of flux. (How long until it evolves into blernsball?!)  

Larger bases and limitations on pitcher disengagements led to a significant increase in stolen bases this year. It's kind of ironic, then, that in my nineteenth-century Strat-O-Matic league, stolen bases are at an all-time low because starting catchers are throwing out runners at a ridiculous rate. Roger Bresnahan of the Haymakers has gunned down nearly three-quarters of would-be thieves, with fellow first-string backstops Buck Ewing, Connie Mack, and King Kelly all above 50% as well. In contrast, big-league catchers in 2023 were at just under 20% in throwing out base stealers. 

As I hit the halfway point of Season 10 of my historical league, the drop in base-stealing success is just one of the storylines I'm tracking. The Blue Legs got off to the hottest start in history with a 5-0 record, 26 runs for, and just 8 against, but then quickly fell back to the pack. Here at the midway mark, the Legs, Haymakers, and Resolutes are all sporting identical 7-5 records, with the Canaries bringing up the rear at 3-9. No team has pulled away thus far, so I think all four have a legitimate shot at reaching the championship series. As we look ahead to the second half, however, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Resolutes claim first place, as their actual winning percentage (.583) is below their Pythagorean (expected) win percentage (.624), which is by far the best in the league.

TWD DOA

Sometime this week, we'll be receiving a package that contains various materials for The Walking Dead RPG, which I was glad to back on Kickstarter. It will make for some fun reading material over the Thanksgiving holiday, but unfortunately it won't serve as the rules system for our upcoming zombie campaign. 

Nathaniel and I have spent many hours combing through the PDF version of the core rulebook, and we both came to the conclusion that the system really needs to be used for "theater of the mind" gaming, and is altogether impractical for a fully 3D campaign like the one I've been cooking up. The rules are fast and fun, and -- like its sister game, the Alien RPG -- shockingly lethal to player characters. They are also abstract. Like, really abstract. This is not a game for maps and miniatures, let alone an entirely 3D environment. Nathaniel and I went down some house-ruling rabbit holes but ultimately were rewriting the game. We even explored the possibility of re-skinning Alien for a modern setting, but that don't work out very well either. 

As such, I've landed on the TinyD6 system, which we used for the Tales of the Ternion superhero campaign and then again more recently for our Doctor Who game. I really wanted to make TWD work, but I guess it just wasn't meant to be.

Butts and Zombies

With Matthew and Amy at a swim meet this weekend, Nathaniel and I have been keeping ourselves busy with some gaming fun. I completed Delphine's renowned Another World on my Evercade, albeit with some assistance from the internet to get past some of the more opaque puzzles. I gave Future Wars a go, but the port to Evercade makes a certain early section of the game unplayable due to the Evercade's controls, so I'm wondering if users of this recently released cart will complain loudly enough for some sort of patch to be released. Undaunted, I moved on to a third Delphine title, Operation Stealth, a James Bond-style adventure that's been loads of fun so far -- even though I haven't yet managed to get my secret agent through customs and out of the airport!

When Nathaniel finished his homework, we got down to business with a few hilarious games of Butts in Space, and then turned to more serious business: adapting the brand-new The Walking Dead RPG rules for use in our upcoming family campaign (a loose sequel to the recent Tales of the Ternion) that will utilize all the 3D buildings I've printed (and laboriously painted) and hordes of zombies from Zombicide (also laboriously painted). The TWG rules don't quite meet our needs; the main sticking point is that combat with walkers is abstracted and not played out round-by-round, whereas our fully 3D campaign will require much more precise rules for how many walkers there are, how far away from the heroes they are, etc. Nathaniel is always up for discussing game rules, however, so I think we'll land on some solid house rules before our packed calendar affords us time to get the campaign started.

Opening Day

With the World Series getting underway tonight, baseball is coming to an end in 2023, but in my fictional nineteenth-century universe, we're just getting started. After the Canaries' devastating championship series loss to the Haymakers last season, will we see the Birds recover and end their title drought, or perhaps will the Blue Legs or Resolutes surprise us? The tenth season of my Strat-O-Matic league begins tonight!

Season 4 Championship

Season 4 of Blitz Bowl madness has come to an end! Who walked (or, rather, limped) away with the coveted Sigmar Cup? Read on!

After my debacle the other night with a miscounted score, I started the championship game over from the beginning. This time, the game couldn't have played out more differently: In my first attempt, the teams grappled in a gritty grudge match, while the rebooted game featured touchdowns on the game's first three turns! The Reavers connected for a passing touchdown during their first sequence, then the Giants ran for a score on their first possession, and then the Reavers notched a running TD on their second turn. Madness! The excitement didn't end there, however, as the Giants made some aggressive plays to rack up challenge cards, and we were all tied up at 9 before the dust had settled. Both defenses held firm for the middle portion of the game, and as the clock started winding down, the dwarves ran for a touchdown to open up a 15-10 lead. Their defense pulled back to guard against a big TD, forcing Reavers to go after challenge cards in the hope of picking up enough points to chip away at the Giants' advantage. By the final turn, the Reavers still trailed, 15-13. They put themselves in excellent position to score two points on a challenge card to tie the game and send it to overtime. It all came down to one dice roll: An armor saving throw by one of the dwarf players. If he failed the save, the Reavers would claim the points and tie the game, but if he made the save, the Giants would hang on for the win. The odds? The dwarf needed a five-up on a D6 check. Oh, the drama! I must have let that D6 rattle around in my closed fist for at least half-a-minute before I hurled it down on the board.

Five.

The dwarf held his ground, the Reavers failed to claim the points, and the Giants won the game and their second Sigmar Cup in franchise history. Congrats to the Giants on winning the most exciting game of Blitz Bowl I think I've ever played!

One Last View of Dragon View

After overcoming countless foes -- and one very nasty real-life game glitch -- I completed the Drakkhen sequel Dragon View today. Here's a photo of my character, Widsith, about to take on the final boss...

The game concludes with a lovely (and lengthy!) series of cutscenes showing what happens across the game world after the hero's victory. Spoiler alert! Don't look if you want to play through and be surprised by how the story turns out.

The defeated villain is redeemed, and the hero is proclaimed king of the realm!

Hail to the king, baby!

Next up, I'll be putting the world of Drakkhen aside and delving into a new Evercade cartridge dedicated to the "cinematic" games of Delphine Software International. I remember playing Delphine's Flashback on my Sega Genesis long ago and just being blown away by the story and the silky-smooth (rotoscoped!) animation.

Season 4 Playoffs

It's playoff time! Here we go!

Wild Card: Champions at Reavers

After being humiliated 11-1 by the Avengers in their first-ever playoff appearance last season, the undead Champions came into this Wild Card matchup determined to have a better showing. The red-hot Reavers, however, jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead. The Champions made things interesting on a rare five-point touchdown (three points for the TD plus a two-point challenge card) midway through the game, but they never threatened again. The Reavers put the game away with a late touchdown and the final was 15-6 in favor of the two-time defending titlists. The humans then set their sights on a threepeat, but first they would need to defeat the rival Giants -- who are, ironically, dwarves and not actual giants -- the only other franchise in this league that has claimed a Sigmar Cup.

Championship: Reavers at Giants

These two titans were meeting for the Cup for the third time in four seasons. Early in the contest, the Giants got the ball deep into Reaver territory, and it was all the humans could do to keep it out of their end zone. The teams picked up a few points on challenge cards over the next several rounds, until, around the halfway point of the game, the Reavers managed to heave the ball to midfield in the hope of mounting an offensive push of their own. The Giants briefly took the lead on more points from challenge cards, so it was 5-4 in their favor until the Reavers picked up a card that made it 6-5. And that's when I realized something was wrong, as I couldn't account for the score. Somewhere along the way, I had miscounted the points. (Either that, or Tzeentch is up to his old tricks!) In such a tight contest, a single point might well be the difference. With no clear resolution that was fair to both teams, I decided to toss the whole game and start again. We'll try again tomorrow!

Season 4 Recap

Tonight was the final regular-season game of my Blitz Bowl league. Here's how the five teams fared in Season 4:

• Giants (9-5-2): The dwarves set a new league record for wins and denied the Reavers a fourth straight first-place finish. This dominant team boasted the league's best offense (10.50 points per game) and second-best defense (8.81 points against per game), and tied the Reavers for the best point differential (+27).
• Reavers (7-5-4): Their quest for a third straight Sigmar Cup will continue, but first they'll need to get past the Champions in the Wild Card game. The Reavers didn't muster much on offense this year, but their defense (8.06 points against per game) was the best in the circuit.
• Champions (7-8-1): It took a nerve-wracking win in their last regular-season game to secure a Wild Card spot for the second straight year. With a point differential of exactly zero, this team is the very definition of average.
• Grasshuggers (6-8-2): The halflings remain the only team in the league that has never reached the postseason, but they made things interesting in the last few games and narrowly missed out.
• Avengers (5-8-3): They led the league in touchdowns (14) yet again, but there isn't much else I can say about this team. Last season's runners-up for the Sigmar Cup finished dead last this year, and their point differential of -29 was the worst for any team in league history.

Next up: The Wild Card game between the Reavers and the Champions for the right to face the Giants in the championship!

Quadruple Digits

I added the complete list of Troya Novan emperors to my Druid Cycle spreadsheet this evening, bringing me up to 1002 named characters. Quadruple digits, baby!

Back to Basics

My boys spent the early years of their D&D careers adventuring in the cozy little Shattered Realm campaign setting. The clock is ticking on their time with us at home, however -- Matthew is already sixteen! -- so I was feeling a bit of urgency to get them into the Druid Cycle world. They're now involved in two campaigns, one with their two older cousins and one just with the three of us. Although the campaigns are set in different countries, both are plugged in to a broader narrative about an impending succession crisis in Troya Nova. It's been a lot of fun to get back to basics in this game world, as I had been focusing on world building for the past several (many?) years; it was awesome to add new characters, locations, and cultures to this world, but I felt that I was shortchanging the "core" that has made the setting so special. It's been amazing to reconnect with the roots of this campaign world and share it with a new generation of players!

TWD Inbound!

I received an email indicating that The Walking Dead RPG that I backed on Kickstarter is going to be shipping soon! We'll be using this system (which features the same core game mechanics as the Alien RPG) for a Front Porch Multiverse campaign that is, in some ways, a loose sequel to our recent Tales of the Ternion superhero story. The intrepid heroes of this new game will be trapped by a devastating winter storm in a remote corner of upstate New York just as a zombie outbreak is occurring all around them.

This campaign will also be the first we've ever done that uses entirely 3D terrain. As I've mentioned over the past year or so, I've printed out and painted numerous buildings and countless smaller objects (tables,  beds, garbage cans, etc.). The campaign will feature three distinct settings -- the "downtown" of a small community, a top-secret military base, and a survivalist compound in the wilderness -- that the players will explore. The final task in my long list of preparations is to round up the zombies because, well, you know, you kinda need zombies for a zombie campaign! The minis from the excellent cooperative board game Zombicide are the same scale as the minis we use for our RPG campaigns, so I've pressed them into service. And, yes, I'm painting them. I was able to repurpose fifty-six miniatures from Zombicide, so I'm now in the midst of slapping some color on them. They won't be great, but no two will be the same, and at least they'll look better than flat gray plastic.

Which Universe Is This?

Did I somehow stumble into a weird alternate dimension? Because in the universe in which I currently find myself, celebrated sci-fi author H. G. Wells basically invented the modern wargaming hobby with the publication of the Little Wars game system in 1913. Among the game's fans was beloved actor Peter Cushing, who owned thousands of soldier minis and spent hours staging elaborate wargames. 

Saved By the Save

I've been working my way through the Drakkhen sequel -- known by many names, but called Dragon View on my Evercade cartridge -- and digging the unique blend of side-scrolling beat-'em-up action and open-world roleplaying. Everything was going great until the game started crashing every time I entered a particular room. A bit of googling revealed a known issue with the original '90s programming. The bug is related to how the game is saved, and from what I learned on Reddit and other sites, I would need to start the game over (farewell, 30th-level hero!) and save it differently in order to avoid the issue on subsequent play-throughs. I didn't relish the thought of starting over after completing about three-quarters of the campaign, so I fired off a quick email to Evercade's tech support and let the game sit for a few days. Evercade responded with an overview of the issue and a recommended workaround. I gave it a try, and voila, the game no longer crashes! My hero can now continue his quest with a renewed sense of purpose, optimism, and confidence in his ultimate victory. How's that? Well, when I tried over and over and over to enter that room, there was one time when the game didn't crash. For whatever reason, it skipped all the way to the final cutscene that plays when you win the game!

Baldur's Gate 3

So apparently there's this D&D-like game out now where the objective is to have sex with all the NPC companions and you can win the game in five minutes by stuffing one of those companions into a box.

Hard pass.

More Retro Fun

I'm taking a few days for much-needed R&R, and with the kids busy with their schoolwork, I have the opportunity to just bum around the house and do my own thing. That means lots of Evercade time! I played through Final Fight, one of the all-time classic Capcom beat-'em-up games, and I've also started a new campaign in Drakkhen II, or Super Drakkhen, or Dragon View, or whatever it's called. It's the sequel to Drakkhen, and it seems pretty damn cool so far, with a nice mix of new stuff and familiar stuff.

Lost Relics

During our recent summer trip to New York, I had picked up a copy of Lost Relics, the latest in the Warhammer Quest line of cooperative dungeon-crawlers. Lost Relics is a smaller (and cheaper) game than its celebrated predecessors Blackstone Fortress and Cursed City, and it uses a modified and simplified version of the game engine that the boys and I have come to know and love. Matthew and Nathaniel weren't terribly interested in this one, so I solo-played it in the evenings as a way of getting a little break from my usual Strat-O-Matic fare. Tonight I completed the last scenario in the campaign, as illustrated by this image of the game's final turn.

Here, my hammer-wielding tank has just killed the evil sorcerer who had trapped this warband of heroic Stormcast Eternals in his bizarre vault of relics. The sorcerer and all other adversaries are represented by tokens, unlike the larger and more expensive Warhammer Quest games. I'd prefer to have miniatures for all the characters, but in this case, I think the flat token is quite appropriate for the last combat sequence, wherein my warrior absolutely squashed the sorcerer with two devastating hammer blows.

Frakkin' Drakkhen, Man!

I plugged my Evercade into the TV with an HDMI cable so that I could play out the last few minutes of Drakkhen on the big screen. Spoiler alert: Here are some pics of the game's ending!

You can see my fighter and scout on the left. What of the priest and wizard? Fear not! They didn't perish in the final battle; they have magic items that render them partially invisible, so they appear as the sparkly white mist to the right of the scout. 

And, for some reason, there's an electric guitar in this world!

I'll be ready!

A Triumph 32 Years in the Making!

Drakkhen is about as unforgiving a game as you'll find. Touch a gravestone and a horrific, invincible monster emerges from the underworld to destroy you. Step on a flashing road and a dragon god comes down and rips you to shreds. Take an idle step into any body of water and you drown in seconds. Hell, even the constellations in the night sky sometimes coalesce into living creatures and attack you. We're talking Oregon Trail-level dangers here, people!

Well, approximately 32 years after playing Drakkhen for the first time and experiencing death in all its many, many forms, I've completed the game on my spiffy new Evercade. I expect a return trip to the world of Drakkhen sooner than later, however, as Nathaniel is already talking about starting it over so that he, Matthew, and I can all play through it together.

Blue Beetle

The Blue Beetle movie opens today. As with the last couple of DC flicks, it's a kind of awkward leftover from the Snyderverse era -- and yet James Gunn has indicated that the character is part of the new DCU. Whatevs. I just hope it's a good movie. The Blue Beetle movie I'd really love to see would be an adaptation of the (in)famous Blue Beetle #5 from 1968, in which Steve Ditko crafted a powerful statement about art, creativity, and individuality.

Victory Is Mine!!!

During our week here in Los Angeles at my in-laws' house, the boys and I got the opportunity to play an absolutely epic game of Conquest of Nerath, an Axis & Allies-like wargame set in the Fourth Edition D&D world. My brother-in-law Ben joined us for the fun. He took command of the undead realm of Karkoth (black), Matthew led the seafaring elves of Vailin (yellow), Nathaniel played as the humans and allied races of Nerath (silver), and I reigned over the monstrous hordes of the Iron Circle (red), as shown in this pic taken on the game's final turn.

In this free-for-all game, a player needed to amass 20 victory points to win. On the first night of our game, Ben jumped out to an early lead, unleashing the necrotic powers of Karkoth upon those hapless humans in Nerath. Matthew, then, started to mass elven forces on the other side of Karkoth's territory, so I was perfectly happy to let the boys worry about their uncle while I quietly built up my troops in the Iron Circle's desert wastelands. The game proceeded slowly for the first two evenings of play, with all of us scoring a few victory points here and there, primarily by raiding dungeons for magic items. I ended the second night in the lead with 10 points, but the others weren't far behind. 

Tonight, which was our last night in LA, I decided to unleash my master plan. When my turn came up, I launched six separate attacks and one delve into a dungeon for treasure (and, more importantly, the prospect of precious victory points!). Although the troops I landed on the shores of Nerath were repulsed, every other mission was a success. The most glorious moment came when I sailed a strike force across the sea to mount a surprise attack on Matthew's poorly defended capital city. In a single turn, I went from 10 victory points to a crushing 21, thereby conquering the world!

Season 9 Awards

Another hockey season has come and gone! Let's see who took home the hardware... 

Scoring Champion: Cyclone Taylor, D, Victorias
Although Taylor has won his sixth scoring title in nine seasons, I was thinking at first that it was a bit of a down year for the league's all-time points leader. When I checked the numbers, however, I found that Taylor's 36 points (11 G, 25 A) were the second-best single-season total of his illustrious career. The guy just makes it look that easy. This time around, he bested runner-up Gord Roberts of the Bulldogs by six points. 

Forward MVP: Hobey Baker, RW/C, Victorias
First-time winner Baker finished third in the league in points (29) and tied for second in goals (14), but his contributions go far beyond the scoresheet. Baker is arguably the game's best defensive forward, matching up every night against Roberts, Frank McGee, Joe Malone, and other top snipers to prevent them from scoring. As a testament to his two-way play, Baker posted a league-leading +18 plus-minus this year. Bulldogs teammates Gord Roberts and Tommy Dunderdale came in a distant second and third for this year's trophy.

Defenseman MVP: Si Griffis, Bulldogs
Taylor (36 points) and the Comets' Mike Grant (26) finished first and fourth, respectively, in the scoring race, but Griffis takes this award despite racking up far fewer points (4 G, 12 A). What gives? Well, Griffis was a dominant shutdown defender this year, and his +13 led all blueliners. It's especially eye-opening to compare his plus-minus to that of the other two Bulldogs defensemen who logged as many minutes as he did: Jack Laviolette finished at -5 and Frank Patrick at a dismal -11. The Dogs were elite at five-on-five with Griffis on the ice, and utterly hapless when he was on the bench. 

Goaltender MVP: Bowse Hutton, Victorias
In the closest race of all time, Hutton reclaimed his title from young star Hap Holmes of the Bearcats. Hutton edged Holmes in save percentage (.924 to .923) and goals-against average (2.25 vs. 2.30) to earn his fifth Goaltender MVP award.

Rookie of the Year: Didier Pitre, LW, Thistles
Pitre was not as dominant as recent freshmen like Newsy Lalonde or Joe Malone, but he's the clear choice for this year's trophy. He had great offensive numbers (10 G, 11 A), played well at five-on-five (+5), and, considering that he suits up for a team that generally suffers from excessive goonery, Pitre was a perfect gentleman and took only a single minor penalty all season.

Playoff MVP: Cyclone Taylor, D, Victorias
So many great candidates: Jack Darragh (6 G, 9 A, +4) and Didier Pitre (6 G, 8 A, +3) of the Thistles, Newsy Lalonde (7 G, 7 A, +6) and Billy McGimsie (4 G, 9 A, +7) of the Victorias. In the end, the trophy went to Taylor (4 G, 13 A, +7), who led the league in playoff points and tied for the league lead in plus-minus. What put him over the top was his virtuoso performance in the decisive Game 5 of the finals, where he showed the world that he truly is the best player in hockey. Taylor becomes the first player in league history to have won multiple Playoff MVP trophies, as he also took home this award way back in Season 2.

Season 9 Finals

Season 9 has come to a close with the crowning of a Creighton Cup champion. Here's how it went down!

After such a high-scoring opening round, I was shocked that the Thistles and Victorias were scoreless through two periods in Game 1. The visiting Thistles were struggling to generate quality chances, while the Victorias were utterly discombobulated after losing key defenseman Gordon "Phat" Wilson to injury. The clock continued to tick toward the end of regulation when Billy McGimsie scored on the power play to give the Victorias a 1-0 lead. A crushing blow for the Thistles? Hardly. After the ensuing faceoff, rookie winger Didier Pitre skated in and scored a highlight-reel goal to tie things up mere seconds later. Then, moments into overtime, Tommy Smith tallied to give the Thistles a stunning victory. Chuffed from this win, the Thistles returned home with the hope of taking a commanding lead in the series. Dan Bain scored twice early in the first period, but the Vics found their footing and fought back to earn a nail-biter 4-3 win. Wilson returned to the Vics' lineup for the third game, another back-and-forth contest that was knotted at three going into the third. The Thistles' Alf Smith scored his second goal of the night midway through the frame, and it held up to give his team a 2-1 series lead. Now the Victorias would need to win on the road again in order to keep their championship hopes alive. In Game 4, they scored early and often, with two goals from Marty Walsh pacing the team to a 5-1 triumph. 

So we were all tied up at two games apiece! The decisive fifth game would be on the Vics' home ice, but thus far the visiting team had won every game in the series. At first, it seemed the trend would continue, as brothers Tommy and Alf Smith staked the Thistles to a 2-0 lead early in the first period. Cyclone Taylor and Newsy Lalonde, however, answered back before the end of the frame, and the game remained 2-2 heading into the third period. Taylor scored again to give the Vics their first lead of the night. As the desperate Thistles pressed, Vics' winger Marty Walsh scored a backbreaker of a goal that made it 4-2 for the home team. Time was slipping away for the Thistles, but as it turned out, these two teams weren't nearly finished lighting the lamp! Around the halfway point of the period, Thistles captain Tommy Phillips scored a power-play goal to draw his team within one, but Walsh notched his second goal of the game a minute later to restore the Vics' two-goal edge. Taylor tacked on a late marker to complete a playoff hat trick and run the score up to 6-3. When the final buzzer sounded, the Victorias had completed their series comeback and earned their fifth Creighton Cup in nine seasons of play. As for the Thistles, this snake-bitten franchise has experienced yet another heartbreak. Maybe next year, boys, maybe next year!

Retro Fun

My new Evercade EXP is totally rad! I'm really digging the retro gaming fun, so much so that I can overlook the system's piss-poor battery life. (Seriously, it's that bad.) With some vacation time coming up next week, I picked up a smattering of cartridges, each of which is a collection of ten to twenty retro games. 

I bought one particular cartridge, I have to admit, solely for game Drakkhen. I have such vivid memories of playing this D&D-inspired fantasy RPG on my old Tandy 1000 SX back in middle school. The game was revolutionary for its time, and mind-bendingly difficult. I never finished it, and it aggravated me to no end, but I always had a healthy respect for this game. I'm delighted to be able to give it another go on the Evercade. I've already rolled up my party, and we're on our way!

Round 1 Recap

We're all set for the Season 9 Creighton Cup Finals! The first-place Victorias will take on the second-place Thistles in the best-of-five championship series. How did we get here? Round 1 recap below!

Victorias over Bulldogs, 3-0

Yes, it was a sweep, but it wasn't as easy as it looks. In Game 1, Newsy Lalonde picked up a hat trick, only for the Dogs' Tommy Dunderdale to score twice in the third period to tie the game at three. Lalonde then ripped his fourth of the game in overtime to give the Vics a crucial series-opening win. Game 2 was also close, with the Bulldogs again scoring twice in the third, but this time coming up just short. Hobey Baker notched four points (2 goals, 2 assists) in that one. Only in the third and final game did the Victorias earn a decisive win, skating to an easy 4-1 triumph.

Thistles over Comets, 3-2

This was, hands down, the most entertaining and exciting postseason series I've ever played, in any sport, in any medium. The Comets and Thistles are both run-and-gun teams with questionable goaltending, so no lead was every truly safe. In Game 1, the Comets' Frank Foyston racked up four points (1 goal, 3 assists) as the visitors seemed destined for an upset win, until Thistles rookie Didier Pitre scored in the final two minutes to force overtime. A Thistles penalty brought a stunned silence to the hometown crowd, but captain Tommy Phillips ended the game with a thrilling shorthanded goal. The final score was 6-5 for the Thistles, but Game 2 would feature even more scoring. Pitre had four points (2 goals, 2 assists), but the Comets twice overcame two-goal deficits to stay in the game. Former MVP Blair Russell tied the game in the closing seconds, setting up another overtime contest. This time, defenseman Mike Grant tallied the sudden-death winner in a wild 7-6 triumph for the Comets. The Thistles pulled away late in Game 3 to win 4-1, but star winger Alf Smith left with an injury and missed Game 4 as well. That fourth game was do-or-die time for the Comets, who were now facing elimination. Both teams held leads, but the score was tied at three in the third period until Foyston scored late in the frame to give the Comets a season-saving win. Back at home for a decisive Game 5, the Thistles found themselves in an early hole before righting the ship and taking a lead they wouldn't relinquish, clinching the series with a 4-2 win behind two goals from Playoff MVP frontrunner Jack Darragh. Home-ice advantage was critical in this series, as the home team won every game. 

On to the Cup Finals!

Retail Therapy

Although I'm not a big video game guy, comparatively speaking, I've always been a fan of handheld systems -- most recently the PlayStation Portable (PSP), but going back to the GameBoy Advance SP and even the ahead-of-its-time Atari Lynx. 

I've had a hankering lately for portable game action, and today's "freemium" style of mobile device gaming just kind of annoys me, even when the games are D&D or Warhammer or DC or some other brand I would otherwise be interested in. As such, my hope was to find a high-quality, modern handheld platform that plays retro games. Given that work is just, well, ugh these days, I decided on a bit of retail therapy and ordered the Evercade XP. Super excited to revisit some classic games from my childhood!

Sheer Dominance

Cyclone Taylor may be the best overall player in the nine-season history of my Strat-O-Matic hockey league, but for sheer offensive dominance, Taylor's teammate Newsy Lalonde might just take the cake. Now with four seasons under his belt, Lalonde is second to Taylor in career points per game and second to Frank McGee in career goals per game. He won numerous awards over his first three campaigns, and this year, he had a shot to capture a scoring title and/or Forward MVP trophy until an injury derailed his season. 

Fortunately for the Vics, Lalonde was healthy in time for the playoffs and got things started off with a bang. In the first game of the opening-round series against the defending-champion Bulldogs, he scored a natural hat trick, only to watch his teammates squander a 3-1 third-period lead. No matter. In overtime, Lalonde scored again, delivering the first four-goal game in playoff history.

Playoff Preview

At long last, the playoffs for Season 9 are here! A quick preview of the first-round action...

Victorias (1st) vs. Bulldogs (4th)
Wait, the Vics finished in first place?! Shocker! Once again, the league's most successful franchise cakewalked through the regular season, pacing the circuit in goals per game (3.25), goals against per game (2.25), and goal differential (+20). Led by Forward MVP candidate Hobey Baker, this team was dominant at five-on-five hockey, but special teams could be their undoing in the postseason: they were middle-of-the-pack in penalty killing and dead last in power play. The Vics will take on the Bulldogs, the team that dethroned them in the Creighton Cup Finals last year. The Dogs finished with a +1 differential despite being the only playoff team to have a sub-.500 record (6-7-7). They were carried by the dominant top line of Bruce Stuart, Gord Roberts, and Tommy Dunderdale, as well as Defenseman MVP frontrunner Si Griffis.

Thistles (2nd) vs. Comets (3rd)
The Thistles missed the playoffs last year but turned things around here in Season 9. I suspect some of their success was the result of luck, however, as their gaudy 8-4-8 record is undercut by a middling +1 goal differential. But with the league's best power play and legions of attacking forwards (including star rookie Didier Pitre), the Thistles can run and gun with anybody. They'll need to be at their best to defeat the Comets, who came on strong as the league's hottest team in the second half. The turning point for the Comets was bringing back former franchise icon Billy Gilmour, who played at an MVP pace once he cracked the lineup midway through the year. 

900

After adding a couple of new NPCs to flesh out one of the world's major organizations, my Druid Cycle spreadsheet now sits at an even 900 named characters. It's kind of fun to filter the list by location, affiliation, time period, etc. How many cultists of Deimos & Phobos are active in the Imperial Palace of Troya Nova right now? Wow, more I would have thought...

A New Millennium

I had the opportunity to pass through my beloved Rochester last week and, needless to say, I planned to swing by Millennium Games -- aka the greatest game store in the history of humankind. However, I experienced a moment of panic when I saw that Millennium's familiar storefront was empty! I soon realized that the store had moved to a new location (1125 Jefferson Road, for those who know the city), which is bigger and better than either of their previous locations in that little Henrietta Townline Plaza off of West Henrietta. Millennium continues to impress me with every visit. They're a true gem of the gaming community!

Milestones

I ran my first campaign -- Earth Commanders, a superhero game using the Champions rules -- back in the summer of 1988. Although I don't have the specific start date, it was sometime after school ended, so maybe right about this time of year. Today's as good a day as any to celebrate thirty-five years of gamemastering Front Porch campaigns. I'm grateful to all the players who've joined me on this journey and shared their boundless imaginations to bring these games to life. Here's to 35 more years (at least!) of roleplaying fun!

There are a couple more milestones in 2023 that are also well worth mentioning. It's a big year for the Druid Cycle setting. Although, technically, I created this world in 1991 for the Fate of the Grand Duchy campaign (marking the first appearance of Tim W's Lwcus, one of the most important Front Porch characters of all time!), that storyline took place in the early history of the Druid Cycle world. The first campaign set in the "current" time period started in 1993 -- thirty years ago! -- with the rise of Jason's paladin Sir Roberts and Scott's cleric Stalker. If we skip ahead five more years, to 1998, we come to another milestone: the introduction of Tim W's wizard Cathbad and Kevin's cleric Senchan, who both helped shape the course of world events. A big shout-out to Scott and Jason on the thirtieth anniversary of their iconic characters, and likewise to Tim and Kevin on the twenty-fifth anniversary of theirs!

It's fitting, then, that 2023 is the year I brought my kids into the Druid Cycle setting. Why did I wait so long? Well, when the boys started playing D&D six years ago, I used my Shattered Realm setting for something a bit smaller and less complex than the Druid Cycle world, and they grew to love their characters so much that we just kept going in that world. Now I feel the time is right to get them into the big leagues, so to speak. Their first introduction to my largest campaign setting came a couple of months ago when we started an online campaign with their older cousins in Chicago. However, I have something special up my sleeve just for Matthew and Nathaniel: a second game in this world that will be a true sequel to the original 1993 Druid Cycle campaign. As the late lamented Sir Roberts might say, "Bring it on!"