Season 13 Creighton Cup

The Season 13 semifinals were pretty shocking! I didn't expect both series to end in sweeps or for both series to have such lopsided goal differentials. I was pretty excited, though, for the Creighton Cup finals matchup. This was the first time that the finals did not include one of the league's First Four teams (Bulldogs, Comets, Thistles, Victorias). Instead, it was a battle of expansion teams!

The semifinals also teed up some interesting themes that I wanted to monitor in the finals. The Bearcats' power play came to life (33.33%) after finishing dead last in the regular season (10.00%), and it was a major contributing factor to the Cats' upset win over the Bulldogs. So too was goaltending. Crusty veteran Riley Hern outdueled superstar Hap Holmes, finishing with an astounding .973 save percentage! For the Millionaires, Georges Vezina was almost as impressive at .961. Vezina's heroics, in fact, masked some of the Millies' first-round shortcomings: They failed to score a power-play goal after finishing first in that statistic during the regular season (24.07%), and the only player to score more than one goal in the opening round was defenseman Harry Cameron (4).

Who won the ultimate prize? See below for the recap!

• Game 1: The first-place Millionaires started the series at home against the third-place Bearcats. In the first, Joe Malone got the visitors rolling with a goal less than two minutes into the game. The Cats outshot the Millies 18-7 in the first period, dominating the time of possession just as they did against the Dogs in the last round. Scotty Davidson's power-play goal in the second made it 2-0 for the Cats. The Millies finally struck back in the third, on back-to-back goals by Mickey MacKay and Frank Foyston; in that sequence, Cats goalie Riley Hern gave up as many goals in three minutes as he did in three full games against the Bulldogs! There was no further scoring in regulation, nor in the first overtime. In double overtime, Malone tallied his second of the game to win it for the upstart Bearcats. 
• Game 2: The Cats came home with a chance to take a commanding 2-0 series lead. After a scoreless first, the game really opened up in the second period. Jimmy Gardner -- the former  Millies captain who lost even his roster spot late in the regular season due to lack of production and undisciplined play -- cracked the lineup for the first time in the postseason and scored his team's first goal. That lead was quickly erased by Joe Malone, however, but then restored by new Millies captain Harry "Rat" Westwick. The score was 2-1 at the end of the second. Billy McGimsie tied it early in the third, and then Bruce Stuart gave the Cats their first lead with a power-play tally. George Hay got the equalizer for the Millies, so it was 3-3 heading into the final few minutes of regular time. Star blueliner Harry Cameron continued his scorching postseason with his fifth goal of the playoffs, sealing a 4-3 win for the visiting Millionaires and tying the series at one game apiece.
• Game 3: The Millies were home for the third game, but as with Game 1, found themselves in an early hole. The Cats held a huge advantage in time of possession and peppered Georges Vezina with shots until defenseman Frank Patrick -- brother of Millies defenseman Lester Patrick -- got one past Vezina. That goal was followed shortly thereafter by a Billy McGimsie lamp-lighter. The Cats took a 2-0 lead into the second frame, in which there was no scoring. A desperate Millionaires team made a strong push in the third. Frank Foyston got them on the board, but McGimsie's second of the game restored the Cats' two-goal lead. Mickey MacKay scored on the power play to make it 3-2, but the clock ran out before they could get the equalizer. 
• Game 4: With a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series, the Cats had a chance to win the first Creighton Cup in franchise history on home ice -- of course, up to this point, the road team had won every game in the finals. In the first, defensemen Frank Patrick and Harry Cameron traded early goals in a 1-1 contest that quickly became 3-1 after linemates Didier Pitre and Joe Malone scored for the Cats. The Millies suffered a tough blow in the second when Bruce Stuart made it 4-1 in front of the Cats' ecstatic home fans. Although Barney Stanley got one back for the defending champs, they still trailed 4-2 going into the third. Malone and Stanley each scored their second goals of the game, both on the power play, in the third period. The end result was a 5-3 series-clinching victory for the Bearcats. 

It's the first-ever Creighton Cup for the Bearcats and their transcendent superstar Joe Malone, who edged the Millies' Harry Cameron for the Playoff MVP trophy. Classy veteran Fred Maxwell earned the seventh championship of his career, after racking up five with the Victorias and one with the Comets in years past. That's all for now! Season 13 is in the books.

Just When I Thought I Was Out...

 ...they pull me back in! It looked like Lumibricks (nee Funwhole) was wrapping up their cyberpunk line, but some new sets have dropped! I've supplemented the construction of my super-cool city of Vesper with sets from the steampunk and inner-city lines, but now it's back to straight-up cyberpunk to round out the city before staging the first campaign here.

32 Wolf Man

We're getting close to the end of this phase of the boys' Shattered Realm campaign, in which their high-level characters are undertaking a mission to help save the Druid Cycle world from a multiverse-level threat. In the penultimate combat of this storyline, the heroes needed to crash an evil queen's military rally, rescue some hostages before they could be executed, and obtain the magic item neeed for them to help their compatriots in the Druid Cycle world. Matthew's elf rogue manage to shoot the queen with his bow in the first round of combat, but the real challenge was saving the hostages, who were out in the open in the middle of the town square with enemy soldiers closing in on them from all directions. 

Enter...32 Wolf Man!

Nathaniel has long been toying with combat tactics focused on conjuring large numbers of creatures. He's been referring to this idea as "32 Wolf Man," because, using a ninth-level spell, he could conjure a ridiculous 32 wolves at once. And that's exactly what he did in this situation. Wildshaped into an earth elemental, Nathaniel's druid burrowed under the town square, popped up from below ground, and conjured this army of wolves around the helpless hostages. Now forced to hack their way through these two fill rings of celestial beasts, the enemy soldiers were delayed long enough for the heroes to figure out an exit strategy in which they retrieved the magic item from the queen's body and got away with as many of the hostages as they could.

Season 13 Playoffs

The Victorias and Comets franchises have won seven Creighton Cups between them, but they're sitting out this postseason. While they dream of drafting exciting young talent to rebuild for next year, the other four franchises were locking horns in the playoffs. Here's the recap of Round 1!

Semifinal 1: Millionaires (1st) vs. Thistles (4th)

• Game 1: Who notched the first goal of the Season 13 playoffs? Mickey MacKay, Jack Adams, Gord Roberts? Nope, the first tally was a fluky bounce on a shot by Millionaires blueliner Lester Patrick, who had zero goals during the regular season (and a measly two assists). Aging veteran Frank Rankin then scored to give the Millies a 2-0 edge. Early in the second period, Thistles superstar Alf Smith scored to make it 2-1, but Millies icon Barney Stanley restored the two-goal lead late in the frame. MacKay picked up an insurance goal midway through the third. Jack Walker scored late to bring the Thistles within two, but the game ended with a 4-2 victory for the defending Creighton Cup champs.
• Game 2: No jitters on the road for the Millionaires. They scored four times in the first period, ending the frame with a 4-0 lead over the shellshocked Thistles. Harry Westwick scored once, and star defenseman Harry Cameron notched his first playoff hat trick. Hod Stuart got the home team on the board in the second, but there was no further scoring, so the Millionaires left town with a 4-1 victory and a 2-0 series lead.
• Game 3: The Millies came home with a chance to clinch a spot in the Creighton Cup finals. There was no scoring in the first period, which featured some incredible goaltending from the Millies' Georges Vezina (the reigning Playoff MVP) and the Thistles' Hugh Lehman (himself a two-time winner of that aforementioned award). Rookie blueliner Sprague Cleghorn got his first-ever playoff goal to stake the Thistles to a 1-0 lead in the second. By the third period, the Millies were feeling some pressure; they were trailing, and they hadn't scored since the first period of Game 1 -- a stretch of four straight periods. The red-hot Cameron, however, came to the rescue and tied the game. In overtime, the Millies failed to convert on a power play, but sophomore winger George Hay scored moments later to give his team a 2-1 win and a series sweep. 

Semifinal 2: Bulldogs (2nd) vs. Bearcats (3rd)

• Game 1: The Bulldogs, the league's most-penalized team this year, started this series off with some seriously undisciplined play -- three penalties in the first ten minutes of the first period. With the league's worst penalty killing, the Dogs were playing with fire, but managed to kill off all three infractions. Outshot 10-2 in the early going, the Dogs struck first on a goal by Harry Trihey. Shortly thereafter, superstar goaltender Hap Holmes preserved the home team's slim lead with a highlight-reel save on a Scotty Davidson breakaway. In the second period, the Cats finally connected on the power play with a goal by Bruce Stuart. With the score knotted at 1-1 in the third, Joe Malone beat Holmes to give the Cats a 2-1 advantage. At this points, the Bearcats were outshooting the Bulldogs by more than a two-to-one margin, so the Dogs were lucky to be trailing by just a single goal. All hopes were dashed, however, when Stuart scored another power-play goal, driving a dagger into the heart of the team that had traded him for Holmes after Season 11. The final was 3-1 for the visiting Bearcats in a huge upset.
• Game 2: Penalties were devastating for the Bulldogs in Game 1. Could the Dogs maintain their composure in Game 2 on the road? Things got off to a rocky start for them in the first when the Cats' Billy McGimsie (acquired in a midseason trade with the Victorias) scored, followed shortly thereafter by defenseman Dickie Boon. In the second, Scotty Davidson extended the Cats' lead to 3-0 with a power-play goal. Moose Johnson, in a vain attempt to atone for his many penalties in the series, scored to bring the Dogs within two, but it was all Cats after that. Didier Pitre made it 4-1, and then Davidson scored again in the third to extend the Cats' lead to 5-1. Needless to say, superstar Bulldogs goaltender Hap Holmes had a bit of an off-day.
• Game 3: Up 2-0 in the series, the underdog Cats ("undercats"?) attempted to finish off the series on the road. They got some early momentum in the first when Dickie Boon scored on the power play after yet another careless penalty by Moose Johnson. Late in the second period, veteran speedster Fred "Steamer" Maxwell (who has suited up for more playoff games than anyone in league history) scored to make it 2-0 for the Cats. With their season hanging in the balance and one period to make up the deficit, the Bulldogs needed to come out strong in the third period. They didn't. Holmes was magnificent and finished with 34 saves, many of them spectacular, but his team let him down. The Cats' Riley Hern picked up the second playoff shutout of his career as the game ended 2-0.

Next up: The Season 13 Creighton Cup championship series with the Millionaires against the Bearcats! (And for the Bulldogs? An offseason of humiliation and finger-pointing after scoring just two goals in the Bearcats' three-game sweep.)

Secret Identities

Foxy Shazam was live in Reno tonight, and you'd better believe I was rocking out right up front!

They sure sound a lot like Clark Kent's favorite band. Hey, did I just discover the secret identity of the Mighty Crabjoys?!

FCBD 2026

Today is Free Comic Book Day!

Season 13 Highlights

Season 13 was exciting down to the very last game, which the Millionaires won to secure their second consecutive regular-season pennant (and thus home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs), denying the Bulldogs their first-ever pennant in the process. It was a frantic second half for the Millies (the reigning Creighton Cup champions), whose midseason swoon resulted in Jimmy Gardner being stripped of his captaincy as well as his roster spot, and Harry "Rat" Westwick taking over as captain. The Millies needed several late-game goals to salvage enough wins and ties to sneak ahead of the Bulldogs, who look like the league's strongest team (with a league-best +11 goal differential). I thought the Dogs would claim first place in the end, but the Millies' Mickey MacKay really elevated his play over the last few games and ended up winning the Scoring Championship (12 goals, 18 assists) for the second year in a row. MacKay also won the Forward MVP, edging out Bearcats superstar Joe Malone (last year's winner) and the Bulldogs' Jack Adams, who managed to rack up 22 points despite missing a decent chunk of the season due to injury. For the blueliners, stalwart veteran Hod Stuart captured his second Defenseman MVP trophy a full ten seasons after winning it for the first time; he delivered an impressive mix of offense and defense (7 goals, 11 assists, +8) to beat the Bulldogs' Moose Johnson (a league-leading +16) and defending trophy winner Harry Cameron of the Millies. Stuart's teammate Sprague Cleghorn won Rookie of the Year, becoming only the second blueliner ever to win that award. The season's most dominant performance, however, belonged to the Bulldogs' Hap Holmes, who claimed his third Goaltender MVP trophy after posting a 1.75 goals-against average and a .943 save percentage, which was the highest single-season save percentage in league history.

Cypher Musings

With a new edition of the Cypher System on the way this summer, I thought it would be interesting to reflect on how it's worked out in Front Porch campaigns over the past year. The first thing to note, however, is the small sample size. To date, we've done one in-person Cypher campaign (Vanguard Saga, with three players) and two email-based campaigns (another Vanguard Saga storyline and the revamped Torchlight, each with one player); compare those numbers to decades of D&D -- Druid Cycle, Shattered Realm, and so much more. That said, I think I have enough experience with Cypher to make some general observations about the rules and how we're using them. 

The most important point is that I'm very satisfied with Cypher as the default game system for the Front Porch multiverse. It's fast and easy, very flexible across genres, and well suited for narrative games. Long-running campaigns like the Druid Cycle setting will always be D&D, but at this moment I can't really imagine starting a new campaign that didn't use Cypher. My upcoming Vesper project, for example, is going to be our test run for the new Cypher edition.

So what else have I learned about Cypher from a year's worth of gaming? Below are some observations about how the experience at our table differs from the rules as written. 

• Back when I was just getting started with Cypher, Matt suggested a minor house rule to help ensure that ranged attacks at close range were not unequivocally superior to melee attacks. This house rule has worked out very well.
• In our family Vanguard campaign, Nathaniel created an android speedster whose many ways to ease Speed defense rolls has made him virtually untouchable by conventional attacks. Not everyone is out there trying to break the system, of course, but Nathaniel showed that even with a system designed by the best of the best in the gaming industry, it's quite possible to build unbalanced characters. 
• To help address the aforementioned problem, I created a house rule that enables certain low-level characters (such as troops who are part of a unit) to "gang up" on a single target more effectively. Nathaniel's android still runs circles around everyone, but at least now he has to be wary of large groups of foes taking aim at him all at once.
• No one remembers cyphers. I know it's supposed to be a big deal in the Cypher System, and it's right there in the name of the game, but cyphers still feel like a clunky add-on and not a core part of the game mechanics. 
• I love coming up with nasty GM Intrusions when players roll a 1 on their d20 checks, but all other GM Intrusions feel forced. When should something be an Intrusion rather than just a regular challenge for the PCs to overcome? Maybe I should think about Intrusions as "optional" encounters that players can either take on for the XP, or pay XP to avoid? Well, I guess, but that leads me to the final point...
• Players only use XP for advancement. In Cypher, players can spend XP for rerolls, for Player Intrusions, to avoid GM Intrusions, etc., but in practice, I've found that players don't use XP for any of these things. Only once -- and quite memorably -- did a player spend XP on a Player Intrusion, and that was when an NPC's life was at stake. Similarly, I think we've only had one or two instances when a player spent XP on a reroll. I guess it's nice to have these options in your pocket, but our experience is that players hoard XP for advancement. That realization, of course, has changed how I hand out XP; when players don't use it for all these other purposes, I have to slow down the XP rate or the characters will advance too quickly.

What changes will the new edition bring? I'm eager to find out. Here's to another year of Cypher gaming!

Another Torment Ended

I finished up Torment: Tides of Numenera, and found it to be...pretty fun! I'm still not a huge fan of the Numenera setting, and the game's voluminous text was a lot to get through (even just skimming it!), but I greatly enjoyed Torment as an example of the Cypher System translated into video game format. Spending points from your pools, applying levels of Effort, getting a "discount" from your Edge -- all that stuff felt very true to the paper-and-pencil game. I would love to see another video game make use of the Cypher System at some point.

Season 13 at the Halfway Point

I'm playing through the thirteenth season of my old-timey Strat-O-Matic hockey league, and we have some interesting storylines developing at the midway mark. The reigning Creighton Cup champions, the Millionaires, are comfortably in first place, although not quite as dominant as they were a year ago. They're followed by the Bearcats, who have continued their strong run from the second half of last season; the Cats are the league's best five-on-five team, but they're held back by a power play and penalty kill that are both dead last -- by a lot! -- in the league. The Thistles have climbed into the playoff picture on the strength of all-around improved play, just slightly ahead of the fourth-place Bulldogs, whose offensive woes in last year's playoffs have continued, especially after an injury to Jack Adams temporarily robbed them off their best playmaker. The Victorias and Comets, at fifth and sixth, respectively, are currently outside the playoff picture. Fortunately for the non-playoff teams, there's some amazing talent available in the Season 14 entry draft. The Victorias got started early with their rebuild, shipping five-time Creighton Cup winner Billy McGimsie to the Cats for a talented but penalty-prone young center named Frankie Fredrickson. 

Looking ahead to the end-of-season awards for individual players, the Scoring Championship is shaping up to be a two-way race between Bearcats superstar Joe Malone (5 goals, 9 assists) and last year's titlist, Mickey MacKay (5 goals, 7 assists) of the Millionaires. These two stars are also vying for the Forward MVP trophy, although I'd say the frontrunner is Malone's teammate Didier Pitre, whose 7 goals lead the league. The race for Defenseman MVP is wide open, as no blueliner has yet to distinguish himself from the pack. The Millies' Harry Cameron might pick up a second straight trophy, but Frank Patrick of the Bearcats is tops in the league in plus-minus at +9. A rejuvanted Hod Stuart of the Thistles, the winner way back in Season 3, might also make some noise. In a lackluster year for freshmen, Thistles blueliner Sprague Cleghorn will likely win Rookie of the Year by default. Saving the most striking stats for last, can I just declare that all six starting netminders should share the Goaltender MVP award? Goalies are dominating even more than last season; in fact, the average save percentage for all goaltenders has risen from .908 in Season 11 to .917 in Season 12 to an astounding and utterly unsustainable .931 this season! Hap Holmes of the Bulldogs leads at .942, followed by Riley Hern of the Cats at .936; both men are two-time winners of the Goaltender MVP. 

A Novel Approach to Video Games

Torment: Tides of Numenera is great at world-building and presenting unique, complex NPC characters. It does, however, share a drawback of its spiritual predecessor, Planescape: Torment, in that there's a lot of text to read. As with the prior game, I find myself skimming the dialogue until something triggers an update to the Journal, where I can get a more concise version of what's going on. It's still fun, but man, it's like reading a novel.

A New Torment

Once upon a time, I played through the highly regarded Planescape: Torment, although I have little recolleciton of having done so. (It's referenced on this blog, however, so it must be true!) Since it's a kind of spiritual successor to Planescape: Torment, and since I'm a big fan of the Cypher System, I've had my eye on Torment: Tides of Numera for a while. The game was massively discounted on Steam, so I decided to pick it up. It's pretty cool to see Cypher represented in a computer game! I'm only about an hour into the campaign, but I'm enjoying it so far. 

Sanctuary

In our family Vanguard Saga campaign, the heroes have undertaken a new mission to the barren but mineral-rich world of Elysion. After being separated from their transport ship, the companions make their way on foot to the nearest settlement, a ramshackle mining community known as Sanctuary. Here's a shot of the group and their Sanctuary Militia escorts approaching the town...

And now a zoomed-in view of the community. Note the cute little outhouse! Aside from that a few other items, the rest of the stuff was 3D printed and painted by yours truly. Inside, the buildings are all stocked with beds, tables, chairs, etc., and plenty of NPCs for the heroes to interact with.

Here's a shot of Sanctuary from the front...

And a side view...

I wonder if any wasteland-dwelling raiders will attack this place while the heroes are here...?

Dune 3 Trailer

Oh baby...

Numenera

I'm not a huge fan of the Numenera setting, but I backed the Numenera: The Amber Archive crowdfunding campaign at the lowest level so that I could pick up some of the intriguing add-ons. There's still another week or so before the campaign ends.

Run Completed

I finished up Shadowrun Returns and overall it was a pretty solid game, although a bit shorter than I expected. The first-act mystery -- someone is killing people who all received organs from the same donor -- was a creepy and memorable premise. I also really enjoyed a combat that occurred right after confirming the identity of the master villain behind that killer. I'll set the stage without giving away the plot. You and various NPCs are attending the funeral of an old friend. After some guests depart, you confront the master villain, who is also in attendance. That character escapes and unleashes mercenary teams that attack you and your NPC allies from multiple directions. It's a wild, chaotic battle, where you're hiding behind tombstones, sneaking around mausoleums, and trying desperately to avoid being surrounded. And then, to make matters worse, the gunfire awakens a pack of ghouls, who burst from their graves and start attacking everyone. Ah, good fun! 

Blind Shot

We had quite the epic moment in our Shattered Realm campaign today. The champions of the realm were responding to an urgent call for help from some of their closest NPC friends, and they arrived to find a beloved community besieged by army of ogres led by a hideous, hunchbacked hag. When the ogres breached the town gates, the heroes rushed to hold back these monstrous foes, but the hag herself perched upon the walls and bedeviled them with spells. Nathaniel's ranger spent most of the battle stunned (although his loyal animal companion proved to be quite an effective tank in a pinch), and Matthew's rogue was blinded more often than not. During one turn in which the rogue was blind, he nevertheless managed to fire a crossbow bolt that not only hit the hag high atop the wall, but scored a crit. It wasn't the hit that defeated this foe, but it was an absolutely absolutely legendary shot that we'll always remember!

Shadowrun Returns

I mentioned recently that Nathaniel was playing through the classic Mass Effect, which Matt had gifted me many years ago. Another game he graciously gifted me was Shadowrun: Dragonfall. I've been thinking about cyberpunk a lot lately with my city of Vesper under construction, so I decided to check out the predecessor of Dragonfall, Shadowrun Returns. It's been a while since I've played any video game that wasn't on an Evercade platform, and I'm really enjoying a return to the Shadowrun universe!

What Happened to Dolorous Edd?!

As a guy who grew up doing some pretty spot-on (if I do say so myself!) voice impersonations of the Muppets and other pop-culture characters, I appreciate a good voice. I've always admired the work of voiceover actors like Frank Welker, Peter Cullen, and the guy with maybe the best voice in the history of humanity, Keith David. As a gamemaster, I like to incorporate custom voices for key NPCs in my campaign worlds, perhaps most notably in the Druid Cycle setting; Cyfrinach, Iskander, Cerdyn, Pyrrhus, and many others have had very distinctive voices. 

Over the past year, I've been listening to the Song of Ice and Fire series on Audible. The books were narrated by the late, great Roy Dotrice and -- wow! -- did this guy have an amazing reading voice! Over the first three books, Dotrice built an immense variety of custom voices for the main characters. His work on this series wasn't just a reading, but a true performance. 

I'm now getting into the fourth book, A Feast for Crows, and, well, it's a different experience. I understand that Dotrice wasn't available to record this book when it first came out and then returned to read it many years after he had narrated the others in the series. The result is pretty jarring. There are major changes in how he pronounces names like "Catelyn" and "Petyr", but also in the voices he uses for the characters. Some of the biggest changes are to major players like Arya and Petyr. The one that really hit me the hardest, though, was the voice of my absolute favorite supporting character, Dolorous Edd. A member of the Night's Watch and close friend of Jon Snow, Edd provides a lot of self-deprecating wit and comic relief. Dotrice's original voice for Edd always put a smile on my face, but the voice used in Feast is so bland and undistinguished that I almost wince when I hear it. 

If I ever screw up the voices in our campaigns, please call me on it. An unexpected change to the voice of a character can really take you out of the moment!

Mass From the Past

Over a decade ago, Matt gifted me a copy of Mass Effect, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Nathaniel found the whole series on Steam today at a mass-ive (!) discount, so now he's going to give it a whirl. Brings back great memories!

BGTV

Super excited about emphatically not watching this show...

Vesper Is Growing!

Back into the Funwhole! I picked up another big cyberpunk building set from Lumibricks. The mysterious city of Vesper is growing...

Gratitude

These days, I'm especially grateful for the opportunity to spend time with my family. We had a quiet weekend at home, and free time enough to play all three active campaigns: the revived Shattered Realm campaign with Matthew and Nathaniel, the Zoom-based Druid Cycle game with the boys and their cousins in Michigan, and finally the Vanguard Saga campaign with the boys and Amy. Any weekend we can get together around the ol' RPG table is a blessing.

MotU Trailer

HELL YES!

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

The latest GoT spinoff, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, premieres tonight on HBO!

MotU Madness

The boys got the core set for Masters of the Universe: Battleground for Christmas, and we finally made the time to try it out this afternoon. For a game based on a kids' show that features fast, crazy action, Battleground plays about as fast as Ram Man trying to solve calculus equations. There's a lot of tactical depth, however, and the game reminds me a lot of Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team. 

In today's smackdown, Matthew played as the good guys (He-Man, Man-at-Arms, and Stratos), while Nathaniel had the baddies (Skeletor, Mer-Man, and my all-time favorite MotU villain, Trapjaw). He-Man claimed an objective token in the first round to give the heroes an early lead, but Mer-Man and Skeletor focused fire on the big guy and brought him down shockingly quickly. That's right, folks -- He-Man was the first character to get knocked out! Trapjaw and Stratos had also fallen by the fourth and final round, leaving just Skeletor, Mer-Man, and Man-at-Arms on the battlefield. Matthew had a chance to win the game by knocking out Mer-Man, but the slippery villain somehow dodged the attack. As such, the game ended in a draw. 

I'm sure Battleground plays a lot faster once you master all the rules and options, but it felt painfully slow and fiddly. Nathaniel really liked it, so I'm sure we'll give it another whirl with other characters -- I mean, we've gotta see what Orko can do, right?!

2026!

I just can't even wrap my mind around the fact that it's 2026. It should be 1989 -- and 2026 is the year of a cyberpunk campaign I'm running on Sugar Mountain BBS. 

2026 is also the year I hit the half-century mark. Yikes...

Fun With Maps

We're all sick with the flu, but at least we got the opportunity to do a quiet, low-energy family project together -- a puzzle depicting a map of the Game of Thrones world. I'm falling in love with this world all over again as I listen to the series on Audible, so it's been great sharing little nuggets of story lore with Amy and the boys as we've built the map together. The first layer of the puzzle is a conventional jigsaw...

This set also includes an overlay with another (far less complex) puzzle of soft foam pieces into which you can insert three-dimensional plastic models of the world's most famous cities and castles. Here's a look at the puzzle with those elements included...

It's been a slow and kind of miserable week, but at least we did something, right?

Welcome to the Funwhole

Hoping a new project would give me a bit of a distraction from real life, I picked up some building sets from Lumibricks, the company formerly known as...Funwhole. (Yes, really.) Lumibricks has a cool cyberpunk line, so I'm now in the process of building a pretty bad-ass near-future city (called Vesper) that looks awesome when lit up. I'll share some photos when I get a diorama finalized -- first I need to figure out a good way to create a road system between the various buildings. I've already got some ideas for how I can incorporate a city like this into my gaming multiverse using the Cypher System.

Waiting Game

Cypher seems to have moved into the fulfillment stage of the Backerkit campaign. Really, really looking forward to the new edition. How much longer now...?

Season 12 Creighton Cup

Before this series started, I would have characterized it as the irresistible force of the Millionaires' offense (16 goals in 4 games) versus the immovable object that is goaltender Hap Holmes of the Bulldogs (.942 save percentage in the first round). Did both sides live up to those expectations? Read on to find out!

• The injury to key defenseman Phat Wilson loomed over the Millionaires as they took the ice for Game 1, but Barney Stanley got the home crowd rocking with a power-play goal in the first. After a scoreless second, Mickey MacKay scored with the man advantage in the third to make it 2-0 for the Millies. Their captain, Jimmy Gardner -- possibly in his final season with the Millionaires -- made it 3-0 late in the frame. Georges Vezina stopped all 27 shots for his first-ever playoff shutout. 
• Game 2 shifted to the Bulldogs' rink, and once again the Millies got a first-period power-play goal, this time from Gardner. Harry Cameron scored late in the second to make it 2-0. You may have noticed that I haven't mentioned any Bulldog goals yet; well, they went more than five straight periods without a goal before Jack Adams lit the lamp on the power play to make it 2-1 in the opening minute of the third. Neither team found the back of the net again, however, so the Millionaires claimed a 2-0 series lead. 
• With Wilson returning to their lineup, the Millionaires looked to win the Cup on home ice. They started started Game 3 on the right track with a George Hay power-play goal, making it three straight games with a power-play goal in the first. Tom Hooper tied it late in the period, but Hay scored his second of the game in the closing seconds to restore the Millies' lead. There was no scoring in the second -- the calm before the storm, so to speak. It was an absolutely wild third period. Gord Roberts scored early in the frame to tie the score at 2, but Wilson got one right back for the home team. Now leading 3-2, the Millies found themselves about nine minutes away from a championship. The crowd held its breath when Barney Stanley was called for a careless penalty, but soon they erupted in cheers when Mickey MacKay snagged a loose puck and skated the length of the ice for a breakaway shorthanded goal to make it 4-2. And...well...that's when it all started to come unraveled for the Millies. The Dogs still were on the power play, of course, and Roberts notched his second goal of the game before the penalty expired. The score remained 4-3 until the final minute, when Hooper scored his second of the night to tie it up. The Millies' fans could only watch in stunned silence when, moments later, Bulldogs captain Si Griffis blasted a slapshot from the blueline that ended the game. With a 5-4 overtime victory, the Dogs had survived to fight another day.
• After the their miraculous comeback, the Dogs returned home for Game 4 hoping to force a winner-take-all Game 5. A tepid first period ended with no scoring. Neither team scored in the second, either, and it was clear that Georges Vezina was back at the top of his game after his meltdown in Game 3. Frank Foyston gave the visiting Millies a 1-0 lead with a goal early in the third, and from that point the Dogs mounted a relentless attack on Vezina. The second-year netminder held firm, however, and among his many highlight-reel saves was a beauty of a stop on a Jack Laviolette slapshot with just over two minutes to play. Vezina held the line and delivered a 34-save shutout. 

By a 3-1 margin, the Millionaires won the series and their second Creighton Cup in franchise history. Vezina edged teammate MacKay and rival goaltender Holmes for the Playoff MVP trophy, finishing with a 1.88 goals-against average and .943 save percentage across both rounds of the playoffs. He also became the first goaltender ever to record multiple shutouts in a single playoff series. 

That just about wraps it up for Season 12. Stay tuned for Season 13, when we'll introduce one of hockey's all-time most fascinating characters -- SPRAGUE CLEGHORN!

Season 12 Playoffs

In the opening round, we had the first-place Millionaires against the red-hot fourth-place Bearcats in one semifinal series and the league's most storied rivalry -- the Victorias against the Bulldogs -- in the other. Here's how it all went down! 

Semifinal 1: Millionaires vs. Bearcats

• Game 1 of the first semifinal opened with a bang as Bruce Stuart of the Bearcats and Jimmy Gardner of the Millionaires took early penalties for roughing up members of the opposing teams. When tempers cooled and everyone got down to playing hockey, Joe Malone tallied twice to stake the visiting Cats to a 2-0 lead by the midway point of the second period. The Millies soon found their footing; franchise icon Barney Stanley scored, followed shortly thereafter by rookie George Hay, and the game remained tied late into the third period. Defenseman Phat Wilson launched a long-range slapper that eluded Riley Hern to give the Millies their first lead, and despite a furious assault by Malone in the closing seconds, the home team eked out a 3-2 victory. 
• The Cats turned the tables at home in Game 2; despite Mickey MacKay and George Hay scoring on back-to-back shots in the first, the Cats notched the next four goals -- by Frank Patrick, captain Harry Trihey, Didier Pitre, and superstar Joe Malone -- to claim a 4-2 win. However, an injury to Patrick cast a long shadow over their victory. 
• Game 3, back on the Millies' home ice, opened with Harry Cameron and Didier Pitre trading goals, but tallies by Mickey MacKay and Jimmy Gardner allowed the Millies to build a 3-1 lead by the end of the first. Frank Foyston tacked on a power-play goal in the second, and the Millies cruised to a 4-1 victory and 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series. 
• On the road in Game 4, the Millies started slowly with a goal by MacKay in the first, then exploded for five more -- another by MacKay, two from Foyston, and one each from George Hay and Harry Westwick -- in the second, while the Cats could counter only with a power-play tally from Malone. Bruce Stuart scored for the Bearcats in the third to make it 6-2, but MacKay responded with his third goal -- giving him a hat trick and two assists for a playoff-record five points in a single game -- to seal the 7-2 win. However, a late injury to defenseman Phat Wilson muted the Millies' celebrations as they prepared to vie for their second Creighton Cup in franchise history. 

Semifinal 2: Victorias vs. Bulldogs

• In the first game of the Victorias/Bulldogs series, the Vics held a 2-0 third-period lead on goals by Newsy Lalonde and Cyclone Taylor. Dogs defender Jack Laviolette scored to make things interesting, but Billy McGimsie's late goal sealed a 3-1 win for the home team. 
• The Dogs hosted Game 2, and scores from Ollie Seibert and Tommy Dunderdale set up a 2-0 win that evened the series at one game apiece. Hap Holmes was absolutely brilliant in a 33-save shutout. 
• A frustrated Vics team came out shooting in Game 3, but it was former Victorias winger Fred "Steamer" Maxwell who scored to give the visiting Bulldogs a 1-0 lead. Cyclone Taylor tied the game late in the first, and the score remained unchanged through the end of regulation. Gord Roberts won it for the Dogs in overtime, but Holmes was again the story of the game, making 35 saves in another stellar performance. Games like this are exactly why the Dogs made their blockbuster offseason trade to bring in a truly elite netminder. 
• Game 4 began with Gord Roberts scoring twice in the first period, with Lalonde getting one back for the Vics. In the second, Billy McGimsie tied the score at 2-2, and it remained unchanged until the Vics' Marty Walsh tallied a late power-play goal to give the Victorias a 3-2 victory and even the series at two games each. 
• Game 5, on the Vics' home ice, would be the winner-take-all finale. In the first, Roberts put the visitors up by one; with that lamp-lighter, the star left winger had scored the last four goals for the Dogs, dating back to the first period of Game 3. The Vics answered back on a goal by Billy McGimsie, continuing his strong postseason. In the second, Taylor tallied on the power play to give the Vics a 2-1 lead. In the third, however, sophomore superstar Jack Adams got his first goal of the playoffs and, two minutes later, Tommy Dunderdale scored as well. The Vics' 2-1 lead had quickly become a 3-2 deficit, and the score would not change again. 

Next up: The Creighton Cup championship series between the Millionaires and the Bulldogs!

Season 12 Highlights

The top highlight of Season 12 is that last year's Creighton Cup champs, the Comets, cratered in the second half. Even so, they had an opportunity to claim the fourth and final playoff spot on the season's last day, but lost to the cellar-dwelling Thistles. On the flip side, last year's worst team, the Millionaires, jumped all the way to first place as their talented young core took a huge collective step forward. No one on the Millies exemplified this improvement more than third-year center Mickey MacKay, who harnessed his prodigious talent and won the scoring title (11 goals, 20 assists) by a single point over perennial contender Cyclone Taylor. Taylor was also denied the Defenseman MVP trophy, which went to Millionaires star Harry Cameron, who mixed elite offense (10 goals, 15 assists) with solid play in his own end; at +17, he was tops in the league, while the next-best player was just +10. Speaking of MVPs, the Forward MVP was a close race involving MacKay, his teammate Frank Foyston, and Bulldogs center Jack Adams, but the award ended up going to Joe Malone, who led the league in goals with 15 (no one else had more than 11). Malone scored a whopping 29% of the Bearcats' goals, and his late-season heroics helped propel the Cats into the playoffs. Before I move on to the postseason, however, I should comment on the continued decline in scoring. Teams scored just 2.48 goals per game this year (in contrast to 2.76 last year). Goalies dominated the league like never before, with the Victorias' Bowse Hutton (.937 save percentage and a seventh Goaltender MVP trophy), the Bulldogs' Hap Holmes (.928), and the Millionaires' George Vezina (.927) leading the way.

Campaign Crossover

The boys wanted to get back to their old Shattered Realm characters, so I cooked up a bit of a campaign crossover with the upcoming Druid Cycle storyline. It's been fun to revisit so many fun Shattered Realm NPCs and locations!

Season 12 at the Halfway Point

With a lot of not-so-great stuff going on personally and professionally, I haven't been able to jump into fun stuff like Strat-O-Matic with the same time and energy as in years past. I am, however, chipping away at Season 12 in my historical hockey league. It's shaping up to be a really fun season!

The biggest story at the halfway point (each team having played 10 of their 20 regular-season games) is the resurgence of the Millionaires, who've finished dead last for three straight seasons. As of today, the Millies are sitting in first place at 6-1-3 and have already surpassed their Season 11 win total. Their years-long string of futility has allowed the them to draft high-end talent, and those young players are starting to come together here in Season 12. With a league-best +11 goal differential, the team's success seems legitimate and not the result of a lucky streak. With a deep roster of forwards who play a relentless attacking style, the Millies are fun to watch. It's too early to say whether they'll hang on to first place, but a return to the playoffs appears to be a certainty. 

How about the rest of the league? The Victorias are a well oiled machine and running a strong second, followed by the Bulldogs and the defending Creighton Cup champions, the Comets. With a -5 goal differential and many underperforming players, the Comets are really suffering from a post-Cup hangover. The Bearcats and Thistles will likely be chasing them for the fourth and final playoff spot.

As for individual players, the league leader in points is a flashy, high-scoring defenseman -- but it's not Cyclone Taylor! Harry Cameron of the Millionaires, in his fifth season, has unlocked his full potential and is having an incredible year. With 17 points (6 goals, 11 assists), Cameron is the only defenseman other than Taylor to lead the entire league at the midway mark. (Even more impressively, he's rocking a +13, also tops in the league, proving that he's elite at both ends of the ice.) Taylor is right behind Cameron with 16 points, so it's also the first time in league history that two defensemen have stood atop the leaderboard so late into the season. Right behind them are two Millionaires forwards, Mickey MacKay and Frankie Foyston, each with 15 points. That's right: The Millies have three of the top four point producers (and four of the top ten). 

Remember that big trade I posted about? Six players were involved, but it really came down to number-one center Bruce Stuart going to the Bearcats in exchange for superstar goaltender Hap Holmes heading to the Bulldogs. Thus far, the trade has worked out well for both teams. Holmes is allowing 2.20 goals per game and has a .932 save percentage that will keep him in the running for Goaltender MVP. He's a big reason why the Dogs are in playoff position despite a roster full of underperforming forwards and an offense that's tied for the league's worst. Over on the Cats, Stuart is putting up great numbers (5 goals, 7 assists) alongside Joe Malone, the league leader with 7 goals. Interestingly, Jack Adams -- the sophomore pivot who has taken on Stuart's former role as the Dogs' top centerman -- has the exact same goal and assist totals as the man he replaced.

A final theme for Season 12 is that many star scorers are scuffling. Newsy Lalonde, the reigning Forward MVP, has 2 goals in 10 games, and Tommy Dunderdale has just 1. Offense is down across the entire league, in fact. Teams are averaging 2.45 goals per game to date, down from 2.76 last season. On the flip side, goaltenders are having a season for the ages. The starting goaltenders on all six teams have a save percentage of .900 or better (with Bowse Hutton of the Vics leading the charge at a whopping .942). I was curious about how their stats compare to recent seasons, and the numbers are pretty interesting: Goalies are averaging .918 this year, compared to .908 in Season 11 and .911 in Season 10. Will goalies continue to rule, or will scorers get their revenge? Can't wait to see how it plays out in the second half!

Another Grand Champion!

Nathaniel's custom character Grandpa Nuker is now the second NBA Hangtime grand champion of our household!

Darkwater

I've had this strange feeling in the back of my head for the past several months.

It's been a while since there was a new Warhammer Quest game...

Well, a new entry in that series is on the way. It isn't a second edition of Blackstone Fortress, alas, but Warhammer Quest: Darkwater sounds like a lot of fun!

Torchlight 3.5

As I've probably shared in the past, the Torchlight campaign setting -- originally known by the more evocative title Woden's Gallows -- was my submission to Wizards for their big contest to create a new D&D setting. (Ultimately, the winner was Eberron. How could anyone top magic robots?!) I'll call that one Torchlight 1.0. 

A few years later, I ended up using Torchlight as the setting for a couple of early 4e campaigns, one in-person and one chat-based. This world was not a great fit for 4e, however, because of the new dragonborn and tiefling PC races introduced in the PHB for that edition. Incorporating those races and their cultures into the world resulted in Torchlight 2.0, which I felt was a pretty boring place. It had lost much of its unique Anglo-Saxon flavor. I didn't use Torchlight at all in the early days of 5e, since by that time my kids were  already playing in the Shattered Realm setting. 

In 2020, when we were all spending a lot of time by ourselves for some reason, I decided to resurrect Torchlight. I did a lot of world-building, but it was not system-specific. I scrapped all the D&D 4e nonsense and got back to the setting's roots in Anglo-Saxon poems like The Battle of Maldon, The Wanderer, and, of course, Beowulf. Now I had a great setting again -- Torchlight 3.0 -- but with no real plans to use it in a campaign, primarily because it still just didn't feel right as a D&D setting.

Enter the Cypher System. That was really the (Torch)light bulb moment in which I realized that Cypher was a far better system for this world. It quickly became the default fantasy setting in my growing Front Porch Multiverse spreadsheet that brings together all the (non-Druid Cycle and non-Shattered Realm) campaigns of my gamemastering career. Recently, I felt inspired to flesh out the world even more, adding a whole new continent and hundreds of new characters and locations. It's not a revamp of what preceded it, but there are some pretty big geographical and historical changes, so I'm calling it Torchlight 3.5. I can't wait for an opportunity to bring it to life with players!

Cypher Is Backed!

The new edition of the Cypher System -- now just "Cypher" -- racked up over ten times its funding goal. Can't wait to see the finished products in 2026!

Last Day

It's the last day of the crowdfunding campaign for the new edition of the Cypher System. The link to the campaign is here.

Heroes of the Borderlands

A new D&D starter set is out today!

Spinal Tap 2

This has nothing to do with gaming, but how cool is it that Spinal Tap returns to the big screen after over four decades! Spinal Tap II: The End Continues debuts today!

UPDATE

Okay, so the latest stretch goal for the Cypher campaign is a GM Screen!

Why No GM Screen?

I've backed the crowdfunding campaign for the new edition of the Cypher System, needless to say, and ended up splurging a bit. But as I was looking down the long list of items I'll receive, I was a bit miffed at first that there was no GM screen. And then -- duh! -- I realized why. IYKYK.

Cypher Campaign Underway!

The campaign for the new edition of the Cypher System is now live! Click here to check it out. I got an email saying the game was fully funded before I even learned that it had gone live!

Cypher Preview

The funding campaign for the new edition of Cypher System will begin soon. In the meantime, you can click here for a preview of the updates!

Random Retro-Gaming Thought

We'll never get old-school D&D games on Evercade because of the licensing costs -- but why not games from The Bard's Tale franchise? Make it happen, guys!

Breaking: Cats and Dogs Pull Trigger on Blockbuster Deal

It's the offseason for my historical Strat-O-Matic hockey league, but there's still plenty of action! Almost every team is wheeling and dealing, and the granddaddy of all deals is an absolute blockbuster between the Bearcats and the Bulldogs:

Bulldogs get:

• Hap Holmes (G)
• Joe Hall (D)
• Fred "Steamer" Maxwell (LW)

Bearcats get:

• Bruce Stuart (C)
• Frank Patrick (D)
• Riley Hern (G)

I'd have to say it's the most impactful trade in the history of this league. No other deal -- not even the one that brought Tommy Dunderdale to the Dogs all those years ago -- had such potential to reshape the entire league. How did we get here? 

The short version is that it's a trade of Holmes for Stuart. In Season 11, the Dogs were revitalized by the emergence of rookie center Jack Adams and they wanted to build around him. Goaltending has been a problem for this team, even when Hern came in midway through the season and carried the Dogs to the playoffs. Trading for Holmes gives the Dogs a young goaltender with an incredibly high ceiling, a guy who has already won two Goaltender MVP trophies in just five seasons of play. Even after a down year, Holmes has the second-best save percentage in league history (.922), leaps and bounds better than the other goalies in the Bulldogs organization (Hern with a career .904 and Paddy Moran with a career .902). The Cats, meanwhile, get a true number-one center in Bruce Stuart; BruStu is fifth all-time in goals (90) and fourth all-time in points (223). He will allow the team to maximize the effectiveness of superstar left winger Joe Malone, who has never had such a talented linemate. With Stuart feeding him passes, Malone might well take the next step to become the top forward in the game, and Stuart will rack up so many assists that he might finally win a scoring title. Season 12 can't get here soon enough!

Design Diary

Monte Cook is sharing an ongoing Design Diary as he and his team develop the new edition of the Cypher System. Articles can be found here.

New Edition

Not sure how I feel about this! The Cypher System is getting a new edition in 2026. Just when I was getting into a groove with the current rules...

More MM Thoughts

I'm about two-thirds of the way through the new Monster Manual. The more I read, the less I like! Here are some random observations...

• The organization is weird. All subtypes of mephit are listed under the main entry "Mephit," but most dragons, giants, and other creatures with variants are alphabetized by subtype (e.g., you find black dragons under "B", hill giants under "H", etc.).
• Lots of foes now inflict multiple damage types on a hit, with poison being the most common (huzzah for dwarf characters!). All hobgoblins, for example, now inflict poison damage on their attacks. It's rarely clear why, however, creatures are now inflicting these additional damage types. 
• Lots of creatures and NPCs now have a generic at-will attack (often a multiattack) that's identical for both melee and ranged. This approach is used for spellcasters, too, where it makes these characters seem bland and flavorless. In "classic" 5e, spellcaster stat blocks included complete spell lists, but now the design seems to drive DMs to spam these generic melee/ranged attacks rather make tactical use of the spells listed on the stat block. I guess it's easier for DMs to run encounters this way, but it feels kind of boring. There are still spells identified as once- or twice-per-day options, but no longer are there formal spell lists broken out by level. 

Mighty Crabjoys

Side-note: There's a ton of merch for Superman on the DC website, but why can't I buy a Mighty Crabjoys t-shirt?!

Look Up

So I ended up getting the chance to see Superman after all -- and it was pretty great! I really enjoyed it, but it definitely felt like an MCU movie from ten years ago. I still prefer the Snyderverse in all its epic, imperfect grandeur. 

I'm Prone to Exaggeration

I finally got around to buying the new Monster Manual and it seems...fine, I guess. Why is it, however, that just about every monster imposes the Prone condition when it hits?

Superman

An exciting new era begins today for DC films. Superman is here! Boy Scout stuff will most likely prevent me from seeing it in the theaters, but I'm there in spirit!

Gamebreaker

The Vanguard Saga campaign is moving slowly, but at least it's moving! I'm really satisfied with how the party has turned out. Amy, Matthew, and Nathaniel all ended up creating characters that feel true to this setting and are worthy successors to the original heroes whose epic stories were depicted with 3.75" action figures in my parents' basement when I was in elementary school. 

I'm also pleased with my choice of the Cypher System as the common ruleset for this and any other Front Porch Multiverse campaign. For Tim W's email-based Vanguard Saga adventure, and for any narrative-centric games, the Cypher System is exactly what we need. But...how do the rules stack up against a fourteen-year-old math whiz with a keen understanding of game design? As it turns out, not so well! Sorry, Monte, Nathaniel has broken your combat system. Just as he did with the far-less-sophisticated TinyD6 system, Nathaniel figured out how to create characters that are, for all intents and purposes, invincible against conventional attacks from foes that would be of an appropriate level for the party. The bad guys (and the gamemaster) are now going to need to get a lot more creative...

Grand Champion

Bragging rights! I am the first NBA Hangtime Grand Champion of our household! My Stockton-esque custom character Ace has defeated all 29 teams!

Better Late Than Never!

It's been years, but Dungeons Pop has finally delivered! This long-awaited Kickstarter arrived today, and I'm stoked to have this incredibly cool pop-up 3D terrain for use in fantasy campaigns. Here are two of the larger maps...

Each lies perfectly flat when folded up, but unfolds when you open it to display a flavorful adventure site. Nathaniel and I are already talking about how we can weave all the sites together into a campaign. 

The set also includes a couple of blank maps to be used with the dozen or so Mini Pops -- smaller pop-up terrain pieces that stay open thanks to clear plastic sleeves attached to the bottom. Below are two Mini Pops on one of the generic maps.

Great stuff! Well, kids, Merry Christmas from 2023!

Free RPG Day!

It's Free RPG Day today!

Jammer Time

I'm delighted how much the boys, especially Nathaniel, enjoy NBA Jam. The cabinet includes the three original games in the series, the last of which, NBA Hangtime, has a feature that allows you to create custom players. Of course, we've already created a bevy of our own ballers: my slick shooting guard Ace, Matthew's sharpshooter Dwayne (an obscure Simpsons reference, not a reference to actual NBA player Dwayne Wade), Nathaniel's elderly (yet somehow still quite spry) super-dunker Grandpa Nuker, and Nathaniel's lanky shot-blocker Cornelius D. Nide (get it?). We also have plans to create the main Globetrotter characters from Futurama: Bubblegum Tate, Sweet Clyde, and Curly Joe. The characters may be wacky, but the game gives me a great opportunity to teach the boys about basketball, which had kind of fallen off my radar in recent years. 

DC Season 5 Championship

Troya Nova Imperials (1st place) vs. Riverton Gauntlets (2nd place)

The two best teams of Season 5 squared off in the Thaler Cup championship game. The only lineup difference for either club was that the Imperials swapped out playoff veteran Julus (2 goals in 5 career playoff games) for rookie sensation Dioscorus, who joined Tiarnan and superstar Agrippa in a formidable front line. These three forwards peppered Giles with shots, but the MVP turned everything aside until midfielder Tiberius blasted one past him. Shortly before the end of the first half, Gauntlets striker Joscelin tallied to make 1-1 heading into the break. In the second half, Dioscorus restored the Imperials' lead and Agrippa made it 3-1 a few moments later. The Gauntlets were unable to put much pressure on Troya Nova's keeper in the waning moments, and the game ended 3-1. The Imperials have won their first Thaler Cup!

DC Season 5 Playoffs

Season 5 is in the books! The biggest shocker, perhaps, was that the defending Thaler Cup champions, the Prifddinas Golden Dragons, failed to make the playoffs for the first time in franchise history after fading down the stretch. The Caer Eurfryn Defenders also regressed, meaning that the Kingdom of Teyrnas had no representation in this year's postseason. The Riverton Racers and Liminia Navigators also missed out on the big dance. As for the teams that did reach the playoffs, here's how the first round turned out...

Semifinal 1: Troya Nova Imperials (1st Place) vs. Troya Nova Paladins (4th Place)
The Imperials wrapped up their second straight first-place finish and faced their intra-city rivals, the Paladins, who had returned to the playoffs after a one-year hiatus. Both teams were strong offensively, with the Imperials scoring a league-best 2.43 goals per game and the Paladins tying for second with 2.36. As it turned out, there was indeed a lot of scoring (well, for soccer, anyway!) in this game. Imperials midfielder Vigilius and Paladins striker Henricus traded first-half goals. In the second, stay-at-home defender Caelus tallied for the Imperials -- his first playoff goal to go along with his one regular-season goal in five seasons of play! -- to give the home team a 2-1 edge. Star striker Tiarnan added to the Imperials' lead, and his insurance goal turned out to be the game-winner when keeper Aleyn misplayed the ball and allowed superstar Belisarius to notch a late goal. It was too little too late for the Pallies, however, and the Imperials punched their ticket to the Thaler Cup championship game with a 3-2 victory.

Semifinal 2: Riverton Gauntlets (2nd Place) vs. Prospect Pioneers (3rd Place)

The Gauntlets reached the playoffs for the first time in franchise history with a strong campaign that saw them in first place until the season's very last day; they ended up finishing second, but their +8 goal differential was the best of any team, and (thanks to League MVP goalkeeper Giles) they allowed just 1.57 goals per game, a half-goal better than the next-best club. Their opponents, the Pioneers, were middle-of-the-road in most statistical categories, but won a lot of games simply by outworking their opponents. The Pios were back in the postseason for the first time since a disastrous trade that sent Vico, a future MVP and Scoring Champion, to the Racers in exchange for a bag of balls. In this semifinal, the Pioneers' Remi scored a goal on the game's very first shot, a stunning turn of events in light of Giles's superlative season. The Gauntlets quickly righted the ship, however, and a late-first-half goal by Rafe and second-half tallies by Zefiro and Reimar helped them secure a 3-1 victory and a date with the Imperials in the championship game.

DC Season 5 Awards

Season 5 was a whirlwind! I played through it pretty quickly, but this campaign certainly didn't lack for dramatic moments or compelling storylines. Before we get to the playoffs, I'll pause to hand out the individual awards. For the first time ever, a goalkeeper has won the League MVP; Giles, top keeper for the upstart Riverton Gauntlets, snagged that trophy by posting a .878 save percentage (second-best was the Defenders' Primus at .845, while no one else broke .820). The Scoring Championship was a tie for the third time in five seasons; this year, the award was shared by Vico of the Riverton Racers and Belisarius of the Troya Nova Paladins, who each scored 11 goals -- one fewer than the single-season record of 12, set by Belisarius in Season 3.

Boomshakalaka!

Cross one off the bucket list! I've always wanted to own a stand-up arcade cabinet, and now, thanks to the good folks at Arcade1Up, I've got one! NBA Jam was perhaps my all-time favorite '90s arcade game, so it was an easy choice. 

Matthew and Nathaniel were kind enough to assemble it for me, and now I've got them hooked as well!

DC League -- Season 5

After wrapping up baseball, I'll be switching over to soccer on my Evercade. Up next is Season 5 of the league set in my Druid Cycle campaign world. Perhaps megastar Agrippa will finally get that elusive championship!

Season 11 Awards

We have our champions, the Canaries, so now let's see who won the individual awards for Season 11... 

Position Player MVP: Sam Thompson, Haymakers

This was no easy call. Resolutes right fielder Elmer Flick had a remarkable year, providing top-notch defense, speed, and a potent middle-of-the-order bat. The Canaries' Hugh Duffy was even better at the plate and rated as the league's top defensive center fielder. The winner, however, was Sam Thompson, who was not quite as solid defensively in right field as Flick, but he led the league in home runs with five (tying the single-season record) and total bases. In a season in which his superstar teammate Cap Anson was plagued by nagging injuries, Thompson almost single-handedly kept the Haymakers in playoff contention.

Pitcher MVP: Old Hoss Radbourn, Blue Legs

Needless to say, in a year when offense dominated, the pitchers really struggled. Only two were consistently excellent all season; John Clarkson of the Resolutes put up the second-best ERA among starters (3.18) and contributed more to his team's offense than perhaps all other pitchers combined, but the top hurler this campaign was Old Hoss Radbourn, who had a 6-1 record in 9 starts, led the league in ERA (3.08), and pitched his Blue Legs team into the championship series.

Playoff MVP: Ed Delahanty, Canaries

Jimmy Collins and Dan Brouthers were offensive juggernauts for the Blue Legs, and Canaries pitcher Mickey Welch posted a sparkling 1.59 ERA across his two starts in the series, but there's just no way this award could have gone to anyone but Ed Delahanty, who hit .437 in the four-game set, including three triples(!) and the series-winning home run in the tenth inning of Game 4.

Season 11 Championship Series

In Game 1, the Canaries hosted the Blue Legs. Old Hoss Radbourn, the likely Pitcher MVP, was the obvious starter for the Legs, while the Canaries opted for Mickey Welch. The game was scoreless until the fourth, when Billy Hamilton's RBI groundout gave the Birds a 1-0 lead. They would quickly surrender that edge after Nap Lajoie's sacrifice fly in the fifth. Jimmy Collins gave the Legs their first lead with a solo home run in the eighth. The Canaries managed to put pressure on closer Vic Willis in the bottom of ninth, but Willis somehow managed to wriggle out of a bases-loaded, no-outs jam. As such, Game 1 was a 2-1 victory for the visitors.

Pud Galvin started for the Birds and Tim Keefe for the Blue Legs in Game 2. The Canaries were feeling the pressure to get a split before going on the road, so they came out swinging in the first inning. One batter after Ed Delahanty tripled, Honus Wagner hit a sharp grounder to third baseman Collins, who bobbled the ball, allowing Wagner to reach first safely and Delahanty to score. George Davis followed up with a base knock to plate Wagner, so it was quickly 2-0 for the Birds. The score remained unchanged until the sixth, when King Kelly doubled and Collins hit his second home run of the series to tie the game at two. In the ninth, with Al Spalding pitching in relief of Keefe, Wagner roped a one-out double. After Davis popped out, Hugh Duffy lashed a single that scored Wagner and gave the Canaries a walk-off 3-2 win.

The scene shifted to the Blue Legs' park for Game 3, with the same starters as the first game. In the opening frame, Wagner's double scored Roger Connor to give the Canaries an early lead. They added to that lead in the third when Delahanty tripled and scored on Connor's double. The Birds added another run on George Wright's sacrifice fly in the fourth, and still another on Delahanty's run-scoring single in the fifth. In the sixth, Lajoie tripled and scored on Kelly's sacrifice fly to give the Legs their first run of the game. Wright delivered his second sacrifice fly in the eighth to give the Canaries a 5-1 lead. In the bottom of that inning, with Rube Foster now pitching for the Birds, Lajoie drew a walk and scored on a triple by Dan Brouthers. Willis came on in the ninth and sent the Canaries down in order. The score was 5-2 in the bottom of the ninth. With runners on the corners and one out, Monte Ward hit into a game-ending double play. The Canaries now had a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series.

Hoping to clinch their second championship in franchise history, the Canaries knew the Blue Legs would not go down without a fight, especially on their home field. Keefe and Galvin, the Game 2 starters, got the draw for Game 4. Keefe was sharp in the early going, racking up strikeouts left and right. In the third, Delahanty tripled and later scored on a wild pitch. The next inning, Sam Crawford plated Brouthers to tie the game at one run apiece. The fifth inning saw the Birds take a two-run lead, first with Galvin's sacrifice fly and then Delahanty's run-scoring double. The Legs flipped the script in the sixth, with Collins driving in Brouthers and then Crawford driving in Collins. The score was 3-3 heading into the later innings; the pitchers were now Spalding for the Legs and Clark Griffith for the Birds. The game remained tied after nine, but Delahanty homered to lead off the tenth inning for a 4-3 Canaries edge. Griffith got two quick outs in the bottom of the tenth, but a double by Brouthers made things interesting. Kelly came to the plate with the Legs' season on the line, but he popped up to second baseman Wright to end the game and the series. 

Canaries win the title!

Season 11 Playoffs

I can't believe how quickly I played through Season 11 of my historical Strat-O-Matic baseball league. We've said farewell to the perennial contenders (the Haymakers) and last year's winners (the Resolutes), so now it's time for the championship series between the Canaries and the Blue Legs. After their scorching start, the Canaries ended up finishing 15-9 with a league-best +17 run differential and 4.88 runs scored per game. Their runs allowed of 4.17 per game, however, ranked third in the four-team league, just a hair's breadth worse than their opponents, the Blue Legs, who allowed 4.13 per game. Those similar figures resulted from wildly different approaches. The Canaries had so-so pitching and were the most successful when their starters could keep the ball on the ground and allow the team's top-ranked defense to make plays; as for the Blue Legs, they relied on strikeouts to limit contact, as their defense was tied with the Resolutes for the league's worst. Both teams hit a lot of home runs (13 for the Legs and 12 for the Birds), so it should be an entertaining series with the potential for some real fireworks!

Rounding Third

We're now at the three-quarters mark in my latest season of nineteenth-century ball. Offense is still the big theme of the season. Teams are now scoring 4.33 runs per game, down from the 4.96 at the one-quarter mark, but still well above last year's average of 3.55. The Canaries have cooled off after their hot start, but they're still leading the league with 5.00 runs per game -- unfortunately for them, they're also allowing a league-high 4.39 runs per game. The hottest team in the second half has been the Blue Legs, who now sit just a game back of the Birds. It may still be mathematically possible for the Resolutes or Haymakers to reach championship series this year, but I think it's a safe bet to say it will be Blue Legs and Canaries vying for the Season 11 title.

FCBD 2025

FYI, today is Free Comic Book Day!

2001: A Space Odyssey

Although Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy is probably my all-time favorite cinematic experience, I think the greatest movie ever made is 2001: A Space Odyssey. I was delighted to learn that there's a board game coming out soon! Here's the link: 2001: A Space Odyssey | The Board Game

Stars Aligned

The stars aligned this weekend -- well, a Boy Scout activity got postponed -- so I was able to run the introductory solo adventures for our new The Vanguard Saga campaign. Amy, Matthew, and Nathaniel all got to do their solo adventures yesterday and, as an added bonus, we had time for the first full-party session this evening. And with Tim W already deeply into his email-based adventure in this setting, it really feels like The Vanguard Saga is coming to life. It's my oldest fictional setting -- with characters I created way back when I was in elementary school -- but this is the first time I've ever used it in an RPG campaign.

The Season of Juice

I don't record a lot of data for my nineteenth-century Strat-O-Matic baseball league, so the individual games go by pretty quickly -- I can roll up two or three in an hour. After just a week of "real" time, I've already played through a quarter of the Season 11 schedule! With six games for each team now in the books, I can say that the recurring theme for this season is, without a doubt, offense. 

Thus far, teams are racking up an average of 4.96 runs per game, a significant increase over last year's full-season average of 3.55. The first-place Canaries (6-1) are leading the way with a staggering 7.67 runs per game. For comparison, that's more than two full runs per game above the record (5.24), set by these same Canaries way back in Season 4, their only championship year. Part of the Canaries' success has come from the long ball, as this team has hit more home runs (8) than the other three teams combined (7). What's up with the Canaries and, indeed, with the whole league? The players aren't juicing, the ball isn't juiced, so it really comes down to luck. I expect some regression as we move through the season -- or will the Canaries' luck hold out long enough to end their title drought?

5e SRD

There's a new version of the D&D System Reference Document that corresponds to the revised version of Fifth Edition. You can download it here.

Season 11

With a lot of things up in the air in real life, I've been hesitant to dive into any big gaming-related projects. Another season of Strat-O-Matic baseball seems like a good fit, as it doesn't require a lot of time or effort. I haven't given too much thought lately to these nineteenth-century baseball stalwarts, but it will be interesting to see if the hard-luck Canaries can finally end their drought and after watching the Haymakers, Blue Legs, and Resolutes all celebrate titles since the Canaries last won it all in Season 4. 

Superman Day

Apparently, it's Superman Day. Happy Superman Day to those who celebrate!

A New Generation

With a spiffy new Front Porch Multiverse spreadsheet and Cypher System stats for hundreds of characters from over a dozen past campaigns, I'm excited to take the next step and start the first campaign of this new era. Now that Amy and the boys and I have wrapped up the zombie-battling Dark Enigma game, we'll get going with The Vanguard Saga. This setting dates back to when I was a young child and is my oldest fictional universe, predating the Druid Cycle world by a decade or more. Every few years, I update the timeline as well as the major NPCs who drive the storylines. As of today, I have a lineup of twelve amazing characters who will help me introduce this setting to my family and provide us with hours of fun storytelling in the months and years ahead. I've also taken the time to create full-color models of these characters using Hero Forge, so everyone will get to see what they look like in high-res detail!

Hair Band

I feel like this board game was pretty much made for me...

The Game Goes On

This isn't gaming related, but it's very much on my mind. Today, a Putin-loving creep became the NHL's all-time goal-scoring leader. I'm reminded of a similarly dark day when baseball's all-time home-run record fell to a likewise loathsome character, although loathsome for very different reasons.

And yet, the game goes on. It's bigger than any one man or one record. But all the same...Auston Matthews, stay healthy and stay focused. You've got a job to do now, and we're counting on you.

Dungeons Pop

This is no April Fool's Day joke -- Dungeons Pop is on the way! This Kickstarter ended nearly two years ago, and the product is finally shipping. Can't wait to get my hands on this super awesome pop-up 3D terrain!

DC Season 4 Championship

Prifddinas Golden Knights (2nd place) vs. Caer Eurfryn Defenders (4th place)

For the first time ever, the teams vying for the Thaler Cup come from cities in the same country, in this case the Kingdom of Teyrnas. Prifddinas and Caer Eurfryn are only about 75 miles apart on the Great Caravan Road, but the political and cultural rift between them is enormous; these cities have a long rivalry and a deep animosity that goes far beyond sports. There were no fireworks in this game, however, just some great soccer. The first half was dominated by goalkeeping, with the Defenders' Primus and Dragons' Morcan matching each other save for save. Early in the second half, star midfielder Edern scored to give Prifddinas a 1-0 advantage. The Defenders tried to push back, but struggled to maintain consistent pressure in the offensive zone. As time slipped away, defender (yes, in retrospect, it's kind of awkward that there's a team that shares a name with a position on the field) Cadawg turned the ball over right in front of Primus, leading to an easy goal by Prifddinas superstar Niall, the league's all-time leader in playoff goals. The final score was 2-0, and now the Prifddinas Golden Dragons have their second Thaler Cup!

The Battle of Ellicott Ridge

Some real-life challenges had prevented Amy, the boys, and me from playing Dark Enigma for the past month, but today we managed to convene for a special two-part finale to wrap up this zombie-themed campaign. There was nary a zombie to be seen in this climactic battle, however, because the heroes were facing off against government forces seeking to silence them and obtain the secret formula that had turned the residents of a quaint town in western New York into ravenous undead. In a classic siege battle, the player characters and their NPC allies unleashed withering fire on agents advancing up toward the clifftop compound where the heroes were holed up. There were some pretty epic moments, and all three of the players got a chance to shine: Nathaniel's cleverly placed traps slowed down the advancing agents, Amy saved the life of a major NPC with a critical healing roll, and Matthew took down the leader of the foes after hiding in the brush and ambushing him once most of his men were already well on their way up to the compound. I hope we return to these characters for a new storyline at some point in the future, but next up on the agenda is my long-gestating Vanguard Saga campaign. I just hope it isn't another month before we can get it started!

DC Season 4 Playoffs

There are eight teams in my Druid Cycle soccer league, and only the top four quality for the playoffs. We've now said goodbye to the Troya Nova Paladins (snapping their three-season playoff streak), Riverton Gauntlets, Prospect Pioneers, and the woeful Liminia Navigators. Better luck next year, guys!

Semifinal 1: Troya Nova Imperials (1st Place) vs. Caer Eurfryn Defenders (4th Place)

The Defenders and Imperials will forever be linked by the blockbuster trade they completed prior to Season 4, a deal that sent promising youngsters Tiarnan and Aleyn to the Imperials and star keeper Primus and veteran forward Amulius to the Defenders. Coincidentally, these two teams also happened to play each other on the final day of the regular season, with the Imperials claiming a 2-1 win on their home pitch. I expected this rematch to be a similarly tight contest. The Imperials were heavily favored -- with the league's best defense, tied for the best offense, and the best goal differential (+11) -- but the scrappy Defenders seemed to be peaking at the right time. Here's how the semifinal game went down. Imperials superstar Agrippa scored early in the first half, but Ardghal, the Defenders' best midfielder, tallied the first playoff goal in franchise history to even things up before the end of the frame. Just moments into the second half, Camedyr gave the Defenders their first lead, after which they played keep-away for much of the remaining time. Tiarnan, a player involved in the aforementioned blockbuster trade, scored for the Imperials on a corner kick with just three minutes remaining in regulation. It looked like extra time was inevitable, but then Defenders striker Amulius -- the player for whom Tiarnan was traded -- blasted home the game-winning goal. The final score was 3-2 for the visiting Defenders, who earned a spot in the Thaler Cup championship game. The first-place Imperials, meanwhile, lost in the first round for the second straight season.

Semifinal 2: Prifddinas Golden Dragons (2nd Place) vs. Riverton Racers (3rd Place)

The Dragons won the first-place pennant last season but lost in the playoff semifinal. They were strong this year, too, with an offense that tied for the lead league, as well as the second-best marks in defense and goal differential (+6). The Racers, meanwhile, were a solid team with no real weaknesses and were keen to defend their shocking Thaler Cup championship from Season 3. Riverton came out flat, while Prifddinas maintained strong pressure in the first half and led 1-0 on a goal by midfielder Daithi. In the second half, Luaran made it 2-0 for the home team, but former Dragons midfielder Amren brought the Racers to within a goal. However, this year's League MVP, Donnan, made an end-to-end rush and scored to restore the two-goal advantage. The game ended 3-1, so the Golden Dragons will face the Defenders for the Thaler Cup. Get ready for the Battle of Teyrnas!

DC Season 4 Awards

I've come to the end of the fourth campaign of my Druid Cycle league in Sensible Soccer. The Imperials finished in first place with the best regular season in league history (9-3-2). They were led by superstar striker Agrippa, whose 10 goals tied with Camedyr of the Defenders for the league lead; as such, these two gentlemen will share the Scoring Championship award. In a season of good-but-not-great performances by scorers and goalkeepers alike, the League MVP trophy goes to the Golden Dragons' Donnan, the best defender in the game. Donnan played top-notch defense in front of his keeper and also chipped in 4 goals (only one other defender in the league had as many as 2). Next up -- the playoffs!

Broken Sword

Anybody know anything about the Broken Sword game series? I checked out the Legacy of Kain series on my Evercade and found them to be kind of ho-hum, so I'm on the lookout for something else. Broken Sword is the latest classic game series to debut on Evercade, and it looks like of cool!

Edge Quest

I love fencing. I love board games. Wouldn't I love a fencing board game?

Well...

Enter Edge Quest, coming soon to Kickstarter. It's got cards, dice, and all that board-gamey goodness, but there are also fully articulated action figures representing the fencers. Awesome in principle, but can you imagine having to stop play to adjust the arm and leg positions of both fencers with every thrust, parry, riposte, and whatnot? Fencing is fast, but the manipulation of the figure seems like it would make for an agonizingly slow game experience. I'd be up for static miniatures that enable players to show the position of their fencers on the game board (especially if the arena is more diverse than a simple fencing strip), but fiddling around with the figures seems kind of ridiculous.

Phase 2 Complete!

With 555 named characters, my Front Porch Multiverse spreadsheet is a paltry 41.3% the length of my behemoth Druid Cycle character spreadsheet. Even if I added in all the Shattered Realm characters to the multiverse sheet, the Druid Cycle spreadsheet would still have nearly twice as many names as all other campaigns combined. Wow! 

Anyway, I now have Cypher System levels for all multiverse characters and, for most of them, stat blocks from the Cypher System Bestiary and other sources. All systems are go for the first campaign to use this ruleset!

Strange Times Indeed

As if anyone needed further proof that we're living in strange times, there's an article on the Monte Cook Games website about tariffs. This strident opponent of tariffs tips his cap to Monte and friends!