Survey Says

I've logged my feedback on the first round of One D&D playtest materials. Here's to many more!

YOUNG NO-HITS CANARIES!

It was a festive atmosphere in...well...whatever city the Haymakers play in. (In real life, it was Troy, New York.) On a sunny afternoon, the league's most successful franchise unfurled their fourth Creighton Cup banner to the polite applause of a fanbase that has become accustomed to winning. After the ceremony, the Haymakers took the field to face the new-look Canaries. Cy Young assumed his customary perch on the mound, making his eighth consecutive Opening Day start.

Young was sharp right from the first pitch. The Canaries, including new leadoff man and on-base machine Billy Hamilton, just couldn't barrel up to the veteran's heater. Young sent the visitors down in order in the first and again in the second. His teammates tagged Canaries starter Addie Joss for a run in the bottom of the second on a double by Deacon White, but Joss was otherwise nearly as masterful as Young. Joss was, indeed, the reason the Canaries had shipped longtime ace Tim Keefe to the Blue Legs in exchange for Hamilton, and the third-year hurler did everything in his power to reward the Canaries' confidence in him. 

Sadly for Joss, Young was on another level. He dispatched the Canaries again in the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth. The league's all-time winningest pitcher was perfect through six full innings. Then came a very eventful seventh.

Billy Hamilton is truly the toughest out in the circuit. He drew a leadoff walk in the top of the inning, ending Young's bid for a perfect game. The no-no was still intact, but a rattled Young then promptly walked Hugh Duffy. Two on and nobody out, but a double play and a popout retired the side.

The score remained 1-0 for the home team in the bottom of the frame. With second baseman Bid McPhee on second and only one out, Young came to the plate. The modern play would be to bunt in that situation, but this is the nineteenth century, damn it, and these pitcher swing the bat! Young went up there to try to help his own cause, but he came up lame running to first in a failed attempt to beat out a grounder. A hush fell over the Haymakers' faithful as their star pitcher winced in pain. With some help from Dr. Dee Twenty (injuries in Strat-O-Matic are resolved by a die roll), Young remained in the game. The next batter, Joe Kelley, hit a ringing double to bring home McPhee, making it 2-0.

The score, however, was almost irrelevant. The question remained: Could Young toss the first no-hitter in league history? He needed six more outs, and the team would not take any chances with their defense. They pulled iron-gloved Jesse Burkett from left, shifted Kelley into Burkett's spot, and inserted plus-plus defender Ned Hanlon in center. Young hardly needed help from his outfielders, though, as the Canaries struggled to make solid contact. He breezed through the top of the eighth, and after his teammates were retired in order, he came out for the ninth inning and a date with destiny.

Due up were the eight, nine, and one spots in the lineup. George Wright grounded out meekly. One down, two to go. Joss, batting ninth, was replaced by pinch hitter Wilbert Robinson, who met the same fate as Wright. Down to their final out, the Canaries had the best-possible candidate to break up the no-no: Billy Hamilton. A weak grounder to shortstop Bobby Wallace was best Hamilton could offer. 

For Young, it was a piece of history. In this league or otherwise, I've never had a pitcher throw a no-hitter in Strat-O-Matic. In fact, I never thought I'd see one. What a way to start the season!

Opening Day

Plaaaaay ball! It's Opening Day for the eighth season of my nineteenth-century Strat-O-Matic baseball league. The Haymakers host the Canaries and the Resolutes host the Blue Legs. 

Last year, the Haymakers won the Creighton Cup, their fourth title in the seven-season history of this league. Will their dominance continue? Will the blockbuster offseason trade between the Canaries and Blue Legs help get either of these teams get back on track? Will the Resolutes reach the championship series for a third consecutive year? I can't wait to find out the answers to all these questions and more!

The Sigmar Cup: Season 2

The Reavers went out and took care of business in the Season 2 Sigmar Cup championship, defeating the reigning champion Giants by a 12-6 score and avenging their overtime loss to these same Giants in the Season 1 title match. Although the Giants opened the game with a relentless physical attack, the Reavers found their footing and matched the dwarves point for point. Gradually, the Reavers pushed the Giants back to midfield and injured enough dwarven players to open up the space they needed to leverage their superior speed. The turning point came about midway through the match when the Reavers' blitzer and catcher double-teamed a lone dwarven lineman, bringing him down and allowing the catcher to scoop up a loose ball and run it into the end zone for the game's only touchdown. The Giants came back strong, but the Reavers' blitzer shrugged off several punishing hits to deny the dwarves some key points on challenge cards in the closing minutes, and time expired before the Giants could close the gap on their human foes.

Now that Season 2 is in the books, I'll turn back to Strat-O-Matic for a while. Perhaps when I'm ready to return to Blitz Bowl, I'll add a fifth team. Skaven? Undead? Goblins?

Sigmar Cup: Season 2 Preview

In the first season of my Blitz Bowl league, the Giants upset the first-place Reavers with an overtime victory in the championship game. This season, the Reavers came back with a vengeance and dominated the league with a record of 8-2-2 and a whopping +41 point differential. Anything less that a title will be a huge failure for this Reavers team. So, can they seal the deal at last? Let's take a look at the numbers!

Aside from the debut of the halfling Grasshuggers team, the key storyline from this season has been the enormous drop in touchdowns as teams have scored (and prevented their opponents from scoring) by focusing on challenge cards instead of the end zone. Teams scored 1.46 touchdowns per game last year, while this time around it was just 0.69. The first-place Reavers suffered the steepest decline, from 1.63 to 0.75.

The Reavers, however, were very effective at adapting their offense to this new style. They scored a league-best 11.17 points per game, down just slightly from last season. Their success in Season 2, however, was driven largely by what they did on the other side of the ball; the Reavers allowed a miniscule 7.75 points per game -- tops in the league and nearly three full points per game better than last year's squad. 

Once again, it will be Reavers against Giants for the Sigmar Cup. With the Reavers boasting the league's best offense and best defense, do the Giants -- the defending champions -- have a prayer? They did finish with the second-best offense and defense, and they were also the only team to pose a serious challenge to the Reavers, who went 2-2-0 against the Giants compared to 6-0-2 against the rest of the league. The Giants will bring their punishing, physical game yet again in our Season 2 Sigmar Cup, but I think the Reavers are just too good to blow it twice in a row.

Races & Backgrounds

Over my lunch hour, I blitzed through the first playtest document -- rules that cover races and backgrounds, as well as feats and other content that plugs into the two aforementioned topics -- and I have some hot takes!

• In One D&D, a new character's ability score increases are determined by the character's background choice, not their race. Interesting! Class is the single most important decision in the character creation process, and players often consider only races that provide bonuses to the most important ability scores for that class. That's why we get so many dwarf clerics and elf wizards. However, is this change just going to repeat the same problem and drive players toward particular backgrounds instead of races? If you want to play a fighter, example, why wouldn't you choose the soldier background to get the +2 Strength and +1 Constitution? Maybe it's not an issue, because...
• There are simple and clear rules for creating and customizing backgrounds. I absolutely love these background rules, and I foresee so many campaign-specific options for really cool backgrounds that give players exactly what they want from a stat perspective but also fit neatly into the story. These backgrounds are also very well balanced. In classic 5e, some background benefits were way more useful than others. Now all backgrounds grant a feat. If I'm creating my own unique background, I can select the ability score improvements and the feat (among other, fluffier choices) that work best for my chosen character class and character concept. But hang on, might those background-related feats be a sign that D&D is sliding back into some bad habits?
• Any time feats come up, I get worried. Earlier editions of D&D (and Pathfinder) got bogged down in a "feat tax" that railroaded players into taking specific feats in order to keep pace with other players and (in particular for 4e) with monsters that scaled up aggressively as the players leveled up. If you didn't want that 30th-level kobold to kill you, you really needed to ensure you had every bonus you could possibly scrape together. I really liked that feats in classic 5e were optional, but that does not appear to be the case anymore with One. I'll be keeping a very close eye on feats throughout this playtest.
• What else did I notice? Well, there's a lot more use of the Inspiration mechanic. (Inspiration is so incidental to classic 5e that I feel a definition is necessary here: Inspiration is a single-use benefit that allows a player to gain advantage on a d20 roll.) In One, we'll see Inspiration pop up in all sorts of interesting places, most notably on rolls of natural 20. That's right, if you roll a 20 on any check (sorry, "test" -- I see they've upgraded to the trendier lingo), you get Inspiration!
• Although we only have rules for races and backgrounds at this point, I'm seeing a major uptick in features that you can use a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus and then require a long rest to recharge. In comparison, I see way fewer features that recharge on a short rest. For my beloved fighter, I'll be eager to see whether Action Surge and Second Wind still recharge on a short rest, or if they get revised to this proficiency-based model. 
• Last but not least, Primal magic returns! I'm suddenly having 4e flashbacks, but hey, maybe we'll end up with a One D&D shaman class?!

Here Comes One D&D

Well, at least it isn't an entirely new edition, but it's definitely a bigger change than I was hoping for. In any case, I'm grateful for the opportunity to playtest and provide feedback. 

Okay, One D&D, let's do this!

Trades That Shaped the League

Before getting started with my next hockey campaign, I thought it might be interesting to look back on the past seven seasons and reflect on trades that have fundamentally altered the course of this league.

Prior to Season 1: Thistles trade Gord Roberts (LW) to Bulldogs for Jack Ruttan (LW/C)

I conducted a brief tournament prior to the start of Season 1 so that I could learn the rules of Strat-O-Matic hockey and tweak the rosters for balance. For those brief few games, Gord Roberts, arguably the second-best player in league history after Cyclone Taylor, was a Thistle. I didn't see his potential; what I saw was a (seemingly) low shooting percentage, less positional flexibility, and a greater likelihood to take penalties. So when I swapped Roberts and Ruttan, I didn't realize it would end up being the most lopsided trade imaginable. How lopsided? Ruttan has managed to get into 40 regular-season games and has collected nine measly goals (and only two before this most recent season); Roberts, meanwhile, has suited up for every one of his team's 104 regular-season games and has scored 75 goals, the third-most ever.

Season 1: Bulldogs trade Alf Smith (RW) to Thistles for Ernie Russell (RW)

It didn't take me long to realize my mistake with Roberts. Alf Smith was a similar player, and I was sure I had badly underestimated his potential, as well. To make it up to the Thistles for the loss of Roberts, I had the Bulldogs trade Smith to the Thistles for Ernie Russell. To justify the trade in narrative terms, I noted that Smith had started the season out stone-cold. While this trade wasn't quite as lopsided as the notorious Roberts/Ruttan swap -- Smith has scored 69 goals in 104 games, whereas Russell has 28 in 81 -- it does make me wonder how everything would have turned out if Roberts had stayed on the Thistles and Smith had stayed on the Bulldogs!

Season 2: Bulldogs trade George Richardson (RW/LW/C) to Comets for Scotty Davidson (RW)

Richardson was a spare part on the Bulldogs but has blossomed into a star with the Comets, and now holds the captaincy. I certainly didn't anticipate his rise to prominence when I made this trade in Season 2. That year, Richardson finished twenty-fourth in the league in total points, but in Season 3, his first full season with the Comets, he jumped all the way to eighth. He's remained a top-tier player ever since (finishing tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and seventh over the past four seasons). Davidson, meanwhile, was a useful player for the Bulldogs until he was shipped to the expansion Bearcats midway through Season 7.

After Season 2: Thistles trade Tommy Dunderdale (C/RW) and Paddy Moran (G) to Bulldogs for Riley Hern (G) and Harvey Pulford (D)

Although the Roberts/Ruttan trade was the most lopsided, I'd have to say that this trade would rank as the most impactful overall. Dunderdale was coming off of a down year, but still had MVP-caliber talent. The Dogs put him on a line with Bruce Stuart and Gord Roberts, and the rest is history; that trio has become the most dominant line in the league. For the Thistles, the centerpiece of the deal was Hern, who's won two Goaltender MVP trophies in the five seasons since that trade. Clearly, both teams benefited from the exchange; the Dogs, however, ultimately came out on top. While Pulford was little more than a throw-in who played just a dozen games for the Thistles, Moran has performed very well in goal for the Bulldogs, and even won the Playoff MVP trophy in Season 4 and Goaltender MVP in Season 7. The Thistles, meanwhile, are still seeking their first title, and Hern has been the worst playoff goaltender of all time, with a horrific 3-11 record and .877 save percentage.

Season 4: Millionaires trade Fred Whitcroft (RW/D) to Thistles for Harry Westwick (C/RW)

When the Millies joined the league for Season 4, they had zero natural centers on their roster. They made do as best they could until they were able to flip Fred Whitcroft to the Thistles for Harry Westwick, a center who was playing out of position at right wing because the Thistles were already loaded up the middle. Westwick made an immediate impact for the Millies, and was even better in Season 5 when he finished tenth in the league in total points and helped the Millies win the Creighton Cup in just their second year of existence. 

It's no coincidence that the Victorias are nowhere to be found on this list. In order to keep things interesting and to make all the franchises feel unique, I've adopted a "franchise philosophy" that governs how I handle personnel decisions (drafts, trades, etc.) and in-game tactics (matchups, line combinations, etc.). In terms of personnel decisions, I've set the Vics up to be extremely conservative, hanging on to their players (even when it's slightly disadvantageous to do so) and making only minor, "safe" trades. Seems like that approach has worked out pretty well for them so far!

The Most Dangerous Game

We made a quick trip to see Amy's parents this weekend, and her sister's family was also in town for a visit. Matthew and Nathaniel are enjoying the opportunity to spend time with their cousin Daniel. We introduced Daniel to Betrayal at House on the Hill, and our first game was a brief adventure in which the characters started out attending an open house for an old mansion that was for sale. It turned out that Matthew's Shopkeeper Lady was a Russian spy and already owned the property, and was using the open house as a pretense for capturing subjects for her bizarre experiments. She quickly imprisoned the rest of us in a basement of horrors, where we had to battle Cold War-era zombies. Some lucky tile placement, however, allowed us to escape unscathed.

My brother-in-law Ben, Daniel's father, joined us for a much longer second game. This time, we had all received mysterious invitations to a gathering at the house, only to realize that my character, Sports Gal, had sent the invitations and was preparing to hunt the others for sport, a la "The Most Dangerous Game", all the while filming the carnage to create a TV show. As I had Sports Gal roam the halls with her trusty crossbow, the others fled to pursue their own secret objectives. As I later learned, they could win by rewriting the script of the show, but it required succeeding on a series of knowledge checks. Nathaniel's Brainy Kid and Ben's Doctor Guy set up shop in a semi-secure location to pen a new ending to the show, while Matthew's Shopkeeper Lady and Daniel's Dude Bro kept my character busy. Virtually all the heroes were grievously injured, but they managed to create a new ending and kill Sports Gal -- thereby securing a lucrative TV contract of their own!

Touchdowns Down

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and I'm already looking forward to another Strat-O-Matic campaign. In the meantime, I'm in the early stages of Season 2 of my Blitz Bowl football league. After the Giants (dwarves) were a surprise winner in Season 1, the Avengers (elves), Reavers (humans), and expansion Grasshuggers (halflings) are all looking to dethrone the champs!

How's it going so far? The Reavers (3-0-1) have once again claimed their spot atop the standings, but the first-year Grasshuggers (3-1-0) are right on their spiked heels. The halflings are a fun team to play, full of nifty free actions that give them tons of tactical flexibility. The other key narrative this year is that scoring is down. Here at the one-third mark of the season -- alert! small sample size! alert! -- teams are scoring 9.88 points per game, compared to 11.04 points per game in Season 1. That's a drop of more than a full point per game, but it's nothing compared to the absolute plunge in touchdowns per game. (Reminder: Blitz Bowl touchdowns are worth three points.) Last year, teams found the end zone 1.46 times per game, whereas this season it's a paltry 0.56. Yowzers! 

It is indeed a small sample size, but I think this trend will hold. As I'm learning this game, I'm seeing the importance of those one- and two-point challenge cards; I'm planning ahead to set up easy points, but also, crucially, looking for ways to deny the other team from claiming cards on their next turn. Essentially, I'm slowing the game down and learning how to win through defense rather than high-octane offense. For example, one standout contest from Season 1 was a 20-19 triumph for the Avengers in which they and the Reavers combined for six touchdowns; at one point, the teams traded touchdowns on four consecutive turns. Contrast that shootout with a game from this season in which the Grasshuggers defeated the Giants 10-6; not only did neither team score a touchdown, but the halflings won the game despite never moving the ball past midfield. To the (fictional) spectators in the Mortal Realms, football probably seems a lot more boring now!

Mirror Monsters and Ghost Sharks

Betrayal at House on the Hill is one of my all-time favorite board games. As you explore the mysterious house, you have to work with your fellow adventurers to overcome obstacles and acquire useful items -- but all the while knowing that someone in the group will eventually betray you. It's great that Bob found that shotgun, but do we really want him to have all the weapons...?

When Hasbro announced a third edition for the game, I placed my preorder immediately. This morning the game showed up on our doorstep, and the timing was perfect. Matthew and Amy are in Fresno this weekend for Junior Olympics (side note: Matthew is crushing it!), so Nathaniel and I had a perfect opportunity to dive into the game, learn all the new rules, and play the hell out of it.

One of the simplest but most effective additions is the characters' motivation for being in the house in the first place. In earlier editions, the characters have no reason for being there until the "haunt" is triggered and the game switches from cooperative to one-against-all as the traitor seeks to defeat his or her former allies. In this edition, players select a backstory (e.g., they're a team of paranormal investigators, they're searching for a friend who disappeared in the house, etc.), and that backstory determines the possible haunts. My only criticism thus far is that the haunts seem to trigger sooner than in the previous edition, but some might consider that a feature and not a defect.

Nathaniel and I played the game twice today, each time controlling two characters apiece. In the first game, my Sports Gal quickly got sucked into an alternate universe through a haunted mirror while evil mirror monsters chased the other characters around the house, nearly driving my Doctor Guy insane on their very first onslaught. Sports Gal was able to provide cryptic clues from her mirrorverse prison, allowing Nathaniel's Brainy Kid to bring her home and banish the monsters. For our second try, we kept the same characters. Sports Gal again triggered the haunt, this time dying instantly when a ghostly shark devoured her as a magical water-spouting idol threatened to flood the entire house. As the water cascaded down from the second story, the other characters searched for explosives and then rallied in the basement, where Nathaniel's Dude Bro stuffed our makeshift bomb into the shark's mouth and obliterated it. Two missions, two wins! Next time, though, I may opt to leave Sports Gal at home...

D&D Trailer

I am very, very excited...

Hot Stove Action!

As a league, my nineteenth-century baseball teams scored an average of 3.69 runs per game during our most recent season. How is it, then, that the Canaries -- a team with Hugh Duffy, Ed Delahanty, Roger Connor, and Honus Wagner at the top of its batting order -- could manage only a measly 2.88? I'm sure luck played an outsized role, but as I looked back over the past several seasons, the Canaries have consistently scored well below the league average. 

Heading into Season 8, they needed to make a change. With pitching as their only real asset, the Canaries put starters Tim Keefe, Kid Nichols, and Addie Joss on the trading block to see what sort of match they could make with a team that had surplus offense but was in the market for pitching. Enter the Blue Legs, a perennially high-scoring team with serious run-prevention issues. The Legs could offer outfielder and leadoff man Billy Hamilton, owner the highest on-base percentage in the entire league. Fundamentally, this trade ended up being Keefe for Hamilton, but I needed to throw in a couple of other players to ensure each team had the right number of pitchers and position players; as such, Tommy McCarthy went to the Blue Legs for his second tour with that franchise, and, likewise, veteran pitcher Pud Galvin returned to the Canaries, with whom he was a Playoff MVP way back in Season 4. 

So, at the end of the day, we've got ourselves a blockbuster trade in an otherwise quiet Hot Stove season prior to Season 8. It's hard to imagine Tim Keefe pitching for anyone other than the Canaries -- he's been their Opening Day starter for seven straight seasons -- but the team has spent the last three years below the .500 mark, and perhaps this trade will help get them sorted out.

And when the Canaries take the field for their Season 8 debut against the Haymakers, it won't be Keefe throwing the first pitch, but rather third-year phenom Addie Joss taking over as the staff ace.

The Sigmar Cup

Tonight I completed the brief first season of my Blitz Bowl league. Although I've been playing all the games myself, Matthew and Nathaniel really got into it, asking about the game results as if these were actual sporting events! Matthew was rooting for the elves all week long and Nathaniel (not surprisingly) was a dwarf booster, so there was precious little love for the humies. 

As I mentioned in the previous post, the title match for our first-ever Sigmar Cup would feature the first-place human Reavers against the second-place dwarf Giants. The Reavers won the coin toss and took possession of the ball, scoring three early points on Challenge cards and keeping the ball away from their foes. After the dwarves botched several attempts to break through the human line, the Reaver thrower lofted a pass to his catcher, who sprinted into the end zone for the game's first touchdown. As Blitz Bowl touchdowns are worth three points, the score was now 6-0 for the Reavers before the Giants had even touched the ball.

Game over? Hardly! The stolid dwarves dug in and began to chip away at their opponents' lead. One exciting highlight came midway through the match when the dwarf troll slayer bulldozed his way into the end zone for his team's only touchdown. Both squads picked up a few more points on Challenge cards, and it was 10-8 in favor of the Reavers late in the game. The Giants scored two late points to draw even, and then, on the very first turn of overtime, earned a single Challenge point that the Reavers could not match on their own turn. And thus the game ended with a score of 11-10. The Giants have won the first Sigmar Cup!

Doctors and Daleks

Yeah, I'm gonna be all over this...

Blitz Bowl Season 1

I'm playing a quick three-team Blitz Bowl league this week during my time off. Each of the three teams -- the human Reavers, the duardin (dwarf) Giants, and the aelf (elf) Avengers -- play the others four times, for a total of eight games apiece. Then the top two teams meet in a single winner-take-all championship game.

Tonight I wrapped up the regular season, and although the Avengers started off with a bang, they finished at 2-4-2 and failed to qualify for the championship. The Giants (3-3-2) came in second, so they will meet the first-place Reavers (3-1-4) for the title. It should be a great game, with the defense-minded Giants (a league-best 9.75 points allowed per game) going up against the high-scoring Reavers (tops in the circuit with 11.88 points scored per game). I'll do a full write-up this weekend for the championship match. After that, I'll start preparing for a much longer Season 2, in which I'll introduce a fourth team -- the halfling Grasshuggers!

Super Cars

The National Automobile Museum in Reno is one of my very favorite museums. The last time we took the boys there, they probably weren't old enough to appreciate it. 

As we toured the exhibits today, I treated my family to an impromptu retrospective on my beloved Elmira's many connections to automotive history, from the Philion quadricycle to American LaFrance fire engines to the Brothers Bodine. Here's a shot of their American LaFrance engine, manufacturing in good old Elmira, New York!

They also had one of the old Adam West-era Batmobiles on display, which Matthew was excited to see after getting into a lot of Batman video games lately. 

The reason for this post, however, is a connection to our Tales of the Ternion campaign. I nearly walked right past this beautiful Lincoln-Zephyr...

It then dawned on me that it was the favored vehicle of Ian "I'm missing a finger!" Silverstone, the British used-car salesman who has factored in numerous Front Porch campaigns set during the middle part of the twentieth century. The boys learned about Silverstone recently in our Tales superhero campaign as they've been working to unravel a decades-long conspiracy that links together all of my modern-setting campaigns.

Victory in Ulfenkarn!

As I predicted, there was considerable deliberation about how to mount our assault. Ultimately, we agreed to take out the initial guardians first, then split up to destroy the four phylacteries that protected the undead soul of Radukar. The vampire-lord would spawn as soon as the first phylactery was destroyed, so we needed weaken him by eliminating these magical vessels as quickly as possible. 

The subordinate vampires and undead ogres were no match for our party's prowess, so we moved into position for a near-simultaneous phylactery smashing. Nathaniel's sturdy dwarf and my nimble swordfighter moved toward the two phylacteries in Radukar's throne room, while Matthew's musket-wielding monster hunter and his stalwart priestess each headed for a phylactery in one of the adjoining wings. (The game requires you to take four heroes on each adventure, so we rotate among a couple of supporting heroes, of whom the priestess is probably the most effective.)

The destruction of the phylacteries went off almost without a hitch, and we were lucky to have Radukar spawn in front of Nathaniel's dwarf, as he was the tank of the party. The unexpected appearance of another undead ogre put the poor dwarf between two powerful foes, but I managed to move my swordfighter into position for a flurry of attacks that took down the vampire-lord and ended the game!

Here's a shot of the final scene, with the two heroes who were in the throne room for that final turn.

Since Nathaniel had been the one to open the mysterious envelope when we completed Blackstone Fortress, this time Matthew got the honor.

What secrets were contained therein? I won't give away any spoilers, but the ending was not altogether positive for the city of Ulfenkarn and its champions. The fight against evil will continue, but for now, we'll put Cursed City aside to focus on other things. It was a great game, perhaps not the novel and wildly fun experience we had with Blackstone, but the character development and legacy mechanics in Cursed City were rather more sophisticated than in its earlier cousin. The boys and I would love to see a new edition of Blackstone that incorporates all the great stuff that Cursed introduced. In any case, they're both magnificent games and we absolutely got our money's worth out of them!

Into the Ebon Citadel!

Over the past few months, other games have gotten in the way of our finishing Cursed City, but now that I've got a nice little week of vacation, I was determined that we were going to complete this game just as we vanquished its spiritual predecessor, Blackstone Fortress. Over the weekend, we did one final mission to level up a couple of our secondary characters and prepare us for our final assault on the Ebon Citadel, home to Radukar the Wolf, vampire-lord of Ulfenkarn. 

Here's a couple pics of the Ebon Citadel map, including (at the top) the throne room of Radukar!

It's hard to see the individual minis, but Radukar himself is not present. He'll show up once we start to cause trouble. In the meantime, we'll have to deal with his undead ogre and vampire minions. 

If we prevail, we'll be able to open the mysterious sealed envelope that was included in the box. As with Blackstone, it no doubt wraps up this first storyline, provides some sort of final reward for the party, and hints at adventures to come.

The attack on Radular's lair begins today, but we'll probably spend a couple of hours arguing over how to approach the mission before we actually get started. That's half the fun! Wish us luck!

Season 7 Awards

Before undertaking the tedious task of updating career stats for all the players, I'll wrap up Season 7 with the individual awards!

Scoring Champion: Newsy Lalonde, RW, Victorias

With 19 goals and 18 assists, Lalonde's 37 regular-season points were three more than teammate Cyclone Taylor's total. In just his second season, Lalonde has established himself as the league's premiere offensive player. (Offensive in more ways than one, because his 32 penalty minutes were just four shy of the league lead!)

Forward MVP: Blair Russell, LW, Comets

A star player in earlier seasons, Russell had been pretty quiet over the last couple of years before breaking out with 17 goals (second in the league). That number, combined with his +12 rating (third in the league but first among forwards), tell the story of his superlative two-way game. 

Defenseman MVP: Mike Grant, Comets

Grant suffered an injury early in the first game of the season and missed the next couple of contests. When he came back, he came back with a vengeance. Grant racked up 30 points and posted a +13 rating (second only to teammate and fellow blueliner Lester Patrick at +22), cementing his place in the holy trinity of defensemen alongside fellow trophy winners Cyclone Taylor (five times) and Hod Stuart (once).

Goaltender MVP: Paddy Moran, Bulldogs

Moran paced the circuit with a 2.40 goals-against average and .921 save percentage, almost single-handedly dragging his underperforming team into the postseason. To earn this award, Moran had to outduel four-time winner Bowse Hutton, although Hutton and the Victorias got the last laugh in the playoffs. 

Rookie of the Year: Hap Holmes, G, Bearcats

Holmes edged Thistles winger Jack Darragh to become the first goaltender to win this award. On a first-year team that won only two of its twenty games, Holmes was one of the few bright spots. His .913 save percentage looks exceptional, but it was actually just a few ticks above league average (.910) because expansion diluted the talent pool, resulting in a banner year for netminders. Even so, Holmes was arguably the Cats' best player, and I see nothing but greatness ahead of him.

Playoff MVP: Newsy Lalonde, RW, Victorias

Cyclone Taylor had one more point and a substantially better plus/minus, and Bowse Hutton put up an eye-popping .941 save percentage, but this year's Playoff MVP goes to their teammate Lalonde, who scored a record 9 goals in this postseason, when no one else had more than 5. Though twice injured during the Vics' championship run, Lalonde was a warrior who instilled absolute terror in foes every time he touched the puck.