2018: No Resolutions!

As we enter a new year I would like to take a look at my gaming habits in 2017 and reflect on the state of the blog.

Boardgame Highlights in 2017

One of my struggles as a game collector is finding a multitude of great games but then not actually playing them.  For years I have been interested in the game lines from Starfleet Games, such as Star Fleet Battles and Federation Commander.  Both of those games have free print-and-play demos and I have tried both of them solo.  This year I convinced a friend to try out the Federation Commander demo.  We ran a basic Federation vs. Klingon scenario.  I now own a copy of Star Fleet Battles so my goal for this year is to find an opponent for that game.

Returning to Magic the Gathering was another gaming highlight.  I have always been curious about Magic and I found someone to teach me the game about six years ago.  At that time I had steady opponents.  I played for a few years but them my Magic playing trickled to a drip, and Magic is a game that requires practice in order to be proficient.  In 2017 I started playing more and I even participated in a sealed league, which is a format that was new to me.

Play-by-Mail Highlights in 2017

I continued to experiment with play-by-mail in 2017.  I dropped Duel2, the gladiator combat game run by Reality Simulations.  I enjoy the game, highly recommend it, and will probably return to it again.  I just needed to spend my time and financial resources elsewhere.  I am still playing Hyborian War, a grand strategy wargame in the Conan universe.  Once this current game ends I will sign up for another one.  I have started a science fiction game called Starweb run by Flying Buffalo.   Starweb is an exploration/trading/combat game.  I plan on writing reviews for both Hyborian War and Starweb this year.

Role-Playing Game Highlights of 2017

I was reviewing my rpg plays over at rpggeek.com and I was pleasantly surprised to see that I started 2017 by running a Pathfinder session.  I have wanted to return to Pathfinder as the first time I ran it I didn't feel that I knew enough at the time to make it work as smoothly as it should.  That session ended in a TPK!  I continued to be a player in a D&D 5ed campaign in 2017.  I enjoy playing and I think that every gamemaster needs to play a lot in order to understand gaming better.  However I am definitely getting the urge to run a campaign and I ended the year running a Black Crusade scenario.

Life Highlights of 2017

We moved!  Moving has put some chaos into my life.  We moved into an apartment and my gaming space shrunk.  I have two FLGS in the area, both that have game nights.  I have not been to either game night yet.  I also applied for a job in the tabletop game industry.  I did not get the position, but I did make it to the second round of applicants.  Not bad for someone with no profession game industry experience.

State of the Blog in 2017

I did not write as many entries in 2017 that I would have liked to.  I had 35 posts, which is the 2nd lowest total for a year.  I was hoping to keep up Rolling Wednesday throughout the year.  I thought that posting a picture of dice wouldn't be too hard.  Well, moving really messes up our life and my Rolling Wednesday experiment did not post every Wednesday.  I also failed to make any big changes to the visual look or design of the blog.

No Resolutions!

We are in 2018 and like the title says, I have no resolutions.  My goals are what they always have been, try to play and create more.  I will continue posting to the blog.  I will continue writing reviews.  I am consciously trying to limit my acquisition of game products and enjoy what I already own.  In fact, I have a bunch of unpainted miniatures that I hope to paint soon.  When I do I will post pictures!  Game on!

Quick Spoiler-free Review: Wicked Fantasy Factory #0: Temple of Blood

I have been itching to run some Pathfinder games while I await the release of Starfinder.  I told my gaming buddies to have some 1st level fodder characters ready to go and whenever we had time I would run a campaign.  I have tons of 3.5 and Pathfinder material sitting around the house so I grabbed a module off the shelf for some gaming.

Wicked Fantasy Factory #0: Temple of Blood

This product is a 16 page adventure.  It was published by Goodman Games in 2007.  The cover on my copy states that the book was released for Free RPG Day in 2007.  The module is currently available in PDF from drivethrurpg for $2.  I acquired my copy for free.  The module is stated for Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 and on the back cover says "Requires the use of the Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook."  I ran the adventure using Pathfinder and I made no conversions to the stats.

The Wicked Fantasy Factory line touts itself as extreme gaming, going for a cross between Gauntlet and Mortal Kombat.  At the beginning of the moduel there are some suggested house rules to bring some extreme flavor to your game.  The most interesting one is the rules for finishing moves.  Each character is encouraged to design a finishing move that they can use on opponents.  There are also some rules to make combat with henchmen easier, changing how main villains work, and describing characters.

The module involves a series of kidnappings.  The player characters will be charged with finding the missing persons.  The adventure is a short dungeon crawl.  There is plenty of combat and a couple of puzzle-like challenges.  There is boxed-text to read to the players followed by descriptions of the areas as well as maps.  I appreciated the "E-Z Stat Blocks", which gives the bare bones stats for NPCs.  Hit points, attack bonus, damage, and a few other stats are listed for adversaries in an easy-to-read format.  Full stat write-ups are included later in the text, but I really appreciated being able to quickly find initiative and to-hit numbers without being distracted by useless skill bonus.

When I ran the adventure it ended in a total party kill (heh heh).  However, I would not hold this against the module.  The author suggests having a party of 4-6 characters with a healer and fighters.  I ran a party of 2 characters.  With more PCs and some adjustments the party could have easily survived.  I enjoyed running the adventure.  It is short and full of action.  The players get to crawl around a subterranean environment and hack things to death.  Temple of Blood has the tropes of an old D&D adventure while injecting a dose of modern video game hack-and-slash elements.  The art matches the tone of the book with black and white illustrations of adversaries and fighters defeating them.  This is a good introductory adventure for a campaign and I think it was a great Free RPG Day offering.  For $2 as a pdf I think that this is a good budget advenutre.

#RPGaDay 2016 Day 31: Best Advice You Were Given for Your Game of Choice

The best advice that I was given for a game had to do with what to do when you have taken a break in the campaign.  The advice wasn't for any game in particular.  At the time I was GMing a Pathfinder campaign and we were playing sporadically.  We hadn't played in a while and I was listening to a podcast (I can't remember which one, maybe Haste) and the advice they gave for starting back up a from a break was to start with some action.  They said to start with the players in the middle of a fight or some other exciting situation and that would get everyone back into the game.  I tried it out at it was a success!

#RPGaDay 2016 Day 21: Funniest Misinterpretation of a Rule in Your Group?

Ah, Pathfinder feats, there are so many of them!  One of my players had his fighter take the feat Spring Attack.  This was early on in our campaign so everyone was still new to the rules.  Spring Attack allows you to run up to a foe, attack them, and then run back without provoking an attack of opportunity.  The way that my player explained it to me was that he was allowed to use his full movement to approach a foe, attack him, and them use his full movement to spring back.  It felt like his character was the Hulk, making huge leaps around the map.  As I said, we were still new to the rules so nobody questioned it.  During the next session we had a new player who had some experience, and he politely informed us that he didn't think Spring Attack worked like that. As DM I felt a tad embarrassed and we nerfed the fighter.

#RPGaDay 2016 Day 20: Most Challenging but Rewarding System You Have Learned?

The most challenging but rewarding system that I have learned is the d20 3.X D&D/Pathfinder system.  The first version of the d20 3.X system that I played was Pathfinder .  While the basic mechanics of the system are simple (roll a d20 and add modifiers), the elegance of the system is how much can be added.  The feats and combat options alone create a sophisticated mechanism that allows for unlimited variety in play.

GMing Pathfinder was a challenge, especially when I was running adventures for up to seven players. Reading the Pathfinder rules reminded me of wargaming rules.  They were long, complicated, and rules from one section affected rules in another section.  Trying to learn and remember enough to run a game was challenging and I am not sure if I ever had mastery of the system.  In fact, I had to quit running for a while due to fatigue.  However, all that rules-learning worked my brain like a muscle.

I now have a great respect for the d20 3.X system.  I appreciate how huge the system is and how many different options are available to those who play it.  I appreciate the elegance of how all the rules can work together.  My favorite thing about the d20 3.X system has to be the OGL that it was published under.  The OGL paved the way for other games such as Mutants and Masterminds, Spycraft, Castles & Crusades, and the OSR retro-clone movement.  When Paizo releases Starfinder I know that I will be ready to run some d20 again, attacks of opportunity be damned!

#RPGaDay 2016: Day 10 Largest In-Game Surprise I Have Experienced

Today's question is about the largest in-game surprise I have experienced.  This took place in a Pathfinder campaign that I was running.  In the adventure a wealthy patron was trying to recover a magical artifact that he suspected the players of stealing.  He invited them to diner and drugged them all so that everyone fell into a deep sleep.  He then had his mage place all of the characters into a dream realm which the patron controlled.

Part of the dream involved the players having to cross a room that was filled with a giant fishbowl.  The lip of the fishbowl was at the height of the doors, so the idea was that the players would open the door to the room and have to swim across the fishbowl.  I created a giant goldfish monster for the characters to fight and studied the rules for swimming and water combat.  Sure enough, one of the players cast spider climb.  They climbed across the ceiling, attached a rope to the other end of the room, and then the rest of the party used the rope to get across the room.  I was proud of their problem solving but disappointed that I did not get to have an underwater goldfish fight.