Saturday, October 01, 2011
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Mage Knight
The pdf walkthru/rules for the new Vlaada Chvatil game Mage Knight are up on the geek: HERE. Hilarious wall o' text when you first open it. Looks pretty cool! I like how you lay the tiles out -you match little symbols up so I guess there's some kind of uniformity. Not crazy about all the little bits, but I'm sure once you get it down it's not as daunting as it looks. Did you guys happen to see this at Gen Con?
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Damn, Amazon announced their Kindle Fire. Looks ok, not gonna get this one since I've already got a tablet, but they also lowered all the Kindle prices. Cheapest is $79 bucks - that's pretty darn cheap.
Aaaand: Another Humble Bundle - this time for the game Eric and I have (but haven't played together yet) Frozen Synapse. LINK
Aaaand: Another Humble Bundle - this time for the game Eric and I have (but haven't played together yet) Frozen Synapse. LINK
vIDEO Games:
OnLive. That's the service where instead of downloading and running games on your pc, you stream them. So, almost regardless of the machine you have (netbook,craptop, pos desktop, IPAD!), you can theoretically play the latest and greatest PC games at full settings, as long as you've got an internet connection. They "rent" games for like $5 for 3-days, all the way up to just buying them outright. They also have a $10 a month option where there's like 100 games you can play unlimited. It's free to try out - just need an email address to setup an account, and then most of the games give 30 minute trials. I tried it out and it actually seems to work fine! Since it's streaming, doesn't look 100 percent perfect, but looks pretty darn close. Also, I don't know if the latency would make multiplayer shooters viable, but I tried out a bunch of single player shit and it all ran pretty sweet. Worst thing about it, not the greatest selection of games. A lot of the big stuff is there, but for me, I've already played them or have them on Steam. Plus, I gots a good computer nowadays, so I don't need a service like this. But still, the technology is pretty amazing and I think you guys should check it out. You jump into the games almost instantly, it's kinda crazy. Quicker than getting into a game on a console or PC for sure. Also, you can spectate other people's games in real-time which is trippy. I was watching dudes play that new Deus Ex game.
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PC GAMER Digital - Saw on Steam today that magazine PC Gamer now has digital version on Steam and it's pretty neat. A different take on a "digital magazine" that seemed to work pretty well. The first thing is free, but it looks like future issues are $2 bucks (but I'm a little confused on that.) And the initial download is like over a gig, which seems kind of EXTREME. But once you load it up, all the video and stuff just start instantly and looks great, so maybe that's where the size comes in.
The Game of Life:
This is my fifth and final fucking night in a row, goddamn. The cost of the day off for Cabin Con was an extra day this week, but it's worth it! So fucking burnt out though, sweet jeebus.
OnLive. That's the service where instead of downloading and running games on your pc, you stream them. So, almost regardless of the machine you have (netbook,craptop, pos desktop, IPAD!), you can theoretically play the latest and greatest PC games at full settings, as long as you've got an internet connection. They "rent" games for like $5 for 3-days, all the way up to just buying them outright. They also have a $10 a month option where there's like 100 games you can play unlimited. It's free to try out - just need an email address to setup an account, and then most of the games give 30 minute trials. I tried it out and it actually seems to work fine! Since it's streaming, doesn't look 100 percent perfect, but looks pretty darn close. Also, I don't know if the latency would make multiplayer shooters viable, but I tried out a bunch of single player shit and it all ran pretty sweet. Worst thing about it, not the greatest selection of games. A lot of the big stuff is there, but for me, I've already played them or have them on Steam. Plus, I gots a good computer nowadays, so I don't need a service like this. But still, the technology is pretty amazing and I think you guys should check it out. You jump into the games almost instantly, it's kinda crazy. Quicker than getting into a game on a console or PC for sure. Also, you can spectate other people's games in real-time which is trippy. I was watching dudes play that new Deus Ex game.
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PC GAMER Digital - Saw on Steam today that magazine PC Gamer now has digital version on Steam and it's pretty neat. A different take on a "digital magazine" that seemed to work pretty well. The first thing is free, but it looks like future issues are $2 bucks (but I'm a little confused on that.) And the initial download is like over a gig, which seems kind of EXTREME. But once you load it up, all the video and stuff just start instantly and looks great, so maybe that's where the size comes in.
The Game of Life:
This is my fifth and final fucking night in a row, goddamn. The cost of the day off for Cabin Con was an extra day this week, but it's worth it! So fucking burnt out though, sweet jeebus.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
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9mm Combat commander
Eric - i was looking at the 9mm guys that was used for the other mini game and was thinking that would make a cool miniature adaptation for combat commander. Just have to blow up those scenario maps a few hundred percent. I'm thinking a chit is around 1/3 - 1/2 the size of the 1"x 1" base, so that would roughly equate to a 100 to 175% max size equivalence.
Just a thought -
Just a thought -
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repple depple
My regular nights off are basically every wed-fri and then every other day I don't start work till midnight, so I'm basically free ANY night to virtually kick it with my bros. I tend to see the lady friend a night or two out of that, but whatevs, gaming first (not really). :)
Anyways, if I can wrangle at least 2 to 4 of you guys, we can actually set up a Fiasco game in advance of actually meeting online. I'd like to try the "Lucky Strike" playset which is set in a repple depple:
We'd just have to figure out whos playing, then have them all roll 4d6 and pool the results. You then go around the table taking a die and using it's result to pick details from various tables to setup the game. There are relationships, needs, objects, and locations. The basic setup rules are:
* One Relationship between each pair of neighboring players at the table.
* One Detail attached to each Relationship.
* At least one Need, one Location, and one Object.
* The last remaining die is wild, and can be any number.
It's pretty simple. I'll throw it all up into a Google Doc. The actual playsets are all free, so if you wanna see the choices for this one, you can nab the pdf here: playsets!
Anyways, if I can wrangle at least 2 to 4 of you guys, we can actually set up a Fiasco game in advance of actually meeting online. I'd like to try the "Lucky Strike" playset which is set in a repple depple:
FRANCE ... NOVEMBER 1944
This playset takes place at the United States Army’s Camp Lucky Strike Replacement Depot, near Le Havre, France.
By the fall of 1944, the U.S. Army was losing infantrymen faster than it could train new recruits. Poor planning and German tenacity combined to crate a deep manpower shortage on the front lines of the European theater. The ill-advised solution was the Replacement Depot, or “repple-depple”. Nestled safely in the rear, the Replacement Depot was a temporary home for soldiers awaiting new units. Some were recovered from injuries, some were green troops directly for training known as “replacement increments”, and some were “otherwise displaced” for various reasons, often dubious. They were sent to whatever unit had a need, often without regard for their specialty – anti-aircraft gunners and tank destroyers were thrown into infantry battalions and men who had never seen a tank were dropped into Shermans and told
to learn fast. Men separated from comrades they had spent years training with were guaranteed never to see them again once they hit the repple-depple. Boredom and low morale led to crime and foolishness.
It was, in a word, a fiasco.
We'd just have to figure out whos playing, then have them all roll 4d6 and pool the results. You then go around the table taking a die and using it's result to pick details from various tables to setup the game. There are relationships, needs, objects, and locations. The basic setup rules are:
* One Relationship between each pair of neighboring players at the table.
* One Detail attached to each Relationship.
* At least one Need, one Location, and one Object.
* The last remaining die is wild, and can be any number.
It's pretty simple. I'll throw it all up into a Google Doc. The actual playsets are all free, so if you wanna see the choices for this one, you can nab the pdf here: playsets!
Monday, September 26, 2011
Yeah. I wanted to see some takes on this, albeit nothing outrageously important or revolutionary. Thats why I called. Hence, i'm glad to see that that call was so promptly returned! huh.
Nonetheless, I think you summarized it pretty well on the blog. Yeah, i think there would definitely be some areas where there could be some fulfillment but it would be limited in scope to either companies that aren't so great at providing replacement parts, obsoleted games or older games in general. Its not a for profit scheme as with most niche stuff. It's one of those things where it would be cool if someone did it if ever there's a need for a part, but not capitalistic enough for people to actually do it with economic incentives.
(And yeah, the truth of the matter is, the time that must be spent, mailing, organizing, and details would negate any possibility of the ludicrous profitability). But it might just be fun.
Nonetheless, I think you summarized it pretty well on the blog. Yeah, i think there would definitely be some areas where there could be some fulfillment but it would be limited in scope to either companies that aren't so great at providing replacement parts, obsoleted games or older games in general. Its not a for profit scheme as with most niche stuff. It's one of those things where it would be cool if someone did it if ever there's a need for a part, but not capitalistic enough for people to actually do it with economic incentives.
(And yeah, the truth of the matter is, the time that must be spent, mailing, organizing, and details would negate any possibility of the ludicrous profitability). But it might just be fun.
Is that what you called me about, Ja-el?
The problem is most of the really good game companies have good bit replacement services already. The best example is Fantasy Flight. They are totally awesome about replacing parts. One time I bought a board game and the paper had been glued on incorrectly giving it a scrunched appearance in one corner. I emailed them about it and they immediately sent me a new board, no questions asked. The shipping cost on the envelope was like $12.85. Between that, and the labor for whoever fulfilled the order, I'm sure a substantial part of their margin on the $60 game was eaten up.
I think a bit order biz for out of print games or ones from smaller companies might be neat though. For example, my copy of Medieval Merchant is missing one of the dial tokens, which makes the game kinda unplayable (it also doesn't help that it looks like Myke, its previous owner, jizzed coffee all over it). The game's out of print so I'm outta luck getting a new one. If I could pay like $5 with shipping to get that piece replaced, I'd probably do it. Another side line is deluxe bits for popular games. The alternate Agricola bits are a good example. Buying a full set of alternate bits for Agricola costs a lot, probably almost as much as a new copy of the game, and yet many people do it (like Pumpkin). Really any popular game with wooden bits is fair game. Puerto Rico for example, you could do the little coffee, tobacco (cigars), bags of sugar etc. I agree it would never be a big moneymaker, but as a side/fun/hobby business, it could work.
Rude, I would be up for playing Fiasco online for sure. I'm not so sure Wednesday will work out though, my folks are coming up this weekend and there's a lot to do to get the place ready, but I'll see what tomorrow looks like.
- J. Pierpont Flathead
The problem is most of the really good game companies have good bit replacement services already. The best example is Fantasy Flight. They are totally awesome about replacing parts. One time I bought a board game and the paper had been glued on incorrectly giving it a scrunched appearance in one corner. I emailed them about it and they immediately sent me a new board, no questions asked. The shipping cost on the envelope was like $12.85. Between that, and the labor for whoever fulfilled the order, I'm sure a substantial part of their margin on the $60 game was eaten up.
I think a bit order biz for out of print games or ones from smaller companies might be neat though. For example, my copy of Medieval Merchant is missing one of the dial tokens, which makes the game kinda unplayable (it also doesn't help that it looks like Myke, its previous owner, jizzed coffee all over it). The game's out of print so I'm outta luck getting a new one. If I could pay like $5 with shipping to get that piece replaced, I'd probably do it. Another side line is deluxe bits for popular games. The alternate Agricola bits are a good example. Buying a full set of alternate bits for Agricola costs a lot, probably almost as much as a new copy of the game, and yet many people do it (like Pumpkin). Really any popular game with wooden bits is fair game. Puerto Rico for example, you could do the little coffee, tobacco (cigars), bags of sugar etc. I agree it would never be a big moneymaker, but as a side/fun/hobby business, it could work.
Rude, I would be up for playing Fiasco online for sure. I'm not so sure Wednesday will work out though, my folks are coming up this weekend and there's a lot to do to get the place ready, but I'll see what tomorrow looks like.
- J. Pierpont Flathead
I don't know about Rio, but like settlers of cataan (mayfair games) They sell their replacement parts in packs, so you end up getting a lot more pieces instead of only what your missing. Instead it's 4 color pack replacement for 12 bucks for the wood pieces. For tiles, it's 27 bucks for the set.
So in my replacement shop, you could get 1 road if you wanted to or 1 water tile. something like that. It would definitely be easier for game companies to do this but who knows, maybe they would consider outsourcing thier replacement services in the future.
So in my replacement shop, you could get 1 road if you wanted to or 1 water tile. something like that. It would definitely be easier for game companies to do this but who knows, maybe they would consider outsourcing thier replacement services in the future.
I think you can easily get most replacement parts from the game companies themselves. I know on rio grandes site they say they can replace whatever for a nominal fee. And then for generic meeples, pawns, and little wooden blocks, think its easy to track that stuff down from a bunch of different board game selling sites. Doesn't seem like its worth getting into.
Off-the wall thought..
dunno if this is worth the time, but one thing about games has always been the missing / incomplete pieces sets. I'm sitting on battle cry, memoir 44, settlers of Cat, with a few missing pieces. Can't sell it on ebay for good money, can't do much except to scalp it. I'm sure this is a problem everyone has at one point or another right?
Hence I was thinking of actually starting a game parts service where you can get 1 or 2 pieces replacement parts for popular games, ie those mentioned above and maybe a few more. It's all about letting gamers be able to complete their sets again without having to buy another set or what not. It might cost 1-2 dollars for shipping, and 50 cents or something for each piece.
What do all of you think about this? Think it's a waste of time or people will actually go get replacement parts? Thoughts from the gamers? (PS. This is not about getting rich fyi)
I was wondering what that Cthulhu book was about! I'd be more than down to play. If it's mostly a narrative fancy-pants indie-darling type of system, I'd also be down to try it over Google Hangout - do it!!! :)
Speaking of those kind of RPGS, I had brought but never busted out Fiasco during cabincon weekend. It's thing is, 3-5 players, gm-less rpg. You roll a pool of d6 and then use the results to "buy" different character relationships, settings, and items. Then, everyone's character gets a spotlight scene where they play out what happens. You can choose to set the scene and then let the other players determine if it has a positive or negative outcome. OR, you can let them set up the scene and then you get the power to chose the outcome at the end. Seems fun and only about 2 hours long. The settings that you can play with all have a Coen Bros vibe to them.
Speaking of those kind of RPGS, I had brought but never busted out Fiasco during cabincon weekend. It's thing is, 3-5 players, gm-less rpg. You roll a pool of d6 and then use the results to "buy" different character relationships, settings, and items. Then, everyone's character gets a spotlight scene where they play out what happens. You can choose to set the scene and then let the other players determine if it has a positive or negative outcome. OR, you can let them set up the scene and then you get the power to chose the outcome at the end. Seems fun and only about 2 hours long. The settings that you can play with all have a Coen Bros vibe to them.
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Trail of Cthulhu
Like Jon on his Kindle, I've been doing some Lovecraftian re-readings and my CoC juices have been flowing. Trail of Cthulhu looks like a really interesting take on Mythos role-playing and even MORE interesting is The Armitage Files supplement. NOBODY LOOK AT IT BECAUSE I REALLY, REALLY WANT TO RUN IT.
The Armitage Files is a vast departure from anything I have run as it is mostly a framework and set of references for running an almost 100% improv game. There are launching points for sessions, but it is designed to be a highly collaborative game where the players and the GM riff off of each other to create an interesting story, which is really the best part of our CoC games, or any RPG's for that matter.
I have visions of running a session of this at each Kubla/Cabin/Prostie-Con and see where it takes us. The supplement really sounds interesting and I miss telling and hearing stories.
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Sunday, September 25, 2011
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dl my cd(eeznutsinyourmouth)
Amazing pics! Oh man, just making me miss Cabin Con all over again. Stole batman password (same deal, one word) for my CD:
http://www.mediafire.com/?fij395jsdjkoda2
I make no mola off this anymore (and I doubt he does) so have at it if you don't already gots it!
http://www.mediafire.com/?fij395jsdjkoda2
I make no mola off this anymore (and I doubt he does) so have at it if you don't already gots it!
Bachelor Con photos are up. Yay! As usual, Time's up provides the best fodder... Same password as ever: Something Batman punches the Joker into; two words, no spaces.
r00d, with regards to wedding party members staying at the hotel on Friday, I suspect a good number will be staying Friday night since we have the rehearsal Friday evening.
D>M>
r00d, with regards to wedding party members staying at the hotel on Friday, I suspect a good number will be staying Friday night since we have the rehearsal Friday evening.
D>M>
Well if it's any consolation, games retain their value much more than TV's and they don't break as much, at least electrically. I just sold my blood bowl set on ebay. amazing to me that after 10 years I sold the game for as much as I bought it for. I could have tried to sell it as a collectible and tried to get a lot more but then i would feel guilty for selling used crap. then again...
Edit: How can Space Hulk 3rd edition be worth $200 dollars?
Edit: How can Space Hulk 3rd edition be worth $200 dollars?
That sucks about the TV dude! I had a lemon I got through Amazon that luckily went bad within the first month or so, so I was able to easily get it returned and bought a better TV (no more no-name brands for me). I also got one of those warranties from that main outside company (totally forgetting the name) because they supposedly pay out if shit really breaks - we'll see! But yeah, you always hear about electronics having these built in life-spans and I kinda believe it. Nothing ever lasts ('cept our love, yall) - BURNING MAN 2012 - FREE SEX AND HELLUV METH, WOOOO
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