Category Archives: On the Tabletop

Adventures from cards, miniatures, pencil and paper RPGs, and other old fashioned games from before the internet ruined everything.

On the Tabletop

Noob’s Duskmourn Prerelease

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Introduction

A couple of days ago, I wrote an article about my impressions of Duskmourn, the new Magic the Gathering set that just released. In that article, I also started a short story in the setting. I promised to continue it in this article, Noob’s Duskmourn Prerelease. Unlike other events in the past, I simulated this one on DraftSim. As kids get older, it becomes easier to do things on your own. But, I find they’re not as satisfying as when we all went as a family.

Maybe next time I will order a few of the packs and we can put on our own event here at home. Only thing about that is that they’re like 25-30 bucks each and that’s a lot of scratch just for the ability to put together a deck and play a few games. Especially when I could easily simulate the packs again and proxy the cards, or import them into xMage and play that way. Wizards keeps pricing out players. Oh well, back into the story.

Into the Unknown (Noob’s Duskmourn Tale II)

The circle of light from the lantern fights against the encroaching darkness, barely winning the battle. You know from experience that this darkness stems not only from the setting sun, but also from the land itself. The spirit of Duskmourn lives off the night and tries to suffocate any warmth and light that dares to infringe into its territory.

Off in the distance, something lets out a low growl. The swamp bubbles and pops, releasing more of the foul ichor and stench into the air. Against all good judgement, you must remove your goggles to wipe the mess off of them. The flame of your lantern flickers and goes out for a moment. You need to be moving as quickly as possible.

Thankfully, someone erected a makeshift bridge over the swamp. Just wide enough for your horse, the animal dances momentarily before taking a tentative step onto the bridge. It groans under the weight. You kick your heels into the horse’s haunches to bring the speed up to a canter. The bridge splinters on the sides. While wide enough for the horse, you now regret not testing the weight.

Thankfully, though, you make it across without major incident. The thing growls again, this time closer and more menacing. You realize now that the real threat exists outside of the swamp and you might be marching right to it. You swear an oath to whoever might be listening. Keeping a watchful eye on darkness just beyond the light, you continue.

In due time, the ring of light reflects off something and back to you. You slow the horse to a crawl as the growl comes from that direction, louder and more menacing than ever. Placing your other hand on your sword you see a wrought iron gate swinging free on a single hinge. You breathe a sigh of relief and enter the grounds. So far, the trip has been mostly uneventful. But, who knows what horrors await here.

Noob’s Duskmourn Prerelease Deck

Sorry to end on another cliffhanger, but at this point, I have no choice. I actually haven’t invented the horrors that await you just yet. I know I promise this often, but maybe I’ll release more parts of the story during our celebration of Spooktober next month. Remind me if I forget.

Anyway, after opening the packs, I consulted a guide for Duskmourn limited. As I looked through the cards, I considered building a blue-white deck. Unfortunately, the packs didn’t contain enough of those cards. Instead, I pivoted to white black reanimator. That one came together like a dream.

I got several of the biggies in Emerge from the Cocoon and Shroudstomper. Innocuous Rat can build up the graveyard with other big fatties like the Excrutiator and Glimmer. Attack-in-the-Box just provides recursive attack after recursive attack. I question how effective such a strategy can be with a 40 card deck, but it just looks like fun.

The spells strictly work in the reanimator theme. As long as you get the spells and bin the right monsters, you’re in for a fun time. I played around with the deck some on Moxfield and it never quite came together the way I wanted, but that’s par for the course. I swear, if they gave a prize for most unlucky MtG player, I’d win it in a landslide. Back to the deck, though, add in a Terramorphic Expanse and Valgavoth’s Lair for some mana fixing and I’m ready to play.

The Verdict

I only constructed this one deck. However, I reloaded the packs a few other times. And, I must say, I enjoyed my time exploring for Noob’s Duskmourn Prerelease. I know part of that is simply because I enjoy the limited format so much and never get a chance to actually play it. Who knows? Maybe I’ll load up a draft or two on Arena.

The Deck

Duskmourn Prerelease

Creatures (18)
2 Appendage Amalgam
1 Attack-in-the-Box
1 Balemurk Leech
1 Doomsday Excruciator
1 Fear of Lost Teeth
1 Fear of Surveillance
1 Fear of the Dark
1 Friendly Ghost
2 Innocuous Rat
1 Lionheart Glimmer
2 Patched Plaything
1 Possessed Goat
1 Shroudstomper
1 Spectral Snatcher
1 Unsettling Twins

Spells (4)
2 Emerge from the Cocoon
1 Rite of the Moth
1 Split Up

Land (18)
7 Plains
9 Swamp
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Valgavoth’s Lair
On the Tabletop

Noob’s Guide to Duskmourn

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Introduction

We get an early start on Spooktober here at 2 Generations Gaming with Noob’s Guide to Duskmourn. Officially titled, Duskmourn: House of Horror, it is the latest set release in Magic the Gathering. While we suffered a dearth of MtG content over the last few months to a year, I came up with an idea a couple of weeks ago to bring it back and try to give it a different spin to match our vibe.

It won’t take much tweaking of the formula to get there. I never wrote articles about the best or most valuable cards. Those articles are a dime a dozen and you can find them anywhere. Instead, I often focus on the fun factor of the set and cards. All I need to do is turn that up a little bit and I think I will have a winning formula.

Welcome to Duskmourn (Noob’s Duskmourn Tale I)

You pull at your horse’s reign as you come upon a fork in the road. No signs tell you where either direction leads. Your only indication is a general sense of foreboding no matter which way you choose. Damned if go you right or if you go left, you fish a coin out of your purse. Heads – left. Tails – right. You flip.

Heads. Left.

You spur your horse and guide it down the left path. At first, the scenery remains the same. Rolling hills with a forest far off to your left what looks like a lake on your right. Maybe a swamp. Some body of water with all manner of horrors that live there. The path turns to the left. Thank goodness. At least in the forest, you have the advantage of solid ground against anything that might try to kill you. As you follow the path, plan for whatever might hide in the shadows. After traveling long enough for the sun to fall slightly further down towards the horizon, you notice that the forest looks just as far away as when you started. Foul land.

You turn your horse around and ride back. As you get closer, you realize your second instinct was right. A bubbling fen, belching noxious gas that burns your eyes, nose, and throat. You have to stop to put on a pair of goggles and a bandana. Both only provide some relief. Additionally, the sun sinks lower towards the horizon more quickly. You have a choice to make. Do you light a lantern to make your trip easier and potentially alert the denizens of this swamp? Or, do you stumble around in the darkness and risk running into one of them without warning.

Shit. You pull out and light the lantern. Welcome to Duskmourn.

Noob’s Guide to Duskmourn Setting

In case that intro wasn’t enough of a hint, Duskmourn is a horror themed set. To distinguish is from the other horror planes, though, they based it on more modern interpretations of horror. Instead of gothic horror like vampires or werewolves, they used 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s slasher films and haunted houses as their inspiration.

While I focused more on the traditional version in that short story up there, I plan to write another article over the weekend. That part will pick up where I left off. But, I promise to include some of the more modern horror tropes in it.I wanted to write more.

However, the SEO app recommends less than 300 words per subheading for maximum readability. So, I came up with the alternate plan of the cliffhanger. Then, next time, I finish the story. Besides, who doesn’t love a a cliffhanger?

Duskmourn Art Style

Some players scoffed at the inclusion of modern horror tropes. I remember this being one of the first cards released and they went ape shit over it. This isn’t Magic the Gathering! What’s with the TVs?! Then they released a “sequel” to one of the best cards ever in the form of Meathook Massacre II. The story goes that a movie producer heard of the original and made a movie based on it and that’s the card. Admittedly, a bit weird. Still, fun.

I like that they try new and different things. Sometimes those things don’t work for everyone. But, I applaud the effort. Besides, the number of cards that fall into the more modern actually don’t number all that many. And, horror, even modern horror movies, allow for gothic and religious themes common to other Magic the Gathering sets. It’s the other reason that I started the story the way I did. Suck em in with what they know and then flip the script on them. It’s a time honored tradition.

That’s just my long winded way (is there any other with me?) of saying that I like the art style. They deftly combine the old with the new in a way that appeals to my particular brand of horror fan. Which is to say that I often like the snarky side of horror. When you mix genres. Or, remix them with a different sense and sensibility. That reminds me. Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter? That shit was my jam. And, so is Duskmourn.

Noob’s Guide to Duskmourn Mechanics

Without getting too bogged down in the mechanics (follow this link for more discussion about them), I want to commend them for working the keywords nicely into the theme of the set. Words like Eerie, Impending, Manifest (Dread), and Survival all add to the sense of horror and foreboding. Even Delirium, a graveyard mechanic, brings to mind the creeping insanity seen in many modern horror films.

But, my favorite new card type has to be rooms. It incorporates some of the same game play as other twofer cards but with a twist. You cast the enchantment with one mana cost and it only has that initial ability. At any point, you can pay the mana cost to unlock the room. Then, you have both parts of the room accessible. A very cool new type of card that’s mostly garbage. But, I love jank and all that it entails.

The Verdict

I hope this new format for Noob’s Guide to Duskmourn made the article more fun to read. I plan to write another one over the weekend. First, as I said, I need to finish the story. Second, I want to simulate a prerelease pack for the set. Be on the lookout for that in a couple of days.

On the Tabletop

Revisiting Dice Masters

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Introduction

Out of the blue, Aiden texted me, “We should play Dice Masters.” I replied, “I love Dice Masters. I bought an X-Force set.” He said, “Yeah, I saw it and that’s what made me think that.” “Well, let’s play Dice Masters and Yu-Gi-Oh.” Only one of those things happened today. And, that’s the story of how we ended up revisiting Dice Masters this weekend.

Building My Deck

Christine and I went grocery shopping. Aiden and his girlfriend built their decks while we shopped. They waited until I got home to learn the game again. Aiden’s girlfriend wanted to play Yu-Gi-Oh, too, so he showed her how to build a deck in that game, too. I still need to either build or buy a deck so that we can play Yu-Gi-Oh.

Previously, my decks contained some semblance of a strategy. Most notably, I shared the “rainbow spin” deck I built the last time we played the game extensively almost four years ago. With such a long time between sessions and under the gun to create a deck quickly, I threw out all pretense of a strategy and just put together cards that looked fun and might give me a chance to win a game or two.

We started without knowing the intricacies of all the rules. Like, we played with summoning sickness (not a thing in the game) and that you needed to match all of the symbols in order to buy a card. Through that first game, we looked up rules and adjusted accordingly. I won that first game out of the blue by remembering to use the global ability. Aiden more or less bulldozed me in the second game because I started out on the defensive and never stabilized.

The Verdict

While I discovered that they most likely killed the game quietly, I still enjoy playing. Aiden said that he liked it, too. He also mentioned one of his friends who picked up the game after playing at our house. Even with the likely death of the game, we have enough cards and dice to keep going for a while. I also checked eBay for some more cards and dice since they are most likely cheap because they don’t follow the same collectible nature of some of the other card games out there. Thanks for revisiting Dice Masters with us. Hope to bring more content as the weeks and month go on.

On the Tabletop

Vecna: Eve of Ruin

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Introduction

Vecna had a bit of a brat summer (did I use that correctly) recently thanks to season 4 of Stranger Things. I know this won’t come as a shock to man of you, but I knew little about Vecna. Growing up, I focused on Dragonlance and Dark sun as the campaigns of choice. As a result of Stranger Things and the story, I researched some and enjoyed the story. So, when I saw that they released Vecna: Eve of Ruin, I jumped at the chance to read some more.

Like Quests from the Infinite Staircase, it opened my eyes to the possibilities of Dungeons and Dragons again. As I read, I thought of the sessions around the table with a play group and I smiled. Now, I just need to find a playgroup. Hey, sometimes you put the cart before the horse.

The Story

Of everything in the book, this impressed me the least. I mean, it’s fine. It’s just the typical Dungeons and Dragons trope of betrayal. Two dudes become powerful. One becomes an even more powerful lich in death. They disagree, fight, more or less destroy or incapacitate one another. And, now, they vow to finish the job.

Look how pleasant the two despots appear as they plot the destruction of Oerth.

I forgive them for the mundaneness (mundanity? I guess neither are words according to my autocorrect) of the story. As I said while we watched Superman II the other day, tropes start somewhere. So, at the time, perhaps the story felt more original or fresh. One part that I found interesting and funny about the story is that it really gets its start after a Wish spell gone awry.

The Setting

This is where things start to get good. The adventure takes place on many different worlds and planes. You travel from Neverwinter to Pandemonium. In between, you visit legendary spaces like Eberron, Barovia, and Krynn. I tried to restrain myself some because I don’t want to spoil everything. But, safe to say that you won’t be disappointed with the settings to each adventure.

Personally, I want to read more about the adventures set in Barovia and Krynn. Those who know me know that I grew up a huge fan of the Dragonlance books. Heck I mentioned them again in the introduction. So, to have another chance to visit those worlds and characters again makes me very happy.

The Characters

Again, without spoiling too much, they went all out on this one. While I read through the character dossier, I said, “Wow. This is a list of some of the most legendary characters in Dungeons and Dragons.” Quinn replied, “We should play Dungeons and Dragons again. We could play with our friends.” Smiling, I said, “I would love to play Dungeons and Dragons again. That’s exactly what I was thinking.”

Mordekainen?!

Again, I restrain myself. You don’t understand how difficult that is for me. I care nothing for spoilers, but I understand that others do, so I won’t give much away. Let me just say that if you recognize a name from Dungeons and Dragons, they make an appearance in this volume. I’ll leave it at that.

The Verdict

I know some oldheads often complain about the fifth edition of Dungeons and Dragons. (a) Oldheads complaining about something new isn’t new and (2) it took me a while to warm to the new edition myself. I went back to 2, 3, and even 3.5 before finally setting on 5 as my chosen way to play the game. More recently, books like Vecna: Eve of Ruin put my mind at ease and make me think the game is in good hands.

On the Tabletop

Quests from the Infinite Staircase

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Introduction

As part of our celebration of 10 years of the page, I wrote an article about the tabletop games of present. In that article, I mentioned that I don’t play as much Dungeons and Dragons as I used to when I was younger or even a year or two ago when Quinn and I played a few times as a duo. As a result, I wanted to talk about two sourcebooks I recently picked up. One of them is Quests from the Infinite Staircase.

Before I get into the artille, I want to talk some about the possibility that things might be looking up in the D&D department. While I read the two books to prepare for the article, Quinn and Christine worked on a puzzle while we listened to records. Yes, we are that kind of hipster family. Anyway, he casually said, “We should play D&D again.” I agreed because, honestly, I’ve been thinking about it more and more. So, look forward to articles and videos hopefully!

The Infinite Staircase

While I used and played adventures in the other realms when I was younger, they never emphasized the “multiverse” as they are now. So, like the city of Sigil, I never knew about the Infinite Staircase. As a result, I loved reading about the lore behind it. I think if we start a new adventure at some point, I might use this as my starting point.

It gives a good overview of the things that make Dungeons and Dragons interesting. It also opens the possibility of the multiverse right away. That way, if they want to travel to a different realm, this makes it easily accessible to do so. Also, the other book I ordered deals with multiple worlds, so maybe we can play that one after we finish these adventures.

Nafas

My favorite, and I imagine for others too, part of the book was the introduction (to me, at least) of Nafas. The genie on the cover of the book, Nafas acts as a steward of the staircase. Moreover, he also tells great tales of heroism and might even grant a wish if you’re lucky. As a dungeon master who enjoys storytelling, he makes for a fun addition to the campaign.

He just opens up so many cool role playing possibilities. If you remember from the sessions that Quinn and I played, I used part of that to write another adventure that we haven’t yet played. However, I also filed away ideas for other possibilities later when we sit down to play. Nafas opens up almost literally infinite story possibilities for me and whatever group I end up playing with.

The Adventures

The book comes with 6 ready made adventures to get your party started. They range in level from 1 up to 11. While many of them take place in dungeons (makes sense, right?) very few, if any, contain dragons from what I discovered so far. I intend to read through the adventures closer at a later time. But, I read through the excerpts at the beginning of the book and also the “about the original” blurbs that they include for each adventure for those of us who missed them.

Additionally, the adventures scale for dungeon masters as well. The first adventure works for beginning DMs, allowing them some creativity in how they implement the dungeon. Another offers a fun and interesting hook to start the adventure. Yet another requires less hack and slash and more cerebral solutions to problems and one even introduces characters to science fiction elements like robots and futuristic weapons and gadgetry.

The Verdict

Quests from the Infinite Staircase accomplished its goal of making me want to play the game again. Some of the other books I bought, including some surprises (like the Dragonlance update) never moved me to pick them up and play. This one, however, and the other book I plan to discuss on Friday, both have. I can’t wait to get started.

Images courtesy of Dungeons and Dragons and Wizards of the Coast.

On the Tabletop

Tabletop Games of Present

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Introduction

As my celebration of 10 years of maintaining my own little corner of the internet, I came up with the idea of writing about my past, my present, and the future of gaming. Last week, I wrote about my past (and a little about my present in comic books) and today I start with tabletop games of present.

Most of the tabletop games of past for me took the form of the classics. Games like Uno, Monopoly, Sorry, Backgammon, Chess, and Othello dominated my childhood. When I went to high school, I discovered role playing games. Then, when I went to college, I found Magic the Gathering. Both went dormant during my early adulthood. I never found the time to play D&D or Magic the Gathering.

Board Games of Present

On the other hand, we bought and played a ton of board games over the years with the boys. We obviously started with the classic kids games like Candyland and Chutes and Ladders. Then, we moved on to more complex games. Yahtzee and Pass the Pig became big hits during camping trips. Many laughs were had over Apples to Apples. Cards Against Humanity never interested me because “edgy” comedy that mostly just comes off as sexist or racist in the guise of a joke just isn’t my thing.

To help with content for the web page in the early days, I joined an ill fated and short lived board game subscription box. Never mind, I just searched for it on a whim and it still exists. I swear that it closed up shop. Maybe I just stopped subscribing. Or, maybe, someone bought the web address and brought it back. Ultimately none of that matters. Never mind again. I did some digging and the page appears to just be a placeholder.

The games that came in the box were always fun and entertaining. We played all of them at least once. One of our favorite games that we played several times, Professor Evil and the Citadel of Time, came from one of their boxes. That led to us playing more cooperative games because I never understood the need for competition in the house. It just leads to bad feelings and sore losers. Then again, how can you not be a sore loser? Whatever, just another thing about society that makes no sense to me.

However, last Christmas, I finally caved and bought Catan to try to jump start family game nights again. We tried several times to put together family games nights. Usually, we succeed during school vacations and then after a few weeks, it falls apart. So far, Catan suffered the same fate, but we played it with some friends and had fun, so there’s hope.

Dungeons and Dragons

Quinn and I famously played a couple sessions of Dungeons and Dragons together. I also tried to put together a family session that, unfortunately, ended in disaster. I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind at the time to be DM and I think I turned them off from the game. Every now and then, I look at one of the local groups or try to put together a club at my current school to scratch that itch. I ran the D&D club at my previous school for two years and it grew exponentially in that time. I give Stranger Things most of the credit for that, but the kids said they liked the way I ran things, too.

So, instead, I order each new source book at it released. I most recently ordered Vecna: Eve of Ruin and Quests from the Infinite Staircase. Maybe I will take some time tomorrow to write up a quick review of them to give you more of an idea of where I am with Dungeons and Dragons at this point in my life.

Magic the Gathering

Chris and I played MtG monthly or semi-monthly for quite a few years. Mostly just kitchen table stuff to have fun, but the games got pretty intense, too. More recently, we hooked up with another guy and played a few rounds of Commander. Unfortunately, that group is currently in hiatus, too, right now. But, as the weather gets colder and we spend more time at home, maybe we can get a few games going.

Otherwise, I only play Magic the Gathering Arena daily to finish quests and collect rewards. I stopped purchasing new sets because, frankly, people are right. They release too many and the cards just end up sitting in a binder or boxes. I shifted that money to my Warhammer subscription and enjoy that so much more.

Warhammer: Age of Sigmar

Most of my tabletop games of present are currently miniatures. I know now that I made the right decision. Chris came over this weekend and one of the things I suggested was playing Warhammer. I also thought about playing D&D with the boys, but none of them were home. Anyway, I showed off the models and he seemed impressed by them. We both agreed that the money spent on the models made more sense that the Magic cards as I just discussed.

We never actually played the game, but he sent me a reddit post later on that night about one of the really cool models that are out there. So, next time we get together, I think I might suggest actually sitting down and playing. I still don’t have all of the rules, but rules are just there so that people can rules lawyer one another to death.

The Verdict

I started this page because both Chris and I loved games. Growing up, so did the kids. But, I also worked ridiculous hours for most of that time. While the page never reached the audience as I hoped, I still like having the various creative outlets that it offers. And, I continue to search for the chances to play these tabletop games of present.

On the Tabletop

Tabletop Games of Past

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Introduction

As of the 27th of this month, 2 Generations Gaming will be 10 years old. We’ve written 772 posts (this makes 773), released 93 podcast episodes, and recorded a bunch of videos. That’s an awful lot of talking to ourselves. And yet, I continue to write and record. In fact, I have the final 3 episodes of the Poppy War waiting to be recorded this week. In addition, I want to start recording the daily YouTube video again starting next month. As a result I need to put together the new overlay. In the meantime, this month I want to celebrate games. Today, tabletop games of the past.

Board Games

Growing up, we played mostly the classic board games. I remember Monopoly, Yahtzee, Uno, and those types of games. I can’t remember if any other board games existed at the time. I imagine that none of the modern types of games ever crossed my path if they even existed. Games like Ticket to Ride, Catan, or the cooperative games that we’ve played as a family. But, I need to save that for the “present” article.

I think that my favorite game depended on the company. I remember playing Rummikub with my grandmother and cousins. With my parents and brothers, I remember mostly Yahtzee and Uno with some Monopoly, Sorry, and sometimes Othello and Chess. Then, I also have distinct memories of playing Yahtzee with a cousin on my mother’s side. If pressed, I’d have to say that Othello is my favorite game as a kid.

Magic the Gathering

Magic the Gathering came much later in life. The game released in 1993, the year that I graduated high school and went to college. I found a small group of guys who knew about the game and introduced me. We played semi-regularly until I dropped out of school. After moving out to Massachusetts, I bought a box of Ice Age cards and kept a collection with some decks. I tried to teach Christine using Portal decks during our trip to Disneyland, but it didn’t take at the time. Then, I met Chris, we started hanging out and discovered that we both had a history with the game. That led to several epic kitchen table battles that continue to this day.

Role Playing Games

You know this story. My mother bought me a Dragonlance Novel. I mistakenly, for much of the book, read it as the Eleven nations, not the Elven nations. In either case, the book hooked me and got me interested in the game. My friends and I played weekly in the basement of one of my friends like the dorks from Stranger Things. I kept the game going with one friend in particular for a couple of years.

I also combined my love for Marvel comics and role playing games by picking up this little gem when I saw it in the book store. I actually enjoyed this one more than Dungeons and Dragons in a lot of ways. But, the rest of the group didn’t agree, so I mostly just made characters and played a few games with the friend mentioned earlier.

Similar to board games, I never branched out to play games other than these two. Only since starting the page and having kids did I learn about the other games and try them out. But, as I said earlier, I’ll talk more about that next week.

The Verdict

I wanted this month to be a celebration of my time in gaming. 10 years is a long time to keep anything going. I’m proud of what I’ve done here even if it hasn’t led to fame on the internet. I’ll keep on keeping on and hope that you enjoyed my travels with tabletop games of the past.

On the Tabletop

Dungeons and Dinosaurs: Gaming with Quinn (Redux)

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Only half of that title is correct. When playing, we definitely encountered dinosaurs (more on that later), we found no dungeons. I just found the term Dungeons and Dinosaurs funny. Probably funnier than it actually merits, but it’s my party and I’ll laugh hysterically if I want to.

Even if that laughter makes me look absolutely batty. Get it? Batty? Because Joker is a Batman villain. I’m an underappreciated comic genius.

Those who follow the page know that I treid to build the family into a Dungeons and Dragons playgroup. That failed in spite of my efforts. Only Quinn showed interest after the initial play session. It then took almost 3 years to realize the potential of our Dungeons and Dragons duet.

Dungeons and Dinosaurs Duet?

Assuming that you wait to click the link, let me explain. Late last year, I finally started to look for ways to play Dungeons and Dragons in smaller play groups. The above link came up as a way play with only two people. A husband and wife duo write the page and there are lots of great resources if you find yourself in need of playing D&D with only one other player.

Armed with these resources, I needed to find a setting for our adventure. I’m not sure what took me so long, but I finally came to the conclusion in a flash of inspiration. Jurassic Park. The movie blew me away when I first saw it in high school. Quinn loves dinosaurs and anything to do with the movies. What took me so long?

It was right there, staring me in the face.

And, Now for Something Completely Different

Not truly. I lifted heavily from Jurassic Park for the story of our adventure. Several times, during gameplay, Quinn said (completely thrilled), “This is just like Jurassic Park!” However, I also knew not to simply follow the story without any changes.

Okay, so maybe a tropical archipelago isn’t the best way to convince you this wasn’t a total Jurassic Park rip off.

I researched some Hawai’ian lore to add a bit of a different flavor to the campaign. I called the island with the dinosaurs, Nalala. A web site told me that Nalala meant dinosaur. I also called the prince in the story, Maneo (I borrowed from a former student for this) and a ghost pirate ship Mau Loa (“forever”) that lead to the second adventure that I’m in the process of writing.

We played through the adventure. As often happens, Quinn went off script during one of the encounters and I needed to quickly put together a battle and some loot. Honestly, though, that’s what I enjoy about D&D. The fact that you can spend a couple of weeks writing up an adventure (“All that time”, my wife said, “just for a couple hours of playtime.”) and the players still find a way to make you think and work on the spot.

Lights, Camera, Tape Rolling, 3…2…1…

As for the scripted adventure, I wrote in the notes to let Quinn take the lead when attempting to capture the dinosaurs. I wanted to let him use his expertise to find creative ways to capture them. Being low level characters, I knew we stood no chance actually fighting most of the dinosaurs. He came up with some interesting solutions to most of them. A couple, I had to bend the rules quite a bit. Then again, what else can you do when you only have one real player?

I took the advice of the Duets page and focused on the story, too. I made the trip to the ship take 3 days and then another 2 days on the water to get to the other island. I built in small encounters each day and even put together a random encounter table to keep things interesting. The fun part of that is that some of the encounters gave me ideas for future adventures. I already mentioned the ghost ship and Quinn going off the board when faced with some forest sprites in trouble. I also threw in the old D&D standards of a mysterious glow off in the distance, annoying begging monkeys, and magical leeches.

Dungeons and Dinosaurs: The Last Word?

All in all, we played a successful adventure with just the two of us. Once or twice, Quinn asked if you can’t play with two people because I put together two DMPCs to help him on his journey. No, I replied, it’s fine. These guys are just here in case you need some help. Then, I spent the rest of the time more or less staying out of his way.

We planned to play again this week because I’m on vacation. However, as I mentioned earlier, I wasn’t able to finish the next adventure. I’m pretty close, so we might play again over the weekend. For now, we tried a game that I got a few months ago after supporting it on Kickstarter. It’s called Roll Player Adventures and I will talk more about it Friday.

On the Tabletop

My First Time……Playing MTG. (Redux)

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My first game was actually pretty memorable but not because of the game itself, but because it was on the day of the Boston Marathon Bombing. A friend had asked me a few weeks earlier if I was interested in trying out the game. He had played it back in his middle/high school years and wanted to get back into the hobby, the only issue being that he couldn’t find anybody to play against. After a day of thinking about it, I decided that it couldn’t hurt to at least try one game. I poured over the rules online, taking it all in, and instead of being overwhelmed or having tons of questions, I felt like it was all so easy and almost strangely familiar. Fast forward to April 15th 2013, I sat across from my friend, ready to play for the first time. I had bought a pre-made mono green deck from Amazon and nervously shuffled it, hoping that my knowledge of the game was as solid as my friends because, after all, I didn’t want to kill his good time by having to stop every twenty seconds to answer one of my questions. I drew my first hand and suddenly it wasn’t new to me anymore..it was natural to me. I didn’t win that game, or the game after that for that matter (f***ing white lifegain..), but something strange did happen..instead of having to ask a ton of questions, I was answering them. Now at the time, I didn’t read too much into it and just chalked it up as being a quick learner. From that first game on, I was hooked..when I wasn’t working or spending time with my girlfriend, I was scouring the internet for deck lists, then searching Ebay to buy the cards for those deck lists. I found out that my former roommate and best buddy/brother Shawn was looking to get back into playing and soon our once a month video game nights included MTG. We are pretty even players, usually going back and forth as far as wins and losses goes. I was always just happy that I could hang in there with someone who had previous experience and that I could actually put up a challenge.

February 23rd 2014

I received a text notification from Facebook that I had a message from an old childhood friend. I opened up the message and read..and was immediately confused. My friend was asking about a game I created when we were younger and if I had ever done anything with it since because he thought his son might enjoy it. I stared at the screen trying to grasp what in the hell he was talking about. What game? When would I have created a game? I leaned back and closed my eyes and really focused, shutting everything out. Suddenly, what I can only describe as a wave of memories came back to me all at once, bringing with it a fairly painful headache and leaving me stunned as everything I thought I had lost in my teenage years came back..

March 15th 2004

Stay with me, keep those eyes open, buddy..you’re gonna be fine.

I remember that phrase being repeated over and over to me..and every time I didn’t believe it. There was too much blood, so many things were broken, I could feel things moving that shouldn’t have been moving, my breaths getting harder and harder to take. I felt myself fading but it wasn’t scary, it was peaceful. I thought of my friends and family, said one last goodbye and prepared for whatever was next.

Ok, ok..I’ll get to the point..15 minutes earlier I was driving on the interstate on a chilly Sunday afternoon, when inexplicably something gave out in the rear end of my car, sending it careening into the median at 70 mph. The front end slammed into the dirt flipping the car over, trunk over hood. I was ejected out of the rear windshield of the car. I suffered a broken arm, broken back in 5 places, broken collarbone, collapsed lung, a hemorrhage in my right eye, and a concussion. The doctors were very worried that I would suffer some degree of brain damage, but miraculously I didn’t, I passed all of the tests: No brain damage, no paralysis, and most importantly, still alive. However, what did happen was that I suffered some memory loss..not total amnesia but I lost bits and pieces of my life..all of which were around the middle and high school years..which brings us to the final chapter of the story..

February 23rd 2014

I sat on my couch letting the memories wash over me. I remembered almost everything. My girlfriend kept asking me questions in an attempt to pull the last stubborn bits of broken memories into the light I remembered old classmates, old teachers, things I had done, people I had met, and finally sitting down in my parents basement (yeah, I know, keep the nerd jokes to yourself, b*tches) with my friends, reading comics, drawing, trading sports cards, listening to music, and playing MTG. There it is. The reason why the rules were so easy to learn, the game was so natural, was because I played when I was teenager. Strangely enough, back then I had always played a mono red deck, and sure enough my favorite deck now is a mono red deck. Red was my favorite card color back then and still is to this day. I tend to splash it into almost every deck I build as I did back then. Is it a coincidence? Maybe. But I rather believe that it was my memories, the younger me, letting me know that he was still there.

Fyi..after getting my memories back I realized that my first time playing was actually in 1995 when I was 15, a friend who went to Boston every summer, returned at the end of August with a few decks of cards, saying that everyone out in Boston was playing it now. He gave me one, taught me how to play (kind of), and that’s that. I guess I could have just said that, but where’s the fun in that?

On the Tabletop

Warhammer Age of Sigmar 8 Paint Update

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Introduction

Another paint update comes with Warhammer Age of Sigmar 8. Next time, or maybe the time after that, we build a new model. I split the new colors on the models into two sessions because the painting became much more intricate this time around. Also, painting white on a darker color. I messed up a few times, but that’s all part of the learning curve. I think the models still look good and will bring something to the table if I ever find another person to play against.

The White Parts

When you look closely at the pictures, you’ll see what I mean when I say that I painted much more intricate details. Other than the insides of the capes, I painted around the border of the shield and the crests on their shoulders. The camera picked up the blue underneath (or maybe around) the white and tinged it light blue. But, in real life, I painted three layers, so it looks white to me.

Last time I wrote how much I looked forward to this part because I finally got to add more colors to the army. I still think that. However, that joy is tempered by the fact that I need to be more patient in my painting. Also, with practice, I’ll just get better.

The Verdict

Warhammer Age of Sigmar 8 paint update leads into another play through. This time, they add measurement and movement to the game. Of all the rules in these miniature games, that one gives me the most trouble. Because once you start adding elevation, too, then things get a bit complicated. But, I think that taking it in parts like this will help me to learn the rules quicker.

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