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

2022 Tabletop GOTY: Dungeons and Dragons

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Introduction

I missed a couple of days of updates. I planned on doing this one on Thursday and 2022 Console GOTY yesterday. If I’m being honest, which I often am, console GOTY would be only slightly less difficult than choosing PC GOTY was. I played about an hour of the Red Dead Redemption II prologue this morning. Great game. Also, released four years ago. Other older games we enjoyed this year; Mario Kart and Mario Party on the Switch. Liam and Quinn played a ton of the new Pokemon, so I could have them write a guest article about that one. Thankfully, 2022 Tabletop GOTY is much easier to pick.

An argument that the choice is virtually automatic has merit. But, we tried other games this year. Quinn and I played Roll Player Adventures a couple of times. Our family broke out several family trivia games during the year. I know those aren’t traditionally thought of in the same category as Dungeons and Dragons, but they are all tabletop games. So, let’s explore why the old lady gets our 2022 Tabletop GOTY.

Dungeons and Dragons with Quinn

We started the year with momentum on the D&D front. I wrote one adventure that Quinn and I played through. That gave me ideas for other adventures. I finally followed up by writing almost all of a second adventure that starts on a haunted ship and ends in a harpy cave. I wanted to play that adventure during this vacation, but most of our plans went for naught this vacation.

I stole this harpy lair from one of The Witcher games and added D&D flair. Some puzzles, some fighting, and a little bit of mystery.

Just looking at that map makes me want to finish the adventure the whole way through and play it with Quinn. In fact, I just searched for the Starter Set box with all of our characters in it. And, I found it! So, after I finish this article, time to finish that adventure. We still have a couple of months until February vacation, but maybe I can convince him to play one of these weekends. I think this one might take a couple of play sessions to complete.

Dungeons and Dragons at School

I started running the D&D club at the high school at my old job a couple of years ago. Mostly, I just sat there and planned or corrected as my faithful group of 4 to 6 gathered in spite of the threat of Covid to play their favorite characters. The group expanded to 8 regulars last year and even grew as much as 12 during a couple of the meetings.

This year, they talked me into taking the middle school club as well. Before I left the job, my reputation (and, more likely, Stranger Things) helped grow the club to two high school groups of about 6 to 8 and three to four middle school groups. One played consistently from week to week. The other groups moved, merged, and sometimes fought among themselves. Mostly, we enjoyed our time together. I even ran a group for several weeks. We finished most of the prologue for Curse of Strahd and then played through some of the Dungeon of the Mad Mage in my last session with the group.

The Verdict

I think I made a case for Dungeons and Dragons as our 2022 Tabletop GOTY. Looking ahead, there might be some competition for the old lady. I bought a Pathfinder starter set from Humble Bundle that has a solo adventure that might inspire me to play that more. I also bought some Warhammer 40k books and want to make some characters for that game. Finally, I somehow acquired a starter set for a Fallout RPG that might or might not be discontinued. So, look out for them in addition to D&D in 2023.

On the Tabletop

2022 Card GOTY: Magic the Gathering

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Introduction

We continue our annual celebration at the end of the year with the 2022 Card GOTY. I wrote an article about a week ago trashing the game. That’s right, I spent a good 700 odd words talking crap about a game that I am about to give an end of the year award. Granted, the game is in the title of the post, so this reveal is a bit anticlimactic. Nevertheless, congratulations to Magic the Gathering for the win.

You might make the argument that this proclamation is obvious or by default. And, you’d probably be right. After all, how many card games are there out there. Probably more than I’d expect and certainly more than I ever have time to play. Nevertheless, allow me to make an argument that Magic wins in spite of these technicalities.

Magic the Gathering Digital

In spite of trying to talk him into it, I haven’t been able to get Chris to commit to playing Arena on a regular basis. I, on the other hand, sink money into every release by buying both combo packs to collect all of the packs and goodies. One of those goodies is the ever present reward track. That inspires me to play on a daily basis until I finish a quest and/or get 2 wins to the 15 week limit.

While I sometimes skip Hearthstone and recently deleted Eternal from my phone, I always log into Arena to both finish the quests and see what daily deals they offer in the shop. This keeps me connected to a game that I admitted in that previous article to losing some interest in the collecting aspect, at least.

Magic the Gathering Physical

Okay, so you play the game on your phone regularly. Notice that you said nothing about enjoying the game other than the cosmetics and other stuff they give away. Fair enough. I admit to spending much of my time complaining about land drops or my opponent’s luck. Plus, it remains to be seen if I ever buy product for binders ever again. There are just so many releases lately. Fatigue is a real thing.

But, I still found joy in the game again this year. I sat down and played Magic the Gathering against actual people more this year than the last three or so years combined. A student asked me to play some Commander and we ended up matching up for a couple of games. Chris and Jason inspired me to put some money into my precon decks to make them slightly more competitive and we played three or four games at the beginning of autumn. We planned to play again, but Chris and his wife got Covid again. So, the second meeting remains up in the air right now.

The Verdict

Magic the Gathering remains the frustratingly expensive and predictably unpredictable game that I love to hate. I also love to love the game. Opening packs brings me indescribable joy at the art, story, and possibilities of how to use those cards in decks. I goldfish my Commander decks at least once a week. I played around with the landfall one again a couple of weeks ago at Aiden’s soccer practice. Simply writing this post makes me want to go out into the car and grab them. All those reasons and more are what make Magic the Gathering our 2022 Card GOTY.

On the Tabletop

Magic the Gathering is a Gift?

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Introduction

Recently, I started a new job. That gave me more time to focus on things that are important to me. I discovered, again, that keeping this web page on life support is one of those things. And, so, I updated the page semi-regularly in October and November. I even came up with new theme banners for the page. Then, December arrived and things got chaotic again. I actually started the job. That required more time put into the previous job. Add in Christmas shopping and soccer and things went a bit sideways on the page. But, I started break at 10:30am today and prepare to plan the page for the next few months at least. I already know that next week brings our annual games of the year. Today, I ask the question of whether Magic the Gathering is a gift.

Gaming is a Gift

I got the idea for theme months several years ago when Chris and I still held a glimmer of hope of making the page a hub for a collection of podcasts. We, obviously, gave up that ghost a while ago. But, I continue to write here. Simply because I enjoy writing and, who knows, something might eventually make its way out there into the ether and get me more readers. To cut to the chase, the obvious theme for December is “Gaming is a Gift.”

Magic the Gathering is a Gift?

So, why the question mark? Surely, you think good things about this game you invested so much time, energy, and money into over the years. Of course I still enjoy the game. I play Magic the Gathering daily to finish quests and push my completion of the rewards track. Chris, Jason, and I share Magic the Gathering news and memes at least once a week.

Speaking of them, we actually gathered together to play Commander against one another for two games. I spent about 50 bucks and a couple of weeks of research to upgrade my preconstructed decks that I bought a couple of years ago. They didn’t help me win, but I put up more of a fight that I ever have against either of them. So, I consider it a success.

So, Magic the Gathering is a Gift!

Well, not quite that, either. For the first time in at least a decade, I texted Chris the following. “The collector in me just died a little bit, but I think I’m done buying product for binders.” He said something along the lines of how he just buys singles now, something that I already knew. I agreed and even admitted that I might get into whatever crazy formats that Jason wanted to play and invest my collecting money into that.

It seems like every other month, Jason discusses some new format. Old School, 93-94, Triple Lindy. Okay, I stole that last one from the Rodney Dangerfield movie, “Old School”. But, I wouldn’t be surprised if it actually was the name of a format. I usually just roll my eyes when he mentions something because I’m not one for the competitive aspect of these games. I just want to play and have fun with friends. So, why the possible change of heart?

Another thing Chris said when I texted him, “The set releases are just so ridiculous right now.” “Right?” I responded. “By the time Phyrexia comes out, I will be three sets behind and I just don’t care that much to get caught up right now.”

The Verdict

As it stands right now, I have no plans to buy product for Dominaria United, Brother’s War, or the new New Phyrexia. I’m sure that by the time the set actually releases, I’ll find it in my heart and wallet to purchase the product and put together the binders. Especially since the last time that we tried to get together, Chris and his wife got Covid and we had to cancel/postpone. Let me know if you still collect or plan to start again with any of the new sets.

On the Tabletop

Thankful for Pokemon Cube Redux

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Introduction

I meant to write and post this article on Thursday. Regular readers of the page know that is one of the warning signs that I might be falling off on regular updates of the page. I promise you that’s not the case this time. I am cram studying for a placement test for a Master’s degree program in computer science. But, I took a break this morning to update the page with my thoughts about the Pokemon Cube Redux.

The actual sequel here is simply this article. I never actually finished the cube that I started a couple of years ago. What can I say? I searched for the cards on the list and started to put together a cart on eBay. And, I discovered that it’s not just Magic the Gathering cards. People pay quite a bit for these little rectangles of cardboard.

“Planning” the Cube

“Planning” the cube actually went very quickly. I searched “Pokemon Cube” and one of the links lead me to a Google sheet that I then looked through with our cards to see which ones we already owned. Perhaps surprisingly (and perhaps not), our collection included a good amount of the cards. Even so, I still needed to purchase three quarters of the cards to finish out the cube.

A bit on the nose that a nerd like me used a spreadsheet to build my cube. But, it’s incredibly detailed and well organized.

But, as I said above. Collectors know what they have in this day and age of the internet. They charge a lot even for Pokemon cards. So, my inspiration and drive to finish the cube waned and eventually died. What brought back the spark? I’m glad you asked.

Chris got married a few weeks ago. I even shouted out the website during my best man speech. Don’t worry. I promise it was sincere and not tacky. Anyway, in the months leading to the wedding, we put together a couple of text chains for the groomsmen. One of the guys in the chain actually has a history here on the page as part of a night out where Chris and I went over to his play to play some MTG. He talked about ordering a bunch of proxies for his own cube (possibly inspired by my talk of a Pokemon cube) and then I felt like a huge idiot. Circle of life and all that.

Building the Cube

Even ordering the proxies (which admittedly are of good quality) from the web page that he mentioned would be somewhat cost prohibitive for me. And so I went back to Google and searched a for a page that offered even lower cost, or free, proxies. I found Limitless and started typing cards into the search bar. I made it about two-thirds of the way through the list of cards before I needed to take a break.

From now, I need to finish the list, print out the cards (this will be tricky since we no longer own a printer again) maybe at Staples or one of the University libraries. I don’t want to misuse the resources at work for this project, obviously. Once I print everything out, I want to do a test run with the boys.

The Verdict

The only thing I worry about in this Pokemon Cube Redux is that I’ve chosen grey scale cards to save time and money. Just looking at them on the screen, some of the cards look like they might be difficult to read in that format. That’s not a deal breaker, but it is something to consider. Ultimately, though, come back in December or January for my report on our experience with the cube.

On the Tabletop

Curse of Strahd: Finale?

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Introduction

At the beginning of the month, I realized that I needed to play the role as DM in our humble school Dungeons and Dragons club. Thanks to Stranger Things, the game blew up this year and everyone wants to play. In a flash of inspiration (or dorkiness…or both), I decided to pick up a Halloween related adventure to lead a group through. This is the last week in October, so I expected to go out with a bang with our Curse of Strahd finale.

Best laid plans and all that. The sixth grade and, my entire play group, went on a field trip to the Museum of Science in Boston. They told me the day before that the trip would end around 3:30, which is when the group usually started to get antsy and disbanded for the afternoon. So, imagine my surprise when I heard a knock on the door at about 3:15.

Sometimes Teaching is About Cutting Your Losses

Initially excited to be able to lead the group again, that quickly changed. They took almost 20 minutes to settle down. One would say, “Let’s get started.” to the others, then jump up and another would repeat the process. So, I should have known that things might not go well.

When we finally sat down to play, things initially went okay and my fears started to subside. Then, one of the players tried “massaging” a die roll here and there. I called him out on it once during a “hit roll”. Towards the end of the session, I let one go. It was only an initiative roll. It felt like the right thing to do, but it clearly wasn’t.

Other than this week, things went well. I’m probably just overthinking things.

Another player got angry about it and refused to roll for his turn during combat. When we finally convinced him to do so, he rolled a hit and then intentionally knocked the die over to a miss. I threw my hands up and said, “Sorry, guys, I can’t do this today.” They started some in fighting and I laid my cards on the table. “No, it’s all of us. This just isn’t working right now. We’ll try again next week.”

Epilogue

If this ends up being the Curse of Strahd finale, it ends not with a bang but a whimper. I knew from the beginning that things might go sideways and they ended up doing just that. The fear that I ruined D&D for my family by not being a great Dungeon Master the one time that we tried to play is now rising with these guys. They asked the last couple of weeks to play more on Friday and now I leave them with this bad taste for week. Maybe I’m overthinking things. Even so, I think I might try to find another adventure to run for next week. One of them said that they wanted to fight dragons.

On the Tabletop

Curse of Strahd Part 2: For Real This Time

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Introduction

Last week, our intrepid group played without two of their players. So, instead of continuing our adventures in Ravenloft, I convinced the remaining player to hack and slash his way through some goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears. Other than a mishap with another player who joined the ranks, he enjoyed the experience. Check out that article for that summary. This week, our party plays Curse of Strahd Part 2 for real this time.

In fact, he enjoyed it so much that he asked for another hack and slash after one of their group got picked up early. They tried to convince me to let them keep playing the main adventure, but I got them to abandon that idea with some slick DMing. I’m getting the hang of this. But, join me for a quick recap of the adventures for this week.

Session 2: To the Attic to Get to the Basement

In anticipation of this week’s (it might have even been last week) session, I reviewed the map and where our party explored already. Since they are young, they don’t always think to check for traps or secret doors. So, this time I gave them some grace and more or less pushed them through those secret doors. Being a Dungeon Master is sometimes a delicate balancing act between rules guru and storyteller. Not with this group. With this group, I’m all storyteller and as a result, I sometimes need to dispense with the rules and take matters into my own hands.

So it became that they “found” the secret door to get to the attic and then “found” the secret door to get to the basement. I actually screwed up and needed to improvise by saying that one of them bumped the second secret door with their butt while searching the room. Of course, that got a laugh from all of them.

They also experienced a wider range of combat this time. Fighting both a specter and an animated broomstick got them some experience points and closer to leveling. And, isn’t that the real reason we all play this game? To grow ever more powerful and eventually challenge the gods themselves? Okay, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. But, by the end of their senior year, I expect that to happen.

The Verdict

Playing Curse of Strahd Part 2 (for real) went rockier than last time. I continually needed to remind them not to touch each other’s dice, not to hit one another, and not to swear. Honestly, much more on par with how I expected a Dungeons and Dragons group with middle school aged kids to go, so not a huge deal there. We only have one session left in October, but if they finish the introduction, maybe I can get them to play another theme adventure for November and December.

On the Tabletop

Curse of Strahd Part 2: Noob DMs in Middle School…Again

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Introduction

Last week, I played the role of dungeon master for three middle school students in my Dungeons and Dragons club at school. I got the idea to play through the Curse of Strahd module with them because…Halloween. Later in the week, I then worried that they might get bored with the adventure because it is mostly story and, being middle school age, they’d want to beat stuff up. I need not have worried as they enjoyed it so much, they wanted to play again on Friday. Alas, I told them to wait until this week for Curse of Strahd Part 2.

Well, cut to this week. Because, well, middle school, many of them never showed up for the club this week. In my group alone, two of the three ended up as no shows. To his credit, the one who came still tried to convince me to let him play the adventure by himself. Granted, I probably could have pulled it off, but that’s bad D&D etiquette to play without your group.

Hack and Slash One Shot

Looking through the resource books I brought to school, I stumbled on a map for a goblonoid war camp. I quickly came up with the idea to allow the player to hack and slash his way through some goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears in a one off adventure. I know this doesn’t have a Halloween theme, and halfway through the adventure, I could have added Halloween and made it funny by making the hobgoblins throw pumpkins like the comic character. But, I kept it straight.

Curse of Strahd Part 2? LOLJK

The player appreciated my efforts and played along with the bare bones story that I told to keep the narrative going. I even got two other players to join us briefly. I told one he couldn’t play because his character was too high level. The other played a level 1 character but ended up meeting his ultimate fate at the hands of two bugbears. These kids are too young to watch “Stranger Things”, so I should have given them the advice. You never split up the party!

The Verdict

We were both bummed that the other kids didn’t show up. But, thinking quickly, I made the best of it and enjoyed my experience being a DM with limited preparation. I need to take in some of my other resource books, though, so I have more ideas for when these things inevitably happen again.

I can also write down ideas as I get them and flesh them out over time to make them more entertaining and engaging. Sure, I got away with it this time, but I might not be so lucky next time. So, with all of this being said, hope for Curse of Strahd Part 2 next week.

On the Tabletop

Curse of Strahd: Noob DM’s in Middle School

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Introduction

I teach middle school and high school this year. Granted, I have more middle school classes than high school, but I prefer high school for now. I taught middle school over a dozen years ago and that ended in disaster, so maybe there is some residual processing that still needs to be done on that end. Last year, I took over for the Dungeons and Dragons club in the high school. This year, I also took on the middle school. A couple of the newbies wanted me to DM for them. I took advantage of Spooktober to lead them in a campaign with the adventure Curse of Strahd.

Session 1: Tarokka Cards and Creepy Kids

Another kid decided to join us for the session this week, so I had three players to DM. Even though they are all relatively new to the game and middle school kids, I felt nervous. When I tried to DM for my family, it went poorly and only Quinn asked to play again. I wanted to make sure that wouldn’t be repeated this time.

So, I took about an hour to read through the adventure ahead of time. I’m glad I took the time. I set the mood by reading from the Tarokka cards for them during the introduction. They loved it. I then wasted no time in getting them to Barovia by using the shortest method and dropping them right into the Death House mini adventure.

I worried I might lose them because, as the introduction says, “Curse of Strahd is more of a story driven than combat driven adventure” and they seem more like a hack and slash group. Plus, they missed many of the secrets in the beginning of the house. However, they got fixated on the stairs and ended up on the balcony fighting an animated armor. I also allowed them to loot the rooms along the way. That kept them going.

I finally got them to the point where they knew to look for secrets as much as possible. They got one of their partners to squeeze into a dumbwaiter to go up to the master bedroom. They looted the bedroom and are now in possession of almost 1000 gold worth of jewelry. I had so much fun and they did, too. They actually asked me to stay after today to continue the adventure.

The Verdict

I took the books home to do more research into the adventure so that it goes more smoothly next time. I ended up searching a little bit too much. Granted, they didn’t mind at all, but I want to get better as a Dungeon Master. Aiden said he’d play again if we got the Stranger Thing module. Of course, it now is a collector’s item, but I (*shhhh*) found a PDF of it. So, now I can use Curse of Strahd (and Quinn’s ghost pirate adventure) to continue to hone my skills for the next time we play as a family.

On the Tabletop

Roll Player Adventures: Games We Love

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Introduction

About a half a year ago, I became addicted to Kickstarter. Okay, that’s an exaggeration. But, I did support several gaming themed campaigns. One of them arrived in a huge box. It took so long to be delivered that I forgot about it and wondered what the postman delivered. “Ah”, said when I opened it, “Roll Player Adventures. It’s a game I ordered on Kickstarter, I explained too my family. I got the game because it sold itself as a single or two player action game similar to Dungeons and Dragons.

Not exactly like D&D. That’s fine. Now we have two outlets for our nerdiness.

As I mentioned in my previous article, I hadn’t finished the newest adventure for our duet campaign I still havne’t completely finished it. I have the first part of it done now. At the time, I suggested we try Roll Player Adventures instead. Quinn agreed and off we went.

First Impressions

This game takes forever to set up for the first time. There’s so many different types of cards, dice, tokens, maps, and books. Plus, you need the rule book to set up your characters (thankfully, in this game, they came premade, so that saved some time) and an adventure book to set up the adventure map. Some of the set up is intuitive and (again) thank goodness for that. Some of it makes no sense without the context of the game, but you figure it out quickly enough.

I mean, look at all that stuff! It’s pretty intimidating.

Gameplay

Again, the gameplay is mostly intuitive if you’ve ever played a dice game before. A few things are difficult to understand, but the rules are mostly comrehensive. We screwed up more than one ruling, but it was just the two of us. Ultimately, no harm, no foul.

You move your party around the map. There are encounter tokens that can be either a skill check, combat, or sometimes both. There are also the defined areas on the map. Here, you run through a story that changes based on your decisions. Skill checks and combat work similarly. You need to build a die pool from the die bag, roll them, and match numbers and colors on the card to pass the check or win in combat.

Probably easier to show. To defeat the bandits, you need a white two, blue three, red three, and any color five. You have three rounds to win as shown in the lower left corner.

You draw dice from the bag, roll them, and try to match them. While this might seem like an almost impossible task, you can buy certain colors using your attribute points. You have a hand of cards that lets you alter die rolls or colors. All in all, we’ve only ever gone past round one on a couple of fights. In etween fights, you can rest to get ready for future challgenges. Rinse and repeat this process as you work your way around the map until the book tells you “The End”.

After that, you advance your character and you can “save” the game. This sets you up for the next play through so that you don’t spend as much time getting ready. The second time we played took a lot less time to set up and a lot more time to play.

Roll Player Adventures: Overall, a fun game

Both times we played, Quinn mentioned how much fun he had. He talked about the game at dinner to Christine and both of his brothers. We were supposed to play more today, but we took a two hour hike and we just finished eating dinner. I think tomorrow might be busy, too. So, you might have to wait until next week to hear more of our exploits against the enemies of ulos.

On the Tabletop

How to Let Go: Gaming Dad’s Lament

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Introduction

I’ve written about the Gaming Dad’s Lament in the past. As a parent, we both celebrate and mourn the passing of childhood. In fact, I recently posted something on Instagram about the boys growing up. I never give in to the “you’re going to miss this crowd” because honestly, most of it you don’t miss. That’s why when you become grandparents, you are happy to give the kids back at the end of the day. You get all of the good and very little of the bad.

However, I admit that every now and then, I do get a pang of the old times and wish for just one more day of playing Thomas the Tank Engine or watching endless episodes of Paw Patrol. In fact, I suffered just such a pang the other day when Aiden came down with a box of Heroclix that he sold on eBay. You may wonder why this hit so hard, seeing as how Heroclix has to be one of the least referenced games on the page.

Heroclix: As Chris said, a game with such promise that we never actually realized.

Farewell Heroclix: Gaming Dad’s Lament?

Honestly, the sadness surprised me as well. I can count the number of times I played Heroclix on one hand and the number of times that I played Heroclix with the boys on one finger. Why such a strong emotional response, then, to losing them? I wish I knew.

As I wrote a few years ago in the article about the train show, forgive me my indulgence as I work through some emotions here. You are free to completely ignore this article until something more appropriate tickles your fancy. We are getting together on Saturday to play Commander, so expect that article sometime next week.

I suppose the sudden finality of it all hit me hard. As I said, we never played the game. But, to know that we never will brings a somber realization with it. But, and I need to focus on this, some positive came from that realization. Quinn just bought a new Pokemon deck with a gift card he got for Christmas. That inspired me to build a deck. Also, Aiden mentioned that he wanted to play Dicemasters again. When that game gets the heave ho, expect many more words about the passage of time.

The Verdict

Initially, I mourned the loss of our Heroclix. Much more than I ever worried about Skylanders getting sold or YuGiOh cards put into a binder and into the closet. We played both of those games far more than Heroclix. But, I got over it, shipped them, and just told Aiden that I found my Dicemasters teams. All that’s left is to actually build that Pokemon deck. How do you let go? I just hold on to what I still have.