Tag Archives: RPGs

Digital Playground

Marvel Strike Force

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Introduction

In a month dedicated to Marvel and the new movie Deadpool and Wolverine, I pained myself into a bit of a corner this week. I wanted to talk about some of the Marvel video games other than Marvel SNAP. I regularly talk about each season in SNAP, so even though they “updated” with “new” game modes, I saw no point in reviewing them here. The only one I found that even remotely interested me was Marvel Strike Force.

First Impressions

Marvel Strike Force is a turn based RPG with Marvel Super Hero skins. That more than covers it. The story, while slightly forced, at least attempts to be interesting and figure into the game play. So, what else can I say? Not much honestly.

So, what else can I say here? Not much, if I’m being honest. I simply don’t need another treadmill game leading me from reward to reward in hopes that I can pull a decent hero without having to pay actual money. Who knows? Maybe when the winter comes and I have more time to devote to sitting on the couch, I might try again.

The Verdict

If you like this type of game and Marvel, you’ll probably enjoy it. As I just wrote up there, I don’t have the time or energy to devote to the game right now, so I won’t be joining you any time soon. If anything changes, I’ll be sure to update you.

In the meantime, I’m counting down the minutes.

On the Tabletop

Marvel RPG Then and Now

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Introduction

When I came up with the cheeky theme for this month for the page, I tried to also come up with ideas for content. In one of the first articles that I considered, I wanted to compare Marvel RPG Then and Now. Ideally, that meant playing both RPGs with my family and then writing about those experiences. Because even the summer is busy for us, I ended up only perusing the books for the two games. As a result, this time around, I only compare my overall impressions of the games.

In good news, we tentatively agreed as a family to institute game nights again. Therefore, perhaps by the end of the year, we can play the old Marvel Super Heroes RPG and the new Marvel Multiverse RPG and then I can give you a more well rounded comparison of the two games. For now, enjoy and revel in some nostalgia with me before taking a trip into the Multiverse.

Dice, Dice Baby

The heart of any role playing game is, of course, the dice. Because of the recent success of Stranger Things and WotC’s ability to capitalize on that success, may people associate the set of polyhedral dice as the standard for the genre. However, most games shun the variability of those dice and use only one or two of the polyhedral shapes in their game. I can’t be certain, but most of the games I see these days just use six sided dice. That makes sense because most people have such dice lying around, so it removes some of the barrier for entry.

Granted, they don’t look as geeky or cool, but I understand the decision. With the old Marvel Super Heroes RPG, they used d100 to run the random engine for the game. At the time, I geeked out because it played so much differently from Dungeons and Dragons. I remember that my friend and I played the Marvel game exclusively for a few months after discovering it.

The newer Marvel Multiverse RPG follows the standard that I just discussed. They chose six sided dice as the base for their game. One thing they add to give some flavor is that you preferably need to have one die different from the other two to allow for a wider variety of outcomes in your rolls. I like the idea of the three six sided dice. It reminds me of the original character creation rules for D&D that I played under.

Stats and Such

Likewise, the old Marvel Super Heroes RPG embraced the classic RPG element of chance by allowing players to roll for every aspect of their character. You could either choose a background or simply let the roll of the dice decide. However, like D&D, you rolled your stats and sometimes a skill allowed you to reroll or bump a stat or two. And, one of the things I remember from the player’s handbook in D&D is that sometimes it’s a blast to try to play a 5 intelligence or 4 charisma character. One time, if I remember correctly, I played just such a character as an unintentional prick who just said what he thought with little regard for the consequences. So, in that case, they were right.

I noticed that modern RPGs eschew randomness whenever they can. In some ways, this is good. It gives you more control over your character. They still limit the outcome, so you don’t end up min/maxing your character to oblivion and making it no fun for your table mates, which is nice. But, I sometimes miss the roll of the die determining the outcome of my character. That 10 strength/16 intelligence Barbarian? That brings up some awesome role playing possibilities.

Characters

It’s Marvel. You get the expected roster of characters from both games. Obviously, one gives you over 30 years of additional history to add to the flavor of the characters. Also, it comes right out of the gate and talks about the multiverse. Ever since they started selling this as the Multiverse saga, they and others pushed the concept almost to an absurd level.

Then again, I must say, that with that extra history and choice of settings, I want to play in the Marvel 2099 world. If I only have one other player, I might try to figure out a way to put together some Logan adventures either before or after the movie depending on my mood. I have no interest in the Ultimate universe because it scarred me for life the last time around. But, filling in some of the gaps of the MCU might be fun.

The Verdict

Both games offer their own unique brand of entertainment. I think that the old Marvel Super Heroes RPG only offers me nostalgia at this point in my life. Based on that last paragraph, I clearly lean towards the now in the Marvel RPG Then and Now race. It simply offers more possibilities right out of the book.

On the Tabletop

Turn of Fortune’s Wheel: Planescape

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Introduction

Monday, Wednesday, Friday for articles. Wednesday and Saturday for Noob’s Book Club. Seems like a reasonable schedule to get everything done for the page weekly, right? Ah, but best laid plans and all that, I suppose. And, so Noob’s Book Club went almost an entire month without and update. Yesterday, we took Quinn to his first swim meet. So, instead of Friday, you get Turn of Fortune’s wheel (the last Planescape book in my series) on Saturday.

I never know how to properly review adventures on the page. One time, when I thought I might be able to follow up the Noob’s Book Club series on Ready Player One with a series of the trials of Wade, I looked through the whole adventure. Also, as you know, I care nothing about spoilers. However, since 99% of the fun of these is the surprise for players, I want to keep that surprise for them. So, I’ll just talk about the introduction.

Beginning of the End

What a better way to start something. Juxtapose it with the end. And, so it is that the writers of this adventure took that advice. The further up the ante by giving lower level characters the chance to help correct a glitch affecting the whole multiverse. I must say. That’s quite the hook. Especially when you consider that Quinn and I collected dinosaurs for a prince and then I wrote a classic haunted pirate ship adventure for our second time playing when we get a chance to sit down again.

Third level characters traveling through portals to a city that allows them to then travel through a multiverse of other realms. I must say that’s pretty amazing Add to it that it says that they will brush shoulders with immortals. I might take a break from writing for a while and use this one as our third adventure. Perhaps I can even get the rest of the family hooked on the game finally.

The Verdict

Turn of Fortune’s Wheel sounds like so much fun. Over the next couple of weeks, I want to read more to prepare for a possible play session with the whole family on Christmas break. I need to have them create characters and level them to three. But, other than that, I don’t see much of an obstacle to making that happen. Look for the follow up next year.

Picture taken from the mothership.

On the Tabletop

Sigil and the Outlands: Planescape

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Introduction

I meant to sit down and play some Dungeons and Dragons with Quinn over the weekend. I forget sometimes how busy a relaxing Thanksgiving can be. Wednesday, we spent the day and night relaxing and trying to catch our breath. Thursday, we watched the parade and then I went to pick up Aiden’s girlfriend to hang out with the family. Friday, we went to Greenfield for dinner and then Bright Nights. Chris came over Saturday and Quinn felt sick yesterday. So, now, what do I write this week? Well, I got the bright idea to review each book from Planescape. I start with Sigil and the Outlands.

Of the settings I played when younger, Planescape offered the most interesting possibilities. Those possibilities never paid off because nobody else in the playgroup wanted to explore them. But, the release of the set in 5th edition opens up all new chances to travel the planes.

A Multiverse of (Possible) Madness

The book starts by telling you that the only rules in Planescape are that there are no rules. As someone who plays D&D by that very rule, this again tickles my funny bone and makes me want to try it even more now. Maybe after Quinn and I finish our pirate adventure, we can try some Planescape. Then again, I mistakenly grabbed my Spelljammer books instead of Planescape for this article. That gave me an idea for a way to take us into space. Maybe after that, we can plane walk.

In keeping with the tradition of these books, the first chapter then goes on to explain player character options. This one offers no new races but it gives players two “backgrounds” to play as their character. Neither of them speak to me necessarily, but I might take some aspects of one or both of them to work into a future character.

Especially when I look at the feats that they describe in the next part of the chapter. Some of them look like a lot of fun to play. They all require some sort of planar attunement. That’s just my fancy way of saying that you need to have the Scion of the Outer Planes feat, which is only available to the backgrounds they introduce in the book. So, watch this space for a new character. A warlock with the planar philosopher background. Only because I never played a Warlock.

The chapter closes with some discussion about a few magic spells and item. Again, none of them jump out to me as particularly interesting. But, with some imagination and work, maybe I can give them a fun twist.

Sigil, City of Doors

The second chapter gives information on the main hub city of the many planes, Sigil. It starts with basic information like currency and the like. This part mainly reads like the rule that “there aren’t any rules” and anything goes. It’s less interesting than it sounds. But, again, with some work and imagination, anything is possible.

Then, they write about the various portals that lead from the city. They define some of them explicitly in a table for those of us who are in a hurry or not feeling inspired. It also gives a template for other portals to other places when you start to feel more inspired or imaginative.

The final part of this chapter introduces the Lady of Pain, explains the various wards in the city and their make up and denizens, and discusses the factions in the city. I don’t care much about the politics of any given setting in Dungeons and Dragons. However, i like the idea of starting an adventure in the city. Therefore, with a description of some of the places to visit, I got ideas how to craft that part of the adventure.

The Outlands

The final chapter lists and describes the major planes of existence in the realm known as The Outlands. In keeping with the layout of many of the recent 5th edition books, it covers just the basics of each of the areas. Enough to set things up for you. The thing that I like best is that I can fill in the gaps as I write the adventure. I know that many players want more description and detail. But, I want the freedom to imagine.

The Verdict

Reading Sigil and the Outlands plus the book I picked up from Spelljammer gives me ideas for how to expand this adventure with me and Quinn. Now, I just need to sit down and write the new parts. We also need to find time to play the game. We get a week off for Christmas, so that seems like as good a time as any.

On the Tabletop

Dreams and Machines Tutorial

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Introduction

A game came across my Facebook feed. I don’t know what made me click the link this time around, but I did. I also don’t know what the click through to purchase percentage is. But, they got me this time. The game came in the mail a few weeks ago. With Quinn and I unable to sit down for the next installment of our duets adventure, I played through the Dreams and Machines tutorial this evening.

After Christine yelled at Liam at the dinner table for being on his phone, he pointed out, “You’re the only one eating. Dad’s playing a game.” Quinn asked, “Is that a role playing game?” Then, Liam again, “Is that a new game?” I replied, “Yes” to both questions. So, perhaps, I will have an updated article in a couple of months after we play the game as a family.

The Story

They write an introduction with illustrations in the first four splash pages of the book. From what I can gather, the society’s technology advanced too rapidly. They became murder machines. The society eventually triumphed over them. And, now, some of them rely more on nature to fill that void. Others hope to be able to salvage the technology. I may be completely off with that analysis. But, that’s my interpretation so far.

Character Creation

They streamline the process quite a bit. Your background, class, temperament, and talents all come on different cards. They suggest each player picks from the cards in that order. I like this approach because it makes things easier. At the same time, I prefer being able to roll dice, assign my stats, and figure out who my character is during creation. Granted, the only part missing from this game is the dice rolling and assignment of stats. However, being an old school RPG guy, that’s the best part for me. It doesn’t ruin the experience. It just detracts some from my enjoyment. So, for this character, I just picked things at random.

Quick Adventure

Once I put together the character, I decided to run through the first part of the introductory adventure. I like the style. It relies on narrative. Those who are fans of the page know that I love my gaming stories. In between, everything is settled with some skill checks. You roll a number of d20s and any that come underneath the requisite ability or skill counts as a success. If you exceed the number of successes, then you pass the skill. Otherwise, you fail. I passed one of my checks and failed the other. I ended the session right before I got to combat because I knew it would work better with more than one player. But, it works the exact same way.

The Verdict

Overall, I enjoyed the experience of playing through the Dreams and Machines tutorial. I think this might be a game to try with Quinn and Liam since they both showed interest during dinner. Christine also mentioned that the time for family game night is upon us. We usually play during the fall and winter. It helps to pass the time during those dark nights. Come back in a couple of months for an update.

On the Tabletop

My Thoughts on the D&D OGL

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Introduction

Editor’s Note: I wrote this before the decision to reverse course by Hasbro. Turns out all of the gnashing of teeth and wailing worked for now. However, I now see that emboldened nerds and some of them push for more. Some people are never happy.

If you wonder what the D&D OGL covers, then join me as I give a TLDR version. As I understand it, the document gives the community the ability to make homebrew content and make money from that content. Wikipedia explains it in better detail if you want more than that. I only know about the document now because a leak showed that Hasbro/WotC meant to update it.

And by update it, of course, the mean to basically gut the thing and make it almost impossible for anyone but them to make money from the game. Please bear in mind that all of my information here comes from the sometimes less than reliable world of social media (Facebook mostly), so take this whole article with a grain of salt if you want. However, I will say that they reversed course pretty quickly once people started to get loud about it. So, methinks that they hit a nerve.

Warning: Anti-Capitalist Message Ahead

Once a student said to me, “I bet you like the pony guy.” “Vermin Supreme?” I responded. “Love him!”

I mean, just this weekend I said to a friend, “I’m about to sound like a communist sympathizer here.” I say this to provide context. Believe me when I say that I have no use for large corporations throwing their weight around to bully citizens. On the other hand, having grown up to see nerd culture become popular culture, I watch as nerds have almost weekly breakdowns over something or another. Captain Marvel? A more diverse Star Wars?

So, ignorant of the details in the first case and my opinion colored by the history of the second, initially I shrugged at the news. Obviously, I came down on the wrong side of history. People kept trying to explain to me that Critical Role might suffer because of it. I don’t interact with them at all, so that didn’t bother me.

I soon learned that Pathfinder came into existence because of the D&D OGL. Okay, I though, this could be big. Then, it trickled down into some of the Patreon campaigns that I support. Once that happened, I realized that I made a mistake by writing it off as another nerd temper tantrum.

The Verdict

I wanted to end New Year, New Games 2023 on a more positive note. Unfortunately, I also wanted to come clean. With all of that being said, I can’t find it in me to be all that fussed about the D&D OGL. Sure, it harms player and potentially the game. But, as Blizzard shows time and time again, if you give players enough time, they forgive and forget nearly everything. Come back after the next season of Stranger Things and this will all become a footnote in history.

Besides, unless you belong to Critical Role or one of the half dozen (maybe) other content creators that this affects, simply ignore the new OGL. Go on about your business playing Dungeons and Dragons as you do with your friends and family. Plenty of resources exist out there to enhance your gaming experience for every edition of the game. And, if it doesn’t, here’s an idea. Come up with the resource on your own and share it with those you love. My favorite D&D experience came from writing the adventure for Quinn. I loved it so much, I planned several others. Just get out there and have fun.

On the Tabletop

Shadow of the Dragon Queen

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Introduction

I told the story several times already. This year Christine asked the boys to put together Christmas lists. She requested several items needed and several items wanted. I never ask for anything for Christmas. While I love the spirit of Christmas, I find the actual holiday abhorrent. A day dedicated just to buying stuff? Gross. For some reason, though, I gave in this year and put together a list. On the list, I included Dungeons and Dragons books. I meant Shadow of the Dragon Queen.

Instead, Christine bought me Dragons of Deceit. Initially disappointed, I quickly recovered. Weis and Hickman, as you know, wrote the book. I love Weis and Hickman. Also, I got the idea to record the book club podcast and actually kept a schedule, more or less. Episode 3 comes out tomorrow or Saturday (pending a snow day) with Chapter 4 and 5.

From Disappointment…Hope, Then Disappointment

Because Santa dropped off the “wrong” present for me that actually ended up working out okay, I ordered the source book myself. I kept trying to talk myself out of the deluxe edition with the board game and ultimately failed. What can I say? I’m a sucker for those gimmick board games based on the other successful franchises I enjoy.

I can’t comment on the quality of the game. I haven’t had a chance to even look at it other than the box. It looks interesting and I always like to play those cooperative board games. We played Professor Evil and the Citadel of Time often and everyone joins in. I need to read the rules so that we have a chance to play over February break. Come back in March for my review.

The source book itself underwhelms. I expected a more robust campaign setting updated to 5th edition. Instead, they give us some rules on the special ancestries and subclasses of Krynn for the first few chapters. Then, the rest of the book is simply an adventure. Funny how things change. I remember wishing as a teenager that they released more adventure modules for the characters I built in Dragonlance.

The Verdict

Ultimately, like the novel, I like Shadow of the Dragon Queen in spite of potential warts. The adventure promises to bring some joy to a playgroup either at home or in school. At least Quinn and I will play through the board game once. Christine suggested that I try it with Quinn and his friend Tristan. Okay, plan on meeting here in about a month and a half for that recap.

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

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.