Tag Archives: Tabletop RPGs

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

Tomb of Horrors First Impression: Great, Good, Decent

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Introduction

I know what you’re thinking. How have I played Dungeons and Dragons for literally over 30 years and only now be giving my Tomb of Horrors First Impression? Well, let me explain, Judgy McJudgyPants. I started playing with 2nd edition of AD&D. Sure, I bought the release of the “Rules Cyclopedia” with the Dungeons and Dragons brand on it, but I never actually played any of the original content.

So, when Wade finds out that Halliday hid the first key in the actual Tomb of Horrors from Dungeons and Dragons, I started to feel the germination of an idea in the recesses of my brain. It took another couple of chapters for that idea to fully bake and grow, but eventually I came away with what I thought might be a great idea. So, I went on a search for the module.

Surprisingly, I found it easier than expected. Seeing that Gary Gygax first wrote the module in 1975, I thought I might have to pay an exorbitant amount on eBay. Either that or pirate a PDF via one of the file sharing web pages out there. My respect for the game and Mr. Gygax is too great for the latter and my respect for myself is…hold up, let me check eBay to see what I’d have to sell my respect for…69.65? On second thought, maybe I don’t have that much respect for myself. Relax, I resisted buying it, for now. But, that’s only because I discovered that, because 5e represents a renaissance for the game, they republished the module in one of their recent collections.

Structure of the Review

I plan to split the review into three sections; right out of the box, the nitty gritty, and where next? In the first section, I plan to cover the title, setting, hook, and map layout. The second section gets into the plot, encounters, and creatures. Finally, after a discussion of loot and resolution, I intend to talk about paths forward after finishing the module.

Tomb of Horrors First Impression: Right Out of the Box

Title: At first glance, simple and effective. You know exactly what to expect from the module from that title. It follows unwritten (?) D&D convention of naming things “something” of “something else”. Hall of the Storm Giants. Shadow of the Dragon Queen. Tales of the Outer Planes. That kind of thing. Looking at a list of the modules, I guess fewer titles actually adhered to that standard. But, I’m keeping it in. In short, solid title. Rating: Good, but only because I prefer flashier titles.

Setting: As I said with the title, it tells you exactly where you will be spending your time. In a Tomb of Horrors. Expect whatever your mind’s eye conjures when you hear such a thing. Undead? Yep. Potentially deadly traps? Check. Dungeon Crawling one square at a time because the next may bring doom to your party? That’s there, too. Rating: Great, but like most Dungeons and Dragons adventures, it depends on the story telling skill of your Dungeon Master.

Hook: The edition I have (5e) gives a Legend of the Tomb, which explains all of what I talked about up above. It also tells some of the story of the final encounter including the set up that he is nigh invincible. They also write the truth behind the legend as some background information. Finally, they offer some examples of where to place the tomb depending on your campaign and a guide to run the adventure including a prologue on how to start. Rating: Good, but I like to fill in with my own story when I run these things. I like the additional information even if I don’t plan to use most of it.

Map Layout: Like the title, the map layout follows a simple yet effective dungeon design. Unlike some of the dungeons I’ve seen, it doesn’t have a ton of four way intersections or unnecessary rooms. It gives false entrances, and dead ends, though, so not everything is as it seems. But, at the heart of the layout, you get long corridors and rooms that serve a purpose. Rating: Great, but I like a simple dungeon that still brings mystery and intrigue.

Tomb of Horrors First Impression: Nitty Gritty

Plot (with synopsis): The tomb lies buried beneath a hill. It is filled with deadly traps and various monsters. It also offers great treasure to adventurers brave and witty enough to survive the traps and monsters. The dread lich Acererak guards the crypt and the treasure at the heart of the tomb. As a man, he studied ways to extend his life beyond that of even unnatural means. The lich dwelled with the horrors in the halls of the tomb under the hill. Even so, his life force began to wane, so he commanded the servants to rig the traps in the tomb. After that, he destroyed them all and went to rest so that his soul may roam the various planes without being disturbed. Rating: Great, but I’m a sucker for a good lich story. I think I first learned of the creature from the monster manual and actually played a character with a friend to the realm of Raveloft and she achieved the unlife of a lich.

Encounters: Traps galore (ceiling trap, sliding block trap, poison needle trap, covered pit trap, sphere of annihilation, spike trap, and a phasing pit) wait for unsuspecting parties to trigger them and cause a mass reroll. Keep in mind that those are just the ones I saw by scanning through the module for the word trap. The module also boasts secret doors, false entrances, a chamber with three chests to choose, hidden messages, and magical effects. If it exists within the game, Gygax found a place for it in the Tomb of Horrors. Rating: Good, but bump it up to great if you’re a trap player. I’m more of a puzzle guy and there are some puzzles, but I want all the puzzles.

Creatures: Gargoyle. Poisonous (Venomous?) snakes. Greater zombie. Vrock. Flying Swords. Ochre Jelly. Wights. Demilich. For the length of the module, surprisingly low amount of combat. But, those early Dungeons and Dragons modules relied more on the traps and puzzles to keep people interested. At least the ones that I remember kept the hack and slash to a minimum. Rating: Decent. Even as someone who appreciates the more subtle side of Dungeons and Dragons, I’d find myself looking forward to the demilich during every combat.

Tomb of Horrors First Impression: Where Next?

Loot: Alongside the loot from combat and the various chambers, the tomb boasts a hoard of gems worth hundreds of thousands of gold, four magic weapons, twelve potions, six scroll spells of 5th level or lower, a magic ring, magic rod, magic staff, and three wondrous items. Rating: Decent. Those who triumph are rewarded well. However, based on my limited reading of the module, it feels like the level of loot isn’t quite to the level of challenge. Then again, we are the snowflake trophy generation, so maybe my idea of fair is warped.

Resolution: I like that the final encounter can basically only be won (unless you come in loaded for lich) if you refrain from combat instead of going into there with all of your firepower. It puts a nice little bow on top of the module that savvy players will figure out based on the overall theme of the dungeon. Rating: Great. In a time where twists like this ruled the pages of Dungeons and Dragons, Gygax proves again that he is literally one of the two dads of D&D.

Where Next? I came up with this idea because generally when I lead a party through something as a DM, I want to have some sort of idea where they go next. Sometimes you can use it to weave something into the story as a foreshadow. Most of the time, you use the information for yourself to set things up later on down the road. However, I admit now that I painted myself into a corner. Because the adventure plays so great, how do you follow it up?

The Verdict

My Tomb of Horrors first impression is very good to great. I imagine it’s the same for many players. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have endured for so long with such a large following. Maybe one of these days I will even run the module for an actual group. They need someone to advise the Dungeons and Dragons club at my school.

On the Tabletop

ShadowRun First Impressions

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Introduction

This story starts like so many of my other stories. I went to Humble Bundle and saw that they offered a ShadowRun 5e bundle. Mostly, I heard about the game during the fight over the WotC decision to rework the common license for D&D because they built it on that license. Every now and then, I get an itch to try out Steampunk content. This bundle finally scratches that itch. So, I decided to check out the core rulebook and report back my ShadowRun first impressions.

Can I say again how much I love Humble Bundle? I paid 18 dollars for 17 eBooks and got basically a starter kit for a new tabletop roleplaying game. The trouble, as always, is that I have nobody to play with. I mean, Chris always seems down for something new, but we rarely find the time to get together more than a couple of times a year. We use those for MTG mostly. So, eventually, I need to find a way to enjoy this game solo.

They Have Stories to Tell

Before I talk about the core rulebook, give me some time to tease out that last statement. From what I see online, may nerds have the same trouble as me finding play groups. How can so many of us have the same difficulty without a workable solution? I know that I feel far too old and antisocial to reach out to new players. My most recent playgroups are my youngest son and 3-5 middle school kids at my D&D club.

Sorry about that. As I drove my son to do life guard training (long story not at all related to anything here), I just thought about all of that and it inspired me to share. Now that I have, I can talk about the part of the book that I read so far.

The first couple of sections of the book, as far as I can see, are simply a couple of short stories outlining some of the lore of ShadowRun. While I generally enjoy story telling in games, this time I skipped right by them. Maybe when I come back later to actually play the game, I can give you my opinion on the stories.

Humble Beginnings

Instead, I kept scrolling until arrived at the character creation part. To be honest (am I’m nothing if not honest), I only skimmed this part of the book so far, too. Since I work during the week, I have no time to actually try these games. Therefore, without the proper incentive, I see no reason to make a character yet.

However, I looked through the process and it looks mostly straight forward. However, I liked that they start the generation with your concept and backstory. For someone who prefers the story aspect of games, this feels more natural. Granted, I never have an issue with creating a story based on dice rolled, but I sometimes feel limited when asked to do that.

The Verdict

That’s as far as I got in the book. So, these are very early ShadowRun first impressions. I hope to get some sort of character creation and game play soon and update next month with my thoughts on that. Come back for that and for more as April showers bring us gaming opportunities.

On the Tabletop

The Voidspark Chronicles: Humble Beginnings

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Introduction

Once upon a time, I refused to purchase anything through a link in Facebook. Then, I bought a pair of Pittsburgh Penguins mittens only because they came with a Bernie bobblehead. I also purchased a couple of Funko figures that took forever to arrive. So, I thought my decision to leave Facebook out of future purchases vindicated. Then, an ad came across my Facebook and I fell for it again. I clicked on the link for Sundial Games and their 2023 quest desktop calendars. For 40 bucks, I got a set of dice, some dry erase markers, and a day-by-day calendar with a solo RPG adventure attached. And, so, on January 1, 2023, I embarked on my Voidspark Chronicles humble beginnings.

Since January has the theme of “New Year, New Games“, that brings the perfect opportunity to talk about this unique idea. Before that, I want to say something. The calendar sits on my desk and not one of my students asked about it yet. That’s surprising since they usually stick their noses in all of my business. Oh well, probably just a matter of time.

Rules and Character Building

Rules? Who needs rules? The only rule is that you ignore all the rules and play however you want. What’s this? You need to refer back to the previous day to resolve today’s story. Hmm, maybe I will take a look at those rules after all.

To be fair, that’s the only rule that you need to follow. The rest of it more or less comes down to your capacity for and forgiveness of bad dice rolls. More on that in a bit. Speaking of dice rolls, at least in the beginning, they streamlined character creation. You roll a d4 and that becomes your bonus for each stat. Then, during the course of the story, you get your inventory and you’re off.

Escape, Combat, and Near Death

So far, I engaged in combat twice and made a decision twice. The first combat went smoothly. I killed both sentry drones without a scratch. I also escaped my prison quite easily with a single Dexterity roll to pick the lock. Man, I thought, this stuff is easy.

I know better. Don’t ever piss off the dice gods. They smite without prejudice those who do. Over the weekend, I failed a dexterity roll and then took two blasts to break down the door. Then, today, I came close to dying in combat because my dice rolls came out on the low end. Hell, I “cheated” a bit by allowing myself 3 rolls to free someone else from being captured and twice to find a med kit since I used the other one to heal after nearly eating it.

The Verdict

My Voidspark Chronicles humble beginnings give me all the joy of playing a role playing game daily. They also bring the same frustrations of low dice rolls. As I proved, those are easily countered by “do overs”. Maybe I need to limit myself to one “do over” per day because otherwise, what’s the point of rolling. Just take the loot and move on to the next day. In any case, I’m glad that I bought the calendar and look forward to each day’s next adventure.

On the Tabletop

2023 Tabletop Games Look Ahead

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Introduction

I thought about specifying RPGs in the title, but I also want to talk a little bit about my humble beginning as a miniature painter. But, then specifying RPG and miniatures seemed too clunky for the title. So, I take the risk that anyone searching ends up finding the page because they are looking for board games, which are probably the most popular option. Just a bit of a look at how the sausage is made and how I arrived at the title, 2023 tabletop games look ahead.

While I really only play Dungeons and Dragons on a regular basis, I always want to branch out and try the various other role playing games available. I also often look at the miniature games forlornly and hope for a day that I have an actual army to bring to the table. Alas, right now I only have a single skeleton archer and an ogre barbarian. I also painted an elven archer a few years ago at a local learn to paint class, but I think that one is buried in the closet somewhere.

I’m proud of these two guys. Can’t wait to give them some brothers and sisters.

Pathfinder in 2023

I discovered Pathfinder via recommendation from a former student. I bought some books on Humble Bundle. However, I still need to actually play the game. Luckily, Humble Bundle also recently offered a starter set. Once I play that, I can have a better idea of what the future holds.

Miniatures in 2023

Earlier, I searched “How to get started in miniatures.” I, then took some time during Aiden’s soccer practice to go to the local nerd store. Instead of starting at the comics like I normally do, I went to the miniatures section. Without any guidance (because I didn’t read the article), I decided to wait on that purchase. Good call. I spent just under 120 dollars on comics. Explaining another 75-100 on miniatures to my wife would be a bad scene.

So, I currently plan to read that article. I also want to buy the rule/lore book for Warhammer 40k. I figure that it differs from D&D. Normal Warhammer looks too much like general fantasy. 40k offers a more science fiction vibe that I find intriguing. Hopefully, in a couple of weeks I can offer an update on the army I chose with some pictures.

Dungeons and Dragons in 2023

I told the story more than once that I took over both the middle and the high school Dungeons and Dragons clubs at my old job. Consequently, starting in the summer of last year and through the rest of the year, I spent a stupid amount of money in an attempt to get all of the 5th edition source books. I started with the campaign settings because I enjoy reading about the lore. Then, I moved on to some of the collector’s sets before finishing with the adventures. I got every one of them except for Rise of Tiamat (and I hear they are re-releasing that one) and the Stranger Things module, which I found a free PDF that surely violates copyright law on at least one level.

Even though I know longer work there and the books now sit on my bookshelves upstairs, I’m still glad I bought them. They brought joy to several of the students in the half year we played together. Just the other day, I said that I might ask the D&D advisor at my current job if he wants me to help. So, maybe they live to fight another day.

As a result, this year I focus on the new releases. In addition to the previously mentioned Tiamat reissue, this page has a few others. None of them grab me other than Planescape. But, as the release, I will buy them and probably review them here. Also, D&D One remains on the horizon. No idea what it actually involves, but keep an eye out regardless.

The Verdict

Of the gaming genres I discussed this week, tabletop looks like the one with the most potential for growth this year. This month alone, I planned an article about my solo adventure in Pathfinder and my new army in Warhammer. Add in a possible return to D&D club and Planescape and you have a recipe for fun this year. The PC article brought me down and I think the console might have a similar effect. But, the 2023 tabletop games look ahead gives me hope for this year.

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.