This Week: Leaders, Scenes, Hags, and Silence

Welcome to This Week, a weekly series where I discuss all the gaming (both video and tabletop) content I've played, made, prepped, run and seen that's cool this week.

Normally these come out late on Sundays, but I moved this one earlier for two reasons: a) I missed last week, as I was unwell, and b) I won't be able to get everything in order night, because I'll be at Port Robinson & Madeon's Shelter Live Tour in Melbourne! Woo!

(Image from Shelter Live Tour.)

So, without further ado, let's jump in with what I've done This Week...

What I've Played

I started playing Terraria again, as it's been many years since last time, and I really enjoyed it then. The game has been updated significantly, and there's now a lot more to do. I don't know if it will keep my attention for very long, but I am enjoying it. I don't have much to say on this topic beyond that it's worth checking out again, if you used to play it!

(Image from Steam.)

I've been diving back into Civilisation VI, trying out the new Poland DLC, and getting ready to try the even-newer Australia DLC. Whilst I'm finding them game is holding me generally less than V did, I am enjoying the faster pace of DLC. I can't remember how I originally bought it, but whatever I did, I've been getting each DLC without paying additionally for it... Maybe I got the deluxe edition, or something? I don't know - I'm pretty confused, to be honest.

(Image from Rock Paper Shotgun.)

Anyway, Poland has been a lot of fun - even if I have every single other world leader angry at me all the time. Which is interesting. I've also been through a nearly 1000 year war with Sumeria, during which time they've sent a total of 2 Bombards and 3 Bazooka troops to my shores. I haven't bothered to retaliate. Yet.

(Image from PC Games N.)

Australia looks interesting, though it's a little distressing to see that there is no mention of our history before European settlement. Which is super weird, given that the civilisation only covers 1-to-2 of the Eras in the game, and just ignores the 50,000+ years of Aboriginal Australian history (and there's some insanely interesting stuff in there). I'm hopeful that we get an additional leader - like Greece - to account for this. But, I doubt it...

What I've Made

I've been working pretty hard on Do or Dice recently, attempting to get the changes brought up during playtesting into the game. I'm having to restrain myself from too quickly and too radically, changing things though - I've been toying around with a new central mechanic, but it would be unwise to jump ship without properly testing out the existing one. I'll be posting up a discussion on which one I settle with, once I have settled!

(Image from William McAusland, used with permission.)

Speaking of discussions, I posted up the first piece of Do or Dice rules on Friday, and it's already worked out well. There has been a reasonable amount of conversation surrounding it, and that conversation has already helped me work through it. It's great to start interacting more with the design community, like this. As +Steve Dee said "scenes are good".

What I've Run

I ran the first actual play session of Ameshirel: A World Reforged, using the Do or Dice ruleset, and it's done exactly what I hoped - poked holes in the game. I've always been a firm believer of test fast and early, but it's always been difficult to execute that belief. Do or Dice is now getting fortnightly playtests, and I am hopeful to increase that rate. If any folks out there are keen to get a playtest copy, please let me know!

(Image from Wizards.)

My Curse of Strahd campaign got another session (which brings the total up to 7, with 5 of them still unposted in the diary, for that I apologise, but unfortunately cannot see changing in any significant way, any time soon...) It was a great session, and I finally got to use Old Bonegrinder. Needless to say, the PCs shouldn't have let the Night Hags escape. They'll never sleep easy again!

What I've Seen

For some strange reason, I started watching the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series on Netflix a few weeks ago, and I'm making a lot of progress through it. I find it's interesting enough to have going on in the background whilst I work, but not cerebral enough to demand my attention always. I'm definitely enjoying it, though I do find some of the themes problematic. The first two seasons glorify war a little too much, but the later seasons seem to deal with the bad sides a lot more (which is awesome). I'm enjoying seeing pieces of the EU fall into place with the new canon (like seeing Saw, etc). Worth checking out, I think.

(Image from Screen Rant.)

On Friday night I went and saw Martin Scorsese's newest film, Silence. It's about two Portuguese Jesuit missionaries who travel to Japan during a period of religious inquisition, to find their mentor. It's pretty fucked up, to be honest. It's brutal, and it's basically all about torture and resilience. It's also very very long. I'm still unsure if I liked it. It's definitely not a film you can enjoy, but at some point you need to recognise that it was worth seeing or not - and I am yet unsure of that. I think it was worth seeing, but I still need to unpack it a little bit...

(Image from Esquire.)

The visuals and the score were fantastic, though, and if you're a fan of Adam Driver or Andrew Garfield, their performances were amazing, so that may encourage you to see it. I do, however, believe the film will have less impact on you if you haven't gone through some kind of crisis of faith (whether that made you more devout, or as in my case, led you to apostasy). If you do see it, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the film!

(Image from BBC America.)

Lastly, I started watching Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency last night, and half an episode in, I was hooked. I've now watched the first two, and I am keen to watch the third! It's a really weird, really curious mix of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Who, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and Scott Pilgrim vs the World. It's also unlike any of those things, and much weirder. I can't really explain it, except by saying that I desperately want to play it as a roleplaying game.

That's all for This Week this week. I'll talk to you next week, and tell you of all my adventures again! In the mean time, fill your own week with as much awesome as possible.

This Week: Puppets, Hacks, Romance, and Challenges!

Welcome to This Week, a weekly series where I discuss all the gaming (both video and tabletop) content I've played, made, prepped, run and seen that's cool this week.

Let's jump in with what I've done This Week...

What I've Run

I ran session #6 of my Curse of Strahd campaign, and finally got a chance to roleplay as Pidlwick II (who is, hands down, one of my favourite characters). I changed him quite a bit from how he is portrayed in the book, but after hearing feedback from my players, it was definitely the right choice. Sadly, it'll be some time before I get around to that campaign diary, as I am massively behind, and massively inundated with work at the moment. Nevertheless, it has given me inspiration to keep working on my backlog of diaries, so the next one will come sometime soon!

(Image from Wizards.)

What I've Seen

I've been reading and prepping (though sadly not playing) Blades in the Dark a lot recently, because v8 was recently released, which means I've also been spending a lot of time on the Google+ community of late (hell, I've even bee writing my own Blades content!). Over there, I got wind that Scum & Villainy, the sci-fi Firefly / Star Wars: Rogue One style hack is in Early Access! I'm yet to get my hands on it, but I am very very tempted to pick it up. If anyone else has purchased it already, please let me know how it is!

(Image from Gamerati. Wrong Scum & Villainy, I know, but still relevant!)

Black and Green Games released Romance Trilogy, and I'm pretty excited about it! Whilst it's not currently available in print in Australia, I have it from +Emily Care Boss herself that inroads to Australian stores are being investigated. Honestly, I'm keen to get my hands on it any way that I can, so I'll probably end up buying the PDF first, anyway (which can be found here, if you're as keen as I am.)

(Image from Black and Green Games.)

The #200WordRPG Challenge is back for 2017, spanning between April 15th and April 23rd! I entered last year with MegaCorp, a cyberpunk storygame about being a director of a MegaCorp and trying to strip it of assets. It was fantastic, and I encourage everyone to give it a try, if you have a design bent. I also encourage everyone to have a look at previous years, as some of the most ridiculous and amazing games come out of this challenge!

(Image from David Schirduan.)

That's all for This Week this week. I'll talk to you next week, and tell you of all my adventures again! In the mean time, fill your own week with as much awesome as possible.

This Week: Deus Ex, Trenches, PLAYTESTS, and Frontier

Welcome to This Week, a weekly series where I discuss all the gaming (both video and tabletop) content I've played, made, prepped, run and seen that's cool this week.

Let's jump in with what I've done This Week...

What I've Played

I finally got around to starting Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and I'm enjoying it - though not as much as Human Revolution. Maybe I just need to give it more time, but at the moment it feels very much like it's relying on you having loved the last one to carry it. It doesn't feel enough like a stand alone game. I keep getting the impression that it's pointing to HR and saying "Ay! Look at how cool we still are!"

(Image from SquareEnix.)

But I'm keen to be proven wrong! I loved HR, and I look forward to loving MD just as much. Graphically and functionally, MD is clearly superior, but I've found some things that wrankle me - like the tutorial at the beginning being in places too intrusive, and in others weirdly not intrusive enough. The camera also feels really clostrophobic to me... Which is weird... Anyway, I will report back in 50 years when I get around to finishing it!

What I've Made

After being inspired by Peaky Blinders (which I am now up-to-date on), and with the v8 release of Blades in the Dark (I haven't stopped screaming in excitement), I decided to write a short supplement that covers the Unity War. It's called Remnants of War, and I only just posted it up here on versamus, but for This Week's sake I had to talk about it again.

(Image from Imperial War Museums, edited by me.)

Go here to check it out!

What I've Run

In my continuing efforts to get Do or Dice off the ground, I ran my first session of the proper playtest campaign this week. We're playing in the Ameshirel: A World Reforged setting I am developing alongside it, and things are thus far looking good.

(Image from William McAusland, used with permission.)

We've got a psychopathic Polder, a gloomy Dwarven coward, a drug addicted Elven alchemist, a mysterious Human necromancer priest, and a Orcish bard who just wants everyone to chill out. I will be posting more about this campaign as it develops, and the rules as they develop from the playtesting! The plan at the moment is to open up playtesting to the public once I have ironed out the kinks with this campaign, and I expect it to be ready in a few months time - SO KEEP YOUR EYES PEELED!

What I've Seen

Lastly, I watched Frontier on Netflix this week (I got through the whole thing, as I've been a bit unwell and idle) and, frankly, I wasn't impressed. The acting, the writing, the... Basically everything felt flat. There were a few cool characters, and some interesting stuff thrown in there - but on the whole it was a mighty Meh.

(Image from Netflix.)

I'm willing to see where the next season goes, and it's worth a watch if you like the time period. Just don't expect anything amazing...

That's all for This Week this week. I'll talk to you next week, and tell you of all my adventures again! In the mean time, fill your own week with as much awesome as possible.

This Week: Alchemy, Gnomes, Elba, and Strahd!

Welcome to This Week, a weekly series where I discuss all the gaming (both video and tabletop) content I've played, made, prepped, run and seen that's cool this week.

Let's jump in with what I've done This Week...

What I've Played

We purchased a copy of Dominion: Alchemy expansion, and have now had a few games using it. Despite my continued confusion with the Golem card, I am really enjoying the new meta it creates, and the interesting choices it's brought back. A lot of people claim the base game gets boring (though I never found that to be the case), but Alchemy definitely livens the game up a lot!

(Image from Board Gaming.)

 I've also (though this is hardly a new thing for me) have been playing a lot of Mount & Blade Warband, as I eagerly await Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord! If you haven't checked out M&B before, it's a third-person medieval combat/management game where you slowly grow a name for yourself, and hire a group of soldiers who you train into a (hopefully) powerful army. I play with the mod Floris Evolved because I think the base game is pretty bland - but Bannerlord looks like they've learned a lot from their modding community, and have brought in some of the bets parts!

(Image from YouTube.)

What I've Made

Something I've been working on, called A Gnome's Tale, has made some significant progress, and I'm now going to show you a little bit of it (note: this is the first time any part of it has ever been seen online :D) In short, it's a system neutral random encounter drop-table/art book...

(Image from... US! WOO!)

We're hoping to continue to develop A Gnome's Tale and I'll let you know as more comes out that I can talk about!

I've also been working on my ability to Blades in the Darkify photos to make character portraits for my campaign. I think I've got a pretty good system, which is:

1. Find a photo.
2. Go to Image > Adjustment > Hue/Saturation, and set the Saturation to -100.
3. Go to Image > Adjustments > Curves, and select the Strong Contrast Preset.
4. Go to Filter > Filter Gallery > Cutout, and set Number of Levels to 8, Edge Simplicity to 3, and Edge Fidelity to 3.
5. Again, go to Image > Adjustments > Curves, and select the Strong Contrast Preset.
6. And, you're done!

(Original image from ComingSoon.com, edited by me.)

This process is very simple, quick, and easy to tweak (just adjust any of the above values). It even works better with lower quality images, so you don't need to worry about finding the perfect HD shot - even screenshots from Netflix have thus far rendered great results!

What I've Run

I finally got to run Curse of Strahd again (and reminded myself of the crushing weight of being behind on the campaign diary!) which was amazing. I won't go into details here, but I got to use my Strahd voice for a lot of it, which was a lot of fun!

(Image from Wizards.)

I promise I'll be updating the campaign diary ASAP!

That's all for This Week this week. I'll talk to you next week, and tell you of all my adventures again! In the mean time, fill your own week with as much awesome as possible.

This Week: Jam, Arrival, Axebane, and Jazz!

Welcome to This Week, a weekly series where I discuss all the gaming (both video and tabletop) content I've played, made, prepped, run and seen that's cool this week.

Let's jump in with what I've done This Week...

What I've Made

Global Game Jam has come and gone for another year, and it's been an interesting one. I tackled the prospect of Jamming alone, and whilst I don't regret doing it, I've answered that question: I won't be doing it again. Jamming alone doesn't allow you to riff off someone else like a normal Jam does. I had my reasons, beyond just answering that question, for going alone but that's a different story all together.

(Image from Victoria Museum.)

Anyway, I did manage to make something, called No More, Molok! which you can find here. I hope you like it.

What I've Seen

I got to see Arrival at Cinema Nova in Melbourne, and it was fantastic. It's rare that I see a film that is actually about hope, and one where I have as few criticisms as I did with Arrival, which was awesome. I don't want to say much about it, because I feel the less you know about the film going in, the better. For those who have seen it though: I wish the last 5 minutes weren't in it. They felt unnecessary and detracting. Otherwise, it's freakin' great. See it while you can! 

(Image from IndieWire.)

After watching the most recent episode of RollPlay: Blades, the cast Geoff passed on the recommendation of John that folks should watch Peaky Blinders. So I did. I'm one season in, and I can't recommend it enough (even if you don't like or know about Blades in the Dark). It's set in 1919 Birmingham, England, and is centred around a gang - the Peaky Blinders - who run a small section of the city. I won't get into why, but they get wrapped into crown-controlled espionage, communist plots, and all sorts of intrigue-filled infighting. It's been so inspiring for me as a GM, and I have so much left to watch! Two seasons are currently on Netflix, so get on it!

(Image from Netflix.)

I became a Patron of Axebane Games who is creating awesome top-down maps with encounter sheets built in. I love the simplicity of the maps - just print them out and jot down ideas, right into them. It's very freeing, only having a tiny amount of space per room, as it forces you to do away with boxed text or complex ideas. Instead, you write down the seeds of your inspiration, and then you improv at the table. I just had to support this enterprise, and I get some awesome coloured versions early to boot, so I'm very happy!

(Image from Axebane Games.)

I watched the first episode of RollPlay: Nebula Jazz this week, which is the newest campaign on the channel. It's bloody fantastic, and other than Blades, I haven't fallen so quickly for a new show since Swan Song. It's a quirky 80's inspire sci-fi game using Fate Accelerated Edition featuring Adam Koebel as the Spacemaster, Dodger playing Eugene - a wise-cracking Slimething, Jesse Cox playing Qin - an Ex-Guardian giant Komodo Dragon-like Lizardman, Strippin playing Rex - an outlaw Sharkanoid, and Pokket playing Aurora - a robot girl with her best friend Sparky. Seriously, the descriptions coming from all the players are amazing, and I can't encourage you to watch it more!

(Image from itmejp.)

That's all for This Week this week. I'll talk to you next week, and tell you of all my adventures again! In the mean time, fill your own week with as much awesome as possible.

This Week: Hosts, Harm, Fate, and Gatekeeper

Welcome to This Week, a weekly series where I discuss all the gaming (both video and tabletop) content I've played, made, prepped, run and seen that's cool this week.

This last stretch should be the last time for a while (unless something else comes up) where I miss a week. Finally - FINALLY - the move is complete, and we're in a beautiful new home! We have internet, and I have a new study/games room. Once everything is up to shape, I'll take some photos and share them with you: it's where all our RPGs will be played from now on (except for at Gatekeeper, but I'll get to that in a sec) so it'll be pretty relevant!

Now, let's jump in with what I've done This Week...

What I've Played

I've been without the internet for much of this week, due to the move, so naturally I've been looking for other things to do in my downtime. Whilst packing and unpacking has been a big part of the last two weeks, I would go mad if I didn't play something. And then I remembered a while back I printed out the rulebook for How to Host a Dungeon, a curious little singleplayer game where you generate a dungeon step by step as the ages go through. If you're looking for some inspiration, and just something to take your mind off other things, it works fantastically!

Here's a good example of a map made using the system:

(Image from Planet Thirteen.)

And here's my work-in-progress map:

(Image from me... And Excel art... I'm so sorry.)

Mine's not so great, but I've had a lot of fun with it so far!

What I've Made

I've been working hard on Do or Dice, and I recently made a breakthrough with the rules for harm and damage, and I'm now ready for my first full in-house test. That means Ameshirel: A World Reforged will be beginning in two weeks (and I'll post all the details as they come out). I'm really looking forward to exposing all of the holes in the game, and then figuring out ways to fill them up and then smooth it all back into an awesome game. As this process goes on, I'll be opening up the playtest to more and more folks, so if you're interested, LET ME KNOW!

(Image from RueInk.)

In the interest of working on Ameshirel: A World Reforged, I've been planning my first adventure. I got one look at Randy M's newest map, and I fell in love. It's Patrons only, so I can't show it off, but you should pledge to see it and everything else he's made. If you're planning on playing in Ameshirel: A World Reforged (my players, beware), please don't check it out until we've played. Everyone else, go nuts!

I'll be polishing up this adventure as I playtest it, and I intend to release it alongside Do or Dice and Ameshirel: A World Reforged as the first official adventure - so stay tuned for that too!

What I've Run

I got a chance to run Fate Accelerated Edition at Gatekeeper Games (again, I'll mention more in a sec), which was a blast! I love FAE, but I don't get much of a chance to run it. Also, due to the holidays, I haven't gotten a chance to run much of anything, so when I got the idea to do it, I jumped on it.

(Image from Evil Hat.)

I ran the game for four players at this month's Inclusive Board Game Meet in Melbourne, hosted at Gatekeeper Games in Fitzroy. Two of the four players were entirely new to roleplaying games, so it was even more amazing. Everyone really jumped in, and, in true Fate style, I barely did any work: the players came up with such ridiculous drama that I didn't need to! We ended up flying out of a wormhole inside an organic alligator ship with a crew of two space Elves, a space Skinkwoman, and a space Russian, all while everything was flying off the walls and far too many pipes burst. If it doesn't make sense to you, then I guess we're on the same page.

There was a decidedly camp/Farscapey vibe to the game. (Image from IMDB.)

I loved every second of it.

What I've Seen

And finally, the long awaited (and much mentioned) Gatekeeper Games! Because I've moved, I actually now have a proper Friendly Local Gaming Store (FLGS), which I haven't had for many many years... And what's more, I have Gatekeeper which, despite the name, is one of the best and most welcoming gaming spaces I've ever seen. This amazing space not only has some of the nicest people running it, and the most diverse clientele I've ever seen in a gaming store, it also has ridiculously low prices for games (seriously, we just bought Dominion: Alchemy for less than $40 AUD)!

(Image from Gatekeeper Games.)

So, I'll be playing more and more games here as well as in the new games room at home. I'll even be running a few games here, if everything goes according to plan. I'll even even be running some Do or Dice here as a trial ground, so again, if that excites you, you better find your way there!

That's all for This Week this week. I'll talk to you next week, and tell you of all my adventures again! In the mean time, fill your own week with as much awesome as possible.

This Week: Holidays, 80 Days, Rogue One, and Podcasts

Welcome to This Week, a weekly series where I discuss all the gaming (both video and tabletop) content I've played, made, prepped, run and seen that's cool this week.

Before I begin, I want to say HAPPY NEW YEAR! Last year was a shit storm, for a number of reasons, and 2017 threatens to be worse... Which is why we gotta not let it drag us down, and we gotta celebrate the good, and fight against the bad. I'll be talking more about this in the weeks to come, so watch this space.

Otherwise, I've been on holidays for the last just under two weeks, which actually hasn't been as restful as it sounds. Between getting the keys to our new place and moving some stuff across, and visiting family in far-off Newcastle, it's been pretty busy. Sadly, I've also been away from my group so haven't gotten a chance to actually run anything for a few weeks...

Let's jump in with what I've done This Week...

What I've Played

A colleague introduced me to a mobile game (among a ridiculously long and excellent list of others) called 80 Days, set within the same premise as Around The World In Eighty Days. You play as the manservant of a rich aristocrat, attempting to travel around the world in 80 days, whilst seeing what you can see. It's a text-based adventure game with a LOT of branching paths and agency, as well as charming writing and exploration mechanics. I'm playing it on iOS at the moment (though it is also on Android and even PC), and am really enjoying it - I highly recommend it!

(Image from inkle.)

I also purchased my fiancé a copy of Archaeology, a rather simple yet brilliant set collecting card game. It's super quick to play, and the strategy is quite interesting, with alternate pieces to increase replayability. Who doesn't love pretending to be Indiana Jones? Not us, that's for damn sure.

(Image from Board Game Geek.)

What I've Made

I've managed to squeeze in a few more hours on Do or Dice in the lead up to Ameshirel: A World Reforged beginning its test campaign. Most recently I've been working on magic systems, and I have to say, the basis of Fate Core and Blades in the Dark makes for some really weird things you can do with dice. Granted, Do or Dice is now firmly different enough from either of them to begin losing its recognisable roots, but I still think those foundations allow me to really think outside the box.

(Image from William McAusland, used with permission.)

I'm hopeful to be able to share some actual mechanics publicly soon. The general release plan for Do or Dice seems to be heading down a Pay What You Want model for the core rules, and then small price tags for add-ons, worlds, and adventures. This is a model I've seen and enjoyed personally, so I think it's the one I want to go down.

What I've Seen

Like most of the rest of the known world, I watched Rogue One this past fortnight. I really enjoyed it - I thought it gave satisfying answers to a lot of weird things in IV that I never got (like why there'd be such a vulnerability in the first place) and tied into the flow of the Episodes well, whilst still clearly not being just another Star Wars episode. I did have a few gripes with it, but over all, I thought it was a great movie. I'm glad a few more risks are being taken, and that the studio was happy to sell a less viable movie for the sake of something new. Kudos for that one!

(Image from Wired.)

Every year my RPG group participates in a Secret Santa, and this year one of my lovely friends got me Storm King's Thunder. I'm yet to properly crack it open and read it, but I feel a while after I've finished my Curse of Strahd campaign, you'll probably be hearing about a new Giant-focused campaign I'm running!

(Image from Wizards.)

I also got a new roleplaying game for Christmas - the beautiful Torchbearer, which I've been reading feverishly. The Burning Wheel was a big inspiration for me behind Do or Dice, and the themes of Torchbearer are very similar (but happily different) that I'm able to draw a lot of inspiration and cool ideas from its design. There are parts of Torchbearer which I distinctly want to steer away from (such as class = race, which I've never understood) and yet parts which I've fallen in love with (Nature, I'm looking at you). You WILL be hearing more about Torchbearer from me... Soon.

(Image from A Game of Telephone.)

Finally, whilst driving between Melbourne and Newcastle twice, my partner got me to listen to a few podcasts. Generally, I don't do podcasts - I find my brain isn't good at following a purely audio story (same reason I dislike audiobooks). But the two I've been listening to have changed all that. 

I managed to finish Alice Isn't Dead part 1, a creepy and weird show that fits into that paranormal roadtrip genre that I love so much, from the same folks who brought us Welcome to Nightvale (which I am yet to listen to, for the aforementioned aversion to podcasts). It was great, and if you're into American Gods, Part-Time Gods, Supernatural, or urban fantasy at all, you should check it out.

(Image from Ars Technica.)

I also started Limetown, which is another supernatural investigative series which is really damn intriguing with ridiculous production values (honestly, if Amelia hadn't told me it was fiction before the first episode, I would have assumed it was real). Regardless of what you like, you should stop doing that thing and go listen to Limetown. You'll like that more...

(Image from Vox.)

That's all for This Week this week. I'll talk to you next week, and tell you of all my adventures again! In the mean time, fill your own week with as much awesome as possible.

This Week: Downtime, Dragons, and so many Games!

Welcome to This Week, a weekly series where I discuss all the gaming (both video and tabletop) content I've played, made, prepped, run and seen that's cool this week. If you want to see what I got up to last week, go here.

Before we begin, you may have noticed that I didn't post up a This Week for last week, or the week before. The week before, I was actually away from home, camping, hiking, and having fun at the beach. I was almost entirely without internet, so I decided to have a break from versamus entirely and just relax. Which was awesome, as it led to even more gaming!

Then last week, I was surprisingly sick... I was just at home with little to do except read, sleep, and play games. But I'm back now, so let's jump in with what I've done This and the last two Weeks...

What I've Played

As I say, I've played a lot of games... I'll just talk about the big ones, then:

I've been playing more Civilisation VI, and it's going really well! Except for some weird UI issues/designs (like how difficult it is to cycle through stacked pop-ups on the right of the screen, or how the news during turn shift covers THE ENTIRE PLAY SPACE SO YOU CAN'T SEE WHAT'S HAPPENING) the game is superior to Civilisation V (which I really liked). I wish there were more map types and leaders, but I'm assuming they'll come when they're ready.

(Image from pcpop.)

I've also gotten back into Darkest Dungeon and am finally making some ground in it. I'm hopeful I'll actually finish this play through and can finally tick that game off as complete. That's the hope at least. Every time I go back to it, though, I want to create my idea for a Darkest Dungeon inspired Blades in the Dark RPG... Who knows, maybe I will at that.

(Image from Steam.)

Whilst at Wilson's Prom, my friends and I decided to bring glorious battle to the serenity of the beach. We built sand walls and seaweed bombs, and fought tooth and nail for supremacy over our foes. My side quickly became a technocracy with the war cry We Iterate, whilst our neighbours were cuttlefish-worshipping heathens who only just advanced to the seaweed age... But, as I and my fellow world-leader had prophesied before we began, it ended in mutually assured destruction. The UN attempted to conduct peace talks, but our cultures were incompatible, and it ended in fire. Oh what fun we had. I might actually write up our improv rules as a quick little game you can play. It was a hell of a lot of fun!

(Image (of my hated opponents) from Sam Hyland.)

Earlier this evening I got to play my second ever game of Smash-Up, a rather endearing card game where you merge two different trope-y decks of cards together, and get to experiment heavily with different strategies to win. I chose Robots and Pirates, and only very narrowly lost (I initiated the end with a win, but then the Wizard Ninjas came out of nowhere and stole the show accidentally for the Dinosaur Aliens)! If that short report isn't enough to get you to play it, I honestly don't know what you want from a game, anymore... Kids these days... But seriously, Smash-Up is a great example of replayability and player competence, as it allows players to really get into the deep end with the strategy and try many different permutations over the life cycle of the game. If you're interested in game design, you should pick it up!

(Image from Alderac Entertainment Group.)

And finally, I managed to play That Dragon, Cancer after putting it off for so long. As some of you may know, I have a pretty personal connection to cancer, so it was difficult to get through... At least, the first half. The second half was a bit alienating for me, as it got bogged down into a lot of very American Christian-centric spiritualism, which did nothing but annoy me (if you want to know more, I might publish the essay I wrote after I played it). It's a worthwhile experience, and it is very moving, but if you're not an American Christian, you won't get as much out of it, and if you're not a theist, you'll likely get even less... Which is a shame...

(Image from Kotaku.)

What I've Made

In a curious twist (that I can't talk about much) I am getting the chance to leverage my Powered by the Apocalypse knowledge at work, meaning that for the first time I am being paid, in part, to make a roleplaying game. Woo! Sadly, I can't really talk about it much more than this, just because I don't own the product... This one won't have any follow up, it's just a cool milestone for me which I thought you might be interested in.

(Image from Story Games.)

But something I can talk about is Slugball, Sorcery & Secrets! which has gone back in to development! I've been tinkering with it post my playtests, and the new additions should be pretty solid. I'll be playtesting it again soon, and I'll probably upload it after that for anyone who wants it! I might charge for it on PWYW, just to see if my work does have any legs...

(Image from William McAusland, used with permission.)

What I've Run

I got the chance to play my Curse of Strahd campaign twice which is miraculous in these weeks of holidays, heavy workload, sickitude, and moving house... But they were a fun two sessions. Neither have been written up yet (due to the previously mentioned time blockers) but once they are dried up when I'm actually on holidays, I will write them for anyone who cares to read our ridiculous exploits.

(Image from Wizards.)

What I've Seen

For my birthday, one of my housemates picked me up a copy of Volo's Guide to Monsters which I have been reading through, and loving! Whilst I am filled with gripes about Dungeons & Dragons in general, I have to commend Wizards on this one - the presentation, detail and content is top notch, and they've put in a few good random tables (which I miss from my non-WFRP gaming). The running commentary is humorous (if a little beleaguered in the first section) and the information within interesting and thought provoking. I probably won't use anything as is, but it has me thinking about various species in different ways, which will help to inform Ameshirel: A World Reforged when it comes time to running it next year.

(Image from Wizards.)

Very lastly, I received (this time from my partner, and for no particular reason) a copy of Part-Time Gods of Fate! As many of you may know, I love Part-Time Gods having run it a lot before, and I love Fate Core, again having run it, and hacked it, to death. This tome brings the best of both worlds, and is going to be a treasure on my shelf. I'm looking forward to running it, and in the cracks between my busy schedule, have been jotting down ideas for it... Expect to hear more about a campaign I am currently naming Stockholm Syndrome in the new year.

(Image from Fate RPG.)

That's all for This Week this week. I'll talk to you next week, and tell you of all my adventures again! In the mean time, fill your own week with as much awesome as possible.