In this video Matt and David play through their idea of a Yashima Demo game. Then they share their thoughts on what is good or bad.
If you visit Tony Gullotti’s Facebook page you can get a look at some of the newer things they have planned.
Thor Myths and Legends is a really good intro book who wants to learn about the mythology of Thor and other Nrose gods. If you’re only familiar with the Marvel version of Thor sit down before you read this books.
There are several tales about Thor in this book, many are even complete. Graeme takes a historical approach that references other books and documents that have studied these poems and legends in a far greater detail. But the information is far from dry, he breaks it down so anyone can rad the contents.
As you might imagine many of these stories developed Thor, but what little do we know. Thor was a red head, according to legend. These stories touch upon the Thor’s strength, Loki, How he won the hammer, his hatred for frost giants and more.
There’s even a section on the Marvel version of Thor. It was really cool to see that the myth has evolved into today’s world and still maintains much of it’s origin.
It is only 8- pages but it will keep you entertained for more than an evening.
Valiant Bloodshot
This is the second free pdf for the Valiant RPG. It focuses on the story event the Harbinger Wars. Which inevitably pits Bloodshot against Harbinger Foundation, the renegades, and the Hard C.O.R.P.S. I haven’t read the story, but a friend of mine put it in to a context I would understand. He said take squirrels on crack, add the octagon and kung fu theatre effect – bam The Harbinger Wars!
I get that and it set some pretty high expectations for this adventure.
Before we start you should know a few things
The adventure is broken into 4 parts; the prelude,Horada Protocol, Promise broke, and Showdown on the steps.
I’m going to be my best and keep this brief. I really don’t want to spoil anything for you.
The prelude is what sets the stage. The players are Bloodshot and psiots. Bloodshot gets a bad wrap by the psiots and must convince them he’s innocent. When we played this was quite an exciting part of the game. We caused so much trouble we nearly killed each other off, but good story telling prevented an untimely death.
After a short rest, we ate dinner, we moved into the Harada Protocol. Which turned out to be my favorite part for two reason. It was almost non stop action of some sort – you fight Harada. We had all kinds of crazy thing going down that forced us to focus on game mechanics. I found this chapter to be a tutorial on great game play and the mechanics of the Valiant RPG system. Who said learning can’t be fun.
In the third part you’re supposed to recover from the battle fought in the Harada Protocol. It’s more like run for your life while you try and regain your health. The chapter is Blood shot trying recover while fending off the minions.
The last chapter is exactly what you would expect. It is the final battle. Where Bloodshot faces off with Toyo Harada. This portion of the adventure went badly for us and Bloodshot ended up loosing. But it was a tremendous amount of fun.
The adventure was an insane amount of fun. This and the QSR are a free download so there is no reason why you shouldn’t try this with your friends. It’s a super quick game to learn and it is very social. I mean your’e going to sit around with beer and pretzels anyway why not tell a story too?
If you are interested you can get Bloodshot at DriveThruRpg
Dungeon Heroes is a dungeon crawl that can be taught to a new player in five minutes. It really is that simple to learn. It can also be just as easily won or lost in that same amount of time if the players are not careful. Unlike many dungeon crawlers you roll no dice, which I unexpectedly found to be a good spin.
The rules support a 2-player and a single player mode. The two player version pits the players against each other. One player is the Dungeon and the other plays the heroes, cleric, fighter, wizard, rogue. I should rephrase that. He plays a party of heroes that have very specific roles. That is actually where a lot of the strategy enters the game.
In the resource management game Compounded players use elements one would find in an ordinary high school chemistry lab to create compounds to earn points. It sounds simple, but there are more mechanics involved that can change the game every time you play. One of these allows the players to barter among themselves. To further the degree of strategy involved there is a random factor to the game providing twists and turns in the critical thinking process of the players planning.
Have you seen the new quick start rules for Valiant Universe RPG? I have. They made me reminisce on some of my early RPG days. In high school we role-played like it was our life. I can’t tell you how much D&D we played. We also played Marvel Super Heroes, Rifts, and even a little bit of DC mingled its way in. We had countless night where we would sneak out of our respective houses and meet up to play in a tent. Yes, I said a tent. Which didn’t do so well in the winter, but we managed to find a barn. There wasn’t any heat at first but we made it work.
I was and I still am very fond of the Marvel Super Heroes Game. It was the first RPG that expanded my vision of what RPG’s could encompass. The game also had a unique flair to it with karma and and power shifts. Valiant is going to be a game that does that same exact thing. Catalyst has introduced some very unique concepts that might just influence the future of story telling games. Two of these are the cue system and the introduction of a lead narrator, at least I have never seen it before.
The Cue system in a nutshell is this; character definition. On each character sheet there is a series of sentences that depict the characters personality. Some of these reflect the hidden identity of the character while others display attitude of the hero, and some exemplify the approach taken in combat. Basically, they are a guideline to influence the players decision making while attempting to stay in character.
Shadowrun (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
So the gang at Catalyst has redesigned Shadowrun and released 5th edition. We managed to get our hands on a PDF copy to look at. But before we get into this review I have to let you know that this is a re-visitation for me of the Shadowrun world. I haven’t played SR since about 1986. I have dabbled with a little bit of the fiction here and there, and I even picked up an almanac or two for reference material. With that being said I asked the powers that be (Jason Hardy) a lot of questions about the changes. I even purchased the 4th ed book as reference material. So you’re going to get the impression of an individual who took a crash course on the two game systems. It’s my hope that you can see how simple the system is.
With all of the above taken into consideration let’s dive right in. The very first thing I noticed was that the table of contents is huge – five pages. Before going any further I jumped right to the back of the book to see if there was an index; my favorite tool in most gaming books. Along the way I discovered an intricate bookmark system built into the PDF. Needless to say I found the layout of the book to be impeccable. The book is riddled with tables that make it easier to use. Did I mention this book is huge!
The art is not quite what I expected. Don’t get me wrong it tells the visual story of Shadowrun very well. I was just expecting something a little darker. I will admit I want prints of every night city scape they have in the book. There is something very alluring about the light pollution.
This is long over due, but I wanted to make sure that I gave this game a proper play test. Mage Wars is a mutation of the board and card game genres that borrows a miniature game feel. That is, it combines elements from card and board games to create a unique play experience. In this article we will focus on mechanics, “deck construction”, combat and more.
But before going crazy on the game let’s talk about their history. The crew at Arcane Wonders started developing Mage Wars five years ago. In that time they have run several play tests and visited several convention; experiences that they used to further develop the game.
The basic idea behind Mage Wars is that you control a mage in the battle arena. Each mage casts spells to defeat the other in tactical combat of magic. When one mage has lost all their life the game ends. The basic game comes with everything for two mages four mage options.
At first Mage Wars is a little bit overwhelming to learn. But the support offered by Arcane Wonders makes the curve an easy burden. They have how to videos and a packaging disclaimer. They are doing a great job keeping in touch with the players, which is a great asset to the game.
Where do you start talking about a new game type. I think it would be easiest to start with the board. It is pretty basic. It establishes the arena where you will perform combat. The board also features the mana counters, quick reference chart and a life chart. Further the board is gridded into 12 zones for easy movement and combat. At the start of a game each mage is in an opposing corner diagonally. Since there is no diagonal movement in the game this pretty much safeguards the players from a cheap victory.
One of the most unique and fundamental aspects of Mage Wars is the “deck construction”, which isn’t deck construction at all. In Mage Wars there is no drawing. When you sit down to play Mage Wars you start by choosing a mage. The basic game comes with four mages. Once you have selected one you will build your spell book out of the cards you own. I should note that your choice in a mage will affect what spells you can choose. Each mage has schools of magic it can use. While playing you get to select your spells from the spellbook. You start the game with zero spells. During the planning phase each player selects 2 spells. As a big CCG player I find this to be the coolest element. There is no top deck, or bad luck. You are responsible for your choice, which means it is tactics and not luck of the draw. There is still some luck involved in combat, but for precombat mistakes only you are to blame.
Each round is broken into two stages, ready and action. In the ready stage you prepare by adding mana, picking spells, and applying upkeep effects. During the action stage mages take turns casting spells, summoning, placing enchantments, and attacking. The exchange of turns is based on initiative that is rolled at the start of the game. Action markers are used to designate what in play cards can and can’t be used.
Combat is where the awesome stuff happens. It is a pretty simple system. Mage Wars uses special d6’s for combat.
Rather than listen to me stumble through combat with words you should watch these videos. They walk you through a few turns of the game.
Mage Wars is a unique gaming experience. It sets up an arena where mages collide. You can easily have a lot to command once the game gets rolling. The mechanic that puts Mage Wars over the top is the spellbook. By removing luck of the draw from the game it opens up so many doors to strategy. While it may look like other board games it is not. This is a game that you absolutely must try in order to judge it.
You can learn more about Mage Wars here.
Come on in and take a look at why Matt is so happy with the Inner Sea Campaign Setting for Pathfinder From Paizo Publishing.
You can learn more about Pathfinder at Paizo.
I finally had the chance to take a look at the Kings of War rule book from Mantic Games. Take a look at what I have to say.
I hope to have a rules review up before Christmas so check back soon. You can learn more about KoW at Mantic games.
