Games and Movie...

Hello,

Saturday night Paul and Eric came over and we played three rounds of SBH.  First was Eric's list versus my Victor's Folly.  The scenario was chance encounter where each player deploy's his enemy's force one at a time, no closer then one 'Long' from an enemy figure.  It started strong for me getting two kills early on and trying to consolidate my position...  Then it all went down hill failing multiple early activations.  Eric held it together and used the 'Distraction' from the harlot to transfix my Bobbie the Ogrun and take him out of the game.

Paul and Eric played a game of control points.  Half way through I thought Eric had it won, but before you could shake your head and say 'WHHHAAATT', the Paul's Menoth had cleared the field.  The third game was Assassination, with me having to kill Paul's leader.  Well...  That didn't happen as Paul's force pretty much slaughtered me to a man before I could get to his head honcho!

We then played a road race game of Formula D in Chicago.  Two laps, lots of twists and turns.  Eric was behind most of the race, but pulled ahead in the last three turns.  Paul came in second and I did a slow putter in for third.

The gang is gearing up for a SBH league.  We started on earlier, but know that all the main participants have a game under there belt, we are set to re-boot with a few others added in.

On Sunday, Eric and I hit Iron Man 2.  I enjoyed the movie.  It wasn't quite as good as the first Iron Man, but I think some of that was the 'newness' of the whole thing last time.  The Avenger's ties were pretty strong and Scarlett Johanson's Black Widow combat scenes were pretty darn cool.  It was a great intro into the summer movie season and I would recommend the show to any comic book/action flick fans.  I give it 6 out of 7 Arc Reactors.

jp

Song of Blades and Heroes

I've seen Song of Blades and Heroes (SBH), from Ganesha Games, on the street for a while, usually associated at a post on Tabletop Gaming News.  I've always  kind of discounted it due to the really cheap looking cover.  Heck it looks as bad as some of those original D&D cover art.  Compare for yourself.   So it was with some trepidation that I plucked down an entire $8 on a PDF version of the rules while being board out of my skull one evening on my last work trip.

What I found was a really clean, simple to execute rules set for a generic fantasy gaming.   In a nut shell, each figure on the board has two stats; Quality and Combat.  The Quality goes from 2+ to 6+.  It is the number you need to roll on a D6 to activate the model this turn.  Combat is your martial skill and is a single roll up of your offensive/defensive/armor/weapon/skill/etc.  It ranges from 1-5.  One of the unique items I like on SBH is the activation system.  When you choose to activate a model, you roll between 1-3 D6.  Your choice.  For every die that comes up on or above your Quality level, you get an action.  If you get two or more failures in a single roll, then your turn is over.  This forces the player to decide how risk averse the are...  Roll a single die for everyone and you will get to activate everyone, but be very limited to only a single action.  These actions walk, jog, run, attack, powerful attack, shoot, etc...  each take 1-3 actions.  If your only rolling that single die, then you can walk up to your opponent, but you won't be able to attack him.

On Saturday night late, after I had the green light, Eric came over and we tired a quick game.  He had a small undead hoard with a Wraith, zombies, skeleton warriors and a few archers.  I had an orc list with a warlord, 4 warriors and 4 goblin archers.  What really struck each of us during the game was the importance of the leader's ability to make your Quality better while in the Long range.  Eric's zombies had a real problem being Quality 6+ after his leader left them behind.

They have a quick and dirty mini campaign that can be completed in a night once you get the rules down as an average game is suppose to be about 45 mins long.  Ours was a bit over an hour, but we did keep looking up stuff to make sure we got it ok.

Another great feature is that you can build your army as you like since they have an online warband builder that allows you to create a custom warband.  So break out those Warmachine or Warhammer figs and get to building boys!

Finally, the seemed to have expanded past Fantasy.  They have both a modern gun centric game using the same core rule set as well as a Napoleonic skirmish game which might be interesting.

jp
Another one?

Elementry My Dear...

The buddy flick set in late 1800 England.

That is the new Sherlock Holmes in 7 words. Not that it is bad, far from it, it is a very entertaining movie that hits all the right wickets for modern pop culture.

Quick Take Aways:

• Robert Downing Jr. - He is still on the rise and does a wonderful performance as Holmes. When first cast I was a bit apprehensive, but he pulled the accent out well and his slightly neurotic (OK, really neurotic) take on Holmes was interesting and entertaining. I really liked the director's approach with the character where he digested a scene, typically fights, but would have liked to have seen that break out with other items.
• Jude Law - As the 'retired' military surgeon, this Doctor Watson was a bit younger then those portrayed in the past, but so was Holmes for that matter. Law is a great actor, with a wide range and he did well in this film. My biggest complaint was the limp. An injury suffered in the line of duty mysteriously disappeared in fight and chase scenes, but reemerged in conversation/dialog intense scenes. Huh?
• The 'Buddy Flick' - Holmes and Watson played off of each other extremely well, and the interjection of Watson's future wife played to the conflict of the buddies being ripped apart.
• The Action - Hey, it is the modern pop world that we live in and if we don't have the prerequisite number of explosions and bloody fight scenes, then it ain't going to cut. Come on! I think some story got left on the floor, I'm not going to spoil, but a few spots could have used an additional scene to help tie things together a bit better, especially at the end.
• The Big Professor M - Professor Moriarty plays a very minor, behind the scenes, wait for the sequel roll. He is there, but he isn't the force to be addressed in this film, but I'll be you my stake in the Baker Street Irregulars that we see him in his full glory next time.
• The 'Tag' - Didn't happen. I sat through the credits, expecting to see a sneak peak of Moriarty or some other thing, but it didn't happen. :( Oh well.

In the end I enjoyed the movie and would recommend it for the theater for its full large screen effect. I give it 202 out of 221B Baker Streets.

jp

Watson

You are not welcome here

Just got back from the movies and I must say that I really enjoyed District 9. Peter Jackson is the producer with Neill Blomkamp as the director. This is Neill's first full length movie and he does an outstanding job of bringing thought provoking science fiction to the big screen.

Like all good science Fiction, District 9 does a wonderful job of crafting the current issues with explosions and goo to make entertainment that when you sit and think, tells you something of the human condition. Yes, it could be a buddy movie and yes it could have been pure guts and guns, but setting the aliens within the confines of what was once the most repressive segregated cultures in the modern world, it help high light man's on ability to cause harm to those around them when the 'dehumanize' them.

The Other Half and I went at the matinee and I was surprised that she enjoyed the movie as much as I did. Some of the Boom! and Splat! might have turned her off, but the other items held her to the story. That is good science fiction, when you can get past those window dressings and enjoy the story, regardless of the trappings.

My hope is that they leave the setting with all the delightful questions that the show left open and not be tempted by box office success to create a District 10, Revenge of the Prawns! Please, please, please...

As for a rating, I would give it 3.75 alien tentacle fingers out of 4. Good job Mr. Blomkamp, keep up the good work.

jp

but you are, please sit down.

Boston Day IV - No Chowda for you

So, here I am in Boston and I haven't had any 'Chowda'. What is the world coming too? Wednesday Night I had dinner with The Other Half's sister and her husband. We went to the historic Union Oyster House, the oldest running restaurant in the US. The company was great. Had a wonderful conversation with the sister-in-law and her husband about the kids, their get away house in New Hampshire, the upcoming trip for The Other Half to Europe with their parents. Good stuff. The food... Well... It was OK, but not a WOW factor by any means. It was loud and the wait staff while polite was very slow. I made major blunder and ate either too fast or something didn't sit well and I did get sick for the first time. After we left the restaurant we walked for 10 minutes while I was in serious pain, but then I found a deserted trash can and let it go and felt 100% better. It was freaky. The three of us walked out to the harbor and continued talking. Other then getting sick it was a good evening.

Class today was a discussion on Intellectual Property and Risk Management among other topics. I pointed the teacher to techdirt.com, which is a great site on IP, privacy issues, and other geeky news. If you follow the IP discussion, regardless of your view point, it is worth having in your daily scans.

Dinner tonight I took the instructors advice and hit a a place called Kaze Shabu Shabu. I had not heard of a Shabu Shabu before, but being a sucker for Japanese cooking in general (Still waiting for an invite to Gyoze night at the Rief house... Hint, Hint!), I thought I would give it a go. Wow. This one was good. It is basically a Japanese version of fondue, but for me, just the good parts... A few tasty veggies and meat. Each person gets a personal pot to cook their meat. I had chicken with some seafood, mainly scallops, salmon, fish cake, and some white fish. You throw it into the pot to let it cook usually veggies first to let them cook the longest, then a piece at a time of the thinly cut meats. Great sauce as well that you could make spicy to taste. In the end you make a broth that is tasty after all the stuff you've ate has cooked. If I was staying another night, I would most likely do this one again.

RftG update on solo play. Robot 7, Me 3. Stupid Robot.

I got cleared to play some D&D on Saturday since I'm getting back early and I've made a Dwarf Invoker for the game since Rob is running his campaign. Should be interesting. I'll post later this weekend on Thron and his exploits.

jp

Swish-Swish

On your mark, get set, Race!

Fellow Galactic Feigns,

I am finally getting a chance to discuss the new Race for the Galaxy expansion, Rebel Vs. Imperium.

Short Version:

It is a great expansion that adds a lot of new items, most of them excellent, some of them middle of the road. A must buy for a RftG addict.

Long Version:

RvI adds in several new functions in the game, mostly through inventive mechanics to existing game play. First up, the game expands, allowing upto six players. The new player cards are a nice purple color with some interesting aliens.

To accommodate the new player numbers, the developers have added three more home worlds, giving the game a total of 12. First up is the Rebel Cantina. A few interesting items with this home world. It is the only non-military Rebel world and it gives you the ability from the Contact Specialist, but with out the negative. This allows a rebel strategy sans the military. Reinforcing that is the Production special that gives you a card for every rebel world in your tableau.

Galactic Developers is the next home world. For a starting card it might seem weak, but the free draw on any development, stacked with the other nice development cards in the deck and you can quickly earn more cards on a development then you spend. Using the right <6> cards and you hit the Jackpot.

Finally is the Impeirum Warlord, not the best name for a 'home world' but what the heck. The additional vision early on is always a boon, plus the early military could lend itself to the same strategy one would expect from the Separatist Colony, but with the added bonus of being able to get a extra bonus versus the rebel worlds.

In addition to the three new home worlds, the developers have tweaked the starting rules. Now you separate the home worlds into odd/even (red/blue) and each player gets one of each pile. They then get their six starter cards and can decide which home world to use, the other being discarded along with the extra cards from the player's hand. I like this start because it gives you a better chance of not getting stuck with junk... Not that it doesn't happen, but it will help minimize those 100% junk hands a bit.

The most widely known feature of the game is the attack mechanics. Traditionally the players had not interaction between their tableau once cards were played, RvI changes that, but only under strict guidelines. First off, only four cards out of 180 in the deck allow you to attack across the tableau's and each of these a unique qualifier to allow you to conduct the attack.

The Imperium Seat allows the player to attack another player that has at least one card with the Rebel keyword.

The Rebel Alliance is the opposite of the Imperium Seat as it allows you to attack another player with at least one card with the Imperium keyword.

The final card, of which there are two copies in the deck allows the player to discard it from their tableau to attack a player with at least a +1 military.

The attack mechanism seems to be pretty straight forward once you figure it out. Instead of settling in the settle phase, the player declares an attack. The attacker nominates a combat planet (red) and each player totals up their military, with the defender getting a bonus of the defense (planet value). If attacker is greater, they take the planet, if not the attack fails. In addition the game recommends alternating the use of the mechanic between games. To be honest this is my biggest gripe on the expansion. It seems such a minor and trivial add since it is so specialized that it would be hard to build a strategy around it. I assume that future expansions will adequately fill out the mechanic.

Finally, here are a few cards that I think added to the game.

Pan Galactic Research is the first <6> Development that does not have a random victory point count, but fixed value of 4. I think that is because it is a dozy of a card. +2 vision and +1 keep alone are great cards, but adding in the reduction cost to developments can allow the right strategy to drop developments at a -4. Additionally the 2 cards per production phase is huge as it allows you to take advantage of almost every phase, but the real kicker is the fact that your max hand size is increased to 12 cards, giving you more flexibility. All around sweet card!

The next card isn't so 'special', but it provides an example of the new Explore power. They funky symbol on phase one allows players to draw cards directly into their hand, then discard any that are required. Previously you had to keep the drawn cards separate, now you can mix them and toss the trash. This power shows up in a lot of cards which is a nice feature.

To wrap up, I liked many of the new cards and powers as I think they added to the game tremendously. The attack mechanism seems very limited in the current state, but I expect it will get better in the expansion.

If you like RftG, then RvI is a good investment.

jp

Meet me at the Cantina

Review: Level Up Issue 1

After my half day at work, I went by The Game Shoppe quickly.  It was actually the first time I had been by in about a month due to the surgery and stuff.  I had a few things in my in box to include the latest No Quarter Magazine, a few comics I'm currently enjoying (Steven King's The Stand and Dark Tower stories), and Level Up magazine from Goodman Games.  Due to an order mix up, I didn't get the first round ordered so I hadn't actually seen it until today.  Had a chance to read a bit and check out some sections and thought I would give you my thoughts...  You know...  Game content! :)  With out further ado...

The magazine gets an solid 'A' from me.  The cover itself is pretty cool with a picture of Demon Knight (from a template inside).  As wonderful as the cover art is in all its shininess, the interior art is a little more mundane, but I guess you need to show the good stuff on the outside! :)

The magazine seems to have several features that will be used in most (all?) issues.  These include

• An adventure (5-7 encounters) - This months was a Hill Giant with some Ogres and Dinosaurs.  
• A player character section that adds some new Paragon Paths and powers 
• A Bestiary, which expands on the dinosaurs in the adventure
• A Pantheon expansion, assuming it comes from a Goodman Games world.  It also include new feats, weapons, and Paragon Paths
  
• Azagar's Advice a cute take from an imprisoned hobgoblin on what adventures do badly.  It also contains some interesiting feats for each tier that could provide some new fun. 
• A GM Section.  This one provides 'templates' that you can apply to a creature to make it different.  In this case the demon/devil focus to create things like Demon Knights (Fear the Gnomic Demon Knight!), Hellbeasts, and Hellfire Adepts.  
• Power Skins is an interesting concept where the flavor text and name of a power are changed to fit a campaign/player style.  Kind of 'techish' in a way, but it is a different approach.
• An Encounter: A complex encounter with multiple skill checks and combat situation that is furnished with a detailed map.  This one looks pretty involved and is pretty interesting.
• Short Reviews: Well...  This part was weak.  Really.  I like short reviews, no problem, but when the lowest thing you rank is 4 out of 6 or a 'Solid Product' your average score on the products you reviewed was a 5/6 or 'Great product, a must buy.  You shouldn't be playing with out this!'  Really?  Nothing sucked?  OK.
• Tool Kit: a quick filler this time that give a quick way to give 'impressive names' to those old enemies.  I liked Tunderpants myself and I'll be sure to name the next Orc leader that!
• Advise, in the form of Dar Archmage Abby...  Nothing earth shattering here, just the typical gaming advice column.

Not sure which of these will be present from month to month but it does look like a promising start to some solid 4E content.  Plus it is physical.  For being a tech guy, I just can't get my head around the PDF mags.  It is harder to read, I can't take it away from the desk unless I'm willing to pay a ton for printing cartridges.  

If you are a 4E player, or more importantly a 4E GM, consider Level Up, I think you will like it.

jp

13 - 18

Restaurant Review: Espana

Hola,

Tonight the Other Half and I went to Espana in Old Benson as part of my farewell tour of our favorite restaurants. Espana is a wonderful little Spanish Tapas restaurants. Tapas are small dishes, like little appetizer sized plates of various Mediterranean foods. The great thing about Tapas is you can order several things and get a different taste for each one. The Other Half and I have had Tapas in DC on a business trip before and here at Espana, both were good, with the DC version having a bit more of a yuppie feel vice the feel we got at Espana. Tapas is optimal when a party of 4-6 can go together as you get to try many different tastes and get a whole pitcher (or two) of Sangria.

Tonight we tried several dishes like our favorite Gambas al Ajillo (Shrimp with garlic and olive oil), Bolitos de Queso Fresco (Fresh mozzarella, sun dried tomatoes, basil, olive oil ), and one of my own likes Butifarra a la Parilla (Catalan style country sausage grilled. Slow beans, allioli). In addition Espana has a wonderful Sangria that is just a pleasure to drink with dinner. It is just the right combination of fruity and sweet with red wine that goes down very smooth.

If you need a nice restaurant for a small gathering or even a quite date for a couple, I can recommend Espana. It is on the pricey side if you go crazy on the orders, but that is to be expected given the 'style' of the place.

jp
Delicioso!

Review: Deadwood

A quick review.

The Other Half and I just finished watching Deadwood via netflix. This was a great series and we were both sad to see that it ended with out a proper conclusion.

Basics/Background: Deadwood tells the story of the founding and development of Deadwood, SD. Some of the characters utilized were real with fictional background while others were just fictional. The story centers on Al Swearengen (played very well by Ian McShane), a bar owner, pimp, and general bad guy, but with a streak of honor and a passion for his new town and his relationship to Seth Bullock (Tim Olyphant), straight as an arrow and first Sheriff of Deadwood.

Style: The writing for the show was incredible. At times the story felt as if it was Shakespeare with the complexity of the dialog between characters and even during soliloquies. Of note the use of cursing in the shows was often emphasized negatively, and I'll admit they drop a few dozen F-bombs a show, but I felt it wasn't as bad given the wild west feel. It is debatable if that language was used at the time, but it fit the writing and story as developed.

Plot: Over the three years of the series the plot twisted in several different directions as well as a dozen subplots running at the same time. The key theme that ran through all three seasons was Seth Bullock's love affair with Ms. Garret. Despite the relationship hitting its peak at the end of season one, the tie between them was always on the cusp of most misadventures in the town. The end of Season two say the arrival of Mr. George Hearst, played by Gearld McRaney, who will always be Rick Simon or Major Dad to me. Mr. Hearst's arrival and need to 'find the color' at any costs leads to a series of tense show downs that seemed to accumulate at the end of season three.

Character Development: Deadwood is all about the characters. From Swearenger's henchmen to Mr. Wu to the town itself, you see the characters grow and develop over the course of the seasons. If you are looking for a text book version of good characters and how to develop them, I think that Deadwood's cast and writers should be at the top of the list.

Geek Factor: Hmmm... This one is tough. I really liked the show, but it doesn't have any of the key items you would expect for a 'geek' show. No star ships, no lost Indian lore, no phantom of the opera... Just good old fashion westerns with solid characters and writing and foul language. Would many geeks enjoy this show? Yes, I think they would once they started watching, but alas, it isn't set on an asteroid base.

In the end I give it five out of five Dead Bill Hickoks. The only negative thing I can say is that I will never be able to hear the words "San Francisco" with out also hearing "Cock Sucker" thanks to Mr. Wu. Ruined... For Life...

jp
San Francisco...

Review: Thunderspire Labyrinth

Saturday saw the gang finish up the Thunderspire Labyrinth adventure module from Wizards of the Coast. It took us sometime, mostly five or six sessions to complete, but that was over about two or three months do to our sporadic schedule. I thought I would provide my input to the world at large on the module. Some spoilers may be present, but lets be honest, the damn thing has been out for nine months and 'most' of you hard core games that are using the printed material ought to be way past this guy by now. :)

At the start the party consisted of 5th Level Human Wizard (Zoltan the Reformed), 4th Level Halfling Rogue (Eldecar), 3rd Level Goblin Rogue (Splug), 4th Level Elf Ranger (Sliver), 4th Level Dragonborn Warlord (Zarsathor). We were joined early on by a 3rd Level Dragonborn Paladin (Kaznak) and had sporadic guest appearances from a Human Ranger and a second Dragonborn Paladin.

We finished up with a 7th Level Wizard, Halfling Rogue, Elf Ranger, 6th Level Dragonborn Warlord, 5th Level Paladin and Goblin Rogue. In all not bad progress for the party. The party is, for the most part, a combat/tactical group. Role play, in the 'old school' since, is only present in a minimal way. I don't have a big issue with that as I think everyone really enjoys the combat and is trying in the role play category.

General: The module was constructed well. As with the new modules, it contains two booklets, one that lays the basics down for the adventure, has new monsters and has picture representation of some of the encounter areas. The second booklet has the write ups for each of the encounters using the standard Wizard of the Coast format. I thought the encounters were well balanced and provided the party plenty of opportunity to engage in their abilities.

Likes:

• The Maps: The provided map was very useful, as are most of them, for conducting encounters in those areas that are cinematic in nature. I also found that the encounter maps on each encounter were well developed and illustrated.
• Tactical Encounters: I can not think of a single encounter that was way over the top. Even the big battle in the Well of Demons wasn't too powerful. On many encounters it was not uncommon to have multiple players drop, but the limited healing of the Wizard (multi-class Cleric), Warlord, and Paladin allowed the party to usually return to the battle.
• Bronze Warder with Enigma of Vecna are a nasty combo! :)
  

Dislikes:

• The Maps: Wizards could have sprung for a second fold out map. It would have been nice to have the climatic end be on a map versus the evil wizard.
• Tactical Encounters: The standard 'hope' is that the players can continue to push through encounter after encounter, but I've found that after two encounters the players are starting to get thin and a third gets to be real tough. Given the dungeon crawl environment, the players were going three and full rest, three, full rest... Which is what Wizards was trying to avoid from the older system of big encounter, full days rest... Three in a row 'should' only take about 40 mins in-game time, but they team was often spent. I think our longest string was five encounters, and even that took about an 1.5 hours of in-game time. Not sure if that is a product of the system or the module.
• Skill Challenge Encounters: Well... This was the big shiny turd of the module. In two specific locations, a role play challenge encounter was set up, but they were very poorly executed. "The ghost is impressed by feats of strength. Do a DC25 str test to get his approval..." or something along those lines is just pretty lame. I think the challenge encounter can work, but it requires more prep time or thought then the ones included in this module.
  
• Better Back Ground: I would have liked to see a better write up for the Mages that ran the seven pillar hall. It would have aided the play and role play between the characters with the NPC that were tasking them to accomplish. The 'blank' page was just too empty and I would have liked some meat in my stew.

Things I Learned:

• Action Points: As I stated before, I am allowing the players to burn Action Points for re-rolls on missed attacks. This is to help alleviate the big daily missing syndrome. I think it has worked for the most part and I'll be keeping it in the campaign.
• Skill Challenges: I 'think' that skill challenges are going to be key 'role play' motivators. I'll be using them to get the players to open up on the character and actions by giving a hidden bonus or penalty to the die roll based on their response. In other words, if a player, out of character, says I'm telling the ghost a story it would be a negative to the roll, but if the player, in-character, actually tells the story, then it would be a positive. The notion of 'X' success before 'Y' failures just seems hard to pull off with out a lot of useless die rolls.

Expansion: The module does a good job of giving potential growth opportunities within the module. Given the Spire's position you could go Trog hunting, Find the Witch, Explore Underdark, or take over the Seven Pillar Hall. Lots of growth.

Overall: It was a solid module that could do with a bit of refining. I give it four out of five Vecna eyeballs.

jp
Warder of Bronze

Review: Storm Front

I made it back to the Big O! fine today. One of the few benefits to going on business trips is plenty of time to read. It may be a game book, a RPG module or in some cases, I'll actually read a bit of fiction. I had heard good things about The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, but I had not ever gotten around to reading it. I sometimes get in a fiction rut where I want to reread books that I know I like. I must have read The Stand about a six times as well as the entire of the Horatio Hornblower series at least twice, so branching into a new series is always a risky proposition that must be weighed carefully.

Having not provided a review of novel since high school, so many moons ago, I am sure that Ms. Jewel would not approve of the following format, but it is the one that I'll follow none the less. I'll hit some points in basics/background, writing style, plot, character development, and geek factor..

Basics/Background: The Dresden Files is a story set in modern Chicago, with the lead character, Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden, that works a professional wizard. He encounters the huge amount of suspicion and ridicule one would expect from someone that who would state they were a wizard in our own word. He has interactions with the full spectrum of characters from police to the mob in the pursuit of his job.

Writing Style: Butcher uses the first person for the entire book. I've never been a huge fan of first person novels as it is so limiting in the descriptions that can be provided since it is only the main characters point of view that enables what the reader knows. I know that is the point, but their is so much stuff in the story that would be good to know. Imagine if Lord of the Rings was only in the first person, in this case Frodo. We wouldn't know anything about Saurman, the three hunters, or the Battle of Pelennor Fields. With that said, and acknowledging my own prejudice on the style, it was pretty well done. Butcher is consistent in Dresden's view of the world and his 'view' of those around him, but still is able to explain the details. The fault, is the lack of the 'bad guys' motivation until the very end when the 'mystery' is solved. But then, that is the point, isn't it?

Plot: I found the plot to be a bit simplistic. I 'knew' that a connection between the two cases was present as soon as the second one was raised. Maybe I was suppose to, but not the exact details. Their was no 'real' surprise for me. Even the 'Bond Girl' set up was evident in the tagging of the tramp to be set up. Let me caveat this with the fact that Butcher is a published novelist, which is far better then I'll ever be, mainly because my writing sucks, but that is another story.

Character Development: This is Butchers true strength. He does an outstanding job of detailing each of the characters and their associated flaws. Dresden is drawn well and the mental image that is developed is fleshed out in both his back story and the world he lives in. Secondary characters receive some development as needed. I would like to see more information on Mac and his Pub, but that might come in further stories.

Geek Factor: The book is loaded with geekiness. Come on, it is about a wizard in Chicago, how could it not be geeky? The involvement of a vampire whore house, a wizard's pub, and a 'special crimes unit' geared to look at 'strange' crimes all point to sweet, sweet geekdom.

With all that said, is it worth looking into the second book? I think so. I'll get it from the library if available or half price books if not. Storm Front was Butcher's first book, in theory, all the aspects I like should get better and those I don't should improve, right? I'll let you know. I give Storm Front 3.25 Kalshazzak out of 5.

No new game news, but here are few funnies that you might like.

• Hitler gets mad about his Battletech Game
• "Naked Dawn" Red Band Trailer (NSFW)

For the Battletech video, you might have to pause to catch all the text, but it is supremely funny for a miniature gamer. As for Naked Dawn, if you watched Red Dawn as a kid, then the geek factor should be turned up to an 11. Best Line? I would say 'You feel that? That wind tickling your balls? That's Freedom, That's America'

jp
Manatees!

Trip In Progress Report

Greetings from the east coast. Spent the day yesterday in the DC area and had a good meeting. Meeting today was in Maryland as is the conference I am at the rest of the week so I transplanted hotels. I read most of the good parts of the Player's Handbook 2 on the plane on Sunday and thought I would give you my quick thoughts on the product.

Races: Much has been written in better blogs then mine on the new core races for D&D. For my part, I think they are pretty good and diverse adds to the mix. If I had to pick my favorite I would have to say the Half Orc was the one that I enjoyed the most and wouldn't mind playing. He would make an excellent rouge. On the other end of the scale is the Shifters. In fact Shifters are the only other race I just don't get. Maybe it is the art, but they look like Furries. Below is my rank listing, top to bottom, of the new additions.

• Half-Orc -- A great return, and the turn on the fluff was well done too. +2 Dex was a surprise for most, but I see how it fits with this incarnation.
• Deva -- At first, I wasn't real excited about the 'undying' soul thing. Plus they are purple, but I can see the role playing potential as a DM. If I need to add a plot hook, how easy is it to have your Deva suddenly have a flashback to his/her/its past!
• Goliath --Big Bad Bruisers... How long until Mark wants to play a Goliath? :) The wanderlust fluff is very cool.
• Gnome -- What can you say. They are Gnomes. OK
• A
  
• N
  
• D
  
• Shifters -- Bring up the rear. I'm a werewolf, but I'm not. Fine.

The classes are a bigger set with eight new types. I don't think their is one that I really 'love' or 'hate', but here are some general thoughts.

• I'm not a fan of the Druid's "In form of..." power. Your armor/cloths/stuff/ merges into your body? Really? You still get bonuses too? Really? I think the Druid was the weakest of the lot because of that 'easy out' that WotC took. If you read my take on the Shifters, you must be thinking that I hate werewolfs and such, but nothing could be further from the truth, I guess I just hate poorly executed werewolf type things. Don't make a cool think suck is all I am asking... That and to win the lottery!
• Bard has always been a weird class for me. The 4e version continues to stretch the concept, but making it a leader I thought was the best thing. Also integrating magic and art together helped.
• Avengers are going to rock.
• Warden's could be cool to play
• Invoker is an interesting concept as well. The protector of the entire pantheon is a neat idea.

I skimmed the powers, to be honest, I don't have the patience to read every single power... I'll catch them when I need them. The rest of the book has some neat little adds. Magic and feats, mostly for the new races/classes as well as some background creation stuff that was 'so-so'.

What would have been a great add to the classes for me is the Monk. Not sure how, or if, WotC is going to add the Monk type. Will they make him a divine power or will we see a new power source a'la Primal. Can you say 'Ka' anyone? How that would unfold is beyond me.

The rest of my free time on his trip has been me getting my butt handed to me by the damn robot player in the solo version of Race for the Galaxy. Each game takes about 15-20 mins or so. I played a total of 13 games over two nights in the hotel room. The score so far is Robot 9 wins, JP 4 wins. Stupid Robot. What makes it worst if you total the VP's up (yes I am tracking that! Shesh!) it is 503 to 446... Advantage Robot. Like I said. Stupid Robot. The key seems that you have to create the end condition quickly, not allowing the Robot's culture counter to increase and that can be problematic if you just don't have the cards. I did have a cool combo by selling cards, I was getting 10 cards a sell of with all the bonuses, but the ability to sell off a card in the consume phase as well. I had to discard 12 cards to get back to 10 in one turn!

I had a bit of time and I swung by the GW store in a mall here in Maryland. I hadn't been in one in a long time. They were pushing hard for the War of the Ring, and even made the comment that the infantry trays were going like hotcakes and they were having a hard time keeping up.

Anyways, I'll post more on the Me vs. Robot battle for the Galaxy.

jp
Having Chic-fil-A for Dinner!

I'm too old for this...

Thursday was a LONG day. I was up by 5am, even early for me, but I was up and I hit the day. It ended when I got home around 315am on Friday morning, fought my way through the three dogs (on of ours, two we are sitting), answered The Other Half's brief questions, but on the breathing machine and off to bed it was closer to 345. The Other Half kept pestering me (Sorry Honey, you were) all morning and wouldn't just let me rest, so up we got for some Breakfast.

The main reason for telling you this is to filter the Watchman review that is forthcoming. I picked up Steve around 730 and after some chit chat, we headed over to the theater to pick up the tickets I had pre-purchased. We got to Hooters which was very quite, got a table and Heath and Becky arrived shortly afterward. The Hooter girls were a little sub-par, and our waitress was even pregnant, which is OK I guess, just not what you expect when you go to a Hooters.

Heath had brought Traders of Carthage and taught us how to play. Interesting game that is pretty fun. The victory points structure is a bit odd, but we finally figured it out and still didn't need a degree in math. We finished with a game of Pandemic on the easy setting. First time Steve had played so we played open handed. We did pretty good with all but the Researcher on the board. Near the end of the game Heath kept making trips to the LBR, and Heath and Becky opted out of the show. We closed down Hooters at 1030 (Yes... Last call was at 1030? WTF?).

Steve and I made our way over to the theater, got to the Imax and found a pair of seats on the back of the main landing on the right hand side aisle. All in all pretty good seats. We had about an hour to burn so we had some good conversations on D&D, the multiple campaigns that are on going, video games and upcoming movies. Good times. The crowd was wound up tight. I think I might have been the oldest person in the room. Mostly 20'ish types with body tats and piercings. We had one annoying kid (18?) near us that must have been consuming prior to the start, but he fell asleep about 20 mins into the show and never made a peep again. At midnight, with all tickets sold out, the show began. Only one preview, Harry Potter, which looked pretty good, but I haven't been following the series so it is hard to say.

The Watchmen

It was good. Not great, not best movie ever, but a solid flick. If, I had not read the book, I might have been confused and not understood some of the nuisances. I'm sure plenty of girl friends were disappointed and didn't 'get' some of it, but that is OK as the movie wasn't made for them. We saw Cashew at the show. Why he was in CB instead of Lincoln to see it is beyond me, but he came up to me afterward and told me it was 'horrible and he felt betrayed' and I was like... 'What?' I think Cashew is retarded, but that is just me. Could it have been better? Yes, but short of some serious lengthening (five hours anyone), I'm not sure what they could have done. Could it have been worse? Oh god yes it could have been soooo much worse.

Highlights:
Acting: By and large I thought the ensemble cast did a great job.

• Jackie Earle Haley had the strongest performance by a long stretch. I was worried when I saw that he was cast, as I didn't think he had the stature for it, but man did he rock as Rorschach. He captured the tortured conflict that poor Walter faced. I hope that the even longer directors version has more of his story line with the psychiatrist to help bring out his troubled past more. The classic scene in the chow line in the prison was just way too cool for words.
  
• In a close, very close second, was Jeffery Dean Morgan who played the Comedian. He had the best range in the film, taking him from a young arrogant punk full of piss and vinegar to a crusty and jaded old man that has been broken by something bigger then himself. His intro fight scene was really well done and showed that despite his age, that the Comedian was still ready for a fight.
  
• Of all the main characters the one I liked the least was Adrian Viedt (Ozymandias). You would think that the 'smartest man on earth' would be a better speaker or at least get a better screen writer. The character was just too cold. I get that Dr. Manhattan was cold, I understood that as he was detaching from humanity and I think that Billy Crudup did a very good job, but Viedt... Just didn't connect. The few scenes he had were so disconnected it made it hard for someone trying to follow the story, that didn't read the book, could easily get lost.

Story: Zack Snyder did an outstanding job of cramming one of the most dense books into a story on the screen. There are so many sub plots and back stories going on that you can run out of creative ways to express them, but I felt that Zack hit the big ones that needed to be addressed and covered the depth of story well. Now I will admit that I have read the book about once a year or so for the past two decades I get the story. Someone trying to catch it cold, might disagree. My biggest complaint was the modification to the ending. I get it, I do. Post 9-11 he was trying to reach beyond NY as the epicenter of the disaster, but I think he failed to sell the point that Dr. Manhattan was the cause. I thought he could have kept the squid approach, but broached it globally... But that might have been more then the audience could grasp.

Action: Wow. This is Zack's true calling. He can pull some kick ass action scenes. This along with top notch effects (Antarctica building the main exception) was just great. If your an action/effects grunt, then this should make you happy.

With all that said, can I recommend this movie? Yes and no. If you liked the comic and you have an open mind that it isn't 100% the comic, then by all means, go and enjoy the movie. If you can't separate the comic from the movie or if you feel it will 'rape your childhood' or some other stupid notion, then do us all a favor and just stay away.

In the end, I would give it 4 Giant Blue Nuclear Physicists out of 5. Let me know what you thought about the show.

jp
None of you understand. I'm not locked up in here with you. You're locked up in here with me.

It's a trap!

The gang meet on Saturday night for a go at the old D&D adventure thingy. :-) We had seven players at the table, usual suspects with the inclusion of Greg as a new join as a Dragonborn Paladin (Yes the second one in the party).

When we last left our intrepid adventures they had busted down the back door of the Drueger hold, fought their way through the guards and encountered the boss. That battle was gruesome with the boss able to inflict some heavy damage along the way. At the conclusion they had spent most of their daily powers and were down in the surge category.

Not having found the prisoners, they decided to press on a bit further and Splug, following a secret door behind the fire place discovered a small hidden treasure which he kept, then another door into the slave pits. The Drueger cleric and guards, not to mention the Spiny Devils were not too pleased to see the Goblin Thief and decided to act. The party then became involved in a scrum, with the poor caravan crew hiding out in the slave pits. The two front battle made it a going concern, with the Drueger cleric dropping Brimstone and other nastiness. In the end some cleaver foot work by the team lead to all the Drueger's no longer alive and the Devils, being well wounded, deciding that perhaps their are better ways to serve and departed.

Taking the slaves back to the Seven Pillar Hall, the gang was handed a note from a kobold telling them to meet to discuss their operations against the Druegers. Sensing a trap, the party put the reformed slaves up at the Halfmoon Inn with some help from Erra Halfmoon and departed for their meeting.

The party followed the provided map into a small side room of the Hall of Shadows. Looking cautiously for a trap, the party missed the large Bronze Warder 'lurking' behind the boulder. Oh, and his three Tiefling companions. A tougher battle then I thought ensued. Some early misses with critical daily powers really swung the battle in the wrong direction early. It was noted around the table that sub-par die rolls can go along way to making a tough battle down right hard. In this case the Bronze Warder was an AC 25... The party had, at the time, a 5th level Wizard, Thief, Ranger, 4th Level Warlord, 2nd Level Paladin x2, Thief. The numbers of attacks outbound were in the parties favor, but the defenders were at a disadvantage due to the lower level. It is amazing what two levels will do to a to hit number. In the end, Sliver the Ranger was the hero, finally getting his Twin Strike Mojo working and dropping a ton of arrows into the pesky Tieflings that were casting a real annoying fire ranged attack.

With the bad guys dispatched, the party found a pair of scrolls that indicate that the rouge Wizard, Padamare, is behind the trap and wishes to dispose of their bodies. Even though they just left the Inn, the party needed to debate an extended rest (Adventures are lazy SOBs), but decided to take the reformed slaves back to Fellcrest.

The return to Fellcrest was uneventful, but the party did gain a bit of experience for finding the prisoners and returning them safely as well as destroying the Bloodreavers. A rest was had, as were magic items transferred before the party returned to the Seven-Pillar Hall to prepare to battle Gnolls.

<<>>

So the adventuring is going well, but I keep having this nagging feeling that I am taking to long to run folks through the adventure... Specifically that the encounters take too long. It may just be me. Some ideas that I think I'll try next time:

• Enslave, I mean, enlist one of the players to run the initiative for me. I'll give him the critters and let them track. The Loft has a white board that is tailored made for that effort.
• Roll Damage with the too hit. Zoltan, Eldecar, and Kaz'nak all do that already, but it may become game standard. The 'issue' will come with the double attack type of attacks like twin strike. Hmmm...
• Pre-Stage the bad guy minis... I'll do my best to get the bad guys all bagged up and ready, vice hunt and peck for the ones I need.
  

To deal with the daily powers missing and how badly that swings the battle, I was thinking of allowing players to spend their action point to re-roll a missed attack roll or any roll for that matter. I don't know how that would swing the power of the party, but at the moment, at times, they usually seam under power versus the enemy. Maybe I'm over doing the enemy, but it doesn't look like it.

And on the entertainment front...

The other half and I went to go see The Wrestler on Sunday. Not sure what to say about this one. I hated the cinematography. I mean hated. It was too jittery, like the Blair Witch Project almost at times at the camera was perched over Micky Rourke. I had to leave twice because I thought I was going to hurl. That combined with I think that Mr. Rourke is highly over rated as an actor and the story, although interesting wasn't really what I would consider 'Oscar' quality it was just OK. It was fine (other then the wanting to puke parts), on the small screen, it might be better for my eyes to watch. The highlight was Marisa Tomei who was not only hot for a 40+ year old stripper :-p but also the better half of the acting. Anyways, I give it two out of four WWF championship belts.

jp
Is it just me?

A Full House and Slumdogs...

Salutations,

On Saturday the entire gang got together, with all in attendance. New faces included Kaz'nak the Dragonborn Paladin, on his quest to assist Zoltan the Reformed on his mission to save the, ah, slaves.

Having returned to the Seven Pillared Hall, the party too the opportunity to take a much needed extended rest after vanquishing the Bloodreavers. Before departing the Bloodreavers lair, Sliver found a gold coin with the symbol that looked like the one that was left when his family was killed. Upon regaining their abilities, amazing what a good six hours will do, the local enforcer, Brugg stated that the 'Wizard on Call' wanted to speak to them. Seems one of their own has gone missing and given the teams outstanding abilities was wondering if they could lend a hand!

With a new quest to add to the ever growing pile, the team heads out on the heels of the Duergar that had purchased the captured slaves the party headed out in search of the Duergar's lair. Following the Road of Shadows, the team decides to take the path lest traveled. A quick encounter with a pack of hungry hyenas was followed by the meeting of a Troglodyte party. This one didn't go so easy. The Trogs had brought an Angle of Torog that helped make some bloody attacks. Some of the 'younger' characters spent daily powers and were very low on surges, but resting in the open hall, was just not an answer. so the party continued to explore.

Back tracking they found a door down one corridor and beat in the door. A few Orcs and an Ogre are surprised and battle ensues, but once the players get the upper hand, the last Orc flees and gets the Duergar's boss and his posse. This battle, without a chance to reload the encounter powers, is a long and bloody ordeal, but the party does prevail.

I had to leave a bit early so I left them hanging, many in need for an extended rest to go up a level, let alone get their powers back. Be sure to check in later! :)

On Sunday, The Other Half and I went to go see Slumdog Millionaire. The film was wonderfully directed and acted. The children actors were outstanding in their performances. The older versions of the characters were very good as well. It is a drama/love story but still very entertaining. It is a great 'date night' movie, or one to see if you like good cinema. I give it a 4.5 out of 5 Illegal Taj Mahal Tours.

Next week is the WM/HD/MonPoc tournament extravaganza in The Game Shoppe. Be sure to swing by and say 'hey!'.

jp
Jai Ho Boggier

Savage Worlds

First things first.

First - I'm a gaming whore and I know it. Knowing is half the battle.
Second - I'm not dropping the 4e campaign. I like it and hope to run it for a very long time.

With those caveats out of the way, let me speak a moment about the Pinnacle Entertainment's Savage Worlds: Explorer's Edition. I picked up down at Meta-Games during WARMACHINE Weekend. It was dirt cheap, $9.99 for the book, normal retail. It is a 160 page booklet style format that is crammed with what appears to be a great little rules system. Art is good as well, I would love to have a poster size print of the Rocket Man picture on page 5!

Why this sudden interest in the game? I have heard of folks playing in the past and been given some abstract descriptions. I had also heard that it was uber easy to convert a setting to fit the rules structure, plus it utilized a minion type system to ease the combat with the grunts of the world. I had heard folks used it to create an Iron Kingdom's setting and since I am a card carrying member of the Privateer Press Fan Boy Association I thought it would be cool to utilize it for that reason.

Well... Since reading it, I'm not sure I want to just do that! The possibility of running some interesting settings is just too cool. Two that I am thinking of tinkering with in my 'oh so available' free time are...

• Modern (Near Modern) Horror/Conspiracy like X-Files and Fringe
• Fictional High Magic Pirate Setting

Either of these might be way too cool to develop into a playable format. When would I have a chance to develop and run? Who knows... Maybe after the guys get in the apartment, a week night might present itself for a bi-monthly shing-ding. Only time will tell.

With that bit of an introduction let me tell you a bit on how the system works.

Each character has a set of five attributes (Agility, Smarts, Spirit, Strength, & Vigor) and skills (many). Each level is represented by a die type. You buy more levels in each, increasing your die type with each purchase... D4 -> D6 -> D8 -> D10 -> D12. Each time you attempt to do something you roll the die type for that skill an/or ability. If you get '4' or over you succeeded. Players and big bad guys are 'wild cards' and always get to roll a D6 as well as the stat/skill die and take the best of the two. The target number can be modified by in game situations (cover/concealment/etc.). Players control their own minion/followers during combat, which frees up the GM to run the bad guys. Lackeys are either up, shaken, down. Easy peasy. Wild Cards have a toughness stat that keeps them up longer.

The book has rules for vehicles, chases, mass combat, and much more.

I just re-read that and I feel I did it no justice. The game just seems real easy to play, despite my horrible attempt to explain the character.

Any Hoo... I may start to work on the Modern Horror setting for S&G, just to come up with some ideas in case I can squeeze in the time with the guys! :)

jp
I'm John, and I'm a gaming addict.

Dark Knight and X-Files

This weekend I got a chance to see two movies. That is more then I get in three or four months. Thought I would throw down my little mini review on each, not that anyone is reading, but what the hey.

On Saturday Phyllis and I went to see the X-Files:I Want to Believe at the 1030 am show. Including us, their was 6 people in the theater. Overall, the movie wasn't horrible, but it was far from a great motion picture. I think Chris Carter's approach to do the 'creature feature' approach vice expanding the mythos of the X-Files was the single largest factor on whether this was going to be a good movie. The use of the overlying conspiracy theory that the X-Files is known for would have been a better story to grab the fans and non-fans. Without that this could have been an episode of X-Files or Kolchak: The Night Stalker or Night Gallery. The acting was good as was the general feel of the movie. I would have also like to see more of Skinner as he was one of my favorites on the show. Overall? Wait for the DVD release and rent it. If your a hard core fan, you will go see it anyways, the best part is that it should be quiet in the theater.

On Sunday we went to go see The Dark Knight. This was a very good movie and I did enjoy the experience. Was it perfect? No. Was it "Best... Movie... Ever!"? No. What did I like. Heath Ledger was the show. Plain and simple his performance of the Joker shined and made the movie what it is. The general story and plot I also liked. What did I not like? I thought that Bruce Wayne's angst was way underplayed. This is, after all, a Batman movie, not a Joker movie. Where was Bruce Wayne's pain and suffering over his inability to save Rachel? I think the 2:45 running time could have been cut down. Perhaps drop the 'Sons of the Batman' & Scarecrow stuff in the beginning and use that saved time to develop more depth of character for Bruce. Brooding will only take you so far. Where was the pain?

So anyways... That's my two cents...

jp
Movie Critic At Large

D&D 4e Quick Look.

So.

I’m a crack head.

What can I say?

I’ve picked up the three core books for the new edition of Dungeons and Dragons. So this is my quick look review in 80 words or less…

I like the promise. I’ve been more of a miniatures game player then RPG’er over the past 10 year and this game has a feel that it is a connection of miniature battles, tied together with a little story, but with you and your buddies each only playing one guy versus a hoard. The combinations are going to be interesting as new stuff comes out. It reminds me of WARMACHINE in many aspects because of the combos.

I’ve pitched the idea of trying a session with the gang. Some are OK, some (one) were vocal against the idea of a long term campaign, but was willing to try a night of it.

Sometime after finishing the current Dark Heresy game, I’m going to flex my powers of persuasion and have the guys roll up characters and do a battle or two in one night of play. Just to try out the rules and see how it plays. I’ll let you know!

jp

Dungeon Master Wanna-Be