I have been a big fan of The Oatmeal for a while now. His style of humor just seems to mesh with my own in delightful ways. His sense of weird and truth (and weird truthyness) are everything I look for in comedy. And it doesn't hurt that his art is hilariously adorable. He is accurate about dogs, as well as cats and even grammar in a way mere mortals can only dream of being.
I guess you could say I like his work alot.
So when I heard that The Oatmeal was making a GAME on Kickstarter, I was intrigued. When I heard it involved kittens exploding, I pledged immediately. A lot of other people did too. In fact, people threw about 8 MILLION DOLLARS at him for the chance to meet their end via combustible feline.
The Oatmeal and his companions, Elan Lee and Shane Small, also did something that very few Kickstarter projects have achieved (especially one of this size): They delivered on time. They promised to ship in July, they shipped at the end of July and it just so happens that a few days ago I received my pledge. And now I'm here to share that with you.
A small blue box arrived with an adorable kitten and some big white letters on it.
I was mildly confused because it said it was shipped by Blackbox.
This box is blue. Not black. I expect better, dear sirs. I expect better. Luckily it got better. In fact, I received the best packing slip I have gotten in any package ever, and I doubt ever will again.
In fact all of the inserted paper materials have a delightful sense of whimsy about them.
Inside this blue (not black) box were two more boxes: My regular edition of Exploding Kittens and the NSFW edition.
A lot of fuss was made about the fact that a special addition was going to be made to the box, something that would surprise and delight us. At least in my case, they were correct. I could tell you what it is, but I think showing you would be better.
I spent a fair amount of time just opening the lid and giggling. I won't tell you exactly how much time, but I assure you it was inordinate and mildly disturbing.
Inside, of course, is the regular Exploding Kittens deck, a slot for a second deck and a little folded page of rules.
Lifting up the deck shows off the bottom, which has some lovely art of a litter box.
Lets not forget that I also got the NSFW Deck as well. The box is nice, but the deck will be going into that extra slot in the regular box for sure. It doesn't even have any cool art inside, just a plastic insert.
As for the game itself, well, it is not deep. Each player gets some cards, which do stuff and every turn each player can play those cards, then draw a card from the deck. If it is an Exploding Kitten and you don't have a Defuse card, you blow up and are out of the game. Last player standing wins. There are a couple extra rules, but that's the core of the game.
I will end this little unboxing with a selection of my favorite cards, first from the normal deck:
And then from the NSFW deck:
By the way, Smoke Crack With A Baby Owl is my favorite card. Of all time. In any game.
As I did last year, I threw another gaming weekend in celebration of my birthday. I don't have anything too special to say about it, but I have a few pictures of the fun.
Saturday night was a few games of Epic Spell Wars, then a long roleplaying session with our home-brewed Marvel Superheroes rules. Pizza was interspersed throughout. I would have taken pictures but it was all theater of the mind and I'M NOT LETTING YOU SEE MY IMAGINATION. So there.
The lazy bastards slept in so I got a game of Marvel Dice Masters in against myself. I need to play more of this. No one else agreed that morning so they missed out on a great game. I shouldn't have made them breakfast but I did.
Then we played more Epic Spell Wars. We really love this game. Like LOVE it, love it.
And then I forced everyone to play HeroQuest. I don't know why everyone puts up a fight when I break this out. A fantastic time is always had by all, especially since we have no problem interjecting roleplaying into the mix. This adventure was actually a continuation of last year's quest, with the heroes hired by Prince Magnus to hunt down the true leader of the sinister cult encountered last time.
Madness inducing fishmen are encountered. Heroes in the room had a chance to lose their turn, based on Mind points.
Some culty cultists, who were having a nice meal until the heroes showed up.
The Elf and Wizard find an evil idol...
While the Dwarf and Barbarian clear out the rest of the monsters.
The cult leader and his Chaos Warrior bodyguards, one of which was murdered by a Genie, courtesy of the Elf.
The Barbarian joins the fray while the Dwarf struggles to even get in the camera shot with his stumpy legs.
After slaying the Barbarian, the cult leader is shanked by the Wizard while the elf distracts him.
All in all a fun quest. My favorite moment was when the Elf tried to search for the dead Barbarian's loot:
Elf- "I grab the Barbarian's coin purse."
Zargon- "As you lean down to grab it, a rat runs by and snatches it, scampering down the hall and disappearing."
Elf- "Shit. Well, I'll take the Barbarian's broadsword then."
Zargon- "As you turn to reach for the sword, you find a much, MUCH larger rat with its paws wrapped around it, growling at you."
Elf- "You know what? Fuck it. He can keep it."
After that it was burgers and everyone went home. It was a fantastic time and I can't wait until next year's BGE! Happy gaming!
Recently I was wading through the morass of gaming awesomeness that is BoardGameGeek when I came across a thread by a new game designer/publisher asking for a review of their game. They would even send a review copy for free for anyone willing to play it and write about it.
Having written a fewreview-type-things before, I decided to give it a go and try out a proper, official review. A few PMs later and a copy was winging it's way to my door.
That game is Cops & Robbers, designed by Kieran Billings. It is a simple, fun game about stealing loot and running from the fuzz. The game consists of three different decks of cards, aptly named Cops, Robbers and Loot:
Anything else would be confusing really.
Robber cards consist of sneaky tricks, bonuses to help you escape the cops and penalty cards to screw with the other players when they make their getaway.
Some of the most important types of Robber cards are Getaway cards which represent your getaway car and all the cool modifications you've made to it to better cheese it when the cops appear.
This would totally be my car.
The object of the game, of course, is to get loot. The Loot deck contains all sorts of shiny things to steal, although occasionally you end up with nothing. Too bad it still counts against you if you come up empty handed!
Finally you have the Cop cards, which you must evade to keep your loot. Sometimes your illegal activities draw no attention at all, but each Loot card means more cops, and sometimes you can end up caught no matter how crafty you are.
Games are either played until one player reaches a certain amount of Loot, or for a fixed time period, at the end of which the player with the most Loot wins. All players start with five Robber cards and must draw/discard back to five at the start of each turn.
During a turn a player may lay low and draw two more Robber cards for more heist options, or steal stuff, netting one Robber card and one Loot card to add to the pile of stuff to stash later. During either of these actions, a player may play other cards, including adding to their getaway car.
Alternatively, a player may try to stash the Loot they have stolen so far, triggering a getaway sequence. During a getaway, the player running draws one Cop card for each Loot card stolen and must have bonuses equal to the number of cops or more to escape. This might be simple, except that other players may play penalty cards to worsen your chances. Unless you have some bonus cards or some sneaky tricks, you'll find yourself behind bars quick.
What going to jail might look like.
If you escape, your Loot cards go to your stash and are off limits for the rest of the game. Loot doesn't count for your victory total until it's stashed, so it pays to get it done quick. However, if you are caught, you lose the Loot you haven't stashed yet, your sweet ride (i.e. getaway cards) and you lose a turn while you sweat it out in jail.
I have to say, I did have a lot of fun playing Cops & Robbers. I was a little worried about writing this review because the game is definitely not like my usual fare. However, it was a nice diversion, and I do like the design of the game. There are both "gotcha!" and press-your-luck elements, meaning you are just as likely to be screwed by your opponent as by your own decisions. The rules are simple and straight forward, and the game would be very good for playing with family, other non-hardcore gamers or as a light filler during game nights.
Being a preliminary copy, it has a couple of rough edges I would like to see worked up before its final release. The rules are simple, but the rulebook could be a little clearer in places. The Robber cards lack art right now, but Kieran promises that they will have more of the same great art (which is nearly finished).
In closing, I recommend giving Cops & Robbers a chance. Not only will you be getting a fun game, but you will be helping out a new game designer, which I think we can all agree is great for the hobby as a whole. The game isn't commercially available yet, but the Kickstarter campaign opens up April 20th and will continue until May 18th. Toss a few bucks at it and get a fun game! And in the meantime, check out the Devious Games blog for rules and updates!
I never remember when Tabletop Day is. I always miss it or find out it is coming up too late to plan anything fun. It would seem like an day I would be counting down to all year but somehow it always eludes me.
However, I did vow that after I got out of work and had dinner, I would devote the rest of my evening until midnight to gaming. Being that I found out short notice and I am filled with unmitigated hermit-ness, this was going to be a solo gaming experience. I'm fairly used to this situation, so I was well prepared.
I started with a game of Song of Blades and Heroes. While not a solo game per se, it is well suited to solo play since you never know when a turn will end. My dungeon adventurers went up against a combined force of dark elves, lizardmen and goblins. The adventurers lost half their numbers but ultimately prevailed. I did learn that lizardmen make excellent heavy hitters, especially with loads of goblins to hold down their target while they do the hitting. However, there is very little that can stop a combat 5 dwarf fighter once it makes contact, especially with a wizard giving magical support from the edge of a wood. My favorite part of the game came when the dark elf priestess and the templar came face to face in a battle of holy wrath.
The priestess retreated shortly thereafter, being combat 1.
After that, I went with The Lord of the Rings LCG. I chose the Flies and Spiders adventure from The Hobbit: On The Doorstep, as I hadn't played it before and it looked like a good challenge for my Leadership/Spirit dwarf deck. As uisual, I went with Easy Mode, because I like having a chance to win once in a while without devoting every second of my life to the game. It is an interesting scenario to play single deck solo, and actually a little easier because you don't have to manage two staging areas in the late game.
That said, I got mercilessly murdered by spiders on my first play through. Even though I began the game with Gandalf, my hand was otherwise pretty bad and I rushed the first couple stages. When I hit the Spider Glade, I found myself with too few allies to deal with the pile of spiders that came at me. Game Two was different, though. I started not only with Gandalf again but an Unexpected Courage on Dain to keep him ready. I slowed down a bit and had plenty of support in the late game.
The field two turns before winning the scenario.
Finally, as the night was drawing to the close, I decided to play something a little less brain-burning to wind down. I chose Castle Panic, which is one of my fave solo time-fillers.
The Goblin King brings a few friends to the board early on.
I won this game fairly easily due to a good series of hands. It was a fun game though and ended just 2 minutes before midnight! I managed to get all my games in before Tabletop Day ended!
So, that was my Tabletop Day celebration. It wasn't much, but it was a good excuse to get a few solid hours of gaming in and make use of the old underground lair for some me time. Maybe next year I can remember when it's coming up and plan some non-hermit activities.
I wouldn't count on it.
Here's hoping your Tabletop Day was more exciting than mine. Happy gaming!
I'm a pretty big fan of Adventure Time. I love the way it spoofs geek culture and find it pretty goddamn hilarious. One of my favorite spoofs is from the fourth season, when Jake and Finn play a game of Card Wars.
Don't know what I'm talking about? Well here's a taste:
As you can see, its pretty much one big send-up of Magic: The Gathering and CCGs in general. Being a gamer, I couldn't help but want to actually play that game, pig and all. So imagine my unbridled glee when I found out Cryptozoic Entertainment was actually making a real life version of Card Wars!
That's right, they didn't just make an Adventure Time card game. They actually made the game the characters play on the show. Obviously the hologram technology in the episode is a long way off, but for bits of cardboard and paper, they did a mighty fine job.
Cryptozoic has produced two double deck sets: Jake & Finn's decks (from the episode); and BMO & Lady Rainicorn's decks. Two themed decks together in a starter is a great deal for 20 bucks. So far, I have only acquired the Jake & Finn set.
It comes with Jake's 40 card Cornfield deck, Finn's 40 card Blue Plains deck, 8 oversized landscape cards (4 for each deck) and a bunch of tokens for damage.
The landscape cards come in sheets paired with 10 tokens or so, which have 1 and 3 marked on either side of them. I will say that the tokens are hard to punch out without ripping, and I find them a bit fiddly. I suggest finding two D10 dice for each player and a handful of small D6s to record creature damage. But, if you don't have that at hand, the counters work just fine.
The object of the game is to use your creatures and spells to reduce your opponent from 25 life to zero, thus becoming the Cool Guy and obtaining all the gloating rights that entitles. Plus, the Cool Guy gets to go first in the next game played, so there's that too. If no one is obviously the coolest, the first player is chosen randomly.
Probably not going first
Each player places their landscape cards touching each other in a row, then matches them up to form lanes. Creatures and buildings are played to these lanes in order to fight, and an undefended lane can be used to damage your opponent.
Each player shuffles and draws 5 cards. The starting player goes first and cannot floop or fight on the first turn. A card is drawn at the start of each turn and then a player has 2 actions to play cards with. There are 3 types of cards: spells, creatures and buildings.
Each card costs 0, 1 or 2 actions, and requires that many of a certain type of landscape to play. Spells are played for their effect and are discarded. Creatures are played directly into lanes and stay in play until they are killed or a player chooses to replace them with another creature from their hand. Buildings are played below a lane and affect that lane with it's abilities, remaining in play until an effect removes them or they are replaced like a creature. Cards can only be played on your own turn.
Some cards have the ability to floop to use abilities. This is basically tapping, like in Magic, so the card is turned sideways and stuff happens. Flooping doesn't cost actions and can be done anytime before or after an action is used. Cards may not floop during combat, so floop wisely beforehand.
Combat is pretty straight forward. Each non-flooped creature attacks one by one in the order you choose. If there is a creature in the attacker's lane, they both do damage to each other. If enough damage is dealt, a creature dies. Attacking an empty lane means you hit your opponent directly. A creature only attacks in its own lane, but cards can be used to move them around before battle to give you a "strateegic advantaage."
Overall, I find the game extremely fun. The rules are simple and straightforward, I love the art and the concept of making a game from a show rather than out of a show is a pretty neat concept to me. I like that I'm taking the role of Finn or Jake rather than waiting for my Finn or Jake card to pop out of my deck. I also like that combat has a spatial element to it, which is a lot easier to grasp than, say, Magic's combat clusterfuck. It also makes your choices of placement very meaningful and adds a good layer of strategy to an otherwise pretty basic game.
I also really like the landscape setup because it keeps the play area minimal. All the action takes place either on the landscape or directly below them. It's hard to find a CCG style game that can be played on a restaurant table or TV tray that doesn't turn into a sprawling mess. The games are also fairly short too, with most lasting less than 20 minutes.
You can also build your own decks. While the release format is 2 complete decks per box, you can mix and match the cards to build unique decks. As long as you don't include more than 3 of any card and have enough of each landscape needed, you can go to town. As the decks include only 1 of certain cards, getting a full playset of every card is a little price ($120) it's still far less than most Magic sets. Still, I'm perfectly happy with the decks as is and find learning to play each one part of the challenge, so I don't think I'll be deck building any time soon.
There are 2 things I don't really like about the game. The first is that the decks included in the Jake & Finn set have a complexity disparity. I'm starting to get the hang of Finn's deck, but it is obviously harder to play than Jake's. Finn's deck plays very much like a blue deck in Magic, with lots of tricks and creatures that are a little sub-par on their own but can be paired with some sneaky effects to get the most out of them. Jake's deck on the other hand, plays much like a red deck, with some direct damage and a bunch of really great attackers, so the learning curve is a lot lower. So, for new players, hand them the cornfields until they have a good grasp on the mechanics.
The second is that there is a major wasted opportunity in the set. You see, one of the pigs has a secret message to be decoded on it, and they included a little sheet of red plastic to decode it with.
This is really exciting at first, because you think you'll find some great secret, a tip or maybe a fun joke. Well I'm going to spoil this right now:
It's an advertisement. For the iOS game. That's it.
Crypytozoic took a fun idea and ruined it with marketing. Instead of having something that might drive sales of future sets by adding something fun for collectors, they chose the most boring route possible and made us all feel like a dumbass for staring through that little red piece of plastic. So yeah, toss that little red plastic card away. I assume the same is true for the BMO/Rainicorn set, but if it isn't I'll let you know.
All that aside, I can't wait to get the second set and start exploring the play styles in there. I'm intrigued by the name "Useless Swamps" for BMO's deck and (as a black deck player in magic) really want to see what kinds of funny cards show up in it.
I really recommend picking up at least one set of this game. It's light, fun, great for younger players and is a good way to get that Magic "fix" without busting out the 1000 card collection to cobble together a decent deck. Plus you get to be the Cool Guy once in a while.
Recently, for whatever reason, I began to wax nostalgic for the card game Wyvern.
I'm not sure if anyone else really remembers this game. It came out in 1994 during the early days of the birth of CCGs. During these dark times, Magic crawled from the primordial cardboard soup and became an absolute powerhouse, making each and every game company out there shit their pants at exactly the same time. And immediately after wiping, each and every game company made a made dash to cash in. U.S. Game Systems was no different.
"We need a collectible card game NOW! And make sure it has goddamn DRAGONS!"
While I was huge into Magic at the time, I was still willing to try other games and I was always looking for a game that might unseat it and give me a little variety in my gaming group. Wyvern wasn't that.
There are two things I remember most about Wyvern. First, it was the only one of my games my sister would request playing with me. I could occasionally coax her into a game of Magic or HeroQuest, but other than that any games we played were along the lines of Uno or Monopoly. Wyvern, though, we would play for hours. This may have had something to do with her having better cards than I did. We were pretty much playing out of starters, and since U.S Game Systems found the idea of distribution laughable, we only managed to find 2-3 booster packs each before the game disappeared. Luckily the game was balanced reasonably and I had more game experience, so we were generally on even terms.
Second, was the art. The game itself was pretty ugly. Bland frames with only 4 different colors, a complete lack of icons aside from a couple gold coins here and there, and all game text on the cards was in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, SHOUTING THE CARD'S EFFECTS AT YOU EVERY TIME YOU LOOKED AT IT. But U.S. Games Systems had enlisted Peter Pracownik to illustrate the cards and I loved it.
Peter is a master of painting dragons. His art is both simplistic and nuanced, filled with mythology and color. His work has this wonderful feeling of "oldness" that makes it seem like it comes right out of the middle ages. Not everyone is a fan of his style, but I think it worked perfectly for Wyvern. He was the only artist for the first set and the few other artists that came after followed his lead. It made the game very cohesive in a way other CCGs were not. It has been described as "bland" or "samey" but I honestly think that those people were just plain expecting something different. I think all the similarities really tie the game together, like a rug in a bungalow.
I think he'd agree.
Ultimately, though, what kept me playing the game was the game itself. For those who haven't played this game, you had two decks of cards (regrettably with the same back). One deck had your dragons and some terrain that you would use to fight your opponent's dragons, and the other had actions and treasures that would affect the cards on the table. At the start you would deal out 6 cards from the dragon deck (Dragon Lair) and arrange them on the table 3 cards wide and 2 deep, face down. Then you would draw 7 cards from the action deck (Treasure Horde) for a hand. You would start with 25 gold and pay for cards out of that.
During your turn you could play actions, turn dragons face up (using up gold to do so) and attack with them. At the start of the game, everything was face down, so you were often attacking blind. The card you attacked would get turned face up, and if it was terrain it might do bad things to your dragon, like a trap. If it was another dragon, the two dragons would fight and the bigger one would win, eliminating the loser. This would continue until one player ran out of dragons and lost.
I mentioned before that the game was pretty balanced, and there were a few things that contributed. One was that you started with a pool of resources that dwindled instead of getting bigger. This meant that you could turn over a badass 7 gold dragon early on, but if it got ganged up on or slain by a dragon slayer card, you were out almost a third of your resources for the rest of the game. There were ways of getting more gold, but they were pretty few and far between. Blow your gold early and you were doomed to failure.
The face down battlefield really helped as well. It created a fog of war that was hard to navigate, even with experience. You never really knew what was waiting for you and making those decisions blind was bound to end up with a mistake or two in your perfectly crafted plan.
"Another bastard-licking terrain card? Did you bring the entire Louisiana Purchase?"
You would have the occasional jackass that would make all dragon slayer decks or use nothing but terrain, but those were easily worked around once you knew their habits.
Ultimately, Wyvern failed and it wasn't hard to see why. Few CCGs became truly popular, besides Magic and those who were propped up by the itinerant, pre-teen spend-lust of the Saturday morning cartoon crowd. Wyvern was ugly, needed a mountain of editing, and was incredibly hard to get hold of in some areas of the country. There was tactical depth there, but not on the same level as Magic.
Wyvern would have really benefited from being a boxed, single deck game. Hell, they even included rules for playing out of a single collection, with one Dragon Lair and Treasure Horde for both players. Luckily someone at U.S. Game Systems realized this and they put together Dragon Hunt, which is exactly that. It uses exactly the same cards and rules, but with different backs so you can't use your old Wyvern cards with them (because fuck you, that's why). It's like 8 bucks, so it's a great deal. It's a great game if you want something light but strategic.
I went looking for my own cards and found a small pile of extras, but not my actual deck. Still wanting to play and maybe use those cards again, I went on eBay and found 2 sealed starter decks for less than $11.00 with shipping. I can't wait for them to arrive. I definitely plan on using the one collection rules. That way my sister won't have better cards than me this time around.
So, a week ago I celebrated my 32nd birthday, and this year I decided to do something a little different. Instead of a big family get together or a trip to Maine, I sent some invites to my closest gaming friends for a weekend of laughs, gaming and ice cream cake.
It's frozen, frosted deliciousness knows no equal.
I enlisted the aid of my beautiful wife, Brigid, to help decorate and chronicle the day. Little did I know that she had a plan, and while I was at work the day before, she set about decorating our porch with an Avengers theme. I was elated, because I am essentially 8 years old when it comes to superheroes.
These are still up a week later. They may never come down.
Since the next day was going to be jam packed with games, my dear wife gave me my present early. I now have my very own copy of Arkham Horror! Being a big Lovecraft fan, it was a game I'd always intended to own but never got around to. Now it was all mine to devour my life with hours and hours of gameplay.
Fun fact: I have been playing the same game session for a week now.
The night before the big event, my friend Marc arrived to stay. We spent that night getting some extra gaming in, so I introduced him to X-Wing, Quarriors and DungeonQuest.
The next morning after breakfast we were joined by my friend Jay. Unfortunately my cousin and his wife ended up not being able to make it, so our group was a bit smaller than expected. However, I still had two games on the agenda that I wanted to make sure got played, and I wasn't going to let dwindling numbers stop me.
The first was Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards: Duel at Mt. Skullzfyre. I had recently acquired this game and it ended up being a blast. It is insanely random and ridiculous and worth every penny. I don't think we've laughed so hard around a gaming table in a long while.
My character for the game. Also pictured: Me losing.
Mid game madness.
Note the non-essential cardboard cut-out of Mt. Skullzfyre in the background.
The second and most major thing I wanted to accomplish was a game of HeroQuest. As my all-time favorite game, and the gateway drug that got me into gaming in the first place, it was essential. I whipped up a quick custom scenario and handed out some characters. Since we were short players, Brigid took both the Barbarian and the Wizard. She named them Jethro and McGee. She likes NCIS. A lot.
Seeing the perfect excuse, I set up my 3D dungeon terrain for us to crawl through and made sure there would only be painted miniatures so we could enjoy a beautiful game. Mentor was sending our heroes to fight an evil Chaos cult as a test of their abilities. Would they make it out alive?
Into the dungeon
The dwarf makes short work (heh) of the Cultist in the first room...
And the Barbarian crushes the Orc soon after. The Goblin stood no chance after that.
Another Cultist is surrounded and chopped to pieces.
The Dwarf finds a healing well, while the Elf finds a Mummy.
The Elf fights the Mummy alone...uh, a little help?
The Wizard wanders off alone and finds some new friends.
The cult revealed, and the Slaaneshi Chaos warrior behind it!
Slowed by the Elf's spell, the Chaos Warrior is defeated by the Barbarian.
The cult was swiftly destroyed and much loot was had. All in all, a great game. I saved the characters so when we do this again we can continue from where we left off. I have a whole year to design something fun and more challenging.
We wound down the day with a game of the DC Comics Deck-Building Game. It's not the deepest deck-builder out there, but it was great for coming down off the gaming high. It was also the only game I won all weekend, with Jay coming in second by sheer amount of cards in his deck. Apparently his strategy was "buy everything". And it almost worked.
And that was Birthday Gaming Extravaganza 2013. I had initially named it that as a joke, but honestly I like it. I intend to do this again next year and possibly for years to come. I will certainly plan it a bit better, possibly with further advance notice, and a better system for taking pictures. There are certainly a slew of games coming out in the next year I'd love to showcase!
