I was watching a History channel documentary on Pirates and I learned that when Blackbeard was killed, the leader of the naval vessel that got him had his head cut off and hung on the bow of his ship. The body was dumped overboard. If this doesn't sound like a perfect set-up for a ghost story, I don't know what is.
I was able to try out a new trading card game today. The game is PK Cards, a fantasy-based card game where heroes called avatars lead their troops in battle against others. The battle works a lot like the battles of the Tuatha de Danaan in Celtic Myth: a series of one-on-one battles between individuals with the winner of the battle the one that wins the most of these one-on-one fights. Here is my review:
Appearance: It is the first thing you notice about a new game, right? So, why not start there?
The cards are colorful and have some excellent art. The art isn't as good as that in Magic: the Gathering, but on par or better than most Collectible Card Games I have played. The play mat that comes with the game is very useful and attractive.
Not really an appearance issue, but still something that one would judge it by early, is the name. PK Cards is not evocative of anything and as far as I can tell the rules never explain what PK stands for. There is a mechanic in the game called a PK, but all it is is a way to determine the victor in tied battles.
Mechanics
The game mechanics have a bit in common with Euchre. The troops come in 5 suits, each one of the Chinese Elements: Earth, Water, Fire, Metal and Plant. In each individual combat one player will be the attacker. The attacker can play power or influence cards before placing his troop card. Power cards are abilities that stay in play while influence cards leave play after the combat. When the attacker plays a troop to attack, play passes to the defender. The defender then can play cards, ending with a troop to defend the attack. He must play a defender in the same suit if possible. The attacker's attack score is compared against the defense score of the defender (after any special effects add or subtract from those scores). The higher number wins. If he plays other suits (because he cannot play the same suit), then the tie is beaten if one of the suits "trumps" another suit. For example, fire beats metal and metal beats plant. If it is still a tie, the players resolve it by revealing the top card of their decks and comparing stats. This is called a PK.
The game seems a bit tough to learn at first, but after a few rounds I got the hang of it. Strategically, it can be a bit frustrating since you may find yourself forced to play a card because the attacker played a certain suit and with a bad shuffle, this can throw your whole round off. (This happened to me as I was forced to use a guy that would have been great late in the round but takes major negatives if I didn't play certain other cards before he came in to fight. I won't explain that rule, but there are more rules that affect the troop's ability to fight.)
Kudos to the design team of this game for coming up with a mechanic that is truly unique. I have seen a lot TCGs come out that try to not be Magic with new kinds of mechanics and fail and I have seen a lot of Magic copies. This game actually works.
Overall: I would recommend this game to anyone looking for a new TCG to master with a completely new mechanic. Personally, I have enough addictions, so I will probably sit this one out, but I wish the company luck in their endeavor. If I only had infinite money to buy games, infinite space to store them and time to play them all, I would certainly snatch this game up. It seems like it will be a lot of fun and it looks like PK Cards is planning to really support tournaments and players with player reward systems.
I picked up the Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition starter set a couple weeks ago and this last weekend, I was able to give it a try. I had been holding off on trying 4th edition D&D. I had heard mixed reviews of the game and it seems that people are pretty split. There is one camp that seems to think it is the ultimate edition of D&D and another that thinks they dumbed it down. Eventually, I realized that all of the negative comments about it I was reading might actually be a plus in my book. Still being cautious, I didn not buy the rulebooks, but bought this special intro set instead that comes with a slimmed down rulebook and adventure, "Dungeon Tiles," tokens and dice (no crayon this time). What follows is my review.
Box contents: Before I dive in to the game, let me talk about the contents of the box. The rulebooks are flimsy, but if you decide to continue with the game, you'll end up buying a hardcover rulebook before long anyway. The dice are plain and kind of boring, but they do the trick and are perfect for the new player who needs the dice. (I remember my early gaming days when dice were desperately scrounged for.....) The really nice things in the box are the dungeon tiles and counters. The tiles are the same as WotC has been packaging in their Dungeon Tiles line and I had been eyeing picking them up for a while to use with other games (like Heroquest, Warhammer Quest and Savage Worlds). After seeing the quality of these tiles, I wish I had. They are printed on sturdy cardboard and look fantastic. In this box, you get a nice variety that would allow you to make several rooms and hallways as well as some smaller tiles to add scenery to a dungeon, such as chairs. The tokens are also included. They are basically "pogs" with character images on them. Having a ton of D&D minis and other minis, I don't need them, but I do appreciate why some people would want to use them instead as they are still nice and infinitely more portable. The tokens represent a whole bunch of standard D&D monsters like Orcs, Skeletons, Dragons, and a Gelatinous Cube (woo-hoo!!).
Book contents: While this box gives the dice and counters that someone completely new to D&D would need, it does not do a good job of explaining the rules for newcomers. As a veteran of 3.0 and 3.5 (although I did not play a lot), I was able to fill in the missing gaps, but it was still disappointing. The art in the books (and from what I have seen the main rulebooks as well) is nowhere near as cool and evocative as 3.0 and 3.5, In fact the new D&D art style is almost cartoony.
The book does however give enough rules and information for experienced D&Ders to try out the newest edition including pregens for 5 characters and the level advancement information to take them up to level 3. There is a selection of monsters in the back of the DM book that helps a new DM prepare more adventures after the group has finished with the sample game included.
Speaking of the game, the adventure gives a good chance to try out the new combat rules but story-wise, it is a yawn-fest. So, I decided to spice it up a little. The scenario in the book has heroes hired to kill some goblins who are terrorizing a town. I instead made up a story that made it more personal and part of a bigger story arc, but still ended up with the PCs fighting the same group of gobbos. It worked pretty well and if you consider using this as a chance to try out the game and you are a GM, I would recommend adding some plot to it as well.
Game system: This is the problem a lot of people are having with the new system. The new system has removed a lot of the minutia and book-keeping of 3.5 which does, of course, sacrifice a lot of detail as well. Personally, I always wanted to run D&D as a fast-paced beer & pretzels RPG and this slimming down of the rules is perfect for that goal. The rules now only get crunchy in combat situations and in those situations they can still be fairly crunchy but outside of that, there isn't a lot.
If you are someone who enjoyed the infinite options of character building and the importance of having the "perfect character build", then 4.0 probably isn't for you. I haven't read the Player's Handbook but from what I have seen it sounds like what I have heard is true: There aren't a lot of different "builds" available. The strategy that will help you beat the dragons in the dungeons is no longer how well you know what feats go well with what classes but how you use the powers you are given once the game has started.
In battle, it seems like the new game will have lots of strategy as each class has access to abilities which not only dish out damage but tend to have some other effect like knocking the opponent off his feet or pushing them back several squares. I think this is a big improvement of my last game of 3.5 which felt like a contstant swapping of "I swing and hit for 10 damage, now you swing and hit for 10 damage, I swing and miss, you swing and miss, etc., etc." Now, Wizard classes aren't the only ones with options in a combat.
Overall: This starter set is a perfect thing to try it out if you know previous editions of D&D and want to see if the new rules are for you. I wouldn't give it to your little nephew however, unless you plan to walk him through how to play. The new system seems to be just what I was craving in a RPG: a system that allows for a fun but not too rules-laden dungeon crawl and a very basic framework for roleplaying.
My gaming is probably the most eclectic it has even been these days. I don't get to roleplay as much as I like, but I am running a monthly Amber campaign, running a series game at Ambercons (Dreaming City), am playing in a monthly Star Wars game, and run and play in occassional local pick-up games.
I am also playing Warhammer 40K fairly often these days, since a Games Workshop store opened about 5 minutes from my house. I don't get to play many other mini games these days, but have played an occassional game of Star Wars Minis in the last couple months and have been talking to a few folks about playing Mordheim.
I meet with some friends once-a-month to play board games, card games, etc..
I play Magic: The Gathering occassionally as well, since some friends are really into it....and it is always fun to see my friends and talk smack before hitting them with a 20pt Fireball.
I have had a lot a lot of RPG and gaming thoughts lately and so have decided to make a return to Claim Solais. I had a bunch of regular readers for a while and hopefully a few may return. This blog also has an RSS feed for LJ users, so you may be seeing this in your LJ friend list. Did you miss me?