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Here are my observations about a 2 player AH game:
1. The only way you have a chance of winning is if you choose the monster first and then your characters so you have a shot at the final fight
2. At least one character needs transport such as the motorbike, map or Arkham or the patrol wagon or you will never get to all the gates
3. Epic final battles are better left to bigger parties
4. You need to have a plan and you need to work together. There is also no time for messing around with encounters. You have to be gate focused
5. Getting blessed is key, especially for the final fight since you aren't rolling as many dice
6. Trying to find table space for more than one expansion board is problematic. We had to use two side tables and a chair (actually this is more for problems with the game than for 2 people only. OK so you could choose not to use all the expansions, then you have to spend an afternoon taking out all the cards that aren't relevant).
7. At least one character needs to be combat orientated and willing to beat things up. If the other character isn't they need a good evade
8. If possible get your hands on a healing stone that can be passed between you (or choose characters that can heal themselves)
9. Be prepared for an hour of set up then 30 mins of gameplay - the expansions have instant death cards, and mythos cards that add 2 doom token at a time (we got 2 in a row)
10. You have to stop rumours straight away or again it gets out of hand
It is a great game and I love it, and there are so many variations on tactics depending on number of players/monster types. Still to try out the herald/guardian thing. Next time...
The coolest dice (and might have to be done for Arkham Horror) from our friends at Leisure Games - http://www.leisuregames.com/acatalog/Ca
And because Steve Jackson obviously hasn't had enough of our money yet, the munchkin board game (also available at LG)... http://www.sjgames.com/munchkin/munchki
This is the next rpg I will be buying, seems right up my street...
http://www.housesoftheblooded.com/
I expect Leisure Games to tell me when it is available.
We have now introduced a 'Fridays or Bust' rule to gaming. That means that we are going to meet every friday at my house and play something, as long as 3 out of the 5 came make it. Depending on who shows up it might be Dark Heresy or A State or even Zombie Fluxx, but we've got enough games to cobble something together. Game On.
I've decided to post one and only one photo of me and the spawny bump. For most effect it will be in a couple of months time, hopefully when I am still smiling and before I become like a beached whale clothed in a tent.
Looks like I am going to be spending the next 8 weeks of my life working on an IT project out of Paisley. Good news because it is interesting and different work and being away from the office means the days go faster. Bad news because I don't drive and it is in the middle of nowhere, and my boss, who frequently drives me mad, is also on the project. Also the coffees are quite expensive. So far mood is positive with reservations.
Do you think we are our own worst enemies? I think we do it to ourselves and that's what really hurts.
(apologies for 2 days of link posting, but better than nothing right?)
Now I can't even get 5 adults into one well stocked and comfortable kitchen between the hours of 6 and 10pm. And this is driving me mad. It is either work shifts (we have 3 shift workers in our group) or girlfriend commitments, or being too tired from general life. How priorities change for the worse.
As every day passes I have more game ideas that I want to try out and no one to torture with them. I think this is why I turned to trying to write my novel. At least that isn't a group activity. Just as Owen from Torchwood is still not dead yet (is there anyone apart from his agent that wants him to remain in the series?) the book is still not finished yet. Won't that make the reading all the better when it is? Anticipation or something?
I usually have a pretty good spider sense for any film about vampires, werewolves, ghosts, demons or anything that has been used as a subject for a WOD supplement (old WOD, not new WOD, as far as I'm concerned it doesn't exist). It looks satisfyingly gothic and just the sort of thing I would steal the plot from for one of my games. I happened to catch the trailer attached to my rental copy of Resident Evil: Extinction.
(If you enjoyed the first two RE films, you will enjoy this one as well. I love how they took the coolest bit from the first film and reused it cleverly. It's cool girl kicking zombie butt with evil corporation trying to take over the world. Just like some good movies....
Aliens: cool girl kicking alien butt with evil corporation trying to take over the world
Tomb Raider: cool girl kicking ancient butt with evil organisation trying to take over the world
Tank Girl: cool girl kicking facist butt with evil corporation trying to take over the world
Legally Blonde: cool girl kicking legal butt with evil college girls trying to take over the world (OK maybe not)
Anyway, the flick has gone straight onto my rental list (god bless lovefilm). Shame all the people who I could use the plot on (In Nomine or Demon:TF? Such hard decisions) also saw the trailer and will also want to see the film.....
I've just come back from Conpulsion 2008 in Edinburgh, and it was my first time. I've been meaning to go for many years, but the timing has never been right until now. In no particular order, here's a summary:
Good:
1. Meeting up with old acquantices like the guys from Cubicle 7 (I have been shamed into doing more playtesting)
2. Trying 3 games I've never played before (Hollow Earth, Celtic Legends, Aeternal Legends)
3. Seeing what is new and happening in the UK rpg industry (A State is very pretty indeed)
4. Getting a month's worth of gaming in one weekend (though my brain hurts a bit)
5. Zombie Fluxx! (If you have never played Fluxx, get yourself a deck now)
6. Finding a fantastic new system (Aeternal Legends rocks! I can feel the player torture coming on already)
Not so good:
1. Not being able to afford anything in the charity auction (where do these people get their money from?)
2. The limited choices of games and other activities to get involved in (but I realise this depends on who volunteers)
3. The lack of traders (again about who they can get)
4. The rpger stereotypes (I'm playing a girl, she has to act like a slut)
5. The atmosphere of the Con (too few people? too spread out in the building? too cold in the nightclub? too cliquey?)
I'd be keen to go back next year, but instead of staying overnight on the Saturday I might just go on the Sunday for the full day. Free parking :) Please don't be put off but what I've said, just being honest, rpg needs all the support it can get.
Often I'm told that I should get involved in running a Con I am so opinionated about it and I would love to, but I don't know anyone on a committee already, and it's a bit weird to volunteer to a bunch of strangers, and I'm not going to spend years gophering to ingratiate myself, I'm not THAT keen.
Anyway, overall, good times. Role on FantasyCon in September, where I might try and get some roleplaying sessions going. Hopefully Spawn can travel that soon.
Roleplaying On
by TamsynK/Elvis McGonagoll
He fights them on the beaches
He fights them on the seas
He fights them on the carpet
(Despite his creaky knees)
He fights them in his attic (and why not?)
He fights them in his head
He fights the Legions of Mordor
In his garden shed
With his barmy group of adventurers
In skin tones from red to blue
He is the very model of a modern action hero
Who need never meet his Waterloo
Whistling the theme to star wars
As he calculates his defence score
He knows exactly the strength check required
To break down an iron door
Like Louis XIV in a toy-shop
Consumed by insatiable decadence
“I’d like that guide to Norse Ice Spells please
And the expansion on combat elephants”
Hair thinning, waistline spreading
Is this an obsession he should indulge?
Surely the only battle for a middle-aged man
Is the battle of the bulge?
But fear not do not beware the Geek
For he’s no gun-toting, gung-ho hawk
He’s harmless, he faints at the sight of blood
His roleplaying games are all talk
He’s just a peaceful chap in his bedroom
He’s not Darius the Mighty of Ancient Thrace
Indeed, if Tony Blair had only stayed at home in Number Ten with a character sheet and d10
The world might be a safer place
As much as I love roleplaying I hate the tedium of the tabletop fight. This is not because I am anti-combat. In fact I love strategy related games (I spent months playing LOTR Tactics on the PSP, LOTR 2 on the 360, hmmm, there may be a pattern there) but for me there is no place for them in a proper gaming session.
It is probably something to do with the story that grinds to a halt with the obsessive rules checking (what is the minus for splitting your attacks while jumping over a wall?) and the utter randomness of the dice rolling system, of which d20 is the worst. You have spent hours tweaking your stats and feats until you look pretty impressive on paper, but no matter how good you are, 50% of the time you are going to fail, because the randomizing dice has 20 sides. Supposedly as you rise up the ranks and your skills improve you should reduce the number of rolls that result in a miss. However, the people you are fighting also level up as well, making it harder to hit them. so you never really get better odds. I'm trying to not get too geeky here, but this is why I always make characters with multiple attacks. Rolling the dice multiple times seems better to me that putting all your eggs in one basket and getting a 3.
I've got to admit, I'm one of those 'talky' gamers who likes to work through the story with words, discover the plot with clever phrases and bluffs, my wit against the dm, rather than a little bit of plastic and gravity against my character sheet. Controversial I realise, and more likely to get the response of 'well she is a girl'. Girl, schmirl. Aren't we supposed to be all about the story, not the speed of injury? If it is all about the fight then shouldn't we just network our gaming consoles instead and crack on with Gears of War?
Roleplayers. consider it for a moment...
Oops, the DM just asked me a question and I wasn't paying attention. Guess I should get back to the fight....
I'll promise to stop typing and get back into the game, which gives me long enough to give you the link to a fantastic online comic strip following a LOTR campaign (told you there was a pattern)
Twenty Sided DM of the Rings
