Sometimes you just want a tasty treat, and you’ve got to make it yourself. You’re going to need ingredients, some sort of container, and maybe some utensils to get the job done, though. That might sound simple enough, and even on Newfoundland it should be that simple on paper . . . except the pages of your Recipe Book keep getting torn out by storms, and just when you’ve got the right amount of blueberries one of those goddamn mainlander raccoons shows up and eats some of them. Ah well, you’ll just have to unpack some more groceries. Let’s make some friggin’ jam with Newfoundland Jam, the ‘colourful jam making game with flavourful cuss words’ from Jason Anarchy Games!
Monthly Archives: May 2019
The Independents: Heroes All
Superhero stories are at their most interesting when talking about conflicts that aren’t easily knocked down with super-strength or a utility belt of gadgets. The most memorable superheroes across every continuity are those who are both relatable and who must struggle to earn their victories. As our readers have seen with Seamus’s High Impact Heroics Adventure Log, there are newer supers games like Masks which do a great job of emphasizing the human aspects of the superheroic. Cut from a similar cloth is Heroes All, a new game by Brandon Sichling. Heroes All is built around the core conflicts that make or break a superheroic character. By pairing the creation of an antagonist with the player’s protagonist, Heroes All creates an immediate conflict for every player right out of the gate.
Meet the Party: Star Wars: Jedi Knights and Clone Soldiers
A Jedi Knight forced to become a leader and a teacher, learning as much as she goes along from those under her wing as they’re learning from her. A Padawan on his second Master, fighting in a war when he’d rather be studying, because such is apparently the will of the Force. An officer, first among brothers, determined to get as many of them alive to the end of the war . . . whatever that might mean for them. A pilot who wouldn’t be out of place at a Corellian spacer’s cantina, never mind that he’s technically only eleven standard years old. A trooper who believes a quantity of firepower has a quality all its own, but it’s not the only quality worth bringing to the battlefield. These Heroes of the Republic are ready to fight the good fight on whatever planet it comes to, so let’s see what they can do and fight back against the Rise of the Separatists!
Continue reading Meet the Party: Star Wars: Jedi Knights and Clone Soldiers
Adventure Log: Dungeons and Dragons, Part 13
What? Whaaaaat? Really putting the wonkiness in Wonk here, after last week’s little doozy. But yeah, there are still a couple Adventure Logs left before I put a feather in the cap of my last attempt at running Dungeons and Dragons. This is the penultimate Adventure Log, from a series of sessions run in August of last year that led to an intriguing conclusion.
Continue reading Adventure Log: Dungeons and Dragons, Part 13
Star Wars: Rise of the Separatists Review
“The galaxy is in conflict. After years of growing tension, the worlds of the SEPARATIST ALLIANCE have seceded from the GALACTIC REPUBLIC. Under the leadership of the Jedi Knights, clone troopers fight bravely against the remorseless droid army. Away from the battlefields, Separatist diplomats and agents work to turn additional planes against the Republic, and both sides seeks alliances with neutral systems. Meanwhile, smugglers, scavengers, and pirates find opportunities to profit from the war, which continues with no peace in sight . . .” Such is the opening crawl for Rise of the Separatists, the latest Era Sourcebook from Fantasy Flight Games. The light of the Jedi Order still shines, the Republic still stands, and clones fight the good fight, so let’s go section by section to see what this book has to offer for Star Wars Roleplaying!
Maybe…Don’t Play D&D?
Earlier this year Dungeons and Dragons, and, as a result, the role-playing game as a formal, published form, turned 45. It is one of the youngest mediums in entertainment; as a point of comparison the first video game patent was issued in 1948, making that medium over 70. And like video games did with arcades and Atari, role-playing games are beginning to enjoy mainstream recognition, several decades after their genesis. There’s another similarity between video games, consoles specifically, and role-playing games: the first mainstream video game console outsold every competitor it had more than ten to one, just like the first mainstream role-playing game. In video games that was the Atari 2600, and in role-playing games that’s Dungeons and Dragons.
The Artificer Returns: The Unearthening
You can’t keep a good Artificer down, especially when there’s Arcana being Unearthed. That’s right, this very day we’ve got a new version of Eberron’s magical mechanical manufacturer for 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons to check out, including a pair of completely new builds for the class! So prepare your infusions, craft your gear, and get ready to see what new frontiers of magic-as-science are being explored!
Meet the Party: Star Wars: Allies and Adversaries
From the bowels of amusement we stab at thee! Last week we covered an overview of Allies and Adversaries, but now it’s time for some fun, to breathe some life into the words and number on the page. These might not be the most serious or mechanically maximized characters we’ve ever built, but they are a nice way to show off the new character choices that Allies and Adversaries offers: The Ewok, Jawa and Tusken Raider. So, take a gander at the Oddball Defense Force!
Continue reading Meet the Party: Star Wars: Allies and Adversaries
The Independents: The ORPHEUS Protocol
I duck behind a car for a moment, trying to catch my breath. Silencing the voices in my head is no easy feat, but I need a clear mind if I’m going to make it out of this alive. Check my pistol, three shots left. Check my shoulder, clean exit wound. We expected armed guards, we just didn’t expect them to be lead by a rampaging arch-demon. How did these mercenaries even manage to summon that thing?
Welcome to The ORPHEUS Protocol, a game of cult infiltration, mind-numbing monsters, and spy-thriller action. Have the urge to play a coven of monster-exterminating witches? How about a traveling exorcist and his werewolf companion? Maybe a militant team of cyborgs who are also ghost hunters? Buckle your seatbelts eldritch fans, things are about to get weird.
PAX Independents: … and then we died
Being a ghost is a tough gig, even if you’re ‘lucky’ enough to be hanging around with a bunch of other ghosts. I mean, there you are all definitely deceased but not passing on, and you’ve got no idea how you got there. Passing on to the other side seems like a definite improvement, but you really want to figure out how your life ended first, right? So how does one do that? Well, you and your fellow ghosts will have to tell the story of your demise to one another, plucking fragments of words and memories from the aether and stringing them together. Such is the tale to be told with the storytelling game from Emma Larkins … and then we died. Continue reading PAX Independents: … and then we died
Cannibal Halfling Gaming 