Blog Archives
sON THE TABLE: Encountering Proto-Traveller
Thursday , 8, June 2017 Tabletop Games, Traveller 11 CommentsThis is a game I’ve wanted to play for a long time: Traveller with just the original three little black books. Decoupled from the ponderous rules and “official” setting material that accrued steadily through subsequent releases and editions. I rolled up a character while the other players got into a scuffle at a psionics institute. […]
ON THE TABLE: SE4X Close Encounters on Extra Large 2-Player Map
Sunday , 4, June 2017 Tabletop Games 2 CommentsThis is had been an unplayed expansion on my shelf for far too long. My gut feeling had been that it was that it would be just too much to throw at people without having played more of the base game first. I think that’s wrong now. The stuff that is added in the first half […]
I used to think that sort of games I liked were complex. Mastering the rules, finding an opponent, and then teaching someone else how to play always seemed like a challenging undertaking to me, anyway. But everything’s relative. Compared to the old baseline of chess, checkers, Monopoly, Risk, and rummy the old “MicroGames” Car Wars, […]
Reaction Time: Old School Gaming and Appendix N
Thursday , 1, June 2017 Appendix N, Tabletop Games 14 CommentsOver at Save Versus All Wands, a post about a throwaway blog comment of mine has gotten record levels of traffic. Which is ironic, because I would have thought such sentiments would have been completely unremarkable among “old school” gamers. Fortunately, some people get it. I find Steve Queen’s comment there to be particularly cogent: […]
ON THE TABLE: Space Empires 4X, 3-player Short Game with Advanced Rules
Tuesday , 30, May 2017 Tabletop Games 3 CommentsThis game has been tough to get back on the table. “Real” wargamers tend to not touch space games. Euro gamers cannot handle the unmitigated direct conflict. Role-players have the luxury of just kicking back, rolling some dice, and watching where everything leads; their multi-year continuous campaigns leave them no time for space battles. Microgamers […]
Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition Keeper Rulebook Chapter 5: Game System
Thursday , 25, May 2017 Tabletop Games 6 CommentsRole-playing games can be played without reference to the rules. People have character sheets. The game master has a rough idea of a situation. And things just coast along somehow with the the numbers on the character sheets being used however the mood strikes him. If combat is not engaged, little more than a tithe […]
ON THE TABLE: Talon Scenario 12, “The Battle Line”
Wednesday , 24, May 2017 Tabletop Games Leave a commentThis was the big one. After ten or so scenarios of all sizes that get you up to speed on all the ships, weapons, and tactics of the game… the developers finally throw you into the biggest monster space battle in the box with the highest stakes imaginable: the fate of Earth hangs in the […]
The tramp freighter plying the star lanes, struggling to make ends meet, taking on illicit cargo, avoiding the law while trying to stay one jump ahead of debt collectors…is there anything more iconic in science fiction? This is a well-tapped vein that shows up everywhere from Northwest Smith to Han Solo to Mal Reynolds. It’s […]
Classic Traveller: Gearing Up for a Campaign
Thursday , 18, May 2017 Tabletop Games, Traveller, Uncategorized 11 CommentsSpace Opera seems to be in the air these days. And, I gues I’m not immune. I’ve been talked into it. It being running a Classic Traveller game. Which is the original and first Space Opera role playing game. The wrinkle we are taking is to play Proto-Traveller (term coined by this blog’s el jeffe […]
This is huge. Nine scenarios for Ogre: Designer’s Edition– most of which can also be played with Ogre Sixth Edition and Ogre Reinforcements— and all of them by the game’s original designer: Steve Jackson!!! Here’s what’s included: GEV Escort — The classic “kill the CP scenario”, but with G.E.V.s added to both sides. Gauntlet — […]
I’m still having a bit of culture shock with this game. The other players really want to split the party, for instance. Coming from the old school D&D table, I’m like… you gotta be kidding, eh?! But no, the Call of Cthulhu veterans are completely blasé about it. You don’t win by forming up into some kind […]
Given that my analysis of a recent article about Gary Gygax only covered the opening paragraph, I am very happy to see that Oakes Spalding over at Save Versus All Wants has given this piece his full attention: When I say that the narrative of D’Anastasio and her friends is the reverse of the truth, I […]