Trying to game, old school, with Siri

Did your last DM torture you? At least it wasn't as bad as Siri:

Wil Wheaton "Triple Word Score"

THIS. 100% This. Guys, do you ever get that feeling that no one out there "gets you"? Have hope. There may be someone out there for you. Wil Wheaton (yes, of Star Trek: The Next Generation fame) found someone who puts up with the nerdiness and puts up with the gaming. Here, he dispenses with the wisdom. [This video post is PG-13]

Remember to do all of the things together! They are fun.

W00tstock 5.0 - George RR Martin vs. Paul and Storm

Most gamers seem to be a fan of George RR Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series--also known now as HBO's Game of Thrones series. The books are outstanding. However, a lot of fans get filled with angst because release dates between books of the author is notoriously and severely long. There are now concerns that the HBO series will out pace the books. During the latest Comic-Con in San Diego, a comic duo called Paul and Storm had it out with the author (all in good fun):

There is a RPG published by Green-Ronin based on the world but I have not played it. Have any of you?

Warmachine Tactics Kickstarter

Here is another Kickstarter: Warmachine Tactics.

Privateer Press Interactive and their development partner WhiteMoon Dreams are working on this game. It looks like Final Fantasy Tactics and X-COM.

If you are a Warmachine fan, you might want to help this one out.

Mechwarrior Online

Why didn't any of you tell me that this was coming? MechWarrior Online is available now in as an open lab and is scheduled to go live in a few months! Looks *meching* sweet!

WE ARE THE VANGUARD OF HONOUR! Space Hulk pre-order now on Steam!

Check THIS out. Space Hulk is available for pre-order on Steam. It will be released on August 15th:

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Preview

The sequel to Amazing Spider-Man is stirring up quite the debate out here on the Internet. Especially with the look of Electro. What do you all think? Is it right for the "New Look" of these movies or should they have stuck with the "traditional" feel of the comics?

I hope this Lego based video game is as good as previous Lego games like the Batman, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and Indiana Jones themed games. It is available for pre-order at Amazon and is scheduled to be released on October 22:

I can't wait. HULK SMASH!

John Williams is confirmed to score Star Wars: Episode VII!

Just announced by Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy at Star Wars Celebration Europe: The legendary John Williams is confirmed to score Star Wars: Episode VII!


This is pretty epic geek news. JJ Abrams and John Williams and Star Wars all together. Expectations are rising. I should start tempering them now.

Activision Blizzard buys itself back from parent company.

I found this to be pretty big news.  Activision Blizzard bought itself back from Vivendi.  I wonder if this will help them develop more and not be pressured by the parent company.  WoW subs keep going down and the game has been becoming fairly stale.

http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/07/26/activision-blizzard-goes-indie-after-ceo-kotick-buys-back-the-co/

Geek Boutique at Amazon.com

I always encourage people to shop locally. I do. It helps our local economy and helps preserve our jobs. So with all due respect to my friends at all of our local friendly gaming and book stores, this is pretty awesome:


I promise to get links up to our FLGS (Friendly Local Gaming Stores) on a permanent page up soon.

Make your own comic!

Just a quick post:

Here is a Kickstarter for anyone who has ever dreamed about writing comics but was stopped by not knowing how to do it. Hurry, the campaign ends soon:


I think this tool could be a fun and useful tool for not only making your own comic books but creating fun stories with your kids and story boarding your RPGs.

3D Virtual Tabletop for Android and iOS

This app is available for your laptop as a Chrome app, as an iOS app and as an Android app. I am looking forward to testing it out. I am not sure I like the idea of everyone hunching around a little screen instead of a battle mat but I will try to keep an open mind.

http://youtu.be/es1J5EZ2JyM

You can get the Chrome app here and the iOS app at iTunes. For your Android Device, purchase from Amazon:

http://www.3dvirtualtabletop.com/

General Game Master Advice

I plan on writing a series of Game Mastering columns but I thought I'd start with one from someone else. Here is one of my favorite articles written over ten years ago by Alan De Smet, a software engineer and gamer. Therefore, one of us. Enjoy!

Tips for Game Masters

by Alan De Smet

You are a Dungeon Master, a Storyteller, a Referee, an Animator, a Marshall, a Director or whatever your favorite role-playing game calls it. You are a Game Master. The GM. It's hard but rewarding.

Most role-playing games have a little section of how to run a game. They discuss setting the mood, crafting stories, reacting to player surprises, and more. Great stuff. But none of them seem to give you concrete suggestions, tips to make your life as a GM easier. Any given game may have a suggestion or two, but certainly not a nice complete list.

Here is my collection of tips, appropriate for most role-playing games. Short and sweet. If you've got any comments, let me know.

The Golden Rule

Have fun.

Maybe you're breaking a "rule" from a magazine article or web page. If you're having fun, don't worry about it.

For every bit of advice, guideline, or rule for better GMing, there is at least one game in your city, probably with people you know, that would be ruined by it.

All styles of play are valid

Hack and slash is fine if everyone involved likes it. Interacting with store keepers is fine. Angsting away in the corner is fine. Backstabbing party members is fine. Using out of game knowledge is fine. Strongly plot driven games are fine. Open ended games with minimal plots are fine. Heavily planned games are fine. Games run entirely improvised on the spur of the moment by the GM are fine. If you're having fun... it's fine.

Conversely, if a particular element is hurting the groups fun, take it out. Nothing is sacred. Want to run a hack and slash Vampire? White Wolf appears to condone it. Other worldly horror in D&D? Why not?

Don't feel constrained to the style of game you think you should be running. The rule books are just a suggestion and your past experience is past. Do what's fun.

Be aware of what you and your players want. If you want something different from your players, something is going to have to change. Probably you, since you're the loner. Similarly, if a single player wants a different style of play, if it can't be easily integrated, don't force the issue. Sometimes players or game masters don't fit a particular gaming group. It doesn't make anyone wrong, it just didn't work out.

Given this, never deride another gamer's choice of game or style. If he's enjoying it, it's right for him. Whatever you play there are gamers who hold it in low regard.

Pre-Game Player Interaction

Run a mailing list

More and more gamers have email access. Use email to help organize your group. A mailing list with an archive of previous discussions can really help. You can set up a free mailing list for you and your friends at eGroups. Presumably you game as a social event, so use email to extend the social aspect a bit.

Send pre-game update emails

This is even easier if you have a mailing list. A few days before your game, send out a reminder message. Remind everyone of the time and place of the game. Ask people to confirm that they'll be there. This way you'll be able to plan for any missing people. If there are special details for this game session ("Bring $20 for the pizza fund"), this is the spot for them. If you run a regular game and need to cancel a session ("No game this week while I'm on vacation"), you can easily communicate it here.

While you're sending out the message, provide a two or three sentence summary of what happened last week. "Last week the group left town to defeat the dragon. While climbing the mountain to the dragon's lair, the group barely fought off some griffins. Now the group stands at the entrance to the dragon's cave." The reminder will get people excited for the next game and get them planning their actions. If your mailing list is being archived, these short summaries can be collected to form a brief history of the campaign to reminisce over.

Player and Character Questions

Characters tend to enter the game world as empty slates. Maybe the player writes up a twenty page history of his character's childhood traumas, but it's just words on paper. The player certainly doesn't know his character.

Play helps flesh out characters. After a few sessions you'll start learning about who the character really is. Does the character stick with his friends through thick and thin? Does he help people in trouble? Actual game play adds details to a character. Unfortunately many of the little details, the details that make characters human, don't usually come up in play. Details that can be useful. What does the character dream about? What did he think of his schoolmates? Who does he fantasize about?

Email is an excellent opportunity to collect these details. The answers will give you more tools to use and will give the players deeper insight into their characters. A week or so before a game session, email out a question. Attach some little reward to answering it (experience points, a re-roll during the next game, a vote on pizza toppings).

Let your players know that you are expecting short answers. No more than a few sentences. Too much information will drown you and drain your players of energy. They'll be more like to take the time if it only takes a few minutes. You certainly don't want your players to start resenting the questions. After all, it's only a game.

Pick a mix of questions, some simple (What type of hat does your character wear?), some hard (How does your character feel about the war?). If you need particular information for a future plot line, ask several months in advance (Who is your character's dearest love? What does your character have nightmares about?). Find out what your players like (What is your favorite movie? What radio station is your car radio tuned to right now?), what they don't like (What popular television show do you hate?) and what they fear (What movie scares you the most?).

I suggest starting with simple questions. Give the characters a bit of time to grow in the game before you ask deeper questions.

You might want to look at my list of questions for players and characters for some ideas.

In-Game Tools

Random NPC Cheat Sheet

I keep a list of about 200 random names. When the characters ask a random townsperson for their name, I can quickly pick one, cross it off my list, and use it. Just having a name quickly at hand makes the character more real.

• Web based fantasy name generator
• Everchanging Book of Names, excellent Windows program.

Have mini-encounters ready

Review: King of Tokyo

Everyone has heard of Richard Garfield. The man only created THE defining CCG of all time, Magic: the Gathering. With KING OF TOKYO, Richard Garfield brings us an outstanding game for 2 to 6 players in which you will be able to play mutant monsters, gigantic robots and other monstrous creatures, each of whom attack each other with monstrous glee in an attempt to become the one and only King of Tokyo:

When it is your turn to play, you throw six dice. Each die has one of the following six symbols: 1, 2 or 3 Points of Victory, Energy, Healing or Attack. In three successive throws, you are going to choose whether to keep or discard each die in order to come up with combinations that will enable you to win Victory Points, hoard energy, restore your health or attack other players.

Players who attack Tokyo will find themselves inside Tokyo and will be crowned King of Tokyo...and will end up finding that all of the other monsters are now against them!

There are also special cards that you can purchase with the energy you collect from the dice rolls and that can either have a permanent or temporary effect, such as growing a second head which grants you an additional dice, body armor, a jet pack, poisonous spikes and many more great ideas out of cheesy monster movies. I can just hear the MST3K guys in my head every time I play this game. The cards in my opinion are key to victory in many instances of this game.

In order to win the game, one must either destroy Tokyo by accumulating 20 Victory points or be the only surviving monster at the end of the game.

I have played the game nearly a dozen times now in groups of three and up to five. It was enjoyable each time I played. The rules are simple enough for children to understand and is a lot of fun--especially when you are allowed to emulate the monster you are playing at the table like me and my son do...

This game makes for a fun family game night. Highly recommended.

More Superman and who's ready for more zombie love?

There was a lot to talk about of all of the news coming out of the San Diego Comic-Con. DC Comics and Warner Brothers are all set to do another Superman movie only this time Batman will be in it. If you like your action more dead and bite-y, this trailer has all the goods:

It looks like the Walking Dead series on AMC Network is only going to get better. Some of my favorite gaming moments were set in modern times using the d20 Modern setting by Wizards of the Coast. What systems are you guys out there using now for modern day settings?

I don't grok Minecraft!

A few months back, a young boy asked me to install a new game on his Nabi 2 Tablet. This game was called Minecraft. I had heard of this game in passing at work. Something about being able to "set up a server", the "sandbox environment", "kids love it" and then I tuned out. That young boy? Turns out he is my son and he REALLY wanted it and it was only few dollars for this version. The game's reviews looked positive and it is a game about building and not destroying.

If you are unfamiliar with Minecraft it basically involves breaking and mining blocks and then building and crafting items with them. Players can then design structures for protection or just to see what they can create. The biggest criticism about the game I ever got before downloading it was about the blocky "old school" graphics.

This looked suitable for my elementary aged son. I downloaded the game and installed it onto his trusty Android based Nabi 2. Overjoyed, he ran off with his tablet and started in immediately. That was a few months ago. Now, just in case the Nabi's battery has gone kaput, we now have the iVersion and the XBox version. All this just so we can be fully Minecraft redundant. That's right, there is 99.999% Minecraft uptime at this household. Due to some limitations with the Pocket editions and our want of experimentation we also now have the "full" version on the PC in his room. When not playing the electronic version, he pretends to play the game with his Lego's. Nearly every other waking moment he watches YouTube videos about Minecraft for inspiration on what to build while playing the game. He even looks for Minecraft exploits! Last week he wanted Star Wars texture mods!

My name is Mark. I may have lost my son to Minecraft. 

I wonder if my parents felt the same way when I found Star Wars or Mario? I have tried to play this game and I just can not sit still long enough to get into it. My son really wants me to set up a server so we can play together. I am not so sure. Mario? I rule! Bring it on Bowser! Zelda? The same! Give me the Master Sword and let's go save the Princess! I can never get the controls right. And this recipe stuff? Ungh... Let's just go win!

But then this game isn't about winning. It is about building and using your resources wisely and creating things. That is what makes it so fun. I guess I am just too competitive.

Verdict: I highly recommend Minecraft for children as young as seven years old. My son enjoys playing it every day. I can see how it might help build problem solving skills and foster creativity and, when played on a server, teamwork.

Minecraft for PC is available at https://mojang.com/

Minecraft Pocket Edition is available on Apple iTunes for the iPad and for Android devices at Amazon here:

Minecraft for the XBox is available at Amazon (play via XBox Live) here:

I will make every attempt to grok it so my son and I can create worlds unknown to any before!

...And we're back!

After an extended, multiyear break, THE St. Louis Gamer is BACK! We are going to focus on areas of gaming for today's generation of gamers. We will discuss collectible card games, board games, roleplaying games and will expand into electronic gaming on all realms to include handheld games, console and PCs games. Nerd and geek culture will also be celebrated here. Plenty of Star Wars and Star Trek, fantasy and science fiction TV, movies and books will be discussed as well. All are welcome in this hall!

Much more to come...