I knew I'd been reading a fair bit this month, but it surprised me when I had a look at Goodreads and realised that I'd gone a book ahead (which is much better than 4 or 5 behind). Now just to keep it up. Summary coming soon.
31 May 2019
28 May 2019
First Impressions - The Fall of Rome
Off work today looking after the kids as it's half term. It's been a pretty grim day, with lots of rain. They did get a good runabout earlier but once they started to get fractious I decided that it was boardgame time and dug out Pandemic: Fall of Rome. It's not one that we've played before, but they do like the Forbidden Island and Forbidden Desert games which use some of the same underpinning mechanics.
27 May 2019
First Impressions - Alien Quickstart
So, the Alien Quickstart dropped last night just before 11pm so I stayed up to read it.
Some quick thoughts:
* This is very much an evolution of Coriolis, but more brutal.
* It's very pretty.
* You have four stats, and 12 skills (3 linked to each stat)
* Four character types - Frontier Colonists, Space Truckers, Company Reps and Colonial Marines.
* Usual Year Zero Engine - roll a handful of dice from stat + skill + gear looking for 6s (actually a star on the special dice you'll be able to get).
* Pushing a skill roll (re-rolling failures except facehuggers) adds a stress level
* Certain situations (like being jumped by a xenomorph or finding out your colleague is an Android) generate stress levels.
*Stress levels act as extra dice you must use. They can generate extra successes (because you're stressed and more focussed) but if you roll a 1 (facehugger) then you panic.
*Panic is bad. You roll a D6 plus your current stress level. Low results mean you are scared and a bit flakey, high results can result in paranoia, violence or catatonia. Certain character types can go the full Hudson and attack things instead.
* You can lose stress by relaxing and feeling safe.
* Resource management can be important (Air/Water/Food/Power) and running out has mechanical effects and adds to stress.
* Cinematic mode will be brutal on characters.
* Cinematic mode runs in three acts. Each character has a personal agenda in each act.
* Completing personal agendas gains you a story point. This sits with the player (not the character) and can be spent for an automatic success (ie a 6 roll).
* Agendas can drive PVP. Once it escalates, the GM can take over a character and they become an NPC.
* The cinematic mode scenario in the game is likely to chew through incautious characters. Fortunately, there are plenty of spares.
* The scenario does recognisably feel like an Alien film.
* The Xenomorph stats have a random roll table for 'special moves'. You can roll this, or just pick and make it up yourself. Looks like the tables in Forbidden Lands.
The production values are really high. The art is great. It will definitely catch the feel of the films. The material presented is more aligned to a one shot rather than a campaign (but the campaign material is not presented in this). The rules seem comprehensive and thought through and there are few errors in the text.
Definitely pleased that I ordered this.
* You have four stats, and 12 skills (3 linked to each stat)
* Four character types - Frontier Colonists, Space Truckers, Company Reps and Colonial Marines.
* Usual Year Zero Engine - roll a handful of dice from stat + skill + gear looking for 6s (actually a star on the special dice you'll be able to get).
* Pushing a skill roll (re-rolling failures except facehuggers) adds a stress level
* Certain situations (like being jumped by a xenomorph or finding out your colleague is an Android) generate stress levels.
*Stress levels act as extra dice you must use. They can generate extra successes (because you're stressed and more focussed) but if you roll a 1 (facehugger) then you panic.
*Panic is bad. You roll a D6 plus your current stress level. Low results mean you are scared and a bit flakey, high results can result in paranoia, violence or catatonia. Certain character types can go the full Hudson and attack things instead.
* You can lose stress by relaxing and feeling safe.
* Resource management can be important (Air/Water/Food/Power) and running out has mechanical effects and adds to stress.
* Cinematic mode will be brutal on characters.
* Cinematic mode runs in three acts. Each character has a personal agenda in each act.
* Completing personal agendas gains you a story point. This sits with the player (not the character) and can be spent for an automatic success (ie a 6 roll).
* Agendas can drive PVP. Once it escalates, the GM can take over a character and they become an NPC.
* The cinematic mode scenario in the game is likely to chew through incautious characters. Fortunately, there are plenty of spares.
* The scenario does recognisably feel like an Alien film.
* The Xenomorph stats have a random roll table for 'special moves'. You can roll this, or just pick and make it up yourself. Looks like the tables in Forbidden Lands.
The production values are really high. The art is great. It will definitely catch the feel of the films. The material presented is more aligned to a one shot rather than a campaign (but the campaign material is not presented in this). The rules seem comprehensive and thought through and there are few errors in the text.
Definitely pleased that I ordered this.
22 May 2019
19 May 2019
A selection of Thrillers
The last month I've not been at my best from a combination of tiredness and then a horrible chest infection which took about three weeks to shift properly. As a result, I've not found myself able to focus brilliantly; work and then the North Star preparation dominated.
I've watched a few thrillers recently as mind-candy when I couldn't face doing something more constructive like writing. They're all old ones that I missed when they came out because of the lack of cinema nights once the kids arrived.
The films included Safe House, Spy Game and Hanna. I'll add some thoughts after the break below.
17 May 2019
2019 Reading Challenge: A bit behind
 |
| A little behind |
The last few years I've been using Goodreads to track my reading, which beats the spreadsheets that I used to use. Pre-kids, I used to read somewhere between 80 and 110 books a year, but now I'm just striving to manage one a week on average.
The last three years, I've made the target easily, but this year it's been a struggle and I've been close on two months behind. I've pulled it back a little over the last few weeks with a series of roleplaying books, and I suspect I'll be fine for the year[1], but I've never been behind before. I'm kind of dreading doing the mini-reviews for the Tavern.
It's been a pretty busy year, with some of my spare time diverted to writing and organising a variety of projects, plus I've hit at least one book that has been hard work[2]. It'll be interesting to see how things go along.
17 May 2019
[1] If I'm stuck, I can always start to re-read the Sandman or League of Extraordinary Gentlemen collected editions!
[2] Gnomon, I'm looking at you!
14 May 2019
North Star 2019 report
Our second North Star, a convention born of an impulse decision after a conversation between Graham and I about TravCon, provided a great weekend of gaming. After a pretty frantic Friday completing my game preparation as a result of game changes in the last two weeks, I rolled into the Garrison around 9am on Saturday to find that my co-conspirator Graham had already set the room up. I only needed to get the badges out and the signs up before we started. Like Revelation, North Star has a very relaxed feel compared to the start of Furnace. It’s probably the difference of thirty-five people instead of seventy-five.
My first game was Space 1889 run by Paul Mitchener. I’ve loved this setting for a long time, but never really got it to the table so the opportunity to play was something that I jumped at. This was my first visit to Venus, and it was by Zeppelin, piloted by my young blonde German inventor, Lena. Keary was playing the explorer who owned the airship, and we naughtily added some suggestive shenanigans into the game. Of course, he was my ‘Uncle’! We quickly encountered a flyer working using Martian lift-wood technology (something which shouldn’t work, and indeed is one of the reasons the British aren’t in control of the planet). This moved to attack us; they failed, naturally and we ended up in a search for the source of the lift-wood and also the crew of another Zeppelin who were going to be forced to fight for their lives in a gladiatorial arena in a hidden city. We managed to succeed with some derring-do and had a lot of fun. It ended with us setting up a tri-partite company to exploit the new technology as good Imperialists do. I enjoyed the setting, the game and the player’s take on the characters. I’d definitely like to look at this again. Shout out to Paul, who was one of our hero GMs, running three slots.
Morrisons for lunch, with an uninspiring feta salad.
Slot 2 brought Chitter, a game set in the Skyrealms of Jorune universe using Genesys run by Richard Talbot, one of my fellow BITS colleagues. I’d read Jorune years ago but had never got to the point of playing or running it. I’d also never gone anywhere near Genesys in any of its forms, so this was a real voyage of discovery for me. The adventure had a vibe of films like ‘Southern Comfort’ or ‘Deliverance’. We were a militia patrol sent into the deep forest to try and find out what was killing all our livestock. Our ragtag group consisted of a pure-strain human and most of the hybrid creatures from the human geneering programme. We managed to establish a good relationship with the locals quite quickly, and soon set off in pursuit of the cause of the trouble. My Bron (a Bear hybrid) was the squad leader and had to pull our dysfunctional and rag-tag band together. Somehow, we did it all by the numbers and managed to succeed at the plot. I found that Genesys worked well enough, but I’m not sure why I’d use it over other games. Jorune was interesting, and Richard had prepared a rich and interesting scenario for us. Richard was also one of our hero GMs, running three games back-to-back.
Dinner was the traditional trip to KFC with Keary and John.
The evening slot was my first game, Plausible Deniability. This was a Traveller scenario which I’d previously tested at TravCon 2018. It is built around the player characters signing up as the crew of a Type T Patrol Cruiser deployed as a deniable privateer asset by the Imperium. It built upon the Letter of Marque supplement, and I introduced some elements of troupe play so the whole command crew didn’t end up on every mission. There was much privateering fun and a scramble for funds to keep the ship aloft. The crew were dysfunctional (well, they were pirates!). Tom and Andy did a grand job of ripping everyone off. Fil brilliantly played the noble and owner-on-board whose ‘Daddy had bought me this ship”. The players did really well and met the scenario objectives in a far more direct manner than I expected. There were some comments that it felt like the start of a campaign; these nailed it as the scenario was designed as the pilot/introduction to a campaign. I enjoyed this and need to develop it a bit further. I think my GMing was okay for this game, but tiredness was starting to show.
A visit to the bar, followed by rather a late one catching up with Neil McGurk and drinking some of the bottle of Jura that I had brought with me. We called it a day at 2am.
The next morning started too early when I got a text at 6.50am from my eldest’s football coach wishing him luck in the match that he had that day. A little too early on a Sunday, I think!
Garrison breakfast with the Baldowskis and Graham, and then we were off again for Day 2.
Slot 4 had me playing Valkyrie Nine, Paul Baldowski’s fun SF horror using the Cthulhu Hack. Having subsequently bought and read the book, I am surprised how well we managed to stumble around in our guise as the moonbase’s robots missing most of the clues yet managing to come out with a positive solution. Of course, we all died, but not before my bot achieved self-awareness and insanity. Great group of players and much fun was had. I really enjoyed myself, and Paul didn’t seem too jaded to be running it for the second slot in a row. He had kindly stepped up as a hero GM to fill a gap when one of the other GMs pulled out of the convention at short notice.
My first game was Space 1889 run by Paul Mitchener. I’ve loved this setting for a long time, but never really got it to the table so the opportunity to play was something that I jumped at. This was my first visit to Venus, and it was by Zeppelin, piloted by my young blonde German inventor, Lena. Keary was playing the explorer who owned the airship, and we naughtily added some suggestive shenanigans into the game. Of course, he was my ‘Uncle’! We quickly encountered a flyer working using Martian lift-wood technology (something which shouldn’t work, and indeed is one of the reasons the British aren’t in control of the planet). This moved to attack us; they failed, naturally and we ended up in a search for the source of the lift-wood and also the crew of another Zeppelin who were going to be forced to fight for their lives in a gladiatorial arena in a hidden city. We managed to succeed with some derring-do and had a lot of fun. It ended with us setting up a tri-partite company to exploit the new technology as good Imperialists do. I enjoyed the setting, the game and the player’s take on the characters. I’d definitely like to look at this again. Shout out to Paul, who was one of our hero GMs, running three slots.
Morrisons for lunch, with an uninspiring feta salad.
Slot 2 brought Chitter, a game set in the Skyrealms of Jorune universe using Genesys run by Richard Talbot, one of my fellow BITS colleagues. I’d read Jorune years ago but had never got to the point of playing or running it. I’d also never gone anywhere near Genesys in any of its forms, so this was a real voyage of discovery for me. The adventure had a vibe of films like ‘Southern Comfort’ or ‘Deliverance’. We were a militia patrol sent into the deep forest to try and find out what was killing all our livestock. Our ragtag group consisted of a pure-strain human and most of the hybrid creatures from the human geneering programme. We managed to establish a good relationship with the locals quite quickly, and soon set off in pursuit of the cause of the trouble. My Bron (a Bear hybrid) was the squad leader and had to pull our dysfunctional and rag-tag band together. Somehow, we did it all by the numbers and managed to succeed at the plot. I found that Genesys worked well enough, but I’m not sure why I’d use it over other games. Jorune was interesting, and Richard had prepared a rich and interesting scenario for us. Richard was also one of our hero GMs, running three games back-to-back.
Dinner was the traditional trip to KFC with Keary and John.
The evening slot was my first game, Plausible Deniability. This was a Traveller scenario which I’d previously tested at TravCon 2018. It is built around the player characters signing up as the crew of a Type T Patrol Cruiser deployed as a deniable privateer asset by the Imperium. It built upon the Letter of Marque supplement, and I introduced some elements of troupe play so the whole command crew didn’t end up on every mission. There was much privateering fun and a scramble for funds to keep the ship aloft. The crew were dysfunctional (well, they were pirates!). Tom and Andy did a grand job of ripping everyone off. Fil brilliantly played the noble and owner-on-board whose ‘Daddy had bought me this ship”. The players did really well and met the scenario objectives in a far more direct manner than I expected. There were some comments that it felt like the start of a campaign; these nailed it as the scenario was designed as the pilot/introduction to a campaign. I enjoyed this and need to develop it a bit further. I think my GMing was okay for this game, but tiredness was starting to show.
A visit to the bar, followed by rather a late one catching up with Neil McGurk and drinking some of the bottle of Jura that I had brought with me. We called it a day at 2am.
The next morning started too early when I got a text at 6.50am from my eldest’s football coach wishing him luck in the match that he had that day. A little too early on a Sunday, I think!
Garrison breakfast with the Baldowskis and Graham, and then we were off again for Day 2.
Slot 4 had me playing Valkyrie Nine, Paul Baldowski’s fun SF horror using the Cthulhu Hack. Having subsequently bought and read the book, I am surprised how well we managed to stumble around in our guise as the moonbase’s robots missing most of the clues yet managing to come out with a positive solution. Of course, we all died, but not before my bot achieved self-awareness and insanity. Great group of players and much fun was had. I really enjoyed myself, and Paul didn’t seem too jaded to be running it for the second slot in a row. He had kindly stepped up as a hero GM to fill a gap when one of the other GMs pulled out of the convention at short notice.
Lunch was an okay Chicken Salad from Morrisons. Quick preparation for the raffle, which went well. As usual, I managed not to win anything.
And then it was all over. Graham had already left, and by the time I departed around 6.30pm, the last group was coming to a close. It worked well enough that we’re going to do it all again in 2020 over the weekend of 9th/10th May.
Slot 5 was the game that had been both filling me with anticipation and terror in the run-up, a playtest of Blue Planet: Recontact with the scenario Trouble in Paradise. The scenario is the kick off for one of the campaign frames in the game. The characters are all part of Red Sky Charters, a family business already struggling to make ends meet. The game opens in media res, with the characters kidnapped by a group of Russian mobsters. It worked really well and the players just went through it. We all had a learning curve to do with the game, but the setting worked for people familiar with all the previous material and for those that had never seen it before. The players were awesome and it felt like the opening of a TV series. I’d have loved to have run a follow up with the same group. I’m pleased with how I GMd this. I was enthused and full of energy mostly. I will do this again. Big thanks to Alison, Tilly, Paul, Dr Bob and Neil for making this such good fun.
And then it was all over. Graham had already left, and by the time I departed around 6.30pm, the last group was coming to a close. It worked well enough that we’re going to do it all again in 2020 over the weekend of 9th/10th May.
14 May 2019