Brent
The Eternity RPG – A Review
A couple weeks ago, I played a game of the upcoming role-playing game Eternity with its designer, Mark Diaz Truman. Even though game is still in beta, the rules work well, and we had a great time. It’s a game of gods and their chosen people. Each player starts by defining a god’s name and sphere of influence. Then players starts defining specific aspects of the god, and here’s where things start to get really interesting. […]
My dream house
Last night, I dreamt of my house. When I dream, I frequently find myself living in this particular house. It’s a two-story Victorian with pale yellow siding. I live on the first floor, with its living room and kitchen and bedrooms in the back, and I barely ever think of the second floor. In the dream, I need something or want something on the second floor, or I have to escape from something horrible downstairs, so I go up. The upstairs is lovely: large […]
Homemade Cough Syrup
This is the cough syrup of good intentions. I like making homemade things. Since I’ve been fighting some kind of super-illness for the past few weeks, I researched a few recipes for homemade cough syrup. There are two main varieties: one based on apple cider vinegar, and another based on honey. It should be no surprise that I tried the latter option. This cough syrup is simple: 1/4 cup […]
50 Games in 50 Weeks: The Miskatonic School for Girls
This is a game about schoolgirls driven slowly crazy by horrible monsters, yet it’s quirky and fun. If you can’t imagine how that might be, this is the wrong game for you. Miskatonic School for Girls is a card game in which you build a deck of schoolgirls and school paraphernalia, face monstrous teachers, and try to drive other players’ girls crazy while protecting your own from paddling […]
Now I Know the Meaning of Slitches
My co-worker Tim and I stepped into the American restaurant on the corner. The bleary-eyed maitre’d pointed us towards a table near the front, part of a trio enclosed by glass on three sides. One of the other tables was empty. The third hosted four women, all in their late 20’s, who wore name brands and talked louder than absolutely necessary. Tim and I sat, our server took our drink order, and the woman at the far end said, […]
50 Games in 50 Weeks: Gamma World 4E
4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons‘s modularity makes it suitable for many genres: the modern era, Spelljammer, and even the gonzo mutant future of Gamma World. For those unfamiliar: Gamma World was a D&D post-apocalyptic setting that included grenade-throwing rabbit-men, sentient plants, and crumbling radioactive cities. It’s a wonderful, ridiculous potpourri of post-apocalyptic elements. Gamma World 4E updates this with D&D 4E’s mechanical approach. A lot of people dislike 4E’s mechanics […]
50 Games in 50 Weeks: Dungeon Run
How do you make a dungeon crawl into a board game? I can’t think of a better way than Dungeon Run. The players start by choosing a hero, and placing it on the single dungeon entrance tile. The heroes then move to new rooms and fight monsters. Eventually, someone will find the Summoning Stone, turning the […]
50 Games in 50 Weeks: Giants (board game)
This is a fascinating game, both for its historical perspective and its mechanics. Giants simulates the behaviors of Easter Island’s inhabitants. You control the population, consuming the island’s resources and building giant stone statues. You have to quarry the stone, then move it to the coast for carving and erection. A few interesting mechanics: you need logs to move your statues, and there need to be people on all the game board spaces leading from […]
50 Games in 50 Weeks: Cthulhu Dice
Cthulhu Dice is an odd little game. On one hand, it’s dramatically simple: each player has three sanity tokens. On your turn, choose another player, roll a die, and do whatever the die tells you (take sanity from the other player, lose sanity, etc.). If you’re targeted by another player, you get a free die roll in response. Continue until only one player has any sanity […]