Cheese.

Cheese.

Do people even PLAY those anymore?

The saddest thing I've done in recent memory:

Browsing through the "games" aisle at Wal-Mart.

Over da' Boards: Final Stages

I'm confident that the rules for Over da' Boards are complete.

Correction and change notes from Over da' Boards playtesting sessions have gone from double sided 8.5x11 pages half the size of the rulebook, to a couple of blurbs on a couple of post-it notes. The last finishing touches for what will hopefully be the final stages of playtesting are being made tomorrow. If all goes well, it will go off to the proofer and the editor, then Ben and I will finalize the formatting and style for print and publish.


The first iteration of my game was played 30 years ago on my parents' kitchen table with my little brother. Very soon all of you will be able to jump into this tabletop time machine, and see what came out of the imagination of a ten year old me.

I hope you all have as much fun playing it as I've had making it.

Game on. :)



Doc

Board Game Review: Mice and Mystics

On  Mice and Mystics...

I just finished two sessions of Mice and Mystics with my wife and 2 young sons. The mechanics and artwork are superb, but there are a LOT of questions left unanswered by the rulebook and adventure book (called the storybook). Learning the game was daunting with the rulebook alone, but fortunately Plaid Hat provides an instructional video on their site: http://plaidhatgames.com .

The game says it's co-op, and suggests everyone at the table is a player with no need for a GM. When playing the game we found that the game runs a LOT smoother, more quickly, and the players have much  better time when it's run by a pseudo-GM... a concept hinted at, but not fleshed out in the rulebook. In the rulebook version, the pseudo-GM reads the "chapter" (adventure) beforehand, but that's all. I added the duties of reading the story text aloud, gradually revealing the map tiles, placing antagonists, and rolling for antagonists. If you want to know exactly how this was done, leave a comment below and I'll elaborate.

Bottom line: I'd say this game is a MUST buy for any lover of co-op games, dungeon crawling, and The Secret of Nimh (It captures the ambiance of the movie perfectly), even with the required initial FAQ hunting, and the steep price to box content ratio of the base set.

Oh... and the outcome of our games? The dice were not kind to us this day, but tomorrow is another day and we will happily brave the fantastic world of Mice and Mystics again! :)


Game on.

Doc

Shared Weave Games News

Shared Weave Games news:

Well, more tweaking needs to be done on Over da' Boards after playtesting with Hofer . It never seems to end, though I think I can see the finished product now, and this is a new feeling.

Designed 2 more panels for The Sacred Ice with Benjamin Hofer last night concurrently with the playtest, to further build the pre-launch buffer. I think Chantal Black has the fifth panel in hand for coloring and inking.

Another development: Hosting for the site is now decided, so soon it's point the domains and start building. Thanks to Justin Fitzpatrick for his company's services!

For fuck's sake internet...

Took me a bit to put these thoughts into words. I was mad. REALLY mad at something I read recently. 


I'm generally pretty good about avoiding the bullshit on the internet (avoid the comments... fer chrissake avoid the comments), but sometimes it invades your space. One of my favourite web-comic writers and game artists, John Kovalic, was trolled on Facebook by some asshat for being mad at a teenager that broke multiple driving laws and slammed into his wife's minivan (with his wife and child inside), and started to, but was talked out of, fleeing the scene.

I never would have expected someone would:
A. Troll a genuinely good guy like John Kovalic.
B. Troll ANYONE at a time like that
C. Troll ANYONE at a time like that for THAT REASON.

Speaking as a husband and father who also watched his wife's car get destroyed with his wife and child inside, I can not only empathize with John, I can honestly sympathize with the way he felt at that moment. I can also say I know the rage he felt when he found out that it was an irresponsible, narcissistic asshole whose choice to break the law (the driver that hit my wife's car was drunk, and DID flee the scene) caused the accident.

John, feeling the way you do about the incident is normal. Healthy. Human. What's not is that ass-jack (who I'm not going to name because I don't want any site he may own getting views), and people like him.

Completing the old: a resolution.

I've said for the last 3 years that it was "going to be my year".
Those of you who know me know that the last 3 years kicked me in the teeth, just like the two prior.
So... I'm not going to announce that this is my year. I'm just going to say that I'm going to fight hard to improve my lot, and deal with the obstacles that come my way as best I can.
Things I want to accomplish:
1. Get Shared Weave Games up online and Over da' Boards on the market.
2. Write my remaining MCITP exams.
3. Keep losing weight until I get back down to my fighting weight.
I've made significant progress on all three already, but they're not done so I'm not resolving anything new until they are.
I guess this is not going to be a year of bringing in the new per se, but more of a year of completing the old. I find I'm very comfortable with that.
Happy new year all! :)
Doc