About 10 years ago or so a friend gave me a dog-eared photocopy of some playtest rules that he’d downloaded from the internet and even though i’d got no interest in the American “Old West” I had a read, then another read, then bought a £100 worth of Foundry (28mm) Wild West Apache, Outlaws, Citizens and some US troopers of the time, then made up a “fate deck” and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

For some reason I moved on to other things and hadn’t thought about them since, until a mate told me he’s buying me a copy of the newly published Rules with No Name (Fistful of Dice) Hardback version by Bryan Ansell

So, I thought i’d re-acquaint myself with the rules and found (an even more dog-eared copy than I remembered!) the copy from my filing cabinet where it’s hidden for years. I’ve had a read and I’m even more enthusiastic than I was the first time around. It’s taken me about half a day to find the old gunslinger figures from the garage but I’ve got them out and dusted them off. And found a bunch of mounted Red Indians that I hadn’t even painted.

I can’t remember the last time I was so excited to be getting a new set of rules in a few days (Dave if they’re delayed and I don’t get them on my Birthday I’m going to be well p*ssed off!)

Anyway, fingers crossed. If they’re half as good as the playtest versions I’ll be a happy happy man indeed. What a brilliant brilliant brilliant game – Bryan (and I think I said this via email years ago) you’re a genius man!

A few years ago I bought a good camera (well good for me) – a prosumer one and expected to take great photos immediately

Of course that was stupid in retrospect but I really didn’t understand why the pros took really good photo’s and mine were.. well a bit rubbish.

The camera helped and hindered as I hadn’t got a clue about many of the features (and the manual was a nightmare) then a friend bought me a copy of Scott Kelby’s Digital Photography book and it all started to make sense. Admittedly I still don’t care about why changing shutter speed makes my photos of waterfalls look really good, but it does the job, and I get approving looks from other camera fans (until they ask me why I set the shutter to a certain speed and I say “because it looked good..??”)

Anyway, there’s another volume out (I haven’t got it yet) but it’s looking good.. so any friends who want to buy it for me – then go ahead Scott Kelby – Digital Photography Volume II (note the publishers information and table of contents is here)

a few days ago i mentioned some 2 player rules for munchkin the card game – well i’ve tried it, but only once and although it works, it’s not great.

To be fair to the author I can’t see another easy way to improve it, and it does work.  I’ll have a mull on it and see if I can make improvements (if not then i’ll just shut up and give up!).

Has anybody been a playtester for Munchkin Quest (the Munchkin board game that Steve Jackson Games are bringing out soonish)?  If so, could you let us know what you think (it’s nearly christmas so i need to start being a bit more careful with spending money!).

A friend sent me a link to a blog entry by taluxb about planescape: torment.

It’s a great post, and explains the game well, but it doesn’t quite explain why so many RPG fans love the game.

I may be a sad nerd (I am), but myself (and my then wife) loved the game and played it together for about 2 weeks until we completed it, then when Balders Gate 2 and others (inc. Neverwinter Nights 1) came out then I bought them immediately, and was disappointed that they didn’t match up.

Myself, I think the reason why Torment was such a brilliant game is because it’s different; seriously different to standard (i’ve got a new term to use here..) Munchkin-esque DnD type games which can be seen just about anywhere.

Firstly as the nameless one you’re not sure why you’re there or what you’re doing. The environment is seriously different to other games. Neverwinter Nights etc. you’ve seen the scenery a million times, you’re going to meet gobins, elves, and orcs. In contrast Torment (and the Planescape setting) is more varied, yes you’ll see elves and dwarves, but in new and interesting ways. Plus it feels more grown up than the other games, it’s slightly subversive, without having to resort to horror or gore.

I really hope that somebody comes along and does a spelljammer or planescape game, as they’re different enough to be exciting, I doubt we’ll ever see a worthy sequel to Torment though, and that’s a damn shame

Personally I’m not convinced that it’s purely a role-player’s pc game: my wife never played D&D, and yet she was a fanatic (and also ended up deeply disappointed by Balders Gate and stuff).

For other info take a look at the wikipedia page for torment

if you want to buy it then it’s going to hurt i’m afraid – Ewelike has Planescape: Torment on it but it’s only available from an Amazon Marketplace vendor (for £40!  – i didn’t pay that the first time round when it was new and was released!) – but they do have links to eBay sellers where it seems a more manageable £15/$25 .. still expensive though!).  A quick search round the web doesn’t seem to show anybody else cheaper

I’m starting to look like a munchkin fanatic but i just wanted to point out some user created rules for Munchkin for two players that a friend pointed out (Matt thanks dude!)

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so, i’m aching to give them a go and i’ll post my results over the next few days.

I promise not to bore you too much more with Munchkin! much more…

Thought i’d share this (even though i’ve only got munchkin at the moment) – to find all Steve Jackson Games products on a price comparison site.

I find reviewing Steve Jackson Games’s products hard, really hard. On the one hand I really respect the company and the people who work for it, on the other I really couldn’t get along with GURPS – which isn’t that surprising as I was heavily biased towards Dungeons and Dragons.

So, I bought Munchkin the Card Game on a whim, and after an initial disappointment (it really needs 4 people to play, 3 at an absolute minimum) I really really like it.

The general idea is related to the whole dungeons and dragon vibe, and cocks it’s hat to 20 years of D&D magic items and daftness, with excellent in-jokes for those D&D players in the group, while just being interesting to those new players who aren’t RPG fans (like my girlfriend amongst others)

If you’re a fan of John Kovalic then you’ll love the artwork, personally I think it’s “not bad”, but each to their own. In it’s defense even though it’s simple and newspaper cartoon style, it’s well done, clear and uncluttered. If you’re looking for the artwork that you’d find on Magic the Gathering cards though then you’re going to be either surprised or disappointed

which brings me on to the other part – SJ Games are a small outfit, and although they’re pretty universally loved by RPG fans its a real niche market. So their games are basic and a bit more expensive than you’d hope. Ok, you can use price comparison engines like ewelike that handle RPG and scifi/fantasy stuff (there are others but they don’t seem to do much RPG stuff?) but it’s still a limited list of sellers. Ewelike – you need to do better!

If you like card games, you’ve got some spare time then buy it and enjoy it. me? i’m already working out whether to buy some more “standard” Munchkin card expansion set or opt for a different genre and then maybe merge them together in future using Munchkin Blender.

Score? 3.5 or maybe 4 out of 5, it won’t change you’re life, but it’ll be a reasonable return for the money you spend (plus it’s girlfriend friendly… how many other RPG/comic purchases are enjoyed by your girl friend too?)

Ok, this is one that’s up for grabs… is it the Spelljammer (Adventures in Space) Campaign Setting or the Planescape campaign setting the best campaign setting for advanced dungeons and dragons?

For those of you that don’t know, Spelljammer was a weird idea that characters could travel between worlds using “spelljamming” ships. These had a false gravity and oxygen bubble around them and used a magical “helm” that allowed the navigator to move between the galaxies. Players could hitch a ride on a ship (or own their own) and a few new races were included. Various accessories and expansions were added to describe different galaxies (for example Spelljammer Realmspace – spelljamming in the Forgotten Realms universe) but none had the excitement or writing of the original.

Jeff Grubb is at his best in this book (well boxset to be precise) and although it was made for 2nd edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons it’s easy to create a conversion to use 3.5 or 4th edition. It’s still available from various sellers (admittedly secondhand/used but in varying conditions) so check it out at ewelike (and don’t forget to press the “auctions” tab incase ebay has it at a better price).

Ok, it seems like a naff idea, but it’s truly a D&D classic (from the days when they were TSR – oh and the novels aren’t too bad either!)

barcode is 978-0-88038-762-0 for those of you who like your isbns , and before anybody asks… no i’m not selling you my pristine copy!

Ok, this isn’t a full review of
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Creating Dungeons and Dragons Characters it’s more a moan..

I was lucky. When i first started wargaming and playing RPGs I was guided by a wargaming club, this ensured that I understood the main point was to enjoy the games and to not become a rules-lawyer. Also that no set of rules is definitive so there’s always grey areas that have to be worked out.

Books like the idiots guide.. try to ensure that people outside of gaming groups get reasonable advise to start off with… but really the first few pages should just read “join a gaming group” in a large font on each page

Overall it’s not a bad book and the author Matt Forbeck does a pretty good job and if you can’t find a gaming group then it’s worth a read.

Incidentally the barcode is 978-1-59257-688-3 or 1-59257-688-5 incase you want to find it

I know this isn’t RPG related (so sorry) but i thought it was worth sharing a note for all of you fellow The Postal Service fans (Give Up is still a brilliant album and one of my favourites by Death Cab for Cutie main man Ben Gibbard and Dntel (aka James Figurine/Headset/Figurine – real name James Tamborello)).

Recently i’ve been digging through my music collection and I thought i’d see if Electronic were as good as I remembered.  Electronic were a band formed by Johnny Marr (who had recently left the Smiths after a fall out with Morrissey) and Bernard Sumner of Joy Division and New Order fame), who also had Neil Tennant (of the Pet Shop Boys) guest sing some of the tracks on this album.

Electronic’s Electronic album is still a great great great album, nicely recorded and full of those 80’s synth sounds.  The album is sang mainly by Bernard Sumner, and has a poppy version of New Order vibe to it (minus the pounding bass sound of Hook of course) with Neil Tennant singing 3 of the tracks (brilliantly it has to be said).

Later albums have progressively more Johnny Marr influence and the guitar gains prominence.  Each is brilliant in it’s own way, but for me this is the best of the three (the others incidentally are Electronic – raise the pressure, and Electronic – Twisted Tenderness)

Seriously, if you like the Postal Service then give this a go (Electronic got less electronic and more guitar-ey as they did their 3 albums) or just buy the best of Electronic CD.  You won’t regret it.

Of course if you hate indie electronica then ignore this post