Stone Age

First time play of this last night with game group. I can heartily recommend it - probably one of the best worker placement games I've ever played and I say that as an owner of it's Rio Grande Games stable mate Puerto Rico!
If you can pick up a copy of it I urge you to do so. The only downside is it's four player and our group averages five or more so last night 2 people had to play as a team! Fantastic game at any rate

You have HOW MANY Victory Points?

Shadowrun

Rightyo, for the first "proper" post I thought we could start things off with, of all things, a review! Since it is the first relevant (well, that's a relative term but you see where I'm coming from) post I felt it apt that I start with a review of what is my first ever true RPG experience that wasn't D&D (shudder) - Shadowrun.

If all you know of Shadowrun comes to you via the recent online shooter (which was by all accounts not great as a game, and worse a total waste of the license) then you are missing out. That said the mid 90's game on the 16 bit systems was great - if you must sample it in videogame form, then do it that way.

Shadowrun 3rd edition is, it has to be said, not a huge evolutionary leap from 2nd edition. I cannot comment on 4th ed having never played it but 3rd ed can be picked up cheaply enough second hand as are the majority of the supplements. Also it is a source of very fond memories for me. The USP is without doubt it's setting. A semi-dystopian future where mega-corporations have the money and muscle to dominate governments, fans of Bladerunner and (the fan of) Johnny Mnemonic will feel comfortable with most of the material.
It takes this near future and just to shake things up further gives it an injection of magic and mayhem. Earth enters a new, "6th age" linking it in with the prophesied end of the Mayan (and wrongly distorted into an end of of the world scenario by basically everyone else since, particularly by one singularly awful film). Magic returns to the world (as it had existed in previous "ages" and basically, things go batshit crazy as a percentage of the worlds population transform into mythic creatures.

If all of this sounds like a relatively thinly veiled excuse to have a game where D&D races live in a world of computer hackers and a handgun can be used in conjunction with a fireball spell then.......you're pretty much right, but it works dammit! And one or two missteps aside the majority of the supplements and published material manage to make a lot of what could be ridiculous - even by RPG standards - feel unforced and natural within the premise of the game.

As far as game mechanics go, it uses target numbers and a rather pleasing bucket's o' dice approach - basically the better you are at a given thing the more dice you will roll and thus the more likely you will be to hit the number you need. That is a good thing for several reasons which I shall go on to document at a later date in another post.

Complexity is an area in which, it has to be said, Shadowrun can suffer. It is perhaps not easy to recommend as a first system for a GM and players likewise can find it all a bit daunting simply because the setting and the occasionally hard to follow combat system means that newcomers can feel a little stranded. With a GM who knows his stuff and is patient however, such issues can be overcome quickly and indeed it can a perfectly suitable introduction to the hobby.
I like that Shadowrun is one of those games that just makes you feel that you don't need the supplements as well. The setting is rich and detailed enough that you feel you can construct a campaign of your own as easily as one ever can when undertaking such a mammoth task - indeed this is exactly what I am doing for my gaming group as we speak.
Ironically given it's world of tomorrow setting, Shadowrun is very much a game of it's time. Grunge ruled music, generation X worried about the state of the planet and the rise of Corps in real life, we read "the Crow", Goth was still a vibrant and relevant sound existing quite happily next to standard rock and Grunge and the internet was something that was exciting and a vogueish plot hook for films rather than a device to look at cat based lulz and sending friends things to pass on to 150 other people so their eyeballs don't melt and they find their true love.

Getting ready to run it again in the present I am acutely aware that one or two of the prospective players might not "get" the mood. What I said above should have had a caveat- Shadowrun is not the world of tomorrow - it is the world of tomorrow through the filter of the early/mid 90's. With Elves and Trolls. I am going to go through my library and create a Shadowrun mix Cd for when we play as I have just realised how awesome and diverse such a thing would be. In many ways going through Shadowrun in preparation for writing up a campaign has been like opening up an old toy chest-I have been taken back to that magical period between 10 and 15. Shadowrun needs to be played-you really owe it to your group. It is unique, eclectic, silly and fun. It has aged a little badly yet remains somehow relevant and the spirit is still there. I am looking forward to running it a hell of a lot.

And the trench coat and combat boot look is still awesome!

First post. Being in the main the first post

First of all a big Hi to anyone reading this.

I shall say a goodbye in advance now to the 99% of people who stumble on this and immediately navigate to something far more interesting within seconds of realizing what the
subject matter is if it were not apparent from the off. To those people I apologize in advance if the name led you to believe this blog was some sort of saucy cavalcade of non-stop erotica, rather than the putrid ramblings relating to oddly shaped dice, exorbitantly priced card and plastic and general geekery that it really is.

If you saw the words "role-playing" and envisaged something exciting and carnal I am afraid that there is pretty much nothing sexy within and the only safewords you will ever need to utter here are (as you will no doubt be aware if you have ever been inside a gaming store) "Deodorant! for the love of God Deodorant!"




If by some miracle you are still reading this, then I suppose on the off chance it should be of interest an explanation of the name.............. 

Essentially in the early stages of our relationship when my partner found out that my overtly geeky behaviour extended to RPG's and wargaming she asked if I was the type of "gamer" who "wore a cloak" (it turns out she knew a few LARP'ers at uni). I flatly denied this as I do not, but the mantle (hah-see what i did there) of cloak-wearing stuck. To this day when I announce I am on my way out to my weekly gaming session she will tell our daughter to ask daddy if he has his cloak.

So there you have it, a reason for the rather odd name-a rather "you had to be there" answer I shall grant you, but never-the-less. Count yourself lucky, it could just as easily have been called (thanks to a bit in a Red Dwarf episode-bonus points if you can tell me which one) Tales of the Soapy Frogs and the rampant Wildebeest.............