Last week's gaming

Some old favorites came out this last week, plus some new ones. Note that Board Game Geek is down as of 8/9/2006. I've got my fingers crossed for Aldie, the site admin.

I had gotten Battlebots: Kickbot Arena (BGG, BUY ME?) as part of a trade for something that I really wanted. I chose this one out of some others because it looked like it had a high fun factor, not to mention it involves robots beating each other up, a common theme in my game library. I brought it along to get it some table time, and I'm pleased I did. I arrived late, since Nick needed a ride, so he and I played this quick filler. Truth be told, this is not a very deep game- you basically throw various offensive and defensive dice in a cardboard arena at each other, trying to get "Hits" or "Super Hits" and not have "Damage!"
There's a fun factor here, but it's really a kid's game. Cat calls it "Yahtzee with window dressing." Oh, and evidently there's a show on the television.

The true way to have fun with this one is posturing and talking like a wrestler announcer- "And now it's the VILLAGE IDIOT against the TOE-CRUSHER, stepping in to avenge the capture of teammate TAZBOT.... but up next, the VLADIATOR will crush the T-Wrex!!" I might wind up taking this to game design Tuesday night and seeing if we can pull a good game out of it. Unfortunately, it feels like a game done more about marketing than play. I might be able to steal the "fighting die" mechanic for an RPG, though.

At least two games of Carabande (BGG, OOP) happened. And get this, we played with tournament rules — sort of. The rules refer to how to play like a "Pro," which includes shooting for pole position. Typically, when I bring out Carabande, I have players simply pull their cars randomly; since most of the players had played previously, everyone was amenable to a more skill-based racing start. I also taught the new players that if your car goes off the track, you place it back to the start of your turn. (This is also more in line with the published rules.) At the same time, I also suggested the "third time's the charm" rule for the ramp. This one greatly reduces frustration.

I sat out and didn't play any games of Carabande this past night, basically acting as a caller. The game only supports eight racers, and I really think the track gets crowded with that many players. I contented myself with looking at all of the games that had been recently marked down. Of course, I came away with a long list of look-up games. It is really nice to play on large tables with stabilizing plastic underneath, though. I also know that I'd buy another copy of this as soon as I see one at a reasonable price- say under $75 USD.

Next, I finally got a chance to play FBI (BGG, BUY ME!). It's a quick bidding game from Wolfgang Kramer of El Grande fame. Dan, Ian, and new guy Keith (I think) all had a great deal of patience as I read the rules. Normally, I try to read the rules before the box hits the table, but I had just put this off. The game went well about halfway through the first round as everyone caught on to play. Each player is trying to catch criminals with their field agents, avoiding arrested innocents (which are worth negative points). The five colors are different crimes: murder, theft, fraud, etc. Criminals are worth +1 to +5 points, innocents are worth -5 to -1 points. Each round, you bid on turn order by releasing someone from your slammer; you then commit two agents to arrest duties. There's a clever Settlers-like mechanic for turn sequence. In a four player game, you have: Player 1, then 2, then 3, then 4, then 4, 3, 2, 1. So there's a distinct advantage and disadvantage to each position. Now that I have the game down, it'll come out again.

Nick owns Hex Hex (BGG, BUY NEW VERSION!)- It's a good thing. Vicious, backstabby, quick, tactical- this is one of the few games I rank at a 9. I've wanted my own copy of this since pre-Katrina, and now that the publisher has the new version out, this is a no-brainer.

Hex Hex is basically hot potato with occult trappings. You don't want the potato, and every card you have gives it to someone else. It's impossible to be nice in the game, and a hand lasts about five minutes, and you play number of players +1 hands. The truly clever thing has to do with the reward for winning. The winner of a game gets to add a new rule to the game, which stays with the deck. Nice and evil and highly recommended, if your group goes for this sort of thing.

Last game of the night was Mag Blast (BGG, BUY ME!). Introduced two new players, Matt and Keith, and got to play four-way space explosions. Some deride this game because of its famous rule about players making sound effects or their shots miss. If you'll pardon the pun, this game is a blast. I still think it offers a good amount of play for as light as it is. Some might find the luck too much to handle, though.

Huzzah! Last week's writeup done in time for this week's play!

Time keeps on slipping into the future

Speaking of countdowns, it's twenty-one days until one year since Hurricane Katrina made landfall.

No Gen Con for you!

Yes, it's that time of year again- the time of Gen Con. as I write this, there's a day and a half until "the best four days in gaming," and I'm not going.

This, in a word, sucks.

But never fear- Dragon*Con is in less than a month! We're definitely going. Also, a little bird named Dan tells me that next year is Gen Con's 40th anniversiary, and that sounds like an event I can't miss.

Non-trivial travel

Cat and I just saw Christian and Erin off, to finish the last leg of their road trip, driving now from Austin to New Orleans.

My brother called, on his way back to Austin from Marfa, Texas.

And now I am off to run a Deadlands game, wherin our heroes might find themselves on a steamboat down the Mississippi.

Where are you going, where have you been?

Visitors

Huzzah! Two of our friends from New Orleans are returning from a California road trip via Austin. They should be here in three or four hours and will stay in the guest suite at Chez Mischa and Cat, aka the air mattress on the floor.

These are our first non-parental unit visitors to our place in Austin, and have promised that they have cheesy roadside gifts for us.

In other good news, the NHC has downgraded Chris to a Tropical Depression.

Not-so-quick web readings

Over on Google's blog, they reveal that they received official recognition from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency for their Katrina coverage via Google Earth.

Evidently, I live under a rock. Our noble president gave a surprise "backrub" to the German Chancellor during a summit two weeks ago. CNN has a decently long story, but you probably just want to watch the four-second video.

This week's Escapist talks about reality creeping in on gaming, and how play is not as deep an escape as it once was. "You Got Your Race In My Video Game" stands out. The author draws an interesting analogy to sex in games: It's fine when it's a feature, not when it's an issue. Is there any way to make race a feature and not an issue? Like it or not, a game — regardless of media — is fundamentally a tool for teaching patterns. What patterns are we unconsciously learning?

Speaking of racism, what's the difference between a "looter" and a "finder" when seen through the eyes of the media? Be sure to read the complete article or you do yourself a disservice. Context is everything. You might even want to jot down your reactions at both the beginning and end of the story and compare after the fact.

For more socio-political commentary du jour, an article in the New York Metro talks about the fact that adults are no longer "grown-ups" and the rapidly erasing generation gap. If you're past your teens and under, oh say, sixty; if you own more sneakers than suits; give this a read. What does it mean for the future when parents no longer hate their children's music?

To touch on geekdom instead of thinking, I'm seriously thinking about hacking something like this solution to boost my miserable-to-nonexistent cell signal in the office. (Yes, there's neato pictures.)

Tropical Storm Chris

The National Hurricane Center is now tracking Tropical Storm Chris. They are predicting a hurricane in the Gulf before Monday.

24-hour goodness

Huzzah! Epoch Coffee, a 24-hour coffee joint, has finally opened. Better yet, they are about five minutes from my place. I haven't gone there yet, but I bopped inside on my way back from boardgame design night, and the place looks pretty nice.

Check out an outside pic and mini-review, which reveals that the place is run by former Mojo's (o, how we miss ye) employees.

For a better look at that way cool sign, check out some pix by its creator. (Warning: Myspace link. Sorry.)

It's pretty likely that I'll scope the place out in better detail tomorrow.

The Business of Games

The Open Gaming License sort of mixes Open Source and Creative Commons-style licensing with the roleplaying industry. Think what you want of it, but it definitely helped ease the way for POD/POCD and PDF sales. I found a good op-ed piece over on the Pinnacle forums where Shane Lacy Hensley posits that the OGL has destroyed the game industry. By extension, this includes everything d20 as well. You can read some good insights from a traditional publisher's standpoint.

In the same vein as traditional publishing, I stumbled across a great/horrible doom-and-gloom, 21-page dirty laundry thread over on RPG.net called "Insane Tales of the Gaming Industry." This is a small industry, mostly of amateurs. You can hear some scary stories if you dig.

To end on a high note: USA Today, that paragon of journalism, has an article on the creators of Cranium. There's a bit of the Trivial Pursuit road-to-fame story here, but you know I'm envious of these guys. There's some good ideas to take away from this story; in fact, all of three of these have nuggets of knowledge to assimilate.

Yahoo! issues

Be advised that I no longer have control over my Yahoo! account; my password was somehow changed by someone not me. If you need to IM me and only have my YIM, contact me via email for alternate venues.