Category: games

Not a Review: Dawn of War II

College is a weird time in your life. You’re considered an adult by society but you still have a great deal of free time and some money in your pockets. Free time and money that you may spend studying, taking extracurriculars, chasing after the opposite sex, drinking, or, in my case, playing Warhammer 40,000. At one point I had two very large armies, one Ultramarine the other Necron, both were completely painted and I was pretty good at playing at least once a week. WH40k though is an intensive hobby, it requires a lot of time and money if you want to get a lot out of the game. Not to mention the model and rulebook treadmill that the makers, Games Workshop, depend on in order to make money.

College only lasts about four years though, and then you find yourself with a lot less free time, even if you have a lot more money. After graduating and finding a job in my chosen profession my 40k armies spent most, actually all, of the time laying in cases in my closet. It wasn’t just that I couldn’t find blocks of three or four hours to play a game, the mere idea of trying to find or schedule such a block of time was anxiety provoking all on its own! So, the models sat in my closet for years and I got further and further behind on models, rules, etc. It was at the point where if I DID find the time to get back into the hobby I’d have to invest hundreds and hundreds of dollars again to get myself up to speed with the current rules, models, etc. I didn’t want to get back into the hobby. Even though I have great memories of assembling and painting models and playing some fantastic games with friends. I sold my armies off and quietly gave up on Warhammer 40,000.

The problem being I still enjoyed the universe that Games Workshop has spent the last thirty odd years creating. “Grimdark” is a cliché today but it wasn’t always and the universe of Warhmmaer 40,000 is a perfect example of the genre and the game the prefect sandbox for exploring it. I wanted a way to enjoy that universe without having to sacrifice more time and money than I had. THQ’s Dawn of War made that possible when it came out in 2004 finally made that possible! Dawn of War is a real-time strategy game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe where the player takes on the role of a commander in the Blood Raven company of Space Marines. The game puts a greater emphasis on the combat and tactical aspects of real-time strategy games instead of on resource gathering and management. The game had a clunky interface but I was too busy desolating the Enemies of Man to notice. The game scratched the very itch I had!

The sequel, this game, came out in 2009. I think I picked it up back then but never got around to playing it until this month. Yes, my backlog is vast enough that games I purchased more than five years ago remain unplayed to this day. Dawn of War 2 follows the path that its predecessor laid down, but eschews resource management all together. You are in charge of squads, usually just four, lead by specific characters and these are the only squads you’ll have at your disposal throughout the game. There are no bases to build or protect, no factories or barracks to churn out units, no resources to gather. You begin each mission with full squads and then must fight your way across the map, using strategy and tactics to defeat the enemies in your way. Maps will have various checkpoints scattered about them, if captured, your squads ranks are refilled at these checkpoints, but you never get more than you started with. In a very real sense the only resource you’re tasked with managing is your squads. How will they deploy? Do you they have cover or the high ground? If you are using close combat units do they have back-up providing suppressing fire? If you lose a unit will it be able to safely retreat to a checkpoint and recharge? This focus on combat helps to avoid the problem of rush, turtle, boom that RTS games have. The player must keep moving in order to progress.

Dawn of War 2, does what I wanted it to do, it lets me play in a setting I enjoy. I get to move toy soldiers around a board and have them destroy other toy soldiers. I get to do this in fifteen and thirty minute chunks, and when I’m done there is no take down or putting of models away. I don’t have to glue or paint or put anything together. All of this and I only had to spend $50 once. If I want to play against friends I can do that too, on-line. Dawn of War 2 is the perfect game for me. I don’t know if others would enjoy it though. It’s been so long since I played another RTS I don’t know if it stands up to competition in that area.

All I know is that if you’ve wanted to get into Warhammer 40,000 but have always been turned off by the commitment or you’re a recovering member of the hobby. This is a pretty great alternative. The best we’re likely to ever get…

Paranormal: a Mafia Game

 

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Paranormal: a Mafia Game

“Now it is the time of night, That the graves, all gaping wide, Every one lets forth his sprite In the church-way paths to glide.” -Puck (A Midsummer Night’s Dream 5.1.2228)

Paranormal is a Mafia (also known as Werewolf) game inspired by the Western Culture’s rich spiritual and occult belief and lore and a desire to involve eliminated players back in to the game. The game can be played in-person or on-line, this ruleset assumes the game is being played on-line. The following general rules apply:

1. Post at least once per day.
2. No sharing role PMs, images of quicktopic chats, or anything else outside the thread.
3. Don’t tag threads.
4. Don’t post in the main Mafia: the Forum game thread.
5. No communicating outside of the thread about the game.
6. No gimmicks (acrostics, html coding, cryptography, etc.)

Players

Each player is a member of one of two teams: Spiritualists or Diabolists

Spiritualists, excluding a few, have no special powers. They must post in the thread during the day and may vote to shuffle someone off this mortal coil. The player voted off becomes a Spirit. Spirits go to Purgatory where they may interact with players in limited ways.

Diabolists are the Mafia of this game, they can do everything Spiritualists can do. In addition they talk in secret during the night. Once per night they choose one Spiritualist to kill by vote, this player shuffles off this mortal coil and becomes a Spirit.

Shuffling off the Mortal Coil

Each player may vote to remove another player from active play into Purgatory, the vote must be in bold and on its own line. Votes may be retracted at any point during the day, voting for another player automatically retracts your vote for an earlier player.

In the case of a tie, vengeful spirits will eliminate a random player from the game. Note: this is any random player in the game not simply those tied.

Eliminated players are removed from the active game and go to Purgatory.  In Purgatory they may have limited interactions with living players. Players removed from Purgatory are out of the game. Player roles and affiliations are not made public at time of removal.

Purgatory

Players removed from active play are moved to Purgatory where they sit in silence contemplating their life or just getting really pissed off. Some Spiritualists and Diabolist have the ability to interact with the Spirits in Purgatory and some Spirits may have the ability to interact with living players. Each night a random player will be seized by spirits and taken up into Purgatory where they may commune with the Spirits.

Day and Night

The day is 72 hours long. The night is 48 hours long. Time does not exist in Purgatory.

Victory

All Spiritualists (alive and dead) win when no Diabolists remain alive after a vote. All Diabolists lose.

All Diabolists (alive and dead) win when their number is equal to or greater than the number of Spiritualists at the end of any night phase.

Dramatis Personae

Town – Spiritualists
Channeler (Vigilante) – Allows a dead player, once per game, to kill another player
Excorcist (Investigator) – May examine a dead player each night to determine their alignment.
Medium – Allows a Spirit to talk and vote each day. Spirits do not count for win conditions for town or mafia
Poltergeist – If this player is shuffled off the mortal coil they become a Poltergeist. Poltergeists may leave a message for living players at the beginning of each day to be delivered to the GM during the night.
Spiritualist – Just your regular old good occultist. No powers.

Mafia – Diabolists
Hexer (Blocker) – Stops all powers being used on and/or performed by target
Demonologist – Every three days can remove a Spirit from Purgatory. The removal is announced by the GM. This removes the targeted player entirely from the game
Diabolist – Just your regular old evil occultist. No powers.

PS – This is the first draft of these rules. They have not been reviewed or tested.

The Ides of March: a Mafia Game

The Ides of March: a Mafia Game

“How many ages hence Shall this our lofty scene be acted o’er, In states unborn, and accents yet unknown!” -Cassius (Julius Caesar 3.1.111)

Ides of March is a Mafia (also known as Werewolf) game inspired by the Cult variant. The game can be played in-person or on-line, this ruleset assumes the game is being played on-line. The following general rules apply:

1. Post at least once per day.
2. No sharing role PMs, images of quicktopic chats, or anything else outside the thread.
3. Don’t tag threads.
4. Don’t post in the main Mafia: the Forum game thread.
5. No communicating outside of the thread about the game.
6. No gimmicks (acrostics, html coding, cryptography, etc.)
7. Roleplay is encouraged!

Players

Each player is a member of one of two teams: Senators or Conspirators

Senators, excluding a few, have no special powers. They must post in the thread during the day and may vote to censure

Conspirators are the Mafia of this game, they can do everything Senators can do. In addition they talk in secret during the night. Once per night they choose one player to convert by vote, this player becomes a Conspirator. Converted players lose any powers they might have had. Any player converted in such a way is sent a PM before the start of the next day with the names of all current living Conspirators. Continue reading “The Ides of March: a Mafia Game”

Welcome to Duel! the Card Game

I’ve been listening to and reading the words of game designers recently. How they make their games, what in the process comes first, where ideas for game mechanics come from, etc. All those words must have been sinking in to my grey matter with out me noticing it because earlier this month ideas for game mechanics started surfacing into my conscious from no where. Most of them seemed far-fetched and unworkable but a few held my interest and I spent a couple hours on the train to and from work thinking over them before pulling out a standard deck of 52 playing cards and seeing if any of them worked.

What I came up was Duel! a simple card game for two people that can be played with a standard deck of cards in under thirty minutes. I haven’t had a lot of time to playtest the rules or do any tweaking so I don’t know how balanced or playable the game is beyond the few hands I’ve played with myself. Playtesting will continue on my end but any comments or criticism would be appreciated!

Duel!

Overview

In Duel!, each player starts with a starting hand of five cards (a flurry) that they keep hidden, and a set of three more hands each with five cards face down in front of them.

The game takes place in four rounds or until a player has won three flurries. A round consists of each player playing a card from their hand onto the table and the other player playing a card in response, comparing the cards, scoring (drawing blood), and then repeating this process each player alternating who plays the first card until both hands are empty. Then the next hand is drawn and the process is repeated.

The goal of the game is to win three flurries.

Setup

In Duel! you’ll be trying to get to through your flurries as quickly as possible while dealing the most injuries to your opponent while avoiding being marked. In Duel! Each suit represents a strike: Spades = High, Clubs = Medium, Diamonds = Low, and Hearts = Parry. High beats Medium, Medium beats Low, Low beats Parry, and Parry beats High. In the case of both players playing the same suit the card with the highest number wins (Aces beat Kings.)

Duel! is played with a standard 52 card deck. Shuffle the deck. Deal each player half of the deck. Each player now organizes their cards into five stacks of five without letting their opponent see what is in each stack. Players discard their remaining card. After each player finishes selecting their stacks they each select one of their opponents stacks those stacks are removed from the game. Players now place take one of their stacks to be their hand and arrange the remaining stacks, face down, in front of them..

Play

The player who introduced the game goes first (I challenge you to a duel!) if both players have played assign going first randomly. The game consists of four flurries each played using the deck in hand and on the table.

Rounds

The round begins when the first player picks on of the cards in their hand and places it on the table. The other player then plays one of their cards down on the table in response. Following the rules above see who scores. The person who scores takes the two cards off the table and places them in front of them. Now the order alternates with the player who responded to the first card on the table playing a card from their hand and the other player playing a card in response. Score the cards, continue the flurry until one of the players has scored three times. If there are any more cards left in the players’ hands they are discarded. Each player now picks up one of the flurries in front of them and continues play as described above.

Satisfaction

The game ends when one of the players has won three flurries.

Optional Play

For quicker play follow the setup and play of the game but instead of alternating the play of cards each player plays their cards simultaneously.

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