It’s been a few years since I ran a game, well the odd one off here and there, but nothing particularly long. The last campaign-ish thing I ran was a terrible Vampire campaign that fell apart, largely because I made every NPC an unbelievable cunt. Earlier this year I ran a short Traveller campaign, which started off rocky as I was fairly rusty but I was getting back into the swing of it by the time it ended. Last week I picked up the most recent mega-campaign for Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition, Curse of Strahd. Continue reading…
Category: game/play
This is probably going to consist mostly of me whinging about whatever rpg’s Im currently running, playing in or planning to run. Though conceptually its meant to cover all aspects of gaming which I indulge in. So we’ll see how it goes.
Upcoming Games of 2016
As I mention over here 2016 is looking like a monster year for computer gaming. Apart from the original titles slated for release it seems like half the major titles for 2015 got pushed back to 2016. There is a tidal wave of great looking gaming bearing down on us. So how do you navigate through this confusing maelstrom of choice? Simple, just lock onto the glorious light of my opinion and let it guide you through the darkness. Continue reading…
Steam Autumn Sale 2015 – Mick’s Picks
Well the new Steam Sale is upon us and with it comes the new Steam sale format. No dailies or flash deals, all games have the biggest discount they’re going to get so you can be “done with it” on the first day. On the one hand you dont have to worry about missing anything. On the other it makes it more boring than the other sales. So I don’t clog up my feeds I’ve decided to list my recommendations here. Continue reading…
Refractory Witching
I may be aching of sinew and wearied of eye but the Witcher 2 is complete (again). I only planned to finish off Act 2 but caffeine and compulsion dictated otherwise and I pushed on through Act 3 and finished the game. I think ultimately I enjoyed Iorveth’s route more than Roche’s. Each has its ups and downs but the event in Iorveth’s route tie more closely into the major setting events taking place at the time the game is set. Iorveth, though he features very little in his own route, also feels like a more intricate character than Roche. That was the good, now for the bad. Continue reading…
Convulsive Witching
The Witcher, Geralt of Rivia, The White Wolf. You mean Elric? No, this is a different White Wolf you fucker! Hunter of monsters, reluctant hero, plougher of saucy wenches, protagonist of the best-selling fantasy series by Polish novelist Andrzej Sapkowski and (more pertinently for this post) protagonist of a series of computer role-playing games based on the same character and world as the novels. Continue reading…
Out to Sea 02 – Givin out the order for fun
So when we left off I had just make the momentous decision to try out a free to play browser game #toteslikestoutcortez. This wasnt as straightforward as one might expect, as the game was not just Japanese only it also used region locking to prevent dirty gaijin like me from playing it. Though considering how easy it is to circumvent it feels more like a token effort than anything else. To play the game you have to sign up with DMM.com. Which you could do in English but you have to do in Japanese, after a little bit of cookie based jiggery pokerey. Continue reading…
Out to Sea 01 – You must obey the fleet commander
There are moments in one’s life, moments that could be mistaken for clarity but are better described as moment’s of unwelcome awareness. These moments are generally filled with the mental friction of having the full realisation of what you’re doing grinding against your preconceived notions of self like a dirty old man at a disco. Change might be a constant but sometimes fully comprehending that change can make it feel more like a descent than a transition. I experienced one of those moments of unwelcome self-awareness a few days ago which is what lead to what you’re reading (in the interest of clarity, this dramatic build-up is not going to pay off). I’ll get into the exact details of it in a moment. But first some all important background. Continue reading…
Mick’s Weekly World News – 02 – 20/04/15 – 26/04/15
Another weekly roundup. Still not happy about the title. Though posted manually (like a savage) it is out on the right day. My “time away from the internet” went much better this week. I’ve got out of the habit of using social media or checking various gaming forums so I don’t even really “miss” it anymore. I also distracted myself by doubling down on improving my diet (with partial success) and going back to basics and trying to formally plot out every conspiracy in my yet to be named (probably Overdue) next great Irish novel (with much less success). Continue reading…
Iron Gods Campaign preparation Or How I Cried Wolf at the Heart of the World
I’m not going to say that I’m going to run this campaign. If the last few years have thought me anything is that my campaigns are like Schrödinger’s Cat. Theyre both dead as soon as you open the box. So this is just a little mental game I’m playing with myself (ooh err matron). Let’s keep it hypothetical (which is how the last woman I asked out turned me down). So what is Iron Gods? A sweet rock band? No you’re thinking of Stone Gods. Iron God’s is one of the more recent Adventure Paths from Paizo Publishing for their Pathfinder RPG (it in fact the most recent if you only count completed ones). “Hey wait a second!” I hear you cry. “A few months ago weren’t you working on converting the Rise of the Runelords adventure path, you’re nothing but a big dirty campaign slut aren’t you?” In answer all I can do is giggle coquettishly and roll my d20 on this ominous looking pinball table. I did in fact convert the first two parts of Rise of the Runelords. But the bloom is off that rose for a number of reasons. The major one being that I’m a big dirty campaign slut. Continue reading…
Tabletop’s, literally
Whether it’s a boardgame, a wargame, an rpg, or a makeshift operating space for harvesting the internal organs of drifters a good tabletop is important. Back at the beginning of the year when 2015 seemed bright and new I returned to a perennial issue. Finding or making a good playing surface. There’s a lot of options and they all have their pro’s and cons. Continue reading…