Talisman 4th Edition

Frequenting my local brick and mortar gaming store here in Manchester (one which I was yet to play or buy anything in), I finally braved the unknown and purchased my first premium board game; The classic, Talisman 4th Edition.

I was really looking for something grand to sink my teeth into and all preliminary research kept pointing towards this monster. This won't be a review as google will tell you all you need to know about a relatively old and very well documented game, I'll just give my prelimiary thoughts after maybe 10 hours of gameplay, of which none have been completed.

If you're not familiar with Talisman, it was first published in 1983 by Games Workshop and is a fantasy adventure game in which 2-6 characters race into the innermost of 3 regions, seeking the Crown of Command. Of the 14 available character classes, each traverse each region using a single roll of a die and increase their power through encounters and items in order to brave the increasingly dangerous middle and inner regions. Only those who have obtained 1 of 6 Talisman along their journey may enter the Valley of Fire within the inner region and become victorious through the acquisition of the Crown.

My preliminary thoughts? This game is a wonderful nightmare. A turn of an adventure card can see your character simply increase his or her prowess or inventory, another, a dragon or devil to quickly wipe the smile off your face. The unique array of characters and endless potential for encounters, memorable player vs player battles and item combinations make this game very replayable, not to mention the many expansions which have now been released, expanding the initial board to the epic scale shown above. Talismans themselves are great at creating early game controvery; obtaining a Talisman yourself is often a game of chance, taking one from another player however can create some memorable PvP encounters.

The game offers a great selection of Adventure cards which can offer world events, temporary or permanent events to the game square you're on (markets etc), items, monsters or the rare chance of a coveted Talisman. I'm already starting to feel like I've seen every adventure/spell card before, but this has yet to detract from the excitement of the game and these can be expanded massively by supplementary expansions.

My first and single biggest observation has been this: it never ends. I have had 3 sessions playing the game, playing with a group of 6 each time (the maximum number the game allows) from between 3 and almost 5 hours per session. On each occasion, the inner region has been breached multiple times, each visit being extremely short lived as the player was flung to a far square of the outer region - or killed. It is brutal. A full compliment of players extends the playtime of this game, seemingly indefinitely (not always a bad thing). If anyone has any advice on what's going wrong here I'd be happy to hear it.

The game has been badly reviewed at times for the seemingly random and brutal nature of the random elements present within the gameplay. I cannot see how this is a negative feature, more so simply the nature of the beast and what makes Talisman unique and enthralling in its own right.

The game is thoroughly enjoyable and available expansions will no doubt keep my interest sparked for many more sessions to come. I would recommend Talisman to anyone and if anybody has a suggestion for my first expansion purchase then I would be happy to hear from you.

Gaming confused

I have this friend; one whom ironically I have never been close to but one which I'd say has a far better understanding of me than I would like to admit. He has long struggled to articulately grasp the predicament I've found myself in since I came of such an age as to thoroughly confuse myself about who and what I was to become as a gamer. He diagnoses this as being stuck up to such a degree that I will never know what I want. Lets get to the bottom of this.

I love gaming. To those of the ilk of holding certain past times of playing a certain game in terms of the 'golden days', who spend obscene amounts of time becoming a whirlwind of excitement about future potential for a gaming activity or creative gaming process, the rest of the time simply engrossing themselves in any given fantasy genre or endlessly reliving the past for a glimmer of rekindling an old passion - this has always been gaming for me and it has been a connection I have never quite understood. In my youth and early teens I found my excitement a sufficient source of energy to engross myself (often aimlessly) in all aspects of gaming, particularly online gaming. Despite endless hours potentially wasted, I can only be greatful for what it taught me about myself in the hobby, which leads me to my current predicament.

I am idle, constantly. My well of potential for excitement and engagement with a certain something is deeper and richer than ever, yet nothing is to be done. Having never been part of an individualistic creative process in my life, I find myself in endless thought of such processes, lacking the impetus to carry out such a task. I guess this post could be seen as the precursor to my achieving my hobbyist dream of publishing something of my own on the world wide web; be it a gaming supplement, setting, book, board game?

I do not know; Perhaps turning my endless requirement to be engrossed and entertained by a game designer, taking matters into my own hands and design for myself could be the remedy. With this I shall unleash a new lease of life into the blog and instead of dismissing my own intimate ramblings of potential gaming creativity, I'm going to ejaculate them here as often as possible

Lets see where this leads.

Pathfinder Online being kickstarted!

As an age old fan of MMORPGs, specifically sandbox games, I have followed Pathfinder Online from the moment it was announced. It is being designed by a new Paizo partner company Goblinworks, including people such as Lisa Stevens (CEO Paizo), Ryan Dancey & Mark Halmes from CCP (Eve Online). Goblinworks have recently launched a kickstarter campaign in which to raise funds for a technology demo to show to potential investors. Supporters of $15 or more also get a digital copy of Thornkeep. This will be a 64 page book on how to run a Pathfinder game in the town named by the Pathfinder Online community back in January and a town which will exist in the MMO. $50 bags you the book in print amongst other things.

If your interested then check out the Development Blog over at Goblinworks for more details on the concept of the game itself. I have been largely involved with this project on the community side and can say that now is a good time to get involved if you'd like to see this happen.

A Brief Update

A quick post to say I am still alive and, not as such a sorry (I'm sure you're surviving), but a message to those who were kind enough to follow my blog in it's infancy and welcome me warmly to the blog world.

Life's busy and the opportunities for D&D slim. I will however be back in perhaps a month and breath some serious life into both the hobby and hopefully some interesting blog entries.

Hope you guys are well however and I have and will continue to read your posts, you don't disappoint.

Questioning My Own Creative Licence?

I have recently been engaged in drafting potential new race as class possibilities to effectively 'test' in my first run of Labyrinth Lord. Difficulties have been abound, as expected as I undoubtedly lack the experience to even begin considering homebrewing rules, but sadly, you do not know me very well and I am one prone to attempting to run before I can walk - and often found crawling to the finish line.

Ignoring the above, what's the problem? Why am I even considering creating a new race/class? Creating a setting and the potential for storycraft is the single greatest pull for me; I want to create worlds and incorporating a race in which players may choose to permeate and naturally evolve my creation just strikes me as something magical, something unique - something I really want to do. I'm here for the open creative process of people absorbing what I have created for them, digesting what's happening around them and injecting their own story within my own - just saying it makes me excited. My mind melts with excitement and potential as I have filled page after page with ideas I would one day like to give life to, but only to become immediately lost within my own sense of direction; at what point does something seemingly within the OSR become something totally different?

The OSR is not dislike many other movements which may fall into the category of a simple preference for an activity or way of things long passed - nostalgic preferences in which there are often two distinct groups. In this context, I propose the nostalgia gamer and the retro gamer. The nostalgia gamer I would define as one who is in love with the period, the art, the styles and the themes which define their own individual piece of history which they seek to recreate, or perhaps never stopped playing. This is more often than not the period of a players first encounter with a game, their first high to which no other product is likely to recreate, so why leave? The retrogamer on the hand, simply prefers the brand of gameplay offered in older carnations of roleplaying games as such a period offered a game which is seemingly disconnected from its' contemporary offspring. The nostalgic is drawn by a longing to rekindle or maintain past experiences, the retro gamers' interests on the other hand are systemic and offers greater freedom for the individual to modern age with free licence to innovate.

I ask you to take this feeble stratification lightly as it is not only feeble, but also highlights a characteristic of mine in which I often perceive such choices in equal measures of black or white. Most gamers may place themselves upon the multiple shades of grey where as I strictly feel compelled to place myself at one end of the spectrum as if fully appreciating either would require my outright absolutism; either step exclusively into the institution of the old school or burn it down and begin the slow process of culturing it in your own image.

Somewhere within this rambling my problem may have reared its ugly head. I find myself hopelessly interested in the OSR. From within a hobby I do not know and from past-times that will never be mine, I have felt nothing but an overwhelming resonance with the game, creating for it and communicating with it's people. In contrast, I then flip the coin I find myself heading in a direction which seeks to potentially destroy the fabric and pillars on which - in my mind - the OSR was built to serve.

I guess my fears may be quelled in a question to my 8 followers (you know who you are!). How do you consider your own creative licenses when it comes to modifying your systems? To what degree do you prioritise Gygaxian input to your systems or settings to that of your own? Or to coin my piss poor definitions: Are you a Nostalgic or Retro?

*EDIT* Brendan's Nalfeshnee Hack lies partially to blame for this post as it marginally blew my mind as I -for the first time- considered an OSR rehash of 4e.

The Road is Long

I am in what you could call a state of limbo. I have spent an exorbitant measure of hours in frenzied modes of thought; referencing large amounts of material and sampling various systems in hope of finding the perfect offering of D&D, yet each step towards assertive action is proceeded with extended periods of facepalming and a recurring fear of failure. I have not once played D&D; my proposed group of players aren't even sure what it is; my fear of failure is I think justified. Included in the wealth of material I have consulted, one key occurrence tends to be prevalent in 'introductory' stories concerning roleplaying; the presence of some medium of mentor or guide. I go on with no such luck other than the written word offered in core rulebooks. Luckily teachers are abound in developing my knowledge of storycraft; my current consultation of Joseph Campbell's The Hero With A Thousand Faces and sporadic dips into the short stories of H.P Lovecraft and the like have taught me more about my desired style of weird or cult fiction than I could hope to learn in such a brief period.

Anyway, back to the issue, roleplaying. As I tend to do, I shall mark the end to a period of obsessive, irrelevant yet massively productive procrastination with a rejuvenated objectivity , this post, and more importantly, an idea:

Pretending for a moment that I did have a mentor, he would certainly have recommended that I become familiar with my chosen system (Labyrinth Lord) via the running of a relevant commercial adventure. Running a game for a group of first time players, the same metaphorical mentor would however be seriously alarmed by my choice; I give you Death Frost Doom by James Raggi, an adventure to which many fears of a first time DM become key devices: death, confusion, panic, anxiety and failure are to be expected. Raggi draws on the Lovecraftian theme of an unknown and unspeakable horror which upon first reading fell short of inspiring fear but arrived at a pleasant plateau of leaving me immediately quite unsettled. This won't be a review of the piece-not until I have had the pleasure of running it- but I will explain my reason for choosing it and how it could perhaps be a useful starting point for other hopeful DMs.

Combat Light

As is the case with other published adventures by Raggi, the story is in essence one light in combat and rich in atmosphere. I concede that one very likely avenue in which Death Frost Doom hopes to transpire is in the presence of a rather large and incalculable threat, but again this is something which remains quite simple to work with and something I anticipate will remain a matter of tracking movement or declaring the group cornered and thus instantly dead. All other combat is delivered in simple encounters with an interesting variety of creeps to which a new DM should have no trouble.

Atmosphere

Death Frost Doom really shines in this respect. Raggi states in his foreword (or maybe from another of his PDFs?) that when one purchases a commercial adventures one should expect a rich and defined atmosphere. He does not disappoint. Death Frost Doom is far from a traditional dungeon crawl; the meat of the experience I feel is established in the surface area of the cabin and burial ground in which the responsibility lies on the DM to truly evoke a similar atmosphere offered in the text. With first time players in mind, this is a departure from conventional dungeon crawls and can encapsulate flavours of unconventional cult horror which I would argue is a far more effective tool for inspiring interest in a group than the prospect of slaying dragons or slaughtering goblins. Cult horror or the 'weird tale' offers something Skyrim or most other popular vehicles or genres of fiction cannot and Death Frost Doom offers the budding storyteller a great opportunity to develop his skills.

A Mature Challenge

Having become familiar with a number of products geared towards introducing players to the game, I have found most of which to fall under the category of being either orientated towards children, void of any reasonable challenge or being, for lack of a better word, boring (or all 3). Death Frost Doom fits the requirements of the adult gamer whilst maintaining simplicity and one of the most interesting location based adventures I have come across (which is not all that many).

I'll stop here for fear of talking in too greater depth of a game I have not run yet. Forgive the great lack of detail for I would like to save that for the review/gamelog.

I look forward to running the game with my players in the next few days and will give an update on their progress.

Mirkwood - TOR Session #2

Session 2 of our FGII game was fraught with difficulties...personal difficulties; the group rolled excellently through out whilst I tried to set a precedent of failing most of my actions. My second game taught me the perils of...well of dice.

Having decided on our plan to make haste in our pursuit of the children of Woodland Hall and their Orc captors, Trotter, Aidith (The Bridge), Wulfgar (The Healer), Beli and Hamarr pressed into the tangled, dark maze of Mirkwood. We engaged in our first 'journey' or 'travel' phase in which each party member rolled in fulfilling their chosen roles of guide, scout, huntsman and lookout. The mechanics behind this is such that each role fulfills tasks such as ascertaining the route, scouting, tracking and 'spotting' respectively; the success of each can be melded together to form the overall success or failings of the journey in question. In our case, things looked promising as we discovered a short cut through the thick forest which could incur a marked increase in the speed of our pursuit, perhaps allowing us to overtake our enemy. Great roll huh? What you're probably wandering is how my spotting roll turned out?

Goblin arrows whistled between the trees and Hamarr, surprised and failing his protection roll, was immediately wounded. Beli and Aidith rushed forward and easily dispatched the ambushers whilst Wulfgar rushed to tend to Hamarr's wound. Following a brief rest as the shamed Hamarr regained some strength, the group moved quickly, sensing their enemy must be close. Such eagerness saw the party unwittingly arrive in an area thick with the webs of Spiders. Three rushed the group but fell to 3 massive rolls; two silenced swiftly with fatal arrows to the head in the initial volley; another to a massive wound from the Bride's great axe. Hamarr on the other hand threw a spear into a tree.

With lessons learnt and a great deal more caution applied (and taking the groups fate firmly out of my die rolling hands), Trotter sneaked ahead to learn the location of our prey. Our sneaky hobbit spotted our enemy camped in front of a large cave, puzzlingly deeply encamped in the heart of Spider territory. Spiders lurked in the above branches whilst fixed in the damp forest mist hung a number of cocooned sacs; the tale of Bilbo Baggins warned us of the possibility of these being the prisoners. Risking all the group continue forwards in hope to ambush the Orc camp quickly, perhaps even quiet enough to not immediately alert the enemy above.

A what? A stealth roll? Sure.

Hamarr's wounded thigh gives out as he slowly seeks to traverse a fallen tree and his feet land heavily; the subtle and delicate snaps in the undergrowth are met with the hiss of curved Orcish blades leaving scabbards and the camp roars in our direction.

Neither Hamarr's sword nor his spear made contact with an enemy; in hindsight I am pleased he did not go so far as to stab himself. He remains wounded and the group decided to part ways for the night, but not before Hamarr succeeded in alerting an entire camp of Orc to the groups presence and of course their creepy friends lurking in the canopy above. Perhaps if he attracts a large enough horde then he'll find it hard to miss next time?

Check back for next Sunday's update where I will most certainly impale a friend and toss a spider a healing potion.