Interesting Visit

Back from my meeting with Ronnie at Mantic. We had a fun game of the new Deadzone, and I managed to snaffle an early copy of Dungeon Saga. It wouldn’t fit in my backpack.

Anyone watching Ronnie’s FaceBook page will have see us mugging for the camera while we were playing, and I’ve got some more pics on my iPad for tomorrow. It’s still not entirely nailed down, so it’s best not to talk details yet. It only upsets people when they get changed. However, I can tell you that it’s even faster and more dangerous than before. I think I had 2 models left out of 7, and Ronnie had none by the time we stopped.

Posted in Deadzone, Dungeon Sagas | 9 Comments

Mr Potato Head, Body, Legs…

potato_models_1You find inspiring stuff for gaming and modelling in the strangest corners. For an amazing sculptor in a very non-gaming environment, have a look at the video in this report.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34261568

potato_models_2He makes his models from cooked potato and plaster. Even so, note how he is still using the same process any sculptor of 28mm figures would use, researching his subject, building an armature, and then working over the top. And, though there are fewer details than we might be used to, the pose and character of the figures is great.

Posted in Painting & Modelling | 1 Comment

Designer’s Notes

Here’s a question for everyone, sparked by a comment on a recent post.

If I self-publish a book, I get to pick what I want to include. As I like talking about the why of a game as well as the what, I’d be inclined to include designer’s notes. However, it’s occurred to me that burying these in the rules might not be the best place for them. I could, for example, include them here, so that anyone could read them – not just the people who bought the game.

What do you guys think is the best place for designer’s notes: in the rulebook they apply to, or on the web?

Posted in Game Design Theory, Random Thoughts | 39 Comments

Paintballing

Just come back from a morning’s paintballing in the forest.

PaintIn theory, running around shooting folk (who are shooting back) might generate some interesting thoughts for tabletop skirmish games. Unfortunately, I could see so little through my thoroughly-fogged visor that I might as well have spent most of my morning with my head in a bucket of grey paint. So something of a missed opportunity.

As an illustration of this lack of vision, I walked into the boundary fence more than once, and narrowly stopped myself from running into a tree (where’d that come from?). When my gun jammed, I had so little vision that I couldn’t see whether the motorised ammo feed was on or off. And that’s the gun I was holding up to my face. Spotting someone hiding in a bunker 10 yards away? I can’t even see the bunker.

There is one small point of interest to be salvaged though, to do with the hit location tables that I’ve been playing with for my retro SF game. Judging by the various welts I’m now sporting, I’ve got it about right 🙂

Posted in Random Thoughts | 16 Comments

What I Can Say…

Yesterday’s post was really just to let you know that I’m still doing stuff… just that most of it’s got to remain under my hat for a while.

However, that’s not true of everything.

ValhallanOne thing I’ve been helping out with recently is Age of Tyrants. This is a 6mm SF battle game designed by a friend of mine called Mark Brendan (you may remember him as one of the White Dwarf crew back way when I was editor). It’s set in a universe that’s already seen much conflict as the setting for Urban War and Metropolis – so if you’re familiar with either of these then you’ll immediately recognise the warring factions.

Big guns

Except this time instead of a 28mm skirmish or small battle, you get to command the huge tanks and other war machines of the full armies. And some of the tanks are enormous.

So there’s that coming along. They’ll be running a Kickstarter sometime fairly soon as they’ve taken it about as far as they can on their own and need the community support to finish it off. The chaps behind it have promised me a couple of early test shots of the models so I’ll be able to show you a few of the tanks 🙂

Other things I’ve been doing that I can talk about include a skirmish game I started messing about, and which I may end up publishing myself. I originally did it as an amusement and design exercise for myself. What I’ve found though, is that every time I tell anyone about it they want to play too. Maybe I just hang around with an eccentric crowd.

Don’t answer that.

GrumpyThis skirmish game is probably worth its own post to explain in detail, but the potted explanation is that it’s a retro style 28mm SF skirmish game, designed as if I had written it in the mid 80s with that period’s style of rules, sensibilities, and expectations. I’m thinking Laserburn, Combat 3000 and Traveller, if that helps.

This was inspired by a combination of the Colony 87 miniatures (like the one on the left) that were Kickstarted earlier this year, and the Macrocosm figures (like the Diggers below) which are on Kickstarter now. This last Kickstarter is interesting as Chris (the fellow behind Macrocosm) has gone a slightly unusual route. Instead of starting from nothing and diving straight into a Kickstarter, he’s self-funded the first two races so you can get them now. Anyone who’s been to a game show or two in the UK this year has probably bumped into him at one of those, showing off his Malignancy and Digger Corps factions. That’s where I got a load of models from both of those ranges. The Kickstarter is called Macrocosm: The Next Races, and as its name suggests is about expanding the game with more factions, and so far he’s funded some great new stuff – you should go and have a look for yourself. I’ll do a review of some models later.

DiggersReally, I’ve waffled on long enough for the moment. This is just to say that I’ve not forgotten this blog, it’s merely been sleeping 🙂

Posted in Kickstarter, Random Thoughts | 11 Comments

Don’t Tell Anyone

Seems I’m up to my ears in secret projects at the moment.

For example, I spent yesterday in a very enjoyable meeting (which for me often includes playing games) with the owner of a company you’ll all know, about a game which isn’t yet public. That’s one of several projects I’m working on that dare not speak their names out loud, at least not yet. The contrast between now and the later stage (when everyone on the planet will need to be personally buttonholed and indoctrinated into the life-saving wonderfulness of the product) always makes me smile.

Apparently these particular beans are going to be spilled at Essen Spiel, in about a month, so that’s not too long to wait. Some of the other ones will have to wait till next year… maybe… or perhaps even later. A few will doubtless never make it to the public eye at all, and they’re even odder.

Sometimes this makes me feel really detached from the world of Facebook and forums I watch roll by. I know it’s the same for other writers and designers. By the time something you’ve worked on it in the hands of the people it was made for, you’ve almost forgotten what it was all about.

I wonder if this is the way spies feel, carefully guarding all manner of things that supposedly must be secret, but which really want to be out there in the world.

Posted in Random Thoughts | 20 Comments

When Will He Stop?

Tabletopia logo

I’m afraid I have another Kickstarter to mention. Only bumped into this one just now, so it’s not part of a conspiracy to empty your wallet. Honest. However, this one was just too good to pass up on. I’d say it was worth at least a cursory look by any gamer: Tabletopia.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tabletopia/tabletopia-the-digital-platform-for-board-games/widget/video.html

Can’t work out how to make the video appear, so I’m afraid you’ll just have to click on the link above.

If they manage to deliver what they promise then it will be a really worthwhile development, and rather exciting for both players and designers.

Posted in Random Thoughts | 4 Comments

Yet Another Kickstarter

Today’s Figone newsletter included a mention of this book, which looks very much up my street. As I suspect many of you chaps have a similar interest in this sort of stuff, I thought I’d wave it under your collective noses too 🙂

TrudvangNothing to do with me professionally – just looked cool (and I’ve pledged for one).

Posted in Random Thoughts | 4 Comments

So Who’s Going?

Just had to post this.

Posted in Random Thoughts | 1 Comment

Has It Been That Long?

Yes it has.

Apologies all round. As ever it’s simply the workload that’s getting in the way of posting. Fingers crossed I can get the DS articles finished soon. Not promising anything though as that never ends well.

Unfortunately I can’t tell you most of what I’ve been up to of late as it’s all still very hush hush. Suffice to say that there are a number of very exciting new projects in the works, which I will tell you more about as soon as I can.

So, stay tuned, subscribe if you haven’t already, and, as Arnie says, I’ll be back.

Posted in Random Thoughts | 32 Comments