Divine Dines: "Better"finger Bars

Welcome back to Divine Dines!
This week we're taking a look at a fabulous dessert bar recipe that I found on Chocolate Covered Katie.

Vegan "Better"finger bars.

And you're just like "what?". They are like Butterfinger bars, but "better" for you. Get it?

Now, you can see her whole recipe here along with some absolutely drool worthy pictures, but as usual I will relay what I did here:

Ingredients:

• 1/4 corn syrup
• 1 tbsp molasses 
• 3 1/2 tbsp sugar
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 1/2 cups Special K
• 1/8 tsp salt 

I doubled the recipe.

1. In a medium saucepan combine the corn syrup, molasses and sugar. 
2. Bring to a boil on medium heat
3. Stir constantly for about a minute
4. Remove from heat and add peanut butter and salt
5. Return to heat to melt peanut butter because it took too long adding it
6. Remove from heat and add cereal
7. Curse yourself for using such a small pan
8. Return to heat to make mixture soft enough to stir in cereal, making sure it is evenly coated
9. Once fully coated remove from heat
10. Press mixture into a pan lined with parchment (8x8 for a single dose recipe)
11. Freeze until solid
12. Thaw enough to cut into bars
13. Eat

Optionally melt some chocolate and coat the tops of the bars before cutting. I didn't and they were still amazing.

French Obsession

Bonjour!

As I mentioned earlier, I have been using Duolingo again. It has been eating all my time.
As I have ever changing interests, it has become my top one with my other interests taking a back seat.
So bear with me, I'm not in a writing mood. My apologies about this.

As for this week's World Building 101, it is on hiatus. I over estimated my ability to write blog posts on a normal schedule while using my mother's computer.
No worries, I'll do my best to get back on the horse in the future. But for now, I need a break.

But onto the meat of today's post. My current and ever fluxing obsession with French.

Like most young Ontarians I took French from a young age and continued until it was no longer required to do so. I never liked French, I called it the devil's tongue. I always got good grades and generally understood what was being taught, it just never quite clicked with me.

Fast forward to college where once again knowing French was mandatory. So another two semesters of French courses into my head, still to no avail. Good marks, general understanding, nothing more.

Then I met the girlfriend. Oh my. A native French speaker who (luckily for me) is also fluent in English. Perfectly bilingual and seemingly perfect in every other way. Talk about igniting passions.

My desire to learn French and talk to her in this language became great. I picked up my books, grabbed my pencils and went scribbling madly away trying to master this oft maligned language.

But it wasn't to be so easy. Life changes, depressions, changing interests have all gotten in my way. However, slowly, steadily I've been getting better. You won't be seeing any posts written entirely in French any time soon, but I am definitely improved from when I wouldn't give the language a second glance.

On again, off again, on again, goes my ferocity with learning. Days and weeks at a time I'll hit the books every day, learn new things and practice. Then the same amount of time will pass having done nothing. Total burn out. But I come back each time, stronger than before. Sort of a two steps forward one step back process. I'll get there, just slower than someone who walks the whole way.

Anyway, with that I bid you adieu.
À bientôt!

Computer Issues; Work

So I have some very bad news. Not for you necessarily, but for me.

My computer died. Two weeks ago by the time of this posting.

The hard drive is fried.

Luckily I had just recently reformatted the hard drive, so all of my files were backed up within one day of the crash.

However, this means I am currently in the position of having to use my mother's computer, when she is not. Or using my tablet (which is not fun to type on).

So I'm well set for internet browsing. But as far as typing up scores of blog posts my options are more limited.

But don't worry, I'm still trying my best to get my requisite number of words out there all the time, so things should stay near normal around here.

Beyond that I have been working at Wal-Mart again, and doing pretty well anxiety wise. This is great news for me as it means i have some income again!

This time next week I hope to be off in Ottawa visiting the girlfriend as she will be freshly back from Paris.

That's all I have as far as life updates, but I thought I should let you know.

Cheers!

Designing a Solitaire Game

In light of my ever changing passions your regularly scheduled Gimme Games is becoming another changable day.

So my passion of the moment is Solitaire Game Design. Games that can be played, or are meant to be played with only one player.

In a recent post I talked about my current working prototype, the (solo) Amusement Park Builder. This game is now on version 2.2 of the rules, so that post is outdated. In the new rules the game is quite fun, I believe, but lacks a real goal beyond "Beat your high score!". I feel this is a detriment.

As such I thought I would ramble a little bit about what I believe are the principles of solitaire game design.
(Discounting electronic games, of course)

1. Firm Goals
• Less a principle of solitaire design as a principle of game design in general, a solitaire game must have firm goals. Something towards which the player is striving. While it is possible to get away with "beat your high score" it is much more engaging to a player if there is a firm end condition where you can say you won, and another where you can say you lost. 
• Firm goals also refers to goals within the game. There need to be easily measurable and distinct stages of the game from which you can gauge your performance. 
2. Luck vs Strategy
• In a solitaire game luck has a much greater place than in a multiplayer. This is because without the unpredictability of other humans to take into account, the game can become too cut and dry. This is not to say that the whole thing should be based on luck. Far from it. There needs to be a great deal of strategy as well, as the player has as much time as they would like to devote in order to develop a plan of action. A careful balance of luck and strategy is what is needed in order to truly stimulate the player.
3. Play Time
• This is the most variable and personal quality, I believe. Both long and short games have their place in the solitaire world. A 15-30 minute game is a great filler while you wait for friends to arrive, or between classes, or any number of places. But a long 1-3 hour bonanza of play time is also great for those nights where you can't get anyone together. A game that has a variable and decidable play time with a large range would be ideal, as it could fit both niches.
4. Scalability 
• The ability for a game to scale beyond one player seems a bit anathema to the principles of solitaire design, but in reality it is a major factor in whether people will play. It is much more enjoyable to find a game you really like and are good at, and then be able to share it with friends than it is to ave it to yourself forever.
5. AI
• Solitaire games are much more enjoyable when you only have to play from one side. This ties back into luck and strategy. If you have to constantly shift gears between "Player 1" ad "player 2" you have less brain power to devote to coming up with ideal strategies. Luck therefore makes a great opponent and should be used to help mitigate the brain power needed to play two sides.

This is by no means a comprehensive list, just a smattering of ideas I had while thinking about solitaire design, but it is certainly a list I would stand behind. 

Duolingo

No Game a Week this week as I am in a creative rut.
Instead, let's take a look at a neat application I found a while back, and you might have noticed on my list of places to find me.

Duolingo is a free language learning application that spans platforms.
I have it on my computer through the web, my iPod and my Android phone.

There are currently five completed courses for English speakers, French, Spanish, German, Italian and Portuguese. There are also another seven "Hatching" courses- courses that are still being built and tested. There are many more in the incubation stage- ideas that are being thrown about. There are also courses available or in the Hatching stage for speakers of other languages.

But on to the actual learning aspect. Each course is divided into sections, and each section is divided into skills with each skill holding lessons. Confusing? Not really when you take a look at the headers. French for instance is divided into four sections, each containing a number of skills, such as "Plurals", "Science", or "Adjectives 1". Each of those skills has one or more lessons in it, which teach you the actual use of the language.

They teach you through several methods. They have you translate both to and from your target language, they have you write what is said aloud to you, they have you repeat aloud what they have said and there are multiple choice questions. But what is really unique isn't what they are teaching you, but how. You have three "lives" each time you try a lesson. Each time you make a major mistake they will reduce your lives, until you have none, at which point you must start that lesson over.

Not only that, but the site plays like a video game, giving you points and levels in all the courses you take (yes, you can attempt more than one language at a time!). It also hosts a leader board where you can compete with others from your friends lists from Facebook, Google+ or twitter, or just people you meet through the site itself. It also has a winnable currency that you can use to buy new lessons, new ways of practicing, or power-ups for when you practice. There is also a place where you can bet some of your earned "Lingots" (as the currency is called) that you will maintain a week long streak of using the site every day.

The main thing I found fascinating is that each skill you complete is given a strength rating that fades over time. You can strengthen your learned words at anytime through the practice section, which spits up words you have likely forgotten through an algorithm.

The site is eager to help you with all words directly translated on a mouse over, canned speech of each word used in the language, and a special "Immersion" section. This area has the site as a whole translating documents from one language to another, with users rating each other (and thus giving points) based on accuracy.

This Immersion section is also how the site stays afloat. Duolingo is an ad free site, and is completely free to use (not even freemium!). Instead they earn money by the collective work of their students translating documents for paying customers. Pretty sweet system for everyone involved.

Anyway, I'm done talking for today. I hope if you are looking to learn a language you'll give Duolingo a try, and feel free to try and best me (you probably will!)! You can find me there at ekobor as always!

World Building 101: Preliminary Creature Design

I'd like to take a moment to appologise for missing last week's post. I apparently forgot to hit publish on this post and left it in draft status.

Moving on, this week, as previously promised we are taking a look at more concrete world building. This can be considered the "fun" part. I'm going to walk you through how I build a creature. While it often starts from a sketch, today we're going to look at it from the other angle I take.

The first step is to remember a few key things about our planet. Namely that it is warmer than Earth and has roughly the same gravity. This means that we are limited to some degree in where our creatures can go. We are unlikely to find a woolly mammoth roaming about on our hotter than Earth planet, and we are also unlikely to see elephant sized creatures flying through the air. Keeping those things in mind lets develop a small desert creature

The next step I take is to research where nature has gone before. Nature is incredibly creative and will almost always think of things you don't. I looked up "small creatures of the desert" and got this website. From there I take a look at many of the creatures listed and figure out how they survive the desert heat. I'm especially looking at the mammals, birds and insects, as I am interested in making a creature with some kind of coat.

What I notice immediately from the mammals is that they all have big ears. I remember from previous research that this is a great cooling adaptation. I decide my creature will have big ears, probably to the extent of a fennec fox:

However between the birds, insects and mammals the largest creatures are still quite small and svelte. So I know that these ears will be the largest part of my creature.

The next creature that captures my attention is the lappet-face vulture. I mess with the idea of using its featherless face for my creature, but toss it aside. I've settled that this creature will be a mammal, and a forager, not a scavenger in need of protection from rot. 

I make a few rapid fire decisions here, I like the idea of protective horns, as seen on the horned lizard and the pronghorn. I also like the general size of the kangaroo rat, and the general shape of the black-tailed jackrabbit. I now have an idea in my head about what my creature would look like, so I set off to draw it.

It takes a few sketches to get all the angles and everything right, but soon enough I have a good idea of the creature I am making.

At this point I start filling in details. What is it called? How big is it? What does it eat? All the general encyclopedic questions. Some of these will be hard to answer, having only made one creature in our world, so I will either skip it, or fill it in with made up nonsense that is subject to change.

Here are the questions I used and how I filled them out:

Name: Horned Cavret
Size: 6-9" long
Eats: Omnivore; mainly feeds on plants and insects
Habitat: Desert
Home: Small caves and crevices, or dug burrows

As you can see there is very little information at this point. But it is a start.

Divine Dines: Chickpea and Black Bean Crackers

Welcome back to Divine Dines! This week we're going to look at a vegan cracker recipe that I've made twice now.

This time I found the recipe on Love Food Eat, I went with her Oil-Free Healthy Chickpea Crackers.

You can either follow that link or follow along with me here as I discuss the changes and mistakes I made.
But first:

INGREDIENTS:
1 540ml can of chickpeas
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried thyme

1. Preheat oven to 160C (320F)
2. Open and rinse your peas. Rinse them really well so that all of the gritty muck that they are packaged in is rinsed away.
3. Next, using a food processor (or a potato masher and lots of arm strength) mash the peas into a nice thick paste.
4. Add in the flour and seasonings, and combine fully.
5. On a sheet of waxed paper roll out your dough as thinly as you can. Seriously. I rolled mine to about 1/8th of an inch and it was way too thick.
6. Cut out your crackers (whatever shape you want) I suggest 1 1/2 inch squares. 
7. Place them as close as you like on an ungreased cookie sheet, just make sure they don't overlap
8. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until they are crispy. This may take a while!

So first, my modifications. I used canned chickpeas rather than rehydrated dried ones that were suggested. I found that easier and quicker (it is also what we had on hand). Next, I used seasoning salt instead of regular, which gave the crackers a little more kick.

Finally, on my second batch I used black beans instead of chickpeas, which turned out great! I think I'll try kidney beans next.

On to my mistakes. I only made two, but they seriously effected my outcome: 

1. I didn't roll mine thinly enough. I rolled and rolled and rolled, but they were still about 1/8th of an inch thick. This feels too thick.
2. I didn't cook them long enough. If I had left them in the oven longer, it probably would have mitigated the thicker cracker. As it is I left them in for the suggested 30 minutes, and instead of crispy crackly crackers, I got a strange kind of chickpea leather. 

So in the future I will roll even more (ow, my arms...) and bake longer. They really need to be crispy to be fully enjoy.

As it is, however, the flavour is wonderful, even if the texture is lacking.

Gimme Games: Samurai Sword

This week's Gimme Games is all about the game Samurai Sword.

Basically just a rethemed cover of BANG! Samurai Sword does a few things differently, I hear. 

Published only two years ago in 2012, this game is relatively new. 

I've played it twice now, both times at game night at the Kingston Gaming Nexus. Once we played with three players, and another with seven. So I've seen both ends of the player count scale. And I must say, the seven side is a lot more fun. 

But first, lets look at the game. Samurai Sword is a card game for (as mentioned) three to seven players. In it one player is the Shogun. Then there are Ninja, who are trying to kill the Shogun. There are Samurai who are trying to protect the Shogun and there is a Ronin, who is just trying to make it out alive. Only the Shogun's identity is known, all other players are hidden roles.

Each player gets a hidden role card. They also get a character card which gives them special abilities. Finally they are given three cards to form a hand. Each turn they draw a card and they may play as many cards from their hand as they can, however they may only play one weapon (unless they have a special effect in play). 

Weapons are the interesting part about Samurai Sword. They have a certain amount of reach, and each do a certain amount of damage. You determine reach by seeing how many living players there are between you and the one you are attacking. Players are not considered living if they have no health points or no hand, so may be skipped over when counting proximity.

Gameplay is usually fast paced, though it drags on a bit in a seven player game. I quite like this game for the speed in at which each turn goes, but the length of the game overall is a bit off putting. With three players the game goes much faster, however is less entertaining as there are two Ninja against one Shogun.

The art is stunning for this deceptively simple little game, and the cards are sturdy. I especially like the little heart and honour tokens included with the game. It all fits into a nice sized box, and is easily portable.

All in all I enjoy this game and wouldn't hesitate to add it to my collection, as it is a fast paced multiplayer game with a nice hidden role mechanic.

Game a Week: Amusement Park Builder

This week we are looking at my latest amusement- ahem, I mean game. It is still very much a work in progress, and isn't really a "Game a Week" as I have started it well before the beginning of this week, and intend to keep working on it. But I thought I would show what is eating my time.

I've trying really hard to develop a solo game that uses the shake and make mechanic. So I did my best beginnings. I chose the amusement park theme because of Boardgamizer, and quite like the idea.

First pass rules:

1 player
Hard limit: 12 turns
Make the best amusement park possible in a year!
Shake and make: 3 equal segments 1, 2, 1

To play the game you start by randomly placing a face up chit on each of the nine spaces.
The number corresponds to how many customers you will get if you build there.
You then shake the container, and read your results. Depending on colour of the button (brown, white, green) you collect one or two cards of wood, metal or money
You may spend the resources listed to buy new attractions or build roads as listed:
2 wood, 1 metal = minor attraction (x1 customers)
3 wood, 2 metal = medium attraction (x2 customers)
4 wood, 3 metal = major attraction (x3 customers)
2 metal, 1 wood = road
2 money = 1 of either resource
5 money = 2 customers

You can then use your resources to build as much as you like.
Every amusement must be attached by a road to a previous amusement.
If you build a road past an open spot for an amusement, that spot is now defunct and cannot be built upon.
When you build an amusement you gain the number of customers shown on the chit, times by the size of amusement you built. (chit says 2, built a Major amusement, you get 6 customers (2x3))
Once twelve turns are over count out your resources, any set of five is equal to 2 more customers.
Count your customers, that is your score.

I'm trying very hard to design it in such a way that everything will fit in the box I am using for the shaking, so everything is rather tiny.

I like it as a jumping off point, but there is very little tension, and the number of customers gets bigger than I would like. So I need to mull on it quite a bit more, but I thought I would share where I'm at.

If you have any thoughts, I would love to hear them!

Divine Dines: Soft and Chewy Coconut Bread

So I spent the day cooking the other day, and boy was it worth it. Not only is everything delicious, but now I have some things to share! So follow along with me as we delve into some Divine Dines!

First up is a beautiful vegan bread, from Averie Cooks. Only eight ingredients and it makes a nice sized loaf in about four hours.

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup old-fashioned whole rolled oats (not quick cook or instant)
1/4 cup water
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
2 1/4 teaspoons instant dry yeast
pinch salt, optional and to taste

The directions, as I followed them, are as follows:

1. Start by microwaving the coconut milk for 2 minutes to boil it, then add it to the oatmeal in a medium bowl. Add in the 1/4 cup of tap water (room temperature or colder). 
2. Wait for that to cool to be touchable, then add half the flour, salt and oil and stir into a soupy sort of mess. Now it should be cool yet warm enough for the yeast, so add that in along with the sugar and stir. 
3. When that is incorporated,  add the rest of the flour. It will now become too thick to stir, so start kneading with your hands.
4. It will be very super extra sticky and moist. This is good! Don't add any more flour.
5. Preheat the oven to 400F for about a minute and a half, then turn it off.
6. Grease a large bowl, and then put your sticky mass in there, then cover the bowl in saran wrap. Put the bowl into the warm oven to rise.
7. About an hour and a half later (or when the dough has doubled) pull it out and unwrap it.
8. Spray down an 8x4" loaf pan with cooking spray
9. Punch the dough down to it's original size, then knead it for about three minutes on a floured surface.
10. Flatten it into a rough rectangle about 8x6"
11. Rub brown sugar onto the exposed side (this is optional, and you could add anything you like here)
12. Roll from the long end to form a log, then lay that log seam side down into the great pan.
13. Cover with saran wrap (very loosely!) again and let sit to double again.
14. Finally preheat the oven to 350F. Remove the saran wrap and bake the loaf for 30 minutes, or until it is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped.

Apparently you then let it cool completely before cutting it, but I certainly didn't. We left it for about a half hour, but no longer. And boy, was it delicious!

We ate it plain and with butter, and the sweet yeasty flavour was to die for! I certainly cannot recommend this higher!

Gimme Games: Ascension: Immortal Heroes

As promised last week when we talked about Ascension: Storm of Souls this week we are talking about its expansion pack, Immortal Heroes! I picked this baby up at the ever wonderful Nexus for about $30.

Included in this pack are:

• 30 Honor Tokens split into 15 large red ones, 15 small clear ones
• 184 cards split into 
• two starting decks of eight Apprentices, two Militia
• one Cultist
• two Fanatics
• 16 each of Mystics and Heavy Infantry
• 69 center deck cards
• 40 new "Soul Gem" cards
• 20 new "New Event" cards

My initial impression of this box was not favourable, and I'll tell you why. The rulebook. 100% the rulebook. Unlike the Apprentice Edition or Storm of Souls (admittedly both "starter" sets) this box set does NOT contain all the rules necessary to play the game. If you do no already know how to play the game, you are up a creek on with this. For me this was a major drawback, as I bought this set before Storm of Souls.

In Immortal Heroes they have new event cards, as well as cards that read New Event. However how these event cards work is not explained at all. The New Event cards are explained, as they are new to this set as part of a variant rule. 

Apart from having extremely incomplete rules for a set that says in has everything you need to play, this set adds some new and interesting gameplay. Trophy Monsters now have the addition of Ongoing Trophies, which stay with you, giving their effect each turn. There are also Soul Gems.

Soul Gems are where Immortal Heroes gets its name. Soul Gems are basically heroes from older sets brought back to life for a turn. They are new on the Always Available lineup. These cards are brought into play through either Trophy Monsters or Heroes whose effects tell you to draw a Soul Gem. You then get to use that Soul Gem, or discard it at the end of your turn.

All in all Immortal Heroes is a great expansion, but it is just that- an expansion. If hey had made it clearer that Storm of Souls was required to play, I probably wouldn't have bought it so soon. However regardless of what feels like trickery, I quite enjoy this expansion and would really love the chance to play more of it!

Game a Week: Religion Rally

This Tuesday we're taking a look at a game I made in a few minutes based on a Game Design Showdown prompt of (basically) Religious Micro Game.

This game is a dice and card game which involves fifteen cards and twelve dice.
In it you take on the role of a religion trying to gain followers. You do this by rolling dice.

2-4 players, 10-15 minutes

Game contains:
12 custom six sided dice
15 cards
Rules

The Values of the 12 dice are:
1 Follower x12
2 Follower x8, Priest x4
3 Priest x8 Event x4
4 Revolt x10 Event x2
5 Cruelty x12
6 Crusade  x12

In this game players play as their own Religions, attempting to gain followers.
Players put all the dice into a bag and shake them up. They then blindly select one, two or three dice to roll. They roll them one at a time, resolving the faces as they come up.
If a player rolls a follower, they put that die in their pool
If a player rolls a Priest, they select one other player to reroll a follower in their pool. If they roll anything other than a follower that die goes back in the bag.
If a player rolls an Event, they draw a card. These cards force you to reroll the next die you roll that it names. There are three each of the following cards
Reroll next Cruelty
Reroll next Crusade
Reroll next Revolt
Reroll next Follower
Reroll next Priest
A player may only have one event at a time, and are required to draw a new one when they roll an Event face.
If a player rolls a Revolt they must put one follower from their pool back into the bag
If a player rolls a Cruelty, that die is removed from the game
If a player rolls a Crusade that player must reroll a follower from their pool. Anything other than a follower goes back into the bag.
Once a die is resolved it is either placed into the player’s pool (followers) or returned to the bag (everything else)

Play continues until there are no more dice left to roll. The player with the most followers at this point wins.


I've playtested it a few times to try and even out the dice faces, and this is as good as it is getting, as I am busy working on another game. I hope you enjoyed this week's Game a Week, and I'll see you on Thursday for Gimme Games!

World Building 101 - The Solar System

Last time we decided a couple of main facts about our planet:

• The world is warm
• It is roughly Earth sized
• It is based on silicon
• It has the necessary atmosphere to support itself
• It is closer to the sun

and from that we extrapolated:

• There is life
• There is less need for fur or other heat retaining constructs; lizards and other cold-blooded animals may be more common
• There is gravity about equal to ours, meaning the animal and plant size is limited
• Alien life forms can exist and be very outlandish in appearance
• The year is shorter and has longer harvesting times

Today on World Building 101 we look to the skies. Namely, what surrounds our little planet? We already know it is closer to the sun than Earth, but how much closer? Is it the only planet or are there several? Is there one sun? Two? More? How many moons? What are the other planets?

We'll wipe up these questions quickly:

• There are six planets in our solar system
• Our planet is the third from the sun
• Our planet is approximately 100 million kilometers from the sun, about 50 million closer than earth.
• The sixth planet is a gas giant, 
• There is one moon and one sun
• There is a satellite entity in addition to the moon 

In order, this tells us that:

• We are in a midsized system
• We're blocked from some solar radiation
• We're warmer than Earth
• There is something wiping up asteroids for us
• The day/night cycle is similar to Earth
• The tides can be a little wonky

That's all for this week, a very short post. But next week we are going to take a jump to our planet's surface and hash out the really interesting things, such as flora and fauna!

Until then, ekobor out!

Writing a Book

Hello there, welcome back to another week on the Dylan show!
...ahem.

This week I am all entranced with the idea of writing a book. While in the past I have completed the writing portion of a children's book, 3/4ths of one novel and 1/3rd of another, I have never actually completed a book satisfactorily. As a lover of books and writing, this feels a little sad.

So I have taken it upon myself to write something again. And what better to write about than my current love, game design? That's right, I, who has never published a game, think I can write a book about game design. Why? Because there are very few resources out there for board game designers that really go through the whole process. So much of it is shrouded in mystery and "just figure it out" that many designers are starting basically from scratch each time they make a game. And that is a huge barrier to entry into a field that I think more people would enjoy.

They say that every gamer (and many non gamers) has at least one game idea kicking around in their head. The idea being that every gamer has played a game that they weren't entirely satisfied with, and so developed this thought of "I could do better". I like to believe this is true. I like to believe that every gamer has the potential to "do better". Why? Simple, because there are as many good games as there are gamers. What is perfect to one might not be to another. If a game doesn't sit right with you, I think it is entirely logical to warp it to fit your style.

With this in mind, that means there are hundreds and thousands of nascent game designers in the world, yet only a handful of recognised ones. Part of this is because there isn't a lot of profit in board games, especially now that video games have taken their toll. The other part I believe is because people are discouraged from trying. They get their idea and then there is a long, winding, poorly lit path from conception to actualization. That is where the book comes in.

The plan for the book is to break down the design process in discrete steps, from Brainstorming and Finding Theme all the way to Pitching Your Idea and Selling. In this way it should create an easy to follow guide for finding and developing an idea, all the way to the point of getting it out into the world for all to see.

But why do I think I'm qualified to write this book, as I have no discernible expertise in board game design?
Well, I think I'm qualified because I'm the one willing to do the research and collate it all into a book form. The information people need is already out there, for the most part, it just takes a lot of searching to find it. With my schooling in researching topics, I feel that I have a good chance of finding everything I need and being able to reference it accordingly.

Anyway, now you know what I've been working on this week, and likely will be for many weeks to come. I hope that someday soon I have enough done that I can share a rough draft with you, at least of some portions. Until then, have fun and good luck!

Gimme Games: Ascension: Storm of Souls

A couple of weeks ago I did a review of the Apprentice Edition of Ascension. Today we are going to look at that game again, from a different lens. I bought the expansion starter set Ascension: Storm of Souls at Nexus the other day, and have some additional thoughts to add, due to it's new rules and gameplay.

This expansion set me back about $45, but for a game I really enjoy seems reasonable. The chances of me putting out that money for a blind buy are close to nil- I'd have to know the game first.

Storm of Souls comes with everything you see here:

• The box which can hold all of Storm of Souls, Immortal Heroes and the Apprentice Edition
• 50 Deluxe Honor tokens (25 red ones, 25 clear ones (those gems you see))
• 200 cards split into four ten card starter decks, one Cultist card, six Fanatic cards, 26 each of the Heavy Infantry and Mystic cards, and 101 center deck cards
• The rulebook

My initial impression was of glee, for I like shiny things. The honor tokens caught my eye. The small plastic gems are a nice upgrade, if somewhat unnecessary compared the the cardboard chits, and perhaps easier to forget the value of, as they have no marking as to their value. This hasn't been a problem yet, however.

After that magpie moment I took a look at the cards, shrink wrapped in two decks. I was a little confused until I realised they were not colour coded. This is a drawback for me, as I find the cards take more time to sort after a game. As they move forward with the game, I hope they will consider making more of the cards colour coded, like in the Apprentice Edition.

The next thing I noticed was the slight difference in art on some of the cards. The main set of cards, to be specific (The Apprentice, Militia, Mystic, Heavy Infantry and Cultist). They were more in keeping with the style of the rest of the cards than the ones in the Apprentice Edition. I can't understand why they changed the art for the Apprentice Edition, as the original art (seen in Storm of Souls) is much more cohesive with the rest of the cards.

Then I spotted the Fanatic. A new Always Available card, it costs more than the Cultist to destroy (three instead of two) and is a "Trophy Monster". This is a new mechanic in the Storm of Souls set. Trophy monsters are not banished immediately upon being destroyed, instead they give you their Honor, then stay with you until you banish them. 

Next up were Events. These come into play immediately when flipped into the center row, and are superseded by any new event to enter the row. They add new effects to the board, and have an Event Trophy (which took me a while to figure out- you need to banish a Fanatic to get that effect). 

So far I have played three games with the Storm of Souls set, once with it alone, another with three sets combined and the third with the solo variant. All in all I quite enjoy the new game play offered by the new cards, the events certainly offer a new obstacle to work around in some cases, and new boons in others. 

The solo variant is quite challenging and really requires you to plan your moves to the nearest Honor, for Nemesis will beat you silly if you don't. I will cover how to play solo Ascension on another Gimme Games. Until then, the things to note are:

• The cards in the larger sets are NOT colour coded like the Apprentice Edition. 
• The Honor tokens are now small plastic gems, rather than cardboard chits.
• All of your standard Always Available cards are here, along with the new Fanatic
• There are now cards called event cards
• There is a solo play variant

Tune in next week when we look at Ascension: Immortal Heroes!

Game A Week: Poisoned Cities

Today is Tuesday and that means we have a new game to put up! This one went together with a little help from my friend Sonja (check her blog here). We grabbed some thoughts from Boardgamizer and I pulled a random thought from my head. She helped me tune it up, then with a little more fine tuning from me, we hve the version seen below.

Without further ado, our themes were:

1. city
2. pollution
3. survival (this was a victory condition, but I liked it better as a theme)

Our mechanics were:

1. pattern building
2. chit pull

My first thought with these mechanics was a Zen Garden style city building game, were you had to manage pollution levels to keep your citizens alive. (See my thoughts on Zen Garden here)

This was a little complicated in my mind and would likely have just been a retheme of Zen Garden.

Then I remembered a project I was working on before I bought Dungeoneer (see review here). It had tiles with paths on them that could be built up in sections, forming the board as you go. I shelved it because of my opinion of Dungeoneer and not having ideas of how to do it better.

So now we had a mixture of ideas. The secret design element of Zen Garden, the path building aspect of Dungeoneer. We needed something else, something that screamed survival. Sonja hit this one for me when she mentioned Master Labyrinth, a game I recently bought at Value Village. Instead of a pattern of paths, a pattern of materials.

Thus we have the framework for the theme:

Players are playing as survivors of the nuclear apocalypse. They need to fortify their base in order to survive the constant storms. Their job is to head out into the ruins of the city and gather resources to try and match the building plans they have. First person back to base with all their resources wins.

The game requires two bags of chits. One is the Exploration bag, the other is the Resource bag.
In the Exploration bag you have four kinds of square chits:

1. Roads: These show a road on one side and smog on the other
2. Resource Hubs: These show the number of resources on both sides
3. Radiation: These show radiation on both sides
4. Smog: This tile shows SMOG on both sides

It also requires two d6 (one specialized) and a card for each player listing the trade possibilities.

The game is played by first placing down the Home Base chit in the center of the table. This is where everyone starts and must return to in order to win.

Next one player rolls the exploration die (1d6) and can use any part of the number rolled to pull from the Exploration bag that number of chits, one at a time.

• If they draw a Road they place it Road side up connected to any path on the board. Only one side has to be connected, others can face walls.
• If they draw a Resource Hub they place it attached to any road on the board. It must be attached to an open road. They then drawn the number indicated on the tile from the resource bag and place them face down on top of the hub.
• If they draw a Radiation they must attach it to an open road immediately
• If the draw the SMOG they may flip one or more road tiles equal to the remainder of their Exploration die. The SMOG tile is then replaced in the Exploration bag

After they have drawn and placed all their tiles they may use the remaining sum of the Exploration die to move that number of spaces. A player who moves may not end their turn on the same space they started it on. A player may not move through Radiation or Smog tiles.

When a player lands on a Resource Hub they may take the top tile from the Hub and place it in their Inventory. A player may have no more than four items in their Inventory at once, but may discard an item at any point of their turn. A player cannot earn another resource from a Hub until they land on that Hub. To land on a Hub and take its resource ends your turn.

At the beginning of each round (after the first) one player rolls the Wind die. This die has one face showing wind and another showing a storm. 

If the wind side lands face up all Road tiles currently smog side up are turned road side up again.

If the storm side lands face up all Resource Hubs are refilled to their maximum resource number.

On their turn players may trade resources in to the game in order to gain certain effects:

• Trade goals with another player
• rotate goals: you can choose direction
• trade inventories with another player
• trade one item with another player
• re-roll the exploration die once
• re-roll the wind die once

These and their trade amounts are listed on a card in front of each player.

We've not playtested this one yet to determine starting numbers of each exploration chit, resources, or number of resources per hub, but the framework is there, and I consider it done enough to understand. So that's it for this week.

Meet us next week when take a look at another new game, or follow the blog as it constantly has new content in games, art and resources as well as reviews of places I go!

World Building 101 - Getting Started

Last time on World Building 101 we took a look at a large list of resources. This week we're going to get down and dirty and start slinging some mud to create our line in the dirt.

But where to start?

While the hardest question to consider it is truly the easiest question to answer. Anywhere and everywhere. You can start by designing a single race and their language and culture, then slowly filling in the blanks from there, or you can make some varied plant life and what eats it. You can pick and choose where you work, and let the decisions cascade downward until everything important is built. Make a few broad decisions or a couple of small ones and extrapolate from there.

So the first thing for us is going to be deciding one thing about our world. If you're here you probably already have an imaginary world somewhere in your brain, just waiting to pool to the surface. Whether you know what the climate is like, or how some peoples interact, that is where you should start. In this example we are going to start big and work our way down.

The first things we are going to decide are about the planet. What is it like? Is it Earth-like? Is it a frozen wasteland? Is it hot beyond reason? Is it larger or smaller than Earth? Is it closer to the sun? Further away?

Pick one thing you want your planet to be like, and go with it.
Me? I'm going to say it is Earth-like in size but moderately closer to the sun, leading to a warmer atmosphere and little to no icecaps, so higher water levels.

This warmer planet is going to need an atmosphere, which I will say is close enough to Earth to be indistinguishable for our purposes. This allows me to avoid some questions of chemistry, of which I have little knowledge or desire to learn.

The main element on this planet is going to be silicon, as it is conjectured to be possible for life to originate this way. This also gives more credence to alien life forms occurring, rather than Earth clones. In other words, it helps suspend the disbelief.

These few answered questions have already shaped our world in major ways. Lets look at what we know:

• The world is warm
• It is roughly Earth sized
• It is based on silicon
• It has the necessary atmosphere to support itself
• It is closer to the sun

From this we can extrapolate several things:

• There is life
• There is less need for fur or other heat retaining constructs; lizards and other cold-blooded animals may be more common
• There is gravity about equal to ours, meaning the animal and plant size is limited
• Alien life forms can exist and be very outlandish in appearance
• The year is shorter and has longer harvesting times

This is a good start, and has us thinking about some animals, plant life and culture! 

Next time on World Building 101 we will look at the world around our world, the suns and planets and other space stuff!

A Game Mechanic Database

So let me explain.
Yesterday was supposed to be a post I had written about house training a dog. Except I apparently never wrote it. I must have dreamed I did or something.
Oh well, I have nothing new to say on the subject, really, so I suppose that is for the best.
So this week you get your Friday post on Saturday.

And what a post it will be.

In recent times I have been trawling the web about game design, as you know.
My favourite places, the Board Game Designers Forum and the BoardGameGeek Design Forum are pretty slow moving forums, as forums go. With only a few to a few dozen posts in a day (as opposed to hundreds) I tend to blaze through the posts (usually quite soon after they are posted). This means I am stuck without my fix of new information related to a topic of interest. Oh noes!

But have no fear, back reading is here. I've been voraciously tearing through the pages and pages of old threads on both forums. And on both forums I've seen call for the same thing many times over.
A game mechanics database.

A whosit, a whatsit? You read correctly. A database of game mechanics. Not a database of games (BGG does that quite well and completely). But a database of the minute particles that make up a game. This would be useful on many levels for designers. A way to cherry-pick for game design, a reference for how games are similar, a metric for how different games are.

However, there is also one really good thread (that I've seen so far) discussing the creation of such a database.
And the insanity of it.

You see, unlike, say, books, mechanics are incorporeal. They exist only in abstraction. While there can be a near infinite number of both books and mechanics, there are easy to identify qualifiers for books. Not so much with mechanics.

So (as you can read in that thread) things have turned to more a board game components database. A list of physical things that can be found in board games.
Such as bricks/blocks (Jenga, Settlers of Catan, Love Letter), cards (poker, Magic: The Gathering, Dominion) tiles (Forbidden Island, Zen Garden) or boards (Monopoly, Scrabble, Candyland).
All this makes sense from an actual "get things done" point of view. But they aren't as fun of a thought experiment.

So I am still thinking about a game mechanics database. And how such a thing would be catalogued.
My point of view is needing a standardized language for such a project, such that each mechanic would be on equal footing. Leaving out the math and possible to change numbers and wording, and getting right to the core of how the mechanic actually plays out.

Do I think I am the one person on earth with the ability to do this? Gosh no.
Do I think it will entertain my brain in new ways? Yes!
Do I think I can make something of some use to other people? I hope so.

Gimme Games: Dungeoneer: Dragons of the Forsaken Desert

Published in 2005 by Atlas Games the outside of this box proclaims adventure! And also that you need to bring your own six sided dice and tokens. I picked this up at Nexus on clearance for $10, and I'm glad I only bought the one expansion.

Upon opening the box you are faced with two decks of cards and a rule sheet. The rule sheet is about four square feet of densely packed text with few illustrations. Two of the cards, you will read in the set up instructions, require you to cut them up. These will be your miniatures and tokens.

There are fours decks of cards in Dungeoneer. The Quest deck, the Adventure Deck, the Map deck and the Hero deck. There are also six scoring cards that double as either turn summaries or symbol references. The Quest deck contains all of the quests that can be completed. The Adventure deck contains monsters, treasure, 'boons' and 'banes'. The Map deck contains cards that show either places ('sites') or passageways, as well as doors and walls at the interconnecting points. The Hero deck is a set of six cards each with a hero's stats on it.

You need at least one die, plus a way of marking every player's level and health, either with more dice or tokens. You also need two tokens per player to mark out where their 'Glory' and 'Peril' are. Each player starts with a hand of five adventure cards, two face up quests, a hero card and a tracker card. They take turns playing first the 'Dungeonlord' and then as the hero, building the map as they go. The first to either kill off all the other heroes or complete three quests wins.

Honestly I have picked this game up and put it down several times as I was not willing to wade through the mass of rules they call a rules sheet. However I finally waded through and played with a friend today, and I was sorely disappointed.

The game plays out slowly with two people, and the rules are confusing enough to make a simple battle take us minutes of time to try and figure out. You are using other people's Peril points to buy certain things and your Glory to buy other things. As Dungeonlord you are playing the monsters and traps, as hero you are playing, well, your hero.

The artwork, while good, is a bit too dark to read well, even in full light. The cards are of very good quality and are easy to hold. You need a rather large playing surface on which to build out the map. The floor is my first choice, at this point.

I would certainly give this game another shot if there were a more experienced player in the group, or I found a tutorial to follow. However until those conditions are met I will be shelving Dungeoneer and hoping no one asks to play.

Good luck gaming,
~ekobor

A Slow Reduction

Hello everyone, me again!
And I have some good news. Beginning early May I will be returning to my job at Walmart after a four month leave of absence for my health. What this means is that my medication has finally been changed to a working formula and enough time has been given to allow it to take effect.

I am currently free of that nagging voice in my head that says I am not good enough, and that the world is a scary place I don't want to be a part of. I am no longer bedridden nine out of ten days. I have interest in things (as evidenced by this blog, in fact). I am more social, and a better contributor to those relationships.
Which is amazing!

However this means that soon to come my time will not be entirely my own once again. I will have obligations and duties beyond what I choose. While this change is a very good thing, it does mean some less than nice things for this blog.

In the coming weeks I will be reducing the number of posts on this blog, to reflect my working schedule. I will no longer be posting every day. However, do not despair! This does not spell the death of this young blog!

No, I will not be abandoning this blog. On the contrary, the reason I am cutting the number of posts per week is to extend its life. While I may still write every day the excess posts will be scheduled for weeks to come, in order to continue bringing you content.

"But how often will you be posting?" I hear you wonder. And I have an answer. I plan to continue posting four times a week. And what will that get you? Well, it is simple:

• One post on Monday, currently the World Building 101 segment
• One post on Tuesday, currently the Game a Week segment
• One post on Thursday, currently the Gimme Games segment
• and One post on Friday, currently the free space/Life Talk segment.

While the content of each day will shift over time (after World Building 101 I'm thinking Conlangs 101) I am attempting to commit to those four days. The reason for choosing these particular days is simple: Except for Friday they are all running segments, and I want to give you a sense of continuity. 

"But what about Art Time? That's a running segment!" you call. Yes, Art Time is a running segment (that hasn't done so well yet :P) However, you see how Friday is a free space? Those weeks I have something to show for Art Time will be bumping Life Talk from the roster. 

"And Real Life Reviews? I love that shit!" Yes, Real Life Reviews will still happen. On some Fridays. 

And with that, I shall conclude this post with a question:

What would you like to see me talk about on this blog?

Game a Week: Storm Clouds

Iitttttt's Tuesday! And you know what that means?
It means we have another Game a Week!

This week we are going to design the game I'm calling Storm Clouds. It is using the Theme and Victory from Boardgamizer: Storm and Block all Players.

This will be a game for two to six players.


Players each play as a storm front attempting to take over a region. Each player is attempting to block out all other storms from the region.

It is played on a hexagonal board made up of hexes.
There are seven hexes from corner to corner, making each edge a line of four hexes.

In a two or three player game each player starts with 4 gems on the board at the edge nearest to them.

In a four to six player game each player starts with 3 gems on the edge nearest to them, sharing one corner with an opponent.

In a two or three player game each player starts with 6 other stones in their pool.
In a four to six player game each player starts with 7 other stones in their pool.

Players then take turns either placing a new stone or moving a stone one space in any direction.

You may have no more than ten stones of your colour on the board.
You may only place a stone adjacent to one of your own stones.

When moving you may jump over any one of your stones.
Jumping must occur in a straight line.

A stone surrounded by stones of the other colour is captured.
A group of stones of one colour are considered a unit. If they are surrounded by another colour they are all captured.
Captured stones are removed from the game.

Win by removing your opponent from the board.
If there is nowhere to move or place a stone, you have lost by default.
If no one can move or place a stone, the game ends in a tie.


Initial playtests of this game reduced the number of available stones from 18 to 10. There is certainly strategy involved, and no one strategy has yet to come out on top.

We've only playtested a two player game, though three would be easy to envision.
The four to six player games are harder to imagine, and may require a larger board, but the theory should still be the same. For a one week game, I'm going to call it done as is though.

World Building 101 - Gather Resources

Today we're going to look at another geeky hobby of mine: World building!
Maybe you're writing a book. Or perhaps you just want to share your imagination. It is even possible all you want is a richer experience inside your own head. In any case, this post is for you.

World building, or Geofiction, is the art of designing imaginary planets, cultures, languages, and more- all with the intent of creating a consistent universe. World builders consider such facts as what the air is made of, what kinds of plants and animals there are, what eats what, and more. In this series we will be starting a new world and designing it from the bottom up.

The first thing we are going to do, however, is what I always do when working on a new hobby- develop a list of resources! While by no means exhaustive, this list will be a good place to return to when stuck for ideas or in need of guidance. Without further ado, lets get listing!

A very good place to start is Patrica C. Wrede's Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions. For getting a general overview and dealing with a few thorny questions, this list is indispensable for authors as it hits all of the major points of contention you need to clarify for readers.

A nice next stop is 30 Days of World Building. With description and a 15 minute exercise for every day for 30 days you are sure to find something of use to do. And if you go through them all in order, more power to you!

An unfinished but very informative wiki-guide is the Educated Worldbuilder site. It doesn't go too in depth on any one thing, but gives a basic overview of how many different things work.

Creating Fantasy and Science Fiction Worlds. Split into chunks this article is exceptionally long- and good! From gods to zoology this article series hits on the most major topics to come up in building a world.

Considering magic in your world? Here is a Guide to Creating Believable Magic.
This same site also hosts a very brief introduction to world building, also called World Building 101.

We all know I like donjon's random generators and his Fantasy World Generator is no different. If you have a hard time with maps, this will be an invaluable resource for you.

Another list of resources that can still grow is the NaNoWriMo World Building Resource Thread. Catered to authors, it is a list of resources other authors have found and enjoyed- all of my previous links have found their way on there!

Another long list of questions is the Xtreme Culture Questionaire. If you're starting form people to world, this is a great place to start!

That's the end of the list for today, but I'm certain there are hundreds of other great resources out there. Care to share?

Off for Easter

Hello all, just wanted to say there won't be a big post on the blog today, as I am taking a break for Easter.
Which basically means I have chores and self imposed homework I need to catch up on.

But in the mean time, look at my Easter basket from my wonderful mommy!

That's chocolate, jam, a twirly straw and some pencil/eraser sets! Everything a person could want from an Easter surprise!

Well, see you tomorrow- I have eggs to dye!

An Argument for Collections

Today is normally (if two posts can be considered "normally") Art Day on the blog. But instead we are going to talk about collections.

Why? Because a friend of mine says she just doesn't "get" collections.
Her argument was that collections aren't useful. They take up space, and unless the collection is of useable things, it is not worthwhile. To paraphrase.
I argued that collected things are useful, for no one would collect useless things, (unless their collection were specifically of useless things, but that is a whole other kettle of fish).

However this did not deter her. So here I am, taking time to think it out further and formulate a stronger response.

1. Collections are useful. 
• Even a collection of bottlecaps or pop tabs is a useful collection. To the collector, at least. I collect pop tabs. I do not collect them because I want to donate them (though I could), or because I want to make something out of them (which I used to). I collect them because they feel useful to me, even if they are not. I collect them because there are tings I could do with them
2. There is comfort in numbers
• People like to have things. Especially a lot of things. In our culture we have been told that more is better. So it fills a usually unexpressed feeling of need for people to collect things, even if they have no practical use.
3. The thrill of the chase
• There is an adrenaline rush that comes from searching for things. Finding that one rare item to complete a set, or finding a misprinted stamp. People are very good at recognizing patterns and get a rush of endorphins when they do. Finding something that is the same but different is a real joy bringer. 
4. There is value in it
• Many collections are, or can be, quite valuable. Coins are inherently valued. Stamps can be worth hundreds of dollars. Even things that are considered worthless (pop tabs, bottle caps) can have value if they are special or in large numbers (You throw out pop tabs, yet a few pounds of them are worth a fair chunk of change.)
5. There is fun in it
• Besides the thrill of the chase, there is fun in collections. Managing them, sorting them, culling and adding to them. They all bring joy to the true collector. Just seeing your collection on display, or knowing you have it can bring comfort to a person in this hectic world.
6. There is control in it
• We cannot control the world. Things will happen that we don't like. But in the realm of collecting, we can issue some control. We decide what we collect, we decide when and how much to add to the collection. We decide how to display or otherwise enjoy our collection. It is a very personal thing, and we get to control all aspects of it.

All that said, I do not believe collections are for everyone. Some people may just never "get" the concept. And that is okay. I don't believe it to be right to judge others; based on their collections(or lack there of), or how they choose to manage them, or even if they have too many or too few. It is another quirk that sets people apart.

What about you, readers? Do you collect things? If so, what? Why?

Merry Easter!

Merry Easter everyone. Good Friday through Easter Sunday I hope you have splendor and joy!
I myself am not a religious person, and do not celebrate the "meaning" of Easter. I merely use it as an excuse to buy people gifts. And I think that is an acceptable use of any holiday, really.

Last year I bought my girlfriend a very cute stuffed rabbit. She quickly named it Zoey.
However this year I was stumped. The girlfriend is in France this Easter, and shipping is expensive. Whatever shall I do?

Well, taking cues from her Valentines gift to me this year (having a florist here bring me roses), I decided I must send her something that is already over there.

Thus came in Amazon.
Did you know that you can use your Amazon account to buy things from other countries' Amazons? I did not! I was searching all over the place for the cheapest shipping of gifts to France from florists and chocolatiers when suddenly Amazon.co.uk popped up and I thought I'd try it.

Lo and behold, it works! I was able to select my account as the paying account, and her address as the one to ship to.

And lookie what I bought:

That's right- a GIANT box of sugar! All sorts of retro candies and chocolates.

While not my first choice (or my seventh) it did allow me to ship to France. 

(Why didn't I use the France Amazon you ask? One, I don't speak French, two, it didn't have anything I wanted)

With gift wrapping and shipping the whole order came out to less than $50, which I thought was a bargain considering the GIANT list of sweets it includes.

The only minor set back with Amazon (over a florist) is that you cannot select your delivery date. As such by the time of posting this she has already had her present for several days.

My only regret is that I can't be there to see her open it!
But I have since heard that many of the candies are good, and she is working through them at a fast clip, so all is well!

Gimme Games: Alien Frontiers

This week on Gimme Games we have Alien Frontiers!
Now, I don't own this game, so I cannot take pictures of it. However it is the game I played at game group this week.

Opening the box you are presented with a board, a rule book and several smaller boxes. Four boxes hold the player pieces and another holds fuel and ore, while a sixth holds other game components such as the center alien die, the planet tokens and the docking tokens. You also have a score track to keep track of player scores. The player pieces are split between six dice, ten colony domes and 1 rocket for the score board.

The game is played by rolling your dice to see what actions you can preform. The different actions are listed on the board, as well as 'docking' slots. Only a certain number of dice in certain combinations can do specific tasks, such as gather ore, collect fuel or build colonies. The board also shows a desolate planet with sections marked off. Each of these sections is named after a famous sci-fi writer, such as Asimov's Crater.

You start the game with three dice and have to use your dice to build the other three by rolling doubles and paying fuel and ore. We played the three player version which has each player start with seven colonies to place. As the game goes one you can collect more ore and fuel, as well as alien artifacts. These alien artifacts allow you to effect other players and the board.

As you manage to build colonies on the planet the player with the most colonies in a specific area earns points and the title to that area. These deeds give you bonus special abilities and are quite worth having. Each colony you place also earns you a point. The game is over when one player has placed all of their colonies upon the planet, and the player with the most points then wins the game.

The art work in the game is first rate sci-fi, and the pieces are good quality. The pieces that get moved the most are chits, while the cards are strong and matte. The colony pieces are two part plastic with a little city inside of a clear dome- a great way to enchant younger players. The game has optional purchasable "rocket dice", which are basically barrel dice to add to the theme of the dice being your ships.

All in all it was a very fun game, with a lot of strategy and a fair helping of luck. It took us about an hour and a quarter to set up, learn and play the game, between three players. The man who taught us kept referring to the game as "space Yahtzee", and I must admit that term has merit. I would certainly play this game again, though I might reduce the amount of colonies needed to be placed for a shorter play time.

Real Life Reviews: Aji Sai Sushi

After game night last week my friend and I were quite hungry. As is becoming a thing for us after game night, we went for sushi. My friend recommended Aji Sai, as she had been there before and it was close.

At 178 Ontario street Aji Sai is quite close to the downtown transfer point. It has an unassuming facade that can be easily walked by. But once you're inside that changes. You enter into a large room with the sushi making station in the center. The light sets a very mellow tone, while the decor is modern with brick. The place is warm, even seated beside the door as we were, and the mixed nationality music had very good acoustics through the place.

The servers and food were both prompt, though that may have partly been being some of the last customers of the night. We both got the all you can eat deal, which cost about $24 after taxes. Considering our last sushi adventure, this was a savings. We were given each a bowl of miso soup which was a great palette cleanser. It was just the right temperature to drink, and wasn't too thick or milky.

We started with a Sex on the Beach roll. It was pleasantly sweet, but the sauce dribbled on it had a bite. It benefited from the sweet ginger garnish, and was wrapped in pink nori- a very pleasing ascetic.

The salmon sushi and sashimi didn't really do it for me, as I found the salmon to be a bit watery and bland. However the Takoyaki was a pleasant surprise in being a chewy sweet fried dumpling, with a hint of ginger.

The Volcano roll was smooth and chewy, and had an overbearing taste of cucumber. Meanwhile the BBQ Short Rib roll was much too American flavoured, and unsettlingly warm, if not unpleasant. I quite enjoyed the tuna sushi for its melt in your mouth smoothness and umami sweetness.

I tried two more sashimis, both butterfish and mackerel, and neither were quite my style. The butterfish was quite fishy tasting, and burst in your mouth with a watery wetness, and left a lemony aftertaste. Much to the opposite the mackerel was almost too dry and flaky with a strong level of salt and a peppery aftertaste.

The Red Dragon roll was good, but I found it to be the less satisfying younger brother of my favourite of the night, the Black Dragon roll. The Black Dragon roll was topped with ultra smooth and buttery eel, while the tempura shrimp added just the right amount of crunch.

For dessert we had a melange of mango. A bowl of mango ice cream that had a truly satisfying milkiness to it that it must be homemade. And a Mango Milky. Now this was nothing like the milkshake I was expecting. Instead it was a two layered shot glass of thin milk pudding and a mango puree creating a sweet and intense mango flavour. Now that's a shot I can get behind!

I found the portion sizes to be a wee bit small, but enjoyed that I could then select more things to try. The restrooms were impeccably clean and private, but they were exceptionally small.

All in all I quite enjoyed the experience and wouldn't mind returning. Even a good while later as I write this I am still full from my meal, and don't regret the expense. Perhaps give it a go the next time you're nearby.

Game a Week: Blacksmiths

Today (and hopefully more in the weeks to come) we are going to look at a very quick game design!

Taking our cues from Boardgamizer we will start with a random Mechanic(s), Theme(s), Victory Condition and an optional Constraint. 

This week's set consists of:

Mechanic: Pool Building

Theme: Armor Building

Victory: Most Reputation Points 

Constraint: Must have cubes

So from this we have a simple theme:

Players play as blacksmiths trying to outdo other blacksmiths and win the patronage of the prince.

This will be a War-like trick taking deck building game for three to six players.

Each player will start with a deck of fifteen cards.
These cards are numbered one through five in three suits:
Horseshoes
Silverware
Armor

Each player draws three cards from their deck.
The first player plays one card and each player follows suit if they can, attempting to be the highest number.
In case of a tie horseshoes trumps armor, silverware trumps horseshoes and armor trumps silverware.
Three way double tie (Same number and suit or same number all three suits) is resolved by playing a bonus round, winner takes all.

Each trick you win gains you an effect based on the winning card's suit
Each trick won by armor earns you one Reputation Point.
Each trick won by horseshoes earns you an extra draw this next turn.
Each trick won by silverware lets you change the card you played in the next round after everyone has played.

Once the trick has been taken, each player draws one card from their deck.
If a player has no cards in their hand at the end of the trick, they draw three cards.
The player who won the trick is now the first player for the next round.

When you win a trick you take all the cards played into your discard pile.
If ever you need to draw and your deck is empty, shuffle your discards to create your new deck.

To win acquire 3 Reputation points or be the last player with any cards.
The Reputation points are represented by cubes, to just barely fulfill the Constraint.

I've played this once using three decks of regular cards (ace through 5 of hearts, diamonds and clubs) and except for the slight confusion over which suit represented which, the game went well. It seems sound.

Any and all opinions, comments and criticisms would be appreciated!

Campaign Building Resources

On today's episode of "How Many Links Can I Fit in One Post" we have the resources I use or have found useful for building Pathfinder Campaigns. All of these links refer to a random generator or roll-table to use.

Random Adventure Hook Generator
Letting you choose between D&D Classic, Faerie Tale and Bare bones this generator comes up with a hook and several plot points for an adventure

Pathfinder Treasure Generator
This generator lets you chose encounter difficulty, average party level, game pace, treasure quantity and several other factors before generating you a treasure hoard to load up your players.

Random Encounter Generator
In the donjon set of generators there is the Encounter Generator. It lets you chose level, Plane and a few other things, then spits out an appropriate encounter

Random NPC Generator
Also from donjon, this generator lets you choose a few characteristics of an NPC then populates a list of possibilities.

d12 Roll Table a Day
A blog which lists a new (usually humourous) roll table every day, using a d12

Plot Point Table
A roll table from an old published adventure, change answers to suit your campaign more.

Symptom Suffering
Have your characters suffer a unique symptom.

Random Hirelings
A way to distinguish hirelings.

Random Rings
20 random rings

100 Mundane Items
Exactly as it says. Populate your dungeon with some things they might not end up looting.

1000 Magical Effects
What does that tiara do when you put it on?

Magical Loot Tables by Level
Roll for random loot based by level

Ongoing Adventure Motifs thread
This thread is still in the works, but makes for a nice set of random adventure motifs.

And hereafter are some other lists of generators and roll-tables:

donjon

DnD With Porn Stars (possible NSFW content)

Jeff Rients Blog

d6 Random Tables

North of Nowhere

Dentists

I went to the dentist on Friday. Thanks to not having insurance, this was my first visit since getting my wisdom teeth out. Five years ago. Too long a wait? Maybe.

I have this thing about teeth and mouths. I really really hate when things go wrong there, it squicks me out. Cavities, abscesses, broken teeth, the whole thing. Really bugs me. So in response to that, I take very good care of my teeth.

Except when I'm depressed. One way to tell I'm depressed is when I stop brushing my teeth. It doesn't happen all at once. No, I miss a brush here, a floss there, and slowly I stop caring. Then suddenly I notice I haven't brushed my teeth in a while, and bam, I know I'm depressed. Something like that.

Anyway, considering I have had several long depressive episodes in the last few years, I went to the dentist fully expecting to have a mouth full of problems. I know I don't floss enough, and those long times with only occasional brushing? Killer. Not to mention I live with my mother who is always having teeth trouble, and my sister complains of bad teeth, and my aunt. Honestly I thought I was doomed.

However, coming away from the dentist, I only have two small cavities in one tooth. Pretty good for someone with a fear of things going wrong with their teeth. Sure, I need to floss more (most people do!) to prevent more from forming, but on the whole the dentist was impressed with my dental health, considering the time there was for decay.

I certainly don't like going to the dentist (who likes getting poked in the gums with pointy metal objects?) but I am glad  I went. My teeth feel clean and shiny and like new again. I also know that there are some things I need to watch out for. Especially a kind of toothpaste recommended to me to help strengthen my enamel.

Next up is saving up the four hundred some dollars to get those little cavities filled. Joy.
I'll let you know how that works out.

'til then, ekobor, out!

My Craft Kit

Due to technical difficulties there is no art journal page to watch this week. 

As a place holder instead, have a photo walkthrough of my traveling art kit:

 This is what the bag looks like all zipped up. It is an old Queen's laptop bag I found at Value Village for $5. It bulges with artsy goodness.

Opened up there are the two sides.

  The front side holds:

 My Neo-Color twos in an old oil pastel box

 My sponges, in an old jewelry box which fits perfectly in the left pocket.

 My heat gun, that fits perfectly in the middle pocket.

 A selection of stencils and stamps, in an old hardware container.

And some paints and bottled inks, in a sandwich container that I bought at the dollar store that just fits in the right hand pocket.

 The back side contains

 An old hardware box full of paper and scraps, as well as my couple of washi tapes

 Under that, showing the loose things.

 A Mappins box holding my gelatos and the relocated oil pastels

 A removable pencil case (part of the bag, velcros in) with some exacto knives, pens, water spritzers, paintbrushes, white paint pens, a bone folder and some glue.

 Between the laptop section and the pencil case fit my distress inks, other inks, and some larger stamps as well as some Tim Holtz letters and some letter stamps.

 Loose under the paper bin are the rest of my stamps, here are some alphabets

 All my mounted stamps

 And another hardware box full of cling stamps

In the outer pocket you'll find my gesso, a tin of homemade stamps, and a tin of tiny scraps.

Finally, in the outer back pocket you'll find my art mat. Really a silicon cutting mat from the dollar store, it gets a lot of use.

How about you, internets? Do you like arts? Do you have a special arts and crafts kit that you can show?