Tuesday, April 29, 2014

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!

Monday, April 28, 2014

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!



Saturday, April 26, 2014

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.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

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

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

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?

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

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.

Monday, April 21, 2014

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?



Sunday, April 20, 2014

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!

Saturday, April 19, 2014

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?

Friday, April 18, 2014

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!

Thursday, April 17, 2014

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.

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

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.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

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!

Monday, April 14, 2014

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

Sunday, April 13, 2014

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!

Saturday, April 12, 2014

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?

Friday, April 11, 2014

Reading and the Burden of Books

Those who know me know I like books. A lot. In fact I'm trained as a library technician, all for the love of books. Two years of college to work with books and their friends, serial printings and electronic copies. Oh, and the people who use them, of course.

So I think it is safe to say that books hold a special place in my heart. I love the feel of a book's pages in my hands, I love the smell of a new book, the smell of an old book. I like how the pages yellow with time. The different fonts and typeset, the various formats and formatting. I just love the magic that comes from being able to jot down some random squiggly symbols and having them transport hundreds of people to another time or place; to transfer information from one mind to the other and have it be transformed in the process.

But books, they say, are dying. No one wants to lug around 100 pounds of dead tree when a few ounces of plastic and metal can do the same task. While I understand the sentiment, I don't believe its veracity- even as I jot my thoughts down in a purely electronic format. No, I believe the book has a long life ahead of it for many reasons. However that is not what I came to talk about.

I came to talk about the burden that books bring along, that ebooks have yet to capture. The unending library shelves weighted down with unfathomable numbers of volumes, all waiting to be borrowed, opened and read. Or, on a more manageable scale, the bedroom bookshelf. Approximately four cubic feet of shelving space loaded with novels, the occasional non-fiction, magazines and a three week old newspaper. Maybe a notebook or two, and a reading lamp.

Sound familiar?

This is where the burden comes in for me. These books waiting to be read, or reread. Their worlds and thoughts and speech locked away like tortured souls until someone picks them up and gives them a bit of love. Here is where the heart wrenches and the soul moves, for it is here you make a choice. Every book read is dozens of others left unread- for you cannot ever aspire to read them all.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy reading and all that comes with it. But have you ever felt, at an unsatisfying ending, that your time could have been spent better in another? That perhaps this book was merely masquerading to steal your time? It can lead to a paralysis of what do I read next- where you don't want to be strung along again.

Then there is the culling. Unless you have infinitely expanding space and money (congratulations if you do!) you cannot hope to house and hold every book you come across or enjoy. Choices need to be made. And that I can only liken to the the choice between children. Which do you feed and which do you send to an orphanage?

For some books this is easy- the ones you've read a few dozen times should likely stay. The ones you've read once and wanted to burn should probably go. But what of the ones you haven't read, or only mildly enjoyed? These are not easy questions, and I have no answers.

Even once you've decided which children to cast out, it then comes to deciding what to do with them. Do you toss them out with yesterday's spinach? Or send them to an unknown fate amongst used item vendors? Perhaps you try to find them new homes yourself, by selling them or giving them away. But does your responsibility end there?

And what of art?

Do we scorn those who use books in their art? If yes, then throw your first stone at I who have done so. I have defaced several books in my art journey, with little regret. Many others have done so as well. It strikes me as odd that we revere these objects so thoroughly, yet seem to value them so little. A paperback costs 25 cents at a garage sale, but to tear it up is considered most heinous by many. I understand the urge to protect the books, yet I understand the urge to recreate them as well. This is a dichotomy I cannot explain.

All in all I think books are a wonderful resource, if a bit weighty on their responsibilities. They make beautiful art, intact or not. And it is the responsibilities of books that I think will slow their demise. We have this learned connection and fascination with books that makes us revere them. And I think that will take a long time to go away.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Gimme Games: Gargon: The Amulet of Power

Next up on Gimme Games is GARGON: The Amulet of Power!
Designed by Rüdiger Dorn for Rio Grande Games, Gargon was released in 2001 and appears to be out of print now. It is a card game played with a custom deck of 102 cards. I picked up this game a few years back from Minotaur Games for the hefty sum of $7.

Upon opening the box you are presented with two stacks of cards and a rule page. My first impression of this game was to fall in love with the art and the cards. The art showcases beautifully rich colours and fantastic creatures. The cards are sturdy and have a crosshatched texture, making them sit nicely atop one another and not swing too much. They are slightly smaller than the standard playing card, but the quality of the material makes them easier to hold

There are six suits in the Gargon deck, Red (phoenixes), Purple (gargoyles), Grey (dragons), Blue (pegasi), Yellow (manticores) and Green (faeries). Each card offers a full card piece of art, a number from zero to fifteen and a series of  'amulets' from zero to five on a single card. These numbers and amulets are repeated in each corner like a standard playing card, making them read easily.

The game requires 3-5 players, and means it. The game does not offer ways of reducing numbers of players, and that is a big drawback for me. However I could easily see adding another set to the game to make it accommodate more. The rule page offers a great overview, telling the story behind the game as well as the way to play.

The rules are laid out in a very easy to follow fashion, and the game itself is quite simple. You are attempting to capture the most amulets by defeating your opponent's cards. The lower the number on the card, the more amulets it is worth. The higher the number, the more power the card has. Cards of one suit cannot attack cards of another. Whoever captures a suit's zero number card doubles their points from that suit in the scoring round.

Play passes by allowing players to lay down one to three cards in various combinations. Once each player has followed the trend of the starting player by laying down a combination of cards, all cards are flipped and battles take place. All cards of a certain suit are compared to each other, with the highest card winning the battle and being acquired by the winning player for their scoring pile. Each player who lost a card then draws a card to replenish their hand.

The most tedious part of this game is scoring. One must count up the amulets they have won, by counting the amulets upon the cards. You also have to factor in who got the most of each suit, as they get bonus cards, and who got the zeroes, as that doubles your score for that suit. While only simple addition (and possible multiplication), it takes a fair amount of time for all the players to do this, and makes the game feel like a complicated method of getting you to practice math.

Gameplay is quick, though the game can last up to an hour. If a player experiences analysis paralysis it can bog the game down quickly. But as a light friendly game it is certainly a winner.
All in all I enjoy Gargon: the Amulet of Power and will certainly keep it in my collection for the years to come.

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Real Life Reviews: The Common Market

The Common Market is a mid-sized coffee shop in downtown Kingston, located at 136 Ontario Street. It has a slice of a waterfront view between two apartment buildings. The front of the building is unimposing and easy to miss if you weren't looking for it. The awning boasts Espresso, Cafe, Baked Goods, Gourmet Meals to Go, Produce and Fine Foods. And it certainly lives up to its awning.

Inside you are greeted with a warm farmer's market style. Fresh produce and bread are found in produce crates and baskets. Chalkboards advertise fare. The people are friendly and inviting, greeting you as soon as you walk through the door. Pantries sit open to combine with open freezers to offer dry and cold foods to go.

I was disappointed to learn that the ready to eat foods were limited to the sausages in the freezer chests and the baked goods, all of the gourmet pastas and other meal ideas were to go frozen foods. However the quality of the food available greatly makes up for it.

Scones, biscotti, cookies and tarts supplement your average coffee fare. Espresso, mocha lattes and cappuccino as well as a selection of fresh brewed coffees. All of which are advertised as locally roasted, organic and fair trade.

Now, if you're like me and you hate coffee, don't back away just yet. There are teas and hot chocolate on order as well. In the summer they also have iced coffees and Italian sodas on offer. Not to mention the selection of organic beverages for sale in the refrigerated chests.

The refrigerated section in the back of the store offers a selection grocery store like items. From cereal to local cheeses and meats one could easily stock the main portion of their kitchen from this shop alone.

Prices do not seem astronomical for someone used to Starbucks, but for a Timmie's lover you might have to swallow a little shock. But it is really true that you get what you pay for in quality.

The atmosphere is the real selling point of this otherwise out of the way coffee shop. Warm, inviting and clean it feels like walking into the past, where everyone is a neighbor. The stone brick walls and warm wood accents really play on the desire for an old general store ambiance. Big windows open the place up for plenty of natural light, while still maintaining the warm yellowy flavour.

All in all I would recommend The Common Market to people looking for a warm refuge on a cold day, or a blast from the friendly past. Those looking to be more conscious of where their food is coming from, and those with a little extra spending money. A bit of a hike from the downtown transfer point (but right on the #3 bus route) The Common Market is a dream come true for the trendy coffee chic of Kingston's downtown region.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Pinterest

So who all has heard of Pinterest?
Most of you have, and for the few who haven't here's a quick breakdown:
Pinterest is an image-based, bookmarks-sharing, social media platform.

To break that down, Pinterest allows you to graphically catalogue your favourites while also giving you a platform from which to discover new related material and interests. It also allows you to share your thoughts and comments on these materials with friends and followers.

It's like having a set of bulletin boards that the world can see... in as organized a fashion as you see fit.

I personally love Pinterest, and here's why:
  1. Follow as much or as little as you want
    • whether you have a focused interest on planes or a broad interest in everything that flies, Pinterest will let you follow it
  2. Custom categorization
    • rather than using just a system of messy tags or labels Pinterest lets you pin things to different boards (folders, basically) so you can quickly find that one favourite
  3. They use comments as labels
    • ever wanted the program to just know what labels and tags you need for a post? Pinterest does. Anything in your main comment is used as a tag for the image, 
  4. Your home page is customized
    • Everything that shows up on your home page comes from the boards you are following. Don't like bears? Don't follow any bear boards and the chances of seeing one is slim.
  5. Integration with Twitter, Facebook and Google+
    • As is standard for this day and age, Pinterest seamlessly integrates with the major social medias to allow you to post to them from within Pinterest itself.
  6. Mobile deice support
    • Pinterest is even easier to use on a mobile device, with a simple press and hold mechanic to pin things.
  7. Pin your own content
    • Pintrest makes it easy to pin new content by introducing a browser widget that will let you select images from the page you are on.
  8. Simple layout
    • Pinterest doesn't clutter up your screen with boxes and boxes of text or extraneous information. Instead it has a pleasing waterfall layout of the images in your feed, with one box the the left helping you find friends, and your information in a banner at the top.
  9. Simple usage
    • Hover over an image to select to pin, send or heart it. Pinning it opens a box over everything (that gets greyed out) to select where to pin it. and gives you the option of posting to Facebook. It then opens up a suggested board to follow, making it easy to follow related boards.
  10. Easy to find new content
    • In addition to the suggested board that pops up after pinning an image, you can also find related content by clicking on the image. Scrolling down you will see boards that contain that image, as well as other related pins. You can also look within categories, using the tripple bar icon in the upper left.
  11. See what's popular!
    • For those who like to see what is trending Pinterest makes this easy by having a 'Popular' section. This shows you what is being repinned the most!
Those are some of the reasons I adore Pinterest. What're yours?

Feel free to follow me on Pinterest!

Monday, April 7, 2014

Game Design Resources

I am not a game designer. Nor will I ever (likely) be. However I do find game design to be a very interesting topic, and as such have collated quite the collection of references and resources. Since that is what I do when I pour myself into a hobby- I make lists of resources. However it is often the case that my interest in the hobby wanes (only to wax again later), and I am left with list upon list of resources and no current use for them!

If this is the case, why shouldn't you, the intrepid game designer to be, benefit from my hours of web searching, scrutinizing and scanning? My time spent ranking and rating and otherwise spent categorizing?
You should! As such I am starting a series on resource sharing.

First up is... The Designer's Resource List  from BoardGameGeek.
Now over on the 'Geek they've got a whole forum section divided off for board game design. Right at the very top you'll find this list. What I like about this list is that it has quite a few things on it! What I don't like is that it hasn't been updated in a year, and that, well, there are so many things on it! It can get kind of bogged down- especially with the very minimal descriptions given.

Next we have the aforementioned BoardGameGeek Game Design Forum.
This forum is a great place to talk about board game design.
Pluses: Active and friendly with good resources available in the pinned threads.
Minuses: Everything is muddled together. You have your mechanics questions next to your theme discussions next to your playtest requests and everything just gets a bit lost.

A Brief Crash Course on Game Design is another thread on the BGG Design Forum.
This thread discusses in a nicely detailed manner all the steps to take an idea from the paranoia stage straight through to prototyping and production. It offers a nice set of questions to ask yourself of your game to see where it is heading.
It also gives advice on playtesting, both by yourself, with others and in blind runs.
the only thing I don't like about this thread is that the majority of the time is spent explaining production of prototypes, playtesting and publishing and not much attention is paid to the actual steps of designing the idea.

Exploratory Learning Through ...Games links to the course syllabus of San Diego State University's course EDTEC 670.
This site is a little hard to follow, not being a student. But if you take the time the resources it offers are quite good. With exercises and design outlines as well as 'required' reading.
the Board Game Analysis worksheet is great for cementing your ideas about what you want from your game. The Board Game Design worksheet helps you discover and utilize different mechanics and pieces for your game. the First Steps article is a great introduction on how to actually come up with ideas and design thoughts.
The one drawback is that everything is oriented to making an educational game. If that is not your intent you have to draw from the gist of the message, rather than the actual content.

Offering a concrete example How to Learn Board Game Design and Development walks you through the design process is simple steps, as well as offering several definitions up-front.
I love the list of questions asked, as well as the card game example used. The whole thing is easy to follow and gives an especially nice overview of the playtesting process.
It also offers a nice, though small, list of places to seek out more information on the topic of game design.

The Board Game Designers Forums is an entire forum dedicated to board game design.
It includes subforums for Mechanics Discussion, Playtesting, Thematic Elements, and General Design as well as many more.
It also allows you to have a mini blog on their site, as well as game journals to share your content.
It has the plus of being very diverse and informative, but it is a slow going forum and the content on the rest of the site is rarely, if ever, updated.

/r/tabletopgamedesign
I'll admit. I know very little about reddit. All I know is that this subreddit is very active and very informative.

The Ten Things Every Game Needs is an article listing... the ten things every game needs.
From Rules and Inertia to Fun and Flavour this article covers all the bases. While you could probably do with out one or two (strategy isn't strong in Candyland, to mention one) I would sense woe for anyone trying to disregard them all.

Back to the 'Geek for a couple of Board Game Mechanics.
This link takes you to the BGG's list of board game mechanics, which each have a definition and example games. While by no means the be all end all of mechanics lists, it is certainly a good start.

Offering ways to evaluate games and more content is Games Precipice, a blog.
everything on this blog has some value, so there is too much to list. But I will certainly mention (again) their How to Evaluate Games series. Looking at things from a game balance as well as a production stand point, this is a great yard stick to hold up.

Boardgamizer is a random generator that you can submit ideas to. It offers up Mechanics, Theme, Victory and an optional Constraint from which you can build a game.
It is great for getting the creative juices flowing and for jumping off from. It also offers some hover-over definitions for some of its mechanics.

For today, that's all I'll post. But maybe in the future we'll see more of my go-to places for this topic and others.

Happy Designing!

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Tabletop Day!

Yesterday was International Tabletop Day!
Congratulations and a big heap of thanks to all those involved in making this day a reality!

Tabletop, for those who don't know (as I didn't until recently), is an online video series hosted by Wil Wheaton and populated with some of his moderately famous gaming friends. In the series they play and demo board games for your amusement and edification. They explore the rules and pieces while making an entertaining watch.

International Tabletop Day is a day to gather friends and family and game your heart out! Lots of locations world wide offer tournaments and contests with give-aways and prizes. There is sure to be a location near you. And if there isn't, you should start one! And while the day may be over for this year there is no harm in planning your own board game get together- or planning for next year!

My day saw me at the Kingston Gaming Nexus with my mother, where we tried out three games new to us.

First up was Zen Garden:
Zen Garden is a deceptively simple game requiring you to make patterns from tiles to form a garden. There are several modes of play, but we only cracked the first.
It seems we were the first at Nexus to play this game, as the tiles still needed punching out!
We played this twice to a tie.

Next up was the Tabletop sponsored Love Letter!

A quick little game, this one requires you to guess at your opponent's hand in order to acquire the enduring love of a princess. 
We played this once and mum beat my pants!

Finally we played a game of Seven Dragons!
A dominoes style game where parts of the card must match up. You are trying to be the first to match up seven of your hidden goal dragon colour.
I won the one game we played of this, though mum was raring for a rematch. 
However food took precedence.

So all in all it seems mum and I are at a tie! 
What game should we play to break this tie? 
Post your suggestions in the comments!

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Art Journal - I Will Not Let You

Today's craft is a page in one of my art journals. Video taped for your viewing pleasure, the video clocks in at about 25 minutes and is a real-time process of my work.


While not my favourite piece by far, it is my first art piece in a couple of months, so I am glad I got something done. I used lace, gelatos, ink and a paint pen as well as water, stencils, a stamp and gesso. And of course my fingers.

The quote is from Josh Woodward, his song I Will Not Let You Let me Down which is free to download from Jamendo here.