D&D post game 1-28- 17: Part 1

After a two month hiatus we got back together to game again.

The party was only two days removed from the previous adventure where the city was under various druidic and alchemist terrorist attacks.

Stonekeep was awash with rumors about the how and why of what happened. The group got to investigating by following up on some rumors about the homeless getting big pay-offs for unknown and sketchy labor. This led to shaking down to beggars and after arousing investigative step that led to a broken leg…… they revealed they were hired to spread some sort of bait bags around town and near Lord Faruth’s Estate.

The hobo investigation ended like this.

Lord Faruth being a wealthy noble who runs a major shipping operation up and down the Meredras River. He is also the proprietor of a large and fancy zoo.

This was probably the Black Watch Druid’s next target. Especially when Lord Faruth’s yearly gala was going on that very evening.

They party split to warn Lord Faruth, whom they have had business with in the past, and to question a few circus folk being held by the town guard.

Sadly the circus folk investigation gleaned no new knowledge.

D&D Saturday night pre-game



Saturday night, before we got to gaming two awesome events happened.


First I was presented with a gift from, a much missed member of our little gaming clan, Tom. He sent a bottle of Axe and Oak bourbon from his mystical magical region that is

on to of some icy mountain with the yeti (or maybe just in the nearby woods with a passive aggressive Sasquatch).

 

I am no connoisseur of bourbon. I will not speak of subtle hints of this, essence of that or aroma of such. As me and my lady sat down to game with a glass of this on ice we both came to the same conclusion.

 

This is a good bit of alright! It is an easy drink. It is smooth with just enough burn to remind you that it is 96 proof.

It pairs nicely with a game of Betrayal at House on the Hill or Mansions of Madness and a handful of pretzeled bread.

 

Thank you Tom for the delicious gift mind and body numbing alcohol. It will (and has been so far) be enjoyed!

 

A simple bottle and sweet logo.

D&D pre-game, repeat post from last month snow out

A darkened alleyway in the residential area within Stonekeep.

Three figures stand huddled around a small fire to keep the autumn chill off their bones.

The citizens going about their nightly business only see three people trying to get warm, a harmless trio of vagabonds.

“It was only one night. We can do this again. They will be made to see. We shall show them!” screeched the smallest of the three as he danced about by the fire.

“Keep it down! We don’t need to be attracting attention due to your incessant yelling.” A tall thin man said in a hushed voice. He grabbed the shorter man and shook him to stop his dancing about.

“But we struck a major blow. We should be celebrating.” Squeaked the short man.

The third member of the group, a stoic brute of a man in a brown cloak, stood silently warming his hands and staring into the fire.

“We orchestrated a small attack, nothing more. Plus it was thwarted before substantial damage could be inflicted upon the populace. We also lost the guild, and the majority of the members have scattered to gods know where with the majority of the information we were trying to attain. Then there is the issue with our other conspirators to settle as well. They turned on their own. Who knows how that will shake out in the future.”

“Still there is still one more target to strike, is there not?”

“Yes, but I’m not sure if it will be a viable attack. If you haven’t noticed, the city is on high alert right now. We have no idea why the third target wasn’t hit last night. It might not be attainable now.”

“Didn’t they agree to help us? They did right?” the short man squeaked while looking at the largest member of the trio.

“Indeed they did mention they would assist us. What are their plans?.” The thin man asked the stoic brute in their midst.

The cloaked man stopped warming his hands, looked up from the fire at his two companions.

Shadow of Mordor review

I hate stealth games. I hate Assassins Creed games.

I love fantasy. I love a lot, not all, of Middle Earth.

I really hate Assassins Creed games.

All this aside, I bought Shadow of Mordor for next to nothing and gave it a chance.



Did I mention I hate Assassins Creed games?

Still I played through Shadow of Mordor and…….

….love it!

Alright this has been out for what is an eternity now in the video game world. I’ll give a quick synopsis for those people still on the outside looking in.

There is a 60 year gap between the Hobbit and the Lord o’ the Rings stuff. This game falls into that gap. Sauron isn’t fully functional yet. Mordor still has some green areas in it. The orcs/ gobbos are not unified and exist in warbands.



You are Talion a ranger of Gondor tasked with guarding the Black Gate (big wall that stops Mordor from getting out). You and your family are killed by the forces of Sauron. They  are trying to summon the spirit of a dead elf named Celebrimbor. Well it goes a bit sideways as the elf merges with the dying Talion. Now Talion is a quasi-wraith? He lives, but has a wraith inside of him and has access to its memories and abilities.





Now Talion and his internal wraith Celebrimbor, head into Mordor to get revenge for Talion and answers for the newly raised Celebrimbor. Why was Talion chosen? What does Sauron want with Celebrimbor. Who is Celebrimbor and what did he do prior to death? Why is Gollum here? Why are all Sauron’s higher ups named after a body part of Sauron or a inanimate object of Sauron’s? How are they going to do this? Well by killing their way through a horde of Mordor baddies.

The power of Parkour!

An all too common occurrence while fighting

At the heart this is looks and feels like an Assassins Creed/ Batman: Arkham game with a Middle Earth skin on it. There is a healthy amount of stealth going on here. It was irritating at first, but became so important as I played through. Plus the stealth kills are just so easy and the option for brutally dispatching orcs is sheer delight.



The combat, for me, was awful at first. I was button mashing my way through goons only to die if there were more than two attacking me. Yeah, I had to slow way down and become this methodical button masher. It made combat longer, but it also made it survivable. I really wanted to power through goons, but that was not the case. You have to swing, block, dodge to swing to block and dodge again. Much like the stealth, it was tedious at first, but then became so second nature and easy.

After combat there is a lot of parkour and climbing to do in Mordor. Why? Well I’m not sure but Talion is constantly having to climb an jump around the dark lands to get to where he is going, to spy on the baddies, escape trouble or to do some sweet death for above attacks. Once again an irritation at first, but so important as the game is played.

You can always mind rape the orcs for information or to control them too.



Yeah I had an issue with all this for a bit, until I realized how to move, fight and sneak my way to victory over the forces of Sauron.



Sauron’s forces

This is where the game gets really interesting. You have to kill your way through the orc warbands that control the area. There are four warchiefs and they all have a few underling captains and goons. Here is where the game gets really interesting!

Smuggler's Bounty boxes!

Well I know I have a problem and that is the first step. The second step is dealing with it, but nuts to that I say!

I signed up for the Smuggler's Bounty from the Funko people.

Why?

Well because for some reason I need more Star Wars Pop Vinyl guys in my basement.

That is why.

This month is the Empire Strikes Back and even though Luke is on the box, he is nowhere near it on the inside.

What is inside?

Well.....

Poop: The Game

       

Do you like UNO?

Do you think toilet humor is comical?

If so, then you will enjoy Poop: The Game.

 

Players are dealt a hand of cards. Then a toilet card is laid down. This toilet has a number and color on it. Players must then try to flush the toilet by laying down cards with a number and color on them. If three of the same color are laid down, then the toilet is flushed and play continues. The first player to run out of cards wins!

Well 40K made a cool bigger kit

Usually Warhammer Fantasy runs the show with cool models.

However, now 40K has put out an impressive Mechanicus dude kit.

Plus the new Saint Celestine and her buddies is pretty sweet too.

These will be all for naught since new Tzeentch models for Fantasy are en route and will surely dwarf these with there crazy awesomeness.

The Movie Crypt podcast?

As I continually wander the interweb in search of back ground noise, I have stumble upon yet another of these pod casts the kids are so hip too these days.

It is “The Movie Crypt.”



Here you are treated to the verbal styling’s of one Adam Green and Joe Lynch. Who are they? Well they are filmmakers and have a t.v. show as well. They wax poetic about the various aspects of the film, t.v. and even at times the music industries.

Why bother listening? Well for me it is because these guys are horror and movie fans. That is what appealed to me. They are responsible for the Hatchet movies (that I am currently working through) and a few other features. I do like listening to fans of the genre, who also work within said genre, talk all the minutia surrounding it.

Like multiple pod casts they also have a guest with them the majority of episodes. These range from various known/iconic horror actors to the people behind the movies (directors, writers, an agent, costumers and various effects) and the occasional musical talent as well. It is awesome to hear from Tony Todd, Sid Haig, Greg Nicotero, James Gunn, Bill Mosley, Dee Snyder, Danielle Harris, Chris Columbus, Neil Marshall; and you get the point. There are a lot of people worth listening to whether you think you want to or not. I have become a bigger fan of the director interviews than the actors, and I didn’t think that would happen.

They also occasionally will do fan commentaries of a few films and so far those have been pretty sweet. I made it through the Friday 13^th Part II, Gremlins and Halloween III commentaries they have done, and they are all a good listen.

Even better is that this pod cast runs longer than the typical 45 minutes to an hour that is the norm. A two hour pod cast seems long, but they actually clip by really fast. They put out episodes regularly, which is great. They have over 100 in the tank  and I’m burning through them faster than I thought I would. Plus it is free. See you won’t even have to pay to listen to horror and movie nerd stuff.

Is there a down side? Well to be warned there is a lot of self-promotion in the earlier podcasts. I’m not sure how long that continues. It can be irritating to listen to these guys pimp their movies and t.v. show time after time. However, I get the how and why of this. You have been warned.

A good pod cast for horror fans and if you like the behind the scenes of movie making.

X-wing game weekend!

Friday I taught the step-kid how to play X-wing.

Since Rouge One I have been wanting to bust this out again.

After a few training games we busted out a few more ships.

Three games Friday night! 

Good times.

Saturday I made a dash to the store and grabbed a few new ships and got my lady to play with us.

Three way fight  between the Rebels, Imperials and Bobba Fett.

A much larger game and chaotic with three players, still damn fun.

Playoff time, or How to watch all the teams I hate.

Well the end of football is almost here or the playoffs have started.

Well S.I. pre-season prediction is Seahawks?
Good luck there.

 

I can usually root for some team if the Broncos aren’t in the post season. This year I can cheer for nobody. I loathe almost every team that is there.

The Patriots? Cheering for them is like rooting for the House to win in Las Vegas.

The Chiefs and Raiders? Never!

Steelers and their raping QB? Nope.

The Texans? Please you get in because you win your shite division. You know you suck and have no chance.

 

Then the NFC. Well that is a complete crap show there. The majority of the teams in the playoffs here are drek. Sure the Cowboys have the best record, but who have they beat that is any good? Yeah nobody really.  The Giants? Laughable. The Seahawks? No way. Screw those guys too.

 

So I cheer for nobody to win and, sans some fluke or breakout game from somebody, expect a Patriots and Cowboys Super Bowl. Yeah like I really want to watch that.

 

At least the college football championship is Monday. Here is hoping Alabama crushes Clemson, or it is an insane score-a-thon like last year!

Sheriff of Nottingham game review.

Well another game tried and a game I had and still have no interest in playing. Still I tried it because it might have been fun. Right?

The Sheriff of Nottingham (or basically a different version of the card game Bullshit).

Alright the story goes that  merchants are trying to get their goods into Nottingham. Well no big deal. Well if you add the stipulation that Prince John is coming to town, then it becomes an issue. Why? Well because the ever watchful Sheriff is inspecting all the goods coming into town. He is making sure that there is no foul play going on or something.

Blerg!

You play as a merchant and your goal is to try and get as many; cheeses, chickens, breads, apples or contraband past the Sheriff and to turn a profit. Every turn players take cards marked with cheese, apples, a chicken, bread or contraband (silk, crossbows, pepper, or mead). Then they place 1-5 cards in a pouch. They must declare how many cards and what one item are in said pouch. The Sheriff then has to decide if that player, and their pouch, are legit or full of lies.

It is the job of the Sheriff to let the pouch through, or call out the player and investigate. This is where the game turns a bit as the Sheriff can be bribed with game money, items or favors of any kind.

So fat and such tiny legs!

So yeah I say I have 5 chickens in my little card pouch. Now I actually have a chicken and 4 contraband cards. I can be searched. If I lie poorly then I have to try and bribe the Sheriff or lose out on the money the illegal goods will provide and pay the Sheriff a fine. That or I can have 5 apples and the Sheriff calls me a liar and inspects. Then he see I was not lying and has to pay me the cost of my cards as punishment.

2017 Customary post

Well I guess I am behind on the whole New Year bit.

Alright 2016 opened with Denver winning Super Bowl 50.

Batman vs. Superman and Captain America: Civil War came out, or Marvel vs. DC movies. Then there was the whole Presidential Election as well.

It seems people from all camps are still bitching about these events on the interweb.

I got married.

A ton of famous people died.

That was 2016 from my point of view.

Now 2017 has started.

I want, or need, to paint more stuff. I have gotten lazy and distracted with video games as of late and have stopped painting  models.

That is my only goal for 2017.

Yeah it is boring, but it is attainable.