Dear Mr. or Ms. Online Gamer: I’m writing to express my disappointment in your behavior towards games journalists and reviewers. How you behave within your games is your business; if I object to how people are treated within a game, chances are I won’t play that game, unless I find it really compelling on its… Continue reading An Open Letter to Online Gaming Fans
Category: Gaming
Tabletalk: Minions in Twilight Imperium
Pictured: The Admiral (top), General (center left), Agent (center right), Scientist (bottom left), and Diplomat (bottom right). You may think, Your Excellency, that taking control of the galaxy is a lonely prospect. Looking at your home system and the expanse of space spreading out towards the throne world, huge fleets floating silently in the void,… Continue reading Tabletalk: Minions in Twilight Imperium
500 Words On Netrunner
Art by Alexandra Douglass I find myself wondering: is this going to be a thing? I don’t mean Netrunner, that is most definitely a thing. It’s a thing I’ve fallen in love with all over again. I can’t remember why I stopped playing the new iteration of Richard Garfield’s cyberpunk asymmetrical card game of bluffs… Continue reading 500 Words On Netrunner
Tabletalk: Strategies in Twilight Imperium
The Strategy Cards, as compared to an ordinary Reference Paw. The galaxy is a dangerous place, Your Excellency, and it is always changing. With the Lazax Empire gone and so many leaders vying for power, the situation is as mutable as the stars themselves as they wheel in their courses. If you mean to prevail,… Continue reading Tabletalk: Strategies in Twilight Imperium
Tabletalk: Tactical Actions in Twilight Imperium
Greetings, Your Excellency! You have been chosen to lead your people towards victory on the galactic stage. The Lazax Empire has been overthrown, and Mecatol Rex is yours for the taking. Perhaps. You must command vast armies, immense spacecraft, ambassadors, trade envoys, and the very industries of the planets of the former empire to defeat… Continue reading Tabletalk: Tactical Actions in Twilight Imperium
Ultimate Werewolf by Email
This past weekend I got to play Ultimate Werewolf with a large group. It was incredibly fun, and a thought occurred. Why does the fun have to stop because the event did? This is a game of hidden roles. Most players are Villagers, but some of them are Werewolves, prowling by night to feed. Every… Continue reading Ultimate Werewolf by Email
The "Real Game" Has Begun
A surprisingly provincial addition to a world full of dragons and wizards. When I’ve played MMOs previously, especially World of Warcraft, the prevailing sentiment has been that ‘the real game begins’ at the maximum level a character can achieve. For the most part, this has applied to large-group raid or player-versus-player content. Not everybody is… Continue reading The "Real Game" Has Begun
Derevi & the Bouncing Souls
Art by Michael Komarck The new year has brought some new products with it, of course, and Wizards of the Coast has presented five new pre-constructed decks for the Commander imprint within Magic: the Gathering. These decks make bringing new people into the format long-called EDH (Elder Dragon Highlander) a lot easier. Each deck provides… Continue reading Derevi & the Bouncing Souls
First Impressions: Retro Shooter Redux
Back in the day, graphical fidelity on PCs was not really up to rendering 3D environments within simulations. The best they could do back in the mid-90s was some polygons stacked together to make landscapes to fly over in jet simulators. However, clever folks at studios like Apogee and id Software could fool the eye… Continue reading First Impressions: Retro Shooter Redux
Guess Who's Back?
After nearly three years, I’ve returned to Azeroth. I’m playing World of Warcraft again. And, to be honest, I think I’ve come back at a good time. It can be difficult to convey story through the medium of video games in the best of circumstances. What I mean is, video games have the potential to… Continue reading Guess Who's Back?
