Sometimes There Is A Board

I've just started thinking about getting my hands on another D&D-esque board game. I like being able to do pick-up games, but I decided a few months ago that running an actual RPG as a pick-up game is not worth my time and effort. Cthulhu Dice is extremely portable, but works best as an icebreaker rather than the source of a full evening of gaming. My old standby, Munchkin, has been so thoroughly explored by me that I have little interest in playing it again for the foreseeable future - and the "World of Dorkness" themed set I own, Munchkin Bites!, suffers from a severe lack of monsters. (A bit ironic, that, since the premise is that everyone is a monster.)

I've written briefly about the Temple of Elemental Evil board game, and I still like it overall in spite of its bulk and its long setup time. While I have considered expanding it using one of the other D&D Adventure System games - especially Wrath of Ashardalon, because who can say no to a big red dragon? - they are quite large in both size and cost. One does receive a lot of decent- to high-quality goods for their money, but while expensive miniatures are better than expensive pieces of card stock (seriously, why the hell does Car Wars cost so damn much?), either way they're expensive.

Even more unfortunately, all three of the games which I've seen and heard many glowing recommendations for - HeroQuest, Dragon Strike, and the LEGO Heroica games - are out of print. Here are some of the options I've been considering.

Z is for Zombies

I've mentioned zombies before, but I wanted to bring up something that has always been a sticking point for me: the use of the word "zombie" in a fantasy game. I've never been a huge fan of it, to the point that not a single one of my NPCs has ever uttered the word. With the way that pop culture of the last ten years or so has been swarming with the things - both figuratively and literally - I find that it's much too easy to ruin the immersive nature of the game by reference to a common term. (Incidentally, I also have this problem with Ktulu* after Steve Jackson Games started the wave of plush toys... even though Cthulu Dice is one of my favorite quick-play party games.)

Before I started playing tabletop RPGs, I ran into this issue. I got around it then by following the lead of the original Night of the Living Dead, and referring to shambling, reanimated corpses as "ghouls". I'm still a fan of this idea, as it's just vague enough that there's no precise definition. A "ghoul" might be a carnivorous corpse, or a roaming undead necrovore. The only issue is that a "ghoul" in D&D terms refers to a very specific type of monster, that is often semi-intelligent and not usually created to serve a necromancer or "evil" cleric.

I've already demonstrated to my players the lethality of even a relatively small group of zombies, although some of them feel that that specific scenario was unfair; but that's a story for another time. Perhaps there's a good way to keep them scary...

* Yes, I spelled it the way Metallica spelled it. No, there isn't a particular reason. I just like footnotes.

My Gaming Resolutions

My New Year's resolutions as far as gaming is concerned are the following:

• Make a plan of running a game every alternate weekend, and stick to it. Even if only one or two people are able to show up, have something. Temple of Elemental Evil works nicely; Cthulu Dice works nicely; even a video game with good cooperative play, such as Gauntlet: Dark Legacy or Dynasty Warriors: Gundam would be a good way to spend an afternoon with a friend.
• Read any books I buy (hard copies or downloads) cover to cover. I still need to do this with Basic Fantasy and a few others; sitting down and powering through the AD&D 2nd Edition Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master Guide (particularly the sections on combat and wilderness exploration) gave me a better understanding of the systems involved.
• Figure out a good platform for online tabletop sessions. I tried OpenRPG but couldn't figure parts of it out, and Skype is fairly limited in terms of visual display (although a program I found a while back called ManyCam would serve decently). Tabletop Simulator seems pretty cool, although each person would have to pay for it.

Quick solutions for an RPG "fix"

All right, I realize I haven't updated this blog in a while. I'd love to say that it's because of school winding towards finals, but the real reason is that I haven't had as many ideas, nor the motivation to post them. I'll be working to remedy the latter, so any readers should bear with me.

As always, the ever-present struggle of the Dungeon Master is getting enough people together for a game. After a rather nice session a few weeks ago involving a party of four (only one of whom was a member of the original group of three... and the two totally new players did fairly well, to be honest), I scheduled another session for two weeks later. I invited about five people, and eventually three dropped out. With this, I decided to instead pull out my copy of the Temple of Elemental Evil board game (up to this point, only used once). It was pretty fun with three players - since I didn't have to DM - although we got our asses kicked. This is also what happened when I set it up in the lounge at my university about a week later.

This highlights the only major issue with this game, which seems to be shared by the other D&D Adventure System board games: it's pretty difficult. That being said, I love it so much, and am beginning to see where D&D 4th Edition might be usable purely as a skirmish wargame (although even so, I'd probably use 3.5e or Pathfinder for that purpose... and maybe I'd get to set up my set of HeroScape tiles!); the reason I got this one instead of Wrath of Ashardalon is because of the added campaign rules, which remind me a little bit of the old Dragon Strike game by TSR. Considering that the earlier three games in this series are mostly compatible rules-wise - if not entirely visually, since ToEE uses the 5th Edition graphic layout - and each comes with its own selection of plastic miniatures (which are all listed here) which I might use in my D&D campaign, I'm tempted to buy another one of these games.

Of course, carrying around a box full of cards, Dungeon Tiles, and fairly high-quality minis is a bit cumbersome. I always carry my Cthulu Dice set in my backpack (in a smart-looking dice bag that also holds the rule sheet), in case I run into some people up for a simple dice game. At under $8, and available a lot of places (even some chain bookstores, which is where I got mine), it's certainly worth it. Now I'm debating whether I want to get the Metäl version...

This is the one I carry my dice in; the Elder Sign glows under blacklight!
(Also, my FLGS sells this series of bags for $5)