Games

My Favorite Game I Never Play

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Pirates of the Frozen North

I love WizKids’ Pirates of the Spanish Main and its various expansions, even though I never actually get to play the game. Hell, I think I’ve officially played it twice, but that hasn’t stopped me from picking up booster packs for every other expansion.

The most recent of these is Pirates of the Frozen North , which introduces a new Viking faction and corresponding Viking longships. It also has icebergs that move about the board on their own, smashing any ships they come in contact with, and the icebreaking ships needed to destroy them. I picked up a pack to honor my Swedish ancestors, but I’m more interested in snagging the recent Pirates of the Mysterious Island, which has submarines, and the upcoming Pirates at the World’s Edge which ups the game’s weirdness quotient even further with giant crabs and prehistoric sharks.

Game Day: GenCon 2007

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There’s no game day for me today, as I’d had alternative plans that fell through when I came down with Pink Eye. Which isn’t to say there’s not some great gaming news to talk about — after much debate, scrambling and a little bit of arm twisting (or perhaps just enthusiastic encouragement — I wasn’t … Read more

The Magic Item Compendium and Theories of Arcane Distribution

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Wizards of the Coast is releasing a Magic Item Compendium reprinting 750 magic items from previous publications and Dragon Magazine articles, while adding in 500 new items. In anticipation of its release later this month, they’re running a series of articles by Andy Collins, one of the book’s designers. In the first article he talks … Read more

Game Day: Re: Your Brains, HeroClix Redux

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Jonathan Coulton’s undead anthem “Re: Your Brains” will lead off our gaming session tonight as our brave band of adventurers faces off against a horde of undead besieging the town of Barovia. But hey, it’s not just the undead we’re dealing with today: super hero gaming returns to the table as we get back to … Read more

Gears of War Grinds Through a Shell-Shocked Future

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A soldier stands with his gun before him, his hands resting on its grip, while clouds gather behind him.

Halo saved the Xbox. Prior to its arrival, the gaming console was an also-ran; afterwards it was the definitive reason to buy Microsoft’s PlayStation competitor. Gears of War may be the Xbox 360’s Halo. Like Halo, Gears of War features humanity fighting a desperate, last-ditch war against alien destroyers. As the game opens, the far-off … Read more

Game Day: Talk like a Dwarf, RPGs Go POD, Pierce the Magician

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Tonight we’ll be playing Khelez-Mar: The Dwarven Imperative, our dwarf-centric campaign set on the Pomarj in the World of Greyhawk. The last adventure saw the adventurers tracking a large orcish warband comprised of orcs, grey renders and manticores. They engaged and mostly destroyed several of the warbands patrols before breaking off from the main body … Read more

Game Day: Ravenloft, Back to Basics, Heroes of Horror, Pierce Haligarth

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Tonight … we begin our horror-filled return to Ravenloft! Erilar will be running us through Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, the updated and expanded version of the original 1st edition module.

I’m excited to play it — the last time I ventured to Castle Ravenloft, I was in 6th grade and playing my fighter Samuel “Battle Axe” Longriver (but, ah, he was just called “Battle Axe” then…) who eventually found and wielded the fabled sun sword. That was years and years ago, and most of my memories of Ravenloft have been consumed by the mists of time. Almost everyone in our group has been to Ravenloft at one time or another, and just about everyone is eager to return.

The Green Arc of Life

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It’s only fair that since I complained mightily when my Xbox 360 died, I should also let everyone know when it was resurrected. During the week after my machine died, I spent a lot of time on the phone with Xbox and Best Buy, determining that a) either of them would replace the broken Xbox … Read more

Game Day: Mistaken Death, Barbaric Dwarves, Constructible Star Wars, SILVER Heroes, Savage Swords

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It’s Game Day, meaning that in about seven hours, a horde of geeks will descend on my house and we’ll spend 4-6 hours hacking, slashing (and yes, role-playing) our way through a variety of humanoid menaces. Alternatively, we may be vying for world domination playing Risk 2210 or trying to prevent the Rise of the … Read more

Deciphering the Red Rings of Death

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If your Xbox 360 is red-ringing, and you’re looking for half a clue as to why, check out the AV Science Forum’s 3 Red Rings Xbox Diagnostic. It explains how to put your 360 in to diagnostic mode, and what the different patterns of flashing lights mean, such as “0001 power supply problem” or “0022 … Read more