Sinai’s City is surprisingly timeless

When I was a teenager, I tried reading Clifford D. Simak. After all, the guy was awarded the third Grandmaster from Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, which is its big, lifetime achievement award. That’s the same guys who do the Nebula Awards. So clearly he was a big deal.

And, back then, I did not grok Simak. It just didn’t click for me. So, I decided, many years later, to try reading City, one of his major works. It turns out I just wasn’t old enough to appreciate Simak the first time.

City is about the end of the human race. Not the end of the world. Oh no, the world keeps on going. It is just humanity that goes away.

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City is a fixup novel, a collection of previously published short stories put together to form a larger narrative. City’s stories span several thousand years from almost contemporary times to long past humanity passing with the dogs and ants inheriting the Earth.

Two of the through lines that help make it a single story is the Webster family (whose influence goes long past the human race. Uplifting dogs will do that) and their robot Jenkins, a neigh immortal guide and observer. Jenkins, who starts off as a butler and ends up being the heart of the dog culture, is a great character.

I had read, in descriptions of the book, that it was about humanity simply fading away. I didn’t really find that to be the case. Instead, humanity’s true end is when anti-social mutants push humanity into transhumanism. Personally, I’m not convinced that being turned into creatures that can live on Jupiter actually means that people people stop being human.

Elements of the book are very dated, particularly the first story which is set in the 1990s. On the other hand, Simak explores transhumanism and uplifting in a way that feels timeless. City is melancholy but not bleak. 

Clifford D. Simak makes me think of a mashup of Ray Bradbury and Ralph Waldo Emerson. He romanticizes the pastoral life and definitely pushes the better nature of humanity. I can’t say I agree with many of his conclusions but I do appreciate them.

In a weird way, Clifford D. Simak also reminds me Alfred van Voigt. Both were major players in the golden age of science fiction. Both wrote fiction-up novels and focused on the softer side of science fiction. Both are overshadowed by Heinlein, Asimov and Clarke. And both are probably far more influential than they seem to be.

It has been said that good science fiction should ask you difficult questions. By that yard stick, City is good science fiction. The work asks questions about the human condition and doesn’t provide you with easy answers.

I don’t have the context to truly appreciate A Simple Life but I still like it

From what I can tell, A Simple Life is a board game simulator of a farming video game. (One reviewer compared it to Stardew Valley, a game I know nothing about) For me, it was like a Roll and Write version of Agricola.

Other than not having to feed anyone and going down into mines to fight monsters. What actually happens in Stardew Valley? Plant seeds, go to

market and fight monsters in the dungeon?

All that said, A Simple Life manages to condense quite a few farm-themed resource management tropes onto one page. It both gives you actual choices to make while having the actual mechanics be fairly simple.

You have ten days to both achieve a randomly determined goal. Each day, you will roll five dice and assign them to four different areas on the play sheet.

I’m not going to go into exhaustive detail. You have the farm, where you grow carrots and flowers. You have the pond where you fish. You have the village which is potpourri of market place, social network and blacksmith. And you have the mine, which is actually a rich source of resources and monsters.

There are two mechanics for manipulating dice. You can spend carrots for rerolls and you can upgrade tools which then will let you modify dice rolls. And, honestly, I think prioritizing upgrading the tools you need for your specific goal is key. (Of course, risking going into the mines the fastest way to get the resources you need to do that)

A Simple Life delivers on three goals that’s on the mission statement for a lot of Roll and Writes.  It does feel like a game that is bigger than one sheet of paper. It has a short playing time, making it a good travel/squeezed-for-time game. And it’s pretty darn fun.

Look, it’s really obvious what A Simple Life is trying to do but it does it and I had fun with it. So I’m happy with it. 

I don’t know what an essential PnP library is anymore- and why that’s cool

Every once in a while, I try and write about what I think would be a good introduction to Print and Play. What would be good to start with, what would be easy to craft. 

I think the last time I did that was during the lockdown. At that time, I wanted to put together a list for folks who weren’t used to print and play but could use the games. Mind you, I imagine most people reading my blog are into print and play lol 

And it has occurred to me that it wouldn't be as easy to try and do that again. 

And that is because it feels like so many games are available in the PnP format. Mind you, I honestly think that is because of how Covid created a demand for that. But the market for actually buying PnP files really has grown.

When I first started poking around PnP, it felt like most of the stuff out there was free. From what I could tell, most of the files that were for sale were for war games and 18XX games. (I may not have known where to look)

And there are some jolly good experiences that you just have to pay for the materials. 

30 Rails still hold up and you could draw it freehand if you didn’t have a printer. I have tried so many Roll and Writes that involve a six by six grid but 30 Rails still stands out by giving you lots of interesting choices and a train theme that works.

If you wanted to take the extra step of making cards, I still recommend the Decktet. Heck, I have said before and I will say it again: if you only plan on making one PnP project ever, it should be the Decktet. It is a game system that just keeps on giving.

But, if you were willing to spend a little money, I’d say buy Postmark Games’ catalog. Don’t get me wrong. There are other companies like HammerDice or Button Shy are amazing. But Postmark has a small but robust set of games that just require printing out the game sheets and every one is solid. It is an easy and accessible entry point.

I think trying out any of these games would be an enriching experience. I don’t think they are the definitive introduction to PnP but I think they are a good one.

But the idea of an essential library of PnP games? At this point, between what someone’s interests are and how much work they want to put in and how much is available, I have no idea. Heck, I’m not sure what it would be for me.

Around the World in 10-15 minutes captures family game night on one page

 Around the World in 10-15 Minutes is a family weight Roll and Write about being a tourist across the globe. It’s from No Box Games whose earlier Beards and Booty is a hidden gem as far as I’m concerned. Around might be one as well. I’m not sure yet but I think it has the potential.

Just like it says on the tin, the theme of the game is traveling across the world. Each player has their own game sheet, which shows a map of the world, along with a couple of charts. Each continent has three cities with connections to other cities. While Antarctica isn’t on the board, Oceana counts as a continent.

There are three possible actions in the game. Travel, Explore and Souvenir. Travel is pretty obvious, with the provision that you can only use each connection once (but you can visit the same city more than once) Each city has two of four different exploration topics. (Culture, history, nature and food, by the way) And each continent has two of four different souvenir options. 

I have to say three different and distinct actions with a travel theme reminds me of Ticket to Ride, even though the two games ultimately don’t resemble each other that much.  And that’s a point in Around’s favor, although Ticket to Ride is the better game by far in my opinion. Yes, all things considered, I’d rather play Ticket to Ride but Around isn’t just a second-rare copy of it.

There are three ways to earn points. You get points by visiting every city in a continent. There is a  chart for souvenirs and a chart for exploration. You get points by filling in columns and rows on those two charts.

The end game is triggered when someone has visited at least every city in every continent and returned to their home city. (You get to pick that at the start) If you are playing solitaire or mega, the end game is also triggered after twenty turns.

I’ve only played solitaire, which can also be played by any number of players Take It Easy Style. When you play it that way, you roll two dice and consult a chart which will give you two actions to perform.

Since I’ve only played it solitaire, I feel like the game may be too easy. While you get a bonus for ending before the twenty rounds, I’ve always found it better to get in more moves. And I quickly found it easy to come out high on the achievement chart.

But I’m also pretty sure that solitaire is the weakest way to play. Competition would add more tension and possibly make ending the game early worth it. And I’m still having enough fun that I keep on playing Around.

More than that, for two to six players, there’s an alternate way to play. Each turn, there’s an active player. _They_ choose one action. They can do that one action up to two times and everyone else can do it once. I’m quite interested in trying playing like that since it adds interaction while removing randomness and I think it would make for deeper play. 

Around is ultimately a very simple game. However, the theme is engaging and there are multiple paths to follow, literally. It creates a family game experience on a sheet of paper and it’s always fun to see that happen.

Peanuts Untold is a tiny drop of gentleness

I recently very accidentally stumbled across a Peanuts tribute called Peanuts Untold. Honestly, I avoid fanfic as a general rule. However, Peanuts Untold wasn’t a deconstruction or a parody of Peanuts. Instead, it looks and, more importantly, reads like it was actually written by Charles Schultz.

The idea is that Lila, Snoopy’s original owner, moved into the neighborhood and becomes both part of the gang and, ultimately, Charlie Brown’s girlfriend. Which is an idea that could easily go horribly wrong. 

Instead, the creator manages to handle the story with sweetness and gentleness.  Lila, who I believe appeared almost entirely off camera in the actual comic, is imagined as being almost as goofy as Charlie Brown but a little more self confident and self-aware. You can see why they work.

It is quite short. Only around thirty comic strips, each laid out like one of Schultz’s daily comics. There are some grammar issues but I actually didn’t notice many of them in my initial read. It is a tiny but delightful read.

https://www.deviantart.com/xunlimited/gallery/42750306/peanuts-2

When a game makes me appreciate other games

 I ran across Caterpillars in my never ending search for casual Roll and Writes (NOT to be confused with Canterpillar’s Feast, which is a significantly better casual Roll and Write) And my take away from it is not that Caterpillars is a better game than it seems to be. It’s not. No, it is that it makes me appreciate the light, casual R&Ws that I do enjoy.

 

When you get down to it and stripping away the cute caterpillar pictures away, the game is twelve boxes divided into three equal columns. Each box is labeled with a number one to six, each number showing up twice.

(There are fifteen different play sheets with different layouts of the numbers. In fact, in a multi-player game, everyone uses a different sheet unless you have more than fifteen players)

You roll two dice. Pick one for a box and fill in the other number. You have three one-time special powers to double a die, halve a die or flip a die. When every box is filled in, add up the columns. Throw away the smallest and largest numbers and the middle number is your score.

I think one rule with highlights why I just didn’t find this game engaging is that if you have a role that you simply cannot fill in, you add a zero wherever. As the game goes on, you run out of choices. 

More than that, as someone else pointed out, you have a maximum score of 24. And the choices in order to achieve that are fairly obvious. You still need a lot of luck but the decisions are either obvious or not there.

What Caterpillars really reminds me of is 6 Steps, a very early Roll and Write from 1965. Dry, easy to have null moves, and too many choices are either damage control or meaningless.

Earlier this year, I learned Dice Fishing D6, which I feel confident saying is mechanically worse than Caterpillars. However, it does have a lot of tension combined with extreme brevity of play and some semblance of theme. Those elements keep me entertained, but Caterpillars doesn’t have elements like that.

I also found myself thinking of Reiner Knizia’s Criss Cross, which also consists of only twelve rolls. And yes, as the grid fills up, your choices become more limited. However, the game is all about trying to set up the grid and plan around the fact that choices will get tight. And that is a game that I keep coming back to.

For the last few years, I’ve been regularly learning and playing games by Alexander Shen, who specializes in quirky little fillers. Caterpillars reinforces my view that Shen is a mad genius. Even when I play an Alexander Shen game that I’m convinced is mechanically broken, I’m more engaged than I was by Caterpillars.

Tamora Pierce’s The Immortals is a blueprint for epic level druids

 I’ve been slowly making my way through Tamora Pierce’s work. 2024 was my year to read The Immortals series, her second series in the Tortall universe.

The Immortals is about Daine, who starts off as a near-feral child who grows into a powerful mage. Or, if Pierce was playing Dungeons and Dragons, an epic level druid. Seriously, Daine is a better example of how to depict a druid the TSR’s Moonshae books.

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While The Song of the Lioness was Pierce’s breakout series and a darn good read, I am going to argue that The Immortals represents a major step and a significant improvement in her writing.  

I also went into The Immortals thinking that this was where Pierce went high fantasy, with magical creatures breaking into the human world. However, I realize that there is a lot of high fantasy in the Song of the Lioness. The Immortals just has a much tighter structure describing the fantastic. And has dragons.

Daine was also a more engaging character than I expected. Each book marks a major step in her growth as a character and as a world-shaking power. (More spoilers) We eventually learn that she is a flat out demigod and the scope of her powers end up being nation-wide if not global. But by starting off as a homeless orphan who barely has control of her abilities, Pierce is able to take us convincingly on her journey.

(This is by no means an original method. Van Vogt used it in 1940 in Slan and I’m sure it was old as the hills even then. Pierce just uses it very well)

Emperor Mage, the third book, is my personal favorite. (Even more spoilers) Daine is in a country that the gods themselves are very angry with and the prophetic signs are the stuff of nightmares. (A statue coming to life and chastising the emperor is a particularly memorable one) 

While Daine ends up doing epic level stunts, reanimating an army of dinosaur skeletons to destroy the imperial palace, the almost unseen but always felt presence of the gods adds a lot of tension. When she actually hobnobs with the gods in the last book, it feels less fantastic.

I admit I went into the Immortals with so-so expectations. My entry point to Pierce was Protector of the Small, which grounded to the point of visceral. I didn’t think a series about dragons and metal harpies coming into the world could be as strong.

But, yeah, Pierce knocked it out of the park.

How life solves shelves of shame

 Binging the webcomic Semi-Coop, I kept coming across the concept of the Shelf of Shame, all the games that you own but haven’t played yet. I was already all too familiar with it but the comic definitely brought it back.

Before I was married, it was more like I had a spare room of shame. And the number of games that I only played once was also legion. Looking back, I approached buying games like buying books. But you’re only going to read most books once. Games shouldn’t work that way.

However, marriage and parenthood and moving across the country twice, they helped me solve my shelf of shame. Because all of those things meant I had to cull my game collection. Honestly, the number of games I sold or gave away probably ended up being in the four figures. It took years so it wasn’t like it was overnight.

I look back fondly on games I played and enjoyed but didn’t keep. But games I never played? I’m not sure those are even memories. And the games that I still have? In some way, those are more precious. They made many a cut and are games I still want to play.

The moral of the story might be that I bought way too many games. Or it might be that I didn’t make enough time for playing games. Or maybe it’s just that things change.

Dungeon Monsters and the IRS

 And My Tax is another Alexander Shen game that makes me ‘That was a nice little fluff… let’s play it four more times’

And My Tax is a game about taxing dungeon monsters. Which is mechanically the same as fighting them but funnier. The components consist of ten cards and every regular D&D die or, as the rules say, all the dice you can roll.

The cards have two to three pieces of mechanical info on them. Target number (which you need to either go over or under depending on the monster), coin/point value and maybe a special power.

The basic idea is that you deal out two cards. Pick the one you are gunning for. Pick a die and try to roll over/under the target number. You can add more dice but you will be discarding all the dice you use. I think the dice add together and, if that’s the case, won’t be a choice for low targets.

Special powers are either restriction on taxing the monster or special powers you can use by discarding the monster after you’ve collected them. The only one I’ll use every time is the Auditor Orc that’s only worth one point but can be discarded to get two dice back. You can discard any card to get a die back.

Game ends when you run out of dice, run out of cards or decide to stop. Coins on the cards you collected and didn’t discard are your score.

And My Tax doesn’t just make a virtue of minimalism and brevity, it makes an absolutely necessity of them. I originally thought ten cards was terribly small. After playing the game, I realized that the game would fall apart if it was heavier in any way.

Many years ago, one of the first micro games I ever played was Pico 2, a game I still think holds up well. At the time, I said Pico 2 couldn’t sustain a half hour of play but it does well with ten minutes. Well, And My Tax couldn’t sustain ten minutes but it works under five.

I was prepared for the game to be completely random but between the choice of cards to pursue, the choice of dice to use, and the special powers, you do get to make some choices. Don’t get me wrong, it is a very light and random game but there is some actual game.

It’s not my favorite Alexander Shen game but it is another of example of how they create a surprisingly engaging game in a tiny space. There is a time and a place for such games and I’m finding myself playing And My Tax there.

My October gaming

 October wasn’t crazy busy for learning new games but I did learn more than just one.

The October list was:

Axolotl Dice

A Nice Cuppa 

Evil Lab: Color Rampage 

Dragon Hero

Town Constructor Junior

Some of these games were part of personal checklists. Color Rampage let me finish all of the Evil Lab variants. Town Constructor Junior

let me start looking at the Town Constructor family. (Honestly, it will probably be a while before I get any more Town Constructor games but I don’t rule it out)

A Nice Cuppa was, by far and wide, the best game I learned in October. In fact, it is on its way to becoming one of my favorite of Scott Almes Simply Solo line. (Although the first game, Food Chain Island is still the best for me. Talk about putting your best foot forward!) A Nice Cuppa is both engaging and decompressing.

Just learning A Nice Cuppa made October a good gaming month for me.

My October PnP

 I made a fair bit of Print and Play builds in October.

I made:

Block Craft (Creative Kids)

Doggy Race (Creative Kids)

Nine Lives

Xmas Sweater

Shaky Ski Lifts (maps 1-4)

Axolotl Dice

Converge Decks 4-6 (playtest)

FantasyForm: Frozen Over (expansion)

Converge: Engines of Change

Converge: Sparks of Hope

Town Constructor Junior

Color Koi

Gnome’s Garden

Nice Cuppa expansion (playtest)

Casinopolis .3 + Expansion (playtest)

And all of the ‘big’ builds were all somehow related play testing in Button Shy’s play testing forum. Everything else was laminating Roll and Write sheets. Which leads to plenty of game play so are a good thing too.

If I were going to pick an official big project, it would be the Change and Hope decks of Converge. I made them to help with my play testing of the new Converge decks but they were also their own thing.

Trying to be active in the play testing forum (sadly, life had other plans and I wasn’t always as active as I wanted to be) has definitely increased my crafting and the speed I go through supplies. I’ll be buying more laminating sleeves much sooner than I had originally thought lol

We will see what life and gaming has in store for me in November.