Tiny Epic Zombies leads to more PnP

Earlier this month, I had a flurry of game crafting activity. To be fair, I was catching up on about of a month of printing off stuff and planning on getting around to it. At the time, I wondered if that was going to be my big PnP push for 2018. (Eh, at least most of it was solitaire so I knew it would get played.)

But low and behold, I have found myself in the middle of another bout of crafting. (Can’t really call this a binge since I’m taking my time this time) And, again, even if this is just a momentary phase, I will end up with a bunch of PnP to play.

I really have Tiny Epic Zombies to blame. When the Kickstarter started, I decided to print out the demo, even though it’s not a genre I’m into. (I keep hoping for a Tiny Epic Industrial Complex or Tiny Epic Trading in the Mediterranean, which means I am so not Gamelyn Games Target audience)

I have to say that, compared to the free demo Gamelyn made for Tiny Epic Kingdoms, this demo is really nice. But I also have to say that one mall, even one filled with zombies, really strains the word epic :P

This also marks a shift for me towards at least a slightly larger project. Tiny Epic Zombies isn’t big but so many of my projects have just been one or two pages of components. And while I think you can have a happy and healthy PnP hobby just with games that size, I think it’s also likely a body will branch out a bit of you keep crafting PnP games long enough.

And I am also crafting some smaller games right now too. Two pages of tiles for Cheese Chasers to revisit it again after a good ten years, a couple pages for the tile version of Bowling Solitaire, two pages for the low ink version of Microconnect and one page for Farmers Finances, which is a game I'm pretty sure won’t work but I have to try a commodity game with only six commodities.

I know that part of what is driving my increase in PnP crafting is a desire to explore more PnP games, particularly solitaire ones. However, I also know I’m doing it because I’m enjoying the actual act of crafting.

Our DM says it’s time for demons

Session 14 of the Late Lurkers

(For those of you keeping track, I didn’t do a write up of session 13. That’s because I couldn’t make it due to holiday travel. My character didn’t die and that’s all I know :P)

This was another session where only three of us were able to make it. As I’ve said before, playing online through Roll20 makes the game possible at all and gives us a lot of flexibility but there’s sometimes only so much we can bend.

The Nordic-style village that is the characters’ home was getting attacked by Manes (really weak demons, by the way) Amusingly enough, the  adventurers are all more disposable villagers so we’re more like dog catchers than heroes :D And we got stuck with the job of finding out where the Manes were coming from.

The Manes turned out to be the slaves of a Shadow Demon (easily the least imaginative named demon in D&D and that includes the old Type 1 - X naming convention) It had been accidentally freed from a forgotten altar (There’s a shocking number of those in the setting. It’s a low fantasy setting that may have been a high fantasy setting in the past)

Frankly, a Shadow Demon was a brutal fight for three third-level characters. Luckily, our druid cast Faerie Fire on it, negating a lot of its shadow abilities. And the cleric used radiant energy attacks, which burned the demon like an oil-soaked moth on a griddle. 

Afterwards, we got what might have been our first major reward from the Jarl. I even got a hovel of my very own.

That was a really fun session. Yeah, it consisted of two fights with some skill checks in between. However, they were good fights and stuff happened that furthered our characters’ stories. That’s pretty good for two and half hour session.

While it apparently wasn’t easy, judging by the DM’s swearing, the dynamic lighting and sound effects from Roll20 were pretty good.

Cabbage Quest - mechanically slight but thematically rich

Cabbage Quest was an entry in the 2016 Children’s Print and Play Game Design Contest on Boardgame Geek. It doesn’t actually an entry on the Geek but I came across enough references to people crafting that I decided to to try it myself. It didn’t hurt that it only required printing three pages and no other construction.

Cabbage Quest is a solitaire game where you play someone in a fairy tale world who accidentally ate three cursed cabbages and got transformed into a donkey. Now you need to break into magical gardens and try to eat three enchanted cabbages to turn back into a human being.

Basically, Cabbage Quest is like a very short Fighting Fantasy game book. You stat out your donkey by assigning 1, 2 and 3 to kick, bite and stubbornness. Plus, you get three points in determination, which serves as your health points. Lose them all and you’ve given up, deciding to live your life as a donkey.

Since what skill you will need on any given area is randomly determined with an equal chance for each skill, I’m not sure if there is meaningful difference which stat gets which number. However, you get a different special, one-time use ability based on what you assign the 1 to.

The map consists of four magic gardens that are increasingly difficult. Each garden consists of four tables: one that determines the skill challenge to get in; one that determines the results of the cabbage you eat; one that determines if the wizard or witch who owns the garden sees you (the chances go up the more cabbages you eat); and one that determines the skill challenge if the garden owner does see you.

Mechanically, the actual game part of Cabbage Quest is a push-your-luck game. The real decisions are how many cabbages will you eat in each garden and how dangerous a garden will you break into, since the more dangerous ones have better cabbage odds. Really, from a mechanical, game standpoint, Cabbage Quest isn’t that interesting.

HOWEVER, what makes Cabbage Quest interesting and fun is the theme. This short, little game is positively dripping in well written, fairy tale theme. The game may be at the mercy of the dice but you always get a fun fairy tale story.

Cabbage Quest is an odd beast. It’s a contest entry that never really went past the beta stage. However, the flavor text is so charming and well written, it has stayed on peoples’ radar, as opposed to sinking out of sight. 

And it’s on my radar as a children’s game when my son gets older. It’s amusing and charming for adults but it might be really engaging for kids.

Cabbage Quest is, at best, so-so as a game. It’s not a game I’d play over and over. However, the theme does such a good job that it was worth printing those three pages.

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1668429/wip-cabbage-quest-2016-childrens-game-print-and-pl

Wrapping up our first trip to Disneyland

Our third and final day was back at Disneyland. And it ended up being a particularly ride-filled day. Not because we wanted to pack in as many rides as possible but because the lines are a lot shorter if you get there when the park opens.

Pirates of the Caribbean was our first ride because we wanted to get it in and it doesn’t have a fast pass. We basically walked on. And the California version definitely wins out over the Florida version. Our son liked it, other than the two drops at the beginning.

Then we went to the Winnie the Pooh ride, which our son specifically requested. Which was cute and fun and not as jerky as the Florida version but the real treat was that Winnie the Pooh and Tigger were just outside it with no line. Doodle got over his shyness and hugged both of them.

On the way back, the line was short for Haunted Mansion so we got that in again.

Then, while Mommy and Doodle went on the Teacups and Mr Toad again, I went on the Matterhorn. I knew it was the first rollercoaster at Disneyland so I really wanted to try it. Not bad but very jerky and not that different than a regular roller coaster. 

After that, we went almost all of the dark rides in Fantasy Land that we hadn’t been in. Pinocchio, Alice in Wonderland, Snow White and even the walk through of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. I’d say they were all a bit dated, technologically, but still cute and charming. I’d go on any of them again, as long as the lines were short. (Which is why we didn’t go on Peter Pan)

The ride that was not fun that we got in was Storybook Land Canal Boats. The aisles in the line were very tight and cramped. And, other than getting to sail into Monstro the Whale’s mouth, it was simply not very good. You ride in a boat to see miniature replicas of buildings from the movies. No characters, just  architecture. If you didn’t have the narrator telling you what the buildings were, I don’t know if I’d recognize most of them. It was like a boat ride by a miniature golf course.

Somewhere in all that, we ate at the Rose Inn, which was the Beauty and the Beast-themed restaurant. The beef poutine and cauliflower sandwich were tasty and doodle ate his way through the kids meal.

Then Mommy and Daddy took turns riding Space Mountain. Personally, I thought that the seats were much more comfortable than the Florida version and and the ride was smoother. Radiator Springs Racers was still better but Space Mountain is a classic.

By then, our time at Disneyland was wrapping up and we needed to get to the airport. We got in one last ride at the teacups and Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters and headed out. Good rides to end on since we’ve enjoyed them at both Florida and California.

Disneyland is a different place than Disney World. Florida is like going to another country. Disneyland is still the same country, just a couple of very good amusement parks.

Our first time visiting California Adventure Land

Our second day was our California Adventure Land day. We were very curious about this park, since it doesn’t have an exact version in Florida, although it has elements of Epcot and Hollywood Studios.

It was also the day that our friend Melanie came out to see us. She moved to California last year and it was really great to see her.

We got a fast pass for Toy Story Midway Mania when we got into the park. While we were waiting for that, we got in the Little Mermaid Ride (we couldn’t tell any real difference between the California version and the Florida version other than the queue) and the Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree (spun us around faster than we expected but that made it more fun) and we tried to get on the Luigi Rollicking Roadsters ride but it broke down literally just before our turn.

This was our first Midway Mania experience. It definitely took the shooting game crossed with a ride idea to the next level. The Buzz Lightyear ride explores it too but this was a more involved game. All three of us were impressed by the shooting part, although doodle found it too jerky.

We next tried out Bug’s Land, which has some carnival style rides that seem aimed at younger kids and we have a four-year-old. We tried three of the rides. Flik’s Flyers and Francis’ Ladybug Boogie were fun but Heimlich’s Chew Chew Train was one of the more meh experiences we had at the parks.

We at lunch at Pacific Warf. Bread bowls of soup isn’t high cuisine but it was a nice alternative to sandwiches.

We watched some cute street theater about the Guardians of the Galaxy having a dance off (I was disappointed that Ronan the Accuser didn’t show up and dance) before we waited an hour to get into the Hyperion Theater to see a theatrical production of Frozen. Frozen is the doodle’s favorite movie and he knew about the Hyperion production. It was his biggest request for this trip. 

It was a surprisingly good production. The special effects were a lot of fun, including the puppets. Their version of Anna was goofier than the movie version, which was more interesting than a more straight reading. Our son was rapt the entire time.

After that, we tried something we hadn’t tried before. Taking turns going on a ride that was too big for the doodle so we’d get to go on it. We both wanted to try the Radiator Springs Racers and that proved to be maybe one of the best rides we went on. The special effects were great, the speed was wonderful and it was smooth. As someone with back problems, smooth is a big deal.

Then we made our biggest mistake of the trip and had our most miserable experience. The World of Color. That is a light show that uses pyrotechnics, fountains, lasers and images projected on mist.

The problem was we waited an hour in order to get prime viewing and that was at the end of the day. Doodle was fussy and tired and our feet and calves were aching. And we had to stand through the show as well and doodle fell asleep near the beginning.

Oh, it was impressive, particularly wall of fire that was the Pirates of the Caribbean portion. We had no idea why they included Mustaffa’s death scene as part of the show. But it was simply a grueling experience and none of us thought it was worth it.

Afterwards, we got some pizza at Downtown Disney, the retail area in between the parks (where we also got some legos at the LEGO store’s huge Pick A Brick wall) and went back to the hotel for sleep.

Our very first day in Disneyland

While we have been to Disney World three times, we have waffled about going to Disneyland for a while. Truth to tell, it wouldn’t even be on the table if we weren’t currently in Arizona and much closer to Disneyland. And after doodle turned four, we decided that it was time for a quick Disneyland trip. Our plan was to fly out early on Saturday and fly back late on Monday, giving us three days at the parks.

We got up when it was still dark on Saturday. Amusingly enough, we ran into my Uncle Don at the airport. He had been in Tucson for a conference but we hadn’t been able to get together with him. It was a fun start to the trip.

We had an easy flight to Los Angeles. From there, we took the official Disney Coach to the parks. I say official since there are some fly-by-night vans that will offer to do the same. As usual, the doodle hated waiting but was happy as long as he was in a moving vehicle.

We stayed at the Day’s Inn across the street from the two parks. Part of why we chose to stay there was that it was closer than any of the actual Disney hotels. 

Now, I’m not going to go into exhaustive detail about every ride and attraction and quick service we went to but some will get more comments than others.

One term I’m going to use a lot is dark ride, since our son really liked those. Dark rides are when a little car or boat takes you past a series of scenes. They’re mostly inside and often have a lot of animatronics.

Our first ride was Mr Toad’s Wild Ride, which is a dark ride and one that’s no longer at Disney World. So it was one we wanted to see. We also knew that it ended with a car crash and the ride going through Hell. Well, it was the quaintest Hell ever. It was pleasant, quaint ride but I would hope a ride based on The Wind in the Willows would be quaint and pleasant. It was a nice way to get started.

One of our big goals was to go on the California version of It’s a Small World since we’d heard it was better and bigger than the one in Florida. And it was. We managed to ride it only a day or so before it was shut down to remove all the Christmas decorations. It was memorable and impressive.

I also have to note that It’s a Small World is an odd experience. It’s depicting not a realistic version of the world but a toy one. So it has an intentional fake look to it. It’s quite surreal.

After that, we went on the Mad Tea Party and the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, both rides our doodle had enjoyed at Disney World. While there were differences, none of the them were significant.

Our next stop was Toon Town, an entire area unique to California. It’s a mix of tributes to Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the houses of the classic Disney characters. Our son was most interested in Chip and Dale’s treehouse. We also went on the Roger Rabbit Car Toon Spin, which is another dark ride with the story being an out-of-control taxi ride through Toon Town.

At that point, we needed lunch. It was getting later and we the adult at least we’re really hungry. We are at the Galactic Grill and I’d say it was a low point in our dining. Not because the food was bad because it was so crowded it felt like being in a cattle car.

The last time we were at Disney World, the Magic Kingdom’s train was down and our son didn’t get to ride it. So we wanted to make sure he got to ride the one in California. We didn’t realize it would include a huge diorama of the Grand Canyon and of dinosaurs. That was a fun surprise.

Doodle has done well enough with other dark rides, we decided that he could handle the Haunted Mansion. And he did. He thought it was lots of fun. We did think that the special effects were better in Florida. 

We had dinner at the Jolly Holiday Bakery, which is the Mary Poppins-themed restaurant. It was a much better experience than lunch and the baked goods were excellent.

After going on It’s a Small World again to see it lit up in the darkness (which was pretty incredible) and another round of Buzz Lightyear, we called it a night and went back to our hotel.

Playing in the Autumn leaves

I have been trying out the PnP game Autumn. It’s a small, eighteen card build that requires nothing but the cards, although there are two different decks: one for two players and one for three players.

Autumn, the first in a four-game series (I bet you can guess what the other three games will be and Winter has already been produced), is a very simple tile laying game. Each card is broken down into four quadrants, each one showing a pile of leaves. There’s two different types of leaves for two-players and three for three-players. 

The basic idea of the game is dead simple. Draw a card and place a card on the table as part of a growing tableau/map of leaves. Everyone has their own type of leaves and you score your biggest group, most points winning.

And if that was it, then Autumn wouldn’t be very interesting. I mean, that is one of the most basic tile-laying concepts you can come up with. If that’s all there was, it wouldn’t be bringing anything new to the party.

Fortunately, the game has a couple of interesting flourishes.

The first, and it certainly not a unique or innovative idea, is that it uses the pie rule to determine who has what color/leaf type. Like I said, this isn’t anything amazing or new. But it does add a little bit of depth to the game.

Second, and much more interesting, you don’t match edges. Instead, every placement must cover one or two quadrants that are already in play. First of all, that’s more unusual which is fun. Second of all, that creates a greater number of choices. It also means that blocking is more flexible, creating a more confrontational and interesting game.

I’ve only played it solitaire so far. One-player mode uses the same placement rules but your score is the third largest group. So it still creates some interesting choices.

However, having now logged some solitaire plays, I think it’d be worth trying multi-player. In fact, given the fact that I think blocking will be interesting, I think that’s where the game’s real strength will be.

Now, Autumn is an eighteen-card micro game. And while I truly believe that are some micro games that stretch and test the limits of what a micro game can be, Autumn is not one of them. It is a quick little game that feels eighteen cards big.

I don’t know how much replay value Autumn has. However, it’s a game that took a minimum effort to make. I’ll get more than enough play out of it for what it took to make it. Plus, it is tiny enough that I can easily carry it in my bag. If I double-side it so the two-player deck is on one side and the three-player is on the other, it’s a travel game for one to three players.

Autumn is not a top-tier, change-your-life print and play game. However, I would say that it is pretty solidly in the second tier. If you are like me and a relatively lazy game crafter, it is well worth the making.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/185244/autumn