I finally go to the Adventure Zone

As a rule, I am not interested in watching or listening to other people play games. I know there are whole genres of videos of people playing board games, role playing games and video games but I think it generally falls under the category of watching someone else eat.

However, Carrie recently introduced me to the Adventure Zone, a podcast of a family playing D&D and other RPGs and I’ve been enjoying it. I think a big part of it is because they are podcast comedians first and RPGers second but still RPGers.

Many years ago, I tried listening to Kevin Smith’s Crimson Mystical Mages, which may have only lasted one episode. It failed for me because it was just dirty jokes with the game falling apart as a game. The Adventure Zone works because it may be funny and irreverent but it’s still a story and game.

They do play a bit fast and loose with the rules but I’m cool with that. There are times when I think we all could learn something from that. Dedication to rules should be reserved for conventions and other official events :)

Adventure Time may become a regular part of our routine.

Wandering Stars is just the start of a good idea

The Indie Megamix Mixtape has been by go-to over the last couple years when I want a quick little RPG fix. While I am in the middle of two or three longer RPG books I’m reading off and on, sometimes I want to be able to read and process something in one sitting.

In almost the same sitting, I read My Mother’s Demons, Dyin’ Day and Wandering Stars. The first two were emotionally strong works. Just reading Dyin’ Day was a little traumatic for me. Then I got to Wandering Stars... which is a party game.

That was quite the jump, let me tell you!

Okay, here’s the elevator pitch. The host sets up an obstacle course/puzzle that the players have to solve. (And by that, I mean redecorate the entire house :D) You can’t use your arms  or walk standing up if you’re by yourself. You have to touch chests for one player to use one of their arms and their eyes have to be  closed. You can only talk if someone touches your shoulder and you have to talk to the ceiling.

I have a very loose definition of RPG. Wandering Stars doesn’t even come close :D 

Which isn’t to say that it doesn’t sound fun or, quite frankly, a riot. It does sound like it’d be a lot of work for the host so, unlike almost every other game in the Mixtape, it will take a lot of prep work. Which isn’t a flaw, it’s just a necessity of the form.

What is a flaw is that two pages is not enough to make Wandering Stars a functional set of instructions. It is the form of the Mixtape format but, boy, it does not serve this game well at all. There needs to be a discussion how you develop obstacles and challenges and puzzles. Full examples of a complete setup would also be good.

Because, if you are taking the time and effort to turn your whole house into an obstacle course, you don’t want to do it purely by trial and error. A bad first experience will be your last Wandering Stars experience since why go to the trouble again?

As it stands, Wandering Stars is the outline of a good idea. As well as quite a break from deep, serious little RPGs :D

Found an RPG that was too much for me

Dyin’ Day is a short form RPG about a father taking his babe, no more than nine years old, up the mountain to kill them because a prophetic dream told them to. And, unlike Abraham and Isaac, the game definitely ends with the killing.

Okay. I hit a wall with this game. As a daddy, this game is one that I cannot handle, period. 

It’s a two-player game from the Indie Megamix Mixtape. It openly admits that Trollbabe was a major inspiration, which wasn’t remotely a surprise. The babe player is the GM and creates the trials and tribulations. The father player uses the mechanics from Trollbabe to resolve them. 

Dyin’ Day is an interesting game for me. It’s well grounded mechanically (no surprise given its pedigree) and does a good job evoking the setting of a folklore Appalachia in its two pages. But it hit me with a theme I flat out cannot handle.

My Mother’s Demons promises to bleed onto the table

There is a thin line between experimental group therapy and some indie RPGs. (Not that I’m in a position to talk. A lot of my unpublished RPG work can be described that way) My Mother’s Demons definitely dances on that line.

From the Indie Megamix Mixtape, My Mother’s Demons is a short form RPG about a daughter going to her sick or dying mother but she can only communicate with her mother’s demons.

It’s critical to understand that demons, in this case, doesn’t mean any kind of supernatural creature or even a negative part of the mother’s personality. They are the mother’s coping or protective mechanisms like shame or anger and they are fiercely invested in the mother’s well being.

The game is entirely narrative and has the daughter asking questions which lead to the demons framing scenes in order to provide answers. The daughter will not be in active player in the scenes but she can help guide the scene. In a way, the daughter is the game master. The game ends with the daughter having a conversation with each demon, putting them to rest so the mother can be well.

An important concept in many indie games is bleed, which is when emotions spill over from the game. My Mother’s Demons has a ridiculous potential for bleed. In fact, I’m sure that’s the point. A game of My Mother’s Demons without bleed would basically be a failure.

I respect the game for creating a structure for potentially very powerful experiences. However, I would be reluctant to play it myself and be very careful who I played it with. 

Even by short form, Indie RPG standards, My Mother’s Demons is a niche creation. Unlike many niche games, though, you might not know if you are in the niche.

Making a game colorblind friendly goes a long way for me

I originally had so little interest in YXZ that I almost didn’t download it. However, it is just nine cards with no other components and not much ink involved so I made it. And while I haven’t been turned into a fan, it’s more interesting than I thought.

YXZ is part of the 2018 Nine Card PnP contest and it is literally a stripped down, nine card Set. Seriously, the designer, Bogumil Koszalka, suggests using Set cards to play with if you don’t want to make the cards.

Unlike Set with its four variables (color, number, shape and texture), YXZ has just two: shape and color. Deal out cards on the table and whoever finds three cards with three elements that are the same calls it out. If they are right, they get a point. If they are wrong, everyone else gets a point. First person to five points wins.

Here’s the thing. YXZ has a grayscale option. And as someone who is colorblind, that is huge. While I find Set simply okay as a game (pattern recognition and accessibility are its virtues for me), their color choices were horrible for colorblind people.

Seriously, they not only picked both red and green, the most common form of colorblindness, they gave them the same level of saturation. It’s very, very hard for me to tell them apart and that’s bad in a speed game.

Pink or orange instead of red, yellow or just a lighter green instead of the green they picked, gray or black for either one. It would not be hard to change Set to make it more colorblind friendly. 

The grayscale YXZ, using outline, light gray and black, is both colorblind and black and white printer friendly. And, frankly, that’s enough to make me appreciate it.

The actual game play is pretty slight, in large part because it is just nine cards. Which is admittedly an element of the contest and could be easily expanded by adding number as a variable. As it stands, nine cards doesn’t create that many combinations. 

That said, I am planning on teaching it to our four-year-old. I think it will be a good exercise in pattern recognition and work with a four-year-old’s attention span. And I laminated the cards so they are waterproof and very durable. Good for out-of-the-house. (Of course, that’s how I make most cards)

YXZ probably simplifies the idea of Set too much. However, I really appreciate the graphic design. Yes, super simple but it solves every need it has to. And I will get some play out of it.

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1934195/wip-yxz-2018-9-card-contest

Akur-Gal - more meditation than game and that’s okay

Akur-Gal, from the 2018 9 Card PnP contest, is a very simple game. The nine cards form a three-by-three picture based on a Babylonian tablet. Shuffle the cards, lay them out in a three-by-three grid and then swap cards to make the tablet correct.

Oh, did I mention that it’s a solitaire game? It’s a solitaire game. I’m really not sure how you’d make it multi-player.

While you will lose if it takes you more than nine moves to make the tablet correct, as long as you don’t make a move that puts nothing in the right place, you’ll be able to complete the game in eight moves at the very most. I’m pretty sure that there’s a solution that guarantees, with perfect play, five or six moves.

Which probably sounds like I’m going to say Akur-Gal is a waste of ink and terrible game. But I don’t think so. It’s a game that I keep on periodically pulling out and playing and it’s a game that I can see myself getting steady play out of. I’ll probably even make the ink-heavy version at some point.

What Akur-Gal is is a very, very simple game, one that takes very little time to play and not too much mental effort. You don’t turn your brain off but you just calmly look for patterns and pleasantly makes things work.

I don’t view Akur-Gal as a tense game or a complex puzzle. I view as, well, basically kind of meditation. It is one of those games that puts my mind in a Zen place and I’m more relaxed after I’m done playing it. And since one game takes a minute to play, that’s a handy little exercise.

Akur-Gal isn’t for everyone. Heck, I’m not sure if it’s for most people. However, it does work for me. Simple rules, nifty Babylonian art, it’s nice.

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1928831/wip-akur-gal-2018-9-card-nanogame-pnp-design-conte

Is PnP taking over my life :D

So far this month, I’ve spent a lot more time downloading PnP files and crafting PnP games than actually playing any games. I realized this when I was trying to think about what I wanted to blog about :D

Admittedly, once I started downloading games from the current two player contest and nine card contest, I went back to look at older contests. Not all the files are still there, which is another reason to go back and look.

At the moment, I’m focusing on solitaire games and games that don’t have any other components from the current 9-Card contest. Because, well, that’s the easiest stuff to get played.

I’ve been looking into ways of making better components. Printing on sticker sheets, higher bond paper, spray adhesive, spray on midge podge. But, frankly, my current method of heat laminating copy paper is just really cost effective/cheap. I’m getting a great return for my material investment.

When I started really doing more PnP in January, I wondered when I would run out of steam. (For instance, we will be traveling in July. Not craft time) I’m sure it’s going to happen but I’m still crafting away.