With the Tapestry: Plans and Ploys expansion going on preorder later today on the Stonemaier website, it got me thinking.

This Winter period there are no games I’m really excited about getting (with one exception), it’s all about the expansions for me. No game has grabbed me, inspired me, and made me say “I’ve got to get this game”. In fact the recent announcement of Splendor getting a Marvel reskin for me sums up the direction the industry seems to be moving at the moment. It’s a sweeping generalisation. Especially considering the number of games that get released each year. But the high profile ones from the big boys are the ones that generally grab peoples attention and the headlines in publications. Heck I wasn’t even excited about the new Stonemaier game Pendulum. It just didn’t fire my imagination!

Obviously considering the opening sentence of this post I’m excited about the Tapestry expansion Plans and Ploys.

Plans and Ploys adds new landmarks, tapestry cards, civilizations, new space tiles (plus a replacement tile for a misprinted tile in the first printing), landmark tiles, landmark cards, a bag for territory tiles to go in, and automata cards.

So more variety, a new mechanic with the landmark cards, a new tiebreaker rule. It looks like a great addition to a game I like.

I wasn’t expecting an expansion for Civilization A New Dawn to be announced. So it was a nice surprise when FFG did announce it at this years Flight Plan.

Terra Incognita changes the game up a little bit by the looks of it. This expansion allows up to five players, you can now explore during the game and dynamically create the game board as you play. The combat rules have been tweaked, new leaders, and other additions.

I liked the original version of the game. But the exploring does sound really cool, and more like the video games. Will this change the way I play this game for ever? That’s an exciting prospect.

Then there is a massive expansion coming for Twilight Imperium 4th Edition called Prophecy of Kings. This increases the player count to eight players! New tiles, races, mechs, plus much more. It may be a while before this gets to the table (I need a table big enough for starters), I’m still excited for what this is going to add to the game.

The only game I’m excited about is Vampire the Masquerade: Rivals. Which is an expandable card game from Renegade Games set in the Vampire Masquerade/World of Darkness. Ok the setting isn’t the bit that excites me. But a multiplayer card game, where politics is part of the game play. That does. All the sounds coming out of Renegade about the game had me thinking they are approaching the game and it’s development the right way. The Kickstarter $100 tier was amazing value, and included a copy of the first OP kit. And is scheduled to be delivered in December.

What are you looking forward to or planning on buying this Winter?

Mike Shea aka Sly Flourish has an article just published on his blog called “The Most Valuable DM Tool: A Good List of Names“. I’ve embedded his YouTube video discussing this below as well.

The blog post and video contain links to some random generators that you can use to create random lists of names.

What Mike forgot to name is a couple of his own resources that also have lists of names you can use. The first is page 10 of his The Lazy DM’s Workbook that has fantasy first and last names. Followed by the very useful D&D 5e Campaign Worksheet that Mike created.

The worksheet is a nice thing to have to hand during a session anyway. But it’s random names section is very useful. I’ve used it during prep for a session to name NPCs, and during play to name an NPC on the fly.

Another source that Mike didn’t suggest, and it’s most likely because the book is no longer in print, not available digitally, and copies go for that stupid money now on sites like eBay, is Gary Gygax’s Extraordinary Book of Names. Just to get a digital copy involves looking on the shadier side of the internet.

I like the official book sources (Players Guide and Xanathar) plus the Gygax book. They are great for species related names. But I find they are best suited when planning or a session zero where time is less than an issue.

But for on the fly use during a session a list of names on a sheet of paper is in my limited experience the better option. No hunting around, reaching for a book etc. It’s just a quick look at a sheet of paper and marking off the name as used. So much quicker.