We are entering that time of year where everyone and their dog (or cat if you are a cat person) will be producing their Christmas gift ideas for that special loved one into board games or role playing.

Not to be one to miss a moving wagon. Here is my general advice if you want to avoid that Amazon gift certificate or store credit route at your friendly local game store (FLGS).

For that Magic the Gathering player in your life your options are really easy. Forget the myriad of Planeswalker decks, gift boxes, bundles, deck builder kits, and whatever other product your FLGS is needing to clear off the shelf. Work out your budget and buy booster packs for that special person. Usually your FLGS will have a promotion on which will be something like buy three packs for twelve pounds. Which gives you a little saving. Depending on budget and number of packs buying you could buy a variety of packs from different sets. Once you hit the £90 mark, you might like to consider getting a draft booster box instead. That’s thirty six booster packs. The current set is Throne of Eldraine, which has a fairly Tales meets Arthurian legend theme.

And although I’ve specified Magic the Gathering above I’d use this advice for any of the trading card games like Pokemon etc.

Next up that role player in your life. Slightly harder to buy for because you need to know some stuff before hand. Do you know what role playing game they play? Is it Dungeon and Dragons, Pathfinder or some other one? Do they run the game or just play the game? With that information you can be a bit more specific in the present you buy.

If that special person runs the role playing game, a generic games master screen is a good idea. There are some basic ones, and there are some really lavish expensive ones available. Battle maps that can be used with dry or wet erase pens, dungeon tiles, plastic or cardboard standees of characters and monsters are also good presents to get. Once again let your budget decide for you.

If you know the role playing game they play I’d look at third parties producing accessories for that system, such as Galeforce 9 with their reference card packs for spells and monsters for Dungeon and Dragons. There are some official card packs for Pathfinder. Even FFG produce official ones for Genesys.

For both types of player fancy ornate notebooks with fantasy or sci-fi art on are always an option.

A good general gift idea if you can’t get answers for the above are dice sets. You can never have enough dice as a player. You will be amazed at the variety of dice available. However when you buy a set make sure it has a d4,d6,d8,d10,d12 and d20 as a minimum. If you are confused by what those numbers mean, they refer to the number of sides on the die. The d just stands for die. So d4 is a four sided die. Just as there is an almost unlimited variety of dice available, there is also a wide range of prices as well. With the metal dice usually being the more expensive. But you can find sets that fit most budgets.

Another general idea and this would also be an option for the next category of gamer we will look at are dice towers and dice trays. Like dice there is an incredible variety to chose from. And there will be dice trays and towers to fit most people’s budgets also.

Finally let’s look at that board gamer who somehow has managed to take over half the spare room with their cardboard boxes. I’d generally avoid buying this person a game or expansion, unless you really know that they want the game/expansion you are thinking of buying.

You could go with the dice tower and dice tray suggestion above. I’d continue that theme and go with accessories that enhance or make the gaming experience more enjoyable. Such as a neoprene playmat for the table. It protects the table and the game being played. Or little trays/bowls to put tokens in while playing. You’d be surprised how useful these are.

If you know their favourite game (and they own it), many popular games have upgraded components available from third parties. Or if you know that they really like a particular artist you could look into getting a piece of art from that artist. Or maybe a print of the game box art made.

I’m not sorry I didn’t link to specific items, and not handing things to you on a plate, so you don’t have to think. This was meant to stimulate ideas, or promote specific items. Which by the time you went to buy them may well have sold out anyway. The above seemed the most sensible option. I hope you found the ideas useful.

What is it I like about certain games in particular?

Let’s look at the one I’ve been writing a lot about lately, D&D.

In D&D as a player I love the sandbox nature of the game. That unlimited possibilities, I can do anything I can think of (dice rolls permitting). I also like that you build up a relationship, an attachment with the character you are playing. It’s not an instant thing. But something that grows over time as you both experience the world as it reveals itself.

As a DM I get something different out of the game. I get to stretch my creative muscles. Which I really love. You get to create a world for the players to explore and have adventures in. Not only that but to tell stories. For me as I’m creating my campaign as I’m coming up with ideas those ideas have to have some sort of authenticity. A reason that logically explains why that idea makes sense for the campaign. I just love that whole process. Then seeing the party explore and enjoy the world and story you have created. That’s a great buzz to have. But you also enter in a feedback loop where what the party does in the session generates new ideas and plot lines. Which just feeds that whole creative process.

Another game I write about a bit, but not so much lately is MtG.

MtG is another game where I get to exercise those creative muscles. But in a different way to D&D. In MtG I’m building decks. Decks that allow you to express yourself, your play style, explore ideas and mechanics. All within the restrictions imposed based on the format you are playing. Instead of handicapping the creative process those restrictions aid it, force you to focus, and make difficult decisions.

MtG is also an amazing game. There is so much going on during a game. You are having to make decisions constantly based on imperfect information and the cards you have in your hand and on the battlefield. Add in the different mechanics, being able to pull off combos (which is really satisfying), set themes, and the beautiful art. You really do have a near perfect game for me.

Finally for this post let’s briefly look at my favourite game of all time, Scythe.

Scythe is a bit different to the other two games that I have looked at in this post. There is no creative aspect to the game.

But it’s the game play and aesthetics that appeal to me here.

I just love the mix of action selection, resource management, and area control. There are variable player abilities. The game just looks stunning, and has an amazing table presence.

Plus the expansions add to the enjoyment without over complicating things. I particularly love the alternative end conditions from the Wind Gambit expansion. Which definitely can affect the focus and tactics that you use through out the game.

Even without the expansions there is a lot of replay ability. But with them that goes through the roof. That no two games being exactly the same really helps to keep the game fresh.

So there you have it a brief look at the aspects of three games that I enjoy. Which games do you like and why?

The early hours of every Sunday, which people would commonly describe as Saturday night. BBC Radio 5 Live host Dotun Adebayo runs a segment of Up All Night called the Virtual Juke Box.

For a couple of hours listeners call, text and email in musical suggestions to be considered for the Virtual Juke Box based on the theme for the week. The song with the most votes at the end of the segment gets added to the said Virtual Juke Box.

Over the years I’ve texted in suggestions. But never had one used. I have a lot more success with other shows on the network. I even got to ask Stan Lee a question on air back in 2009.

In last nights show the theme for the Virtual Juke Box was, “what is the one song that defines your era?”

So I sent the text below in. Fully expecting my usual lack of success.

As I was listening to people’s choices, I started to drift back to sleep. Suddenly I was wide awake. There coming out of my phones speakers was the Thing on a Spring theme.

I had finally had a text used for the Juke Box.

As my tweet straight after shows, I was a bit happy.

Let me expand a little on my reasoning.

As I said in the text to the show, I could have easily chosen a heavy metal song as my song for my era. It would most likely have been a KISS song, probably Detroit Rock City or I Love It Loud. More likely I Love It Loud.

Back in the early 80’s before MTV and satellite tv, all we had in the UK were 4 channels! Seeing my favourite group on any of those was a rarity. In fact extremely rare. It wasn’t until a tv show called Entertainment USA was on the BBC (which was a Friday evening iirc) that I got to see them. And the first video of theirs I saw I Love It Loud off the Creatures Of The Night album.

However during my teenage metal years the British home computer revolution was taking place. My parents had bought me a ZX81 for Christmas one year. Which within months I had replaced with an Oric-1 (that I later on had upgraded to an Oric Atmos). From there I went the Commodore 64 route whilst my brother got a ZX Spectrum (that I would later own as well).

Some of my favourite gaming memories are on the C64. And a major part of those memories are the iconic 8 bit chip tunes created by the under appreciated genius of Martin Galway, Rob Hubbard, Ben Daglish, Whittaker et al. What they did in 5k or less with the SID chip on the C64 was amazing.

My era was the home computer boom of the 80’s, I am the first generation of gamer. I had to choose a tune from those memories.

The first one I thought of last night was Thing on a Spring. So instead of thinking it over, and trying to decide what was the “best” SID tune from a game (there are so many great tunes) I went with my gut and first thought.

It’s a fun bit of music. Even decades after it was written it brings a smile to my face. And when I create a SID playlist is always included. And yes I have CDs of their music from C64Audio.com and other places.

Thing on a Spring was a great platform game (ZZap64! Sizzler iirc). The titular character from the game went on to join Rockford (from the Boulderdash games) as humorous margin art in ZZap64!

How impactful was this music on me? Even now I can’t watch the 80’s action movie classic Commando without the music from the C64 port of the unrelated arcade classic with the same name.

To this day I still remember loading Hyper Sports on the C64 and hearing the Chariots of Fire theme blasting from the tv speakers as the game loaded. Or ghostbusters being shouted out as the game Ghostbusters played the theme tune from the movie.

And the C64 demo scene was amazing at extracting the music and sfx from games so that you could listen to just the music from a game. And thanks to CNet (I think it was called that) the Commodore bulletin board I had a few 5 1/4 ” floppies worth of those demos.

So you can see I had to no choice but to nominate a SID chip tune as my song of my era.

What would be your nomination for the Virtual Juke box?

As a break from all the boring #RPGaDAY2019 stuff I thought I’d share some thoughts about my current reading material.

As you may have guessed it’s MtG related.

Thanks to my friend Duncan I was put onto this a couple of weeks ago.

Generation Decks by Titus Chalk brings to the collectible card game world it’s version of Masters of Doom and Jacked by David Kushner from the videogame world and The Monopolists by Mary Pilon.

Where Generation Decks differs from those books, is they are more biopic with a sprinkling of dramatic license? Generations Deck is more factual events broken up by the authors personal journey and memories of playing MtG.

I’m about three quarters through the book, and it’s enjoyable. The factual parts are part retelling the key events from MtG history peppered with quotes and recollections of events. I think it would be fair to describe the style of writing as very journalistic. Unlike the books already mentioned above or the likes Of Dice and Men, I don’t come away from this book feeling that I know anything more about the brains behind the game than I already knew.

The personal reflections of the author are interesting, and do a good job putting over what the game means to so many. That sense of belonging, community and friendship, all bought together by these bits of rectangular cardboard.

I have spotted the odd annoying grammatical error, that should have been picked up in proof reading and editing. But long suffering readers, and ok even recent ones, will know that’s a bit hypercritical of me to mention that.

Overall this has been an interesting read so far. Definitely worth picking up by fans of the game. Can I recommend it to a wider audience? I’m not sure I can.

One thing that has been eating away at me for my deck list posts is that they don’t link to card info on Gatherer.

I did try a plug-in for WordPress. But it wasn’t really that easy to integrate into my editing process. I had to tag stuff by hand. Plus the plug-in didn’t seem to be updating with WordPress releases to make sure it was secure.

So the plain lists with no links has been the default after that brief trial.

That sense of the deck lists could be better stuck with me.

So today I spent some time automating a process that takes a Deckbuilder deck list, and turns that into some HTML for me that I can copy and paste into a post.

Years ago I had a similar process for my “diary” when it first started up using vbscript to generate the HTML for my photos that I’d taken on walks and trips, and the updated menus for the site. All I had to do was take the HTML and copy it into the web pages. Which then got uploaded to the server. This was pre-Wordpress days. What I had was almost a very basic CMS made up of vbscript that I ran.

Today using Pythonista on my iPad I can write a python script that can read in a Deckbuilder deck list, go through the file and build up a line of HTML for each card used in the deck that when clicked takes you to the WotC Gatherer web page for the card.

For those interested or remotely curious here is the code (screen shot sadly, it’s the only way at the mo I can share the code so it is formatted correctly). Push comes to shove email me and I’ll send the file to you. Eventually I’ll put it on github once it’s finished.

The next thing to do with this script is to get it to present the information in the same format as if I’d used the Deckbuilder share deck text option. At the moment the list is ungrouped, no structure.

I hope some found this peek behind the curtain of interest.

Today saw one of the proudest moments of my life as a dad, as my son Nathan graduated with a degree in tv production from Portsmouth University.
Luckily modern technology gets around the limited hall space and distant family problem that has plagued graduation ceremonies of yesteryear. So for reasons, I was able to watch the ceremony and see that moment as he walked across the stage.

I hoping those reasons will allow me to get a photo of him in his gown.

What next for my boy? An Masters in the subject. Which will see him do the unthinkable for a Portsmouth football supporter and move to Southampton.

But it’s his day, and I hope he’s having a great time celebrating.

I’m starting this post off with a photo or two of Attack Chihuahua number two Loki snuggled up on my lap as he patiently waits for mum to wake up next door and let her dogs out. As soon as the backdoor opens he will be round there, and snuggled up with Nan quicker than a Tory MP pocketing the cash from their banker overlords.

So what is this post about?

That was it, just sharing a doggy picture today.

I’ve not mentioned anything about my plans for this years UK Games Expo over the previous months.

The reason mainly being I wasn’t sure I’d be going. Life events have meant that the usual plan of attending all 3 days, staying in a hotel etc were not viable this year.

However a shout out by White Wizard Games for people to help demo their games during the expo went out earlier in the year. To which I replied I’d love to.

Then until recently it all went quiet. So I wasn’t even sure that plan was going to pan out.

However it has worked out. Phew!

Which means I will be at the expo for all 3 days on the White Wizard Games stand demoing games that I love to play.

So if you are at the expo pop on by, say hi, and get a demo.

A update before this even goes live!

Received an official email that WWG has sent everyone on their mailing list letting them know what’s happening at the expo.

I’ve put in bold a rather cool thing they are doing at the expo.

“You can visit our booth 1-864 for demos of our games, play in our Legend Series tournaments to become a card in the game, and stop by and meet Rob Dougherty, White Wizard Games CEO, Game Designer and Magic the Gathering Hall of Famer.  

Learn to Play Epic and Get a FREE Copy! we will be giving out a copy of Epic Card Game to everyone that gets an Epic demo while supplies last. Get your copy and play sealed, draft, or constructed deck game play for up to 4 players. We have limited supplies so make sure to come early!!

We will also have Sorcerer which is our new and exciting game for sale and to demo at our booth!”

I’m hoping to pick up Sorcerer myself at the show.

In a rush to write the earlier post I couldn’t wait for the YouTube release of the movie that was showed at The Luxe as part of the Wisbech; Made in Minecraft launch.

I was in too much of a hurry to share with the world my I’ll thought out thoughts on the matter.

But better late than never. All good things come to those that wait (which will be a bloody long time for readers of the this blog waiting for something good to appear on here).

So here for your viewing pleasure is the Wisbech: Made in Minecraft movie.

The afternoons plan was to a) post a package, b) maybe go collect my copy of The Judge Dredd RPG.

I achieved the first part of the plan. And I was still undecided on the second and final part. Whilst making my mind up I thought I’d pop my head in The Luxe and ask my friend Nathan if he could get the link for the data that was used to make up the Minecraft model of Wisbech. Why would he have that?

Heck The Luxe was only being used to host the launch of Wisbech: Made in Minecraft project this afternoon.

But somehow I ended up watching the whole presentation instead of doing the second part of the plan.

From a technical stand point it was interesting how they did things. They even had an art teacher from the local secondary school there showing off their Minecraft creation that was the school fully modelled in the educational version of the game. It even had some educational use built in. The bit they showed was a ‘who done it’ murder mystery that was in fact a maths lesson!

The short movie of clips from within Minecraft of the Wisbech model with voice overs from interviews of citizens of the town, was interesting. And I think as a proof of concept was good. But I think something that expanded on that idea and used more interviews of a wider selection of the town, more memories of the older members of our community. Maybe even model some of those historical buildings no longer here (like the gas works). It also struct me a bit Aardman animation like with the animation and voice over.

I know they were pushing the education and intergeneration thing. But for me my real interest lies in using the world created for use with the The End of the World: Zombie Apocalypse RPG. Instead of using a small A5 size street map of Wisbech. I could have the survivors navigating their way round the zombie apocalypse using the Wisbech Minecraft map.

Read the Official Announcement with out The Wisbech Standard copying and pasting it and passing it off as their words.