A movie and gaming, what a great way to start the holiday season and the weekend. How could it be any better? Well Netflix decided they could by dropping The Witcher (based on the books and video games) tv series.
So the morning was spent watching the first few episodes of that. I’ve not played the video games (shocking I know, and something I should put to right at some point) and I’ve never read the books. Which means I’m coming in cold to this knowing nothing of the lore, the characters etc.
It also means that I was sold entirely on this series in the run up by the promos that were released during the year. So what little excitement I had was based on those alone. There were no expectations or preconceived ideas, other than those created by the said promos.
From the three or four episodes that I’ve watched so far I’m enjoying the series a lot. I like the aesthetics of the series. The costume design, set design, tone. For me it works. Production wise, ok we weren’t going to get the massive army battles of LoTR or even AGoT. But the one major battle so far I was impressed with. It was handled well. I like the way the plot is developing, and the interchanging between each characters storylines. You know at some point they will intersect, and I want to know how, and can’t wait for it to happen, and see where that goes. That for me is the sign of good storytelling.
One thing I did think is this whole Witcher universe would make a great setting for an RPG. Guess what, one has already been done. I know nothing about it, no idea what system it’s similar too, or even how popular it is.
But the whole premise isn’t too dissimilar to a D&D campaign with the traveling from town to town killing monsters for financial reward. It’s the lore and the role of magic within the world that is obviously different. From what I can tell from the tv series, the world that The Witcher is set is very low magic. Similar to Dragonlance I suspect. What magic there is comes at a price.
I don’t think it would be too hard to put a Witcher based campaign together. There are pdf files out there by fans for the official RPG that stat out all the monsters that exist in the Witcher world. I’d be tempted to just do the D&D thing and reskin an existing D&D monster.
If you want something cool to binge watch this weekend this show is it.
Ok the big release of the weekend (Well technically mid week) Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was a movie I did have some preconceived ideas about. In the run up to it’s release the leaks, rumours and general feel for this movie was not looking good. So I naturally had set my expectations low.
I actually enjoyed the movie. It’s definitely better than The Last Jedi. Which for the record I dislike.
It’s rushed and the story is a mess because of the previous movie. The criticism that this trilogy was created with no over all arching story/plan is evident when you look at the three in a whole. The hoops that this movie has to jump through to pick up the pieces left by the train wreck that was the previous movie, have a negative impact. But I will add despite this criticism the movie is still enjoyable.
There is some great fan service in this movie. Which does add to the enjoyment.
Overall it’s an average Star Wars movie. Not the best, but not the worst.
If after watching you want to play some Star Wars board games, any of the FFG games would suffice. I’d avoid the mainstream offerings, unless it’s Looping Chewie for a younger fan. FFG also do the official RPG if that is a universe you want to explore. Plus the original 80’s RPG was reprinted last year. So you could step back in time to play a classic 80’s RPG.
After the film Jonathan and I had some time to kill before the start of the Fenland Gamers Christmas gaming session. So after getting a beverage, Jonathan cracked out a game we hadn’t played since 2016 (according to the stats app I use).
Our main game of the evening was five player Wingspan. It’s not my favourite player count for the game. I prefer the middle counts for the game. I definitely wouldn’t want to play it at six players as some online are asking for.
I managed to get a tuck engine going on the wet lands, plus a nice round end triggered bird that tucked cards based on grass land actions done by another player.
But in the end all it got me was third place.
Our final game of the evening was No Thanks! We played using the Amigo variant detailed in the rules. This basically removes the 10, 20 and 30 numbered cards from the game plus six random cards. It made the game a bit more interesting. Some how Jonathan won this also.
It was a great day. Star Wars, board gaming. Great hosts as always.
Games played: Brew crafters, Wingspan, No Thanks!