#dungeon23 Week 2 Roundup

#dungeon23, D&D, megadungeon, RPG

Well I’ve made it through week two.

So here is the Instagram post showing the final inked version of the map that was created for week two.

How did this week go?

Well even though I was making the daily updates adding a new room each day. I didn’t share many of the rooms on Instagram this week.

This was mainly due to me not feeling they were worth sharing.

On the map drawing it doesn’t feel like the map has come together until I do the inking at the end. Granted it’s not the best inking by a long shot. But it does the job.

I feel that this week was less focused in my mind from trying to tell a story with the rooms. The aim was to have another way for a party of adventurers to get into the dungeon. Plus working out how that entrance connected up with the previous weeks rooms.

The events and items found in this section of the map felt half hearted. But I did feel they were thematic to this section.

I couldn’t think of any secrets and clues this week, maybe one or two will come as I draw next weeks rooms.

Looking forward to week three and seeing where that takes me.

Where I stand with D&D 5e and Current Events

D&D, news, rant, RPG

If you play RPGs, particularly D&D. Unless you live in a remote cave in Tibet with no internet, it will have been particularly hard to have missed the big controversy going on with D&D at the moment.

I’m not going to go over the whole OGL/Hasbro/WotC vs everyone thing. Others more informed have covered the subject much better than I ever could.

Let’s face it does the world need to hear yet another white, middle aged, male opinion/analysis on the subject?

Not really. But here we are anyway with a post by me touching on how this all effects me and the games I run, and will run.

I’m not going to stop running D&D 5e.

That includes when OneD&D gets an official release.

OneD&D I think will be heavily tied in with D&DBeyond and the unreleased virtual tabletop. Which will I have no doubt also be monetised in every way possible. WotC have admitted as much recently to investors.

I have no interest or desire to go digital and open myself up to being held to ransom to get access to content. Which we are now in reality.

I know WotC only bought D&DBeyond last year. When you buy a physical book (which I prefer) do you get it free on D&DBeyond or even a discount? Nope. You have to buy it again. However we know they can do this as they did it with the Essentials Kit (and that was before they owned D&DBeyond). But we’ve seen WotC be that cheap over in MtG and buying physical booster packs and precons and Arena. And we all know what I think of their nickel and dime piss poor ingame economy in Arena.

WotC believe in squeezing as much out of you as they possibly can. So it’s no surprise they have started/plan to use lessons learned from MtG Arena and the video game industry to D&D and its digital incarnation.

So I’m going to remain with 5e and my physical copies I own. WotC can’t take them away from me, or stop me using them. But I bet they wish they could.

I have enough official D&D books to run my own campaigns for years without buying another book.

Add in third party books I own like Kobold Press’s Tome of Beasts, the Lazy DM books, Sly Flourish’s City of Arches, Ptolus source book, plus others.

Plus I can house rule any OneD&D rules into my 5e game, such as the new exhaustion rule, that I like.

A quick aside. Let’s face it official WotC books have been a bit disappointing (especially the source books) the last year or two. Spelljammer was light on content for DM’s, Dragonlance was an adventure not a source book. For me Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft set a gold standard for 5e D&D sourcebooks, but Spelljammer was not even close.

Even with the current money grabbing, WotC crapping where they eat events. I’ll still play 5e.

It may impact whether my favourite independent 5e content creators such as Sly Flourish, Arcane Library (they have stopped) write adventures/source books for 5e. And that will be a great loss for 5e and future versions. And I’ll try and support them as much as I can.

This blog won’t be effected. It’s way, way too small. Plus it comes under fan content.

For the record I hate what WotC are trying to do. It stinks. I’ll support any effort to try and stop it.

Right I have a megadungeon to update.

Father Son Gaming New Year Edition Part Deux

father son gaming, Game day, game night

After tea last night Nathan and I did indeed play his favourite boardgame Star Wars Outer Rim and it’s only expansion Unfinished Business.

Nathan once again played as Boba Fett with the Crime Lord ambition. Which after the rather disappointing Book of Boba Fett seemed appropriate and in-line with the characters ambitions in that series.

I didn’t play Jyn Erzo but for a change I went with Doctor Aphra. A character I was unfamiliar with. But her ability was cool. I thought deep down Aphra wanted to be a Pirate Monach so that was the ambition I selected.

After taking an early lead on the fame track, and on my ambitions goals, Nathan soon started to close the gap on the fame track. It be a while before he made a late surge on his ambition goals.

In that time I quickly upgraded my ship and modded it so I stood a better chance of getting my ambition objectives.

A failed attempt to complete my goal of becoming the Pirate Monach was enough of an opening to allow Nathan to get his own attempt in to become a Crime Lord. Sadly that also failed. But my second attempt to become the Pirate Monach did not.

I snatched victory from what would have been a heroic comeback by Nathan.

It was a great ending with Nathan rolling six dice for my opponent in my final combat, and not rolling a single hit. I just needed a single hit to win. I got two. And I took no damage.

It was a glorious victory.

Today was my final day with Nathan before heading back.

After another relaxed start to the day. We played a learning game of Isle of Cats Explore and Write.

This is a flip and write that’s been on my radar for a while now. So to now have it in my collection and get it to the table with Nath is pretty cool.

I got some Cartographers vibes whilst playing the game. Mainly from drawing the polyomino shapes on the board.

How anyone fills all the rooms in seven rounds I have no bloody idea. Is it even possible?

I love the quality of the cards, and the linen finish.

I liked this flip and write. And definitely want to get this to the table again pretty soon.

Oh and I won.

I say this every time but our parting is always hard.

My mood wasn’t helped with the news of Lisa Marie Presley passing away yesterday. She was the same age as me.

I was a big Elvis fan back in the mid Seventies.

There has only ever been two times in my life when the death of a celebrity has really affected me. Those being Elvis and Steve Jobs.

I think with Lisa Marie it was a combination of the fact she was the daughter of Elvis, and the fact we were the same age.

It got me reflecting on my drive home on life, the universe, and coffee. Decisions made, not made.

I’m home now. Chilling out to some American Dad. Missing my son. Can’t wait until my next visit.

Father Son Gaming New Year Edition

father son gaming, Game day, game night

After a relaxed start to the day (which I’m totally allowed seeing as I’m on holiday) I taught Nathan how to play the two player game Splendor Duel.

As usual I didn’t win. If my bgstat app is correct (and why wouldn’t it be?) I have never, I’ll repeat that never won a game of Splendor in any of the editions I have owned or own! Bloody good job I enjoy playing it.

The rest of our day was taken up by a dentist visit for Nathan, cooking “not spaghetti bolognaise” (ask Diego why it was not the dish, ok adding baked beans, mushrooms, and using chorizo, may technically mean it wasn’t), and Nathan wanting to watch the evenings football match between Southampton and Man City.

Today saw us pop into town for a Burger King lunch and a visit the local boardgame shop.

I had gone there with the purpose of just getting the Mutant Genesis expansion for Marvel Champions. However the Storm character expansion joined it, along with the Agora expansion for 7 Wonders Duel.

As soon as we got home (after a coffee) we played an all in game of 7 Wonders Duel. That’s the core game plus the Pantheon and Agora expansion.

We both really enjoyed the game. Agora brings in a new decision, tactical element, and win condition.

Control all six senate chambers and you get an instant political win.

A victory I was one chamber away from achieving at the start of the third age. However Nathan only needed one more symbol for the science win. He was going first at the start of the third age, and was hoping for a science card as an option to buy.

Obviously the tension built up as I laid out the cards in the third age pattern. It was down to the last two cards to be drawn and placed. Indeed one of those cards was not only a science card but the sixth symbol he needed. Instant win for Nathan.

Yes playing with everything means the game takes longer to setup and play. But I think it’s worth it. I like the extra stuff going on. You can’t afford to not to be paying attention to what your opponent is collecting.

The area control element of the senate chambers is cool. Having the majority in a chamber gives you control and some sort of power up you get to use through out the game. Plus points for end of game scoring if it goes to the bitter end.

Yeah I think we’ll be playing all in from now on. Just need to get my own copy now.

Right time to make tea followed by Star Wars Outer Rim (Nath’s favourite boardgame).

An unexpected long journey

life, the universe, and everything, still alive

A three hour drive down to visit Nathan turned into a five hour plus ordeal when the M3 was closed after junction 4a.

It took half an hour to get off the M3 at junction 4. Then even longer as the back roads from Farnborough and Basingstoke became clogged with traffic. Especially as I got nearer to Basingstoke and the odd road works bought everything to a standstill.

But I eventually arrived at Nathan’s for the start of a few days with him.

This time I bought with me the latest roll/flip and write in my collection The Isle of Cats Explore and Write (plus the Kickstarter promo cards). Which arrived lunchtime. Yes it’s that new an addition. I think it also gets the honour of being my first game purchase of 2023.

I’ve also bought Trekking Through History, Rolling Realms, Castles of Burgundy the dice game, Alhambra the dice game, Riverside, Marvel Champions, Splendor Duel, and my bag of games.

Star Wars Outer Rim was already here. I’d bought that down when I was down New Years Eve.

As I’m writing this post Nathan is watching the Newcastle vs Leicester game whilst playing Iron Harvest.

Iron Harvest looks beautiful. And so it should considering it uses art by Jakub Różalski alongside the game assets.

Nathan is really enjoying Iron Harvest. Which I knew he would. He is a fan of the RTS genre. Nathan is a big fan of Command and Conquer series and the subsequent games it spawned.

For me if I had a PC to play Iron Harvest it would also tick a lot of boxes for me too. I also am a fan of the RTS genre, but I’ve been playing it a bit longer than Nathan. I loved Dune 2 back in the day. Iron Harvest shares the same universe as my favourite boardgame of all time Scythe. So you can see how it ticks a lot of boxes for me.

Now I don’t think I would have much difficulty getting Nathan to try Scythe. He just needs a big enough table, or to visit me for him to try it.

I now have three days with Nath. So you know there will be some father and son Gaming going on.

Catch you in the next post.

Alien 2 Humans 0

Game day

Yesterday saw the start of a nine day break from work.

I should say a much needed break as well.

However I started my holiday off in style with a seven player game of The Thing boardgame.

There was some gamers remorse as I walked from the car to the community centre when I thought “wait I should have suggested playing Scythe”.

However that soon faded away as I was setting up for a six player game. Now I hear you all saying “but Darren didn’t you say you had a seven player game?” Indeed I did say that.

But when I got to setting up I set the game up for six players. That is how many I thought were coming. It wasn’t until I decided I’d start the bgstat play record before the others arrived that I realised there were seven playing. So I had to quickly adjust the setup for the correct player count.

This was the second time that The Thing has hit the table. And I have to say with the higher player count it was really great fun.

I thought the game played really well at the higher player count. I think it was just short of three hours play time. Which is pretty good for this type of game.

In the end the aliens managed to win by getting on the rescue helicopter first. It turns out only Diego and myself were the remaining humans in the base.

One word of advice. Don’t demonstrate that players need to shuffle their role cards and not check you put the correct one back. It does create a comedic moment for sure when you go to reveal at the end of the game you were a human all the time, you flip the card and it says you are an alien. Much laughter followed!

Everyone had a blast playing the game. And a great way to kick off my nine days of R&R.

UKGE2023 plans taking shape

UKGE

Just over a week ago I booked off the week that the UK Games Expo is happening.

So already my mind was turning to plans for attending the third or fourth (depending on when you look at the attendance figures) boardgaming expo/show in the world. It’s definitely the largest in the UK.

I was on course for my usual last minute, left it too late to find cheap accommodation plan.

That was until Jonathan posted on the Fenland Gamers discord server that he had booked his accommodation, and which days he was attending.

Which prompted me to get my act together and also book my accommodation for the three days I’ll be attending.

I’ve booked the same establishment as Jonathan so hopefully we will be able to get some gaming in whilst there.

This will be for me nearly normal attendance resumed for UKGE. It will be all three days. However it won’t be me going up on the Thursday and having that extra nights stay, and a relaxed start to the Friday. Instead it will be a damn early start on the Friday instead.

Anyway I’m sure I’ll write more nearer and at the time. Laters…

#dungeon23 Week 1 Roundup

#dungeon23, D&D, megadungeon, RPG

Ok so I’ve started and a week in on this year long challenge.

I’ve managed to post daily updates over on Instagram that pushes them out onto other social media platforms. Well almost daily I didn’t share the two empty rooms at the end. I didn’t think there was much point.

But those updates until the last one are in pencil. I took the decision to only ink the dungeon map at the end of the week. This allows me to make changes if need be as ideas develop throughout the week.

I kinda like how the map looks. It’s not nearly as good as some out there. But it is good for me.

I do have a folder with copies of the DMG Appendix A, dungeon symbols, list of trinkets, and a few other useful bits. I like not having to carry multiple books around, or have lots open at a time. At the end of this hashtag not only will I have a megadungeon, but also a folder I can use for dungeon creation.

Somehow this first week has used up four pages. It’s smoothing that may continue. Two pages for tables, etc, then the actual dungeon itself.

This first week has been about mapping out the first rooms of the long abandoned dwarven kingdom Khul Garom.

I’ve tried to capture in seven rooms(!) that the main entrance to Khul Garom was part stronghold able to repel any outside forces, but also some sort of grand gesture that once showed the wealth, artistry, and might of the dwarves of Khul Garom.

By using bandits, thugs, and cultists to populate some of the rooms I’m trying to start telling the main story of this dungeon of that awakening evil, and it slowly increasing its grip on the surrounding area.

Whilst any items found in these rooms are not of any value. But more the sort of stuff historians at a dig find that hint at the sort of society that was there long ago. In these rooms all the good stuff so to speak was looted long ago.

Right now onto week 2…

Flashback to December 2016

bgstat, Blast from the past, by the numbers, flashback, stats

Before I bore you with the December 2022 stats post it’s time to bore you with yet another post looking back to 2016.

As per usual for this post we start off with the top 9 games played that month.

My Top 9 games played December 2016

Love Letter Batman, sadly no longer available for folks to buy. But it is my favourite version of Love Letter still. I love the theme, and the extra point for guessing what another player has in their hand when playing a Batman card, a nice rule change. Probably my favourite introduced by any version.

Ah yes Pandemic Iberia. The game ZMan was a limited printing. Yet somehow gets reprinted! It’s not a bad version of Pandemic. Don’t think I’ve played it since. However it is the version I’ve kept in the collection.

Braggart was a fun card game. But not one that held up to repeated plays over a short period of time. I gave this away in the end iirc.

We all know how I feel about Scythe. Nuff said.

Viticulture and Alien Frontiers both great worker placement games. Which I’m looking forward to getting back to the table as part of one of this year’s challenges.

I do need to get The Others (a great one vs many game, which soured how I feel about CMoN and will never back a project of theirs again), and Cry Havoc back to the table. I do really like both these games and they deserve more love.

Robinson Crusoe possibly the most brutal co-op game on the market. Also probably the most fiddly to setup also. Still a fun game with the right people.

Ok let’s wrap this post up with the raw stats for December 2016.

My bgstats for December 2016

Naturally the next post in these look backs will move into 2017. See you then.