Take a rocket ride…

game night, Roll/Flip and Write, Welcome to the Moon Campaign

This is the first in a series of posts that will cover my first time playing through the campaign side of the flip and write Welcome to the Moon.

Although I’m sure if I play through the campaign on subsequent occasions I’ll blog about them also.

I’m going to try and theme the blog post titles with an appropriate inspired book/movie/song title/lyric that reflects the overall theme of that campaign game just played. Which may or not be harder than I think.

At the end of the campaign I’ll have a final post ranking the adventure sheets. Which is something I’ve seen one or two YouTube content creators do, so why shouldn’t I?

None of my coverage of this campaign will involve the Astra Solo mode that Welcome to the Moon has. As long suffering readers of this blog well know I don’t play solo. All the games will be two or more players.

Naturally these posts will all start the same with the all too familiar and totally necessary warning for those that have not played the campaign and want to remain pleasantly surprised as they play the campaign themselves. After all I don’t want to ruin anyones enjoyment of the game.

So here we go for the first time in these posts…

The following post may or may not contain spoilers for the Welcome to the Moon campaign. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one if you plan to play the campaign and want to experience it’s twists and turns as surprises for yourself. REMEMBER you have been warned.

Before playing Welcome to the Moon I’d never played any of the previous Welcome to… games. That’s despite claiming to be a roll/flip and write fan. So you could argue that there is a gap in my roll/flip and write education.

To aid playing the game I created a couple of player aids. One based on the faq for the game, and another based on pages 5 and 6 of the rulebook that summarises a game turn and actions that can be taken. I thought it’d be handy to have the later with multiple players. These were both laminated.

I also printed out a copy of the last page of the campaign book which is the dashboard used to record scores during the campaign. I’m going to do this for each campaign and keep them as some sort of record!

This was a four player play through of the campaign. The group was made up of a varied range of experience to roll/flip and writes, and the Welcome to… games. This range from never played a roll/flip and write, to some experience, to experienced fans of the genre. Only one of us (Charlene) had played a Welcome to… game before.

Now with that bit of business out of the way.

Welcome to my first play through of the Welcome to the Moon campaign. Starting with…

ADVENTURE #1: THE LAUNCH

Captain: Me

I’m old enough to have fond memories of watching “classic” sci-fi movies from the 50’s and 60’s such as The Day the Earth Stood Still, War of the Worlds, and When Worlds Collide as a kid at every chance I had when they appeared on the tv schedule during the 70’s and 80’s.

The later of those “classics” seems very apt for the theme of Welcome to the Moon. Imminent disaster awaiting the earth, mankind looking to the stars for its survival.

The art, and aesthetic of the game gives off that retro sci-fi vibe of those movies. I love it.

Before we even start playing we had to make a decision. Did we want to play the introductory campaign and it’s gentle introduction to the eight adventures and the story, or jump right in with the second campaign and a recap of the story so far? It should be noted the introductory campaign adds no special rules or additional content. Changes to the game based on choices made only start to happen from the second campaign onwards.

We decided to jump right in to the deep end and start off with the second campaign.

The drawback of doing this is a bit of exposition covering the events that would have taken place if we had played through the introductory campaign.

It was interesting plot wise that time travel was introduced to take us back to the start as if nothing had happened. The story did briefly touch on that time travel paradox of changing the future. But it was dismissed in a sentence.

However I did feel this was a lot to read out aloud. But that’s the drawback of story based campaigns.

I liked this introductory adventure, where the aim was to launch your rocket.

Our choices added an extra two floors to the rocket.

This was the perfect adventure for players new to the genre and the Welcome to… games to start with.

Mechanically this adventure was fairly simple. It did have a limited bit of player interaction when sabotage effects were activated forcing system errors onto the other players. There is a little combo action that can take place. But not to the level of Three Sisters.

Otherwise this adventure gets players used to the flow of a Welcome to… game. The action symbols govern where you write the numbers on your rocket, and have no other effect.

Charlene triggered the end of the game by launching her rocket.

Chapter path taken: 109, 147,12,7,62,148

Missions:

  • Number the 3 Astronaut & Water floors completely.
  • Number the Energy floor completely.
  • Have 5 System Error boxes circled and not crossed off.

Winner: Charlene

ADVENTURE #2: THE JOURNEY

Captain: Charlene

The second adventure sees us having narrowly escaped Earth, flying our rocket ships to the moon.

The first adventure was very deceptive and lulled you into a false sense of security.

It did feel like a big jump in complexity. I think our noob to the genre felt that they were suddenly in the deep end of the pool and out of their depth.

All of a sudden being first to complete something on the board mattered (excluding missions). It gave you a better bonus or multiplier than the others.

This adventure saw an event card shuffled into one of the three starship decks. When drawn the event would trigger.

Sadly when the event did occur I mucked it up. Focussing on achieving a mission objective whilst screwing myself over and forcing a system error on my next turn.

System errors bought the game to an end, and Charlene won again.

Chapter path taken: 177,34,92

Missions:

  • Circle a multiplier bonus for 3 different space stations with the robots.
  • Using the energy, create on your trajectory 2 zones of 6 numbered spaces.
  • Circle 6 water tanks.

Winner: Charlene

ADVENTURE #3: THE COLONY

Captain: Charlene

In this adventure we were building the first lunar colony on the moon.

Once again a decision added a modification to the player board. This time the lower quadrant of the board was replaced and the first person completing it getting a choice of ten victory points or an additional star.

There was definitely a soduku feel to the mechanisms of this adventure. Our noob player found this adventure much easier than the previous one.

In addition to the system errors giving you negative points at the end, using a planning action would also do the same.

I did feel playing this adventure I hadn’t done enough to get the resources to make effective use of the multipliers I had unlocked.

Once again a system error bought the game to a halt. However this time I was able to win the game, and get an extra star for having completed the quadrant first.

Chapter path taken: 111,15

Missions:

  • Number all the buildings in 3 vertical columns.
  • Using the robots, connect the tunnel network to the observatory in the top right corner of your sheet.
  • Circle all the water tanks in 2 quarters.

Winner: Me

ADVENTURE #4: THE MINE

Captain: Me

The fourth adventure has our colony on the moon mining it for resources.

We found the rules for this adventure a little confusing initially. Which I think added a little to the feeling of it being more complex than the previous adventure.

Once again an event card was added to one of the three starship decks. But this one added an interesting twist.

When it triggered it cut down the number of starship decks from three to two. Still the same number of cards, just less choices each turn. You’d be surprised how big a difference that makes.

Like the previous two adventures system errors triggered the end game.

Like the previous adventure I won.

Chapter path taken: 139,80,82

Missions:

  • In the mine, complete 5 extraction columns.
  • Upgrade or activate a total of 6 factories, either main or secondary.
  • Circle 5 waters in the mine, whether they are extracted or not.

Winner: Me

Final dashboard at end of session and half way point in campaign

Some final thoughts…

My earlier expectations were we might get the first couple of adventures played, and then play something else.

It was a pleasant surprise that we played the first four adventures of the campaign.

I like that the campaign cards are a mix of dry erase cards, and cards you mix into the starship deck. The dry erase cards modify the player boards. Which adds a cool bit of variety.

However with four adventures left it feels like we have hardly scratched the surface of the cards used with the starship deck. I think we have used three cards so far!

I like how event cards trigger complications during an adventure.

It’s very cool each adventure can be explained in a couple of pages. However on at least one occasion I think there could have been a bit more clarity if more space had been used.

Although each adventure uses the same core mechanic, it’s amazing how they all feel different with just a couple of rule changes.

I’m looking forward to playing the remaining four adventures of the campaign.

One Shot Taster Session Planning #1

D&D, one shot, RPG, session planning, taster

Yesterday my good mate Gavin expressed an interest in trying D&D.

Today along with Diego via messenger we arranged a date to hold a one shot taster session.

Naturally that means along side my regularly D&D planning I now have a second session to prep for (hence this and possibly other posts).

The first thing I have to decide is what to run for a session that ideally is going to run for about three hours.

The options I’m considering are the following:

  • The Lost Tomb of the Delian Order (by Matt Colville)
  • The Obsidian Skull (from the City of Arches)
  • The Goblin Ambush (from Lost Mines of Phandelver)
  • 1st Level Adventure Generator (from Sly Flourish’s Uncovered Secrets Volume 2)

The last option will involve a little bit more work for me, requiring me to roll against tables to come up with something.

The Goblin Ambush might be too short, unless it then runs into the Cragmaw Caves. Which would then be too long.

I will use pre-gen character sheets, most likely the official D&D ones. But which?

I could use the ones intended for Lost Mines of Phandelver, or the new ones intended for Dragons of Stormwreck Isle.

But I am tempted to try the pre-gen characters for Sly Flourish’s Fantastic Adventures, or (iirc) a pack of pre-gen character sheets I got off the DMsGuild that were recommended by Mike Shea in a video or blog post at one time or the other in the past.

These alternatives to the official pre-gens in many ways are better as they have more info on them such as spell details. Which cuts down on the need for a players handbook or having to constantly refer to it.

Along side which ever pre-gen sheets I go with I’ll be using the Wizkids 2D miniatures that just arrived. I should try and match up the character sheets to the minis in advance!

Well that’s my initial thoughts on this upcoming taster session. I’m sure there will be others over the coming days that I’ll feel compelled to share on here.

D&D Grp 2 Session 10 Planning #3

D&D, D&D Grp2, RPG, session planning

SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign/session. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one. REMEMBER you have been warned.

One thing I’m bad it is remembering specific rules, especially when I’m not using them all the time.

One such area is that of magic items, identifying them, and attuning.

So I’ve created these “handy” rules reference cards to have on hand.

I’ve also been searching that amazing blog Dyson Logos for suitable maps to potentially use for Kartan, Tower of the Arcane. I’ve found a couple that I like the look of. Whilst there I found the perfect map for the Temple of Three Sisters.

I’m not sure how the next session will go or where!

Obviously I’m thinking they might visit the wizards. So most of the NPC’s the party will come into contact with will be magical leaning. They might even bump into the legendary wizard Dram!

I’m also preparing for some magic items to go missing or leant to the party. Hence the reference cards above.

I am having a hard time matching up the written description of Kartan, Tower of the Arcane, particularly the following bit:

“An ironbound glyphed door on the first floor stands in front of a stairwell leading deep into the ground below where numerous laboratories and vaults of the dark wizards remain largely untouched.”

With the the side view map (see extract of that below).

It’s the laboratories and vaults. Unless I treat the hanging cages and the area below it as the laboratories and vaults, then I don’t see where they are. I think I need to sleep on this a bit more.

I’m still waiting on updated character sheets to transfer across for my notes.

In the meantime I’ve got some magic items to create!

D&D Grp 2 Session 10 Planning #2

D&D, D&D Grp2, RPG, session planning

With session 10 scheduled to take place next Sunday just before I go and visit Nathan. It’s time to continue thinking and planning for the session.

Which means a little house keeping first with a new look!

SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign/session. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one. REMEMBER you have been warned.

Wizkids have started a range of 2D minis made from acrylic (or some kind of plastic) which are very reasonably priced. The D&D Idols of the Realms: Essentials 2D Miniatures – Player Character Pack just dropped through the letterbox.

Inside this thin packet (you should see the ridiculous oversized box it came in) you get the following 2D minis:

  • Male Human Fighter
  • Female Human Rogue
  • Male Human Wizard (Archmage)
  • Female Human Cleric
  • Male Human Bard
  • Male Dwarf Fighter
  • Female Dwarf Wizard
  • Female Dwarf Cleric
  • Female Elf Fighter
  • Male Elf Rogue
  • Male Elf Wizard
  • Male Elf Cleric
  • Female Elf Bard
  • Female Halfling Fighter
  • Male Halfling Rogue
  • Riding Horses
  • Skeletal Horse

The plan is to use these for sessions (naturally). Initially as NPCs but also when/if I run starter sessions for the players to use.

There is a sidekick pack as well that would be great to use as either NPCs or representing characters also.

The nice thing about these 2D minis is the portability, cost per figure, make these very attractive. They also look cool on the table. Sadly the drawback is if you want multiple of a particular figure you are screwed if all that is included is a single figure or just two. So it could get expensive buying multiple packs to get the number required.

I’m particularly after the D&D Idols of the Realms: Dragons of Stormwreck Isle 2D set. Which naturally goes with the new D&D Starter set Dragons of Stormwreck Isle. Why Wizkids and WotC didn’t do a deal to include these in the Starter Set I don’t know. Instead I’m having to wait for this set to arrive in the UK months after the starter set has hit the shelves.

I’ve also decided I needed to have better player notes for prepping and during a session. So I’ve asked for up to date copies of the character sheets.

For recording the character stats to use during a session I’m using the Arcane Library character cards which I will print out and slip into a Mayday Premium card sleeve or laminate. Not fully decided which way I’m going on that front.

As you can see I’ve scribbled a little extra info on the card to do with hit die and hit points, and their background.

I had been using index cards initially for this but I think these will be more useful, and easier to refer to during a session.

I’m not going to move away from index cards completely. I think index cards will be ideal for recording the characters background, and referring to during session prep.

Right that’s enough for this post. I’m sure there will be another before we gather round the table for the next instalment.

Hulk Smash

apps, iOS, life, the universe, and everything, star realms

It’s been a while since I’ve racked up some massive damage to defeat an opponent in Star Realms.

So when I finally achieved a big hit that won me the game.

Well it had to be shared with the world via social media.

This is not the time or place to debate the eternal Star Realms issue of whether it’s morally right to over kill an opponent. And let’s just enjoy the delivery of lots of damage.

Really peeved I missed out on gaming this week due to the cold I had on my days off.

But the good news is I’m nearly over it, and I didn’t pass it on to mum.

Videos are starting to appear on YouTube for the second Dune Imperium expansion Immortality.

It looks interesting. But I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it.

Obviously I’m going to get it.

But will it be a must include when playing expansion? Which I think the previous one was.

I can see the playtime going up, especially the analysis paralysis side with players.

We’ll find out once I get my grubby mitts on the new expansion and get it to the table with some willing participants.

And that game (whenever it is) will be using the newly laminated leader mats. Yes they were probably the first thing I laminated with my new laminator.

I hated how flimsy those leader mats were. But Direwolf aren’t the only publishers guilty of scrimping in this area. Now the issue is “solved”.

But that’s enough of my ramblings I’ll see you in the next post.

D&D Grp 2 Session 10 Planning #1

D&D, D&D Grp2, RPG, session planning

My days off this week and I was ill with a cold. So instead of recharging my batteries and even gaming on one of them I was instead suffering, drinking hot lemon, and quaffing orange juice.

But enough of the life stuff what you are really here for is my session prep notes. Which means I need to copy and paste the usual non-effective disclaimer/spoiler alert stuff first.

SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign/session. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one.

With Adele having done some research she will be all about stopping the return of the demon prince Ibraxus from the realm of Choul.

In the Sly Flourish City of Arches document (available to Patreons only) a lot of the notes I need for this are on page 32. They are part of another adventure idea. But the Choul stuff is perfect for my needs. They give a nice broad strokes over view which will see the party going through one of the arches to Choul.

I’d forgotten I had the Dungeon Tiles Reincarnated which will make providing a battle map for each of the floors of Kartan, Tower of the Arcane easier if needed.

I had looked at the battle maps but not found anything suitable I can use.

Naturally the party will be required to go “Down, down, deeper and down” into the depths of the City of Arches. It sounds very dungeon delving. But I don’t think it is in this case.

I’ve been doing an initial scan of the Monte Cook NPC cards for suitable cards to use as wizard NPCs for when/if the party visit Kartan, Tower of the Arcane.

I have updated (again) my checks sheet. The sheet I clip to my DM screen.

Current State of Roll/Flip and Writes in my Collection

Roll/Flip and Write, Welcome to the Moon Campaign

We all know how I feel about roll/flip and writes.

But when I look at my collection and the games I have in that genre. It just amazes me how that genre has grown over the years since I first played Qwixx.

The level of complexity that the genre covers is pretty broad. My early forays into the genre after Qwixx the most complicated it got was Rolling America. Then things got a bit more complicated and combo like with That’s Pretty Clever.

Since then that complexity has jumped considerably with the addition of board game like elements such as rondels, and modular boards. Which when added to players also using multiple player sheets the complexity of some can be very daunting when first seen (I’m looking at you Three Sisters and Twilight Inscription).

We even see very limited player interaction with one or two of them.

The latest addition Welcome to the Moon has an eight game campaign! The current plan I have for the game is to play a taster game of the first adventure with other fans of the genre at Fenland Gamers. Then see if there is any interest in playing the campaign.

Some of my additions in the last year or so have fast become my favourite games in the genre (starred games). Each offers something unique from the others. I can’t wait to play any of them again as they are such fun.

There are still three games I need to get to the table (question mark) and one that I’ll pass on (red X) as it really didn’t gel with me.

There is one more to add to the collection, the follow up to Three Sisters, and third game in a trilogy (first being Fleet the Dice Game), Motor City.

This won’t be arriving until late December if I’m lucky, but more likely January. There was a printing issue with one of the dice that meant a delay as it was reprinted.

When Motor City arrives Three Sisters grows by a third pad! As part of the Kickstarter they added a rock garden pad. It’s going to be interesting to see if it’s a step too far, or if it takes the game to an even higher level.

Looking for the cake aka still alive!

still alive

It’s been a couple of days since the last post. So thought I’d write one of these still alive posts letting you know what’s going.

The D&D session 9 post mortem will be up in the next day or two. I’m just gathering my thoughts about it at the moment.

There are plans in place for me to visit Nathan in a couple of weeks time. I have a weeks holiday. Which is the first holiday since March. Which means I now have a week off each month for the next five months.

Nathan’s birthday was mid week. And he’ll be getting his birthday present when I visit him. Oh forgot to tell you what the present is. I got him a copy of Alien Fate of the Nostromo. It’s a game he nearly bought on his holiday in America, and regretted on his return that he hadn’t. So that made the decision what to buy him easy.

I finally got a laminator. Which means my planned project of laminating the player sheets in the roll and writes I own will actually start. But I also plan to use it for D&D stuff.

Which reminds me the flip and write Welcome to the Moon has joined my collection. Excited to get this to the table and try the eight map campaign.

That’s about it for now laters.

Grp2: When last we left our heroes… #9

D&D, D&D Grp2, post mortem, RPG

Exploring the chamber they were in the party noticed some murals depicting sacrifices and statues coming to life.

Further exploration of the chamber revealed a pool with a satchel in it. Upon trying to retrieve it the pool of water came to life.

The living water was in fact a water genasi called Samson, who seemed confused about where they were, or how they got there.

Further exploration of the caves lead the party to a chamber with two large pools of water.

After fighting some glowing fungi that temporarily blinded the party by emitting a bright flash of light, they came across a scene in the connecting chamber reminiscent of the cave art they discovered earlier.

The party seeing the living statue decided retreating was the better course of action to take.

The party was left making their way back to Adele’s.

Post Mortem

SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following part of the post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign. You may want to avoid this part of the post and join me in a future one.

Work shifts meant that our D&D session was bought forward a day to the Friday.

I was still at work, but it was an early shift. So I’d been up since 4am. Tired? You bet.

We were unable to use the normal setup of two tables at our regular hosts. Which meant table space was a premium this evening. None of us had as much space as we’d have liked.

Tonight we added a sixth player to the group Jamie, who is playing a druid (?) water genasi called Samson.

I think the introduction of the new character went fairly well.

Having six in the group should mean having enough at a session to go ahead even if one or two can’t make it.

My Session Notes, & behind the screen

The encounter with the Strobing Fungus was surprisingly challenging for the party. I think being temporarily blinded didn’t help. Or the relative high hit points that the fungi had.

I’m glad the party took the opportunity I gave them to retreat instead of engaging with the Bloodstone Sentinel. With two cult fanatics and Shigmaa behind it ready to join in the attack. This would have been a tpk level encounter. I’m sure more than one of the party would have died if it had gone ahead.

The monsters the group are encountering I’m deliberately not naming as I want them to come up with their own names for them. Unless there is a good chance they would know about the creature then I’m happy to name the creature.

There wasn’t much chance to drop more than one of the secrets and clues. However there was the opportunity to at least forewarn what was ahead.

Luckily I think some of them can be used in the next session.

Which means we have a main story arc in progress potentially that is all about stopping the return of the demon prince Ibraxus from the realm of Choul. This will mean possibly a heist being done on Kartan, Tower of the Arcane and going deep under the city making their way to the second of the two lowest arches in the City of Arches, the Gateway to Choul.

In the meantime we have the Esme rival to Adele plot line to develop, plus the bounty hunter one.

Plus this ticking time bomb…

I don’t roll for initiative I shuffle up a “deck” of initiative cards and hand them out. Copying the initiative system used in such systems as the mutant year zero engine and Alien RPG.

I find it speeds up combat a little. It does have some advantages over rolling for initiative.

There was a comment made that they didn’t like this way of handling the initiative.

I need to think about this. I’ll probably switch to rolling for initiative with my monster initiative pre-rolled. A small speed up on my side.

As a whole this wasn’t a session that I got much from. It felt a bit flat. Maybe that was because I was tired.

Now to plan session 10.

Gloomy outlook for Rhino

Game day, LCG, Marvel Champions

Usually a mid week day off means no gaming. It’s rare others are free. Luckily the planets align from time to time that I’m able to do some gaming with Diego.

This morning was one such cosmic event.

Our mornings gaming started off with the latest addition to the collection, Marvel Champions.

Having learnt my lesson from that ass whooping from Ultron on Sunday.

It was time to take on an “easier” villain from the core set.

It was time to face Rhino.

Iron Man was benched, and replaced by She Hulk as a playable character. Mainly because Iron Man (although popular) is a slow build character. He starts off weak and builds up.

Swapping between the two is quick and easy (both decks have the same basic and aggression cards). So if Diego had really wanted to play Iron Man then he could have.

So after Diego had chosen who he wanted to play, I chose a hero that had one of the other aspects. It was hard not to play Doctor Strange (I love the comic book). But I resisted and chose another favourite.

We were using the default, out of the box decks for our heroes, and also the suggested setup for the villain.

I think Thor would be a good match up against Ultron because of his once per phase ability that triggers against minions.

Yes there were a couple of misplays by Diego and myself. But that didn’t get in the way of enjoying ourselves.

I enjoyed playing Cap. He certainly is able to mitigate a fair bit of damage either with his shield boosting his defence or with one or two other cards. Plus he can hit hard, and I like the allies he has in the deck. But you need cards in hand to power his hero ability or for Wonder Man to swing in.

Rhino was much, much easier than Ultron.

I think that our victory was made easier by having characters that matched up well against Rhino. Not sure it would have been as easy with say a character that is slow to build up.

I’m definitely going to go this route of starting off with Rhino when I visit Nathan. Then if he likes the game see if he wants to do either of the campaigns that I have.

Next to the table was Gloomier: A Night At Hemlock Hall. This is the latest addition to the Gloom family.

There is only one family (the Hemlocks) in this version of Gloom. So you are choosing four family members per player from a common pool. The remaining cards (if not a five player game) are then flipped and used to add unwelcome guests and/or stories to the game.

Otherwise this plays just like Gloom.

I’m not entirely sure I should have been the first player. Had I really had the worst day so far out of the two of us?

Sadly my day did get worse because Diego won.

Our final game of the morning was a quick game of Smitten

And what a final game.

We won!

At my fifth attempt and Diego’s first we built both pictures.

I had a great morning playing games with Diego. And a big thanks to him for being an amazing host.