This morning after having had my first cup of coffee of the day I decided it was a good idea to plant the idea of Renegade doing something with Rivals at UKGE in 2023.
After all UKGE this year is (or will be after GenCon and Essen have happened) the third largest boardgame convention in the world. Usually it’s third or fourth depending when you look at the numbers. It’s competitor for those spots is Origins. Which fell into fourth place this year.
At this years UKGE there was nothing done with Rivals at the show. A missed opportunity for sure.
I’m hoping that with enough time they have time to organise a tournament like a Prince of the City at the show.
It seems incredibly silly that Renegade didn’t do something at such a large show. A big missed opportunity. But I can understand why considering recent world events, and event organiser policy on covid. The fact that they could repeat this missed opportunity next year doesn’t bear thinking of.
Why do I need to know now if they will be doing something?
I enjoy my mini holidays attending UKGE. Spending three days there, catching talks, more time to do stuff like take part in tournaments (which I have done in the past), some gaming in the evenings.
But to be able to do this and have it affordable you have to book well in advance to get the cheap hotel rates.
If I miss the window of opportunity on the cheap rates it becomes harder to justify a multi day visit to the show. In fact in these very tough economic times nigh on impossible. Even with the cheap rates it’s still a tough decision.
Most tournaments take place over a couple of days at these big shows. So you need accommodation.
Even if it was a single day event the decision to enter is not easy. Having paid to get into the show you want time to look around and do stuff, as well as take part in the event. Sadly the event stops that.
If you are going for a day you have to decide which of the two things you are going to do. You can’t really do both.
That’s why I need to know now. My show planning has started now with deciding if I’m going for multiple days and if so getting that affordable hotel rate.
It actually happened. It actually bloody happened.
After a couple of delays I finally got Paranoia to the table.
Since I started DMing (which isn’t long) this is the first none D&D rpg I’ve run.
So how did it go?
Firstly the players had fun. Which is the important bit.
I used the introductory adventure [YOUR SECURITY CLEARANCE IS NOT HIGH ENOUGH FOR THE TITLE OF THIS ADVENTURE] from the Mission Book that came with the Paranoia Ultraviolet edition.
Earlier in the day I went to the library and printed out the pregen characters, and the adventure itself (despite having it in the book).
I have been singing the praise of this adventure because it really does hold your hand through running your first Paranoia game. This adventure is probably my second published adventure that I’ve run. And for me it was quite fun.
It was quite refreshing to have so much less behind the screen. Compare what I have in the photo above to the ones I share from my D&D sessions.
At the start of the adventure you are told to do the following, “Pass them the Players Handbook open to page 14 and tell them not to read it.” Not once did the players touch it! That really did surprise me.
Combat was interesting. Very different to others. It’s real time for starters! Players have five seconds to select an action card. Fail to do so and you get no turn that round. It’s also very much simpler than other systems. I kinda liked it.
I don’t do voices. So there was no computer voice. Plus I don’t feel I hammed it up enough as the computer or even Roz. So my roleplay needs improving.
We did complete the adventure in a single session which I wasn’t sure we would do. So that made it a great one shot on that front.
The overall opinion was fun was had, and keen to play again.
With the end of the Scythe Rise of Fenris campaign the Saturdays between D&D are taken up with what I am now calling season one of Saturday Big Games!
Season One of Saturday Big Games
The season kicks off with Dune the boardgame with both expansions CHOAM and Richese, and Ixians & Tleilaxu. These combined add a further four factions the six in the base game. The only worrying thing is that the season kicks off with a damp squib! At the moment there are five unsure players possibly going to play the game.
Luckily the other two games currently have more players committing to them. But as we all know life has many ways of throwing spanner’s in the works.
This first season is planned to finish at the end of July.
In the meantime I already have a season two planned!
Well the games I’d like to get to the table this time (see the image below). And as I write this a season three is also forming in my crazy mind.
Season Two of Saturday Big Games
I don’t think it will come as a surprise to anyone about The Thing being on this list. It was fun at four players. Hopefully for this play we can get nearer to the full player count.
“Wait, haven’t you just played Star Wars Outer Rim?” I hear you ask. Why yes, yes I have. But hoping this will be at the full player count with the newly released Unfinished Business expansion.
Despite apparently having flaws (design and rulebook) I so want to get Ghostbusters 2 to the table.
Finally a game of Scythe using the modular board, Invaders from Afar, The Wind Gambit, and (this is the important part) Rise of Fenris as modules, with a five or six player count has to be done. This will be mind blowing.
I think season two is best to start in September once those pesky Summer holidays are out of the way.
In the meantime I can gauge interest in the clubs discord server.
I hadn’t played a game with Gavin since March (that was when I got him hooked on Survive Escape from Atlantis). So when he asked at the start of the week if I wanted to go round one day this week to play a game I jumped at the chance.
Gavin had a request to try Star Wars Outer Rim. I was more than happy to get it back to the table. Plus we could do our game trade.
This morning was the prearranged time for our gaming.
One day I’ll get to play Star Wars Outer Rim with the higher player counts. But I still like it as a two player game.
In this game I played Jyn Erso (Rogue One) whilst Gavin played Lando Calrissian. We were also playing to eight fame points instead of the default ten. The quick start rules recommend this for a first game, after it that was the case for Gavin. Plus I’d only played the game once before. So I needed to refresh my memory on some of the rules.
I took the early fame lead by reaching my characters goal first.
During the game I think I was being thematically true to my character by swapping ships regularly. As you can see in the photo above I ended up in Fett’s ship or would have been if I had got a chance to complete the ships goal.
Gavin definitely got the ship that was thematically true for Lando, and managed to complete the goal to turn it into the legendary Millennium Falcon to make it more so.
During all this ship hopping Gavin managed to take the fame lead with a massive turn that grabbed him two fame points in a single turn.
I was playing catch up.
Luckily there were patrol ships I could attack to get money and fame points for.
As I was fighting patrols Gavin was getting closer to victory.
If Gavin hadn’t snatched his last fame point to claim victory I’d have won. I know that is a boastful thing to say. But my next turn would have seen me attack Gavin’s character. Which if I’d won (and the chances were good on that) I’d have gained two fame points and a final score of nine (and not the seven I had when Gavin grabbed his eighth fame point).
Why were the chances good on me winning a combat with Gavin? Between my ships ability, Jyn’s ability, and a crew members ability, I’d have started combat with plus one critical hit (worth two hits), Gavin would be rolling one less combat die, and thanks to a crew ability I could turn blank sides to eye symbols, which I could then turn one into a hit! Oh and in the patrol combats I took part in Gavin was not rolling well. Even on his skill tests his dice rolling was challenging Jonathan for the title of “the dice hate me” king.
If that combat had happened that would have been our first bit of player interaction of the game!
Neither of us went for any bounties either. Which might have made the chances of interacting higher if one of the bounties was for a crew member.
But we both had a good time. Gavin enjoyed the game. But would never get it to the table at home. So his sealed copy will be going up for sale/trade. Let’s face it I have it, and he’ll play my copy. As we were today.
Me? Payday will see me ordering the new (and only), just out Unfinished Business expansion for it. It was a given I’d be getting this anyway. I like the game. But more importantly Nathan likes it. So adding more to a game he likes is a no brainer.
Our small bit of wheeling and dealing saw me swap my copy of Flash Point and expansions for a copy of Tinners Trail plus expansion box.
A great mornings gaming and trading. Thanks Gavin.
When you are knackered and working these later shifts time sure does fly. Can’t believe it’s been three days since I wrote about the culmination of our Rise of Fenris campaign and Jeff’s victory.
In real life the uncertain future at work is starting to take shape. I got a glimpse of it when I got my shifts for the next three weeks. To paraphrase The Animals song I’ve Gotta Get Out of This Place, and find something with the hours I need to make ends meet.
Gaming wise I’m able to do a mid week session with Gavin tomorrow. The plan is to have a two player game of Star Wars Outer Rim. Gavin wants to try the game as he owns it but never played it (I think I can relate to that – currently 56 games have that distinction in my collection). The experience will determine if he keeps it or not. So no pressure!
Then Friday sees me running the Paranoia RPG one shot [YOUR SECURITY CLEARANCE IS NOT HIGH ENOUGH FOR THE TITLE OF THIS ADVENTURE]. Looking forward to this.
I did have to move the planned Tapestry session for a third time! Hopefully this will be the final time I have to do this. Having the shifts for the next three weeks has helped on at least finding a day when I won’t be working!
Remember the saga of the Vampire the Masquerade Rivals expansion Shadows and Shrouds preorder? Well the missing half finally turned up on Monday! What’s that 10 weeks!! I’ll be using this copy of the expansion as prize support.
I’m tempted to start a coding project to write a Vampire the Masquerade Rivals deck builder app. I know Renegade have one on their website. But I’m not a fan of it. It’s functional, but because it’s a web page just feels clunky, slow, and so Web 1.0! I want something more like the MtG Decked app for deck building. At the moment it’s just an idea with the start of some class diagrams defining attributes. There are many technical problems to overcome. Maybe I’ll discuss this in more detail in a future post if I go ahead with the project.
So for the last time (“thank feck for that” I hear you say) I’ll be saying the following.
SPOILER ALERT! The following post contains spoilers for the Rise of Fenris campaign for Scythe. If you haven’t played the expansion and wish to avoid any spoilers you may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one.
I wasn’t expecting Ben for this final showdown. Having checked in with him afterwards he has been having a rough time health wise. I know I speak for all of us that know Ben and don’t, that we wish him a speedy recovery. He has been missed during our campaign, and we all look forward to when we can game with him again.
Now onto the bit everyone who has been following this has been waiting for.
Episode 8 – The Final Episode – TESLA’S MADNESS
So here we are episode 8, the final episode of the Rise of Fenris campaign. The only episode that counts in deciding the winner of the campaign.
With our failure to rescue (or is it recapture in the case of the Fenris faction?) Tesla in the previous episode, this episode had the title of Tesla’s Madness.
This meant that the Tesla mini started on the Factory space and would move around the board based on a die roll and a Mad Tesla tile, attacking anyone he moved into the same space as. Tesla would be the last to take a turn. So in our game between Shane (last) and Jeff(first). Jeff was given the duty of controlling Tesla.
I will say it was confusing in the rules when it referred to using the blue and orange dice with Tesla. The dice aren’t coloured that way. They were black and brown! Then it clicked with Jeff the rules were referring to the colour of the numerals on the dice! Why?
The rules allowed players to chose their player mats this episode. Naturally the combo restrictions for Rusviet and Crimea applied. The order of choice was based on total wealth at the start of this episode. Which meant Jeff chose first, then Shane, and finally myself. Here is our final faction and player mat setup.
Vesna & Voltan/Industrial (Cyan) – Jeff
Rusviet Union/Patriotic (Red) – Shane
Fenris/Militant (Orange) – Me
Once again we were given the option to use the Wind Gambit expansion, and the Backup Plan/Doomsday Clock resolution tiles. So naturally we were going to have in play the airships. However I went with this being the “classic” end of game condition. Besides we also had the defeat Tesla end game condition.
Airship rules and structure bonus for the game.
Jeff started off the game with a bit of shock and awe, using a factory card and an infrastructure mod he completed one of his objective cards and had a star out on the triumph track. Plus had an encounter!
The first actions of Shane and myself were not as impressive. Although I did thanks to my infrastructure mod have a mech out on turn one unlocking my leap ability.
I was definitely aiming to have Rasputin out and roaming the board putting out those influence tokens right from the start.
Tesla roaming around the board threatened to attack on several occasions. But I was the first to take Tesla on and win. I did have death ray at that point plus the mod that could add +2 to my attack.
I did take an early lead getting stars out but kinda ran out of gas towards the end for doing that. Jeff was getting close to ending the game, so I was hoping that either Tesla would get him off the factory tile or I could get to him and kick him off. However Tesla was unable to defeat him (twice) and I was unable to get there in time.
Our final Triumph Track
Although Shane got more stars out than me, and was threatening to end the game. I did feel he was not “aggressive” enough with my beloved faction. He did seem penned in to his home area for much of the game. He could have had a factory card and control of more tiles.
Jeff had chosen two Vesna mech abilities to do with lakes. The first allowed him to teleport between lakes. The second gave him +1 for each location he controlled that was a lake. Add in the fact he had control of the Factory at the end, the territory he controlled gave him the victory. He got 48 odd points from this. It basically accounts for the point difference between us.
Our final scores for episode 8
So congratulations to Jeff on his victory and on winning the campaign.
I hope Jeff enjoyed his chicken dinner. Obviously Shane and I didn’t get a one.
Thoughts on Rise of Fenris
We had a blast playing this campaign. Some great twists and turns.
The great thing is we can now use the expansion as modules to a regular game, as well as getting two more factions. Add in the modular board, the two unofficial variants (in the complete rulebook) and wow talk about variability and replay ability.
For example the triumph track now can be the “classic” no change, or you could use either the war or peace tracks, or have it totally random using the tiles from Tesla!
You can focus more on conflict or down grade it’s importance. Basically tailor the game to the style of play you enjoy the most, or feel like on the day.
And then there is the Desolation module that’s adds a co-op mode to the game.
Plus you can replay the campaign. Ok you won’t have the surprise element to the campaign as it unfolds. But that doesn’t matter. It might change how you approach each episode.
You don’t have to play the campaign to start with and can just use it as modules for the game. But why wouldn’t you play the campaign first?
This is an amazing expansion that offers fantastic value for money.
I might even say this may be my favourite and the best expansion for Scythe. Don’t get me wrong, I really like the other expansions. Especially the Wind Gambit and what it adds to the game. But Rise of Fenris just blows them away.
Our first post UKGE Friday night gaming session was well attended once again.
It really is nice seeing the club nights being so well attended, and also other gaming sessions taking place on other nights between members.
Obviously I was there early to get the tables set up, and welcome any new members who turned up.
We split into two initial groups last night of a four and five. Which saw the other group grow into eight at one point!
Our table started off with a game of the roll and write Dungeons, Dice & Danger.
Once again we played the novice Annoyed Animals map. It was the natural choice really with three new players.
This really is a nice roll and write. I’ve really enjoyed both my plays of this, and I’ve not even touched the other three maps yet.
I did get hit for a whopping minus sixteen points, and was one life away from the minus twenty and being out of the game. That cost me the win, and gave it to Ben.
Final scores for Dungeons, Dice & Danger
Our second game of the evening was the drafting and set collection game Sushi Go Party.
Which is basically Sushi Go with some extras to add variety. So all that drafting and set collecting action we all love about the game is still there but more so!
Sushi Go Party comes with a nice menu board that has a score tract and a meal reminder area. It’s obvious how the score tract is used. However using tiles provided you fill up the menu spaces so you have a reminder of the cards that make up the deck you are playing with. Which is really nice to have for all players to see.
And this is the main difference between the original and Party. Party has a lot more meal items to select from. You can use one of the suggested menus in the rulebook, or just choose at random.
I do like the suggested menus. They are pitched/themed at different players or type of game. So like last night I chose the menu aimed at those new to the game. However if I had wanted a more cut throat competitive game there was a menu for that. Plus there are menu suggestions for everything in between.
The only drawback of all this flexibility is the setup and putting away takes a bit longer than the original. It’s also a less portable game obviously using a much larger storage container.
Having said that still a great, fun game. Just now even more replayable.
Final scores for Sushi Go
The final game on our table was one of the latest hotness games First Rat.
Ok I won this game.
There’s a lot to like about this game. Some great decisions to make as your rats ascend towards boarding the rocket.
I like how there are a variety of tactics you can employ/focus on to score points.
The game looks stunning, and I love the cute first player marker.
At the end of the game it was revealed that the other side of the board you get to randomly setup the spaces and scoring. A more “gamer” oriented side. I like the sound of that and would love to try it.
Haven’t got much time to go any deeper into this game and what I liked. But it’s going on my wish list.
Final scores for First Rat
Another great evening of gaming. Looking forward to the next one.
Just knocked up a little “fun” video to get me in the mood for today and our final game, episode 8 of our Rise of Fenris campaign for Scythe.
But first this…
SPOILER ALERT! The following video contains spoilers for the Rise of Fenris campaign for Scythe. If you haven’t played the expansion and wish to avoid any spoilers you may want to avoid this video.
Our intrepid adventures continued to explore the ground floor of the house. Only to discover an alternative route down to the basement to a wine cellar.
It was in the wine cellar they found an armour clad corpse. Which Dotty searched and was attacked by a swarm of rot grubs. Luckily some quick thinking by Babs and her burning hands saw off the nasty litter critters.
With Dotty all clad in her newly acquired battered plate armour the party returned to the ground floor to explore the rest of the house.
Which saw them disturb a couple of swarms of spiders in one of the rooms before heading upstairs.
Upstairs they found some dirty laundry in the first couple of rooms they searched.
And it is here that we leave our party on the first floor looting what they can.
Post Mortem
Look I know this next bit is repetitive and boring as I included it in these posts. But I have to say it. It’s not here for the majority of those that read my ramblings and incoherent thoughts. It’s for that handful of people that are crazy enough to play D&D with me as their DM.
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.
I’d found out the night before our planned session about a football tournament taking place at the sports and community centre whilst we were going to play D&D.
So I warned the players that parking might be an issue. Plans were put in place to cater for this.
On the day despite the warning we didn’t have any problems parking close to the community centre.
However we did have two adventurers that couldn’t make the session in the end. Leaving us we two actual people there to play D&D.
With some last minute heroic actions Shane had got copies of the missing players character sheets. Which meant Shane and Anthony could play two characters. Well control the other one.
This seemed to work ok.
I did reduce the inspiration tokens to just two though.
The unexpected benefit of the football tournament was that there were burger and ice cream stands there catering to the crowd of supporters/parents and players. Which meant when we took a mid session break we could and did grab a burger.
In this session the players did encounter the swarm of rot grubs. This did have the potential to be a deadly encounter. If memory doesn’t fail me in the Ghosts of Saltmarsh there is no forewarning of what they are. Which for an adventure aiming at low level adventurers seems harsh. I had the party find maggot like corpses in the kitchen, some of which were burnt. Plus the party could see a mixture dead and burnt ones around and coming out of the corpse. Which might seem heavy handed, even clumsy sign posting. But it worked the players picked up on the clues how to kill them.
My prep for the session was very minimal. I didn’t get round to producing the list of items that could be found. I’ve found that the temporary change to my work shift has left me feeling a bit more knackered than expected. Luckily I could reuse my previous session notes. They were still very valid.
I am liking the Ghosts of Saltmarsh haunted house map. I have used a mixture of the included monster encounters (rot grubs, spiders) and ones I’ve added to it (shadows, mummy). I think it’s working well.
Our next session isn’t going to be for 4 weeks. Work has me doing nights for a couple of weeks. Which starts the Saturday of our next scheduled session. There are changes afoot at work that mean making enough money each month to pay bills isn’t a given. As you can imagine it’s a worrying time not just for me but a lot of people at work. So I have to take what hours I can get to make sure I can earn enough to keep a roof over my head.
On that cheery note I’ll see you in the next post
UPDATE 17/6/22: Since writing this post mortem one or two things have been mulling around in my head. The first is that once the party hits level 3 the rogue of the group might want to take the Soulknife feature in particularly the Psychic blades from Tasha’s. Will this be over powering, or become too over powering? Do I allow it?
The second thought I’ve been mulling is a character now with the plate armour having an AC of 20. Granted their AC was already 18. How does this change the balance of encounters now?
I obviously still have some more mulling on these two things to do before our next session.
