Not even a couple of days since I posted about Kelsey adding to her series on writing adventures with a video on creating dungeon maps. Then Mike aka Sly Flourish releases another video creating an adventure using random tables.
It’s almost as if they have to respond to each other’s content! A crazy conspiracy based on nothing but coincidence.
In the video I’ve embedded below from Sly Flourish we see Mike create a heist adventure using the tables from his latest Lazy DM book, The Lazy DM’s Companion, and his latest Patreon exclusive content City of Arches.
Sly Flourish Create a D&D Heist adventure using random tables
City of Arches is a city setting that can be dropped into any D&D campaign. It’s currently a 12 page document that includes a city map, one page players handout, and all the information you need to run your adventures there.
It’s videos like these, and the Lazy DM books that give me the confidence to run my own D&D campaign, run the session zero this weekend, and know I have the tools (maybe not the skill) to create something that the players will hopefully enjoy based on our discussions.
Anyway I hope you found the video interesting. I did.
Last week Diego and myself had arranged to visit Jeff to play some Vampire the Masquerade Rivals. Yesterday was the prearranged day.
I’d stopped at Asda on the way out and picked up some pastries to go with our beverages.
When it came to choosing our clans I decided I wanted to sit safely in my haven replacing the blood of my rival, so I chose Tremere. Jeff went with Brujah because he knew that clan from his learning game in the later months of last year. Diego went Gangrel. You can see who our leaders were below.
Who played which clan and their leader.
My rival was Jeff, Diego was Jeff’s, and I was Diego’s.
Multiplayer is such a different game to a two player game.
I needed Jeff to be more aggressive towards his rival Diego. But Jeff spent too much time early on taking out mortals in the street. Leaving Diego free to annoy me.
Luckily I had a ritual out that increased my havens secrecy, which bought me breathing space from Diego.
Jeff only had two vampires out. So when he did eventually start taking on Diego a window was starting to open for me. Which became wide open when Jeff attacked Diego in his haven and both the target and attacker got taken out and sent to torpor. Leaving Jeff with a solo vampire on three blood in the street.
I was able to knock out Jeff’s only remaining vampire to grab a victory by KO!
It was an opportunistic win. Next turn Jeff would have grabbed the win.
The final scores for VtM Rivals
After my glorious victory in Rivals we played a game of Potion Explosion.
This has been a game I’d wanted to try since it came out a few years ago. However as far as I knew no-one I knew had a copy. But that changed last Friday when Diego bought it along and played it. So I commented at the time I’d like to try it and could he bring it along Monday.
Which brings us nicely to our time after our three player game of Rivals and a coffee and cake break.
I’m not sure how I feel about Potion Explosion.
I enjoyed the game. But did I like it? I didn’t hate or dislike it. I’d play the game again.
The game has that table presence, that wow factor, which has people not playing saying “what’s this game?”
Which is why I’m unsettled by my reaction to the game. I like it when games make you feel strongly about them even if it’s a negative reaction.
I can’t put my finger on why Potion Explosion makes me feel this way.
As you can see compared to the others my final score was not even close.
Potion Explosion Final Scores
I had a great morning gaming with two amazing friends. A fantastic way to end the shortest month of the year.
In a previous post “How to random table adventure ideas” I shared some videos by Mike aka Sly Flourish and Kelsey of Arcane Library that show them using tables to create D&D adventures.
Now I could go back and update that post with todays video that I’m sharing. And I have done that in the past when new relevant videos have come available.
But not today.
Today it’s a new post. A new post to share a great video from Kelsey that continues her series on writing a D&D adventure. Plus a great way to remind interested folks that there are other useful videos they can watch (if they click on the link above).
Part 3: How to design a D&D map!
I hope folks find the video interesting. I did. I find it very interesting to see other DM’s thought process. Plus I usually find one or two ideas that I can borrow and add to my creative process. That’s a win for me.
Yesterday we held an open Saturday gaming session. The first in a long long time. Usually if we game on a Saturday it’s a prearranged thing to play a specific game. But this time we were holding a session so that the barmaid could try our modern boardgames. She’d been interested on a normal gaming night but not able to join in as she was working. Hence this session on her day off!
We split into two groups.
Jeff, Ben and myself started our gaming off with a game of Three Sisters. Whilst Jonathan’s table started with Karuba. Which after checking the bgstats I have played. I wasn’t sure if I had. And it looks like I won that time I played it to.
Our game of Three Sisters had a surprise winner.
Both Jeff and I thought Ben was going to be the winner. He was comboing off so early in the game compared to us.
So once the final scores had been tallied I was pleasantly surprised that I drew for first loser with Ben, whilst Jeff claimed the spoils of war and victory.
Three Sisters Scores
Our second game was Survive Escape from Atlantis. A game that Jeff warned us was a mean game.
Survive has been sitting in my collection for easily 5 or 6 years unplayed! I’m not proud of that fact. But it’s not the longest inmate in my unplayed pile of shame.
Wow Jeff was right this game is mean and cut throat, but in a fun way. But I think who you play with also helps a lot.
It’s not a complicated game. But has surprising depth right from the start. Like where to place your high value meeples on the island. Or which tile to move, or when to play a tile.
In our game I placed a low value meeple in the middle of the island. Which instantly got dumped in the sea, was next to the kraken for most of the game. As soon as a path out by sea was available I used a dolphin tile to move it to “safety”. The meeple then proceeded to swim towards shore, but sadly was one move away from making it to land when Jeff triggered the end of the game. It was so nearly the heroic story of the game.
What can I say this game is fun.
It’s not going to be another 5 or 6 years before Survive hits the table again.
As you can see I won by a single point.
Survive Escape from Atlantis Scores
Our final game was classic Splendor.
Once again I wasn’t even close to winning.
Splendor Scores
Finally we are back to wrapping up the post with a photo by Jonathan.
Earlier in the week I had an epiphany whilst walking upstairs!
“Why if I’d rather play Dune Imperium every time when given a choice over Lost Ruins of Arnak should I keep Lost Ruins in my collection?”
I even shared this insight on Instagram (which then pumped it out to the other “big” two social media platforms).
Now don’t get me wrong, I really like Lost Ruins. It’s just I like Imperium more. I’ll still happily play Lost Ruins.
This is Inis all over again for me. I enjoyed Inis. But there were three games in my collection that I’d rather play over it if given a choice. So I sold it on.
Was this the time to do the same with Lost Ruins?
Naturally I got some blow back from those that preferred Lost Ruins over Imperium. But their opinion on the matter was undermined considerably by the fact they liked “not a game” Barenpark.
But it was Diego’s reply that sealed Lost Ruins fate in my collection. All he said was if I did decide to sell it he was interested.
So we chatted at work about the game. I came up with an asking price I thought was fair for the base game and expansion that I was selling to a friend. I don’t like ripping friends off. Diego agreed with the price, and a deal was struck.
That little bit of business was concluded at last nights fortnightly meet up. Where goods were exchanged for cash.
We split into three tables. Jonathan leading one of them with Pandemic. And Diego had the other with Potion Explosion (a game I’d like to try).
The game I was playing and with who was decided earlier in the week on our discord server.
Dune Imperium with the newly released first expansion The Rise of Ix was our main game of the evening.
We played with three of the new leaders (you can see who played which below).
Our characters for the game
Wow! I loved Dune Imperium before. But this expansion. Wow!
First off more intrigue cards, more leaders, more conflict cards, more Imperium cards, and for solo/2 players more House Hagal cards. More variety on that side is so so welcome with any expansion. Plus we definitely got to see some of the new cards during the game.
I liked my leader Tessia Vernius. To make use of her ability I really did have to progress on all the influence tracks.
An early tech tile had an end game scoring where I could get a victory point if I had at least 3 influence on all four influence tracks. So I leant heavily into progressing up the influence tracks. That victory point might be the difference between winning and losing. Scores are so tight in this game.
By leaning so heavily into the influence tracks I managed to get 3 out of the 4 faction alliances. Taking into account the earlier victory points for getting 2 influence on a track, 7 points of my final score came from the influence tracks.
Below you can see the 9th rounds conflict card that gave me the final 2 victory points needed to trigger the end of the game. If Julie hadn’t accidentally blocked me with her final action I would have had enough spice to get another victory point. But that’s being greedy.
I do feel that these new leaders you have to lean heavily into their abilities. For example I don’t think Julie was aggressive enough and winning enough combats. She was the first to get a dreadnought but didn’t get the second. I think only one of her victory points was from combat!
I love the new interstellar shipping spot. What a great addition. Plus it makes getting Solari much much harder by removing the sell spice action. So getting the third agent/swordsman is much more of an effort to do. Still necessary but harder. Plus to get the more powerful action spot you need 2 influence with the spacing guild. Making the influence track more important.
I like the tech tiles. I ended up with 3 in the end. One early one as I said above synergised really well with my leader.
Dreadnoughts very cool. I like what they bring to the table for combat. Probably the lesser of the three new changes to the game. But still pretty good.
Our game made it 9 rounds before I grabbed victory and control of Arrakis.
Final scores
I really like what Rise of Ix brings to Dune Imperium. Can’t wait to play it again. I’d love to try the new Epic game variant in the rulebook. Plus using the official Direwolf app there are two further variants! to try.
After my glorious victory Diego’s table and ours joined together to play Perudo.
It was fun to get this to the table again. It was “too noisy” for our previous hosts. No such restriction here.
In the end it came down to a head to head showdown between Diego and myself. My two dice to his one. Then it was one a piece. But for once I was able to pull off a win. Historically if memory doesn’t fail me, more often than not I’ve lost more than I’ve won in these stand offs.
Back to back wins! It truly was a good evenings gaming for me. So I called it a day while I was ahead! Plus I’d told mum I’d be back by about 9:30pm.
No photos from Jonathan, however we do have a new photographic correspondent from last night and now proud owner of Lost Ruins of Arnak, Diego!
Before we get on with the main post a little life update considering I have been sharing on that side more than usual lately.
Yesterday I tested negative for the second consecutive day using a Government/NHS sanctioned/approved lateral flow kit.
Which under the current guidelines means I am allowed to rejoin and once again become a productive member of society. It also means I’m all go for the gaming sessions at the end of the week. Rest assured I’m still going to be testing daily (while it’s still free to do so).
My big game challenge only has nine games in it. And what I’m thinking is now a ridiculously short time scale, with a deadline of the end of this year to play them all.
As you can see I’ve only played two of the games on the list.
I am not confident this challenge will be completed by then.
I am hoping that Star Wars Rebellion, Scythe and Xia: Legends of a Drift System will be ones I get to play with Nathan. Only Rebellion is a true two player game. Which will be perfect for us. However although both of the other two games are better with more players. I think Xia most definitely with it’s npc ships controlled by players will be just as much fun for him.
Looking at my stats I have played Scythe as a two player game. Both times with Jeff. Plus it looks like they were early games. If not learning games. However these two plays would have been on the full game board. Since then the modular game board has come out that makes the map much tighter at lower player counts. I think promising a different experience.
I think meeting the challenge with the remaining games will be easier with our new hosts for our gaming sessions the Wisbech St Mary Sports and Social Club. I don’t think getting players for the games will be an issue either. The main issue will be co-ordinating schedules for players to meet up and play.
Plus I’d want to get the games already played back to the table. And that’s the age old problem for gamers, too many games, not enough time to play them. So often we have great games just sitting in our collections feeling unloved and unplayed. It’s why I’ve set up challenges like this one to help get some of those games back to the table, getting some of that love back.
With the imminent pre-order date creeping up on us for the Stonemaier Games remake/reprint of Libertalia called Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest.
A game I’m pretty excited about. The design diaries and review videos (Watched It Played, and GameBoy Geek mainly) sold me on it. I hadn’t played the original. But boy does this look like a great game.
I thought it was time to look at how many games I actually own from Stonemaier Games.
Amongst my gaming friends I do have a reputation as being a bit of a fanboy. Some of our friendly banter might include them using this snippet of information to good effect. Why Jamey did you have to say you like Barenpark? Why?
I’m also a Stonemaier Champion (which one or two of those banter loving friends have made use of in the past) which has one or two benefits, with the addition of supporting Jamey’s YouTube channel.
So here is the current list of games that I own by Stonemaier Games. It doesn’t include expansions naturally. But just assume if there is an expansion for the game that I have it!
Now how many guessed I had just 6 Stonemaier games?
Shall I rank them in order?
Scythe – still my favourite game of all time. I think the only things I don’t have for this are the realistic resources (not a fan of them) and the metallic mechs (one day when I can afford them). And can you believe I still haven’t introduced my son to this game?!
Wingspan – very close call between this and Tapestry. Depending on the day I think about it they can easily swap places. Must remember never play as a 5 player game it’s too long.
Tapestry – a marmite game for many. But I love it as do those in my gaming group that have played it (even Jonathan liked it).
Viticulture – one of my favourite worker placement games, especially with the Tuscany expansion.
Rolling Realms – a really nice roll and write. One of my current favourites (see previous post).
Charterstone – we never got to finish this legacy worker placement game, which is a shame. I did enjoy it. Must get the reload pack and start a new game.
Which is your favourite Stonemaier game? I know the answer from Jonathan.
UPDATE 21/02/2022: I was playing with the insights feature of the bgstats app and realised I could produce the following insight to this post showing the all time stats for just these Stonemaier games.
I’d like to say yesterday was an interesting day and also my first day taking an LFT on the road back to civilisation.
However it wasn’t. It was a very painful day where taking an LFT was the last thing on my mind or actually do able.
Within minutes of waking up a pain on my right hand side started and it got worse and worse. The pain was so bad I was sweating, and being sick from it. I’d got a gallstone. A large one guessing by the pain.
I have a high tolerance for pain. But this pushed the limits even for me. I eventually called 111, and whilst on the phone to the local on call doctor I was throwing up. Her advice call an ambulance.
So I did. However the ambulance service decided I wasn’t a “priority” for sending an ambulance and should make my own way to A&E. Which might involve calling my doctors surgery to see if they could help get me to hospital. I certainly didn’t have the money for a taxi.
Whilst rolling on the floor in agony (and that word doesn’t not even come close to describing the actual pain) trying to think clearly what to do, who I could call, about half an hour or more had passed and the pain level dropped!
Another area of my anatomy then also started to hurt.
All of the above was over about a four to five hour period.
Now I was dealing with a painful side and a bladder area also in pain. And also screwing up the messages to my body about when I needed to go. I was regular up and down trying to go.
But at least with the new “lower” pain levels I was able to drift in and out of sleep during the afternoon. The pain finally stopped around 8:30pm. Gone just as quickly as it had started.
Looking back it wasn’t just a big gallstone that I passed but a few smaller ones too. Luckily for me. I don’t think I could have done a second large gallstone.
But enough of my medical problems, and over sharing. Let’s talk roll and writes! There is no relationship between the two. No easy way to segway into the rest of the post. So let’s just change the subject totally.
I enjoy roll and writes. I like the puzzly nature of them. They do tend to be a communal solitaire game with very little player interaction. Although some decisions you make like die selected may have an impact on the other players. But that’s the closest you get to “interacting” with other players. I think they can all be played solo as well. But I’m not big on solo game play. Besides one or two of them have app versions that more than replace that side of the game.
Below are the eight roll and writes in my collection.
I have played all of them bar one, Rome and Roll. From my understanding it’s probably the heaviest roll and write going. I’m hoping to get it to the table with Jonathan one day for a learning game. It’s on a couple of my bgstat challenges.
Probably the “funniest” one in my collection is That’s Pretty Clever. But not funny haha, more funny how I was introduced to the game and by whom.
I was first introduced to That’s Pretty Clever at UKGE 2018 by Jonathan during a gaming session at our hotel. It was his copy we were playing.
The funny bit to me is Jonathan isn’t a big roll and write fan. Yet I believe he still has this in his collection (but I might be wrong on that, I don’t remember him selling it on). And he introduced me to the game.
I like to think that each of the roll and writes I own are different from the others in some way (Qwinto and Qwixx might be the exceptions).
Currently my favourite two are Rolling Realms and Three Sisters. It’s just coincidence that these are also my two most recent additions.
