Thoughts on Gamemaster Documentary

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There was a delay between the release of the documentary Gamemaster in the US and coming out in the UK. That delay meant that I forgot all about the film.

As far as I’m concerned there was no fanfare or reviews pointing out that the film was finally available outside of the US. Or if there was then it didn’t surface into my consciousness through whichever media channels I follow.

It wasn’t until I heard the Secret Cabal folks talk about the documentary on this weeks podcast that I thought I’d see if it was available in the UK.

It wasn’t on Amazon digitally except as a region 1 DVD!

Google showed up a tweet from the director/publisher mentioning it was on iTunes in the UK. Otherwise if I hadn’t seen that I’d have assumed that this was still only a US film.

Luckily being an Apple fanboy I could purchase the documentary. Which is something a rarely do. The majority of my digital purchases are on Amazon. I’m assuming that like the documentary Never Surrender that eventually Gamemaster will end up on other streaming services.

Gamemaster is a documentary about the boardgame industry.

Format wise its standard fare. They follow/interview four game designers that are at various points in their game design journey. Interspersed with talking head segments with various established big name game designers dispensing nuggets of wisdom and industry insights.

The four designers that get followed are a guy who was trying to kickstart a game he designed called Thug Life. A Pakistani female designer who had designed and published a game about arranged marriages and avoiding them. The creator of the Parks board game, and the video game designer, ex-Disney Imagineer Scott Rogers and his boardgame Rayguns and Rocketships. The director of the documentary seemed to have forgotten to mention Scott’s past experience. Heck he’s written one of the best, most accessible books on video game design, Level Up!

The female game designer was an interesting inclusion. Her story and the personal experience that formed the inspiration for her game was interesting. Naturally the theme isn’t one that appealed to me. But I loved how personal it was. It was also interesting to see the blow back she got from friends and family when she returned home to Pakistan.

The Thug Life designer also had a personal story that fed into his game design. However it didn’t feel as personal or as well executed as the arranged marriage game. His story within the documentary felt more to do with his Kickstarter journey and ultimately failure.

The talking heads were your usual suspects, Lang, Knizia, Vassel, Leacock, and Cathala, to name a few that instantly come to mind.

They briefly dealt with diversity and representation within the game industry and in games.

On the whole it’s a competent put together documentary up there with Going Cardboard: A Board Game Documentary, and miles better than The Next Great American Game documentary.

A Game of Wonder!

Funkoverse

Yeah I know the posts title is pretty shitty. But it’s the best I could come up with as I was putting this post together. Naturally a better title will come to mind once this post has gone live.

One thing I think Funko have got right so far in the last year is the release rate of new figures for the Funkoverse game. This sort of game lives or dies by the frequency of the expansions.

As I have said in the past this game for me is a light skirmish type game, where I can just throw together teams on the fly based on the which characters I think will be cool to play together. It’s never going to be that mega competitive scene like X-Wing (although I am pretty sure there are some out there that will treat it as such).

Even having never played a game so far (due to the more than obvious reason) buying the expansions is addictive. They have the same collectability of the full grown versions, with the added bonus you can play with them!

In the last couple of weeks we have seen the release of the DC Wonder Woman two character expansion. Which naturally contains Wonder Woman and also the villain from the Wonder Woman 1984 movie The Cheetah. Which I guess Funko had hoped that the movie would be out by now and help sales.

The other set to have been released is the A Game of Thrones four character set. Which has Daenerys Targaryen, Night King, Jon Snow, and Arya Stark.

The Wonder Woman expansion doesn’t really add anything new to the game rules wise. Wonder Woman gets a special die called the Champion Die. As far as I know this is the second time that a character has been given a unique die. The other was Dr Ian Malcolm with his Chaos Die in the two character Jurassic Park expansion.

Otherwise this Wonder Woman is a pretty standard release and the only decision is do you like the characters? For whether you buy it or not.

For me the A Game of Thrones set is the more interesting of the two just released.

For starters the First Game setup is for a four player game! Each team has one of the Funkoverse figures and one of the four included basic characters. So not the usual three character team. But I feel this is huge allowing four players to play at the same time.

The set also has two new Free-For-All scenarios designed for three or four players, and adds the rule that the first player token rotates clockwise to the next player at the end of each round.

There is one draw back though. Funko only provide one each of four different base colours. I would have liked to have seen at three of each colour. It would have made playing a four player game with two or three Funkoverse characters possible.

But even more impactful is the introduction of companions. As the rule book describes them, they “may be used by a player instead of an item1 Companions are always paired with a character and provide a player with an ally that can do a limited number of actions.”

In this set and the very first companion in the game is the Dire wolf Ghost. Which I am looking forward to adding to my Stomp,Slash,Splash team.

As you can see from the above photo of the components for Ghost I have a mini Ghost Funko figure to use instead of the token that comes with the game.

This Ghost figure is actually the Funko Ghost keychain with the chain part removed. I plan to do the same to the Drogon and Wight tokens that come with the game as well. Luckily there are keychain versions of them as well. Well the Wights will be White Walkers but hey who cares? Now I know that will annoy some hard core fans out there.

I also plan to stick Ghost and the other figures to a clear plastic disc base.

Now I wish I could take credit for this idea. But I can’t. The idea came from some-one on the Funkoverse Facebook page.

So as you can tell I’m excited to what this set brings to the table for Funkoverse. And I’m hoping that we will see more Companions plus more Free-For-All scenarios.

I just need to get all this to the table now. But that part is out of my hands.

Scythe Encounter Token Upgrade

Scythe

I finally made the decision to upgrade the encounter tokens for Scythe.

The upgrade comes not only with the encounter tokens but also upgrades for the tokens that come with the expansion Invaders from Afar.

This is probably the last component upgrade I’ll do for the game.

For me I have what I consider the essential upgrades. Those being:

  • Metal coins
  • Card sleeves
  • Encounter tokens
  • 3D printed coin storage box
  • Board Expansion
  • Neoprene board
  • I have to admit I’ve never been a fan of the realistic resources that were done for the game. Plus the Meeple Source worker meeples didn’t grab me neither. The action tokens might be something possibly I might get. But I don’t see them as essential.
  • Having not played Rise of Fenris yet there maybe another upgrade to get. But until that hits the table I won’t know.

    • There is one upgrade I would do if I had the funds. Well it would be more like if I had the funds and the money was burning a hole in my pocket. That upgrade would be a play set of the metal mechs that Stonemaier Games did. By play set I mean four copies. Each set has one mech for each of the seven factions. So you would need four to be able to use them in the game.

    Now I need to get this amazing game back to the table as soon as the current events allow.

    Love Letter – Marvel: Infinity Gauntlet

    first look

    The latest in the Z-Man/Asmodee line of Love Letter has just been released, called Marvel Infinity Gauntlet.

    This is an interesting version for the game because it takes Love Letter in a new direction. Love Letter goes from its free for all last person standing to a one against many game.

    I think production wise and component wise Z-Man have knocked things out of the park.

    It’s certainly easier getting the game out of the packaging over previous releases from AEG that were the sealed plastic boxes.

    Like my other copies of Love Letter I will be sleeving the cards. That’s just me.

    The art used is thankfully art from the comic books and not photos from the movies.

    As you can see below the art for the card backs makes it easy to identify which deck is which whilst still looking awesome.

    Below I’ve shown examples of the cards from both decks.

    The Thanos deck has cards that are either henchmen or infinity gems. Whilst the heroes deck is made up from superheroes.

    The nice thing is that the graphic design of the cards is straight out comic book. Which you’d expect. But sometimes publishers like to disappoint.

    The life/score tracking card to which you will attach the two sliding trackers has a handy setup summary on the reverse.

    The player aids are double sided, heroes one side and Thanos the other.

    I can’t wait to play this once the on going world event allows to see how it plays.

    Once I’ve played the game I’ll write another post looking at what I like about it and dislike about it. Apart from the obvious there are some new mechanics introduced in this game and they need to be experienced first before commenting.

    Halflings and Dinosaurs

    D&D, RPG

    Back when I got the Sword Coast Adventurers Guide I was pretty excited by the introduction of Ghostwise halflings in a side box on page 110.

    Particularly the following sentence that gave them mounts.

    “Clan warriors known as nightgliders bond with and ride giant owls as mounts.”

    Who wouldn’t want to be a halfling with a giant owl to ride on?

    Ok I maybe a little bit biased. After all I love playing halflings. They are my favourite species in D&D. A carry over from being a Tolkien/LoTR fan.

    It gets better being a Ghostwise halfling because their wisdom ability score gets a +1 bonus on top of the usual halfling attributes. Plus they get Silent Speech. Which allows them to speak telepathically to any creature within 30 feet of them.

    Then I came across this Dragon Talk video that blew my mind.

    Halflings with dinosaur mounts!

    That’s frickin cool. It doesn’t get cooler than that.

    And all I have to do is run a campaign in Eberron.

    I love the opening quote from Eberron: Rising from the Last War for halflings on page 27.

    “ZOMBIES? MINOTAURS? THEY DON’T SCARE ME A BIT.

    But a howling halfling warrior charging in on a clawfoot raptor? Most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen.

    -Sir Danton ir’Lain, Brelish knight”

    These halflings sound badass. Which I always thought they were. This just validates my opinion.

    I love the fact that the halflings are nomadic and have close ties with their dinosaurs.

    The halfling monk I created many many posts ago would be amazing once changed to fit in to Eberron. Give him a dinosaur mount, and as suggested in the Eberron book theme the monastic tradition around dinosaurs. Maybe name the fighting style after the dinosaur mount that the monk has.

    I also like the idea of taking the Silent Speech of the Ghostwise halflings and making that specific to dinosaurs. Something the Eberron halflings developed as their bond between them and the dinosaurs strengthened over the generations.

    Oh this has got me so excited about Eberron now and halflings.

    Unable to Install

    apps, rant

    Today I’ve gone through the process of transferring stuff from my old iOS device to a new one. One of the joys of free upgrades. Luckily Apple have made this a painless experience that just requires the two devices to be close to each other.

    However this process highlights my main point or one of the major ones I have for board games that rely heavily or can only be played using an app.

    Two app versions of board games I paid for are no longer on the App Store. So therefore no longer installable on the new iOS device.

    Plus two official companion apps for a couple of board games have disappeared from the App Store.

    The Crossroads app I’m not surprised by due to the recent change of ownership of the IP from Plaid Hat to FFG. Will FFG take ownership of the app and bring it back to the App Store? Who knows.

    The Sub Terra app is just typical ITB. It took them much longer than promised to produce the app on iOS, and for it to disappear is just what this company are like.

    I was very surprised by the disappearance of the two board game apps. These were paid for. I’m not sure why these have gone. It makes me a bit angry that these have gone. I paid for them.

    But it highlights just how fragile things can be with apps.

    Imagine if these had been required to play the actual game (in the case of the two companion apps they enhanced the experience). The games would be unplayable.

    The likes of Ignacy Trzewiczek have dismissed this argument. They see it as a none issue. I find this approach as insulting in a way. It ignores the harsh realities of life and particularly software development.

    But I’m not going to go over an old argument again. Except point made.

    A First Look at the Cyberpunk Red Jumpstart Kit

    Cyberpunk Red, first look, RPG

    Over in the video game world they are eagerly awaiting the release of the next instalment in the Cyberpunk franchise (which just happens to have a guest appearance by Keanu Reeves in it).

    In the meantime we in the ttrpg world get an early look into the world portrayed in the new Cyberpunk game with an updated release of the Cyberpunk RPG, called Cyberpunk Red. Before the main rule books drop for this update we got treated to a starter kit or as the publisher R. Talsorian Games call it Jumpstart Kit.

    The Cyberpunk Red Jumpstart Kit came out in the later half of last year. Since before Christmas last year this starter kit has been sold out in the UK. Every now and then I’d trying finding a copy. Hoping that it had been reprinted and sent out to stores. But nada. So a month ago I reached out to R. Talsorian Games over Twitter about it being out of stock in the UK. After a couple of interactions it came to light that there were copies winging their way over the Atlantic to Asmodee to distribute. Patiently I waited (pretty unusual for me I know) looking for Asmodee in their weekly new releases pdf to announce a restock of the starter kit. Sadly it did not appear.

    I reached out again to the publisher and this time they pointed me in the direction of a retailer that had copies! You guessed it, I made use of this information and ordered a copy. Which brings us to this post.

    So for your money what do you get in the Jumpstart kit?

    For starters there is the cut down rule book. Remember this is a “taster” of the full experience. It’s meant to give you an idea what the system is like. Plus the full rules haven’t been published yet.

    The other book inside is the world book. This gives you background info on the setting for Cyberpunk Red and adventures to run.

    Two double sided maps.

    Six dice – 2d10 and 4d6.

    Six pre-generated characters that can be customised.

    Cardboard standees.

    Finally a rules reference sheet.

    I really like the pre-generated characters that come with the Jumpstart Set. There are stats on one side (some of which are chosen at start of play by the player to help personalise the character). On the reverse side there is background info and art for the character. These are nice and the personalisation of them helps the player feel more connected to the character. That’s pretty cool.

    Why other RPG systems don’t provide a rules reference sheet I don’t know. But this is a really nice and welcome addition to the contents. So you can guess I really really like this.

    Another thing I like about this Jumpstart Kit is the battle maps and standees. Another addition that you would think other starter kits would have.

    The one thing I dislike about the Jumpstart Kit is the included dice!

    I just don’t like their design. I get that they wanted to produce something that would appear thematic. But these are literally unreadable for some of the numbers especially on the d10. These are a big let down and something I’ll never use.

    As starter sets go I like this one a lot. It’d be nearly perfect if it weren’t for those dice.

    The nice thing about this Jumpstart set is that if once I get it to the table and I don’t get on with the system for whatever reason I can re-use some of the content (maps and standees) with say the Genesys RPG and the Android setting.

    Like the Android setting if you are looking for inspiration there are plenty of tv shows and movies that can be watched. I did a list a while back here for Android.

    Some inspiration for Eberron Adventures

    D&D, Eberron, RPG

    I caved and got my grubby mitts on a copy of the D&D source book that came out last November Eberron: Rising from the Last War.

    Eberron is “a war-torn world filled with magic-fueled technology, airships and lightning trains, where noir-inspired mystery meets swashbuckling adventure.” (quote from here) A kind of fantasy meets modern world type setting, almost steampunk like in nature, magicpunk!

    When I found out about the lightning trains I instantly thought about two movies as inspiration for an adventure or two.

    The first was obviously the movie based on the graphic novel of the same name, Snowpiercer (also now a tv series as well). This could almost be a campaign setting! Definitely this is multiple sessions to tell the story. Sadly the other movie that sprang to mind was the Steven Seagal sequel Under Siege 2.

    Another couple of movies that came to mind after that were The Commuter and Murder on the Orient Express.

    Another movie to watch is Captain America: The First Avenger in particular the train heist where Cap and the Howling Commandos attempt to capture Zola and Bucky dies.

    I also thought of Firefly episode 2: The Train Job. Where the crew of Serenity are hired to pull off a heist on a train.

    I’ve not even started to think about inspiration for the pulp adventure or noir intrigue. Although one or two of the above sources of inspiration could cross over into those descriptions as well.

    The airships is something else to look into for inspiration and I have one or two movies that come to mind for them as inspiration but I’ll save that for another post.

    Another Skeleton Dragon Miniature Update

    D&D, miniatures, miniatures painting, RPG

    For those that have been following the last couple of posts and my attempt to paint the Wizkids Rather Big Skeleton Dragon will know I wanted to do something outside of my comfort zone for the base.

    I had the idea that the base would look cool with some skulls on it. You know like the remains of previous victims.

    My memory recalled that there was indeed a product out there in the big wide world that was just skulls. I’d seen it on the shelf of my FLGS.

    After a brief google search I found what I was looking for, and I had indeed remembered correctly. Within minutes the box of skulls was ordered and on its way.

    With the skulls in my grubby mitts this morning (the joys of next day delivery) I knew I wasn’t going to do the base in a style similar to the box cover.

    I chose a range of different sized skulls and therefore species that I glued to the base in some sort of “pleasing way”. Ok there was no real plan for their placement.

    Once dry I applied a white primer, which then also had a skeleton bone colour base coat applied over top of that when that had dried.

    The knowledge that I will eventually be applying a flock to hide the mess on the base is comforting.

    Now I need to do some more waiting before I can do the wash.