A response to Jamey Stegmaier on LCGs

rant

Yesterday Jamey Stegmaier posted his weekly Sunday YouTube video (embedded below). This time is was a discussion about living card games (LCG).

It turns out from the video that Jamey is kicking around the idea of designing a LCG. And this video was his spitballing the idea, asking for feedback on certain aspects of the genre.

I think we all know how I feel about Stonemaier Games, and Jamey as a game designer. So I’m pretty excited to see what Jamey’s take on the genre turns out like if it comes to fruitition.

Firstly Jamey is correct in identifying that KeyForge is not a LCG. It is a collectible card game (CCG), but instead of trading cards and building decks you are buying/trading complete decks. However Jamey did miss identify Star Wars: Destiny as a LCG. That too is a CCG that also has dice. And for the record a pretty awesome game.

I’ve played the LCGs Ashes and Android: Netrunner. The co-operative LCGs haven’t appealed to me. I like that competitive element,

I also like the deck building side and all that entails. Which is something that Jamey is not a big fan off. However Ashes shows that it is possible to offer a compromise. That still has all the deck building, and players can happily build their own decks. However they provide deck lists in the core set that players can just throw together and play. Plus when they released more cards they came as playable decks straight out of the pack.

Jamey mentioned a LCG he’d played (can’t remember which) that you take groups of cards and put them together to form a deck. I got the impression that it is similar to how decks are constructed in the game Sorcerer by WWG. As an alternative to full on deck building, I like this. It’s quick to construct a deck at the start of a game. However it has the draw back of taking a bit longer to pack away as you separate the cards in to the respective groups of cards again.

One thing I loved about Android: Netrunner was the theme. The game itself just oozes cyberpunk. The art was amazing, with some great flavour text on the cards. I also liked that with the data packs (this is what FFG called new packs of cards) you also got an A4 page of flavour text. Each cycle of data packs told a story with the data packs advancing that storyline.

One thing I didn’t like about the FFG LCG model as they implemented it was that the core set for which ever game usually required the purchase of multiple copies to get full sets of some cards, or have the ability to build all the decks so they could be played without taking cards from other decks. I believe that Marvel Champions has improved on this. But the cost has gone up also to match.

One issue a LCG has when it comes to the deck building side is in the early days the card pool size. It’s too small. A publisher needs to get expansions out fast to improve the options players have for building decks. If I remember correctly this is why FFG had an aggressive schedule (iirc) weekly for the first few expansions for their printing of L5R.

I like how FFG released expansions for Netrunner. They would release six expansions as part of a cycle on a monthly basis, and in between cycles a deluxe expansion. For me the sweet spot for an expansion would be around $15. For a deluxe expansion $30 is the upper limit I’d pay. A core set if it meant not having to purchase additional copies to get a complete card pool to build with shouldn’t be more than $40.

Also for expansions they need to be kept in print and easily purchasable. There were times with Netrunner when earlier expansions were ‘between printings’ and their price shot up. Particularly those expansions that had cards that went into 99% of decks.

Ashes failed to become as popular as it deserved due to a couple of reasons in my opinion. The first was there was over a year when no new expansions were released. This was mainly due to various corporate buy outs, that saw the publisher change owners a couple of times in that period. Poor communication during this period didn’t help. Also support of the competitive side and the FLGS was also poor compared to the likes of WotC and FFG.

Particularly for a competitive LCG the support for the FLGS has to be there in the form of prize support for tournaments and running weekly events. Not to mention the bigger tournaments such as nationals, regionals and worlds. A competitive LCG needs a player base and supporting the FLGS is a major part of building and maintaining it.

Oh and you have to have cool playmats for the game. Plus all the other accessories that players like such as deck boxes and sleeves. But most importantly token upgrades. I’m also going to assume that any core set by Jamey continues the inclusion of a great insert to storing all the cards sleeved.

So that’s my thoughts on the video Jamey made.

Another free adventure to try D&D with

D&D, RPG

In the past I have written a couple of posts about playing or trying D&D for free. Granted it’s not entirely free as you have to fork out for dice. But for all other intents and purposes it is.

Late last night I was watching the Sly Flourish video showing the contents of his latest book Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot.

I like the Lazy DM books that he has written. They contain great advice and really useful info. I have some of that info printed out and in my DM folder. I have the books as PDF’s and audible books (yep I spent my Audible credits on these when I saw them available to listen to). One day I’ll get physical copies.

I also have two or three of the lazy lairs from the workbook printed out ready to use at the drop of a hat. In fact I took the warehouse from the docks lair and used that in my own campaign instead of having to create a warehouse myself.

The Fantastic Adventures and Fantastic Locations books also provide great resources that can be used by a DM at the drop of a hat. The adventures particularly are designed to be run in 2 to 4 hour sessions. Which for me is perfect.

So naturally this new book is something that is of interest to me. It also continues the ‘philosophy’ of Sly’s adventures of being something you can drop in your own campaign, and each adventure being playable in about 2 to 4 hours.

From the above and previous posts it’s obvious I’m a fan.

But what has this got to do with trying or playing D&D for free?

Well if you visit the link above for the book Sly has provided the first adventure from it for free as a preview. That’s great. But how is this relevant to trying D&D?

The first adventure is aimed at a party of level 1 characters. Plays in that sweet spot of 2 hours, and has advice for new DM’s. Plus there are also pregenerated characters available at the above link. This ticks all the boxes for trying D&D.

I think the hardest thing now for those wanting to try D&D (apart from what dice do you buy?) is which adventure do you run?

You can also get a free Fantastic Adventures adventure here. Which also has pregenerated characters. And a free Fantastic Location here.

Update on planning session 6 #4

D&D, RPG, session planning

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

This is a brief post with my final little bits of prep for the weekend.

I spent a little time preparing notes on two of the magic items that the group got at the end of the last session as reward for their participation and winning the gladiator spectacle, and taking on the delivery of the tribute. Basically this means I have a single page with the bits from the DMG for robe of useful items (I had to decide what the four extra patches were and their quantity) and the deck of illusions.

I’ve also knocked up some item cards for these magic items as well to hand to the players.

One thing I need to do Saturday when I go and print out my notes and handouts is get a cheap deck of cards. This deck will be given to the player with the deck of illusions. It’s a simple prop that allows the player to randomly draw a card to create the illusion. It’s physical, tactile, and theatre. Something I think in this situation rolling a die just would not be as effective.

I’ve also started planning my session notes. Which are becoming less detailed, and more aids to jot my memory.

This next session will be down one player. I’m not sure they will return. If you have read their comments on here it’s not a surprise. However it does present a great plot twist when it happens. Basically I will have that character kidnapped during the night. It will be revealed to the party that they have been taken by boat to the Whale Bone islands. The reason why is unclear. Hopefully after dropping off the tribute the party will give chase. This will then be the start of the island hopping adventures as they try and locate their companion.

I’m just excited not to see how things unfold now at the weekend.

Monthly Meet Up February 2020

Fenland Gamers, game night

I originally hadn’t planned to attend this months meet up. Currently being economically challenged meant the resources weren’t available. Jonathan was tied up with a work commitment. So it had looked like there wouldn’t be a meet up organised this month.

Luckily Nathan took up the mantle of running and hosting this months meet up. Which I appreciated a lot.

Yesterday morning it looked like only Nathan and Gavin would be attending. So I took Nathan up on his very kind and generous offer to spot me a beverage.

I don’t find it easy accepting help, let alone letting people in close enough to know it may be needed. So when I had thanked Nathan last week for organising the meet up, and letting him know why I wasn’t doing it (something that I usually do) he kindly made the drink offer. But that was a big thing for me to have admitted the true reason and not use Nan or Mums health as an excuse. I thought Nathan deserved the truth. It hasn’t been easy writing this part of the post I’ve said more about me personally than I normally like to.

We started our evening of gaming off with a couple of games of Doodle Patchwork.

This roll and write version of Patchwork is light, quick, and surprisingly enjoyable.

Don’t get me wrong I enjoy the roll and write genre. There are three or four in my collection. But this is different. It’s more spacial than logic. You are fitting tetronome shapes into a grid trying to fill it up, and make a scoring rectangle.

It actually makes a refreshing change from the other roll and write games out there.

Second game of the evening was new group darling Las Vegas. We played a couple of games of this. Our second game roped in one of the Luxe staff who was off duty. Boy did I suck in that game. I kept getting screwed over. However the new person really got into the game, and her banter towards Nathan was very colourful and humorous when she thought she had denied Nathan a $90,000 note, only for him to get the majority back on his turn.

During our playing of Las Vegas a person came in and started talking to Nathan. Which isn’t out of the ordinary. It is his place of work. It’s his job. But there was some confusion on my part. They were actually there to find out about the club! Which to me wasn’t that obvious to start with. I gave details about when we run sessions, how many normally attend. But it hadn’t really clicked even then that this is what they were there for, and not to see Nathan. I definitely wasn’t as welcoming as I should have been. It’s not an excuse but I was a little caught off guard. My introverted self came through.

Our third and final game of the evening was Skull that pulled in two more people. So became a six player game. This was a blast to play.

Through out the evening there was plenty of banter and laughs. A very relaxed atmosphere. Probably one of, if not the most relaxed one of our sessions has been. It was very evident during the games of Skull.

This was a really fun evening. A big big thank you to Nathan for running and hosting at the Luxe.

Games played: Patchwork Doodle, Las Vegas, Skull

Minimalist DM’s at Cons

D&D, RPG

With my seventh D&D session as a DM happening this coming weekend, it’s pretty obvious I’m still a noob DM and finding out what type of DM I am.

So I think my insights are limited at times by my lack of experience. Which is why I find following the likes of Matt Colville, Jim Murphy, Dael Kingsmill and Sly Flourish on the various social media platforms handy.

I’m like a magpie. I spot their shiny nuggets of useful information and take them. Some of it may find it’s way into the current campaign and how I do things. Whilst other stuff gets hidden away for later.

Other times I’ll see something that gets me thinking, like the following tweet by Sly Flourish on Monday.

From my limited experience of running sessions Slys observation at the con he attended would have been what I expected to see as the norm.

I’m a long way off from being able to run a session at a con. Let alone one at my FLGS (although that would be the first step towards running a session at a con).

The reason I say I’d expect his observation to be the norm is because when you run a session that uses miniatures and dungeon tiles that is a lot of stuff to carry around. It’s a lot more prep making sure you can make the map out of what you have. Add on the set up time during play. Which eats into the limited game time you have at a con.

There is a reason you see videos from the likes of Arcane Library, Jim Murphy etc with their minimalist DM kits that they take to cons (I did a post about this with links to some videos here). The less you have to carry the better. If getting to the con involves air travel that’s a major point to consider with baggage limits. But even if driving do you really want to be lugging around huge amounts of stuff? It’s a hassle when it’s local for my sessions. A con just amplifies that hassle by a magnitude.

I’ve not run theatre of the mind combat yet. Not sure I’m ready to try it. I need to be a bit further along my journey as a DM.

I think I’d be one of the ones drawing a rough diagram. Using tokens to represent monsters and players (at the moment, I did back a kickstarter that gets me some of those flat standees to use last year).

Although I have cut back a lot. I’m still reviewing what I took to a session afterwards. Pruning out the deadwood. This takes me back to when I could afford and had the time to go backpacking. After a trip I’d review my kit. What did I use? What didn’t get used? If it didn’t get used, why? Obviously a first aid kit can’t be cut. But sometimes a bit of kit can be. Which means next trip the amount you are carrying is less. Less weight makes for a more enjoyable experience.

I’m looking forward to that time I’m running a session at a con. But that is far down the road.

A brief demo of dark draft

epic

I created a short (less than a minute) clip of a couple of rounds of doing a dark draft against the AI in the Epic Card Game Digital app.

This clip was then shared on Instagram. Which then pushed it out to Twitter and Facebook. Yep I use Instagram to spam other social media outlets.

It gives a brief idea of how dark draft works. In total there are ten rounds of drafting to generate a thirty card deck.

Below I’ve embedded the code from the Instagram post below. I’m hoping it works!

Update on planning session 6 #3

D&D, RPG, session planning

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

It’s now a tad less than a week until session 7 is upon me. So how have I been spending my time since the last planning post been spent on getting ready?

In reality very little has been done for the next session. So far. This week will be a flurry of activity.

I started this morning by creating a new category ‘session planning’ for this post, and then trawling through my previous posts and adding it to all the session planning posts. I also at the same time added the ‘post mortem’ category to the relevant session write ups. It may seem a little thing, but it’s going to allow me to get to my notes a lot easier.

In a way my creative process has been kicking in whilst I have been doing ‘nothing’. As I wait for inspiration, I expose myself to new ideas. Sometimes watching or reading some of the campaign inspirations I’ve talked about previously.

During this period of contemplation I have made one or two decisions.

The first is that the sahuagin will attack the party whilst they are transporting the tribute. It fits nicely in with the story so far. The Sahuagin have already tried to steal part of it whilst the party were escorting the contribution from the town of Queens Cove. It makes sense they would make another attempt to get their hands on it.

The sahuagin this time will consist of ‘regular’ sahuagin, sahuagin baron and possibly a sahuagin priestess. Apart from the Sahuagin having their manta ship they will also be accompanied by sharks.

As an encounter this will most likely be border line hard/deadly, leaning towards deadly. The important thing is this will need to be sign posted to the party somehow.

Using the following table from the Lazy DM workbook I can get away with a priestess and baron plus a handful of regular sahuagin.

My gut feeling is for a party of 5 regular sahuagin boarding the parties boat. With a couple of sharks in the water between the boat and the manta. Then on the manta itself the baron and priestess plus 3 regular bodies. This will not be a big manta.

In my head this scene plays out a bit like the trench scene from the Aquaman movie. Where Aquaman and Mera fight the trench. I like the idea of having my encounter at night as well.

The other decision I’ve made is to use the connectors for the boat tiles to pre-make the boats before the session. This will speed things up a little, and allow me to make the manta from left over tiles. Which hopefully gives it that salvaged feel.

The final encounter of the session will be a social one. How that pans out depends on the outcome of the sahuagin encounter. When the party get to the island, the brigands will be waiting to take the tribute.

Epic Card Game Digital App Arrives Immanently

news

At the time of writing this post in less than ten days time Epic Card Game Digital will come out of its beta phase of development, and become available to all for free.

Epic Card Game and its digital version is a MtG like card game. But instead of having that collectible element, Epic has a fixed card pool that. So everyone that buys a copy of the game has all the cards. The nice thing is that the game supports all the expected modes of play for a card game like MtG, constructed, draft, cubes, etc.

Naturally there are differences between Epic and MtG when it comes down to the actual game play. But you can look those up.

I’ve had early access to the digital version after backing its development on the Kickstarter that WWG ran well over a year ago now.

What I’ve been impressed with during this time that despite the limited resources that a company like WWG have compared to the likes of say WotC. They have still managed to develop the digital version across multiple platforms simultaneously.

My use of the app during this beta period has been sporadic at best. I’ve not played online with the game. I’ve not tried deckbuilding. So what have I been doing in the app? I’ve been playing dark draft against the games AI.

I really love dark draft.

It’s such a great tweak to drafting that works really well for two players (it is a two player format only). What I like is that you have an idea what cards the opposing player may have but not exactly. There is that bit of unknown. You don’t know which two cards were not chosen and which two were removed from the game.

Compared to other games like this that have digital versions, I’m looking at you MtG:Arena, the game is completely free to play on a casual level. You get all the cards, unlimited copies, expansions are free. It doesn’t cost to play online against your friends.

So where do WWG hope to make their money?

“The only things players pay for are cosmetics (like digital foils), extras (like extra deck slots) and competitive play (like Arena and Tournaments).”

I’m really rooting for this approach to do well. It makes a refreshing change to the nickel and dimming by the likes of WotC.

Another reason I’m rooting for it is that WWG are releasing across multiple platforms at the same time. No “it’s only available on PC, other platforms later” (much much later).

I think WWG have done a great job with the digital version of Epic. It doesn’t have all the flash animations of the likes of Hearthstone and Arena. And that’s a great plus. It’s concentrated on providing a solid, good looking card game.

I look forward to playing my friends online when they can finally get their hands on the game.

You can read the full announcement here.

A Pipe Dream

RPG, star wars

Despite the failure of the ‘experiment’ with our gaming group to find like minded people interested in playing/trying Paranoia or Judge Dredd: Worlds of 2000 A.D. (which was a little disappointing) I still dream of playing them and other RPGs at some point.

Despite Disney’s best attempts with the last two instalments of the trilogy, and less than subtle messages in the media, I’m still a big Star Wars fan. So it’s only natural that I’d want to play an RPG set in the Star Wars universe.

One of the options available to me is the FFG developed Star Wars RPG.

There are three versions of this to play depending on the focus your want for your characters. In Age of Rebellion you join the surprisingly the rebellion in it’s fight against the Empire. Edge of the Empire focuses more on smuggling and bounty hunting. Force and Destiny allows you to play Jedi and Sith. All three share the same core mechanics, and use custom dice from FFG (similar but not the same as the Genesys dice). The Star Wars RPG system is basically what the Genesys was based upon, but made more generic.

There is a Force Awakens intro box set that allows players to dip their toes before deciding if/which of the above three tracks they want to follow. There used to be a similar one that wasn’t tied in to a movie as well I believe.

Another option is the original 1987 Star Wars RPG that FFG reprinted a couple years back now to celebrate its anniversary. Which I do own. Which is a plus over the FFG one briefly discussed above.

There was an RPG between these two that I think was by WotC and was a d20 system. It should be possible to find second hand copies of this on the likes of eBay.

It’s nice to have these official versions, whether in print or not. They have done all the heavy lifting for you. But if you don’t want to use them there are other systems out there such as WOIN: N.E.W. , Genesys(!), Fate etc. However this option would require a bit, ok a lot of effort in advance. Luckily there is a wealthy of source material available on the Star Wars universe to help. However for me at the moment this is a route I’d like to avoid.

The nice thing about playing a Star Wars RPG in this day and age is what can be used by the GM and players during a session.

One option is the use of Star Wars Lego, especially the minifigures as a change from traditional miniatures.

But on the traditional miniatures front we are spoilt with what we can get. With the Imperial Assault game and it’s expansions there are a tonne of great minis available. The only drawback with this option is that the game has now come to the end of its life and no longer being printed by FFG. So that may push up the price of copies of the game and its expansions. Luckily for me I have 80% of what’s available. I think I’m only missing the last big expansion and the mini ones that accompanied its release.

FFG also have Star Wars Legion their skirmish game which has slightly larger sized minis. But this is is still being supported, so easier to get. The draw back for me on this is the assembling the miniatures.

With X-Wing and Armada it’s actually possible to use the models from these two miniature games to do space combat with in a session. Naturally the X-Wing models would be used for dog fight encounters, whilst Armada gives that more tactical higher level option. I like the idea of being able to run different types of space encounters. Unless you are buying the bigger ships, a lot of the models are really affordable, and prepainted. Although I’m now regretting getting rid of my X-Wing stuff.

It’s never been a better time to play a Star Wars RPG with all that we have available these days. Stuff we could only dream off back in the eighties.

Other RPGs I’d love to try that are based around an existing IP are the new Alien RPG, The Expanse RPG, and the Elite Dangerous RPG (yes based on the video game). I have the rules as a pdf for the first two but not the last one. Maybe one day.

A Tweaked Random Chase Terrain and Obstacles for Judge Dredd RPG.

Judge Dredd, RPG

Those with a long memory will remember reading an idea I had for a taster scenario for the Judge Dredd Worlds of 2000 A.D. RPG.

Something similar in idea to the Tomb of the Delian Order dungeon that Matt Colville created for the start of his series encouraging people to become/try being a DM.

Since then there has been an official adventure Monkey Business released that the publisher uses at cons etc as a taster.

The scenario that has been kicking around in my noggin is for a party of judges out on patrol, all stationed in watching bays over looking the same bit of Mega City One. The image I have of the judges is similar to the one drawn in the opening panel of the classic Judge Dredd story The Graveyard Shift Part 1 (see image below taken off the Internet).

While at their watch bays the judges notice a vehicle driving erratically, swerving in and out of traffic at speed. They give chase.

In the core rule book there is a section of running chases. Which are basically extended opposed tasks. Within the rules for running chases is a table for Random Chase Terrain and Obstacles that uses 2d6, and has columns for vehicle and foot chases in different environments.

For my scenario these tables are perfectly usable, if the GM has the core rule book. However I wanted to tweak them. This is not me saying my tables are better. They are not. They are different, slightly. I’ve kept the majority of the obstacles and changed one or two. Plus for my scenario two of the environments are not needed. So I removed them.

Part of the goal of the scenario is to primarily give that taste of playing Judge Dredd. But to also offer a variety of different play styles and mechanics. And that is where this chase comes in.

The judges capture the driver of the vehicle and interrogate them. This is when the judges find out that the driver is being blackmailed to commit a crime to free their family who are being held hostage back at their flat.

The judges naturally have to sentence the driver. But then go to the block that the driver lives to free the family.

I need to write this up, with the above table. But at least the hard bit of the table has been done!