I had some great fun at Bayou Wars this past weekend. It was great to see many of my old skool gaming buddies, hang out with the usual gaming suspects, and meet some new ones through the tournaments. I'll post a more in depth review of the weekend later, but for now here are some pictures from the WARMACHINE Steam Roller Tournament on Friday. I fielded Commander Striker and a shooty heavy Cygnaran force. In these photos, I was pitted against Ang, a player from Austin, Texas. She brought an impressively painted Menoth force led by Amon Ad-Raza. While my Boys in Blue won in our particular game, I wound up going 2-2 over all. In the Hardcore Tournament the next day, Ang deservedly won the Master Craftsman award. It really was an impressive army.
So one of my favorite PC games from back in the day is a game called Diablo by Blizzard Entertainment. There is something about dungeon crawl video games that I just love. I remember playing that game for days and days until I finally beat Diablo himself. Since its release Diablo has become synonymous with the Action Roleplaying (RPG) genre of video games. That is, players choose classes, level up, manage gear and spells and the like from traditional roleplaying games but the game action itself is played in real time. There have been may games that have followed in Diablo's foot steps as a "top down" action RPG and one of my recent favorite examples is a game called Torchlight from Runic Games.
Torchlight takes place in a steam punk world in the namesake mining town of Torchlight. In this universe, an ore called Ember is the basis for alchemy and the foundation for all magic. The miners prospecting for Ember eventually dug deep enough to discover the ancient ruins buried beneath the town and the myriad of dangerous inhabitants found there. It is this "Ember Rush" that brings your character to Torchlight in search of fame and fortune.
You may choose one of three classes: the melee centric Destroyer, the magic wielding Alchemist, or the range attacking Vanquisher. You also get to choose a pet to accompany you on your adventures to help in combat and to carry items for you. Once you have decided on which class to play, from town you descend down into a randomly generated dungeon level to slay monsters, acquire gold and loot, and gain experience. One of the highlights of this game is the character customization. As you gain levels, you get to spend talent points in the different specialty trees available to each character. Combined with the limitless gear options available, this makes each character play differently and offers a unique game experience.
Each level lower increases in difficulty and rewards. You can play the game on different difficulty settings depending on how challenged you want to be. This is important, as it is just you and your pet against an entire dungeon of baddies. I found game play to be very responsive and fast and...God like! The array of spells and ability options to deal damage is both staggering and lethal. There is something very satisfying about being surrounded by a whole room full of demons, zombies, oozes and skeletons and letting off a power combo that devastates everything. Still, you have to be tactful enough not to get overrun, as for every mob you kill there seems to be 10 more there to take his place. You only have so much energy or mana to fuel your attacks, so resource management is key. Thankfully, this is aided by potions and locations in the dungeons to replenish what you have lost.
To me, one of the most fun aspects of Torchlight is leveling your character and customizing him to how you want to play. You get to pick talents, customize gear, and learn spells and abilities that reflect how you envision your character should be. No two characters are exactly alike and combined with the random dungeons, even when you hit max level there is still infinite playability. So if you are looking for a game that does not take itself too serious yet is a blast to play at your own pace, I recommend Torchlight!
Admit it. We humans are social creatures. No matter how much some of us may try to live on an island unto ourselves, inevitably we gravitate towards other like minded souls to socialze. We congregate at various watering holes, taverns, or coffee shops to socialize and talk about our common interests or topics of the day.
Many of you have heard me talk of the Third Place concept. Basically, we spend a majority of our time at our homes and workplaces because we have to. But the third place we choose to spend our time is usually a place that reflects something we enjoy. For some it is a local pub. For others it may be a bookstore or fitness club. Where ever it may be, our Third Place is our little sanctuary from the rigors of every day life.
For me and my friends that place is Game Night.
Game Night for us is the one day a week we set aside to get together and play some games. Most games require an opponent, so gaming lends itself very well to a social atmosphere. Game Night is the night my mates and I get together to roll some dice, move some miniatures, and try to pulverize each other's armies into submission. We experience the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, and the camaraderie that ensues from spending an evening together playing the games that we love.
Now, Game Night can be at any location that lends itself to gaming. Most commonly Game Night can be found at your friendly local game store (FLGS). This is often fun and convenient, as many of the games you play can be purchased at the store. I am very much a proponent of "pay where you play". After all, if you play at someone's business it seems only fair to support that business so that it may continue to stay open and provide you with a place to have your Game Night.
If a FLGS is not an option for you, consider meeting at someone's home. Currently, for me and my gaming buds Game Night is hosted at a friends apartment that we have affectionately dubbed "The Cave". We get together at the table and run the full gambit of our gaming hobby. Our problem is we seem to have more games that we want to play than we have time to actually play them! I have noticed that as a gaming group, comprised of folks from many diverse backgrounds, we are establishing our own little customs and rituals that enforce our kinship. For example, when we meet we simply must hit a particular eatery because it is simply that good. Since Game Night is the only time many of us are near the restaurant it has become a custom for us to eat there. Another tradition is pie. Without fail, just about every gathering someone brings a new pie for us to eat. I like pie now more than I did before. And here I am thinking I was a cake person! But as enjoyable as these things are, they only seem to enhance the social aspect of gaming without detracting from the real reason we get together. Namely, that is to beat the ever-living crap out of each other in a game of WARMACHINE.
I'm kidding.
WARMACHINE is only one of the many games we play and we seem to play more than a few. For one, we are in the midst of playing in a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Nothing beats getting together with your buds to slay a few kobolds and the craziness the develops from roleplaying. We are also avid board gamers. Board games are great for Game Night in my opinion because we all can play the same game at the same time. Carcassonne. Puerto Rico. Small World. Arkham Horror. The list goes on. We simply love playing these games and playing against each other. We are also down with card games. Warhammer Invasion. Race to the Galaxy. Cold War. All great games. For me, miniature games will always be the foundation of what hobby gaming is all about. Tabletop games like WARMACHINE, HORDES, Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Mordhiem, Alkemy and Infinity always are fun and enjoyable games. To be certain, there are many more games I could add to these. Again, too many games and not enough time to play them!
So the deal is gaming is a social experience and we are social creatures. I am certain that if you were to get your friends together and try any of the games I mentioned you all will have a great time. Even if hobby gaming is not your thing, take a departure from what you and your friends normally do and try playing some Monopoly or Scrabble or Trivial Pursuit. You will be amazed at how playing games amongst friends really makes for a fun and unforgettable evening.
I have been reading through my Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) 4th Edition books and I have to tell you it feels like coming home. For me, as for many of us, D&D was my first real experience with what we consider "gaming" today. I was introduced to the game while I was in the 6th grade by a classmate while attending school in Lafayette. He had all these miniatures of knights, wizards and monsters. I remember him showing me how he painted them while his dad painted model cars. He said they were for use in this game he and his older brother played. Reaching onto a shelf in his closet he showed me a red box with some adventurers on the cover. That was the first time I saw D&D, and I was fascinated.
We soon got our friends in on our D&D games and we all were hooked. Many a lunchtime discussion was had about the benefits of being an elven archer or a halfling thief. Way before the internet or texting, it was our discussions at school that sustained us through the week till we could finally play again on weekends. Ah, such good times! All I wanted to do was play the character I had just painted. My first character was an elf named Silverleaf, who had his arrows fletched with leaves that had fallen from a magical tree deep in the enchanted forest. Or some such craziness. I still have some of the miniatures from that era, in a box somewhere. Most were painted by my cousins and, sadly, I have no idea what happened to mine. So many great memories of hanging out with friends and slaying monsters were made while playing D&D. It was my gateway drug to a larger world of gaming goodness that I am still happy to be a part of to this day.
Over the years, I would continue to play, though no where near as much as I did as a kid. I saw the game evolve, spawn numerous expansion books, and become the originator of what we know of as roleplaying games today. Until recently, the last time I played was in 2001 or so. It was 3rd edition, and the d20 was king. The game was fun and the myriad of player options was staggering, but it did give rise to some jankiness. I know power gamers will be power gamers, but man, the munchkin crap some of these guys pulled was amazing. The rules, while fun, could get complex. While they did provide depth and customization, almost too much, 3E would drag out game sessions with rules, rules lawyering, and drawn out combat. After reading D&D4E, those days are (hopefully) gone. However, munchkins do get to twink out in 4E ,but not as badly as they once did.
In preparing for my role as Dungeon Master for our 4E game of D&D, I feel like I am getting back to my roots, as it were, when it comes to gaming. Revisiting old scenes of my memory every time I read about Eladrin or studying up what exactly a shaman can do. Mechanically, the rules are very simple yet deep enough to allow creativity. As an exception based game system it will be impossible for me to know all the specific interactions, but thankfully I do not have to. And when they come up, it is pretty much cut and dry what happens. And in a short time, I am sure my game group and I will have the rules pretty much nailed down. But just getting back in the universe populated by dragons, sorcerers, and fighters is just so nostalgic for me. I love the archetypical fantasy setting D&D games invoke. This is some great stuff! I am hoping to bring my enthusiasm to our gaming sessions and make some new dragon slaying memories with my good friends. Despite the low tech of roleplaying, nothing is better than getting around a table with your friends, moving miniatures, rolling dice, and seeing what lies behind that locked dungeon door.
After watching the Ex Illis game demo and the release of the iPad, I have concluded that like it or not, the merging of our hobby games and the computerized world is inevitable. While I may not be on board with this idea totally (considering how much of a gadget geek I am, this is shocking) I think someone integrating the two mediums correctly is only a matter of time. Hell, I am already sort of doing it with iBodger on my iPhone. With that app, I can create and store WARMACHINE/HORDES army lists, access and the Battle College entry for any unit, and reference any rules errata/clarifications on the PP forums. D&D has their tool, D&Di, as a gaming aid for players to either play their rpg online or use their laptops at the gaming table. And who hasn't used Army Builder or Tabletop Commander? And there is a huge fan base of Vasal players playing all sorts of games. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg of what I am referring to.
The iPad
I have seen several game apps for the iPad and they look awesome. The developers really took advantage of the hardware inside this device. But, those are games for the iPad itself. How would the iPad impact our hobby games?
Just think back to this past weekend. I had a backpack full of dice, books, laptop, pens, paper, character sheets and other gaming gear. Now imagine if we all had iPads. All of the D&D books would ( well, potentially could) be viewable on the iPad. No need to lug all that weight around! And not just the books I brought with me, I can have my entire D&D library at my fingertips. Pencils? Character Sheets? No need. Just input on the iPad or have the character gen app do it for you. Laptop to access online material? No need there either. iPad can access the same content. No need for dice, either. There is an app for that! I have one on my iPhone, actually. Anyways, you get the picture. I know this may sound like an iPad sales pitch, it is not. I'm not sure you can even get the D&D books for the iPad yet. The potential is there, though. I'm just trying to illustrate my point about the two mediums integrating.
One Step Further
I think that as long as there are tech geeks who game (not that there are many of those :-) people will continue to invent ways of combing the virtual world with the real world. I am sure even now that some MIT geek is working on the Star Wars holographic chess game that you had better let the Wookie win. Look at the Nintendo Wii. I think that is the closest we will get to the Matrix before we have to implant VR ports into the backs of our necks! In researching this, I came across many examples of man and machine, but not until recently did I find any directly related to hobby gaming. Here are a few links to illustrate what I mean:
The first is close to home for us, as it is D&D on the Microsoft Surface platform.
And to be fair, here is a link to the Ex Illis game demo (Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz)
Eye of Judgement, a PS3 game utilizing the PS3 Eye. Think Yu Gi Oh or Pokemon!
Eye of Judgement
Here is the Avatar game version along the same lines as Eye of Judgement. Yeah, warjacks!
Avatar
Lastly, this example is the closest I think to best integrating what we play. It is called "augmented reality". If you don't check out any of the others, please look at this one. Imagine playing a game of WARMACHINE like this!
SCOPE
So you see the potential is there, just that the technology is just not refined enough yet to make it affordable, graceful, and fun. I am certain in time someone will be the first to really nail this technology as a game system and create a new market for hobby gaming.
As for me, I'll stick to old skool. Computers have taken over so many aspects of our lives, the table top battlefield is one where I prefer they remain blissfully absent.
