This blog started as journal or diary of sorts to chronicle my first foray. After a some time it became evident to me that this material may be decent enough to create a story. So here I am years later and I've published my first e-book! The story is somewhat timely as the plot has the characters from my RPG adventure fighting the clock to find an antidote for a planet wide pandemic.
It was a process to be sure to get this short story published via Amazon. I learned a ton and the next time doing this sort of project won't be so arduous as most of the ground work is now in place.
So please! Check out my book and drop just a couple of dollars on it and let me know in the comments what you think!
"In a race against the clock - Nureet must transport a precious heirloom across a dangerous stretch of arid desert. The prized possession may hold the secret to curing a planet wide pandemic."
I've been playing a lot of Star Wars Imperial Assault lately with a group of friends every weekend. We usually block a few hours at my buddy's place to play. He has a dedicated games room with a superb boardgame table. Most of the games in his collection take up some real estate with not just the game but all the necessary card decks pieces etc. Imperial Assault has so many things going for it. It's so familiar but different enough to make it unique. Hey - it's STAR WARS after all!
The skill level to play I would personally rate somewhere between novice to medium if you have prior RPG gaming experience. There's some dice mechanics but it's all laid out in your character's card details. You just need to glance at the card once in while to remind yourself of any special abilities that might help you or your companions.
The artwork and game pieces are gorgeous. The owner of this particular set spent the summer individually painting each piece. Talk about leveling up! The characters are an assortment of types just like most other DnD/RPG games where detriments in one particular attribute are made up by others. The Wookie is big and strong, the infantry guy is great in battle, the commander has some extra mental and tactical prowess.
Not all situations encountered are strictly blaster battles. One particular encounter had the team in a canyon and we all had to roll collectively to inflict as much damage to some sort of giant turbo cannon.
The story element reminded me a lot of KOTOR where interactions with non-combatives would yield clues and side missions to gain more XP and gear which is all handled by the 'App'. Our host had it on his iPad mini which was screencasted to a small TV that we could all see. The app controls the game, the turns, the encounters and acts much like a GM. I found this particularly interesting and very inclusive as our host was able to play along side us instead of controlling the game.
The board-game itself is also fascinating. It's actually grid puzzle pieces that are double sided with different environments that fit together in different ways dependent on what part of the adventure you are on.
So there you have it, a great way to spend the winter months with friends in a familiar environment playing out a really cool story that is one part KOTOR and one part SWEOTE played on an ever changing board game map similar to Pathfinder.
I found the BEST board game for children! I happen to be passing through a quaint little tourist town on the north shore of Lake Superior - Grand Marais. There's a great outdoors/hiking/camping store there called the Trading Post which stocks all manner of cottage clothing, fishing, hunting, books, maps and games!
I asked the owner about this game "Dragonwood" that I spotted in the games section. He had heard some pretty amazing reviews from his customers who had purchased it. Taking him at his word I purchased it for my kids.
We were on a camping trip weeks later and broke out the game (still in the shrink wrap). My kids along with some of their cousins took to it like moths to a flame. It was the best $20.00 I spent towards children's entertainment and the kids as well as myself spent hours playing this gem of a game.
Simply put - it's a form of UNO (finding cards of the same colour or a run of numbers or three of kind) and using that determine how many dice you roll to try and capture a creature from "Dragonwood". Each card captured has an assigned point(s) to it. The smaller point cards are easier to capture like the 'fire ants' or 'giggling goblins'. The more difficult cards like the 'pack of wolves' or 'angry bear' require a more die to conquer.
The two ultimate beasts - the Dragons - are the most difficult to capture. Once the two dragons are caught the game is over and players then count their points (based on the creatures captured).
Hours and hours of fun were had with this game. It is great if you aspire to have your kids get into more difficult games as it provides the foundation of dice mechanics. 10 out 10!
