Geeks Do It Better #1: It Starts.

Following on from the success of my now semi-retired (but still ever ready for action) feature, DMotivational, Geeks Do It Better will continue to wave the banner of Geek humor here on Alchemy hill. Minus the restrictive format of the demotivational poster... Which opens the door to a lot of new material, today's being lovingly purloined from the Being a Geek Farcebook page.

 So what do you think guys? Do we have a winner?

Race For The Galaxy: The Rise And Fall Of An Empire

I just got through playing my first game of Race For The Galaxy solo, and wow,
it's almost like the real thing! Often you find that when you play a game that was intended for group play solitaire, it just feels "wrong". Like it's lacking something. Which really wasn't the case here.

Furthermore, playing against the robot makes for a great challenge. Even with a considerable number of lucky draws, rolls and, being two cards ahead upon ending the game, I still lost! Only by two VP in fairness but, I had an amazing tableau. A set-up that if I'd achieved in a group game, I would have expected to win with.

Winning isn't everything though and, I do love a good challenge. The cards as they came out also tell an interesting story, detailing both the rise and fall of an empire.

The Cards

The Robot's Tableau: New Sparta, Contact Specialist, Aquatic Uplift World, Pirate World, Investment Credits, Damaged Alien Factory, Colony Ship, Alien Tech Institute, Alien Robot Sentry.

My Tableau: Alpha Centauri, Mining Robots, Runaway Robots, Exploration Force, New Earth, Mining Conglomerate, Imperium Armaments World, Galactic Survey: SETI, Export Duties, Improved Logistics, Gem World, Plague World.

What story do you see?
In the Robot's Tableau I see a world torn apart by war where the scientists fled to the stars to find a better way of life. On some distant ocean world they found a lost alien factory, that with their knowledge turned into a highly profitable venture. They could only gleam the surface technology but, it was more than enough to fund the colonisation of a new world. A world free of military oppression where the alien technology could both be studied and protect them.

In mine I see a group of mining prospectors trying their luck amongst the stars only to have their mining robots go rogue and flee. In order to limit the damage that they may cause as well as obviously trying to recover their expensive merchandise. Not being able to do this alone, they turn to private military contractors (possibly former military specialists from the fallen New Sparta) to aid them in the recovery process (capture the robots if possible, if not, destroy them).

Upon catching up with the robots they discover that far from going rogue, they had actually detected mineral deposits in another star system so rich that in accordance with their programing they had sought to mine them. This new world would become New Earth and would bring them great wealth. This new bounty would need defending however, so in return for the protection of their new mining conglomerate the mining corporation allowed the private security force that they had hired to use this new world as a base of operations, and as a cache for their black market arms. To hide the activities of this group various legitimate scientific projects were established, such as SETI, with which it was claimed many new world with potential mineral deposits could be found. Although the most likely reason for setting up a deep space radio relay station capable of long-distance communication is likely far more dubious.

An Amazing Response

Only three days in and my own personal quest has sent the hit count for this blog skyward and, evoked an amazing response, attracting well over a hundred hits a day all by itself!

Unfortunately though the book still remains a mystery. So I'm stepping the campaign up a notch, inspired by the actions of a friend.

He asked me if I'd like him to post up a request and a link on a gaming forum he's a member of but that I'm not and, I jumped at the chance. The forum itself was for miniature gaming but given the potential cross-overs it seemed viable that someone might know something.

The more people I ask, the more likely I am to get my answer I figure, so I also posted the quest up at Board Game Geek and, RPG Geek, spreading my net even wider.. Could you help though?

Are you a member of a gaming forum that might be able to help? Do you have a blog and could spare a few column inches? If so, could you post up a link to the original post there and a link to your post there, here as a comment? A bit of an ask I know but it would REALLY help spread the word.

As you can tell, I'm REALLY REALLY determined to find this book again.

Nearly 500 More Hits!

Wow!.. Just Wow!!

It was only a week and a day ago that I sat here thanking you all for your support and, for helping this blog reach 10,000 hits.. And now I'm here doing it again.

The sheer volume of hits that this blog has received this week is nothing short of phenomenal, and it's sure put us a lot closer to 20,000, a lot faster than I could have possibly hoped for.

So again, a big thank you to all my supporters, readers, the guys that hit +1 and, the guys that comment. Without you all this blog would just be me barking at the dark.. And I do enough of that off-line. ;0).

DMotivational #49: This Was The Back-up Plan!?

Spontaneous Roleplay!

So I'm just pottering along, minding my own business, checking my messages, idly thumbing through the news when suddenly I am transported off to scrub land, Arizona.. And I'm a neurosurgeon. A burn out but, hey do I have a way with the ladies. It must be spontaneous roleplay. Probably the best sort.

It all kicked off a couple of days ago when sifting through my Facebook feed, I came across a post from the fine folks over at Peryton Publishing:

You're a small town Sheriff's department in Arizona. You hear from the homeless kook by the 7-11 that Hitler's brain is transported from a pharmaceutical lab in Albuquerque to a hospital in LA by a bike gang. Oddly, the bum has always been a good source of information. There is a sudden surge of calls about UFOs in your area.
What do you and the other players do?

After a couple of jokes I was soon caught up in the flow of the action and, I have to say that even from my limited experience of sitting on the players side of the table, that this will be a session that stays with me.. In a good way.

Check out this exert and, why not check out the Peryton Publishing Facebook page whilst you're at it?

Tom: Dr Vance (Tom) you go to speak with your med-tech, that operates your clinic's portable X-Ray machine. When you come back into the exam room, the boy is gone. You look out in the waiting area, and his aunt is in there reading a magazine, like she is waiting for him.

Me: I call out to my med-tech (let's call her Mary), "Hey Mary, where's the Brubaker boy? I left him here only a minute ago. Dammit! Did he come past you?"

Tom: Mary comes around the corner with the portable X-ray machine humming in front of her as she guides it.
"I thought he was in Exam A?"

Me: "Nope". Dr Vance takes a moment to ponder the situation and caress his fine jaw in an act of passive narcissism. "Well he must be here somewhere. Be a doll and take a look out front would you?" Doctor Vance then proceeds to check Exam A, suspecting that Billy is playing some silly prank or perhaps even playing hide and seek.

Tom: The boy isn't hiding behind the exam couch, nor in the small cabinets beneath the sink. (Draw a playing card, if it's within three from what I've drawn, its a successful saving roll on perception) 

My Own Personal Quest: The Unknown Tome

The year was 1995 (I think) and a trade in the playground led me to the first gamebook I would call my own.. But for the life of me I can't remember what it was called.

It's odd because I can remember so much about the time at hand, even details of the book in question, but for the life of me, I can't recall it's name. Which is a bit of a problem.. Because I want to find it once more.

Which is where I am hoping you guys can come in. Can you help me name that book?

The door on the cover looked something like this, but ajar, as I recall.

From what I remember, the year was 1995 (so I have a rough time-frame for
it's publication) and, the book itself was about A6 in size, quite thin (only about 30-40 small paragraphs with a smattering of pictures) and, paperback (center-stapled). I also remember that the chatter on the playground at the time was that it had come out of a lucky bag.

Inside the book, I remember one key entry where you find a wooden table with a scroll, a bag of coins and, a key (I believe), and the scroll warned you to take only either the key or the coins. If you took both I think you fell in a river or something in the next entry and it was game over. I also vaguely recall the cover reminding me of the entry to Shadowgate castle. Well, retrospectively, as I hadn't played Shadowgate at the time. It was also certainly more cartoony in its style than Shadowgate.

I also VERY vaguely recall this book being numbered 1, so there where potentially a few in the series.. Maybe. That's a sketchy recall at best though.

As you can imagine, I am quite nostalgic about this one, so if you know anything, ANYTHING, I would love to hear from you.