Loot-O-Matic: A Couple Of Tweaks, And More To Come

Loot-O-Matic: Try new Magic Zero

With all of my recent work on Talents within Tunnels and Trolls it seems that I
"may" have got a little distracted and, put the Loot-O-Matic on the back burner. I've not forgotten it though. In fact I have had a few more thoughts on it and, how I'd like to tweak it even further.

My first thought is to create two standard initial tables. Both set to the silver standard, one offering magical treasure, one not. The reasoning behind this is that whilst a solitaire player may want the opportunity to loot the occasional magical item from fallen foes, a GM using a random generator probably doesn't want to distribute magical objects willy-nilly. Of course the GM could just ignore any magical treasure rolled up but, that tips the balance of the table as I have written it. It just wouldn't be fair.

So, the idea that I am working with at the moment will increase the general value of non-magical treasure rolled (on the non-magical table), whilst maintaining balance if magical treasure is a possibility. It's still a work in progress but I should have something to post up soon enough.

Secondly I have been giving some consideration to the coins used in the game world. More accurately who mints them? There are guidelines in the original treasure generator as to who uses what but, I am thinking more along the lines of the real world issues surrounding currency. I mean, you can't spend Dollars in the UK anymore than you can spend GBP's in the US. Now when dealing with valuable metals this is less of a concern but it's unlikely that Elves will be all that interested in a handful of Iron coins when the standard that they deal in is Silver pieces.

To this ends I am generating a series of mint tables (one for each type of coin) that you can roll on optionally to determine the coins origin. When spending the coin with the Kindred that minted it, say Iron coins with Orcs, it is worth it's face value. When spending the same coin with a Kindred that didn't mint it but do use it, say Goblins, it is worth 3/4 it's face value. If you try to spend that same coin with a Kindred that neither minted it or generally uses it, it'll only be worth half it's face value.

This is all still very much at the drawing board stage however, but updated tables for the type of treasure being generated (replacements for the 7.5 initial treasure table) shouldn't be too far away, replacing the the replacement that I originally posted here.

We also now have a Loot-O-Matic tag that'll make finding posts on this subject much easier.. Which I should have done a lot sooner.

Going Solo #0: Munchkin

It's not often that I start a new feature with entry zero (in fact this is a first in our short but eventful history) but, upon surmising to myself what I wanted to achieve with "Going Solo", I realised that I already effectively had an entry for it.

Whilst the ultimate goal of this feature is to create solitaire versions of games, that compare closely to the original in both play-style and mechanics (not just another game that uses the same components but has nothing more to do with the original than that), the solitaire Munchkin variant that I created wasn't half bad.

It was pretty basic and in hindsight a little clunky, but it worked. Either way, I dare say that I will revisit it in time with fresh eyes and new ideas as I am quite the Munchkin fan. For now though, I say let sleeping dogs lie.

Loot-O-Matic: Coins Of Different Kinds

Following on from my previous post where I set out to "fix" the 7.5 random treasure generator issue of spitting wealth at you like a broken ATM, I have got as far as tweaking the coinage. Here's what I have so far:

Money Table (2D6, DARO)

2-9: Iron (Worth 0.01SP each)

10-16: Steel (Worth 0.1SP each)

17-22: Copper (Worth 0.1SP each)

23-27: Orichalum (Worth 0.2SP each)

28-31: Bronze (Worth 0.5SP each)

32-34: Silver (Worth 1SP each)

35-36: Gold (Worth 10SP each)

37+: Mithril (Worth 100SP each)

When rolling for the amount of coins, roll 3D6, TARO.
All coins weigh 1WU each.

Anyone with the original 7.5 rulebook will notice that I have made some considerable changes. I have altered the value of the coins, how many coins you get, as well as removing some completely.

I like the idea of the monsters in Trollworld running under a seperate currency, so I kept the Iron and Steel pieces but the idea of Elven Silver and Trollish Gold seemed a little too specific to me. I was also at a loss as to why they were worth so much on the original table. What can you actually do to silver to increase its value by a factor of 50!? I've also recast the role of Orichalum, which is now the new "2 Copper Piece" instead of the extremely rare mythical metal of Atlantis. I just figured that with Mithril being available, do I really need another thin on the ground resource? Mithril's cool enough. :0).

At this point I should probably point out that whilst the treasure may seem to have gone from one extreme to another (bountiful to pitiful), this table and the one in my previous post were created with a method of treasure generation slightly different from the norm in mind.

Players now roll 1D6 for every 10 MR that their opponent had (or fraction of 10) and, any D6 that rolls within the monsters "range" allows one roll on the random treasure generator. So a MR 40 beastie might allow up to 4 rolls on the generator! (Possibly 5 if that were 41).

The only problem with the "range" idea is that beyond Buffalo Castle, I can't think of any solo that uses the range mechanic. Of course I could be wrong. Either way it's not a problem for three reasons:

1 - I plan to work my way through every solo I can lay my hands on and assign ranges, posting them up here.

2 - I also plan to create a generic list of all monsters commonly found in Trollworld; adding ranges; which should cover most of what I miss with point one.

3 - A new feature I'm working on called the Wandering Monster Stable will give you themed wandering monster tables; including ranges; that you can insert into any solo you already happen to own that uses the wandering monster mechanic. The idea being that you can season your solo's to taste. :0).

Loot-O-Matic

The Loot-O-Matic from Grimtooth Industries

Some people ponder the big questions. Why are we here? Where are we going?
What would happen if I taped a piece of toast to a cats back butter-side up and dropped it? Not me though, I'm pondering how my solitaire adventures through Trollworld compare to other peoples and, given a choice which random treasure generator would you use?

There are a lot of fine choices out there. From the bog standard generators that come with the rules (which we'll be focusing on in this post), on-line generators, generators from other systems that you can convert to Tunnels and Trolls, your own homebrew creations that best represent your own vision of Trollworld and, of course the fine generators that can be found in Elder Tunnels.

Personally given a choice between 5.5 and 7.5, I prefer the generator in the latter. Not that there's anything wrong with the 5.5 generator.. It's just not as interesting. It produces coins, jewels and, jeweled items. That's it!

7.5 however can produce all of that (in greater variation) plus weapons, armor, potions and, other magical bits and bobs. Which sounds great, in theory. The only problem is that it can go a bit (and for a bit, read WAY) overboard in the net worth of the treasure it dishes out, in one case handing a 1st level character a necklace worth in excess of 23,000... Yeah.. Just a "bit" overboard.

Other than it's Mad Hatter nature though, it's a good generator, so what to do? Enter homebrewing to fix an error that should have frankly been glaringly obvious from the word get go, the first table.

The first table in the 7.5 rulebook makes it just as likely that you'll roll jewels as coins, with a separate entry for jeweled items, meaning that it is now four times more likely that you'll find jewels of some description when compared to 5.5 and, twice as likely that you'll find jewels instead of coins.. Which common sense would tell you just isn't right.

My solution

Replace the first table in the book with the following one:

2D6 DARO

2-7: Money [See Money Table]

8-12: Weapon [See Weapon Table]

13-16: Armor [See Armor Table]

17-19: Jewels [See Jewels Table]

20-21: Jewelry [See Jewelery Table]

22+: Potion [See Potion Table]

Admittedly it's only a start but it I feel it goes a long way towards "fixing" the generator. Given time I will probably end up modifying all of the 7.5 tables along the same lines and, maybe introduce a few other McGuffins such as mundane items and a more robust et of tables for generating magical items.

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.

Castle Panic: Finally At The Table

A lot later than expected, and just a quick posting but I finally managed to get a game of Castle Panic in, and well it was awesome.

When I sat down to read through the rules, I knew that my first run through, tonights session, would be a solo affair and the rule book promised me quite a challenge. It wasn't kidding! The monster descended upon the walls of the castle pretty damn fast but despite the horde, all was was going reasonably well until I lost close to half of my walls and towers within the space of a couple of turns.

To say it was looking bad was an understatement.

Thanks to a couple of lucky draws, it didn't take too long to turn the tide of battle though, and a few turns later I had replaced all of the lost walls. Just a shame that I couldn't do anything about the lost towers.

The game kept pace from then on in up until a point where I had most of my walls wiped (again) with monsters continually being thrown into the same couple of arcs in some weird twist. Whilst this wasn't too bad from a strategic point of view, it did result in just under a third of the draw deck being useless for the better part of the game. Maybe that'll even out over time though.

This kind of flow, along with a fairly consistent pace (save a couple of surges) meant that victory came rather easily, but I can't help but think with how easily all of those walls fell early on into the game, combined with the fact that I only had two walls (one of which was reinforced mind) and one tower remaining, that this game has a lot of challenge left in it.

It's certainly no Elder Sign.

If you don't own it, buy it! Like Settlers, this is one title that should be in EVERY gaming collection.

Alchemy Bytes #32: WINNING!

Following on from previous posting on the excellent Castle Panic, I decided to have a look over the Fireside Games website to see what else they might have to wet my gaming whistle.

Then I found this. A free print-and-play game of Sheenisms! WINNING!! A free game that I just had to share.

Although I do notice that Fireside Games have made yet another typographical screw-up (which is becoming something of a theme), labeling the web page as "Fireside Games - Bloodsuckers Card Game". Another one of their fine products, but nothing to do with Charlie Sheen.. I hope.

Still, typo's or no typo's, the products are still great, and that's the main thing. :0).

First Look: Castle Panic

Well, the time is almost upon me and the green skins are gathering amidst the trees. Thinking we cannot see them as we hurry our work upon the bastions along. The Panic will soon be upon us.

By which I mean that all being well, either tonight or tomorrow I will be taking my first shot at the tower defense come board game, Castle Panic. Carrying on the theme of firsts, I wanted to share my first impressions of the game with you all before even the first card is drawn.

As you have probably guessed from my previous posts, I LOVE the look of this game, and I had very high expectations of what was to come from the word go. Expectations that I can fairly say have been delivered upon from the moment I cracked open the box.

Unlike a lot of modern games that come with die-cut card components, the pieces in Castle Panic come pre-punched. Which is a big plus for me, as I have lost track of the countless hours (literally in the case of Descent 1st Edition) that I have lost popping games from their sprues before I could even entertain the idea of sitting down to look over the rule book. By which point I have usually given up the ghost and shelved the game for another day.

Looking over the interior of the box, I also notice that ample space has been left around the compartment designed for holding the games cards, so that if you wanted to protect them with card sleeves, you could and they'd still happily fit back in the box. That said, if you can't be bothered the space isn't so large that components are going to rattle around loose. That's good design!

All in all, I have to say that I think the folks over at Fireside Games have done a cracking job, with the only fall down points in the whole game being some of the simple typographical errors that have been overlooked, one of which can really mess with game balance if you happen to read it wrong. Which is a shame.

The error in question comes from the "Brick" and the "Mortar" cards, that both instruct you that if you have the other, you may play them both and build a wall. As the text is written however, it suggests that each card allows you to build a wall, instead of the two cards only giving you one wall. A small error but a significant one. The rules do clear this up but I still thought it was worth mentioning.

So there we have it. My first impressions are good, going on great. How will it all play out? Well there's only one way to find out!

Alchemy's Wokbench #8: Kill The Monsters. Steal The Treasure. Stab Yourself In The Back?

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am working on a way of playing the Munchkin card game solo.

This is largely because I am a HUGE fan of the product line (with a sizable collection to boot), but there just isn't the player base where I live, and I have to get my Munchkin kick somehow. Normally this would mean Munchkin Quest, which is a great game, but what about those times when you want to kick in a door, kill a monster, and steal his loot at 3am in the morning or, on a rainy day or, as is most common with our gaming group, when everyone else is on a different shift pattern to you?

It makes getting a game in nigh on impossible but there must be some kind of solution. Right?

Well, I am a firm believer that nearly ANY game can be played solo. You just need to take a good long look at it and then get creative! Munchkin was no exception. I also believe that when creating a solo play version of a game, it should mirror the original in its theme and goals, else what you are actually doing is creating a new game, using the same components.

The first thing I needed to do was concisely breakdown the goal of Munchkin, which I would describe as "Reach level X before your opponent(s) do". So by nature it's a race game essentially, which makes it amazingly simple to convert. It also makes it incredibly easy to tweak once converted to either increase or, decrease the difficulty. Awesome!

So without further ado, I present:

Munchkin: solo

Compatable with all major Munchkin releases.

 Components: Nothing beyond the norm. The solo version of Munchkin has been designed so that you won't need to raid your gaming shelf BUT, it does run on the assumption that you are playing Epic Munchkin (because what true Munchkin wouldn't want to play to level 20!?), so if you are using standard level counters, you may want to retire them in favor of a couple of D20's.

Set-Up: Before dealing yourself your starting hand, deal out six piles of ten Room cards in front of you, and directly below each of these piles, deal a pile of ten Treasure cards (for a grand total of 60 Room cards and 60 Treasure cards across 12 piles).

Flip the top card of every Room pile so that it is visible and, now deal out your starting hand.

Play: Munchkin is played normally with the following exceptions:

• When you would "Kick Open A Door" you instead choose to encounter the top card visible on any of the Room piles.

• If you do not encounter a Monster you may "Look For Trouble" as normal or, "Loot The Room". If you do so, the face-up cards on the top each pile are considered face-down for the purposes of looting the room (and for all other reasons during the game, they're flexible like that).

• If you are forced into "Charity", you simply discard the cards regardless of whom is actually the lowest level player.

• After the "Charity" phase, your opponent automatically gains a level and, your next turn begins straight away.

• Curses that would cause your opponent to lose a level still do so and may be played at any time but, curses that have any other effect other than reducing your opponents level, such as "Lose One Small Item", instead prevent your opponent from automatically leveling up at the end of your turn.

• For the purposes of all cards, you are considered to be alone and unable to ask for help.

Winning: The player wins if they reach level X before their opponent but, as with standard Munchkin, the last level can only be gained by slaying a monster.

Alchemy Bytes #30: Castle Panic In Action

Alchemy Bytes hits the big 3-0 in style, showcasing one of my latest purchases. Now how does that look for fun!?

Plunder For The Cave #3: Even More From My Friendly Local Gaming Store

On top of my recent thrift store purchases, I have also added a couple of items to my gaming collection courtesy of my friendly local gaming store. Not the huge haul that I picked up last time, but still a couple of solid gold additions.

The first new item is Munchkin: Apocalypse, which I didn't even know existed until I spied it in the new arrivals area in-store, which was a real surprise given that I had been surfing the Munchkin website only two days previous and I saw no sign of it. Although I picked it up without hesitation (and indeed the small pack of bonus cards that have been released for it with, quote-unquote "Radioactive Dice"), I am not entirely convinced by my purchase.

Whilst I like the concept of the release, upon flicking through the cards, I am not entirely convinced that Steve Jackson Games have done it true justice. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad, and the addition of the "Seven Seals" special rule is a nice touch. I just would have liked to have seen greater variety in the beasties and disasters. I mean, how many different ways can you think of (both natural and otherwise) of the world ending?

Flaming Meteor, The Black Hole Machine, Mega Tsunami, Volcanic Eruptions, Kaiju on the Rampage, Solar Flare, Viral Warfare, Rise of the Machines, Nuclear War, Alien Invasion, Another Ice-Age, Zombies... It's a long list. A long list that isn't particularly well represented. Still, being a Munchkin game, there will without a doubt be expansions, so there is still time for all of this to come into play I guess.

My other purchase was a copy of Castle Panic, which has recently come back into production after what seems like an age of unavailability. I have been seeking a copy of this for a while and have on a couple of occasions been met with the frustration of the expansion being available in-store, but with no chance of being able to order in a copy of the base game. So suffice to say that when I saw this in the new arrivals area, I snapped it up in an instance that The Flash would have missed if he had blinked.

Whilst I am yet to have a read through of the rules, I am already loving this game. The die-cut pieces come pre-punched, and according to what I have flicked through in the rules, the game can be played solo, co-operative or, competitively. That's a sizable achievement for such a small box! I can see this game getting a LOT of table time in the years to come.

Play Report: Shadows Over Camelot: The Card Game - Game #1, Quest #1

Well I have put a couple of posts up about it of late but, tonight marks my first time actually sitting down, breaking the seal and, playing me a game of Shadows Over Camelot - The Card Game.

Not having played the original board game, I couldn't tell you how they compare but speaking for the card game alone, I can say that it is well worth the money and, that despite the fact that I was playing solo, it was still tense.

For the purposes of a play report on a memory game, I decided to note down the cards once I had committed myself to a quest (because writing them all down as I went along would be cheating frankly). So here goes!

My first quest that I embarked upon was for Excalibur. It was a middle of the road quest, granting two swords if I was successful and I had seen a couple of high value Excalibur cards go down as I worked my way through the deck. I had seen a couple of high value Saxon cards pass too but Merlin effects where going to remove those (or at least so I figured), so this seemed like a fairly safe bet.

There was a Morgan card in play that forced me to count cards aloud as I played (which really messed with my mental count) but I felt pretty confident in my decision as her effects hadn't been in play too long and, I couldn't have lost track of what had passed by that much. Could I?

As it turns out, no, but it was close! One more point in the quest for Excalibur and it would have been a failure. Still, a win is a win and none of the other quests reached the failure threshold either, netting me two white swords and no black ones. A good start.

But what does the realm of Camelot have in store for our valiant knights and their new and shiny sword?

Alchemy Bytes #23: Shadows Over Camelot: The Card Game - Video Review

Following on from my recent post I found this stellar video that gives a good overview of how to play the Shadows Over Camelot Card Game but, however leaves me with one question still unanswered, just how on earth is a game with such a strong focus on interaction supposed to play solo?

Plunder For The Cave #2: More Goodies!

In addition to the recent purchase of a rather awesome box of Skeleton Warriors, that I am REALLY looking forward to getting up and running, I also picked up a few other goodies worth noting.

There is a lot of sweet terrain to pick through in my local gaming store but, one small pack had caught my eye a few trips back and the purchase of the Skeleton Warriors gave me the perfect excuse (as if I needed one) to invest in it.

The pack in question contained a staggering 44 assorted gravestones for a meager £8! Throw in a hairy grass mat and that's pretty much a graveyard right there (although I'd like a mausoleum or two as well).

Renedra,who produce these gravestones are the same folks that were able to outfit me with 90 bases for only £5! As far as value to quality ratios go, these folks give you a lot for your money, which is always a good thing and, as far as the actual quality goes, I certainly have no complaints.

On top of all the modeling goodness, I also decided to pick up a copy of the Shadows Over Camelot Card Game by Days of Wonder. As well as the evocative box art, I was also drawn in by the promise that it could be played solitaire.. The fact that my copy came with the free promotional expansion (giving me a couple of extra cards that look like they'll really change the game) also certainly didn't hurt my decision making process in this either.

Although I have only had a chance for a quick flick through the rules, I have to say that I am quite impressed with what I have seen so far. At it's core, it appears to be a fairly basic memory game but, despite the typical Days of Wonder simplicity it actually opens up and encourages (and kinda doesn't work without) fairly deep roleplaying opportunities.

This should be an interesting one to bring to the table but, quite how a game that depends so heavily on roleplay will fair solitaire I really do not know. I sure plan on finding out though, and soon!

Alchemy Bytes #22: STAY ALIVE!

 

Ever wondered just how well you'd handle the zombie apocalypse? Well now you can find out!

The very talented Jerry Teleha is premiering his debut play-by-post solo adventure, Campus Chaos over at his new blog. Every post gives you the chance to vote on the course the story will take as you assume the role of Officer Mickey, a lone officer charged with the security at the local gaming convention.

Will you succeed in the gamers at the convention, whose knowledge of zombie B-Movies may be your only hope or, will it be case of every officer for themselves when hell literally breaks out in Toledo!?

As if frat boys weren't bad enough at the best of times! Check it out, cast your vote and, above all, STAY ALIVE!

Plunder For The Cave #1

Plunder for the cave will be the new catch all title for posts relating to new items that I have added to my gaming collection. Whether that be miniatures, board games, source books or, other miscellaneous gaming goodies.

If the guide at Google has sent you my way and you'd like to know more about what you see in the collection, feel free to post up a comment or a question and, I will get back to you as soon as possible.

New additions this week:

Dungeon Fighter: The time between this catching my eye after walking through the door of my friendly local gaming store and deciding that I HAD to have it would have been missed by The Flash if he'd blinked.

The appeal was instant. A goofy dungeon crawl with a sense of humor bordering on the insane. A game that literally on occasion instructs you to close your eyes and throw your dice between your legs.. Yeah, I had to have it. :0).

Although I think that it is unlikely that this game will see massive amounts of table time with the group, I know that with the right guys, every session will be a blast. The game also offers a solo play option, too so even if it doesn't see too much group play I know that I'll certainly be breaking it out every now and again.

Peryton Fantasy Roleplaying Game: This was another instance of seeing an item and knowing that I had to have it (there's a theme starting to develop here).

The guys over at Peryton Publishing are a great bunch and this really is a fantastic product. So far I have only had the time to give it a quick flick through but, for anyone familiar with D&D 3.5 and the OGL it should be a breeze to run.

From the outset though I can state three things without a doubt.

1: The artwork is sweet!

2: The layout is bang on!

3: There is more here than just your standard OGL product. Much more! 

So, considering what you have here could easily be considered a replacement for the trio of 3.5 manuals, with a more old-school feel, at a fraction of the cost, I cannot recommend you picking up this product more highly. It's a lot of bang for your buck.

Pirate Versus Pirate: Another item that I had been eyeballing for sometime but couldn't decide whether to buy or not was Pirate Versus Pirate by Out of The Box.

I was certainly drawn in by the Kovalic art but in all honesty pirates aren't really my thing. I know a lot of people where the mere mention of pirates alone would have had them running game in hand to the till but, that's just really not me. I much prefer a dungeon crawl (as you may have well guessed by now) and, even when I play sci-fi games there is an underlying crawl element. After all, Space Hulk is little more than a dungeon in space.

All that aside though, I am glad that I bought this game because behind the theme there is a pretty solid strategy game that frankly would work, pirate or no pirate.

The only real problem that I have with the game is the inclusion of dice in a game that encourages and, pretty much relies upon strategic movement. Me being me though, I have thought my way around this one and done away with the dice all together.

So instead of rolling 2D4 for movement each turn, you now simply move a single pirate 5 spaces. This keeps the game balanced but increases the level of strategy involved and, creates a game that plays a lot more like Queen Bee, an abstract strategy favorite of mine. It manages to do this without creating a rule set that moots ownership of both games. Win-win in my books!

A Couple of Reaper Minis: In addition to two new games and a new read, I also picked myself out a couple of new miniatures to indulge myself in my new found love of painting.

So added to the "Going to paint sometime soon" collection I now have Spectre and a Fog Wraith, both by Reaper. Those of you who know me pretty well will no doubt know that I really dig Undead and Demonic miniatures, so the fact that I am really looking forward to painting these shouldn't come as too much of a surprise.

That's all the plunder for the plunder that I have to show you for the moment but, I do hope to be adding more soon and, giving each of these items a post to call their own.

Links

Dungeon Fighter by Cranio Creations.
Peryton Fantasy Roleplaying Game by Peryton Publishing.
Pirate Versus Pirate by Out Of The Box.
Reaper.

Alchemy's Workbench #5: Hulk On Hold

Just a quick update on my little side-project of combining the Dungeons and Dragons Adventure Game System and, Space Hulk to create a truly solitaire experience in the grim darkness of a Tyranid infested hulk.

It's probably not the update that you were all looking for though.

As I have SO many projects on the go at the moment, I have decided to shelve both this and the Diablo II conversion project until a couple of others are completed and, I can give them the due attention that they both deserve.

In the short-term, I have decided that the best number of projects for me to be working on without the risk of getting hopelessly side-tracked is probably two to three. Picking the three with so many pots on the boil was a hard one though but, I have decided to run with the following:

• The Dungeon Masters Series: I'm halfway now and I have really enjoyed working on this one, so there was no way that this one was going to get put on-hold when it's running so well.

• Flashpoint: This is a project that I have had sitting around for a few months that is pretty much in it's final stages now. Unlike my other projects however, this will be a salable product that can be yours for all of a dollar.. What is it though? Oh, it's just the only set of miniatures rules you'll ever need. ;0).. And I'm looking for a distributor.

More on this one to come.

• Assorted Painting and Modeling Projects: I have a whole bunch of miniatures and terrain (some my own, some that I'm doing as favors to other folks) that I am painting up when I have some time to spare, as well as a number of models that I am building from scratch.

These represent some of the only time that I am spending away from my laptop of late, so I certainly wasn't going to can them!

That said though, I certainly intend to showcase some of my finished works here. I may even lend a helping paintbrush in the future to folks who need it (I don't charge by the way but a few miniatures thrown my way as a thank you never goes a miss. ;0))

So, that's where I stand at the moment. Lots of stuff going on to the back burner.. But only until I have time and space for them.

Where's The Doctor when you need him?

The Solo Dungeon: An Odd Specimin

What on earth is that adventurer doing!?

I found this little obscurity whilst doing some research into early gamebooks, which has now been made freely available by the author, Richard A. Bartle, here.

But why call it odd? Why call it an obscurity?

Well at the date of publication (1978) the only solitaire adventures I am aware of being out there (and I could be wrong) where designed to be run with the Tunnels and Trolls rule set, yet in the introduction the author states that this adventure was written for use with "the most widely used, Fantasy, Character Role-playing rules which most of you will be using". By which I assume he means Dungeons and Dragons.

So it's certainly odd and obscure in the sense that it would appear to be a one of it's kind at the time of publication with another Dungeons and Dragons solo not to follow it for another 5 years but, I also find it odd that it doesn't simply just mention the system by name.

Personally, I smell a licensing issue. He does sight the adventure as using "D&D Type Rules" at the bottom of the page here that links to the Online version now but, it does seem odd that he didn't say as much back in the day.

So, there you have it at any rate, a freely available solitaire adventure for old-school Dungeons and Dragons for your downloading pleasure.

Alchemy Bytes #17: Solo Dungeoneer

A blog that has recently caught my eye is Solo Dungeoneer, which I came across by chance when looking over one of my regular reads, The Lone Delver.

Whilst the blog still lacks a lot in the way of content at the moment, the pace of posting has picked up recently and what has been written is simply put, great! In particular, the authors work on streamlining the Mythic system is quite impressive and, when compared to the source material, is a vast improvement and far more user friendly.

Also of note has to be the authors work on taking Tunnels and Trolls in new and interesting directions.

Well worth a read if you have a few minutes to spare.

Alchemy's Workbench #2: Further Thoughts on A.I

I really have to say a big thank you to Jerry for being such a great sounding board on this one and, his comments have really got me mulling over just how I will handle the A.I in my solo player version of Space Hulk.

Whilst I quite like the method that the Dungeons & Dragons Adventure System uses to handle enemy movement and action, it becomes very easy from a player point of view to exploit when you always know exactly what your enemy will do in any given situation.

It's like attracting your enemies in a first person shooter and then camping around a corner. Knowing full well that they will just walk on over blindly, only to have both barrels of a sawed-off shotgun pumped into them at point blank range.

It's just not realistic and, it's certainly nothing like playing against another human being.

Then again, the only real alternative card driven A.I out there, found in Gears of War may be more unpredictable but, it's random and, random A.I is really no kind of A.I at all.

Both of them also really fail in taking into account the mind of a gamer too.

Strategies change based on who you're playing against, how experienced you are and, the situation at hand. All of which should be considered when designing the games A.I. Even if there is an optimal strategy, there is no guarantee it will be used or even spotted by a player or, that it will be relevant to every single game. Maybe not even the next game.

All of this as you can imagine is proving quite interesting food for thought. Can a board game ever truly have a functional and realistic A.I?