If you're looking for roleplaying games this generation the Nintendo DS has, without doubt, the largest selection. The latest entry in this list is Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans. Based on Akira Toriyama's works of the same name, the game follows the adventures of the "Z Fighters" from the final chapter of Dragon Ball through the first chapter of Dragon Ball Z with a few additions just for this game.
The sideboard from the Innsmouth Horror expansion for Arkham Horror. Note the Deep One Uprising track on the lower right hand side of the board, which has caused us no end to headaches.
The Innsmouth Horror expansion for Arkham Horror showed up under the Geek Tree this holiday season, and the day after Christmas some friends and I broke it out for a Saturday afternoon horrorfest.
It's an impressive expansion. Unlike our last expansion, The Black Goat of the Woods, this one is a full expansion with its own sideboard for the village of Innsmouth. Innsmouth adds 12 new locations (along with their own location decks), 16 new characters, 12 new Great Old Ones, story quests for characters (including the base game, and the expansions), and a new Deep Uprising mechanic.
In November I had the chance to do something I’ve never done before: play Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition. Technically that’s not true – I’ve played D&D 4E plenty of times as a Dungeon Master, including my gaming group’s playtest campaign. But I’ve never sat at the table as a D&D 4E player.
The last time the Blackrazor Guild played D&D 4E, it was a paragon level playtest. I was the GM, and I found it incredibly frustrating. Our initial run had been at the heroic tier; paragon seemed to only add to the complexity of the game. Coupled with Player’s Handbook 2 classes like the wild mage, I felt like the game was getting bogged down in an endless stream of if/then statements. It was like spaghetti code turned into an RPG, and by the end of the session, I was done. If we played again, I wanted to be on the other side of the screen.
Quilleron is my second-ever character for D&D 4E (Field General Zhoran, a dwarven warlord, was my first) and the first I was able to run as a player. He was designed as a giant-killer for my gaming group's Revenge of the Giants campaign. You can read more about my thoughts on returning to D&D 4E in "D&D 4th Edition: A Player's Persepctive".
My review of the Galaxy at War source book for Star Wars Saga Edition is up at GameCryer.com.
As I mentioned in the review, this book's timing couldn't be better for my campaign. After a year of operating on the fringe, with half the group training to become Jedi, and the other forming a transportation company, our heroes are about to get caught up in the Mandalorian Wars. This phase of the campaign could easily last 6-12 months, and having a source book dedicated to war -- be it martial species, new war-time feats, a rank and privileges system, myriad one-shot mini adventures and an entire space/battle station chapter -- is a great help. Read the review.
We all knew it was just a matter of time until the zombies rose up from their graves, the sickly-sweet smell of confectioners sugar still clinging to their rotting forms, and attacked the neighborhood gingerbread church. Or at least, we should have.
This gingerbread diorama features a gingerbread church surrounded by the newly risen undead, and a handful of survivors. It cheats a bit -- the zombies and survivors aren't made from candy (unlike, say, the spectacle of Helm's Deep) but I'll forgive them that indiscretion given that they included a classic Jeep CJ-5. It looks like they used confectioners sugar and icing for the snowscape, and I have no idea what the trees are made of. All in all, it looks great ... and makes me think I really need to ramp up my own gingerbread efforts next year...
Of course, it wasn't enough to recreate the Battle of Helm's Deep in candy. The brilliant, creative minds behind that project had to go and make The Battle of Pelennor Fields ... in candy.
It's got it all -- the white icing walls of Minas Tirith, the black licorice corpse of the Witch King's mount. Gumdrop elephant war machines. A functional battering ram made entirely of licorice. A green marshmellow garden. And, of course, a heck of a lot of candy orcs. It's an amazing project, and I hope they follow it up with some other confection creation this year.
Every year at Christmas time I spend the better part of two weeks re-watching The Lord of the Rings trilogy in all of its extended glory. But I could be making far better use of my time, say rebuilding the Battle of Helm's Deep in candy. This post first made its round in 2007, but the glory of this sweet, sweet build is worth revisiting.
The walls of the great fortress are made from Jolly Ranchers and Smarties. The orc legions are comprised of Gummi Bears. Sour Patch Kids represent the corpses of the humans and elven defenders. There's licorice rope, Starburst stairs, Nerd gravel and much, much more. So much more that you really need to go and see it yourself.
The Innsmouth Horror expansion for Arkham Horror -- my Birthday/Christmas present from my family -- arrived today.
It's taken up its place of honor underneath the Greek Tree, where it will remain until Saturday, Dec. 26 when the Blackrazors convene to repel the Deep One invasion that threatens to rock New England.
Naturally, we intend to bring as much firepower to bear on the problem as possible, as witnessed by the arrival of the Imperial AT-AT and Slave 1 at the top of the photograph.