Category Archives: Reviews

Duel Decks: Merfolk vs. Goblins Review

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Once again, we sat down with Lauri and played some games with the decks as is. I found these much better than the last ones (Mind vs. Might), which just weren’t in any way interesting to play, but let’s look at them a little deeper before judging them.

So, why are they fighting exactly? I mean, Goblins live in the mountains and merfolk live in the sea. They might not really like each other, but I don’t think they have much of a reason to fight in general, because of their different habitats. The merfolk seem to be the aggressors here, because they have nine different ways to change lands into Islands. I guess they need more room for… some reason.

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Quick Word About Mutant Chronicles

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I recently downloaded the free quickstart for 3rd edition of Mutant Chronicles from Drivethrurpg. I knew about its successful Kickstarter-campaign and have been fan of franchise since the days of Doomtrooper way back in the 90s. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the quickstart and to learn that Jay Little of all people was behind the development of the core rules. I was even thinking about getting to know the system and GMing it. But then I bought two sourcebooks for brewing ideas…

I like buying roleplaying books. I think most gamers do. I have shifted from physical products to PDFs mainly to save space and a little money but still like to expand my collection. Usually the books I buy deal more with the flavor and ideas than actual rules. But this time I feel mislead. Twice. Continue reading →

Trying Out: Commander 2017

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Last night we gathered together to try out the new Magic the Gathering pre-constructed Commander decks. Four players, four decks and about four hours of fun! In this post I will be summarising our experiences on the playability of the pre-constructed decks and share our initial feeling about how it all went.

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Trying Out: Mansions of Madness

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Mansions of Madness is one of the games I have avoided intentionally. I had a presumption about it being a dull game of overly complicated gaming system and too much fighting the Mythos. Luckily yesterday proved I was wrong. After visiting a few local caves with Santtu and Sami we headed to my place and I got to try out the second edition of Mansions of Madness by Fantasy Flight Games.

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Review: Würm RPG

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Having just finished Far Cry: Primal I am totally in the mood for a Palaeolithic and tribal roleplaying. Searching for a game suitable for this kind of a story proved more difficult though than I had anticipated. After coming into conclusion that either was no such game or none of them were very good I stumbled on the Würm (funded via Kickstarter and co-published by Nocturnal).

Summary: Having (only) read the rulebook I have to say that it has some excellent ideas as well as interesting ideas and at least is an excellent tool box for any game set in this kind of environment.

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AI Rights, Bodies and Mortality: a Game of Shock:

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To my tastes, science fiction in RPGs and television is too often about adventure and excitement. The scifi that grabs me, though, is about ideas and their impact on life and society and thought. Joshua A. C. Newman‘s RPG Shock: Social Science Fiction is built on this very premise. I tried it out with a couple of people I’d never played with, and who hadn’t had any experience with games as Forge-y as this. The experience was two-sided: fun and cerebral on the one hand, heavy and somewhat disconnected on the other. Continue reading →

Trying Out: Eldritch Horror

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Last Solstice I had the uttermost pleasure to finally have a group of friends with me to play some games influenced by the Mythos.

Since I hadn’t had the chance to try out Eldritch Horror before this I convinced the group to play that particular game. And it was as good as I had expected.

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Trying Out: Civilization VI

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I’ve been a long time fan of Civilization games. I don’t know exactly how many hours I’ve clocked playing them, but in the last 25 years, I wouldn’t be surprised, if we were talking about more than ten thousand. Sure, the game has always had its problems, mainly that the endgame is always somewhat anti-climactic, but its still fun to try out different things with different civilizations.

So, of course, I couldn’t help myself and buy the game pretty much right after it was published. And, boy, was I disappointed.

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Review of HARP Loot, sort of

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I was asked to write about this book, but after skimming through it, it felt like just an accessory to a completely unnecessary game. I recently stumbled on this great notion by Oren Harari.

The electric light did not come from continuous improvement of candles.

This book feels like a continuous improvement of candles, when we are already living in a world with electric lights. And yes, despite some romantic notions, electric lights are better, more cost-efficient and better for the environment. Oh yeah, and you can use them for reading for extended periods of time without going blind. So, my discussion on this book isn’t going to be a usual review. Instead, I’m going to try to use the conceit of having a dialogue with my 12-year-old self, who would have loved this book. Gladly, the world has moved on, myself included.

(With thanks to Ville for coming up with this idea.)

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From 13th Age to Fate Core: Same World, Different Systems

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I started a 13th Age game late this summer. I like the world and I admire the design, so I wanted to try it out. The sessions, however, were quite far apart, which was a clear signal that something wasn’t quite right. I wanted to continue the story of the characters and talked the players into converting them to Fate Core; now, I want to share my observations on how system matters. Continue reading →