Trying Out: Shadespire

Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire is a newish game by Games Workshop. It was released at the end of 2017 and I noticed it only after buying the Sepulchral Guard for just painting skeletons.

In this post I’ll be discussing my views of the game and how I experienced it while playing. Spoiler alert: I love the game.

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Sandbox on Rails

Sandbox campaigns are a dream I have chased for years. A campaign where the players participate in the story, create memorable content and I act only as a referee. I know that many people chase the same white rabbit and I’m going to discuss my methods of catching it.

We finished our latest season of Eldritch Sigils just last night. It was one of the most epic season with game starting in 2099 and ending in 1770s after a detour in about 2300. When we started this campaign exactly ten months ago I had no idea where the story would take us. I was once again trying to force my players to play with me on my sandbox.

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Trying Out: Mansions of Madness

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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Learn 2 Play Kangasala, 2017

Last week I happened to visit Kangasala Public Library and spotted an interesting poster – a local gaming event I hadn’t even heard of! Naturally I had to visit it and I’m really glad I did. Learn 2 Play Kangasala proved to be a great event with surprising amount of things going on.

The actual event took place during the weekend but I only had time to participate during Sunday. As it was local I decided to take my 7-year old son with me. Gentle guidance to great hobbies. You know the deal. Continue reading

Review: Würm RPG

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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Designing Eldritch Sigils

Last Sunday I published the beta version of rules for Eldritch Sigils. This is a game I have been working on for about five years. I have actually published earlier drafts over the years but this was the first time it actually has consistency and it is actually playable.

This has been a long process and one that is still in the works. But now that the rules are “out there” I thought it would be a good chance to talk about them. Since game design is quite an interesting topic I hope that sharing my process might produce new ideas or at least be curious.

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Maps and Level Design

Maps. Most roleplayers (that I know of) like them. Some (like me) are even fascinated by them. In my opinion they make many situations in games easier to handle and might even inspire the players. Last night while playing Eldritch Sigils the group explored the subway tunnels under Berlin and I happened to draw a map I was exceptionally contended with. This made me think about mapping while playing in general and I decided to share a few of my thoughts.

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Ropecon 2016 – Weekend at Ropecon

Gallery

This gallery contains 47 photos.

Here is the gallery for random photos I took at Ropecon 2016. As always if you find an image of yourself you do not wish to see online, let me know and I either remove the picture or blur you out … Continue reading

Ropecon 2016 – Last Thoughts Before Tomorrow

This year’s Ropecon starts tomorrow. This means a weekend of gaming, making new friends (and enemies) and a lot of weird events. This year might be even weirder since nobody knows how the new location will work out. Will it be so good that Ropecon enters a new renessaince or will it fall to chaos? We’ll just have to witness it ME!

“WITNESS ME!”

Here are a few last things to remember:

  • If you are not sure what games you should try, check out our recommendations.
  • This is a new location for the organizers as well; ask them about what you want to know but let them make mistakes.
  • Try a game you haven’t tried before. This is the main reason I go to Ropecon. It is an excellent chance to have a go with a new system or game.
  • At least consider larping. It isn’t for all but it is certainly something every should at least try.
  • Make the most of it! Ropecon is only once a year!
  • Follow this blog and our Instagram for updates, photos and first hand experiences.

Lastly I would like to (once again) remind you that if you need a photographer for your games or cosplay (etc.) don’t hesitate to find me or contact me. My time tables are flexible and if I’m not at the middle of a game I’m more than willing to take even more photos.

Great gaming for everyone!

Casual Forum Roleplay

Let’s make things clear. I’m not talking about fantasies on Tumblr. Savvy?

What I’m going to talk about is my experience on running, taking part of and closely following rpgs played on our private forum. Since gaming time is an issue for grownups playing via forum might become handy every now and then.

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