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Telestrations: It’s like Telephone but with Markers (Don’t sniff them please)!

Aug22
by verycutegm on August 22, 2012 at 11:44 am
Posted In: Board Games, Uncategorized

Remember when you were a kid and sometimes you’d play a game called Telephone? The game where you would say something to a person and said person would repeat to the next and so on, during which in time would screw up what was originally said? I didn’t get to experience that but I know many who have. Well now we call all enjoy it all over again with our terrible artistic capabilities.

Telestrations is a game published by USAopoly Inc the same people who made Monopoly. The game is designed to allow anywhere between 4-8 players. Each person receives a dry erase marker, washcloth, a card with two sides, and a sketch pad with tabs. At the start of the game a person rolls a six sided die, the number it lands on is the word you must draw from the card (which is literally labeled This Side or That Side).

The player will write down their secret word on their pad and on the next page proceed to draw it. Then they pass it to the left or right to the next player who must guess what the previous player drew. After that the pad is passed on to the next player and they are the ones who must draw what the previous player guessed. This pattern continues until the pads are back in the hands of the original owner who then reveals what was guessed. If you are playing for points, the person whose pad was correct the whole way through the rotation gets a point. The person with the most point at the end of three rounds wins.

The game becomes really fun if the participants lack artistic talent. Wild guesses all around folks! What else is there to say? This is a fun social game, which takes only a few minutes to learn. After perhaps six words the participants might become a little bored and want to do something else. All in all this is a good game with not much behind it, but good for those who are or not into board games. I give it 3/75 out of 5 stars or dice or dagger whatever.

 

└ Tags: Review, Telestrations
2 Comments

The Nostalgia Factor

Aug13
by verycutegm on August 13, 2012 at 5:12 pm
Posted In: Advice

Folks admit it. We are all guilty of it. There have been many of a time where we looked back on our childhood and remembered the good times, such as watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or playing Final Fantasy 6 (Okay I confess I played it on an emulator, but I only had a bloody ColecoVision. How was I supposed to get decent games?). Recently I have been thinking about those times and I find myself asking if those games and/or shows we watched/played influenced the way watch/play games today? Of course they do and you’re an idiot if you don’t think they do. That is why I call the act of comparing what we have today to the “awesome” things in the past the “Nostalgia Factor”.

But how does this affect how we view things as a whole? Most of the time I’m guessing most of us view the things we have now are almost never as good as what we had then. Back then it was a time of innocence and perhaps a time where we didn’t know any better. We shouldn’t use the past as the set bar for things. Some of that stuff was downright silly and weird. AD&D was hard to the point of almost no character attachment. Karate Kid wasn’t all that great (I’m probably going to get hanged for that).  Mortal Kombat was alright (people are really going to kill me for that).

If you are one of those people who are constantly comparing how crap now is nothing like the golden turds of the 80s then shut the hell up! Come up with a list of credentials anything should stand by and compare your items to said list.

Disclaimer: I love the old stuff, the Muppets, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, and Chrono Trigger just to name a few.

└ Tags: advice, Nostalgia, shut up
1 Comment

I’ll Just Take My Leave Now

Jun26
by verycutegm on June 26, 2012 at 10:26 pm
Posted In: Advice, Dungeons and Dragons, Rifts, Roleplaying Games

So recently I dropped out of my biweekly Rifts game. For those who do not know what Rifts is, I did a review of it in an earlier blog post so go check that out. There are a couple reasons I dropped out of the game. Rifts wasn’t my type of game. I mentioned in my review the combat system and skill rules are very archaic. Those who play can say it very similar to older Dungeons and Dragons editions.

Also I just didn’t mesh well with the group and am the type of person who values action over planning. So when they would spend a long time planning and such I became quite frustrated. So I thought this would be a good time to write an entry about leaving a game. No one likes to drop out of games, but it happens. There are a few pointers I can give to those who are thinking of getting out of theirs.

People become annoyed when you drop out of a game and don’t say anything. You will of course have to tell your friend you’re dropping out of his/her game. However usually most people wouldn’t bat an eyelash to strangers. Please say something. You have no idea how many games I have participated in where someone just drops off the face of the planet.

As the person who leaves, unless the gamemaster specifically asks you why you are leaving, don’t give out that information. As players I expect most people to have enough common sense to address their gamemaster first before leaving if you have a problem with the way the game is run. Now I think a gamemaster should ask why the player is leaving (if it is not related to personal reasons). If you are hit with this scenario (as the person who is leaving) be honest, but not vindictive nothing good comes out of this. I always want to improve the way I run my games and I would like to know if I am doing a decent job. As the gamemaster in this situation (the cause of leaving) take the criticizing and use it to make you better.

That’s all I can give for advice with this subject. What it comes down to is be honest, don’t be a whiny disgruntle bitch, and be professional about it. When I say professional I mean don’t leave better and cut loose quickly especially if you are leaving because of conflicts within the party.

└ Tags: Leaving a Game, Roleplaying Games
6 Comments

I Make You Good Gamemaster!

Jun08
by verycutegm on June 8, 2012 at 10:34 pm
Posted In: Roleplaying Games

Lately I’ve been asking myself am I a good game master? I’ve been thinking about this because I run two games and I’d like to think my players are having fun. There’s always laughter and joking in my games, but does that really mean anything? When thinking about this I realized the core question was, “What makes a good game master?”

We all know the stereotypical domineering gm that does what he wants. First of all chuck that out the window and crush it with Steel’s sledgehammer. It doesn’t work. You lose players that way unless they’re really desperate then in that case you’ll have then for about three months tops until they can’t stand your abuse any longer.

Listen to me kiddo and your campaign will reach the stars…Or to your closest dining room.

You must be a

  • Listener
  • Communicator
  • Judge
  • Improv-er (Is that a word?)
  • Be flexible (and no I don’t mean bendy)
  • Be creative

Hey listen! Hey listen!

That is what a game master obviously must do. No, do not be pestering little blue fairy but be a listening ear. A game master who doesn’t listen is a waste of space. If you don’t listen to your players to feedback both good and bad then you are a piece of ****. I am serious. Listening to people can make or break a game. This applies both to long term campaigns or one-shots. How else can you improve you refuse to listen other people’s opinions?

A gamemaster must be articulate must got be able to describe stuff decently. S/he doesn’t have to be a writer using overly flowery language, but just enough so you have some idea of where or what situations your characters are in. If you suck at communicating that’s actually okay as long as you try. Running a tabletop game will teach you quickly how to communicate. Hell it worked with me…

“Your honor, I call to the witness stand the fighter, who claims he physically, can vault over that cliff.” As gamemaster you are the judge. Long term campaign verus one-shot I think in a one-shot communication is almost crucial. You have only a short amount of time to get your players hooked as opposed to a long term campaign you have more time. When rules aren’t clear in the book it is the gamemaster’s job to make a call. Also no b****** rule calls! Everything is about being fair. Though most tabletop games are not the vision of logic try to use it, use you imagination and apply logic to it.

Don’t play favorites! Don’t you dare play favorites! A gamemaster should be fair to everyone in the group even if it’s to that nagging guy that questions every single thing you do. If you play favorites and do it often you can kiss your players bye bye. Remember how you hated the teacher’s pet? Yeah that’s how your players will feel if you play favorites.

Improv my good man! There is going to be a time when your players do something so unexpected that it changes your story or prewritten. It’s times like these that you will have to improvise. Improvisation is usually a talent that is learned. I know I had to very quickly. My first long term campaign had a group of players that constantly thought outside the box and bless their creative hearts they did, but it always rendered what I had planned for the day useless. Eventually what I have improvised was just as good as or better than what I had planned. Just be aware of it and try your best, because even the worst impov is better than nothing and the hope if you master this in time.

Flexibility and I don’t mean can you touch your toes? So you have a story and a plan…**** that plan. Your players are not you, the path won’t always be straight and narrow. This is their story and you make it mold to them. There can be a generally plan, but plans can flexible. If your players want something give it to them, but to a reasonable degree…They want action give them action. If they want role-play give it to them. They want a super weapon give it to them and later in the game have it explode in their face.

Be creative, never be afraid of what you think of no matter how stupid or silly it may seem. Though creativity is less important if you’re following a prewritten module there are still instances where you will have to. Actually practicing with few prewrittens is encouraged for the first few times you gm. But I consider creativity ranked lower on this totem pole, because again creativity I think can be learned or punched into someone’s cranium repeatedly.

That’s I think! Is there anything else you think I should’ve included and why?

└ Tags: Dungeons and Dragons, Games, Judging, Tabletop
 Comment 

The Palladium Open House

May08
by verycutegm on May 8, 2012 at 11:56 pm
Posted In: Rifts

I went to the Palladium Open House this past weekend. For those you who don’t know, Palladium Games made Rifts, Heroes Unlimited, Robotech (the tabletop game), and other role-playing games. The open house is at the headquarters of Palladium located in Plymouth,MI.

People from all over the country and even from other countries were there. Unlike a convention it is much smaller.  I believe the capacity was about three hundred. It looked like … well… an open house in a warehouse. There were some zombies and posters of the Palladium settings, which looked really great. It was split into two sections. One section was the main gaming place where about ten game masters ran game simultaneously. The other section was for the panels, auctions, and the costume contest. The food wasn’t expensive at all. Everything was very fairly priced. It had the usual fair, hotdogs, pizza, chili, and desserts.

I did not attend the VIP night because I am not a huge fan. Granted I like but I was not engulfingly enthusiastic. Is that a phrase? Is engulfingly a word? No? I didn’t think so. Do I look like I care? Also it was an extra $75, which I felt was too much especially for me.

Throughout the day there were different games ran by volunteers and the Palladium staff. Why would one volunteer to run games? Other than doing something you love, game masters got 30% off their purchase of merchandise, which included books and t-shirts. So many books with so many pretty covers, I wish I had more money.

Sign up sheets would be at a table and they only put them out about 2-3 hours before the game itself started.  I played in five games in those three days. Kevin Siembieda ran games throughout also and I had a chance to play in his Palladium Fantasy game, which was a total delight. Every game very great to play in and I met a lot of nice gamers.

I learned something about the Palladium Game system. It never occurred to me that it was a system that aggressively encouraged role-playing instead of number combat. The rules themselves are very loose and designed to be opened to interpretation. In some form there were always rules that were house-ruled. All but one of my game masters were very role-play driven. The only reason one wasn’t, was because he just wanted to see a blood bath. Most of my 4 hour games up to a maximum of two combats. We pretty much just chatted it up with NPCs all the time using forensics to figure out spider silk and eating cow manure. That what happens when you play the class known as the crazie.

The costume contest okay and the auction was pretty neat. There were all kinds of signed books and digital proofreader copies to bid on. For the most part a person can get a pretty good deal here.

All in all I had a really good time. This is definitely a place to go if you need a major role-playing fix.

└ Tags: Games, Palladium Games, Palladium Open House, Rifts
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