Kickstarting the blog! 

Wow... nearly two weeks since my last post. Sorry, that's pretty shameful. I have been busy in work, and kinda sick at the same time, which is not exactly conducive to finding the energy to blog.
Following the holiday weekend here in Ireland I'm hoping I can post a blog every day this week and try to get things back on (some sort of rickety) track.

But it's 10.45pm so I'm already running out of time to meet the target on Day One!
I'll go for a simple topic, so ... the projects I have backed or am currently looking at on Kickstarter.
Along with print-on-demand, this website is possibly the greatest thing ever to happen to gaming.

So many games, books and miniatures are being produced it's getting hard to keep up (not least in financial terms). From the gigantic success of the Reaper Bones miniatures (got in early and backed all three of those) to more niche projects, it's opened up tons of possibilities. My miniatures collection would be half its size if it wasn't for Bones. And I also got some neat books and boardgames over recent years, with no sign of things slowing down. In fact there are so many decent Kickstarters out there right now I do worry about whether it's reaching saturation point, but let's fret about that later. Here's some of the stuff I'm enjoying right now:




Folklore: The Affliction is one of those games I tried to resist but the number of minis just got too large and I caved! It's in its final hours as I type this and it has become a very good deal indeed with (currently) 160 miniatures for $149. I am a huge fan of the Ravenloft campaign setting and this reminded me of those adventures. It's not one for the kids, but in a few years they'll be old enough. I hope to break it out and play it as a board game but also maybe run some Ravenloft-style Dnd games ... even the world map/board included might be useful for an RPG campaign.

Here's that cool-looking map. Banana not included, I guess....

Zombicide: Black Plague: I missed the first Zombicide Kickstarter campaign but I caught up with the Prison Outbreak set. I've enjoyed several enjoyable games, particularly with my best friend who is crazy for the zombie genre. The number of miniatures in the box is great ... but I never really went for any of the other expansions, it was too samey. So I was stoked when I saw their most recent offering was medieval themed. This was a chance to get a new flavour of Zombicide PLUS some cool minis I can use in Dnd games. Not just zombies but necromancers, skeletons, even  murderous crows.

Death By Dice: Treasure and Loot Dice I am obsessed with dice. Cannot stop buying them. But these are dice with a difference. I acknowledge I wouldn't find a use for ALL fo these. So I bought a select few for helping to decide potions, magic items and treasure bundles on the fly. Younger players might enjoy rolling them too, to see what they pick up when they loot a body or open a chest.


Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG: I am absolutely in love with DCC although I haven't played it as much as I'd like. It really captures the wonder and craziness of early Dnd type games with a rule set that is somehow both wilder and tighter. It harks back to the days before fantasy became standardised and "vanilla" - before the Lord of the Rings movies and World of Warcraft etc. Those all did great things to spread the gospel of fantasy gaming ... but some of the wonder was lost. DCC RPG is gonzo without being silly, the characters start low-powered but can swing between insanely powerful and flat DEAD at the drop of a hat.

I must stress it's something I've been playing with my regular Dnd group as opposed to my family ... the more hardcore gaming guys really appreciate the flavour of the game.
 As for my family, I just feel they wouldn't quite get the subtleties and would end up confusing the two rule sets.
 But I do have plans to SOMEDAY get a huge group of relative newbies, give them all zero-level characters and see who has the wits to survive longest! DCC is currently on Kickstarter for fourth printing with a special deal for newcomers to the game, do not miss it.

Monster Alphabet Another one from Goodman Games (who make DCC) this is a sort of build-your-own monster toolkit. I cannot wait for my copy to arrive, I also ordered the GM Gems and Dungeon Alphabet to go with it. While the PDFs have landed, unfortunately the hard copies are taking longer than I expected. I really want the "proper" book because I'm getting less and less patient with reading PDFs. After a hard day in front of a screen I find I want a proper book. Also these are the types of books to stick on your shelf and flip through a few pages for entertainment or inspiration. Hopefully they'll be worth the wait!



Cthulhu Wars: Another one I missed the first time round. Since then I've seen the miniatures crop up on various other blogs and I've been drooling both at their size and sheer weirdness. What I like is that many of the Lovecraftian creatures look like nothing else available out there in miniature form. So I jumped at the second wave of the game. I am actually not going for the board game itself. While I'm sure I'd enjoy playing it, I really don't have time or space for ANOTHER board game. I am really just after the add-ons. Specifically, the miniatures.

The Others: 7 Sins I've also got into this one for the miniatures, although the game itself could be cool and the company has pedigree there. But THOSE DEMONS!! A ton of different types, again many resembling nothing I've ever seen before, giving even more opportunity to confound and terrorise players in an RPG setting.

AND TWO I AM RESISTING (FOR NOW...)

Super Dungeon Explore Legends SDE look awesome and appeals to my love of 80s and 90s video game RPGs, where I cut my teeth on the likes of Zelda and Secret of Mana. But for now, as I said above, I don't have room for tons more games in my life. And while the miniatures are super cute, their chibi look means that they don't easily crossover for use in other games.

Sword and Sorcery: Ditto as above. Looks cool but I already have Heroquest, Descent, and the Dungeons and Dragons adventure board games. Do I need any more? Do I? Hmm...
Plus the real clincher here is that so far the miniatures are all pretty generic fantasy fare ... orcs and the like. I already have more orc miniatures that I'd ever care to put on the table at one time. I don't need more.

But man - those Super Dungeon Explore heroes DO look cool!