Ramblings from the Marginalized

Protöthea™ (UbiSoft, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone-Fantasy Violence, 1,000 Wii Points): Protöthea is a top-down scrolling shooter game with free movement that puts players in complete control of a last-generation spaceship. The mission is to destroy the asteroid called Maqno 01 and finish with the plans of The Core. UbiSoft's Protöthea introduces new concepts to a beloved, classic game style while mixing genres and utilizing the full capabilities of the Wii console, from graphics to controls. Players of all ages and experience levels will enjoy taking command of their ship, blasting through four different worlds in 10 challenging missions. Use your weapons arsenal and the special bonus items to help you accomplish your mission, and don't forget to slow down time and take an edge over the enemy.

Toki Tori (Two Tribes, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone, 1,000 Wii Points): Toki Tori is his name, and collecting eggs is his game. In this puzzle/platform game, players use a variety of items such as the Telewarp, InstantRock™ and Slug Sucker. Clever use and combination of these items are needed to solve all the game's levels, of which there are more than 70. Levels range from easy to brain-teasingly hard, resulting in dozens of hours of puzzle play time. Toki Tori makes the most of what Wii has to offer. It uses the Wii Remote™ for a unique control scheme, which offers players a new and more relaxing play style. A second player can help you out by drawing hints while you are playing. The game even uses the Wii Message Board in a unique way.

Both of these games are going to set you back $10 worth of Wii Points and quite a few blocks of memory. I'd love to tell you how many blocks but Nintendo saves that information until you purchase the game. Since my Wii Point balance is on the low side (at the moment) I can't tell you how many blocks these games will take up.

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Several years ago, when my local gaming group was heavy into the Mordheim game, Games Workshop released a special character miniature: Nicodemus, the cursed pilgrim.

What made Nicodemus so cool was not just that he was a slightly larger character (he has a growth problem) but that he knows every spell in the Lesser Magic list. There is a Warlock you can hire but he only knows a couple of spells.

Nicodemus also causes fear in those that he confronts. When not casting spells he packs a serious punch with his Wizard Staff.

After the battle you have to pay him a piece of Wyrdstone or he will leave your band and never return. Never as in, "you cheat me I never work for you again." A single piece of Wrydstone is a small price to pay for the power this guy brings to your warband.

Though I never used this guy in my warband I did get the miniature and paint him up real nice. You can see the pics below and you can download a PDF of the Nicodemus Rules as well

(more...)

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The release date for Alone in the Dark is slowly creeping up.

On June 24, 2008 you will be Alone in the Dark. It will be up to you to stand alone against the creatures that inhabit this new world. Can you do it? Can you survive?

The episodic nature of the game lends itself to the gamer with limited time. You can play through an episode a day and when you go back for more you will see a short video synopsis of what has come before.

Be ready. There is a fire in the distance. New York is burning and the dead are hungry.

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Way back in 1980 TSR released two boxed sets. Each of these boxes had a number in the corner and the cover art on box one was used in the creation of the art for box two. Confused? You should not be. I'm talking about the 1980 editions of the Basic and Expert Dungeons & Dragons games.

The red (some might say orange) basic set was not the first, there was a blue covered version that came out previously, but it was my first.

I still remember the day my dad took me to the mall. I dragged him into a book store and showed him the two boxed sets. I had my own money with me so I purchased them.

I had seen them before at a friend's house, along with the hardcover Advanced version of the game. I could not afford the hardcovers back then. I made money working small jobs and my $5 a week allowance. To buy the hardcovers would have set me back over $36 rather than the $24 I spent on those two box sets.

The box sets came with a rulebook, module and some dice. The rulebooks were three-hole punched so I put them in a binder. Some time in the future I bought the books again because I had cut the binding off to let them hang loose in a binder. That did not work out so well as the pages invariably tore out and required repairing.

I don't have the original books I got on that shopping trip with my dad but I do have the copies I got later to replace them. I do have the original dice from my Basic set but not the ones from my Expert set.

The dice that came with my basic set were very nice. The came in multiple colors and were typically of the "waxy" dice from that era. Their corners have chipped off here and there but they still function with there own little biases. My Expert Set dice were just plain ugly. They must have gone through the molding process on a Friday after lunch because they were just wrong. They felt wrong in your hand and they looked wrong on the table. Those dice were often lent to players who had forgotten to bring theirs to the game session.

I bring this up because a few days ago I was cleaning up my game room and I came across my old green Accoring binder with the books inside. I sold off a lot of my dungeons and Dragons collection a few years back but there were something’s I just could not part with, this binder was one of them.

With the advent of so much print-on-demand and PDF copies of game books I had decided to cash out on my physical copies while the demand was still there. I made a few bucks on some of the more rare items and kept the ones that I still felt an attachment to.

I don't know if my daughter will ever take an interest in role-playing games but the hope is there. In another two and a half years she will be at the age I was when I got into the game. Will she also feel the urge to explore the world of RPGs? I don't know but I'll still hold onto these two books in the hopes that she does. If not I can always put them away until grandkids appear!

Feeling the urge for some old school gaming? Be sure to check out Noble Knight Games. If you make a purchase a portion of the sale price will go towards keeping HMTK on the web.

Images courtesy of The Acaeum

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In the gaming world a "Dungeon Crawl" is used to refer to any game that has a core focus of going into a dungeon setting, fighting monsters and taking loot back the city to buy stuff with. After buying the new (and hopefully better) stuff you go back and crawl around in the dungeon some more.

Some of the new blood in the gaming world might be wondering why the word "Crawl" is in there. Shouldn't it be "Dungeon Delving" or "Dungeon Exploring"?

Way back in the day, when the Dungeons and Dragons game was the only game in town, most games took place in the dungeon. Yeah, I know that is no big surprise to you since the first word in the title is "Dungeons".

One particular rule always annoyed people; Movement. Most man-sized creatures could move 120' (feet) per turn while in the dungeon. You could run faster and movement changed during combat but the basic movement was 120' per turn.

One turn equals ten minutes in game time. Ten rounds equal one turn. This means movement, in the dungeon, was 12' per minute. Break it down even further and it takes you five seconds to move one foot! Sound like a "Crawl" yet?

After "crawling" for 50 minutes you had to spend ten minutes resting or suffer to hit penalties.

If you wanted your character to run than they could cover that 120' distance in one round (minute). Movement in an encounter is equal to 1/3 your movement (or 40' in our case) per round.

You might be looking at running speed and thinking 120' in one minute? Is every adventurer out of shape? Even in the army we were expected to run two miles in under 12 minutes. The average adventurer would be lucky to cover a quarter mile in 12 minutes while running!

So, what do the rules say about this horrendously slow movement rate?

A base movement rate of 120' in ten minutes may seem slow, but it assumes that the players are mapping carefully, searching, and trying to be quiet. It also takes into account the generally "dark and dingy" conditions of the dungeon in which characters are adventuring.

source: Basic Dungeons and Dragons Rulebook page B19

Part of the problem is the fact that parts of the game were based on miniatures rules. When playing a game with miniatures certain items of scale just go out the window. A 25mm archer figure can fire his longbow far beyond the edge of the table (if you adjust for scale) but that does not make for good gaming. Same thing with artillery in a miniatures game. Have you ever wondered why the Imperial Guard tanks and howitzers (Warhammer 40K) can't shoot through buildings and rain death on all corners of the game table? It's not because the vehicles they are based on can't it's because it makes for boring game play.

As time moved on some of the movement and time rules evolved. In most modern RPGs no one crawls through the dungeon anymore. Well, some still do but they tend to be the undead that have lost their legs.

Feeling the urge for some old school gaming? Be sure to check out Noble Knight Games. If you make a purchase a portion of the sale price will go towards keeping HMTK on the web.

Image Five to One, Baby used under Creative Commons License via flickr

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A few years ago I signed up for the affiliate program over at Funagain Games. For a while I was looking at how much money I had made in commissions and after a while of not making anything I forgot about it.

This morning, on a whim, I took a look and discovered I had earned about $30 worth of credit towards buying some games. Or should I say game.

Games are not cheap these days and the lower end of the good games starts at about $30. Funny how board games are in the same price range as video games!

So, as I'm looking over the site I start to ask myself, "what game should I get?"

The first question to ask is, "what games are already in Steve's collection?" The answer can be found over on Board Game Geek where I list my collection.

BGG has some cool widgets you can add to your site but when I tried they either did not work or I did not feel like taking the time to resize them properly.

So, please leave a comment with a game you think I might like.

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I had begun hearing reports that Amazon was out of their pre-order supply of Wii Fit and was no longer offering them for sale. The "game" does not even come out until May 19, 2008 yet they are sold out. Worried that other places might sell out and deny me my ability to acquire this title on launch day I went around to a few area stores hoping to put some money down on a pre-order.

My first stop was the biggest video game chain I know; Gamstop. I walked in the door, eager to throw a few dollars down to secure myself a copy only to find out that Gamestop had run out of their pre-order supllies the previous day. Yes, GAMESTOP is out of Wii fits!

I next walked over to the Wal-Mart store in the same shopping center. I was told that they do not do pre-orders (they also do not get games until a few days after launch) but there was something going on with Wii Fit due to a misprint in a Mother's Day flyer.

Turns out Wal-Mart allows you to pre-buy it online and you will receive on May 21 (or some time after). Some time after? What kind of date is that? Does that mean I pay and might get the software in a few days to a few weeks or more?

The local Best Buy and Circuit City stores are too far away for me to make it to until after work. I'll have to look into them later.

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I'm not one for attending those midnight release parties for video games. the last time I did something like that was several years ago when my daughter had to have a Fur-Real Pet for Christmas. I got up extra early to be first in line at the local toy store. I froze my butt off to get one of those things and it was passe before noon on Christmas morning!

I preordered Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii and waited inline the next morning but there was no way I was going to go at midnight to get it. I want my kid in bed when the sun goes down not up 'til the crack of dawn playing video games. A situation that would lead to severe grumpiness all day long.

Believe it or not, a wii game is coming out that I might actually be willing to attend a midnight launch party for. Yes, I'm talking about Wii fit. Sadly, the big event takes place all day long on a Monday! A Monday???

Here are the details:

WHAT:
• How will Wii Fit(TM) move you? Discover for yourself at New York's Central Park Merchants' Gate on May 19, as Nintendo hosts a spectacular all-day launch event for Wii Fit, the highly anticipated new program for the popular Wii(TM) home video game system that combines fun and fitness. The event doubles as a celebration of May as National Physical Fitness and Sports Month, putting all kinds of bodies -- young and old, big and small -- in motion with live demonstrations of Wii Fit and the new Wii Balance Board(TM).
• For every attendee who "gets on board" for a Wii Fit demo, Nintendo will make a donation of $5 (up to $25,000 total) to the American Heart Association in support of its effort to help Americans live healthier. Expect crowds of people throughout the day, plus an appearance by celebrity trainer Ashley Borden.
• Featuring more than 40 physical activities and the revolutionary Wii Balance Board, Wii Fit makes fitness fun for the entire household. Anyone can benefit from its mix of aerobic, yoga, strength training and balancing exercises. Following the phenomenal success of active-play titles such as Wii Sports(TM), Wii Fit gets everyone active and playing together.

WHO:
• Hundreds of parents, kids, fitness enthusiasts, American Heart Association supporters and consumers of all ages. Executives from Nintendo and the American Heart Association New York City volunteer leadership.

WHEN:
• Monday, May 19, 2008
• Event: 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

WHERE:
• Central Park, Merchants' Gate
• Located at the intersection of Central Park West, Central Park South, Columbus Circle and Broadway in Manhattan

You read that right, Nintendo is holding a huge bash in Central Park for the launch of Wii Fit. they will also be having celebrity trainer Ashley Borden on site to do some training sessions.

I admit to looking forward to the release of Wii Fit. As I've been getting older I've been slacking off a bit in the health department and I think this will help me get my butt in gear.

I do enjoy the mini-workout you can get from playing the Wii Sports games and I also enjoy the one golf game I have that has you swing the Wii-Remote like a golf club (not Wii Sports Golf). I like the fact the some Wii games have you off the couch to play them. there are even some DS games coming out to help you get back in shape. Who would have guessed that the leading cause of couch potatoism would now enter the world of better health?

The boxing setup for Wii Fit looks even better than the one on Wii Sports (for training purposes). Couple this with all the other good things I've been reading about Wii Fit and I have to say that I would stand in line at midnight at my local video game store to get a copy of this game.

Oh, by the way, Amazon has already reported that they have sold through their entire allotment of Wii Fit. Yes, the game is not even out yet and the orders have depleted their stock.

Wait a minute, can we even call this a game?

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