Ring Side Report-Board Game Review of Micro City

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Product-Micro City

Producer– ThisTroy Games

Price– SOON!

Set-up/Play/Clean-up– 30 to 60 minutes (1-2 players)

Type- Euro

Depth-Light

TL; DR-Packs a punch for its size 90%

Basics- If you build it, they will come!  MicroCity is a simple building game that almost has a rondel and worker placement feel to it.  Each round you play a card from your hand.  This card moves your one worker on the map to different locations that give you resources, let you trade resources, or even spend resources to build.  The card also gives you a second action that can let you get more resources or removes investment tokens from the board.  Thus, the cards really shape your play.  Alternatively, you can pick up all your cards and not do a card action and just move one place.  In addition to the cards, each round you roll two dice.  These dice can be spent, if they match the location or the card, to make the action more powerful.  Or if neither is used, you can use them to gain extra money.  At the locations you take your actions then place an investment token.  These tokens block future uses of that location until they are removed.  The goal of the game is to spend different combinations of resources to build different parts of a building within a number of turns (in the cooperative or solo mode) or earn victory points in the competitive mode.  If you run out of turns or can’t place an investment marker, you lose!  If you have the most points or complete the buildings before time is out, you win!

Mechanics-MicroCity is a simple game.  You just read most of the rules above.  It’s pretty simple.  However, it does have some meat on its small bones as the game’s timer can be brutal if you don’t plan ahead.  However, much like my problems with Scythe, you can end up just doing the same action multiple times in a row.  That’s not as much fun.  The game limits this as investments can stop you from just doing the same location actions again and again.  MicroCity isn’t the most complex game I’ve played, but it does have some depth despite it’s small size.  4.25/5

Theme-Did I feel like a builder?  Solid kind of!  The locations in the city where you send your one worker have a feel like you are picking up wood or steel.  The pieces make you feel like an engineer.  Was it the most character driven game I’ve played?  No.  This game can’t be that involved given its small size and small run time.  Overall, this is the most solid building experience I can expect from something the size of a large matchbox. 4.5/5

Instructions-The rules are the weak point to the game.  They work, but the flow is honestly weird.  Parts and their meanings are explained  before the flow of the game so I felt like I was lost until I saw the flow.  There are multiple versions of the game which is amazing, but the way they are separated in the rulebook feels off.  You won’t need YouTube or Board Game Geek to play, but learning all by yourself is a bit hard given the flow of the book. 4/5

Execution– Honestly, for a small game the pieces are nice!  Check out our unboxing here-https://youtu.be/pAvDwAu_lCQ   Art is solid, tokens are good, and the cards are good quality.  There are lots of extra pieces given the different game modes, but there is enough here to make that happen and make you happy to get the kickstarter copy.  Good pieces do come in small packages! 5/5

Summary-This is a fun game that feels like a few other games I own with some good and bad.  I did feel like I was building, but some goals made me feel like I was just doing the same thing over and over again.  The rules are hard to start, but get you through decently at the end.  The game itself is pretty to look at and solid to play with.  If I want a good less than one hour co-op building game, I think this will hit my table again. 89%

Daily Punch 8-6-20 Committed Assault barbarian feat for Pathfinder 2e

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Why not go full force?

COMMITTED ASSAULT [ONE-ACTION]FEAT 1

Barbarian Rage Stance

You fully commit to hurting your foes at the expense of hurting yourself. When you enter this stance, you reduce your multiple attack penalty from -5 to -3 for each additional strike beyond the first, but you gain the clumsy 1 condition or increase your clumsy condition level by 1.

Thoughts?

Daily Punch 8-5-20 Flat of the Blade fighter feat for Pathfinder 2e

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I remember when you could take a -4 to deal subdual damage. Some of you are thinking back to when the penalties were different (you’re old!) and some of you have no idea what the heck I am talking about (oh god I am old!). how about something to help with that in Pathfinder 2nd Ed.

Flat of the Blade [ONE-ACTION] FEAT 6

Fighter Stance

You change the grip on your weapon and the way you wield the weapon. Your can do damage as normal with a weapon you are using, but now change the damage type from piercing, slashing, or bludgeoning to piercing, slashing, or bludgeoning. Each time you enter this stance you can choose a different damage type.

Thoughts?

Ring Side Report-RPG Review of Pocket Lint, Light Loot & Tiny Treasures

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Product– Pocket Lint, Light Loot & Tiny Treasures

System-NONE!

Producer– Beyond the Horizon

Price– $1.95 here https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/321954/Pocket-Lint-Light-Loot–Tiny-Treasurest?affiliate_id=658618

TL; DR–Solid, random stuff!  95%

Basics– What has it got in its pocketses?  Need some random stuff an NPC is carrying and not sure what they have? This is the book for you.  Roll a d20, then a d6, and finally a d20 again.  Random pocket stuff on the fly!

Mechanics or Crunch– Roll three dice, get an item.  That’s the basic idea, and it works pretty well!  The book is here to help you find some good, random stuff, and the number of dice make it pretty random.  The one thing I would like is a random die to know how many items each creature should have.  The book gives a bit of advice: aim between 1 to 2 and no more than six, but throw another die in there to get me a number.  Aside from that, it’s an easy, quick way to find some stuff that can make a monster’s random possessions stand out.  4.5/5

Theme or Fluff-This is where the book shines.  You need some random crap on a monster?  DONE!  And it’s lively!  Each thing feels like it will build a world a little bit.  Solid random stuff in these tables.  5/5

Execution–  PDF?  YEP!  Hyperlinked?  No… This book is solidly layed out and has good tables and readability.  It’s 14 pages including an intro and cover page, but otherwise its tables.  But I can read them quickly and easily.  THAT’S WHAT A LOT OF BOOKS NEED TO LEARN!  Would like some linking so I can use this as a quick reference more, but that’s the only negative here.  4.75/5

Summary-If you need some random on the fly, then this is your book.  You will be surprised how easily some of these things could become whole adventure seeds.  Some, on the other hand, are just fun.  I have my minor issues, but for less than two bucks, you get a whole lot of bang for those two bucks if you need some quick ideas to spice up the random possessions you find on a fallen foe.  95%

Daily Punch 8-3-20 Grind Armor fighter feat for Pathfinder 2nd Ed.

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The APG is out. I have some ideas!

Grind Armor [ONE-ACTION] FEAT 1

Fighter

Requirements You wield a two handed weapon.

You slam the target as hard as you can snapping bone as well as armor. Make a Strike at your current attack penalty. If this Strike hits, the target takes damage as normal and the armor the target is wearing also takes damage. Once an item’s damage reaching the broken threshold and the armor is broken, you can no longer deal damage to the armor with this feat.

Thoughts?

Daily Punch 7-31-20 Transfer Trauma spell for Call of Cthulhu 7th Ed

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Ran an adventure for GenCon 2020. Had a blast doing it, but a player instantly go crazy. How about a spell that can fix that… for a cost.

Transfer Trauma
• Cost: 5 magic points; 1D4 Sanity points
• Casting time: 1 round
Even the most powerful general knows when to sacrifice a few few peons, and you a no good to the gods if mad. When cast on a target, you link your mind to the target. The target will experience your trauma instead, taking all Sanity loss for you at double the rate for the next hour after the initial sanity loss for casting the spell. An unwilling target may counter the spell with an opposed POW roll each time they would lose sanity. If pain is inflicted upon the target when when the spell is cast, it gains one penalty die on the opposed POW roll for each point of damage made during the casting
Alternative names: Mind Bridge, Dark Link of the Mad

Thoughts?

Daily Punch 7-30-20 Thug rogue archetype for DnD 5e

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Working on a project, and this didn’t quite make the cut. How about a rogue that gets down an dirty.

Thug

You don’t work in the dark. You walk right up to somebody, face to face, and get to work. And that work is bloody. You might hate that work, or you might love it. You might be self employed as a bruiser, or you might be the hired muscle that a cartel throws at the mouthy. In either case you are the one who walks up close and hurts people.

Bone Breaker

Starting at level 3, you don’t have to stick to small tools. You can use any weapon to do sneak attack damage. The normal sneak attack rules still apply as the target must be unaware or you and an ally are both engaged with the target.

Right in the Face

At 9th level, you revel in the carnage of a fight. When you are engaged with a target, your sneak attack are now d8s instead d6.

Stunner

At 13th level you’ve mastered getting people attention in a way they definitely don’t want. A number of times per day equal to twice your Strength modifier, when you make a sneak attack, the target must make Constitution saving throw (DC equal to 8 + Strength modifier + proficiency modifier). On a failure, the target is stunned until the end of your next turn.

Working alone

When you reach 17th level, you’ve learned how to break bones all by yourself. A number of times per day equal to your Strength modifier, you may deal your sneak attack on an attack with which you would normally not be able to do so.

Thoughts?

Daily Punch 7-29-20 Blinding Flash cantrip for DnD 5e

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How about a cantrip to do some psychic damage, up close and personal?

Blinding Flash

evocation cantrip

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Touch
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous

Finishing the final words of the spell, you real back and punch the target in the head. Make a melee spell attack against the target. On a hit, the target takes 1d8 psychic damage, and the target has disadvantage on Wisdom(perception) and Intelligence(investigation) checks for one round.

The spell’s damage increases by 1d8 when you reach 5th level (2d8), 11th level (3d8), and 17th level (4d8).

Thoughts?

Daily Punch 7-28-20 Mystic Drive Starship Power Core alteration for Starfinder

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I like starship combat in Starfinder, but I feel that people who have pilot a bit to awesome in space. How about letting a few others take the wheel… or the con.

Mystic Drive

Your engine isn’t a drive of steel and fusion, but an arcane heart pulling at the very strings a magic to bend reality around. By casting spells, saying prayers, or altering the fabric of reality, you can pilot this craft instead of moving a control stick. Increase the BP cost of any engine by 10%, rounded up, and decrease the PCU of the engine by 5%, rounded down. You may use pilot or Mysticism to pilot this starship.

Thoughts?