Author: fineyoungmisanthrope

Ring Side Report- Board Game Review of CO2

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Game– CO2

Producer– Stronghold Games

Price-~$55 here http://www.amazon.com/Stronghold-Games-8007SG-CO2-Board/dp/B00AKVLMY2/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1407249487&sr=1-1&keywords=CO2

Set-Up/Play/Clean-Up-35 min per player (2-5 players)

TL; DR-A few problems mar an otherwise good game. 83%

 

Basics-The world is in trouble, and you have to fix it through capitalism!  In CO2 you play a company specializing in green/renewable power starting in the 1970s.  Each round starts with players gaining money, coins or both based on how much research their companies have in each type of green energy.  Then, each of the six areas of Earth gains more CO2 producing power plants if they do not have enough power plant in that region for each decade( 2 in 1980, 3 in 1990 and so on).  Each CO2 producing power plant increases the global CO2 parts per million rating and can lead to ecological disasters on a continent.  After that, in each decade you are given a number of turns based on the number of players.  On a turn you can do one of three actions: propose, implement, or build a green power plant.  When you propose a power plant, you place a project token in one of three sections that either gives you money, technology cubes, or scientist meeples.  When you implement a proposed plant you spend a carbon credit to gain resources depending on the type of plant with resources ranging from technology cubes to money or both.  If your company has enough research in a particular type of plant and enough money, you can build an implemented plant gaining more research in that plants type as well as victory points.  Also on your turn, you have several free actions where you can move a scientist meeples, buy/sell carbon credits, and play cards.  Scientist meeples can be moved to an implement or proposed project, from one project to another, or from a project to a research convention with the same energy type as a project the meeple was on.  If all the spaces on a convention are covered, all companies gain research in each type of energy the scientists were on as well as one research in any type of energy from that meeting.  If you implement or build a project with another player’s meeple, that player gains one research in that type of energy, get to move that meeple for free, and you must pay them an extra dollar for the privilege.  In the center of the board are the carbon credits.  On your turn you can buy or sell credits, but not both.  The cards are UN mandates give you bonus points if you build specified types of power plants.  The cards in your hand give you bonus money, credits, tech cubes, or scientists if you do an action specified on the card.  You may only perform one free card action each turn.  At the end of your turn, you gain one research in one type of energy based on a project one of your scientist meeples is on.  And the game continues like this.  After each player has taken a turn, and the first player advances the action counter.  When there are no more action spaces left for this decade, the decade advances, and research points/money are given out, disasters happen, and then the turn counter is reset based on the number of players.  The game continues like this until a few events happen:  1) the CO2 level gets high enough that mankind dies/everybody loses 2) the decade is 2030 or 3) the CO2 level drops below 350.  At the end, players who controls the different areas of the board based on number of power plants in each area gain carbon credits based on the region, the players spend those for money, get research money/points one last time, sell money for points, and the player with the most points wins.

 

Mechanics- When you get past the instructions (see below), this game is really fun!  The game makes you think on your feet a lot while having to make smart choices based on what the other players are doing.  You CAN’T build stuff alone.  You need to work with the other players to get the power plants built and experience to do it, but if you let the other build everything, you will lose.  This game does semi-cooperative really well, maybe almost the best I’ve seen for a while. 5/5

 

Theme- The game does do some justice to the theme of different green energy companies working together/against one another.  The mechanics do enforce the theme of needing other to help you and the theme of environmentalism.  An example is the ecological disasters.  When an area of the world has a problem, each company WITHOUT power plants in the area has to pay a cube to the region or be seen as callous.  These cubes can be used by other players who build in the region because now grants are available to help fix the damage.  I do have some problems with the theme as the components could use a bit more to make things a bit more thematic.  Yes, this is a euro game, but that doesn’t mean it has to have cubes.  Give me some other kinds of meeples like little computers or something. 4.5/5

 

Instructions- This game was written by a lawyer.  The rules are divided into sections and subsections that make this game not fun to read.  The rules are several pages of three columns of words with few pictures.  The pictures that are in there are awesome and really help to explain the rules.  But, there are not many!  The rules reference sections like 2.2.1.  DON’T DO THAT!  Have a nice flow that invites me to read!  I’ve been sitting on this game for a long time (six months) because I couldn’t make it through the rules.  When you do read the rules, you see the game is pretty standard euro-game fare, so it’s not too complicated.  But even after the several subsections in the rules, I and my gaming group were still left with questions regarding scientist movement and other important aspects.  Overall, it’s not the worst set of rules I’ve read as I was still able to play the game without a visit to Board Game Geek, but only just. 3/5

 

Execution- The game components are not bad, but I would have liked a bit more.  The game uses small, half standard cards for all the cards in the game.  That’s not bad, but there are less than 60 cards in the game.  So, the cards are more of a pain.  Adding to the pain, the cards don’t have any words and unless you know what cards you’re looking for, it’s really a pain as you need to constantly look at the rules to find which cards are separated into which piles.  Bigger cards with different colors would have really helped distinguish the types of cards.  Also, the box is kind of flimsy.  The board is well done and the iconography is good, except where the rules fail it.  Overall, it’s the product is ok, but some minor problems hamper the whole.  4/5

 

Summary-This is a fun game.  The game itself is a great Euro game.  The theme is fun as it’s a controversial subject-global warming-while being executed well.  This game is semi-cooperative worker placement on two different levels-projects and scientists- which I haven’t seen for a while.  If you love worker placement/development/resource management euro games and can get past the dry, boring instructions, you will have a blast trying to outwit your opponents on a global scale.  83%

Daily Punch 8-4-14 On the Money quality for Shadowrun 5e

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I’ve had quite a few players at my table get mad when they only grazed a target, let’s fix that.

 

On the Money

Cost: 4 Karma

Life is a lot of absolutes for you: food/no food, rent money/sleeping in the car, hit/miss.  When you attack a target with a melee or ranged weapon and you score a grazing hit, you are considered to have hit the target doing base damage for the weapon or ammunition.

 

 

Thoughts?

Silver Screen Smackdown- Movie Review of Guardians of the Galaxy

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Movie– Guardians of the Galaxy

TL;DR– GO SEE THIS! 100%

 

Basics– Meet Quill, our not Han Solo hero, as he steals some random item from a dead world.  He is now on the run from Thanos, his former allies, and bounty hunters.  Along the way he will team up with a walking tree, a talking/shooting raccoon, an assassin, and a berserker as they save the galaxy while causing untold property damage.

 

Story– This story rocks!  The world of the movie is full of crazy characters, fun places, and untold destruction.  So many things are given a quick introduction, but all the pieces got just enough intro to keep you interested but not be boring.  It’s a wild ride that moves at such a fast pace that its over two hour run time just flies by. However, the pace is so well done that I didn’t have the rushed feeling I got from the Harry Potter films. 5/5

 

Acting-Everybody hits this out of the park.  Every person does an amazing job bringing all the crazy characters to life.  Some actors only have a voice to make you feel that a character is real, but they pull that off with amazing results.  Everybody shines in this one.  I AM GROOT 5/5

 

Cinematography– No surprise here as this film is an amazing piece of art.  The CGI is top notch while the real shots are no less amazing. 5/5

 

Summary– I have two favorite movies this summer-Snowpiercer and Guardians of the Galaxy.  These both hit great spots in my soul for different reasons.  If you want a fun movie that isn’t stupid with amazing dialog and great acting then Guardians of the Galaxy is the movie for you.  If you want a movie that will keep you thinking and wondering with amazing dialog and great acting then choose Snowpiercer.  Guardians of the Galaxy might not be the high brow cinema that will make you question the human conditions, but man, it is a fun time, wild ride, and an all around great movie! 100%

Book Bout- Book Review of Skin Game: A novel of the Dresden Files (Book 11)

~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ 1 Comment

Book– Skin Game: A Novel of the Dresden Files (Book 11)

Author-Jim Butcher

Buy It Here– ~$16 http://www.amazon.com/Skin-Game-Dresden-Files-Book-ebook/dp/B00HUVUSZ4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407159924&sr=8-1&keywords=skin+game

TL;DR-Good, but don’t start with Dresden’s 11. 93%

 

Basics-Dresden’s at it again!  Once again, Dresden is behind the eight ball as Mab has loaned the Winter Knight out to Nicodemus to pull a heist job with some of his oldest worst enemies.  Can Dresden be the Winter Knight, somehow not be a monster, complete the heist, and do all this before the psychic parasite in his mind kills him in three days?

 

Characters– This book is all about the different characters Dresden has meet in all of the previous books.  The characters feel like they belong and are written properly compared to the previous books, but do manage to grow and change in this book.  That’s no easy feat itself.  No one feel out of place, and you get enough of an introduction to each character that even if you did something as foolish as read this as your first Dresden Files novel, you wouldn’t be completely lost. 5/5

 

Setting-The Dresden Files have taken place less and less in Chicago over time.  While that is not horrible in any way, the original premise of the books was that Dresden was a modern wizard in Chicago.  The other places he goes are well described, and I had no problems visualizing them.  But, I think things need to go back to the source a bit. 4.5/5

 

Story-I liked this story, but you can tell it’s mostly there to get all the old gang back together.  With the exception of only a few major characters, all the boys are back.  Not horrible, but the book feels like it has to check in with everyone to hit all the fan favorites.  Again, not horrible, but as book series get longer it’s a problem that tends to creep into the series.  What is here is a fun ride that doesn’t feel stupid or stupid for a fantasy book at any turn.  The book even has built in “breathing sections” where the readers and characters get to live for a few minutes instead of just run/fight all the time, so the pacing is awesome.  Also, the idea of characters questioning if they are evil or good is another well done part of this story.  Overall, I like what I see in this book.  4.5/5

 

Summary-Here’s the straight deal-don’t just start reading this book.  Go read Storm Front if you want to start reading the Dresden Files.  It’s the first book, so start there.  If you like that one, odds are you will like this one, but please work your way up from there.  If you loved the previous ones, like me, you will love this one.  This book continues a lot of the last book’s themes which I enjoy while still delivering the action too.  It stands on its own, but don’t start here if you can avoid it.  As for the book itself, it a great book, but suffers from some of the same problems that most large series do. 93%

 

Audiobook EXTRA–  I’ve listened to every single Dresden Files book as an audiobook.  James Marsters is amazing as a narrator making every single character come to life, so that in and of itself is a reason to get this as an audiobook. 5/5

Daily Punch 8-1-14 Summoning Sickness quality for Shadowrun 5e

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I’ve been making a lot of good qualities for Shadowrun 5e, how about a bad one….

 

 

Summoning Sickness

Bonus: 5 Karma per Level (Max 4)

Requirement: Skill ranks or skill group points in Conjuring skills equal to the level taken for this quality.

You play with spirits, but they don’t play nice with you (kind of like cheap McHugh’s sliders)!  When you use a skill from the Conjuring skill group, you gain extra drain equal to the level(s) you take in this quality.  Determine if the drain is physical or stun before adding the additional drain from this quality.

 

Thoughts?

Daily Punch 7-31-14 Fading Fade quality for Shadowrun 5e

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I’ve heard Technomancers feel left out, and that complex forms are not very good.  Its powerfull, but the backlash is too much for it to be usefull.  So, how about a quality that will help them?

 

 

Fading Fade

Cost: 7 karma per rating (Max rating 3 )

You are a master of your mind and the matrix.  The inner math that makes the wireless world go round is something that you don’t even think about anymore.  When you use a complex form, reduce the fading value by an amount equal to the level of this quality.

 

 

Thoughts?

 

Daily Punch 7-30-14 Special Spell Training quality for Shadowrun 5e

~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ 4 Comments

We all focus on what we’re good at, so how about some focus for spell casters in Shadowrun?

 

Special Spell Training 

Cost: 10 Karma

Benefit: You’ve spent time working on one type of spell, so much so you don’t even feel the spell as it drains you.  When you take this quality choose a type of spell (combat, detection, etc), when you cast that spell of that type reduce the drain by 2 to a minimum of 1.

 

 

Thoughts?

Ring Side Report- DUAL RPG REVIEW of 13 True Ways and 13th Age Bestiary

~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ 2 Comments

I haven’t gotten any new 13th Age products in a while, and now I get two!  Let’s go through these starting with….

 

Product– 13 True Ways

Producer– Pelgrane Press

Price– ~$40 here http://www.pelgranepress.com/?p=12292

System– 13th Age

TL; DR– Love 13th Age?  BUY THIS NOW!  98%

 

Basics– MORE 13th AGE!  This book is the first player focused book for the 13th Age system.  This book covers several areas including new classes, items, monsters, living dungeons, and much more.  As always, the systems assumes you make up whatever you want and gives enough to get you started, but suggests you dump anything you want to make the story your own.

 

Mechanics or Crunch– Sweet jumping archmage, this book is full of new mechanics.  The new classes themselves are a crazy mix of new ideas.  I felt there is more of focus on modifying the encounter die which an interesting take on the mechanic.  There are the standard fare that people have requested like the necromancer and the commander (warlord from 4e DnD), but monks and druids really shined in this book for me.  Monks feel real to me now.  Sure, I like the Pathfinder monk and whatever system lets me punch goblins in the face, but this system is the first one to add some surprisingly heavy and accurate depth to the class.  Monks now have different kinds of strikes and forms just like any other real word martial art.  Druids have levels as the focus on different aspects of nature resulting in the class covering a shape changer who with different magic spells on different terrain or just being a crazy woods warrior guy/gal.  Both these classes get some serious focus in the book.  The new monsters are amazing and fun as well.  Items are great.  The best part of all this mechanics discussion is the banter between the writers.  The writers want you to write your own game and mechanics, so when they don’t have a consensus, they give you each side’s opinion and let you have fun.  Great book! 5/5

 

Theme or Fluff– Here is some balance combined with some amazing writing.  The book doesn’t tell you any story, but give you all the stories to tell.  An example of this is devils.  A major crux of the 13th Age system is that demons are going to destroy the world.  That’s the one thing that is universal in 13th Age, and that’s something you can completely disregard or rewrite and everybody’s happy!  Now devils are introduced with this book, but where do they come from?  Well this book gives you different origin stories relating to each of the icons.  And NONE of those are the reason in your game if you want them to be!  The book does an excellent job of providing Lego blocks for you to play with and showing you how the writers put them together but encourages you to build whatever you want to play with. 5/5

 

Execution-This book is laid out pretty much like the first book.  That was done fairly well, but it does have a bit of a “textbook problem”- lots of words on pages that are not broken up enough.  More pictures or colors on the powers, or space would help break up the text a bit more to help engage the reader.  I do like the pictures that are in the book, but I would like a bit more.  This isn’t by far a badly laid out book but, but a few more breaks would really help here. 4.75/5

 

Summary-THERE IS MORE 13th AGE OUT THERE!  Fans like me have been clamoring for more 13th age since there was a 13th age!  And, this product shows it’s been made with care and love for the system.  I love the new classes, powers, places, monsters, and items.  This book does monks right for the first time!  If you like 13th Age even a little bit, GO BUY THIS ONE NOW! 98%

 

Well now that I’m done drooling over one 13th Age product, here is another!

 

Product– 13th Age Bestiary

Producer– Pelgrane Press

Price– ~$40 here http://www.pelgranepress.com/?p=12144

System– 13th Age

TL; DR– More well done pieces to fit into a 13th Age game. 100%

 

Basics-Here ther’ be dragons!  This book is the first stand alone bestiary for the 13th Age system.  Each section describes a monster type, giver several versions of the monster, stories about the monster, a picture, and how it relates to the icons and the world.

 

Mechanics or Crunch– Need more monsters?  Here you go!  All the monsters work well and feel like cogs that fit the 13th age system.  The most important thing here is there is a TON of monsters to throw at the PCs and all the monsters feel like they belong and are fresh, yet something you expect in this world.  All the toys in the monster’s arsenal are well done.  Heck, if things are going too well for the players every monster gets an extra section on how to make this even nastier!  5/5

 

Theme or Fluff– Like I said before, everything fits.  That’s the most important part of this system.  Things “fit”.  All the monsters have story driven components that make them easy to just throw into a 13th Age game.  Monsters just don’t get a stat block and you hope for the best, you get a story, icon relations, and pictures-the whole nine yards.  This book is as much a story book as it is a bestiary. 5/5

 

Execution- Honestly, no complaints here.  I love the way 13th Age handles monsters-minimal stat blocks combined with stories and pictures.  Lots of breaks in the text make this a breeze and a joy to read.  This is a page turner making you want to read the next entry.  This is an awesome bestiary. 5/5

 

Summary-This is quite frankly an amazing bestiary.  If you run 13th Age, you need this book.  It’s got great stories to help you write your adventures and excellent pictures to help your players visualize the monsters.  And those are the tools I need to actually use any product in my games.  Simple put-13th Age GMs need this book. 100%

Ring Side Report- Video Game Review of South Park: The Stick of Truth

~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ 2 Comments

Game– South Park: The Stick of Truth

Price– It’s a bit old so you can get this for cheap!  ~$20

TL;DR– Ah nostalgia! 90%

 

Basics-You’re the new kid in South Park, so go make friends!  Soon you get drawn into a fight between the elves and the humans over the world’s most powerful artifact-The Stick of Truth!  You are recruited by Cartman, but soon you have to choose who you fight for as the stick is soon stolen!  Along the way aliens, the government, zombie nazis, and even stranger things all try to take the stick away.

 

Mechanics-The game drags on a bit.  The combat system is extremely simple.  It’s fun for the most part, but it gets repetitive very quick.  Combat is handled by timed button responses either attacking or defending.  Honestly, there seem to be less than 50 total normal enemies, so you will be attacked with the same attacks occur over and over and attack back with the same attacks over and over again too.  Most of my combats went less than one round.  Your power points for moves refresh at the start of each battle, so every battle was I use my super move, partner uses super move, enemies dead, wash rinse repeat.  The awesome moves that each character unlocks later in the game are fun but have long animated introductions that you have to wait through.  They are fun….the first 10 times, but after 100 uses of the same power with the same 30 second introduction, I was done.  Mercifully the game does set up outside of combat events that you can use to attack enemies reducing the amount of combat you have to do.  It makes life a bit easier and rewards smart play.  Make no mistake, the game is fun, but it just gets repetitive semi-fast. 4/5

 

Visuals-This one looks amazingly like the TV show which is to say pretty crappy!  Everything looks like an old school episode of South Park.  That in and of itself is amazing.  The walk actions are random half hops.  All the action looks great.  The locations are what you remember.  But the game follows the cartoon and some people, locations, or objects have crazy detail or different styles entirely.  The consistant inconsistency really makes you think you are watching an episode.  Later you enter Canada which is apparently stuck in the SNES era and is 16bit.  That whole section was just amazing and fun.  This game is a 20 Hour walk through memory lane as every part of the TV shows run is somehow represented in this game. 5/5

 

Story-If you don’t like toilet humor, don’t play this game!  If you can handle fart jokes, ass humor, mocking Christianity, racial humor, and too many other warnings to count, this game is amazing!  It feels like an old episode of South Park.  The boys and you are the only people in town who can figure out what the heck is going on, but you and your friends don’t care because you just want to play your elves vs. humans game.  It’s a great ride that I really enjoyed.  It does get a bit long as some humor doesn’t carry over well at the 20th hour mark as well as it did at the 1 hour mark, but it’s funny all the way through. 4.5/5

 

Summary-This was a blast to play.  I couldn’t put it down.  It’s not the most complex RPG I’ve played in a while, but it hit nostalgia buttons all over.  It reminded me of Super Mario RPG at the same time it reminded me of classic South Park.  This one doesn’t have the modern messages that most new South Park episodes have.  It’s just a game exploring what the boys do during their free time.  You will have a blast…if you can handle the NC-17 content and some repetition. 90%

Daily Punch 7-29-14 54 Card Pick-Up feat for Pathfinder

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I’m currently reading a few of the Pathfinder Harrow books, and I think this feat will help.

 

54 Card Pick-Up

You know how to use the Harrow, either to help or harm, but when you’re done you always get your cards back.

Benefit:  When you use a Harrow deck in a way that destroys a card or cards, if you shuffle the deck for five consecutive minutes after the card is destroyed the card or cards reappear in the deck.  These new cards are unmarked, and allow you to use the Harrow Deck for all feat, powers, or class abilities that requires a full deck of cards to draw from.

 

 

Thoughts?