Ring Side Report-RPG Review of Trail By machine

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Product– Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-01: Trail by Machine

Producer– Paizo

Price– ~$4

System-Pathfinder

TL; DR– Good intro to the Year of the Sky Key, but some plot flaws. 97 %

 

Basics– Pathfinders-time for some basic training!  Go to the old Red Redoubt and survive a few simple tests of pathfinder skills.  All goes well until something mysteriously sets off the eons old redoubt powering up motors long dead.  Can you figure out the ancient, yet futuristic technology of the Red Redout of Karamoss to escape?

 

Mechanics or Crunch– This one has a decent mix of old and new items and mechanics.  It eases the players into the new, fantastic technology that players can pick up while exploring Numeria.  Also, this scenario presents rules for converting enemy characters to good characters in the society setting.  It’s a fun way for players to reform others by thought, action, and speech. 5/5

 

Theme or fluff- The Adventure has some interesting twists that will throw your players for a loop.  I won’t spoil them here, but they are pretty fun.  However, if the players do the smart thing, and instantly leave when they have their goal, they will only get to explore roughly HALF the area and miss all the items and faction boons!  A simple change in where some doors close would really help this adventure force the players to experience the cool technology and locations offered here. 4.5/5

 

Execution– Trial by Machine is done well.  The picture on the front of the module is nice as its something you can show your players to help them understand what they are fighting.  I would have liked a few more pictures to help my players with some of the more fantastic enemies and locations, but the art included isn’t bad by any means.  The text is decently put together as it’s not too cramped and laid out well. 5/5

 

Summary– This is a fun one.  I really like the Sword and Circuitry concept of the year of the sky key and the Iron Gods campaign, and this get that into the Pathfinder Society.  This adventure eases the players in slowly to robots and other fun technology things while teaching them how to interact with technology and new items.  You might have to do a bit of GM fiat to make half the adventure happen, but if you do, the players will have a much better time than if you just let them leave after half an hour of Pathfinder! 97%

Daily Punch 10-08-14 BioBox For Shadowrun 5e

~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ 1 Comment

My players built this custom during their last Shadowrun game.  I think this needs a build here.

 

BioBox

Why sneak in when you can be delivered?  the biobox was designed for insertion/extraction jobs.  The box is sized for one human, two human, troll, or two trolls.  The box is led lined, interlaced with biological material prevents assessing, and temperature controlled to prevent thermal scans.  While not standard, the box can be upgraded with air tanks as it is air tight, sound dampeners, electrical warfare devices for electronic dampening, and medical equipment for keeping a target unconscious.

 

Item                   Cost                            Restriction

human                  2,000                             10

two human          3,000                             12

troll                        3,500                             14

two troll               5,000                             16

Ring Side Report-Dual Board Game Review of Eminent Domain: Escalation

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Product– Escalation expansion to Eminent Domain

Producer– Tasty Minstrel Games

Price– ~$25  here http://www.amazon.com/Tasty-Minstrel-Games-PSITTT5001-Eminent/dp/1938146808/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412735641&sr=8-1&keywords=escalation+eminent+domain

Set-up/Play/Clean-up- 45 min (2-now 5 players)

TL; DR– some good, but drastic changes the game 85%

Basics– In the future, there is only war!  Escalation is the five player expansion for Eminent Domain.  The game play doesn’t change from my original write up here https://throatpunchgames.com/2014/05/05/ring-side-report-board-game-review-of-eminent-domain/.  This expansion adds another player as well as character roles, additional research cards, new planets, and roles for the larger ships in the base game.

Mechanics– I really loved the base game, and was excited to get my hands on the expansion.  However, the expansion makes some drastic changes to the base game that severely shift the mechanics of the game.  This expansion allows some research cards to be bought using fighters instead of research.  This means that war cards become the default strategy as now a hand full of red warfare cards can buy you either research or planets.  The roles for larger ships allow fighters to more easily capture planets further enforcing this.  Instead of now trying to balance research, colonization or attack, and survey, any player will now just choose to focus on surveying and warfare.  This changes the flow of the game, and not for the better.  This is chiefly evident in one power that lets a player conquer another player’s planets.  The player who does the conquering doesn’t even have to pay for the planet; the stock of points in the middle pays the person the planet was stolen from.  This shifts the play from light deck building to “get all the red cards first” game.  It makes the game much less fun.  Hands down the best part is the expansion are cards for a fifth player.  The new planets and research cards are interesting, but many of them feed into the problem of war being so dominent.   2.5/5

Theme–   If you like the change in mechanics, then you will love the theme.  I don’t, but I can see how the theme changed.  The universe is at war now, so the cards and mechanics will reflect it.  I might not personally like the change, but it’s done well.  4.5/5

Instructions-The rules are short and get the new changes out to the players pretty well.  It doesn’t have the text book problem, and it gives a great explanation to all the changes.  Well done. 5/5

 

Execution– This is a good expansion for its parts.  The instructions are laid out well.  The cards all have great art and stand up well to shuffling.  The tokens are well done.  I like what I see here.  Heck, even the expansion box can fit in the original box. 5/5

Summary– I’m not a fan of this one.  I love the addition of a fifth player, but the changes to what warfare cards can do are just too drastic.  While you can’t get all the research cards for a victory, you can get enough to easily stomp you opponents.  Also, you can now get research cards and planets that produce new ships each turn, so every turn you will almost be invading two planets a turn feeding this problem even more.  It changes a game with an awesome balance between colonize, trade, and warfare to a hostile game of war.  I didn’t have as much fun playing this.  However, the instructions are well written, the expansion is put together well, and the mechanics, while not my favorite part of this expansion, really do reflect the theme.  If you want Eminent Domain, but need to attack your fellow players, this is the expansion for you. 85%

Daily Punch 10-6-14 Persecuted flaw for Pathfinder

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Here is one I’ve been thinking about for a bit

 Persecuted

It might not be your fault, but people just don’t like you.  It may be racism, speciesism, or just plain hatred, but you get the worst end of the stick when it comes to people.

When you make any social interaction with another creature, the GM rolls a d6.  On a 6, the creature’s starting attitude is two steps worse toward you and any group you a known to be a part of.

Daily Punch 10-3-14 Tome of Knowledge for Pathfinder

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My players are a bit flustered in Pathfinder Society.  They hate always having the wrong still on the wrong day.  Let’s see if we can fix that.

 

Tome of Knowledge

Aura medium transmutation; CL 10th; Weight 1 lb.
Slot none; Price 3000 gp

Once per day, by reading this book  the reader can change known knowledge skill to one other knowledge skill.  If the new skill is not a class skill for any of the characters classes, that character does not get the training bonus associated with having ranks in that skill.  This effect last for eight hours.

Craft Wondrous Item, Barrow Skill; Cost 1500gp

Daily Punch 10-2-14 Tower Shield for DnD Next

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How about some real defense for DnD Next?

 

Tower shield

Cost: 50gp

+4 AC

40lbs

 

This shield is as tall as your average ork.  You gain a -1 penalty to all attacks while using a tower shield due to its bulk.  However, when you talk a full defense action, all enemies that are on that are attacking ahead of you may not target you as you benefit from full cover.  Enemies that attack from the sides only gain disadvantage.

 

Thoughts?

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Shadow Spells

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Product– Shadow Spells

Producer– Catalyst Game Lab

Price– ~$7 here http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/137717/Shadowrun-Shadow-Spells

System- Shadowrun 5e

TL; DR– Good, but more for your GM.  92%

 

Basics– Always geek the mage first!  Shadow Spells is the first pdf book to be released post Gen Con for Shadowrun.  This book builds on larger magic book Street Grimoire by introducing new traditions, new threats and allies in the shadows, and ending with new spells and abilities for mages of all sorts.

 

Mechanics or Crunch– This book does have some cool stuff in it, but most of the presented crunch is focused on making the GM’s life easier.  The book introduces several new threats and allies for the PCs to tangle with, and they are all well done with fun new magical powers.  On the PC’s side, the new traditions all look great and look fun to play with.  The best thing introduced by far in this book is the Norse tradition.  So if you want a mage who has a crow familiar and worships Loki for power all the while screwing with everyone with illusions, then this is the book for you.  The powers and spells are ok.  Nothing is bad here, but most of the spells have extremely limited use.  There are some winner spells that are pretty useful on most runs.  However, most of these might be spells you buy later, as most of what’s here is not the kind of spells you would pick up at character generation when you only can choose 10 spells.  4/5

 

Theme or Fluff–   I love the way Catalyst presents information in their books.  Instead of “here is X information”, everything is always presented as an internet post with people commenting on what just was presented either to provide new information or to provide some snark.  It might not be laughing out loud comedy, but it’s funny and entertaining enough to keep you reading and interested in what is basically a textbook on obscure magical persons and traditions in the sixth world.  5/5

 

Execution– Much like the rest of the short Shadowrun PDFs, this one is well done.  I’d like a few more pictures and some more white space to break up some text, but overall, I enjoyed reading this.  It never felt like a slog through dense, boring text.  There are some cool pictures as well as some nice text boxes to break up the text and give the reader a chance to breath.  These all help to keep me interested and entertained rather than bored.  Some things I would have liked to see are some pictures of the named characters in this book as we see some pictures of the named people of interest, but not all.  But overall, it’s a well done book.  4.75/5

 

Summary– I love magic in Shadowrun.  It’s always fun to take down a fully armored troll street samurai with a timid elf pinned down in an alley.  This book adds some more story to the Shadowrun world.  Overall, it’s pretty well done, but if you don’t play a mage, then this book is completely useless to you.  If you don’t want to play an obscure tradition, then this book doesn’t help you either.  As a GM, this book is very useful as it provides a new set of enemies and powers that you might want to throw on an enemy.  For the average player, you really have to consider what you want.  This book provides some great character options, but it might not be useful to most players.  92%

Daily Punch Specialist quality for Shadowrun 5e

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I’ve been reading lots of Shadowrun lately.  Let’s see what I can come up with.

 

 

Specialist

Cost: 15 Karma

What you practice, you really practice.  Whether its shooting round after round at the same target at the range or just learning to make that pretty Troll at the bar smile on command, when you focus on something, you make sure you do it well.  When you gain a specialization in a skill, you roll three dice instead of two.

 

 

Thoughts?