So, a few new games were acquired late last year. Some of these were discussed in the posting about Thanksgiving gaming, and some were mentioned in the post about the Christmas break gaming. But, a few of the titles were train related, and as train related gaming is something of a high interest theme here at Gaming with Chuck, it felt right to do a short blog post about it.
First, a word about Train games. These are not all what purists would call Railroad games. To some, that includes the 18xx series. To others, that includes the Martin Wallace masterpieces, Steam, Age of Steam, and the various derivative titles (Railroad Tycoon and Railways of the World). Still others include railroad themed route building games (which tend to be lighter, such as Ticket to Ride, or TransAmerica). To some it is the family of crayon based games, such as Empire Builder (and Dampfross, and many others). It might include railroad theme games such as Russian Railroads. And strange combinations of these, like Chicago Express. Finally, to some it even includes games that have mechanics that are typically Railroad game mechanics, but for non-railroad themes like Elfenland, or Poseidon.
To me, all of those are Train games. It can be a train related mechanic (pick up and deliver, stock manipulation, network building, travel), or it can be theme (Russian Railroads, Express).
So, what were some of the train titles acquired last year here at GwC headquarters?
Boxcars
Isle of Trains
Continental Express
Paris Connection
Russian Railroads
Ticket to Ride 10 Year Anniversary Set
Trains: Rising Sun
Yardmaster
Yardmaster Express
A few words about these . . .
Boxcars, of course, is the Rio Grande Games re-issue of the Avalon Hill classic, Rail Baron. But wait! Rail Baron was a reissue of the game Boxcars. So we are now back to the original. Except, it has a new board (the UK) and some adjusted rules. This is a game of pick up and delivery. The routes are all developed. What players can do, other than receiving a constant stream of pickup and delivery points, is to purchase railroads, which are cheaper for them to run on, but more expensive for the competition. The game is a simple race to develop a pile of money ($200K) and then return to home base (starting position). Very fun, and now made even better because the one tedious part of the game was using the charts to roll up cities for delivery. This can be done, now, with a very nice App for iPad and iPhone - available for free from iTunes. What a great thing!
Isle of Trains is a great little card game, from the Dice Hate Me games series of 54 card games called the Rabbits. This was the result of a kickstarter, the ended up with six published titles. The series includes:
Yep - Seth Jaffee of Eminent Domain fame is the (co) designer of this great little card game. The game is one of building your train (using mechanisms familiar to deck builder game players - cars have costs, and you pay that cost with other cards from your hand), and then loading cargo on your own, and others', trains. Why load on another player's train? Well, because you are rewarded with special actions - and they make all the difference. Once you have a train, and some cargo, you can complete contracts - of which there are six, each corresponding to one of the main cities on the Island of Sodor Isle that is the namesake of the game. We have played this a few times, and the decision making and action planning is great - especially for a small format game. It takes about an hour to play, and it is an hour well spent. One of the best things about the game, is that the great card art (by Daniel Guidera and Christopher Kirkman) is fantastic, and very reminiscent of a Little Golden Book (especially The Train to Timbuctoo and The Little Red Caboose).
Continental Express is also a small format card game. This one is from Asmodee, and is packed in a really nice tin box, similar to another of their titles, The Builders: Middle Ages. They have several other titles in this same format of small tin box (Noah, Souk, Cardline: Animals, Cardline Dinosaurs, and Cardline: Globetrotter), however The Builders and Continental Express seem to be the most mature of these. In this game, as in Isle of Trains, you are constructing a train. However, that is the goal of this one - building the train. You collect sets of cards, drawn from a pool of available cards each turn, and then turn them in for new cars on your train. Each new car card has a train line symbol, and there are bonus point categories for those symbols. Not a bad little game, and set collection is always a good mechanism. The artwork is gorgeous, although closer to the Ticket to Ride artwork, than it is to other styles.
More coming on other titles, but this is enough for now. . . .
Collins Epic Wargames has revised the latest offering from their excellent Spearpoint: 1943 series of WW2 tactical card games. The new title (on Kickstarter from Dec 6 for 45 days, until Jan 20) is Spearpoint 1943 Eastern Front
Image from the Kickstarter Page.
The original is a favorite here at Gaming with Chuck - it plays fast and well, is easy to teach, and rewards good decision making. The original pits US and German forces against each other. This new offering - now being funded (and, as of this writing, very close to success) through Kickstarter! Project page here.
The new title is Eastern Front and faces off the favorite foes of WW2 wargamers everywhere - Russia vs. Germany. The cards, units, and play all look great from what has been released so far (including a print and play combat preview - very nicely done CEW).
A nice video, from the Kickstarter Project page, gives an overview of how the game is played. This is a really nicely done video, something of a standard these days with new games. And Collins Epic Wargames has done well here. Check it out at the Kickstarter page.
In addition, there is already a nice entry at Boardgame Geek with lots of images of components, etc.
An older video, from earlier in 2013, shows a great example of game play for the system.
If you are looking for a good, solid combat card game, that rewards good thinking and decision making, and still has enough luck in it to make it dramatically exciting to play - consider backing Spearpoint 1943 Eastern Front. You'll be glad you did.
[NOTE: This is the 400th post at Gaming with Chuck. Huzzah!]
The mythological old west of the United States is a fantastic place, to tell stories, to set songs, and even to base gaming themes on. First a couple of pieces of classic Western music.
In the fantastic song Ghost Riders in the Sky a story is told about a herd of demonic cattle (red eyes, steel hooves, flaming brands) being chased forever by cursed cowboys. It is reminiscent of tales like the Flying Dutchman, or the Wild Hunt. The song was first recorded by none other than the fantastic singer, Burl Ives in February of 1949. It was then recorded by Vaughn Monroe in March of 1949. Monroe's version is fantastic, partially because of his incredible basso voice, but also the music is very well done. In contrast, many other versions that feature (mostly) a single instrument - like Burl Ives', or Johnny Cash's versions - are pretty nice to hear as well. There is a nice Youtube recording of the Burl Ives version.
This song has been recorded so many times, by so many great artists, it is hard to know which to include. However, in the (mostly terrible) movie Ghost Rider (based on the much better comic book character), Nicholas Cage gets a modern remake of the skull-and-hellfire cowboy. The song got a remake as well, with a version by Spiderbait. Dare I say it - the brief bit with Sam Elliott as the traditional horse riding version of Ghost Rider is 187x more classy than Nick Cage's motorcycle riding version. But then again, Sam Elliott is a real cowboy.
Famous cowboy singer Marty Robbins did a version as well. But, if I'm going to include a western song by Marty Robbins, it HAS to be El Paso. Nothing more to say on that one. I think verses of it even were reprinted inside the rulebook "Hey You in the Jail" (great range war miniatures game by Peter Pig).
American Cowboy (the website of the cowboy lifestyle) has a great list of the top 100 western songs. Lots of great songs there. But if I think of some of my favorite western movies, and some of the songs from them, I have to include the rendition of "My Rifle, my Pony, and Me" by Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson, from the fantastic John Wayne piece, "Rio Bravo" (1959).
Okay, moving from what is a HUGE topic of music, to an equally large topic of gaming, I would like to start with a relatively recent (2002) offering - the card game Bang!. This has been a great hit for Emiliano Sciarra, spinning of a bunch of expansions and variations. There is even, now, a dice game.
The game is about gun fighting in a classic Hollywood, or Spaghetti Western, style town. There are different roles for the players - Sheriff, Deputy, Outlaw and Renegade - and classic actions (shooting, hiding, etc). Here is the text from Board Game Geek, which is mostly from the original game's box back...
"The Outlaws hunt the Sheriff. The Sheriff hunts the Outlaws. The
Renegade plots secretly, ready to take one side or the other. Bullets
fly. Who among the gunmen is a Deputy, ready to sacrifice himself for
the Sheriff? And who is a merciless Outlaw, willing to kill him? If you
want to find out, just draw (your cards)!" (From back of box)
This card game recreates an old-fashioned spaghetti western
shoot-out, with each player randomly receiving a Character card to
determine special abilities, and a secret Role card to determine their
goal.
Four different Roles are available, each with a unique victory condition:
Sheriff - Kill all Outlaws and the Renegade
Deputy - Protect the Sheriff and kill any Outlaws
Outlaw - Kill the Sheriff
Renegade - Be the last person standing
A player's Role is kept secret, except for the Sheriff. Character
cards are placed face-up on table, and also track strength (hand limit)
in addition to special ability.
There are 22 different types of cards in the draw deck. Most common
are the BANG! cards, which let you shoot at another player, assuming the
target is within "range" of your current gun. The target player can
play a "MISSED!" card to dodge the shot. Other cards can provide
temporary boosts while in play (for example, different guns to improve
your firing range) and special one-time effects to help you or hinder
your opponents (such as Beer to restore health, or Barrels to hide
behind during a shootout). A horse is useful for keeping your distance
from unruly neighbors, while the Winchester can hit a target at range 5.
The Gatling is a deadly exception where range doesn't matter - it can
only be used once, but targets all other players at the table!
Information on the cards is displayed using language-independent symbols, and 7 summary/reference cards are included.
A great game. Another western themed card game that has loads of period flavor is the fantastic Mystery Rummy spinoff Wyatt Earp, based on the original series design by Mike Fitzgerald. The game also has Richard Borg listed as a designer, so perhaps he added the unique elements to this title. The game has the players in the role of Sheriff's attempting to bring in dangerous (and famous) criminals of the old west. It involves collecting and playing sets of cards. Lots of fun, and a ton of theme.
Another card game, that is quite popular, but not one of my favorites, is Munchkin. There is (yes, of course there is) an Old West themed version, called The Good, the Bad, and the Munchkin! It, itself, even has expansions.
On the boardgame front, there is a lot to choose from, including the classic man-to-man shooting boardgame from Avalon Hill, Gunslinger (1982). It is a great hex based man-to-man cowboy combat game, with a number of cool scenarios you can play out of the book, and is easy enough to create any situation you want, from novels, movies, or your own imagination.
A nice modern re-doing of the man-to-man cowboy game (and there have been a number over the years) is the 2007 release of "Cowboys: Way of the Gun" from Worthington Games. Other than different mechanics, one of the big differences is the reliance on square grid vs. hex grid for the map structure and movement, etc.
Another nice theme for board games is Western Expansion. Two that I can immediately think of, other than the many, many different railroad games set in the old west, are Oregon, and Settlers of America: Trails to Rails. There are many, many titles in this category as well, but those two come to mind immediately.
Oregon is all about building up buildings, mines, and other features to help construct a territory in the west. It is a lot of fun, pretty well balanced (typical Euro in that regard), and great art/theme. It is a settling game, and appropriately, it is based on Area Control and placing Tiles. Great game, however.
Settlers of America: Trails to Rails is a Settlers of Catan based game, with a fixed map of the United States during the Manifest Destiny period, and it is a great economic game about western expansion. And it features typically high quality components and quality control from Mayfair Games.
There are also a lot of western themed RPGs that I could mention (Boot Hill, Deadlands, Western Hero), as well as some western themed Miniatures Rules (The Rules With No Name, Hey You in the Jail, Pony Wars). After all of this, however, I am again faced with the thought that the Old West (in myth, if not in reality) is a fantastic theme for music, games, and movies. And I didn't even mention too much about the movies...
So, we had a number of folks come over our house last weekend, and play some games. There were some new people we had met in Columbus - Jason and Kylie, as well as Bob and his college aged daughter Amber, and our daughter Heidi brought her high school friend, Sailor Ann, over to play. It was a great mix, and we had a great time.
Games played included big games of both 6 Nimmt (also called Category 5) and Bohnanza (using the supplemental cards, which I believe now come in the base game). Both of those games were a big hit! The Cows of 6 Nimmt were easily matched for excitement and funny comments by the Beans of Bohnanza. As usual, with our German version of Bohnanza, without German speakers in the game, we made up our usual funny names for the bean (poopy bean, angry bean, etc).
German version (that we own) of 6 Nimmt - "6 Takes It"
Some of the many, exciting, cows - or Hornochsen, in 6 Nimmt!
The Rio Grande (U.S.) version of Bohnanza - we actually own the Amigo German version
The eleven types of Beans in the basic game, and first expansion, plus the Third Bean Field card
These games had everyone in a great mood, and it was made even better by dinner - Anita served up some delicious home made chili and corn bread muffins, and we then followed up with Cake that was made by Amber. She decorated the cake with the cover art from Ticket to Ride. The TtR cover art was on the top of the cake, and the scoring track was around the side of the cake. It was a quite good confetti cake.
We then split up into two groups - one group played Ticket to Ride, and the other played Ticket to Ride Europe. In addition to the basic game, there were some extra pieces used in the North America version - they used the wooden replacement train pieces that we own, as well as the Halloween Fright Train pieces from Days of Wonder.
Finally, after the Ticket to Ride fest, the evening rounded out by the remaining five gamers (myself, Jason, Kylie, Amber, and Bob) playing a game of Power Grid. We used the standard US board since not too many of us had played before, and it was a really good time.
All-in-all a great social event, and a great boardgaming get together. We'll do it again in about a month.
The entire staff of Gaming with Chuck (except for the two Battle Cats, who stayed behind at GwC headquarters, to defend against the encroaching hordes) took a journey from Columbus GA up to Clemmons NC, to engage in a weekend of Bacchanalian Ludo-Revelry. The games played included a variety of board and card games, as well as loads of roleplaying.
Roleplaying Games
The roleplaying consisted of two sessions of Labyrinth Lord, and one session of D&D Next. Yours truly ran the sessions of Labyrinth Lord (on Friday evening, and also during the day on Saturday).
Dan Proctor's wonderful clone game, that copies early D&D so very well
The Friday night session followed a character building session for folks who didn't have characters. That included two GwC staff members (Anita and Heidi) as well as. It was to be the first RPG session ever for Heidi, although she has grown up playing all sorts of games, and hearing her parents and all the friends of the family talk about the RPG aspect of the hobby. She chose to create, and play, a 1st level Gnome Thief. The session involved a bridge crossing (with a goblin ambush), some outdoor encounters, and was going to culminate in a short dungeon adventure, but the evening ended before the gaming did. The action was loosely based in the Gran March of the World of Greyhawk.
Section of the phenomenal Darlene map for World of Greyhawk
Heidi's character, the Gnome Thief (named Trixie) was not the only newly created character for the evening, the other players all had new 1st level characters - including Anita rolling up a 1st level female Dwarf fighter named Badb Bigaxe. Carol had a half elf Ranger called Dil (her name was much longer, and extremely elven, but Dil is a nice nickname). Marcy played an Elven Druid called Glengaraeth. Rachel also played a Druid called Aerilyn. John played a Magic User.
The Saturday day session, featured an installment in the ongoing Greyhawk campaign (detailed, moderately, over at the Sword and Potion blog) that I run. This featured four of the five regular weekly players being present face to face, as well as one player being present via Google Hangouts (he couldn't travel to Clemmons). In addition to the Wednesday Night All Stars, we had some additional players. Heidi and Anita had their characters, Trixie the Gnome, and Badb the Dwarf, upped to 2nd level (for survivability reasons) and they joined the fray. Also, Dil and Aerilyn joined the group, allowing Carol and Rachel to join the game (they were also bumped to 2nd Level). John and Marcy are regular players on Wednesday nights, so they switched over to their regular characters (John plays a halfling thief named Flinders, and Marcy plays an Elven cleric named Rhysgil).
Saturday's adventure was a continuation (and part sidebar) of this much larger group, along the main campaign quest, to investigate a curious dungeon located inside the Rushmoors. The Rushmoors is a swamp that lies over what was once the heart of the Occluded Empire of Vecna. One of the most noteworthy locations in the Rushmoors is the Black Tower (or Rotted Tower), which was once the capitol of the Empire. The characters in this campaign, however, are seeking a curious spot inside the fetid and evil swamp, where a curious dragon ship has crashed into the heart of a huge and ancient cypress tree. This ship has opened up a portal to another world, and is called "The Ship between the Worlds" - also the name of the adventure path the players are following. This sidebar adventure is inside the Rushmoors, but the dungeon is one where a curious little tribe of fishmen (not too different from Kuo Toa) have an underground temple. The players invaded, began investigating, and disrupted the nest of evil. The adventure wasn't finished, but it was a fun time for a long Saturday afternoon of gaming.
A different version of Greyhawk, this time showing the Rushmoors, lower left.
Sunday's gaming was run by John, and was a short adventure using the latest playtest package of D&D Next. I made up a character - hailing from the city of Dyvers, at the northern edge of the Gnarley Forest, named "Robin of the Gnarley Wood". The character has a heavy Errol Flynn influence and was quite fun to play as a swashbuckling bravo!
Robin of the Gnarley Wood
There were all new characters around - Steve with a wizard, Rachel with a Druid, Marcy with a Cleric, Heidi repeating her Gnome Thief, Rowdy with a Monk, and Carol repeating her Elven Ranger. It was fun to play, but it still doesn't feel like AD&D (or D&D) to me, yet.
Board Games
A wonderful weekend of gaming, that also included some board and card games. We played a game of Eight Minute Empire. This is turning out to be quite a fun little game, I can't wait for the release of the successor (which I backed) to come out - Eight Minute Empire Legends from kickstarter.
We also played a game of When Zombies Attack. This is a new dice game based on the players trying to survive a zombie attack. Slightly different than the (superior) Zombie Dice game from Steve Jackson Games, where the players are themselves Zombies, trying to collect Brains. This game has the dice representing Zombies, and the players trying (through dice rolls) to get rid of the Zombies. If a player survives a whole round being zombie (dice) free, then they are the winner. In one or two respects it is superior to Zombie Dice, but in general, I think it will not surpass the original. The biggest advantage, is not having to keep score. But, I have heard that it is easy to keep score in Zombie Dice, if one uses little plastic brains or skulls (or similar) instead of writing the score on paper. Must try.
Finally the group played a round of The Resistance. This was a fun game as a filler between the long Labyrinth Lord session on Saturday, and the evening activity (which was a ctered BBQ dinner and a group viewing of "The Avengers" at Steve's wonderful home theater at his house in Greensboro). We had a great time playing Resistance, even though it was a new game to most of the players. Everyone fell into it right away, with lots of accusations and paranoia out of the gate. It was a seven player game, and the Government Spies won!! Treachery!
So, I just filled out the pre-ship survey on this one. It looks like it will be pretty good. It is Martin Wallace, and it is based on a Neil Gaiman story. And the art for the cards looks great. What could possibly go wrong?
Lots of preview stuff about the gameplay, cards, etc on the kickstarter page. I understand it will also be available directly through Treefrog Games (Martin's company).
Enough about the game - the Story that Neil Gaiman wrote, which is the basis for the game (in short: Sherlock Holmes solves mystery in a world where the Cthulhu Mythos are real), is available online - at Neil's website. This, by the way, is a fantasticly done version with a really nice layout. So if you have read it before (or not) do your self a favor and check it out.
I have been working on doing a photo report on some of my fantasy armies, as well as my completed (hooray) 19th century Imaginations fleets. However, this has been a busy week, so instead I'll just post a quick nod to my friend Byron's card based WW2 combat game, Spearpoint 1943.
At Origins, he taped a new "how to" video, and it is pretty nice. Here it is.
The staff here at Gaming with Chuck are long time fans of the horror stories written by and inspired by H.P. Lovecraft. So it should be no surprise that one of the more recent Kickstarter games being backed is none other than "Cthulhu Wars".
Sandy Peterson (in suspenders, quite proper for an elder statesman of gaming) demoing the game at an H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival
The Kickstarter campaign is here. Go check it out, even if you don't become a backer, you'll become impressed with the work they have done.
This is a board game, heavily influenced by Sandy Peterson. His company Green Eye Games is producing the game, and out of the box (with no add-ons) it includes 60 (sixty!) 28mm miniatures. The sculpts look good, from the promotional videos and pictures on the Kickstarter site, and at Board Game Geek. See a nice picture of some of the figures here.
Sculpt prototype, from Boardgamegeek.com
The board game is about a number of different factions, each composed of the cultists and creatures aligned to a specific Old One. It seems that the end of the world is nigh, and the Old Ones have returned to consume what is left of the shattered world. So the four factions (possibly more, after add-ons or expansions of the game are added in) fight with each other to control the planet. Sort of an Eldritch Risk kind of game.
One side of a two sided board, also shown on Boardgamegeek.com
There was another game, an older game. A game out of space and out of time, penned by a pair of cursed hands belonging to two damned souls descended from an ancient, and corrupted race (John Tynes and Jeff Barber). That game was called "Creatures and Cultists" and it was from a publisher of Call of Cthulhu adventures and magazines, called Pagan Publishing.
The game eventually ended up in the hands of another company, called EOS
Press, and got a facelift from that vile sorcerer from the Plateau of
Leng - John Kovalic. The game, of course, is a lot of fun, and is also based on the idea of a number of different factions (each serving their own great old one) fighting with each other for the privilege of summoning their own big baddy and destroying the world (devouring human kind in the process). Loads of fun, but for some reason, I had a lot more fun playing the original, than the EOS version. Not sure why, maybe there is a rules difference? Or maybe we have come to expect a different (faster?) experience from our card and board gaming experience, than we did back in 1993.
Byron Collins - a good friend of mine - has a kickstarter campaign going for the next game from his board game company (Collins Epic Wargames). Spearpoint 1943 Eastern Front (the original, which takes place in Italy, is a fantastic game, and was nominated for an Origins award). This is a WW2 card game based on deck construction, but the game is not just a generic deck builder, it also features some very interesting scenarios, as well as dice based combat. As the game unfolds, it has a great tactical feel to it, and the battle feels like it is moving through stages (first contact; focus forces; and finally decisive engagement). All in about 30 minutes.
Sometimes in battles the unexpected happens. Units perform without orders; reinforcing elements arrive late (or early) ( or not at all); supporting elements don't; and individual officers are often anything but predictable.
But how to translate this into a tabletop miniatures game without a lot of complication? One way is with card driven events. This is down well in the excellent ruleset, The Sword in Africa. Also by Patrick Wilson's random event decks for TSATF. Charles Grant, in his Programmable Wargames Scenarios handles it for the solo wargaming by providing dice driven results for one or both sides in a solo game. The recent generation of card-driven board wargames handle it by linking events to troop activation. The ACW ruleset (and it's many variants) Fire and Fury handles it through a maneuver dice table where unpredictable move results can occur.
A simple system is suggested here, with fleshed out details next time.
Every third turn (3, 6, 9, etc) after all moves and combats are done, both sides roll a dice. High roller has the whim of fate on his side, temporarily. If the high roller had an even number, then some benefit accrues to his forces. If it is an odd number, then something negative happens to his foe.
Considering that Halloween is less than a week away, a very fitting topic for a posting on Music and Gaming is certainly music inspired by Edgar Allan Poe and his wonderful stories.
There is, evidently, a VERY LARGE body of work that has been inspired by Poe, which shouldn't be too surprising considering how well his writing has stood up to time, and seems to have universal appeal.
The one contribution to Poe-esque music that we'll discuss here at Gaming with Chuck is the phenomenal album from Alan Parson's Project, Tales of Mystery and Imagination. This album was first released in 1976, and was APP's first album. And it is a great album.
The tracks on the album are these:
A Dream within a Dream (instrumental)
The Raven (my personal favorite)
The Tell Tale Heart
The Cask of Amontillado
The System of Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether
The Fall of the House of Usher (in 5 tracks)
To One in Paradise
There was a later, 1987, release of the album that featured fantastic narration from Orson Welles at the beginning of A Dream within a Dream, and the first track of The Fall of the House of Usher.
The favorite track on the album, here at Gaming with Chuck, is The Raven, based on Poe's classic 1845 poem.
The poem has a wonderfully eery feel to it, and really drips of all sorts of dark and supernatural tones and themes, but really, it comes down to a Raven that visits a grieving lover, and refuses to give him consolation about the state of his departed lover's soul in the after life. Creepy enough, but it is in the delivery that Poe makes this story so impactful.
As a take-away for gaming, it shows (at least for role playing games) the reliance of imagery and language in order to set a mood/scene for players. For a look at how artwork and language can set the mood, take a look at this video, of a book on the poem, being read by Christopher Walken.
But, this is a posting about music, and so we turn to the Alan Parson's Project rendition - a song if not exactly the poem, certainly borrowing many lines from it, and inspired by the basic idea.
Okay, so we have basically an awesome poem. And an awesome song. All by Edgar Allan Poe, but how has Poe affected and influenced gaming?
Well, one of the main ways, although this may be a little indirect, is that Poe was an incredible influence on H. P. Lovecraft, who has had a huge impact on gaming. Robert Bloch (yes, the Robert Bloch that wrote the story used for the Alfred Hitchcock movie Psycho, amongst other horror tales) wrote a very interesting comparison of the two men. Lovecraft was so influenced and respectful of Poe that he even wrote a poem concerning the earlier author, called "In a Sequester’d Providence Churchyard Where Once Poe Walk’d"
Eternal brood the shadows on this ground,
Dreaming of centuries that have gone before;
Great elms rise solemnly by slab and mound,
Arched high above a hidden world of yore.
Round all the scene a light of memory plays,
And dead leaves whisper of departed days,
Longing for sights and sounds that are no more.
Lonely and sad, a specter glides along
Aisles where of old his living footsteps fell;
No common glance discerns him, though his song
Peals down through time with a mysterious spell.
Only the few who sorcery’s secret know,
Espy amidst these tombs the shade of Poe.
Lovecraft's influences on 20th century pop culture and gaming have been great, and picking up in pace in recent years. First, for gaming, there is the absolute classic role playing game, The Call of Cthulhu, from Chaosium. First released as a box set, written by Sandy Petersen back in 1981, the rules were based on the earlier Chaosium hit, RuneQuest. The game (CoC) is still in print today, and one of the main authors is still Petersen (now joined by Lynn Willis). This game produced sort of a gaming empire for Chaosium, although they weren't without financial problems over the year. They always retained ownership, and kept in print, CoC, however. Over the year dozens and dozens of gaming supplements - new settings, adventures, supplemental rules, etc - were produced by Chaosium, and other (licensed) companies. One of the most interesting was a setting called Dreamlands, which allowed players to play in a fantasy/horror realm, that is only reachable while in a dream state. This was based on a sequence of Lovecraft stories, but could be said to be influenced by Poe's Dream within a Dream, amongst other things.
Some modern Lovecraft gaming influences must include the games from Fantasy Flight, including a Call of Cthulhu living card game (a card game, where periodic supplements are produced, to be added into the decks of cards the game is based on), as well as a fantastic board game, called Arkham Horror (AH). AH was originally published by Chaosium, but it has been taken to new heights, including all sorts of marvelous add-ons and supplements, even including painted figures, etc. Also from Fantasy Flight is the game Elder Sign, which is sort of a faster play, dice game of Arkham Horror. AH itself feels like a roleplaying campaign, reduced to a 4-6 hour session.
Dunwich supplement for Arkham Horror, adding new board, cards, characters, etc.
But what about Poe? One of the direct links to gaming, for Poe, is Mystery Rummy #2 - "Murders in the Rue Morgue". This is, of course, based on the excellent story by Poe. If you have not read it, please, by all means - go read it now before finding out anything else about the game. It is a detective story, an early example of the type of story referred to as a "locked room" story - where the murder takes place in such a way that there is little or no room for a logical explanation. The story is very much worthwhile as a discovery, and the game features huge spoiler information. A copy of the full (short) story can be found here.
Okay, there is a video review of the game online from the Dice Tower.
The game design comes from Mike Fitzgerald, who has done several different games in the series, and one related (but not in the US Game Systems published sequence of card games). The relate done is Wyatt Earp, another excellent card game.
So there you have it - this week's Theremin Thursday - Music and Gaming article. Fantastic music from Alan Parson's Project, based on Edgar Alan Poe. Poe was a big influence on Lovecraft - who has been a phenomenal influence on gaming, and there is even a great little card game based directly on one of Poe's short stories. Enjoy your gaming, and enjoy Halloween.
Rather than me talking about Byron's excellent Spearpoint 1943 card game, I thought I would just link to some of the excellent video reviews that are out there.
The first is from Marcowargamer - Marco has some great videos about games, and this one doesn't disappoint.
Next up we hear from Lance with Getting Board - another good review.
Finally, although this should have (perhaps) been first, we have an Unboxing from Chance of Gaming Podcast
The Chief Bottle Scrubber here at Gaming with Chuck HQ thinks that Spearpoint 1943 is a great game. There is strategy, metagame considerations, tactical decisions, cards and dice - all coming together in a nice little simulation of a 1943 meeting engagement between a few German and American forces in Europe. What's not to like? Now if I can only talk Byron into doing an Eastern Front edition . . . T-34s and Russian Combat Dogs!
Tags: board games, card games, wargames, WWII
This past weekend (Memorial Day weekend) we had quite a few boardgames going on at "Gaming with Chuck" staff headquarters.
Starting out Friday with a game of Small World, for just the immediate staff members (me, Anita and Heidi). Very fun, very light, fantasy wargame. Everyone at HQ seems to enjoy this one.
On Saturday we had some lovely folks visit from out of town. We broke into two groups (the boys and the girls). The benefits were - (1) two game tables, so neither was overcrowded, (2) different game tastes. But I usually like playing with the girls, so next time we might split up different.
The girls on the other hand, played three games and spoke of other things. They played Ticket to Ride, Unspeakable Words, and Apples to Apples. The event also included catered sandwiches and chicken, as well as lots of fruit and cheese. Since the youngest staff member at HQ was celebrating her 11 year old birthday, there was also Cake.
All in all, a great weekend, and some good times playing games with friends.
