Custom Firearms for Shadowrun
After a bit of mail from a Shadowrun 3rd edition fan, I dug these bad boys out of my archives. Here’s two pieces of heavy artillery (all right, heavy pistols) for the firearm enthusiast on your team!
More than Four Players (and the Gaming Sweet Spot)
Ever notice how some games are great, until you try them with a different number of players? Maybe this game works best with three while another one only works really well with more than four players, despite what it says on the box about supporting two to six.
I’ll take a look at the sweet spot for a few games and why I think these games work well (or don’t work at all) with more players, plus some suggestions on how they might be improved to scale for a larger group.
Silent Death: First Impressions
While I’ve had Silent Death: the Next Millennium for a while, I recently had my first opportunity to play it. In short order I discovered the qualities which gave it the reputation for being a fast-moving, easy-to-play, and exciting space combat miniatures game.
What follows is my brief description of the game’s contents, rules, how it felt playing for the first time, and why I’m very eager for a rematch!
Wageslavery – an Underappreciated Theme in Shadowrun
Shadowrun’s futuristic technology includes skillwares, chips with software which grant users access to knowledge and skills they do not innately possess.
Convenient for shadowrunners, yes. For the general populace? Downright dramatic; think about areas like manufacturing, and it becomes apparent that skillwares pose new pressures on the global workforce.
Here’s how I think new levels of civil unrest and social upheaval can create an excellent backdrop for a meaningful Shadowrun campaign.
Dual-Queue Draft for Jyhad/V:tES Cards
Drafting can be a great way to enjoy CCGs. While booster drafts are popular, I’d like to put the spotlight on my favorite drafting format: The Queue Draft.
In this post I’ll explain how the queue draft works and what you need in order to enjoy drafting. Plus why I think it works especially well for one of my favorite CCGs, Jyhad (aka Vampire: the Eternal Struggle) – but keep in mind it can be used with just about any CCG!
Vegas Showdown Five-Player House Rule
Last night was my first opportunity to play Vegas Showdown with five players. With three or four players it’s a game I enjoy immensely, but adding a fifth player seemed to break it (despite the scale enhancements in the rules).
While we didn’t implement it quite in time to save last night’s game, here’s a simple house rule that I think will keep the game fun when playing with five.
Dominion: Democratic Supply
Playing Dominion with a random supply can be fun sometimes, but inevitably requires slight editing of the random selection to ensure a range of prices and effect types. Here’s simple house rule inspired by that editing process that takes things a step further for more fun semi-random supply sets in Dominion.
Silent Death Ship Builder (Alpha) Now Available!
Want to try your hand at designing custom ships for Silent Death? The new Ship Builder app is now live! Check it out!
Then battle your friends’ ships in Silent Death!
Netrunner: The Big Sell-Out
I just wanted to make a brief mention of excellent multiplayer rules for a game I have a special soft spot for: Netrunner.
The Big Sell-Out is a Netrunner variant for four (or more) players, pairing a runner with their corporate “sponsor” for cyber-hijinks in the vein of Magic’s Two-Headed Giant.
Weekend Gaming Recap – 20100122
My group played Dominion: Intrigue, Kung-Fu Fighting, and Wreckage, and instead of an in-depth analysis or review I thought it might be fun to share a few quick thoughts on the experience with each game.
Plus a card set for Dominion: Intrigue.
