Showing posts with label Decision Games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Decision Games. Show all posts
3:39 PM
On the way back from dropping off Anne and Little G up at the cabin, I took the long way back through Mosby's Confederacy (aka, the Horse Country of Northern Va)-- Middleburg, Upperville, Aldie, etc. Simply gorgeous and sunny, I was in no great hurry to be anywhere. When I'm in no great hurry to be someplace, and in Chantilly, I drop in the Game Parlor, and Saturday was no exception. I was was pleased to run in to my friends Ed, Nigel, Jeffrey and Brett, who were there for Worldwide D&D Game Day. I have only a nodding acquaintance with the new 4th Edition of Dungeon and Dragons, which is a game very much removed from the days of my youth. I figured what the heck and sat in on an adventure after well all went out for Peruvian chicken and Yucca.Say what you like about Wizards of the Coast (and why not? I often do), they have the logistics on this event nailed. WotC recruited a small army of volunteer GMs to run a series of canned adventures, provided them with the maps, the figures and the modules to run the event with. These were short adventures, designed to be run through end to end in four hours or less. We did our in 3 hours and change.
The Blurb:
Journey Through the Silver Caves – A kobold wyrm priest has stolen an ancient book of prophecy from the people of Albura, a fortress on the borderlands. The kobold has a dark plan for the book – and only you can stop him in time! An adventure for 5 pregenerated 5th-level characters.
First thing I noticed: there's a ton more player character races in this version of D&D. We had an Eldarin wizard, a Dragonborn sneaky guy, a Tiefling warlord, and a Dwarf paladin as well as me, a giant stony-skinned grey guy named Uthal, who was a "Goliath Barbarian".
The second thing I noticed is the game is much more skirmish-like than the old days. Most adventures are focused on a group going to a nasty place to fight it out with bad guys. The nasty guys are a lot nastier than they used to be. To an old guy like me who was used to wading through (literally) mountains of make believe low level critters back in his heyday, to face Orcs and Kobolds that not only put up a heck of a fight, but can stand and deliver for several turns, inflicting deadly force every time, well, that's a surprise.
Characters have more race and class specialty actions than in the old days. Skills are critical for combat now, and all classes have specific actions they can take to modify a combat.
The new D&D is faster, more complex with a lot of "Bottom" that we used to have to create ourselves. I like it!
The second thing I noticed is the game is much more skirmish-like than the old days. Most adventures are focused on a group going to a nasty place to fight it out with bad guys. The nasty guys are a lot nastier than they used to be. To an old guy like me who was used to wading through (literally) mountains of make believe low level critters back in his heyday, to face Orcs and Kobolds that not only put up a heck of a fight, but can stand and deliver for several turns, inflicting deadly force every time, well, that's a surprise.
Characters have more race and class specialty actions than in the old days. Skills are critical for combat now, and all classes have specific actions they can take to modify a combat.
The new D&D is faster, more complex with a lot of "Bottom" that we used to have to create ourselves. I like it!
* Freshly scrubbed for grammar and shiny new!
10:18 AM
Verdict: Not bad at all, quite entertaining
I recently noticed that Flying Circus Deluxe was out, which uses Dan Verssen's popular Down in Flames core engine to fight World War One. DELUXE is the campaign game that plays with bombers and campaigns and such, so I ordered the basic game of Flying Circus and gave it a try.
What's in the (small) box: The small box is a surprise---the entire game is the two decks of cards and a folded rulebook, stuck in a box not much bigger than a bridge deck of cards. There are 68 cards for the reactions, maneuvers and bursts deck and 42 aircraft cards for Leaders and Wingmen of various years of the war. You have to come up with your own system of marking damage, altitude or ace pilots. I just used scrap paper, it works fine.
Rules are not vastly different from WW2 era Down in Flames, but there are some critical points that will make the game experience different. First and foremost, if the Leader dies, the Wingman doesn't promote to Leader (and the dogfight ends immediately, unlike DiF). This will make contests short and bloody, and tends to promote a "gang up on the leader" syndrome. I'm not sure what the point of that rule is, but it can be ignored if you like.
Flying Circus also uses a point purchase system for aircraft selection-- e.g., you settle on a point total and select your airplanes based upon that. So it is entirely possible to purchase a combination of a Leader and TWO wingman, which is very different from DiF. An extra wingman, as I have discovered, can be a very handy item.
The Attack/Maneuver/Response cards are very similar to their WW2 cousins. Cards can be Red (attacking or maneuvering) Blue (responsding to an attack only) or Red/Blue (a combination card that usually can do either an attack or a response of some sort). The elegance of the Verssen tactical system is contained within the interplay of these cards, and I could not detect a situation where they were overbalanced one way or the other.
I have played four dogfights so far (dogfights are all one can do with this game until you buy the expansion box), and have been delighted with it. I've noticed the stipulation about Leader Kill Victory leads to short and bloody games where Wingmen are used to syphon off cards from leaders, leaving them weak for the counter punch from the Leader card. In this instance, an extra wingman can be a handy thing. Other than that, I found the system well design, fun and interesting, and well worth the money I paid for it. Good replay value!
