I’m in bed sweating through my long johns. I feel so hot I’m on top of the covers. I have strep throat for what seems like the fourth time this year. It hurts to swallow and I’ve been having weird dreams. Two nights ago my folks told me I was walking around the house with my finger pointed like a gun, hallucinating due to a high fever. Last night I thought I heard my grandfather in the house. I look out the window and I see his car in the driveway, a big electric blue Thunderbird. I smell bacon cooking.
After the jump it’s Christmas morning and I’m 10 years old. Continue reading →
It was not easy for me. I hovered over the Amazon “cancel order” button for quite some time before forcing my finger down upon the left mouse button. I love gadgets and I love technology, but I couldn’t make myself buy a PS4.
After the jump, launch woes. Continue reading →
The skies are dark and menacing. It’s the type of storm you can feel well before it reaches you. With the salty, sea air stinging my body and whipping my cloak about me, I turn the wheel and head into the storm.
After the jump, the sea was angry that day my friends Continue reading →
With the recent release of the Internet Archive Historical Software section, the gaming world has access to some, er, classics that can be emulated straight into a browser. The library isn’t so big right now, but new titles are coming all the time. Looking through the archive, I see some games that could easily qualify for a spooky night of videogaming. In 1982.
After the jump, won’t you take me to spookytown? Continue reading →
Almost exactly ten years ago, I happened to find an amazing demo on the Internet. It was for what looked like a fantasy strategy game. It was crude, even by the standards of 2003. It was completely inscrutable. You clicked on things and seemingly nothing happened. It had a lot of lore in it, but it didn’t explain many of the mechanics. It was almost like the lore was supposed to give you clues as to how the game worked. Except for selecting units and giving orders. You were on your own for those things. It was akin to being immersed in a foreign language by traveling to that country, but without knowing the first thing you needed to do was learn how to find the restroom.
After the jump, finding the restroom in Dominions. Continue reading →
We got to the end of Starship Week but still had a day left, which I’ll chalk up to the weird time disconnect that happens during faster-than-light travel. Kind of like when you travel through space for six millenia and when you get back you find out they’re still not out of Final Fantasy sequels. In any case, it leaves me a free day to explain that the moral of Starship Week can be found entirely in one story I could have told you at the beginning and saved you a whole bunch of time and screenshots.
After the jump, I hope you don’t feel mad or cheated. Continue reading →
Of all the starships in history, the Enterprise is the only one I can think of which has had such a long, consistent, and well-documented life. It started out in the 1960s as a toy suspended on wires and progressed through the 1980s and 90s as a more elaborate toy, to reach its present existence as a computer’s realization of its artists’ imaginations. Along the way, it died, and was reborn, and the emotions provoked by those events and its subsequent spawn form an almost family history that is shared by a fan base that has established its own lineages. Its captaincy is almost a royal succession, and the different courtiers all have their allegiances, but throughout it all, the throne itself is never in doubt. Because the entire timeline has taken place aboard one form or another of that talismanic ship.
After the jump, that darned ship. Continue reading →
I was talking with a colleague about spaceship games, and told him I was particularly interested in games where you had to do things aboard a starship. He came up with a nice list for me that I’ve added at the end of this post. All of these involve being aboard a starship in some way.
But there’s one game that no one remembers anymore, and that you haven’t heard of either, and that’s reason enough to wrap up the week talking about it.
Because, after the jump, it tells a story that gets to the very heart of Starship Week. Continue reading →
The Epilogue to my game of Awful Green Things from Outer Space is a series of completely random encounters driven by the ancient method of rolling a six-sided die and referring to a choose-your-own adventure book.*
After the jump, you start at #1 Continue reading →
Has your Pathfinder group reached Thistletop Delve yet? If so, your progress in this unique collectible card RPG is stalled for the time being, waiting for the next adventure deck. Hang in there! Later this month, publisher Paizo will release the Skinsaw Murders Adventure Deck, which takes your characters to the next level. Curious what’s in store for you?
After the jump, beyond Thistletop Continue reading →
The rest of my party fought the beast in the Thassilonian Dungeon while I wasn’t there. Our ranger, Harsk, fired a few bolts into it as it flew away. After the excitement died down, we began our search anew. While Lem, Harsk and Amiri split up to check out different locations, my instincts told me that something wasn’t right at the Shrine to Lamashtu. Of course, nothing is really ever “right” at the shrine, but moreso this time around. So I, Seelah, a paladin skilled at searching out monsters, traveled alone to the blasted shrine.
After the jump, one small leap… Continue reading →
The camera just happens to be floating in space, pointing in a fixed direction that will coincide with the route of a Corellian corvette fleeing from an Imperial Star Destroyer. If that camera had been positioned a few feet higher, the corvette would have banged right into it, ruining the shot and depriving us all of an iconic moment. Instead, it glides smoothly past, close enough that we could almost reach up our hand and feel its belly, like a diver touching a whale. We can admire the detail and — more importantly — the size of the Tantive IV. Look at how long it’s taking to pass overhead.
After the jump, did you know that Leia’s blockade runner was called the Tantive IV? Continue reading →
That’s the opening setup, I mean that’s how things looked on the actual Znutar when the crew discovered the Awful Green Things. The monsters started out in the Cockboat Bay (ha!) and spread out one per unoccupied space: 6 eggs, 4 babies, 2 adults. This was determined by the stars, or by 2d6. In the end, does it matter?
After the jump, no. Continue reading →
Before Boba Fett became a New Zealand Order of Merit member, he was a growly badass bounty hunter with a penchant for standing in the shadows with his rifle on the crook of his arm. He may have started out as an animated character in the Star Wars Christmas Special, but he became one of the most popular villains in the franchise thanks mostly to little boys’ imaginations. In his signature Mandalorian armor, Fett chased bounties, fought Jedi, and flew one of the most awesome ships to ever grace the silver screen: The Slave I. As any little boy knows, the cooler your ride, the cooler you are.
After the jump, there was a Star Wars Christmas Special? Continue reading →
I tend not to be jealous of people who are good at things that I’m not. I figure that’s just the way it goes. I mean, I’m good at some things, too. However, I make a special exception for artists. I have a great aptitude for thinking of things with none whatsoever for drawing them, so I can only imagine what it would be like to be able to illustrate my own ideas. If I had this and also had game design skills, then I’d be Tom Wham.
After the jump, wham, bam, thank you, Tom Continue reading →
