(Extra Life will be a weekly column highlighting a game that you may have missed when it was first released, and deserves a second chance at being played.)

Blade Runner (PC)

Released: November 21, 1997

Westwood Studios

Why you probably missed it:

Blade Runner kind of got lost in the wash with a whole slew of great PC games that came out that year, like Fallout and Ultima Online. When Quake 2 was released later that year, its superbly rendered 3D environments made Blade Runner‘s fuzzy looking 3D models on 2D backgrounds seem hilariously outdated despite the fact that it came out only 2 weeks prior.

And it's not hard to see why.

What you may or may not have known:

Westwood Studios, probably more famous for their Command and Conquer series, acquired the Blade Runner intellectual property in order to develop an adventure game based on it, and to capitalize on the complete absence of any Blade Runner related media since a 1985 Commodore 64 game. Instead of simply rehashing the film’s tale, the development team, lead by David Leary, set out to create an entirely new story set in the game’s universe; and, interestingly enough, have it happen in the exact same time frame as the original film.

The result was the story of Detective Ray McCoy, a rookie blade runner with more identity crises than Rick Deckard could ever dream of (if he wasn’t already dreaming of electric sheep, that is). McCoy was tasked with proving himself within the blade runner division while discovering buried secrets about his past, buried secrets about his supervisor, even buried secrets about… his dog. Westwood rounded off their beautifully crafted story with a very decent amount of actors reprising their roles from the film, including James Hong as Dr. Chew, and Joe Turkel as Eldon Tyrell. The voice cast for the newer characters isn’t really notable, except for the fact that Det. McCoy’s femme fatale co-worker, Crystal Steele, was voiced by none other than Lisa Edelstein. That’s right, you’re sometimes joined in your endeavors to annihilate all sentient androids by Cuddy from House.

Just in case you've never seen Blade Runner, James Hong also plays this bizarre goose that cooks noodles in Kung Fu Panda. Hey, it pays the bills.

Why it deserves a second look:

In short, because Blade Runner was awesome. Exactly why, however, is the part that requires further explanation. The beautiful thing about the game is that it was designed to be almost completely open-ended. Upon its release, many players complained that they could not find certain characters where they had expected to find them, or talk to exactly who they needed to at exactly the time that they wanted to talk to them. This was not a programming bug, though, it was because the game’s NPCs act independently from their environment. Simply put, sometimes you can’t speak to Detective Steele because she’s actually out killing replicants. Almost every character in the game has places to go, and things to do at those places, giving an ironic amount of human condition to a game that focuses on the detection and elimination of artificial intelligence that longs to be human.

Detective McCoy can find out as much or as little as you choose about his buried past, because there really is no canon ending. A great deal of characters that Ray interacts with are either humans or replicants, but they’re not always the same thing every time you play. The game picks and chooses the fates of the supporting cast at random, deciding some as replicants, other as human, and then giving you the discretion to decide what it is that you want to do with them. Perhaps you will feel sympathetic, and spare the life of Lucy, a suspected replicant that knows no difference between the two existences. She will later affect how the game ends and what you discover about Ray.  Of course, you could also  have mercilessly gunned her down in the street upon your first suspicion, and watched in horror as she turned out to be human, earning Ray a swift dismissal from the force and a lifetime of shame. Eventually, you can conduct a Voight-Kampff test on her and find out definitively, at which point the game still allows you to do whatever you wish, whether it be to kill her, let her go, or try and form a friendship with her, regardless of her origin.

Blade Runner was tremendously advanced for its time, introducing an amount of free choice that was a breath of fresh air to video gaming; and predated Peter Molyneux’s self-righteous “best game ever” (his actual words) Fable by 7 years. Despite its dated graphics, and the fact that the adventure genre is all but dead, you owe it to yourself to give Blade Runner another look. You won’t find anything like it no matter how hard you try.

Where are they now?

 Designer David Leary now works designing games at Robot Entertainment, responsible for the excellent title Orcs Must Die. It’s available on Steam for $14.99 or XBLA for 1200 points, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Co-designer James Walls eventually joined Electronic Arts, and his last known involvement with video games was on the mediocre-at-best Pirates: The Legend of Black Kat in 2002.

Voice actor Lisa Edelstein would later go on to become the most attractive middle-aged woman on television in the popular medical drama House, M.D. Her most recent voice work was that of the voice of “Shari” on  American Dad, a role she still has today.

Why, Lisa? Why?

Where can I get it?

You can get it used on Amazon or Ebay for around 10 bucks plus shipping. The future of a digital download release looks cloudy as EA, who eventually absorbed Westwood, now owns the rights to distribute the game and would have to buy the rights to the Blade Runner name again in order to do so. EA, being the small time, low profit company that it is, surely doesn’t have the kind of money to make it happen.

Raising children is difficult even in the best of times, but now that we’re constantly being hunted by zombies infected with The Virus, raising children can seem like a near impossibility.  Don’t sweat it! With these tips you’ll be able to raise strong healthy children capable of carrying on the legacy of humanity in the New World Order.

 1. Disinfect

Cleanliness is key.  Babies and toddlers are notorious for shoving things in their mouthes.  This might have been relatively harmless before The Virus, but now it can be deadly.  How do you know that stick little Timmy is gnawing on wasn’t drooled on by a zombie?  You don’t.  Disinfecting sprays, wipes, and UV wands should be a part of every zombie defense diaper bag.  It is also imperative that your child only play on disinfected surfaces.  Carry a sterile yoga mat on your back- when rolled up properly it can be easily fit in between your machine gun and axe.  Please make sure to wipe it, and all of your little one’s toys before and after play.  It of course goes without saying that everyone should wash their hands with clean warm water and soap whenever possible. Nobody wants their child to become infected.  Think about how hard it will be to get your zombie spawn into a good preschool?

 2. Stranger Danger

We were all taught to NEVER accept rides or candy from strangers.  This can not be more true during the Zombie Apocalypse.  Aside from actual zombies going after your children, you have to be mindful of local militias, and shadow governments trying to recruit your child for medical experiments, or a zombie feeding program.  Make sure your child knows who the trusted adults are in your collective, and have a “password” so that everyone knows who they can trust.  Zombies have a hard time annunciating, so make sure your password is multisyllabic.

 3. Weapons Training

Chances are, your child is still too small to safely operate a machine gun.  Until the wee lad or lass can however, you can prepare them for it with basic firearm safety lessons, and proper cleaning techniques.  Allowing your child to assist with barrel cleaning, and ammunition feeding can be a fantastic learning experience, and it’s a great opportunity for parent/child bonding.

 4. Bulletproof Babywearing

Strollers are impractical and can be a hazard in the New World Order.  If your offspring isn’t walking well yet, avail yourself of one of the many kinds of baby carriers available on the black market and cover it in padding and a kevlar shell (make certain that there is sufficient ventilation so that baby can breathe easily).  A back carry is usually best for older children, as they can look forward over your shoulder and can aid in battle with small firearms.  A front carry makes it possible to breastfeed hands free, allowing you the ability to swing an axe with ease.

 5. Snacks

Sitting down every night for a family dinner might not always be possible.  Keep meals smaller and more often with protein bars, canned goods, and bottled water.  Finger foods  are great because your small children can feed themselves rather than depending on you to do it, which leaves you vulnerable to zombie attack.  Keep snacks in your diaper bag, utility vest, and cargo pants.  Keeping children well fed is the easiest way to keep children quiet.  Nobody wants their little screamer to attract a hoard of bloodthirsty brain craving zombies.

 6. Layers

Multiple light layers that can be taken off and on easily are much more practical, and way less bulky than heavy coats and blankets.  Beheading zombies and defending the home base from looters is a major workout and you can get overheated easily.  Dress yourself and your children in clothes that are flexible, breathable, and in neutral colors.

Wearing your baby leaves your hands free to shoot zombies

Raising children is one of the most rewarding things one can do in a lifetime.  Your babies will one day swing axes along side you and hopefully with extermination and a good quarantining strategy they can raise their children in a world that’s Virus free. 

SCARAB Gaming Convention is a relatively small con that is held just a few hours from my current hometown every January.  This was my second time attending this con, because it was only the second SCARAB they’ve held.  I don’t want to pretend this is a full review or “after action report” of the con, because I wasn’t able to attend all four days and when I was there, I only experienced a small fraction of what SCARAB had to offer.  I was busy running and facilitating games most of the time.

If you want to read about some of my experiences at SCARAB 2011, I recommend this article, and this one too.  If you want to read a review of SCARAB 2012, I recommend the ConSCIENCE review by Clint and Jodi Black of Beautiful Brains Books & Games and Pinnacle Entertainment Group (Jodi is the president of Beautiful Brains and Clint is the Savage Worlds brand manager for Pinnacle).  For more on this con’s excellent Kids’ Track, check out this article by Liz Schultz, who actually runs the Kids’ Track at SCARAB (and does a phenomenal job of it).

When I registered the games I wanted to run at this year’s SCARAB, the process was incredibly smooth and painless because all I had to due was send them to the Con Director and he got them entered into the WARHORN.  From there, people could visit the con’s WARHORN site and sign up for whatever games they wanted to play.  The fact that they could do this well in advance of the con meant that I had a fair idea of how much interest there was in each of my games, which ones would make, and what materials I needed to bring.  Registration for games was even simpler at the con due to a small bank of computers in the lobby dedicated to game registration.  The con staff was extremely helpful in assisting people with registering for games and as a GM, I could and did check in (probably way too often… actually, I did it obsessively) on who was signed up for my games, so I could be better prepared for the number of players I would need pregens for or how many dice I would need for Fiasco.  It was a HUGE improvement over the sign-up sheets and hunting for players of the previous year.

I was supposed to arrive on the first day of the con, but several monkey wrenches got thrown into my plans starting about a week before con time.  I was scheduled to run a Hunter: The Vigil game (and am still jonesing to run an H:tV one-shot since I didn’t get to run it there) on Friday night, but it was not to be.  I didn’t actually arrive at the con until mid-morning on Saturday.  I arrived feeling like I had already missed so much.

I was scheduled to facilitate a full day of Bully Pulpit Games‘ excellent Fiasco rpg that day, and finish it off with a late-night playtest of their upcoming game, Durance.  I had plenty of time before my first Fiasco game to greet and chat with friends from last year’s SCARAB, who feel more like old friends than people I see once or twice a year at cons.  I also had plenty of time to track down Clint and Jodi Black and pick their brains (Beautiful Brains?) about running Savage Worlds for my upcoming weekly home game.

My afternoon Fiasco game was excellent.  The group of four players was the ideal size for Fiasco, and none of the players had ever played it before, so I got to introduce some new players to a game I love.  We used the “Small Southern Town” (quite appropriately) playset and had a fairly typical, at least in my experience, game of Fiasco: things exploded, people died, lives were ruined.  It was beautiful.

My evening Fiasco game was a ton of fun, but slightly less typical, in my experience.  I had an incredibly large group of people who wanted to play and since most of them were hanging out together at the con, they wanted to all be in the same game together.  Also, they had all played the game before.  One of them was (is) a good friend of Bully Pulpit’s Jason Morningstar (a.k.a. the guy who wrote the game we were about to play).  Being a bit of an entertainer, I switched gears a bit and adjusted for a table of 7 players.  I enlisted Tobes, who is an excellent GM, to assist me in facilitating by playing most of the non-player characters.  This allowed the players to focus more on their own characters and keep scenes short and focused.  I chose “Flyover Country” as the playset because I was very familiar with it, as were a few of the players.  It was an aggressive, or at least assertive, group.  Several of them had agendas right from the beginning that they pursued zealously over the course of the game.  We (myself and another player got to choose the tilt elements) chose 3 elements for the tilt instead of the customary two.  This gave everyone something to angle for in the second act, which we shortened to one scene each.  It was a new and entertaining experience, with a memorable story and some incredible lines.  Having been a high school teacher and with lots of experience GMing for large groups, it was fun and manageable, if a bit of an adventure for me, but it isn’t something I would recommend for the faint of heart.  It was, in short, a Fiasco.

My late-night game was a playtest of Bully Pulpit Games’ upcoming Durance rpg.  I had previously played this game with my home group, but Jason sent me the latest updates right before the con and I dove in with 3 players, who weren’t all that aggressive, but were very much into examining the systems of the game and taking it apart to see how everything worked under the hood.  We played a few scenes pretty straight, then cut to the chase and resolved the action at a fast clip.  It was late, everyone was tired from a wonderful day of gaming, and they got what they wanted from the game.

After the day’s action, I spent a pleasant night at the con hotel and awoke reasonably well rested for the next day’s comparatively light action.

On Sunday, I was only scheduled to run one game.  But there was one complication in that rather simple scenario.

I was originally supposed to bring a friend with me to SCARAB this year.  I found out he couldn’t make it about a week or so before the actual con.  I had added a game to the schedule to give him a chance to run something, since he loves to GM and doesn’t normally get the opportunity.  The game he was going to run was Eden Studios‘ excellent zombie survival rpg All Flesh Must Be Eaten.  Except now, he wouldn’t be there to run it.

The complication?

I had never GMed (or ZMed, since the GM is called the Zombie Master) a game of All Flesh Must Be Eaten in my 30 years of GMing.

Wait.

I’m not being totally honest here.  In the interests of full disclosure, I have to admit something.

I had never even played All Flesh Must Be Eaten.  Not once.  I was a complete virgin to the game.  I spent the entire week leading up to this game, feeling like the players were going to kill me and eat MY flesh.  I was a complete charlatan.  I was terrified that my lack of experience with this game would lead to horrible things.  I mean, I own a copy of the game and my friend gave me a pretty good introduction to the rules and systems, but that was about it.  I was fresh meat.

For this game, I chose a scenario written by James Wilber, “Parishioner’s Eyes.”  This scenario was written for use at gaming conventions to introduce new players to the game.  While it is a fairly straightforward AFMBE scenario, it does have some elements that are risky at a con.  The first scene is a prequel, with the characters four years younger, and one of them not with the group at the beginning of the scene.  This character would have to be rescued by the others.  I was fortunate that all of my players were familiar with the game (or is that unfortunate?) and that I had a player who was willing to play this role.

SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for James Wilber’s “Parishioner’s Eyes” AFMBE scenario. Read at your own risk.

Before the session started, I studied and tried my hardest to memorize the conflict resolution mechanics of the game.  I was comfortable with the scenario.  It was the rules I was worried about.

When everything started, I relied on good ol’ campfire storytelling to get the players in the right mood.  I also got a healthy dose of luck.

In the second scene, the characters are searching through a farm for supplies when one of them discovers a nearly full gas tank once used for filling up tractors and farm vehicles.  In a world overrun by zombies, gasoline is a prized commodity.  Just as I was hoping, that character failed to notice the zombie rounding the corner of the barn.  The character behind him with a loaded shotgun did not fail to notice and when he fired the shotgun, he did not fail to miss the gas tank.  He did miss the zombie, and only succeeded in lighting him on fire, which made an interesting resolution to the scene as they dispatched the hunk o’ burning zombie.  This set up the final scene nicely.

The third scene involves the players finding a large group of survivors led by a former revival-style preacher wearing a thick, but ratty fur coat and lots of heavy gold chains.  This was a role I could play.  I spend a lot of time standing behind my chair swaying back and forth with my arms raised to the heavens.  I really amped up the crazy for the next few scenes as the group became acquainted with this character and his post-apocalyptic cult.  The players were well and truly weirded out by the time the cult started their crazy ritual and the girl who had developed a crush on one of the characters asked to leave with them.

This request was, of course, denied by the cult leader, who let the characters go on their way.  Unfortunately, young love is always trouble.  The young girl snuck out of the cult’s compound and followed the characters until she caught up with them when they were sleeping for the night.  After a debate, they decided to let her come back to their nearby base of operations with them.

Cue the final scene.

The cult leader arrives at the base of operations with a small army of his cult followers and a semi truck containing who knows what, threatening to “Unleash the cleansing wrath of God” upon the characters unless they give back the girl.

Then, the player who hit the gas tank with the shotgun during the second scene got an idea.  He worked his way close enough to the semi and quietly aimed for the gas tank while the cult leader spewed crazy talk and everyone else was involved in a tense standoff.

Cue pyrotechnics, large explosions and roasting flesh.

Roll End Credits.

The players had a blast (both literally and figuratively), and so did I.  All of them thanked me for the best game of AFMBE they’d every played in.  What?!?  I really dodged a bullet on this one.  I fooled them all.  I actually, I had warned them up front that I was “relatively inexperienced” with running this game.  If only they had known what that meant.

After that game was over, I thanked Del Collins, the excellent and friendly con director, and made the 3 hour drive back home.  I would not be able to attend the final day of the con (damn you, real life and day job!), but I had a great time for the two days I was able to attend.  All of my games had enough players to make (thanks in large part to the revamped scheduling system).  I’m already looking forward to next year’s SCARAB (if they’ll have me back)!

Better Late Than Never

I’ve been running tabletop games almost continuously since 1981.  I haven’t always been very good at it, but I truly enjoy it and have invested a great deal of time and energy into it over the past 30 or so years.  Unfortunately, for a large portion of that time, I was extremely resistant to new ideas.

I was introduced to tabletop gaming in the heyday of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.  It was what all my friends played.  It was what I played.  Hell, for all I knew it was the only game in town.  While I played a number of games written by then-publisher of AD&D, TSR, I didn’t branch out to trying other games much.  Sure, I played some RoleMaster, a bit of Twilight: 2000, some Stormbringer, and a few others, I mainly stuck to rolling d20′s and gaming that involved dungeons… and dragons.

There Must Be Something About Even Numbers…

It actually wasn’t until about 5 years ago that I really started trying other games and systems.  Having skipped 2nd edition D&D completely, I also balked when 4th edition was released.  Frankly, I was burned out on class and level- based systems in general and was looking for something different.  That was when I discovered White Wolf’s World of Darkness.  Or rather, when a few of my players dragged me, kicking and screaming, to it.  It worked well for the type of game I wanted to run at that time and it is a system I still use.

When I decided to go back to fantasy gaming (from modern horror), I checked out Paizo’s Pathfinder.  It was the natural progression from 3rd edition D&D as far as I was concerned.  During these past 5 years, I’ve also discovered gm-less games like Bully Pulpit’s Fiasco and other games from other small publishers, like Eden Studios’ All Flesh Must Be Eaten.

When my weekly Pathfinder game had to go on hiatus this past October for the holidays (and the loss of two players due to work/school commitments), I had a few months to think about what I wanted to do next.  Sure, the option of sticking with Pathfinder was still open and still appealing, but I had some special circumstances to take into account.

First, I was likely going to be picking up at least one player who had never played tabletop rpg’s before.  I wanted a ruleset that was robust enough to keep the rpg veterans at the table engaged, but simple enough to be easily learned by new players.

Second, I was also likely to have one or two players who were going to be present at the table about every other week on average, so I wanted to have a ruleset that didn’t rely heavily on a balanced 4 character party.

Finally, I wanted a system that would be able to fairly accurately represent the feel and spirit of the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim video game.  That meant a game that was skill-based instead of class and level-based.  Also, that everyone had the option of having access to magic.  It also meant a setting in which the Norse/Scandinavian cultures would be strongly reflected  and that iconic monsters like Trolls and Dragons could be encountered fairly early in the game.

After digging around a few internet forums, I found a system that met all of my criteria.

A Savage Game

The game system I decided to use is Pinnacle Entertainment’s Savage Worlds.  There is an excellent setting for the system that has a very Skyrim-ish feel to it called Hellfrost, by Triple Ace Games.

The problem is that not a single person in my group had ever played the system. Including myself.

After biting the bullet and investing in the Savage Worlds core book and the Hellfrost Player’s Guide, I discovered something that amazed me.

Savage Worlds can do pretty much everything that Pathfinder or D&D can do (and more, it could be argued) with a fraction of the page-count.  I learned the entire rule system in a single read-through that took less than an hour and one mock combat.  Combat ran so smoothly, I thought I was doing it wrong.  The system is simple and deep.  It’s also designed to be universal.  You can use it for a variety of genres and settings ranging from futuristic sci-fi  to Lovecraftian horror to pulp western, epic fantasy and zombie apocalypse.

Maine, a commenter on the Pinnacle forums, hit the nail on the head regarding one feature of this system:

“Part of the issue with classic D&D, d20, and 4e type adventures is the amount of filler/grinding introduced. Many of these adventures you can rip whole chunks out of, and have no negative impact on the story.

Savage Worlds can flow much faster than a traditional D&D adventure (as there is no emphasis on encounters for XP), and so an adventure written for (or properly converted to) Savage Worlds can be finished in a fraction of the number of settings it might be required under D20/Pathfinder/etc, due to the reduced number of combats, and the speed with which combats can be resolved.” – Maine, Pinnacle forum user

New Year, New Game

I knew that Gnome Stew was doing a “New Year, New Game” challenge and blog carnival.  I thought it would coordinate nicely with my very own “New Year, New Game” initiative.  Alas, it wasn’t to be, as I didn’t get this written until well after their deadline.  Still, the thought is what counts.  I am committed to this new game during the course of this new year and hope to feature more about this game here at Geekcentricity over the course of this year.

I also hope to use the Savage Worlds system with Jason L. Blair’s Streets of Bedlam setting when it releases.

Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi #0
Your Guide to the Dawn of the Jedi Era of Star Wars
Source: darkhorse.com

“It began with the mysterious pyramid ships–the Tho Yor–scattered to the eight corners of the galaxy, and ended with the establishment of an Order that would change the universe forever. Here’s your first look at the Star Wars of 25,000 years ago–before there were lightsabers, when the ties to the Force were new, and before the Jedi spread out into the galaxy.”

Photo: darkhorse.com

For every Star Wars geek that has ever pondered, where did the Jedi come from? And, how did the Force get discovered? Or, where did the idea of lightsabers come from? Well, the time has come to get the answers to all these questions and more with the “Dawn of the Jedi”. This new series that will be releases by Dark Horse will finally reveal the origins of Star Wars itself. This preview issue coming out February 1st is your guide to what has the potential to be an epic exploration into the Star Wars mythos. Upon first read you can find yourself having more questions then you originally had but what makes this issue cool is that it gives you the cliff notes to the history. Once Dawn of the Jedi #1 comes out in mid February, you will have a good foundation and knowledge of this Star Wars era set thousands of years before the Star Wars that we all know. What makes this concept cool as well is that its an origin tale of the beginnings of the Jedi and the Sith as their histories are wooden together. It will be interesting to see how the line was drawn between the Force and the Dark Side of it.

Personally I find this concept exciting and fascinating. My only fear is that we may end up with some “out of left field” canon like when George Lucas introduced us to the “Mediclorians”. What the heck was that for. Anyway like I said in the begging, to any Star Wars geek out there, this is a must see and a must have. Thank you once again Dark Horse for feeding our geeky lust for Star Wars.

Woo! Who doesn’t like inforgraphs? Everyone likes pretty pictures…While I was over at Alltop, this graphic caught my eye, so I thought I’d share it with you guys…interesting information.

Infograph from Alltop

So this just in from the crew over at Spartan Games. Big models for February! Check them all out at our Flickr page, but here are some quick highlights!

FSA Alamo class airfield....just look at those tracks...mmm

Prussian Empire Rhine Class Fleet Carrier

Prussian Empire Seydlitz Class Mobile Airfield...this makes me miss G.I.Joe...remember the mobile command center? It was awesome.

One of the most beloved comic characters of all time is of course Archie. It was the brain-child of John L. Goldwater and later fin tuned by Bob Montana. Archie first appeared in MLJ Magazines’ “Prep Comics” in 1941. By 1946 Archie became so popular that the publication was renamed Archie Comic Publications. It’s hard to believe that such a silly character as Archie and his friends have been around for so long and is still as popular. I was never an avid reader of Archie comics or any other comic until I was a teenager. But I remember Archie always being around. There have even been cartoon re-imaginations of the famous characters from Riverdale. I even remember a TV movie about Archie in 1990, “Archie: To Riverdale and Back Again”. A fun fact is that in the late 50′s early 60′s there was a live action TV pilot shot that never made it to air. Do a search for it on YouTube and check it out.

This second volume of the classic Archie stories Pep Comics, Jackpot Comics and of course Archie Comics from 1943 to 1944 is a beautiful compilation for anyone who is a fan. You can literally get lost for hours in the world of Riverdale and get sucked right into the misadventures of Archie. I remember as a kid thinking, “Geeze I wish I has this guys problem, choosing between two gorgeous girls”. It’s the longest running love triangle in history. The ultimate battle between blonde and brunette.

* Volume 2 of Archie Archives series collects all of the material from Jackpot Comics #9, Pep Comics #39-#45, andArchie Comics #3-#6.

One thing is for sure, even if you just kinda like Archie this is a great coffee table book at least and a grand collectors item at most. I am currently reading Volume Four  which contains Archie comics from 1944 and 1945. The entire collection put out by Dark Horse is available digitally or in hard cover. The great thing about these stories is the fact that even thigh they are clear;y dated to the times in which they were written, at the heart of Archie, it’s basically a teen dramedy. The stories from Riverdale were the original 90210 and Gossip Girl.

Collecting every Archie appearance from Pep Comics #51-#53 and Archie Comics #11-#14.

I stated playing D&D with the original blue books (can’t even say boxed set these days anymore, else some kid will think we’re talking Essentials). My friend Rodney introduced me to the wonderful world of sword and sorcery. Halflings were a class, fighters simply smashed stuff, and everyone knew mages sucked until level 3 or 5+. Those were the simple days.

Later, I spent most of my gaming years in 2^nd ed AD&D. Finally in College I gave 3.5 a try on the request of some friends. It was okay, but a considerably different system. I also cut my teeth on Little Fears by Jason Blair and World of Darkness, both of which were a far departure for me from my exclusively fantasy role playing experience.

Flash forward and years later I had moved away from role playing and back into miniature war games and board gaming. This was mostly due to moving, what my social circle was into and to a degree, time constraint. Some of my 40K friends had begun bugging me to run a D&D campaign, as were some friends who had never played but really wanted to.

I ran it by my bride, who has been a role-player since her teens too, and she said she’d have to think about playing. She kind of thought that part of our life was over. You know, you grow up, move on, and don’t associate that part of your life with where you are now. Eventually she said she’d give it a go again. So began the immense process of me trying to figure out just which system to run. I immediately thought 2^nd, but that isn’t the most newbie friendly system. I mean advance math anyone? So I considered Dragon Age, but knew little about it as it was just about to release. Next was original D&D, perhaps a bit too simple.

At the end of the day after considering all the systems I was familiar with, even WoD, D10 systems, and little fears. Everyone pretty much wanted a typical fantasy game so I ended up going with Pathfinder. There were a few specific reasons I chose PFRPG: I didn’t really want to buy more books, especially if this was going to be a “one and done” game. It was based on 3.5, which I at least had passing familiarity with (minimal learning curve for me), and one other guy in our proposed group knew the system fairly well. Finally it really came down to availability of the materials. Everyone could get their hands on Pathfinder, where getting 2^nd ed or original would be nigh impossible. I’m a proponent of my players having copies of the books.

I set up a one off game so everyone could get exposure to role-playing as well as the system. And let’s be honest, I really needed to dust off my GMing…it had been awhile. I’m glad to say it was a huge success. I started everyone at level five and we ran a one or two night game. We asked around a couple others and ended up having six players and myself. From that night spawned our current gaming group, taking the place of our weekly board game night we were having.

With everyone’s excitement and willingness to do this again, we decided to start an ongoing campaign. I collected a few of Paizo’s adventure path summaries as well as a couple of my own and through email everyone voted on their top three. At the end we decided to go with the rather unique Carrion Crown path (look for upcoming reviews of the individual modules) based on the horror, investigative elements, and the hints of Cthulu that everyone liked because of our time playing Arkham Horror.

Since then we’ve added one or two players that dropped out, we’ve lost one of our core players who had to move but ended up starting a group in her home town, and now are on the precipice of a big change as a couple of our other members may be moving this summer. But we’ve consistently held at the five of us through the past year, and as working adults, some with children, some married, some neither, can I say that that is a serious commitment from everyone for a weekly game.

21st century digital DM

So what’s the moral here? Well I for one had thought my days of GMing\role-playing were lost to nostalgia. I was hesitant to get started again and to try new things (Pathfinder\modules) but have been having a blast since. At the end of the day I can’t say how much fun it is to sit around a table with living human beings and share laughs, story telling, and build those irreplaceable memories you get from those crazy moments in gaming. Friendships have developed, strengthened, been born among us. Some of our group are now more open to new experiences and we’ve grieved over the loss of some of our group as they’ve moved on.

Just a final thought, there is no replacement for friendship. Especially in a world where we’re increasing wrapped up in our careers, keeping up with the Jones’, and technology. Gaming isn’t the solution, but it can be one of many mediums to help us get in touch with each other again. In the end it’s not about escapism, or if it is it’s not about escaping reality but about escaping the unintentional isolation we place ourselves in and entering back into community. So in light of that, let’s put the iPhone down, cut off the Xbox, maybe leave a little early from work, grab some snacks, some drinks, and lets game. Face to face.

For my gaming group: David, Tammy, Malerie, Norbert, and Andrea. Thanks for all the good times.

It seems that H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulu mythos has seen an incredible revival in past few years. It’s everywhere. Fantasy Flight Games (FFG), creators of the card\board game Elder Signs has made an app version of the game available for iPad\iPhone called Elder Sign: Omens. As the license holders for Lovecraft’s works this is another in a long line of Cthulu based games they’ve released. In addition we’re seeing Lovecraftian flavors creeping into other genres. Not only is there the RPG based around the same mythos, but also Pathfinder has an Adventure Path called the Carrion Crown that constantly pays homage to his work. So all that to say it’s everywhere.

PS: if you want to get me a stuffed Cthulu, I wouldn’t hold it against you.

Elder Sign: Omens is a single player game where you have to enter a museum as a team of four investigators to prevent the awakening of Azathoth, the infinitely powerful elder one. Sound familiar? Well it should. If you’re familiar with FFG’s other games, like Arkham Horror or Mansions of Madness, then won’t be any surprises here. In fact it’s very much an amalgamation of the two games.

The object of the game is to overcome a series of encounters with your four investigators to collect enough Elder Signs to seal Azathoth away for good. Or at least until he rears his ugly…eye stalks? Anyway, there are sixteen investigators to choose from, all with various skills and starting items that you have to use in conjunction to beat the ancient one. As to be expected some of the investigators seem more useful than others, but play style and preference will likely play into who you pick.

Game play is pretty straightforward. Once you’ve picked your investigators the game starts, with a really creepy intro might I add. Each investigator gets to select a location on the map, you can check to see what the challenges on that location include and what the rewards are. This is important because from my experience it is almost necessary to just pursue the locations with the Elder Signs as rewards in order to actually beat Azathoth. Once you’ve decided on the location encounter you want you just tap the magnifying glass and away you go.

Encounters are pretty simple. Each challenge in a location has a requirement of a combination of glyphs. The four “glyphs” are: Magnifying Glass, Scroll, Skull, or Tentacled Monster Thing. And there can be a varying number of those glyphs required to beat the challenge. For example, there are three challenges on this location. One requires three magnifying glass glyphs to beat, the next you need a skull and a scroll, and the third you need two skulls.

You attain glyphs by “shuffling.” There typically are six glyph spaces, if none are locked (a special condition that occurs occasionally), plus the special yellow and red glyphs that you can gain by use of skills or items. From the glyphs you shuffle you drag and drop them onto one of the challenges you want to beat first. This is where planning comes in. In most instances you can only ever beat one challenge per shuffle. But once you use a glyph, that slot is gone. So you don’t get another one to fill that slot next shuffle. So if you have the above-mentioned challenge that requires two skulls, and you use to single skull glyphs to beat, then next shuffle you’re now down two glyph slots. Instead of nine you now have seven to work from. Rinse, wash, repeat.

After beating a location encounter then you get the goodies. Yaaaay! That is after all why we delve into these deadly places isn’t it? Loot? Sometimes there are effects that occur through out the game when you beat or fail a location, midnight strikes, or other conditions are met. Effects like causing drain of sanity or stamina from you investigators, raising the Terror Level (the thing that will wake up Azathoth and generally give you a bad day), spawning monsters, opening Otherworld locations, etc.

Monsters are fought throughout the game much like encounters are over come using the glyph system. The difference is that monsters will drain stamina and\or sanity when you fight them and fail. They also will be destroyed from that location unlike challenges. Typically if you go to a location encounter and there are two challenges, you’re able to beat the first but fail on the second. When the next investigator goes there, then you’ll still have to beat both. But if that same location had a monster as well, and the first investigator beat the monster and first challenge, the next investigator would only have to beat the two challenges. The monster does not respawn.

To win you have to collect fourteen Elder Signs before Azathoth awakens, which happens when the terror level increases to a certain point. In general the game is pretty challenging. This isn’t like a Ticket to Ride or some other light game you can play quickly. It typically takes about 30 minutes to an hour depending on your analysis paralysis. There is solid replay based on the variety of investigators, however as of right now Azathoth is the only boss to fight and the map doesn’t change, so I can see this as becoming a bit limited in value over the long term.

Overall it’s a lot of fun, especially if you like games where you start on the short end of the stick. Which admittedly is most of the Cthulu games! It’s reasonably priced at $6.99. The artwork is typical FFG and is great as is the sound track. It’s very creepy. So if you’re into Lovecraft then it may well be worth giving it a shot. If you’re on the fence about his mythos, or are looking for a lighter game, take a pass on Elder Sign: Omens.