Catching up: Clocks in Walls, Venom, Android, Chronicles of Future Earth, Cypher and Other Stuff

It's been a busy month for me, as all Octobers are....work accelerates at an exponential rate for me around September and doesn't let up until mid December. In years past I have preloaded blog posts to simulate a presence, but over the last couple of years I just haven't got time for that sort of stuff anymore...

Anyway, here's a sort of truncated scoop of the last couple weeks:

Shadow of the Beanstalk

In case you hadn't heard, Fantasy Flight's first SF setting book based on the Android universe is being released soon. The link above takes you to the preview page, and it looks like a great setting, and an excellent choice for the system's first foray into non-Star Wars themed science fiction. I'm definitely looking forward to this.

Although I've had my reservations about the system after a campaign earlier this year, overall I enjoyed it a lot, and I am thinking carefully about the idea of running another campaign again soon. I may stick with fantasy for now, and then explore SF once the new sourcebook comes out. We'll see.....I've been debating that, or possible (finally) exploring Fantasy AGE in more depth.

The House With A Clock In It's Walls

We saw this movie at my son's behest two weeks ago and it was quite fun, more fun than I would have expected it to be. For a "kid's movie" it did not pull many punches, but still managed to be a creepy fun dark fantasy film with surprisingly tight pacing. I am still perplexed that I never knew of this series of books growing up, as it would have been right up my alley in the seventies.

Venom

Then we saw this one (also by request of my son, who is a big Spider Man and Venom fan) and guess what, it didn't suck like all the critics said it would. I went in expecting a trainwreck and came out genuinely enjoying the movie. It had some odd moments, but the actual pacing and style of the movie worked well for me, and the banter between Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock and Venom was a high point of the movie, well worth seeing. We'll be adding this movie to our permanent collection once it's out on blu-ray.

This is another example of a movie where you can see that the interests of critics do not always align well with the interest of the general audiences. Critics (especially on Youtube) have a habit of denigrating the general audience when they seem to like things that they "shouldn't," but maybe in this case the critics should take a moment to try and figure out why this film works so well for the non-critic crowd; it's sitting at 89% audience approval on Rotten Tomatoes, for example, vs. a 31% critic score. Many of the complaints I have read about this film now seem trite and petty having watched it....and I have no bones at all in this fight; I went in to Venom expecting to hate it!

Cypher System Combat with Low Levels vs. High Tiers

I was running my Cypher game Saturday when I realized I had put my party up against a foe which they essentially roflstomped, and I realized that as they are hitting tier 3 I need to pay more attention to how I design encounters to be challenging. It did demonstrate for me a slight problem....that lower level foes, against higher tier characters, can be viciously wiped out and the only cost of the combat to the PCs is time and maybe a few points out of the pool.

I need to read a bit more in the sundry Cypher books about encounter design, see if it offers some advice. One comment on a random post I read suggested that grouping lower level foes into higher level mobs (so take 20 level 3 orcs and make them one level 7 mob, for example) might be a good solution. It would definitely feel a bit epic.....but also provide a better challenge.

This is why I like Cypher....the game system is very flexible, but demands you think outside the box.

Chronicles of Future Earth Kickstarter

If you recall the Chronicles of Future Earth for Basic Roleplaying, this is the successor. I'd be tempted to back it for the reading value alone, but the new edition will be powered by FATE....a system which I ultimately learned to play a while back and even found intriguing, but realized that in the end it is not a good fit for my GM style (unlike Cypher, which very much does fit my GM style). Still, if you are liked me and loved that BRP book this is worth checking out.

Reviewing the Free Edition of Tunnels & Trolls Adventures on Android - Spoiler....It's Kinda fun! (but not free. Nope.)

Tunnels & Trolls Adventures on Android is actually an app which lets you roll up characters and run them through classic T&T solo adventures, of which there are 17 currently available. So yeah, you can via this app roll up a warrior and take him on a challenging solo adventure, in which all the flipping to paragraphs, rolling of dice and messy note taking is handled for you.

It's kind of cool, actually! And very much like playing and actual T&T solo. But there are a few catches.

The first is price: you get two solos unlocked, including a decent introductory adventure "The Ascendant," and the legendary Naked Doom. As old T&T vets know, Naked Doom was something of a character grinder...it was rife with quick death. Some of the Android store reviews reflect the dissatisfaction with this (pansy noobs that they are). So far so good.

Once you are done with those two modules, the rest are unlocked for between 10 jewels (for mini solos like Circle of Ice and Grimtina's Guard), 40 jewels (for most normal sized solos such as Mistywood and Caravan to Tiern) and 50 jewels for Overkill. All told I determined that it would cost 450 jewels to get all of the solos currently available. The going rate right now is 10 jewels for .99 and 110 jewels for $9.99....so essentially it's $41 to get all the modules. Not horrible, I suppose, unless you maybe have all of them on PDF and have played more than a few to death....also there's some question of overall replayability; you can only play Naked Doom so many times, for example, before you've memorized the module more or less.

To contrast, other solos in the style of pic-a-path adventures available on Android range from the Sorcery! series at $4.99 for each entry to the many Fighting Fantasy adaptations which tend to be priced at $2.99. Arguably the T&T experience is a better deal....but it's really interesting that T&T is presented as a single app from which you then buy module installments. This does have the advantage of supporting your recurring cast of characters as you play through the game.

Interestingly, when your character dies the game doesn't delete it....but you do get a trophy hall which shows which characters actually did succeed at a module. Also, you can delete your character if you so desire, and roll again.

Things that perplex me so far:

First, you seem to be able to only roll warriors. I think this is because the app currently doesn't support magic options and the solo choices definitely reflect that. In order to get the full T&T experience this needs to be upgraded, soon.

Second, since when do humans roll twice because they're human? I guess this isn't a complaint....it's nice to know they have a slight edge, but that took me by surprise.

Third, the game so far seems to be liberally exploiting existing T&T art to accompany the text. I haven't ponied up for any of the premium modules yet so I don't know if there's more new art elsewhere, but I can say that it would be nice if they broadened the range. Especially since the full cost of this app to get all content is currently $41.

Finally, it is currently missing a number of solos, though I suspect that's because they haven't implemented a way to handle spell casting wizards and rogues, and some of those solos just aren't going to be fun without those classes.

Also of note is the ad at the top of this blog....notice it mentions "create?" So when do we get to see this feature? Color me very intrigued. If they implement a creator tool for solos, it will be a major step up from most of the other competition on the Android.

Beyond that, I'm really kind of happy to have this. It's a trip down memory lane for me (I haven't played any T&T solos in many years) and the app makes it incredibly easy to revisit T&T on the solo side. So....I wonder when we can expect a T&T Beyond for some tabletop fun?????

More T&T News: Tunnels & Trolls Adventures RPG is now on Android and iOS stores

I stopped by Flying Buffalo to see if anything new was posted in the wake of discovering the Elven Lord Revisited Kickstarter, and lo and behold I discovered a notice that MetaArcade apparently had adapted the venerable T&T to an android and Apple store app. I don't know if this is a "new" thing or a port of the classic early nineties T&T CRPG.

I'm not reviewing it just yet, but thought I'd let y'all know it exists. It's a free app....but it apparently has an in-game purchase option (for what I am not sure yet). I'll post more soon as I have a chance to explore it properly and see just what this is all about (right now it's sitting at 0% in a download update...hmmm). I would greatly have preferred it to be an up-front purchase (as a rule I do not play in-app "freemium" games) but who knows, maybe it's not the usual cash grab.

It's got a 3.6 rating on the app store right now for Android. FB's website implies a small payment can be made to remove ads.

UPDATE: so it appears that solo modules are available through this app and you buy in game currency to play once or own them. The first module is titled "The Ascendant" and is free....another one I saw was 40 jewels. Not sure how much jewels cost....yet. The game's internal downloader is slooooooow.

Ouya

I may have mentioned it already but I also got an Ouya for the holidays. The machine is a $100 android-powered console device and one of the few successful Kickstarters that I know of. Like successful Kickstarters its also a mixed bag of shattered dreams and hopes swirled in with a bit of something new and interesting.

Ouya is basically a console for people who....hmmm. People who meet one of the following criteria, I guess:

1. Gotta have it all (that's me, I guess)
2. Are in that special zone of existence where buying a real tablet or real console is too expensive, but still want to play some games on the TV
3. Consider themselves hipsters but still want to play video games, so the indie slant of the Ouya is a natural fit
4. Like small, square-shaped electronic devices
5. Want a very simple console device that can serve up some easy party games

Now, my general impression of the Ouya bounces back and forth between "satisfaction once I came to terms with what it was" and "mild curiosity that I even own the thing, let alone use it." It's not a bad game console, and I did find a good dozen or so games on the machine that I enjoy, including the following:

Ravensword: Shadowlands - a sort of android version of Skyrim, powered by the Unity Engine (the same engine, fyi, that Pathfinder Online is being built with; so consider the prospect carefully that PFO is being designed with an engine specifically most suited to android games....). I've logged many hours in this game now murdering goblins and boars while occasionally prodding my way into deadlier territories; much more fun on Ouya than it was on the Nexus 7 by virtue of the controller and big screen.

Killing Floor: Calamity - an isometric top-down remake of the Kiling Floor PC game that is actually more fun to play this way. Devious zombie-murdering mayhem.

AVP Evolution - arguably as good as Aliens: Colonial Marines (how's that for a left-handed compliment?), an official franchise title in which you play as aliens or predators in yet another post-shark-jump era Aliens game. Play it like it's just a random game and it's quite fun.

Meltdown - a fun little isometric shooter/adventure title which feels vaguely like "Crusader: No Remorse, the actually playable 2013/14 Android edition" to me.

Order & Chaos Online - a lite WoW clone that plays better on Ouya than it does with a touch screen on android tablets.

Shadowgun - an android clone of Gears of War at its core, but quite fun on Ouya. Also powered by Unity.

This is just a sample of the the titles I downloaded and actually bought. Ouya lets you download everything on a trial basis first, so sampling the available range of titles is pretty simple. The system also has a variety of odd apps, but services such as Netflix are not on the list so don't consider the Ouya as a substitute for some other device that can put various subscription viewing services on your TV.

Ouya's controller is also an issue. I've gotten used to it, but if you're used to a slick modern controller....or any controller made after around 2001 really, this one's going to feel a bit clunky. I've heard that they are revising the controller along with the Ouya for a second round. Either way it doesn't matter; you can easily use an Xbox 360 controller or even a PS3 controller with a bit of effort. It's very open to external peripherals.

Ouya has 4GB of on-board memory; plugging a thumb drive in to the USB port can net you more room. Most Ouya games are designed to be small downloads, so even with the 4GB limit you can get around 8-12 games loaded easily, more if you abstain from downloading Order & Chaos Online (it's a huge download, the modest size the Ouya lists is just for the downloader to get the main game).

Aside from the onboard memory it comes with a HDMI port, a short cable and an optional ethernet plug in in case you are not wifi ready (it's easy to set up the wifi connection though). Then: park it somewhere and try to remember it's a console and not a door stop.

So far, despite my reservations about it I'm enjoying the Ouya and hope more games appear worth playing. Right now for every cool game like Shadowgun or Ravensword there are two dozen tiny indie games that look (and sometimes play) like crap, but there are quite a few gems to be found in the mix with a bit of discovery and exploration. Titles such as Mirrormoon EP may not appeal to me, but you might find it to be a weird breath of fresh indie air. Likewise I make no apologies for my enjoyment of Amazing Frog and its freakish physics-testing amphibian.

If you get an Ouya, just accept it for what it is and enjoy the experience of a very low key small-budget gaming environment. It's weird fun, and a sharp contrast from its big box cousins. Ultimately I have no regrets, and more than a few of these titles have me firing up the Ouya every night now for a few more rounds.

The Many Days of Horror! - Dead Trigger

Dead Trigger

Despite owning a Nexus 7 and recently acquiring a PS Vita (it’s pretty neat) I haven’t spent any time discussing the range of portable gaming options out there. Since we’ve got a horror-themed October, now seems like a good time to mention one of the better free options out there, Dead Trigger from Madfinger Games.

Dead Trigger is a freemium game, which is to say you download and play for fun and spend some money to acquire in game “gold” which can be used to gain extra equipment, items and perks. The free core game is actually pretty robust, and you won’t soon find yourself required to purchase anything. There’s a curious little casino event tied to daily free tokens for play which might net you some cool gear or gold coins to spend, but it’s more of an aside to the actual game…..easily ignored, though the prospect of winning a few medipacks is always worth playing your free daily tokens.

Aside from the little gambling side trek the game has a variety of items which can be unlocked through gold purchases. I found that you could get pretty much everything you could want for about $10-$15, leaning on the low side if you take advantage of some ways to acquire free gold through the typical advertiser partnership program so many of these Android app games participate in.

So: free game can be played without spending a dime and you’ll feel well rewarded, and if you do like it you can spend $10-$15 for in-game currency and buy pretty much all the game has to offer in the way of optional gear and perks. As freemium Android games go this is downright charitable.

Enough about the pricing structure….what about the game itself?

Dead Trigger is a first person shooter, built around a storyline involving your survivor in a city overrun by a zombie plague. The game overlays missions on a city grid, and you can go do one off missions, missions for gold, arena-style survival events and pursue the story missions at your leisure. The game makes judicious use of well-designed locations, which are repeated for the one-off missions and also the story missions. I’ve sunk quite a few hours into the game and haven’t gotten tired of it.

Most missions involve one of the following goals:

Survive – kill X number of zombies and live (or survive for X amount of time)

Protect – keep one or more locations, usually vehicles or barricades, safe from zombie attack

Gather – locate resources or equipment and deliver said goods to a drop spot while fending off zombies

Within that structure the game keeps you very busy, and the touch screen controls are surprisingly smooth and usually effective; about the only issue I run into isn’t with the game’s responsiveness at all but the limits of the touch-screen on the Nexus 7, which can get uppity if my finger isn’t pushing/sliding “just right” due to any roughness of the skin at all.

Aside from the running around and killing zombies the main gameplay element is one of resource acquisition and management. You don’t find a lot of resources during a scenario except for dropped cash and ammo, but between games you spend money to acquire gear and weapons that will help you out as well as perks as you level up; you have a certain number of slots over time, and you can load up on the gear you think will get the job done. If the choices don’t work then you can mix it up a bit and try a different approach.

While the game lets you buy almost everything with in-game currency it does let you purchase gold to buy resources. However in my experience this was never necessary; the regular everyday use gear was affordable on the cash earnings from each mission without ever resorting to purchased currency.

Each little mission is filling in a snack-game sort of way; play a survival mission for five minutes and feel like you had a decent shooter mini adventure. It’s great pick up and play gaming, and the graphics are excellent; unlike most garbage games on the Android marketplace Dead Trigger feels like a real game….something you’d find on a real game console.

The story is pretty basic but told through text sequences before and after each mission, setting up a lengthy tale of survival and escape. I’ve been playing the game for many, many hours now and still haven’t gotten to the end of the story mission, although that’s because it’s so easy to get distracted by all the side quests.

If you would like a little zombie survival horror action on you Android device, you could do worse than to pick up Dead Trigger. Dead Trigger 2 came out yesterday as well, and I have played the opening missions…it’s an even more polished experience but makes some changes to the formula that are rather curious, so the verdict is still out on whether I will like it better than the original. I suggest you try the first and then move to the second afterward….they’re both great pick-up-and-play survival horror games that feel like genuine, robust graphically intense gaming experiences for your tablet. If you have a Moga (mobile gaming controller) as well Dead Trigger also supports it and works great.

A+