Octopus Overlords

Saw this and thought of Blackhawk - not sure if you're looking to make some terrain pieces for solo play that would help with 3D representation of combat in a much smaller footprint.

Professor Dumgeon Master? That sounds made up.

He didn’t spend 10 years in college to be called Mister Dungeonmaster.

hepcat wrote: ↑Thu Nov 03, 2022 10:15 pm Professor Dumgeon Master? That sounds made up.

Since he isn't Assistant Professor Dungeon Master, that means he has tenure. His second and third dungeons are probably really weird vanity projects, since he no longer cares about catering to his department's opinions.

Little something for anyone that wants to bring friendship back to tabletop gaming

Finally, someone to go up against Barca & The Boys (a set I've wanted for Pulp Alley for a while now):



Studio Miniatures has quite a variety on 'inspired by' miniatures.

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Thu Nov 10, 2022 1:26 pm Little something for anyone that wants to bring friendship back to tabletop gaming

Before I do this, how many points of articulation are we looking at? I've got...plans.

Zombicide. Tell me about Zombicide. I know that there has been some Zombicide Fatigue going around, but I haven't played any of them yet.

I've got a (retail) copy of Rue Morgue that was given to me a number of years ago, but I haven't gotten it to the table yet. I've watched a few gameplay videos, and it seems like a good fit for me. Right now, I've got two interested players (!) for the first time since late 2019, and I've almost got the zombies fully painted. I thought about building the set up a bit.

Looking around, though, it seems like there are at literally hundreds of different products and expansions. I know that there was a recent 2nd Edition, but that's unlikely to be anything I can afford to buy anytime soon. Miniature Market is having a huge sale (with all due caveats about the company firmly in mind), with piles of extra cards (I'm not sure what they're for), miniatures for absurdly small amounts of money (a buck and a half per character, although they don't have character cards - again, no clue), and all sorts of other bits and pieces.

I did splurge and order one item - they had the Prison Outbreak base set for $20. Is there anything else that I should be keeping an eye out for that would improve my experience/provide meaningful extra gameplay? Any sets that I should make a priority?

I only started playing with 2nd edition so I won't be of much help on what to buy previous to those. That said, I really started to enjoy it once I wrapped my head around the idea that it's more of a cooperative puzzle than a straight zombie combat game. It has some commonality with Cthuhlu: Death May Die in that regard, which may be why I like it so much.

I bought both 2nd Ed expansions (Fort Hendrix and Washington Z.C.) last year when my FLGS was having an insane B2G1 Black Friday sale. I really need to get those to the table. It's another case where I got so burned out on painting minis that I didn't feel like playing the game.

Your best bang for the buck is Prison Outbreak, then Toxic City Mall. More tiles, zombies, and characters.

There is a Crow set that’s different type but unnecessary. Box of Zombies are also just variations.

The single character sets are ok if you like collecting. The dogs and neighbors packs are basically NPCs and similarly extra.

Zarathud wrote: ↑Sat Nov 12, 2022 5:07 pm Your best bang for the buck is Prison Outbreak, then Toxic City Mall.

Prison Outbreak for $20 seems like it was a good deal, but it looks like Toxic City Mall is out of print and $140+ on ebay, so that one's unlikely to happen.

/edit - and it looks like a big chunk of what's on ebay is being divided up and sold piece-by-piece.

There's honestly a ton of variety in the core boxes and you can probably play with them for quite a bit before you feel the need to add in more variables. For me the CMON games are all about the insane number of characters you can play. All the optional ones are just themed variety - skills and abilities plus the fun of playing a real-world adjacent character. I'd probably urge you not to go nuts and get too much as you'll then be overwhelmed (like I was). Just focus on a core box and learning the ins and outs of the mechanics with the included characters. If you like it and want more, then you can figure out what makes sense to buy next to add that variety for replay or new experiences. IMHO, of course.

But... but... out of print plus on sale plus chronic FOMO!

And here you come, la de da, dropping common sense and taking the wind out of my sails.

If you have a season box and expansion, you’re good. I have all 3 seasons and 2.0 and it’s just too much.

Just Rue Morgue plus the $20 Prison Outbreak base sets.

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Sun Nov 13, 2022 12:31 am But... but... out of print plus on sale plus chronic FOMO!

And here you come, la de da, dropping common sense and taking the wind out of my sails.

It's a hard lesson, but one I've had to learn a few times with CMON. That said, if it's a good price, it's a good price. But I'd almost advise not even opening it - just stash it and wait. If you open every possible option for a Zombicide game and try to then pick elements to add, you're going to get overwhelmed in a matter of minutes. They really seem to specialize in doing too much.

I’ve got Zombicide Undead or Alive coming soon. I couldn’t resist the Wild West theme. But I don’t think I’ll get anything else in the series.

Looking through sales. I come across a deal on Queen's Gambit: The Board Game.

Didn't that come out ages ago?

Not sure I'd say "ages". Looks like the show was out in late 2020, and the game released about a year after that.

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Wed Nov 23, 2022 1:25 pm Looking through sales. I come across a deal on Queen's Gambit: The Board Game.

Didn't that come out ages ago?

If you mean "Chess" then yes.

My FLGS is having their annual insane Black Friday B2G1 free on any game in the store sale. Last year I picked up Zombicide 2.0 and both expansions. This year my wife is letting me grab 3 more games during the sale, one for my birthday on Saturday and two to save for Christmas. Not sure what I'm going for yet, but can't wait to check them out in the morning.

If they have Waste Knights or Zona, check them out. I think you’d like them. They’re great adventure games. Also, I think you’d like My Father’s Work.

I have found my 5 seconds of tabletop internet fame.

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Sat Nov 12, 2022 12:18 pmI did splurge and order one item - they had the Prison Outbreak base set for $20.

I managed to screw up - I bought two copies of Zombicide: Prison Outbreak for $20. For that price, it's probably not worth the hassle of returning. It'd likely be on my dime, and that would be the bulk of any refund.

So... is there any gameplay value to having two sets? Or should I be looking for something else to do with them?

We have a few skirmish gamers here. Out of curiosity, does anyone know of any good, preferably soloable, systems for mechs? I bought into Reaper's Cav Kickstarter, oh... eight years ago now. Just before my gaming buddy decided to move off, get married, and then move further off. Eight years later and they're not even assembled.

Does anyone know of a system I might be able to use them for?

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Mon Nov 28, 2022 3:56 pm Does anyone know of a system I might be able to use them for?

Something like Weasel Tech, perhaps?

I know I've seen something else, but I'm having a hard time remember what it was. Or maybe it was a generic sci-fi system that people were using W40K minis with? Regardless, I'll keep an eye out - it's definitely rare to see.

I ordered Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood of Venice yesterday as an Amazon Cyber Monday deal. Talk about an impulse buy - I had never even heard of the game. However, the more I researched, the more intrigued I got. 8.6 on BGG, stealth-based co-op, campaign, based on V-Commandos? Where do I sign up?

Watching a few more reviews on YouTube sealed the deal. A lot of folks raved about this game, with the biggest nitpicks being it's a huge table hog and setup/teardown can be a pain if you're running the campaign solo. I have a table I can set it up on and leave it though, so hopefully that won't be too big a deal.

Impressions to come in the weekend gaming thread after it comes in.

So, I'm looking into a 3D printer as a Christmas gift (for myself), largely to make terrain, passable quality minis for skirmish games/D&D, self-designed containers/inserts for games, and prototype/building pieces for my burgeoning inventor daughter to mess with. I am only really interested in a filament one, given that I don't have the time to learn resin and resin is way more toxic.

I was looking at the Creality Ender 3 printer line. Any thoughts from those of you who have one?

Thought Id post this here since a lot of you are boardgamers.

Years ago I purchased the big huge boxed versions of Axis & Allies and also Twilight2000 with the thought of reselling them. I never did. But Im going to put them up on the sale sites online soon I think....if I can find them again. But would anyone here be interesting in them first? I think they are both from 1984. I looked around online for pricing but came up a little bare in that area. Got a little idea but not a lot.

If anyone wants to see them i can take some pics....again if I can find them. Pretty sure I know their location in the storage room.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Thu Dec 01, 2022 7:13 pm Thought Id post this here since a lot of you are boardgamers.

Years ago I purchased the big huge boxed versions of Axis & Allies and also Twilight2000 with the thought of reselling them. I never did. But Im going to put them up on the sale sites online soon I think....if I can find them again. But would anyone here be interesting in them first? I think they are both from 1984. I looked around online for pricing but came up a little bare in that area. Got a little idea but not a lot.

If anyone wants to see them i can take some pics....again if I can find them. Pretty sure I know their location in the storage room.

Can't speak to the Axis and Allies game, but Twilight 2000 has been through a few reprints, most recently last year. If you have an original boxed version from 1984 and it's in shrink it could be worth $200+ to the right person. If it's been opened but it's still in good condition, it wouldn't surprise me if you could get $100 to $150 on eBay. For games from that era, it's all about condition...which I guess is true for most things.

Well that would surely help my money problem / life lol. Its opened. Got them at a local used books/games/video/cd/record yadda yadda place about 10 or 15 years ago.

Thanks for the heads up on it. So when they rerelease stuff the old is worth more huh? Neat.

Twilight 2000. I've never played it, but the ads in Dragon Magazine featured the cover art, and it's stuck in my memory as the best example of the uncanny valley I've ever seen.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Thu Dec 01, 2022 10:20 pm Well that would surely help my money problem / life lol. Its opened. Got them at a local used books/games/video/cd/record yadda yadda place about 10 or 15 years ago.

Thanks for the heads up on it. So when they rerelease stuff the old is worth more huh? Neat.

Old IPs fade into obscurity. A new release brings them back into peoples' interest, and the old stuff becomes collectible. Sort of the way announcing a new MCU character boosts the value of that character's old comics.

You should dig up a contents list for that box and make sure that it contains everything it's supposed to.

It wasn't anything special back in the day; we only played it a few times. I did get the recent remake mainly because it included a dedicated solo mode that works a lot like a hex crawl - where you're a solider that's moving through the post "lite" nuclear WW3 in the distant future, er distant past now. time line in Europe and just trying to survive. You can see it here from the Free League.

I put off buying Legendary Encounters: Alien for too long, dammit. Out of print!

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Thu Dec 01, 2022 11:19 pm Twilight 2000. I've never played it, but the ads in Dragon Magazine featured the cover art, and it's stuck in my memory as the best example of the uncanny valley I've ever seen.

I and my friends played Twilight: 2000 back in the late 1980s, but to me it stands out more as a setting than a game system.

There were many, many supplements and adventures describing the (Western) world after the game's establishing limited nuclear war broke society down into fiefdoms and gangs. I designed a short half-assed campaign based on Apocalypse Now and aimed at killing an American communist colonel.

The newest version from Free League returns to the original setting (civilization-collapsing war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact in 1999-2001) after a third edition that kind of botched it all up.

One thing I love about this setting is the realism about fuel and maintenance. Surviving vehicles run on engines converted to ethanol or methanol. If you somehow come into possession of an Abrams tank, it's not going anywhere until days of engine work and months of growing grain and then brewing fuel. And even then your mileage will be very low. (All of this pushes the game towards a D&D-style "adventurers on foot" model.)

IIRC the Mongoose Traveller 2300 RPG setting proceeds from the limited nuclear "Twilight War" of 2000. In the lore of both games, France's near-neutrality allowed it to maintain something of a working industrial economy through the crisis of the war's collapse. (In T:2000, any force of any nationality approaching France's newly declared border at the Rhine river will be engaged by French troops.) France is thus the leading industrial and political power as humans move out into foreign star systems in Traveller 2300.

Little B 13.9 asked for an “Underdark-themed campaign I can GM with my friends” for Christmas. I’d like to get her a campaign book, but not sure which would be best (they play 5e).

Any suggestions?

What is her GMing experience?

The 5e Underdark campaign is Out of the Abyss. Unfortunately, it isn't very new GM friendly. It's very prep-heavy, a sandbox, and has a survival element that makes it very easy to frustrate the players - or accidentally kill them all.

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Tue Dec 06, 2022 1:12 am What is her GMing experience?

The 5e Underdark campaign is Out of the Abyss. Unfortunately, it isn't very new GM friendly. It's very prep-heavy, a sandbox, and has a survival element that makes it very easy to frustrate the players - or accidentally kill them all.

Very limited, she has GM’d one campaign and the group is mostly rules-averse, free form, 13 year olds. Sounds like that one would be a bit outside their scope (and probably interest).

Any general campaign you might recommend for a beginner? She GM’d the first Starter Set one (Lost Mines, I think). I asked about the new Starter Set as an option, but she said she wanted an actual campaign book. I think there’s just something about the step up to a full book that appeals to her.

I'm way behind on &D&D products, but of those I know, off the top of my head.... avoid Princes of the Apocalypse (not a well done adventure) and Curse of Strahd (tough for new GM's.) Storm King's Thunder is good, but also challenging to run. Tales from the Yawning Portal is really good, but is a set of adventures, not a cohesive campaign.

Check out...

https://arcaneeye.com/dm-tools-5e/dnd-5 ... s-modules/