As many of you know, most of the writers for this blog live in Australia. And for that fact we have been subjected to one of the most backward and condescending ratings systems for computer games in the developed world. Whereas movies can receive classification up to R18+ – restricted to individuals aged 18 or more – the maximum rating allowed for computer games is, at present, only MA15 – that is, restricted to people above the age of 15. Anything which might breach that limit is therefore refused classification, and hence is banned from our shores. This has seen the watering down or total ban of various supposedly wonderful computer games in the last few years, having us local computer gamers disappointed and angry.

Continue reading Australian Government puts R18+ Rating for computer games on the table

One of the great things about getting together with friends for a game is the food and drink shared around the table. Anthropologists tell us that eating and drinking together is one of the very basic activities which have united groups of people for millennia, and is one of the most fundamental ways of expressing social inclusion we have. Well, one of the very earliest alcoholic beverages known to us is Mead and it is very easy to make yourself.

Continue reading Catering for Your Game: Brew your Own Mead

For those of you who love horror fiction and roleplaying, yet also don’t mind a bit of academic/philosophical speculation, let me introduce a wonderful resourse: Collapse volume IV. This is a special edition of an academic journal on philosophy, this time specialising in horror fiction. Those of you who have a particular weakness for Lovecraftian fiction (such as myself) may be interested in Graham Harman’s article, “On the Horror of Phenomenology: Lovecraft and Husserl”, which starts on page 333.

Continue reading The Philosophy of Horror

For those of you who don’t know, Keith ‘Doc’ Herber was one of the shining lights of the gaming industry. Many people had their first taste of the Cthulhu Mythos through Herber’s work; he was the principal author on such classic gaming masterpieces as “Fungi from Yuggoth” and “Spawn of Azathoth” among many others. After a period of quietude following a split with Chaosium several years ago, Herber had recently reconciled with the company, and had established (with others) another publishing house known as Miskatonic River Press dedicated to the production of new scenarios for the Cthulhu Mythos. Many were they who were eagerly looking forward to the new creations of a veteran of the field. Unfortunately for all, he passed away in the night of 13th of March, being found by his wife the next morning.

Continue reading In Memoriam: Keith ‘Doc’ Herber

There are some stereotypical characteristics of the “nerd” which are commonly believed. (Perhaps because there’s a grain of truth in there…) Now, there’s a range of these, but today we’re only interested in 2.

1. Nerds are antisocial, don’t do well at parties and sometimes their personal grooming habits are not as well developed as might be desired.

2. Nerds don’t like sport.

Well, thanks to the good people at Critical Miss (an on-line magazine for dysfunctional roleplayers), we can disprove the latter item by using the former. Their invention is Body Language Rugby. The full rules can be accessed from their latest edition – unfortunately now over 2 years old. The game is suitable for any large and boring gathering, such as a wedding reception, work function or soirée (Ho there, Soirée! No answer? I charge!) The players are split into two teams. An unwitting member of the crowd is “the ball.” “End zones” are nominated at either side of the room. Using nothing but body language, each side attempts to steer “the ball” into the opposing end zone. Points are tallied, and the side which has the highest points at the end of the night is declared the winner.

The field of play. Note the goal posts at the far end.

Huzzah for the guys at Critical Miss! Their magazine is filled with items like this, plus GMing tips for the acutely lazy GM, how to railroad your players, broken and inadvisable scenarios and other entertaining and educational games such as Nuke the Crap out of Europe.

Go forth and enjoy.

Of all the wonderful things you can do in Dwarf Fortress, one of the glaring omissions is the lack of a multi-player mode. Fortunately, the rabid Dwarf Fortress community has thought of a great way around this – the Succession Game! For those of you unfamiliar with Dwarf Fortress, check out this post. The game is a real-time simulation of a Dwarven colony. So each player takes over the running of the fortress for a single year, handing over the reigns to a new player, who must deal with the situation left behind as best they can.

One of the most well-known and best loved succession games tells the story of Boatmurdered. This town was beset by numerous problems, including a never-ending feud between the Dwarfs and the seemingly endless supply of rampaging killer elephants, a population of useless and lazy nobles, miasma, floods and criminals. The whole story can be read here. The game was played right the way through from embarkation until the fortress was finally abandoned by its 2 sole survivors, the mass murderer Guerilla Burialgears and a child, Dodok Sabrefrenzies. The tale is extremely funny, and even those completely unfamiliar with Dwarf Fortress should find it amusing.

“Welcome to F@#%ing Boatmurdered!”

I seriously can’t say enough good things about this movie. I love it to death. A group of nerdly college guys get together to play a session of (thinly veiled) D&D; the camera moves between the players and the characters. It makes fun of all the usual fantasy gaming tropes and points out some of the absurdities of the genre. The story is typical high fantasy schtick: a group of adventurers are given a quest to save the princess from “The Shadow”; on the way, the Thief manages to steal someone’s pants, someone gets backstabbed by siege artillery and the frustrated girl down the hall keeps on bursting and complaining about all the noise. I have so lived this before. Biting satire on the hobby we all love.

The production is by the immensely talented guys at Dead Gentlemen Productions. Check out the website for more of their work.

Apparently, The Gamers found a distributor and is doing quite well. So much so that there’s now a sequel, The Gamers 2: Dorkness Rising, now featuring a decent production quality.

Go check it out.

Dark Fantasy was a radio program which aired for a short stint from 1941 to 1942. The audio plays were written by Scott Bishop, an author who had penned a number of short stories of weird fiction for various magazines, and was later to go on to the more widely known radio production known as the Sealed Book. My first introduction to this series of shows was while listening to the Cthulhu Podcast, which included the story The Demon Tree, which was based on the old English myth of the Strangling Oak. I listened to this while on my evening constitutional. In the dark, with the trees looming, I found it instantly chilling. Some stories show a Lovecraftian influence, and some of the names of the characters and places show that Bishop must have been influenced by Lovecraft’s writings.

It is, of course, also filled with wonderful 1940’s radio theatre cheese, including warbling organ, sexist stereotypes etc. But that all adds to the flavour.

The whole series can be downloaded both free and legally from the good folks at the Internet Archive.

On this day in 1890, Howard Phillips Lovecraft was born. His unique brand of horror fiction was to inspire imitation by hundreds of authors and an avid readership spanning the globe numbering in their millions. A shy and retiring type, often socially awkward and bookish, never having completed his high school diploma, yet he managed to create a body of fiction which has become known as perhaps the most influential works of horror fiction in the modern age, the true father of modern horror.

For more details have a look at Wikipedia.

Happy birthday, HPL.

“That is not dead which can eternal lie,

And with strange aeons even death may die.”

First off: I’m very happy to have this. I have enjoyed reading the rules, the background, fawning over the models, the map, the dice etc. All very nice, very well put together. But it is, perhaps, not the most exciting purchase I have ever made. Especially as Catalyst already provides pretty much all the printed material for a free PDF download.

It is important to remember that this is the introductory box set – it is meant as a teaser into the whole game. For that reason, the rules provided do not include those for tanks, infantry or aerial units. However, for an introductory set, the offering is significant. The rules presented are not “rules light,” they are the official, full ruleset for ‘Mech combat. If that is all the player wants to get from the game, then they shall not be disappointed at all.

Unfortunately, for those who wish to go further in the hobby, the book of rules will become largely superfluous upon the purchase of the main rulebook, Total Warfare. Perhaps a good use for the book at that point would be to try to tease a friend into the hobby. To be honest, the beginning of the rulebook is also somewhat disappointing – it spends the first section, approximately 10-15 pages, trying to justify its own existence and describing the various other products available on the market. As the first written words a new player encounters, this is not an auspicious start. However, the rest of the rules are organised methodically and lucidly. The illustrations are of painted models – an interesting choice; personally I have always found gaming art to be a better option than photos of models, although this would ramp up the price somewhat and maybe make the introductory box set less of an appealing buy.

The rest of the contents will be of use and interest for many years to come. Each ‘Mech model – and there are 24 of them – come with no assembly required. A clever decision for an introductory box. The last thing you want to do when you get a new game is have to muck about with sticking on little arms and scraping off flash. You’d much rather be reading the book or simply getting down to the gritty business of blowing each other up. To that end, the quick-start rules are also a good addition to the package – although I must admit to not having read the thing myself. Cut down rules are not my thing.

This has not been a problem. With the help of the cheat sheet and the graphics (and armed with having at least read an earlier version of the rules in the distant past – here’s a spoiler: there’s not much change) it was easy enough to quickly throw together a satisfying combat a few minutes after I’d ripped the packaging open. The game itself is excellent – and I’m by far not the first person to say so. It has been around for a while, and looks to be going strong into a new phase under the guidance of Catalyst Labs. May they grow and prosper.

One last drawback – although it is possible and fun to play the game simply as a tabletop wargame, Battletech really comes into it’s own when played in conjunction with it’s roleplaying rules. We are currently still waiting for a modern version to be published by Catalyst. Until then, it’s e-bay and 80’s hairstyles only!