"And My Axe"

In a departure from my chat about the various technological games I am engaged in this is post about Lord of the Rings the Card Game from Fantasy Flight Games.(FFG)

LoTRtCG is a co-operative 'Living Card Game' (LCG), it has elements of Magic the Gathering (MtG) to it and is a bit like the co-operative boardgame as well - players choose a deck and play through a scenario with each other.  There is a mechanism to know how you are doing (quests and progress tokens) and automatic rules to decide who is attacked and by what (the threat meter).  The rules (so far) work extremely well, and as long as you keep the book to hand are fairly easy to follow once you have your head around them.  To aid with that Fantasy Flight have provided a full illustrated with examples rule book and also a series of You Tube videos which take you through the sequence of play and give examples of how it all works.  They are really handy when understanding everything.  In addition to that there are rules that are simply printed on the cards which are easy to follow.



The game can be played solo (which is quite tricky) or with up to 4 players.  There are 3 different quests provided with the core set have are increasingly difficult.  There are 4 player 'suits' - Spirit, Tactics, Leadershop and Lore - each of which have very different styles of play.  All in all there's quite a lot of variation just there.  Add to that that there is a set of ways to design tournament decks which allows you to create a deck of mixed 'suits'.  Of course you also get to control some heroes, 12 of which are provided with the core set.  Also in the core set are encounter cards which randomise what you face along the way (ranging from baddies to fight, things that happen or locations to visit.)

So why is it a Living Card Game?  Well, each month (or so) FFG are going to release an expansion, which will will provide a new quest (s), new cards for each suit, new heroes and encounter cards and other additions to game play.  These aren't like 'MtG' where you buy endless boosters to make up your collection, hoping to acquire rare cards.  Instead they provide a set list of cards to enhance the game in specific ways.  There are 6 expansions currently planned which tell the story of looking for Gollum.

The art work is beautiful and the card text well written.  The tokens are well designed and all things well put together.  It's worth mentioning that the game is based on the books, not the (excellent) movies, which might confuse some people when encountering the very powerful Glorfindel and not knowing who he is, but overall it probably doesn't matter much, you don't need to know.

This can be played as a random board game, or probably with a storytelling element, indeed when sacrificing one of your allies it's hard not to vocalise a "My dwarven miner valiantly gets in the way to save the life of Eowyn!"

There are a few issues discussed on forums about not having enough cards in the core set to make up a world beating tournament deck but that doesn't really worry me (yet at least) and FFG have openly said that they've made a game which is playable and fun with expansion coming in the future.  Lots of people talk about buying two or three sets to make a full deck, but that certainly isn't necessary for the casual player.

FFG makes a whole bundle of games, many of which I didn't know about and I think I will be investing in more of them as time goes on.  in the LCG range They are releasing a Star Wars Co-operative game next year and already have Game of Thrones, Cthulu & a Warhammer one, the latter three being Vs games, not co-op ones.  Not to mention that they also have a lot of big licenses (Conan, Battlestar Galactica and more) not to mention their own fine IP (Tannhauser & Mansions of Madness for example).

So far I am very impressed.  I've orded Hunt For Gollum (the first of the expansions) off the back of the experience so far and I am looking forward to more multiplayer action this weekend. 

It can be bought from various places including amazon and the excellent comic / games shop - Travelling Man

'Design Legend' and other titles

The winners of the 2011 Develop Awards, which recognises the best of video games development, have been announced in Brighton - I've copied them below.  I'm happy that Ian Livingstone who amongst other things wrote / produced many of the Fighting Fantasy books won the 'Design Legend' award, and I hope he starts using it as a sobriquet - "Hi I'm Ian 'Design Legend' Livingstone.'  Even if he doesn't though I'm pleased he got it as I grew up reading his books.

 Minecraft also picked up quite a few... and I still don't get it, but good on them.

 So here's the list:

CREATIVITY

New IP

Enslaved (Ninja Theory)
New download IP
Minecraft (Mojang Specifications)
Use of a licence or IP
F1 2010 (Codemasters Birmingham)
Visual arts
Limbo (Playdead)
Audio accomplishment
Papa Sangre (Somethin’ Else)
Publishing hero
Valve
--
TECHNOLOGY AND SERVICES
Technical innovation
Kinect (Microsoft Research Cambridge)
Audio outsourcer
Side UK
Visual outsourcer
Axis Animation
Services
Audiomotion
Recruitment
Specialmove
Tools provider
Autodesk
Engine
Unreal Engine 3 (Epic Games)
--
STUDIOS
New studio
Mojang Specifications
Micro studio
Mojang Specifications
Handheld studio
Rovio Mobile
Business development
Mind Candy
In-house studio
Media Molecule
Independent studio
Crytek
--
SPECIAL INDUSTRY RECOGNITION
Development legend
Ian Livingstone
Grand Prix
Rovio Mobile

Pre-Order-Tastic

I admit that I am a fanboy (Fanboi?)  but the news that The Old Republic is now available for Pre-Order excites me. 

I was keen enough to track down the collectors edition (only it seems available from Game in the UK), and was slightly depresssed to find it was £129.99.  I don't think I am that much of a fan!  So then the question was - am I enough of a fan to pre-order it from Origin - which still gets me a few little funky items...  I am depressed to say I am!  Aparently though demand is high and not everyone will be able to preorder... so get them in now kids!  OR perhaps that's a marketing scam.  I dunno.

The cheapest option is (of course?) Amazon.  But you can also get it from Play

Small World - not a witty title.

Last night I and a friend fancied playing a board game, but one was sadly lacking.  My thoughts turned to the iPad and a quick search of the app store led me to Small World developed by Days of Wonder.  I wasn't sure what to expect, but there were a few reviews that looked good, it was quite pretty looking, was only a few pounds and of course it had Wizards!!

The next few hours passed with us playing quite a few games of this delightful board game.  It's a 2-player board game where you play a fantasy race taking land and getting points.  Each race has a racial benefit (like getting more points for hills or forests) and a class (like flying meaning you can place your tiles anywhere) which are mixed up each game. 

It's quick and simple to learn but there are nuances to the races and classes that meant that it kept us thinking and coming back for more.  The graphics are pretty and functional, the interface is seemless and helpful.  I haven't played the board game but came to understand the rules during the first play through. 

There are two 'mini-expansion packs' available to purchase from in the app which gives you some more races and classes.  If I had to criticise I would say there were perhaps a little overpriced compared to the price of the game, BUT they did add some new dimensions to the game.  It would lovely to see a different board layout as well, after our multiple play throughs that might have been nice.

 

Apparently it's a very good adaptation of the board game, I haven't played that but it looks like it  is from the pictures.  The UI means that you don't have to turn the iPad round (it reverses for the other player if you want it to) and although the instructions throw you in quite quickly we didn't find it a problem.

Small World gave us a very fun evenings play and I'll certainly come back to it.  I very much hope they'll release some more of their games on the iPad and I'll pick up their other offering (Ticket to Ride) at some point and I will probably look at buying some of their board games too.

They have a great quote on their website which I think sums it up well, so I have reprinted it here:

"Digital board games have several advantages over cardboard: They're always with you, they save space, they take care of all the record-keeping and rules enforcement, and they're a lot cheaper. Small World hits all these marks."
Julian Murdoch for GameSpy

What I'm Playing Now 2

So in an effort to stay vaguely current I thought I'd update this page, it might be something I try to do monthly.  I should say that I am terrible at sticking with something from beginning to end so I do quite often dot about between games.  Last months update is here.

I'm still playing LA Noire, about which I will write in more depth at some point.  I can't help but think it's too easy at the moment...  Sims 3 still amuses me and Rift still calls me back a bit as well.

I have indulged in the Steam sale over the last few weeks and picked up some things that I wanted which I saw on offer and couldn't resist.  I can't help but notice that it is the month of the sequel!

The Witcher 2 - I enjoyed the first story of Geralt and invested in the second.  So far (and it hasn't seen much air yet) it's very pretty, it's very smooth but there's a lot of cutscene.  I think more than gameplay as yet.  But time will tell.  It's also quite unforgiving, so lots of saving is par for the course.

I also invested in Bioshock, the original game because everyone tells me how amazing it is.  I am pretty impressed so far and it was £3.49 which I think makes me a winner!  (This game somewhat dissapointingly though doesn't fit in with the month of the sequel so I rectify that below!)

Portal 2 was another reduced buy because lots of people rave about it.  Perhaps I will be too, certainly I'm impressed so far.




And finally for now I bought Neverwinter Nights 2...  My inner geek couldn't resist it for £5 with change!  I'm looking forward to playing it.  I didn't try the dungeon designing thing in number 1, but intend to in this version. 

All of this ended up with me investing in a new graphics card as well - I thought mine could handle the pace but I was proved wrong.  I have to recommend the helpfulness of the people at PC World - they knew exactly what they were talking about and I got a great deal with a card that was on sale.  Hooray. 

I have been somewhat snowed under with work of late so none of the games have seen enough play time, but in months to come I am sure they will get some hours of enjoyment / frustration thrown at them!

Secret Interests

I watched the new trailer today for Secret World, an MMORPG from Funcom set in the modern world, which seems a bit Lovecraftian / modern horror / dark future to me.  It looks like a lot of fun and I am very much looking forward to pumping some hours into this.  There is also endless (well, a lot at any rate) room for expansions and new areas to develop of visit and that's great too.  There are more snippets on You Tube of course.

It raised for me a couple of things - the importance of 'the catch' - I am not a big fan of games with guns but like conspiracy stuff and this game instantly had me hooked.

It also addressed something that I have a little bug bear about which is the '2-faction game' - it seems to me that when most games launch they have two factions and never the twain shall meet.  I know that it's often addressed later in expansions (like the City of Heroes expansion Going Rogue) or DLC but I rather like that from the get-go this has three factions.  I *hope* that there's interaction between them as well (that isn't just beating them up!) but we will see.

Obviously three factions means more development work (or I suppose less 'complete' factions) but even so the choice appeals to me.  Now, which one to choose in order that I might be able to sign up for the beta (you get to pick on the website after a test (here) which leads you to a sign up form.  Choices choices choices...

A Picture Tells a Thousand Words

The way people play games interests me, and what they choose to do with their in game time.  In  his blog called Dead End Thrills  Duncan Harris shows how he has taken time photographing sceneries using mods and tools and applying real world photography principals to his art.  It's worth a look - his GTA IV pics are here but you can see others around his site.