Bad Endings
Have you ever had a campaign end properly—I mean properly, like it ended with a climax and not because the group disbanded or lost interest? It happens rarely, I understand that. I mentioned recently my own Amethyst game finally ran its last session after eleven years. It did so with a note of finality to [...]
Economics of Gaming: Digital Rights Management
My PC build is two years old, loaded with top of the line hardware at that time. I can still run nearly every game at max settings, something my previous ten PCs couldn’t do for more than six months. Yes, the industry is slowing but one of the reasons is because publishers have little incentive [...]
GAMA Trade Show Best of Show Winner 2013–Kickstarter.com
Yes, you are reading that correctly. I am giving the “Best of Show” for the GAMA Trade Show 2013 to Kickstarter.com. Kickstarter was the talk of the show. If you had a booth there was a solid 50/50 chance that a Kickstarter was in your future. It really was everywhere at the show. Before you [...]
GAMA Trade Show 2013 Report 8
Monster Protectors Monster Protectors has a nice line of card protector boxes and binders as well as some unusual map/playmat tubes. It is hard to see in the image, but the map tube has three corners, rather than being a true tube. I did not grasp the importance until Monster’s rep pointed out that it [...]
GAMA Trade Show 2013 Report 7
Cheapass Games Cheapass games, long known for extremely basic games, evolved a bit and produced a “snazzy” version of the venerable “Unexploded Cow.” This game has a retail price of $25.00. Grandpa’ Beck’s Games Scheming and Skulking is a new trick-taking game due to be released at the end of May for an MSRP [...]
Is Tolkien Irrelevant?
I’ve heard from some people that JRR Tolkien was the worst thing to ever happen to fantasy, while others defend him to exhaustion that there would not be a fantasy genre at the successful state it is in now if it wasn’t for him. Whether or not he was a good writer is different than [...]
GAMA Trade Show 2013 Report 6
Collins Epic Wargames Polyversal is a soon-to-kickstart miniature combat system (6 mm) that allows you to use miniatures from other games, assign Polyversal stats and then go to war! The central tile is a commander and he controls all the units attached to him, but should them move out of range they “detach” from [...]
Economics of Gaming – Microtransactions
Recently, a few of my friends confused micro-transactions with downloadable content. Generally, downloadable content is a game extension, including new maps, characters, story-missions, and can run anywhere from a dollar to as much at $30. Microtransactions involve paying small to moderate fees to enhance an existing experience, occasionally in the form of a new weapon [...]
GAMA Trade Show 2013 Report 5
More gaming goodness below…. Educational Insights “Nowhere to Go” is a quick game with some strategy that is perfect for children, but playable by adults as well. Two fedora wearing miniatures block paths using the gray marble-like tokens of each other until one has nowhere to move, thereby losing. I got in a complete [...]