- Mythic announced today that they will be shutting down Warhammer Online: Age Of Reckoning effective December 18, 2013. In three months time, one of the premier MMO punching bags will be consigned to that great server in the sky.
- I was caught up in the madness of Warhammer blogging. I was already too established for that. But even my aloofness was not enough to keep me away from the maelstrom that was the game's launch. WAR was going to be all things to all people. It ended up being some things for some people, some times.
- There are lessons to be had, of course. And I may even, take the time to write some down. But until then, we should say a fond farewell to a game that has given us very much, and everyone who worked so hard on it.
- Hat tip to Syp for the news.
© 2013 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
- I'm going to tell you a secret. If you want to sell me something, magically make it appear when I ask about it. I went to the local game store Friday just to see what was new. I didn't expect to actually buy anything, an issue of White Dwarf at most. But then I made an offhand comment that it looked like the Pathfinder game must be hard to keep on the shelf. She said that it was, but that she'd received another shipment today. She walked over to a cardboard box, cut it opened, and pulled the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game from the packing peanuts. Once I had it in my hands, it was very hard to say no. It was also hard to say no to the Character Add-On Deck, because dumber isn't much different from dumb, right?
- Pathfinder Adventure Card Game is an RPG boiled down into card form. You, as the player, choose a character, build a starting card deck of weapons, armor, and the like (the types and amounts based on the character), and select a scenario to play. The base game allows one to four players, but you can go up to six with the add-on. Each scenario lists the villains and the locations for each quest, and each location lists the amount of each card type in its deck. On your turn, flip the top card of the blessing deck (which acts as a doomsday clock), decide whether to move your character to a new location, and then encounter the top card of the location deck. The goal of most of the scenarios is to corner the main villain by cutting off avenues of escape and defeating them.
- One of the main reasons I bought PACG is that it was supposed to play well as a single player game. So after I cracked open the box, read the rules, and sorted the cards (which I actually did in that order), I started my first adventure. Then the next day I played my second. Then the next day I played the third. And now, like my favorite video games, I can't get it out of my head.
- For such a stripped down system, I love how the card interactions evoke fantasy adventure so well. In the final basic scenario, Black Fang's Dungeon, the three locations are Shrine of Lamashtu, Temple, and Desecrated Vault. The order could have been chosen haphazardly, but I don't think so. In my mind, the Shrine, though some distance away, sits in opposition to the Temple. And through its dark magics, the denizens of the Shrine have desecrated the Vault under the shrine, causing all manor of evil to rise from its bowels.
- And then there are the character powers. Without any amount of description, the basis of the powers is immediately evident. My rogue has two primary powers. First, the ability to evade any encounter is a perfect implementation of a rogue's stealth capability. Second, the ability to add an extra die to combat checks when your character is alone at a location is obviously a sneak attack. I'm all for better story telling in games, but sometimes mechanics tell the best stories on their own.
- Because each character deck is really a resource management system, making decisions about how and when to use your cards is vital. That is why the one thing I really like is the various card use mechanics: Reveal, Recharge, Discard, Bury, and Banish. Reveal just means to show that the card is in your hand. Recharge means to play it face down under your draw pile, so that it may come up again. Discard means to place in the discard pile, though various cards (i.e. healing) allow you access to these. Bury means to discard under your character card, putting them out of play for the rest of the game. Banish means to discard to the box, leaving your deck permenantly. Such a wide range of options makes each card play a strategic choice.
- Here is my rogue. She fought off the bandits, she saved the city from a mad alchemist, and she slew the dragon, Black Fang. And yet, the most difficult choice of the game to make: which skill do I chose for her new feat? It has been a couple days now and I still don't know!
© 2013 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
- It's that time of year (again). Voting for the 2013 Windhammer Prize for Short Gamebook Fiction has started.
- This year there are fourteen entries. One of them, The Independence Job, is mine. It's a pulp crime novel set in the 1950's and I'm very proud of it. (With a hearty thanks to Blue Kae for helping out.) Once again, I would love your vote, but so would the thirteen others. You have to vote for three entries this year, so mine and two others wouldn't be that bad, right?
- Above all, I want to invite you to check out some great writing and play some fun gamebooks. They're all short, but you are likely to find one/a few/several that you will enjoy.
© 2013 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
- As an experiment in environmental storytelling, Gone Home is an unqualified success. As a game, depending on your definition, it may pale next to the first person shooters that spawned it. It's not a game that you are going to ever describe as "visceral." But if you ever wondered what it would be like to walk through Rapture or Columbia and take in the world and its stories, The Fullbright Company has served up a dream.
- Gone Home is the story of Kaitlin Greenbrier, a twenty-one year old woman who arrives at her family's new home after a year abroad. But when she arrives, there is no one home. She must put the story together by exploring an unfamiliar house, seeking clues as to what happened to her parents and sister. But while Katie is the protagonist, her sister Sam is the real main character. Throughout the game, Sam narrates entries from her journal as you dig up clues. Although I was initially thrown by this parallel storytelling, I found that it really paid off in the end.
- I like what playing the game says about Katie. She is very much a cypher, but your actions actually illuminate the character's personality. We find that Katie is not the type of woman who sits down in the living room, waiting for everyone to return. She is quick to poke around an unfamiliar environment, and even invade her family's privacy if it is necessary. But in some cases, Katie tells us directly when she is uncomfortable with items you discover. She is very curious, upending just about anything, searching every square inch to learn a truth. At one point, you find a find a note from your father dressing Sam down for leaving all of the lights on, "just like Katie." Sure enough, I rarely turned a light off once it was on.
- Though the main plot line is quite in your face, with Sam reading her journal entries as you explore, there are some amazing little subplots and details that you can only piece together by paying close attention. I loved the strange fate of Captain Allegra's first mate (which I figured out before the big reveal). I really enjoyed watching their father's writing career make some interesting twists, though I did miss the large connection he had with the house.
- I didn't cry at the ending. I mean, honestly, it's not like this is a Pixar film. But I was very nervous as I made my way to the finale. I had been so drawn into the story that I actually feared what I would find at the end. Not that I'm going to spoil it for you, other than to say that everything in the game comes together by the end. If you can afford to do so (or have access to a friend's copy), you should take the two hours it takes to play through the game. I put that video up there, but don't watch it. Experience the story, one of the best stories in gaming, for yourself.
- That said, I completely understand why you might be put off by a twenty dollar price tag for what is a two to three hour game. Jayedub and I had a short conversation on twitter the other day about judging games based on their cost. (He tackles some more issues surrounding the game on his blog.) As a work of art and entertainment, criticism of video games should be about their qualities as games. Gone Home is not a lesser game because of its price. But it is valid to make the purchasing decision based on your tolerance for prices. And I understand why that is a concern here. But if you can afford to do so, I think it is well worth the price.
© 2013 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
