A My Little Pony Platformer Game

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the next Fighting is Magic™.

MLP:Budding Friendships Video Preview

My Little Pony:Budding Friendships

This rather nice Harvest Moon-style game has finally updated, and it looks quite impressive. To be honest, it's probably the ONLY pony farming simulator under development right now, and that's one genre of game you don't see too often. So far, it seems to have really nice music, although I'd recommend that those fellows get some more practice at drawing graphics in an isometric perspective. If you're even remotely interested in this project, go on and check out the video above!

The Sparklepeep Season 3 Minigame Compilation

Several months ago, Sparklepeep over on DeviantArt resolved to make a minigame for every episode of season 3. As the season flashed past, the games just kept coming, and finally, the set is (almost) complete! Find them all below the break!

Episodes 1 and 2:

Flight of the Crystal Princess
Or play on the Equestria Gaming Arcade

In Flight of the Crystal Princess, avoid spikes, collect crystal hearts, and generally try to stay airborne until Ride of the Valkyries wraps up. Surviving may be tricky, but overall this game's not the most engaging or inventive of the bunch.

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Episode 3:

Pinkie Pie Population Perforation Project
Or play on the EQG Arcade

Man, I'd forgotten some of the crazy stuff that went down at the beginning of this season. Forget the hiatus, I have some re-watching to do!

This is actually one of my favorite minigames in the series: it's inventive, skill-based, and has a catchy soundtrack. Blast the duplicate Pinkies with the twibeam, but don't hit the real one!

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Episode 4:

Ye Old Time Foal Slap Simulator
Or play on the EQG Arcade

By this time, any anger and frustration you might have towards Babs Seed has probably subsided. However, if her undefinable manehattan accent still makes you want to smack her silly, this is the game for you. Knock Babs up in the air, aiming for combos and height records - my personal best is 29.65 Scootameters.

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Episode 5:

Thrack It Trixie
Or play on the EQG Arcade

This one earns a medal both for addictiveness and sheer random hilarity. Playing as the Great and Powerful Trixie, teleport around the Pies' rock farm, harvesting the valuable crop to save up for the Alicorn Amulet. Unfortunately, the farm is under attack from an army of untrustworthy wheels.

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Episodes (6 and?) 7:

Pit Ponies

Breaking the trend of earlier minigames, Pit Ponies is a short text adventure starring you and one Rainbow Dash. Injured and stuck at the bottom of a pit, you must dream up a way to escape. Spoiler alert: hugging Dash results in your eventual death from blood loss.

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Episode 8:

Applejack Episode
Or play on the EQG Arcade

Heh heh, Applejack episode. This game could have been made before the episode aired. Anyhow, Applejack's finally earned her 22 minutes of screen time and character development! Click the background ponies away before they steal the spotlight!

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Episode 9:

Pinkie Pie Has a Mustache
Or play on the EQG Arcade

Just the right mustache is the quickest way to peg a character as a dastardly villain. Pinkie's conspired to blast Applejack out of a cannon into a hornet's nest, and it's up to Spike to stop her! At lower levels, this game boils down to a lot of tedious spacebar-holding, but after you've caught Applejack several times the difficulty improves.

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Episode 10:

Catch Fluttershy's Beaver
Or play on the EQG Arcade

Seems Applejack's had just about enough of the beavers mucking around in her orchard. A simpler re-skin of the Friendship is Witchcraft-inspired game Raincloud Defense. Catch the beavers!

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Episodes 11 and 12:

Games Ponies Don't Play
Play this game on EqG's Arcade or Xtux will steal your kidney while you're not looking.

Two (well, sort of three) games in one for one episode in two! Playing as Angel Bunny or Applejack, press keys in quick succession to escape from Spike and Sheriff Silverstar on top of a speeding train. If you manage to survive 60 seconds in either game, you unlock a secret third minigame. I won't spoil it here, but if you fail to unlock it, you're not missing much.

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Bonus:

Raincloud Defense 2: Moonbounce

Our hero Raincloud returns again, in the sequel to his self-sacrificing game of cherry bomb defense. Keep the moon up in the air for as long as possible to save Equestria!

My 10 greatest sci-fi board games of all time

I'm sure many of you have seen the recent blog post: 10 Greatest Science Fiction Board Games of All Time over on the Forgotten DM blog. There's been quite a few people talking about it and lots of people disagreeing with his list. I feel there really no point in me taking apart his list or arguing over why certain games should or should not be on it, instead I figure it would be better to just make my own. So here's my 10 greatest sci-fi board games of all time (in no particular order).

1. Risk Legacy. This is a fantastic game. It did something no game before it has done and so far no game after has done. You literally modify your game permanently as you play through. You rip up cards, you write on your board, you put stickers on things. Added to that cool factor this is a very solid version of Risk. With a new victory point system games of Risk Legacy are done and over with quickly. We were often able to fit in two or more games in one night.

2. Eclipse. This one is still a newcomer to the scene but it's already found it's place at the top of many gamers 4x list. Eclipse is the perfect mix of simplicity and depth. It's a version of Twilight Imperium that can be played in a couple of hours. What it lacks in options it makes up for in gameplay and speed. Since getting this one I haven't touched any of my older 4x games and I don't really expect to go back to them any time soon. Added to that they just released an expansion to Eclipse adding ever more options and strategies.

3. Race for the Galaxy is a non-collectible card game and one of the best ones out there, sci-fi or not. It started as a re-theme of San Juan but has grown into a very solid game of it's own. It combines role selection with resource management and traditional card mechanics. It plays just as well with two players as with six. Fair warning though, there is a bit of a learning curve with this one. The cards use a ton of unique symbols to show what they do and these take a bit for people to pick up.

4. Star Wars X-Wing Miniature Game this is probably the most fun game I've played so far in 2013. Another newcomer to the market, it's quickly growing in popularity. X-Wing is basically a Star Wars re-them and re-write of the classic Wings of War dog fighting game. It combines simple to learn mechanics with a hidden movement system and amazing pre-painted models. There have been complaints about the price per model on this one but I find that this is actually one of the cheaper miniature battle games out there, especially when compared to Games Workshop or Privateer Press.

5. Star Fleet Battles this one has been around since the 70s and is still supported and played. Sure there have been some new iterations released. Mostly ones that make the game simpler and quicker. Games like Klingon Armada, Federation Commander and Call To Arms: Star Fleet. I figure if we are looking at best games of all time, I think the original deserves the credit here. SFB did hidden movement of ships long before Wings of War and X-wing and it added having to allocate your energy each turn to that. Having to decide just how much to allocate to shields, engines, phasers, scanners and more will always stick with me.

6. Alien Frontiers was one of the first games to come out that combined dice and Eurogame mechanics. Like games like Kingsburg, you start each turn by rolling a set of dice. Then the dice become your workers and the game becomes a worker placement game. Alien Frontiers uses this mechanic excellently with each die representing a ship and the numbers rolled determining where each ship can land each turn. Add that to a variety of way to earn victory points and a short play time and you've got a winner.

7. Starfarers of Catan. I've loved this one since the first time I played it. It takes some of the best parts of Catan and tosses them up in Space. The great thing about this one though is that it isn't just Catan in space. There's so much more going on here. You build and upgrade a space fleet. You visit different planets. You can meet and negotiate with a variety of aliens. You have to deal with ancient races and space pirates. Added to this is one of the most unique and cool board game pieces yet. A plastic ship that you snap upgrades onto to show the status of your flee. The ship is also your randomizer  you shake it an coloured balls fall to the bottom of it to determine your speed and if you have an event every turn..

8. Battlestar Gallactica Here's one where I agree with the Forgotten DM. This is a great game. I see a lot of people who compare it to Shadows Over Camelot and I'm not sure that's totally fair. Shadows is a co-op game where there might be a traitor in your midst. To me Galactica is a team game because you know at least one person is a cylon and it's the humans vs. them. Half way through there's a great balancing mechanic that looks at who's winning and then adjusts the teams accordingly. Other than that it's a good game all around though a bit hard to explain to newcomers.

9. Space Hulk I don't know what it is but I love this game. I loved this game since it came in that box there on the left. I collected all of the Games Workshop 3D Roleplay games and Space Hulk was always my favorite. Awesome looking models combined with the epic Warhammer 40,000 universe and fluff combined with quick to learn but difficult to master rules. Things like the way blips work still seem brilliant to me and it seems like every mini game after it had rules for Overwatch.

10. Twilight Imperium Another one that's on the Forgotten DMs list. I know up above I said that Eclipse has replaced this one for me, and it has. That doesn't mean that TI needs to be dropped from the best games of all time though. This one is a beast, but it's the board game that does space exploration in the most detailed way. It's the closest you will get to playing Masters of Orion on your kitchen table. One caveat  you have to have the first expansion for his one to belong on this list. Shattered Empires makes this good game great.

EDIT - by the gawds how the heck did I forget Battletech!?! Sorry Catan you are off the list and replaced by 100 tons of awesomeness.

7. Battletech I have no idea how I forgot this one the first time around. I loved this game. I need to get back into this game. It's been around almost as long as I've been gaming and is still supported and played. Battletech is an amazing game of giant robot combat. It's crunchy, strategic and highly scalable. There's what seems like a near infinite amount of supliments out there ranging from new factions, new mechs, rules for tanks, jets and more. What's really cool is that behind it all is a great world of fiction rivaling the denseness of even the Warhammer universe. I still feel shame for forgetting this the first time around.

X-Wing Demo day at Hugin & Munin Sat. March 2nd

Saturday, March 2nd I will be running an X-Wing demo day at Hugin and Munin. The event will run from 1pm until 5pm.

X-wing is an awesome new Star Wars miniature battle game from Fantasy Flight games. It's quick to learn but will take some time to master. Check out my review of the game on the Windsor Gaming Resource Blog: I spent 8 hours deciding the fate of the galaxy in X-Wing last weekend

I will be bringing over 300 points worth of ships as well as two mats to play on. That way if we get enough people we can have two concurrent games running. I will also have one of each of the new Millennium Falcon and Slave 1 sets available to use during the games. There is no cost to attend this event but I do suggest that if you dig the game you pick up a copy while at the store.

Hugin and Munin is located at:
1664 Tecumseh RD. E.
Windsor On, N8W 1C5
519 974 7898

Canterlot in Minecraft

Over at the Brohoof.com Minecraft server they have recently finished an amazing, full-scale replica of Canterlot Castle, and it's stunning. Apparently it's been under construction since August, and they had a very large opening party (167 were on at the max, the most they've ever had).

You can visit it by connecting to their server and typing /warp canterlot, and if you just feel the need to see some screenshots, you can find them in a nifty gallery after the break.




Apparently, it also uses a custom texture pack that you can find for yourself at http://www.planetminecraft.com/texture_pack/love-and-tolerance-texture-pack/. Go on and check it out!

Mane 6 Livestream #2 Youtube Recordings

The Youtube recordings for Mane 6's MLP Fighting is Magic livestream #2 has gone up, and you can now watch, rewind and forever loop that precious moment Fluttershy broke the entire game with her almighty stare of doom!

Parts 2 and 3 of the recording after the break!

Well that's all for now. Xtux, out!

Boards & Bits @ Brimstone - March 22nd

The Windsor Gaming resource returns to Brimstone Games on Saturday March 22nd from 6pm until Midnight. A full 6 hours of gaming! Our longest event of the month.

Brimstone has a huge gaming area with tons of tables, chairs and great lighting. I'm told by the owner, Sean, that we could fit 60 of us in there.

This is an open, all ages, theme-less gaming event. Just a bunch of us getting together to play some games at a great venue. Along with having games for sale Brimstone also has a good selection of drinks and snack food. They are also really cool about people bringing food in and personally I'm a big fan of ordering Pizza from Armando's just down the street.

You can find Brimstone at 3298 Walker Rd. Parking is available on the south side of the building and on the street around back. Note Brimstone used to be located in McGreggor. This is no longer the case, they moved into Windsor last year. Some internet mapping sites seem to have not gotten this figured out yet.

At these events you can usually find people playing Magic The Gathering and since Brimstone is a Games Workshop specialty store so we've often seen a table or two of Warhammer going down. Add to this our usual mix of card board and dice games for one of the most varied events in the city. Bring your own favourite game or play one of ours.

Review: Stop the Bats!

Stop the Bats!

 The pony fangaming scene has a good share of games inspired by particular episodes. Stop the Bats! is one of them, created by Versimer in a mere 8 days using C++ and the SFML library. That's fairly impressive in itself, considering that some fangames use premade engines and still take longer to complete.

But just how good is the game itself? Well, you're gonna have to hit the page break to find out.


 The game's premise is fairly simple; you are Applejack, defending your apple trees from bats (and Flutterbat) as they try to suck the nutrients out of their fruits. Your primary weapon is your bucking ability, which takes the bats down in two or three hits. The concept is easy to grasp quickly, which is good because the game doesn't give you much time to learn.

Knocking a whole swarm of bats off of a tree with one attack is oh so satisfying, both visually and audibly.

 The first thing that should be noted about the gameplay is that the difficulty ramps up aggressively quickly. While the first couple of waves are easy enough, with bats that are easily fended off, the second variety of bat marks a sharp difficulty spike, as they start to come faster and become harder to take down. Flutterbat's presence also adds to the difficulty, as she will directly interfere with your attempts to take out the bats, knocking you down and costing a few seconds each time. She's difficult to avoid, much less attack directly, while the player is already focused on taking down the bats attacking the apple trees.

 Upgrades are required early on for any chance of survival, and they must be chosen carefully, as your coins are limited. They must also be chosen quickly, as the action does not pause while the shop screen is open, leaving bats free to destroy your apple trees - and more annoyingly, leaving Flutterbat free to swoop down and attack you directly, knocking you out of the menu anyway.

 This is not an easy game by any stretch of the imagination, and the controls only contribute to the difficulty; attacking requires a long wind-up time, even with the final bucking speed upgrade, and
initiating the attack cuts your jump height, making it difficult to aim at the bats. Thankfully, the attack's range is fairly generous even before upgrades, which helps alleviate the issue somewhat. The lack of a keyboard-based option to purchase upgrades is also a relatively minor inconvenience, and although the game isn't terribly impacted by it, having the option would be convenient for those who prefer to set up JoyToKey bindings and play with a gamepad.

As often as this screen's going to show up, it could stand to be a little flashier. Just sayin'.

 In terms of presentation, the game is well-presented but nothing special. The retro aesthetic of the game looks good, and the C64-esque 8-bit rendition of Stop the Bats fits well with the game (even if it starts to get old after a while). However, the lack of any high score logging system is a disappointment in a game which draws it appeal mainly from score attacking; games of this type draw their replayability from being able to compare scores with other players, and even a local "most apples saved" score (or "most waves survived", for those of us who aren't good enough to last the whole game) would give players motivation to keep trying to improve their score. It also irks me that the game closes out entirely after a defeat instead of allowing another try.

 Overall, the game is entertaining and well worth a play or two. The concept is simple, addicting, and well-executed, if a bit rough around the edges, and the game is very easy to pick up and play, either for a quick session or for hours at a time. The sheer difficulty may turn some players away, but others will find an enjoyable experience.

Flash Games: Pinkie's Balloon Patrol/Pony Puzzles/FLUTTERSHY NAVIGATE

Happy Sunday! May yours be lazy and sweet.

Development on major projects has been slow this week, but we've got loads of creative pony flash games to fill the void! Today, we've got puzzles, a pixelated Pinkie Pie balloon catcher, and a mind-bending little game based on Keep Calm and Flutter On. You know where to click!

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Play Pinkie's Balloon Patrol

Pinkie's balloons have been swept away by a rogue gust of wind on the eve of a party, and via traditional Pinkie Pie logic, you must take to the skies to rescue them!

The first thing that jumps out about this game is the bouncy, charming 8-bit graphics, which compensate for some initially tedious gameplay. By controlling Pinkie, the player must collect various types of balloons, some of which change speeds and altitude unexpectedly. Avoid the strafing seagulls if there are balloons nearby: while not a huge threat, they'll stun you for long enough to miss a couple. 

At the end of the game, the amount of balloons you've recaptured determines your rank and one of the game's three endings. While far from frantic, Pinkie's Balloon Patrol is polished, pretty, and fun.

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Play Pony Puzzles

Puzzles? Yep. Ponies? Yep. Select from a library of screenshots and fandom art, slice your choice into pieces of a certain size, and puzzle it out! As a jigsaw puzzle game, it's mechanics and presentation are solid, and it would blossom with an wider selection of pictures and perhaps a campaign mode with organized levels.

The high-score board adds challenge to an otherwise mellow game, keeping track of your best times on puzzles of various sizes. In 10x10 mode, even the simpler pictures will take you a while.

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Play FLUTTERSHY NAVIGATE

Discord's trapped Fluttershy inside the tilting maze of her own house, and it's up to you to find him and sort him out! I'm a little ashamed to admit how long this game took me on my first time through.

With a spiraling, abstract background and brain-bending music from the illustrious cyriak, FLUTTERSHY NAVIGATE creates a sense of discord simply and effectively. Once you've completed the maze once, creative use of the rotation feature offers you a multitude of ways to better your time. 

Pressing up rotates each room Fluttershy passes through 180 degrees, and though I'd prefer a more intuitive control choice (up arrow key to jump, space to rotate, rather than vice versa), FLUTTERSHY NAVIGATE remained fresh throughout. That's all for today - enjoy!

Daring Do Sidescroller Demo

Daring Do Sidescroller Demo

Another pony platformer has been revealed (and an exceptionally good-looking one at that), this one starring the fictitious "Daring Do", and currently contains one demo level for framerate testing purposes. It's currently too short for a review at the moment, but once the author expands it a bit then we'll be most happy to review it, and it's still worth a play or two. Even though it is a demo for framerate testing purposes, "Daring Do Sidescroller" is still quite impressive, although the controls felt a tad bit floaty and the wild cats were animated rather choppily. Still, it has a great overall look, and the author actually implemented basic parallax scrolling, so let's hope he utilizes it to it's fullest potential for the game's final release.

EXCLUSIVE:Information about MLP:RiM Season Two Edition!

My Little Pony: Roleplaying is Magic (Season One Edition)

Remember that MLP pen & paper RPG we posted earlier? I recently got an email from the developers, and they gave me some exclusive information on the state of the Season Two rulebook, as well as some new features that should please the roleplaying crowd out there.

More about the Season Two rulebook after the break!

So, here are the revealed changes:

1. Playable Dragons! That's right, dragons are now a race in MLP:RiG, with two types: winged and flightless. Apparently dragons have different character options then ponies, and have their own special mechanics for handeling the unique challenges and strengths of being a dragon in Equestria.
2. Much, Much More Content! The season two rulebook is larger and more comprehensive then the original rulebook. The main feedback they received from players was that the season one rulebook felt more like a 'barebones system' (as one player put it) --and they were right, the rulebook was rushed somewhat to get it out before the release of season two, and it wasn't nearly as polished as it could have been. So, for Season Two they have completely re-written and expanded on the system. Season Two is currently slated to be close to the length of an average pen and paper RPG rulebook, with the (still WIP) manuscript currently four times larger then the entire Season One rulebook, and going into far more detail then the original.
3. Major Revision and Improvement! MLP:RiM -S2 will be much, much better all around then S1 was. With the time they've had (and still have) for development, they've started from the basics, and rewrote the entire game from the ground up. What worked, they kept, and what didn't work, they replaced. Players will find a plethora of new and revised content; to quote from the S2 manuscript:

"Some of the changes you'll find include new mechanics such as Energy/Courage/Fortitude--a reworked 'hit point' type system which focuses more on all aspects of becoming discouraged or damaged, an expanded spellcasting system for greater flexibility, power, and customization for Unicorn Ponies, cool new expanded flight- and weather-based abilities for Pegasus Ponies, a robust experience reward system for Earth Ponies, new mechanics for utilizing Special Purposes and Talents, new ways to use--and risk--Willpower to push your character to new heights, two types of Dragons as playable races with their own unique abilities and dangerous weaknesses, and last--but certainly not least--a fully realized system for acquiring and spending experience points to advance your character across multiple Episodes."

Whew, that was A LOT. Hope you enjoyed it!

Also, these aren't even ALL the changes, there are still many that are unannounced and/or are still being developed. Still, it's far more then I expected, and I'm sure that when it comes out MLP:RiM Season Two will be the greatest MLP pen and paper RPG ever released!

Mane 6 Livestream #2 OVER!

Watch live streaming video from mane6 at livestream.com

Edit:Livestream's over. Go on home, everypony!
Remember, Mane 6 is having a livestream of My Little Pony:Fighting is Magic tonight at 8pm EST. Afterwards, they should have a recording up on Youtube, in case you miss it. When the time comes, grab some popcorn and sit down for a live display of the magic of fighting (eg, watching ponies beat the crap outta each other is great entertainment)!

Persona:Pony Demo

Persona:Pony Demo

Somepony who goes by FallinWinter is making a MLP visual novel titled "Persona:Pony", and it looks pretty good so far. Created with the Ren'Py engine, Persona:Pony is still in a fairly early state, but as shown by the downloadable demo it is quite playable (if a bit rough on the edges), and should be a project worth following. I, for one would like to see more My Little Pony Friendship is Magic visual novels, as we don't have near enough of them around here, and MLP contains prime visual novel content.

Windows: http://www.mediafire.com/?5cnb45uoihaz46o
Mac: http://www.mediafire.com/?o88cfbrif8i88lk
Linux: http://www.mediafire.com/?y79p25ac2txcmnt

Mane6 C&D Megapost

Mane6 C&D Megapost

As many of you know, earlier this month, Mane6's highly anticipated project, Fighting is Magic was shut down by a Cease and Desist demand from Hasbro. In this megapost, you'll find the devteam's reactions to the events of the past few weeks, a massive FAQ section, as well as some insight into the future of Mane6. It's definitely worth a read.

Meloetta: Melody of Discord

Download it Here

This game has been on the reviewing table for nearly forever, and it's about time somebody posted about it. Meloetta: Melody of Discord is a crossover game by DialgaBrite (developer of Innocent Luna Game) featuring elements of pokemon and ponies, as well as a bunch of other stuff. The game is pretty extensive, with several stages and varied gameplay. In addition to its website, the game also has a facebook page, which you can find here.

Ponykart is Recruiting

Ponykart

 I've been waiting for an opportunity to give Ponykart's unofficial revival project some more exposure for a while now, and now the time has finally come. You see, they're looking for some C++ programmers who also have some experience in C# to help them with the port, along with the usual graphics designers, musicians, and even writers (although I still have no idea why a kart racer would need people dedicated to the latter, especially since characters in said games rarely speak).

 Interested? Check out their announcement for details on the requirements and how to submit an application, or just read the copypasted version below the break. You might also want to check out their Google Group and GitHub repo.



Requirements: 

Dev Team: Knowledge of C++ w/ C# as a bonus
Ability to work within a team and to work solo.
*Sample of past coding work is required.
*Past gamework is preferred(provide the name of the fangame/game if you have worked in other fangames/games before)

Graphic Design: Ability to make models and maps within Blender
Ability to draw basic sketches of needed items, stages, etc.
Ability to work solo and within a team.
*Must submit 3+ samples of past work with at least one sample in Blender and one sketching sample.

Storywriting: Be fluent in English (for review and application purposes)
Be able to write in varying styles
*Must submit a sample of past work.

Music: Be able to work on a collaborative and solo basis.
Be able to produce music within a reasonable time after requested.
*Need a sample of past work.

Send your applications to ravensteam@ponykart.org!

Cards & Coffee at Hugin & Munin - March 8th

March 8th we return to long time FLGS Hugin & Munin for a night of cards and caffeine. The event will run from 5pm until 11pm. Through the entirety of the event all Tassimo coffee will be half off.

Due to the popularity of this event, Ian has added a fifth table to the store to hold games, so we have more table space to play. This also gives a great communal area for people to look at what games are available to play. As usual the store will have a bunch of games there you can play or you can bring your own favourite.

Yeah it's called Cards & Coffee and yes some people dig playing Dominion or Magic or Munchkin but you don't need to stick to card games. It's just an excuse to spend a Saturday night playing some games, any games. Our last event saw games like: Castellan, The Duke, Race for the Galaxy, Star Trek Catan and more.

Cards & Coffee is a free all ages event that is open to anyone and everyone. Though there is no cost it would be awesome if you supported the store and thanked them for hosting events like this by buying something. Even if it's just a cup of coffee.

The event runs from 5pm until 11pm. and people often come and go through the night. Hugin & Munin is located at 1664 Tecumseh RD. E. in Windsor Ontario. Parking in back or on side roads and free out front after 6pm.

Twilight Sparkle Adventures Beta

Download it Here!

Some of you remember the post we made last month about a new pony RPG by the name of Twilight Sparkle Adventures. Well, now the game is out of demo mode and into beta mode. The game is still very similar to its demo, which included most of the content seen here. The beta adds the rest of the story line, as well as adding graphical improvements. For a full review of this game, I'd recommend clicking this link, as this post is just an announcement. If this game gets released fully, it will most likely be re-reviewed. Thanks, and have a good night!

The D&D White Box is back in a big way

Just announced a few minutes ago on their websites, Wizards of the Coast will be releasing a premium edition of the Original Dungeon & Dragons White Box. Not only do you get the original little books but it includes all of the later released supplements. In addition it's presented in a beautiful wood box and includes some pretty cool looking dice.

From the WotC site:

Original Dungeons & Dragons RPG

Original Edition Premium Reprint

Wizards RPG Team

A premium, deluxe edition of the Original D&D "White Box"!
The original Dungeons & Dragons boxed set was published by TSR, Inc. in 1974 and was the very first roleplaying game, introducing concepts that have persisted throughout later editions. It included three small rules booklets in a white box.
This deluxe, premium reprint of the original "White Box" features new packaging and includes the following seven booklets:

• Volume 1: Men & Magic
• Volume 2: Monsters & Treasure
• Volume 3: Underworld & Wilderness Adventures
• Supplement I: Greyhawk
• Supplement II: Blackmoor
• Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry
• Supplement IV: Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes

Each booklet features new cover art but is otherwise a faithful reproduction of the original, including original interior art.

Item Details
Item Code: 45390000
Release Date: November 19, 2013
Format: D&D Boxed Game
Price: $149.99; C$172.00
ISBN: 978-0-7869-6465-9 

http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Product.aspx?x=dnd/products/dndacc/45390000

Servant of Discord Beta Demo

Play Servant of Discord Beta

Servant of Discord is a pretty little Zelda-esque game set in a forest temple - and that's the extent of the story for now. Although this beta is rough around the edges, with bumpy collision and a little lag in the online version (at least in my case) it shows a lot of promise, with nice sprite work, mechanics, and soundtrack.

Playing as Twilight, slash enemies to bits with a magic sword or fire spells at them from a distance. Locate the keys and blast your way through to the boss. Good luck!

Farewell to Filly Gamez

Filly Gamez

 Today some nasty hackers broke in and deleted 90% of their assets. Thankfully the team had external backups of their game data, so this shutdown will probably only be temporary. The team confirmed that this had nothing to do with my negative feedback on their first game or Blitz releasing his Flash port of Act 1 earlier today (even if it is somewhat of a strange coincidence), but I extend my sympathies towards the team and hope that they will be able to find some way of recovering their lost work (after all, you can recover data if it hasn't been written over after being deleted). I may not have been very fond of their first game, but I was quite positive that it would have been a major improvement over Act 1.

Goodbye for now, Filly Gamez. Hope you get up and going in a bit.

Welcome to Ponyville (Lite)

Welcome to Ponyville (Lite)

 If you've been reading the comments on our website you might have noticed a certain fellow discussing a planned Welcome to Ponyville Flash port, and despite my infamously negative review of the original I encouraged him to go ahead with it. By cutting all the fat sound effects and using indexed colours BlitzProg was able to make the game 200x smaller, and if you want your audio back don't fret because he is almost finished making a bigger version of the game with your music and whatnot (compressed, of course).

So...yeah. This port is not endorsed by FillyGamez in any way, and apparently they are pretty unhappy that it exists. Still, at least if you want to play Welcome to Ponyville it won't be taking up 1GB of valuable hard disk space, eh?

Another TEMNO Trailer

TEMNO

 Getting sick of TEMNO yet? Well too bad, because some random guy decided to make a trailer for the game. Granted, most of this trailer's content was already featured in last week's post, but it seems that this one features a cutscene from the game and has various small improvements littered across the map. Then again, it might be because the video is unusually dark and probably covering up any flaws that would otherwise be quite obvious...

Unicorn Quest

Unicorn Quest

 Coming in to fill another spot in the "pony games comprised entirely of OCs" lineup (which seems to be getting distressingly popular as of late) is a project by the name of Adventures in Equica: Unicorn Quest. The developer, Yotes Games, describes the project as an action-RPG, with a battle system reminiscent of top-down shooters and exploration similar to 2D Zelda titles. The game is still in the conceptual phase at the moment, unfortunately, but the developer promises daily updates for those of you who are interested in the development process. You can read more about the project, including the developer's long-winded explanations of various game concepts, in this post on his blog.

Personally, I'm interested to see how far this project goes; while anyone can write up a pie-in-the-sky game concept without necessarily being able to bring it to fruition, the developer already has some completed projects outside of ponies under his belt, which gives me some confidence for his. Plus, there seems to be a lack of Android pony games that aren't just ports of Flash minigames or clones of other, more popular mobile games; this project has a chance to please that under-served niche in the
fandom.

My Little Pony:Roleplaying is Magic

My Little Pony:Roleplaying is Magic

A couple months ago, a MLP pen & paper RPG by the name of "My Little Pony:Roleplaying is Magic" popped up. It was excellent, but didn't get near as much attention as it deserved. Hopefully that will soon change...

After the break you can find a brief summary of MLP:RiM by the game's creators, and a link to the game itself where you can read the manual, print it off and play it with your friends!

"My Little Pony:Roleplaying is Magic is based on both freeform roleplaying as well as concepts from other pen & paper RPGs which many veteran players will surely recognize. It has elements of World of Darkness, Unisystem, Dungeons & Dragons, Ars Magica, and Mythic, as well as several others in smaller but no less influential ways. The game is very rules-light, and uses interpretation and adaptation, rather then tables and strict rules, to determine not just the outcome of rolls, but the rolls themselves. We believe that it is better described as a "collaborative storytelling system" then as a roleplaying game system. It's not designed for dungeon diving; it's designed for storytelling."

Well, that's it for the summary. You can find the game's rulebook at https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B5IFnI6cpZN4YzhiMjBiMDEtMGNlYi00OWRjLThlNjAtNDBkOGEzOTk3NjFj&hl=en_GB, along with a template character card. Now, go out and give it a try!

Runewars: not quite a fantasy Twilight Imperium but I can see why people say that

Runewars is a game I've had my eye on for quite some time. My attention was first turned towards Runewars by +Paul Beakley, a member of +Ben Gerber's massive G+ boardgame community. At the time Paul was sharing posts of recent games he had played. There was talk about how this was pretty much a fantasy version of Twilight Imperium. That almost sold the game instantly for me.

Twilight Imperium is one of my favourite event games. What is an event game you ask? Well that's a game that is generally so big, so complex or so long (perhaps even all three) that it requires you to plan an event in order to play them. They aren't the kind of games you just pull out one night when you've got a couple hours to play. These take more commitment than your average game night. 

I've also found that these games aren't great for public play events. Over the last 10 or so years  of running gaming events in Windsor, I've found that the majority of players would much rather show up to an event and play a few different games with different groups of players rather than one long game with the same group. People would rather get in a round of Catan, two games of Tsuro and a game of Puerto Rico each with a different set of players rather than one game of Dominant Species. 

To me event games are games I generally play at home and make more of a big deal out of. We start earlier. We plan on ordering dinner. We expect to game for 5+ hours. Instead of your average game night, it's an event. Thus the term event game. Examples of event games I dig: Dominant Species, Twilight Imperium, Starcraft and now Runewars. 

Runewars Gameplay Summary:

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My family is awesome so I got Runewars for my birthday this year. It's for 2-4 players and it claims that you can play a game in 3-4 hours. At one time it was one of those huge coffin box games from Fantasy Flight. In 2010 though the game was re-released in a revised edition that was in a much more stackable and storable standard square Fantasy Flight box (thanks for that FF). I only own this new edition so I can't talk to what the differences are from the original. Based on what I've read online it sounds like there were quite a few improvements, rules clarifications, inclusion of some of the expansion material and more.

The first thing you will notice opening this game is that it has a lot of bits! I mean a lot. Maybe a horde even. I don't think I have any other game, even from Fantasy Flight that has as many bits, cards, chits and minis in the core game. The picture above is all the bits out for a two player game. Note two player, not the full four. Thankfully unlike the original printing of Twilight Imperium 3rd edition, you don't have to cut out the minis. Everything is loose, bagged and ready to go. You just need to punch out all the cardboard, and there's a lot of cardboard.

The game is set in the same world as many of the other Fantasy Flight games; Runebound, Runeage, Descent and probably a couple more I don't remember. Actually the hero miniatures are the exact same ones you will find in these other games. I think there's also an out of print RPG in this setting but I could be wrong.

Each player takes on the role of one of four factions. There's the red chaos armies of Uthuk. The purple undead army of Waigar. The blue human army of Dagan and the green Elven army. The goal of the game is to capture and control the most Dragon Runes by the end of seven years of gameplay. In addition if a player ever controls 6 Dragon Runes they can try for an earlier victory.

Before the game begins you have to build the world. This is done using a hex based modular system that I really liked. Players are each dealt two set up quests and based on those get a set of hex tiles for them to place. In addition they each get a hex based on what army they choose to play. Player then in turn build the world under a fairly open set of guidelines (things like two rivers can't be next to each other and each new tiles has to touch at least two sides of an existing tile). Once the map is built, players seed it with Dragon Runes. This is also interesting as each player gets two tiles, one blank and one real Dragon Rune. They put both out on the board face down so only they know what they placed. This means that no one knows where more than one Dragon Rune is when starting but they know where they might be. All of this is done before anyone has decided where their actual empire is starting, which keeps things fair. Lastly the map is seeded with neutral monster units (these will really familiar to people who have played other games in this series, Giants, Dragons, Hellhounds, etc) and each player sets up their starting territories.

Once the map is made players gather all their bits. Did I mention there are a lot of them? Each army has it's own player board which has information on all of that side's military units, starting resources, starting influence, alignment and probably a couple more things I'm forgetting. There are three resource dials on each board which track the amount of Food, Wood and Ore your empire has. Along with the board you get all your minis. One of the most impressive parts about this game is that each armies miniatures are 100% unique. Each player also gets a hero, a couple of starting quests and an objective based on your alignment. Finally players put their starting units and hero on any of their starting territories.

Sounds like a lot doesn't it? Well wait we aren't done yet. You next have to sort out all the cards, and all the chits and find somewhere for those extra hero minis. Set up in this one is not short. I've found that it takes up to an hour on it's own. Remember: event game.

So now that everything's set up the game itself can begin. Gameplay consists of three repeating rounds: reveal a season card, choose an order and then resolve those orders.

Seasons are represented by decks of small cards, four of them (obviously). The first thing you do each turn is turn up the top one of the next season. These have a wide variety of events on them that affect game play in a variety of ways. Gaining armies, influencing votes, moving neutral units, and lots more. Way too much to go into detail here. In addition to the season event each card also has a special phase you do each time it comes up. Spring is clean up. Summer is when heroes go on quests (more about that later), Fall has you refresh the main randomizer deck and gain tactics or influence and Winter forces you to pay food for your troops or loose them. One extra bit in Winter I thought was brilliant is that the lakes all freeze and can now be crossed by non-flying units. Nice touch.

After the season is resolved it's time for all of the players to pick their orders. This along with the big hex map and all the minis is one of the biggest callbacks to Twilight Imperium. There's one big difference though. Here the order you pick applies to you only and more then one player can pick the same order. There are eight different order cards to choose from each of which can only be played once during a game year. It's also worth noting that since there are only four season in a game year you will only get to pick four different order cards each year. 

Each order card gives you something you can do on your turn. Move troops, build defenses, harvest resources etc. In addition each card has what they call a supremacy bonus. Each card is numbered 1-8 and you get to use the supremacy bonus of your cards if the card you just played is the highest numbered card you played this year. This ads a nice degree of strategy to the order phase and also sets it up so that things like troop movements usually happen early in the year and harvesting and building happens later.

The next phase has each player in turn (lowest order card first) resolve the order card they chose in the last phase. As this is really the meat of the game I'm going to go through each possible order in detail.

1. Strategize: This order is used to move your units around in friendly and empty adjacent territories. You can't attack here, but you can expand. The supremacy bonus lets you get tactics cards. You do this by looking at your resource dials and you get a card for each tactic symbol that shows up on your dial at the point your arrow is at and below (I found some players didn't grock this at first. Your resources don't go down, they aren't spent, and you get the level you are at and any level below which shows the appropriate symbol).

2. Mobilize: This is the main order for moving your units. We see more shades of Twilight Imperium (TI) here. That's because you put an 'activation token' into an hex and then move units into that hex from up to two hexes away (fast units can actually move three). Like TI you can never move a unit out of an activated area. Unlike Strategize this order can start battles. The supremacy bonus here is that you can take a second Mobilize action right after the first one. It's worth noting that any battles that occur are resolved as they happen. There's no separate battle phase for this. More about battles later.

3. Conquer: This is almost identical to Mobilize. The only difference is the supremacy bonus that gives your opponent a penalty when attacking an area with a stronghold (strongholds provide +5 defense, the supremacy bonus reduces this to +2).

4. Harvest: Every hex on the map shows some icons that indicate what resources are present in the area. These are referenced during the Harvest order. You add up all of the icons in the areas you control and update your resource pointers on your board appropriately. The supremacy bonus does two things: uses your developments and allows you to build new ones. Developments are like technological advancements that you tie to a stronghold you have built on the board. These are different for each army and include things like extra defenses, getting additional resources or generating influence. Note that you use your developments before you build new ones, so they aren't used the turn they are built.

5. Recruit: Put new dudes on the map. This works the same way the supremacy bonus for Strategize works. You pick one of your dials and you get the units pictured there based on where your resource pointer is currently at. You get the units at the current space and all lower spaces. These units have to be placed at a friendly stronghold. The supremacy bonus here lets you pick a second resource and generate units based on it as well.

6. Rally Support: When the map is made at the beginning of the game some of the hexes have cities on them. The actual cities are represented by cardboard tokens that are randomized and placed during set up (something I forgot to mention above). These cities can each provide you the opportunity to do one of four things: recruit neutral units, get tactics cards, get influence or new quests. The way you use the cities in this way is with the Rally Support order. The supremacy bonus lets you hire new heroes using influence.

7. Acquire Power: This order is the main way for players to gain influence. It works like recruiting and getting tactics cards, you look at your resources and get influence for the levels you are at and any below. I've mentioned influence a few times but haven't really explained what it's for. Influence is used for a variety of things. You can spend it to try to convert neutral units instead of fighting them. It is used for influence votes during seasonal events (this is an auction where players simultaneously blind bid a number of influence with the winner getting some form of advantage based on the event). Influence determines turn order in case of ties. You use influence when recruiting heroes. You also use it for the supremacy bonus of this power which lets you buy a title. There are three titles each of which gives you a large wide reaching in game bonus. For example the Primarch of the Wizards Council lets you decide the winner of any influence auction ties and gives you 1 free influence whenever there is a vote.

8. Fortify: The final order card is used to build new strongholds, repair existing strongholds and or move rune tokens to safer positions. There is no supremacy bonus for this card. Building new strongholds not only gives you a well defended area but it also gives you a new place to recruit troops and a new place to build developments. Moving Rune tokens is interesting due to the fact that they are all out there face down so there can be a big bluffing aspect to this move.

So there are all the orders. After the last player's order card is resolved, the turn ends. If it's the end of winter in year seven the game ends and the player who controls the most Dragon Runes (legit ones, not just face down Rune tokens) wins. If it's not the end of the game, the next season card is flipped over and the next turn begins.

That's pretty much the basics. What's left are a couple of subsystems. The biggest being diplomacy, battle and heroes.

When you move into a hex containing neutral units you have two choices. You can either try diplomacy or attack. Diplomacy is handled by spending up to six influence tokens to draw the same number of fate cards.

Fate cards are the main randomizer in the game, they are used any time a random result is needed. You start the game using them to determine who the start player is. They are also used during battle. You use them to resolve task checks in quests and more.

During diplomacy you are looking at the top of the card for the good happy white icon. If a player has a card with one of those it means that the neutral units join their army. Another possibility is the neutral black icon. It means that the neutral units move away to a neutral area. The last possibility is the red, bad icon. In this case the active player has to either retreat or fight the neutral unit. When two player armies end up in the same spot the only option is a fight. There's no diplomacy mechanic here.

At the start of a fight you take all the minis off the board and replace them with the red X fight token. This is done to remember where to put any surviving minis back on the board when the fight is done. The minis are place besides the players board in an order based on their initiative which is shown on the boards (there's a neutral army board which is used by the player on your left when fighting neutrals). Units then attack in initiative order with the attacker going first. All of the 1 initiative units attack, then the 2 initiative units, etc.

As mentioned earlier attacks are resolved using the Fate Deck. Each miniature is on a shaped base which indicates the units general strength. Triangle units are the rank and file and the weakest. Circle units are better trained specialized units. Square units are mounted units. Hexagons represent the biggest most dangerous units. You draw one card from the Fate deck for each unit attacking then you look at the area of the card that matches the base type. So triangle units look at the triangle part of the card. Each area will ether be blank, show a blood splat representing damage to the opponents troop, show a flag representing opponents forces routing or show a crystal ball thing that represents special abilities. Every unit has a special ability that is triggered when a card with that crystal ball symbol is drawn. These abilities and the amount of damage each unit can take are the main differences between each armies units.

After every unit has attacked once, you resolve who won the combat. This is done by totaling the number of non-routed units on each side. Strongholds and some other developments can give a bonus to this combat resolution number. The side with the biggest total takes the territory with the opponent having to retreat (and route) any surviving troops.

So basically what we have now is players using orders to move armies around on the board, recruiting or defeating neutral units, battling the other players and trying to take territories with Dragon Runes. To me this is one full layer of the game. The cool part is that the game has another layer. While this big war is going on each player is also using their Heroes to complete Quests.

You start the game with one Hero and can recruit more during the game (mainly by using the Rally Support order). Heroes are representing by grey minis and don't actually count as army units. They are also represented by a card that shows four stats (wisdom, dexterity, strength and health). Each Hero also has a special ability and alignment. The alignment comes up during certain seasonal events and it's worth trying to hire heroes that match your teams alignment.

Heroes can be brought into battle for support. This lets you draw one extra card during one round of the combat. This is just a minor role though, the main thing heroes do it move around the board and complete quests. You start the game with two quests and can get more during the game and replace any quests you complete with new ones immediately. Each quest card lists something you have to do on it. Most of these involve moving to a certain area of the board and then doing a test. Tests are done by drawing a number of Fate Cards equal to the appropriate stat and checking the top part of the cards (same as you do during diplomacy). Compare the symbols found and you do what it says on the quest card. Most of the times only a red, bad, result means failure. Failure can mean a variety of things, like damage to your hero, forcing you to retreat, etc. Success though mean you get a Reward Card. There's a whole deck of these and they contain weapons, armor, spells and other things that you can use to get Rune Tokens.

Reward cards are one of the easiest ways of getting Rune Tokens. Every time you get one, you actually grab two, one blank token and one with a Dragon Rune on it. These are both placed on the board with only the player placing them knowing which is which. Weapons, armour and spells make your Heroes better in some way and often make them much more powerful in duels.

Duels are battles between heroes. Why would you duel another hero? Well to steal their reward cards of course! Duels are similar to army based combat but are fought for four rounds of attacks in a row (not just one like in an army battle). There's no initiative, the attacker goes first. Fate Cards are drawn and heroes all count as circles so the circle area of the card is referenced. Here routs count as defense against opponents attacks and special ability symbols let you either do one damage or active some of those reward cards you picked up while questing.

Rewards cards aren't the only way to get Rune Tokens though. The other way is through goal cards. There are two decks of goal cards one for the good aligned races and one for the evil aligned races. As expected the goals on them match the alignments with the good deck featuring exploration, diplomacy and influence and the evil deck featuring conquest and tactics. Each goal lists something you have to do to complete it and includes things like: Move a hero into an enemy home territory, recruit 3 Giants (neutral units) to your army, discard 8 influence tokens and more. When you complete a goal you immediately get a new one and you also get two Rune Tokens. As before, you get one blank and one Dragon Rune which you can place anywhere on the board where there aren't any tokens yet. You can also, optionally, remove some blank tokens from the board at this time.

I think the only thing I haven't really talked about yet are tactics cards. These are cards you can get in a variety of ways but mainly through the Strategize order. What these let you do is basically break the rules in some way. There are a ton of them (it's the biggest deck in the game) and their effects are widely varied. Some examples include getting influence, taking an extra move, moving neutral units, starting an influence auction, getting bonuses during attacks and a whole lot more.

I just thought of one more thing. Included in the game is something that was originally an expansion. This is the exploration token variant. This has you seed the starting board with a bunch of different square chits. These are only flipped once the hex is entered and include a bunch of very cool thematic things; there are events like Travelling Merchants, locations like dungeons and temples, and destructible locations like the Dragon's Throne. These add a lot more to the early phases of the game and really adds to the exploration aspect.

As I said at the start: Event Game. Lots going on. I hope that this summary covered everything clearly enough. There's obviously a lot going on here. Thankfully though, in play it's not that bad. By the end of the first year of the first game everyone at the table had the basics down.

Final Thoughts

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I really like this game. This is truly a fantasy 4x game, something that is pretty rare to find. You start off on only three hexes and eXpand your empire. You eXplore both with your armies and with your heroes (especially with the exploration token variant ). You try to eXploit the neutral armies, cities and resources and build new developments. Lastly, while wholesale player eXtermination is rare, you will spend a lot of time wiping out neutral units and opponents armies.

What I really like though is that all of that is the backdrop to the other layer of the game, the story of the heroes. They move around the board completing quests, leveling up and collecting rewards while the war unfolds around them. I love this two layer feel and find that it's extremely thematic.

My only real complaints about this game are all due to this being an event game. It takes a long time to set up and an even longer to try to explain it to a new player. There are a ton of bits and just as many moving parts when you play. It takes up a lot of room. Which works in my particular gaming dungeon but this probably won't fit on a card table. It also takes a long time to play. Even a two player game took us over four hours to play. One four player game, we played for 6 hours and quit after year 5. Now I see this getting quicker with more rules mastery but I don't know if you can ever get it down to the box stated 3 hours. 4 with two players I think is possible.

I also have to say this one is not for everyone. My wife really didn't like the game. While she found many parts of the game very cool she didn't care for the Rune Token mechanic. The way everyone places a blank and a real one, and the way they can be moved around and how you got new ones. She really didn't like this. Unfortunately the Dragon Runes are pretty much the point of the game so despite liking a lot of the parts of the game this ruined the game for her overall.

A lot of people have called this fantasy Twilight Imperium (TI) and I can totally see why. There are definitely similarities. Big hex grid, lots of miniatures, action selection, move actions using activation tokens, lots of cards, etc. There are some very significant differences though, that makes them very different games. This is no mere re-theme. For one there's no politics and voting. While you do an influence bid now and then, it's nothing like the political actions of TI. There's also no tech tree. While each race has unique developments these are much simpler and have much less effect than technologies in TI. The inclusion of neutral units that can be conquered or recruited really changes the way exploration plays out over TI. Most importantly is that whole two layered aspect of Runewars, the way the heroes are played completely differently than the main armies. To me both are great games and I'm happy to have both in my collection.

If you like long, event games, and are into traditional high fantasy I think you will really like this game. If you want to recreate the feel of a fantasy setting with a world shattering war going on while heroes move across the land questing, you will probably really dig this game. If you like TI I think you should give this one a shot, it's something similar but unique and well worth giving a try.