2012 In Review

2012 was a big year for Skyland Games. We broke the story of what is perhaps the world’s worst (or at least most underhanded) game store and we published our Gaming Ten Commandments, which was picked up by Reddit and shared all over the world. Most of the guys signed up for what was one of the biggest gaming Kickstarters ever and we posted our love of gaming Kickstarters all over the place. Personally, I’m addicted to pledging to all kinds of various playing card decks, but that’s just me. Next year, I’m relatively certain we’re going to have a lot of posts on Bones. I plan on sharing some work in progress articles about painting. We will continue to let everyone know what we like and what we are doing, and we hope you enjoy reading as much as we enjoy sharing.

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town!

The jolly old elf is making his rounds tonight and I began to wonder…  What would St. Nick look like as a Pathfinder player character?  What if he had joined the Pathfinder Society?  Check out the stat block below to see an interpretation of Kris Kringle as a Pathfinder Society legal character.  How close is this to your vision of Santa?  Would you go a different route and do something completely different (race, class, etc.)?

Let me know what you think and feel free to comment!  Merry Christmas!

——————

Santa Claus (aka St. Nick, Kris Kringle)

Male Elf Grand Lodge Wizard (Spellbinder) 1

LG Medium Humanoid (elf)

Init +2; Senses low-light vision; Perception +3

——————

Defense

——————

AC 12, touch 12, flat-footed 10 (+2 Dex)

HP 8 (1d6+1)

Fort +1, Ref +2, Will +3; +4 trait bonus vs. cold environments, +1 trait bonus vs. cold

Immune sleep; Resist cold 5

——————

Offense

——————

Speed 20 ft.

Spell-Like Abilities Comprehend Languages (1/day), Detect Magic (1/day), Detect Poison (1/day), Read Magic (1/day)

Wizard (Spellbinder) Spells Prepared (CL1):

1 (2/day) Mage Armor, Icicle Dagger, Vanish

0 (at will) Ghost Sound (DC 13), Resistance, Prestidigitation (DC 13)

——————

Statistics

——————

Str 14, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 16, Wis 12, Cha 11

Base Atk +0; CMB +2; CMD 14

Feats Bloatmage Initiate (Conjuration), Spell Focus (Conjuration)

Traits Frostborn, Improvisational Equipment

Skills Acrobatics -1 (-5 jump), Climb -1, Craft (Toys) +7, Escape Artist -1, Fly -1, Knowledge (arcana) +7, Knowledge (engineering) +7, Linguistics +7, Perception +3, Ride -1, Spellcraft +7, Stealth -1, Swim -1

Languages Celestial, Common, Draconic, Elven, Gnome, Sylvan

SQ arcane focus, create gear (1 lbs.) (6/day), opposition schools (evocation, transmutation), specialized

schools (creation), spell bond (vanish), summoner’s charm (+1 rds)

Other Gear Cold weather outfit, Artisan’s Tools (Craft Toys), Holly and mistletoe, Pathfinder’s kit, Pony, Sleigh (empty), 3 GP

——————

Special Abilities

——————

Arcane Focus +2 to concentration checks to cast arcane spells defensively.

Bloatmage Initiate (Conjuration) +1 caster level with a specific school of spells. Always considered to have a medium load.

Comprehend Languages (Envoy) (1/day) (Sp) with Intelligence 11+, cast Comprehend Languages once per day.

Create Gear (1 lbs.) (6/day) (Su) Create spell, simple objects that will fade away in 1 minute (or 1r after they leave your possession).

Creation Associated School: Conjuration

Damage Resistance, Cold (5) You have the specified Damage Resistance against Cold attacks.

Detect Magic (Envoy) (1/day) (Sp) With Intelligence 11+, cast Detect Magic once per day.

Detect Poison (Envoy) (1/day) (Sp) With Intelligence 11+, cast Detect Poison once per day.

Elven Immunities – Sleep You are immune to magic sleep effects.

Evocation You must spend 2 slots to cast spells from the Evocation school.

Frostborn You gain a +4 trait bonus on any saving throws made to resist the effects of cold environments, as well as a +1 trait bonus on all saving throws against cold effects.

Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in low light, distinguishing color and detail.

Read Magic (Envoy) (1/day) (Sp) With Intelligence 11+, cast Read Magic once per day.

Spell Bond (Vanish) Can spontaneously cast bonded spell by sacrificing a prepared spell.

Spell Focus (Conjuration) Spells from one school of magic have +1 to their save DC.

Summoner’s Charm (+1 rds) (Su) Increase duration of summoning spells by 1/2 level (permanent at 20).

Transmutation You must spend 2 slots to cast spells from the Transmutation school.

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays to everyone! Whether you are celebrating Yule, Festivus, Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Mōdraniht or are just hanging out at home watching the snow fall, we at Skyland Games hope everyone has a safe and happy week.

Next week, we will be having an end-of-year recap as well as a look into the possible future of what gaming holds in 2013. In January we will continue our Pathfinder Society pre-generated characters, which started with The Pirates of the Toothless Gar.

All Your Base Are Belong To Us

Let’s imagine for a minute that you’ve been playing a level 2 monk with long hair who likes to kick people in the face. He doesn’t wear any armor or long monk robes, and shows off all his tattoos by running around shirtless no matter how much snow is on the ground. You’ve been using a standard figure, but it’s an elf, or female, or it’s a halforc with a chain weapon. One day you are at your local friendly game store when you come across this guy:

He’s perfect. A monk! He’s kicking! He’s got long hair… but then there’s that gigantic clicky base at the bottom. You snatch him up and take him to your next game day and plop him down on the map at the beginning of combat… and he takes up four squares… and people try to put they’re minis next to him, or behind him, or around him… and it’s a mess. He’s the perfect mini, but that base has got to go. Doing it yourself is easier than you think. First, pop the bottom off of the clicky base and cut up the dial, like so:

Next, take your correctly-sized 1-inch square base and cover it with some putty or “green stuff” or any other kind of basing material. At the very least you could superglue the figure to the base as is, depending on how much “area” your original figure has left after de-basing. Since this figure only has the one leg, I definitely needed to build up a base of some kind.

Throw down a little bit of paint, superglue the bottom of your figure to your base… and you’re done! I pushed the figure into the still soft “green stuff” so that it would be more stable.

From start to finish, it took five minutes to complete and make an unusable, but perfect miniature into a perfectly usable miniature.

The Gaming Ten Commandments

Veteran and novice gamers alike can find themselves sliding into bad habits now and again at the game table. We at Skyland Games have a real mixed bag at our tables: New gamers, old gamers, and old timers coming back to the game after a long hiatus. We’ve also been playing a lot of Pathfinder Society, which leads to a crap-shoot when it comes to the players you’re sitting down with and what they think makes for good game etiquette.

Even with the grognards, when things get exciting, or boring, or you just get distracted, you might find yourself in violation of one of the Gaming Ten Commandments.

1) THOU SHALT BE ON TIME

Especially with a four hour time slot for organized-play games, it’s disruptive for the GM and Players alike to start late. If you’ve got another slot to get to afterwards, doubly so. But mainly this, slows the game as a whole, and is inconsiderate of everyone else who made it in a timely fashion. Unfortunately, at Skyland Games, we’re all guilty of this one at some time or another.

2) THOU SHALT COME PREPARED

Nothing slows down play like missing your character sheet, not having dice or a pencil, not knowing what your abilities are or how your character works. It creates delay in the beginning for missing character issues, and slows the pace and play of the game at all other times. Any time you slow play due to your own laziness, you’re really wasting other people’s time. Don’t be that guy.

3) THOU SHALT LEARN THE RULES

Or at least try… Pathfinder, D&D 3.5, Champions, Shadowrun…. these systems are not necessarily easy, but you need to know how your character works before you sit down at the table, and know the basics of movement and combat so as to not impede play. Get a book and read it between sessions. Most if not all the material for Pathfinder and D&D 3.5 is online as an SRD. Add to that a variety of apps that pull up the rules pretty cheaply, and there’s really no excuse for not knowing the basics. Worst case scenario: Listen and learn.

4) THOU SHALT NOT CHEAT

The GM might be allowed to fudge some dice rolls, but as a player, for the good of the game, it’s imperative that you let the dice fall where they may. Some of the greatest stories I’ve seen in gaming come from the epic failures and epic subsequent successes arising from the bad roll, the epic mischance, or the divine blunder. We all sit down to see this story unfold organically, and Mulligans must be solicited from the almighty GM. It also puts other players at a disadvantage, and robs the sweetness from victory when it’s built on deception.

5) THOU SHALT NOT TALK OVER OTHERS

Okay, personal pet peeve, but I’ve played with folks that find that box text is a perfect opportunity to discuss character builds, what they ate for dinner, hilarious YouTube cat videos, etc. This makes it hard for others to keep track of what’s going on, distracts the GM reading it, and creates situations where information has to be repeated or explained to the player as the game unfolds. Some players will interrupt and talk over the GM, which is a great recipe for GM vengeance, but also makes for confusion and can damage the flow of the game. When it’s not the GM, it’s someone trying to have fun and tell their story. Don’t ruin it.

6) THOU SHALT PLAY ONLY THINE OWN CHARACTER

You may think you’re being helpful, telling the guy next to you what he ought to do on his turn, but you’re not. You’re probably breaking character, and possibly the laws of physics, by sharing your thoughts out of game, and generally inhibiting the other player and other character by imposing your vision on them. This also slows down the game as the player digests additional information, weighs new options presented through the advice, and quite often creates a need for the player to justify their character’s action. Novice players can always ask for help, and if they ask, give it to them. Otherwise, let ’em take a stab at it, and if they’re going to err, let them err boldly.

7) THOU SHALT ABIDE

Sometimes things get a little heated in real life. It might be over loot, it might be incompatible player personalities, or it might be in-game character personalities leading to some real-life frustration. No matter the cause, don’t let things get to the point where it’s a problem. Each situation differs, but stepping away from the problem and communicating usually does the trick. You want to roll with the punches, which goes hand in hand with Commandment 8 and Commandment 10.

8) THOU SHALT WORK FOR THE GOOD OF THE GAME

Every player should work to make the game happen. Someone need a ride? Go five minutes out of your way to help them make the game. Snacks? Drinks? At least take care of yourself, if not everybody. Try to schedule around conflicts, and take affirmative steps to keep game night sacred. Don’t make the GM do all the cat-herding when it comes to scheduling. Return emails about the scenario you want to play. Correspond regularly. Most importantly, when gaming, apply Wheaton’s Law and “Don’t be a Dick”: Don’t fight over loot in game, don’t ragequit when the GM rules against you, don’t pout, and don’t take anything that involves ‘elves’ too seriously. That’s a good life rule, period, actually.

9) THOU SHALT HONOR THY GM AND THY HOST

It is sort of a classic axiom that the ‘GM is Always Right’. I prefer to think of it the way Tony Soprano contests Nietzsche’s hypothesis regarding God being Dead: He may not always be right, but you’re still going to kiss his ass. In the end, the GM can see both sides of the screen, and should (if they’re good at it) keep things challenging, interesting, and fun based on that perspective. Further, a game isn’t a democracy, and a final arbiter has to have supreme authority, right or wrong, so the game can move on.

As far as your host is concerned, it’s easy to forget that someone is cleaning up after you leave. Don’t trash their place, drink the last of their soda, drop food into their couch cushions, or leave your cans scattered and laying about for the ants into get into. Minimal courtesy indicates you should try to leave the space how you found it. If it’s in a game store, don’t bring in outside food and drink if they sell food and drink in store (or you might not have a game store much longer). If you’re in tight confines, make sure you’re maintaining some hygiene fundamentals for the benefit of your fellow gamers and the people who have to live there after you’ve left. Treat your play space better than your own, and you’ll be more likely to be invited back.

10) THOU SHALT HAVE FUN

Sometimes, it can be surprising how this rule gets overlooked, but we game because we like it. Especially in organized play, the objective of achieving a certain level, obtaining certain loot, or finishing certain missions can obscure the fact that the object is to have fun. If you’re not having fun, you’re doing it wrong, and need to reprioritize. It might be because you or your group aren’t following the Commandments, or might be because it’s just time for a change of scenery. But make sure you and your fellow gamers are enjoying yourself, and everything else will fall into place.

Fighting Fantasy: Blood of the Zombies iOS app review

I’ve always been a big fan of Choose Your Own Adventure books, ever since I picked one up in 2nd grade. In 4th grade, I discovered a book in my classroom called Fighting Fantasy: Citadel of Chaos. This was the coolest book I had ever seen up to that point, combining CYOA with dice, a character sheet, equipment, treasure and combat! I had been introduced to D&D at an early age, so I was familiar with the basic mechanics, but to be able to adventure any time I wanted, with vastly different outcomes depending on the roll of the dice? This was a whole new game indeed.

Fast-forward about 20 years. I love playing games on my iPad, and I love reading on my iPad. That got me thinking; surely someone was out there making a digital gamebook. It’s a perfect match! The app could keep track of your stats and equipment, and roll dice in the app. After a bit of searching, I game upon Tin Man Games and their Gamebook Adventures. At the time, they had just released their second offering, The Siege of the Necromancer. At first blush, the $5.99 price tag seemed a bit steep, but that is really only in comparison to other iOS apps, a lot of them ad-supported. When you think about it, a regular paperback book will usually run about that much. Since it seemed to be exactly what I was looking for, I took a chance and I was very pleased with the purchase. The app features atmospheric music that changes with the situation, sound effects, a dice roller that let’s you “bump” the table with the accelerometers. It also features a sophisticated “bookmarking” feature which allows you to save your place at critical junctures.

Tin Man Games most recent release is the first to carry the Fighting Fantasy label, and is by one of the original co-creators of Fighting Fantasy, Ian Livingstone. The book uses the same Gamebook Adventures engine, but the zombie theme is a nice twist, and gets away from the tried-and-true sword and sorcery genre. The book is very deep, and allows for a lot of different paths to be taken. I think I’ve probably put about 5 or 6 hours in to the book and I’m still finding new paths. As an added bonus, the book keeps a tally of how many zombies you’ve slain on the front cover. There is a ton of items and weapons to find, including med-kits which can heal your stamina after some of the bigger zombie swarms (assuming you survive).  The game features several modes of play: Free Read, Medium, and Hardcore. Free Read allows you to chose any of the options given, even if you don’t technically have the required item, a back button if you forgot to book mark and chose poorly, and a heal me button to add to your stamina. I would only recommend this mode if you’re completely frustrated, or really want to see what happens on a path for which you can never find the required item. Medium starts you out with 40+2d6 stamina, and hardcore starts you out with 20+2d6 stamina. Hardcore is aptly named, because unlike other game books, you don’t have to just find the correct ending, you have to find that ending after killing every single zombie. Even getting through the book on medium was an incredible challenge, hardcore is truly for the Fighting Fantasy elite.

Overall, I would recommend this to any fan of gamebooks, especially those with iPads. For the $5.99 price you get both iPhone and iPad versions, which is nice if you get stuck somewhere and want to kill some zombies on your phone, but the reading experience and the illustrations are way better on the iPad. I’ll be looking for the next Tin Man Games/Fighting Fantasy release: Steve Jackson’s House of Hell!