Sleeping Gods

This game is one that I almost backed on Kickstarter, but I didn’t for one main reason. Looking at the Kickstarter, I loved the artwork, I thought the game play looked interesting, I was just worried it would land for me like Near and Far did. I like Near and Far, don’t get me wrong. I think that that the game play is solid and the story is solid. But the story is lacking, for me.

So I was concerned that Sleeping Gods would kind of fall into that same line of things. And with a lot of other games out there to be back two years ago, I think, I didn’t jump on it. I also knew that the game would be available at retail as well. And then reviews for the game started coming in, and people really liked it. The game play seems more my style, and the story seems more focused. And, of course, the game sold out. Board Game Geek has it (or had) for pre-order, so I figured it was time to hop on it.

Ratcatcher

This one also was a Kickstarter that I wasn’t sure about. Firstly, it is a solo only game, which I have found out that I like more than I thought. But when it was on Kickstarter I wasn’t sure. And I’m a little hesitant to back, or was, a solo only game. This is one, however, I was less sure would actually hit retail.

In the case of Ratcatcher, what drew me in was a solo play on the GloryHoundd YouTube channel. I’ll put the video below. But that game play looked like a lot of fun. The game seems to do what I like in a solo game a lot of the time. It provides an interesting and shifting puzzle in a small package. Now, it does spread out on the table, but overall, I really think this one looks like fun.

Grove

Another solo only game on the list of things that I’ve pre-ordered. This one I did back on Kickstarter. You can read up on it in my Back or Brick article. This one I didn’t hesitate to back on Kickstarter because it’s a follow-up to a game that I already love, Orchard. Orchard is a great little solo game with a little footprint and super fast play time. Grove looks like it is going to be more of the same, and that’s very interesting to me because I’ve already played Orchard over 60 times. I can imagine Grove will get played as much.

Marvel Dice Throne

No shock on this one, I’d think. I love Dice Throne, it hasn’t been on my top 100, yet. But you take a game I really like and an intellectual property I’m clearly in love with, I’m going to back the game. It’s been under 24 hours and it’s just under $900,000. So it’s doing extremely well at a time when some Kickstarters are cancelling. I wasn’t really all that concerned about this one cancelling.

If you are interested in Marvel Dice Throne, it will be coming to retail. But the Kickstarter version does come in a single box, and the price point is going to be cheaper on everything. That means if you want to get the playmats, card sleeves, or the dice tray, the time to get it is now. I’ll be talking about it more tomorrow when I do a Back or Brick for it.

Similos Spookies

This one wasn’t pre-ordered, just ordered, so it’s in my collection, though it showed up a few days too late for the October board game night when it would have been perfect. Similos is a party game where you are working together to figure out clues as to what the groups card is. The game is a lot of fun and you can mix and match the different sets from Mythology to Animals and now to spooky monsters.

I knew I was going to get this one when it became available. The game play is a ton of fun, and if I can add in something spooky or spoopy to my game collection, I’m probably going to do that. And as replayable as Similos already is, I’m not going to say no to having even more sets that I can mix and match together.

Which game would you want to get to the table first? Are you backing either of the Kickstarters, Grove or Marvel Dice Throne?

Point of Sale

Normally I’d do a bigger article as I did sell a fair number of things recently, but they were all RPG books, so I wanted to talk about them in one lump, because there’s really one reason I’m getting rid of all of them. While I do like a lot of different RPG’s and I’ll gladly play them, I’ve come to realize I’m just running D&D. Dungeons and Dragons is the game that I know best. It is the game I buy the books for new character classes or settings for.

I am always going to have more D&D content to run. And I haven’t kept up with other games. While I have run some Star Wars games, I am not that likely to again. The same goes for the other systems, while they are fun, I won’t be playing them over Dungeons and Dragons, so might as well sell them.

Now, I did keep one non-D&D thing. That was the Fate core book and Fate Dresden Files. I haven’t ever used those books. I am not sure that I ever will, But I love the Dresden Files, so I wasn’t ready to get rid of that one right now.

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So, how does this pertain to us now, or if you break a leg or are stuck in a location for a while for some reason or another?

For some people, it’s going to be great, they can pick up the million hobbies that have been sitting around waiting for them to have time to get to. But if you truly are stuck, or an extrovert, you need something beyond the normal to pick up because you’ll go stir crazy or you’ll pick up a bad habit. Again from John Rhys Davies, he commented how on some films, people hobbies would be, a drink in the evening, late morning, mimosa in the morning, day off, drink by the pool. And it’s easier to slip into those more destructive habits than it is to get into a new hobby.

We should be taking this opportunity to return to hobbies that we maybe can’t get to because of social obligations or to pick up a new hobby if your current hobbies are mainly social. For me, I thrive off of social interaction, and in person social interaction in particular. I have a solo gaming channel, and that helps me be able to play more board games and play them solo, but it still isn’t the same as playing with someone in person. I just like the option to talk too much. The channel gives some outlet for that, but not really enough. And currently, I just had two nights of gaming in a row, and three in a week have to be cancelled because of being responsible and social distancing. So I’m already, without having social distancing going on too long, hit the point where I’m wanting social interaction because my base level is gone already. This is something that maybe not a ton of nerds are going to have going on, but there’s also still going to be a number of us out there that will struggle. Kristen put it well, as she’s an introvert, social distancing for an extrovert is like her having to interact with 50 people face to face every day, not just a passing “Hi” but having to spend a moment in conversation and actually interact with them.

But that’s a little bit of a tangent, but kind of sets the base for why I’m talking about picking up new hobbies. While a hobby isn’t going to solve the lack of social interaction, it can certainly help abate it as you can focus in on something new or something challenging. There are a number of things to consider when picking up a new hobby that I’m going to give a run down of quickly.

How Do I Pick?
Yeah, there are a lot of hobbies out there, even removing the ones that can be done in a group, the recommendation is pick up something that’s adjacent to a hobby that you already have. For example, picking up solo gaming a while back for me was an extension of the board gaming hobby. Board gaming was kind of an extension of RPG’s. Now, I’m picking up painting minis because that’s an extension of both board gaming and RPG’s. If you love knitting, crocheting, or cross stitching, and haven’t done your own patterns, do them. If you love cooking, try and create recipes. If you love video games, start learning some coding.

How Much Do You Jump In?
There’s part of me that wants to jump into any hobby feet first, but I don’t think that’s responsible. Using the John Rhys Davies idea, it was a hobby for filming a movie. Or with social distancing or a broken leg, it’s a limited amount of time. So, when things get back to normal you might find that you don’t have enough time to really devote to that hobby still, so is it worth it to invest heavily into something that you won’t keep up long term? I’d argue that it doesn’t make a ton of sense. For painting minis, what I’m going to start doing, I bought a kit that has paints and a few other tools for it, and a cheap game with a bunch of minis, so that I can practice on something I care less about. Will that be all I get for it, who knows, but it was a fairly cheap start. I didn’t go out and buy five brushes and twenty paints and a massive minis game, plus other things like a light with a magnifying glass on it to see the finer details. That can come later if I find that I have time and that I do love it.

What If You Don’t Love It?
That’s what the first two things are for. But it’s very possible that you won’t love it. Or you won’t even like it, but that’s why you don’t invest too much into it. That’s why you pick something that if you don’t continue it, you won’t feel bad about not continuing it. Not every hobby is for everyone, I might find out that I don’t like painting minis, but now I know without investing too much money into it. And I’ll still have the game I got for it, so the only money I’d really be out is for paints. But if I love it, I have tons of games that I can paint. If not, I can probably find someone to pass on the paints to.

So, while you’re social distancing, or in the future, while you’re stuck at home, what hobbies could you pick up or pick back up? Is there something that you’ve been meaning to try that you haven’t gotten around to? Is this the time to try it? Let me know your ideas in the comments below.

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What is Kickstarter?
Starting out with the basics here, but Kickstarter is a crowdfunding website. What’s a crowdfunding website, it’s a site where someone asks for money to help fund a project, that could be something like Go Fund Me with helping someone with medical expenses or whatever need they might have, but on Kickstarter, you’re almost always Kickstarting a project that is going to create some sort of end product. It might be a play, it might be a comic, a chair, a video game, or, as I’m going to be talking about board game or an RPG. Normally, when you help fund something, the company or creator gives you something in return for helping them.

How Does a Project Work?
I’m going to be tackling this from the consumer side, I’ve never run my own kickstarter, and I doubt I ever would or will. But, the creator makes their project, so they create a video (ideally), and write up information on the game, showing images of prototypes or of what they are planning on the components looking like. They explain how the game works, what sort of game it is, and why you should help them fund it. They also talk about what shipping costs might be and what they could see as risks for their campaign so the people who fund them know what they are getting into.

The final big thing they create though is the reward levels and funding level. These are how much they are asking people and how much money they need for it to actually happen. For example, if they think they can make the game that the whole cost of production is $20 but they need to 2,000 people to back them to get that production cost, they can make their funding goal $40,000. And there would be a reward level of $20 where people can back them and get a copy of the game as a reward. But what is more likely to happen is that production costs $20, so they offer a reward level of $30 for the game, because they need to pay themselves and kickstarter takes some of it, and they set their funding goal at $30,000. The reason for that is that while they want to hit 2,000 people, they can go over their funding goal, and if they do, more people are apt to back it, because they know the project is happening, and that’ll help them get to 2,000 people.

Then, with the Kickstarter up and running at kickstarter.com, they wait through their campaign, however many days it is, and that’s where we step in as the consumer. I look at the page, decide if it’s a game that I find interesting, and then if I do, I can back it. Now, maybe I just like the idea, but I don’t want the game myself or I know the creator of the game or like their company, whatever it might be. I can back it for however much I want without a reward, or I can select the option to back for $30, in our example, and get the game. So I back it, but I don’t get the game right away, this isn’t a store, they don’t have the games yet (most of the time, future Kickstarter lesson), they are getting the funding to then make the games. So they’ll send out updates to everyone who has backed them thanking them for backing and letting us know what their plans are and most often, letting us know about stretch goals. Stretch goals are extra things added to the game if it reaches a certain funding level. So in our cast, they really need the level to hit $40,000, but let’s say it’s doing well, and the game hits $50,000 or $60,000, they might add in some extra cards, a cool first player maker, an extra scenario, an extra character class (for an RPG), whatever it might be at certain points in the campaign based on how much they’ve made, because now they can afford to do that. This helps encourage people to back it because some of these things might be exclusive to Kickstarter (future lesson).

So, they’ve funded their campaign, now they get the money, but not all the money, Kickstarter is going to take some as well, because Kickstarter is a business and they need to make money as well. So even though they Kickstarter made, let’s say $80,000, the creator maybe sees around $72, 000 to $76,000. Now that it’s funded, they’ll send you the game, right? Not quite yet, they need to still get it made, so they get the money from Kickstarter, now they need to schedule with factories to get the game made, and most of the time, they also will be sending out a backer survey, this might be done through Kickstarter, but most often through another company, because $30 pledge for the game didn’t cover shipping. So you’ll have to pay a bit more to cover shipping, but the good thing is that this should basically just be the shipping cost because Kickstarter isn’t taking money from them for it. Though, the other site might be. Now you’ve paid shipping, let’s say $10, and for the game $30, it’ll get shipped soon. Almost, first, it gets into a production queue for some factory somewhere that is probably making a lot more and different board games throughout the year as well. So it might be 6-12 months before production begins, if not more. So production has happened, now it gets shipped, literally shipped on a boat, around the world, this can take a few weeks and up to a couple of months if there are delays at customs. From the ships it goes to a fulfillment company or to the creator to fulfill. They’ll be the ones sending you the actual game. So probably around a year after you Kickstarted it, you’ll get the game.

And that’s the general life cycle of a Kickstarer, it can take longer than a year, and it can be shorter than a year. But the cool part is that you can help small companies (or buy more of a sure thing from a big company) get their games out to the market.

I’m going to be talking about various things, such as what happens when a Kickstarter fails, what happens if it doesn’t deliver, what makes a good Kickstarter, what to watch out for, what stretch goals are, and how to avoid Kickstarter FOMO (if it’s even possible).

What are some of your best experiences with Kickstarter? Have you had any that have failed or not ever come? Are there any other topics I should cover around Kickstarter? Let me know in the comments below.

(All the images are of games that were brought to life on Kickstarter)

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Let’s jump into the top right away because there’s not much need to explain what magic is, but in fantasy, there is generally magic. It isn’t in every case, but in a lot of cases there is some level of magic. That’s where the difference between high and low magic fantasy settings come in. High magic settings, magic is common place. In your most common examples with D&D, there is generally a fair amount of magic, probably more medium magic, but magic isn’t something that’s going to be shocking to most people. Low magic is on the opposite end of the spectrum, magic and magical items – in an RPG – are rare. People covet magic, fight over magic, and things like magical healing are not to be found.

And the article is done. Or I’ll talk about why you might want to pick one setting over another.

First off, consider the story you are trying to tell. How important is magic to it? If magic is important to the plot, and gaining a specific type of magic or a specific magical item, ask yourself then, is that because magic is rare or not. Is the item important because it’s a forgotten relic from long ago with a magic that was long lost, and now a group of wizards are going to be fighting over it? Or was it thought long lost, and now that it’s been found regular people are fighting for it because magic is so scarce. But then again, it’s possible that magic doesn’t matter in your story, is that because magic is common place so it doesn’t stand out as special or because it’s so rare that the two people off to the side of the story who can use it aren’t going to drive the story?

From there you can start fleshing out your world and determining how magic is used, is it swish and flick magic or dancing in a circle under the full moon magic? If you haven’t decided this can also help make your decision. Even if you have a lot of magic users, it can be a world that is harder to influence by magic if the magic only works during a full moon and requires extensive rituals. It could even be that everyone has some form of magic but if the ability to cast magic is too complicated most people won’t do that, creating a low magic world. Or for example, in Harry Potter, magic is simple, but the world as a whole is low magic, we’re just in the high magic part of it for the series, so even with swish and flick magic, it’s been hidden away. Hiding magic is always interesting and can make your world feel more low magic though it could eventually end up being higher magic magic as time goes on, such as if in the world of Harry Potter magic was to be revealed, it would make the whole world feel lower magic in some ways, but higher magic because it isn’t as isolated.

Finally, consider what level of magic you want s you consider where you want the focus of your story to lie. If you’re doing a story about a normal person who makes it big in a world where magic is common and overcomes that perceived deficit, than you’d want to go high magic. But if you don’t want your story to focus on magic, going with a lower magic setting would make sense. It’s possible in that last example that you could have a higher magic world, but magic is just common place, but you have to worry about the restrictions of magic.

In fact, that’s another reason why you want to consider your magic level of your world. In a world with a lot of magic, a lot of problems are going to be solved by magic. Especially in stories about the hero overcoming lack of magic or just overcoming without using magic, you have to set-up a world where magic wouldn’t make that much sense to be used. That means the Harry Potter swish and flick magic might be too simple for your world because it doesn’t expend energy or resources. But if you can only cast a spell from a faerie circle, during a full moon, while dancing around in a circle and doing a chant in the fresh dew, you could have a lot of magic, because that magic is just hard to do. At the same time, if you are using magic, you don’t want to fall the other direction of making it too weak that there would be no reason to do any sort of magic, because the technology of your story works more effectively.

Finally ask yourself where your magic comes from, that is going to make a huge difference. Is it that it’s divine magic and anyone can get access to it if they believe in the right deity whether that deity is good or evil? Or does the magic come from within and some people just inherently have it like in The Magicians or Harry Potter? If you just have to truly believe in a deity, people are going to have magic, and there’s going to be a lot of it because people will believe since they can see very tangible proof. But if it’s an inherent ability, than you can decide how few or many people get to have it based off of how much magic your story needs.

These are just a few things to consider. It is interesting to look at it for books, but as well for RPG’s where you can take something like Dungeons and Dragons and turn it into a low magic setting. What do you do when a player wants to play a Wizard? It can create interesting stories as your players might have a rare character or you might not let them start out as a magical character at all.

What are some examples you like of high or low magic worlds? Have you played in a game where it was very high magic or very low magic?

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As Peder mentioned, this con is growing, and it felt even more established this year. And since I was familiar with the con this time, I found myself a lot less intimidated by the prospect of playing new RPGs with strangers than I was during our first year. Overall, I had a great time, and really enjoyed getting to try out some great new systems! Here are a few of my highlights:

Highlight #1: Trying out the Cypher System. I loved all of the new systems we got the chance to try (and it was a

treat to play in sessions run by the system creators themselves–thanks again, Colin and Pete!), but my favorite new system this year was Cypher. You can either play in the cyberpunky vampire/werewolf/magi/alien/technozombie-inhabited setting Peder mentioned in his AcadeCon post, or in a far-future setting that takes place after eight versions of Earth have risen and fallen, with you as a denizen of the ninth. Both are the sort of settings that kick my imagination into overdrive, and it’s so much fun to explore worlds like that and envision the kind of stories that could happen in them. I’m hoping we’ll be able to add the system components to our collection and run a game based on it soon!

Highlight #2: Seeing friends from last year. It was so much fun seeing some the great people we’d met last year, and getting to know them a bit better. Con friendships are great that way — when you see each other the next time around, it’s pretty easy to just kind of pick up where you left off. It was great having a few people we knew we could grab for a random board game session or hang-out time, and it was so much fun to hear about what they’ve been up to with their own websites and podcasts. Who knows…maybe we’ll even convince a few of them to guest-post for us in the future!

Highlight #3: Taking things slower this time. As we’ve mentioned, we planned a really full schedule for ourselves during our first AcadeCon stint, and ended up running ourselves pretty ragged by Sunday. This year, we were older and wiser; we limited ourselves to just a couple of scheduled events per day, and left plenty of open time that we could fill up later or leave open as we chose. This made for a much more relaxing time, which let us really enjoy the events we did choose to partake in.

Highlight #4: Checking out new places. Last year, we did a little bit of exploring in the downtown area, and this year, we got to discover even more. We had a ton of fun trying the beer and hanging out with some con friends at Warped Wing brewery, and got the chance to stop at the Destihl restaurant and brewery on the way home as well (it wouldn’t be one of our trips without a couple of brewery stops!). It was nice to feel more familiar with the area as a whole, and great to get the chance to check out some new spots as well.

It was another successful year at AcadeCon, and I’m glad we were able to go again! I’m once again feeling inspired to try out even more new systems, and to see how we can integrate the new ones we played into our current gaming groups. Expect more content on that front in the future!

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Some exciting things with that. I’m running a Dungeons and Dragons version of Pride, PrejuDICE, and Zombies and a game I ran last time.

We’re getting to try out Dreamchaser, Axon Punk, and Cypher System.

Keep track of likely a number of tweets and pictures on @TheScando on Twitter and maybe some on @Kefka73.

There are lots of great ways to take advantage of the great weather while engaging in glorious nerdery at the same time — here are a few ideas!

Taking indoor activities outside

This is one of my favorite on the list, because it’s the best of both worlds–you get to do something you love doing all year round, but you also get to soak in the warmth and sun at the same time! Grab a book and a quilt and read in the yard for a while; bring your laptop outside and get to work on your latest story; take your sketchbook to a pretty spot and do some drawing; even have a backyard movie screening — this can be as simple as watching something on Netflix with a friend, or setting up a projector and screen and having your own outdoor movie theater!

Outdoor role-playing games

This type of activity is generally for the more committed nerds among us, but can yield lots of fun possibilities! Summer is the best time for those of you who are into LARPing (Live Action Role-Playing), Belegarth (a type of role-play that involves fighting with homemade foam weapons), and the like. You and your D&D group could find a spot in a park to run your next session, or even have a session on a camping trip, like we and our other two Dungeons & Flagons players did last summer!

Cosplay groups

If you’re part of a fan group that sometimes takes part in cosplay, consider planning or attending a cosplay outing, or even just having a fun hangout time in the park with your group! It’s always great to have another good excuse to cosplay, and doing so with your group in a public spot can lead to some fun conversations with passersby, and maybe even a chance to do a little role-playing! When I was at the zoo last week, I saw an anime group having an event like this in a nearby park, cosplay and all, and it looked like such a great time!

Attend a festival or outdoor convention

If you do a little looking and asking around, I bet you’ll find that there are lots of this type of event near you! Things like your local Renaissance Festival, art shows, cultural festivals (Peder’s and my favorite is Obon, a Japanese lantern-lighting festival held in a nearby park every August), or outdoor events promoting a movie release or other nerdy event, are great ways to enjoy some time outside with fellow nerds. These are often great chances to dress up as well, whether it’s in Renaissance garb, traditional dress (like yukatas at Obon! I still want to do this…), or good ol’ fashioned cosplay. Just come prepared to get a little extra-warm if you do dress up!

Pokemon Go!

Obviously I had to mention this one! This uber-popular game has taken over pretty much everywhere, and when you see someone walking around with phone in hand, there’s a really good chance they’re trying to catch ’em all. Not only is the game a great excuse to get outside and go for a nice walk, it’s also inspired a lot of meetups in parks and other public spaces; game players come by the thousands to catch Pokemon together and meet other players. And I have to say, with all the stuff that’s been going on recently, it sure is wonderful and refreshing to see tons of people, sometimes with very little in common, bonding over something as simple as a fun new game.

These are just a few fun ideas to inspire you to enjoy some outdoor nerding, but there are many more possibilities! What’s your favorite nerdy activity to do outside? What new activity would you like to try out?

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