http://www.thecoreworlds.net/blog Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Gaming Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:53:27 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I've given in and bought a Wii. I could be sensible and hold off writing about it until I have a bit more to say (and am a bit less tired when I'm trying to write it), but I've been neglecting this blog of late so ... http://www.thecoreworlds.net/blog/2008/04/wii/ I'm going to have a go at writing a campaign manager for Mongoose Publishing's Babylon 5 war game - A Call To Arms. I spent some time this evening going over the rules with Jim and working out what data needed storing. This entity relationship diagram is the result. Complicated ... http://www.thecoreworlds.net/blog/2008/02/a-call-to-arms-campaign-manager/ Could I resist picking up a few games at Oxcon? Of course not. The first of these was Murdero, a game where you collect cards to make runs. It is reminiscent of Rummy. The production values of the set are pretty high. The cards feel decent, with (usually) amusing captions and ... http://www.thecoreworlds.net/blog/2008/01/murdero-the-murder-mystery-card-game/ The Sunday session of OxCon left very little time for anything except the competition itself. Catan is one of the most popular serious boardgames, so more people entered and we had five rounds to play through. Much of the rest of this post will make little sense if you don't know ... http://www.thecoreworlds.net/blog/2008/01/oxcon-2008-settlers-of-catan/ I like Puerto Rico, as games go it doesn't have a lot of randomness, and the game play varies depending on which tactics other players use. This means that no two games are the same. Unfortunately, it seems that I don't play it enough, my performance this year was rather ... http://www.thecoreworlds.net/blog/2008/01/oxcon-2008-puerto-rico-15-to-1/ I'm posting this at some horrible hour on Saturday morning as I prepare to leave for OxCon. Hopefully the traffic isn't going to be too bad, and I can improve my scores over last years efforts. Wish me luck. http://www.thecoreworlds.net/blog/2008/01/getting-ready-for-oxcon-2008/ eBooks, a subject a little more techy then I usually post here, but I think there is sufficient SF to justify a mention on The Core Worlds, and I have annoying hoops to jump through to post on my other blog due to personal life issues getting in the way ... http://www.thecoreworlds.net/blog/2007/11/ebooks-with-drm-from-amazon-and-without-from-baen/ Friday night and I set off for Nottingham. I started by going south from the office to Oprington to avoid the most expensive railway line in the country. Things would have worked out better if Jim hadn't got lost trying to find the station. Still, we got there in the end ... http://www.thecoreworlds.net/blog/2007/11/nottingham-winter-07/ Mongoose have released a playtest document for Traveller. I've only skimmed it so far, and it seems to be little more than character generation, skill resolution and combat rules, but what it does have looks quite nice. Hopefully I'll be able to put together a group and give it a run ... http://www.thecoreworlds.net/blog/2007/11/traveller-open-playtest/ Having seen a picture of Gigantic Settlers played at Burning Man 2007, I now have an urge to build my own set. The flat I'm buying has a fair amount of open space nearby, so this might just be a possibility. http://www.thecoreworlds.net/blog/2007/09/giant-catan/