In which very little happens - or how the letter 'd' does a quick roundup

You were very nearly greeted with something resembling Cthulhu based fiction. That's because the blog does indeed have a new mascot, and I have taken a picture of said mascot, but I've not bothered to get it off the camera or onto flickr. So, well, no mascot unveiling for you. But yes, brief glimpses of dear ol' Miskatonic U, the library with it's aging copy of the Necronomicon, a poor student troubled by dark dreams and darker realities. Of course these little bits are far better than what might actually have shown up here, so let your mind fill in the gaps and try not to go insane.

I finished up Norse Code by Greg van Eekhout the other day. I liked it right up until the end. And there were a couple ok bits about the end, but I'm not convinced I like the actual ending. It is a fun romp through Norse mythology though and that still counts for something. Follow the conflicted Valkyrie as she teams up with the outcast Aesir (Norse God to you heathens) in an attempt to stop Ragnarok. Now exactly why anyone involved with the Norse pantheon would really want to stop Ragnarok is a bit beyond me, but, well, there you go. The story does take some fun twists and turns, but like I said the ending is a bit more whimper than bang (Note to self, find a good Durm and Strang joke for this for later... Note to reader, there will not be an actual Durm and Strang joke here later...). I guess that's what you get when you're trying to stop one of the bigger bangs around. (Note: I did not at any time make an are you ready to Rok?! Get ready for Ragnarok!! joke - see the restraint I have?)

Played another round of Blue Moon City last night. It ended up being a closer game than it had any right to be, but letter 'r' managed to eke out a pretty decent victory. I will note that not at any time was a victory by myself in the cards, err, tiles, well both really. Well, if there had been another 2 turns or so and the other two players for some strange reason were unable to move and... yeah. Moving on.

Oh, just so this blog actually has something amusing in it, go read this.

In which I talk a little bit about gaming

I still have memories of receiving the original Basic Dungeons and Dragons set when I was younger. My Uncle had gotten it for me for Christmas. He was in the Navy at the time and would stop by every so often when he had leave. I was so excited about the prospect of battling a Dragon that I made him insert one into the adventure we were playing. Never mind that I was a lowly level 1 magic user that could barely cast magic missile. I wanted to battle a dragon. So he humored me and then mercilessly killed my character. It was great. I spent a few years with that game, definitely good times.

You may have noticed that I mentioned recently that the new 4th Edition was out. It has been years since I've rolled the old polyhedral dice and I felt like checking it out. I enjoyed the initial adventure they put out for the launch. I convinced the letter 'r' (there really wasn't much convincing involved) that we should give it a go here. So we set up shop, dragged the wife and McK into the room and handed them some of the pre-made characters and then proceeded to run through the adventure. We finished it up the other day. A good time was had by all (with a decent amount of skepticism from my wife). I doubt we'll roll up characters any time soon, but it was an interesting experience. And who knows, I suspect another dip in the role-playing pool is a possibility.

Gaming is one of those things that I spend a fair amount of time doing, but not a lot of time thinking about. Well, not the behind the scenes, nitty gritty aspects anyway. There are a lots of types of gaming: role-playing (D&D, Rock Band, lots of things fit), board (Blue Moon City, Catan), video (Boom Blox, Mariokart), card (Gang of Four, Canasta), the list goes on (and already that's a pretty bad set of examples, it doesn't really take into account genres or how any of those can fit in multiple places). I enjoy aspects of role-playing games but it's probably not my favorite. Honestly it's a toss up between board and video games. My current favorite board game is probably Blue Moon City. It ostensibly has a story (you're rebuilding the city you destroyed in Blue Moon), but the main draw is the mechanic. Using the cards in various combinations to earn the pieces you need to win the game.

As my family and friends can attest, I typically don't like losing. Bad habit, yeah yeah, blah blah. I don't like losing even more when it's a factor of random luck. If I understand why I'm losing, I'll grouse about it, but hopefully next time a new strategy will prove more effective. When it comes to Blue Moon City, for some reason I don't mind losing as much. Typically games are pretty close and that might have something to do with it. It might just be that it's a more fun game. There are a couple other games that we own that I suspect I'd like as well, but it's difficult to tell. Arkham Horror is the best example. It's co-operative, got an HP Lovecraft theme, and possibly a lot of fun. Can't find anyone willing to give it a go.

For one thing it's very long. Also very fiddly (this is a technical term, if you play games you get it, if not, go hang around BGG). The fiddly-ness could probably be overlooked (or gotten used to or what not), but the time factor is a bit of a problem. How often can we seriously get a 3-4 hour block to run through a game. Yeah, it's long. But HP Lovecraft. And bits!

As for video games, again, for a not so strange reason if you know me, I tend to lean towards the survival horror games. Or puzzle games. Both are good. Games that make you think a bit. And possibly want the lights on. I'm rambling a bit now, so I probably ought to wrap this up. I think the point I set out to make is that it's interesting to see the kids start to develop these interests. As mentioned I got my start pretty early and the kids are no different. It was fun to see McK stretch her brain a bit as a wizard trying to rescue a couple kids. She came up with some interesting solutions to some of the problems the group faced. G is rapidly becoming a platformer fiend. M is pretty fascinated by card games and a couple board games.

There are certainly a lot of benefits that come from all sorts of gaming. Problem solving, social skills, a desire to crush your opponents and leave them silently weeping in the corner, err sportsmanship. It's fun to watch the kids pick up those skills. And soon the family can take on the Old Ones and save the poor town of Arkham...