Tabletop Games

Surviving the undead leaves…

In Issue 4, we introduced our new irregular series: Generic Adventure Modules. In each of these, we give you a framework for a scenario to use in a roleplaying game. 

The last of the…

Wargames are a fantastically popular, but surprisingly expensive, hobby. However, if you’re smart about it, there are ways to get started without breaking the bank.

If there’s a board game which is credited with jump-starting the modern board game phenomenon, it’s The Settlers of Catan (now simply called Catan). This award-winning building game combined elements which were familiar to traditional board games — collecting cards and rolling dice — and combined it with a more free-form approach to making progress and choosing a winning strategy. Players roll two dice and collect resources based on the sum. It’s a solid game and a modern classic. There’s just one problem: it’s far too easy to get to your turn and be unable to do anything.

In the first issue of this publication, we made the case that Dungeons & Dragons is overly combat-focused, and ought to become less combat-heavy. This month, we present another perspective on the world’s most famous tabletop roleplaying game.

I know and you know that there are a lot of Star Wars licensed games out there in the void. Some have become the stuff of legend, while others have had their light extinguished from the galaxy. It’s just like how some of the characters in the series are icons in the science fiction oeuvre, while others deserven to beesa forgot quickly, okiday?

I remember the before-time, when snow did not touch the low valleys, and the sun still shone with pure and righteous fire. It was not this weak, wan caress that barely touches my spirit. No matter now. There is a new light, a new fire, and it burns within me as surely as lightning in a far distant stormcloud.

Roleplaying games, tabletop war games, video games, and board games have come a long way since their experimental inception in the 1960s and 1970s. In many ways, it’s hard to remember that these different types of game originally drew inspiration from some of the same source material.

Tiny Epic Mechs is the latest game in the Tiny Epic series to be fulfilled from its Kickstarter and head out to retail. If you’re unfamiliar, Gamelyn’s Tiny Epic games pack away into a box about the size of three DVD cases stacked together, yet the modular components often fill a table and offer medium-length, fairly weighty play experiences. Every game in the series is a completely different theme and play style, although — a bit like the Final Fantasy series — there is common DNA throughout many of the titles.