Not much to see here this week. I’m currently visiting with family, taking advantage of the rare opportunity to see both of my sibs in the same place at the same time, and to spend time with old friends. I hope you’re all having a good week, and I’ll be back again next Thursday.
Make Games Your Own
Always make your games your own.
I was trying to convince my sibling to play Blades in the Dark with me, and kept running into a wall. They just didn’t want to—more than that, they said it felt icky. I, like a good little sibling, kept poking at them until truth poured out.
Continue readingAway at camp
I’m off in the woods, teaching kids and teens to LARP. I hope you’re all doing well, and I’ll be back next week!
Skull Island (Netflix, 2023)
I grew up loving Johnny Quest’s zany pulp adventures. Skull Island feels like an updated version. Unfortunately, two episodes in it feels like the writers only updated some of the original concept and didn’t go far enough. It gets enough right that I’m still hoping that’ll change, but…
Continue readingCity of Bones by Martha Wells, and the evolution of character archetypes
I am such a sucker for this art style.
It’s odd, reflecting on the ways in which an author I love has grown (and stayed the same) over the years.
I’m specifically thinking about Martha Wells. I recently read City of Bones, which was originally published in 1995. I’m in the middle of reviewing City of Bones, because it’s being rereleased this year in trade paperback by Tor. I’ll have my review of that up on GeeklyInc in the not-too-distant future.
City of Bones is intrigue, archaeology, lost civilizations and past apocalypses. It’s a thriller, a mystery, it’s got political machinations and murder… you know, the good stuff. What stood out to me though, was…
Continue readingWhy play Diablo when you could play the Hammerwatch 2 demo?
I’m shocked I haven’t raved about Heroes of Hammerwatch (HoH) on this blog before now. I thought I had. Sorry CrackShell, you deserved enthusiastic praise for your previous work. Apparently I only shared that with some friends.
Hammerwatch 2 is the high quality lo-fi alternative to Diablo 4 coming out August 15th, and there’s a free demo on Steam right now. I’ve been having a blast playing that demo: if you want a dungeon-delving ARPG hack-and-slash, try this. It’s a hell of a lot cheaper than $70.
Continue readingUnbalanced games
Here’s a hot take I’ve flirted with before: unbalanced games are more fun than balanced ones.
I think it has to do with gaming a system, beyond even outplaying an opponent.
Continue readingSuffering, Acceptance, & Play
What the hell is going on when playing feels like suffering?
Being bad at a game often feels bad to me. That’s most true when I think I *should* be competent, or when I’m playing with my close peers, people I feel competitive with. Being bad at a game feels terrible when I’m emotionally attached to a specific outcome, especially if I think I’m failing my team.
But this suffering is worse in some games.
Continue readingThe Black God’s Drums, by P. Djèli Clark (2018)
The Black God’s Drums is a sprint. It’s a sprint full of flavor, a window into another world that feels overflowing and wild and vibrant—a fantastical reimagining of our own world’s history, bringing us to a “might have been” that feels true and honest and exciting, with plenty of our own world’s horror worked in. It’s quick, here and gone again, and a greater pleasure for it.
Thinking about a recent conversation with a fellow book-nerd friend, I have to warn you:
Continue readingHobgoblin (from Mike Hutchinson)
Yesterday I played my first match of Hobgoblin. It was a delight, and an epiphany.
I’ve wanted something like this for years. I was in middle school when I got a copy of the core rulebook for Warhammer Fantasy. I read through that book cover to cover, and then I read it again. I bought a faction’s army book (for the Skaven) with all their special rules and abilities, and read through that over and over too. I bought my first box of models. I yearned to play.
Continue reading
Fistful of Wits 