games

Follow up homeschool post

Standard

As I mentioned last month, I had an idea to create a homeschool project based on Mur Lafferty’s post on sexism. Basically, I asked my son to keep watch for three instances of girl-hate just like in the opening of BURN NOTICE.

It took a few weeks (we don’t watch a lot of TV or partake of other media), but he identified them. Two came straight out of episodes of BN, basically “punch like a girl” type stuff.

But the third one makes me a little sad. There’s a game I really like called Sentinels of the Multiverse; the boy and I play it a couple of times a month. In the course of supporting and following their Kickstarter, I discovered they have fun downloads on their site, one of which is a group of story challenges.

It’s a cool idea: You give yourself points based on in-game challenges they set: Defeat Baron Blade while playing as Legacy. Defeat a villain using only two heroes. Deal 20 or more damage in a single attack. Let the enraged T-Rex defeat the villain for you. Each is worth a certain number of points, and you get to count them up.

The problem comes from this challenge: “Catfight: Win a four-hero game against Citizen Dawn while using only female heroes.” Citizen Dawn is sort of a Magneto-style villain, the leader of a large number of low-powered villains and she’s pretty tough. However, as I explained to my son, if you have to come up with a special word for it when women do it…

Anyway, it’s still a great game and I still enjoy playing it. I really like trying to work out the best ways to pick heroes whose powers complement each other, especially against a specific villain. When the second edition comes out, I plan to push it to you guys (or you can still get it from Kickstarter.) But, you know, I wish I hadn’t had to explain this thing to my son.

Lesson over. I hope it sticks.

Randomness for 5/10

Standard

1) The 37 Saddest Failed Kickstarters.

2) Top 10 banned or censured rpg products.

3) Six Common Movie Arguments That Are Always Wrong.

4) Greatest. Romance novel cover. Ever.

5) How much damage did the Chitauri do to NYC?

6) Where do the Avengers eat Shawarma? (Actual location for that shoot)

7) Guy builds an RC flying, fire-breathing dragon.

Randomness for 5/5

Standard

1) Avengers Mashup Movie Posters

2) Hard to believe it’s been 20 years.

3) Planet of the Apes Dance Remix. Video. Pure Awesome.

4) Mark Waid’s Thrillbent is live.

5) Bed Cartography. Not that this has any relevance to my life, not at all.

6) Alien vs. Predator, the infographic.

7) D&D co-creator Dave Arneson’s personal collection and archive to be auctioned.

Randomness for 4/30

Standard

We’re game-heavy this time. Must be some sort of sign.

1) This sort of thing makes me miss gaming.

2) Father takes crazier, funnier pictures of his kids than I ever could of mine.

3) A water slide so dangerous it was shut down immediately.

4) Should I check email? A flowchart.

5) How to escape from zip tie “handcuffs”.

6) A fantastic D&D blog. I’ve added this one to my reading list. I especially liked “Items of Moderate Interest in the Ogre-King’s Hoard.”

7) What’s it going to take for the Don’t Read This Book anthology (which I am in) to turn a profit? A little publishing transparency from Fred Hicks.

Kickstarter follow ups

Standard

The Tales of the Emerald Serpent anthology is over and it’s fully funded:

(Let’s see if iframe will work in WordPress.)

Thanks to everyone who pledged. I know a lot of readers were unhappy that the benefit level for a physical book was so spendy, but when the book itself comes out I’m sure you can pick up a copy at regular book price.

The Dinopacalypse Kickstarter is nearly over…

and is running out of stretch goals. The benefit levels are pretty reasonable, too. At this point you can get ebooks of several of those novels for a paltry pledge. Take a look.

Finally, here’s a project I’m not involved in at all, except as a backer:

Sentinels of the Multiverse is my new favorite game to play with my son, and they made their goal for the new expansion set AND the second edition of the basic game in one day. That’s how popular this game is becoming. Personally, I’m hoping that they make their stretch goals so we can get the “promo cards” that let us change the way games are played.

Anyway, I’ve been recommending this game (as often as I do such things) but at this point I think it would be best to pick up the second edition. It will have better game balance for the villains and will make record-keeping less of a chore. And the Rook City expansion means tougher fights.

Added later: iframe doesn’t work in the cross-poster, so I’ve added links in the text.

Randomness for 4/14

Standard

1) Notch, creator of Minecraft, is planning a new “hard science fiction” space exploration game. Sadly for James Nicoll, the early promotional materials mention a cloaking device.

2) Screenshots of Despair

3) The Bad Opinion Generator.

4) Top 10 Dying Industries in the United States.

5) If Darth Vader had been a good father.

6) Nazis hire official lobbyist to lobby Congress.

7) Murals in Minneapolis that will soon face the wrecking ball.

Randomness for 4/6

Standard

1) A webcomic appreciation of Doctor Who. via @sinboy

2) The invasive species diet. I don’t care how much good it does for the planet, I’m not eating nutria.

3) The Dalek Relaxation Tape. Video.

4) Worst Album Covers Ever. Some of these are NSFW.

5) It’s Official: Star Wars Kinect Is the Worst Star Wars Thing Ever. I don’t know. To me, a little silliness if just fine.

6) D&D: The Important Questions

7) Awesome animated gifs. No, seriously for real.

More evidence for Lego D&D

Standard

My son made this MOC and took the pictures, too.

IMG_0698

More at the set.

Brandon Sanderson gets a video game adaptation of his books?

Standard

First of all, I’m glad for him. I don’t know the dude and to be frank I bounced off the first Mistborn book. But his books have been selling very well, and this is a happy thing for him.

But I have the envy, too. The deep, deep envy.

Ah well. It’s not something I can control, but I can go back to my own WIP. Here’s more details:

Mistborn: Birthright announced for XBOX, PS3, and PC — A Dribble of Ink.

Randomness for 3/4

Standard

1) United Artists’ Rejection Letter for STAR WARS. via @rodramsey

2) The Internet Justice League

3) Minecraft Middle Earth

4) Finally, a lit contest I can care about: 2011’s Oddest Book Titles of the Year. I’m rooting for the chicken sexer.

5) Why do innocent people confess to crimes they haven’t committed?

6) Against Big Bird, The Gods Themselves Contend in Vain. Big Bird wrests celestial justice from an Egyptian god in a Sesame Street special. For real.

7) A prosecutor and cartoonist creates A Criminal Lawyer’s Illustrated Guide to Crime.