FEZ

This really cool indy game is coming to Xbox Live Arcade in early 2010! I love it when they bring these "experimental" games to the Arcade. :) Much better than some of the old re-tread crap the shovel onto there...

FEZ TRAILER 2 from fish on Vimeo.

BLOODWEAVERS!

Man, Privateer Press is overflowing their website with new previews! Tons of new Retribution stuff has popped up there... and now... Tharn Bloodweavers!

Awesome.. I had been waiting and waiting for them to finally reveal these models.. my Circle army has been waiting for them since Metamorphosis released.. and they do not disappoint!

Tharn women practicing the rites of the Bloodweavers are true masters of bloodletting. Their devotion to the Devourer Wurm is absolute, and they kill with the visceral immediacy of sacral blades wielded in their own hands. As their blades taste flesh, primal power causes a victim’s heart to race frantically before the blood suddenly ignites and vaporizes into an expanding mist.

Mage Hunters Strike Force

More new Retribution models revealed! These guys are just awesome... and some of the best models yet... (click on the picture of the unit to see it bigger... really great sculpts...)

Gaming Weekend Complete

A nice long gaming weekend wrpas up... went to my friend Mike's house for the weekend as did 4 of my other good gaming friends. Got there Friday night and spent some time with Mike (while we waited for the others guys to arrive) playing Rez HD and Street Fighter 4 on his giant screen. Then when the the othger guys got there we payed some Warmachine!

It was late so we did a small team game, Circle and Cryx agaist a team of 2 Skorne players. My Circle performed brilliantly, and we won the game without my army even taking any damage. We didn't get to sleep until close to 3:30.. but at 10 Am we were up and ready to play some more... I faced my friend Josh's new Skorne army, led by Zaal.. and 3 terrible Ancestral Guardians... but my Epic Kaya army managed to pull off a win.. it was a great game, a real slugfest on both sides. The next two battles did not go in my favor as much... my Khador (Zerkova) lost to Cryx (eDeneghra), but it was a fun battle. Saturday night we spent the time watching Dr. Horribl;e and Robot Chicken Star Wars on Mike's giant screen, and watching a bunch of game trailers... and again.. didn't get to sleep until 3-ish. Today (my birthday) was spent playing one more game, in which I again lost with my Morvahnna Circle Army being destroyed by Legion of Everblight. But even when I lose, I still have a great time.

We also talked about the upcoming 4e campaign we are going to start soon. We discussed some things in my game world, Earthynn, and we actually have the characters for the party chosen. I was pleased with how the character choices panned out, everyone got to play the character they really wanted, and we still ended up with a balanced party. Here's what we ended up with:

Dragonborn Warlord

Halfling Rogue

Shifter Druid

Goliath Warder

Tiefling Sorceror

Dwarven Bard

We may actually get to start playing this campaign next month.. heres hoping!

All in all, it was a great weekend of good food and gaming.(and very little sleep) I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend my birthday than with my friends... only thing missing was being able to see my family.

Garryth, Blade of Retribution

This guy is the third warcaster that is going to come out for the new Retribution of Scryah army.. comes out in October. Man, he is just awesome... a really beautiful sculpt. He is well deserving of being on the cover of the next No Quarter Magazine. :) One of the best models I have seen or the new faction so far... you can see a 360 degree view of him at Privateer Press' Gallery page.

adventure writing advice??

(If you are one of my players.. please don't read.. hehe)

So I working on my one-shot Earthynn story that I am running at GenCon. Its going to pre-gen charcters.. probably level 12 (wanted to try some higher level 4e). It involves a wizard's tower, a mysterious city and a gold dragon. I have lots of col ideas for it.. the adventurer are going to start with "amnesia" and there will be a long running skill challenge throughout the story involving them regaining their memories... there are some cool puzzle rooms in the tower... the city itself is full of illusions... there is an Eye Tyrant at work behind the scenes... I have lots of cool ideas.. but when I actually sit down to assemble them into a concrete adventure... I get nowhere...

How do I start, where does it go from there... basically I am just looking for tips on structuring the adventure.. should I start just by writing up encounters? Does it benefit me to draw out maps first? should I detail all the ideas I have as individual encounters then find ways to tie them together? Do I write up an outline and stick to it?

The gaming group I will be running this for (and the one that will eventually be the long-running Earthynn campaign) are a varied lot... some are new to DnD, some are very casual players, and others are very hardcore players... so I am trying to be prepared for all fronts...heh

wow!

GenCon

So, I have been thinking about GenCon.. well, lets be honest, I spend a lot of time thinking about GenCon... and I always like to try out something new when I'm there, maybe pick up a new game, or play a new game.. look at some new gaming aids or tools, check out the plethora of gaming companies producing tons of awesome products, even if they are not ones I will eventually buy and/or use. Here are a few of the things I am hoping to demo/check out/purchase at GenCon this year.

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Campaign Cartographer

Seeing as how I am building a campaign world, this seems like a great tool. The software is only $45... and the system requirements are not severe... so I am looking forward to trying it out and maybe picking it up this year.

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Uncharted Seas

This is a miniature game of naval warfare set in a high fantasy setting. Instead of the Spanish armada facing off against the British fleet.. (boring!)... you get the Elven fleet facing off against the Orc Raiders... they have 5 races and two more on the way. And to top it off...they even have Sea Monsters!

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Mouse Guard RPG

I read Gnome Stew's very thorough review of this RPG and it sounds pretty awesome. I have not read the comics, but I think I might like to..

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