RETRO GAMING!

I learned a short time ago that Lego actually released an rpg-themed boardgame back in 2011 called Lego Heroica, but it was discontinued just a year or two after release because it didn't sell at all. When I was told this I did not believe it, because I both consider myself to have a finger on the pulse of all things D&D, and I can't image Lego actually making a marketing mistake these days as Lego-enthusiasts will pretty much buy anything. Yet this guy (who we'll call Charles) would not be discouraged in convincing me of this attempt on Lego's part to cash in on the Geek and Sundry-style D&D mania that was going on (remember how good Geek and Sundry was in the early 2010s?), and he actually hunted down copies of three of the four main sets on ebay for us to check out. So we opened them up, built and combined all the various maps from the itsy-bitsy lego chits, and commenced  questing.

Holy smokes was this game fun. The rules were much more intricate compared to what I expected. Clearly someone put some major love into this over in Lego-Land. Its too bad it wasn't marketed well, because its pretty damn fun to play, especially if you're a kid just getting into gaming. Or a drunk adult.

All melee combat occurs with the same dice, and the same chances to hit and be hit by creatures, regardless of what they are or your character class. But the meaner monsters hit harder, which is pretty much the only difference between minions and bosses. However one face of the special attack/movement die has a shield on it, and if rolled it activates the special power that each character class has. Depending on your class it could be activated when you roll to move (as a ranged attack) or during combat (as a melee attack).

The Wizard, for example, moves and attacks in melee like everyone else. However if he rolls the shield during his movement phase, he can Magic Missile any monster within 3 spaces (even around corners). But if he rolls the shield during combat it just represents a successful hit as normal. On the other hand if the Barbarian rolls a shield during combat he can hit and kill all monsters within melee range around him, but if he rolls it during movement phase he can just move full distance, no special power.

Its intricate enough to keep your interest, but easy enough for kids to learn and play. It would be quite a gateway into D&D for any gamer parents, its just too bad its made by Lego and therefore was marked up 6000% upon release, and is even more expensive now on the black market.

All in all though Lego Heroica gets 4 pointy-lego-bits-hidden-in-the-carpet out of 5!
And I don't even really like Legos. ;)

What else can I say, its just easy fun. 
Game on!

Hi there! I know its been a while. Long story short I've moved the blog over to my own VC domain so I can store and post pics and videos and stuff far more easily without google and blogger getting up in my craw about ownership. Plus it will be nice to not have the Google folks sending endless unnecessary G+ notifications and constantly pinging me with "tips" on how to get likes and shares and other busybody messages I don't really care about.

So without further ado, let's talk about my upcoming Star Wars "Elseworlds" RPG game to replace The Last Jedi movie (because, as we all know, its a terrible movie). I'm not going to explain too much why The Last Jedi is a terrible movie, because you all already know deep within your souls that its bad. It ignored ALL of the previous movie's tantalizing plot hooks, invented "Force Snapchat" to justify sending interstellar shirtless snaps between the Force kids, made Luke Skywalker the dumbest Jedi who ever lived, and broke the entire reason to have lasers in space with that "hyperspace-is-ship-go-fast" magic torpedo nonsense. Even the Snoke apologists secretly know his death was dumb and unfulfilling, deep down.

So at GaryCon this year (2019), I have decided to run a "replacement" game for the movie The Last Jedi, re-imagining how it could've gone if Disney had hired some writers who actually LIKED Star Wars to make the movie following The Force Awakens. And my GaryCon players will help me bring a NEW Last Jedi story to life, which I'm super excited about.
As I love the Dead Games Society, I have decided to run the game using my favorite Star Wars ruleset, Star Wars Saga edition. (I like FFG's mystic dice version well enough, but I think WotC's Saga edition was a thing of beauty.) So the game is under the "DGS Presents" banner at GaryCon (Thursday at 2pm).

So first we must consider, what would a movie/game that replaces The Last Jedi need to have in it?

1. It must have a good reason Luke is in hiding. Not just because he's got baby boomer depression. He should be protecting a super duper secret that is too powerful for anyone to find out to justify his abandoning Leia and society like he has.
2. Snoke needs to actually have a history and a purpose. That purpose should be clearly Sith-related.
3. Rey should have a parentage that is revealed by the end of the movie. She doesn't need to be a Skywalker either. There are at least THREE other great Force-user families from the movies to link her to besides Skywalker.
4. The Chrome Storm Trooper lady should be totally badass. And her chrome armor should be shown to be able to deflect lightsaber attacks (I mean, obviously. Why else is it chrome)?
5. Its gotta have at least ONE of the Knights of Ren in it.
6. And you should be able to play at least one combat with Luke Skywalker involved.

Any others I missed? I've got a plotline made up for the above already that I am super excited to run the players through, so I won't spoil it now. I WILL spoil it after GaryCon (March 7-10, 2019 in Lake Geneva, WI), so check back here for how it went after the convention and more Star Wars discussion. And if you're going to the GaryCon, sign up for the game!

Poe, Fin, C3PO and BB-8 land on Luke's Island are coming to warn R2-D2, Chewy, and Rey (who has been training with Luke for the last six months) that the Knights of Ren have returned and are laying waste to the last remaining resistance planets searching for her and Luke. Suddenly, a First Order ship that was tracking them will land and attempt to eliminate the players and take Luke prisoner.
--> ROLL FOR INITIATIVE!