We love a good Roll and Write game and Divvy Dice has been near the top of my favs for a long time now. What is YOUR favourite?
#BoardGames #TabletopGame #DiceGames #RollAndWriteGames #RollAndWrite #DivvyDice
#TabletopGame
Review of Thirst for Blood: A Pathfinder Adventure
Disclaimer
Paizo sent me the first book of the Shades of Blood adventure path, Thirst for Blood to review for my blog. While I am very grateful for the opportunity, this will be my honest opinion of the resource book. I will also be using Amazon affiliate links where possible, but you can always buy Thirst for Blood directly from the Paizo store.
Shades of Blood: The Hook
Where the once great Alzanti empire stood, now sits fragmented remains scattered across islands and at the bottom of the ocean. The Alzanti once held dominion with its advanced technology, now its scraps are sold as oddities. Its been years since its collapse, and more of the lost empires secrets have began to surface. Unfortunately, not all of them are good.
At the bottom of the ocean, hidden behind a labyrinth of traps and stone, sits a prison for the empires most dangerous foes. Among these is an ancient vampire by the name of Nizca Irocol. Nizca was so powerful that the only way to stop her was to keep her in a state of perpetual stasis. Unfortunately, the Earthfall has shaken the force that kept Nizca locked away.
Newly freed, Nizca seeks to reunite with her long lost lover. To do this, she plans to use ancient Alzanti technology to put the world into perpetual darkness, and releasing a prison full of blood thirsty creatures into the world to sew chaos.
As fate would have it, a group of eager adventures have been hired in a nearby town to investigate the sudden anomaly. What will they uncover? What treasures will they find? Do they have what it takes to save the world, or will it fall to vampires?
What is Shades of Blood?
Thirst for Blood is the first leg of the Shades of Blood saga. It takes players from levels 1-3, and acts as an introduction to the world, game, and characters. The players will arrive to the town of Talmandor’s Bounty, where they have been hired to aid a local astronomer. Everything erupts into chaos as the sky turns to black and an army of blood thirsty creatures starts attacking the city. The adventures now find themselves investigating this sudden chaotic outburst. Players will need to travel to a nearby island, and begin their delve through this fascinating mystery.
Impressions
If you are planning on running this adventure, you are going to need the GM Core. The adventure path doesn’t include any of the rules, or all of the stat blocks. There is also a free player’s guide to help players prep for the campaign. I’ll drop the file below for your convenience, but you can pick it up on the official Paizo site.
ShadesOfBlood_PlayersGuideDownloadThirst for Blood is a solid start to the adventure. It has a few alternate modes of play (not everything is solved by combat), and it does a good job at getting players involved with the world. The early missions of the game has players interacting with NPCs as they complete chores around the starting city, and slowly introduces the games many mechanics. This is a very beginner friendly resource, and a good way to get into Pathfinder.
My only concern with the first chapter is that players need to be willing to roleplay to make some of the chores fun. I do appreciate that the game sets up ample opportunities for players to grow comfortable with their characters through the many social interactions. While chapter one does a great job at helping break the ice, some of the quests can be boring depending on the roleplay.
The rest of the adventure is a solid dungeon delve with fantastic flavor baked throughout. The book introduces fun enemies for players to fight, and provides a neat mystery for them to solve. I’m sure your players will find clever ways to skip around, but there are some cool ideas that I will be using in other campaigns. Overall, if you’re into a strait forward delve, this is a great place to start.
The book itself is very cool. I love the art, and the book is printed with the high quality standard I’ve come to expect from Paizo. I am a little bummed that it doesn’t include all of the stat blocks, but I guess it is fair that they assume players will at least a GM Core handy.
Aside from my issues with the first chapter, this is a solid resource. If you like vampires and dungeon crawlers, this a cool book to own. I personally enjoy reading about all the adventure’s lore, but there are also a few stat blocks I will be borrowing for future campaigns.
You can pick up the Thirst for Blood adventure path for $29.99 from Paizo and Amazon.
#2025 #2e #blog #blogger #blogging #dungeonCrawl #entertainment #fantasy #gaming #internet #media #pathfinder #pathfinder2e #review #Reviews #rpg #tabletopGame #tabletopGaming #ttrpg #vampires #watch #wordpress #writing
I guess I haven't released a lot of my Big Red art here.
So, here is the rest. Awful jokes and all.
Check out his channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/@BigRed40TECH
#battletech #mechwarrior #scifi #scifiart #tabletopgames #tabletopgame #procreate
Dog Park is a fun board game that is often compared to Wingspan. Tons of cards with fantastic artwork, easy-to-learn rules with mechanisms that are more interactive than Wingspan and fantastic components.
#Dogs #BoardGames #TabletopGame #games #GameDay #BoardGameAddict #PlayMoreGames #doggos #DogPark
Happy Star Wars Day! What is your favourite Star Wars board game?
#MatTheFourth #MayThe4th #BoardGames #TabletopGame #games #StarWars #MayTheForceBeWithYou
I'm a cowardly Root Gatherer. I love the chaos and planning required when we play Broom Service!
#BoardGames #TabletopGame #games #GameDay #PlayMoreGames #BoardGameAddict #BroomSrrvice
Happy Traveller Day to all who celebrate!
#Traveller #TravellerDay #MayDay #rpg #tabletop #tabletopgame #tabletopgaming #ttrpg #roleplaying #roleplayinggame
Yesterday power outage was fun tbh... #VampireChapters #VtM #VampireMasquerade #TabletopGame #ttprpg
Goblin King Games recruiting undead pirates for Moonstone from May 2nd. A skeletal captain, resurrection-casting troll, faerie gunslinger and treasure-laden crab - "shell company" just took on an entirely new and delicious meaning https://l.d20.ninja/mrzyvtyp #Moonstone #GoblinKingGames #UndeadPirates #TabletopGame #Miniatures
This is hardly an unknown game, but if you're looking for a #TwoPlayer game to end your marriage, The Fox in the Forest is probably our favorite two-player #TableTopGame #TableTopGaming
Not sponsored, go buy it. Or, if you're local (you know who you are) I'll bring it around to one of the game nights!
Register now for Connections Online - the premier online convention covering both hobby and professional wargaming!
It's happening this week!
Register now for Connections Online - the premier online convention covering both hobby and professional wargaming!
It's happening this week!
Register now for Connections Online - the premier online convention covering both hobby and professional wargaming!
It's happening this week!
The last of the MegaMek big splashes. The Commando arc is complete.
Get your hands on some slightly burnt salvage:
megamek.org
#battletech #battletechart #mechwarrior #mechwarriorart #mech #mecha #scifi #scifi #tabletopgames #tabletopgame #tabletopgaming #TabletopWargaming
More explosive Megamek action. Another splash page from the project. The Last Resort didn't last.
Check out Megamek here:
megamek.org
#battletech #battletechart #mechwarrior #mechwarriorart #scifi #scifiart #tabletopgame #tabletopgames #mech #mecha #TabletopWargaming
Review of Urban Shadows: The Urban Fantasy RPG
Disclaimer
I was sent a free copy of the Urban Shadows 2E core book to review for my blog. While I am very grateful for the opportunity, I won’t let it sway my opinions. This will be my honest review. I will also be using my amazon affiliate links when possible. Always support your LGS, but using my link helps me out!
What is Urban Shadows?
Urban Shadows is an award winning TTRPG that just received its second edition.
In large metropolitan cities, a supernatural society operates in the shadows. Unbeknownst to the average citizen, there is an ever presence conflict between four warring factions as they try to gain dominion over the city. The balance of power is in a state of constant flux, and the political landscape of the city is forever shifting. Fate, chance, or whatever you want to call it has brought you into the this world, and it is up to you to find your place within it. Make deals, earn and pay off your social debts, and climb your way up the ladder. Who will you become? How will you shape the cities narrative? How will you let the city shape you?
The Gist of It
This is a massive book, but the gist is this:
In Urban Shandows, players navigate the complex social network of the supernatural society of a major city. They must broker deals, climb the social ladder, and most importantly, operate in the shadows.
Whatever the city, there are four factions that fight over its dominion: Mortalis, Night, Power, and Wild.
Mortalis are the humans that find themselves in the world, either by chance or by choice. Some hunt the monsters that roam the night. Others smuggle supernatural items to sell for a profit. Others play with the idea of giving up their humanity to join this world permanently.
Power is full of the people who can wield the magic of this world. It is full of the wizards, oracles, and immortals who seek to gain more power from this world.
Night is the faction of people who have been transformed into a supernatural creature of the night, and must wrestle with this new found identity. These are the vampires, werewolves, and ghosts of the city and the smaller sects that form within them.
Wild is the faction that lives on the fringes of society that wield powerful ancient magics that rival the other factions. These are the faeries, demons, and constructs that roam the city’s shadows.
The important thing is that these factions have an established hierarchy, and the players must find their place within it. The faction a player starts with, doesn’t have to be the one they end in. They don’t even have to be the same character, there is a mechanic that allows players to retire. Climbing is not easy, and it isn’t black and white. While players can fight their way through the city for territory, there are more diplomatic approaches that might prove more efficient. Trying to change an outcome with emotion or persuasion instead of fists is just as viable, if not more. The city is always moving and changing, and players need to adapt to keep up. Whether they can shake up the foundation of the city is up to a few actions and a couple dice roles. Within those four factions are 12 unique classes for players to choose from. Each class feels unique and gives players abilities to help them navigate their social mobility. There is a lot of flavor in this game, and while you can adjust your narrative to fit your vision, the book has a lot of valuable helpful examples to get a newer Master of Ceremony (game master) started.
What sets the game apart is the focus on urban fiction, which takes players to the streets of their favorite cities at any time in history. Want to start in the present and time skip to a time of calamity? Go for it! The landscape may be in constant flux, but the narrative belongs to the city.
The Book
https://youtube.com/shorts/Mt8v4mTP1yI
Review
Urban Shadows is a very good resource for any new game master, even if you don’t plan on running the game itself. The amount of resource, examples, and detail that make this book the hefty beast that it is can easily be translated into other systems. The book spells out every mechanic and feature in a way that is easy to read and understand, and is filled some very cool art to break up the information.
The game is powered by the apocalypse system, and the system is easy to learn and teach. This is important, especially for newer players who just want to hop into the game and not worry about intricate nuances. The game has its complexity, but I feel like there was less time spent arguing about rules, and more time enjoying the world and story for what it is.
Character creation is easy with the class system, and every class feels balanced and unique. More testing is required of course, but it all felt fine for the bit that was done. I like that the game doesn’t have to revolve around combat (it can), and how creative solutions to problems can be. The death and retirement system is interesting. The on death abilities each class has makes death sting a little less, and I like that players can retire a character if they just want to try something new.
What is important to note about the system is that it is going to be a bit more roleplay heavy. Yes dice rolls will sway the narrative, but you are going to have to ask for favors, or gather clues, or broker deals in a way that is limited by your social standing. For people who are more interested in the political side of roleplay, this is a great choice with lots of room for good story telling.
If you enjoy physical media, the book is a fantastic addition to any collection. Its a good quality book with some great illustrations. As far as resource books go, you’ll have everything you need to run a good campaign. There are helpful examples, tables, and a couple cities. There is an appendix with a bunch of charts and tables for the GM that needs to create an meaningful encounter on the fly.
I’ve read a few different resource books and nothing comes close to how detailed this book is. For veteran game masters, it is a little over kill. But for those just starting out in the space, it doesn’t get any better. When I started my journey, I did hours of research. A lot of what I’ve learned is packaged neatly in this book, and while there is lot a GM will learn through practice, its a great place to start.
Urban Shadows is a little too RP heavy for my table, but we had fun running it. We enjoyed how easy everything was to pick up, and the flavor is sound. I ran my games in San Francisco because that is the city I know best, but the borrowed a couple of the examples in the books to fill its underworld. I really enjoyed the shift to Urban Fantasy. We play a lot of high fantasy with the occasional scifi story, and it was nice to explore a modern city with modern problems and a supernatural element. I’d absolutely come back to the system if prompted because there is a lot of room for good story telling, and some very epic moments.
Urban Shadows is a solid TTRPG. If you like werewolves and vampires and mitigating the intricacies of social advancement, I don’t think you can find anything better than Urban Shadows.
You can pick up Urban Shadows and related products on the official Magpie store, and on DriveThru RPG if you don’t care about physical media.
#blog #blogger #blogging #entertainment #fantasy #gaming #ghosts #internet #magic #media #review #Reviews #tabletopGame #tabletopGaming #ttrpg #urbanFantasy #urbanShadows #vampires #watch #werewolves #wordpress #writing
Returning to this project that fell off the road map.
1968: Washington Senators at Oakland A’s 4/21 in Strat-O-Matic 1968 Replay https://www.rawchili.com/4143976/ #Baseball #boardgame #FantasyBaseball #FantasySports #fantasy! #MLB #OaklandAthletics #OaklandAthletics #StratOMatic #TabletopGame
Monkey Palace is a LEGO game with a solid, fun, competitive game behind it. Highly recommended for families. Fun for kids and fun for adults too. LEGO fans will love this one!
#BoardGames #TabletopGame #games #monkeys #BoardGameAddict #PlayMoreGames #LEGOgames #LEGO #MonkeyPalace
1968: Houston Astros at Philadelphia Phillies 4/20 in Strat-O-Matic 1968 Baseball Replay https://www.rawchili.com/4130832/ #Baseball #boardgame #FantasyBaseball #FantasySports #fantasy! #HoustonAstros #HoustonAstros #MLB #StratOMatic #TabletopGame
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