Board Gaming Fun - Fortune and Glory

Let me see. You want me to play a game where our heroes trot across the globe searching for treasures while all the while dodging Nazis, the Mob, and other perils on a mission to stop global domination?

Hell Yeah!

Fortune and Glory is a new game from local (Seattle area) guys Flying Frog. Themed in the age of pulp adventure, this game strays from the usual formula of heroes going through a single adventure and instead approaches the genre from a much more global (literally) perspective.

Each player controls a single hero and works with other players to bounce back and forth across the globe to take on various adventures at different locations. Each adventure is a short form arranged as a series of tests made to determine success or failure. There are some cool mechanics in the game that add an element of gambling as you are allowed to push your luck and skills to complete an adventure before it gets snatched out from under your by the game's NPC nemesis. The consequences of pushing your limits can result in you losing out on the potential glory that a completed adventure can win you.The mechanics are pretty simple utilizing stats, equipment, character traits and followers to score successes.

All the time the heroes are chasing treasures, so too are the Nazis and mobsters and these villains turn up at all the wrong places all of the time. As if that weren't bad enough, they are gallivanting around in their Zepplin base deploying willy nilly and continuously cluttering the board with more and more of their villainy, making it increasingly difficult to partake in the simple joy of dodging ancient evil, traps and denizens for the sake of...you guessed it...Fortune and Glory!

I very much enjoyed this game. It is no secret that I am a fan of the Pulp genre and this board game did not leave me hanging unless it was off the proverbial cliff. The cooperative play aspect is appealing though I understand it can be played with the added complication of a traitor. With plenty of characters to play and a never-ending variety of combinations of epithet and location (how adventures are generated) it promises to never get boring.

First Go At Armada

Let The Wookiee Win

Yesterday I had a chance to try out the new Star Wars Armada game. I have missed out on most of the "clicky" miniatures games but the subject of this one was too cool to not try. I have always wanted to play fleet battles in the Star Wars universe. While this is not the first game to be made for this or the only to have done it all along, it is the first one that I have heard my local gamers get excited about.

My opponent, who has a few games under his belt, let me choose Empire or Rebel, I decided to go with a Victory star destroyer and several squads of TIE Fighters. Before we played, he gave me a run down on the rules and explained all the components and indulged my questions about how the theme of the universe and the ships being portrayed had been translated into rules.

I think it is worth noting that, as a Star Wars fan, I am mostly satisfied with the rules interpretations of the universe and the ships so far. It is a big deal that the ships in the game are able, within the rules, to perform as expected from the fiction. X-wings fight like X-wings and TIEs like TIEs. 

The fight itself was a pretty straight forward head to head. Two small Rebel ships and X-wings versus my own Victory and TIEs. The learning curve was minimal. The game is so well put together with everything clearly laid out and with everything having its own piece when it needs to. Orders, stats, even measuring are optimized (the movement tool is inspired). 

What this meant is that in no time I was barreling forward with my star destroyer, making a few course corrections and maneuvering my fighters around to harass the Rebel ships and engage their fighters. Combat is neat and clean and I never found myself at a loss for figuring out where I stood. 

There were a few points that took some getting used to but these mostly centered around the range bands and the special dice for these bands as well as getting used to plotting command in advance and working through those. I don't think I made enough use of the ability to hold orders for a later time but I also do not feel I had too many situations come up in this learning game where this was needed.

By the end of the game I was a convert. I had won, but just barely and only technically speaking. The game ran out of turns with me in a leading position but it was clear that my capital ship was a wreck and the two fresh fighter squadrons would be able to finish me with their next round of bombing runs.

Now I just bide my time and let the inventory of available models flesh out a bit before diving in. I know my budget for this game will be limited, even if the components are pretty reasonably priced, and I do not want to make an early purchase that I will regret when something new comes out. A little patience never hurts and I doubt my frugal hesitation will hurt the prospects of this game with its juggernaut appeal.

Take care,

-Eli

Another Blast(er) From the Past

Star Slammers is a great book from 1983. In this graphic novel, Walt Simonson brings us a story of interstellar mercenaries fighting for their honor and their lives against all odds.

This is another one of those great bits of 80's Space Opera where big guns, bright colors and ultra-fancy tech really shine. I cannot help but feel there are some similarities between the basic concept here and the Hammer's Slammers but then again, one could draw comparison to the Seven Samurai, even if there are only three Slammers.

The depictions of future combat in here are just so wonderfully over the top as to ring on a truly heroic level. Three heroes clad in what seems like power armor with big guns and even some gimmicky weapons (sling grenades!) take on an enemy much greater than themselves, laying low the forced of tyranny.

I can't help but think my friends and I tried playing this as an RPG when we were kids. If not, we at least borrowed content and inspiration for our sci fi games. 

-Eli

Galaxy Trucker - A Really Really Mean Expansion.

The newest expansion for Galaxy Trucker, Another Big Expansion is an ass kicker to be sure!

In a game that delights in foiling well-layed plans and destroying players dreams of the perfect ship, this expansion kicks that masochistic fun into overdrive.

TILES

There are a bunch of new tiles in this expansion including many combination pieces, robot crew, solar panels, armories and internal automated defense (for the new boarding rules), along with a host of other goodies. There are even tiles that allow tiles, that normally have must be adjacent, to function as one tile apart (connected by the new tile).

CARDS

There are some really nasty new cards, most of which are driven by the new tiles and rules for them. There are new asteroid cards, commandos and predators (both types of boarding encounters) as well as some other nasty surprised like open space with asteroids.

SHIPS (GAME BOARDS)

There are new ships for this expansion (again) and a new level IV ship that combines two ship boards into a BIG ship. The kicker on the level IV ships is that each combo is different so in the final round the players are not all playing on the same board.

Overall this is another fun expansion for the Galaxy Trucker. It does make the game more lethal, though I have a feeling it will become less so as we become more acquainted with the ever-increasing variety of tiles and rules.

-Eli

Captain Midnight Chronicles

I'm always on the look out for good reading and inspiration for my gaming hobby. I guess i like to kill two birds with one stone. This book really succeeds in fulfilling that goal.

"Captain Midnight Chronicles" is an anthology of short stories reprising the classic pulp character of radio and film fame in all new adventures written by some very talented authors of the genre and edited together by Christopher Mills (also a contributing author). There are twelve unique stories of adventure and derring do in a number of locations and against some truly pulpy villains like Ivan Shark. Aerial escapades and thrilling on-the-ground action are the meat of these stories.

Give it a look. I picked mine up on Amazon.com.

-Eli

"The Tall Man" a Surprisingly Good Thriller

Based on the cover of this movie, the advertising, and the description on the DVD case, I was pretty sure I had this movie pegged, but because I love movies that base their plots on these sort of folksy, urban legend style characters, I finally gave this film a shot. Man, am I glad I did.

It is hard to say exactly why I liked this movie so much without spoiling everything I liked about it. Leave it be said, that what I like is that this movie is not a simple "boogey man" story.

-Eli

A Curious Little Tome

I picked this book up at the local Half Priced Books. Four the $5 it cost me, I didn't see a problem with picking up an obscure bit of 3E fun and I cannot say that I regret it.

The book itself is presented in a curious format. It has a lay-flat, ringed spine and hard covers, making it perfect for the tabletop. No trouble getting it to stay on the right page which is critical as this book is set up for a series of presentations that are splashed across two facing pages.

The book is is a series of encounters, or small adventure areas, usually just a few room per map. You get a nicely rendered grey scale map, and a series of descriptions detailing the various rooms presented on the map. There are occasional note suggesting tie-ins with other sections in the book in some of them, allowing you to expand beyond that map if you choose.

What I find most useful about the book is that each of the sections is self-contained enough to allow for a quickie side jaunt but also tie into a larger section if you need something more substantial. Even though it's statted for 3E, it would be no great thing to sub in the stats from whatever version of D&D or similar system you are using.

I see this getting much use in my family game.

-Eli

Smashing Things Up - A Game Night With Paul Peterson

Last night our gaming group was fortunate enough to have a special guest. Turns out a member of our group is old friends with Paul Peterson, designer of the Guillotine card game. He joined us to introduce us to his new game, "Smash Up", which will be put out by AEG. Smash Up got it's debut at GenCon and sold out in the first two days. Not bad!

Anyhow, Smash Up is a cool game in which you take two decks of card, each with a theme and smash them up into a single deck. So, you might end up with Robots and Dinosaurs with Lasers or Ninjas and Wizards. Each themed deck is made up of Minion and Action cards. Each turn you play a single Minion and/or Action card from your hand. Card effects may modify these basic moves. 

What you are doing with these cards is battling over any of five bases that are in play at any given time. Bases have effects on them that modify the Minions and Actions played there and/or other game effects. Bases are scored based on who has more points of Strength there with a first, second and runner up reward. These rewards very from Base to Base as does the overall Strength of the Base - a number you have to overcome with the total Strength of all Minions, from all players, placed at that Base.

Big D contemplates his next move.

The game plays rather smoothly and the combinations of different themes allows for a good amount of variety in game play and strategy. Ninjas, for example are all about sneaking in and changing things up. Wizards are about moving cards through the deck and hand. Zombies seem to be about resilience. Smash 'em up and you have great fun with your Zombie Pirates!

In addition to showing off his baby, Paul was a great guy to hang out with and is every bit a gamer as the rest of us. Between jokes, jibes and the usual trash talk, table talk, gossip and such, he even fielded our endless questions on the game design process.

I know he's a busy dude and he lives always away, but I do hope we can have Paul back for some more games.

Thanks Paul for coming over and thank you Chuck for inviting him.

-Eli

Iron Skies is Pure Gold

The guys at the local game store (Yes! Finally have one!) were awesome enough to invite some folks to an after business hours screening of this film. Store was closed for business and it was a pizza and beer sort of an affair. 

If you haven't seen this independent film, or haven't because you thought it would be awful, let me say it is bad, but only in the best possible ways. What amazed and surprised me was the level of polish to the movie. It didn't feel like a low budget movie. the acting was campy, but seemed almost intentionally so, as if the whole point was to made a really GOOD version of a BAD movie.

It is clear that there are some messages to be had in the movie, but really there is so much fun going on they may get lost in their own packaging. This, of course, is only magnified by a few beers and a room full of geeky viewers who are not afraid to hoot and holler mid-film.

In the end, this movie left me satisfied and happy and really wanting to own a copy.

What can you not love about Nazis from the moon.

-Eli

Conan The Barbarian (2011)

So much has been said about this movie leading up to its release and since that I absolutely had to make sure I saw it before it left the theatres. I figured, with no real attachment to the literary version of the character and having grown up on a healthy diet of Arnie the Barbarian and "Savage Sword of Conan", that I might actually be able to enjoy it for what it was and not find myself jaded by prior expectations.

I did.

When it comes down to it, this movie really had a lot to like. Though it jazzed me as a kid, as I grew older I found the origin story portrayed in the movie much more entertaining and believable than the original Arnie film. It never quite sat right with me that "The Riddle of Steel" was so elusive as to drive a man to conquest. The overall visual of the movie is epic and both fanciful and familiar.

What it really comes down to for me is a basic check list of what this kind of movie should include -

• Muscle bound noble barbarian
• Pretty girls
• Exotic places
• Derring-do
• A little magic
• A big monster
• Cool bad guys
• Lots of sword fighting

All of the above are a big check if you ask me. When it comes to Conan plots you generally have the big guy racing around trying to stop some wicked person from unleashing some sort of unspeakable horror on Hyboria and we see that in this movie. Along the way, he makes some friends and falls for a girl. We also have that. In the end, the evil plot is undone, Conan is victorious but is in the end left where he began - alone and driven. Once again, we have that in this movie.

Couldn't find a lot wrong with the movie from where I was sitting even though I did let the mostly empty theatre open up the MS3TK spigot that can be let loose on any movie.

-Eli

[Edit: It was pointed out that I mistakenly used the incorrect "daring-do" instead of "derring-do". Well, to the anonymous poster who pointed that out, you are correct but I'll hardly be damned for writing it how it should have been. It is only because the originally incorrect spelling has become the correct spellingthat it is correct at all.]

Tangoing With Rango

Alright, I may be a little late to this parade, but I recently bought the DVD and have to say I absolutely loved Rango. Johnny Depp offers us another great oddball characterization among a cast of other oddballs. The presentation of a cracked version of the Wild West is as memorable as the character design and the animation in this movie.

Rango's fish out of water journey from faux hero to true grit western type is quite entertaining to watch. Familiar western tropes are handled with style and agility throughout the movie. Cameos of familiar faces or homages paid to classic movie characters are also sprinkled through the entire picture. In many ways it sort of plays like an offbeat Wind in the Willows from an American point of view.

The picture below shows many of the memorable character designs. So taken with them am I that I am tempted to try to give them the same treatment that the fellow over at Mutton Chop Miniatures did with the characters from The Wind in the Willows, transforming classic animal characters into their human counterparts.

From a gaming perspective there is a lot to borrow here. From interesting Old West characters to an inspiration for a post apocalyptic mutant animal community.

Give Rango a peep and enjoy!

-Eli

Review of Khurasan Miniatures Exterminators



Picture from Khurasan Miniatures website.

I received my order of Khurasan Miniatures 15mm Federal Exterminators and they are everything I hoped they would be.

The miniatures live up to the usual Khurasan standards and I'd say they are at the upper end of that. Clean casts, minimal flash if any and tons of character. The figures look like they will paint up quite easily. Each figure has not just what you'd expect - armor, gun, helmet - but they also have little tidbits. Each has a headset cam/comm unit and shoulder lights. Their guns, though not an exact replica of their movie inspiration, are close enough to evoke the same love.

The poses are all good in my opinion combining a nice combination of combat ready and patrol poses. There are a few models that stand out from the rest of the grunts and they each show off the attention to detail here. The motion tracker has his rifle at the ready as he takes a reading. The flamer advances ready to roast the enemy but he has not been left ill-equipped and still carries and assault rifle over his back. The man squad includes two SAWs one of which is a character model of sorts, sporting a pony tail and a few extra curves (no mistaking her for a man). The sergeant in the squad is not depicted in the old style heroic pose and instead appears to be trying to keep his teem "frosty" as he looks forward, but motions to his rear.

A few notes on the possibilities in this pack. The two SAWs look like they would easily be converted into other types of heavy weapons with a little cutting or add-ons. The kneeling figure could be converted to a sharpshooter/sniper with a barrel extension, maybe some green stuff. A bit of rod or tube could transform the shoulder-firing trooper into a missile launcher trooper.

I am sure they will sell well enough for an expansion to the line but even if they don't, I don't think people will be sunk if they don't mind a little modelling fun.

-Eli

Universe A Very Complex RPG

I have been wanting to check out some new scifi RPGs for a bit and a bit ago I stumbled upon an RPG for sale on Ebay that caught my eye. - "Universe". I must be honest and say that this rules system is a bit overwhelming, but not in a bad way.

Universe, is a relatively gritty, hard scifi RPG produced by Tower Ravens. The best way I can describe it is as a sort of neo-Traveller type of game. It is for folks who want some crunch with their scifi. In fact, the authors of Universe are quite clear about the game being a complex game that may not be for everyone. In fact, they go on for a good page and a half about how their game may not be the game for you. I personally agree but really think that this is something that belong closer to the front of the book rather than being tucked away in their "how to play" section.

Don't get me wrong. I like a lot of what I saw in the book and if I had picked this up in my younger days I'd have eaten it up real quick. But this is a game with a twelve page character sheet which includes 14 attributes among other things. There is an entire page to help calculate encumbrance and the effects that pain and exhaustion have on that. Damage is tracked not just physically, but psionically with separate damage tracks for body damage and mental damage. Heck, there is even a chart to determine the blood type of your character and his cross compatibility with other PCs across a number of player races. Universe is, as they have said, complex.

But that is a good thing in a lot of ways. The way that psionic damage is handled is refreshingly interesting, using damage tracks at specific chakra (called vortexes) which have an effect on different aspects of your character. The rules include tech that ranges from traditional slug-thrower weapons to energy weapons. There are personal force field and advanced body armor. Robots, computers, spaceships, all the trappings of scifi, each given a good solid treatment.

The rules...

What can I say, I still haven't figured them out and I am pretty sure that this is one of those systems you have to play to get. Not that they are badly written, but there is so much going on in this game that I'm pretty sure that I am overlooking elements. The writing of the rules is actually quite nice, using examples and even sidebar cutouts of specific parts of the character roster that pertain to the rule in question. This is good but I am guess they felt it was necessary given the complexity of the system. I'll likely never see the true beauty of this system as I and my group really just don't have time for the complexity of Universe.

The setting is fleshed out with quite a bit of background fluff and flavor text. Races are described as is the history of the setting. Current states of affair are presented and several worlds are described in Almanac form. Everything from economic, lifestyle, education, crime and punishment is detailed for the worlds. Want to know what a planet exports? It's there. Need to know if the planet has the death penalty? There is no doubt.

Really what Universe is offering its players is a really detailed game for fans of those sorts of scifi stories where all the fiddly bits matter. It's not for Star Warriors or Star Frontiersman. What it is missing is a whole lot, despite all that it has. In the 304 pages there is nnothing covering specific types of vehicles or creatures at all. Since this version of the game was published in 2003, I'm thinking that there may be no official support for it. But, being that it is a redo of an old game, there may be material that can be borrowed from the old version to fill the gaps on the new versions.

A final note, this Universe game is not related to the original Universe RPG from the 80s.

-Eli

Devlin Mud is Magic

So, after dragging my feet for a bit, I finally went out and bought a couple bottle of Games Workshop's Devlin Mud wash. It has now been a couple of month's since buying it and I have finally had a chance to use some of it. I have to say that I am happy with it.

I found that a quick, one might even say sloppy, application to a few basically painted figures really added a lot and got the figures in good order. This is a real boon for me who really doesn't feel the desire to put in the time to paint my figs to really high standards but doesn't want them looking dog ugly on the table.

Yay Devlin Mud!

-Eli

Brytenwalda - New Free Dark Ages Skirmish Game

So, I got scooped on this by Chad over at Maximum Rock & Role-Play but I figured it was worth commenting on just the same. Brytenwalda, written by Victor Gondra, came up as my buddy Chuck and I were searching for free rules sets to use while scratching an itch for some 28mm Dark Ages wargaming (more on that when I have something to report). Downloaded, printed, and skimmed through the system looks pretty cool. The basic rules (17 pages of actual rules) are written with the Age of Arthur in mind, operating on a warband scale. This is not army on army but more like armed bands duking it out over parcels of land and the like.

Presented here is a brief, at-a-a-glance review of the rules. I feel obligated to say that I have yet to play these rules and so this is solely based on reading through the rules. 

Unit Statistics

Stats are kept simple and abstracted - Movement, Combat, Defence, Quality, Talents, and Solidus. The first four (M,C, D, C) are all qualitative scores expressing the relative combat ability of the troop type. It should be noted that there are only two stat lines in the game conscript or veteran with all units having one or the other. These are given more character through the use of talents.

Talents are where some of the less mathematical qualities of the troops come into play. These abilities are expressions of abilities and equipment of the troop type such as shields brutality, ferocity, etc. Each of these talents is either a prerequisite for some sort of rule, a modifier to a rule, or a rule in itself. As an example, only troops and characters with the shields talent can form shield walls.

The last is Solidus (S) which is less a game stat and more a points cost. It's name comes from a form of currency used during the age and adds a nice bit of character to building a warband as you now get the idea of the financial cost outlay your warlord is looking at.

Warband Structure

Warbands are built up from four neat and tidy army lists (they cover two pages) offering Romano-British, Saxon, Scots-Irish, and Picts. These provide the ratios and the talents associated with particular units.

Units in Brytenwalda take the form of one of four types depending on their size - team (3), group (6), band (9), and horde (12). Units are made up of one of either conscripts or veterans. Further classifications as infantry, archers, or cavalry, heroes and chieftains are also used.

System

Brytenwalda has the usual sorts of rules for hand to hand and shooting. The initiative system is not "I go/You go" but rather a reciprocal sort of affair. The player who wins initiative that turn gets to move a unit, then his opponent, rinse and repeat.

There are some fun bits of character to the system such as linked shooting and the ability to add pressure to a defeated unit to help push it into retreat, but the most interesting thing in the system for me is the command rules that require units to receive orders to do things in the game.

The order rules are pretty cool, requiring you to issue commands to units. But it is not a given that a unit will respond properly to these commands and as such a comprehension check is required otherwise the unit continues acting on its last orders. This adds a cool fog of war element.

Scenarios

Brytenwalda is a scenario-driven game and come equipped with six canned scenarios. The following scenarios are included, each with their own sets of special rules and victory conditions -

1. Pitched Battle - A straight up fight
2. Loot and Plunder - Attacker must sack an objective location.
3. Bridgehead - A king of the hill scenario.
4. Relic Raiders - A loot race scenario.
5. Ambush - Nuff said!
6. Kidnapping - Like Loot and Plunder with the objective being a person in the building.

Scenario play is complimented by a simple campaign system that provides methods for linking scenarios, determining the fate of fallen unit and heroes as well as the spoils of war, replacing lost warriors and improving your warband . There is also a system for "Glory and Renown" which allows units to get special campaign-related abilities.

Creating New Units and Warbands

Even this small set of rules includes an appendix which provides points and guidelines for creating new troop types for use in the published warbands or for creating new types of warbands. The nice thing about this points system, unlike some systems allow for build your own units, is it is also the the system used for the published units. This is all done in the spirit of allowing you expand Brytenwalda to include units and warbands not covered in the rules or even in the Arthurian Age at all.

Conclusion

I really like the look of these rules. They are a good set for just throwing some miniatures down without being cold and academic. They allow for character on the table, though not so much that play should be bogged down. Also the inclusion of sample scenarios, campaign system, and unit construction rules is a HUGE plus for me.

Take care all,

-Eli

Gaming Models Samples Received



Back Row: Old Glory 15mm Wespe, Gaming Models T-35, Gear Krieg Loki, Gaming Models T-28, Old Battlefront Brumbar
Front: Converted Peter Pig WW2 Dutch LMG, True North Dutch Tankettes

This post is a bit overdue considering I received these models well over a week or more ago. I had been chatting with Craig over at Gaming Models about a particular turret variant of the T-28 which he did not currently have in his inventory just yet. When he had finished this variant, Craig was kind enough to offer me a sample at no charge. I accepted but boy did I get more than I bargained for.

Not only did Craig send me the T-28 but he also sent me a T-35 as well. In addition, he also included all the current main turret variants for both tanks. An amazing bounty for a free sample. The tanks and all their turrets were packed neatly into a foam tray, custom cut to fit the vehicles and shipped in a Priority Mail box. But I'm sure you are more interested in hearing about the tanks.

Gaming Oldies

Going through some of my boxed up gaming stuff last night, I discovered a few oldie but goodies from days when I had more time to game. Back then I used to pick up a lot of this and that, but not a lot of any one particular thing. I'd grab an issue or two of a magazine from the clearance boxes at the FLGS or pick up an issue of something I'd never read on speculation alone. Often I picked up isolated issues that had an article or two that I liked. In any case, here are a few of the things I found, that I still have.

Challange #43 featured the usual collection of gaing materials from games spanning GDW's own stable as well as those of other publishers. What attracked me to this issue were a few gems that intrigued me at the time -

• Cthulhu: 1889 - An article on blending the mythos into the background of the Space: 1889 VSF universe.
• Secrets of the Ancients - A Space: 1889 adventure featuring Americans from instead of the usual dashing victorian heroes.
• One The Dark Side - Playing Dark Side characters in West End's Star Wars RPG.
• Balancing Space Hulk - It is what it says!
• Tactical Strike - A combat mission for the Albedo RPG.

Challenge #61 was purchased pretty much for one article. It had some others in it that were cool too, but I bought it for the Space: 1889 adventure that was in it. Some notable articles were -

• Wood and Wind, Steel and Steam - Wet navy design for Megatrvaller
• Tom Fleet and His Steam Colossus - Another American adventure featuring bipedal walkers for Space: 1889.
• This is Only a Test - Asventure for 2300 AD featuring run-away robots.
• VTA: Heavy-Duty Air Support - New vehicle for Cyberpunk 2020.

 

These were the days when gaming magazines seldom focused o na single game or company. White Dwarf had already made the change but even though Dragon and Challenge did fdevote the majority of their page count to their TSR and GDW respectively, they still found room to help out the rest of the hobby. To the right is the splash art for the Tom Fleet adventure in Challange #61.

Books & RPG For The Youngsters

I may have mentioned, once or twice, that my oldest daughter Anna has a fondness for the "Warriors" series of book by Erin Hunter. If you are not familiar with this series, it is about tribes of feral, non-anthropomorphic cats trying to survive in a world of man. But, this is more than a simple naturalists tale.

I have not read the books myself, but Anna has told me quite a bit. Listening to her tell me the tales of her favorites characters' trial and tribulations has made me more than simply acquainted with the world of Warriors. These cats have rituals, prophecies and political and emotional conflicts that make them interesting and deep characters. Within the stories that span three series of books with a forth on its way, characters grow, some die, and the plot thickens. All in all these are a great series of adventure books, especially if you have children who perhaps are not sold on trolls, gnomes, hobbits, etc.

In an interesting move, the publishers of the books have also decided to make an RPG for the series, a game they refer to as an "Adventure Game" This is free for download on the official site for the game. They also have a map for the main setting, character sheet, an introductory "mission" and a handy quick start guide.

This game is a pretty solid introductory set of gaming rules. Character generation is simple and straight forward and game play is a task resolution system that manages to be functional and diceless. Characters have bonus points that can be spent to boost their chances to resolve tasks. As nice and simple as the system is, I think it is the language and care that is used to convey the concepts of RPGs to the young readers that makes this game outstanding.

Throughout the text of the rules there are sections that go to great lengths to explain concepts of fair play and to instill a casual and fun attitude toward gaming. They cover how to run a game, how to play, how to settle disputes at the table. They even have a section covering the dynamics of player versus GM and how it's okay to just want to be one or the other or to rotate who runs the game. In fact, the game assumes that every memeber of the group will at one time want to tell their own Warriors story and discusses what to do with your character when you are running the game.

The Warriors books and its associated RPG are a great package to introduce to your adventure-minded youngsters. My ten-year old loves the books and has rewad them over and over. The RPG is a great primer and actually a fun game to play and can serve as a wonderful transition into the world of RPGs without it having to be "your games". I printed out a copy of the game and put it in a binder, handed it to my daughter and told her to tell me when we were playing. It made her day and now she has several stories ready for when a little time presents itself.

Give it a look and enjoy,

-Eli