Formula D means speed at the racetrack | A post by Adesazz

“I’m actually in the lead!” the Red driver crackles over the radio, entering the first turn of

You’re designing NWARPG Poll: Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition (The Every Edition). What ruleset most inspires you?

Mouse Guard and Formula D take spotlight

The holiday season was a slim time for our meetings, with 3-6 members attending the events through m

 

Formula D means speed at the racetrack | A post by Adesazz

February 7, 2012 in Actual Play, Banner

“I’m actually in the lead!” the Red driver crackles over the radio, entering the first turn of the race. He didn’t get to say it again.

It’s a beautiful, sunny day at the track in Monaco, a popular racing destination lately. Indeed, it’s almost as if the fans refuse to watch races anywhere else. There are three teams entering this race, two Yellow drivers under Team Bney, two Red drivers under Team Branduan, and two White drivers under Team Adesazz. One yellow driver takes pole position, the other brings up the rear, and everyone else fills out the middle spots.

And they’re off!

Welcome to the world of Formula D, a 2008 boardgame from Asmodee that emulates the speed of Formula racing. On a recent day, several NWARPG members pitted their skill against one another at Bears at the Maul.

Into Turn 2 and White is in the lead followed by Yellow. Yellow attempts to pass but is cut off, cut off again, cut off a third time! The Yellow car starts making funny gearbox noises as the driver desperately pulls out the stops in trying to take the lead. The remainder of the pack enters Turn 2, with Team Branduan bringing up the rear, er biding its time.

The battle for Loews

Going into the trickiest turn of the race, Loews is a 3-stop corner that proves to be decisive; White is able to gain a gear against the frustrated Yellow and come out of the turn at high speed. The slower Yellow car (3rd) and the faster Red car (4th) are just entering into the turn – and it looks like they’ve collided. Debris on the track, smoke and brake fluid everywhere.

The slower Red car (5th), along with the slower White car (6th), weave in and out of the hazards in a race to the bottom. At this point poor Team Branduan’s rolls are so reliably low that this team is consistently in one higher gear than anyone else.

It’s a drag race out of Loews! The White car is comfortably in the lead as the pack comes up to the rear of the grandstands. On his heels is the Yellow team, neck and neck. Far behind in a cloud of smoke is the other White car and the two Red cars. Reminds me of those cartoons where all you see is a cloud with speech balloons containing punctuation coming out of it, folks.

Looks like lead White is finishing up Lap 1. The Red Team leaves the other White car in the dust, but looks like they’re being awfully hard on their brakes and tires to do it. The Yellow drivers have a mix-up and trade paint – I’m getting worried there may not be many cars left to finish this race.

That’s what pit stops are for!  Both Red cars, as well as one Yellow car elect to familiarize themselves with pit stop rules. It seems to work for them, and by the time Lap 2 is underway we find a closely-packed mob, with the exception of the leading White car. Thankfully, the venom and insults coming from the other drivers seems to have no effect on his performance.

"Loews II: The Debris Edition" - We ARE getting the stabilizers for next time, John, I’m feeling sick

Five battered, bruised, angry drivers enter Loews for the 2nd time. Loews II: The Debris Edition. Pieces of car bodies, brakes, engine parts (that looks important…) are flying everywhere. Looks like the first Red driver just brake-checked the rear White car, and the 2ndRed driver rammed him from behind. Are these guys serious?? The rammer has to downshift to avoid the ensuing debris, and it looks like he’s going to have an agonizingly slow ramp-up going into the straight.

We’re going back to the grandstands for one last time – OHH White overcompensates! He got a little too cocky with his lead and overshot the corner! He’s down to some frayed, 2nd-lap tires and the sorry leftovers of an overheated braking system. At the same time RED comes out of the straight HOT! He nails the S-curve and comes into the final series in 2nd place! Followed by the Yellow Team, I mean talk about a Team that plays together, stays together. Followed by who cares. I hope White enjoyed his daunting lead, because 3 drivers are close on his heels and he has no margin for error!

Pictured: The finish line. Not Pictured: Margin for error

 

It’s a nail-biting series of turns to the finish, and all drivers expertly maneuver through them. White, true to form manages to hold his car together and even widens the gap. Coming into the last turn it’s White by a long margin. Followed by Yellow. Followed by Red – and the second Yellow peeling around the turn after him! They drag race to the finish and in a hail of engine smoke and rev limiters…It’s Yellow by a nose! The driver squeezed 110% out of Bney Engineering there folks.

Oh geez, the last two cars are ambling quietly down the last turn. White’s tires have finally had enough and he spins out!  The Team Adesazz chief is over in the pits with his hand over his eyes. Just as all hope is lost, Red spins out!  It might just be faster to settle this rivalry with a fistfight… (you remember the whole ramming debacle)… OH NO! White in trying to capitalize makes a miscalculation and spins out AGAIN!! Red putts across the finish line just as White finishes up putting holes in the floorboards so he can run on the track.

Will the champion be able to compensate for the pitiful performance of his teammate?? In a word, no.

FINAL RESULTS – Winner: TEAM BNEY!!!

Team Bney (Yellow)…….…8+6 = 14

Team Adesazz (White)….10 + 3 = 13

Team Branduan (Red)…..4 + 5 = 9

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You’re designing NWARPG Poll: Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition (The Every Edition). What ruleset most inspires you?

February 2, 2012 in Poll

You're designing Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition (The Every Edition). What ruleset most inspires you?

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Mouse Guard and Formula D take spotlight

January 29, 2012 in Banner, NWARPG Meeting

Brendon, Anders, Ron, and Takuma playing Formula D.

The holiday season was a slim time for our meetings, with 3-6 members attending the events through mid-November and December.

I was disappointed, but years of experience kept me (mostly) hopeful for the new year, especially with the strong Game Day showing on November 12th.

January – opening with an ambitious Game Day on the 7th – has seen a resurgence in attendance.

The meeting this Friday night pulled around 13 people.

Gamer Utopia hosted us again, and we claimed the round table at the back of the store.

As members trickled in, we were forced to pull over another, long table as well. We shared the store with a Magic tournament, but that worked to our advantage. A few of the players came by to see what we were doing, and one – curious about RPGs – even sat down to hear about them and our group.

Initial discussion focused on hot forum topics.

We talked about the upcoming Game Day, NWARPG promotion, and the various editions of D&D.

Anders reported on his research into RPG group sites (apparently ours is a good one), and his desire to help out with the forums and wordpress blog. Of course there was the usual talk of our favorite systems, with one of our members astounded at the sheer number of RPGs on the shelves.

Mouse Guard

Mouse Guard, however, captivated much of the discussion. Anders had a set of cards he’d made from a fan-created file, with Petersen’s evocative artwork; Ron had a borrowed hardcover that we passed around. I was surprised to hear about the research some of our lurkers had put into the system! One of our members even bought the hardcover on the spot in anticipation of Ander’s Game Day adventure. I will be shocked if a campaign does not develop out of this enthusiasm.

There was some frustration from our newer members that there weren’t enough LFG posts and that they were unable to get into a game. I understand this disappointment, but the passing of the new year and the frequent Game Days should bring together campaigns.

There was also some consternation with the events section of our site and its lack of Game Day information. Hopefully the Meetup plugin that Christopher quickly installed (seen on the right margin) will alleviate that confusion.

Formula D

The second half of the meeting was dominated by Formula D. I didn’t participate, but 5 or 6 of the others did, and it looked surprisingly intense. Ron finished in first, with Takuma close behind. In traditional NWARPG fashion, my idle curiosity netted me a brief and coherent explanation of the basic and advanced rules and a sudden interest in a theme that didn’t previously appeal to me!

Those of us who didn’t play had pleasant, meandering conversation.

It was a nice close to January for NWARPG, with an encouraging show of investment in its future.

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Join our second Casual Game Day of 2012

January 24, 2012 in Banner, Game Day

 

People from the January Game Day

Everyone had a good time last month playing Winterwall, an Old School Revival game

It’s time again for our monthly Game Day. This is our second one of 2012 and we expect (and hope) for a good turn out again.

You only need to show up to Castle House Hobbies and Games on Feb 25 to play. The Game Day runs from 12:30 to 9 p.m.

Some games encourage registration if you want a guaranteed spot at the table, but it’s not required.

Also, there will be quite a few board games in play. Last month, we got some Dominion and Pandemic action. Who knows what will be offered this month.

Look in the forum for more information on the offered games:

Winterwall 

Jade Regent 

 

Did you see our flyer? Well here’s another copy.

 

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Two of Tulsa’s Gaming Shops | A Guest Post by Tim

December 10, 2011 in Banner

I went to Tulsa recently on a Christmas shopping mission, but decided to visit a couple of gaming shops while I was there.

There are at least a half-dozen gaming shops in the city, but I was mainly focused on wargaming and had limited time. Still, I thought a quick ‘review’ of the two shops I explored might be of general interest.

The Hussar

My first visit was to The Hussar (http://www.thehussar.com/ | Facebook) which proved not to be a gaming shop, at all. This surprised me, because I’d found it by googling “wargaming Tulsa.”

So, The Hussar doesn’t really do gaming, but what it does do is modeling, finished figure sales, and reference materials for militaria ranging from ancients to modern.

You might pick up some exquisitely painted miniatures in any scale, 1/35 armor kits, browse some Osprey Publishing reference books, or pick up a detailed academic treatise on German WW2 small unit tactics while you were there.

I wish I had taken pictures, because the shop is very….tidy and well put together. The decorations consist of vintage (or perhaps they were reproductions, I didn’t ask) military uniforms and helmets and the exquisitely painted minis I mentioned above.

Even though it’s in a no-name shopping center on a typical urban sprawl commercial street, when you step through the door it’s like you enter a little magical realm in another world. Shoppe, even.

It’s a very cool place and worth a visit, even if historical military miniatures are of no interest to you. The proprietor is an extremely friendly man who loves to talk about his hobby.

As an aside, I would think any game shop owner/manager would benefit greatly from visiting The Hussar. It’s an extremely pleasant place to visit. I would even use the term ‘professional.’

Top Deck

The second visit was to Top Deck (http://www.topdeck.us/) which bills itself as “Tulsa’s Best Game Shop.”

Top Deck’s owner is very gregarious and helpful. He assisted me in picking out three color 1944 German armor camouflage patterns while fielding multiple entries into a very-well-attended Magic tournament.

If that’s not patience, I don’t know what is.

Top Deck is definitely a more stereotypical game shop experience than The Hussar. I’d say they lean more towards boardgames, warhammer, and other miniatures games than RPGs, though they do have a fairly healthy RPG section. Top Deck has a great selection of board games.

They carry everything from Apples to Apples to a rather extensive selection of Command & Colours. I would have totally picked up a set of C&C Ancients, if I could have somehow hidden the amount from my girlfriend. ;)

The entire Warhammer line is well-represented, including the various RPGs. They have a good selection of Napoleonic miniatures and rules (minis are all 28mm Victrix…also sorely tempting) and all the Flames of War you could possibly want.

Top Deck’s gaming space had at least 10 tables, all of them full. I saw guys playing Warhammer 40k, euro board games, and the aforementioned Magic Tournament. Looked like a thriving community of gamers.

——————-

In summary, both of these shops are well worth a visit next time you’re in T-town.

I have to say, I’m a bit jealous of the volume and variety of gaming that appears to be going on there. I suppose it’s the population difference, though I wouldn’t think it would be that great if you take NW Arkansas as one semi-urban region.

Continue the conversation on the forum …

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Vote for your favorite books to discuss

July 4, 2011 in Banner, Books

It’s time to kick off the book discussion idea for NWARPG.

We’ve been talking about it in the forum and it’s finally time to pull the trigger and start it. Several people have made suggestions and I’ve compiled them in the poll below where you can vote for as many different books as you like.

I’d like to select the top four vote-getters and then go from there with another poll. I’ll also open a book discussion thread on the forum to discuss each book as we get to it.

Finally, I’m proposing that we start with A Game of Thrones. I know at least three people interested in this book discussion want to read it. Many of you already have. Others have only seen the HBO series. Finally, some of you (like me) are now interested enough after the HBO series to pick it up and read it.

Let’s start the discussion on July 13 at Mordour’s Pizza by just covering the first 250 pages of the 835-page book. We’ll finish it a month later.

I’m buying it right now to read.

Vote on the next books

What books should we read for NWARPG?

  • Hunger Games (50%, 4 Votes)
  • His Majesty's Dragon (50%, 4 Votes)
  • Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (50%, 4 Votes)
  • Night Watch (50%, 4 Votes)
  • Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (38%, 3 Votes)
  • The Name of the Wind (38%, 3 Votes)
  • World War Z (25%, 2 Votes)
  • Little Brother (13%, 1 Votes)
  • Doomsday Book (13%, 1 Votes)
  • The Postman (13%, 1 Votes)
  • Jhereg (13%, 1 Votes)
  • Small Gods (0%, 0 Votes)
  • The Machine of Death (0%, 0 Votes)
  • Rampant (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 8

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Ready your dice … NWARPG Game Day is July 16

June 29, 2011 in Banner, Game Day

 

One of the things we love to do at NWARPG is try new games. Our Game Days give us a chance to do just that – sample new games and meet new people.

This one is scheduled to start at noon, Saturday, July 16 at Gamer Utopia. The owner, Shannon, was nice enough to allow us to use his space to run as many as five games during the afternoon.

If you’ve never been to one of our Game Days, no worries. There are no fees involved and you don’t need to worry about knowing how to play. The one-shot games we run are meant to demo and introduce a system.

Currently we have three role-playing games planned. Emily was nice enough to post them in our new Event system, so if you are interested please register and book one of the three games.

The Games

If you are interested in running a game, you have until July 3rd to pitch your game.

Look forward to seeing you there.

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NWARPG meeting at Gamer Utopia – June 25, 2011

June 25, 2011 in Banner, NWARPG Meeting

Click for the Board Game Geek review.

I’ve owned Dominion less than 24 hours and already played it six times. There’s a reason it was 2009′s Spiel des Jahres, which is basically the Oscar of board games.

I bought it last night upon the suggestion of Emily and Armaghn at the NWARPG meeting at Gamer Utopia. Good suggestion.

I’ll say that the very first impression of the game isn’t so great. Cards move fast with skilled players and you have no idea that they are simulating building a nation by buying cards from a randomized set of options.

However, after a few rounds, you get the game flow and you realize just how deep the strategy is and how it changes from game to game because of the randomized Kingdom cards you choose from.

So we played a good round with four folks last night. I think everyone enjoyed it.

I bought it that night so that I could have experienced players like Daniel, Emily and Armaghn demo it for me.

Castle House Sadness

We talked a bit about how sad we were that Castle House was closing and wished the best for Chris Curlee who has been a long-standing gaming advocate in the community.

No one is sure right now what will be fate of Fayetteville’s premiere gaming store, but there were a few mentions of – “So is there going to be a sale?”

What can we say? Gamers love a good deal.

Emily passed around a card for us to sign. Get well soon, Chris.

Book Club?

I mentioned that I was really interested in adding a book discussion to our meetings once a month. I don’t want a full book club at all, just a point of discussion. So many of us are prolific readers, I thought it would be fun to read other people’s suggestions and then talk with them about it.

The group decided that the Fayetteville space at Mordour’s is best for a book discussion and Gamer Utopia seems best for board games.

I’ve started a thread on the forum where you can suggest up to three books you are interested in discussing.

Suggest away.

 

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Free RPG Game Days go off wonderfully

June 19, 2011 in Banner

NWARPG member Seth leads the Dungeons and Dragons 4.0 adventure, "Domain of Dread: Histhaven."

We were lucky enough this Saturday to have two stores supporting Free RPG Game Day.

I was at Castle House Games in Fayetteville, while several other NWARPG members were at Gamer Utopia in Rogers. I’ve heard good reports from Rogers and I can attest that the six sessions that were run at Castle House were a ton of fun.

I was saddened to hear that the owner of Castle House Games was admitted to the hospital shortly before the event with chest pains. It appears he is recovering well and we wish him the best.

It was a good crowd at the Fayetteville event – probably 35 or so got a chance to enjoy the games.

Setting up for Paizo's "We Be Goblins" for the Pathfinder system.

“We Be Goblins” for Pathfinder was a stand out hit at hit at the event, filling three of the six gaming slots.

I ran it also for six players and I can understand why it was such a success. It allows the players to take the role of members of the Licktoad Tribe on their quest to recover “boom sticks” (or fireworks) from a shipwreck not far from the village.

It encourages mayhem and gremlin-like behavior as things blow up a lot. Perfect for a one-shot and perfect for these three-foot-tall homicidal maniacs.

The module creates great atmosphere and the group I was Game Master for really got into their characters. It was a blast and literally ended with the goblin alchemist deciding the party should fly back to the village aboard some of the rockets they recovered.

Madness.

The other game I ran was White Wolf’s “A Nightmare at Hill Manor” which was a tense haunting scenario inside of a closed set, the Hill Manor Apartments. It uses the Storyteller system like all World of Darkness games.

Frankly, it’s hard to recruit for World of Darkness. It’s not a crunchy combat game, has no meta story or setting  and seems pretty dormant at the moment. Vampire has always been the marque product and with the company’s slow release schedule, it’s been difficult to interest people in it.

I was lucky to have two people join me and we had a very good time unraveling the nightmarish mysteries of the apartment complex built atop an old manor house. Thanks to Eric and Michelle for playing along.

It's all d10's when you are rolling with the World of Darkness

 

I arrived around noon and didn’t leave till 6 p.m. Except for about an hour intermission, it was all gaming.

And it was all good.

See you in 2012.

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NWARPG meeting at Mordour’s – June 8, 2011

June 9, 2011 in Banner, NWARPG Meeting

The monthly meeting at Mordour’s was a good time and well attended. Several new faces.

We even got introduced to the ancient game of Go.

Discussion continued about the website and we might have a compromised worked out. Check out the forum conversation on the topic here.

Apparently, on Wednesday night any size pizza is only $10. Couple that with 24 oz Fat Tire beers for $4 and you’ve got a pretty awesome place to game.

Looking forward to going there again soon … maybe for a game of Pathfinder.

Thanks to everyone new who came by the meeting. Hope we didn’t bore you too bad with club stuff.

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