Dragons Trove: Munchkin

    A game of myth and legend, warriors and wizards rule the land, ancient dragons scour the skies, burning villages and taking their valuables, evil necromancers plot to take over kingdoms…..wait, wait, wait! That’s not this game. This game isn’t about role playing and experience points and all that nonsense. This game is about kicking down the doors, slaying the monsters and taking their treasure. It’s about helping your friend out of a jam, only to stab her in the back when it looks like she will win later on. This is

    The premise behind Munchkin is simple enough. Reach Level 10 before everyone else and win the game. How do you reach Level 10? Why, by defeating monsters of course. Now there is a lot of stuff that will happen in-between 1^st Level and 10^th Level. Curses, defeat at the hands of monsters, friends backstabbing each other, and relationships being broken.
    Munchkin is a card game that comes with two decks, Doors and Treasures. The doors contain the monsters, races, classes and curses that the players will encounter. The treasure deck contains all the different kind of weapons and treasures (duh) that the players will use in the game.

    You begin the game as a Level 1 Human with no class (I never get tired of that joke). As you draw cards you will come across various cards that will give you different races and classes. You could draw an Elf card which gives you a +1 to running away (more on that later) and it also gives you the ability to go up 1 Level for every monster that you help SOMEONE ELSE kill. You could draw a Warrior which gives you the ability of Berserking, which allows you to discard up to 3 cards in combat and you gain +1 to combat for every card discarded. 

A typical round goes a little something like this. 

    Draw a door card: Is it a monster? You could get a Level 18 Squidzilla or a Level 1 Drooling Slime. How do you fight? Well, you add up all your current Levels with all the equipment that you have that is in play (that is, sitting in front of you and not in your hand). You could have a +1 Leather Armor (complete with an image of a busty female adventurer wearing a dominatrix style leather outfit), a +2 Singing and Dancing Sword (not usable by a Thief) and a +2 Sneaky Bastard Sword. If you were Level 3 for instance, that would be a total bonus of 8 (3 for Level + 1 for Armor +2 for Singing and Dancing Sword +2 for Sneaky Bastard Sword = 8). So if you were fighting, for instance, the Level 6 Shrieking Geek, you would win that battle (you have to have total bonuses greater than the level of the monster), and go up a level. If you were facing the all powerful Level 20 Plutonium Dragon, you would not be able to defeat this monster and would instead have to try and run away or suffer “BAD STUFF”. 

If you were facing a monster that you could not beat, you could always ask for help. This comes with conditions of course. The person who volunteers to help may want half of the treasure that you would normally get for defeating a certain kind of monster. She may want ALL of the treasure. How badly do you want to defeat this monster and how bad is the BAD STUFF that happens if you fail to defeat the monster? These are all questions that you have to ask yourself.
Now here is where friendships are broken and husbands end up sleeping on the couch. You have just totaled all your bonuses, you have struck a deal with a fellow player to help you and you're ready to strike the final blow, but wait, what’s this? Another player throws down a Flaming Poison Potion which adds +3 to either side, and guess what, he adds it to the monster. Why would he do this to you? He does not want you to go up a level and get closer to winning the game that’s why. This bonus takes you just outside of killing the monster and now you must try and run away or suffer BAD STUFF.   
If you are able to defeat the monster (with no hassle from other players), you collect your treasure (making sure you honor any deals you may have had with other players) and go up a Level. Your turn is now over.

Was the drawn card NOT a monster? Well then the card goes into your hand and you can either LOOK FOR TROUBLE or search the room. If you Look For Trouble, you can play a monster card that you may have in your hand and fight it. Now make sure you don’t play a monster that you can’t kill (somebody else may take care of that for you tee-hee-hee). If you don’t want to Look For Trouble, you can just search the room, which simply means that you take another door card (face down so other players cant see) and put it into your hand.  Your turn is now over.

    
    
    The game creates memorable moments that will be talked about for gaming sessions to come. A few days back, my gaming group and I were sitting down to a nice friendly game of Munchkin (is there really such a thing). It was early in the game when I came upon a monster that I could just barely beat. Earlier, I had insulted my wife (in game of course) and she decided to take her revenge on me. She played a bonus on the monster against me, and for good measure, her brother played another bonus against me taking me WAY outside the realm of possibly defeating the monster. There were a lot of insults and curse words thrown around that night. In the end, I got my revenge however when I went on a streak of defeating monsters and playing rare cards that allowed me to go up Levels and I ended up winning the game (+1 bragging rights).
Munchkin has almost infinite replayability to it. Not only is every game that you play new and unique, there is over a dozen expansion packs available. Everything from Munchkin Zombie to Munchkin Bites (horror themed) to Munchkin Cthuhlu (any H.P. Lovecraft fans will love this one). They even have ones based on the popular web show by everyone’s geek crush Felicia Day, The Guild, to a game based on Robert R. Howards Conan The Barbarian. Whatever your taste, there is a Munchkin for you. Star Munchkin, Munchkin Fu, Super Munchkin and the best part is, you can actually mix all these sets together! You can become a Zombie Cleric (now there is a strange combination) by mixing classic Munchkin and Munchkin Zombies. It holds infinite possibilities for your gaming pleasure. 

So if you’re looking for a no frills night of gaming, with simple rules that leads to a lot fun and laughter, then Munchkin is the game for you. I highly recommend this game to you guys and I give it 5 out of 5 Munchkin Heads (that means it’s good).

Until next time fellow gamers, keep on geeking on!

Dragons Trove: Dungeons and Dragons Clue

Hello everyone and welcome to another addition of Dragons Trove. Now I love table top gaming, and I’m always on the lookout for something truly weird and out there. Today I will be talking about a mash up that none of us every saw coming, makes no sense at all, but looks really cool none the less. That game is Dungeons & Dragons Clue by ThinkGeek.com (which is one of my favorite websites to visit by the way).

Now the original Clue is outlawed in my house. Why you ask? Well because my beautiful wife can win a game of Clue in just a few rounds that’s why. Are her deductive skills outside the realms of normal human being? Or is she just a really good guesser? I don’t know, I’ve never been able to figure it out myself. I do have an electronic Clue game that makes it a little more difficult for her to figure it out so quickly and I’ve actually won a few games playing that one.

Dungeons and Dragons Clue really got my attention because, despite never being able to win a game of Clue, it’s one of my favorite traditional board games from my youth. I loved feeling like Sherlock Holmes, deducing who did it, with what weapon and where. I’m also an avid Dungeons and Dragons fan, though I have not been able to get a steady group together for years.

Here is the blurb about D&D Clue from the Think Geek website:

TORDEK IN THE DRAGON'S LAIR WITH THE FLAMING BATTLE

AXE. It's a dark night, when the group assembled at the Archmage's castle. What started as a wonderful dinner party has turned into a ghastly scene. The Archmage has been murdered (by a doppelganger, no less). The doppelganger hides amongst the group hoping to escape, but it didn't count on two things. First, the castle is magically sealed until the murderer is caught. And second: you're on the case! So it goes, with Dungeons & Dragons Clue. Dungeons & Dragons Clue plays just like classic Clue, but with a whole heap of D&D crammed into it. Gone are the basic playing pieces and standard weapons. They've been replaced with all new metal pieces: 6 player characters and 6 wicked weapons. The board's been overhauled, too. Oh, and then there are the Monster Cards. Those cards will shake up game play even more. Get your cloak on, light the candles, and get ready to find the Archmage's killer in the awesome Dungeons & Dragons Clue.  Monster cards? In Clue? Yep, you read that right. That’s just one of the many things that have me excited about. Just look at the cool pieces that come with the game. Heck you could take the miniatures and easily use them for your D&D game.

 This looks like a game I can get a lot of fun out of. I really want to know how the Monster Cards change up the classic Clue game play and what other D&D tropes make its way into the classic board game. There is a reason why this is in the Number 1 spot on my Board Game Amazon Wish List. So if there is anybody out there that wants to get me a little gift.......

So that’s Dungeons & Dragons Clue in a nutshell folks. If you have any question or you want to know more you can always email me a rnigro1020@gmail.com or head over to http://www.thinkgeek.com itself and have a look around. Keep gaming my friends. 

Risk: Walking Dead Survival Edition

First thing’s first… This is the meanest board game I have ever played. Do not play this if you have anger problems as there are Non-playable characters that will ruin your day. Ruin it! Yes, you read that right. There are NPCs in this board game. Evil, brooding NPCs will turn your sure victory into an un-fun slaughter. Secondly, this game takes hardly any time in comparison to the original Risk: maybe 2-1/2 hours. Third, I’ve only played this game twice, and the first time, after it was over, we realized we had been playing it incorrectly in a way that screwed me over. Day ruined. Ruined!

Risk: Walking Dead starts like a standard game of Risk, only the NPCs (Walkers) get placed first. Cards are drawn randomly to show where their pieces get placed, and everyone else posts up in the open territories on the board. Simple enough. Then, more Walkers spawn, and sometimes they spawn in territory you possess. When this happens, you have to fight them off, Risk style. Sometimes you win. When this happens you get to keep the territory you call yours, minus whatever pieces you lost in battle. Sometimes you lose, costing you the territory. Ruined it!

At the beginning, if you have any Risk background, the board looks easily conquerable. That is, until the end of the first round comes and you realize you’re missing half of your original pieces yet you haven’t even attacked one of your actual opponents. This is the point where you cuss the board out for deceiving you. Then, for the next few rounds, more Walkers spawn at even more locations, making it nearly impossible to move on. It’s extremely hard to fight forward when you have to keep turning around to fight backwards. This game plays nothing like the original. It shouldn’t take you very many turns to realize your “opponents” aren’t your actual opponents. Your little brother sitting across the table, who swore to destroy in under five turns, now hangs his head solemnly. Out of the four of you playing, only one of you is not unhappy. And don’t worry, the game will change that for him too. Ruin it!

The game also ends semi-randomly. It doesn’t conclude with the total annihilation of your enemies. That’s seriously impossible in this game. There’s an Event Card that gets drawn somewhere between the 5th and the 10th turn. When that card gets drawn, whatever turn you are on is your last one. Now, instead of slapping your way through the hoards of zombies, you quickly realize the only way to score enough points is to destroy your neighbor. The same neighbor that helped you defend your territories when Walkers were walking over you will now look at you like a backstabbing traitor as you slowly roll over his one piece territories as if he was nothing. Even victory doesn’t feel like victory. Because it’s not. To win this game you have to be the least losing player.

Other than the inevitable lack of trust you’ll earn by playing this game, and the probable PTSD, it’s a great game. It’s coming on every camping trip I take for the rest of my life, strictly because it takes so much less time than it’s Original or Star Wars counterparts. I’ll give this game Four out of Five stars for gameplay, Five out of Five stars for making my little brother cry.

Destiny Beta

   

     What can I not say about Bungie's new meticulously thought out Fiesta en mis pantalones! Bungie is reaching out to every platform this time, from PS3 to XBox One. Destiny has the promise of not only keeping the franchise alive but showing that they can do something other than Halo and be good at it! The Beta only let you go up to level 8 but every minute that you were stuck in Russia was an amazing time, whether you were doing story missions or just utilizing the free world time. There was always someone else around to help or be helped.

     The character creation was one of my favorite points. For a console "MMO" this actually had quite a bit of options, not as many as an Elder Scrolls game, bust a lot none-the-less. After playing around with the character creation for a time you got to head into the game.

     The scene starts off with a "Ghost" finding you and bringing you back to life, as a Guardian. You are being chased by the Fallen, a group of creatures that looks a bit like alien scavangers. Once you escape their grasp you have to find a ship to get you to The Tower.

     The Tower is a safe meeting place for all players. It is a place that has shops and class masters so that you can obtain items that are meant for you character, though, like in Borderlands, you usually get better weapons by completing harder missions and joining public events. Once you costumize your character to your liking it's time to head back out to the unknown.

     Though it was just beta, there was still a lot of content for this console MMO. The special event and missions that were playable one day only on the moon showed the capatacity of Destiny. On launch there will be multiple planets you can fly to at anytime to do any missions, or roam around and help others out. As always with Bungie there will be continuous updates and extra content added to keep the players happy. I was so pleased with this beta I had to change my underwear 3 times, take that as you will. All-in-all, Bungie has really hit the mark and once again raised the bar on the online first-person shooter genre.

-beta played on xbox one

Sunset Overdrive

     "Can you survive the many dangers? Can you help others survive? Can you save Sunset City? Can you? For the love of god CAN YOU? Of course you can, it's a f***ing video game."

     

     After watching the opening of this new Xbox One exclusive I wonder if it's a quirky new take on Dead Rising or actually something that might be more interesting.

     Set for Release in the UK and Australia as well as the US, Sunset Overdrive has everything a zombie right wing conservative would want in a game.  Of course we use the word "zombie" loosely, it's actually based upon an energy drink that has transformed nearly the entire population of Sunset City into a variety of toxic mutant creatures from your grandmother's attic.  Well minus the attic, but still from your grandmother's house.  With Insomniac using an updated version of their own secret recipe engine, the game is open world with a metric butt-ton of options to choose from when it comes to getting from point A to point Z and all the letters in between.

     The options don't stop there, you will be able to wall-run better than the pilots on Titanfall and grind your way across banners, rails, and power lines like your playing Jet Set Radio!  You'll also be able to customize your special abilities and use an arsenal that was most likely put together by your uncle Bill.  Regardless of who the maniacal devastating weapons came from they are more than enough to get the job done and have fun in the process.  Insomniac says they will keep the content updated post launch with new events and items.  There will also be something called Sunset TV during the game featuring the voice of the developer.  

     With it's comic book like quips that pop up after a big attack, a tear of joy will roll down your cheek.  All the promise and fun Sunset Overdrive looks to provide in my life means that it will be sitting in my download que sooner rather than later.  Look for this amazingly shiny game online and at your local retail store on 10/28/2014!

A Look to the Past - Beowulf: The Game - $3

Imagine... 

An angry and spitefully strong Nordic deity creates a video game for Xbox 360 with all the glory and grandeur one would expect from a god. Then, that norse game falls in love with Dynasty Warriors and they make a beautiful baby game together with all the best parts of one another. Then that game grows up and meets up with Gauntlet Legends at a night club, goes home to Gauntlet's hotel, and accidentally makes another baby video game. This baby game grows until just about adulthood before every version of Dance Dance Revolution kicks its door and impregnates it with a puppy litter of terrible, barely thought through video games.

“Beowolf: The Game” is the half-wit, retarded 3-legged runt puppy of that litter.

I want my $2.99 back.

(Also, I’m going to find a better picture to post. This one isn’t very clear.)

Archeage: The missing genome of MMO's

     The game you've all been looking for is finally here. Archeage, but is it everything it's cracked up to be? After playing the alpha and beta I can honestly tell you it is worth it. Once it is released (date still unknown) it will be a free to play MMO, and for that price you won't find a better game. Of course you get more content if you pay for it, but the game with it's breath taking visuals and enormous open world has plenty of content for the casual MMO thrill seeker.

     Character or toon choices are amazing and beautiful enough that I was drawn in instantly. I play with a Harani kind of Healer/DPS. From the start the game takes you through almost all the basics, and there is so much content that it takes up until level twenty before the larger number of help topics are not needed. I am now a level 30 and I still have to go back and learn things. Now don't get discouraged thinking you need know all the basics to play, the designers had you, that's right you, in mind when they made it. Learning the basic skills and attributes is not the only positive outcome of doing these quests, they also get you butt loads of experience and more content for your character.

     By level 5 I had the games first mount, and at level 15 I had the famous gliders that you see in all the ads and commercials. But thats not all you learn, you dont just get a mount, you have to buy it as a baby and play with it, feed it, and water it before it grows enough to use it. The game gives you 6 hours to do this or you can gather all you need before putting your pet down. Now that 6 hours doesn't mean your pet disappears if you don't finish, it just means it's free game for all other players.

     Another amazing aspect of the game is.... you don't have to level to play. How you ask? Simple, the games economy is player based, which means players grow, build, cook, mix, make, scavenge, and all those other producing words, everything in the game that is worth anything. Therefore you can become a farmer and do nothing but that. Crops grow in real world time, speed depending on the crop. I grew trees so that I could build a bigger ship and it took 14 hours to fully grow after watering, and at the end of the 14 hours I was given another 12 to claim my trees for their wood or once again they were free game to other players.

     Now just because you don't need to level doesn't mean you shouldn't. Say for instance you are an underwater scavenger, to be able to get to the best underwater loot you are going to want a bigger, faster ship. Notice I say want, you get a row boat as part of a quest, but we all know how long it takes to get to England in a row boat. Back onto the topic, you need to be a higher level to be able to get that faster ship, but that's not all you need for underwater scavenging. Air tanks are available on the larger ships so that you can stay under longer and collect more.

     There is one more piece to the overall puzzle of Archeage that will make you want to level and have good gear. You will run into the opposing faction either while out scavenging, fishing, or even at home farming. How are you going to defend yourself if you decide to not level?

     Regardless of your choice to support the economy, do missions, or be a common house wife/husband and sit at home and cook pies all day for the market, the content never feels repetitive..... unless you are farming pumpkins 24/7.

     There is also a player based legal system. At any point in certain areas you are able to turn on your own faction, though if you do kill someone in your own faction and get caught you will be arrested and tried for murder. The jury consists of real players, and you are at mercy of their hands.

Overall Archeage is an amazing game with an extensive repertoire of action and content. This is one game that will never bore you!

Xbox One's Best FPS of 2014

2014 is far from over, but it is clearly evident what games so far have made an impression on Xbox One first person shooters. Titanfall dropped on March 11th, 2014 and made a huge leap into online multiplayer gameplay. I have never played a game so fluent in my movements. Throughout a match I will think to myself,  "I need to get up that building in less that 4 seconds" and by the time I finish saying that I will be jumping off that building onto the next one. The parkour moves mixed with the ability to double jump can make a novice player feel like they have the ability to trample the games Gundam Wing-like Titans. The games multiplayer has exceeded most people's expectations, but the storyline has left the majority of us wanting more. The story is just a way to quickly explain that the IMC and the Militia are two separate groups fighting each other with huge robots.

 You don't even have to actually win the match to proceed in the story. If I remember correctly, I didn't win a single match and managed to still unlock the perks of "beating" the story mode.

Titanfall had a beta that dropped a few weeks before the initial release. Like most betas, the progress you made was thrown out; you could only catch a glimpse of what the game actually holds, except, what you did in the beta is what you still do now in the game... Fight online. Titanfall is a fond reminder of simpler times when Counter Strike 1.5 was a game I played directly after school until I went to bed. You pick a side and kill anyone that doesn't look like you... Easy enough, right? That brings me to my next point, I am in need of a FPS that has more meaning to it, and who better to trust for that than Bungie? The creators of Halo, the best Sci Fi FPS ever made. Try to argue that. Please. Bungie's recent beta release of Destiny has already turned many nerds', excuse me, players' heads around in a complete 360 (no pun intended). What Titanfall lacks, Destiny is there to pick up the slack. Like Titanfall, you need an internet connection to play, but you have more options and customization to make that $170 cable and internet bill worth it. Destiny begins with character customization to satisfy whoever is in control. You create a Guardian who will protect earth from the evil aliens and monsters who now seek habitation on our planet... Sounds like the premise of most science fiction out there, but i'm sure the beta was holding 99.9% of the plot back. Many surprises will be around the corner... Literally. 

The multiplayer is similar to that of the Halos, but the cool thing is that your Guardian and your own weapons come into the battle with you. This proves to be an advantage for the high level characters who have the "one shot, one kill” weapons that are sure to cause the common phrases such as "F THIS!" or "WTF?!?!", but all that does is cause more motivation to play the story and level up in an RPG world with tons of new weapons to help get your kill to death ratio above 1. The main thing about Destiny that got on my nerves was my inability to wall run like Titanfall. I may be spoiled now that I played Titanfall's amazing parkour style, but if Destiny wants to prove that it has everything Titanfall has and more, it may need to reevaluate its style of movement. As of today I am unable to tell you which game is better, but Destiny's beta had all the right stuff to create the hype that Titanfall was trying to achieve.

Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition

Alright. I'm going to start this by stating that I don't like puzzle games. Like, at all. The only reason I picked up this game is because I have already overplayed Titanfall and this game received great ratings. Plus, Gamestop Dude told me it was really long. Which is great because I'm trying to save money and my wife is out of town all weekend. Let the underwear-beer-and-coffee gaming commence.

First things first, her boobs shrunk. Not that I'm complaining; anything more than a handful is a waste. It's just... quite noticeable. Next, this game is absolutely gorgeous. It's one hell of a jump from the last one I played, which was 1st generation Playstation. Cool little useless side note: pop the 1st gen Playstation disc into a CD player (what's that?) and you can listen to the cinematics. Anyways, just the first cinematic of this game has me intrigued solely off the basis of beauty.

Then, the buttom-mashing of the opening gameplay didn't waste any time in killing me, though I did like how I got to set myself on fire in the first 30 seconds. Well played. The camera is awfully jumpy too, but I think they did that on purpose. It may add to the gameplay. Haven't quite figured it out yet. I should really be recording myself playing this game; already cussed the TV out twice.

-That log is very conveniently placed across a ravine. I should balance walk across it.
-Shoot! I have to actually balance her as I walk across it.
-Hold-on hold-on hold-on. Is my Hawaiian shipmate-dude wearing a Milwaukee Bucks shirt?
-Nope, not Bucks. Random rugby team.

-Oh man, Now I have to feed her by hunting, gutting, and cleaning a deer.

-I've always wanted to fight off a pack of wolves with a bow and arrow.

-Oh, snap, some dude just said the "F" word! Must be a bad guy.

-Great. I'm being hunted by rapey looking dudes.

-Ha! Got past them.

-Wait, why do I have to go into an actual wolves den?

-Oh, cool. Who would have guessed there'd be a jump-scare cut scene in the wolves den? I love spilling beer all over myself.

-Ah! Her boobs are smaller because this is a younger (prequel) Lara Croft. Makes sense now.

-Oh? You can change her entire outfit, mid-mission. Because logic.

-The island went from jungle to tundra in the span of eight minutes. Reminds me of Wisconsin.

You also have to collect salvage to strengthen (upgrade) the tools/weapons you find. This game does a good job of slowly introducing weapons and tools, too. Just as you are almost bored of using the same tool over and over, BOOM!, someone gives you a rock-climbing axe, and you get to scale a mountain. You do get choices as to how you go about taking on enemies too. You could shoot arrows off the walls next to them to scare them into looking into a different direction. You could shoot glass lanterns to set them on fire. Or you could pull out your sawed-off and wet-'em-up real nice. You can also set up camp throughout the game, though you don't get to chose where. Lara just posts up for the night and that campsite becomes a waypoint that you can start from or "warp" to. There's also a few sections where you don't even realize it's a cut scene, it's that seamless.

I'd also like to point out that I played this game for about 3-1/2 hours (or four porters, depending on how you measure time), only to find out I'm only at 28%. Then, when I'm about to call it quits for the night, I find out there's a multiplayer part of this game too! Unfortunately, it seems as if everything the creators did right in single-player, they did equally wrong in multiplayer. Game play is choppy, maps are small, and objectively there isn't much selection. All that negativity aside, it's still pretty fun. Other than free-for-all and team deathmatch, there are two other game modes. Rescue, where one side collects supplies and the other side melees them to death, seems slow, or at least the two games I played were. Cry For Help is pretty cool. Here one side tries to start three out of four radio transmitters while the other side kills them and steals their batteries.

All-in-all, this is a great game. And definitely worth the used $40 pickup at Gamestop. Once I beat the story, I'll let you know my opinion of that too, but as of right now, it's bed time.