tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-153766302009-12-29T11:09:29.520ZSnapshots from JMcL63's lands of adventureJMcL63http://www.blogger.com/profile/14159828235164365125jmcl63@gmail.comBlogger384125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15376630.post-75905197073767276882009-12-27T11:10:00.005Z2009-12-29T11:09:29.531Z

Looking backThe badThat definite hankering which came upon me earlier this year gnaws away at me ever more insistently, and yet we didn't get any roleplaying going. Why? Short form: there wasn't enough interest around the table for me to want to change tack with a successful boardgaming group. Long form: well, therein lies the rub.Readers with more than passing roleplaying experience will be well

JMcL63http://www.blogger.com/profile/14159828235164365125jmcl63@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15376630.post-33967703955958111442009-12-27T11:03:00.002Z2009-12-27T11:12:00.618Z

Donald ran this back in 2005, using FGU's quirky old game Flashing Blades. It was a lot of fun and some moments stand out as among the best roleplaying sessions I've ever played. :0)The Adventures of Felix Mephisto, Gentleman:- ProloguePart 2:- Chapter 1. In which: Felix Suffers for his Naiveté- Chapter 2. In which: Comforts & Clever Contrivances Notwithstanding, Felix just Suffers- Chapter 3. In

JMcL63http://www.blogger.com/profile/14159828235164365125jmcl63@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15376630.post-11195093506660216342009-12-26T09:00:00.008Z2009-12-27T11:14:22.176Z

Preceding generalities in particularI have already noted 2 key items on my 2010 boardgaming wishlist:More Battlestar Galactica. Other FFG games I'm keen to see hit the table in the new year are:Descent- that old favourite, with a new Overlord at the helm.Chaos in the Old World- a new game of which I've not yet got the measure.The imminent Horus Heresy.New opponents to expand the sphere of my WW2

JMcL63http://www.blogger.com/profile/14159828235164365125jmcl63@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15376630.post-32467241483255154142009-12-25T09:00:00.010Z2009-12-27T11:13:55.384Z

Something I prepared earlier...Last December I wrote my 2009 gaming wishlist. Looking back at my 3 wishes I can say that 2 were granted:Playing Chad Jensen's second big GMT game, Combat Commander: Pacific.Getting my teeth into Battlestar Galactica, and all that entailed.Unfulfilled was my hope of moving beyond tactical games into the realm of WW2 operations with Corps Command: Totensonntag.Combat

JMcL63http://www.blogger.com/profile/14159828235164365125jmcl63@gmail.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15376630.post-10896013615970626602009-12-24T09:00:00.005Z2009-12-24T14:03:26.203Z

Girls grabs meWhen you find a TPB on the shelf with the striking and seductive cover seen left. When comics luminary Brian Michael Bendis blurbs it thus:"The Luna Brothers are the future of comics and it's happening right now. This book is essential for your collection. My highest recommendation."And when it's going for half price at the Borders 'Everything Must Go!' closing down sale, what's a

JMcL63http://www.blogger.com/profile/14159828235164365125jmcl63@gmail.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15376630.post-66889665361450455292009-12-23T18:52:00.003Z2009-12-23T23:22:35.506Z

None shall pass!The choice falling to Gav should he choose to appear on Sunday; and with that existing uncertainty- a Saturday night's partying, doubled by overnight snow; Andy, Donald, Tony and myself played some filler while we waited to see if our main game of the day'd be Risk (Revised) or Roborally. We began with Ivanhoe, a game which doesn't see the table as often as it used to because it

JMcL63http://www.blogger.com/profile/14159828235164365125jmcl63@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15376630.post-33444284498578983452009-12-20T09:00:00.012Z2009-12-20T09:33:16.682Z

The shadow of hindsight- cast by FFG's announcement last Friday 11th of next year's Horus Heresy big box boardgame, has left that 'Cease and desist' letter GW served on BGG looking perhaps a little more than just another 'eccentric' interpretation of fair use on the part of the company's corporate legal lackeys?Fanciful to suggest this it might be, but when Purple Pawn gaming newsblog staff

JMcL63http://www.blogger.com/profile/14159828235164365125jmcl63@gmail.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15376630.post-83781130291148952452009-12-18T12:00:00.012Z2009-12-22T04:07:09.108Z

Vast open expanses?Worldbuilding- AKA. subcreation, is an essential feature of roleplaying; a creative endeavour in which many players- GM or otherwise, love to indulge. As readers will be well aware, this places roleplaying games squarely in a cultural trend the 20th century great grandaddy of which is J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth. (Map via: geektyrant.)The history of subcreation in our own

JMcL63http://www.blogger.com/profile/14159828235164365125jmcl63@gmail.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15376630.post-57192715792822092962009-12-14T20:05:00.004Z2009-12-15T22:38:15.503Z

Bones to crunch underfoot, again!Hotly anticipated by Tony, Donald's choice of Descent for yesterday's Sunday session was sure to be popular. When Liam joined us I knew it was going to prove interesting too: both the dungeon-bashing theme and the detailed systems put Descent outside the realm of the sort of family games that are the staple fare of the casual gamer, so that this would be the most

JMcL63http://www.blogger.com/profile/14159828235164365125jmcl63@gmail.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15376630.post-6116342970297662392009-12-12T09:00:00.008Z2009-12-20T06:41:35.099Z

Flashbacks from a cartoon robot TVLast weekend's Sunday session – Andy, Donald and Gav making us four – opened with Andy's due choice (my preferred of his last call from 2 IIRC)- Roborally. Preferred it might've been, but the prospect of playing this early Richard Garfield design filled me with a perplexing mixture of anticipation and reluctance. I'm pretty sure that latter sentiment was mostly

JMcL63http://www.blogger.com/profile/14159828235164365125jmcl63@gmail.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15376630.post-34659336222116734202009-12-08T14:22:00.003Z2009-12-09T09:57:00.551Z

Just do it!Participate: The revolution of fan culture. from lori on Vimeo.The creator of this video is a friend of my old sparring partner Badger, who tells me that it is a student exercise. The video has no authorial overview and is a bit short on analysis, but the interviews more or less speak for themselves so that the end result is well worth watching. I found the video particularly

JMcL63http://www.blogger.com/profile/14159828235164365125jmcl63@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15376630.post-20754509711159766602009-12-03T09:00:00.014Z2009-12-03T15:41:35.331Z

A fond farewellMany readers will be aware of last week's news that the Borders Books UK chain has gone into liquidation. I was saddened to hear this because Borders has been my favourite bookstore for several years now. For all I know Waterstone's might be a better bookshop- it was certainly my introduction to modern chainstore bookselling; but I preferred Borders' ambience. My visits there down

JMcL63http://www.blogger.com/profile/14159828235164365125jmcl63@gmail.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15376630.post-69836514451623710712009-12-02T02:37:00.024Z2009-12-02T04:48:53.993Z

Shiny! Shiny!We were 4 for games on Sunday, pleasing Gav because we came in under the 5-player limit which is one of the new features of the Risk (Revised Edition) he'd been inspired to buy after my comments about our recent big game of the current edition of classic Risk. A combination of Gav's bubbling enthusiasm for his new toy coupled with natural curiosity in the face of a radical redesign

JMcL63http://www.blogger.com/profile/14159828235164365125jmcl63@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15376630.post-29795049563248210442009-11-28T15:30:00.016Z2009-12-21T04:59:49.637Z

A bloglag starting with a long weekend visiting family has stretched out to more than twice as long as that thanks, above all, to the 'block'. Efforts to break on through had finally awakened a glimmer, but it was still a slog. Thank goodness then for Badger's visit last night.Glorious carnage!This phrase could so easily've applied to dinner as much as to the games that followed. I was cooking

JMcL63http://www.blogger.com/profile/14159828235164365125jmcl63@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15376630.post-57060029795498397062009-11-18T09:41:00.015Z2009-11-19T11:27:20.075Z

My last words after reporting a few weeks ago on the games of Ivanhoe I'd played with Badger and my neighbour Liam were, "He'll be back!" This prediction was proved correct when Liam joined Donald, Gav, Tony and myself for our recent Sunday session. Liam being new to that table first choice went to him, which left us playing Risk, a game Liam knows.In my innocence I thought we'd get the game

JMcL63http://www.blogger.com/profile/14159828235164365125jmcl63@gmail.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15376630.post-76632230965107338122009-11-12T20:55:00.004Z2009-11-27T17:07:03.043Z

I've got various ideas simmering away at the moment, looking for the hooks that'll make them into stories. Meanwhile, it's time for another pot pourri...So it goes...I warned you yesterday dear readers, of my intention to follow through on the story of the controversy generated by the RPGpundit's 6th November blogpost about FFG and its GW RPG licences. El pundito posted his 4th installment today.

JMcL63http://www.blogger.com/profile/14159828235164365125jmcl63@gmail.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15376630.post-32173219776483658702009-11-11T17:48:00.013Z2009-11-27T17:06:39.325Z

I feel I have to tread a careful line with this post. Why? Because it'd be so easy to get snarky about the storm in a teacup the RPGpundit generated with his recent blogpost about FFG and WFRP3, all the while forgetting that I am part of it all myself by virtue of making not just one, but two posts on the topic here at RD/KA!. For example, I could make some cheapass jibe about how el pundito has

JMcL63http://www.blogger.com/profile/14159828235164365125jmcl63@gmail.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15376630.post-13816651889350762782009-11-10T09:00:00.012Z2009-11-27T17:09:39.493Z

He is The Law!Passing through Borders bookshop the other day in search of a classic 20th century novel and that search proving futile, I made a beeline for the graphic novels there to surrender gleefully to the impulse I'd carried over from my last visit to those same shelves, picking up what I know will only be the first of many more: Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 01 (59 progs' worth of

JMcL63http://www.blogger.com/profile/14159828235164365125jmcl63@gmail.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15376630.post-59956264921260595602009-11-06T09:00:00.029Z2009-11-06T12:52:53.169Z

If James Ellroy's in town when unexpectedly so still are you; and one of the 'Men in Black' of late 80's Albacon infamy tells you he's got a spare ticket for the gig; there's only one thing to do: be there.So it was last night I found myself at the GFT for the Glasgow leg of the promotional tour for Blood's a Rover, the latest novel by this master of modern American noir; best known- thanks to

JMcL63http://www.blogger.com/profile/14159828235164365125jmcl63@gmail.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15376630.post-65808682130201693432009-11-05T09:00:00.012Z2009-11-06T02:33:47.349Z

Recently preoccupied with a new member of his household- a kitten (cue pause for wave of 'Aaaaahs' from the audience- including yours truly I must confess: Andy and I visited Gav later to meet Kai the kitten and she is indeed the cutest little furball), Gav was missing from the table last Sunday. This was a bit of a shame because with Dave and Tony present we'd've made six for a Sunday session

JMcL63http://www.blogger.com/profile/14159828235164365125jmcl63@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15376630.post-89768236530678541722009-11-03T13:27:00.003Z2009-11-13T23:43:50.143Z

As I said on Friday, I want to celebrate the latest small landmark in the life of RD/KA! by looking to what the future might bring for this geek and his games. Memoir'44 Regular readers will know that Badger and I have recently taken a break from our 2½-year Combat Commander odyssey. We'll be returning to this great game for sure (there're scenarios still unplayed and more to come); and then

JMcL63http://www.blogger.com/profile/14159828235164365125jmcl63@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15376630.post-88545204072758812152009-10-30T20:45:00.002Z2009-10-30T23:09:57.551Z

The winter blues' bloglag hinting at outright blockage since my last post three weeks ago has been all the more trying for yours truly because this post marks another small landmark for 2009 here at RD/KA!:- my 100th post; more in one year than any since 2005, when I began to blog.I didn't expect to take nearly 4 years to surpass in some 10 months what I'd first achieved in less than 5. So this

JMcL63http://www.blogger.com/profile/14159828235164365125jmcl63@gmail.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15376630.post-52615661669517953532009-10-09T21:07:00.017+01:002009-10-30T10:51:30.288Z

The D.I. reached new extremes last week, as some of my readers already know. To equate this suffering consciousness to the grief of bereavement, breaking up, or some similar personal tragedy will probably surprise no one, but the sheer relentless physicality of my belabouring brainwaves is something I believe confounds the understanding of people whose empathic imagination avails them of naught

JMcL63http://www.blogger.com/profile/14159828235164365125jmcl63@gmail.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15376630.post-31368653412105872252009-10-06T10:17:00.006+01:002009-10-08T07:47:42.613+01:00

No, not some Philip K. Dick story; nor even another glorious Cylon victory for yours truly; but a return to the topic of my last post, in which I'd wanted to tease out the implications of the issues that've come up across the table during our games of Battlestar Galactica. Arriving later that same Sunday Donald convinced me that I'd been too allusive altogether, because he'd come away with the

JMcL63http://www.blogger.com/profile/14159828235164365125jmcl63@gmail.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15376630.post-12622698109926349752009-09-27T10:32:00.005+01:002009-10-08T07:48:20.110+01:00

Throwdown round upI've been under the cosh of the annual D.I. (Depressive Incommunicado) in recent weeks, hence the bloglag. There's been a healthy diet of gaming all the same, as site-visiting readers attentitive to my 'Recently played games' sidebar gadget already know. I won't be revisiting all those games but, for the record (naturally enough):Badger and I played 3 games of Memoir'44:

JMcL63http://www.blogger.com/profile/14159828235164365125jmcl63@gmail.com0