PinkFae Archive #13: Board Game Review: Area 1851

It is time once more for a PinkFae archive. This one is another board game review that I wrote for that site. This article was originally published on 27 March 2016.

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The time has come once again for a board game review. This week, I shall look at a new game that was only just recently published, with the help of Kickstarter, and was introduced to me by my good friend John Trobare. The game in question is: Area 1851. It is a game of 'UFOs meet cowboys.' Aliens and old west characters are competing to gain the greatest amount of reputation by constructing and delivering strange devices.

As always, we start with some numerals that are not at all randomly generated.

Inclusive NPCs Volume 4: Chadra

Once more, it is time to provide you with an inclusive NPC. If you want to include a wider array of characters with whom your PCs may interact, you are free to use the characters I describe here. You may use them as they are written, or you may adapt and modify them to meet your needs. As always, I provide stats in the D20 system, GURPS, the original World of Darkness, and Fate Core. If you would like to use these characters in a different system, you are welcome to do so; just convert the stats using whatever method is best for you.

This week, our NPC is Chadra. She is a muslim of Syrian nationality, though she moved when she was younger to whatever location you need for your game. Her background is somewhat tragic; she was discovered at a fairly young age (somewhere around 13 or 14) by a woman named Tamsin, who claims to have had a vision of the future. In this vision, an apocalyptic event was destined to occur, in which hordes of demons swarm across the world, killing everyone in their path. Tamsin insists that the only way to survive this cataclysm is to offer sacrificial victims to these demons in exchange for her own life. Tamsin recruited Chadra into this cult and had her trained as her enforcer. The young girl was taught to be proficient with a number of melee weapons, most notably the sword.

Do Lizardfolk Females have Breasts?

I know, that's a very strange title for an article. Bear with me though.

See, I was working on a prop for the new Fate game I'm running. It's sort of a crossover between Shadowrun, Call of Cthulhu, and Cowboy Bebop. But the important thing is that I was looking for images of lizardfolk to use in this prop. And I noticed that many of the images I was seeing displayed breasts on the females.

This struck me as odd, because reptiles don't have breasts. Breasts are a uniquely mammalian feature; in fact, that's where the word 'mammal' comes from: the Latin word mammalis, 'of the breast.' No other type of animal has mammary glands.

Board Game Review: Near and Far (Part 2)

Last week, I wrote an overview of the game Near and Far. But there was so much I wanted to say about it that I felt I had to split it into two parts. In today's installment, I will present my 'final thoughts.'

Final Thoughts on Near and Far

I have been enjoying this game so very very much. However, that being said...

I really enjoy watching the video reviews over at Shut Up and Sit Down. They're detailed, they're well done, and most of all, they're amusing. But one thing I've noticed is that I often disagree with them. They usually recommend games that I would not, and they frequently don't recommend games that I think really deserve to be recommended. Which, as I've said many times in the past, is fine; everyone likes different things from their games. 

But I was especially disappointed when they didn't give a recommendation to Near and Far. 

So my friend (who, you may remember, I'm calling Caroline) bought a copy of Near and Far and told me that I should play with her. Thus, the Dork Spouse and I traipsed over to the home of Caroline and her wife one evening, and we set up the game. We watched through a 'how to play' video, and then we began the game.

Board Game Review: Near and Far (Part 1)

Oh my goodness, guys, I am so excited for this week's entry. I've been waiting for this entry for a long time! I tend to write my entries weeks in advance, mostly so that if I'm busy during a week, I don't miss posting. But that means if something really neat comes along, I have to wait a while until I have a week with no entry posted before I can say anything about it. So I've had to wait for this one.

One thing you may notice about this entry is that it's listed as 'Part 1.' That's because there is so much I want to say about this game, I've decided that I'm going to do it in two parts. Today's entry, part 1, will be an overview of the game itself. Next week, in part 2, I will discuss my thoughts on the game. And that's the part that's going to take some time to get through. Because there's a lot to be said about how I feel about this game.

All right, enough dilly-dallying. Let's get started!

This week, I am going to start reviewing the game Near and Far. As always, we're going to start by looking at some numbers. And as always, here's the chart that tells you what those numbers mean:

PinkFae Archive #12: Interview with Board Game Designer John Trobare

This week's entry is a very special PinkFae archive. It's my first game designer interview, and even better, it's an interview with my good friend John Trobare. This interview was first posted on 19 March 2016, not long after he had successfully published his game Asphodel through Kickstarter. So let's get right into it!

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My good friend John Trobare is an accomplished individual. He created the game Asphodel, which he self-published last year through Kickstarter. In addition, he opened his own pizza delivery business two years ago. All this in addition to being a devoted father and husband, and playing games several times a week, including annual trips to the Geekway to the West convention in St. Louis.

I decided to interview Mr Trobare for this week's entry. So one Sunday evening, we sat down with some family and friends to talk over dinner.

Legacy Games: A Double Edged Sword

I enjoy the video reviews at Shut Up & Sit Down. I often disagree with their assessment of a game, which merely shows that I look for different things from my games than they do, and that's fine. But I still enjoy watching the reviews. In part, this is because they're very informative, and in part because they're generally enjoyable to watch. This will be pertinent to the upcoming board game review, which I will post in two weeks' time: Near and Far.

You guys, I am so impatient to post the review for Near and Far.

But right now, I want to talk about one of SU&SD's favourite things: legacy games. The guys over at SU&SD tend to fall all over themselves when talking about legacy games. In their review of Pandemic Legacy: Season 1, they refer to Risk Legacy and other legacy games using the following statement: 'So, in other words, Pandemic Legacy is just like Risk Legacy, but with one vitally important difference: Pandemic was a great game to begin with!' (This statement can be found at time stamp 2:32). This implies that simply making a game into a Legacy version makes it great.