It looks like the murder mystery party I'd planned for Dec 7, 2024, is not going to happen. That's the TL;DR version. The rest of this post goes over the details, if you're interested. I'm not sad Let's get this out of the way: I'm not actually disappointed by this. A murder-mystery party is fun, and I…
I know it's only been a week since I sent out my last post on this party, to be held on Saturday Dec 7. Normally I'd wait a couple more weeks before asking folks for information. However, circumstances are different this time around. I have to make arrangements for the venue now. Believe it or not, it…
I hosted a Murder Mystery Masquerade for my 60th birthday. It's been five years. A couple of friends suggested that I don't wait until I'm 70 before doing a mystery party again. The date will be Saturday, December 7, 2024. Save the date! The place: I could use some suggestions for the venue. I think we'll only…
I plan to write a long-ish blog post in which I gush about Baldur's Gate 3. Before I start crafting an unnecessary essay about a current game that's been reviewed and praised elsewhere, I feel a desire to wrap up the remaining games in my series: reviews of games that have been released and reviewed so long…
A few days ago, I received another box from Awaken Realms: Of course, the important question is: How did the cats react? Awaken Realms' Vault Story Dice are fancy optional dice for use in various games. You can easily make out the boxes that contain the Tainted Grail and Etherfields dice. What's in the other three? Actually,…
I recently received Kings of Ruin, the latest game in the Tainted Grail saga. Awaken Realms specializes in these large-scale narrative games that come with elaborate miniatures, and Kings of Ruin is no exception. Let's see what the cats think of it. Let's look at the game from the less-relevant human perspective. Narratively, Kings of Ruin is…
We all know what it means to receive a new game: Cat pictures!
Let's start with a disclaimer: This blog post, like my last two, is based on personal reminiscences. I'm telling my little stories while my aging and cracking memories still have enough integrity that I can pretend there's an element of truth to them. Here I'm going to focus on my participation in the New-York-City-area table-top role-playing fan…
About a week ago, someone e-mailed me with a question related to my old writing in the pages of the APAs. I'll get into that query (and answer the question "What the heck is an APA?") in the follow-up post to this one. Let's first look at the chain of thought the query inspired. I have three…
For my gamer friends: While falling down an internet rabbit hole, I found this article on a history of wargaming. I recommend reading it, if only to learn about the rise-and-fall of an important segment of gaming. The article was written by Greg Costikyan in 1996. I knew Greg briefly in the late 70s or early 80s.…