This is an expedition report on a jigsaw puzzle I solved. World background I like to watch a few math YouTube channels. One of them is Matt Parker's Stand-up Maths. About three years ago, he did a video on jigsaw puzzles: He worked with Karen Puzzles, who co-released a video of her own: I'd seen some of…
If you've visited my place in recent years, you'll see that I take a different approach to the concept of dice tower: Over the past five decades, I've accumulated lots of dice. I've got so many that I've used some of the oldest ones as tests for miniatures paints. I used to keep the dice in cloth…
Just when I thought it was safe to open a box: It's Soul Raiders! This is the Deluxe Grimoire Edition. Shuba approves. Jiku also likes the look of the game. "Hey, Shuba! The game looks nice, but the box the game came in is even better!" "You're right, Jiku. Also, the box is much tastier." I don't…
In an earlier blog post about opening up a trunk of old games, I extolled the virtues of The Empire of the Petal Throne, a world setting devised by M. A. R. Barker. Less than a half-hour ago as I write this, I was reading the introduction to Playing at the World, 2E, Volume 1: The Invention…
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…