Well, look at this. Last month I fully intended to purchase the
Trinity Battleground system in time to write up a review for this
month's column. But one evening, I came home from work and discovered
a flier left on my bed by the Magic Flier Fairy. The magic flier
informed me of a Battleground Demo, being held at the local chain
comic store (unlike the local mom and pop stores, it's rather shoddily
run) on March 6th. So, Battleground waits a month. On the plus side, I
get to experience the game firsthand, so I can make a wise judgement
on the matter of wasting my hard earned cash on it (on the spot, if
they have a set for sale, which I somehow doubt they will, stupid as
it seems). Then I can dedicate next month's column to a review/report
on Trinity. I hope. As for this month...
We start with some great news! Chameleon Eclectic no longer has the
rights to the Babylon 5 RPG! Of course, this could well mean that
there will be no Babylon 5 RPG for months, maybe years, but I'd
personally rather live with the potential for something better than
that holy piece of crap than having to sit here and watch loyal,
intelligent, fun-seeking fans suffer at the hands of this game.
I want to admire ICE ()
for creating a fun card game that allows for variety but remains
accessible to new players and is faithful to JRR Tolkien's LORD OF THE
RINGS saga. But those darn printers just keep screwing things
up! How much longer will it be, before they replace those misprinted,
damaged, and otherwise unplayable cards from the otherwise fine game,
Middle Earth: the Balrog? As much as I like the concept of
playing such an awesome character, I can't bring myself to buy it,
until I can be certain that my $20 will be well spent (also, I'm
probably bitter that Babbages sold their last discounted Balrog action
figure before I could get to it).
I feel somewhat remiss, not giving Legends of the 5 Rings a harder
time these past few months. It is the biggest new non-licensed game
to pop up in the past few years. It's practically a franchise now: a
role-playing game, card game, and tactical miniature game! It's huge!
Well, as huge as a set of games with inept editors can get. I'm
disappointed with myself that I haven't wailed on them more. Anyhow,
the nice folks at FRPG (stealing once again from White Wolf) are
releasing revised editions of their typo ridden Clan books, in an
amazingly limited capacity! Seven books for $125 wouldn't seem so bad,
if anyone who cares hadn't already purchased all of them. Oh, and they
are limited to 1000, so they are probably already gone. Me, I'll wait
for the normal revised editions, then laugh at myself for giving them
half a chance, when reports of how typo strewn they still are roll in.
I heard something about Magic: the Gathering putting foil enhanced
chase cards in their new expansion. What's the matter? All the
speculators leaving? Collectors complaining about being able to
complete a set with the purchase of a mere $200 worth of cards?
Oh, I saw Make-Your-Own-opoly up at Toys R Us. Me personally, I see
the potential for lots of properties with "nickel" and/or "wanker" in
the name. Too bad it's half again as expensive as regular Monopoly. If
you're really dying to make your own opoly, post-it notes are pretty
darn cheap.
I wonder if Cheapass Games is trying to be less accessible to the
common gamer. Their new, exciting looking deal, Button Men
(),
requires more dice for a two-player game than I've ever owned! On the
plus side, you can walk around conventions with one buttoned to your
shirt, and maybe someone will see it and challenge you to a quick
match. Or people will scoff at you and beat you up for being so dorky
that you bought into a game designed for the purpose of selling dice
that just happen to go on sale that very same month!
Gosh, it's so hard to find something nice to write about. Hm, what
could I do...how about... ooh! No. You know, I really should try
harder to come up with games to say good things about. How about Devil
Bunny Needs a Ham? Looks hilarious. Two Bucks. Take a look.
Finally, if you are so inclined, take a look at my other article in
this month's Reviews section
here,
and my beloved (betolerated, really) brother's first article ever,
here. And thanks, as
usual, to the two terrors of Houston, for giving me all the love that
I need as a writer.
