Greetings and Salutations , some of you may remember my previous post on Kickstarter Curiosities and other various Dungeon Master tools such as speciality dice and dice towers, today I'm going to focusing on project that has been done many times before ranging from the simple to the grandiose the dungeon tile.

The Saga World Builder: Modular tiles definitely settle on the simpler side of the equation but their sturdiness, versatility, low space requirements and ease of used definitely makes them worth a look.

Now on a personal note I think the tiles look great with definite classical dungeon map appearance, with significant enough variety and variation that a traditional dungeon crawl style adventures or even a hack and slash board game like Hero Quest could be played repeatedly without much design overlap.


The focus on durability and been able to use board markers on the tiles is a testament to their quality and expands their use even further as I am no fan of the adhesive film items, having used such things in the past I found they had a tendency to be fiddly to use and keep clean.  


The pricing is fair for a niche product though I do regret missing the early bird pack even the basic pledge offers 100 map tiles (6”x6" and 3"x3” erasable interlocking tiles), 160 objects (1”x1” till 3"x3” size printed on adhesion film) and 2 inventory boards (with 60 1”x1” slots).  

Having already met their €5,000 goal with a staggering €99,247 pledged there is no worry that it won't succeed and the fact ALL pledges from the basic set upwards will receive stretch goal bonuses is even better. I for one am very much hoping we can can get the larger village tiles.


So if this seems like a worthy addition to your gaming table I'd hurry as there are only 15 days left (at time of this posting) and the Kickstarter page can be reached by clicking the link below:

Saga World Builder: Modular tiles

 

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First of all a slight apology for how late in the month this post is, in all honesty I've been darting about unable to settle in front of a screen as most of my free time when not job searching has been focused on trying to create a Choose Your Own Adventure combined with a Visual novel in the excellent simple to use Tyranobuilder.

Whilst I have no delusions about been able to complete the project in time for the 2017 Spring Game Jam (at least at any decent standard of quality) I really want to have the drive to focus on this and 'put my money where my mouth so to speak.'
However as frankly I am a terrible digital artist when it doesn't come to copy pasting and image manipulation and lack any audio editing software I have been reliant on scouring the Creative Commons for CC0 licensed material, so a huge thank you to everyone who has contributed to https://opengameart.org

As a result I must admit I haven't been focusing as much attention to the blog or Youtube channel this month as usual, so again sorry about that.

So moving on let us focus on the main topic of the day, some of you may remember my review of a Kickstarter regarding Simbrix from way back in 2015. Having met the developer and designer I found myself charmed by the concept and having had my set for two years now I can say it was money well spent.

• 17 Custom colours and shades.
• Improved colour proportion in each kit (because really no one needs that much hot pink).
• Two new colour pack collections to chose from.  
• More inspiration sheets (some of which were designed by my lovely friend over at Buzy Bobbins) 
• 50 Extra bricks in each pack raising it to 900 and double the number of black bricks included in the Dueto Pack.

There are quite a few more options detailed over at the Kickstarter itself and even though it is 127% funded with 5 days left to go there are plenty of good cheap backing options for those looking to snap up a good deal.

In my past review I highlight the primary weakness was the lack of colour options and really think that this is a great step in improving a create craft toy even further and below you can view the new colour options and a handy pie chart:


Finally is just a short video that I found rather humanising about Simbrix as a company as whole, in my experience many small companies after reaching their goals on Kickstarter and developing often become a bit soulless forgetting or looking down on their origins.
So far Simbrix has avoid this trend but we will see in another two years shall we?

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Greetings and salutations all today I want to highlight a rather interesting development which may excite some of you master builders out there.
Now over the years many groups (including my own) have often used Lego minifigures as characters and monsters on their game boards and battle maps, some ambitious Dungeon Masters have even created whole dungeon from Lego and even developed games such as BrickQuest by Peter F. Guenther.

The Lego company themselves have taken tentative steps in a similar direction with their release of the Heroica, a game very similar to Games Workshops 1989 game Heroquest and it has proven popular enough to have numerous different adventures such as the Caverns of Nathuz, Ilrion, Draida Bay, Waldurk Forest and Castle Fortaan. Each of these sets can be connected and while costly like many Lego products are far cheaper and easier than trying to obtain a copy of Heroquest which at a minimum is over £100. Also much like the original Heroquest it seeks to emulate Heroica has attracted the attention of the gaming community especially /tg/ and has had additional rules created for it to further expand its gameplay.

So with this in mind with the introduction of Lego Ideas in 2008 it was really only a matter of time until a Dungeon Master Set was suggested, for those of you unfamiliar with Lego Ideas it is a website run by Chaordix and The Lego Group, which allows users to submit ideas for Lego products to be turned into potential sets available commercially, with the original designer receiving 1% of the royalties.



Submitted on the 22nd of January 2017 by a user named Ymarilego, the Dungeon Master Set reached the 10,000 supporter requirement at such a record pace even the Lego Staff commented on its popularity:

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Greetings and Salutations all, some of you may remember my previous post on Kickstarter Curiosities and the various interesting tabletop games and Dungeon Master aids. Well today we'll be looking at some of the best dice, carry cases and dice towers currently looking for backing but before we start I want to say thank you to my friend over at Buzy Bobbins for her help with this post.

The first Kickstarter we are going to look at is Hrothgar's Hoard: The Paladin's Keep a heavy duty transport dice tower and tray:

Hrothgars Hoard have already met their $5,000 goal for this project with just over 50 backers but with 16 days to go there still room to back this project. I will confess that this is one of the more expensive project I've seen with a person needing to back $95 to receive the full tray and tower system or backing either $25 for a Dice Box, $45 for a tray with no lid and $75 for a tray with a lid.

Finally there is an additional $20 charge if you wish to have any of the following patterns (or one you own the copyright for) engraved:




The next Kickstarter on our list is Polyhedral Dice Coin, Attention Span Games has teamed up with Tailspin Games to produce the Tailespinner:


Low budget videos aside I personally love the look and the function of the Tailespinner however with only 18 days remaining and $866 pledged of the $6,000 goal it is unlikely this attempt at funding the Dice Coins will succeed. With that said a single coin of either a D4, D6, D8, D10, D12 or D20 (no D100 yet) available is $15 with the various early bird options available or $20 standard.

For those of you curious about the stretch goals the current goals are:

6K: Base Goal
14K: Stretch 1: Free Pin for all Backers. Pin Add on available.
21K: Leather Pouch add on available.
37K: Free Coin Tube with Hand engraved KS exclusive Thank You on it.
50K: Free Exclusive KS Backer Tailspinner to all backers that ordered at least one coin. Additional available as add ons.

Specialty Perks:

Both the big and small batch perks allow you to work with our designer to design the center section of a coin in your choice of the probabilities we are producing. If you already have a logo or design you would like to use, we can put that in there. Simple color is allowed. And if you get either of these perks, we will have access to the die for a year before they get discarded. So if at a later point, you want more, we can work to make that happen.

Current Add Ons:
Any of the coins can be added on to any backing for $20. Just let us know which coin you want and we will get notes added in.



Watch case setup for your Tailspinner. Add $18 to your pledge and we will send you your Tailspinner in a pocket watch casing.


If you take anything away from todays post then let it be the Scroll and Codex: Dice Tower and Rolling Tray by Elderwood Academy, this Kickstarter is a piece of art in my opinion and their site hold a few other special pieces worth checking out.


A bespoke, leather-bound scroll case that transforms into a dice tower with a scroll that unrolls into a rolling tray, the Scroll and Codex kickstarter has won over many fans with $85,201 pledged of $5,000 goal and still 19 days to go. This is one of the most successful Kickstarters I've seen in a while and I highly recommend a look, the only real drawback I've seen so far is that the materials and design available depend on your level of pledge so for those of you eager for a complete Scroll and Codex the beginning pledge is £90 for the Cherry wood with Celtic designs.



Last but not least is the Ninja Dice Kickstarter by Zero Origin Design a designer team from Thailand & co partner in Australia. These Aluminium Alloy dice use various different kinds of Shuriken aka throwing starts to represent each number and are rather well designed even with my personal aversion to metal dice (as they have of habit of scratching surfaces).


With 41 days still remaining the Ninja Dice have plenty of time to reach the desired $5,500 goal from their current total of $1,230, however I am quite sceptical at the possibility of success. The early pledges initially offered first $17 then $19 for 2 Ninja dice with the choice of finish (I rather like the black and green myself), that has now risen to $20 for all remaining backers which is rather expensive for just two dice.



I certainly hope that all these Kickstarters caught your eye as much as they did mine, if you decide to back any of them or know of any other Kickstarters that have inspired your interest please feel free to leave a message in the comments.

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Another small update for you folks Dragons Play a small company that prides itself on creating unique and quality dice products is having a massive limited time give away of Dice Bags and Dice Sets.

Now this is quite the bargain as each Dice Bag individually cost $14.99, the individual Elvish White or Dwarven Gold dice set $9.99 and the Elemental Dragon Dice Sets a whooping $30 to $35.

Now the offer is only available while stocks last so best of luck and you can see the details here.

Update: The offer has ended but there may be more in the future.

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Christmas is approaching fast as always, now thankfully I tend to plan ahead and have all the presents I need by November but I think in every family and gaming group there's always that one person who won't give you a hint and you have to get creative.
I made a post way back in 2013 giving ideas for those last minute Christmas presents and imagine my surprise when I received an email asking for more this year so here are some of my favourite Christmas stocking fillers of 2015.

My first choice is for groups with young children, now most groups prize their personal character figures especially those made by hand or services like Hero Forge but often the kids want to play with them but because they are delicate then tend to break.
A nice alternative for the younger kids to play with or use in their own games are these Packs of Plastic Knights, cheap, easy to replace, these are great to bulk up your battles or teach kids how to paint models. These packs also come in three different sizes 20 models in a basic pack, 45 in a giant pack, and a mixture of knights and siege weapons in the jumbo pack.   

Another present for those gaming parents is the I've had it with Elves baby suit by Crazy dog Tshirts, with is shirt you can get their child both a Christmas and Roleplay jumper in one.



Have trouble claiming certain table snacks? Then these Knight and Dragon Flags are for you.

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Hey all I had hoped to have posted this on the 16th but its been a little hectic recently but the big gaming news this month is I have manage to purchase a copy of Boss Monster thanks to Ben down a The Battle Bunker.

 I was intending on writing a review for it this month but I've only managed to have a few two player games of it so far and every time my group have attempted to gather to play it for the full four player game experience we've had random events of life suddenly prevent us. So far it been illness, car problems and work overtime if this keeps happening I'm going to suspect my copy is cursed, on the bright side the delay has resulted in me obtaining Boss Monster: Tools of Hero Kind as well so I'll be able to review both at once.

For those unfamiliar with Boss Monster and Brotherwise Games they are Chris and Johnny O’Neal a pair of brothers currently living California, the concept for Boss Monster was created in strange fashion when the two  had a bet on who could create an original game first.  
After spending two years creating their concepts and play testing the end result was the rule set that would become Boss Monster however requiring fund to hire artists and print the game the two turn turned to Kick Starter with staggering results and on November 19th 2012 the $12,000 goal was met by a pledge of $215,056.

For the basic gameplay mechanics see the video below:

If you can't wait for my review and want the game right away links are below:
Boss Monster, Boss Monster: Tools of Hero Kind,

In addition I've managed to get a hold of the Boss Monster Card designer so look forward to some custom cards to download in the future.

Other than Boss Monster my groups regular DM has had to suspend our usual game due to increased work load from his Open University Course so I'm taking up my role once as High Programmer.
Its been a few years since the last time I ran a game of Paranoia but I'm sure I can lure them all back to Alpha Complex as after all failure to attend is treason.

My group knows the style of adventure I like to create for Paranoia, typically the Trouble Shooters are assigned a mundane task such as changing a light bulb which turns out to be far more dangerous than first expected. So since its been a while I thought I would share my adventure with you all once the write up is complete.

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Well once again Christmas is catching up with us all but that's no reason to give up on the gaming, so for those still struggling to fill their parties loot sack here are some of my favourite ideas for gifts this year. 

If your Dungeon Master is anything like me they have mountains of maps which they have spent hours drawing and never seem to have the right on, for them I recommend the Ye Olde Map Maker a cheap little program that is a great time and space saver. 
Alternatively no space on the table, tired of cocked dice or accusations of roll fudging perhaps a Dice Tower will help and some of the designs for these are becoming quite impressive and entertaining. Though my own firm favourite has always been the classic Leather Dice Cup,  I've linked to one of the more expensive and ornate examples but there are plenty available at much cheaper price.  While I used to use normal cups or a plastic containers these both made a horrible racket and I've known dice to chip in ceramic cups but if  neither of them suit you perhaps you just need Smaller Dice.

I've found dice have always been a popular gift amongst role players ranging from the Ornate Pieces of Art to the Plentiful Lucky Dip but two rather unique examples have been brought to my attention (as well as heavy hinting) by my gaming group.
The DICE+ at Firebox is a electronic dice that can Bluetooth to various tablet games, the list of which seems to slowly and steadily growing. Unfortunately the Firebox site doesn't provide much information but there is a review available at The Verge.
The second little piece that caught the eye of my group was the D20 Spinner Dice Ring, I know if had one of these I would most likely not be able to stop playing with the thing though I can't seem to find anyone who has tried one of these so if anyone has any first hand experience of using one let us know in the comments.
Of course for those wishing personalisation of their tools of the trade you could always give them the means to make their own with a Blank Set Of Dice.

While our focus is on jewellery I recently been hearing a lot from the ladies in my group about Chainmaille, which appears to be chainmail jewellery and other assorted items. With a bit of help I was directed to Etsy and found a rather nice Dice Bag made in the style though I do think the plastic lock spoils it slightly, there are a few other examples of the style but I think the next item I saw was far more my tastes.
Clockwork Firebird's collection of leatherwork and costume pieces really caught my eye but for a cheap little Christmas stocking filler the Made To Order Runic Snap Bracelets seem to perfect. Personally I think I will be getting one of these for each of my group and there will be a challenge to see who can translate it first and write it out with the Feather Quill Pens they will also be getting. I only wish these were available as pencils more regularly but for those games where a character isn't likely to change these biros will do.

Now my group likes to give presents based on the characters we've played (or at least the most memorable and amusing one) but for Dungeons and Dragons people always seem to struggle with ideas for Rangers and Druids players so I suggest a nice Microwaveable Warmer of their animal companion to snuggle up to over the cold winter period.
Now not everyone likes fluffy toys and that's understandable but in the spirit of my first series of articles perhaps they might enjoy Canned Unicorn Meat or Insectilix Lollies?

Finally what to give the more naughty players for Christmas, the rogue that pick-pocketed the party and pawned off the valuable plot item, the wizard that experiments on the local village or the fighter that just won't stop punching the vital NPC contact? What better than some Christmas Coal Popcorn which is tasty as well as giving a slight hint.

Well I hope at the very least I've helped give you all some ideas so now I guess its time for the mail article. Initially I had hoped to post this on Halloween but I decided not to interrupt the posting of the "Survival Out In The Wilds" series so I guess here is my very own nightmare before Christmas the heartless mage.

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