Just a heads up folks this is going to be a long post.

In the last week it has almost been impossible to avoid the debate around Valve and Bethesda's experimental attempt to create a paid module community in Skyrim though the progression of events surrounding this have come so fast that many would not expect it to have ended so soon.

For those of you who have been out of the loop on the 23rd of this month steam announced that starting with Skyrim they were intending to allow modders to list and sell their creations:

I personally had concerns from the get go as I've often relied on mods to fix issues in games the developers have ignored or to extend game play in areas it is lacking however I did see the benefit it could bring by rewarding modders for their hard work and perhaps bring life back to other modding communities in the future.

Though it seemed my concerns were warrant as very quickly the Skyrim community turned in on itself with several mod developers announcing they were transferring to paid mods no longer updating their free version with the biggest two been Wet And Cold famous in the community for its amazing weather effects and SkyUI which overhauls the Skyrim interface and a lot of modules use this as a base thus forcing users to pay for it even if they want to use free modules.

As you can imagine this went down badly with many of the community but one of the most well worded replies was posted by a user called zeralesaar

Being a part of the Workshop monetization effort makes you directly complicit in decaying the paradigm of mods that are shared freely by the community to enhance the game experience. By putting your mod behind a pricetag, you affirm the idea that individuals demanding money for a medium that has always been free and based on principles of community and free exchange is acceptable. Whatever your views on the subject, I feel that this is a major first step in corroding the quality of the modding community by first segregating it into paying and non-paying users and, second, sending a message to corporate interests that the "micropayments and DLC" model of gaming should stretch as far as things like minor retextures or mesh alterations for which companies themselves may charge, which would essentially put us back in the territory of Oblivion's Horse Armor DLC again, and likely result in the restriction of modding resources in future iterations of titles like those of The Elder Scrolls.

You, as a mod author, have a responsibility to the community to help shape the future of game modding constructively, and this decision to monetize a previously free work does not seem to do so. I hope that you make the right decision and both pull your mod from the Workshop paylist and encourage Bethesda/Valve and any other involved parties to discontinue this system.

This fear of mods becoming just another wave of DLC and reducing the communities willingness to teach and share seemed to be a common factor in a large number of replies:

I completely agree with you. I feel like its already to the point where 1/3rd of a game is withheld at release for DLC. Hell look at battlefield 4, it had a map pack the DAY it was released. for me, mods have always been about stretching a game to its limits and working with people within the community to break those limits and now, no one is going to want to work together or share assets because people will just try to make money off of it.  

While this maybe seen as a knee jerk reaction and indeed there were more than a few abusive community members who were acting like entitled spoilt children over the matter this was seen very definitely as a threat to the modding community as a whole by the mod developers that Valve and Bethesda claimed to be supporting. In response a section of the community formed the Forever Free a group dedicated to maintaining the spirit of collaboration within the community as show by their statement:

There is nothing wrong with an artist choosing to sell their work – only failing to communicate that fact, when the work of other artists relies upon them. This is not about drawing lines in the sand or putting up walls: only leveling the playing field, and keeping things transparent. Modding will always exist, but the modding community is a fragile ecosystem, and it lives or dies by the spirit of positive collaboration and open communication. Forever Free is simply this: a recognition that the decisions of any of us have an effect on all of us.

By certifying content Forever Free, and prominently displaying the FF badge at the top of their mod’s description, an author stakes his name on an indelible public promise that that content is here to stay, and will never disappear behind a paywall. Fellow modders may feel safe in the knowledge that that work is safe to build on, and players have a guarantee that they will never be asked to pay for future expansions, bug-fixes, or premium content.

This community is not just a collection of people with the same hobby: it’s a brotherhood united by a shared passion and a legacy of achievement. Instead of burning bridges, let’s start building new ones.

Now this was just the effect on the Skyrim and Nexus modding community and you may of noticed I haven't even gotten into the details of the Steam workshop or even the general massive backlash by the online pc gaming community but one of the major sticking points was the revenue produced by these paid mods to Steam and Bethesda.  
  
 Now when a mod creator placed a paid mod onto the Steam workshop they could set the price or choose to have a pay what you want system similar to humble bundle (this option was actually rather supported by the community even in the backlash as a method of donation to deserving modders.)
Regardless of the price set, the size of the mod and if it will remain supported the mod creator would only receive 25% with the remain 75% to be split between Valve and whichever publisher the original intellectual property belong to (in this case Bethesda taking a 45% cut), Valve also only pays out once you've earn £100 so you would have to make £400 in sales before your first pay check and very much weakened Valve and Bethesda's claims of implementing this to support modders.
While supporters claim that 25% is an industry standard many cannot help but feel that this model would be toxic to the community as it supports the method of flooding the market place with quick to make, low quality mods and re-textures in order to make money and seems like an unfair and unjust amount and a 40/60 split would seem fairer and more accepted by the community.

It is incredibly buyer unfriendly in addition as you have only 24 hours from purchase to request a refund, so what happens if the publisher updates his game and the mod breaks?
Well according to Steam Support they request you post a polite message on the workshop page and contact the author so your pretty much out of luck if they've decided they don't want to bother trying to fix it or the game has change so radically that its unfixable.

Even on the first day problems set in with several mods been stolen and put up as paid mods and Chesko’s Fishing mod for Skyrim which was used by Valve as the poster boy for the project was removed on the first day by Chesko.
This came about after Fore who's idle animation was used in Chesko mod stated that he had not given permission and that he didn't want it used for paid content:



Chesko who reply revealed he had been under a non-disclosure agreement during his mods development and given bad legal advice by Valve on the issue:


Chesko in an upstanding show of integrity issued full refunds and removed the mod from the store however this didn't stop some in the gaming community and several gaming blogs from pretty much harassing and accusing him of theft.
Chesko as a last shoutout to the community posted a full account of everything on reddit giving a insight into the whole process and his announcement that he will be leaving the modding community for a time to focus upon it as a hobby. While it is sad to see a talented modder leave the community due to the actions of Valve and juvenile idiots who spammed his contact details with death threats thankfully some of the negativity that had been aimed towards him due to participating was alleviated and was turned back towards Valve and Bethesda.  

Chesko, you've handled things pretty calmly and actually have been really open with that. If anything, I respect you a lot more than any of the other modders who participated for that. If you want to open up your own site, I would be glad to support you there. 

I'm really annoyed with Valve, both for doing what they just did to you and for being so greedy as to take a 30% cut and leaving you with 25%. They basically threw the modders at the incoming fire and said "You deal with it". F**k Valve. I hope this makes everyone realise they are not the great company everyone pretends they are.

The message is: "We noticed great talent but we can't be arsed to offer them a job. We still want to profit off of their work, though. Let's pretend we're doing them a favor." 

Honestly, while the modders may be defendable, there is no way you can even try and defend any companies involved.

Yep. If this works out for Valve and Bethesda, modding will get you noticed but NOT hired. They will profit off of you in a way where you get all the responsibility, catch all the flack, do all the work, but have no contract and make a few pennies and no more. And you lose control over your work and how it's represented. Wanted a nice portfolio? Well if 'EA SlaveMarketPlace' decided to get a shitty format and difficult to browse website, AND keeps you from offering your downloads elsewhere... guess what shows up in Google first, over your personal website with images of your creations.
All across the gaming industry. Why offer people jobs if they do excellent work for free without you even offering them a penny? This could set a really shitty precedent, and being a game dev at some companies you're already expendable and exploitable enough as it is. This shows companies have zero problem making this even worse. 

They knew what they were doing and they didn't care what it would cause. It's simply pure greed. Less work, more money. Less work, more money. Less work, more money. Time and time again.

With a EA level PR disaster on its hands and a petition to remove the paid workshop working its way into the thousands Valve activated damage limitation and has pulled the paid workshop from steam though from their official announcement it sounds like they may try to bring this back again in the future for newer titles rather than existing ones. 
 Likewise Bethesda has tried to reduce ill will and have released their own statement and are actually replying to a number of well written replies.

 Even though Steam has pulled the paid workshop at this time its still very much in the public eye and can be kept track of here.

Also if your curious about a slightly more in-depth view into the problems and how they could be possibly fixed in the future Paul Tassi over at Forbes has a pair of good articles on the matter:
Valve's Paid 'Skyrim' Mods Are A Legal, Ethical And Creative Disaster
Is There A Way To Make Valve's Paid 'Skyrim' Mod Store Work For Everyone?

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A few years ago I came across an unusual game system created by Tony Dowler, initially created as a way of designing dungeons and cave systems for Dungeons and Dragons it later developed strange hybrid of creation toolkit and solitaire game.

The game is played in a series of successive ages:  

The Primordial Age: In this era the land is developed and sets the stage for the future develop of the dungeon, mineral reserves and ancient monsters lurking in the dark are all things that appear here.

The Age Of Civilisation: One or more precursor civilisations now come to the land each with their own unique rules and develop over a number of rounds until they are wiped out by disaster, monsters, war or they cause The Great Disaster that is a decade of cataclysm that last a decade.
In the original ruleset Dwarves, Dark Elves and Demons are the available though several others have been created by the community. 

The Age Of Monsters: Monsters now roam into the ruins of the destroyed civilisations and surface kingdoms take root, monsters are separated into three different classes:
Delving groups which represent intelligent ,well organised creatures such as Druegar and Hobgoblins.
Breeding Groups which are monsters that rely on replacing losses quickly to thrive and survive these represent Kobolds, Orcs and Goblins.
Alpha Predators these are the largest monsters of the dungeon seeking to eat or rule all others, Dragons, Fire Giants and Owlbears all come under this category.    

Each round now representing a year these monsters roam and expand their territories, fighting each other or raiding the Surface Kingdoms, on occasion adventurers and wandering monsters venture into the depths seeking treasure and glory with mixed success.
The Age Of Monsters comes to an end when the surface kingdoms are wiped out or a single monster group obtains enough treasure to begin the Age Of Villainy.

The Age Of Villainy: An Alpha Predator has grown in power or strength to become a menace to the whole region or a powerful creature of individual new to the area attracted by either the wealth of its inhabitants or the devastation they have cause. As these villains seek to consolidate their power adventurers now arrive in droves each year attracted by the growing rumours and tales of those who return. The Age Of Villainy ends only when the Arch Villain is victorious or lays slain.

The basic mechanics are relatively simple consisting mostly of random tables and If statements, in spite of this the slow build up of history of your dungeon can bring it to life and makes reading chronicles of other peoples dungeons quite engaging.    

If you'd like to see an example of play then watch the following video by GreenGoat:

A free version of the game minus its artwork and some extended details is available over at Planet 13 or for direct download here. 
If your interested in purchasing it then it can be acquired at Planet 13 or at Tony Dowlers blog.

For further posts on How To Dungeon here are links to:
Dsyon Logos Muck Dweller Civilisation 
Silverain Kobold Civilisation
The Great Spider Civilisation

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Hey everyone this post will be short this month, I've been pretty busy with a course recently so I've not had much free time to write however I do have a few articles planned so I may be posting a third article this month or next in addition to my normal posts.

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First of all let me say I am a big fan of both Adventure Time and The Legend of Zelda Series and when I saw this game I was rather excited as this seemed like the ideal formula for an adventure time game and if a sequel is released with the issues in this game addressed it could be a real hit.

I also wish to mention that due to constant issues with crashes (which will be expanded upon) I was unable to complete the entire game but from the various lets plays I've seen since the game itself is rather short (4 dungeons from which I completed 2) but with a lot of back tracking.
 
Now in this review I'll go over the following areas in depth, Story/Theme, Controls/Game Mechanics, Graphics/Sound though it should be noted there may be overlap at times.

Story/Theme

Adventure Time: The Secret of The Nameless Kingdom strongest point is its loyalty to it source material, the games plot could easily be made into a two or three part episode and be well received and its newly introduced characters all have the charm and strangeness one would expect from Adventure Time.

Nearly all the monsters can be recognised from the show however there is no real reasoning or theme why they are in a location and are often recoloured and reused elsewhere throughout the game with only with more hit points to create an additional challenge, there is also no shortage of cameos from major and minor characters, all of which are voiced and have perfectly written in character lines.
This been said there is not nearly enough character interaction between them with each only having a handful of lines. Another minor issue is that unless you are very familiar with the series many of these cameos will be unrecognisable and having a small character journal which unlocks a paragraph about each character you meet would of been a nice addition.

Outside of cutscenes Finn is the only one who speaks at least in the early periods of the game, these short lines are spoken each time Finn picks up an item or treasure with 4-5 lines of alternative dialogue for each. While these didn't bother me so much as I naturally phased them out I do know players who would be driven crazy by this over the first hour so this is just a warning for those who have little tolerance for such things.
This also highlights another issue which is the lack of banter or comments by character to the environments or bosses as you go through the game, this feels like a real wasted opportunity and unfortunately means there is little to distract from the lacklustre game play that is the core of the game.

While there are side quests in the game they are of "Find Item A give to Person A collect item from person A give to Person B" which is typical of top down adventures, the only trouble been the location of these characters are not marked on your map and are often in tedious/awkward to travel to locations.

Controls/Game Mechanics

As basic controls go the game is passable, if you have played any of the gameboy Legend of Zelda series you'll feel pretty much at home however in spite of this you'll find travelling and combat becomes a chore.

First of all Finn seems to move slightly too slow which combined with the large amount of travel, exploration and fetch quests in the game begins to grow frustrating, also there are numerous stairs and cave entrances/exits which you need to traverse and unless you are exactly in the centre of them you just walk against them rather than up/down/through them which often leaves you open to been struck if your just passing through an area trying to avoid combat.
This can be a further problem when moving up or down stairs as due to this been an animation you cannot attack or stop but this often lead to cheap hits from monsters gathered at the top or bottom, while there seems to be an invisible barrier in place to try and prevent this it doesn't work very well and actually causes issues with any block pushing puzzles that require you to push the block past a doorway.

These movement issues begin to also affect combat as well with many monsters been able to out pace you in general or with sudden bursts of speed resulting you get hit (as any monster touching you harms you) or miss a swing often as unlike Link Finn requires to stand still to attack with his sword which again slows down the gameplay and makes combat somewhat unsatisfactory.

The Grass sword is your  main weapon throughout the game as Finn and has seeming extremely short range, I say seemingly short range as the hit box for the blade is very difficult to judge but as a starting weapon it has reasonable power with some early monsters dying in a single blow.
However by the second dungeon many foes take up to 4-5 hits combined with a slightly too slow swing animation and the inability to move when attacking means you'll be getting much closer than I suspect you need to and as such take damage more often than you would normally.
The sword can not be swung diagonal so if your moving diagonally and need to attack you will swing in the direction closest to the angle you are moving which again can result in been struck by enemies approaching you diagonally.

Even hitting a monster can actually do more harm than good in most cases as it knocks away and with most monsters possessing range attacks and you'll often get hit just as your moving in to finish them off. The ideal way to avoid this is to obtain the boomerang stand in which like the Legend of Zelda series paralyses monsters briefly if you hit them (and can be thrown diagonal) and then go in swinging.

You also get a ranged attack yourself by the second dungeon but you again need to stand still when using it, its slow to fire, it does less damage than the sword, if you miss you have to wait until it strikes a wall or goes its full screen travel distance before you can fire again which means its only good as a utility item in most cases.

Your main defence other than hopefully moving out the way of the monsters far faster attacks is a shield which bluntly borders on useless, Like the sword it can only be used in the main four directions it is also extremely picky about positioning and will only block attacks that are central on Finn, a few pixels either way and you'll get hit. Its inconsistent about exactly which attacks it will block for example it will block a monster that is running at you with a blade knocking it back but if a monster just walks into you it won't stop them and when using it to push spiky objects you can suddenly slip past its perfect blocking spot and be damaged.

With these issues combined with the fact that monsters respawn the moment you re-enter an area you'll quickly start trying to avoid unnecessary combat unless you need money, this brings us to the next few points the shops and baggies..

Baggies are small plastic bags and essentially fill the role of glass jars from the Legend of Zelda but serve a wide range of functions, they are your potion bottle, your bomb bag, your monster catcher, by the second dungeon and I had already found eight items that can go in them, however they are as rare as hell and you'll often need a spare one to get through a dungeons puzzles so as a result all the different healing or buff items which you could collect (which are lost if you don't have a free bag btw) or buy (at absurdly high prices) will be ignored or you'll be forced to waste them as you need the space.
Those of you familiar with Legend of Zelda know that there are multiple different values of Zenny and Zenny chests littered everywhere, in Adventure Time: The Secret of the Nameless Kingdom you get coins (or Rubles in game) in values of 1 sparsely (3-6 a screen if lucky) on average and chests are rare often giving you trail mix or one of the other healing item components (which you also have to pay to create). To be fair the most expensive thing I have bought was 200 coins but the combination of low coins, little bag space and high prices means I rarely go near a shop.
One final issue with the Baggies is the inconstancy of how to put items them sometimes you will have to use Jake to grab an item other times you must equip the empty Baggie and use it, both these animations force you to stand still which is again frustrating when the item your trying to pick up moves around, while this doesn't have a massive game play effect it just feels that they shoehorned this in as a way to make Jakes grabbing hand have a use.

Now I must mention that to save the game you must do it manually and the only reminder to do so is when you are about to quit the game, this wouldn't be so bad in some respects but given how unstable the game is and how it can randomly at anytime crash to desktop it is damm right infuriating and I lost 2 hours of play twice. In this day and age there is no excuse not to have an auto save after a dungeon entered, side quest is finish or a boss defeated, its sheer laziness not to have this function and to be fair this underlying laziness and feeling of bare minimum effort is something that seems to plague all the Adventure Time games so far.

Graphics/Sound

You may have noticed that I've made references to the Legend of Zelda series through out this review this is partly due to the genre of the game and how highly it resembles Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past but also because the game itself is forcing a comparison between itself and Link to the Past in its very visuals throughout the game. Take these two screenshot as an example:

 

The environment and Finns actions all reference Link to the Past in design and many of the puzzles are similar, however I will give credit to Adventure Time: The Secret of the Nameless Kingdom's bosses as these do not follow the common "Use the item obtained in the dungeon to beat them" pattern and are honestly the most enjoyable aspect in the game.

However the issue with all these design similarities is you lose a lot of the uniqueness of the Adventure Time series and makes it ever so apparent you are playing a poor Legend of Zelda clone, if they had gone a little further perhaps making the first dungeon a room by room copy of Hyrule Castle with a twist before moving into there own unique design for the rest of the map that would of served the purpose so much better than the constant presence of Legend of Zelda references.
The game unfortunately looks rather ugly as well due to the contrast between the smooth backgrounds and the pixelated sprites of the characters within the game, again the cause of this is laziness by the developers as the sprites have been ripped without enhancement from Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I Don't Know.

As for the music there isn't much to say, its inoffensive and feels appropriate and upbeat most of the time but you won't be humming it and you'll forget it the moment you close the game.

Summary: Reasonable Zelda Clone that while has charm and is faithful to its source material suffers from poor communication and player feedback regarding objectives and puzzles, clunky controls, lack luster pickups/powerups and finally no autosave with a tendency to crash after cut scenes potentially losing hours of play time.

Thanks to various emulators and the Nintendo store there are far better games available at far cheaper prices.

6.5/10 Do not buy at full £30 price, purchase only with 80% off or more.

If you would like to see further reviews of this game and Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I Don't Know then I recommend reading the reviewing the following reviews over at the http://metro.co.uk

Adventure Time: The Secret of the Nameless Kingdom

Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I Don't Know

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This is just a short update on this months post, unfortunately I've not had use of my pc for nearly a week due to a CPU overheating problem, thankfully its fixed now after replacing my thermal paste but unfortunately I've picked up a nasty stomach bug over the weekend while taking care of a friend who was suffering from it.

There is a good chance that this months article will not be posted until the 29th/30th.

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In all honesty I have been sitting on this post I have been unable to decide it how to word it having rewritten it both mentally and physically over and over again for the last few days.

Unless you have been completely cut off from any news you will have heard that Terry Pratchett has passed away at the age of 66 due to complications with a chest infection he was suffering from.
While I never had the pleasure of meeting him Mr Pratchetts works have always had a place on my bookshelf and been some of the most influential fantasy novels, whether it was drawing me into the genre as a child, the colourful inventive artworks of Josh Kirby making them stand out from the somewhat bland selection, helping me relax in audio book form as I lay in hospital during my chemotherapy, or driving my creative thoughts and learning through the Science Of Diskworld.

I am not alone in this and over the last week people have come together to say goodbye and remember the great author. I was particularly touched by grantabridge's Terry Pratchett: A Fan's Eulogy whose early experiences very much mirror my own introduction to Diskworld.

In other sad news the Battle Bunker in Lincoln will be shutting down on the 18th of this month.
While the store was doing well enough to cover its own costs the tight profit margin did mean that Ben was covering all the work himself and it was quickly consuming all of his time even after the store was closed.
However Ben will be taking orders and is intending to move the business online.

Here is Bens own post below:

OK, so this announcement is probably going to get fairly long, rambly and mushy so I’ll start with the TL/DR.
As of 19th March, The Battle Bunker will be moving online only; the premises will be passing to Comic Culture. Vouchers and Paid Orders will be honoured as far as possible, but you can come in for full refunds if you feel the need - Comic Culture will honour Battle Bunker Vouchers from the 19th onwards. People who have models stored here for display will be given time to re-claim them. If you’re interested in any of the terrain, shop models, etc., make me an offer.
So with the summary out of the way I’m sure you have many questions, so I’ll tackle them in order of importance:
1. Wuh?!?
2. What does this mean?
3. Why are you leaving, don’t you love us anymore?

1. Wuh?!?

As Karl’s regulars, and a lot of the rest of you will know, the Arcade where Comic Culture is currently located is being closed for long-term refurbishment (I believe they’re planning on turning it into some sort of bar), and the businesses are having to find new locations. As many of you will also know, Comic Culture outgrew the space they were in a long time ago. With these in mind, Karl approached me with an offer to take over the lease of The Battle Bunker’s premises. This allows them to expand, and gives them a larger space they can pretty much just walk straight in to.
From my perspective, I’ve suspected for a while that the dream of running a shop and the reality are streets apart. There are definite appeals to being my own boss, and getting to do what I love every day, but there is no denying that it is an incredible stress and that the job very quickly takes over your entire life. We’ve all seen, or know of, people who get burned out on the hobby when it becomes their job, and I’m glad to say that this arrangement lets me ‘off the hook’ before I stop loving playing with toy soldiers.

2. What does this mean?

In terms of the physical location – Unit 10 The Stonebow Centre – there’s going to be a lot of changes. On the 19th Comic Culture will be moving in, and supplying you with Comics, TCGs, Board Games, etc. exactly as they do now. Unfortunately this does mean that Tabletop Miniature ranges – Warmachine, Warhammer, Malifaux, and the like – will no longer be stocked there, and that there will no longer be dedicated table space to play those games.
The Battle Bunker itself intends to live on. Firstly I will still be open for business up until the 18th, and there will be one final opportunity to order from one of my suppliers – they do Warmachine, Infinity, Malifaux and a couple of others, so I’ll be able to get next week’s Warmachine/Hordes releases. I’ll be looking to work with my current suppliers to see if they are happy with me continuing to operate from a home-office, and with any luck I will still be able to supply a few ranges over the internet or person-to-person. You’ll still be able to contact me here through Facebook, or mobile if you’ve got it. I’ll post updates as I get them about which ranges I’ll still be carrying – I know for certain that Battlefront (Flames of War) and Games Workshop will not, so once my last stock of those are gone, they’re gone.
Logistics-wise, I will do my utmost to fulfil any orders that have already been paid for, but if you would like to cancel outstanding orders in exchange for a full refund, I will accommodate you. Additionally, for those of you with outstanding vouchers, Comic Culture has agreed to honour them from the 19th onwards.
Also, as a mini aside for those of you following it, my “Year of Painting” Challenge is also going to be changing – without store projects to work on, amongst other things, I don’t think I’ve actually got enough unpainted models that I’m likely to use to fulfil it (no, I’m not offering to take on your projects!). I’ll be continuing to work on painting models as I go through the year, and will continue cataloguing my successes on my Facebook page.

3. Why are you leaving, don’t you love us anymore?

Obviously yes my time as full-time employee at the shop has come to a close. The reasons that I decided to accept Karl and Audrey’s offer to take over the lease are many and varied, and it certainly wasn’t an easy decision to reach, but I think the highlights will suffice. Principally, Fun-Ben is starting to approach burn-out; 2 years of planning and preparation, followed by 9 months of near-constant work (because as the owner, things don’t stop just because the doors are locked) is starting to really get to me. It’s been the hardest, and most rewarding, job that I’ve ever done, but as all appearances indicate that I won’t be able to afford an employee, or a break, in the foreseeable future, I needed to do something before it started to affect my love of the hobby.

Finally it’s time for the mushy bit. Running The Battle Bunker has been a massive adventure, and you all have my unending thanks for joining me on it. These past few months have been great, I’ve made some great new friends, and even with all the stress and work, I wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world. I hope that you’ll all continue to support the shop as it moves forward under new ownership, I know that I will. As for me, once I’m done helping Karl and Audrey take the helm, I’ll probably take a well-deserved, short rest before plunging back into the employment market – and don’t forget I will still aim to trade from my virtual shop and offer my usual good prices.

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In my post early this month made mention of Boss Monster and the history of it creators Chris and Johnny O’Neal of Brotherwise games, having now had the chance to thoroughly play it with all intended group sizes I feel that I can now give a fair assessment of it. 
First of all I want to clarify that I own the Revised edition that has a updated and clarified rulebook and improved quality cards from the kickstarter release so if you see pictures of certain cards


The Contents and Theme
So what do you get in a £20 box of Boss Monster?

• 8 Boss Cards
• 75 Room Cards
• 31 Spell Cards
• 25 Ordinary Hero Cards
• 16 Epic Hero Cards

In total, there are 155 cards, that is pretty good and that is before the fact there are 96 unique cards, with several of the duplicate cards featuring alternative artwork which helps with visual appeal and replay value of the game.

Speaking of the artwork it is beautiful pixel art with every cameoed character clearly recognisable and each Room and Hero in particular having a personality, Katrina Guillermo (Super Apartment Bros) and Kyle Merritt (EvoCreo) have given no quarter in the jokes and visual humour of their artwork and while not technically 8 bit the style close enough to homage the NES era in the best of ways. The card quality itself has improved greatly in the revised edition with the cards been much smoother and easier to shuffle as well as the higher print quality, the choice to make the writing larger on the cards has also helped gameplay substantially and reduced the possibility of print errors rendering it unreadable.


Here are a few examples:


The box itself is rather study and fits all the cards nicely even with thin card sleeves and rubber band bindings, there is also a glossy well written rule book and a quick start guide both of which are clear enough to introduce a new player to the game in 5 minutes.
 
Actual Play


Now I've had a few messages since my last post that there is very in depth How To guide and some gameplay footage for the basic game by Watch It Played so I've include the videos below and put my summery beneath them:




Expansions

Tools of Hero-Kind is currently the only available expansion at this time and continues the parodying of the early consoles by resembling a box for the original gameboy.

Tools Of Hero-Kind brings a whole new mechanic into the game which is the item deck, this deck equips the hero with unique items and turn a coga line of easily disposed of heroes into a deadly menace however should the hero be defeated the player can use these items to great effect.

Brotherwise Games have continued their great theme parodies often referencing items from popular fantasy or video games. A particular favourite of mine is the Ten Foot Pole as not only does it reference the ten foot pole from Dungeons and Dragons the character on the card is Diana from the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon and looks absolutely adorable in the art style.    




The actual mechanicals changes are extremely simple but add a depth of challenge which may cause issues for novice players but the main changes are that:

• heroes are now a bigger threat and with certain combinations are more likely to cause a wound or damage to a dungeon.
• The single use Boss Abilities give players access to Spell-like abilities without needing to invest in certain rooms.
• Many of these Boss Abilities include offensive effects that target other players' dungeons and promote more competitive cross-table play.

While the price at £9 is somewhat steep considering the contents are just 26 cards it is a great addition to the game and gives the heroes a bit more depth and individuality between the classes.

Another expansion which has been dubbed "Boss Monster 2" is in development but Brotherwise Games have been rather hushed on the subject though Kickstarter backers will be getting a sneak preview sometime this year.

The Future of Boss Monster

 Brotherwise Games haven't been content to sit on their laurels since creating their game they've been working on a digital version of the game which be released sometime this year approaching May/June, while I confess I am once again frustrated by missing the Kickstarter opportunity I'm still looking forward to this and its certainly a viable option for those who don't wish the hassle of carrying a box of cards to a friends house or want to game on the go.

Also much like in the similar development vein of Munchkin a stand alone expansion called Boss Monster: Crash Landing which is a Scifi variant is in the works however it is currently on hold until the development of Boss Monster 2 is complete and will quite likely require its own Kickstarter, what we do know however is that it should have around 150 cards and share the same treasure types (with a possibility of one additional new type) so should be compatible if people wish to combine the sets.

Conclusion

In short I love this little game on a lot of levels, the art style the humour and the rules are all things that have stood out as excellent so far and I personally think that its a great buy for anyone who enjoys a quick competitive card game that favours a little luck and is faster paced than munchkin.

That said it does have it issues, I've found that by having such desirable Kickstarter backer rewards for their projects that some would be customers who have only just discovered Boss Monster have expressed extreme disappointment and decided to not bother purchasing the game as they feel like they are getting an incomplete product. I must confess I was interested in obtaining a copy of the card creation software and while Brotherwise Games have stated they are happy with people passing on this software for free it is frustratingly difficult to find.
However even without a Kickstarter version there is such variety in the cards I don't imagine my group will be growing bored with it any time soon.

Thanks for reading, if you find yourself enticed by this excellent little game then you obtain your own copy through the links below:
Boss Monster, Boss Monster: Tools of Hero Kind, 

If you wish to learn more or be posted on any developments of Boss Monster then click the following links below:

BrotherwiseGames.com: The Home of Boss Monster and all of Brotherwises projects. 
Boss Monster Facebook Group: Frequent updates and occasionally free goodies.
Boss Monster Wiki: Filled with card descriptions, background history and most importantly custom creations of the community.  
Brotherwise Games Forum: The Old Boss Monster Forum still in use by several of the community.
Boss Monster at Boardgamegeek: Boss Monster forum at http://boardgamegeek.com for further reviews and rule variants.

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