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It is as it says in the title: A solo-player domino line physics game where you just set up what you want and push it back down.
The Colors (which are customizable) that it comes with are eye pleasing, and warm. I love the music for this game! It really fits the relax and play vibe.
Currently in free-to-play beta mode, Ninza is a combination platformer and brawler!!! From Indie developers Klakmioch, this game has a homepage, twitter and discord.
I tried it out, and while I’m not much of a brawler -or platformer- it’s a lot of fun! I love the characters, and the actual controls are pretty simple! The concept of the game itself is gret, too.
The main menu is easily traversable, and there are 4 game-modes available for play (for now at least). The game is relatively easy on the eyes, with minimal of the bright, flashy, effects that can hurt your eyes, and the animations are very readable. The backgrounds are done in a way that reminds me both of Japanese woodblock prints and those old-style story books done in paints and colored pencils.
If you have your eyes open for a brawler to play around with your pals, this one may be the one you want your mitts on.
For a relatively simple game, Jury box (published in 1936 by Parker Brothers) has earned itself a spot in game history.
It’s a game for any number of players, and is relatively simple. You (and your fellow players) act as jury to the cases provided in the box. There is photo evidence, an illustrated case file, and what the “correct” answer.
In play, after the case is read by a selected player, the players write their verdict and idea of what happened: points are awarded to those with the correct verdict, and to those whose solution behind what happened comes closest. The person with the most points after all the cases are complete wins.
Jury Box is the precursor to modern variations of LARP and murder mystery games.
The action of pretending to be a person, and the whodunnit nature of the game is what lead to the evolution of games like Clue and such.
Sometimes, research turns into something else entirely.
Yesterday, as I was researching more historical board games for a few other artcles, I came upon a website that sold a few dozen physical variations on chess. It not only caugfht my eye, but also sent me on a fun wikipedia dive.
Today, I’ll be rating different chess variations by aesthetic, readability, and how much they made me want to play that particular variation.
3-person chess (Hexagonal)
Aesthetic: 10/10 a blast to boggle at. The squares merging in the center is incredibly pleasing.
Readability: 10/10: clearly readable!!! Lovely.
Want to Play: 10/10 YES. Wish I knew more people IRL who liked chess to play this version of the game!
3-person chess (circular)
Aesthetic: 10/10 a joy to look at, makes a fun centerpiece, will fit on a circular table and not look ridiculous.
Readability: 4/10 Makes my eyes hurt: The board tries to be more readable by adding diagonal lines through the squares, but I feel that makes the board even more confusing to try to decipher in a game. It looks cool, sure, but doesn’t do well for play. the colors for the pieces are standard, I suppose, but better choices could have been made.
Want to Play: 5/10 Due to the board, it’s not high up on my play list, regardless of how cool it will look on a coffee or café table.
Stacked Chess
Aesthetic: Not so much for me: a 6/10. The boards and pieces are very standard, and while the connecting spire adds a bit of flair, it doesn’t do much for the look. The pieces look cheap.
Readability: The individual boards are perfectly readable, 10/10, this is what standardization is good for.
Want to Play: ehhhhh *wiggle hand in a so-so manner* 4/10. If I wanted to do something like this, there’s quite a few digital versions which do a better job with the concept of multiple boards, one of which is “5D chess with multiverse time travel“.
Peace Chess (Paco Sako)
Aesthetic: Cute!!! I honestly love the way the piece designs were modified for the new gameplay. 10/10
Readability: 10/10: standard board, and the pieces retain enough of their silhouette to remain distinctive.
Want to Play: 6.5/10. The concept of “peace chess”, in which the kings try to reach each other by jumping through other pieces is enough to warrant a try, but I’m not entirely sure about the replayability. Since you can’t take pieces off the board, I feel that there’s not many moves to h=be had after a few plays.
Jester Chess
Aesthetic: Overall, really standard: other than the titular piece and extra spaces, nothing else is added, visually. 5/10: it works, I guess.
Readability: Looks Just like your average chess board but with more squares: it’s a 10×10 black and white board. The pieces are the same as your average ones, with the exception of the added, titular piece: the Jester. 10/10. Unique piece design, recognizable board.
Want to Play: Definitely intriguing! The added piece (whose rule for movement is literally “whatever piece your opponent just moved”) would add interest to your usual game, with extreme annoying sibling energy attached. Prefect for people who want to aggravate their family, 8.5/10.
A game like this, from 2600 BC, is full of intrigue. This delicately carved block of stone, with flowers and markings etched into the rock, sings to played again.
A 4×3 board is connected to a 2×6 board with 2 squares. There are 4 d4’s, with dots on 3 of the points. And there are 7 Tokens per player, with one blank side, and one side with 5 dots
We have the board, the dice the pieces, and the question remains: how do we play it?
Rules have been found for advanced versions of the Royal Game of Ur: the sweet irony of which is that the base rules are speculation. All we know for sure about the base game is some of the markings’ meanings, and that the goal is to get all your pieces across the board. Even the exact route is unknown.
Because of that, there are a few different sets of rules floating around the internet.
One of several points of argument is whether rolling a Zero on the dice counts as a zero, a four-space movement, or as a “roll again”.
Another point of argument is when/how pieces may be moved onto the board. On Some of the boards, the pieces are numbered, and one guess is that you must roll that exact number to play them. Other rules have suggested that you have to roll a certain number (either 4 or 0) to bring out any piece, and some discard that notion entirely; you can bring a piece onto the board at anytime.
I suppose that if you wish to play it, it’s like any game of UNO: the rules are decided by players agreeing (or acquiescing) to them.
As a DM, you lead your fellow players in the adventure of a lifetime! And you can’t do that without a setting for your adventurers to traverse!
There a Few ways to do this, like always!
Base it off of a real-life location
You can simply pick a point on the globe and lift the terrain and cities wholesale. This way, you can point your focus towards the plot and characters of your campaign.
Pros:
Makes your life easier
Can use history for flavor
Cons:
Expectations of Culture and mannerisms that come with a person’s knowledge
There will be history here, and the players might expect use of it
Create your own from scratch
Use map generators or craft a map from your own imagination to craft the most individualized map
Pros:
You can have whatever you want wherever you’d like
Create your own world history
Cons:
You have to make it yourself
Create your own world history
Custom maps can be made multiple ways.
Decide on a central or key location, and build what you need around it
Make a legend, and drop dice (signifying different physical objects) over a piece of paper
Random generator
Use a Mix of both!
You can use a real-life map as a base (for terrain or city placement), and then edit it to fit your lore/characters/villain’s actions
How do you feel about Time loops, dear reader? Does the monotony of the same day over and over and over bore you to tears? Or does the hope to fix your mistakes blind you to the truth that the loop is whispering?
START AGAIN: a prologue has multiple endings, and is based on a series of short comics.
Providing a swift kick in the chest and eyes full of tears, you follow Siffrin in this story in the second person, and meet friends to help you on your quest.
Defeat monsters as you learn about the loop that has trapped you in it’s claws!
There are a few ways to create the ultimate evil for your DnD (or other media) game!
The Standard
Choose from the prototypes of any popular mass media for the skeleton to build your villain off of!
The common tropes in media range from Evil boss to Mass-murdering maniac. The general tropes for a simple villain include a sad backstory, a tendency for murder, and a longing to take over the world by violent means.
The way to impart your generic villain’s actions is to really expand on the scope of their evil deeds. Don’t just mention the widespread destruction, but show it and its aftereffects. Have the village that your players were going to head to be torn apart, have the most trusted villagers mention their hatred of the Big Bad, and how the villain affected them and their livelihoods.
The Foil
Examine your player characters and their motivations. Pick what drives them, and craft a villain that wants something similar, but does it in a completely different way than your player characters.
You can craft a foil from characters the player(s) already know, and they don’t even have to start as antagonists. With the foil, you can also grow their powers/abilities/fear-factor along with the players, to help with scaling their end-game “badness” level.
Worldly type
This is a villain built out of the world you have created. What would mess up the world you have created? What ideology would cause the collapse of the society you have? What is the worst case magical/supernatural/scientific scenario?
Say your world has a heavy dependency on a particular resource: the villain can hoard it, or they could seek to destroy all of it.
Basic World building: Major locations and the breadcrumbs that will lead your players there.
Some starter quest for your players to introduce them to the world or situations you want them to face. This will also serve as a way to help your players figure out the beginnings of where they want to take their characters.
Your Players
Ready by session One:
Character sheets– These can be done as a group (as a “session 0”), or individually with the DM
Backstory– Informed by the world, they can intersect with those of other characters. It might be good to remind your players that the backstory is essentially a “Prologue” to the campaign.
Your Vibes
Ready by session One:
Prospective playlist for encounters: the specifics of which will be up to you. Some DMs like background music, others prefer the actual sounds that could feasibly be on the journey. For music, Video game OSTs can provide what you need. For Sounds, there are YouTube videos with things like 10 hours of ship noises, or failing that, you can look at customizable ambience sites.
Playlists helps your crew get in the mood, and can help with immersion in the story, depending on how you play it.
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