Blackmoor Vituperative

I would never have believed it, but the trailer for The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy looks like it might be really good.

I was sorting my email and happened across an email from the company who handled our Kutna Hora tour. The name of the company is Jomys. I highly recommend them if you are going anywhere near Prague. We had a great time, and hope to visit Prague (and other cities in the Czech Republic) again some day. I can’t say enough good things about Prague and Jomys.

Several of my gaming friends have been telling me about this great new game, Castles And Crusades, so I went ahead and ordered it from Amazon. I’m not really interested in learning a new game, frankly: I think Hero System and Dungeons And Dragons cover just about any game setting I’d want to play in. But if people from two separate game groups recommend something, I figure I should check it out.

This review at RPGNet makes me wonder if I made a mistake by ordering it, but it’s only twenty bucks, so what the hell. I guess I’ll know if I ever get a chance to actually play it. If I do, I am sure this errata will be useful.

The game went pretty well. They were a rambuncious lot. Of the five players, only one had ever played a Hero System game before, and that had been years ago. The only problem I had in explaining the game system was the “to hit” roll. That is the single most-used mechanic in the system, and it’s too complicated. I am going to start using the alternate which I first saw (if I recall correctly) in Champions: The New Millenium.

OCV + 3d6 must meet or exceed DCV +10

I have resisted using this mechanic up to now because I am, in general, extremely reluctant to change anything. There must be a compelling case for a house rule. I think this is a compelling case. The standard way of resolving combat is a huge hurdle for new players. The above mechanic is functionally equivalent, and much easier for new players to grasp.

Anyway, the game went pretty well. Everyone seemed to have fun. I’ll write up a full con report in a day or so. I am technically still on vacation, even if the snow did screw up our plans for the rest of the week.