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Talislanta
 

2nd August 06....................................................13 Players

We were all down stairs in the bar tonight with a committee meeting taking place in the normal room we hang out in. Dave Cooper’s Dungeon and Dragons games are drawing a crowd with both James and Daniel bringing a friend each this week.

From now on I am awarding bonus trophy points equal to the length of a game in minutes to any player who is new to a game. On some occasions this might be awarded to players who have played before but so long ago they have forgotten the rules. This bonus is not available to the person teaching the game even if they have only read the rules and not played face to face before. This should in a small way advantage players who are willing to try something new. I am making no other changes to the system. More complex changes have been muted as has the idea of dropping the trophy points system all together. The whole concept of the system started in the days when there was just a core of regular players. The change to a larger membership with more spasmodic attendance has rendered the system redundant to many. The possible change to a quarterly competition with points awarded for missing weeks based on the average of attended weeks is a possibility for the future but for now I am happy with the little change I mentioned above. Thanks to Dave D for his private correspondence regarding this and thanks to Luke for his enthusiasm for the system as is. 

Matt:

Quote of the evening:

 

Dave: You go down the corridor. It's empty apart from a torch bracket on the wall. 

Daniel: We'll take it. 

Dave: It's a torch bracket...? 

Daniel: Yeah, we'll take it.

 

I think a quest for profitable architectural salvage is a perfectly reasonable plot hook to get a party into a dungeon.

 

Steve H

Thoughts on Wednesday:

 

1. Vinci is to Antike as the Roman Empire is to a small village in ancient Suffolk. Also, if you want a game where kicking around the other players is de riguer, go for Struggle of Empires instead, or Game of Thrones. Or best still War of the Ring, which is one of the best games I have ever played. 

2. I’m not clever enough for Thurn and Taxis, and I can’t stab Dave’s postman or rig his carriage to explode. No fun at all. Also the theme!: “What did you do tonight, darling?” – “I helped solve the vexing logistical difficulties of the postal systems of 19^th Century pre-unification Germany, and came miles last in the process.” 

3. You can brain someone with a torch bracket. A million other household uses surely…  

 

Matt:

1. They are different games. I like Vinci more with 3, and Antike more with 6. Game of Thrones is an exercise in chaos management.

2. I had a similar experience with Katzenjammer Blues: "...then we played a card game where we were domestic cats playing in a jazz band and had to collect mice...why are you looking at me like that?"

3. Why stop with torch brackets? Oak doors go for a fortune...

Antike - 160 minutes

I have put Keith down as the winner even though he finished the game behind in points. We were playing to 12 points.

Matt’s comments:

For the record, I think this sets a bad precedent. Scoring by predicting how games would have finished seems a bit dubious. Now, I havn't played Antike with 3 players before and i'm more than happy to go along with your predictions based on your previous experiences and I don't really want to start an arguement over what was an interesting game for the first 2 hours. However it does strike me that either:

 

You're wrong and scoring by prediction is contentious.

 

or;

 

You're right and the game was a pointless exercise from the start as anyone going for a 4hour world domination strategy was always going to win regardless of the number of vps scored when we had to go home.

 

Either way, I don't think the prospect of playing Antike with less than 5 players is going to thrill me in future, particularly as you both went for the same strategy from the start and Kieth only had an advantage as I was geographically closer to you than him.

 

Steve H

I predict I’m going to finish second every game. Oh, hang on I had two “lasts” on Weds…

 

Gordon concedes:

Given enough time I can’t see how Keith would not have won even if I had been gifted all of Matt’s territory and been allowed to play both our positions as one. Within the next turn or two Keith would have built the final 3 temples giving him an Iron production of over 30 compared to my production of 16. I have averaged the trophy points between us. Matt would have won if we had played to 10 points but then we would all have played differently so it is silly to speculate. Richard thinks we were crazy to play to 12 points.

 

Richard Drewsbury’s comments:

Why?  Not "why did Keith win", but "Why on earth play to 12 points"??

 

Although I've got no time for Mac's "fixes" to the rules in the latest edition, there simply aren't enough VP cards to play a decent 3-player game without it (i) taking too long, and (ii) degenerating into a slug-fest for the last 40 minutes.  I'd rather not play it at all than try to play it to 12 points again.  And that's despite Antike being my favourite game for years.

Keith is experienced at 2 and 3 player Antike and that showed tonight. The last 3 games Keith has been involved with have all been won by him and all ending in the same way with the game abandoned because he has been seen as inevitably taking over the whole board even though he has been behind with points. He plays largely with a disregard for the vp’s treating the game as an empire building project with the mission to control the world. Once a player has the board position to out produce the combined resources of his foes he can take his time logically taking territory. This only works if the vp cards have been evenly distributed among the other players, leading to a long game. With 4 or more players Keith will have to find another way to win.

I really wanted to get Keith into a game with more players just to see how he would play it. I would play again with 3 but I would prefer to play with 5 or 6.

Vinci - 70 minutes

Turn and Taxis - 60 minutes  bgg

Dungeons & Dragons - 140 minutes  Official Web Site

I understand the party was more successful this time. The bonus for playing for the first time has been added to Matthew and Ben’s points. I know points are irrelevant for this game but I have to be consistent

Dave’s comments:

Back in the 80's, this is what everyone thought, hence the move towards more detailed and realistic combat systems. Now it has gone full circle; the D20 system uses a 'one roll to hit' system. It is more detailed than AD&D, but as I said before; I grew up with AD&D and even after all this time, it seems natural and easy to put together an adventure.

 

The kids loved tonight’s session; Daniel and Ben want to play next week. It's ok by me (because I'm enjoying it too); Charlotte and James are having a good time as well (Charlotte is a wicked shot with her bow.)

9th August 06....................................................13 Players

It was a nice surprise to have Toby, Simon and Julian join us after nearly a year absence. Simon’s work is not taking him so far away as it used too and Toby’s time is a bit more his own now the little ones are getting bigger. It all bodes well for us seeing a bit more of Tony and Simon on a Wednesday night. I didn’t get to chat with Julian so I don’t know if this is a one off visit.

I get my new camera tomorrow so we should again get reports with pictures when I return.

I am going on hols for 9 days starting tomorrow and I have a hundred things I need to do between now and then so I’ll be brief.

Power Grid - 135 minutes

Simon was completely new to the game and Steve and Toby had only played once over a year ago so the session started with a rules explanation. I think the greatness of this game is apparent from just hearing the rules. There are some lovely systems at work in this game; the neat way the fuel costs are determined by demand, the honest but uncertain showing of plants that should come up for auction and the on board land grab for cities.

I made a whopping mistake on the second turn when I spent the money I should have used for cities on fuel. I felt I played in a lame way throughout which I am prone to do when I am introducing new players to one of my games. You guys certainly don’t need the kid gloves. Dave won the game by spending two hours making a long chain of correct decisions. Well done Dave.

Poker - 30 minutes

Steve set us a 30 minute time limit so that gave us 90 + 45 + 0 = 135 total trophy points to play for. We took 135 chips each and divided the chips we had at the end by 3 to convert them back to points.

Toby has a similar aura at the Poker table to young Luke. They just come over to me as if they are bluffing every hand yet when I go up against them they always seem to have the cards to take the pot. On the last hand of the evening I hit bottom pair when the flop came out 2, J, J. Steve folded so it was heads up between me and Toby. Toby had fewest chips which did not stop him raising, I thought I smelt something fishy and raised over the top to take him all in. You guessed it, I totally misread Toby who was sitting on a Jack resulting in him doubling up and sneaking the lead from Steve.

Taj Mahal - 90 minutes

New England - 60 minutes

Close scores.

Talislanta (role playing game) - 140 minutes Official Web Site

Daniel claimed to like the combat system better than the D&D system used last week and I am sure Jon appreciated the more interesting abilities this rules set gives low lever magic users.

Dave’s report:

The game is Talislanta; a very unique setting totally unlike any other 'traditional' fantasy world. For example, Daniel was playing a Thrall; a magically created warrior race; all Thralls look identical so they are covered from head to foot in unique tattoos. Jon was a green-skinned Cymrillian warrior-mage; able to use wizardry and a longsword, and Ben was a Blue Aeriad, a humanoid race devolved from birds; having lost the power of flight they use their vestigial wings coupled with Bracers of Levitation to glide for short distances. They started in the city of Cymril, capital of the Seven Kingdoms, on the 42nd of the month of Laeolis (the Blue moon) and were engaged by the wizard Gennaro to collect 6 drams of Crag Spider venom for him ( a Crag Spider is a 12-legged 15' long monstrosity). They actually succeeded in doing so, killing two of the things and also fighting off an attempt by some bandits to steal the venom. They also rescued a Ferran thief named Fixx (Ferrans are small rodent-like humanoids from the Wilderlands of Zaran; not liked by many people). As a defensive tactic they can release a skunk-like offensive stench; something which the PC's found out after Daniel threatened to slice his head off. Now they are back in Cymril, in a weeks time the Magical Fair starts, which should be interesting. Meanwhile, Ben is trying to get a tailor to make a cloak for him out of the Crag Spider hide that they carried back with them (no, I have no idea why he wants this, but it does kind of make him unique and people -will- point him out!)

Talislanta is very heavily influenced by Jack Vance and Lord Dunsany. There are Men here, but not the ones commonly found in the pages of fantasy literature. On Talislanta there are no cows, sheep, horses, oxen or goats; instead there is a range of interesting and unique creatures. Oh yes, and there are no Elves.

16th August 06....................................................13 Players

Dave Dudley’s Report:

A good attendance tonight despite holidays, with Dave continuing Talislanta for the younger members, but upstairs due to the television viewing in the bar. The rest of the group split into 2 4’s as follows:

Torres - 60 minutes

I think this is one of the best games played at the club and always enjoy it. The game tonight was played with a slight variant, where when drawing card, you drew 3 and chose 1. This through me a bit and on at least one occasion I found myself thinking I had a card, but in fact I’d discarded it previously in favour of another.

Industrial Waste - 45 minutes

Julian went for growing his factory and finishing the game quick approach, it was Anna’s first game.

Guillotine - 10 minutes

Caylus - 90 minutes