My Rules Are Better

Tom presents the initial play testing game of Orx versus Hoomans to show what can be learnt from an initial game. Clearly the rules are very raw. What will come out of this game? A number of changes.

Tom discovers some old magazines that rekindles some communications.

Barney Dicker returns to talk with Tom about a wide variety of topics concluding with post-narrativism.

Tom has a number of things to discuss. The Fellowship of the Rings film prompts Tom to talk more about green skins at some length. Tom spends thirty minutes with both the Last Days Zombie Apocalypse rule and Warlords of Erehwon. Even with thirty minutes of time with them, he has quite a bit to say. There is a footnote to how Games Workshop has found independent play testers for Warhammer 40k from the US. Interesting stuff.

Tom talks about the lead pile, game shops, miniature painters and other bits and pieces.

Chris Abbott returns to talk about the lead pile. They explore the Chechen-ification of the Palladium rules focusing on Ninjas and Superspies. What about points and leveling up in games? Useful or generally problematic. Tom raises the importance of HeroForge in creating characters for modern games. Igor Karpov is responsible for the characterful Chechen miniatures from Tiny Terrain. The Oath: The Remarkable Story of a Surgeon's Life Under Fire in Chechnya by Khassan Baiev is the book Tom refers to in the discussion of a Chechen doctor. Chris wants to know more about Noble Warfare. Tom satirizes the current state of wargaming. Chris has been playing a dwarf fighter online.

Tom welcomes back on Barney Dicker who produced a wonderful YouTube video with his son https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-y2fV0uE4wk Tom misspoke when describing the current Kev Adams offerings. The best place for new Kev Adams is http://knightmareminiatures.com/ with shields of interest from Black Tree Design https://eoeorbis.com (you have to ask for them especially) Knightmare also has a selection of green skin shields http://knightmareminiatures.com/product/set-de-escudos Tom offers some ideas on finding good sets of miniatures in the wild. Barney talks about the spectrum between war-games and roleplaying games meeting in skirmish games. This requires some discussion about Tom's experiences moving from 5th Edition to Just Plain Chaos in the work game. Barney also wants to know more about the Chechen rules in the work setting.

Tom welcomes back Mathew Gibson who provides an update on his Dungeons and Dragons game including a named non-player miniature character. Mathew offers the topic of excess in gaming from which Tom frames a grim balance between commercial success and something important with a detour into psychedelia in gaming. Mathew raises a few more topics from prior podcasts concluding on home-brew rules: in a negative light? Never.

Tom talks about the lead pile, proposes a new card and dice game. He talks about considering playing Bolt Action (v2) and a little about the history of WW2 in film.

Tom is joined by listener Barney Dicker to talk about a wide variety of topics. They start talking about Inquisitor and Strontium Dog. The conversation takes a number of twists and turns but concludes with an affirmation that HeroQuest defined a good group of players. If you have questions or feedback please email barbalet at gmail dot com. Enjoy!