Merry Christmas!

My wife and I are celebrating our final "pre-twin" Christmas, which is both exciting and a little sad as well. Sad? Yeah, surprisingly so.

Christmas has always been a little romantic affair between the wife and me. We've always treated it like a .5 anniversary, since it comes about 7 months after our wedding date. I'm sure Jody doesn't feel quite the same, but for me (in an extremely selfish mood)it's a little sad. Not too sad, just a little.

Oh, yeah, and exciting. It is so exciting thinking that next year we will be sharing this holiday with two little girls. I don't expect they'll know what all the bright lights and cheer will be about, they'll only be 9 months old or so, but we are already talking about our plans for next year.

Good tidings to all! Merry Christmas!

Christmas Themed Gaming

If you are like me, you might want to sprinkle a little Christmas into your gaming, or a little gaming into your Christmas. There are a couple of ways to do this, ranging from the traditional to the inspired.

Traditionally, the family can gather around the tree, the fireplace, or the coffee table to play classic games like Risk, Monopoly, Heroscape, Zooloretto, Talisman, Runebound, Sorry, and Trivial Pursuit (among others). But for those of more of a roleplaying bent, there is an abundance of inspired (and seasonal) adventures/supplements available for your use.

1. It Happened One Christmas: An adventure for Faery's Tale (and thus appropriate for a wide age group -- I really recommend this game), where the players are Faeries enlisted by Santa to help save the true spirit of Christmas.
2. Silent Night, Hungry Night: A tale of the Weird West, for Deadlands, featuring a sinister figure inspired by the Grinch.


3. The Battle of Christmas Eve: An adventure for Savage Worlds. The war on terror has opened on a new front—Toyland is at war. The characters are all members of the Toyland Intelligence Committee Terrorism Obstruction Cell (TICTOC), sworn to defend Toyland against aggressors. The adventure centers on a plot to ruin Christmas for one little girl, something TIC-TOC can’t allow to happen.


4. Five Days Until Christmas, a horror themed adventure for the Savage Worlds system by 12 to Midnight.
5. If you play Dungeons and Dragons, Christmas weekend is the perfect time to introduce Nicholas the Giftgiver.
6. Basic Action Games offers a heroic adventure "Ho,Ho,Ho, Heroes", in their free supplement Basic Action Magazine.

Download a little Christmas cheer and have a wonderful, and game filled, holiday.

Gifts for the Gamer Geek

It's that time again, time for last minute shopping. This can be especially grueling if you have a loved one who is a gamer geek. It doesn't matter if they are a Video Gamer or one of the table-top variety,if you yourself aren't a gamer it can be nigh impossible to find that perfect gift for the gamer in your household. So...I'm here to help. I'm going to provide three lists for the perspective shopper. The first is for the person who has a video gamer in the house, the second is for the roleplayer, and the last is for the board gamer. Note that I wrote "board" gamer and not "bored" gamer. If you have a bored gamer in your household, you either really need these lists or your really need to avoid them.

• Christian's Current Video Game Wish/Favorite List:

1. The Dream Authentics Katana Gaming Console: No...you can't actually afford it, but anyone who plays video games would be happy to get one of these.
2. Assassin's Creed: It is likely your loved one already owns this, but if they don't buy it for him/her immediately.
3. Phoenix Wright -- Ace Attorney (Trials and Tribulations): This most recent installment of the Ace Attorney series is wonderful fun. You've never heard of the Phoenix Wright games? Hmm...The best way to explain them is as an interactive novel. You solve puzzles in order to advance the storyline. Loads of fun and the legal system is just as accurate as that shown on Shark.
4. Guitar Hero III: Nuff Said.
5. Mass Effect: If you didn't put your loved one in a stranglehold to prevent them from buying this last month, you should have. This is one of the best games to come out for any console...ever. It merges everything you loved about Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic with everything you loved about Jade Empire. This is as near a perfect game as I have witnessed.

The Table Top Roleplayer

1. The Burning Wheel: While your loved one might never actually play this game, once he or she reads the rules to this game every gaming experience that follows will be shaped by the encounter. The Burning Wheel companion RPG, Burning Empires, is possibly the best Science Fiction RPG published to date.
2. Savage Worlds: Like Burning Wheel, this system will have you rethinking what roleplaying is meant to be. Where other games become overly weighted down with a mass of rules which approach singularity, Savage Worlds keeps it Fast! Furious! and Fun! The Necessary Evil campaign setting is a must for any Superhero fan, or those who loved the old miniseries V.
3. The Serenity Role-Playing Game: Roleplaying in Joss Whedon's "verse." What more could you ask for? A quick system inspired/influenced by Savage Worlds? Check. Veteran game designers? Check. And it's based on Firefly. Go...buy this now.
4. Pathfinder Subscription from Paizo: Paizo Publications used to be the publisher of Dungeon and Dragon, the official magazines of the Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying game. Now they have their own adventure magazine line, called Pathfinder, and it is a good one. The adventures are written by talented designers and the articles provide depth to the campaign world. It's win/win. The only critique I can offer is to say that the adventures are not for the easily disturbed. The third adventure in the series is based (loosely) on the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and features a family of deformed Ogres.
5. The Savage World of Solomon Kane: Robert E. Howard's influence extends to every fantasy roleplaying game ever invented, especially the Dungeons and Dragons game, why not check out one of Howard's most enduring characters in RPG form? This is a great game and a great setting.

I know, I know, I didn't include any D&D products in the list, but that's only because I figured you already knew about those. But in the interests of fairness, here are a couple of products from Wizards of the Coast that I think are of particular interest.

1. Confessions of a Part-Time Sorceress: Trying to get your loved one, of the female persuasion, to take time off from visits to Nordstrom and spend some time at your game table? This is the book for you. Shelly Mazzanoble's writing is witty and fun, and she gets to the heart of what makes rpgs enjoyable.
2. The Eberron Campaign Setting: This is the setting of my current campaign, and it is quickly becoming my favorite campaign setting ever. There are those who cry out against this setting, but I believe they have never actually read the book. Eberron combines the best of epic fantasy with the best of urban fantasy for a great setting. The elves of Aerenal are truly "alien" from most traditional fantasy elves (sure the Khorvaire elves are the standard fare), skull face paint and all.
3. The entire Dungeon Tiles series: These are tremendously useful game accessories.

Christian's List of Board Games:

1. Mr. Jack: Easy to play + great theme + two players = perfect gift.
2. Zooloretto: The epitome of the "eurogame." Prosaic theme combined with entertaining and easy to learn rules makes this a game that can appeal to a wide audience. Give it a try, you might be surprised how much fun you have.
3. Tide of Iron: Lots of pieces and a World War II setting make this the prototypical Ameritreasure boardgame. The mechanics are excellent and the game is versatile enough to simulate a number of different battles. Highly recommended.
4. Descent -- Journeys into the Dark: Maybe the best "dungeon crawl" boardgame ever invented.
5. Lord of the Rings: How often have you played a cooperative boardgame? That's what I thought. Buy this and add that to your list of experiences.

Mel Odom and Professor Nokes Discuss Fantasy Films with the Geeks

It's Monday again, and that means another episode of Geekerati will be airing tonight at 7pm Pacific time. Tonight's topic is one near and dear to my heart, "Fantasy on Film: From the Printed Page to the Silver Screen." If you are like me, you love Fantasy films and have suffered through an almost unbelievable number of bad viewing experiences. Sometimes, I wonder how I can still love Fantasy movies, but then I'll watch a classic like "Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger." That's when I know all is right with the world.

Here's a description of tonight's episode:

The new millennium has seen a resurgence of fantasy on the silver screen. Some of these films have been spectacular, and financially successful, but others have failed to bring the audiences studios might have expected. Are we at a crest on a roller coaster of quality, or is it a sign of more good fantasy to come? Join the geeks and our guests, fantasy/sf author Mel Odom and Medieval Literature professor Richard Scott Nokes, as we discuss our favorite fantasy films.

For those of you unfamiliar with the show, Geekerati is a featured show of the BlogTalkRadio network (and a part of the BlogCritics channel on BTR), a network that is revolutionizing the way podcasting is done on the internet. The shows initially air live and then are stored on iTunes as podcasts.

Geekerati focuses on "Geek Culture," everything from movies and comic books to video and roleplaying games. You can listen to archived episodes at www.blogtalkradio.com/geekerati or look up Geekerati on iTunes. Past guests on the show have included television writer/producers Tim Minear (Angel/Firefly) and Rob Long (Cheers), Variety editors David S. Cohen and Peter Debruge, Game Designer Matt Forbeck, Science Fiction author Susan Palwick, Comic Writer/Reporter Marc Bernardin, Film Critics Luke Y. Thompson (The OC Weekly) and David Chute (The LA Weekly and Premiere.com), Wold Newton Historian Win Eckert, Comic Book editor and author Jeff Mariotte, and Game Designer James Lowder.

In a future post, I'll post a complete list of links to our archived episodes.

Top Ten Internet Meme Revisited

Burgandy Skies, over at Perrero (make sure you mute the clock after you click the link), recently tagged me with the "Top Ten" meme. I am certain, though I haven't looked through my years of archives, that I've done this one before. I am certain it was a long time ago, and Burgandy is good people, so I figured "what they hay, I'll do it."

So, I'm supposed to to a top ten random facts about myself, and then tag ten other people. I'll do the first part, but this branch of the meme ends with me (unless you choose to infect yourself).


1. I am, apparently, one of the few Science Fiction and Fantasy fans who doesn't like the new Battlestar Galactica show.

2. I eventually want to eat a meal at a Gordon Ramsay restaurant.

3. I had a great friendship with someone that never actually led to romance, but I think both of us wanted it to at some point, with someone who is now a Sommelier.

4. I used to be a 21/craps dealer.

5. I still play Bard's Tale from time to time.

6. I am a big fan of Westerns, especially Rio Bravo and Ride the High Country.

7. I think that Private Practice is a very good show, but I haven't watched Gray's Anatomy since the "killed the dog."

8. I adore the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney games.

9. I enjoy heartwarming romantic comedies more than most action films.

10. Oh,...and my wife and I are going to be the parents of twin girls. They should be coming along at the end of March.

All I Want for Solstice is My Sanity

Sometimes I come to the realization that there is just too much awesomeness in the world to fully and adequately comprehend it all. That is why I will merely alert you to the existence of A Very Scary Solstice instead of discussing it in depth. Because, when faced with two CD’s of Christmas and Yuletide songs devoted to Cthulhu, words fail. Well, almost all words:

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

A Very Scary Solstice brought to you by The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society.

Carol of the Old Ones, video by Asfaril.

Like Frodo, Tabletop Gaming Lives!

How's that title for a combination age giveaway and cred establisher? Seriously though, our friend David N. Scott of Pererro asks a question near and dear to my heart, "So... anyone out there still tabletop?" The underlying assumption to this question is that gaming has moved from the tabletop to the desktop, or to the console as the case may be. Let me say, that for me tabletop gaming is alive and well. I might spend weeknights playing Mass Effect (when I'm not doing the Geekerati podcast), but my Saturdays are filled with gaming goodness. Let me share with you the games I play regularly with my gaming group (Wes, Jo, Eric, Steven, and Joel) every Saturday in our marathon 10 sessions. Then I'll mention a couple of the other games I've played this year.

1. Dungeons and Dragons 3.5: The first, second, fourth, and possibly fifth Saturday of every month (holidays excepted), I run an Eberron campaign based in that campaign's city of Sharn. The basic theme of the campaign is CSI: Sharn and the characters solve murders, battle terrorists, and are currently beginning to scratch the surface of a possible continent wide conspiracy that will begin with an assassination (if the players don't do their job). The game begins Saturday at 1pm and usually ends around 6pm.



2. Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 (Backup Games): Did I mention earlier that we have marathon sessions on Saturday? Well, we do, but one of our group leaves at 6pm. I didn't want this player to feel left out of the regular campaign, which has been running for three years, so the group runs a couple of back up games after our 6pm break. Starting at 7pm and lasting until around 1am, we adventure in the world of Paizo's GameMastery world. We alternate two different campaigns in the Paizo-verse. In the first of our Paizo games, the players are running through Nicholas Logue's series of Falcon's Hollow adventures in the GameMastery Module line. They started with Hollow's Last Hope, continued with The Crown of the Kobold King, and will soon face The Carnival of Tears. Characters in the second Paizo game are attempting to finish the Rise of the Runelord's adventure path contained in the pages of Pathfinder magazine. They are about a third of the way through Burnt Offerings.


3. Star Wars Saga Edition: Every third Saturday (minus holidays as usual), Wes runs our Star Wars Saga Edition campaign where our struggling rag tag group of heroes attempts to thwart the plans of the Sith during the Clone Wars. So far we are having a great time, but my Jedi character (Resh Sal'Gana) is pretty sure that every Jedi, who isn't in his immediate group, is a Sith Lord. So far, we like the new rules set, but have some issues with the layout in the core rulebook (especially when it comes to GM advice).


4. Chill 1st Edition: Around Halloween, during our "backup" game period, we played a little 1st edition Chill and had a great time. I imagine that we'll be playing another session sooner rather than later. Pacesetter games was a company founded by former TSR employees who created a number of games that were criticized at the time, but which feature elements that are common now in horror RPGs. Chill may not be Call of Cthulhu, but then again, it never was meant to be.


5. d20 Modern: Yep...we've played this, and will again very soon, in our backup game time.


6. Marvel Superheroes: The players got a little taste of this game earlier this year, and we had a blast.

There's more RPG gaming that we've been doing this year, but needless to say we've been hitting the tabletop pretty hard. Speaking of tabletop gaming, here is a list of some of the board/card games I've played with this year.

1. Bohnanza: A wonderful card game (5 of 5 stars).


2. Bull in a China Shop: A very good card game (4 of 5 stars)


3. Cthulhu 500: A poor card game (2 of 5 stars).


4. Formula De: My favorite racing game (5 of 5).


5. Mr. Jack: An amazing two player deduction game (5 of 5)


6. Tannhäuser: A fun tactical miniatures/board game (4 of 5)


7. Descent: New classic dungeon crawl game (4 of 5)


8. Runebound: My favorite "adventure" board game (5 of 5)


9. Zooloretto: Great fun (5 of 5)

There are many more, but these are just a few of the highlights from the past month.