Kingbeast's Lair

Welcome to the second annual Kingbeast’s Lair gift guide. Just like last year I will be presenting two lists. One is my personal wish list and the second is a selection of products that I think would make great gifts for that geek in your life. This year I will also add a board game entry to the lineup. The boys and I have played a lot of board games over the last year and I think we have found some winners. So for each selection I will limit myself to one RPG, one board game, one anime series or movie, and one fun read.

My Wish List

For the first time I have more board game entries on my Christmas list than RPG entries…and the only RPG entry is the lowest priority item! GASP! 😀

Odyssey: The Complete Game Master’s Guide To Campaign Management by Engine Publishing
Odyssey appears to be the kind of RPG meta-gaming book that I often enjoy. It has a focus for GMs and tends to be broad in scope. In this case it is also written by the fine folks at Gnome Stew including Phil Vecchione. Phil’s book Never Unprepared: The Complete Game Master’s Guide To Session Prep was one of my favorite products of last year so I am hoping that same level of quality coverage will be founds here. You can get copies of Odyssey in softcover format at this URL for $24.95. DriveThruRPG sells copies in PDF format for $11.95 at this URL.

Memoir 44 by Days Of Wonder
As I mentioned earlier this year has seen a ton of board game play at my house and I could not be happier. We have several massive hits around home but probably the biggest is Memoir 44 from Days Of Wonder. The boys and I have collected nearly all of the expansion sets including the massively rare Air Pack and if our Christmas lists get filled then we may have everything. The number one entry on my gift list this year is a second Memoir 44 base set so that we can play Overlord scenarios. The Overlord scenarios use two Memoir 44 boards placed end-to-end to form a really wide battlefield. The boys are really looking forward to giving some of these longer more involved scenarios a try. You can get copies of Memoir 44 at lots of places online and at your FLGS. Here is a link to the Amazon entry where they are selling base sets for $49.48. Expect a longer review of Memoir 44 early next year.

Batman: The Complete Animated Series by DC Comics
I have been a massive fan of this series since it originally aired. Bruce Timm made a name for himself on this series for good reason. The stories are intricate and the animation quality is very high. The voice acting includes consummate professionals in the field. Mark Hammil playing the Joker and Arleen Sorken as Harlequin are off the charts fantastic. I’m such a huge Harley fan. 🙂 This box set includes the entire run of the show on something like 18 discs. Unfortunately I did not get it in the past so it sells for a fortune unless you want to pick up a bootleg copy on eBay.

For some reason this set is HEAVILY bootlegged. If you do an eBay search on the product you find tons of entries with low starting prices. Upon further investigation the sellers have no other sales and often include very strange buying guidelines. For example, they may have no returns allowed or ask to contact the seller to pay offline (i.e. NOT through eBay). Being a savvy eBay buyer the little hairs on the back of my neck start standing at attention. A quick Google search revealed that this product is HEAVILY bootlegged. Here is a fantastic video that I found that shows how to tell if your copy if a forgery.

100 Bullets: The Deluxe Edition Book Two by Vertigo
In an earlier blog post I reviewed 100 Bullets Deluxe Edition Book One. I think this series is really great so I added the second volume to my list. See that review for all the good reasons why this sucker tops my list of fun reads. You can get copies on Amazon at this URL for $32.04.

Wish List For That Special Person In Your Life

Here are just three of the items on my bookshelf that I think would make great gifts. Note that the first two of these entries have not yet been reviewed on Kingbeast’s Lair.

Champions Complete by Hero Game
Hero has finally put out a condensed version of the Hero System 6th Edition rules that is reminiscent of the old big blue book (i.e. BBB). The format and content of this book is truly amazing. Derek Hiemforth really knocked it out of the park with this homerun product. Immediately upon receiving my copy I had it spiral bound so I could open it next to me when I work on adventures. Every gamer and Hero fan should get a copy. You can pickup copies on Amazon for $30.81 at this URL. For a paltry $20 you can get a copy on DriveThruRPG at this URL.

Ticket To Ride by Days Of Wonder
Ticket To Ride is probably the second most played game in my household right now. It is great fun to play and is simple enough for the boys to play along at full speed. It is also my wife Sermin’s favorite game right now…but don’t play with her…she is a Ticket To Ride shark! 😀 We have the 1910 and Africa expansions but really the base game with 1910 are enough to play for quite some time. One of the best board games I have ever played and the winner of the Spiel des Jahres in 2004. Complete board gaming served up on a golden spike. Amazon has copies for $37.29 at this URL.

Samurai Jack Season 1 by Cartoon Network
After Batman: The Animated Series my next favorite animated series is Samurai Jack. With Jack Genndy Tartakovsky created a nearly silent hero that speaks volumes with his actions. The series is cinematic in scope and quality. You can read my review of season 1 in my blog post earlier this year. Although maybe not as great as Season 2 this season put Jack on the map. You can get copies for $16.49 on Amazon at this URL.

All-Star Superman by DC Comics
All-Star Superman does something that I didn’t think was possible. It expands the Superman mythos in a glorious display of words and pictures. Anyone even remotely interested in comics will enjoy reading these personal stories that capture what it means to be the Man Of Steel. You can read my review of the first trade at this URL. Copies can be had at Amazon at this URL for $20.78.

Merry Christmas everyone! 😀

My boys and I have really fallen in love with Memoir 44 from Days Of Wonder. Over the course of the last year we have obtained nearly all of the expansions for the game. I think the only things left are for Breakthrough and Overlord sets. Those are on our Christmas lists. 🙂 As we have collected so much material I decided to invest in a storage device to hold all of our beloved Memoir 44 components. After much searching I decided on the Plano 787-010 3700 Size Angled StowAway System. This blog post is a review of this product.

(Click on the pictures to get a larger view.)

I’ll start my review from the front of the box and work my way towards the back. On the lid are two side compartments that are great for holding terrain tiles. On the sides of the front are two smaller storage compartments that come with clear plastic boxes. These side compartments fit an expansion box perfectly. We use the left side for the Terrain Pack box and more tiles. The right side we use for chits and airplanes. More on that in a bit. The main front compartment holds three smaller boxes and one larger one.

Inside the lid are four compartments. In the back there is a long thin cubby that PERFECTLY holds terrain tiles on their sides. Having the tiles sitting on their sides makes them very easy to search through to find the one that you are missing for your scenario. The top compartment can also hold four card boxes and all of the manuals pretty easily. From this front view with the doors open you can see how the clear plastic boxes slide into the main case at a slight backwards angle. This prevents the inner boxes from wanting to slide out. On the right are two smaller boxes that we use for chits and airplanes.

Here is a picture of the boxes that slide into the main front compartment. The one on the left is the thinner one. It works perfectly for figures. The one of the right fits on top in the main compartment. It is thicker that the other three boxes. This one is great for the larger Equipment Pack figures, dices, and larger chits.

On the back of the box is a pouch with elastic cords that can be tightened. This works great for holding the boards.

I think my only complaints with this tackle box are minor. One issue is that on one of the smaller clear plastic boxes one of the latches comes off sometimes. It is easily replaced but it is annoying. The side boxes on the top are also a tiny bit too small to hold the terrain tiles on end. It needs probably 1/4″ of height to fit them on end.

Overall I think this is a great product for holding all of our Memoir 44 components. It gets a resounding 9 out of 10 paws.

I got it from Amazon at this URL for $54.52. It is actually a bit more expensive now but still reasonable.

-== What is it? ==-

Bulletproof Blues is a rules light superhero RPG from Kalos Comics. It was penned primarily by Brandon Blackmoor. Doug Sims, Greg Stolze, and Sean Weir are given contributor status on the product. It appears that the product was initially released in 2010 but then updated again in a second edition dated April 2013.

I am reading the second edition version of Bulletproof Blues in PDF format. The PDF has a color cover and a colored interior. Even though the interior is colored there is not a lot of artwork and essentially no layout. The layout is black text on white pages. The book is 7” x 10” and is 253 pages in length. I believe this is a standard comic book size. I have not played the game I have only read the book from cover-to-cover. I was given a complimentary copy of Bulletproof Blues for this review.

-== What I Like ==-

After briefly describing the setting Bulletproof Blues starts in on the mechanics. One of the early topics is a Plot Point mechanic that is similar to that found in other games. It reminded me a lot of Bennies in Savage Worlds. I like these type of RPG currencies in game settings.

One interesting aspect of the game is that the power levels do not scale evenly. There is a table that shows how scaling is done at various power levels, or Ranks, as the game calls them. The table runs from Rank 1 to Rank 14. For example, at Rank 4 I lift 900 pounds, at Rank 5 I lift 2 tons, at Rank 6 I lift 7 tons, etc. It feels like it would work well during a session.

Greg Stolze penned a section called Basics. This section runs for 11 pages and discusses newbie RPG topics like “What’s Gaming?” and “The Logic Of The Setting”. The tone of this material is very light and conversational. It is a nice set of material but it does feel a big long to me.

The Creation section is next. The section starts with some fluff but it quickly puts a focus on issues that drive the PC instead of the stats. The writing in this section is well done. I like the way the Origin section covers some of the world background in the text. The Archetypes, Motivations, and Complications sections are full of super-y goodness. 🙂 I like the way Complications are used to get the player more Plot Points during a session. In some ways this reminds me of Truth & Justice.

PC in Bulletproof Blues are constructed using a point buy system. There are some recommended power levels given to help in this area. The sample characters are great examples when trying to determine how the various power levels would be combined to create the character.

Skills are presented in a straightforward and clean fashion. An individual Skill is defined as a “group”, or broad topic, where the player can define an Expertise. The Expertise concept is elegant. It really impacts the way skills work in the superhero genre. I like it. 😀 Advantages are covered next. These are akin to Hero System Talents. Small little add on elements that are not really covered by Skills or Powers.

As might be expected one of the meatier sections in Bulletproof Blues is on Powers. Like the Hero System they utilize the concept of a Special Effect. You buy Blast then decide on whether it is a fire blast, lightning bolt, or laser gun. Powers have Activations, an associated Task roll, a Target, a Range, and a Cost. After the Power is purchased Enhancements can be added. These work like Hero System Adders. After the great list of Powers there is a discussion on Power Enhancements and Power Defects. Power Enhancements raise the cost of a power for some gain in effect. Power Defects reduce the effectiveness of Powers at a reduction in cost. These are akin to Hero System Advantages and Limitations except they are simple point additions or subtractions. This is followed by a discussion on how New Powers could be created. I wanted to see more examples in this section.

The next section in Bulletproof Blues is called Actions. This section encompasses all of the combat and environmental rules. Combat is divided into simple 6 second Combat Rounds. In each Combat Round a character may perform a Move Action, a Task Action (e.g. attack), and a Roleplay Action (e.g. soliloquy). A section on Rolling Dice comes next. If a task is unopposed then there is a target number. If the task is opposed it is 8 plus the defenders stat plus a circumstances modifier. Pretty standard stuff but it works. Bulletproof Blues also includes a system for avoiding rolls if the character has time and/or the result of a failure is not bad. In either one is true then the character can Take 7, or take a 7 on the die roll. If BOTH are true then the user can take a 12 on their roll. If the character has Expertise and gets 3 or higher then get an Extreme Success. This has varied beneficial effects depending on the skill. A subsection called Combat is next. Bulletproof Blues uses a standard initiative system. Characters act in order of the highest Perception, then Agility, then Willpower. Environmental effect always go last. Simple and it seems like it would work. I like it. 🙂 There are various combat moves and details on coordinating attacks, distractions, etc. Some of these are a bit complicated but most are simple and easily to enact. The Plot Point section is next. These are the fate mechanic/currency. Players get 1 at the start of a session and get them when complications come into play. 2 to 3 would be used in a single 4 hours session. These can be spent in a variety of ways. These include autosuccesses, inspiration, power boosts, etc. The last section covers Environmental Effects. I felt this section covered each entry in a bit too much details. There was also a section on pathogens and poisons that seemed like it could be entirely removed.

The World section comes next. As you might imagine it covers various aspect of the setting including aliens, corporations, government agencies, magic, laws, etc.

Bulletproof Blues continues with a section called GM Advice. This section was again done by Greg Stolze. It covers plot, hooks, rising action, climax, rules resolution, etc. Everything you would expect in this type of section. 🙂 I liked the GM’s Advanced Duties section the best. It seemed out of place to me (see below for details) and bit too long.

The last section in called Characters. There are a set of sample PC and villains. The example characters cover the various types found in superhero comics (i.e. brick, armor guy, etc). I liked this section as examples are a great way to clarify the intended power levels and point totals.

-== What I Don’t Like ==-

My biggest gripe with Bulletproof Blues is what I am going to chalk up as severe editing issues. Between sections written by various authors there is a distinct change in tone and feel. For example, after talking about the Core Mechanics there is a large section on gaming Basics that is written by Greg Stolze. Even though this material is light and fun to read it uses a light tone that is not found in other sections of the product. The order of the sections also seems like it could be adjusted. There is a section on Core Mechanics, then a Glossary, then a section on Basics in gaming, then a section on Character Creation, then later on the World, followed by GM Advice, then sample Characters from the world. Huh? Why not put stuff together when it makes sense.

There are some tables that are shown in a landscape fashion. For example, early on in the Skills section there is a chart showing chances of completing various tasks based on their difficulty. The tables go up the side of a portrait page in a landscape fashion. It makes the content in this area difficult to read and throws several PDF readers that I like to use. I would have preferred a separate page for these tables in portrait format.

The World section really felt neglected to me. The reason is the artwork. The company putting this out is called Kalos Comics. I felt that a comic company should have access to awesome artwork and this would be the section where I would expect it.

-== Summary ==-

Even though this is the second edition of Bulletproof Blues I came away thinking that they really need a third edition. Getting a professional editor and layout person involved could really make this product shine. If you are looking for a cheap rules light RPG designed in a very standard non-story game fashion Bulletproof Blues is one that should get your attention and dollars.

I give it 7 out of 10 paws.

You can get Bulletproof Blues for $4.95 at DriveThruRPG at this URL. You can get a print-on-demand version AND PDF at the same URL for $14.96. A BARGAIN! 😀