GM Advice - no time for introductions

Would love to credit the creator of this image, is it you?

Almost every RPG sessions I've seen, played, heard or watched has started the same way. No, not necessarily in a Tavern. Every game seems to start with character introductions.

The GM asks the players, in turn, to describe their characters. Player one starts telling everyone about how his character is an Elf, from Elfholm, who has 3 siblings that are all competing for daddy's attention. He describes this elf's hair, her eye colour. There's a description of what armour the elf is wearing, what weapons she wields.

Sometimes a player goes into in depth background details that take up a ton of time. Other times a player will say almost nothing at all.

Overall this process takes a ton of time, as each player gives their own description and/or background. In some groups this can take up most of a session depending on how much each player wants to share. What's shared often varies player to player. One player will read through their 5 pages of family history while the next player will only say: "I'm a human fighter with plate and a greatsword, I look like an average big tough dude." 

I am not a fan of this method of starting the game. I personally feel that an RPG game has no time for introductions.

Games & Grub at the Windsor Star News Cafe - July 24th

WINDSOR STAR NEWS CAFE

Friday July 24th we've got a Games & Grub event being held at The Green Bean's Windsor Star News Cafe. This all ages event runs from 5pm until 11pm. 

The Windsor Star News Cafe is located at 300 Ouellette Ave, 3rd floor. This is the cafe that is part of the new Windsor Star located where the old downtown Palace Theater was.

The Windsor Star News Cafe has great food, coffee and other yummy things. The location is also licensed and offers some awesome beer from Walkerville Brewery as well as local Wines. Street parking is free after 6pm if you can find a spot and there are two parking garages in a very short walking distance if you can't.

We play a wide variety of games at these events. You will find card, dice and board games. We've even seen some miniature gamers bring their armies out. There's no theme to the event. Our last gaming event saw games of Rumble in the Dungeon, Bring Out Yer Dead, Star Realms, Lanterns, Neuroshima Hex and many more.

We encourage you to bring some games out, whether an old favourite or something new you want to try out. If you don't have anything to bring, that's cool too. There's always lots of variety and people are always happy to teach you the games they have brought.

Brimstone Board Game Night July 18th - Featuring Room 25, Season 2!

It's time for Brimstone Board Game Night!

Brimstone Board Game Night hits on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of every month. These events run from 5pm to 10pm and are open to all ages. 

Every event will feature at least one game. There will be demo copies of the game available and someone on hand willing to teach the game so you can try before you buy.

You can win games just by coming out to play. At every Brimstone Board Game Night you can earn tickets that give you a chance to win free games. Every event we will be giving away a copy of the featured game (see below) and some events we will be giving away even more.

Players earn 1 ticket for playing games, 1 ticket for purchasing a snack or drink, and 1 ticket for bringing 1 or more board games for people to play. Earn 5 more tickets for each game you purchase. First time players will receive 5 additional tickets.

You can find Brimstone at 3298 Walker Rd. Parking is available on the south side of the building and on the city streets around back.

Featured game: Room 25: Season 2

The famous TV show "Room 25" is back for a new season with two characters joining the cast: the adventurer and the psychopath.

In Room 25: season 2, an extension for Room 25, all characters have their own special ability. Also, thanks to an adrenaline surge, the participants can perform one additional action in a turn of their choice. Of course we've made the complex different — and more difficult — by adding new rooms...will you be up to the challenge?

CGame night at CG Realm July 11th

The 2nd Saturday of every month the Windsor Gaming Resource is proud to promote The CG Realm CGame night.

The CG Realm is located at 3147 Tecumseh Road East, right here in Windsor.

In addition to a growing collection of games for sale and demo games for you to try out, they also have a great gaming area with lots of tables, lots of room and great lighting.

Featured Games: Bring Out Yer Dead and Batt'l Khaos

At this event we will be featuring the two cool games. Bring Out Yer Dead and Batt'l Khaos. 

Bring Out Yer Dead was just released at Origins and people are going nuts for it. Try to get your family into the best plots in the city's newest cemetery.

Batt'l Khaos is a war between orcs and nights. A tile laying game where players try to form majorities of their own army on the corners of the mage towers scattered on the battlefield. 

Games & Grub at the Windsor Star News Cafe - June 26th

WINDSOR STAR NEWS CAFE

Friday June 26th we've got a Games & Grub event being held at The Green Bean's Windsor Star News Cafe. This all ages event runs from 5pm until 11pm. 

The Windsor Star News Cafe is located at 300 Ouellette Ave, 3rd floor. This is the cafe that is part of the new Windsor Star located where the old downtown Palace Theater was.

The Windsor Star News Cafe has great food, coffee and other yummy things. The location is also licensed and offers some awesome beer from Walkerville Brewery as well as local Wines. Street parking is free after 6pm if you can find a spot and there are two parking garages in a very short walking distance if you can't.

We play a wide variety of games at these events. You will find card, dice and board games. We've even seen some miniature gamers bring their armies out. There's no theme to the event. Our last gaming event saw games of Elysium, Win, Lose and Banana, Star Trek Next Phase Deck Builder, Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition, Spyfall, DC Deck Building Game, Euphoria: Build a Better Dystopia and many more.

We encourage you to bring some games out, whether an old favourite or something new you want to try out. If you don't have anything to bring, that's cool too. There's always lots of variety and people are always happy to teach you the games they have brought.

Brimstone Board Game Night June 20th featuring Elysium!

It's time for Brimstone Board Game Night!

Brimstone Board Game Night hits on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of every month. These events run from 5pm to 10pm and are open to all ages. 

Every event will feature at least one game. There will be demo copies of the game available and someone on hand willing to teach the game so you can try before you buy.

You can win games just by coming out to play. At every Brimstone Board Game Night you can earn tickets that give you a chance to win free games. Every event we will be giving away a copy of the featured game (see below) and some events we will be giving away even more.

Players earn 1 ticket for playing games, 1 ticket for purchasing a snack or drink, and 1 ticket for bringing 1 or more board games for people to play. Earn 5 more tickets for each game you purchase. First time players will receive 5 additional tickets.

You can find Brimstone at 3298 Walker Rd. Parking is available on the south side of the building and on the city streets around back.

Featured game: Elysium

Elysium is a game of set collecting and combinations in which players recruit cards representing heroes, items, powers and gods. These cards have many different powers and you can create powerful combination to earn gold (the help of the gods) and victory points (the favor of the gods). Each card belongs to one of the eight Olympians gods (a family), and shows a level (1 to 3).

During the five turns of the game, players will try to transfer their cards to the Elysium and write their own Legends, which are series of cards from the same family or from different families of the same level. The more epic the Legends, the more favor from the gods they’ll earn. But as they go to Elysium, most cards lose their power and players will therefore have to renounce some of their combinations !

A game of balance and opportunity with simple action, but constant dilemmas and complex strategies.

Bonus: Win an Elysium playmat

Every person you buys a copy of Elysium or can prove they previously bought a copy from Brimstone will be entered into a draw to win the official playmat which will be delivered in July.

Will Reign: The Card Game reign supreme on Kickstarter?

UPDATE: Reign is back. After the first kickstarter failed Garage Games is back for another try. You can check out reign on kickstarter here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/garagegamesau/reign-diplomacy-deception-domination?token=c08554af

I'm back with another Kickstarter (p)review. 

This time I'm looking at Reign: The Card Game from Garage Games Australia. I meant to get this up just before their Kickstarter launched but I forgot about the whole Australia thing and time zones. Due to this the kickstarter is live right now and you can head over there and check it out if you like.

Reign is a diplomatic card game for 3-7 players in which you are a lord in a fantasy realm trying to prove your legitimacy for the Onyx crown. The interesting bit is that there is no way you can get there on your own and you will have to use diplomacy to get other players to back your play for Regent each round. As throwing support behind the winning Regent gets you legitimacy points as well there are interesting decisions to be made on which claimant you want to back or if you want to try for the crown yourself.

The copy of Reign I had the pleasure of checking out was a prototype copy of the game. Images in this review reflect that and may not match what the final production copy looks like. That said, the prototype copy I received looks like a completed game and a good looking one.

CG Realm - Rumble in the Game Night - June 13th

The 2nd Saturday of every month the Windsor Gaming Resource is proud to promote The CG Realm CGame night.

The CG Realm is located at 3147 Tecumseh Road East, right here in Windsor.

In addition to a growing collection of games for sale and demo games for you to try out, they also have a great gaming area with lots of tables, lots of room and great lighting.

Featured Game: Rumble in the ...

At this event we will be featuring the two cool games. Rumble in the Dungeon and Rumble in the House from iello games. 

On your turn, either move any character alone in a room to an adjacent room, or eliminate any character from a room with several characters in it. When there’s only one character left in the game, reveal your secret identity and score points for being in the game the longest.

Try to guess who is who without revealing too much about your secret characters, and keep them alive in the house as long as possible!

That simple. So evil. Just fun.

I've got word that CG Realm will be giving away not one, but two games at this event. So you can bring the Rumble  home with you.

Brimstone Board Game Night - June 6th - Cacao, Tigris & Euphrates and big raffle.

It's time for Brimstone Board Game Night!

The Windsor Gaming Resource returns to Brimstone Games on Saturday June 6th.

Brimstone Board Game Night hits on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of every month. These events normally run from 5pm to 10pm and are open to all ages. 

Reminder:
At Brimstone all board games are 30% off all the time.

Win Tigris & Euphrates or CaCao

Every Board Game Night at 8pm the store will draw at least 1 ticket and the winner will receive a free board game! Sometimes we get extra generous and give away more than one. Heck one night we gave away 6. No matter what there will be at least 1 game given away every event.

Players earn 1 ticket for playing games, 1 ticket for purchasing a snack or drink, and 1 ticket for bringing 1 or more board games for people to play. Earn 5 more tickets for each game you purchase. First time players will receive 5 additional tickets.

Bonus tickets: Win bonus tickets for picking up the amazing deck builder: Star Realms.

12 game raffle.

Need to make some space for new games. So Brimstone will be raffling off 12 games during this event! 72 spots, $5 per number or 3 for $10.

You can find Brimstone at 3298 Walker Rd. Parking is available on the south side of the building and on the city streets around back.

Another Kickstarter (p)reivew - Sultan's Library

It's time for another Kickstarter (p)review. This time I spent some time with a prototype copy of Sultan's Library from Photon Games. Sultan's Library is a "take that" card game that has players competing to impress the Sultan by filling his library with rare books. 

The kickstarter launched today and is doing well so far. 

I've broken Sultan's Library out at a few of my home game nights as well as bringing it out to a variety of Windsor Gaming Resource events. 

The game seems to go over very well with players who enjoy the "take that" or "gotcha" genre. Games like Munchkin, Red Dragon Inn and Lunch Money.

Note: the prototype I received was a very early print and play prototype and I'm assured that the final components and art will look much better than what I had to play with. Due to this I used mainly images from Photon Games' website and their kickstarter for this (p)review.