The Raven and the Stormcrow

Have been busy last week... studying ABAP out of the office. My internet presence has been weak recently as a result. This will continue for another week, so don't be surprised if I appear to be hard to contact for a while.

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Magic, anyone? Maybe not next weekend though..

Stormcrow

Labels: cards, work

I have discovered that I can get cheap WoW singles, from the same place that sells cheap magic commons. So, right now I'm really interested in building a deck, even if just a couple of cheap ones for fun.

How are the rules? You can find a good flash tutorial at the official site. Alternately, I could just tell you that it's so similar to Magic that I'm surprised they don't get sued. Untap, upkeep, draw and all that. Instead, I'll look at what's different:

• You (the player) are represented by a Hero card, revealed at the start of the game. It sets your starting life, gives you abilities, and defines your race, class and traits (ie, decktype, like a L5R stronghold).
  
  
• You can only play cards that share a trait with your Hero (ie, only Horde cards or Rouge cards if your Hero is a Horde-aligned Rouge)
  
• All costs are colorless (like L5R). You can play ANY card as a land by playing it face down (like VS). Quests are lands, but with extra abilites.
  
• Damage to creatures is cummulative; it doesn't fade at the end of the turn. Damage tokens are suggested (like pokemon).
  
• Weapons and Armor are just like artifacts with "1, T: Your Hero has +3/+0" or "T: Prevent the next 2 damage to your Hero". (numbers vary)

List of card correspondences:
Creature -> Ally
Land -> Quests (or any card)
Artifact -> Weapon, Armor, Item
Sorcery -> Ability
Instant -> Instant Ability
Enchantment -> Ability with Ongoing trait

So... anyone else want to try this?


Stormcrow

Labels: cards, games

The trouble with long weekends is that you promise yourself that you'll do a long list of fun things. Invariably, this list will be longer than what you can really accomplish...

Two years ago, I played La Pucelle Tactics. It's an old school, turn based tactical RPG with cute art and a good story. After 65 hours of gametime, I was one dungeon away from the last boss. Then I stopped. Burned out from too much levelling.


La Pucelle has an insanely complex and addictive XP system. Each character has a base level, and ten more attributes that level separately based on your equipment. Skills level only when you use them. Equipment levels too, during a minigame that you play parallel to combat. You can also fuse items and train monsters.


Last weeked, I played it again, and it's really good! Maybe it's because I can only play a few hours each day, so I'm less bothered by repetition. I really love this kind of classic combat system, and the characters are well made and adorable. I'm looking forward to more from Nippon Ichi. I wonder I can still get Disgaea I.


Stormcrow

Labels: games, review

I got a few of the Marvel Legends line of 6" action figures, while they were on sale. I got three two-packs: Captain America vs. the Red Skull, Iron Man vs. Mandarin, and Hulk vs. Leader. These guys have a well-earned reputation for being very well articulated, although I find that balance can sometimes be an issue. Sculpt and details are great; painting is good overall but ocasionally spotty. These two packs have a ton of extras: a comic book, a display platform with stands and a backdrop, and even a VS card. Not bad for 500 php!


My interest in superhero comic books has also been rekindled recently. The best thing I've read recently would be Marvel's Civil War, a well executed crossover. The main draw is the classic conflict between freedom and security; heroes fight each other, split along ideological lines. The ending is meh, but it's though provoking and worth recommending, something I thought I'd never say again about serialized comics.
Since it's a very long weekend, now is a great time to have a lot of links. Let's start with direct downloads of Civil War, via sendspace: 1-10, 10-20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50, 51-60, 61-70, 71-80, 81-90, 91-96

The dark M&Ms dark chocolate name-that-dark-movie game. Seriously, this is a fun game! Play this one with your friends and family. Dark.



The Balls are Inert: A YouTube fan-splice of Dragonball Z. Um. Don't watch this one with your friends and family.


Urban Ninja on YouTube. For Narutards. Very cool.


Finally, two articles to chew on: The End of Console Games and 10 ways MMORPGs will change the world.



Stormcrow

Labels: books, games, links, toys

Original version by Aesop.

There was once a little frog who lived by the river side. One day, a scorpion wandered by and asked the little frog if he would carry him across the river.

The scorpion said to the frog, "Carry me across the river." The frog said, "I will not. For if I do, you will sting me." The scorpion said, "I will not. For if I do, we will both drown."

The frog saw wisdom in the scorpion's words, so he let her climb on his back and began swimming across the river. About halfway across, he felt a painful sting in his back.

The frog felt the scorpion's poison flow into his heart, and as death closed in on him, they both began to sink into the cold water. Just before his nose slipped under the waves, the frog said, "Scorpion, now we will both drown!" But the scorpion smiled...


...and she said, "But little frog, I can swim."


Version with alternate ending by John Wick for L5R: The Way of the Scorpion.

Labels: Zen