Maintaining a Dynasty, Part 1

In my review of Crusader Kings 2, I mentioned that the difficulty (and the uniqueness) of the game came from the fact that your own vassals and children will squabble over what is left of your empire when you kick the bucket.  Assuming you've overstretched, or you know your citizens are ready to pick up the pitchforks, here are a few things to keep in mind both before and during a crisis.

Here's part 1, what you can do before a crisis.

Cthulhu 7th Edition

Cthulhu's my baby.  Though it wasn't my first love (oWoD takes that title), Cthulhu was the girl I cheated on oWoD with and married later.  It's not without its flaws, but it's a beutifully simple, beautifully deadly system.  Unspeakable Oath offered a brief glimpse of the 2013 Seventh Edition of Cthulhu (which, they point out, is still up for revision), courtesy of a Continuum presentation of developers Paul Fricker and Mike Mason.  Below, I've got both a summary of what UO had to offer and my thoughts, having delved into the depths of unspeakable horror for nearly fifteen years.

Crowdfunding a Phantom

I've been known to browse Kickstarter for new projects since Double Fine's amazing success.   I've posted a few of the products I've found that are rather interesting here.  There's one popular product that I've been wary about, and intentionally did not post about - the Ouya.

Review: Crusader Kings II

Crusader Kings II is a title I initially overlooked.  A game based on the same engine as Europa Universalis and Hearts of Iron, I expected Paradox to deliver another version of the same wrapper, leading to the same stalemate with 2-3 large nations.  It didn't help that I played both until I was so sick of them I couldn't stand to even look at a map.  I admit it, I was wrong to overlook this one.

SWA: ...Baby, I Got It

There comes a point where advancing a tree is so cost-prohibitive that small dips into another tree might provide a DPS benefit.  I already spoke briefly about this in my previous Secret World Academy article.  When grabbing the next beneficial ability takes your build more than 19AP, you might not immediately think to splash into another tree.  Today, I’m going to provide the second part in a 3-part series, where I discuss passives that might give you that extra edge to tackle Blue Ridge.

SWA: What You Want...

There comes a point where advancing a tree is so cost-prohibitive that small dips into another tree might provide a DPS benefit.  I already spoke briefly about this in my previous Secret World Academy article.  When grabbing the next beneficial ability takes your build more than 19AP, you might not immediately think to splash into another tree.  Today, I’m going to provide the first part in a 3-part series, where I discuss passives that might give you that extra edge to tackle Blue Ridge.

The Bank Robber's Dilemma

The prisoner's dilemma is a beautiful moral quandry -- do you rat your friends out for less jail time, or do you not testify (and hope they would do the same) for the hope of possibly getting off with no time whatsoever?  It's one that's largely been unexplored outside of more traditional RPGs, but the niche bank robbery shooter genre seems to be coming close to exploring these actual quandries.

SWA: Blue Ridge Blues

Secret World Academy is a series of guides for beginning to intermediate players of The Secret World, focused on helping newer players become effective.

The first two zones in the Secret World play much like a traditional MMO, with additional depth.  You even coast through a dungeon with an Elder God that is supposed to be eating d3 investigators each round.  The third, though, is the Blue Ridge Mountains, and it feels like a brick to the face after coasting through completing quests with little struggle.  Suddenly, every mob fight is incredibly fatal, and the quests show little mercy -- if you think you'll have a chance to recover, think again.  So how are you supposed to make it through the Solomon Islands without losing your will to live playing an MMO version of Demon's Souls?

The Summer Sale Returns!

Prepare yourself!  Intellectual Property is being cheapened!  Hold your wallet tight!

Today, in order of the number of craps I give:

Kickstarter Feature: Conspiracy X

Conspiracy X is an RPG with a rather unique system, and a rather unique setting.  It's a similar setting to the old Paranoia RPG, where conspiracies conflict for world domination.  It's got a much more serious tone, and incorporated all sorts of supernatural theories.  By system, I don't mean the core mechanic -- that one is shared among 5 or 6 other games, including the Buffy RPG and All Flesh Must be Eaten.

Mom's gonna fix it all soon

Post-apocalyptic settings are fun.  As I touched on in my previous zombie apocalypse post, half the fun is about destroying the world, and the other half is about seeing how players (and people in general) react to it.  Today, I'd like to focus on ways to plot a game after the end of the world.

SWA: Seki's Weapon Synergy Quicklook

Just like the tanking guide, this thread has been "Archived" on the official Secret World Forums.  Whether or not archives will expire is anyone's guess, but while it's still up can be found here.  In the meantime, I've gone ahead and saved this here so that it doesn't particularly disappear.

SWA: MrBunnyMan's Tanking Guide

The Secret World Forums have been updated, and this very useful post has been "Archived."  How long it's going to be archived for on the forums is anyone's business, so I've kept a copy here.  The original thread can be found here, while it lasts.  Note that I've kept his original formatting, but if I get his permission, I might clean it up and throw in pictures.  Maybe.

Secret World Academy

On the heels of my review of Secret World, I'm offering a few tidbits of insight at a time to players that may have missed something.  I've spent a bit of time (power permitting) in this game since launch, and here are a few tips I hope all players would eventually figure out.