Sentinel Comics Starter Kit - Second Impressions

Second round of the Sentinel Comics Starter Kit tonight. See Part 1 over here.

So, the way this kit works is there are 6 adventures. One is an introductory adventure that can basically be played standalone. You can even double up the first two without moving on. The next three can be tackled in any order, leading up the grand finale, the sixth adventure. We played The first two last week in Part 1. We played 3-5 tonight. I'm going spoiler lite, but providing my thoughts here.

- I still like the game system. The group has gotten used to the mechanics. Their Green-Yellow-Red abilities are starting to become second nature. They are watching for them, and ready to use them when available. That's a good thing, IMO. There's a lot on a given character sheet, so it can be daunting...but none of my players seem bothered by them.

- There's a LOT of metagaming going on here. They've figured out how to utilize their Principles to farm for Hero Points. They bend their solutions around their powers and qualities to get the best possible dice combinations they can come up with. I'm real accommodating, but I'm also not afraid to say "no" if it doesn't make sense. My players are cool with this. We're also cool with metagaming. Savage Worlds has a bit of that. I like my games to have a lot of "game" to them, or we're just telling stories. That's my take, doesn't have to be yours. If you like systems to "get out of the way"...this ain't it. You decide if that's a feature or a bug. (I call it a feature.)

- The three adventures tonight, frankly, were not very fun to run. Two of them were not much more than just a series of Overcome actions. That wasn't by player decision, that's how they are structured. In fact, they outright failed the last adventure, and I don't blame them, because the Overcome actions being called for were, frankly, silly. It required multiple overcome actions to make it through a maze...but the thing they were overcoming were...hieroglyphics. Not giving directions, but telling a story. It didn't work, and it sucked the energy out of the group. Yes, an experienced GM can circumvent this stuff. But I tried to run the Starter Kit as a starter kit, as close to the rules as possible, to decide how I feel about the product. Tonight's adventures felt incredibly one dimensional.

-  I'm not a big fan of how the information in the adventures is laid out. Part of it is on me, but there are points where the necessary information felt very lacking. I'll get into more detail in Part 3, after we finish off the Starter Kit, and that one will be a little more spoiler heavy.

- I didn't back the Kickstarter, funds being the reason...but I still want the core rulebook. One of the designers told me that one of the qualms we had about the system had already been addressed, and I'm genuinely excited to look at character creation and see how it plays putting your own characters together.

- My feeling right now is: The game is great...I'm just not sold on 3/5s of the Starter Kit adventures (jury is still out on the final adventure until we play it).

Sentinel Comics RPG - First Impression from the Starter Kit

Hey, look at that. A new blog post. But I gamed about something I wanted to talk about, so here we are.

Superhero Kickstarters to Check Out

Hey all, just checking in with a couple of Kickstarters to recommend for you...

SENTINELS OF THE MULTIVERSE: OBLIVAEON



Greater Than Games is doing one of the ballsiest things you can do...they are killing their cash cow while it's still HOT. They insist they always had a plan, and this is the grand finale of that plan: A final expansion in which the heroic characters of the Sentinels of the Multiverse will join forces with some of their fiercest foes to battle an epic Galactus/Darkseid/Thanos-like entity that wants to eradicate the multiverse.

I am a huge fan of Sentinels of the Multiverse. It is, simply put, the greatest card game I've ever played and I have logged hundreds of games and hundreds of hours. For those who are unfamiliar, you have a number of hero decks (generally 3-5), a villain deck (or a team, more on that later) and an environment deck. Then it's (generally) a slugfest until either the heroes fall or the villain does (some villains and environment decks introduce alternate win or lose conditions). The game has continued to grow, with multiple boxed expansions (gritty street-level, mystic and cosmic themed), new variants (two boxed sets introduced the concept of taking on teams of villains) and numerous single-deck expansion packs, as well as promo cards that provided variant heroes and villains to play with. The game is completely co-op, with the villain decks essentially being "automated". There's even an amazing video game version on Steam, Android and iOS devices.

Details about the gameplay in this expansion are still scarce, but it's known that multiple Environments will be used, as well as a Mission Deck. I freely admit, I have a ton of confidence in these guys to deliver, as I have yet to regret a purchase for this card game.

It is worth noting that the larger Sentinels line will still continue with their miniatures/skirmish game Sentinel Tactics (which I also enjoy, but rarely get to play) and the upcoming Sentinels of the Multiverse RPG (which I intend to get due to my love of the universe).

Heck, you can even get an ultimate collector's box in this Kickstarter that promises to hold every official card they have released (even sleeved!).

Highest recommendation for one of the greatest games I have ever played, from a company with an impeccable track record. I would  love to see that million dollar stretch goal shattered.

AGAINST THE AXIS - WORLD WAR II ERA PLAY IN STARK CITY

My friends over at Fainting Goat Games are hard at work on Against the Axis, an ICONS World War II book that is now also getting Savage Worlds and SUPERS! support. They have even joined forces with Heroic Publishing to tie in with several of their Golden Age style characters.

The ICONS manuscript is complete, and this is a full blown sourcebook that ties in with the Stark City setting released a few years ago, not simply an adventure (of which ICONS has seen several of).

Pinnacle's own Clint Black (who was the man behind one of my favorite campaigns of all time, Necessary Evil) is signed on to write a stretch goal book if it gets that far, but right now the campaign is struggling. Fainting Goat is a good company with great quality and reliability, and the ICONS manuscript is complete, so there is very low risk in backing this one, which still needs just under two grand to hit its funding goal in a week.

Tommy's Top Six of 2013 and Birthday Blog Giveaway

As you will recall, my blog very nearly didn't make it through the year after a horrible computer crash last January. Luckily, I was able to acquire a new computer and return to work. Unfortunately, I hit a record low on blog output, though I did have six reviews that particularly stood out to me, and - as is tradition - the first day of the year (and the fourth anniversary of my blog's founding) will be used to recognize those six games.

First, the rules: The Top Six can only feature one product per publisher. Second, my primary exposure, as well as the resulting review, had to have happened over the last year (from December 1st to December 1st). So if I had a product sitting on a my bookshelf that I thumbed through once, put down, and finally realized how great it was later? It qualifies. Actual publication date is irrelevant to me. Finally, I had to have had no involvement in the production of the book.

For those new to the party:
Tommy's Top Six 2010
Tommy's Top Six 2011
Tommy's Top Six 2012

And now, the Top Six, in alphabetical order.

Dragon Age Set 1 (Green Ronin)

Why You should Buy It: A great introductory RPG, I used it for exactly that purpose earlier this year, shortly after watching the now infamous Dragon Age Tabletop video. The boxed set is affordable, with sweet production values and a fast character creation system that provides a good amount of variety in character creation, as well as a cool stunt system that people mention trying to adapt to Savage Worlds about every couple of months. It gets even better when you add in Set 2 (the player aids are a thing of beauty when combined with the stunt system), and set 3 is presumably out later this year (it's been in open playtest for a while, and I kind of imagine that it is being set up now to be released at or near Dragon Age III, for synergy's sake). A fun fantasy RPG with the cinematic swings you get from later versions of D&D, combined with the simplicity on par with Advanced D&D. And if you find that it's been simplified a tad too much, the wonderful blog Dragon Age Oracle has you covered with the Esoterica of Thedas.

Dresden Files: Your Story (Evil Hat Games)

Why You Should Buy It: It is the first Fate RPG that ever SCREAMED "Run me!". This was helped out, noOur World in order to use Your Story, especially if you are going to decouple your game from Dresden's Chicago, though it certainly helps.
doubt, by the fact that I discovered the Dresden Files books last summer and completely and totally fell in love. The magic system covers all of the cool and fun intricacies of Dresden Files magic, and having knowledge of Dresden Files to compare the Fate writeups with did a wonderful job of helping me wrap my head around the intricacies of Fate, which has led to me taking a second look at other Fate books I had dismissed in the past, as well as looking closer at new Fate books. The setting is a great Kitchen Sink urban fantasy setting and, since it's all told from Harry Dresden's perspective, there's a lot of room for flexibility (due to unreliable narrator and lack of knowledge and so forth). The book itself is a thing of beauty, with great production values and the best "informal" writing I've read in an RPG since the Buffy and Angel RPGs. Despite being a two book series, you don't NEED

Heaven's Shadow (Bedroom Wall Press)

Why You Should Buy It: Easily the most unique product in my Top Six, Heaven's Shadow is lean, mean, self-published RPG using a streamlined version of the D6 system to power a game about assassins for Heaven who are waging a war against the demonic Nephilim who are walking amongst humanity. The price has gone up since the game's release, but I still recommend this without reservation...how many RPGs let you play assassins working for God, planning out assassinations against demonic entities wearing human faces...oh, and you can use Faith to enact Miracles (as simple as vanishing from sight, to plunging a building into darkness, to raising the dead). It's cool. Yeah, it's 84 pages, but it's no frills at all, meaning it is all gameable content. As a guy who ISN'T a huge fan of the D6 system (I generally find it to be overrated), this book makes great use of Mini Six. The first two releases on this list are fairly big name items, but products like Heaven's Shadow are a big part of the reason why I keep doing this blog: To make sure you know about the games you are missing out on.

Monster of the Week (Generic Games)

Why You Should Buy It: I have never played or read Apocalypse World, but it brought us tremulus, which
has been a huge hit for me and my group. Monster of the Week is another fruit off of the Apocalypse World tree, emulating things like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hellboy, Blade, Supernatural and even X-Files, all in the Apocalypse World "fiction first" style. The Playbooks cover a LOT of ground in the genre, especially with the additional Playbooks that have been released. We've had fun with the World Engine thus far, and Monster of the Week is a pretty kick-ass rendition of that Engine, geared towards...um...kicking monster butt. It can be set up for one shots, but where it is really going to shine is in a campaign, as your Monster Hunter's Luck runs out and his story comes to an end (maybe he hangs up his Hellfire Shotgun once and for all...or maybe he dives through a portal to another dimension in order to seal it from the other side). Can't you just feel the drama now?

Sentinels of the Multiverse (Greater Than Games)

Why You Should Buy It: I wrestled long and hard with this one, because it would be the first non-RPG to make this list, but at the end of the day, I would be lying if I didn't put it on here. Why? Because I have logged a ton of hours with this game, I have snapped up the expansions for it, and I will continue to log tons of hours with this game. It is the most fun I have ever had with a card game. It is not uncommon for a rough day at work to be followed up by Netflix and Sentinels of the Multiverse for a little combo I like to call "Geek Solitaire". I only bought it because of the hoopla surrounding the DC Deck Building Game and Marvel Legendary, both of which are fine games in their own right, but both of which pale next to Sentinels of the Multiverse. Just a great, great game, and the expansions (Rook City, Infernal Relics and Shattered Timelines) just make it better. I'm not saying it's not possible to make a better superhero board or card game, but I am saying I haven't seen it yet, and Greater Than Games set a pretty big bar to clear.

Volant - Kingdoms of Air and Stone (Flying Mice Games)

Why You Should Buy It: Like fantasy, but you're tired of the same old, same old? Volant has a solution for
you: It places the entire setting on flying stone kingdoms, with characters riding airships and giant birds as their primary methods of transportation. It gets even better as dogfighting rules are included (not surprising, given some of the author's previous games), and no less than four resolution methods are provided, from gritty to cinematic to turning the game into one of player negotiation. It's not really an "out of the box" game, but Volant includes tools for you to customize your own Volant setting for your adventures. It's the best StarCluster game yet, both in concept and implementation, in my opinion, and it's well worth checking out, especially for "Do It Yourself" gamers and folks who like to play around with fun subsystems (like Volant's Alchemy system).


As is customary, I like to give all of you present for my blog's birthday...as we start the fifth year of this blog's existence, let's get on with the Birthday Blog Giveaway!

Five of the selected publishers were kind enough and generous enough to allow me to offer PDFs of their books as prizes this year, as a way to let me once again say THANK YOU to everyone reading this blog!

From now until 12:01 AM, January 15th, if you email me (tommybrownell(a)gmail(dot)com) with the subject "2013 Top Six" and your choice, in order, of the products you would like to win, you will be entered in the random drawing I'll hold. The first person selected will win their first choice, the second person selected will then win THEIR first choice, unless that choice has already been taken, and so on until all four prizes have been awarded. The winners will be notified via email, and the publishers will be contacted to deliver the electronic prizes to the winners! Here are the prizes:

- One (1) PDF of Dragon Age Set 1
- One (1) PDF of Dresden Files: Our Story.
- One (1) PDF of Heaven's Shadow
- One (1) PDF of Monster of the Week
- One (1) PDF of Volant - Kingdoms of Air and Stone

Good luck to anyone that enters, thank you to the wonderful publishers for providing prize support, and thanks again to everyone that is still reading this blog. Hopefully 2014 is a much bigger and better year for The Most Unread Blog on the Internet. Ever.!

Tommy

Tommy's Take on Sentinels of the Multiverse

So, for those who follow me on Facebook and Google+, you know that I have recently become obsessed with Sentinels of the Multiverse. With that said, this review is gonna be a bit fanboyish because, well, the game has turned me into a Fanboy.

The box art to the first edition of the game.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: First off, this review is of the first edition of the game, which is no longer in print and has been replaced with the Enhanced Edition. I picked up the first edition on clearance for $10 at an area game store, and I’m glad I did. But I suppose I should tell you just what Sentinels of the Multiverse IS. Sentinels is a cooperative Superhero card game for 2-5 players (officially…if you are willing to run multiple heroes, you can play solo), designed to emulate a team of heroes battling a villain in a comic book environment. Each hero is represented by a character card that features their hitpoints, base power and card effects if incapacitated (more on that in a bit), as well a deck of cards that represent their tactics and abilities. Each villain is represented by two cards (one showing hit points and one showing any relevant powers, set-up requirements or alternate win conditions) and a deck of cards featuring their minions, powers and tactics. Lastly, each environment has a deck of cards that represents the perils and pitfalls of the environment.

Each game begins by selecting a hero for each player, a villain to face and the environment. For solo games, I use this very handy randomizer (which allows you to filter out cards that you don’t have). Each hero, villain and environment feels very, very different, making each game a unique experience. The base game has ten heroes, four villains and four environments, and expansions are available that include more heroes, villains and environments.

While the game doesn’t include established, licensed characters, the heroes and villains all feel familiar to classic characters, while having some quirks that help them stand alone. Each character comes with a bio in the rulebook, and many of the heroes and villains share symbols on their cards, marking them as archenemies (meaning they do more damage to each other).

Gameplay is simple at its core. All heroes draw four cards, while you set up any relevant set-up requirements for the villains. From there, each round consists of multiple turns, beginning with the Villain Turn. Draw the top card of the Villain Deck, resolve it and move on to the heroes. Each hero can play a card, then use a power, then draw a new card. When every hero has a chance to go, then you play and resolve an Environment card. Play continues until all the heroes are beaten, the villain is reduced to 0 hit points, or any alternate win conditions are met. The list of heroes include:

• Legacy – A hybrid of Captain America and Superman, Legacy is a heroic leader who is capable of absorbing and inflicting damage, while also inspiring his team to greater feats.
• The Wraith – A young, female vigilante who uses equipment and martial arts to fight crime, while using stealth to avoid damage.
• Haka – A savage, tribal warrior. Haka is capable of inflicting great damage.
• Bunker – A soldier in an armored suit, Bunker can shift between multiple “Modes” that allow him to manipulate his card deck and can command an impressive arsenal.
• Tachyon – The Quickest Woman on Earth can keep enemies off-balance and inflict crazy damage if she speeds through her card deck.
• Ra, The Sun God – A damage dealing powerhouse if he gets going, Ra can even boost his teammates’ damage output.
• Tempest – A weather manipulating alien who can harm as well as heal.
• Visionary – A psychic who has returned from the future to keep her horrible reality from coming to pass, she can manipulate not only her deck, but other decks in the game, as well as turning minions on their masters!
• Fanatic – An angel on a righteous crusade. Can sacrifice her health to give the heroes an advantage.
• Absolute Zero – One of the more complicated heroes in the game to play, Absolute Zero is kinda like a heroic Mr. Freeze, with all the pros and cons you might expect from that.

The four included villains are a motley crew of enemies.

• Baron Blade hates Legacy with a passion. He’s intent on destroying the Earth by pulling the moon into it, and if enough cards make it into the discard pile, he succeeds.
• Grand Warlord Voss tried to enslave Tempest, and he brings his army of slaves to Earth to take it over. If he ever gets enough minions into play, Earth is overran.
• Omnitron is a sentient robot factory who can go on a horrible rampage. Even if you destroy him, he can still live on if you don’t shut down his other devices.
• Citizen Dawn, leader of RISE, is a superhuman supremacist who will make you battle her followers in addition to her.

The four environments add their own personality to the mix.

• Megalopolis has derailed monorails, traffic jams, innocent bystanders and more to deal with.
• Wagner Mars Base can turn its automated defenses on you, and the red dust of Mars can be brutal on those that rely on equipment.
• The Ruins of Atlantis has leaky rooms (that conduct electricity), fonts of power (that anyone can tap into) and even the every present threat of The Kraken!
• Insula Primalis is essentially the Savage Land, complete with dinosaur attacks!

One cool and interesting effect is that the Hero character cards get flipped over if the heroes get reduced to 0 hit points…opening up three options that the player can pick from for their fallen hero, typically based off of the Powers and Cards from that hero’s card and deck. This is meant to emulate the idea of the remaining heroes fighting harder after their teammates go down. It’s a thematically awesome mechanic that keeps a player in the game after their hero goes down (albeit in a diminished role).

Many of the card decks can feed off of each other, and some heroes will have an easier time against some villains, while the environments can make all the difference in the world in some games. The game does have more complexity than your average card game, and I’ve taken to tracking hit points with dice, because you can have a lot of them to manage in a given game. The Enhanced Edition includes counters that you can use for that, as well as updated game mechanics meant to balance out some of the cards a bit better.

WHAT WORKS: Well, this is the most fun I’ve ever had with a superhero board or card game. At times, it rivals the fun I’ve had with superhero RPGs. Every card deck stands out, making their mark on a given game. The basic flow of the game is simple to learn, while the strategy of the card decks can take a bit to master.

WHAT DOESN’T WORK: Tracking all of the modifiers, hit points and card-induced conditions can get cumbersome and it can become easy to miss something. Also, the game is becoming a time sink because I’m playing it too much.

CONCLUSION: The proof is in the fun. I picked this up the same day I got Legendary and the DC Deck Building game. I’ve played the latter once and the former a handful of times, while I have latched onto this on and played it like crazy, even ordering the Rook City and Infernal Relics expansion (and just ordering Shattered Timelines, the Unity, Ambuscade, Scholar and Miss Information hero and villain decks and The Final Wasteland and Silver Gulch environment decks). There is a good chunk of strategy to the game (whole guides are available for each character on the internet), as well as a little luck of the draw, which helps boost the replayability, in my opinion.

The Enhanced Edition. Buy this unless you hate fun.

Just a fantastic, well-made game that is not only a fun playthrough, but a love letter to the superhero genre. This has quickly moved into position as my favorite card game, and I recommend it to anyone that loves superheroes and card games, but doesn’t mind a bit of book keeping. If I could do it all over, I would skip the $10 first edition purchase and go straight to the Enhanced Edition.

DISCLAIMER: While this was a purchase freely acquired with my own money, an affiliate link is provided above, which could result in me gaining a portion of any sales made through that link.