Sunday Chillin'

On Sunday Hornsfan and I were able to set up a gaming session consisting of some old classics, along with something new.

When I arrived he had already set up Tom Wham's Search for the Emperor's Treasure, (and, link), perhaps the best game The Dragon Magazine ever published (issue #51 to be specific). Chris played the Black Knight, while I was the peace loving, perhaps even self-flagellating Cleric. The goal of the game was to find the most treasure through all sorts of adventuring across a wild fantasy continent. Sir Chris seemed to have a secret pact with the Pirates, as twice he somehow found the hidden Pirate treasure map pointing the way to 1D6 treasures! I was poking around in the desert, rolling for maybe one treasure every four turns, and he as literally falling ass backwards into the Seven Cities of Gold! As he sailed back from Skull Island with his plunder, I dropped a giant kraken, the ubiquitous ancient huge red dragon, and then the mother of all mega-whales upon him, but by then he was well equipped with vorpal sword and +99 plate mail. All loyal woodland friends of mine were swiftly sent packing. Nonetheless, I had been busy earning an honest living, and it all came down to a final turn. I plunged headlong into the maw of the forbidden Mines of Doom, to pluck forth the Emperor's Magic Emerald from the Crack of Doom (at the bottom of the Mines of Doom, of course). The game ended due to the fourth imperial treasure being found. We tallied scores, and..... a tie! Ugh! Good fun though.

Next I dared crack open the crusty seal on one of my rarest, and most prized games of yore: West End's Star Wars: Assault on Hoth. After my usual succint and captivating rules explanation, Evil Chris assumed the controls of an AT-AT and began deployment of the Empire's assault force. I loaded Luke Skywalker and his merry band into snow speeders and gun turrets, waiting to hold back the wave. The combat was intense... perhaps a bit more than necessary due to a rules mistake, but we'll ignore that for now... but anyway, it all ended badly (but, perhaps historically), as I soon heard Chris radio a nearby Star Destroyer: "Yes Lord Vader, I have reached the main power generators. The shield will be down in moments. You may start your landing." Boom, the shield fell, and Luke had to quickly scuttle off the planet in defeat. Boo!

Finally, continuing the frosty theme, we set up the latest Runebound expansion, Frozen Wastes. The theme of this game involves finding the crashed colony space ship containing the cryogenically frozen wife of a rampaging alien warlord before his robot minions burn the world to a crisp.... oh, all set in a fantasy world. Pretty wild theme, if you ask me. We were only able to make it halfway through the game before I had to cast Word of Recall and teleport home, but I have to say, so far this is the best incarnation of Runebound I've yet played. Its firmly lodged in my shopping cart.

Thanks, Chris!

PS: GMT is demoing the new Washington's War on-line tomorrow night at 1930 hours CST.