Puzzle Kingdoms for the Nintendo Wii

Puzzle Quest was a major hit around the house.  So it was with baited breath that we looked forward toward Puzzle Quest Galactrix.  We were a little disappointed at the game play in Galactrix, as we were really hoping for more of the same as the original and the innovation just didn't strike the same chord with us.

So, eventually Galactix fell back to back of the game pile and never did end up being finished, while playing the original and the expansion turned into at least part time jobs.

On a perfectly innocent day browsing our local Gamestop I noticed Puzzle Kingdoms.  I was amazed that I hadn't heard anything about this game given my moderate PQ addiction.  Given the lack of buzz, onto the Gamefly queue it went.

And a good Gamefly game it was.  They Wii-mote control was horrible and felt 100% tacked on at all times playing the game.  Many a time I would say, "I wish they had just used a normal control scheme," or "This would've been better on the 360."  The game itself wasn't bad, somewhere between the original PQ and Galactrix.

If you are a oldschool PQ fan I recommend at least a rental of Puzzle Kingdoms but be ready to curse the "innovative" use of the Wii-mote as you accidently select the wrong symbols over and over again.

The Poodle RPG system

This extra light roleplaying system was something I came up with by combining the Pool by James West and its offspring the Puddle.  Hence the Poodle name.

The Poodle is a story telling system where the players only have one common Pool of dice that represent not only their life but their control over the game itself.  Gaining new traits is something that is done spontaneously in the game based on number of successes rolled in conflict resolution.  Experience is also tracked as dice from the players Pool can be used to increase trait bonuses.

I did like the idea of combing the two systems together.  I was planning on using Fudge dice as trait dice when resolving conflicts to easily distinguish them from the dice from the player's Pool.

It is something I will most likely not get a chance to bring to the table locally as it is a d20 / 4ed intensive area and rules systems lighter than Savage Worlds are pretty much completely out of the question.  But it was still a fun way to pass an evening, enjoy.

Dungeon Magazine Index

Dungeon Magazine Index is a handy resource for searching Dungeon Magazines adventures all the way from issue 1 to 139.  You can filter the index by Level, Setting, Edition or by entering your own search term.  This is very handy for quickly finding adventures in the correct level range for your needs.

Now if the actual adventures were as readily available this would be amazing.  Paizo Publishing does have a few hard copies and PDFs available at their website, but their stock doesn't go all the way back to the first issues.

"Tomb it may Concern"

This adventure comes from Dungeon Magazine #22 and is one of my favorites of all time.  It features a paladin suffering from amnesia and their attempt to defeat an ancient evil buried in the forest while struggling to remember who, and what they really are.

The good

• Solo quest (you only need two people!)
• Little prep time for both DM and PC
• Short enough to be played in one setting
• Nice mechanic of re-introducing powers and memories to the PC as the adventure goes on
  
• Element of mystery throughout
• Good adventure for trying out different systems

The bad

• Difficult/impossible to find
  
• Clichéd amnesia usage
• Combat heavy
  
• It ended, this left me hunting for more solo adventures

The take away

This is a great adventure for introducing new player to role playing games.  It is also something I would like to use in the future to try out new systems.  It is formatted for 2nd Edition D&D as written, but I am planning on stating it up for use with both the Pinnacle's Savage Worlds and Green Ronin's Dragon Age Origins RPG systems.

Widowed by Mass Effect 2 or How this blog got started

On a cold Tuesday in January Bioware released Mass Effect 2.  I was motivated to get started blogging as my wife instructed me to leave her alone with the xbox for "a couple of weeks."

I am going to  make use of this time to do mini-reviews of various role playing game adventures.  With the hope that this will motivate me to run more games.

I will try to take at least a few interesting items away from each adventure so there should always be at least a good seed or two to be had.

So here we go . . .