What´s my/your current reading/viewing/playing amusement?

[Mr. Handy]

This looks great! I'd certainly like to give it a try.

Fortune and Glory arrived, and the game looks awesome! I won't have time to read much of the rules (let alone play the game) until the weekend.

[carnage_lee]

I'd like to give that a try too - id it's not too late? Have been reading your threads on the game with ever increasing interest

[Dave Syrinx]

Never to late, Sir!

Always a pleasure to get the attention of your superiors. I´ll be sending the first four cards your way during the next couple of days, Mr. Handy´s character is wrapping up and we´re trying to get the OP-FR/CoC rules to work out without too many glitches.

Regarding an actual game, I´m launching another game before the Fallen Operations.
But when we set off at Oxford, I´ll send you a letter good Sir.

Jolly good to have you joining the ranks, Lee.

/Dave

[Mr. Handy]

I finished Overseer a week and a half ago and have started playing the original version of Broken Sword 1. I'm more than halfway through, and I hope to complete it and start on the second game (original version) this weekend.

After finishing The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, which was excellent, and I'm now reading Hornet Flight, which is great. I'm more than halfway done now.

I got through all of the Watchmen material and have started watching Rome on Blu-ray. I picked up both seasons when they were on sale for $20 each. I've seen the first two episodes so far, and it's quite good. It reminds me of how much I miss Cthulhu Invictus. I haven't played that in quite some time.

I've only had time so far to play two games of Fortune and Glory, which is every bit as awesome as I'd expected. My first game pitted me as Jacques Moreau, tomb robber, against the Chicago mob in a race to secure dangerous ancient artifacts. It was a quick game, lasting only six turns. Half of the artifacts in the game ended up in Africa, and my starting city was Cairo, right nearby. On my first turn I went to the Ivory Coast to try to retrieve The Helmet of the Azure Jewels before one of the villains showed up. Unfortunately, the first of two dangers I needed to face brought a villain to the site, and I failed to sneak past, which resulted in me getting captured after a brief fight. The villains also got a huge boost from a random event that sped up their search for the artifacts, and one of them recovered The Armor of the Cursed Eye. On the second turn, I managed to escape from the villain and snatch the helmet right out from under him. On the third turn I made my way to New York to sell the artifact for Fortune, which I need to amass to win the game. Meanwhile, the mob spread its operations. They started with HQ in Chicago and an outpost in New Orleans, and most of the random locations where they spread were in the USA, though they did deploy thugs in Berlin. They opened a new outpost in Los Angeles and recovered another artifact, The Book of Hades. Their outposts also generated a lot of cash that brought them gradually closer to victory. I decided it was more efficient to raid the mob and steal the artifacts that they'd already collected than to go hunting them down, especially since Moreau is combat oriented. I went to L.A. on the fourth turn to raid the outpost. Luckily, I managed to find a revolver, which helped out immensely. I raided the outpost and was intercepted by three mobsters. They should have been easy, but I had bad luck in the third fight and we took each other down. I still managed to shut down their outpost and steal the armor, and I was lucky that I got to keep the armor after getting knocked out. I got sent back to Cairo. On the fifth turn I made for Paris, where I got help from a friend of the "Family" based in New York and sold the armor for a lot of Fortune. I only needed one more artifact to win, so I went to Chicago on turn six and raided the HQ. Again, I had to face three mobsters, only this time I clobbered them with no problem. I stole the book and immediately sold it, winning the game.

My second game didn't go as well. I was Doctor Zhukov, master of science, battling against the Nazis. Appropriately, the randoml location of their first secret base, zeppelin, and first soldier was in Germany. The game started off almost exactly the same way, but I experienced more setbacks as I played. I was raiding the Nazi base to get the last artifact I needed to win when the Nazis got enough victory points due to a sudden spurt.

[Dave Syrinx]

Currently at The Hobbit.... Better put down the phone... Don't want to get it confiscated...


*********


Well, out from the cinema, I can just say. Wow! HD, 3D and never out of focus anywhere. Even the grime looked pristine. Might be the only thing that I can complain on. Might be I´m getting too old for super realism.

Neat gap-filling in the plot by Jackson and crew.

Stellar performance by Smeagol/Gollum.

And lastly, great to see dwarves standing tall! Never saw that coming.

[Mr. Handy]

I saw The Hobbit last weekend on IMAX, but I forgot to mention it last night. It was not as good as the Lord of the Rings movies, but still great! Loved seeing Sylvester McCoy (the Seventh Doctor from Doctor Who) as Radagast the Brown!

[Mr. Handy]

I played another quick game of Fortune and Glory today, and it was a close one! I played race car driver Shelly Hargrove, and I was battling against the mob. I started out in Paris, and the mob's initial hideout was in Washington, D.C. I quickly made for an artifact in Scandavia, but despite my car's movement bonus, I rolled poorly and couldn't get there on the first turn, though at least I picked up a couple of useful Event cards on the way. I did eventually get there and retrieved the artifact after two more turns, then went to Moscow to sell it for Fortune. Meanwhile, the mob was expanding, deploying a thug into London and getting deeply entrenched in China. They moved another thug into Shanghai, then coincidentally established a hideout and a thug in Hong Kong within the same turn. I went to get the Spear of the Monkey God in Arabia, but the villains had been busy. They collected a few artifacts and were racking up victory points. Also, Nazi femme fatale Tresa put in a guest appearance, but I managed to sneak past her. While diving to retrieve the spear, I was attacked by a shark and barely survived thanks to my Spunky special ability that let me spend Glory to heal wounds. I managed to beat the shark and get the spear, but on their turn the villains reached 17 victory points out of the 20 they needed. They also built a new hideout in Paris. I knew I only had one turn left, as the villains would almost certainly win on their next turn. I hatched a desparate plan to hurry back to Paris and try to sneak into the hideout and steal an artifact in spite of my lack of combat skills and weapons. If I succeeded, I could cash in both that artifact and the Spear for enough Fortune to win. When I arrived in Paris, the random City card gave me a secret delivery mission that would give me 1d6 Fortune if I delivered a package to...Paris! I was able to instantly deliver it and rolled high enough (a 5) that I didn't need to go into the outpost after all - I just traded in the Spear and won!

I've set up for the next game, but I haven't started yet. I drew Shelly as my hero again, but this time she's facing the Nazis, led by occultist Herr Teufel and Tresa. Two of the starting artifacts are in Western Europe (The Valley of the Dead) and Germany (The Sword of the Sacred Stone). All of the initial artifacts are worth a good deal of Fortune. Herr Teufel is already in Western Europe looking for the Valley's treasure, so I'm planning to slip into Germany and get the Sword. Even if I can't get it in one turn, Tresa is still going to go for an even more valuable artifact somewhere else, so I shouldn't run into her. The Nazis' first secret base and accompanying soldier and zeppelin start in South Africa, thankfully far from everything.

[Dave Syrinx]

Hah! It sounds like a OP:FR scenario. Nazis, Zeppelins and world dominion.

On another note, I was at the mall today and bought a 7" touch pad for the wifey. It will do nicely as a reading pad (or gaming pad). The usual ipad is too large to carry around, if you ask me. And an iphone is a bit too small to read from.
Hence the 7" choice.
While walking aisles, I walked by the US department. What caught my eye was the chocolate stand. Hershel´s dairy/chocolate bars! The Walking Dead...
No.. wait. Hershey´s bars. Close enough for me. Bought a bunch and wrapped for the kids.

Another Lee Childs novel "Gone tomorrow" sits on my side of the sofa. As is a historical novel about the Swedish / Russian battle of Poltava. "The Ratan Affair" by Björn Holm.

[Mr. Handy]

The inspiration for this game is more Indiana Jones, though I can see the similarities. Fortune and Glory takes place in the late 1930s, before the war starts in Europe, though some of what the Nazis can do in the game makes it seem like the war is already underway. They can deploy soldiers randomly anywhere in the world, either from their secret bases or their zeppelin (which is similar to a mobile base), and the Vile Tactics card also lets them send them out and try to hunt you down or occupy cities near their soldiers, which means you'll have to fight tougher Nazis in order to get access to those cities. In my first game against them, they only managed to occupy Berlin and Venice, which at least made sense historically, though it's quite possible for them to occupy any cities in the world, including those in America.

I played two games today, both of them pretty fast. Now that I'm becoming more familiar with the rules it goes faster. Still, I keep forgetting them sometimes, particularly the ability to exert by taking wounds to get extra dice on Cliffhangers and my characters' special abilities. My first game didn't go very well, as I kept messing up trying to retrieve the sword in Germany. I got knocked out twice, forgetting that I could try exerting to improve my chances, but on the third attempt I finally managed to get it. However, it was too little, too late. The Nazis did very well early on, and their soldiers spread out very quickly. I had an Event card that gave me a chance to steal an artifact from a villain, but there was no time and that wouldn't have given me enough to win. Three of the artifacts at the end were in Australia and New Zealand, so I headed to Bombay first to sell the sword instead of New York. The City card I drew was a Secret Delivery for New York, which would have meant 1d6 Fortune had I gone that way instead. I still would have needed to steal something even if I had rolled high, though.

My second game got off to a slow start. I played reclusive novelist Alexander Cartwright against the mob. They took an early lead, getting five out of twenty victory points on the first turn, but they got bogged down and took forever to find the next couple of artifacts. It took me two tries to get an artifact that popped up at the start in Greece (if I'd remembered I could exert I'd probably have had it in one). I unloaded it and went for another one quickly in the steppes of central Asia, selling that just in time for a temple to pop up on Madagascar. The villains were otherwise occupied, so I had time to slip in there before they arrived. WIth temples, you earn Fortune as you go, so I was able to win there without having to return to a city to sell an artifact.

So far, I've won every time I've faced the mob, but I've lost to the Nazis every time. Maybe now that I've mastered the rules better I'll be able to beat them too with a little luck.

[Dave Syrinx]

I had a dream last night that I remember. Which is unusual. As with all dreams it lacks a reason for things happening. This dream had a clear story, what was lacking was the beginning. I stumble in when searching for a wounded bad guy.

Hospital mayhem

The agents arrive at the observation room where the spy is being kept.
The sounded spy is gone, a nurse says that an unknown man in doctor´s coat was rushing the patient to the OR.
The wounded spy is taken via corridors cross-crossing through the hospital floor.
A flurry of a hunt ensue.
After loosing and recovering sight of the escaping duo, they are caught up at an elevator bay. The two escape moving upwards (they are currently at mid level of the hospital 8 floors.

Catching a second elevator, clinging to the outer wall of the hospital, some of the team members take up chase that way. While the others take the stairs.

When in the crammed glass elevator facing the entrance below with hot dog stand and bus terminal, there´s an explosion underneath the glass carriage. The floor drops away and all inside the elevator try to cling to each other or a hold on the walls. Miraculously they all get a grip, but only after falling a bit.

A woman, second to the bottom has caught a man who fell unconscious to his death and grab him by the coat. She swings him in an arc and drops him to the roof of the hot dog stand. Then she herself lets go and jumps to the roof, three floors down!

The remaining agents climb up and manages to pry up the elevator doors and reach safety.

Just about there, I wake up and wonder how it all ends.


When getting up, having breakfast, and nibbling on the Christmas treats I start my read through the 116 pages of The Second Chapter of The Masks Companion, an unexpected gift from Yoggie.

[Mr. Handy]

That is an awesome dream! I also don't usually remember my dreams. Once I wake up, I usually have to run around like crazy to get to work on time. I also never get enough sleep, which doesn't help with remembering things.

I played another game of Fortune and Glory today, and it went fast. I played flying ace Jake Zane against the mob this time, and I won handily. I've now played five of the eight heroes so far, but there are still many things about this game that I haven't seen yet. After my first adventure, I got a free revolver when I went to Hong Kong to sell the Book of Illusion, which helped immensely (Jake isn't bad at combat even without it). A mobster thug showed up there afterwards, but I took care of him with no problem. The villains had really bad luck, their search for artifacts slow and causing them a good deal of injury. Seductive singer and mob operative Vanessa Love managed to raid an ancient temple and take its treasure, while hitman "Icebox" Eddie was getting lost and hurt in another one in the American heartland. I headed there next, rolling enough on movement that I didn't even need to use my plane, so that I could keep Eddie from recovering the treasure there. I got lost in the maze of caves and had to fight my way past a cultist of the Order of the Crimson Hand and score a single point of Fortune, but the temple collapsed. I managed to escape in one piece, but Eddie wasn't so lucky. He didn't get well enough to go back to artifact hunting until after the game was over. The mob had gotten a couple of new hideouts in Paris and Moscow which were helping them rack up victory points, so I raided the outpost in Paris. I only got intercepted by one mobster and killed him in the first round, then stole the temple treasure they had recovered and trashed the place. Also in Paris, I got a secret delivery mission to Moscow. There was another hideout I could raid there anyway even though the villains had not recovered any other artifacts to steal, but it was not necessary. I went to Moscow in the following turn and rolled a 6 for the Fortune I gained from the delivery. Then I sold the treasure, which gave me enough Fortune to win the game.

I finally finished Broken Sword 1 today. I only needed two hints for some very obscure things I needed to do, but I probably could have figured it out if I'd just kept at it long enough. I started the second game, but I haven't gotten far at all yet.

I'm in the middle of the eighth episode of Rome, which is excellent. It follows two soldiers, centurion Lucius Vorenus and legionary Titus Pullo, as they move through and influence key events in Roman history. They are real people mentioned in Julius Caesar's account of the Gallic Wars, though I'm sure they invented their postwar exploits and the necessary details about their personalities and family lives for the show. It starts with Caesar completing his conquest of Gaul and being ordered back to Rome by Pompey, which quickly escalates into civil war and the end of the Republic. Pompey died at the end of episode seven, and now Caesar is in Egypt. King Ptolemy (who is just a child) and his advisors thought Caesar would be pleased when the killed Pompey after he fled to Egypt and offered his head to Caesar, but they couldn't have been more wrong - he was seriously pissed off at them for murdering the Roman consul.

I'm almost finished Hornet Flight - our heroes have just caught sight of the coast of England. After that, I plan to continue with the first DestinyQuest book.

[Kadael]

So today I got a shiny new gaming computer! I haven't had any time to really try it out, since I've been reinstalling all my old things, but it's quiet, it glows a nice blue color, and I'm no longer trying to run The Sims 3 on a sandwich toaster.

I'm a little concerned about my old games being able to run (hello, 1998, your polygons are calling), but I do have some newer games that'll work just fine. Like Deus Ex: Human Revolution and L.A. Noire... which I guess don't count as new anymore, but that just means they were cheap.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a lot of fun! I'm not very good at it, though, and I keep getting attached to my soldiers. My brother complains that I visit the memorial too often.

If anybody likes browser/textish games, they should join me on Improbable Island and fight malfunctioning rice cookers or build houses or something.

[Mr. Handy]

I've played a few more games of Fortune and Glory, and in my last one I finally beat the Nazis. Of course, this was only the third time I played against them, as I kept drawing the Mob as the random Vile Organization. I was Jacques Moreau again, and he's very good at kicking Nazi butt. I rolled poorly for movement on my first two turns and couldn't reach any of the initial artifacts, but I was able to reach the secret Nazi base in the Himalayas on the second turn. I clobbered the Nazi soldier guarding the area, and it took me a few turns to get through the dangers in order to find it, but it also took the Nazis that long to retrieve an artifact - which I promptly stole when I destroyed the base, thus keeping them from flooding the world with too many troops. I brought it back to Moscow, where there was an auction, the first time I'd ever seen one come up. Then I went into Eastern Europe, beating the Nazi soldier that was there and finding another artifact, which I also sold at auction in Moscow. Both artifacts sold for the list amount of Fortune. I was running out of time, as the Nazis were finding too many artifacts and racking up victory points, but I was well equipped. The Nazi war zeppelin happened to be in Germany, so I hurried over there to sneak aboard and steal one more artifact that would give me the win when I sold it. A couple of Nazis did intecept me, and I forgot that I could have used my Driving Gloves to reroll and probably evade one of them, but it didn't matter. The President was my ally, and I used his special ability to defeat one of them automatically. I couldn't use my Rifle aboard the zeppelin, but Jacques is great at fighting even without it and I took out the other Nazi without a scratch. I swiped the artifact and destroyed the zeppelin, though they got a new one at the end of the turn in the Sahara. The next turn, I went to Moscow, used the President's special ability to take care of the mobster thug there, and sold the artifact at auction for an incredibly high price, giving me far more than enough Fortune to win. I think I'll give this game a rest for now and play some of the others, starting with Struggle for the Galactic Empire, which I got three months ago. I just need to finish reading the rules.

I'm in the middle of Broken Sword 2 and doing well, so far not needing a single hint. I'm hoping to finish within a week. I've found that DosBox is very useful for running my old games, and I also have a bunch on GOG that use it. I also only buy games after they become cheap, which is how I've ended up with hundreds of games that cost a handful of bucks each. Now I just need time to play them all. During the Steam sale I've picked up more games I may never have time to play. I picked up the complete Civ IV for $7.50. While I have the base game and the second expansion (Beyond the Sword), I didn't have the first expansion (Warlords) or the Colonization remake. They also finally made an upgrade from the standard edition of Civ V to the Game of the Year edition, so I was able to get all of that DLC when it was on sale for a mere $5.00.

I'm in the middle of the twelfth and final episode of Rome's first season, where (spoiler alert!) Julius Caesar is going to be assassinated.

I finished Hornet Flight and got back into DestinyQuest Book 1. I managed to complete all of the easy and moderate quests in Act I, but the first hard quest I tried ended with me getting killed by a giant spider, the final monster in that quest. Though we were evenly matched, I couldn't land a single hit due to extraordinarily bad luck. I've restarted and am currently working on the final easy quest.

[Dave Syrinx]

I´ve rebooted one of the PCs from my attic, and installed a mod for Skyrim. Now, I´m chopping wood and mining ore to get meself a wood cabin by the stream.
Happy days, if it wasn´t for the pesky frost dragons.

[Dave Syrinx]

I like this site better than the one I got through Herathfire. This location is superior and I get more variation.
Even a fishing spot.

[Dave Syrinx]

Two Science Fiction movies to bring the year to an end!
I watched these two really good films the last few days. Looper runs like a homage to Philip K Dick, while Cloud Atlas like a dream on speed.

Being a fan of Inception (2010) and Brazil (1985), the movie year couldn´t end better.

Happy New Year!

[Mr. Handy]

I'm approaching the endgame of Broken Sword 2, but I won't have time to finish it tonight. I did need to look up a hint at one point, only to discover that I'd already tried the solution to the puzzle. The problem was that I'd had to do the same thing twice in succession, which I had done, but apparently I'd waited too long between attempts and the same thing that happened the first time I tried it happened the second...and the third...and the fourth. I had no way of knowing what I needed to do and thought I must be missing something even though I'd tried everything. I'd played the game before, but probably not since 2000 and I didn't really remember it. I also found out that the Civ V GOTY content didn't include the Korean civilization/scenario pack or the Wonders of the World scenario pack, but luckily Civ V went on sale again briefly and I was able to pick up a combo pack with both of those for a nice discount (with 75% off on top of that).

I finished Season 1 of Rome and have started on the first episode of Season 2, which only has ten episodes in all. I also completed my collection of Breaking Bad on Blu-ray (except for the fifth season, which isn't done yet), and I plan to watch that after I finish Rome.

I tried a different hard quest in DestinyQuest 1, but it was harder than the one on which I'd died, and I died again. I restarted after realizing that my selection of items hadn't been optimal, and now I've found a way to max out my Speed stat, which is the most important one, as much as possible. You need every point of Speed you can get just to have a chance. It's the eqivalent of SKILL in Fighting Fantasy. I just started the only hard quest in Act I that I haven't yet tried.

[Dave Syrinx]

TV-series-wise I´m having a look at Continuum.
The pilot felt really good.
I will also have a look at Outcasts.


I did have a look at Cult and The Following, none of them seemed that good.

Fringe has ended.
Last Resort came to an end, also.
Revolution never picked up pace...

Person of Interest is still running, which is a good thing.
Obviously The Walking Dead is on my playlist.
One police series I´m watching again is Southland.

That gives a current watch list of four TV-series.

[Mr. Handy]

I finished playing through the Broken Sword series in mid-February and started playing The Longest Journey (for the first time ever) in preparation for the new game that just got funded on Kickstarter today. It's an awesome game, and it really lives up to its name, but I'm glad it's so long since I'm enjoying it. I'm not even halfway done yet. I've really gotten into the head of the protagonist, April Ryan, and can sometimes tell what she's going to say before she says it. I'm so April!

After I finished Rome, I started watching Breaking Bad, which I'm loving. I was in the middle of Season 2, Episode 9 when my PS3 died, the fourth one in a little over a year. It's covered by the Product Replacement Plan, but I'll have to get it to the store and then later pick up the replacement from the same store, so it'll be some time. Luckily, I was able to get the disc out this time because it's an 80 GB model, not the 60 GB one. In the meantime, two new Doctor Who DVDs that I'd preordered arrived early. I've watched the first disc of The Aztecs Special Edition, and now I'm in the middle of the reconstruction of Galaxy 4, a missing story, on the second disc. Episode 3 was just recovered in July 2011, and this is its first release. Six minutes of footage from Episode 1 also still exist and are incorporated into the reconstruction of the entire story, and of course the soundtrack exists in its entirety. Once I finish that and the bonus material, I plan to watch The Ark in Space Special Edition.

I'm still playing DestinyQuest 1, but I'm nearly finished. I just have to wrap up the final quest of Act III, where I'm about to fight the main boss, and then visit the camp to stock up on supplies, and finally hunt down five optional legendary monsters before tackling the ultimate boss. You don't have to restart the entire book when you die, but I'd done it anyway for a while to learn the best paths and optimize my equipment. I've managed to get my Speed very high and my Brawn even higher, while completely neglecting Magic and Armour. I'm playing a Rogue, so my preferred tactic is not to get hit in the first place. Once that's done, I'll give DestinyQuest 2 a whirl.

I got some board games at Dreamation and have finally had time to start playing them. I played The Walking Dead boardgame based on the comic (not the one based on the TV show). It seemed ridiculously easy to me, but maybe I was just lucky since I found an axe very early and then picked up an excellent survivor who kept me supplied with more gas than I could ever need. Without competition, since I was playing solo, I could just take my time and stock up on it. Now I'm playing Mice and Mystics, and I've just successfully completed the first scenario (out of eleven) in the campaign. It took me a few tries, as I'd kept messing up, but I've got the hang of the rules now. I also picked up the new version of The Merchant of Venus, but it'll be a while before I have time to try it.

[Dave Syrinx]

Back from the cabin. The first couple of days without a wintry feel to them. A bit too chilly, still. All snow and ice was gone. Great sunsets!
Now, back, I face an ice covered lake and snow here and there.

While gone, I´ve watched two series with a definite feel of RPG to them. Warehouse 13 & Zero Hour.

Anyone seen them?