Good Thursday everyone!
(Or should I say pseudo Friday).
Last night me and two of the Boomers managed to get together online and play out the first encounter of our MaliQuest game.
As per usual this should be available through the imbedded player or via iTunes.
There are a few lessons that I learned from this game, most importantly is the difference in power between spells and weapons in MaliQuest.
If you listen to the show you'll find a very nice Artifact dropped, and because of the suit requirement (and double suit triggers) it actually comes harder to cast than the starter flame spell.
This gets me thinking, in normal Malifaux where spells require either one or two suits that is virtually always built into the caster's Ca.
So looking at the Artifacts: https://www.dropbox.com/s/tl0i5scqcbqx8td/Artifact.pdf I can see the following:
December's Curse (Tome)
Flame Burst (Tome)
Electrical Fire (Tome)
Pine Box (Crow)
Lure (Crow & Mask)
Exorcise (Crow)
Disappearing Act (Tome)
Whispering Secret (Double Crow)
Face of Death (Crow)
What I am thinking is that each of these Artifacts now gives your Ca + (non-stacking) Suit. So if you equip December's Curse your Ca gains an auto Tome, and if you equip Lure your Ca gains am auto Crow.
I can't see this being a problem other than the question of multiple Artifacts: ie if you equip both December's Curse AND Lure (after all everyone has 2 Artifact slots) should your Ca get + Tome & Crow? I'm not so sure, but at the same time, reading through the cards, all the triggers are based off either Double suits (which this doesn't automatically allow) or Masks and Rams. Therefore even with both Tomes and Crows inbuilt you don't get any auto triggers! This is a good thing!
Ok that's decided!
Right, that's it from me.
Unsure if you'll get another post until next week, if not enjoy your bank holiday weekend, stay safe and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Thursday, 28 March 2013
Wednesday, 27 March 2013
(Static) Rained Away
Good Wednesday everyone,
So remember when I said we were supposed to be recording last night?
Yeah...
We got started and the strangest of things happened, there was the gradually building sound of static rain.
It was the most unusual thing, it would build and build until it was almost deafening, and to make it even worse, it was carrying over to the recording.
So after about 30 mins of trying to fix that I just had to call it a night, which sucked ass!
After another 30 mins of experimenting while talking to my wife via Skype I found out what the problem was, it was one of the settings on my USB headset.
You see it turned out I had 'Loudness Equalisation' turned on. This setting's function is to mess with sounds and make things more (or less depending on the situation) audible. What it was doing was grabbing the quiet sound of static and throwing it into the foreground.
Turning this setting off fixed this problem, but by then it was 21:00 and time to leave it for the night - after all, Geordie Shore was on in 30 mins!
******************
So this makes me wonder, why is my computer recording everything as I hear it? It's most unusual. We tried having my wife record the tests, and found that the problem we had in episode 1 with my voice being really quiet disappeared and everything was really good.
I record and things don't sound right. It's as if it's taking the volume from my computer's output rather than input.
That's fine for now, my wife can record for the time bring, but it's very annoying, and if anyone would know why it's doing this, I'd love to know.
- Please note, I'm using a USB headset so both my headphones and mic are bypassing my sound card and instead using inbuilt sound control (i wish I had thought about that before I bought them, I can't help but wonder if half these problems would be non-existant if I had just bought normal audio-jack headset).
Anyway, I'm going to get back to trying to sort out my sound (the joy of google searches) and we should be recording tonight or tomorrow.
Stay safe and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
So remember when I said we were supposed to be recording last night?
Yeah...
We got started and the strangest of things happened, there was the gradually building sound of static rain.
It was the most unusual thing, it would build and build until it was almost deafening, and to make it even worse, it was carrying over to the recording.
So after about 30 mins of trying to fix that I just had to call it a night, which sucked ass!
After another 30 mins of experimenting while talking to my wife via Skype I found out what the problem was, it was one of the settings on my USB headset.
You see it turned out I had 'Loudness Equalisation' turned on. This setting's function is to mess with sounds and make things more (or less depending on the situation) audible. What it was doing was grabbing the quiet sound of static and throwing it into the foreground.
Turning this setting off fixed this problem, but by then it was 21:00 and time to leave it for the night - after all, Geordie Shore was on in 30 mins!
******************
So this makes me wonder, why is my computer recording everything as I hear it? It's most unusual. We tried having my wife record the tests, and found that the problem we had in episode 1 with my voice being really quiet disappeared and everything was really good.
I record and things don't sound right. It's as if it's taking the volume from my computer's output rather than input.
That's fine for now, my wife can record for the time bring, but it's very annoying, and if anyone would know why it's doing this, I'd love to know.
- Please note, I'm using a USB headset so both my headphones and mic are bypassing my sound card and instead using inbuilt sound control (i wish I had thought about that before I bought them, I can't help but wonder if half these problems would be non-existant if I had just bought normal audio-jack headset).
Anyway, I'm going to get back to trying to sort out my sound (the joy of google searches) and we should be recording tonight or tomorrow.
Stay safe and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Tuesday, 26 March 2013
Prepping for Episode 2
Good Tuesday everyone!
Apologies for a lack of communication from me, but unfortunately the past couple of days I've been pretty much laid up with a nasty tummy bug.
You'll be glad to know that now I am pretty much back to normal (or at least as normal as is possible for me), and I'm here to chat briefly with you about my plans for tonight.
**************
You see tonight is the first night of actual adventuring with the Boomers, and with hope fun to be had by all.
Now don't expect anything massive or epic, please remember the party are starting characters with starting equipment. I have no idea how this is going to go.
On the plus side I do have a rough story planned, and with hope this will go smoothly.
Anyway, I'm sorry to say that is all you're going to get from me for now, and so as always, stay safe and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Apologies for a lack of communication from me, but unfortunately the past couple of days I've been pretty much laid up with a nasty tummy bug.
You'll be glad to know that now I am pretty much back to normal (or at least as normal as is possible for me), and I'm here to chat briefly with you about my plans for tonight.
**************
You see tonight is the first night of actual adventuring with the Boomers, and with hope fun to be had by all.
Now don't expect anything massive or epic, please remember the party are starting characters with starting equipment. I have no idea how this is going to go.
On the plus side I do have a rough story planned, and with hope this will go smoothly.
Anyway, I'm sorry to say that is all you're going to get from me for now, and so as always, stay safe and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Friday, 22 March 2013
One Last Dance with Wyrd?
Good Friday everyone,
Today I bring you news that will either shock, disinterest or outright bore you.
The past 2 months I've been on a Henchman Hiatus, the aim of which was to sort out the resits (which I've done and booked the next for April [third time's a charm I hope]) and to allow me to promote MaliQuest.
Sadly however the latter never really happened, but that's ok.
I have been using this time to also go over my thoughts about being a henchman.
Don't get me wrong. I love doing my demo days but there have been for the past few months a number of issues that have made me wonder if my time with Wyrd is coming to an end.
***************
There are lots of reasons this has come to a head, and not all of them are to be discussed here, but if I can I'll talk about the suitable ones now:
1). Being a dick.
Maybe I'm being too harsh on myself here, but I've noticed over the past 8 or so months a steady decline in what I would call "being nice", and at the same time a steady increase in what I would call "being a dick".
I look back over previous posts, and what do I see?
I see that this time last year, before becoming a Henchman I had spent time building my very large terrain piece Chapel Hill, and on a semi regular basis I would write articles analysing the various tropes of Geek culture.
Let's look at the last 6 months, and frankly when I'm not talking about MaliQuest all I'm doing is bitching and moaning.
In other words, being a dick.
That brings us on to the next point:
2). MaliQuest.
Now as you know this is my pride and joy. I've put a lot of work into this, and the game is now not only playable, but it's building up fluff and extras to make it a proper fluffy rulebook.
It's not exactly hard to see why this game is something that I want to promote, however I have been pretty clearly told by Wyrd that this is something I have to do on my own time and that I can not do so while wearing the title 'henchman'.
Now this alone is not a reason to quit, as long as I don't advertise myself as a Hench while promoting MaliQuest and I don't claim Stones, then that's fine.
No the issue I have is time.
I don't have the time to run multiple days a month promoting, and it takes me 2 hours to get to my LGS or Games Club to do this.
In other words, I can't do both, it's either promote MaliQuest or promote Malifaux, and at the moment for me it's MaliQuest.
**************
You see, when I first started, despite having this blog and being quite an outspoken person, I was not confident in the wargaming world. I had quite a low opinion of what I did, thought my painting and modelling wasn't all that great, but at the same time I wanted to do something to contribute to the wargaming community.
I thought being a Henchman was it, and to begin with it was. Going out there once a month and pitching the wonderful world of Malifaux to dorks such as as myself was a great thing, and my confidence came on leaps and bounds - perhaps too much in some respects (see "being a dick") but now I feel like the only thing I could do now as a Hench to push myself would be to organise a Tourny, and truth be told I'm not really all that hot on them.
But now I look at where my life is. I've got MaliQuest that I really want to push further, maybe even develop my own core ruleset for and sell it under it's own IP (new name and all that), I've just launched New Fairbank Radio, and I'm doing things that this time last year I'd never have even dreamed of.
So you see, I'll be forever grateful to my time as a Hench, but I'm left wondering if actually it's acting as a restraint and not an assist.
***************
I'm not saying that I'm dropping Henching right now, I'm leaving it for the moment, and in a month or so will come to a final decision.
Anywho, I'm out of time (writing during lunch) and steam.
I'll be giving this some more thought over the next few weeks, and would like to discuss this with Wyrd (after all if they would reverse their decision of supporting my promotion of MaliQuest) then that might change how I feel.
Until then, stay safe and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Today I bring you news that will either shock, disinterest or outright bore you.
The past 2 months I've been on a Henchman Hiatus, the aim of which was to sort out the resits (which I've done and booked the next for April [third time's a charm I hope]) and to allow me to promote MaliQuest.
Sadly however the latter never really happened, but that's ok.
I have been using this time to also go over my thoughts about being a henchman.
Don't get me wrong. I love doing my demo days but there have been for the past few months a number of issues that have made me wonder if my time with Wyrd is coming to an end.
***************
There are lots of reasons this has come to a head, and not all of them are to be discussed here, but if I can I'll talk about the suitable ones now:
1). Being a dick.
Maybe I'm being too harsh on myself here, but I've noticed over the past 8 or so months a steady decline in what I would call "being nice", and at the same time a steady increase in what I would call "being a dick".
I look back over previous posts, and what do I see?
I see that this time last year, before becoming a Henchman I had spent time building my very large terrain piece Chapel Hill, and on a semi regular basis I would write articles analysing the various tropes of Geek culture.
Let's look at the last 6 months, and frankly when I'm not talking about MaliQuest all I'm doing is bitching and moaning.
In other words, being a dick.
That brings us on to the next point:
2). MaliQuest.
Now as you know this is my pride and joy. I've put a lot of work into this, and the game is now not only playable, but it's building up fluff and extras to make it a proper fluffy rulebook.
It's not exactly hard to see why this game is something that I want to promote, however I have been pretty clearly told by Wyrd that this is something I have to do on my own time and that I can not do so while wearing the title 'henchman'.
Now this alone is not a reason to quit, as long as I don't advertise myself as a Hench while promoting MaliQuest and I don't claim Stones, then that's fine.
No the issue I have is time.
I don't have the time to run multiple days a month promoting, and it takes me 2 hours to get to my LGS or Games Club to do this.
In other words, I can't do both, it's either promote MaliQuest or promote Malifaux, and at the moment for me it's MaliQuest.
**************
You see, when I first started, despite having this blog and being quite an outspoken person, I was not confident in the wargaming world. I had quite a low opinion of what I did, thought my painting and modelling wasn't all that great, but at the same time I wanted to do something to contribute to the wargaming community.
I thought being a Henchman was it, and to begin with it was. Going out there once a month and pitching the wonderful world of Malifaux to dorks such as as myself was a great thing, and my confidence came on leaps and bounds - perhaps too much in some respects (see "being a dick") but now I feel like the only thing I could do now as a Hench to push myself would be to organise a Tourny, and truth be told I'm not really all that hot on them.
But now I look at where my life is. I've got MaliQuest that I really want to push further, maybe even develop my own core ruleset for and sell it under it's own IP (new name and all that), I've just launched New Fairbank Radio, and I'm doing things that this time last year I'd never have even dreamed of.
So you see, I'll be forever grateful to my time as a Hench, but I'm left wondering if actually it's acting as a restraint and not an assist.
***************
I'm not saying that I'm dropping Henching right now, I'm leaving it for the moment, and in a month or so will come to a final decision.
Anywho, I'm out of time (writing during lunch) and steam.
I'll be giving this some more thought over the next few weeks, and would like to discuss this with Wyrd (after all if they would reverse their decision of supporting my promotion of MaliQuest) then that might change how I feel.
Until then, stay safe and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Thursday, 21 March 2013
Take Two
Good evening everyone!
I must ask, is there anything more relaxing than a nice, warm, bubble filled bath?
I think not!
Not sure if this is clear from the title, but this is actually my second attempt at posting today, the first was on my way home from work where after posting the page seemed to vanish into the Dev|Nul for some reason.
Anyway, what I wanted to talk to you about today was how I think the GameCast went yesterday.
Well we managed to record on time, and prior to editing were looking at a run time of about 45mins.
After removing unnecessary segments, like me searching for a note pad and pen, swearing very loudly and eventually using MS Word (which proceeded to get arsey with me) and inserting the intro, outro and intermission it came to only a matter of seconds short of the 30min plan.
The episode can be found on the embedded player on this blog, titled Episode 01: Here Comes The Boom. It can also be downloaded here or you can find it on iTunes by searching for New Fairbank Radio.
If you are curious (and I should probably add this info to the patch notes) the reason for the whole Boom thing isn't really explained in the episode, and I will explain next week, but for now I'll explain it as "Boom" was my nickname when I was 18, short for Richiboom, which was my email address.
When we were coming up with names for the gaming crew who will feature on the show my friend Rob suggested The Order of the Boom and it kinda stuck (but I'm still pushing for Doctor Loxley and the Boomers).
So it is because of this that I thought the first track had to be my own personal wrestling intro track: P.O.D. - Boom.
For those curious the intermission is a song called Farewell by Apocalyptica, and the Outro music is the introduction to The March of Mephisto by Kamelot.
Anyway, I'm going to finish my bath and get on with my WoW Dailies, so until next time, stay safe and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
I must ask, is there anything more relaxing than a nice, warm, bubble filled bath?
I think not!
Not sure if this is clear from the title, but this is actually my second attempt at posting today, the first was on my way home from work where after posting the page seemed to vanish into the Dev|Nul for some reason.
Anyway, what I wanted to talk to you about today was how I think the GameCast went yesterday.
Well we managed to record on time, and prior to editing were looking at a run time of about 45mins.
After removing unnecessary segments, like me searching for a note pad and pen, swearing very loudly and eventually using MS Word (which proceeded to get arsey with me) and inserting the intro, outro and intermission it came to only a matter of seconds short of the 30min plan.
The episode can be found on the embedded player on this blog, titled Episode 01: Here Comes The Boom. It can also be downloaded here or you can find it on iTunes by searching for New Fairbank Radio.
If you are curious (and I should probably add this info to the patch notes) the reason for the whole Boom thing isn't really explained in the episode, and I will explain next week, but for now I'll explain it as "Boom" was my nickname when I was 18, short for Richiboom, which was my email address.
When we were coming up with names for the gaming crew who will feature on the show my friend Rob suggested The Order of the Boom and it kinda stuck (but I'm still pushing for Doctor Loxley and the Boomers).
So it is because of this that I thought the first track had to be my own personal wrestling intro track: P.O.D. - Boom.
For those curious the intermission is a song called Farewell by Apocalyptica, and the Outro music is the introduction to The March of Mephisto by Kamelot.
Anyway, I'm going to finish my bath and get on with my WoW Dailies, so until next time, stay safe and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Wednesday, 20 March 2013
Podcast Prep & Hadley's Hope
Good Wednesday everyone!
The big day has arrived, myself and The Order of Boom (or as I'm calling us: "Dr Loxley and the Boomers") will be recording our meet & greet episode tonight.
I have my new headset that I purchased on Friday, it's a digital USB headset, and I'm still trying to get used to the clarity of sound you get with it.
The mic is a little too quiet for my taste, and it doesn't support +boost, but then I think I'm talking extra quiet because of my sleeping daughter in the next room, and it only cost roughly £30 which I know is cheap for a headset, and it's very comfy which in my opinion is the most important thing.
Anyway where was I? Oh yes! I've been trying to herd the group of cats that are my show co-hosts, and I think we're ready. For those interested we have a twitter account: @newfairbank and I hope that'll get a lot of use.
- I should really make an email account too... Will get around to that at some point.
But what else have I been up to I'm sure you've been wondering!
- No? Well I'm going to tell you anyway!
Last night I played some more Aliens: Colonial Marines.
I hope you can believe me when I sincerely say that I am loving this game. Last night I replayed the Hadley's Hope level and basked in the beautiful textures and fantastic atmosphere that seeped from every air duct.
I also played some more WoW (levelling my Gobbo Hunter) and was fronted with a minor dilemma, can I truly recommend this game to someone else?
You see, while I am loving every minute of this game, the gameplay hasn't really changed, and a description I read a while back of the game being an Aliens Roller Coaster ride is still true now. The only difference is that the company who run the roller coaster have installed dynamic lighting and a tonne of smoke machines and removed the grime from the safety glasses we all have to wear so you can finally see the high res textures (while adding film grain).
Oh and they turned off the safety protocol on the Animatronic Aliens (sort of like West World does Aliens).
Now like I said, I'm loving this! But how much of that is simply because it feels like I'm in an Aliens film? Would someone who isn't as much an Aliens Nerd as me enjoy the game as much as I? I doubt they would, and truth be told since day 1 the game has always been marketed as a game to be enjoyed by fans of the film(s).
So would I recommend the game to people who are either indifferent to the film (or dislike it)? I don't think I would.
I hate to admit it, but no I think that at this stage only people who LOVE Aliens should play this game, and even then it should only be on PC, as let's face it - there's a reason why some games look subpar when they ship - console comparability.
Anyway, in a day or two I'll talk about my thoughts on the reason for the different looks, but for now stay safe and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
The big day has arrived, myself and The Order of Boom (or as I'm calling us: "Dr Loxley and the Boomers") will be recording our meet & greet episode tonight.
I have my new headset that I purchased on Friday, it's a digital USB headset, and I'm still trying to get used to the clarity of sound you get with it.
The mic is a little too quiet for my taste, and it doesn't support +boost, but then I think I'm talking extra quiet because of my sleeping daughter in the next room, and it only cost roughly £30 which I know is cheap for a headset, and it's very comfy which in my opinion is the most important thing.
Anyway where was I? Oh yes! I've been trying to herd the group of cats that are my show co-hosts, and I think we're ready. For those interested we have a twitter account: @newfairbank and I hope that'll get a lot of use.
- I should really make an email account too... Will get around to that at some point.
But what else have I been up to I'm sure you've been wondering!
- No? Well I'm going to tell you anyway!
Last night I played some more Aliens: Colonial Marines.
I hope you can believe me when I sincerely say that I am loving this game. Last night I replayed the Hadley's Hope level and basked in the beautiful textures and fantastic atmosphere that seeped from every air duct.
I also played some more WoW (levelling my Gobbo Hunter) and was fronted with a minor dilemma, can I truly recommend this game to someone else?
You see, while I am loving every minute of this game, the gameplay hasn't really changed, and a description I read a while back of the game being an Aliens Roller Coaster ride is still true now. The only difference is that the company who run the roller coaster have installed dynamic lighting and a tonne of smoke machines and removed the grime from the safety glasses we all have to wear so you can finally see the high res textures (while adding film grain).
Oh and they turned off the safety protocol on the Animatronic Aliens (sort of like West World does Aliens).
Now like I said, I'm loving this! But how much of that is simply because it feels like I'm in an Aliens film? Would someone who isn't as much an Aliens Nerd as me enjoy the game as much as I? I doubt they would, and truth be told since day 1 the game has always been marketed as a game to be enjoyed by fans of the film(s).
So would I recommend the game to people who are either indifferent to the film (or dislike it)? I don't think I would.
I hate to admit it, but no I think that at this stage only people who LOVE Aliens should play this game, and even then it should only be on PC, as let's face it - there's a reason why some games look subpar when they ship - console comparability.
Anyway, in a day or two I'll talk about my thoughts on the reason for the different looks, but for now stay safe and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Tuesday, 19 March 2013
Aliens: Colonial Marines - A Second Opinion
Good Tuesday everyone!
Last night I was greeted by an extraordinary thing. After playing some World of Warcraft and preparing to join my wife in the lounge for our weekly Spartacus dose, I saw a patch start downloading on Steam.
At just under 4Gigs, Gearbox (GBX) have put out a patch for Aliens: Colonial Marines. Supposedly this patch includes as a single package some of the minor patches already released on consoles, and a few things yet to be released on Consoles (and I wonder if console players will ever see these things).
So I had a quick read of the patch notes and I saw some things of interest: Improved Textures, Improved AI, altered weapon damage, that sort of thing. Full patch notes can be found here.
Anyway, just before bed, I thought "what the hell, let's see if it's finished patching" and what so you know? It had!
So against my better judgement I booted up the game in order to see just how 'high res' these textures were.
It occurred to me that the first level has been played to death by the Internet in comparing it with 'The Demo', so I thought this would probably be the best bet for me to compare with what it looked like before.
Well, let me just say, I demand a recount on those awful review scores!
The game still lacks Anti Aliasing which is a shame, and they have added a film grain over the HUD (which personally I freaking love) and those high res textures? Well as someone who really enjoyed the atmosphere before, this feels like a whole new game.
Had I thought ahead I'd have taken screenshots, but I am afraid to truly appreciate this you need to see it for yourself.
*************
At the very start of the game there is a scene where you walk along an umbilical and bad stuff starts to happen. I've seen reviews and comparisons who talk about how the differences between 'the demo' and retail are so massive, it's like they're different games.
Wanna know a secret? Those things that made the demo look nice? The shattering/cracking glass? The billowing smoke and flashing/rotating lighting? They're all there!
And what of the gameplay itself? Well the M41-A no longer feels like it's been neutered, but then neither do the Aliens.
At one point I was being attacked by 2 Aliens, a generator making the room flash from bright intense lighting to almost pitch blackness. One Alien dashed across the floor straight at me, while I released a quick burst into it's head killing it. At the same time the second Alien had been crawling along the walls and leaped straight at me tearing at my chest. I fired point blank into it's chest, it's acid blood burning off my armour and leaving me seriously wounded, but it was dead and I prepared to breath a sigh of relief...
That was when hiss emirates from behind, I spun on my heels gripping my rifle just in time to see a set of secondary jaws go thrusting through my head.
- That's right, the very first level, on EASY difficulty and I died!
This game freaking rocks!!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Sunday, 17 March 2013
MaliQuest: Trinity
Good Sunday everyone!
Today I'd like to have a brief chat with you about the first planned MaliQuest Expansion.
For those who remember I had originally planned to release The Paths of Fate as the first expansion, either including or followed closely by The Black Market.
It has now occurred to me that that is something else that NEEDS to come before all of these, however it should still remain an optional ruleset.
*************
I'm talking of course of the RPG Holy Trinity, aka Tank, Healer & DPS.
******************
Now I think it's fair to say that currently every player in MaliQuest fits the DPS class.
Even if you're pimped out with +Df, +Armour and Hard to Wound, your focus is still on either damaging or controlling the enemy.
What I am proposing is that each character can gain one of 2 (3? More on this is a moment) cards which give them an extra (0) Action to choose from.
Those who pick the Tank Class get the following:
(0) Taunt CC: 10, Rst: Wp, Rg: 8?
Target enemy's next offensive Spell or Strike must target the caster.
Those who pick Healer Class get the following:
(0) Magic Shield
CC: 10, Rst - Rg 8
Target friendly model gains Armour +2 the next time they suffer Dg.
As you can see the Taunt forces the beasties to attack the Tank (who ideally should have more Df and Wd than the rest of the party) and the Magic Shield provides damage mitigation.
I weighed up the possibility of providing the Healer with a low powered heal instead, but after discussion with the wife we agreed that mitigation would be more fun.
***********
Now I mentioned before about a possible 3rd class? This would be the DPS.
I'm curious to hear what you think, should defining yourself as a DPS also give you a class based (0) Action? Or should these be saved for Tanks and Healers?
Keep in mind, without Instinctual (and currently no gear provides this) you can still only cast 1 (0) Action per turn, so the Tanks & Healers still need to decide what they're going to do with their (0) Actions, but these actions should help them in their roles.
Anyway, that's all from me, I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
As always, stay safe and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Today I'd like to have a brief chat with you about the first planned MaliQuest Expansion.
For those who remember I had originally planned to release The Paths of Fate as the first expansion, either including or followed closely by The Black Market.
It has now occurred to me that that is something else that NEEDS to come before all of these, however it should still remain an optional ruleset.
*************
I'm talking of course of the RPG Holy Trinity, aka Tank, Healer & DPS.
******************
Now I think it's fair to say that currently every player in MaliQuest fits the DPS class.
Even if you're pimped out with +Df, +Armour and Hard to Wound, your focus is still on either damaging or controlling the enemy.
What I am proposing is that each character can gain one of 2 (3? More on this is a moment) cards which give them an extra (0) Action to choose from.
Those who pick the Tank Class get the following:
(0) Taunt CC: 10, Rst: Wp, Rg: 8?
Target enemy's next offensive Spell or Strike must target the caster.
Those who pick Healer Class get the following:
(0) Magic Shield
CC: 10, Rst - Rg 8
Target friendly model gains Armour +2 the next time they suffer Dg.
As you can see the Taunt forces the beasties to attack the Tank (who ideally should have more Df and Wd than the rest of the party) and the Magic Shield provides damage mitigation.
I weighed up the possibility of providing the Healer with a low powered heal instead, but after discussion with the wife we agreed that mitigation would be more fun.
***********
Now I mentioned before about a possible 3rd class? This would be the DPS.
I'm curious to hear what you think, should defining yourself as a DPS also give you a class based (0) Action? Or should these be saved for Tanks and Healers?
Keep in mind, without Instinctual (and currently no gear provides this) you can still only cast 1 (0) Action per turn, so the Tanks & Healers still need to decide what they're going to do with their (0) Actions, but these actions should help them in their roles.
Anyway, that's all from me, I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
As always, stay safe and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Thursday, 14 March 2013
Crew Built, Introduction to follow
Good Thursday everyone!
So yesterday I announced that I was in the process of building a gaming crew to feature on New Fairbank Radio, and I am pleased to announce that the initial line up is now complete.
I'm hoping to record our introduction episode next week, but in the meantime you can hear 3/4 of the team by listening to the massive 3hr ep1 cast on my channel at the moment (I know, I'm plugging this alot).
Yes indeed, myself, Tom & Vicky have all initially agreed to be full time members of this crew, so if you liked them in that show, expect more moving forward.
"But who is the 4th member?" I hear you ask.
That spot has been saved for someone special, oh yes, my dear awesome wife has agreed to join us!
This leaves us with 1 GM and 3 players, more than enough for any Skype game be it a converted tabletop game like MaliQuest or a Pen&Paper RPG.
I'd love to give introductions to everyone here and now, but if I do that there'll be no point in listening to the show, so I'm going to have to refrain.
What I can reveal is that we've been looking for a name for our little crew, and at the moment the most popular name is Order of the Boom (I hate to admit it, but that's kinda like an in-joke, I want to avoid these but unless another group name becomes more popular, I may have to stick with that one).
Anyway, I'm super psyched about this, and if you have any questions for me or "The Order" then please let me know through the usual channels.
Ok so that's it from me for now, with hope I'll have something a bit more interesting for everyone soon.
Stay safe, and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
So yesterday I announced that I was in the process of building a gaming crew to feature on New Fairbank Radio, and I am pleased to announce that the initial line up is now complete.
I'm hoping to record our introduction episode next week, but in the meantime you can hear 3/4 of the team by listening to the massive 3hr ep1 cast on my channel at the moment (I know, I'm plugging this alot).
Yes indeed, myself, Tom & Vicky have all initially agreed to be full time members of this crew, so if you liked them in that show, expect more moving forward.
"But who is the 4th member?" I hear you ask.
That spot has been saved for someone special, oh yes, my dear awesome wife has agreed to join us!
This leaves us with 1 GM and 3 players, more than enough for any Skype game be it a converted tabletop game like MaliQuest or a Pen&Paper RPG.
I'd love to give introductions to everyone here and now, but if I do that there'll be no point in listening to the show, so I'm going to have to refrain.
What I can reveal is that we've been looking for a name for our little crew, and at the moment the most popular name is Order of the Boom (I hate to admit it, but that's kinda like an in-joke, I want to avoid these but unless another group name becomes more popular, I may have to stick with that one).
Anyway, I'm super psyched about this, and if you have any questions for me or "The Order" then please let me know through the usual channels.
Ok so that's it from me for now, with hope I'll have something a bit more interesting for everyone soon.
Stay safe, and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Wednesday, 13 March 2013
Building a Crew
Good Wednesday everyone!
Firstly I bring you good news, I awoke this morning with an email sat in my inbox from iTunes, New Fairbank Radio has been approved and is now available for your downloading/subscribing at: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/new-fairbank-radio/id618590209
So now I am currently trying to build a 'crew' for the show.
Currently I have one other person confirmed, Vicky from Episode 1. I am looking for another 2 players, so if you would like to be part of the 'cast crew' then please let me know.
*************
Anyway, that's all from me for now. I may have another for you later but for now, stay safe and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Firstly I bring you good news, I awoke this morning with an email sat in my inbox from iTunes, New Fairbank Radio has been approved and is now available for your downloading/subscribing at: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/new-fairbank-radio/id618590209
So now I am currently trying to build a 'crew' for the show.
Currently I have one other person confirmed, Vicky from Episode 1. I am looking for another 2 players, so if you would like to be part of the 'cast crew' then please let me know.
*************
Anyway, that's all from me for now. I may have another for you later but for now, stay safe and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Tuesday, 12 March 2013
New Fairbank Radio: The Proposal
Afternoon everyone!
I wanted to have a chat with you all about New Fairbank Radio and where I plan to go with this.
Currently the market is saturated with podcasts, even Malifaux podcasts, and so I bet you're left wondering what New Fairbank Radio (NFR) and by proxy New Fairbank News (NFN) can bring to the table?
My offer/pledge is a weekly gaming session, where every episode is only about 30mins in length and over the space of 4-8 weeks we play out a gaming campaign.
To begin with this will be a MaliQuest game using the up to date rules, but no maps this time (the SkypeQuest game was far too reliant on the map and it made it less fun to play through, where better narration from me would make it better for the players and/or listeners).
Once the MaliQuest campaign is done, then we're free to play anything, I know a friend of mine has mentioned running a game of Paranoia, I see no reason why we can't play that in between MaliQuest campaigns.
*********
So in summary what are we offering? It's a listen along RPG experience that is bite sized for a 3minute journey.
************
Perhaps there is no market for this, I don't know. But one thing I am sure of, once the gaming group who'll be forming the core "hosts" of NFR, there'll be lots of fun to be had, and I'd love it if you could join us!
Stay safe and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
I wanted to have a chat with you all about New Fairbank Radio and where I plan to go with this.
Currently the market is saturated with podcasts, even Malifaux podcasts, and so I bet you're left wondering what New Fairbank Radio (NFR) and by proxy New Fairbank News (NFN) can bring to the table?
My offer/pledge is a weekly gaming session, where every episode is only about 30mins in length and over the space of 4-8 weeks we play out a gaming campaign.
To begin with this will be a MaliQuest game using the up to date rules, but no maps this time (the SkypeQuest game was far too reliant on the map and it made it less fun to play through, where better narration from me would make it better for the players and/or listeners).
Once the MaliQuest campaign is done, then we're free to play anything, I know a friend of mine has mentioned running a game of Paranoia, I see no reason why we can't play that in between MaliQuest campaigns.
*********
So in summary what are we offering? It's a listen along RPG experience that is bite sized for a 3minute journey.
************
Perhaps there is no market for this, I don't know. But one thing I am sure of, once the gaming group who'll be forming the core "hosts" of NFR, there'll be lots of fun to be had, and I'd love it if you could join us!
Stay safe and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
New Fairbank Radio - A SkypeQuest Adventure
Good Tuesday everyone!
Your good friend Doctor Loxley is very tired this morning. That is because last night he was up far too late editing the MaluQuest game that him, Jon, Tom and Vicky played back in December.
However the edit is done (at least I think it is, there may be some niggles that have slipped through but I'm sure I got everything).
You will notice I have added an RSS feed to the channel on my blog page (only viewable on the non-mobile version of the page).
****************
Now should you wish to play along you can find a .zip file with all the cards used here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/w364cdl4a174o8q/SkypeQuest.zip
In order to further explain, it's important to note, many of the rules for this game have changed and altered since we played this game, so when you hear this, don't take what happens as gospel.
Eg: The Winds of Fate rule has changed, it is no longer a full discard and re-draw and now only effects the owner's hand.
Also unlike a normal game of MaliQuest, the lowest rarity of cards in this game is Rare. This means the party has better items available than normal games.
Anyway I hope you enjoy the show, and as mentioned before, I'm looking to do something similar to this in the future that should only take up about 30 mins each week.
So I hope you enjoy the show, stay safe and I'll see you breachside.
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Your good friend Doctor Loxley is very tired this morning. That is because last night he was up far too late editing the MaluQuest game that him, Jon, Tom and Vicky played back in December.
However the edit is done (at least I think it is, there may be some niggles that have slipped through but I'm sure I got everything).
You will notice I have added an RSS feed to the channel on my blog page (only viewable on the non-mobile version of the page).
****************
Now should you wish to play along you can find a .zip file with all the cards used here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/w364cdl4a174o8q/SkypeQuest.zip
In order to further explain, it's important to note, many of the rules for this game have changed and altered since we played this game, so when you hear this, don't take what happens as gospel.
Eg: The Winds of Fate rule has changed, it is no longer a full discard and re-draw and now only effects the owner's hand.
Also unlike a normal game of MaliQuest, the lowest rarity of cards in this game is Rare. This means the party has better items available than normal games.
Anyway I hope you enjoy the show, and as mentioned before, I'm looking to do something similar to this in the future that should only take up about 30 mins each week.
So I hope you enjoy the show, stay safe and I'll see you breachside.
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Monday, 11 March 2013
Weekend Catchup & A Proposal
Good Monday everyone!
I trust on this chilly morning you are well rested and eager for a fun filled week?
So I promised you a weekend catchup, and it's a doozy this time:
So every week Saturday is my lie in day, while Sunday is my wife's.
This Saturday I didn't feel much like I had a lie in, however technically I did.
You see at 10am (when I usually get up on Saturdays) I was awoken by my darling wife, it turns out that my Mini Moo needed to be taken to a drop in medical centre.
But I appear to be jumping ahead of myself, let's skip back to the night before, we'd picked the Moo up from day care with a swollen eyelid and an accident report form. Turns out as the day had progressed her eye had swollen more and more but strangely enough no one had seen her fall over or cry.
We assumed that they must have just missed the bump and that was why her eye looked bruised.
So back to Saturday, it turns out overnight her eye was still swelling and come Saturday morning it was pretty much swollen shut.
Other than the swelling the Moo was her usual cheery self, but my wife was concerned and so I went with her to the drop in centre.
When we get there we're told there is a 2 hr wait to be seen, but we can always call the NHS 111 number, which we do and speak to a very nice man who refers us to A&E at our local hospital (just across the road from the drop in centre).
So we see A&E and rightfully so the nurse is a bit concerned about potential infection. This was what we had become worried about and the potential long term consequences if it spread to her eye socket.
So the nurse refers us to see the outpatient doctor, who takes one look at the Moo and instantly diagnoses her with an allergic reaction, probably some dust that got stuck under her eyelid.
We're prescribed anti-histamines and sent on our way.
Fast forward to last night and the drugs appear to have worked. The swelling is almost completely gone and the Moo is visibly happier to regain her balance.
Turns out she also has been saying her name for quite a while, but her toddler version of that name sounds similar to something else, so we didn't pick up on it.
Last but not least regarding the Moo, it seems she has somehow gotten it into her head that feet must be covered at all times. She spent a good hour last night toddling around passing both me and Mummy Moo our slippers while saying very loudly "SHOES!"
***************
I have another thing I want to say on the back of yesterday's post.
So I've already said that I'm looking to host the 3hr MaliQuest game we held over Skype, what I would like to propose is something similar moving forward:
Something like a weekly 30minute game, myself and a party of players meet via Skype every week, starting off with generic starter characters and over the weeks play through a Dungeon.
This can then be uploaded and stuff and bing bam boom we have ourselves an adventure.
So what do you say? I'll be looking to do this after I've got the 3hr game done, and also after I've got at least my latest exam out of the way, but if you would be interested in taking part, please let me know.
Well on that note, that's it from me. Stay safe and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
I trust on this chilly morning you are well rested and eager for a fun filled week?
So I promised you a weekend catchup, and it's a doozy this time:
So every week Saturday is my lie in day, while Sunday is my wife's.
This Saturday I didn't feel much like I had a lie in, however technically I did.
You see at 10am (when I usually get up on Saturdays) I was awoken by my darling wife, it turns out that my Mini Moo needed to be taken to a drop in medical centre.
But I appear to be jumping ahead of myself, let's skip back to the night before, we'd picked the Moo up from day care with a swollen eyelid and an accident report form. Turns out as the day had progressed her eye had swollen more and more but strangely enough no one had seen her fall over or cry.
We assumed that they must have just missed the bump and that was why her eye looked bruised.
So back to Saturday, it turns out overnight her eye was still swelling and come Saturday morning it was pretty much swollen shut.
Other than the swelling the Moo was her usual cheery self, but my wife was concerned and so I went with her to the drop in centre.
When we get there we're told there is a 2 hr wait to be seen, but we can always call the NHS 111 number, which we do and speak to a very nice man who refers us to A&E at our local hospital (just across the road from the drop in centre).
So we see A&E and rightfully so the nurse is a bit concerned about potential infection. This was what we had become worried about and the potential long term consequences if it spread to her eye socket.
So the nurse refers us to see the outpatient doctor, who takes one look at the Moo and instantly diagnoses her with an allergic reaction, probably some dust that got stuck under her eyelid.
We're prescribed anti-histamines and sent on our way.
Fast forward to last night and the drugs appear to have worked. The swelling is almost completely gone and the Moo is visibly happier to regain her balance.
Turns out she also has been saying her name for quite a while, but her toddler version of that name sounds similar to something else, so we didn't pick up on it.
Last but not least regarding the Moo, it seems she has somehow gotten it into her head that feet must be covered at all times. She spent a good hour last night toddling around passing both me and Mummy Moo our slippers while saying very loudly "SHOES!"
***************
I have another thing I want to say on the back of yesterday's post.
So I've already said that I'm looking to host the 3hr MaliQuest game we held over Skype, what I would like to propose is something similar moving forward:
Something like a weekly 30minute game, myself and a party of players meet via Skype every week, starting off with generic starter characters and over the weeks play through a Dungeon.
This can then be uploaded and stuff and bing bam boom we have ourselves an adventure.
So what do you say? I'll be looking to do this after I've got the 3hr game done, and also after I've got at least my latest exam out of the way, but if you would be interested in taking part, please let me know.
Well on that note, that's it from me. Stay safe and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Sunday, 10 March 2013
MaliQuest - An Audio Intro (Idea)
Good Sunday everyone!
I hope you've been having a good weekend, I know I have (apart from some worrying parenting things which I'll save for tomorrow's weekend catch up).
What I'd like to chat about today is the possibility of an audio based introduction to MaliQuest.
You see back in December, myself and my good friends Jon, Tom and Vicky held a prototype game of MaliQuest over Skype. I'm sure you'll remember me mentioning it at the time.
Well after many hours of editing Jon had managed to transform to 2 hours of garbled chit-chat into a structured format.
Sadly however disaster struck and the files were lost, so rather than hold a gun to Jon's head and demand he re-edits the files again I'm going to try my hand at it.
I'll be re-recording the intro and outro to make it relevant to the months that have passed and the lessons learned since and will be looking to probably host it on my free podbean account I've created.
- I know the free accounts don't allow for much bandwidth, but I seriously doubt many people are going to want to listen to all this stuff)-
If you're curious, I actually created this account a short while ago in preparation for my Salute2013 interviews I'll be hosting, but it seems like the perfect opportunity to get some more stuff out there.
************
Anywho, editing all this stuff is going to take a while, and so in the interim I'd like to give some smaller 'shows' a go, starting with the pretence of "An Introduction toMaliQuest".
What do I want from you? I hear you cry!
Well, if anyone reading this is interested at all in MaliQuest and would be able to spare say 20-30 minutes sometime this week then is love to have a chat with you about it.
- No structure, no pre-planning, just a random chat about this game, things you like, things you don't and any suggestions you may have. I can then use this as editing practice before diving into the full 3hr Skype game edit.
Anyway, please let me know if you'd be interested, but if not no worries, it'll just end up me talking into my microphone on my own like a crazy cat lady - or something similar.
And on that note, stay safe and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
I hope you've been having a good weekend, I know I have (apart from some worrying parenting things which I'll save for tomorrow's weekend catch up).
What I'd like to chat about today is the possibility of an audio based introduction to MaliQuest.
You see back in December, myself and my good friends Jon, Tom and Vicky held a prototype game of MaliQuest over Skype. I'm sure you'll remember me mentioning it at the time.
Well after many hours of editing Jon had managed to transform to 2 hours of garbled chit-chat into a structured format.
Sadly however disaster struck and the files were lost, so rather than hold a gun to Jon's head and demand he re-edits the files again I'm going to try my hand at it.
I'll be re-recording the intro and outro to make it relevant to the months that have passed and the lessons learned since and will be looking to probably host it on my free podbean account I've created.
- I know the free accounts don't allow for much bandwidth, but I seriously doubt many people are going to want to listen to all this stuff)-
If you're curious, I actually created this account a short while ago in preparation for my Salute2013 interviews I'll be hosting, but it seems like the perfect opportunity to get some more stuff out there.
************
Anywho, editing all this stuff is going to take a while, and so in the interim I'd like to give some smaller 'shows' a go, starting with the pretence of "An Introduction toMaliQuest".
What do I want from you? I hear you cry!
Well, if anyone reading this is interested at all in MaliQuest and would be able to spare say 20-30 minutes sometime this week then is love to have a chat with you about it.
- No structure, no pre-planning, just a random chat about this game, things you like, things you don't and any suggestions you may have. I can then use this as editing practice before diving into the full 3hr Skype game edit.
Anyway, please let me know if you'd be interested, but if not no worries, it'll just end up me talking into my microphone on my own like a crazy cat lady - or something similar.
And on that note, stay safe and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Friday, 8 March 2013
The thin line between Nerd Rage & OCD
Good evening everyone!
Tonight I'd like to chat with you about Nerd Rage and the passion behind being a Nerd.
I know a lot of people have differing opinions as to what separates Nerds from Geeks and Dorks, but one term I've seen used a lot is that a Nerd is a super passionate Geek about one particular thing. This explanation would account for Nerd Rage.
Well today while beavering away at my desk I over heard a conversation where a few people were asking about the Xenos from Aliens and if they were made of metal as they were shiny and stuff.
The nerd in my wanted to volt over the table, hop around the office divider and explain to them they were wrong, why they were wrong and what the correct answer would be.
Essentially I wanted to nerd rage at them.
Despite a twitching eye I managed to stop myself and kept my head down and got the work done in time for the weekend.
But it occurred to me, while I was sitting there, twitching away, every single part of my body crying out to release the range.
In short I was compelled and obsessing about this information and why they were wrong.
I felt like for that moment I was suffering from OCD.
****************
So now I'm left wondering, is this normal for Nerd Rage? Is Nerd Rage based off the fact that Nerds are OCD over their obsessions?
***********
As always I can only talk about myself. Maybe I'm slightly OCD over Aliens facts but maybe that is just me.
Anyway, that's my thoughts for the day.
Stay safe and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Tonight I'd like to chat with you about Nerd Rage and the passion behind being a Nerd.
I know a lot of people have differing opinions as to what separates Nerds from Geeks and Dorks, but one term I've seen used a lot is that a Nerd is a super passionate Geek about one particular thing. This explanation would account for Nerd Rage.
Well today while beavering away at my desk I over heard a conversation where a few people were asking about the Xenos from Aliens and if they were made of metal as they were shiny and stuff.
The nerd in my wanted to volt over the table, hop around the office divider and explain to them they were wrong, why they were wrong and what the correct answer would be.
Essentially I wanted to nerd rage at them.
Despite a twitching eye I managed to stop myself and kept my head down and got the work done in time for the weekend.
But it occurred to me, while I was sitting there, twitching away, every single part of my body crying out to release the range.
In short I was compelled and obsessing about this information and why they were wrong.
I felt like for that moment I was suffering from OCD.
****************
So now I'm left wondering, is this normal for Nerd Rage? Is Nerd Rage based off the fact that Nerds are OCD over their obsessions?
***********
As always I can only talk about myself. Maybe I'm slightly OCD over Aliens facts but maybe that is just me.
Anyway, that's my thoughts for the day.
Stay safe and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Warcraft, Malibros & Salute
Good Friday everyone!
Today is Friday!
Today I'd like to talk about 3 things:
The first thing is the latest World of Warcraft patch "The Thunder King".
First and foremost, for those who play WoW, did you notice that the font used for the Thunder King title on the patcher looked 'remarkably' similar to the Thundercats font?
So we're about 6ish months into the latest expansion, and we've seen a new content patch. One of the things this patch brings amount other things are new raid(s), some changes to how existing mechanics (like the farm) are used, new tier stuff and general progression.
Thoughts? I'm only 2 days into it, and not being in a raiding guild means I need to wait for Looking For Raid (LFR) to activate in a couple of weeks before I can give the new raid(s) a go.
What I have been doing is running around the new isle doing daily quests and having fun doing the new solo-dungeon loot run.
This place is very atmospheric! And I love playing with music turned up for added fun.
But what about the rest of the game? Where are we 6 months on? Well when the last expansion was released, by now I had run out of things to do and either run out of alts to level or given up altogether.
This time however, I've hardly levelled any alts, and I still have a good number of things to do on my main character. Awesome!
**********************
Next up are the Malibros!
Currently I'm listening to episode 3 and I'm definitely going to keep listening.
As with all good podcasts you can find these guys on iTunes, or http://malibros.podbean.com/.
But what about a review? Sadly guys I'm going to wait a few more episodes before writing a review, but let me promise you, as long as you can stomach the crass and crude humour, it's freaking hilarious.
Up until this point, I have to be honest, I've not found another podcast that I can listen to as regularly as I do the Malifools, sorry to everyone else who runs a podcast, but I can't lie to you.
HOWEVER these guys are just too funny! (I think that's what it is, I just don't really get the humour of the other casts, so have trouble investing in them).
Seriously, as with the Malifools, when listening to the Malibros I can't help but laugh out loud.
***************
Salute!
So we all know about this, it's the UK's largest Wargaming Convention being held at the London Excel Centre on Saturday 20th April.
As mentioned before, New Fairbank News (aka me) will be there.
But I have imposed a self ruling, my exam I've sat twice and failed twice? I have to pass it before Salute, if I don't I'm not allowed to buy any models while I'm there.
- I know, the possibility of going to a wargame convention and not buying any models: scary!
But the plan to run the interviews as planned is still go! So if you're going and you want to have a quick chat: who you are, what you do, why you play, that sort of thing would be great.
*******************
So there we go. Not much left to say, other than; Jon, if you're reading this, let me know when/of you fancy our re-record. If there's an issue with hosting etc, I've prepped myself a (free) podbean account, so would gladly host the stuff.
Anywho, take care everyone, stay safe and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Today is Friday!
Today I'd like to talk about 3 things:
The first thing is the latest World of Warcraft patch "The Thunder King".
First and foremost, for those who play WoW, did you notice that the font used for the Thunder King title on the patcher looked 'remarkably' similar to the Thundercats font?
So we're about 6ish months into the latest expansion, and we've seen a new content patch. One of the things this patch brings amount other things are new raid(s), some changes to how existing mechanics (like the farm) are used, new tier stuff and general progression.
Thoughts? I'm only 2 days into it, and not being in a raiding guild means I need to wait for Looking For Raid (LFR) to activate in a couple of weeks before I can give the new raid(s) a go.
What I have been doing is running around the new isle doing daily quests and having fun doing the new solo-dungeon loot run.
This place is very atmospheric! And I love playing with music turned up for added fun.
But what about the rest of the game? Where are we 6 months on? Well when the last expansion was released, by now I had run out of things to do and either run out of alts to level or given up altogether.
This time however, I've hardly levelled any alts, and I still have a good number of things to do on my main character. Awesome!
**********************
Next up are the Malibros!
Currently I'm listening to episode 3 and I'm definitely going to keep listening.
As with all good podcasts you can find these guys on iTunes, or http://malibros.podbean.com/.
But what about a review? Sadly guys I'm going to wait a few more episodes before writing a review, but let me promise you, as long as you can stomach the crass and crude humour, it's freaking hilarious.
Up until this point, I have to be honest, I've not found another podcast that I can listen to as regularly as I do the Malifools, sorry to everyone else who runs a podcast, but I can't lie to you.
HOWEVER these guys are just too funny! (I think that's what it is, I just don't really get the humour of the other casts, so have trouble investing in them).
Seriously, as with the Malifools, when listening to the Malibros I can't help but laugh out loud.
***************
Salute!
So we all know about this, it's the UK's largest Wargaming Convention being held at the London Excel Centre on Saturday 20th April.
As mentioned before, New Fairbank News (aka me) will be there.
But I have imposed a self ruling, my exam I've sat twice and failed twice? I have to pass it before Salute, if I don't I'm not allowed to buy any models while I'm there.
- I know, the possibility of going to a wargame convention and not buying any models: scary!
But the plan to run the interviews as planned is still go! So if you're going and you want to have a quick chat: who you are, what you do, why you play, that sort of thing would be great.
*******************
So there we go. Not much left to say, other than; Jon, if you're reading this, let me know when/of you fancy our re-record. If there's an issue with hosting etc, I've prepped myself a (free) podbean account, so would gladly host the stuff.
Anywho, take care everyone, stay safe and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Thursday, 7 March 2013
Moving forward
Evening all!
It's Thursday evening, which of course means only one more day until the weekend.
You've probably been wondering: Dr Loxley, why have you been so moody lately? And where is our next MaliQuest update?
Well the moodiness I'm sorry to say has stemmed from a couple of things, a cold that refused to shift and also an ongoing issue with my workplace.
You see for those who don't remember, back in May last year I had an operation to remove my defective gall bladder. Before that I was regularly getting woken up at 2am with agonising pain, which would carry on for the next 4-8 hours.
My workplace has a rule about sickness, and after 'x' amount within one year you get put on a watch list. Around Xmas 2011 I was admitted to hospital where it became so bad I had to spend 4 nights under observation (that was when we arranged for my May operation). On paper however this put me from being on the observation list to being on the warning list. I was required to have 0 sickness (other than enforced hospital trips and my operation) for 12 months or else a disciplinary would be held (this is standard practice for people who work for a Police Force).
So I had my operation and within a couple of weeks felt like a new man.
Then in November, just a few weeks before my warning was to be wiped clean, my entire house was hit with Nuravirus (sp?) forcing me off work for 4 days while I was unable to move away from a toilet & bucket.
Since then I've had this stupid "unsatisfactory attendance panel" hanging over my head, where the choices would be to either wipe the slate clean, increase the watch period, downgrade my pay, send me to a different role or dismiss me altogether.
A couple of things occurred to me as the months rolled on, and November became December, followed by January, February and now March: if they wanted to fire me, they would have done do already, same with pay and position, so either they are going to just wipe the slate clean or extend the watch period.
Well yesterday I finally had the meeting. Honestly, they said that they cared about the fact that I had been seriously ill (defective gall bladders can be life threatening if they rupture into your blood, as in 2 hours, you're dead!) but I don't think they did, all they cared about was the numbers, and my poor attendance made them look bad.
The point is however, it was decided that they were going to extend my watch period by another 12 months, but backdate it to last November so there's only about 9 months left.
Sure it means if I get sick again then I'll be back there having another panel meeting justifying why they should keep me in my role, but 9 months isn't that long and if I worry about it then it'll certainly make me ill.
But what I noticed last night, for the first time in months I felt like I could relax properly. You see I didn't realise quite how much it had been bothering me having the Dismissal of Damocles hanging over me like that.
So with hindsight, no wonder I've been a moody little grott these past few weeks.
**************
Next up: MaliQuest updates...
Yeah I don't have any for you.
Sorry, but with lots going on at the moment u really don't have the time, especially as I'm booking my exam resit for 30th and I need to get that stuff in my head.
- it's fine, and the new reading material I've been giving is helping loads, but that plus the usual evening requirements is really limiting the time I have to give this right now.
There's an update coming, I promise. I just have to be responsible and focus on getting this studying done.
***********
Anyway, that's it from me.
I hope if I've pissed anyone off recently we can at least draw a line over it, but I know that I've been snapping and grouching and ranting at nearly everyone in sight.
Anywho, stay safe and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
It's Thursday evening, which of course means only one more day until the weekend.
You've probably been wondering: Dr Loxley, why have you been so moody lately? And where is our next MaliQuest update?
Well the moodiness I'm sorry to say has stemmed from a couple of things, a cold that refused to shift and also an ongoing issue with my workplace.
You see for those who don't remember, back in May last year I had an operation to remove my defective gall bladder. Before that I was regularly getting woken up at 2am with agonising pain, which would carry on for the next 4-8 hours.
My workplace has a rule about sickness, and after 'x' amount within one year you get put on a watch list. Around Xmas 2011 I was admitted to hospital where it became so bad I had to spend 4 nights under observation (that was when we arranged for my May operation). On paper however this put me from being on the observation list to being on the warning list. I was required to have 0 sickness (other than enforced hospital trips and my operation) for 12 months or else a disciplinary would be held (this is standard practice for people who work for a Police Force).
So I had my operation and within a couple of weeks felt like a new man.
Then in November, just a few weeks before my warning was to be wiped clean, my entire house was hit with Nuravirus (sp?) forcing me off work for 4 days while I was unable to move away from a toilet & bucket.
Since then I've had this stupid "unsatisfactory attendance panel" hanging over my head, where the choices would be to either wipe the slate clean, increase the watch period, downgrade my pay, send me to a different role or dismiss me altogether.
A couple of things occurred to me as the months rolled on, and November became December, followed by January, February and now March: if they wanted to fire me, they would have done do already, same with pay and position, so either they are going to just wipe the slate clean or extend the watch period.
Well yesterday I finally had the meeting. Honestly, they said that they cared about the fact that I had been seriously ill (defective gall bladders can be life threatening if they rupture into your blood, as in 2 hours, you're dead!) but I don't think they did, all they cared about was the numbers, and my poor attendance made them look bad.
The point is however, it was decided that they were going to extend my watch period by another 12 months, but backdate it to last November so there's only about 9 months left.
Sure it means if I get sick again then I'll be back there having another panel meeting justifying why they should keep me in my role, but 9 months isn't that long and if I worry about it then it'll certainly make me ill.
But what I noticed last night, for the first time in months I felt like I could relax properly. You see I didn't realise quite how much it had been bothering me having the Dismissal of Damocles hanging over me like that.
So with hindsight, no wonder I've been a moody little grott these past few weeks.
**************
Next up: MaliQuest updates...
Yeah I don't have any for you.
Sorry, but with lots going on at the moment u really don't have the time, especially as I'm booking my exam resit for 30th and I need to get that stuff in my head.
- it's fine, and the new reading material I've been giving is helping loads, but that plus the usual evening requirements is really limiting the time I have to give this right now.
There's an update coming, I promise. I just have to be responsible and focus on getting this studying done.
***********
Anyway, that's it from me.
I hope if I've pissed anyone off recently we can at least draw a line over it, but I know that I've been snapping and grouching and ranting at nearly everyone in sight.
Anywho, stay safe and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Tuesday, 5 March 2013
It's Rant-O-Clock
Evening all,
For those who follow me on twitter you probably already saw this coming, but for those of you who don't this will be news.
Something happened today on the Wyrd Miniatures boards about a tournament that was due to go ahead.
It was organised by someone who I understand is an (ex) employee of Wyrd however other than divulging the contents of the 'announcements' that is all I will reveal as to their identity
The announcement you see (without quoting) was that the tournament was going to be cancelled, and the reasons behind the cancellation was that not enough people had paid up front.
Let's just break this down a second. Because too few people paid up front, the event would not go ahead.
This struck me as unusual, but not outright offensive. But then I read a comment which began to push me over the limit...
So let me get this straight, the fault of this is that there is a lack of interest and that the organiser is not prepared to pay for this tournament themselves out of their own pocket?
Maybe I'm just over reacting however...
No, it seems like the organiser is actually saying that the people who want to go are to blame for the cancellation.
But what was that about the money again? Oh yes:
Ok so that's all my quotes for now, and so begins the actual rant itself...
You see what really gets me is the apparent self of entitlement we have here.
Let's talk about the lack of enthusiasm and support that is mentioned: this is up to the Tournament Organiser (TO) to do. It is your job to get people fired up for an event. That is done by giving people what they want (fun) and promising more of it if they come to the next event.
If there is a lack of enthusiasm for an event, then the TO has no one to blame but themselves.
Let's move onto the next point: lack of upfront funds.
I've read through the main post and the rules pack for this event. Nowhere is a deadline for payment specified. I've also been to a few tournaments myself and virtually all of them have had 25%+ attendance pay on the door. This should be expected and if it is not possible, then prior announcements with the rest of the info needs to be set up telling people when the deadline is.
You can't just randomly decide that the deadline has passed and now you're going to cancel.
All in all right now this person sounds to me like they're throwing their toys out of the pram and throwing a bratty strop.
Next up, getting prizes out of thin air...
More entitlement! Every tournament I've been to or spoken to friends about has always had this. Prize support is paid for out of pocket from the TO or the store/club they represent and there is the 'hope' that once all the bills are paid for the day that your takings from entrants are large enough to pay yourself/the club/store back.
If the takings from entrants do not cover rent & prize support, then I'm sorry Mr TO, you go out of pocket.
This is something that every single TO I know understands and excepts, and frankly if you're not willing to take the gamble as the TO them you can just EFF right off.
Seriously, I don't want to hear it.
Oh no! So you're not being paid for this and have to use your own money to fund it, big freaking deal! So does everyone else who runs these events.
The worst part? Current Wyrd Employee or Ex Wyrd Employee, it doesn't matter!
This person has a hat on their account which they post under, that means everything they post is representing Wyrd, and this self entitled, claiming to be a martyr BS of an attitude freaking stinks.
The people who want to go to this event are trying to support both the hobby itself and you as an organiser, and your outright attacking them.
If you have a problem with the parent company, then that's fine. Break ties with them and move on, don't act like a spoilt princess and make a scene, and most of all don't blame and attack the very people who are trying to help.
/end rant
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
For those who follow me on twitter you probably already saw this coming, but for those of you who don't this will be news.
Something happened today on the Wyrd Miniatures boards about a tournament that was due to go ahead.
It was organised by someone who I understand is an (ex) employee of Wyrd however other than divulging the contents of the 'announcements' that is all I will reveal as to their identity
The announcement you see (without quoting) was that the tournament was going to be cancelled, and the reasons behind the cancellation was that not enough people had paid up front.
Let's just break this down a second. Because too few people paid up front, the event would not go ahead.
This struck me as unusual, but not outright offensive. But then I read a comment which began to push me over the limit...
There's barely any interest and with no tickets being bought I'm not sinking my own money into a tournament again.
So let me get this straight, the fault of this is that there is a lack of interest and that the organiser is not prepared to pay for this tournament themselves out of their own pocket?
Maybe I'm just over reacting however...
there is no point putting precious time and effort into something so underwhelmingly under supported
No, it seems like the organiser is actually saying that the people who want to go are to blame for the cancellation.
But what was that about the money again? Oh yes:
I can't buy prizes with fresh air and it wouldn't be fair on me to have to do so.
Ok so that's all my quotes for now, and so begins the actual rant itself...
You see what really gets me is the apparent self of entitlement we have here.
Let's talk about the lack of enthusiasm and support that is mentioned: this is up to the Tournament Organiser (TO) to do. It is your job to get people fired up for an event. That is done by giving people what they want (fun) and promising more of it if they come to the next event.
If there is a lack of enthusiasm for an event, then the TO has no one to blame but themselves.
Let's move onto the next point: lack of upfront funds.
I've read through the main post and the rules pack for this event. Nowhere is a deadline for payment specified. I've also been to a few tournaments myself and virtually all of them have had 25%+ attendance pay on the door. This should be expected and if it is not possible, then prior announcements with the rest of the info needs to be set up telling people when the deadline is.
You can't just randomly decide that the deadline has passed and now you're going to cancel.
All in all right now this person sounds to me like they're throwing their toys out of the pram and throwing a bratty strop.
Next up, getting prizes out of thin air...
More entitlement! Every tournament I've been to or spoken to friends about has always had this. Prize support is paid for out of pocket from the TO or the store/club they represent and there is the 'hope' that once all the bills are paid for the day that your takings from entrants are large enough to pay yourself/the club/store back.
If the takings from entrants do not cover rent & prize support, then I'm sorry Mr TO, you go out of pocket.
This is something that every single TO I know understands and excepts, and frankly if you're not willing to take the gamble as the TO them you can just EFF right off.
Seriously, I don't want to hear it.
Oh no! So you're not being paid for this and have to use your own money to fund it, big freaking deal! So does everyone else who runs these events.
The worst part? Current Wyrd Employee or Ex Wyrd Employee, it doesn't matter!
This person has a hat on their account which they post under, that means everything they post is representing Wyrd, and this self entitled, claiming to be a martyr BS of an attitude freaking stinks.
The people who want to go to this event are trying to support both the hobby itself and you as an organiser, and your outright attacking them.
If you have a problem with the parent company, then that's fine. Break ties with them and move on, don't act like a spoilt princess and make a scene, and most of all don't blame and attack the very people who are trying to help.
/end rant
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Monday, 4 March 2013
MaliQuest: Dr Loxley's Manual of Monsters
Good evening again everyone!
Well three posts in one day! Something is clearly wrong, but hey-ho!
So over the past while I've been going over the Dungeon Companion and focusing quite a bit on the GM Guide as well as the fluff for the Companion, but there is one thing I have yet to really touch on, and that's the Monster Manual.
I'm sure you've seen these things before, I know almost every edition of D&D has a copy, but this is going to be different.
You see in a normal Monster Manual you have a quick description of a beasty, a photo and then the stats and abilities of said monster. This is a format that I want to avoid.
Ignoring the v2 stat card .pdf Wyrd have always been very careful to not give away the whole game of Malifaux for free.
This is why the Rules Manual digital copy has sections omitted, and why other than the v2 reprints no stat cards appear online.
Following on from this concept is part of why I have not included the rules on how to play Malifaux in the rules pack for MaliQuest, and also why I list the Malifaux Rule Book in what you need to play MaliQuest (please don't sue me Wyrd).
So with all this in mind while pictures and homebrew background are great, something I don't/can't include are the stats behind these beasties.
So what am I thinking?
Well for me this mini book is pure fluff. There are no rules to be included, however it could be of use for GMs.
I'm looking to cover all the main types of beasty, including Nephilim, Nightmares, Spirits, Constructs and Rotts (Undead). And where possible cover the sub types from Stitched to Punk Zombies.
A brief description will be provided, which if the GM wants they could use to introduce the beasty, while also including a picture of said monster.
Now I'm not going to feature every minion or master in the game, that'll take up far too much space and I think will frankly be quite boring, so to begin with I'll just be featuring the monsters that I feel are either necessary or I like.
But wait! I'm looking for your contributions too!
Do you have some homebrew art you want to do? Maybe you're looking to write some descriptions? Or perhaps you'd like to partake in something I've been kicking around for a while now: photos of your painted miniatures!
The idea I must admit was not my own, it was inspired by the Malifools http://malifools.podbean.com/ in episode 29 and followed through and developed as an idea in episodes since.
These guys had the great idea of making a custom deck of cards that uses painted Malifaux models for the card art. I love this idea, and assuming a). People wanted to join in and b). The podcast wizards don't mind me mooching the idea, would like to include photos of people's models where possible in the Monster Manual.
***************
So there we have it, most of my ideas over the day. I hope you like this stuff and if able can contribute to the finished product.
Stay safe, and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Well three posts in one day! Something is clearly wrong, but hey-ho!
So over the past while I've been going over the Dungeon Companion and focusing quite a bit on the GM Guide as well as the fluff for the Companion, but there is one thing I have yet to really touch on, and that's the Monster Manual.
I'm sure you've seen these things before, I know almost every edition of D&D has a copy, but this is going to be different.
You see in a normal Monster Manual you have a quick description of a beasty, a photo and then the stats and abilities of said monster. This is a format that I want to avoid.
Ignoring the v2 stat card .pdf Wyrd have always been very careful to not give away the whole game of Malifaux for free.
This is why the Rules Manual digital copy has sections omitted, and why other than the v2 reprints no stat cards appear online.
Following on from this concept is part of why I have not included the rules on how to play Malifaux in the rules pack for MaliQuest, and also why I list the Malifaux Rule Book in what you need to play MaliQuest (please don't sue me Wyrd).
So with all this in mind while pictures and homebrew background are great, something I don't/can't include are the stats behind these beasties.
So what am I thinking?
Well for me this mini book is pure fluff. There are no rules to be included, however it could be of use for GMs.
I'm looking to cover all the main types of beasty, including Nephilim, Nightmares, Spirits, Constructs and Rotts (Undead). And where possible cover the sub types from Stitched to Punk Zombies.
A brief description will be provided, which if the GM wants they could use to introduce the beasty, while also including a picture of said monster.
Now I'm not going to feature every minion or master in the game, that'll take up far too much space and I think will frankly be quite boring, so to begin with I'll just be featuring the monsters that I feel are either necessary or I like.
But wait! I'm looking for your contributions too!
Do you have some homebrew art you want to do? Maybe you're looking to write some descriptions? Or perhaps you'd like to partake in something I've been kicking around for a while now: photos of your painted miniatures!
The idea I must admit was not my own, it was inspired by the Malifools http://malifools.podbean.com/ in episode 29 and followed through and developed as an idea in episodes since.
These guys had the great idea of making a custom deck of cards that uses painted Malifaux models for the card art. I love this idea, and assuming a). People wanted to join in and b). The podcast wizards don't mind me mooching the idea, would like to include photos of people's models where possible in the Monster Manual.
***************
So there we have it, most of my ideas over the day. I hope you like this stuff and if able can contribute to the finished product.
Stay safe, and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
MaliQuest: The QuickStart Deck - Ideas
Hi everyone,
Bit of a quickie post here.
I mentioned it on twitter briefly the other day but didn't get much of a response, so I'm going to try again here and probably over on the boards just to see what people think.
********************
At the moment the Full Card Pool for the Loot Deck is at roughly 300 cards. You only use 100 of these for a deck, and therefore I can imagine that currently this is something that might put off some people from trying the game, especially as each page for printing holds 9 cards, that's roughly 33 pages that need to be printed and cut out.
I think it would be good to create a 'starter' deck that consists of 100 cards so that anyone can print out instead only about 11 pages, cut them out and be ready to go.
************
So, what is it I need from you?
It's simple really! I need to know what you think should be included in the QuickStart deck!
Should I try to fit in as many of the cards as possible: ie pick as many different card types (eg Peacebringer, Greatsword etc) and spread out the rarities to fit in as many different types of cards.
Or should I pick less card types, and instead try to fit in all the multiples of cards, ie all 4 Common Peacebringers, all 3 Uncommons etc.
Last but not least, Epics! There's only space for 5. Which 5 do you think I should go for?
Answers either in comments, email: doctorloxley@hotmail.co.uk or twitter: @doctorloxley
Stay safe and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Bit of a quickie post here.
I mentioned it on twitter briefly the other day but didn't get much of a response, so I'm going to try again here and probably over on the boards just to see what people think.
********************
At the moment the Full Card Pool for the Loot Deck is at roughly 300 cards. You only use 100 of these for a deck, and therefore I can imagine that currently this is something that might put off some people from trying the game, especially as each page for printing holds 9 cards, that's roughly 33 pages that need to be printed and cut out.
I think it would be good to create a 'starter' deck that consists of 100 cards so that anyone can print out instead only about 11 pages, cut them out and be ready to go.
************
So, what is it I need from you?
It's simple really! I need to know what you think should be included in the QuickStart deck!
Should I try to fit in as many of the cards as possible: ie pick as many different card types (eg Peacebringer, Greatsword etc) and spread out the rarities to fit in as many different types of cards.
Or should I pick less card types, and instead try to fit in all the multiples of cards, ie all 4 Common Peacebringers, all 3 Uncommons etc.
Last but not least, Epics! There's only space for 5. Which 5 do you think I should go for?
Answers either in comments, email: doctorloxley@hotmail.co.uk or twitter: @doctorloxley
Stay safe and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Back to work
Good Monday everyone!
Well that's my week off all over, now I'm on my way back to the office.
I have to be honest, no real plans for anything this week other than resuming my studying in a hardcore manner.
But for tonight I only have one thing planned - crashing out on the sofa. It's the usual thing, happens every holiday I have. Have some time off, then resume work and feeling exhausted.
In good news however, my darling little Moo was returned to us after four days with her Granny. She had a great time, and kept her Granny very busy.
Also allowed me and the wife lots of chance to sleep - which is why I'm so tired now. Not used to getting up this early.
Anyway, going to have a quick nap before my train gets to London.
Stay safe, and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Well that's my week off all over, now I'm on my way back to the office.
I have to be honest, no real plans for anything this week other than resuming my studying in a hardcore manner.
But for tonight I only have one thing planned - crashing out on the sofa. It's the usual thing, happens every holiday I have. Have some time off, then resume work and feeling exhausted.
In good news however, my darling little Moo was returned to us after four days with her Granny. She had a great time, and kept her Granny very busy.
Also allowed me and the wife lots of chance to sleep - which is why I'm so tired now. Not used to getting up this early.
Anyway, going to have a quick nap before my train gets to London.
Stay safe, and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
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