The last game I'm covering this year is Roc 'n Rope by Coleco, from the Konami arcade game. Thank you for a wonderful if stunted year, I really needed the break. I'm really loving doing the research again and I hope to get ahead a little bit in the month of December. I will be doing a Christmas show, if you have ANY Christmas memories you want to share with us, please send them to 2600gamebygame@gmail.com by the end of day December 16. Sarah and I will be reading and listening to your messages in the show. Also, the next game I will cover in January is the Activision Decathlon. If you have any feedback on that game, why not get an early start and send it to me by January 12th. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving if you are in the USA; I am very thankful for all of you, and I thank you for listening.
Roc 'n Rope on Random Terrain
Roc 'n Rope on KLOV
Ed English's company Elerts web site
Ed English in a news story about Hasbro's Frogger, 1997
PUBG New Map Venezia 2.0 Confirmed To Release
PUBG has announced a big update about a new map called 'Venezia'. After the Vikendi snow map update, there were 4 maps v.i.z Erangel, Sanhok, Miramar and Vikendi but PUBG Corp is developing a new map Venezia inspired from Venice, Italy. Along with the map, 3 vehicles and 4 new weapons will also be available in this update.
Developer :
Venezia is designed and developed by James Coreman, an employee of PUBG Corp, the same man who designed the Sanhok map. Venezia will come in a size of 4×4 km. It is said that it will include the area between Georgopol, Pochinki, and Primorsk.
Inspiration :
As already mentioned Venezia has been inspired by a city in Italy called Venice. Venice is a city in Italy having more than 100 small islands. This city is well-known for its large number of canals, bridges and small islands.
Venezia is fully inspired by this city. Thus Venezia will mostly contain water all over the island. This shows that this map will be very challenging and tough to play.
Developer :
Venezia is designed and developed by James Coreman, an employee of PUBG Corp, the same man who designed the Sanhok map. Venezia will come in a size of 4×4 km. It is said that it will include the area between Georgopol, Pochinki, and Primorsk.
Inspiration :
As already mentioned Venezia has been inspired by a city in Italy called Venice. Venice is a city in Italy having more than 100 small islands. This city is well-known for its large number of canals, bridges and small islands.
Venezia is fully inspired by this city. Thus Venezia will mostly contain water all over the island. This shows that this map will be very challenging and tough to play.
Vehicles :
- In this map, 3 more vehicles will be available. They are-
- 1. Aquarail
- 2. Bicycle
- 3. Vespa
Weapons :
- Venezia will contain the following 4 new weapons-
- 1. Beretta ARX 160: It is an assault rifle that will require 5.56 mm ammo.
- 2. Benelli M4: It has been a high time since a new shotgun has been added. Venezia will feature this shotgun.
- 3. HK-911: As the map, Venezia is mostly covered with water so PUBG introduced this underwater pistol. Yeah you heard it right it is a pistol that can fire underwater also which requires 7.62 mm ammo
- 4. C4 Explosive charge: It is not a gun but an explosive basically. One can attach it anywhere on the wall or objects or one can throw it also. It can be obtained by creates only.
Release date :
Though the date of release hasn't been officially declared, it is reported to come in 0.13 global version. And the expected date to release is 20-25 April 2019.
AAR: The Scarab Plague Of Mars!
As usual, this AAR is short on photos because I was too busy playing to take pictures. However, I did grab a few of the setup. Game was played on 28 JUN 2019 in my gameroom with Zach, his son Nathaniel, and myself participating.
SCENARIO:
Two rival companies of adventurers, the British Lord Curr's Incorrigibles and the German Empire's Society of Thule have traveled to Mars via aethership. Their goal: seize ancient Martian relics of occult power. Unfortunately, they were discovered and Martian priests have awakened a terrible curse: a massive swarm of flesh-eating scarabs. The scarabs will eat only Earthling flesh, though. So now, the two companies must flee for their lives. Safety lies on the canal running through the nearest village, Golah. The Earthlings want to get on the boats; the Martians want to stop them long enough for the scarabs to catch them and devour them all.
RULES AND FIGURES:
The rules used were In Her Majesty's Name, my favorite for small skirmish Victorian Science Fiction. The figures are a mixture of North Star (the Society of Thule and Lord Curr's Incorrigibles), Parroom Station (The Masked One, Martian leader and mystic), and RAFM (High Martians, Shield Gunners, and Archers).
An overview of the battlefield.
The mat is from Cigar Box. First time used!
The Village of Golah
Buildings are Plastruct COLORed buildings for SAGA
Custom made canals, ordered a decade ago, only second time used in a game.
Boats are all scratchbuilt and older, too.
British Start point. The Society of Thule is on the other side of the ridge.
The small dots at table edge are the scarabs, advancing as a line.
A Martian Shield Gunner stands guard outside the canal master's office.
The Masked One, a Martian Mystic
High Martian warrior. Savage flying primitives.
The two companies moved up as quickly as possible but got held up in and around the village. If the random rolls for the scarabs' advance hadn't been very low, all would have been devoured! As it is, the two European teams ganged up on the outgunned Martians and killed all but two of them (the Masked One, who used his Mystic powers to slow up the British advance, and one shield gunner, saved by his heavy armour).
In the end, the British reached the boats first. Rather than allow the Germans to escape, the British took all of the boats. End result: British victory (44 points, almost all of his company escaped), followed by the Martians (28 points, all because of devoured Europeans) and then the Germans (19 points, for killing Martians). But we all had fun, and that was the main point after all.
Notes for next time we run this scenario:
- Martians need more points to offset European gangup.
- Scarabs need to move a flat d10", not d10-2. For four turns in a row, the scarabs did not move at all. This cuts the pressure on the Europeans to get moving!
OpenGameArt Summer Game Jam #3 Has Begun
One of our affiliate websites OpenGameArt (OGA), a free repository for public domain and copyleft licensed art, has just begun hosting this year's Summer Game Jam. To all libre developers looking for a challenge, this is your call to arms.
The rules are simple: participants are to create a game which independently of length and genre must use 6 art assets already available at OGA. The type of engine or code license used is up to the creator, but any artwork from the repository employed, along with any derivates, must comply with the specific licensing of each.
While this does not mean any game submitted to the jam will be libre, there's a good chance some will be, so regardless of whether you are a game developer or not, it would be wise to keep an eye on the contest results. It is also worth applauding OGA's initiative as a way of fostering usage and creation of Creative Commons licensed assets, and to spread word of the cultural benefits of open development.
Further information regarding regulations and prizes can be found on the jam's official page here.
OpenGameArt is ran entirely as a volunteer effort. Should you wish to contribute, you can check their forums for volunteer openings or help support server costs by donating to their Patreon.
Comments and questions? Post them on our forum thread.
20Mm Big CoC At The WHC Gavrus: Part 1
Now I knew they had played CoC, and I also recall Carlo being partial to the game, so I thought it ideal to use them as guinea pigs for trying out Big CoC! They were more than happy to go along with it, so a format was put together. As the 28mm stuff is still being painted (nearly done though!) this weekend would have to be in 20mm
I thought that for 8 players, a Big CoC campaign of 4 games over the weekend from Friday night through to Sunday afternoon would work fine. I allowed for an extra scenario just in case things went a bit quick.
What to do?
An obvious choice was Normandy, I had all the kit required, and of course, Mark has his amazing collection of Mick Sewell buildings which were aching for a run out.
I only needed a reinforced company for both British and Germans, plus various AFV options, all of which we had.
The battle is reasonably well documented, particularly in Iain Dalglish's book "Operation Epsom: Over the Battlefield" which includes some fantastic aerial photographs of the area taken just days after the battle, these would substitute perfectly for maps.
I came up with 4/5 scenarios with games running into each other to replicate the fighting:
The first was a bit of a "what if" with infantry companies from each side recce-ing the village of Bougy about a mile South of Gavrus, the Germans supported by an armoured infantry platoon in half-tracks and the jocks by their carrier platoon. Both sides did recce Bougy, but I doubt they did it in such strength or necessarily at the same time, but I thought it would give a good introduction for the players, and set the tone for the weekend.
This was to be a fairly standard Patrol scenario as per the CoC rules, with each side receiving an additional 8 points of support to be drawn from a fairly limited selection
The British briefing:
Scenario 1: BOUGY- BRITISH
This depicts the action between The 2nd Argylls and the 10th SS Frundsberg Division early in the morning of 29thJune 1944, around the village of Bougy. This is a patrol action as per the main CoC rules. National characteristics as per the main rules.
7 Patrol Markers will be placed along the respective baselines, resulting in 6 Jump off Points. Vehicles will enter via the Gavrus road.
The adjutant may either: Act as an off table senior leader for 1 platoon. OR for the entire company, in which case he will just add +1 to their deployment rolls
Casualties from scenario 1 will carry over to scenario 2.
British Infantry: 3 platoons, C Company 2nd Argylls, Regular, 5 command dice
Each as follows:
HQ:
Lieutenant: Senior Leader armed with a pistol.
Platoon Sargent: Senior Leader armed with SMG
PIAT Team: 2 men
2" Mortar Team: 2 men.
Sections 1 to 3:
Corporal: Junior Leader armed with SMG
Bren Team: Bren LMG 3 crew
Rifle Team: 6 riflemen
SUPPORT OPTIONS:
List 1: Medic, Adjutant(max 1),,
List 2: PIAT Team: 2 men, 2" Mortar Team: 2 men.
List 3: Sniper Team, Universal carrier Bren Team with Junior Leader.
List 4: 6 pdr Anti-tank gun with 5 crew and Junior Leader (max 1)
ELEMENTS, CARRIER PLATOON, 2ND ARGYLLS: , Regular, 5 command dice.
1 x Universal Carrier with driver, 2 man Bren team, and Senior Leader with pistol
Section 1:
1 x Universal Carrier with driver, 2 man Bren team, and Junior Leader with SMG
1 x Universal Carrier with driver, 2 man 2" mortar team, and 1 rifleman
Section 2:
1 x Universal Carrier with driver, 2 man Bren team, and Junior Leader with SMG
1 x Universal Carrier with driver, 2 man PIAT team, and 1 rifleman
Section 3:
1 x Universal Carrier with driver, 2 man Bren team, and Junior Leader with SMG
1 x Universal Carrier with driver, 2 man 2" mortar team, and 1 rifleman, OR 2 man PIAT team, and 1 rifleman
No Support may be allocated to the Carrier Platoon
Total support points.8
Each asset picked must be allocated to a specific platoon for the duration of scenario 1
The German briefing:
Scenario 1: BOUGY -GERMAN
This depicts the action between The 2nd Argylls and The 10th SS Frundsberg Division early in the morning of 29thJune 1944, around the village of Bougy. This is a patrol action as per the main CoC rules. National characteristics as per the main rules.
7 Patrol Markers will be placed along the respective baselines, resulting in 6 Jump off Points.
Vehicles will enter via the western road
The adjutant may either: Act as an off table senior leader for 1 platoon. OR for the entire company, in which case he will just add +1 to their deployment rolls.
Senior Leaders must be allocated to a specific platoon
Casualties from scenario 1 will carry over to scenario 2,
German Infantry: 3 platoons of the 1st Company 22nd Pzrgrenadier Regt, Regular, 5 command dice
Each as follows:
HQ:
Obersharfurher: Senior Leader armed with a SMG.
3 Panzerfaust 30.
Sections 1 to 3:
Scarfurher: Junior Leader armed with SMG
M42 Team: MG42 LMG 3 crew, 1 Rifleman
M42 Team: MG42 LMG 3 crew, 1 Rifleman
SUPPORT OPTIONS:
List 1: Medic, Adjutant (max 1), Panzerfaust 30
List 2: Senior Leader armed with a SMG. Panzerschreck team with 2 crew
List 3: Sniper Team, Panzergrenadier team: Junior Leader armed with SMG, 5 riflemen.
List 4: Mg 42 MMG team and 5 crew
List 5: Sdkfz 250/8 with junior leader, 250/9 with junior leader
3rd Kompanie, 10thSS Panzer Aufklarungs-Abteilung: Superior Regular *, 5 command dice
1 x Sdkfz 251/10 + Obersharfurher: Senior Leader armed with a SMG.
Panzerschreck team with 2 crew
3 x Infantry sectionseach:
1 x Sdkfz 251/1 Scarfurher: Junior Leader armed with SMG
M42 Team: MG42 LMG 3 crew, 1 Rifleman
M42 Team: MG42 LMG 3 crew, 1 Rifleman
*Superior regulars treat a single 6 on their command dice as a 5. Other rolls are unchanged.
No Support may be allocated to the Recce platoon
Total support points.8
Each asset picked must be allocated to a specific platoon for the duration of scenario 1
Unspoken Tags
I was putting together a short adventure for a Roll20 game using the ever-changing Crimson Dragon Slayer D20 rule-set (final version will be uploaded sometime in the next couple days), and it hit me that I often have these unconscious, unspoken tags in my mind as I write and then proceed to run a scenario.
Knowing the effect you want to achieve is key to crafting adventures like a fucking boss! One-shots especially are not unlike short stories. As Edgar Allen Poe said about that particular art form, it should create a singular effect and every element of that short story needs to carry its own weight, driving it home.
As I was writing this latest one, I had the following emblazoned in the back of my mind: desperate, exploring the unknown, weird location-based scenario, and Lovecraftian.
Depending on my mood, I might have a different set of tags, such as: cat and mouse, whimsical, gonzo, introspective.
I don't know how many GMs do this and are also acutely aware of it, but just thought I'd mention it. Is this part of your process? If so, does it help? Is this something you'd try using? Have you ever run an adventure that someone else wrote, using a completely different set of tags? What was that like?
VS
p.s. This new adventure will eventually show up in my upcoming book Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise. Still haven't gotten your hardcover Cha'alt? Now's your chance!
Monumental Heartbreak
I walked in headstrong and confident that my team was ready to face the challenges ahead. I announced myself as a challenger. I waited for the trainers representing the gym to step forward. I expected to face more than one young man before challenging Gym Leader Brock, but apparently this young trainer was the only one representing Brock that day. He only had two Pokéballs at his side, but he assured me I was no match for Brock. He was about to prove it to me firsthand.
He tossed out a Diglett which popped up out of the dirt floor of the gym. Kiwi took to the air. If the Diglett knew any ground attacks they would be wasted on Kiwi while he remained airborne. Kiwi opened with our classic Sand-Attack gambit to kick as much dust and dirt up into the Diglett's eyes as he could. Kiwi took a few scrapes as he wore down the Diglett's accuracy, but eventually the Diglett was completely ineffective. I switched in Nibbles to tackle the Diglett into submission.
The Junior Trainer revealed his final Pokémon to be a Sandshrew. Its defense was formidable so I used Nibble to distract him with a series of disorienting glares before pulling Nibble out of the battle. Rascal jumped in to eagerly sweep through the defenseless Sandshrew, but I miscalculated. After two vicious slashes from the Sandshrews sharp claws, Rascal was down and out. Rascal slumped to the ground unconscious. My heart sank into my stomach and I felt faint. I failed Rascal.
It was in that moment of horrible defeat that it occurred to me that I should have used a potion on Rascal. I shouldn't have let him suffer those two powerful attacks head on. I should have sent in Kiwi to wear down the Sandshrew's accuracy. Lucky didn't stand a chance against this Pokémon if it took out Rascal so easily. Kiwi was my only chance to get out of this mess. I knew that if I didn't keep my head in the game, I might be saying goodbye to more than one Pokémon that afternoon. I tried to shake off my sorrow and focus on the battle ahead.
Kiwi was much faster than the Sandshrew. He kept firmly out of reach and launched a series of quick attacks on the Sandshrew to finish it off. The Junior Trainer conceded defeat, but it was I who felt defeated that day. This young boy had no idea I'd just recently vowed to never fight my Pokémon to the point of unconsciousness. Now, just days after determining the way I wished to train and respect Pokémon, my resolve was going to be tested. Rascal and I would have to part ways.I explained this to the trainer who didn't quite understand, but he said the gym would be happy to watch after Rascal for me. Rascal was always enthusiastic about training and living here at the gym would be a fitting end to our relationship, so I agreed.
I took Rascal to the Pokémon Center and waited for him to recover from his injuries. I don't really know if he understood, but I explained to him that in order for us to grow stronger I would need to let him go. We had to follow different paths, now. I had chosen a training style where I would not let my Pokémon fall in battle and even though Rascal was my very first Pokémon companion, I could not go back on my conviction. We said our goodbyes. I released Rascal to the care of the Junior Trainer at the Pewter City Pokémon Gym and withdrew my challenge.
It's an understatement to say that I was devastated. In that moment, I certainly regretted making it my personal goal as a trainer to not push my Pokémon too far. As Wolf had said, it's just part of the training to the average trainer. You win some and you lose some. But that just wasn't my way. I wanted to build a place where I could protect Pokémon and people would come from all around to study and understand them better. I had to be better than the average trainer. I had to hold myself to a higher standard. Pokémon would fight. They would fight to protect me in the wild, and they would fight for my dream in competitive matches. But I had to have limits. I had to take responsibilities for my failures and this was the only way I knew how to do that.
Rascal was the first of many such failures, and saying goodbye to my first Pokémon was certainly one of the most painful experiences as a Pokémon Trainer that I have ever faced. Back in those days in Pewter City, I questioned everything about my journey. I spent a long time just wondering if I should return to Professor Oak and give up. These thoughts just stemmed from the profound sadness and disappointment, though. Ultimately, I would move on. I would grow stronger and persevere.
Beyond the tremendous heartbreak of failing to protect my first Pokémon, I was also terrified of Brock. This failure humbled me tremendously. Everything I did going forward would be taken slowly and with greater attention to strategy. This included returning to challenge Brock. Without Rascal, my team had a gaping hole that needed to be filled. The only one who could fill that hole was Lucky and so we left Pewter temporarily to train like our lives depended on it. I would absolutely not lose another Pokémon in this city.
Current Team:
Brave Browser voted the best privacy-focused product of 2019
Out of all the privacy-focused products and apps available on the market, Brave has been voted the best. Other winners of Product Hunt's Golden Kitty awards showed that there was a huge interest in privacy-enhancing products and apps such as chats, maps, and other collaboration tools.
An extremely productive year for Brave
Last year has been a pivotal one for the crypto industry, but few companies managed to see the kind of success Brave did. Almost every day of the year has been packed witch action, as the company managed to officially launch its browser, get its Basic Attention Token out, and onboard hundreds of thousands of verified publishers on its rewards platform.
Luckily, the effort Brave has been putting into its product hasn't gone unnoticed.
The company's revolutionary browser has been voted the best privacy-focused product of 2019, for which it received a Golden Kitty award. The awards, hosted by Product Hunt, were given to the most popular products across 23 different product categories.
Ryan Hoover, the founder of Product Hunt said:
"Our annual Golden Kitty awards celebrate all the great products that makers have launched throughout the year"
Brave's win is important for the company—with this year seeing the most user votes ever, it's a clear indicator of the browser's rapidly rising popularity.
Privacy and blockchain are the strongest forces in tech right now
If reaching 10 million monthly active users in December was Brave's crown achievement, then the Product Hunt award was the cherry on top.
The recognition Brave got from Product Hunt users shows that a market for privacy-focused apps is thriving. All of the apps and products that got a Golden Kitty award from Product Hunt users focused heavily on data protection. Everything from automatic investment apps and remote collaboration tools to smart home products emphasized their privacy.
AI and machine learning rose as another note-worthy trend, but blockchain seemed to be the most dominating force in app development. Blockchain-based messaging apps and maps were hugely popular with Product Hunt users, who seem to value innovation and security.
For those users, Brave is a perfect platform. The company's research and development team has recently debuted its privacy-preserving distributed VPN, which could potentially bring even more security to the user than its already existing Tor extension.
Brave's effort to revolutionize the advertising industry has also been recognized by some of the biggest names in publishing—major publications such as The Washington Post, The Guardian, NDTV, NPR, and Qz have all joined the platform. Some of the highest-ranking websites in the world, including Wikipedia, WikiHow, Vimeo, Internet Archive, and DuckDuckGo, are also among Brave's 390,000 verified publishers.
Earn Basic Attention Token (BAT) with Brave Web Browser
Try Brave Browser
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