Only War Episode One

The first podcast episode of our Only War adventure!

Staring...

Jonathan as the Games Master.
Josh as Sgt. Carmine
Walker as Gunner Fog
Daniel Rattling Sniper Torque

The Imperial Guardsmen of Fifth Squad "The No Hopers" set out from their garrison on a vital mission to investigate what has happened to the overdue supply convoy.


MP3 File

You can download the episode by clicking on the mp3 link under the player. We'd love to hear your feedback on this episode, and if you have any suggestions for films for us to watch and talk about. So feel free to leave us a comment!

Travelling man's table top night, first impressions.

Finally managed to get myself to one of Travelling man's board game nights in Leeds. I've been meaning to go for over a month now, but they only run on the first Tuesday of the month and the third Thursday and unfortunately I haven't been free until tonight.

I was a little nervous about it all because everyone else from my normal table top group was busy so I ended up going on my own, but I really shouldn't have been, everyone was very nice and after a few ice breaking games of Tsuro while we waited for everyone to arrive I felt a lot more relaxed.

After that we played a game I'd never even heard of before called Zombicide which is a cooperative zombie survival game created by Raphaël Guiton, Jean-Baptiste Lullien, and Nicolas Raoult.

Zombiecide was apparently born of a successful kickstarter which is pretty cool, it's played on a modular tile based map and as a team you carry out a chosen missions from the rule book. Each character has special abilities and there is an xp system that allows you to level up and gain access to new character skills. The game also has rules for different types of zombies and for various items and weapons which you can use.

We played two games, the first game was all going well until Dave split the party and had his character, also named Dave break into a separate building from the group and open up a whole world of pain for the group. It did end with an epic final stand made by Amy's character who also happened to be called Amy, in which she killed scores of zombies and made us all believe she might just make it, till her luck ran out and a lone runner took her down. Still it was an awesome ride and our deaths were very entertaining.

The second game I regrettably had to leave before it finished because I had only put parking on the pay and display for four hours, I know lame right! While I was there though the group learned from its rash mistakes of the past game and we thought more about how best to tackle one area at a time.

However as people level up in the game so do the zombies spawning, so the more xp people have the more zombies start to appear and it was becoming apparent that the group might be overrun before they could safely move around the entire map and pick up all the objectives. Will have to wait till someone updates me to find out how they did without me after I went. Hopefully everything went to plan and they managed to escape with the objectives, but somehow I think they will of ended up as zombie food again!

Really enjoyed the night as a whole, it's a really good set up they've got there and a relaxed atmosphere. I'd definitely recommend checking it out if you have any interest in getting into tabletop games and you're in the Leeds area. For details on when they're playing next drop into the Travelling man and have a chat to the staff, or give them a call.

I'm going to check out the new Tabletop episode over at Geek and Sundry so till next time guys.

DFTBA

- Stray

GM's Corner

GM's Corner

So why play Role Play Games?

Those of us that already partake are more than aware of the stigma attached to role playing games. If popular culture is to be believed then the sort of people who play games like Dungeons and Dragons and Dark Heresy are smelly, daylight fearing nerds with a limited clique of friends. They scuttle around in the shadows and spend their spare time sat in front of the PC screen wasting away on WOW and the likes.


Well let me tell you something... That only counts for like half of our little gaming group!

 

“Kind of a Dungeons and Dragons thing” – Moss
“Ew, is that some sort of sex thing?” – Jen
“Ha, Far from it Jen!” – Moss (IT Crowd – Jen the Fredo – Series 4, Episode 1)

 
One of the primary hobbies this review site will revolve around is Role Play Gaming. The most well known of these being Dungeons and Dragons, the games have also expanded into the numerous niches of popular geek culture, aside from the sword and shield play style of D&D, players can play as Jedi in the Star Wars role play, fearsome Space Marines in the Deathwatch role play and the secretive acolytes of the Inquisition in Dark Heresy (to name but a few). The possibilities are endless and only limits of role play gaming is the imagination of the GM and the players.


Over the coming weeks and months, myself and others will try and help aspiring GM’s by offering tips and hints to help with your gaming sessions. The gaming experience will only be as good as the GM who controls it, so hopefully you’ll be able to find something useful that you can use.


Now why play? In a world of Xbox Live and MMORPG’s, what can role play gaming offer? Well as I’ve already mentioned, from the GM’s point of view, it is a limitless world of your creation. For the player characters, it allows them to truly create a character and personality of their choosing. Modern gaming allows for some customisation, 
but in the world of role play gaming the character can be truly personalised to the player’s heart’s content. As such it can offer a much more immersive world in which to play out your characters lives.


Another good reason is the cost. Role play gaming is relatively cheap hobby. For the GM there is the initial expense of a rulebook and some dice and for the player characters they usually need nothing more than a few dice and some pens and paper. It’s not a bank breaking hobby and if you have a regular and committed gaming group, the costs can be split down even further.


So maybe we have your interest now, maybe not. As the site progresses we will recommend various games and rulebooks, we will offer advice on improving your sessions and if you have questions, we will do our best to answer them.


For now I hope we have at least piqued your interest.


Next time we’ll talk about free flow gaming versus adventure book gaming and Stray and I have plans to review Dark Heresy, a role play game set in the Warhammer 40K Universe where players take the roles of the secretive acolytes of the Imperial Inquisition.  

See you next time.

- Roth