On my trip downRiver, I finished The Magnificent Riverboat, the next book in the Riverworld series. This volume covered the story of Samuel Clemens and his building of an electric riverboat to travel upRiver to the source of the river. I think Samuel Clemens moral compass made it a bit easier for me to be invested in the middle parts of the book (compared to Richard Burton), but this one was still a bit slow reading – details after the jump. Continue reading The Magnificent Riverboat
All posts by The Plaid Mentat
The World’s Worst Phonetic Alphabet
My last phonetic alphabet was all about games, but this one is really just the world’s worst – a bit of fun. Continue reading The World’s Worst Phonetic Alphabet
EVE Online Alliance Tournament
Every year, when the Alliance Tournament comes around, I reserve a bit of time to build a bracket, watch any matches I can, and pay attention to the team statistics and tournament commentary. I often joke with my friends that the EvE Alliance Tournament is my version of football – I plan around matches, yell at the screen when my team loses, cheer when my team wins, and play the armchair strategist throughout.
That doesn’t mean I’m good at it though. Continue reading EVE Online Alliance Tournament
The Demon Spirit
I’ve been trying to work through my assembly backlog lately, and while doing so, I decided to listen to R. A. Salvatore’s The Demon Spirit – the second book in the Demonwars Trilogy. This was a good experience, and gave me the chance to do two things at once in a way that wasn’t distracting. Overall, I enjoyed this leg of the journey, but it’s probably my least favorite book of the trilogy, primarily because it is so dark.
Probable spoilers after the jump. Continue reading The Demon Spirit
A Phonetic Alphabet of Board Games
A while back, I was trying to spell something for one of my coworkers, and found that I’m really quite bad at phonetic alphabets. So, as a matter of pride, I thought I would create a phonetic alphabet of board and role-playing games, just to see if I could. This, is the result: Continue reading A Phonetic Alphabet of Board Games
To Your Scattered Bodies Go
I recently finished the first Riverworld novel, To Your Scattered Bodies Go, by Philip Jose Farmer. I haven’t read much in the way of Farmer before this, but I really enjoyed The Dungeon (inspired and edited by Farmer), and now I better understand the inspiration. At a high level, I enjoyed the book – it presents a very interesting situation and ideas. On the other hand, it failed to keep me engaged at certain points, which occasionally made it a bit longer of a read than I would have liked. Continue reading To Your Scattered Bodies Go
Netrunner: Terminal Directive
I recently finished the Netrunner: Terminal Directive campaign expansion. A the highest level, I enjoyed the expansion, but there were a number of things that seemed like they could have been improved and one thing that I wished would have been different.
First, before I get into anything spoilery, I want to mention that this game is closer to a legacy game than a campaign game. I want to put this up-front to let people know what they’re getting into. The game instructions involve destroying, modifying, and altering content that would make the game unplayable a second time unless you’re careful about how you do it. This is something I wish they would have done differently, and while it didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the game, I felt like it was something I had to work around rather than enjoy.
Everything else involves spoilers. You have been warned. Continue reading Netrunner: Terminal Directive
How I Build My Decks
I’ve been playing deck building games for a long time now, but I’ve recently gotten into deck building for Android: Netrunner, and I wanted to share a bit about how I build my decks. Now, it should be said that I’m not a competitive Netrunner player, nor is my meta particularly large, so the following can all be taken with a few grains of salt. Continue reading How I Build My Decks
Hubbard Defense Systems
Hubbard Defense Systems was the last of my glacier decks, and it’s an advanceable ICE deck. I had imagined it as a fast advance deck, and it got close but certainly wasn’t an all-in fast advance deck. As it is, this is also the last deck from my Terminal Directive campaign, and I suspect that I’ll be moving on to another identity very soon (though I may continue to play Weyland – we’ll see). Continue reading Hubbard Defense Systems
Pocket Tactics
I recently had a bunch of armies for Pocket Tactics printed for a special game day at the shop. There are a lot of things I like about Pocket Tactics, including the simplicity, game length, and ability to mix-and-match a game with lots of factions. Continue reading Pocket Tactics