Interesting Magic: Mono-Colour EDH Generals Part 2: Black

And now on with part 2. I'll be honest here though this isn't anywhere near as long as Blue because Black's legendary creatures seem to fit the theme, the kill shizz, they reanimate shizz or they suicide black shizz. But I've managed to find a few that get my magic brain tingling.

Interesting Magic: Mono-Colour EDH Generals Part 1: Blue

So that hiatus was a thing......don't ask.

But on with the show.

I've recently fallen deeply in lust with casual EDH/Commander games and making quirky decks which use offbeat generals, you know, like every other Magic player who has been playing for 6+ years that doesn't have any Pro Points.

This is some of the funnerer (that is totally a word) mono-blue generals I've dug out from my trawlings of cards.

aaaaaaaaaaaand We're Back....Sortof.

While I won't make any excuses for not updating I have indeed had a grand tale of woe to convienently fill in for all the missed updates but you're not interested.

The blog will be updating as and when while I am jobless and then in a more structured manner once I'm employed. Until then enjoy lots of random updates for the various things I'm working on/poking around at the moment.

Hopefully I can claw back some followers and get this blog back on track.

Can Watching Be Better Than Playing? Part2: Top Level Play

Now like the majority of my readers, barring possibly 1, I am not a world championship level player and thanks to my cronic procrastination and attention span of a gnat when it comes to anything but games design I'm unlikely to ever be.

However there is a way I can enjoy all the fun of that amazing play without having to shed a single friend in the process. This is watching casts and recordings of top level tournament play.

While many of you may either be thinking I'm dense for bringing this up, or just bored by the process, hear me out. While for the most part high level play can just be pokes and least risky actions there is the odd thing that comes up which can be an enjoyable watch.

Uni Work + Real Work + Life + Pain = Missed Updates

There is a stutter in the update schedule due to many many things.

This will be rectified.

Skubhammer starter armies.
Rules for SCP CCG.
Core Classes for Dunian Cronicles.
Alchera Valley adventure for Bore-Na.
Concept CCG Introduction.

Shall be offered to placate you. The updates will also be a little erractic until the end of May then everything should settle into a nice smooth shedule.

Thank you for your patience.

All Work And No Play Makes Moley A Dull Boy.

All nighter to get work handed in.
Drove 500 miles to deliver some rats to their new home.
Very Very long 2 days.
Post will be tomorrow after I have slept.
Sorry.

Interesting Cards Set by Set: Prophecy

Another series of Magic articles is, rather than annoying, interesting cards from each set. I know that interesting is a comparitive value but I hope to back up my claims and show you cards you might have missed or not considered. Don't expect power rares or the like to populate these lists too often but there will be some surprises along the way.

Now the set Prophecy holds a special place in my heart. It was the first set I conciously bought cards for and dispite it having a lower powerlevel than many sets there are still some nice card cycles, cards of a similar type in each colour, and other interesting cards floating about to build decks round or break.

Design Malarky 5: The SCP CCG Design Diary Part 1

For a little over 2 years now I've been a member of The SCP Foundation, a collaborative writing wiki where people write up SCPs. Strange and unnatural objects that The Foundation Secure, Contain and Protect the world from.

Now while I've not really contributed hugely to the site, some of the SCPs are amazing reads and eventually the topic of a CCG came up. I like making CCGs, I like The Foundation and I like having projects to keep my busy. So this was a match made in heaven.

Now rather than creating some M:tG knock-off I thought I'd stretch the old design muscles a little and try and make something different. While the game is no-where near finished I think I've hit upon a nice system and as I explain my design decisions and then in future articles detail cards and rules I hope you'll agree with me.

Design Malarky 4: The Peoples of Bore-Na

This is a touch of a cop out article but it's simply to note the differences between high and low races and some races that have dissapeared from the face of Bore-Na.

Now what races are considered high and which are considered low may surprise people but in any case where there are differences I'll say why without giving too much away. Which races have been lost may also surprise people as not everything has survived the fading of the world. Once again I'll detail why they're gone if it's a particular shock.

Design Malarky 3: MachineHammer converting Skubhammer to Skubmachine

At one point in my little Moley life I was a die-hard adherant to the GW philosphy. After getting fucked over by codex changes, price hikes and crappy staff in their stores my interest waned and I looked further afield for games.

One of my favorites was Warmachine and after a very dissappointing game of 40k and a very fun game of Warmachine I wondered if there could be a way to convert 40k to Warmachine's rules and create some sort of unholy hybrid for people to have a bash with.

There's needed to be a number of changes but I think I managed to create something playable, all that's needed now is some balancing and all that malarky.

Design Malarky 2: The Dunian Cronicles E6 Campaign Intro to Ur' Dun

This is the campaign primer for The Dunian Cronicles, an E6 world based on the long running low-magic game of a similar name.

This article will cover what you should expect from playing in the world as a player and the next few articles will continue to expand the world and the various races and classes that make it up.

Welcome brave adventurer to the world of Dunia. For uncountable ages all the races of the world have strode the land, fighting wars, raising empires, loving, hating, exalting their gods and buring the unbeliever. There are stories from long ago that tell of magic being as common as the rains that fall down upon Ur'Dun and that each and every man, woman and child would wield it if they but set their minds to it.

But that was long ago before The Final Ritual, The Shunning and The Rise of the Bright Moon and those tales are too dark to tell in detail here. But heed my words wisely as there are more would be heroes in shallow graves than raised up on plinths and in song.

Appologies.

Due to a shift change at work I've found out I'm working in around 25 minutes, not next week like I originally thought. The design articles will be posted up once I've finished them after work but that'll be at least 2am. Sorry for the delay but they will be up.

This will teach me to be so ambitious.....

The Golden Rule: They're Your Damn Rules

Due to various medical issues of mine flaring up I was unable to complete my blog post on Wendsday so in return this Sunday will have some extra posts to make up for it.

There's a proud tradition in many games I play of doing things your own way. From tweeking the rules to make combat smoother to creating whole new games out other games it's always been something I've particularly enjoyed.

So this article is for me to share my love of houserules, game modifications and emergent gameplay with you so you too can enjoy playing things how they weren't ment to be played.

Annoying Cards From Magic 2: All You Will Hear From Me Is NO.

There is a card in Magic, well a type of card, which throughout the years has caused more tooth cracking frustration and hatred than any other type of card.

All 5 of the colours have access to it, there's colourless versions of it as well, and each and every single time a new player comes up against them it feels like being kicked in the teeth.

There have been countless variations on the theme and they have created an entire deck archetype around themselves but never the less these 220 or so cards have caused more game losses, more close victories, more bored frustrated games and more cries of rage and calls for bannings than any other type of card.

Not bad for 2 blue mana eh? I am of course talking about Counterspell and its other fellow co-conspiritors.

Design Malarky 1: Intro to Bore-Na

Well it's the end of the first week for my blog and I'm a touch surprised I managed to get everything out and the general positive feedback I've recieved about the content and general state of the blog. I will continue to make improvements but this is a hopeful start for me.

Well less gushing and more typey typey. This is the first of a series of articles delving into stuff I'm currently working on and shiny things you can take away and either play, help me develop or use in some other way. This is partly to help me finish things, partly to show off my skills to potential interested parties and partly an ego trip so I hope you like what you see.

This article is an introduction to Bore-Na a short lived campaign world I created at the start of the academic year which sadly never got beyond the first game for various reasons. Currently I have a basic outline of the first 4 or 5 adventures and the framework of the world that it all fits in.

Before I go any further the cover blerb for Bore-Na is thus:
"The world of Bore-Na is centered around the struggle between the lesser and higher races along with the fading of the fantastic from the world."

I Weild a Power Greater than The Heart of the Cards!

It's called reading the cards.

That is a common quote from me when it comes to teaching people games and showing them tricks and effects that are a little more obscure than the norm.

So why is this phrase so important? Well the more you know about a game and its mechanics the better you can manipulate them in your favor. Heck even in my own blog I've a perfect example of that. Just take a look at the comments from Circles of Annoyance and you'll see what I mean. In that same tournament I could have won a turn earlier but the rules were not followed exactly so the odd thing crept through there.

Now while this might seem to you like a pointless exersize I have a few examples which I hope will show you the importance of this along with a few tips on how to make things easier on yourself.

Can Watching Be Better Than Playing? Part1: Speedruns

Welcome to the second post of The View from Bottom Table.

Now when it comes to games I've always been the sort that plays, I like to compete against the machine and my fellow players whenever I can. So the idea of watching someone else play always seemed a strange one to me. That was before I discovered speedruns.

Moley Presents Annoying Cards from Magic 1: Circles of Annoyance

Note this is copy and pasted from The Geek Show forums but future articles will be written fresh.

Just click the words to see the cards, saves you having to load a million pictures.

Now way back when in Magic's dark past there was a cycle of cards printed which has caused more smug faces and angry words than almost any other.

They were printed from Alpha through to 8th Edition and they were commons almost the whole time.

They can totally negate some decks and require little to no thought to use normally.

Infact there was a popular tournament deck which just 4 copies of those 5 cards, 20 lands, some board clearers and 4 Serra Angels, hell if you go far back enough there is a varient that ran 4 of each, 1 Serra Angel and 19 Lands.

I'm talking about Circles of Protection, or CoP for short, and it's varients.

Welcome to the blog.

Just to say hello to my new gaming blog and welcome to my readers.

The View from Bottom Table is a very simple beast, I'm hoping to update 3 times a week with various things from the world of traditional and electronic gaming particularly touching on good play, sportsmanship and games design.

The plan currenly stands at Monday being for Card and Roleplaying Games, Wendsday being for other Games, Friday being for good play, sportsmanship and spreading around my personal philosophy and the occasional Sunday update for games design related malarkery.

I'm not expecting to revolutionise the industry but I hope that I can share my love of gaming with people from around the world.