Luke Meyer: Crafting Iron Tyranny

Sometimes you just want to play with giant robots blasting each other to smithereens.  That is exactly what I got to do when I was given the rare opportunity to not only play test a new game before it was fully developed, but also to do so with one of its creators.

The game that I’m speaking of is Iron Tyrants and the creator is Luke Myer of the Podge Cast.  Iron Tyrants is a game of tabletop miniatures battles that he has been developing with his partner Adam Pinilla for over a year.

This game has a number of remarkable traits.  The first that it is exceptionally fast paced.  We were able to resolve a four player, eight Tyrant game in just over an hour, a length of time that would be necessary to play just a round or two in a game like Battletech.

The rules are also exceptionally simple and intuitive.  We only needed Luke to walk us through a round or two of combat before we had all of the core concepts down and were essentially able to run the game without his aid.  As simple as they were, however, the rules were neither boring nor limiting.  Like many RPGs and CCGs these days it is a game of exceptions.  The core rules are simple but each Tyrant has certain abilities that allow them to break these simple rules. Read the rest of this entry »

Twitter's @ThistledownJohn and Fear The Boot's Chad at World Wide Wing Night

Chad's Cigars 101 at World Wide Wing Night

Click through for more pics from FtC3 Read the rest of this entry »

The blogger studies.

Recently, I had the great fortune of attending Fear The Con for the third time in a row.  I’ve been told that GenCon is like going to a class reunion where everyone is like you.  Well, my graduating class was only 48 people, so I suspect Fear The Con is much more like my actual class reunion.  You know everyone (by appearance if not name) and everyone knows you.  Each year, I get to know a few more people a little bit better and I look forward to it as much to catch up with them as to sit down and game for 24 hours in a two day period.

This year I had the opportunity to play several excellent games, a couple good games and one decent game.  Over the course of the weekend I was able to play four new systems that I was interested in, including the much anticipated Iron Tyrants, created by Luke Meyer and Adam Pinilla from The Podge Cast.

I also ran a game for the second year in a row.  This game was a homebrew “system” I created based on the lives of the Klokateers, the numerous faceless individuals who work to support the greatest band in the history of ever, Dethklok.  I put quotation marks around “system” because I hardly think that a four stat system using one die merits the term and because of the abysmal way in which it ended up failing me. Read the rest of this entry »

A little retro FtC action: The logo from the first year!

As I write this, it is half-an hour from World Wing Night, the social event kicking off the Fear the Con 3 activities. Today, my traveling companion James and I ventured ‘cross this great nation of ours from Texas to Saint Louis.  We have secured ground transportation, lodging at the con hotel, and even enjoyed a little BBQ.

We lunched at Bandana’s where our server, Francisco, recommended the Wet Bandana.  I believe this may have been something like what I paid 1000 pesos for the last time I was in Juarez.  Francisco also spent some time reviewing the various “sauces,” stating that for something really spicy – well – he had that “in the back.”

St. Louis, what a welcoming, exotic place.

30-minutes to Wing Night.

Stay tuned!