Tim Morgan (Page 11)

There’s a lot going on this weekend: Magic Booster draft tonight, Journey into Nyx pre-releases Saturday and Sunday as well as the Miniature Flea Market going on for most of Sunday and the Iron Kingdoms RPS that evening. That’s a lot of great stuff, but we’ve talked about it all before. Scroll back through the history and you’ll find plenty of details.

Instead, we want to talk about some games people have been asking about. We get a lot of people asking, “Does anyone play Game X around here?” And we always say, “Well, not right now, but let’s see if we can find some players.”

So here’s us trying to find some. Here’s a list of the games people have been wanting to play:

Blood Bowl
Axis & Allies
Empire Builder
Diplomacy
The Saga Miniatures Game
Twilight Struggle
1st Edition AD&D
Dungeon World RPG

We’ve also had people ask about tournaments. Would anyone be interested in a Chess Tournament? How about a Settlers of Catan Tournament?

If any of these sound good to you, leave a comment below or message us. Or if you have some ideas of your own. We want to hear from you in order to make ‘Round the Table YOUR place to play!

What’s Happening:
Tonight: Dungeons & Dragons Encounters at 6PM;
Android: Netrunner League starting at 7pm.
Coming up: X-Wing League tomorrow from 6PM-10PM
Journey to Nyx Pre-Release Sat 12pm & 7pm, Sun 2pm

We’ve been saying for a while that we’re a customer oriented business and we have received A LOT of feedback! So here is some proof that we were listening:

– New speakers for music.
– New candy and snack items(with tax-included prices)
– New menu items on the way.
– Mountain Dew next week.
– Taps are coming in May and featuring Craft Rootbeer from Lynnwood’s own Big E Ales. We WILL be filling Growlers.
– Full Tilt Ice Cream pints-to-go.

Thanks for the suggestions folks. See you here.

Fun Stuff at ‘Round the Table:

Tonight: Beer Tasting from 6:00-8:00pm; Scrabble @ 7:00pm
Tomorrow: D&D Encounters @ 6:00pm; Netrunner League @ 7:00pm

This weekend: Journey into Nyx Pre-release

Journey into Nyx is the next expansion to Magic: The Gathering and the final chapter in the Theros Block. The packs will be available here to buy starting May 2nd. We’ll be offering booster boxes for pre-sale through Sunday for only $100.

But, the week before they are released, we get to have a pre-release tournament. What does that consist of?

For $25 you get 2 Theros Boosters, 1 Born of the Gods Booster, 2 Journey into Nyx Boosters and a special pack of Nyx cards specially chosen by Wizards to compliment the color that you decide to play. You also get some cool extras: a spindown life counter, a promo card and some other goodies.

From the cards in those packs (and basic land that we’ll provide), you’ll create a 40+ card deck to play in the tournament. The tournament will go 3 or 4 rounds depending on the number of people and will last from 4-5 hours.

Everyone will also get a Hero Card and will get to customize it with a special ability sticker. This Hero can then be used during the Magic Game Day events coming up on May 24th.

We’ll have food and drinks available for everyone and all the supplies you’ll need to protect your cards.

We’re going to be running three events for the Pre-Release: Saturday at Noon will be the big one, and that will run the whole 5 hours. We’ll do another, smaller one Saturday at 7:00pm and then one on Sunday starting at 2:00pm.

When we hand out packs, you’ll get to choose which color you’d like to play. We will hand these out in order that people register and pay, so pre-ordering will get you first dibs on the packs. You can pre-register in person, by phone, or on our website.

It’s going to be a great weekend! See you here!

What’s Going On:

Today: Euro Game Night (Castles of Burgundy & Tzol’kin) 7:00pm
Tomorrow: Beer Tasting @ 6:00pm; Scrabble @ 7:00pm

It’s Mammoth Monday and I want to talk about GURPS.

What’s GURPS? It’s the Generic Universal Role Playing System. Designed by Steve Jackson in 1985-86 it was heavily influenced by SJ’s earlier RPG, The Fantasy Trip. It’s a skill-based game based on 3d6 the uses a point-build character creation system.

It’s best feature is its versatility. It can be made to do any setting, from fantasy to sci-fi and anything in between. The default setting for the current, 4th, edition is a parallel-dimension/time travel campaign that take full advantage of the game’s universality.

GURPS is probably best known for its huge number of supplements. The third edition had over 100 campaign/setting supplements, covering numerous historical eras and showcasing the licensed worlds of Riverworld, Traveller, Horseclans, Conan, The Prisoner, Lensman and so many more. While these worldbooks are designed for GURPS, most of them only have a dozen or so pages of rules; the rest is information that could be used for any game system.

This is one of Tim’s favorites and he’s been playing it since 1987.

We’re very pleased to say that we just go in a huge collection of these supplements, most of them priced about $5. So if you’re looking to fill out your collection or just poke through some of them, swing on by and check them out!

And here are some other events we’ve got going on later in the week:

Wednesday: D&D Encounters @6:00pm; Netrunner League @7:00om
Thursday: Star War X-Wing #@ 7:00pm
Friday: Theros/BotG Booster Draft @ 7:00pm
Saturday: Journey into Nyx Pre-Release @ Noon & 7:00pm
Sunday: Miniature Flea Market from Noon-5:00pm; Journey into Nyx Pre-Release @ 2:00pm

Tonight: Dungeons & Dragons Encounters at 6PM;
Android: Netrunner League starting at 7pm.
Coming up: X-Wing League tomorrow from 6PM-10PM

In other news, we’ve got a couple new beers in for those who prefer something a bit less bitter: Anderson Valley Brewing Company‘s Summer Solstice Cream Ale and Great Divide Brewing Co.‘s Colette Saison. Both of these delish brews are seasonal, so enjoy them while you can!

Tonight: Join Beermeister Nick for a “Learn about Beer” night. He’ll have actual hops for guests to smell and taste (if you’re brave!) and talk about how this essential ingredient gives beer its essential aroma and flavor. He’ll sample three different hoppy IPAs and Pale Ales.

Tomorrow is D&D Encounters and week 3 of our Netrunner League.

And next Tuesday, the 22nd we’re trying something new: Let’s play Scrabble!

This classic game, first created in 1938, is said to be in over 30% of American households.

But let’s get this game out of the living room and out in public. Come and play with us on one of our lazy-susan, deluxe boards and meet some new word enthusiasts!

Events!

We’re all about events here at Round the Table and that applies to RPGs as well as boardgames, card games or miniatures.

Tonight we have Chris’ Iron Kingdoms RPG that is looking for players. Delve into this rich and evocative world from Privateer Press. Discover exciting character careers, wondrous mechanikal devices, and exotic monsters while you adventure throughout the lands of western Immoren, where steam power and magic combine to create a fantasy experience like no other! It starts at 7:00pm and is bound to be great fun.

On Wednesdays at 6:00pm we do D&D Encounters with Patrick, who is running through the Scourge of the Sword Coast adventure.

As mentioned a couple of days ago, we want to get a bi-weekly Story Game event going, so we’ll try organizing games on Sundays, at 6:00pm. We’ll start May 4th, with Fiasco.

And the big news is that we will be participating in Free RPG Day this year! What is Free RPG Day? Game manufacturers supply us with adventures, quick-play booklets, and other samples, and we give them to you for free! We’ll be doing that on June 21st, so mark your calendars.

Special offer today only: Show us your badge/receipt/tell us a great story from the Magic Pro Tour Qualifier and get a free small ice cream! It’s just down the street from us and you know you’ll want a beer after all of the that tapping!

What’s going on today: Pathfinder @ 6:00pm
Standard Magic Tournament @ 6:30pm. $5 buy in. Prizes!

Today, Tim’s long-winded discussion of RPGs is going to focus on Indie Roleplaying Games. What’s an Indie Game? Really, it’s just one that isn’t produced by a big company, but by enthusiasts working out of their home not so much to make money, but out of a passion for games. And usually, the games show that passion. They’re unique, insightful and fun.

What are some of our favorites?

Five Ancient Kingdoms hearkens back to the genesis of roleplaying by paying homage to the original printing of Dungeons & Dragons: it comes in a 3-book set of digest-sized books. It evokes the feel of the Arabian Nights in a rules-light system with custom dice. Written by local author Jonathan Becker, you can find out more athttp://tinyurl.com/mhsf499

Monsterhearts is an Origins Award nominated game about “the messy lives of teenage monsters.” It’s Buffy, with a dark side. It is written by Vancouver, BC resident, Avery Mcdaldno (the author of The Quiet Year) who is an incredibly prolific designer whose webpage can be found at http://tinyurl.com/mqyypxy and Patreon at http://tinyurl.com/oozr5xa

We Kickstartered Golden Sky Stories, which is a beautiful, fun game for young roleplayers. In this anime-styled RPG, players take on the role of magical animals that help people and solve problems.

And last on my list is Fate of the Norns: Ragnarok, because … Vikings! Do you need more reason to give a try? Another gorgeously produced game, this game captures the feel of the mythical Dark Ages. The same author is coming out later this month with a Viking-themed card game, called Gulveig, which I am also very excited about.

Today’s Excitement: Theros/BotG booster draft, Friday @ 7:00pm
Coming soon: Standard Magic Tournament, Saturday @ 6:30pm. $5 buyin. Prizes!
Iron Kingdoms RPG, Sunday @ 7:00pm

The newest thing in RPGs right now are Story Games.

What’s a Story Game? They’re basically a GM-less, co-operative roleplaying game where everyone work together to create a story. Most only run in single sessions, so there’s campaign mode; there’s also no time to waste in getting to the fun — you’ve only got a few hours to play the whole game so you have to jump through making characters fast and get right to the story. There’s also no way to “win” a story game — no treasure or weapons or favors to collect for the next game, because there is no next game. The players win if they have fun.

The best known Story Game is Fiasco, where players run through a Tarantino-esque heist gone wrong. Individual characters connive and screw each other, not to gain more loot, but to make an entertaining story of greed, revenge, betrayal and loss. TableTop does an excellent playthrough of this game at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXJxQ0NbFtk

Some other great Story Games include:
InSpectres — think Ghostbusters with the serial numbers removed
Polaris — tales of a dying race growing old and fading away
Microscope — a fascinating game about creating histories

Our personal favorite is one called The Quiet Year. In this game, the player’s don’t tell the story of individual characters, but rather the tale of the formation of a post-apocalyptic community. Everything the players do in the game is represented on a map, so at the end of play, you all have this map as record of the game play. A true masterpiece of game design.

We’re looking to start up a bi-weekly group to play Story Games. Anyone interested? What days/times would be good for you? Let us know and we’ll get it started!