31 July 2010

500 pt Golden Age - Bizzaro World - 31 July 2010

Figures will start the game on their last click and will move forward on the dial as they take damage. A figure is KO'd once it is clicked past its starting marker.

All healing is likewise reversed and will move a figure closer to the end of its dial.

23 July 2010

Gamers With Heart

The following is cross-posted on my main blog, The Fairhaven Town Crier, and I'm forwarding it on behalf of GameHearts:

GameHearts is a public benefit nonprofit organization committed to providing alternative forms of entertainment to adult members of the Kalispell area for the purpose of promoting adult sobriety. The program achieves its directive by providing free and low cost gaming activities in a supervised non-alcoholic, sober environment, along with access to gaming accessories that are provided without cost to the participants. In fact, beginning players can learn and obtain free gaming materials solely for playing.

The primary games that the program uses are tabletop customizable games, such as card and miniature games (CCGs and CMGs), though there is also a strong interest in promoting role playing games (RPGs), as well. GameHearts is working toward the betterment of our region through encouraging alternative gaming activities amongst participants on Friday and Saturday nights, as opposed to frequenting bars and casinos in the area, as well as to inspire decision making and problem solving abilities by teaching and promoting educational and strategic games and activities, using CCGs, CMGs and RPGs as alternative entertainment.

GameHearts does more than promote just sobriety though – it opens up an entirely new facet of the population to these kinds of educational and interactive games. People who would otherwise never know what a game like Magic, for instance, was really about now get free exposure to the game, complete with lessons and a beginning deck. Without an initial investment to begin playing, our participants have little obstacles in playing and interacting with other players. Since GameHearts is primarily a nonprofit, the bulk of our participants eventually find they need to purchase materials we simply do not have, since we are not interested in maintaining a full service retail business. As such, GameHearts also helps boost the overall market shares of the industry by introducing new and motivated players into the environment.

Of course, being a charitable organization, GameHearts is always looking for donations of excess cards, figures, rulebooks and other gaming accessories to use in teaching and promoting these games, though also for any other collectible genre material that can be used for fund raising. Additionally,since gamers are a largely diverse and wide-spread community,the program relies upon inter-community associations and contacts to aid it in advertising the program's existence and its needs to those whom GameHearts' staff alone may not be able to contact. Essentially, any gamer, collector, retailer or manufacturer who may acquire excess materials from these kinds of games represent potential contributors to the program, and it is the program's hope that individuals within the gaming community will help in soliciting the program's efforts to other sources. And the more support the program receives, the greater the service it can provide.

Donations made to the program are tax deductible, since they are made to a community benefit nonprofit organization. The IRS allows for up to 50% of donations fair market value as tax credit. GameHearts assesses the value of each donation and issues receipts upon request for this purpose. The only requirements for donations is that the material not be worn, as these materials are considered “marked” in game play, and that individual donations not exceed $5,000 each (a rule of the IRS, not GameHearts itself). Otherwise, any gaming material is accepted and assessed, regardless of its rarity (ie, commons, uncommons, rares, etc.) or the game from which it comes.

For further information about GameHearts and the service we provide, please feel free to visit the program's website at:  http://GameHearts.org/

Thank you for taking the time to review the GameHearts program, and it is hoped that anyone reading this information will both assist in our efforts and help spread the word to others who may also share an interest in supporting GameHearts' cause.

21 July 2010

Pardon the Mess

I just slapped this all together earlier in order to post the first two blogs so expect things to change several times a day until I finally get it to look the way I want.  8o)

Golden Age Team Up 800 - 24 July 2010

Each player must bring a 400 point golden age force and be paired up with another player to form a team with an 800 point force.

Each player will have 4 actions which cannot be shared with his teammate and may only be assigned to his own figures even though the two forces form a single team (for the purposes of Uniques, Theme Teams, carrying, etc).

Rules Updates

There were quite a few changes in the new Comprehensive Tournament Rules. I've highlighted some of them here:

1.2.3 Subsequent round pairings will no longer be random but will instead depend purely upon tournament standings (VPs, etc).

1.2.6 I am no longer allowed to play in events that I run so in the future I will only be playing in the case of byes (which will, of course, have no effect on the bye).

1.2.12 If you use a custom sculpt then you MUST also have an unmodified version of the figure with you which you must use instead if your opponent wishes it.

2.3.1 You now bring one BFC for each round of the tournament instead of one per round and a dud. However you may choose to use a dud (which can be a feat, an ATA, or any other game element of the same size) every round. Also, the revealing to your opponent of which BFCs you have available is no longer mandatory but you must reveal them if your opponent asks.

4.6.3 Battle Royales are always Team-Ups but the round ends as soon as one player of a team is eliminated. In the second round, instead of the game ending when one player is eliminated, it becomes a three-way match and continues until only one player remains.

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And there were also a couple of things I'd previously overlooked in the Player's Guides that I thought y'all might like to know about:

The Tombstone's defense bonus is no longer optional but it is still only destroyed in the case of an unsuccessful attack.

The Desk, on the other hand, is still optional but is destroyed when used regardless of whether or not the attack succeeds.