Heroes of Shadow Review Part 1 – The Blackguard
I like Paladins. No, let me rephrase that. I love Paladins. They've always been one of my favorite classes, imbued with Divine power to protect the innocent, and punch Evil in the mouth.
I could regale bore you with tales of my first Paladin, Valric Manfred the Shadowbrand for hours on end, and he was just one of many.
When I started playing the new Edition, however, well, I could see something was wrong with my favorite class. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with Paladins who choose to Defend, it's certainly in theme. But where were the Paladins that ran around smiting Evil?
The only Divine Striker was the Avenger, who, while pretty cool, isn't a Paladin. More like a Vatican Assassin or something. And yes, I'm aware of the Ardent, which is certainly a step in the right direction, but there was something a bit off about that build as well.
Here we have a Paladin who chooses to be a bad Defender in order to kick ass. Why not just cut out the middleman?
Enter the Blackguard, the Anti-Paladin Cavalier. Where the Cavalier has Virtues, he has Vices. He sure ain't Lawful, and he's probably not Good. But more importantly, he's a Striker. No Auras here, the Blackguard is here to take names and kick butt!
Which begs the question. Is he any good at it?
The Good
The Blackguard is a Strength-based melee class. That means he already has a strong melee basic attack, so he can charge and make opportunity attacks if need be. He can also use heavy thrown weapons, if you want to be like The Mighty Thor.
While he does use Charisma to power his special abilities, it doesn't need to be super-high. A 16 should do nicely, which means just about any race that has a bonus to Strength or Charisma can be a fine Blackguard.
Granted, there are two races that grant a bonus to both, the Dragonborn and the Vyrkola, but there are reasons those may not be the best choices. I'll get to them in a bit.
So unless you really want to poach some Charisma-based powers from the core Paladin (bah, puny Implement Powers), there are many fine choices for your Blackguard's race.
Secondly, the Blackguard is a Paladin, and he's built on the same chassis. Which means that I can officially award the Blackguard the title of World's Toughest Striker. 15+Constitution hit points, 10 starting healing surges, +1 to Fortitude, Reflex, and Will, as well as proficiency with Plate and Heavy Shields make the Blackguard a menace on the battlefield. If you want endurance, the Blackguard is your guy. Where other Strikers may quickly fall flat after a few Encounters, this guy keeps on going, and that's a good thing, because...
The Bad
The Blackguard is a mediocre Striker. He does have a damage-boosting mechanic, adding Charisma to his damage rolls...provided he has Combat Advantage. Unlike the Thief, the base Blackguard doesn't really have any way to guarantee Combat Advantage either, which will be an issue.
The Blackguard is capable of some ridiculous damage, but you're not going to see it every round, let alone every combat! Both Vices have a different method of delivering the big hits, and I'll discuss them in turn.
First, Domination.
Domination has a familiar-sounding method of increasing their damage output. If the Blackguard has temporary hit points, they can, as a free action, take damage equal to their Charisma-modifier. They then add a bonus to their damage roll equal to the damage they took.
Domination comes with an At-Will attack that grants them temporary hit points, just to give them a good chance to actually start their turn with at least one temp h.p.. I should also note that the class as a whole has several other ways to get temporary hit points, but that's the easiest method.
All Blackguards have an At-Will attack that inflicts 2 bonus damage per enemy adjacent to them (maximum of +8), and an Encounter power that works a little like the Cavalier's Holy Smite- when they target an enemy with an At-Will attack, they can use their Dread Smite to automatically inflict cold/necrotic damage, and if the attack hits, toss on ongoing 5 cold/necrotic.
So, if the following conditions are met:
- Blackguard has temporary hit points on their turn.
- Blackguard has combat advantage against an enemy.
- Blackguard is adjacent to four or more enemies.
- Blackguard attacks with Vengeance Strike, uses Dread Smite, and hits.
(Assuming Str 18, Cha 16): 1 [W] +15 damage, plus 5 cold/necrotic, plus 5 ongoing cold/necrotic.
That's a really nice hit, and it doesn't even consider other bonuses, just raw Strength and Charisma! At the same time, however, there are going to be many turns where you can't combo like that, and likely turns where you're doing 1 [W] + Strength damage!
This makes the Blackguard a very swingy Striker, even more so than the Rogue.
As for Fury Blackguards, they have a little easier time inflicting their damage. They get a +2 bonus to damage when they have Combat Advantage (on top of the existing bonus), which rises to +4 if the enemy is bloodied. They also have an At-Will attack that gives them Combat Advantage on their next attack. This makes them a little less swingy, and possibly somewhat more accurate as well.
It's still far from guaranteed, and in most battles, their damage output will seem less spectacular than other Strikers.
The Ugly
As the Blackguard rises in level, he gains access to other methods to increase his damage, but many of them are Encounter-based or equally situational. This means that a Blackguard player needs to be patient, and wait for the right moment to get synergy with his various damage boosting techniques.
He isn't very good at front-loading damage, and his nova takes some setup. With the right party, his job gets a lot easier, but most Strikers prefer to be able to function alone, without depending on others.
This isn't to say that the Blackguard is bad- he's not. But if your (or your fellow player's) idea of a good Striker is someone who can front-load massive damage and kill enemies within the first few turns of combat, then you should stick to Rangers or Rogues.
The Blackguard is good in games like Encounters, where you have to conserve resources over the course of a month, and you can afford to be patient, waiting for that moment when the stars align just so, and you deal so much damage your DM will faint dead away!
In something like LFR, however, where there are generally less combats (due to time constraints), the Ardent will be vastly superior to the Blackguard, as they can afford to spam their abilities.
In summation, the Blackguard is a rewarding class, but the rewards are somewhat different than other Striker classes. If you like the idea of being a darkly divine hero who smites his enemies in close combat, and can take any amount of punishment the game can dish out, then you should definitely check out the Blackguard!
Races
Dragonborn seem to be a natural fit for Paladins of all stripes, and the Blackguard is no exception. However, the main problem with them is that their Dragonbreath power's damage is based on Constitution, and that may be an attribute you'll have a problem raising high enough to be relevant. If you're not playing pure Essentials, there exist Feats to mitigate this, but be careful not to spend too many Feats on a single Encounter ability!
Vyrkolas, with their noble bearing and dark ancestry, make excellent Blackguards. However, when bloodied, they do take a minor penalty to their healing surge value. It's not much, and at higher levels, it is quite probably academic, but it is a small hit to their overall toughness, which is a big selling point of the class.
There are few bad choices, but Dwarves are a pretty solid choice. The +2 to Con won't go to waste, and the minor action Second Wind will only increase your overall toughness. Further, if your game allows for non-Essential Feats, Dwarves have a lot of nice ones to choose from, including the excellent -to-slightly overpowered Dwarven Weapon Training.
That's all for now, I hope you've found this review to be informative. See you next time for more D&D Heroes of Shadow reviews!
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- Heroes of Shadow - It's NOT the End of the World As We Know It from The Action Point (theactionpoint.wordpress.com)
D&D 4E Rules in Review: Is it my turn yet?
So here we are again, talking about those wacky 4e rules. This time, I'm going to go over rules that confuse even veteran gamers, 'readying an action' and 'delaying'.
So what's the problem?
D&D is not a very accurate simulation of real life. If, for example, a massive brawl breaks out in real life, you don't have people standing around, patiently waiting to take their turn in battle. It's every man for himself (and women...and warforged. And shardminds!), acting all at once in a big confusing mess.
D&D wants to attempt to give you the feel of a big, chaotic combat scene, while still making it easy to figure out who's doing what, and when. So we have the nice orderly combat sequence. The guy with the highest initiative goes first, and we take it from there.
Thanks to immediate actions, immediate interrupts, and opportunity actions, you can also act during someone else's turn, which further helps immerse yourself in the combat experience. So far, so good.
Inevitably, however, someone will want to wait for an opportune moment to act. I remember way back in the day (2e), the Blink spell would cause the caster to randomly phase in and out of the material world, making them hard to attack. A canny player would ask if they could just wait for the Wizard to materialize before smiting him on his pointy hat.
Regardless of how the rules worked, the player would insist on being allowed to do just that, simply because you can do it in real life. Never mind that casting spells or swinging swords the size of Rhode Island aren't possible in real life!
So rules were written to allow this sort of thing to happen, to try and not deprive players of actions they could reasonably take. The theory is sound, really. A player with higher initiative has a choice. Act now, before anyone can react, or set yourself up to react to the tactics of those who aren't quite as quick on the uptake. In practice, things get a little screwy.
Readying an Action
You hear this one a lot. “I want to shoot at the first enemy I see when the door is opened!” It sound reasonable enough, doesn't it? Rather than attack now, you want to attack at an opportune moment. So let's go over the rules in more detail.
Readying is a Standard Action. Sort of. Actually, you're setting aside your Standard Action to use later on in the turn. Of course, it doesn't need to be a Standard Action- Move and Minor Actions are also fair game. When you Ready, you select the type of action you want to use, and the intended target, if any.
Next, you select a trigger for when the Readied action will occur. When the trigger occurs, your action occurs, as if it were an Immediate Reaction (and thus using up your Immediate Action for the round). If it doesn't occur, or you elect not to use it for some reason, you simply take your next turn as normal.
Some DM's may wish you to be very specific with your triggers, in order to prevent abuse. Here are some examples:
“The first enemy that comes within range, I'll blast with Magic Missile!”
“When a kobold moves adjacent to me, I want to Bull Rush it!”
“If Hugo, the brigand leader, attacks Tusk, our Warden, I'll use Healing Word on Tusk.”
It's important for your DM to be both fair and consistent with how permissive he is on setting Readied Action triggers. If he's too strict, then this action will be primarily reserved for corner cases, and not used often- which may suit him (or her) just fine! On the other hand, if too permissive, everyone will ready actions all the time, making a shambles of turn sequence.
Just remember, however, that the monsters can Ready actions as well, and it may be to their benefit to do so! So the same rules will apply and be (ab)used equally.
If you use your Readied Action, your Initiative is reset so that now you act just before the creature or event that triggered it. So, for example, if your Initiative is 20, and you use your Readied Action during another creature's turn (let's say, a Hobgoblin who has a 14 Initiative), next turn you won't act until just before the Hobgoblin's turn.
Now things get a little more complicated.
Opportunity Attacks
Let's say that you want to Ready a ranged attack. Ranged attacks normally provoke Opportunity Attacks. There's an enemy standing next to you, so you don't want to attack on your turn. You might think that Readying with a trigger of “as soon as the enemy is no longer adjacent to me” might be a good idea.
Sadly, you'd be wrong! Readying an Action that provokes is the same as making the action. So our hapless archer would be struck immediately. Oops!
In addition, performing a Readied Action that provokes also provokes. This may sound a bit unfair, but there is some logic behind it. Even if an Action provokes, you cannot make Opportunity Actions on your own turn. Since a Readied Action usually occurs on someone else's turn, they might not be allowed to react to it the way they normally would. Many enemies have triggered abilities they can employ when attacked, so while Readying is a good tactic to use against them, it's not without it's weaknesses.
Interrupting
A Readied Action is an Immediate Reaction, which means it occurs after it's trigger. This may make it seem impossible to attack before your enemy does when your Action triggers. However, you can set your trigger to be dependent on an enemy's movement. For example:
“If the Orc swings his axe at the Wizard, I'll shoot him with my bow!”
“If the Orc moves adjacent to the Wizard, I'll shoot him with my bow!”
This just goes to show it pays to think about what will trigger your Action!
Another thing that often comes up with Readied Actions is when “beginning” and “ending” of turn effects occur. The answer, actually, is when they normally do! You make a Readied Action during your turn, but your turn doesn't stop there. So if you are suffering from Ongoing 5 damage, you take it, you Ready, you make whatever other actions you like, then you save.
If your trigger goes off, your Initiative changes, but you will take the damage again at the beginning of your next turn as normal. Some canny players will think to use a Readied Action to change their Initiative order to go after an ally who can grant them a saving throw or heal them. It's perfectly legal to do so, although your DM may quirk an eyebrow in your direction at such tactics.
Just remember, however, that this works both ways. For example, if you are “vulnerable 5 to all damage (save ends)”, changing your Initiative could give monsters more opportunities to take advantage of you than they would have ordinarily! Alternately, your DM may look at the rules for Delaying, which are very clear for how Start and End of Turn effects are applied.
Delay
As a free action, you may wish to wait to take your turn until later in the combat round. There are several reasons to do this. For example, Striker classes often have excellent Initiative, and Defender classes often...don't. If you are a melee Striker, you might not want to run into combat before your Defender, so Delay becomes a good option for you.
Leader classes are also often “initiative-deprived”. This normally works to their advantage, as their powers are often reactive in nature. A Leader who gets a good Initiative roll, however, may want to Delay until an ally is wounded, or the battle shifts.
Once you Delay, you can return to the Initiative order after any turn has been completed. Your Initiative changes to this new position in the order.
If you don't take your Delayed turn, for some reason, when your original Initiative comes back up in the order, you lose the Delayed turn and take your turn then.
Start and End of Turn
Effects that are triggered by your turn starting happen when you opt to Delay- you can't Delay to avoid ongoing damage, for example. Any effect you are sustaining ends, and effects that last until the end of your turn now end if they are beneficial to you and your allies! This prevents you from extending the duration of a beneficial effect.
After you take your Delayed turn, you make the saving throws you normally do at the end of your turn, and the durations of baneful effects that expire at the end of your turn now do so.
Since you can lose a Delayed turn if you do not take it, if you are suffering from a baneful effect, such as ongoing damage, be careful with this option!
With as much confusion as these rules tend to cause at gaming tables, you'd expect them to be more complicated than this, but it really boils down to the fact that, most of the time, you don't have much reason to Ready or Delay. Properly used, these tactics can make your character very effective. Improperly used, and you're literally wasting time.
DM's need to be careful as well. While it may seem like a good idea to use Ready and Delay to foil your player's tactics, doing so will no doubt frustrate and annoy them needlessly. For example, let's say you know that the party Leader can grant saving throws.
You have an enemy who can place “stupidly annoying effect (save ends)” on players. Delaying your enemy's turn until after the Leader's will ensure a whole round of bad stuff...and make the Leader less effective. Until the Leader starts Delaying. Which could end with both your enemy and the Leader simply losing turns!
Since you probably don't want each encounter turning into a glorified game of 'chicken', it's best to use such tactics sparingly. Let the players open the door when it comes to more advanced options; if they want to use the rules to their advantage, that's fine- show them that it works both ways!
You just don't want to force your players into having to master areas of the rules they aren't comfortable with yet.
With all that in mind, I hope this article has given you new insight into how to make the rules work for you, instead of against you!
Related articles
- Total Insanity- D&D 4E Rules in Review (weebeegamers.com)
- Running the Combat Part of Combat Blisteringly Fast from Dungeon's Master (dungeonsmaster.com)
- Understanding the Economy of Actions from Sly Flourish (slyflourish.com)
Total Insanity- D&D 4E Rules in Review
I'm something of a 'mechanics guy'. The 'crunchy bits' of how a game functions intrigues me, both from a simulationist (how well the mechanic matches reality) and a gamist (how well-balanced the mechanic is within the framework of the game) perspective.
Often, mechanics that try and match reality tend to be somewhat over-complicated and even broken- simply put, the universe has a lot more variables running at any given time than anyone can keep track of.
So the best, and most balanced mechanics, are the simplest ones. And usually, the mechanics most divorced from 'reality'.
At both ends of the scale you get a lot of arguments. One of the features of 4e design is that the rules are made as simply as possible, using something that has been defined as “exception-based” design. There is a set of basic rules, which regulate the game. Unless a game element goes out of it's way to say it changes these rules, you always default to the basic rules.
For example:
Fun Party Games from Games Day
At our recent games day, I was able to play a couple board games that I really enjoyed. Here are some games that you may or may not have played yet.
Zombie Dice
Is a very simple dice rolling game by Steve Jackson Games that has you running around as a zombie trying to eat as many brains as you can until you get blown away by a shotgun. The dice have three pictures: brains, shotgun blasts and runners. You bank brains and re-roll runners all before you get three shotgun blasts.
The game is short, fun and brainless (well lots of brains, just easy to play). It is a great filler game to play in between rounds of other longer games or before you start and everyone is still arriving. It is so easy even my younger kids picked it up easy and had fun playing.
Available Here: Amazon.com
Ninja Burger
Image via Wikipedia
Is another Steve Jackson game that puts you in the shoes of a ninja that stealthily delivers fast food burgers. You are given missions and must accomplish them by making various dice rolls using "ninja" type skills, such as disguise, climbing, and combat. Every game is jam pack with hilarious situations and every ninja has strengths and weaknesses. It has a similar feel to the Munchkin games (which is a good thing).
I really enjoyed this game and had lots of fun using my ninja skills to deliver the delicious Ninja Burger. It is a medium length game that takes about 45min to an hour to play. Every game is different because there are many different ninjas to choose from and you gain fortunes to help in various ways. The missions are varied and will make you laugh out loud. I am definitely looking forward to the next chance I get to play this game.
Available from Amazon along with an expansion, sequel, and even an RPG. Check out the video on YouTube.
Wits and Wagers
- Image via Wikipedia
Wits and Wagers is a game by North Star Games that combines trivia and gambling. Everyone answers a ridiculously hard trivia question and then bets chips on which they think is closest without going over. You win chips based on the odds and if your answer was closest.
I first played this game with the creators at Gen Con a couple years ago as well as played the game on the Xbox 360 and it has continued to be a family favorite. The questions are so diverse and difficult, it doesn't really mater how smart you are at answering the questions, but more on how good you are on your bets. You will get wild answers that make you laugh and everyone will have a good time playing.
Available on Amazon along with an expansion and family version.
What games have you played recently that you recommend or even a game you have heard good things about? Post below.
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Looking Forward to New Core D&D Novels
I just finished pre-ordering the new novels from Wizards of the Coast set in the core 4E D&D world presented in the Player's Handbook and Dungeon Masters Guide over at Amazon. I just happened to stumble upon them while browsing around the D&D website. I have only read a handful of D&D novels, but I am looking forward to jumping into a new series and seeing how they visualize this setting.
The first book, The Mark of Nerath, written by Bill Slavicsek, one of the creators of the fourth edition of D&D, and it takes place in the Nentir Vale. It follows a group of adventurers as they try to stop an evil emperor from the time of the Nerath Empire escape his prison in the Shadowfell. It sounds like it will play out just like a home campaign featuring all the cool 4E D&D races we all love. I can't remember where I read it, but I think it even has a revenant brought back by the Raven Queen, which should be pretty cool because it is just like one of my characters. You can read a sample chapter here.
The second book, The Seal of Karga Kul, written by Alex Irvine, seems to follow a different storyline, so I don't know if they will be connected or not.
I am excited about reading these books and will post a review once they come out. First one is due next month.
Sting Review – Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers for Xbox Arcade
Wizards of the Coast and Stainless Games released Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers on the Xbox 360 arcade this week and I have been playing it nonstop. It offers a great Magic experience for the extremely decent price $10, less than 4 booster packs.
The game features several different modes of play. The single player campaign mode allows you to test your skills against increasingly difficult Planeswalkers as you unlock new decks to play with. Magic: The Puzzling offers a series of Magic puzzle where you have to figure out how to win in one turn. A co-op campaign allows two people on the same console play a Two-Headed Giant match versus two planeswalkers. You can also play online via Xbox Live in 2-4 player matches.
Gameplay
They have done a great job of translating the paper and tabletop game to the TV screen and Xbox controller. You can easily flip through your cards pulling your trigger to fly the cards fullscreen and even view card specific rules such as First Strike and Deathtouch, in case you forget, add in the intro tutorial and even Magic newbies will be playing in no time.
They have made the gameplay flow very smoothly for a great arcade feel. Certian things like The Stack are disguised as a brief countdown timer when you play card and spells and each section of your turn is followed in order. I enjoy that I can play a quick game in less than 5 minutes without leaving my house at anytime, either against the very capable AI or a human player matched to my level using the Xbox TrueSkill system. The game is instantly accessible to players of every skill level and that is a great accomplishment given the complexity and depth of Magic.
The game starts with 2 decks to play with and as you defeat different planeswalkers you will unlock a total of 8 decks. Then everytime you win with a deck you unlock 1 of 17 extra cards that can be added into the default decks. It is not completely a customizable deck building system but gives you a few options to beef up your deck of choice. With downloadable content, I expect to see them release extra decks, extra unlockable cards, and new play environments to customize your play experience.
Graphics and Sound
The graphics and interface are very slick and animations are smooth. Spells and effects have subtle animation and sound cues that tell you the state of your cards, such as summoning sickness and tiggered spells. The attack animations are fairly generic as animating every card would have been a nightmare for the developer, but do an adequate job of showing what happens when you attack and defend. Certian spells are given a little extra polish such as Incinerate, which lobs a fireball at your opponents as it burns away their life.
The sound effects do a decent job of giving you audio cues as to what is happening and nothing is over the top. The music score is soft and appropriate but will quickly get old once you hear it over and over, thankfully the Xbox allows you to play your own music in game.
Conclusion
If you love Magic: The Gathering or are even slightly interested in TCGs, I would wholehearted recommend buying this game. It is a steal at only $10, and you will get plenty of play time out of this title. I have been playing all week and can't say enough good things about it.
Player’s Handbook Heroes Set 1 Review and Gallery
The new format for D&D miniatures has been released and the first set we have are Hero miniatures for use with PCs in your game. There are six packs with three heroes each, two male and one female. Each character comes with a card that is a new power for that class. Each pack retails for $10.99 and includes 2 martial hero packs, 2 arcane, 1 divine and 1 primal pack.
I have to admit I was a little disappointed in the new set of hero miniatures from Wizards of the Coast for several different reasons. First of all, I would guess that most players are only playing in one game and therefore only need one of the miniatures. That makes it a $10 miniature and you have two extra minis that you may never use. The next big selling point is the power cards. I really like the idea and for some people they are useful, but for anyone who subscribes to D&D Insider and has the Character Builder, all of these powers are in the program. So for me that isn't a selling point anymore.
Second, and I know I might take flak for this from some people, but 1/3 of the figures are female and I don't think this matches up close to D&D's demographic. I only have my personal experiences to draw from on this but I also saw a large number of D&D games last year at Gen Con and I would say that out of the 6 games and 36 PCs, only 3 were females players or males playing females. That's only 8% out of a small section, but even looking around at other tables, there weren't many female players, maybe 10-15% would be a generous estimate. So when a third of the minis are female, although nice to look at, aren't a selling point. I understand that WotC needs to be "PC" but maybe 1 female out of two packs would be a better idea. And I'm not just upset because the only dragonborn is female 
What I do like are the sculpts and paint jobs. They have really brought up the quality. So overall, I would only recommend buying them if you really want a certain character, or want the power cards, or are a completist Or you could be like me and just buy the individual minis you want online.
Something Old… Issue #1
I am a hug fan of back issue bins. To me there is nothing better than diving into two dozen or more dusty long boxes, picking through the comics, ogling the covers and looking for something that just jumps out and bites me in eyes. It's also fun to go hunting for that last issue that will complete your set or hoping to find that bit of gold that may have slipped through the cracks at your local comic book shop.
To that end, I thought it would be fun to dig through my own boxes and find a rare gem to share each week with the rest of you. The only requirement? The book had to be at least a year old and not collected into any kind of trade paperback. That way, if you like what you see here, you too can go on that same quest as I once did, digging through the long boxes like Allan Quatermain looking for gold in King Solomon's Mines, seeking out your own hidden treasure.
Fearless – written by Mark Sable and David Roth with art from PJ Holden
Fearless is the story of one Adam Rygert, a millionaire with more than a few dark secrets to his credit. The first being that he is the armored Vigilante known by the name of Fear. The second being that he suffers from crippling anxiety and the only way he can do what he does as Fear is through a cocktail of various chemicals and antidepressants: an anti-fear drug that Adam is now addicted to. When Lionel, the creator of the drug, disappears along with the cylinder used to manufacture it, Adam is forced to use what little reserves he has of the drug and confront the Gasparian crime family and rescue his mentor. When Adam finds Lionel, he is forced to face the young upstart Victor Gasparian, Jr. and the dark secrets that the young crime lord knows about both Lionel and the drug. Victor uses an old family heirloom of great power to literally become untouchable and best Fear. It's then when his real plans come to light-to give the drug away to public for free, allowing them to become addicted, and then take it away-making himself infinitely powerful in the ensuing chaos. Can Adam confront his fear without the help of the drug and his armor? What will happen when everyone's secrets are brought out into the light?
Fearless is a great story about the nature of our fears, the power they can have over someone, and what it takes to move past them. It's a story about the monsters that lurk in our past, the specters that hover in our present, and perhaps the hope of freedom that exists in the future. Mark Sable and David Roth's story is both interesting at the same time that it is heart-breaking. Their dialogue and pacing is fantastic. With the help of the stylish art of PJ Holden, the story blazes quickly to a satisfying conclusion. I was a huge fan of this four issue mini-series published by Image Comics when it was first released and upon reading it again I can't help but hope that we will see these characters again. Fearless earns a strong recommendation from me and a well deserved 8 out of 10 fanboys.
Be back here next week when I again reach into the back issue bin. Until then, good hunting!
Indie Gaming Spotlight: The Chzo Mythos
Before Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw became an internet celebrity with his gaming review show, Zero Punctuation, he was an indie game designer. While he made several series during his bout as a game maker, his most famous and by far best was his quadrilogy known as The Chzo Mythos. These 2D point n' click adventures showcase Ben's incredible knack for story telling, atmosphere, and horror. Do not be fooled by his low-bit drawings, by the third game he masters the use of sound and timing to create a truly scary game with very limited resources.
5 Days A Stranger
The first game puts you as a thief who attempts to keep a sense of morals, Trilby. When a routine robbery of an abandoned mansion turns into a nightmare, he finds himself trapped in the mansion with four other unlucky people. To make matters worse, a killer is lurking the mansion killing off the group one by one. While the plot may seem like a stereotypical slasher flick, the game is anything but. Ben pays homage to the slasher genre at every turn, particularly to a certain Jason Voorhees, but his story telling never goes to that level; his characters are interesting and rounded and the secrets surrounding the mansion are defiantly worth discovering. The puzzles aren't very hard, so people looking for a challenge will go away disappointed but the richness of the story will keep most people's interest tell the end.
7 Days A Skeptic
The second game takes a leap forward in the mytho's time line, a big leap. For 400 years, the powerful evil of the killer's soul has been kept contained, but when a star ship stumbles upon a casket in the middle of space, the whole nightmare starts again. You play as the ship's psychologist, Johnathan Somerset, and his desperate struggle for survival. After taking a shot at slasher films, Ben moves on to make a game reminiscent of many sci-fi horror movies. The result is just as glorious. The narrow hallways of the ship make for a tense environment and you will quickly find out some members of the crew weren't exactly mentally stable before the casket arrived.
Trilby's Notes
The third game deviates from the rest of the series not only in title, but also in game play. While the other three have been standard point n' clicks, this game features a type entry system that harkens back to the old King's Quest games. Also while the first two games a relatively light on scares, I can genuinely say Trilby's Note is one of the scariest games I have ever played. If you play this game with the lights on, your just doing yourself an injustice. This is also the point where the story takes a dramatic turn from being about a single stereotypical horror villain, into an epic tale that seems to be pulled straight from a Lovecraft novel. The music has been amped up too, instead of pulling tracks from RPG Maker like he did in previous games, the amazing Mark Lovegrove has composed a wonderfully haunting score that will give you the chills, so make sure you play with the volume up. Read more below.
Dark Reign – Three Issues In
Marvel Comics recently ended their Secret Invasion company- wide crossover with Norman Osborn aka The Green Goblin taking the shot that killed the Skrull Queen and sent the invaders packing. In the wake of these events, SHIELD has been dismantled and Tony Stark aka Iron Man has been booted from his position. This leaves the new hero Norman Osborn in charge of the nation's superhero Initiative and his SHIELD replacement agency, HAMMER. All of these events lead into a new era in Marvel comics... a Dark Reign. As with any new era, an array of new titles were thrown out into the hands of fans, and I have waited until a few issues of each were in the can until I commented on them. Granted, I am not commenting on all of the series that have been born out of Dark Reign, only the three that I actually picked up and would recommend to others.
First on the list is Dark Avengers. This is a book that I would have picked up and supported sight unseen, simply because of its concept. I have always been a fan of villains as feature characters, and a team of Avengers born of the ashes of the Ellis-era Thunderbolts (Moonstone, Venom, and Bullseye), Wolverine's son Daken, and a few anti-heroes (Marvel Boy, Sentry, and Ares) being led by the Iron Patriot (Norman Osborn in Iron Man armour painted in Captain America's colors) was just too much to pass up. Three issues into the book and the reader is treated to a team dynamic that I guarantee they have never encountered in any Avengers book. These first issues deal with the formation of the team and a trip to Latveria to protect Dr. Doom from Morgana La Fey. The book is written by Brian Bendis and drawn by Mike Deodato and I give the first three issues a solid 4 out of 5 fanboys. Oh, and did I mention all of the villains are dressed as heroes? Pick up the books and find out what I'm talking about.
Second on the list is War Machine. I have to preface this review by saying that I was unaware of much that had happened to James Rhodes aka War Machine in the past few years, but he's always been a favorite of mine. The book follows War Machine, who is now in possession of a powerful non-Stark suit which can take objects surrounding it and meld them to his form, using them as new weapons. Rhodes darts about the globe, from the safety of his stealth satellite, doling out punishment to war criminals based on a computer-generated kill number. The first three issues deal with the rescue of a doctor from the clutches of mercenaries in a war-torn country. It is also setting up a supporting cast that I am sure will add another layer of depth to a book that already raises many questions about humanity, war, and what it means to be a soldier versus a hero. If you plan to pick up the series, I strongly recommend you also pick up the Secret Invasion: War Machine TPB and read that ahead of time. The series is written by Greg Pak and drawn by Leonardo Manco, whose pictures will make your jaw hit the floor with their over-the-top and gritty quality. A solid book, but not hitting on all cylinders just yet. 3 and a half out of 5 fanboys.
The last book of the bunch, and by far my favorite, is Punisher. Marvel decided to end the Punisher War Journal series and reinsert Frank Castle into the thick of things post-Secret Invasion. The series opens with the title character preparing to assassinate Norman Osborn during a press conference using a stolen alien rifle. As the plot is foiled by the Sentry, we are whisked along at a cheetahs pace as Frank tries to make his escape. He is assisted by Henry, a hacker and strategist who sees the Punisher as someone who could cripple Osborn's reign by hitting him in various ways, striking at the dark heart of his empire by taking out his criminal means of income. The Punisher and Henry arm themselves not only with information, but with an array of stolen equipment belonging to both heroes and villains. After the last issue, it seems certain that a showdown between Castle and the Hood (the current Kingpin of Crime and Osborn Cabal member). Written by Rick Remender and drawn by Jerome Opeña, Punisher is a must-read in my opinion and scores a solid 5 out of 5 fanboys for its first three issues.
Be here next week when I toss out a couple old lesser-known series worth looking into.
All images copyright of Marvel Comics.
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