Love D&D, but don’t have time for a full campaign? Stop by your local game shop on Wednesdays to play an ongoing 1-2 hour campaign (that’s friendly to drop-ins)!
Check out the video for more info (and a cameo by our friend Chris Tulach!):
You can find out more about D&D Encounters, events near you, and ways to make the game more interesting (through booster packs and social media) on the website.
And if you’ve never played D&D before, this is a great way to get a feel for the game before diving into something a bit bigger and more complicated!
We are so psyched to be a part of Epic Game Day again, and hope you can join us!
Epic Game Day is an all day gaming event of epic proportions. Board games, tabletop games, video games… whatever you want, it’s there. It takes place at AFK Tavern in Everett, WA on April 30th from 12pm-12am. The last event brought out almost 200 people, and this time we’re expecting even more. PLUS, the Game Truck will be there from 8pm-12am!
We’ll provide you with more details as we have them, as the schedule for the day is currently being created. Interested in hosting your own game? Fill out the event submission form!
The Zaxy ladies are SO thrilled to be involved with one of the coolest new gaming events in Seattle: EPIC GAME DAY.
Come play games with us on December 11th from 12pm-12am at AFK Tavern. You’ll get to mingle with game designers, folks from WOTC, our fellow bloggers from Seattle Geekly, and enjoy yummy food and drink! Plus, play amazing games.
Oh. My. Gosh. If you haven’t played this game before, you need to go out immediately and get it.
It’s incredibly spooky, even more fun, and super easy to learn. You play people in a haunted house, and each step you take allows you to add new rooms to the house. With these rooms comes spooky events, items, and omens to help or hurt your experience. But adventuring isn’t all the game’s about… About halfway through, a “haunt” occurs, turning one of your teammates into a traitor that will summon monsters or try to kill you: and it’s up to you to stop them.
I played it for the first time Saturday night, and we immediately played a second game in a row. And then we played again on Sunday. The game is different each time you play: There are over 50 different haunt scenarios, and even playing those again will be different based on the group you’re playing with and the layout of the house.
(We dealt with mummies, ghosts, and someone being buried alive. And that’s only three of the scenarios…)
Not a board gamer? Not sure if your friends would be interested? Don’t worry. The game is extremely easy to learn as you go, so it doesn’t feel too overwhelming or complicated for non-gamers. And the cards and haunts are extremely entertaining, it’s like being a part of your favorite horror film!
Next Zaxy Slumber Party: You better believe we’re playing this. Maybe we’ll even livestream it, if you can handle the spookiness…
(Have you played Betrayal? What are some of your favorite moments? What character do you always try to play?)
Tabletop gaming has ALWAYS been something I’ve been interested in. The only thing that has prevented me from trying Tabletop gaming in the past was the sad yet simple fact I didn’t know anyone who could teach me. I could have tried teaching myself, but to be completely honest I’m so wrapped up in console gaming I probably would never have mustered the willpower to set aside the time to learn anyway. And even if I had—where was I supposed to start?
IT WAS MADE FOR ME!
But all of that changed last Monday.
When I first laid eyes on Gamma World setup, I couldn’t help but feel giddier than a school girl hyped up on Pixy Stix. It all looked so…nerdtastic. There was a map splayed on the table, there were numerous cutout page thingies, there were…character sheets? Whuzzat?
When I was handed a blank character sheet, I began stroking my non-existent beard and analyzed it. (I did all of analyzing in my head, of course. I wasn’t going to say these things out loud in fear of sounding…well, stupid.)
“There are two origins? Is it kind of like Dragon Age: Origins? OH! Can I make an Alistair?”
“I wonder how many hit points my character will have! Bloodied? What’s that word mean?”
“AC? What is AC? The only AC I know is Assassins Creed. And air conditioning.”
But at the same time, I started recognizing words on the character sheet such as strength, dexterity, intelligence, wisdom, will, etc. As I mentioned above, I am a console gamer and my muse are RPGs of any and all sorts. That gave me a little confidence that I just MIGHT not be totally and utterly helpless going in.
We began filling our character sheets out. This was probably the most confusing part. I can roll dice and figure the sum of the digits just fine thanks to elementary school, but correctly imputing ability modifiers and other mods and trying to find them on these separate little sheets along with skill bonuses and…and…
…and from what I’ve heard, that can be confusing for n00bs such as myself. But here’s the thing: no matter how confusing I made it out to be, it was FUN. It was a blast figuring out where numbers went and how a stat might apply to battles or any other situation your character might be placed in.
And the character creation!? Ahh-mazing.
(For the record, my character was a giant ninja, who may or may not have been infected with the G-Virus. He wore booty shorts and wielded the Mona Lisa painting. His name was Fluffy.)
Once we got underway, everything started coming together and I was beginning to understand what each stat stood for and how it was applicable. What blew me away was the freedom you had. I mean, whether or you and your team were interrogating someone in town or trying to defeat a monster, you could pretty much go about it the way you pleased. And no matter how you did things, everything flowed.
And at the end of our session (and right when I was becoming sickly attached to Fluffy) I was extremely bummed we had to call it quits for the night. I wanted more.
Like I said—this was my first Tabletop gaming experience. Going in, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but let me tell you I had more fun in the few hours I was there than I thought I ever would. It was an absolute BLAST and to say I had a “good” time would be a grave understatement.
Last week Britt and I got to try something AWESOME: Gamma World.
As you know, I’m the D&Der of the group. And while D&D is great, I’ve never been super into Fantasy. So when I heard I could play a D20 RPG that was a bit more up my alley (Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi?) I was all “Hells Yeah!”
Take a look at some of my experiences and clips from the game here:
When I play Tabletop RPGs, I play with my improv buddies. Which means we make it really tough on the GM. In the past I’ve played with small talking dragons, I’ve carried multiple canoes with me “just in case”, I’ve made myself shallow, diamond hungry characters whose sole goal was to find and wear a tiara… but with Gamma World, you can practically do anything. You start off rolling dice to get your character’s two origins, so it starts off pretty random, and you get to make the best of it from there. I mean, I was Zoltar (based on my origin cards of “Hypercognitive” and “Android), for Pete’s sake. But don’t think that’s where your character stops. Depending on the GM and your dice rolls, you may end up with extra abilities (or limbs) throughout the game.
If you like D&D, try Gamma World. If you don’t like D&D, try Gamma World. Seriously. It’s available for sale TODAY.
Wanna give it a go before you you shell out the bucks? Visit your local gaming store for Gamma World game day, this Saturday, October 23! You’ll get to play the same adventure we played (although we only went an hour into it… it’s a 4 hour campaign), and you’ll get some special cards ONLY available on Game Day. Can’t wait to see what they are? Feel free to decode this one!
I’m also looking at getting a game started and Livestreamed in November. More details to come, but it’ll include you getting to chat directly with the GM and influence the gameplay!
If you go to the Game Day or pick up Gamma World, let us know what kind of character you end up being! And check out Britt’s post for a POV from someone who’s never played D&D before.
A giant thank you to everyone who supported Britt and I during our quest to play video games for 24 hours straight. Whether you donated, played along, visited us, or chatted with us on our livestream, all of the support we received was amazing and an excellent motivation to keep on playing. Especially at 5am when things started getting rough.
(A bit of our livestream when Michael Robles was over teaching us Magic)
And now: My recap of some of my favorite happenings. Probably not in correct time order, as the whole 24 hours is one jolly sleepy blur in my mind.
-I played L4D for the first time. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m still getting the hang of FPS, but I don’t think I was too awful! Zombies are scary, man. And the witch totally killed me. Twice.
-Michael Robles of WOTC visited, and showed Britt and I how to play Magic: The Gathering, thanks to the Xbox Live game, Duels of the Planeswalkers. Their tutorial was really good and I’m excited to try an actual card game! A bunch of my guy friends (Forest, Zach, Alexander, and one of Zach’s friends) hung out and played some Magic cards while Britt and I got back to more video games. We also chatted a bit about all of our new fave thing: Gamma World. Be on the lookout for a review in the next day or so!
-Jim from Kirby Krackle visited with goodies in hand. We played some Guitar Hero. Apologies to those watching while I stumbled through my first couple tries with the game. I’m good at finding beats and rhythm in songs, but something about music-based games freak me out. Those dots coming up… I just get flustered. Which is why I hadn’t played much of Guitar Hero, DDR, or Rock Band before. But let me just say: By the time 7:30am came along, I was slowly getting the hang of it. I’m still not ready to go off “Easy”, but I at least know what I’m doing and how to hit the notes!
-Seattle Geekly stopped by and brought along Brunswick Bowling for PS3 Move. They were pros! Bowling was a nice, calm yet active break from our other gaming. We also did a bit of “Just Dance”, as neither of them had tried it before. Matt didn’t want to have anything to do with it, but ended up rocking with the high score!
-Fire Alarm. While Seattle Geekly was over, the fire alarm in my building went off. We all evacuated. Britt started grabbing all of her consoles and throwing them in a box so she could take them with her. I grabbed my DS so we could continue gaming while we were outside. I didn’t want our 24 hours of gaming to not count due to a fire-related technicality! It turned out a baby on the 2nd floor grabbed the alarm, and there was no fire. Or as the chatters on our Ustream said, we were “pwned by a baby”.
-Just Dance: Happy Feet Style. My friend Lisa stopped by, dressed as a penguin. Apparently she just finished shopping for her Halloween costume and got cold, so she put it on. Ustreamers were loving this, so we had her “Just Dance” as a penguin. Gifs were made. Lisa is now internet famous.
As the night went on, our energy declined. We tried a couple fun things to stay awake, including playing Resident Evil while blasting pop songs. We beat a giant snake while listening to Britney Spear’s “Toxic”, and listened to songs like “Backstreet’s Back”, “Bye Bye Bye” and “Genie in a Bottle” while blasting the heads off of zombies.
We kept playing Just Dance, Guitar Hero, and even a bit of Wii Yoga near the very end of the night to keep moving. Even though Britt looked like she was gonna kill me if I didn’t let her get some sleep.
If you wanted to donate but didn’t get the chance, you still can. Extra Life will be accepting donations until November 15, 2010. They’ve already earned over $430,000…. I’d love to see what us geeks can do in the next couple weeks!
The Zaxy girls are all eagerly anticipating PAX, but for different things. Here are the top 5 things I’m most looking forward to. Be on the lookout for Britt and Kristina’s coming up soon! And if you’re at PAX, follow @Zaxydotcom and @ZaxyTara to find out where I’ll be and when!
1. Dungeons and Dragons WOTC always comes up with something to bring the boys (and the girls) to the yard, and it sounds like they’ve outdone themselves again. They will have a freakin carriage full of things like monsters and Jones soda (best combination ever?) outside of the convention hall. Plus, they’ll be doing all types of demos and games. I won’t have time for the full Gamma World demo, but I am looking forward to the D&D convention delve of “Lair of the Dread Witch” featuring characters from D&D Essentials. And I’ll probably end up buying some more dice. I dont need more, but darn it, they’re just so pretty!
2. Controller-Free Gaming Ok, I know some of you are hating on the Kinect. I get it. It’s not hardcore gaming. But I’m not a hardcore gamer. I like stuff that makes my friends look silly at parties and help me stay active while I’m inside “playing video games”. And honestly, Kinect and other controller-free gaming is a great way to test out technology that can end up morphing into something way cooler. I’m picturing Jetsons-style living. It will be amazing.
Kinect’s supposed to have a pretty awesome and flashy set-up at PAX. The Zaxy girls are also psyched for our demo of Kung-Fu Live, which puts camera tech and controller-free gaming into a multiplayer Kung Fu battle that will GUARANTEE that we have a great time and all look ridiculous.
3. Meeting People Whether they’re bloggers, fans, developers, or random guys who jump on top of me to get a flying free t-shirt, I’m excited to meet them. I will take pictures with people in funny costumes, trade business cards with businessy folks, and chug beers with wizards at the Tri-Wizard Drinking Tournament. I can’t wait. Going to PAX? Please say hi! Take a picture! Tweet at us! Challenge us in a game!
4. Free Stuff I’m a sucker for free stuff. And PAX has enough free stuff to keep me happy for days. Rumor has it that Death Spank will have ACTUAL thongs of virtue. So I’m pretty much set for life.
5. Zaxy Party! We partied it up at PAX East, but this time PAX is in our hometown, and we’re hosting our own party. Place: Neumos on Capitol Hill Time: 7pm – 2am Major Nelson will be there–will you? RSVP now to be in the drawing to be a part of our Geek-Off hosted by Ken Jennings. He’ll test your smarts and stamina in exchange for some wicked prizes. We also have bands and food and drink sponsors. What are you waiting for? RSVP!
Overall, PAX is going to be a blast. I already have demos set up with Alienware, J!nx, Kung-Fu Live, Portal 2, Tripwire, Slam Bolt Scrappers, and Glass and have a few more in the works. And in case you haven’t heard, there will be a DeLorean there in honor of TellTale’s Back to the Future game! OMG.
