Bones 2

Last year I backed my first Kickstarter. It was for a few plastic miniatures, for table top role-playing games. The Reaper Miniatures 'Bones' Kickstarter, aimed to raise enough funds to create the first moulds for their new budget 'plastics' range; to compliment their wonderful, traditional metal range... and it did- Almost 3.5 Million of it's original $30000 Pledge!

I never mentioned the original Kickstarter because of it's niche appeal but after receiving over 200 beautifully sculpted miniatures for a mere $125 for the basic box set (I may or may not have purchased a few 'extras') I thought I should mention that Reaper has just announced Bones 2 (delivery Sept 2014).

So whether you channel your creative juices through RPGs or you're a rabid hobby painter you would do well to pledge a few dollars... or more god help me!

And with 15 minutes on the clock it was at $100,000!

Card Game: Cards Against Humanity

My brother in-law recently gave us Cards against Humanity.  
Often described as a 'mature' version of Apples to Apples; a game I find overrated, it kind of sat guiltily on our shelf for some time… 
But the other night I pulled it out and before I even had a chance to read the rules (which tales about 30 seconds) there were expressions of genuine horror and bewilderment from an otherwise difficult to shock crowd as they looked down at their cards…

Originally Kickstarted, CAH is a simple process of matching suggestive question to horrific answer; it's compact, simple, quick to learn and holy fuck... did we have a laugh playing this game!

If you think Cum Guzzling Pacman, Robust Mongolid, Flying Sex Snakes and German Dungeon Porn might tease laugh out of you too, then buckle up cowboy, shit's about to get real! 
Thanks Mike!

Get a (bad) taste here.

Strip Search

Prolific (and one of my favourite) Webcomics Penny Arcade have began a their very own 'reality series' looking for the next big Webcomic artist!

In 2011, the Creators (a.k.a. Mike and Jerry) declared to the Penny Arcade office that a reality show based on webcomics must be done. After a year of research and a successful Kickstarter stretch goal (thank you!), the stage had been set for 12 Artists flown from around the world to compete for $15,000 in cash and a year integrated into the Penny Arcade machine. Through a variety of events and challenges, these 12 will fight, claw, write, and draw until only one Artist remains. Friends may or may not be made.

PAX in Oz

For those who don't know, PAX is a convention run for and by gamers, lovers of gaming/geek/pop culture,  but more specifically, by the boys at one of my favourite webcomics Penny Arcade and PAX is coming to Oz!

Board Gaming Amongst Friends

A rather interesting and charming short doco, revolving around a singular (but familiar to me) incident that paints a rather amusing portrait of a regular board gaming night...

Shadowrun Kickstarter

If 'Shadowrun' is nothing more than a weird word to you, please move on to the next article...



Jordan Weisman is broadly experienced game designer who created Shadowrun the tabletop RPG and has bought his own license back to create a new version for Apple, Android PC: Shadowrun Returns. He has used Kickstarter to successfully fund his project through startup company Harebrained Schemes.
Shadowrun is the unlikely genre mash-up of cyberpunk and contemporary fantasy with a mixed history of digital application. The new game is a 2D turn-based single player game.

D's Poker Face

Every now and again, while working at THQ, I had one of those crazy, challenging but really fun briefs. This was one of them...

As part of an internal 'promotional' video, I had to create a set of mock, giant playing cards using our 2011-2012 lineup as the suites (though of course a 10 and an Ace don't usually have a picture associated with them).

I wanted them to be easily recognisable (both the game and card type) and readable on the small screen. I decided to try and make the style as close to traditional playing cards as possible, including the palette, the mirroring of the image and line style. In fact, the line style was the hardest bit to get right- It looked easy, but there is a certain element of naivety you have to capture in order to make them look 'right'.

Anyways, I was pretty happy with the result, and so was the CEO who had them made up into an actual set of playing cards to be handed out as a promotional gift! I was pretty excited by that...

Board Games

I thought this was a parody when I saw it at first, but as a Pictionary & Lego fan, this looks pretty bricktastic: Lego Creationary. 

Check it out.

And a couple of board games that ARE a parody... The first is Rated MA+ for course language (the title should give it away)...

F**K YOU the Board Game




The Hunger Games Board Game

Typography Scrabble

Pre-Order Typography Scrabble

The Dark Room

Youtube ‘choose your own misadventure’: The Dark Room (do not start this unless you have plenty of time)

Helveticards

Can’t tell your Jack of Clubs form a 3 of Diamonds? Try Helveticards

Banksy Monopoly Board

Banksy Monopoly board parody on display at St. Pauls’ London.

Game: Shape Type

If you like the kerning game a few posts back, you’ll love this: Shape Type