More than Nothing: Highthrone

[Part of the Party Time journal]

Resting up again at the Temple of Stillness, Mirror Knight Gowere lets the party meet a hologram of Halo Knight Ruskyn who offers them paid mercenary work (in the form of reroll coins) for keeping peace on the island - telling them of the secret signal his allies will use to indicate such (by touching their nose twice). This meeting is interrupted by the Bell Knight Dame Dellakar seeking aid against a mushroom uprising and they assist, losing two soldiers to the cordyceps mummies before dousing their source, a death-farting candleshroom. 

They proceed onto the now empty Echo cave save for the guardian wraith within, which has no chance against Jergonson's god spear, to retrieve an indigo tapestry for Dellakar. She claims she was getting visions that the tapestry would take her to the city and upon wearing it she vanishes! This doesn't help our heroes though who continue on the road and accept a job from the pillar wielding rune knight Myghal to defend Highthrone against a number of beasts sent by the dust knight - one of Ruskyn's enemies who seeks throne. 

The first is a gargoyle who manages to petrify Orwan so they spend some time getting him unstoned which involves burying his statue then putting a chicken egg on it, waiting 24 hours without looking at it for it to hatch a brand new Orwan, albeit more chickeny. The next beast is a Wyvern who is easily baited and slain, then a lion that can shoot lazers that kills four more soldiers, and shortly after a great flaming eagle but "I am bright!" from Aah blinds it and a critical arrow from Mamita finishes it before they reach the dust knight's garbage fortress. This lone enemy manages to magically force all the fluids out of one more soldier (yeah, that's fatal) before he is slain by overwhelming numbers. 

Myghal leaves the party at Highthrone where they rest up and Mamita collects the handsome reward from Ruskyn while Aah and Jerghonson  participate in a tourney against some clockwork knights. The last surviving robot, Kenrick, surrenders against its master tinkerer's wishes. It then kills its cruel creator to prove it's more than nothing and begs to join the team, which Jerghonson and Aah accept.

Meanwhile Ughh assists the pigeon knight Jacobin look for a cursed crown which turns out to be easy to find. He lets Jacobin put it on which instantly drives him insane, making him mutter "the city is a lie" over and over before his head explodes. Ughh takes the crown and passes a will check to resist the temptaion to put it on. He then also befriends a mistreated giant worker bird called Wazzletard (because that's the only sound it makes), and buys it from its cruel boss to join the party.

More than Nothing: The Dead Lands

[Part of the Party Time journal]

Exiled from the village the company marches on and witnesses a strange sight in that the sun begins to glow extra bright and stays in the sky for a really long time. Suddenly a trio of law sergeants appear and hand Mamita a warning that she is to be called for judgement for the crime of "existence" when the time is right, and briefly abduct Jerghonson (via teleportation cloud) to their master, the giant robed judge Ambrageft who tasks him as being witness and answer a single question: "Does Mamita exist?". Jergonson says yes, and is returned to his team instantly.

Unnerved at all the strangeness they push on to an area of giant mausoleums and graves where they get temporarily trapped in a section of huge flagstones with weeping, salty rain and intense depression that's more than nothing. The weeping knight Orwan, who has been stuck there for a long time, tells them that they have stumbled into the realm of the shadow seer who rejoices in misery. Jerghonson takes it upon himself to find said seer and despite bad odds slays him with the god spear, burning many of the teams "reroll coins" to do so. Freed from the endless rain zone, Orwan joins them as he too seeks to find the city to gain magical powers.

Further in the dead zone they find bone knight Ezter whom they assist in fighting a moving river of bones that form into skeletons. A pair of scout sisters arrive after the battle to warn them more undead are being released from Echo cave and request help but as the company is very beat at this point and unable to rest due to the island's oppressive fog and endless sun light, refuse - leaving Ezter as their only volunteer as they part ways.

The company finally make it to the Temple of Stillness where they meet Gowere the mirror knight, lord of the dead lands who claims to be able to speak with the dead and lets them rest under his protection. He also gives directions to Highthrone, the richest part of the island but they don't get far before finding the scout sisters arguing heatedly between themselves, believing that the other is a shapeshifter from the stars. While Jerghonson talks them out of it (and learns Ezter has perished), Mamita almost has her club stolen from her by a goofy fungus shroom man. 

After she hits it, it runs off with its friends but Ughh and the three Pale-dogs give chase - catching up after running a good distance. Destroying the creatures causes an earthquake that summons a fungus tower from which emerges a Fungal Knight who slays the three Pale-dogs and nearly kills Ughh as well before he manages to use his "colony of possums" ability to tear the knight into pieces. With him nearly dead, they retreat to back to the Temple of Stillness to recover once again.

Ughh needed to use plot armor in this battle: recalling he was previously assigned with a rooking guardsman "Joseph the Unfair" to arrest a fraudster artisan making poor quality gear he was trying to pass off as "magical".

More than Nothing: In Search of Magic

[Part of the Party Time journal]

Praetor Artorias arrives at Drystan with a few more troops including horny priest Carpef, three Pale-dogs gang members and Il'bakstabyo to join the PC's regiment who are then free to load up with any gear before they want (as well as eight "coins" from their collection travels which serve as free rerolls) before being sent as part of five boat load of troops to the island of Caphtor, rumored to be a source of magic, the type of rumors that have to be more than nothing. Their mission is to claim this magic power for Praetor Artorias' cause and more importantly stop others (mainly his rivals for the still empty throne of Aeternia) from gaining it.

The fleet navigates through the misty waters just fine and upon arrival Eagley and Lord Jhonen start setting up a base camp on the beach with majority of the troops while Mamita leads her twenty two man squad to start exploration, defeating a strange and hostile puddle jumping knight and receiving an ominous warning about a Hydra rising that only "the coin knight" might have a chance of slaying before she dies.

As dusk falls they enter some woods and assist a small forest village defeat a vampire attack but the cowardly villagers have no answers for them in regards to their quest, other than "the magic knights come from the city", so they push onto some farmland destroyed by a huge crater, within which a pair of giant tigers tied to a chariot munch on farm animals. The charioteer challenges them to combat but a low initiative draw for him sees his tigers easily dispatched by the soldiers while Jerghonson himself uses the god spear to shatter through the chariot and the charioteer in one powerful thrust, killing him.

Continuing towards a main farming village there is a minor altercation where the squad is accused of slaying a celebrated green bull, but upon explaining to their ultra muscular leader Hyga that it was the work of winged fiends (who no one else has seen) and showing the claw marks she believes them and invites them to stay, provided one of the males of their number spend the night with her. Horny priest Carpef eagerly volunteers.

In the early hours of the morning Mamita, standing watch, sees a pair of winged fiends - the same type that killed the green bull - fly to Hyga's house so she wakes her companions and investigates, finding that Hyga is feasting on Carpef's naked corpse with the two demon like creatures! She and Jerghonson take down the demons while Ughh stabs Hyga through the neck, breaking his sword in the process but it isn't enough to kill her so Aah sets her and her house on fire, which finishes the job. It also gets them banished from the place by the remaining villagers, as again they have no proof of their monstrous claims. They accept this decision and move on.

Person of Interest

You are being watched.

In the wake of 9/11 the US government paid for a machine that could watch everyone at "all times" (not really, but close enough) to alert them of potential future terrorist threats. The machine saw everything though and since the government was only interested in relevant threats, potential crimes deemed "irrelevant" fell through the cracks until a small group of vigilantes (our protagonists, primarily played by Jim Caviezel and Michael Emerson) decided to change that.

This sci-fi crime drama spans spans five seasons and while it starts out as a crime of the week sort of deal is quickly weaves in major story threads to give it backbone as well as impressive character growth for all the cast. With a good premise, interesting stories and likeable characters, I don't mind that the action bits are a bit clunky at times: at least these protagonists aren't bullet immune. It's worth the watch - recommended!

Bullfighter Board Game

A boardgame where the board has most of the game time!

This four player competitive kids game has a simple premise: on your turn you roll some dice, move some spaces and hopefully you're the first to cross the "finish line". The track happens to just be the exterior of the arena (which is cleverly built into the storage box itself), and the die pair have symbols other than numbers as well: maybe you'll be drawing some cards, putting on some temporary armor, or most likely - activating the large battery powered toy bull in the center of the stage.

This mini red roomba then randomly moves across the arena for 15 seconds while playing some themed bull fighting music and making everyone pray that it doesn't trigger their spring loaded character clip. If it does, your character is sent flying and basically have to go back to the start unless you've got a resurrect card.

Quick to learn but a little long to set up the first time as you need to put all the stickers on, including the die faces. The best component is no doubt the bull, but it's not so much Bull fighting as it is trying to sneak around the arena hoping it doesn't spot you! Also, given the number of times its going to activate - it sure feels like the bull gets more game time than the players do. 

Theoretically it can be a quick game if the beast misses you each time but really its the bull who is going to decide if and when someone is going to win. All up an amusing distraction but not something that you'll want to play over and over.

Voidwrought and Citizen Sleeper

Games of the void. In this case, void of interest for me.

Voidwrought

This platformer is functionally ok though it does feel from the little I played like the protagonist has the strength of a wet noodle - and that's already following the quest marker! While I'm not usually into this type of game due to backtracking, I have managed to stick with and finish the few whose stories managed to grab my attention. Alas, this isn't the case here giving a very alien sort of protagonist who I didn't care much about. Story is important! If you like platformers this might interest you, otherwise stay away.

Citizen Sleeper

This heavy reading game has you playing in an artificial body in space, and surprisingly has many mechanics similar to Blades in the Dark including die rolls and clocks but excluding an important one: death. It seems you can just hobble along badly impaired as much as you like, but not really a spoiler: its not fun. 

The lower quality art and game play that sees you taking less and less actions doesn't do it any favors. It's like those stupidly designed board and card games that tell a player to "miss a turn" or "lose half a turn", which basically tells people to play it less. You can do yourself a favor and just not play it at all.

Otxo and Many Nights a Whisper

Two small games.

Otxo

This black and white (and red) top down rogue like shooter has you playing as a man wearing a cursed mask who needs to clear a mysterious beach side mansion to free his girl. Except the mansion is full of gun wielding goons who all need to die to clear each level. Being able to use the cursed mask to get a temporary focus (rechargeable slow-mo) mode is your only counter to being outnumbered. You can also import and buy drinks which give you bonuses for each run, and can select what weapons will be found in the mansion (ie. what your enemies will be wielding so you can pick them up after they die). Getting killed yourself just restarts the loop and that's pretty much all there is to it and yes, it gets old fast. Even the cool soundtrack doesn't help. 

Many Nights a Whisper

In this simple game you play as the dreamer, chosen to light a distant cauldron during a ceremony as a child. In it, you get one shot to sling a fireball and if you're on target: everyone's wishes come true, if not... then does it really matter?

There is no heroic adventure here though, its simply getting good using your sling to throw a fireball. In the days leading up to the ceremony you can practice to your hearts content at the many other cauldrons around, and each evening you get the interesting decision of listening to petitioners wishes. If you accept them, you collect their braids (its a society of long haired folk who grow braids purely for this ceremony). These are then tied to your sling to make it stronger, making that target not seem so far with each wish accepted.

The catch is all the wishes accepted will come true if you make that shot and there are some pretty dark and crazy wishes thrown in the mix. On the flip side not having enough braids might mean you can't even reach the cauldron to grant the few select wishes you do like. Short, sweet and rather well done. This one is worth a try.