[Brick & Mortar] Games and Gizmos

Games and Gizmos
Address: 16150 NE 87th St, Redmond, Washington 98052
Phone: (425) 497-9579

RPGs: good selection
Indie RPGs: limited
Used RPGs: limited
Miniatures: extensive
Boardgames: good selection
Gaming space: excellent (6+ tables)

Family Friendly: yes
Knowledgeable Staff: yes

Overall Rating: good

Games and Gizmos is where I play on alternate Friday nights. Formerly Genesis Games and Gizmos, it recently moved to it's current location, dropped the Genesis from the name, and seems to have more space by my reconing. The schedule of events is available at the front counter - on Friday nights, there is a regular Magic: The Gathering tournament, as well as a 4th edition D&D game, plus our game (lately it's been Savage Worlds). While the noise can get pretty loud on the Magic nights, the overall atmosphere is good. It seems pretty family friendly and has a good selection of board games.

I've been very satisfied gaming there as this is the first time in over a decade that I've actually gamed in a store. After the game, I usually check out the new stuff and recently picked up the newly released Zombie Dice and Cthulhu Dice from Steve Jackson Games. There is plenty of street and lot parking as well as good (and cheap) restaurants nearby.

[Blogs] An Open Letter to Christian Walker's Destination Unknown Blog

Give us more Master Cylinder!

We want more on the continuing adventures of Master Cylinder - over the years, we've seen that glorious cat sleepin', snackin', in your surf-stuff, lounging on the table before the game, attacking miniatures, laying on the GM's notes and more!

How are we to achieve gaming enlightenment without more MC?

P.S. Also, bring back Iridia and the Lincoln Middles School Dungeons and Dragons Club!

[Vids] Azumi

I got Azumi from Netflix and it was pretty good. While the actress, Aya Ueto, playing the lead was cute, she was kind of wooden when speaking and the other kid assassins were equally unmentionable.

The best characters in the film, IMNSHO, were the assassins' master, Gessai, as well as a whole group of the enemies: the three Sajiki brothers (one of whom had a huge grip on a regular katana); forehead- scarred General Kanbei; Saru, a monkey-like Ninja; and Bijomaru Mogami, a mercenary all in white.

I can see using these characters in a game at some point in the future, especially the mercenary all in white.

[Blogs] Latest Hullabaloo

The latest Hullabaloo in the gaming world was a recent post by Malcolm Sheppard. It's been posted about on the RPGSite and ENWorld. You can read all the responses and the train-wreck that follows, with luminaries in the industry firing volleys back and forth in a fusilade of recrimination and anger.

I know nothing about marketing, I'll admit up front. I know nothing about running a business, either. I've been a manager of people before and it's not for me. I don't pretend to believe that gamers are inherently artists, nor do I believe that they aren't artists. Gaming, to me, is to have fun. If it's really cool in the process, so much more the better. I don't worry about the growth of the hobby, or the industry's well-being, or anything like that. I've met rude gamers and friendly gamers and all the spectrum in-between - heck, I've been a rude gamer. I want quality products and will state out loud that I want quality products. I complain.

With all that up front, what's the big deal? It seems so much just another Tempest in a Teapot. One man's opinion (which is shared by others, as you can read) says that there is a group of hardcore gamers that are rude to work with and businesses don't want to do it.

Well, there's the rub. Businesses are there to make money, plain and simple. There's no higher calling for business. If there's money to be made there, though, someone's going to be willing to go through the crap of dealing with these undesirables if only to make that money. Businesses operate in the worst conditions, both physical and mental, all over the world, amidst freezing temperatures, armed insurgents, toxic chemicals, chaotic societies, and why? Because there's a profit in it. They make more money than they spend doing it.

Low margins of profit? Still there, doing the job. Bad customers to deal with? Yep, still working. Heck the airlines in America have horrible customer satisfaction (673 out of 1000, 67.3%, is a D in most grade scales), customers all of which would follow this list of Malcolm's:

• Instead of having social conversations, they focused on concrete goals, like getting to their destinations on time.
  
• They related to content in a cynical fashion, especially when the service by the airlines sucked.
• They dissuaded other users from getting involved with the content, when they were treated like cattle and crammed upon an airplane designed for 10% less of them.
• They resisted most desired behaviors (that is, the stuff that actually might make money), like paying extra for carry-on baggage.
• They complained all the goddamn time about the lack of service they were getting from the airlines.

And yet, the airlines are still in business. So the issue isn't customers or marketing or making money or anything like that. The issue, it seems to me IMNSHO, is that someone tries a business and doesn't like dealing with a segment of the customers because they're mean. MEAN!

Try this for mean! When gamers start doing this (8.7 million hits, how many sales were lost do you think?) to mock game companies or those providing online gaming tools, then you've got something to complain about - otherwise, deal with it.

That's all I have to say about this but I'd be interested in your POV.

[Resources] The Russian Crown Jewels' Ireland Vacation

Didn't know that, did you? The Russian Crown Jewels were in Ireland from 1920 to 1950, the vast majority of time in a soap box in Harry Boland's mother's pantry before they were turned over to the Irish Government in 1938, after which they were locked in a safe until "re-discovered" in 1948. They didn't travel back to Russia until 1950.

Why do you suppose that for 30 years they went from hidden to lost to found? 30 years. That's about right for a fellow (or gal) to grow up, under their protection. Maybe a lost heir to the Russian Throne.

[My Collection] Twilight: 2000 1st edition

Summer, 1984. I was working at a local Boy Scout camp and came home for a weekend to see friends. I spotted Twilight 2000 in one of Seattle's game stores and picked it up. I think it was something like $15 or so.

And it was awesome! So much so that I haven't even looked at the 2.0+ versions because I loved 1.0.

RPG.net has few reviews on it (1), which surprises me, and someone started a thread about Roman games using the starting situation in a 1st Century game (which I'm gonna try sometime).

[Aftermath!] The D.C. Campaign: Mennonites

Mennonites ("Religees")

Location: Alexandria, Virginia. Bounded by Little River Turnpike (State Route 236) in the north and Old Keene Mill Road (State Route 644) in the south, between Rolling Road (State Route 638) and Guinea Road to S Van Dorn Street (State Route 401 and 613). Includes Northern Virginia Community College, Wakefield Park, Lake Accotink, Long Branch Park, Bradlick Shopping Center, Deerlick Park, Turkeycock Run Stream Valley Park, Franconia Park and Bren Mar Park.

Population: 1500
Military Strength: 470
Military Resources: Few civilian trucks and nearly all non-automatic small arms (shotguns, deer rifles).

Treaties: Treaty Hospital

Enemies: Skinheads, The Agency

Resources: The Mennonites have a extensive farming areas, as well as home-canning, carpentry, horse-breeding and animal herds, blacksmithing and various machine shops, as well as small industry, including ammunition reloading. The extensively salvage in the areas around their holdings but rarely enter the District proper.

Trade: The Mennonites will trade only foodstuffs with outsiders unless they are well-known and trusted. They instituted this policy years ago after some of their salvage finds turned up against them by the Skinheads.

General Reaction: +0 (-20 if known associates of either the Agency or the Skinheads)

Background: These survivors are an amalgam of Virginia Mennonites and several Alexandria area churches. While they try to be non-violent, the world they inhabit usually forces them to defend themselves and that on a regular basis. This has caused the actual Mennonites in the community to question their faith. While on the most part good people, the violence and cruelty of a post-war world has hardened them to the suffering of others in an effort to survive. What this spells for their long-term viability is anyone's guess, as the faith that bound them together is unraveling in the face of the harsh environment.

[Resources] Symplegades

Who needs a pair of giant rocks bashing together to hold a river passage, smashing everything between them?

I do!

So do you!

The Symplegades were part of the Greek Myth of Jason and the Argonauts. preventing passage through the Bosphorus. They stopped working after the Argonauts got through. But what if their spirits just moved on, to another pair of rocks on another river passage?

[The Lost Patrol] Cross-Planes Escapade

Something I've been kicking around in my head for a while: A cross-planes escapade campaign, mixing Savage Worlds and Planescape.

I've made up 3 PCs, all the same person - one is a past version, one is a present version and the last is a future version. Since they all look alike and have a variety of different talents, but remember common things about their history, they don't know who came first. All their memories are grey after a certain point. And they don't know why or WHO have put them in this situation.

I figure the game would be a romp across the Planes, with the PCs trying to find out who did this to them and how they got this way, stumbling through like a blind man running through a maze, hitting (or being hit by) the "walls" they encounter.

"Past, Present, Future. Oy vey!"
"I'm no Berk, Berk!"
"Who are you calling a Berk? I'm you and you're me!"

Past, Present and Future

Agility d8 Spirit d6 Smarts d6 Strength d6 Vigor d6
Pace 6 Parry 6 Toughness 5 Charisma -0-

Edges: Arcane Background: Magic (free), (2 other edges by player choice).

Hindrances: Enemy, Loyal, Quirk.

Skills: Shooting d6, Fighting d8, Spellcasting d6, Stealth d6, Streetwise d4, Linguistics d4, Notice d6, Lockpicking d4.

Power Points: 15
Powers: (individualized by player)

[Cons] Go Play Northwest: After Convention Report

Go Play Northwest happened in Seattle, June 18th thru the 20th. This was the fourth Go Play NW in Seattle and the first that I attended. While I only went on Friday and Saturday, it was a great convention. I was very satisfied with the games I played, all the gamers were very friendly and welcoming, and they came from all over - I met gamers from Victoria, British Columbia, Sacramento, California, and Boston, Massachusetts.

The venue was Richard Hugo House, a literary arts place in a Victorian mansion on the Capital Hill neighborhood of Seattle. There was plenty of room for all the games, with multiple rooms upstairs, a theatre with room for gaming tables and a couple of rooms downstairs.

Friday started with a Feast that included a delicious salad, baked chicken in a mushroom and wine sauce, spinach and ricotta stuffed giant pasta shells, fruit kebabs, garlic mashed potatoes and homemade game-inspired desserts. All of it was delicious but, unfortunately, I don't remember the names of the desserts.

I ate dinner with gamers from California, Colorado and British Columbia. We had a great time, talking about games, where we're from, favorite restaurants, the sights of Seattle, and why they traveled so far to come game in Seattle - to have fun!

After the Feast, I played a game of Mist-Robed Gate with 7 other players, set in the last days of Atlantis. During the game, two PCs were killed by two other PCs (we tied with the Mountain Witch game on PC deaths but we beat them with the deaths by an hour or so). We ran out of time for the final act but everything up to that point was going straight to hell in a hand basket. I really enjoyed learning the system and throwing out ideas for the setting and the scenes.

On Saturday, my friend KM joined me and we arrived early, checking out the game board for the day. A week before the convention started, I had signed us up for the Leverage RPG by Margaret Weis Production for the first session of the day, figuring that having one set game would be good and we'd get into pick-up games for the rest of the day.

We were joined in the Leverage game by a gamer from Boston, C. The GM, B, used the Quickstart Job and KM, new to gaming, played Elliot, I ran Parker and Nate, and Hardison and Sophie were played by C. The game went really well and I am definitely going to be purchasing this game when it comes out.

After lunch at Dick's Drive-In, a Seattle landmark, we ran into PA and talked with him for a bit about GenCon and WotC (though I forgot to ask if he'd used 4th ed. D&D for his home campaigns). He was running Free Market by Luke Crane and Jared Sorensen for the next session but it was all full. Since he had an opening in the third session of the day, he offered to run Free Market for KM and me if we were interested. Oh, yes, we were!

For the second session of the day, I ran a game of Sorcerer using my Escape from New York setting. It went very well, but I find that Sorcerer is a better game for long term play so that we can explore the loss of Humanity and the Needs of the Demons, while the PCs are doing their crazy things. With that in mind, the game was still a success.

During a break, I picked up copies of the Gun Thief by Joe McDonald (of the blog Buried without Ceremony) and the Dreaming Crucible by Joel Shempert (Story by the Throat! Press) for 5 bucks each. What a steal! I've only read over the Gun Thief so far but I look forward to the Dreaming Crucible.

KM and I met up with PA for the third Saturday session and we were joined by G, an excellent gamer who's a sophomore at the University of Washington. We spent about an hour putting together characters and situations for Free Market and it was awesome.

Since death wasn't permanent in Free Market, I played an assassin and mortician, named Mental Image of a Pretty Rainbow and Unicorn ("Rain" for short), who offered a killing and a funeral service, KM's PC Stromboli was the face/promo man and the third PC was in charge of the vids of the event. We called our MRCZ, our company, Phoenix Ritual Rebirth, LLC, with the motto: "A New Day, Tomorrow."

Phoenix Ritual Rebirth, LLC, was hired by Stromboli's cousin Barry to perform a ritual murder involving torture and then the following funeral services. Unfortunately, it all goes to crap but we managed to pull our butts out of the fire. Free Market is a very interesting system, using cards based on specific categories on your character sheets to determine success. I think that this is another game that I'm going to get.

Because of scheduling constraints, I was only able to attend Friday and three sessions on Saturday, so I don't know what happened on Sunday. However, if these two days is any indication, Sunday was just as good.

I thoroughly enjoyed Go Play NW and plan to attend in the future. I hope they return to Hugo House, because it was totally awesome, and the caterer for the dinner was excellent - another must-keep for next year. Thanks to the convention coordinator and it was wonderful meeting all the gamers present. See you next year!

[Quotes] Gray People Doing Gray Jobs

"We are most days, gray people doing gray jobs. Shadows in a world of black and white. But then you know, every once and awhile we are offered the opportunity where we have the chance to do something that is ABSOLUTELY right to its very core. This is one of those times."

- Commissioner Andrew Schmidt, The Closer, Season 2, Serving the King, Part 1.

[Resources] Maps of Historic U.S. Cities

You can find lots of them here, thanks to the University of Texas at Austin, including cities in Oregon, Texas and Georgia, just to name a few.

If that isn't a resource, I don't know what would be.

[How To Play] Savage Worlds, Part 1: Character Creation

I'm running a game for my friend Charley.

We decided on using Savage Worlds Explorer's Edition and it would be a slightly-fantasy Middle Ages setting. For the most part, magic will be mysterious and not in the purview of the main characters. Since Charley likes knights and is a fan of the movie A Knight's Tale, we decide he'll make a character who is a young knight wandering England, participating in jousts for cash money and honor. Arbitrarily, we set the time period to be around 1550ish and allow that the knights are wearing full plate, even if it isn't strictly period.

Savage Worlds has five character ranks: Novice, Seasoned, Veteran, Heroic, and Legendary. As you can see, the rankings go from the least experienced to the most. We agree that Charley's character is going to start as a Novice character. We'll deal with advancement later on in the series, so no worries.

Using the Savage Worlds character creation rules, Charley decided on a young knight, early in his career, a younger son of a rich family. He liked the idea of a seventh son of a seventh son (we'll include this later in character creation), and with a noble lineage. He decided on the name Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Torpington. With this rough character background in place, we start on character stats and abilities.

Savage Worlds characters have attributes, edges, hindrances and skills. Attributes are how strong, fast or smart the character is, edges are the special abilities that the character can perform, like two-fisted fighting or acrobatics, hindrances are weaknesses that define the character, and skills are what the character can do, which are pretty self explanatory. Hindrances give back to the character, so Charley decided to start with that first.

In Savage Worlds, hindrances are divided into major [M] and minor [m]. Each character is allowed one major hindrance and two minor hindrances. This gives the player 2 points to spend for the major and 1 each for the minor on edges, attributes and skills. We'll get into that later. It isn't necessary to have hindrances but since they allow the character to buy more abilities, edges and skills, they're worth reviewing at the least - one may pique your interest.

Looking over the list of hindrances, Charley picks some that seem to fit his character concept. Sir Nicholas is a knight, so it makes sense for him to have a major hindrance of Code of Honor: Chivalry. A good minor hindrance would be Loyal and another would be Quirk. I tell Charley that he can define the Quirk during the game, in order to get the character done quicker plus allow the character to grow during the game.

• Hindrances: Code of Honor: Chivalry [M], Loyal [m], Quirk [m].
  

Charley decides to use two of the points from hindrances on attributes and the other two on edges. Two points will increase an attribute by one die type. Two points will buy one edge. Other options include trading one point for an additional skill point or one point to increase starting money.

Next Charley decides on Sir Nicholas' attributes. In Savage Worlds, there are five attributes: Agility, Smarts, Spirit, Strength and Vigor. The attributes are measured in die types: d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and so on. Agility, Smarts and Strength are pretty easy to figure out. Spirit deals with willpower and connection to other people and Vigor represents overall physical fitness and constitution. All attributes start at a d4 and you get 5 points to distribute among them. Each point increases the attribute up to the next die type.

Since Sir Nicholas is a knight, Strength, Agility and Vigor would be very important, so Charley decided to make Strength a d8 (2 points), Agility a d6 (1 point) and Vigor a d6 (1 point). He chose a Spirit d6 (the last point) to make sure his character strong willed. Charley also uses the two points from the hindrance to raise an additional attribute by one die, and since he doesn't want Sir Nicholas to be too slow, he raises his Agility to d8.

• Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d4, Spirit d6, Strength d8, Vigor d6
  

Edges are special abilities. In Savage Worlds, humans get a free edge to start with and Charley chooses the Noble background edge. Using the remaining two points from his hindrances, he chooses the Luck edge, which gives him an extra Bennie during play. He explains that it matches the seventh son of a seventh son background.

• Edges: Noble (f), Luck.
  

Characters in Savage Worlds get 15 points to buy skills. Each skill point increases the die type but, unlike attributes, it is necessary to pay for the d4. Looking over the skill list, Charley chooses Fighting, Shooting, Riding for starters, figuring a knight who can't do that isn't much of a knight. He also writes down Guts, Persuasion, Taunt, Notice and Healing, thinking they'd be useful, too. Now, with skills, the limiting factor is the attribute tied to the skill. If your skill die is equal or less than the tied attribute, the skill points are only one point per die. Over the tied attribute, then it's two points per die.

Charley decides on a Fighting d8 (3 points), Shooting d6 (2 points), Riding d8 (3 points) and Guts d6 (2 points). With five points left, he puts one into each Taunt, Notice and Healing, making each a d4, and two into d6 for Persuasion.

• Skills: Fighting d8, Shooting d6, Riding d8, Guts d6, Taunt d4, Notice d4, Healing d4 and Persuasion d6.
  

Now it's necessary for Charley to calculate the derived stats. Parry is based on the Fighting skill. Take half the maximum of the die and add 2, so Sir Nicholas' Parry is 8/2 + 2 = 6. It takes anyone attacking him a 6 to hit him. That's pretty good for a starting character.

Toughness is based on the Vigor attribute. Taking half the maximum of the die and adding 2 makes the young knight's Toughness 5. Not bad. With armor, his toughness will increase.

Since none of the hindrances or edges chosen change the Pace 6, but the Noble Edge changes the Charisma to +2.

• Derived Stats: Parry 6, Toughness 5, Pace 6, Charisma +2

Sir Nicholas will start the game with a horse, plate armor, a few lances, a long sword and a manservant named Richard. The plate armor adds +3 to his Toughness and weighs 58 pounds. He has a medium shield which adds +1 to his Parry. His father's second-best sword damage is Strength + d8 and the lance does Strength + d8 with an AP 2 and Reach 2 (don't worry, we'll cover all this later). The manservant Richard is just a normal bloke, no need to stat him out until later.

All told, Charley's character looks as follows:

Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Torpington
Agility d8, Smarts d4, Spirit d6, Strength d8, Vigor d6
Parry 7 (1), Toughness 8 (3), Pace 6, Charisma +2

Edges: Noble (f), Luck.
Hindrances: Code of Honor: Chivalry [M], Loyal [m], Quirk [m].
Skills: Fighting d8, Shooting d6, Riding d8, Guts d6, Taunt d4, Notice d4, Healing d4 and Persuasion d6.

Plate Armor (+3 Toughness, 58 lbs), Medium Shield (+1 Parry), Sword (Damage: STR + d8), Lance (Damage: STR + d8, AP 2, Reach 2).

[Aftermath!] The D.C. Campaign: Anacostia Yacht Club

Anacostia Yacht Club ("Boaters")

Location: Anacostia Yacht Club and the Washington Navy Yard. Bounded by M Street SE in the north and the Anacostia River in the south, between First Street SE to Water Street SE to the Anacostia River. Includes the 11th Street Bridges.

Population: 120
Military Strength: 50
Military Resources: 2 police cruisers. A large number of sailboats and cabin cruisers. Mostly small arms and a few machine guns mounted on the police boats.

Treaties: The Dead Kennedys, Treaty Hospital

Enemies:

Resources: The AYC occupies the old Washington Navy Yard and the old Yacht Club. The yards themselves have lots of boating gear, from military to civilian craft, incluiding machine shops and motor parts.

Trade: The AYC spend their time sailing up and down the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers, salvaging anything they can find in the buildings along the riverbanks. They also supplement their activities with some river piracy and fishing.

General Reaction: -05

Background: These survivors are some of the formerly wealthy families in the District, with a few navy personnel thrown in the mix. They spend a lot of time trying to recapture their previous wealth and status by looking down on the lower folk while scrabbling and playing politics amongst themselves.