July 2018 – Eric Watson

D&D 5E “Storm King’s Thunder” Session 64 Recap

We dodge siege weapons and fight through an army of gargoyles to reach the lair of the ancient blue dragon.

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Previously on “Storm King’s Thunder”

The magic swept over us. One moment we were standing within the damp, underground caverns of the storm giant’s home. The next we found ourselves in the middle of the sun-baked deserts of Anauroch, surrounded by a sea of sand.

To the north lie a half-buried amphitheater – Iymrith’s lair.

We trekked across the hot sands with grim determination. As we neared our destination we could see the ominous sign of the ancient blue dragon – a localized storm cloud brewing overheard.

“The storm cloud – it’s Iymrith!” shouted Kazin.

The dragon herself descended upon the amphitheater. We responded by consuming the potions gifted to us by the storm giants. Each of us in turn grew three times in size, now looking face-to-face with King Hekaton, who nodded in approval.

We braced ourselves for a bout of lightning or a thundering of wings. But the dragon was in no hurry to engage us. Instead she sneered and descended into a giant hole underground. At the same moment, the amphitheater erupted in a swarm of birds.

No, not birds, gargoyles. We could see them swarming from hundreds of feet away as we charged. A pair of siege weapons began firing upon us as we ran, our gigantic legs creating a thundering stampede across the desert sands.

We’ve officially entered the end game of Storm King’s Thunder.

The Maelstrom’s teleportation magic dropped us deep within the deserts of Anauroch, half a mile south of a half-buried amphitheater. King Hekaton, along with two Storm Giants and Felgolos accompanied us as we made the trek to the ancient blue dragon’s lair. Continue reading “D&D 5E “Storm King’s Thunder” Session 64 Recap”

Sleep Tight Review [Pixelkin]

Read the full review at Pixelkin

Sleep Tight presents the classic monster-in-the-closet tale and transforms it into a kid-themed tower defense game, married with the gun-play of a twin-stick shooter. Both aspects are decently executed if a bit shallow, and the theme of defending your bedroom against an onslaught of Pixar-friendly monsters is a fun one.

Yet Sleep Tight lacks the mechanical depth of other tower defense games, and surviving against the hordes is more of an exercise in quantity over quality.

Read the full review at Pixelkin

BRIG 12 Preview [PC Gamer]

Read the full preview at PC Gamer

The life of a cloned, intergalactic bounty hunter is about what I expected, though with a lot more loot boxes. Brig 12 offers an interesting mix of character class progression, tactical turn-based battles, and crew management, but it’s hampered every step of the way by free-to-play card mechanics that turn the gameplay into a repetitive grind.

The basic loop of Brig 12 is simple: Select a bounty target, track them using my crew—a fun mechanic I’ll talk about more later—then beam down with my landing party for a series of turn-based battles.

Read the full preview at PC Gamer

D&D 5E “Storm King’s Thunder” Session 63 Recap

We fight our way through The Morkoth to find the Storm Giant King, and learn a shocking revelation.

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PROGRAMMING ERROR: We never switched off our break screen after the break, so there’s no video for the last hour of the session. It’s basically all cutscenes at that point but still, oops! The DM has been issued 100 demerits.

Previously on “Storm King’s Thunder”

We severed the final chain, its glowing runes dimming as color returned to the Storm Giant King. The ship was rocking heavily now, and made worse by the now conscious Giant who began to rise to his full height, smashing through the deck above and screaming about a betrayal by the Lord’s Alliance.

He swung his broken chains, still attached to his arms, knocking TIM and Halfred backward.

I screamed out using the Giant tongue. “King Hekaton! We were sent by Princess Serissa, your daughter. We’re here to rescue you!”

At the mention of his daughter his bearded face softened with recognition, and his rage subsided.

I opened my mouth to speak again when I felt a pain stab right through my mind. A massive font of psychic energy, the likes of which I’d never felt before, sent me reeling to the floor clutching my head.

The ship rocked again, tilting dangerously to one side.

We heard Felgolos scream from above. “Tentacles! We got tentacles up here!”

We delved into the belly of the Morkoth, searching for the Storm Giant King. To reach him we had to deal with the second-half stragglers of the Morkoth crew, including the Kraken cult wizard Tholtz. Continue reading “D&D 5E “Storm King’s Thunder” Session 63 Recap”

Wayward Souls Early Access Preview [PC Gamer]

Read the full preview at PC Gamer

The fighter is too slow and clunky. The mage brittle and lacking. But the rogue feels just right. Rocketcat Games’ pixelated roguelike dungeon crawler Wayward Souls didn’t click with me until I stepped into the shoes of Renee the Rogue.

Renee has only a single ability aside from her basic dagger attack: the all-important dash. With a reliable way to avoid attacks I finally reached some level of success as I plunged deeper into the randomly generated dungeons… until I was devoured by a horde of angry boars.

Read the full preview at PC Gamer

D&D 5E “Storm King’s Thunder” Session 62 Recap

It’s Dragon vs Ship as we launch a massive attack on The Morkoth.

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Previously on “Storm King’s Thunder”

The damn fish-monsters were not only keeping pace with the ship, but hurtling harpoons up at us with terrifying accuracy.

I winced as a harpoon sliced through one of my psychically manifested duplicates. The wince turned into a gasp as another harpoon embedded into my shoulder, wrenching me off the boat.

I cried out as I slammed into the rushing water. Within seconds a gigantic shadow descended above me, wings blocking out the mid-day sun.

I couldn’t hear what Felgolos was saying over the rushing water, but I understood his intentions. Mustering all my strength I reached out, grabbing onto one of the severed ropes that still hung from his body, the remains of our makeshift airship.

I was airlifted out of the water, and the merrow screamed in fury.

Sometimes we go for the subtle, sneaky approach, splitting the party and skipping almost entire dungeons.

Other times we go hard.

When you’re strapped to the underbelly of a dragon, flying over the ocean, and approaching a ship full of baddies, you go hard. Continue reading “D&D 5E “Storm King’s Thunder” Session 62 Recap”

Roll20 Review: City in the Lion’s Eye (War for the Crown 4)

The PCs infiltrate the city of Zimar to gather evidence and finally confront Maxillar Pythareus.

A press review copy of the module was provided. Find more Roll20 Reviews on my website and YouTube channel.

The fourth module in the War for the Crown Pathfinder adventure brings our heroes to the militarized city of Zimar. City in the Lion’s Eye is designed for 10th level PCs who have completed the previous three modules of the Adventure Path.

While if offers some neat challenges in demanding a more stealthy and disguised approach, much of its urban encounters and plot threads feel far too similar to the last module, The Twilight Child.

Continue reading “Roll20 Review: City in the Lion’s Eye (War for the Crown 4)”

Gaming Backlog Final Thoughts – Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

The final entry in the original PlayStation 3 trilogy is my favorite Uncharted game yet.

Adventuring through my backlog of games, one game at a time.

Developer: Naughty Dog
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Release Date: October 2015 (Originally Nov. 2011 on PS3)
Played On: PlayStation 4

We come to the last game in the original PlayStation 3 trilogy. Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception builds upon all the successful story beats and action moments from the sequel and crafts an even more enjoyable cinematic action-blockbuster, easily creating my favorite Uncharted game (so far).

The third game takes full advantage of its larger, established cast of Sully, Elena, and Chloe, and even throws in a new character, the Guy Ritchie-esque British gangster Cutter. While the story may have lacked the opening flash-forward of the train escape in the second game, I loved the alley brawls and underground tunnel excursions in London, leading us to our new villains in Marlowe and Talbot.

This time around Drake and company are back to investigating Nathan’s namesake, Sir Francis Drake, and the lost City of Iram of the Pillars. If you’re thinking this is very much like finding the lost city of Shambhala last game, you’re correct. A running theme here is that it apes much from the last game, but frankly does everything a bit better. Continue reading “Gaming Backlog Final Thoughts – Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception”

D&D 5E “Storm King’s Thunder” Session 61 Recap

We square off against the boss of the tower, the Sculptor itself.

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Previously on “Storm King’s Thunder”

The mechanical monstrosity that called itself The Sculptor emerged from Halfred’s smoke, clawed arms slashing wildly as our sorcerers’ arcane Shields sprang up in defense.

Korinn ran to the side, taking a deep gash from a claw that cracked open her Shield, and fired a lightning bolt through it, causing its crystal chassis to thrum, and exploding the gigantic warforged guardian behind it.

I charged forward, my Phantom pike still glowing with channeled psychic energy. I attempted to reach out with my mind as I stabbed, searching for anything to disturb, but finding nothing but a single immovable will.

I switched tactics, stabbing again, this time channeling all my psychic energy into raw, lancing pain. I was greeted with the crystal shell cracking before my onslaught.

Bryseis followed up by firing a heated ray directly into the cracked shell, melting the suspended skeleton inside. The creature spent its death throes bemoaning its uncompleted work before crashing to the ground, crystal and bones scattering to dust. Continue reading “D&D 5E “Storm King’s Thunder” Session 61 Recap”

Goodreads Review: The Last Colony

The Last Colony by John Scalzi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Far slower and more bureaucratic than the previous books. The Last Colony drops most of the military sci-fi trappings in favor of colonizing a new planet. It’s a neat idea, but the plot switches between the semi-interesting drama of colonizing a new world with defending that colony as part of a larger intergalactic plot. The former story fizzles out as the latter takes over, and it all wraps up a bit too easily. I still love Scalzi’s breezy writing and witty dialogue but this series has yet to reach the heights of the sublime first novel.

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