Grim Dawn - First Impressions

Grim Dawn is a PC action-RPG created by Crate Entertainment, an indie studio staffed by veterans of Iron Lore, creators of Titan Quest. It's available via the Steam early access program, and is still in active development. I picked it up during the Steam summer sale, and I've put about eighteen hours into the game, mostly on a Soldier character.

Grim Dawn, a bad place for horses

PBE Games - Lots of Uncommon Ground (plus one)

Just a quick note here, to catch up on recent releases. Over the last two weeks I've added several more Uncommon Ground textures to the PBE Games lineup, including Rippled, Acid Etched, Exposed Face, Mud Rock, Crawlers, and Strata. I've also pulled together the various Dungeons in Blue connection tile packs into a discount bundle, the Connections Pack.

The next couple weeks should see another full set of Dungeons in Blue tiles released, plus a new black and white virtual tabletop map similar to Traitor's Cavern. Most of my stuff is fantasy-focused, but the Black Sage Mine could easily be dropped into a western or modern campaign. Coming Soon (TM).

Black Sage Mine - one-third scale preview

Wilds - What's Over There?

With the sun burning through the last of the clouds, the party decides to head back to camp to try and accomplish some improvements to their base. Along the way, they debate the various spire combinations and what they might mean. Maro theorizes the colors indicate destination climates, Raúguey thinks they're all just positional. Both note the lack of signs of civilization at the various destinations tried. Maro says, "Too bad we haven't found a city full of merchants near one of these things."

MechWarrior Online - A Newbie's First Impression

One of my gaming friends has been a long-time fan of the MechWarrior video games. He finally convinced me to give the latest incarnation MechWarrior Online (MWO), a spin a couple weeks ago. I've been resisting, because I was never a huge fan of giant stompy war robots (a.k.a. juicy targets), but I finally suspended my disbelief and joined up. Pacific Rim may or may not have had something to do with that.

Avoid laser to the face, if possible.

Tile of the Week #19

The newest Tile of the Week entry. This one is just a bit of spaghetti cave, with three levels, a well on the upper tier, and a pool of water on the lowest. Someone's placed a couple ladders in there to make transitions between various cave levels easier (or to draw someone into a trap...)

Tile 19 - Player

Tile 19 - GM

All Tile of the Week images are free for private use. You can download the images above using right-click / save as. Each tile is a 100px per five-foot square image, sized for compatibility with Dungeons in Blue geomorphs. The entire Tile of the Week Collection is also available as a pay what you want bundle, if you're feeling lazy.

Wilds - Drunk Dialing

Back at their more secure base camp near Needle Spire, the party waits out the heavy rains, then heads to the Spire to try out some new combinations of sphere, cube, and pyramid. They've pretty much decided to let things die down a bit back at Blackpool, hoping the necromancer and his buddies will lose interest.

Small Victories

Nothing to do with my usual gaming subject matter. I've been having on and off issues with my furnace / AC system. Occasionally the blower just doesn't start or cuts off, despite the fact that the thermostat says it should be running. I'd go in, pop the cover and it'd kick back on. It was so intermittent that I knew calling a tech out was useless, since it would work perfectly while they were here, then cut off 10 minutes after they left.

Coming home last night to an 85 degree house was the last straw. I decided to investigate. Cut the power at the main box and popped the cover off the main power switch. HA! The switch housing was cracked, because idiot installer had forced too-heavy gauge wire into the feed holes. A quick trip to Menard's for a new switch, and five minutes with a screwdriver later, all is back together. FLAWLESS VICTORY!

Sometimes I really miss working with actual, physical objects instead of digital data.