I had the rule books for Traveller, but never was able to get anybody to play.

I ran SpaceMaster for about 2 years right out of college...really was one of the most fun games I've ever run.  Game broke up when several players all moved away within a couple of months of each other.  I never tried to get the game restarted because I knew I would never get the chemistry of the characters the same.

Um...what about the Serenity RPG?  Did they like Firefly?  That isn't as combat-oriented as I would assume AO is, but it could be fun.

Haven't played it, but didn't FFG just release an RPG set in the Warhammer 40K universe?  Yeah.  Rogue Trader.

Mordheim is still officially out of print, right?  But I think you can download the rules for free from the GW website...let me look...

Yep.  Here you go.

Mordheim is the only GW game that I will still play.  I have a HUGE collection of WFB stuff that sits unused in my basement, because I really got tired of the constant churn of rules changes.  Plus, I really like Mordheim in that you only need about a dozen figures a side to have a really fun game, and your games can be finished out in about 2 hours.  You could try the free rules with some of your Heroscape figs, to see if you like the rule set, and then if you decide you want to go the Mordheim route and try your hand at minis painting, buy a couple of boxes of the plastic minis (say a Skaven box set and a Empire Free company box set) and you should be set for quite a while.

Well, last night we finally finished that quest, after trying two more times.  By the time I sold off stuff, and repaired all of the damage from dying so often, I think I lost about 300 PP.   

One of the things we did do last night was to use voice chat, and that seemed to help out a bit more communication wise.  We also used a lot of healing from a rod of healing one of us picked up, and that helped me to conserve my mana for the runs.

Kronovan, thanks for the insights.  Our characters are not overly customized, we went with the choices from the game, and so that may be part of the problem as well.  But I'm not sure we want to start over!  We may struggle on with gimped characters, I guess.

We talked about dropping down to "Casual", but that seemed like the pussy option.    So instead we just keep dying and dying and dying.

Here's the funny thing, though.  I just tried that same quest, solo, on normal difficulty, and did just about as well by myself as I did with him.  So I think I found the part of my team that sucks. 

So is this game just freaking hard, or am I incompetent at it?  (And yes, I know that's an easy answer, but bear with me...)

I've been playing this game with a buddy for a while now.  We play very casually, once a week if we are lucky.  We play the same characters, I'm a battle cleric, and he's a barbarian.  We've currently reached the mid-4 levels, and are consistently getting our asses handed to us over and over again.  We've gone through most of the free quests, and are now stuck on several that we just cannot get through with the two of us.

Case in point, the adventure where you are trying to clear out the troglodyte den for the elf noble.  We had tried that one a couple of times before, and always met with failure, so we decided (out of frustration) to give it one more try.  To help even out the odds, I used one of my cakes left over from the holiday season and summoned up one of those howling metal dog things to help us out.  We STILL couldn't get through it.  We've tried several different ways of dealing with the situation, such as having me stop fighting and just do crowd control and healing, but I rapidly run out of mana doing the run that way.  So is that particular run just undoable with a duo like ours?

I guess I'm just too used to CoH (my main MMO of choice for years) where they really scale the challenges to your team size and level.  But after last night I'm close to the tipping point with this one.

How about The Quick and the Dead?

It was cheesy, and over the top...but it was a Sam Rami western, so what did you expect?

[What:]

Man, I thought I had posted this info over here too, but after looking around, I can see that I didn't.  Anyway...the details...

What: OctoCon VI

When: Friday, April 16th, 6PM to Midnight and Saturday, April 17th, 9:00 AM to Midnight

Where: United In Faith Church, 6525 W. Irving Park Road, Chicago, IL

Why:   Let's play some games!

The Facilities:

I have acquired the use of the fellowship hall and lounge of my church for us to use for a gaming day. Cost of using said room is whatever donation you care to make, so I would like everyone attending to make a donation of some sort. Don't care how much, just a donation, however much you want to give. (Note that this is NOT manditory, just if you feel like donating, donate!)

The church is a converted printing plant, so the main fellowship hall is inside of the main plant space. It is large and roomy and doesn't look very church like (except for the statue of Jesus that will be staring out at the room the whole time. Hoping this might deter cheating.) We will have access to over a dozen 4X8 tables, and more could be grabbed if needed. It is totally handicap accessable. There is a soda machine in the fellowship hall that we are free to use. There is also a kitchen that is part of the hall, we should be able to use the refrigerator there for soda and snacks.

The lounge is right off of the fellowship hall, with couches and places to relax if you are not playing a game at the time. There is a 35" TV in there, so if someone so desired we could have video games running in there during the down times as well.

Food:

There are a number of restaurants in the area. Across the street is a Burger King, a Subway, a Dunkin Donuts, and a chinese fast food restaurant. Down the street is a gyros/hot dog place, a typical Chicago corner greek restaurant, a bar, and another Chinese place (non-fast food). The new official favorite restaurant of OctoCon is now The Jolly Inn, right next door. It's a polish all you can eat buffet, and comes highly recommended by those that have eaten there.

There are two grocery stores right by the church; a large chain store, and a smaller Polish market, for your junk food needs. You can bring your own munchies and soda in with you.

I would provide 3-4 dozen donuts and coffee for breakfast in the morning, on a first come first serve basis. Everyone would be responsible for their own lunch, but we have a wide selection. It seems like nobody stops playing for dinner, so we play that by ear too. Maybe this year we can get buy in to have some pizzas delivered, we'll see what happens.

Alcohol:

No alcohol in the church for insurance reasons. Sorry. Regardless, there are a number of neighborhood-style bars and pubs around the church.

Lodging: 

The closest motel is the LP Motel, 4605 N Harlem Ave, Harwood Heights. This motel is about 5 minutes from the church. Number for the motel is (708) 457-0600. No guarantees about quality, it looks pretty beat up and run down from the outside.

However, if you are wanting to go the inexpensive route, I'd recommend the Motel 6 at 9408 Lawrence Ave in Schiller Park. Disadvantage is that it is more like 15-20 minutes from the church. If I were coming here and didn't want to stay in a fancier hotel, that would be my first choice. Phone number is (847) 671-4282.

If you want to stay someplace with historic significance, why not stay at the hotel were OJ cut his hand on the broken piece of glass, and not on a big old butcher knife? Stay at the Holiday Inn O'Hare! 5615 N. Cumberland Ave., Chicago, IL
(773) 693-5800. No idea about rates, but, here's another little secret...you'll be staying mere minutes away from where John Wayne Gacy lived!!!

Otherwise, lots of hotel choices all very close because we are near O'Hare. Use whatever cheap lodging deals you can find!


List of possible games:

Last Night on Earth
Agricola
Wings of War
Kill Dr. Lucky
Shadows Over Camelot
Crokinole
Coliseum
Dominion
Age of Steam
Friedrich
Chicago Express
Princes of the Renaissance (homemade copy
Dungeon Lords
Endeavor
Cosmic Encouter
Talisman
Kingsburg
Smallworld
Power Grid
Race for the Galaxy (the Greatest)
Battlestar Galactica
Arkham Horror w/ expansions
Touch of Evil
Citadels
Formula D
RoboRally
Runewars
Twilight Struggle
Twilight Imperium III
Pandemic w/ expansion
Neuroshima Hex w/ expansion
Tide of Iron w/ Normandy expansion
San Juan
Space Alert
Steam

...and whatever else happens to show up!

Hope some folks can make it!  And sorry again for the last minute invite!

Reminder...third season of Chuck premiers tonight, 9E/8C.

Wonder how they're going to get Yvonne into her underwear tonight???

I love Agricola.  Even when I lose, I have a great time, trying to maximize my little farm and keep my family from starving to death.

A quick question regarding skill checks...I haven't been able to find anywhere about things like Searching.  Is there a roll associated with the check, or is in all just a set number?  And can you search multiple times for a hidden door?  I've never been able to find any hidden door once I failed the first check...is it an exercise in futility to keep clicking to check for a door?

Barsoom

This.  Oh, this.

(But a Shadowrun MMO would be lots of fun too...)

Does anyone have any interest in the following games:

Red November
Pandemic
Risk: Halo Wars
Nexus Ops

If I come it probably won't be until the afternoon, but would appreciate it if someone could teach me Agricola and/or Kingsburg.  I thought I saw these last time.  I would bring Dominion, but I'm guessing someone else will be bringing that too and I haven't gotten around to buying the expansion.

I would be more than happy to spin up a game of Agricola.  And I would like to try Pandemic, heard good things about it.

My local GW store had about 10 copies just sitting around.

But I'm resisting.  I really don't want to get sucked back into any more GW games.

My wife isn't much of a game player, so are any "gaming widows" planning on getting together during that time?

My wife will be staying as far away from this as possible...   

She's going to be doing some stuff with my kids that day, including a rally at my son's cub scout troop which I will be missing, because of the con.  But hey, I scheduled the church and the con before I found out about the pushcar rally!

I can probably go that weekend.  I thought that we might have plans but it looks like things fell through.

Excellent!

I bought it and assembled the minis saturday.  i wasn't going to paint them, but someone posted step by step instructions for "dipping" them on BGG that seem really easy ...and the results are pretty darn good. 

I have a can of Minwax Dark Walnut stain if you want to use it, Hep...

looking at that map it seems awfully close to O'Hare airport.....

About 10 minutes, yes.

true, true.  i absolutely adore that game.  plus, i broke down and bought the new space hulk and assembled the minis this past weekend.  so i'll have that with me, as well.  oh, and the new pegasus expansion for bsg, too.

...seriously, gotta stop buying so many damn games.

Will you have the minis painted?

Crokinole.



It's my current obsession.  And my wife and kids love to play too.

I'm bringin' coffee and my usual trunk load of games.  So there will be NO shortage of stuff to play. 

...god, I gotta stop buying games. 

Notice I threw Neuroshima Hex in there, just cause I know that you're its bitch these days. 

[What:]

What: OctoCon V

When: Saturday, October 17th, 9:00 AM to Midnight

Where: United In Faith Church, 6525 W. Irving Park Road, Chicago, IL

Why: Games, games, games!!!

Who: Anyone that wants to attend!

The Skinny:

Let's play some games!

The Facilities:

I have acquired the use of the fellowship hall and lounge of my church for us to use for a gaming day. Cost of using said room is whatever donation you care to make, so I would like everyone attending to make a donation of some sort. Don't care how much, just a donation, however much you want to give. (Note that this is NOT manditory, just if you feel like donating, donate!)

The church is a converted printing plant, so the main fellowship hall is inside of the main plant space. It is large and roomy and doesn't look very church like (except for the statue of Jesus that will be staring out at the room the whole time. Hoping this might deter cheating.) We will have access to over a dozen 4X8 tables, and more could be grabbed if needed. It is totally handicap accessable. There is a soda machine in the fellowship hall that we are free to use. There is also a kitchen that is part of the hall, we should be able to use the refrigerator there for soda and snacks.

The lounge is right off of the fellowship hall, with couches and places to relax if you are not playing a game at the time. There is a 35" TV in there, so if someone so desired we could have video games running in there during the down times as well.

Food:

There are a number of restaurants in the area. Across the street is a Burger King, a Subway, a Dunkin Donuts, and a chinese fast food restaurant. Down the street is a gyros/hot dog place, a typical Chicago corner greek restaurant, a bar, and another Chinese place (non-fast food). Hepcat enjoys going up to the Pepe's mexican restaurant to drink his lunch, so that is an option too.

There are two grocery stores right by the church; a large chain store, and a smaller Polish market, for your junk food needs. You can bring your own munchies and soda in with you.

I would provide 3-4 dozen donuts and coffee for breakfast in the morning, on a first come first serve basis. Everyone would be responsible for their own lunch, but we have a wide selection. It seems like nobody stops playing for dinner, so we play that by ear too. Maybe this year we can get buy in to have some pizzas delivered, we'll see what happens.

Alcohol:

No alcohol in the church for insurance reasons. Sorry. Regardless, there are a number of neighborhood-style bars and pubs around the church.

List of games (subject to change based of attendance):

Last Night on Earth
Agricola
Wings of War
Kill Dr. Lucky
Shadows Over Camelot
Crokinole
Battlestar Galactica
Colliseum
Pitchcar
Neuroshima Hex
and many more!

If anyone has an questions, please let me know!  Would love to have some folks from GT show up!  Graham made it last year, although somehow we managed to miss each other.

Sure you aren't thinking of Hetz?  We look an awful lot alike. :-)

Are you the same Hent as on QT3? If so yes if not no

Nope.  Not on QT3.

Sure you aren't thinking of Hetz?  We look an awful lot alike. :-)

I have the Ultimate Alliance for the Xbox (as well as the Wii...science fair project), along with the 2 Baldurs Gate games and D&D Heroes.  Oh, and the Hunter games.

I got a 360 a few months back, and I've been looking for a game in the vein of Gauntlet/Baldur's Gate for the 360, i.e, a co-op dungeon crawl.  Does such a beast exist?

Weird - I thought I read on the forums that CoX works just fine on W7. I'd go post over there and see if the techs (more accurately, the player base) has any suggestions for you.

Keep in mind that CoX is kinda spotty in Vista as it is - either it'll work great, or it'll crash for no apparent reason anywhere between 5 minutes or 4 hours in. I'm personally in the latter (although I'll usually blow up after an hour or two).

I've never had problem 1 with Vista and CoH.  Ran like a charm from the moment I loaded it up.  So that's why this has me all confused and semi-frustrated.

Still working on getting CoH to work in Win 7.  Updated to the latest catalyst drivers for my vid card (ATI Mobility Radeon 4650) and the game would launch, but I had strobing video.  So I wiped out my CoH directory and did a fresh download of the game.  Same issue.  Rolled back the drivers to the default that installed with Win 7, and it would launch again, but still with the strobing video.

So, looks like I may be doing a re-install of Vista.  Shame, I really liked what I saw of the OS, but I want to play CoH.

Hit my first glitch with Win 7.  I've been unable to get City of Heroes to run in any way, shape or form.  That's the only glitch I have found so far.  I'm going to try and re-install CoH and see if that fixes it.  (Note that I did an upgrade, and not a fresh install.)

I wouldn't call that a glitch with Win 7, as it's most likely some kind of assumption City of Heroes makes in its code for Vista that no longer applies to Win 7. The devs will probably fix it soon enough.

In related news, LOTRO runs perfectly on Win 7 x64. I can't say the same about Vista x86, where it would crash all the time.

Checking around it seems that most everyone else is fine with x64 Win 7, so I'm thinking it just may need a fresh install, or it'll be an issue with my vid driver.

Pass.

Hit my first glitch with Win 7.  I've been unable to get City of Heroes to run in any way, shape or form.  That's the only glitch I have found so far.  I'm going to try and re-install CoH and see if that fixes it.  (Note that I did an upgrade, and not a fresh install.)

Chaz got one of them, so EricB, if you want the other one, it's yours.  PM me your info and I'll make arrangements to get it shipped out.

Woot!  Thanks to a spare hard drive supplied by Farley2K, my backwards compatability issues are a thing of the past!

Now...wonder what I should do with that bad hard drive I have?  An art project, maybe?

+1 to Farley2K for rescuing my refurbed Xbox 360!!!

You guys are really tempting me to download this and try it out on my new HP laptop...

Um...yes.  But with no DVDs.

It sounds like that was what was originally supposed to come in the LE version of the game, but all of that got cut at the last minute due to "manufacturing issues".  I wonder if they printed some of that stuff, then realized that they didn't have enough time to print as many as they wanted, or that it was going to cost too much, and decided to sell what they had printed separately.  Did he order this stuff, or did it just show up?

Diamond had a "grab bag box" with like 10 different items in it for $40, supposed to have a retail value of over $100, so he went ahead and tried it, and got two of these Fable II boxes.  I'll go over to the store this afternoon on the way home and even if I don't buy one I'll take a picture so you can see it, and if there is anyone that is interested in one of these I'll make arrangements to get one for them.

Over at my friendly local comic book store they got in a couple of these boxes that are Fable II boxes.  They are a bit bigger than a cigar box, and have some stuff in them like a little pvc figurine and what looks like a couple of cards.  I didn't look real closely, the store owner had NO clue what they were, and is offering one to me for $5.

Doing a bit of searching, I think these may have been part of the LE Fable II package.  Being the proud owner of a new (used) Xbox 360, Fable II was one of my target purchases...would this be a good buy?  Do I get anything with it, like free goodies or anything?  Anyone know?

While I do love the Princess Bride swordfights, as far as I am concerned you just can't beat the swordfights from the Richard Lester Three and Four Musketeers.  The fight in the courtyard, the fight on the ice, the fight in the laundry...all superb.  But my favorite is the climactic swordfight between D'Artagnan and Rochefort at the convent.  It was such a brutal, realistic fight.

Matter of fact, I think I'm going to pop in the Four Musketeers and watch that before bed...

PeteChalk

You need to be connected to Xbox Live(just a Silver account) in order to play BC games.  You need to usually download a small update for most games.  The Halo games were the only games that didnt need a 1st time update.

you can also download the a cd image from the xbox.com website, burn it and it will download all the current compatibility patches onto your xbox.

This is correct, the only native BC games on the HD are HALO 1 and 2 supposedly. All others require the DL or from a disk
You can also get the BC update from an OXM disk

Right, and I tried both the online update and the CD update, and no go for either of them, sadly...