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Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Munchkin in Tabletop Games
Jan 6, 2020
A “Munchkin,” in gamer terms, is someone who is only out to better themselves with treasure and power at the expense of everyone else in their adventuring party. That rings so very true in the Munchkin line of games, as you are trying to be the first to gain 10th Level in a VERY loosely-based RPG setting. OG vanilla Munchkin (pictured above) was my first entry into hobby board gaming. Many many games later I ask myself: How has this system of games aged for me as my gaming tastes have changed? Let’s see.
In Munchkin games, you are trying to become the first player to reach 10th Level. That’s the goal. You take on the persona of a 1st Level basic human (no Starbucks jokes please) who will be adventuring with a party of your opponents through a dungeon. You will be kicking down doors, fighting monsters, placing curses on your fellow party members, and buffing yourself with cards featuring funny art and punny references. Your party mates are also trying to achieve 10th Level and will do everything they can to block your progress, so be prepared!
DISCLAIMER: This review is not for a specific game within the Munchkin universe, but for the system as a whole. All Munchkin games will pretty much use similar, if not exactly the same, rules to play the game with minor variations and different theming. I will be using The Good, The Bad, and The Munchkin for my review as it is one of the two versions I still own of the franchise. Also, I will not be detailing every rule in the book(s), but giving a brief overview of how the game plays. -T
Setup is easy: shuffle the deck of Door cards and the deck of Treasure cards. Deal cards to the players for their opening hands and keep the included die handy.
Your turn consists of just a few phases: Open a Door, Look for Trouble, Loot the Room, and Charity. To Open a Door, flip over the top card of the Door deck. If it is a monster you must fight it or run. If not a monster, you can move on to the next phase. If it IS a monster, prepare for combat. Combat is simple in that you add up all your bonuses from your gear cards you have attached to your character and try to beat the strength of the monster. Your party mates can screw with you during combat by adding strength to the monster or adding monsters to the fight to make it a more difficult encounter. If you win, you gain a Level on the spot. Some monsters are worth even more than one Level. If you did not encounter a monster, you will add the non-monster card you drew to your hand and you may Look for Trouble by playing a monster card from your hand to initiate a combat. This fight will work the same way and you will be susceptible to pile-ons as before. You may Loot the Room if you defeated a monster on your turn by drawing Treasure cards equal to the printed reward on the bottom of the monster card you defeated. If you defeated the monster yourself, unaided, these are drawn in secret. If you were given help by your mates then you may have to split up the loot per any agreements made. These cards are usually very advantageous to you so they are usually very valuable to others as they attempt to steal away your goods. If you did not fight a monster yet this turn, you may draw another secret card from the Door deck to add to your hand. Should your hand size climb above your limit (dictated by your Race card, if any) you will slide into the Charity phase to relieve your hand of extra cards. Give all excess cards to the player of lowest Level, or split them among those that share the lowest Level. It is now the next player’s turn and you continue play until someone reaches 10th Level.
Components. It’s a bunch of cards and one die. The cards are of okay quality. Nothing to write home about. The die is nice with one of the faces having the Munchkin logo head imprinted on it. It will also have a color scheme that matches the version of Munchkin you are playing, so it’s easy to match them back up if they become integrated with each other. Overall, the components are fine, but not wonderful. That’s probably why these are pretty inexpensive to purchase.
Okay, so like I said earlier the original vanilla Munchkin was the first hobby board game I ever purchased. My friends and family had no idea hobby games existed, so there was actually a pretty steep learning curve for us. Once we figured it out, however, we began to play it a ton and really love it! The cards are cute, the game play is pretty easy if you have played hobby games before, and the puns kept us rolling for a good while. There was a time when I owned every version of Munchkin in circulation and we never even played half of them. Seeing this I got rid of them through BGG Auctions. I have The Good, The Bad, and The Munchkin and Munchkin Zombies right now and I feel that will be plenty for me from here on out – unless they make a Doctor Who or Firefly set or something /*checks warehouse23 to find out if these are available/.
Do I still love Munchkin? No, not really. I LIKE it, but I don’t really want to play it all the time any more. Why? Well, as my gamer experience increases and I level up, my game tastes also level up. I see why people enjoy and even love this game system. I myself loved it for a time. But there are better games out there that accomplish the same feelings without being as sophomoric and have better choices to be made. Will I still play these games? Heck yeah! If someone asks to play a Munchkin game I am all in. I have different tastes and preferences now, but I’m no snob. Just come prepared, because I won’t go easy on you.
We at Purple Phoenix Games give this family of titles a backstabby 16 / 24.
In Munchkin games, you are trying to become the first player to reach 10th Level. That’s the goal. You take on the persona of a 1st Level basic human (no Starbucks jokes please) who will be adventuring with a party of your opponents through a dungeon. You will be kicking down doors, fighting monsters, placing curses on your fellow party members, and buffing yourself with cards featuring funny art and punny references. Your party mates are also trying to achieve 10th Level and will do everything they can to block your progress, so be prepared!
DISCLAIMER: This review is not for a specific game within the Munchkin universe, but for the system as a whole. All Munchkin games will pretty much use similar, if not exactly the same, rules to play the game with minor variations and different theming. I will be using The Good, The Bad, and The Munchkin for my review as it is one of the two versions I still own of the franchise. Also, I will not be detailing every rule in the book(s), but giving a brief overview of how the game plays. -T
Setup is easy: shuffle the deck of Door cards and the deck of Treasure cards. Deal cards to the players for their opening hands and keep the included die handy.
Your turn consists of just a few phases: Open a Door, Look for Trouble, Loot the Room, and Charity. To Open a Door, flip over the top card of the Door deck. If it is a monster you must fight it or run. If not a monster, you can move on to the next phase. If it IS a monster, prepare for combat. Combat is simple in that you add up all your bonuses from your gear cards you have attached to your character and try to beat the strength of the monster. Your party mates can screw with you during combat by adding strength to the monster or adding monsters to the fight to make it a more difficult encounter. If you win, you gain a Level on the spot. Some monsters are worth even more than one Level. If you did not encounter a monster, you will add the non-monster card you drew to your hand and you may Look for Trouble by playing a monster card from your hand to initiate a combat. This fight will work the same way and you will be susceptible to pile-ons as before. You may Loot the Room if you defeated a monster on your turn by drawing Treasure cards equal to the printed reward on the bottom of the monster card you defeated. If you defeated the monster yourself, unaided, these are drawn in secret. If you were given help by your mates then you may have to split up the loot per any agreements made. These cards are usually very advantageous to you so they are usually very valuable to others as they attempt to steal away your goods. If you did not fight a monster yet this turn, you may draw another secret card from the Door deck to add to your hand. Should your hand size climb above your limit (dictated by your Race card, if any) you will slide into the Charity phase to relieve your hand of extra cards. Give all excess cards to the player of lowest Level, or split them among those that share the lowest Level. It is now the next player’s turn and you continue play until someone reaches 10th Level.
Components. It’s a bunch of cards and one die. The cards are of okay quality. Nothing to write home about. The die is nice with one of the faces having the Munchkin logo head imprinted on it. It will also have a color scheme that matches the version of Munchkin you are playing, so it’s easy to match them back up if they become integrated with each other. Overall, the components are fine, but not wonderful. That’s probably why these are pretty inexpensive to purchase.
Okay, so like I said earlier the original vanilla Munchkin was the first hobby board game I ever purchased. My friends and family had no idea hobby games existed, so there was actually a pretty steep learning curve for us. Once we figured it out, however, we began to play it a ton and really love it! The cards are cute, the game play is pretty easy if you have played hobby games before, and the puns kept us rolling for a good while. There was a time when I owned every version of Munchkin in circulation and we never even played half of them. Seeing this I got rid of them through BGG Auctions. I have The Good, The Bad, and The Munchkin and Munchkin Zombies right now and I feel that will be plenty for me from here on out – unless they make a Doctor Who or Firefly set or something /*checks warehouse23 to find out if these are available/.
Do I still love Munchkin? No, not really. I LIKE it, but I don’t really want to play it all the time any more. Why? Well, as my gamer experience increases and I level up, my game tastes also level up. I see why people enjoy and even love this game system. I myself loved it for a time. But there are better games out there that accomplish the same feelings without being as sophomoric and have better choices to be made. Will I still play these games? Heck yeah! If someone asks to play a Munchkin game I am all in. I have different tastes and preferences now, but I’m no snob. Just come prepared, because I won’t go easy on you.
We at Purple Phoenix Games give this family of titles a backstabby 16 / 24.
Mothergamer (1607 KP) rated the PC version of Fable III in Video Games
Apr 3, 2019
I finished my first play through of Fable 3. I did pick the hero role my first time through. You can choose to play an evil tyrant also. I loved hearing John Cleese as the voice of your trusty butler Jasper, along with other recognizable voices throughout the game such as Simon Pegg and Ben Kingsley. The first half of the game follows the template of exploration, quests, and combat as you recruit followers and gather an army as either a prince or princess of Albion. While some of the quests are courier (package delivery) quests, there are quests that are creative with things like donning a chicken costume, performing in a play, or wearing a disguise.
Once you have your army, the revolution can begin and Fable 3 becomes a tactician strategy game where the tough decisions you make actually have an impact in the story. Interaction with others is one on one now making it easier to recruit followers or woo a spouse. Another thing that I loved is the solution to the clunky menu system. That is gone and you now have the sanctuary where you can organize weapons, costumes, and your full magic arsenal. There is also an offline and online co-op feature that works really well so you can play with others and pool together treasure, resources, and rewards from adventuring together.
That isn't to say that there aren't any problems. There are a few. At times, there are loading time issues with the load screen as you enter a new area. There are also little graphic errors here and there where you're holding an npc's hand for a quest and as you are running, it looks like they're not holding hands with you, or they end up stopping and standing there so you have to come back to get them. Even with the world map and fast travel, there still seems to be a loading issue.
However, you forget all that as you play Fable 3 immersed in fun quests, planning a revolution, and deciding if you will be a hero or a villain. Who knew revolution could be so much fun?
Once you have your army, the revolution can begin and Fable 3 becomes a tactician strategy game where the tough decisions you make actually have an impact in the story. Interaction with others is one on one now making it easier to recruit followers or woo a spouse. Another thing that I loved is the solution to the clunky menu system. That is gone and you now have the sanctuary where you can organize weapons, costumes, and your full magic arsenal. There is also an offline and online co-op feature that works really well so you can play with others and pool together treasure, resources, and rewards from adventuring together.
That isn't to say that there aren't any problems. There are a few. At times, there are loading time issues with the load screen as you enter a new area. There are also little graphic errors here and there where you're holding an npc's hand for a quest and as you are running, it looks like they're not holding hands with you, or they end up stopping and standing there so you have to come back to get them. Even with the world map and fast travel, there still seems to be a loading issue.
However, you forget all that as you play Fable 3 immersed in fun quests, planning a revolution, and deciding if you will be a hero or a villain. Who knew revolution could be so much fun?
ArecRain (8 KP) rated Maid to Match in Books
Jan 18, 2018
I was so completely enchanted by this novel that I was sad when I finished. In fact, I didn't even know that I was close to the end until I turned the page and there wasn't any more text. When I requested this novel from Goodread's book swap, I didn't expect to love it so much. I'm not a fan of Christian novels, but I didn't even know that it was such until I looked up more about the author. There were numerous references to the Christian god, and the character's relying on him for strength and guidance. However, the story was more about the characters and their relationships rather than their god.
I immediately fell in love with the characters. Tillie was so simple in her ambitions that I couldn't help but envy her. All she wanted in the entire world was to be a lady's maid and help those less fortunate than her. Then there is Mack, whose only concern is getting his sister out of a horrible orphanage and returning to his home in the mountains. Both Mack and Tillie have their own agendas and they don't plan on letting anything ruin those plans. In fact, in the beginning when Tillie discovers she is up to lady's maid, she tells her own brother that not even someone in love with her is going to stop her from attaining the position.
Things don't exactly happen that way. Through determination and some sacrifice both end up getting what they wish, but by then, they aren't sure it is what they really want.
Gist delighted me in so many ways. The characters were simple in their aspirations yet had such much....well character. The world as we know it wasn't threaten by anything more than man's selfishness. The heroine wasn't some great hero who had amazing powers or was the only one who could save the world. I loved Gist's style. She really knew how to say something so perfectly to give it a certain feel or to come across a certain way.
I was surprised I loved this book as much as I did, but it was a treasure I couldn't believe I found. An instant favorite.
I immediately fell in love with the characters. Tillie was so simple in her ambitions that I couldn't help but envy her. All she wanted in the entire world was to be a lady's maid and help those less fortunate than her. Then there is Mack, whose only concern is getting his sister out of a horrible orphanage and returning to his home in the mountains. Both Mack and Tillie have their own agendas and they don't plan on letting anything ruin those plans. In fact, in the beginning when Tillie discovers she is up to lady's maid, she tells her own brother that not even someone in love with her is going to stop her from attaining the position.
Things don't exactly happen that way. Through determination and some sacrifice both end up getting what they wish, but by then, they aren't sure it is what they really want.
Gist delighted me in so many ways. The characters were simple in their aspirations yet had such much....well character. The world as we know it wasn't threaten by anything more than man's selfishness. The heroine wasn't some great hero who had amazing powers or was the only one who could save the world. I loved Gist's style. She really knew how to say something so perfectly to give it a certain feel or to come across a certain way.
I was surprised I loved this book as much as I did, but it was a treasure I couldn't believe I found. An instant favorite.
Chelsee R Clawson (23 KP) rated Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night (Immortals After Dark #4) in Books
Feb 4, 2018
The storyline (1 more)
How much you can relate to the characters
So where the begin! There will be no spoilers in this review not because I'm a mean person but this book is a treasure for your mind to delve into. This was the first book I read in the Immortals after dark series it was a present from a dear friend who has similar tastes in books as i . At first I didn't know some of the characters from previous books in the series (of course i didn't know about the full series till after this novel) but once finished the characters are ingrained into the very fibers of your being. I can tell you Nix is a legend, bowen is as cunning as a wolf and has a few caveman tenancies to be sure and the likeability and how much you can relate to mariketa is amazing I can tell you now I hunted down everything written by kresley Cole and pre ordered all future releases within minutes! the way kresley writes is positively enthralling, from the very first page until the back cover the words grip you by your eyeballs and sucks you into the very pages between your fingers! If you can put this book down you are a stronger willed person than I! This book was finished in one sitting, it was in the wee hours of the morning to my horror I finished reading ....Weeping and balling soon followed when the last page was turned it felt as though I lost the characters from my soul ... Soo I ended up reading it again and then again months later! My dear friends addiction is not a strong enough word for this book and all those that come before or follow on in the series, kresley Cole is one of my favourite authors and reading her books is an addiction to which I will never be able to abstain from. Surrender your mind and escape to a world like our own but with darker depths, surreal planes and exceptional beings of the lore that star in this series
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012) in Movies
Aug 7, 2019
A follow up to the 2008, “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” here is another modern take on those beloved classic stories of the 19th century. “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” is based on the idea that Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island, Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, are in fact the same island which really does exist.
The movie opens up with the return of Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson) getting caught by the police for climbing a satellite tower. To his chagrin, Josh is released into the custody of his stepfather Hank (Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson), a former Navy man who wants nothing more than to be friends with his stepson. Sean’s reason for climbing the satellite tower was to get a hold of a satellite transmission code that he believes is the key to a message from his long-lost grandfather Alexander(Michael Caine).
Sean, with the help of Hank’s Navy expertise, attempts to decode the message which eventually leads them to the Mysterious Island. Along the way, the two hire a helicopter pilot Gabato (Luis Guzman), who provides the comedic relief and his daughter Kailani (Vanessa Hudgens) who, of course, is the eye candy and the romantic interest for Sean.
Upon arrival at the Mysterious Island, they locate Sean’s grandfather Alexander and they discover they must trek across the island, past a volcano that erupts gold leaves and run from dangerous creatures to find Captain Nemo’s ship. All before the island sinks!
You don’t have to be a “Vernian” to know what’s going on here. This movie was definitely geared toward a younger audience. The idea behind recreating Verne’s novels with a modern day twist was clever, however the execution was poor as the sequence of events didn’t flow from one scene to the next and the character relationships were not genuine at all. I must say, however the visual effects were stunning. as well as some of the action scenes which could have rivaled “Indiana Jones” or even “The Goonies” with just a bit more care and attention to detail.
The movie opens up with the return of Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson) getting caught by the police for climbing a satellite tower. To his chagrin, Josh is released into the custody of his stepfather Hank (Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson), a former Navy man who wants nothing more than to be friends with his stepson. Sean’s reason for climbing the satellite tower was to get a hold of a satellite transmission code that he believes is the key to a message from his long-lost grandfather Alexander(Michael Caine).
Sean, with the help of Hank’s Navy expertise, attempts to decode the message which eventually leads them to the Mysterious Island. Along the way, the two hire a helicopter pilot Gabato (Luis Guzman), who provides the comedic relief and his daughter Kailani (Vanessa Hudgens) who, of course, is the eye candy and the romantic interest for Sean.
Upon arrival at the Mysterious Island, they locate Sean’s grandfather Alexander and they discover they must trek across the island, past a volcano that erupts gold leaves and run from dangerous creatures to find Captain Nemo’s ship. All before the island sinks!
You don’t have to be a “Vernian” to know what’s going on here. This movie was definitely geared toward a younger audience. The idea behind recreating Verne’s novels with a modern day twist was clever, however the execution was poor as the sequence of events didn’t flow from one scene to the next and the character relationships were not genuine at all. I must say, however the visual effects were stunning. as well as some of the action scenes which could have rivaled “Indiana Jones” or even “The Goonies” with just a bit more care and attention to detail.
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