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postapocalypticplayground (27 KP) rated Caraval in Books
Jan 9, 2018
Roll up roll up to the world of Caraval, a game where nothing is ever as it seems but if you succeed you can make your greatest wish come true! For Scarlett, she has been writing to Caraval Master Legend for many years, hoping that he will bring his players to her Isle of Trisda so she can experience the joy and wonder her Grandmother’s stories told her about. When her final letter see’s an older Scarlett informing Legend that she is about to marry, a pre-wedding gift arrives in the form of tickets to Caraval! One for her, her sister Donatella and Scarlett’s fiance, who by the way she has never met…. Her father is a cruel man and Scarlett see’s the opportunity for marriage as a way to escape, which won’t happen if she attends Caraval. But her sister and the young sailor, Julian, have other plans!
Sailed away to Master Legends Island, Scarlet must play the game of Caraval and the stakes are higher than she ever thought. Not everything is real and everything has a price, can Scarlett complete the game and get back to Trisda before her father knows she has gone and before her wedding day? Or will the secrets of Caraval pull her in too deep?
I went into Caraval a little sceptical, I had heard mixed reviews from friends but I wanted to love it as the story sounded amazing, thankfully I wasn’t disappointed. In a book where I was constantly told that not everything is real I found myself second guessing everything, trying to figure out the clues along with Scarlett. The Caraval itself is wonderful and vibrant but yet a little sinister if you scratch the surface, I almost felt transported to a Victorian era where the currency is secrets rather than coin. There are a ton of twists in this tale and I have to say that I struggled a little to keep up at times. My only quibble is that it did get quite ridiculous as the story progressed and I was longing for a little stability in the story. There are however, some genius bits that I loved especially around some of the forms of payment.
I found it a struggle to put this down, for the most part it was the kind of read that I didn’t have to think about as I flew through the pages and apart from the odd moments of wading through treacle I found myself utterly caught up in the world, my heart racing against the clock just as Scarlett’s did. I would totally recommend giving this a read, it’s not 100% up to the hype, but I’m glad I read it and I think it may end up in that rare pile of books that I have that I would want to read again!
Sailed away to Master Legends Island, Scarlet must play the game of Caraval and the stakes are higher than she ever thought. Not everything is real and everything has a price, can Scarlett complete the game and get back to Trisda before her father knows she has gone and before her wedding day? Or will the secrets of Caraval pull her in too deep?
I went into Caraval a little sceptical, I had heard mixed reviews from friends but I wanted to love it as the story sounded amazing, thankfully I wasn’t disappointed. In a book where I was constantly told that not everything is real I found myself second guessing everything, trying to figure out the clues along with Scarlett. The Caraval itself is wonderful and vibrant but yet a little sinister if you scratch the surface, I almost felt transported to a Victorian era where the currency is secrets rather than coin. There are a ton of twists in this tale and I have to say that I struggled a little to keep up at times. My only quibble is that it did get quite ridiculous as the story progressed and I was longing for a little stability in the story. There are however, some genius bits that I loved especially around some of the forms of payment.
I found it a struggle to put this down, for the most part it was the kind of read that I didn’t have to think about as I flew through the pages and apart from the odd moments of wading through treacle I found myself utterly caught up in the world, my heart racing against the clock just as Scarlett’s did. I would totally recommend giving this a read, it’s not 100% up to the hype, but I’m glad I read it and I think it may end up in that rare pile of books that I have that I would want to read again!
Paul Kellett (118 KP) rated Shadows of Malice in Tabletop Games
May 8, 2019
Great framework for narrating an adventure (2 more)
Good solo game
Interesting mechanisms
A lot of fiddly tokens (1 more)
Slightly heavy rules
A different take on the adventure board game
Shadows of Malice is an interesting take on the adventure game. Aside from the introduction explaining that you are heroes on a quest to find and activate mystical light wells and defeat the demon and his shadows before they can break through from the shadow realm and capture the wells for evil, there is no fancy artwork, immersive flavour text or even the well known fantasy monsters.
Instead, you get plain cards with simple line art and either just an icon/dice modifier or a short line of text explaining the effect. These cards are items of armour, weapons or other loot, potions, skill masteries, fate effects or abilities. A selection of these make up your character. Again, there are no defined heroes, you can be whatever you fancy being.
When you encounter a monster you roll 3d6 against a chart which will define the creature's species and its strength. Creature types are things like "Avian" and "Reptilian" so you can imagine fighting a dinosaur, a giant eagle or whatever fantastic creature you desire.
This makes the game a great framework to roleplay in. You are never stuck encountering the same things again and again. On the minus side, if you don't have a good imagination, it boils down to just rolling dice and beating target numbers. If you want a game to give you a story to follow, SoM is not that game.
The rules are good, if a little heavy but after a game or two it should soon click and it's mostly straight forward. The designer has recently just uploaded a revised rulebook to BGG which streamlines a number of things.
SoM comes with 4 large landscape hex tiles plus a shadow realm tile and you can choose any number of tiles to arrange in any position around the shadow realm tile. Each tile is divided into a number of smaller hexes with varying terrain and locations printed on them. This is the world you will be exploring and, despite being tiny compared to other game boards, each tile adds about an hour to the play time.
Gameplay involves exploring the land fighting creatures, gaining loot, visiting cities to trade goods or mystic seers to buy potions while searching for the special light wells that you must take control of.
In between player turns, the shadows act. They begin confined to the shadow realm but as the rounds progress, barriers fall and the shadows are more likely to find a way out to manifest in the land. Once there they start searching for the light wells and it's game over if they get to them first .
This makes for a tense cat and mouse with your heroes racing to either get to a well or intercept the demons on route.
Instead, you get plain cards with simple line art and either just an icon/dice modifier or a short line of text explaining the effect. These cards are items of armour, weapons or other loot, potions, skill masteries, fate effects or abilities. A selection of these make up your character. Again, there are no defined heroes, you can be whatever you fancy being.
When you encounter a monster you roll 3d6 against a chart which will define the creature's species and its strength. Creature types are things like "Avian" and "Reptilian" so you can imagine fighting a dinosaur, a giant eagle or whatever fantastic creature you desire.
This makes the game a great framework to roleplay in. You are never stuck encountering the same things again and again. On the minus side, if you don't have a good imagination, it boils down to just rolling dice and beating target numbers. If you want a game to give you a story to follow, SoM is not that game.
The rules are good, if a little heavy but after a game or two it should soon click and it's mostly straight forward. The designer has recently just uploaded a revised rulebook to BGG which streamlines a number of things.
SoM comes with 4 large landscape hex tiles plus a shadow realm tile and you can choose any number of tiles to arrange in any position around the shadow realm tile. Each tile is divided into a number of smaller hexes with varying terrain and locations printed on them. This is the world you will be exploring and, despite being tiny compared to other game boards, each tile adds about an hour to the play time.
Gameplay involves exploring the land fighting creatures, gaining loot, visiting cities to trade goods or mystic seers to buy potions while searching for the special light wells that you must take control of.
In between player turns, the shadows act. They begin confined to the shadow realm but as the rounds progress, barriers fall and the shadows are more likely to find a way out to manifest in the land. Once there they start searching for the light wells and it's game over if they get to them first .
This makes for a tense cat and mouse with your heroes racing to either get to a well or intercept the demons on route.
Darren (1599 KP) rated Jarhead 3: The Siege (2016) in Movies
Jul 2, 2019
Story: Jarhead 3: The Siege starts as new recruit Evan Albright (Weber) who has just gotten a role working in the US Embassy in the Middle East, welcomed by Hansen (Ainsley) and under the orders from Gunny Raines (Adkins) with the job to protect the Ambassador Cahill (Hogan). With Evan going through the lesson of how to operate in the embassy we are ready to begin.
Evan notices somebody outside the normal outside the embassy, which soon sees him learning the lessons of the protocol. The marines find the embassy under siege and must use all their training to keep the Ambassador alive against countless enemies.
Thoughts on Jarhead 3: The Siege
Characters – Evan is the newest marine bought into the embassy, he does fill in the gaps for the protocol that must be followed by the team, learn to work with the rest of the unit and is the first to suspect something is going on around the embassy and ends up being the one leading the fight back. Gunny Raines is the leader of the marines, you play by his rules or face the consequences. Major Lincoln is the one leading the rescue attempt, bringing the back-up required to hopefully help the stranded marines, spends most of the film in a helicopter racing to the scene. Olivia Winston is the computer operative at the embassy, she like Evan has bigger dreams when it comes to rising up through the military rankings.
Performances – Charlie Weber does take the leading role here where we follow his character entering the world, he works as a soldier never setting the world alight, which can be same for the whole cast sees Scott Adkins, Sasha Jackson and Dennis Haysbert.
Story – The story here follows a newly recruit marine in an US embassy that must deal with a siege from the locals on the building meaning he will join the marines to show off their skills to defend the embassy. This is one of the simplest stories you will ever see, we follow Evan as he and we learn the lay of the land, the siege is everything you would expect too, following the usual ideas of needing to have safety and out live the numbers that are trying to kill you. It does feel like the story is safe rather than challenging.
Action/War – The action plays into the war side of the film, we get plenty of military manoeuvres to see bullets flying around.
Settings – The settings in the film show us the embassy and how the marines operate within it, we see how this makes the positions difficult to defend.
Scene of the Movie – The escape.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – It is too by the books.
Final Thoughts – This is an easy to follow military action film, it doesn’t do anything wrong, only it just seems to be by the book and overly safe.
Overall: Safe Military Film.
Evan notices somebody outside the normal outside the embassy, which soon sees him learning the lessons of the protocol. The marines find the embassy under siege and must use all their training to keep the Ambassador alive against countless enemies.
Thoughts on Jarhead 3: The Siege
Characters – Evan is the newest marine bought into the embassy, he does fill in the gaps for the protocol that must be followed by the team, learn to work with the rest of the unit and is the first to suspect something is going on around the embassy and ends up being the one leading the fight back. Gunny Raines is the leader of the marines, you play by his rules or face the consequences. Major Lincoln is the one leading the rescue attempt, bringing the back-up required to hopefully help the stranded marines, spends most of the film in a helicopter racing to the scene. Olivia Winston is the computer operative at the embassy, she like Evan has bigger dreams when it comes to rising up through the military rankings.
Performances – Charlie Weber does take the leading role here where we follow his character entering the world, he works as a soldier never setting the world alight, which can be same for the whole cast sees Scott Adkins, Sasha Jackson and Dennis Haysbert.
Story – The story here follows a newly recruit marine in an US embassy that must deal with a siege from the locals on the building meaning he will join the marines to show off their skills to defend the embassy. This is one of the simplest stories you will ever see, we follow Evan as he and we learn the lay of the land, the siege is everything you would expect too, following the usual ideas of needing to have safety and out live the numbers that are trying to kill you. It does feel like the story is safe rather than challenging.
Action/War – The action plays into the war side of the film, we get plenty of military manoeuvres to see bullets flying around.
Settings – The settings in the film show us the embassy and how the marines operate within it, we see how this makes the positions difficult to defend.
Scene of the Movie – The escape.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – It is too by the books.
Final Thoughts – This is an easy to follow military action film, it doesn’t do anything wrong, only it just seems to be by the book and overly safe.
Overall: Safe Military Film.
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (2011) in Movies
Aug 7, 2019
From director Steven Spielberg who brought us “E.T.” and the producer of “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy Peter Jackson, comes the fabulous “The Adventures of Tintin”. The film is based upon the popular European comic books which were created by Belgian artist Georges Remi and tells the story of Tintin (Jamie Bell) , a young journalist and his canine Snowy who are always seeking to find a one of a kind story to write about.
One afternoon at an outdoor market the two come across a small replica of the three-masted Unicorn sailing ship being sold at a very good price. Tintin then starts to be pressured into selling his replica to a sketchy man Ivan Sakharine (Daniel Craig) who tries very hard to purchase the ship by offering him double than what was originally paid. Without luck, Sakharine leaves and is soon followed by another man who also attempts to purchase the ship, only this time he warns Tintin about what he has gotten himself into. Tintin starts to think that maybe there is a secret about this ship and he is determined to get to the bottom of it. After returning home following a scuffle between Snowy and a neighboring cat, the ship is accidentally broken and concealed in one of the masts is a cylinder that later is revealed to contain directions to hidden treasure.
After being bitten by the curiosity bug, Tintin decides to investigate at the house of Sakharine and ends up discovering a second replica that holds another clue. He becomes captured by Sackharine and imprisoned on a ship headed to find the third and final Unicorn replica. Tintin is imprisoned with the Captain of the ship, Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis). Who learn that they must escape and collect all three of the clues to assemble the directions that will lead them to the treasure.
Both are racing to get to the treasure before Sakharine as there is a history between he and the Captain which further complicates the issues at hand.
After what seemed to be a very long and drawn out opening, the film jumps right into the action with lots of adventure, pirates, comedic moments and realistic scenes. This proves that you really can‘t judge a book by the cover as I have never been a fan of stop motion film at all, in fact it has always been creepy to me.
Knowing that this movie was filmed with that technology, I was extremely hesitant in even giving it a chance but I am very glad I did. The film is very well written and executed and truly delivers. The 3D is also outstanding and makes you feel as if you are a part of the epic adventure. I recommend this film to all ages and if you have your doubts, please trust me and give it a chance. You will not be disappointed.
One afternoon at an outdoor market the two come across a small replica of the three-masted Unicorn sailing ship being sold at a very good price. Tintin then starts to be pressured into selling his replica to a sketchy man Ivan Sakharine (Daniel Craig) who tries very hard to purchase the ship by offering him double than what was originally paid. Without luck, Sakharine leaves and is soon followed by another man who also attempts to purchase the ship, only this time he warns Tintin about what he has gotten himself into. Tintin starts to think that maybe there is a secret about this ship and he is determined to get to the bottom of it. After returning home following a scuffle between Snowy and a neighboring cat, the ship is accidentally broken and concealed in one of the masts is a cylinder that later is revealed to contain directions to hidden treasure.
After being bitten by the curiosity bug, Tintin decides to investigate at the house of Sakharine and ends up discovering a second replica that holds another clue. He becomes captured by Sackharine and imprisoned on a ship headed to find the third and final Unicorn replica. Tintin is imprisoned with the Captain of the ship, Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis). Who learn that they must escape and collect all three of the clues to assemble the directions that will lead them to the treasure.
Both are racing to get to the treasure before Sakharine as there is a history between he and the Captain which further complicates the issues at hand.
After what seemed to be a very long and drawn out opening, the film jumps right into the action with lots of adventure, pirates, comedic moments and realistic scenes. This proves that you really can‘t judge a book by the cover as I have never been a fan of stop motion film at all, in fact it has always been creepy to me.
Knowing that this movie was filmed with that technology, I was extremely hesitant in even giving it a chance but I am very glad I did. The film is very well written and executed and truly delivers. The 3D is also outstanding and makes you feel as if you are a part of the epic adventure. I recommend this film to all ages and if you have your doubts, please trust me and give it a chance. You will not be disappointed.
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