Play-Through Party Preparation: LOTRLCG Sunday

This week we for Play-Through Party we are going to start our Lord of the Rings Journey. We are, of course, going to be going in order from the very beginning quest, Journey Through Mirkwood. As I mentioned in the Tavern Post a few days ago, I updated a deck a made last week for this party. This is the deck description below:
Heroes:

• Glorfindel(FoS)
• Frodo Baggins(CatC)
• Beorn(OHaUH)

Allies:

• Arwen x 2(TWitW)
• Lorein Guide x 1
• Westfold Horse Breaker x 3(HfG)
• Bofur x 1(TRG)
• Gondorian Spearman x 3
• Escort From Edoras x 2 (JtR)
• Northern Tracker x1
• Gandalf x 2

Attachments:

• Light of Valinor x 2(FoS)
• Unexpected Courage x 1
• Ancient Mathom x 3 (aJtR)
• Ring Mail x 2 (tLD)
• Dagger of Westernesse x 2 (tBR)
• Horn of Gonder x 1
• Rivendell Blade x 1 (RtR)
• Song of Battle x 1 (tDM)
• Resourceful x 1 (tWitW)
• Boots From Erebor x 1 (Khaz)

Events:

• Fortune or Fate x 1
• Elrond’s Counsel x 3 (tWitW)
• The Galadhrim’s Greeting x 2
• Blade Mastery x 3
• Feint x 2
• Quick Strike x 2
• Swift Strike x 1
• A Test of Will x 2
• Hasty Stroke x 2
• Stand and Fight x 1
• Dwarven Tomb x 1
• Total: 50

I am still deciding on what I want in my sideboard for this deck. I may not have one for the first quest.

The Tavern Post

Play-Through Party

For this weeks Play-Through Party we will be playing Lord of the Rings: Living Card Game. We are going to start with the Journey through Mirkwood quest. The deck that I will be using is a modified version of the Spirit/Tactics deck found here. Later this week before Sunday I will post up the cards for the new deck in a quick post.

Dungeons and Dragons

For our Dungeons and Dragons posts so far we have been using 4e. I was raised on 3.5 and adopted 4e awhile back. However, from this point forward we are going to be using fifth edition rules. After putting it off, I finally got my copies of the new rules. I will post a review of it as well once I get more reading done on it. However, my initial response to the new rules is one of excitement. It looks much better than 4e, and as I have mentioned, I was a fan of 4e. Just not as big of a fan as I was with 3.5.

Dungeons & Dragons 4e Accessibility

For anyone who reads my game reviews, you will always see an Also header at the end of each game discussing whether the game is Accessible to the blind. Most of the games I will review are going to be accessible because when I purchase a game I usually go and look up the cards online so I can see the amount of detail on the cards. So, obviously, accessibility is a really big thing for me. The reason that accessibility is such a big deal for me is because of my wife. She is blind and we usually have to update games to allow her to play.

Where Dungeons & Dragons Ties In

During the spring of this year, I got the crazy notion that the most accessible game would be the one that involves your mind and voice more than a board and cards. I have played Dungeons & Dragons for the better part of the last decade, and just thought of now asking her about it. So we sat down made some characters, she has joined one of my groups I DM for, and besides her distaste in story(she is apparently a dungeon crawler) she has enjoyed it.

How to Make Dungeons & Dragons Accessible

We did find out a few things that we still needed to address for her to play this game.

1. The Books – The books may be found online at various places and be downloaded as pdf’s. However, pdf’s are not very accessible to quickly navigate through.
2. The Dice – There are braille six-sided dice out there. In fact we probably have more of those then regular dice in my household. However, the complexity of the dice used for Dungeons & Dragons has made it where there are not really a way to get them. I saw a kick-starter for braille role-playing dice last year, but have not seen anything since about it. My current solution is to make my own with a 3D printer and Maya software once I get the printer. Our temporary fix is, we let her roll her dice herself, and either I or one of the other players next to her will read her dice off to her.
3. The Character Sheet – There is a lot of information on the character sheet. Some of it changes frequently as you play, while other parts only change at during level ups. Either way, it is a daunting task to have a blind player try an memorize that character sheet. My wife has extremely good memory, not endemic memory, put pretty darn close. My remedy for this was to throw together a multi paged excel file with all of the information broken out – logically – into different pages so she could navigate the file on her iPad.

Those are the three main things that have impeded our process with this game, and makes it much harder for her to play. However, it is a very accessible game. The majority of game play is (stripped down to its most basic level) talking and fighting.

What to do if You Get a Blind Player in Your Group

I would suggest setting some time aside outside of your normal game time to help them get started playing. You can read out the different classes and races to them so they can see what they exactly want to pick to play as. Help them set up their character in a one on one setting and they will feel less awkward than with a group of people staring at them as they build their character.

For the book issue, as I mentioned you may read it to them. You can also give them a word document of their powers for that class, so they can reference it themselves, making them more independent. To better help combat this issue I am going to be making multiple cheat sheets for D&D so that all players may have a few one page references than an entire book. Keep an eye out to see them as I make them.

As for the dice, you can get braille six-sided dice for fairly cheap off of Amazon.com. Then let them borrow some of your role-playing game dice, or if they want they can order their own. Make sure to go over each one, and when you play, help them lay them out on the table in some sort of order so they do not have to search through a large pile of them. For example my wife normally only has a couple of d6, her d20, and a d8 (at least at her current character level). We leave the rest in the bag because her character has no need for them.

For the character sheet, simply help them fill it out and help them reference it when they need to, for now. I will also be adding some accessible character sheets up, once I am done fine tuning them. Keep an eye out for them once I get them up there.

Another tip of helpful advice to help them better “see” the combat, along with your normal maps and miniatures, use a second board just for them to see where things are at. If they have a braille version of chess, that will work wonderfully. If not go buy a cheap three dollar chess board, take the board, and put lines of hot glue down on the boarders of all of the tiles. Then help them by putting some type of pieces in the corresponding spaces so they can formulate their own strategies. My wife brought this to my attention the last time we played. She mentioned how she would like to use our little travel chess board to help her see the fight as it unfolds. So this is my solution for the next time we go to play.

The Tavern Post

This week we are going to be starting a featured section called the Play-through Party. It will take place every Sunday, most likely in the afternoon. In the Play-through Parties we will be going through a play-through of a few different things.

• Lord of the Rings: Living Card Game – For this we will play through a Quest for the week. This will be a Progression Series going over the quests in order.
• Dungeons & Dragons – We will build a new character each week and play through a short tutorial with each class type. This will show the new players of the different types of classes and how they function.
• Featured Games – We may take a break from the other games to play through a featured game that we review that week.

Most of these we will be done solo as a tutorial for the readers, however, some weeks we may feature other players in the Play-Through.
Join us each Sunday to see what we cover for the Play-through Party

Review: Diamonds

The game we are reviewing this week is Diamonds. Diamonds is a trick taking game from Stronghold Games. In Diamonds players will collect Diamonds as they take tricks. These Diamonds are actual diamond pieces not the card suit, Diamonds. Like most trick taking games this is also going to be a light game. Diamonds is for two to six players and generally lasts twenty to thirty minutes. Now I am not normally a trick taking game fan, at all, in fact the only one I actually enjoy is Bouillabaisse.

Goal of the Game

This is a trick taking game. So it will follow the general take a trick to win points mentality. It takes rules from both Hearts and Spades and mashes them together, and adds in some rules of its own. Like all trick taking games, it is very easy to pick up but will offer some deeper strategy to explore.

Suit Abilities

• Diamonds- Add one diamond to your vault from the supply.
• Hearts – Add one diamond to your showroom from the supply.
• Spades – Add one diamond to your vault from your showroom.
• Clubs – Add one diamond to your showroom from another showroom.

How to Play: 2 Players

There are multiple variants of the game in the rule book to play. The one that we found the most fun was the 2-player variant.
Like all trick taking games, Diamonds is played in rounds. There will be more rounds for more players, but for the two player variant there is four rounds. To start the round, one person will be the dealer. They will shuffle the deck and deal out twenty cards to the players and the remaining cards go off to the side. Each player is given one vault. The vault is a small divider that you will place some of your diamonds in. If you have diamonds in the vault they are safe from other players. The contents of your vault are to be kept secret from other players. Then each player gets three diamonds to place directly in front of your vault, this is called the showroom. Your diamonds in the showroom are not safe from other players. The dealer decides on how many cards are to be passed to the other player. You can pass either one, two, or three cards. These will go to the player to your left. The player to the left of the dealer, in this case the other player, will lead the trick. In the 2-player variant rules, each player will play two cards instead of one card.

Following trick tacking convention, if you have a card that matches the suit of the lead card, you must follow with it. If it does not match it then you may play any suit in your hand. If you play a suit that is different from the lead suit, then you will get an automatic suit ability (discussed above), then the leader will play their second card, and the second person will play their second card. Who ever wins the trick gets the lead suits ability.

This will continue for ten tricks. Then each player will look at their tricks they have taken for that round. Who ever got the most of each suit will also get an additional suit ability of each suit in this order:

1. Diamonds
2. Hearts
3. Spades
4. Clubs

If you do not take any tricks in this round you get to take two Diamond suit actions.
You will then repeat this for the remaining three rounds. At the end of the game you will tally up your diamonds. One point each for the diamonds in the showroom and two points for the diamonds in the vault. Who ever has the most points is the winner.

My Opinion

4/5 = Captivating
Diamonds is a trick taking game. As I have mentioned above, I am not a fan of trick taking games, except for one. I was reluctant to even buy the game at first. (Only bought it because the wife wanted it.) However, I was very pleased with this game. It is like all trick taking games in that it is easy to learn, but it has many different ways to play, and I like that variation in a game. Diamonds also has the level of depth that all trick taking games has, and, in my opinion, it offers a very good level of depth to it in terms of strategy. When we first discussed purchasing this game it was around fifty dollars on Amazon. So, we put it off and found it recently on there for half the cost. Amazon.com

Also

This game is 100% accessible for the blind. From the diamonds being different sizes to being able to braille the cards, it is all able to be made accessible. It took less than fifteen minutes to braille the game, and that is while reading the instructions.

D&D 4e Basics: Skills

ASK AND YOU WILL RECEIVE!
On the last post over D&D, I received a comment that wanted me to go into detail about the skills. I had mentioned in the post that I was going to go over them briefly in a different post. We have gone over D&D basics of making a character so far and what the game is about. One thing you need to know for this post is that every action you make in this game can be linked to a skill (besides combat related abilities and attacking). If you want to look for something, that is found in Perception. If you want to forage for food while sleeping in the woods,that is under Nature. Also, all of these skills will revolve around one die, the d20. When you tell your DM that you want to look, listen, hunt, forage, jump, climb, steal, pick a lock, etc. you will roll you d20. You will add your bonuses to the number on the roll and your DM will decide if you meet the required check.

Pertinent Info

First off, skills describe different types of actions your character can do in the game. Everyone has access to the same list of skills. However, not everyone will be as efficient at each skill as others may be. In fact, each class can only pick from a small number of the skills to start off trained in. As your character levels up there are ways to get trained in skills or receive bonuses.

Skill Checks

As mentioned above, during a skill check you will roll a die and add your bonuses to the roll. Your DM will set the difficulty of the check and will let you know if your score passed the check. There is another way to perform a skill check with out rolling a d20, it is called taking ten. When you take ten you get a base score of 10 and add your bonus for that particular skill to it. That is your score for the skill check. Taking 10 is only allowed during times where you are not distracted (chasing after something, in combat, etc).

You also have what is called a Passive Skill Check. It only pertains to Perception and Insight. Your DM may allow it for other skill, but the standards are Perception and Insight. An example of when a passive skill check would come in handy: If you are walking through an area and you are paying attention to your surroundings because you assume you are safe with an enemy lying in wait for you. You may end up spotting them because your ability to see is high enough. For this you will be following the take ten method mentioned above.

For this post I will go over each skill and go over some of the basics about that skill and what type of characters are going to need that skill the most. For more detail check out chapter 6 in your Player Handbook 1. However…
DISCLAIMER- Realistically each character you play would need to be trained in all of these skills. As mentioned above some will be better than others at certain skills. When I say what classes are best for each skill I am looking at two things: one, the score that they rely on and the classes that need that the score the most, and two, my own personal opinion of what I have seen played out, so it may differ from what the Player Handbook 1 says or other players. Also, just because you see here that I suggest skills for certain classes does not mean they will have the option to start off trained in that skill.

Acrobatics (Dexterity)

Acrobatics is all about being quick on your feet. The ability to perform stunts, balance, escape from restraints or grabs, and to reduce damage when falling come easy to you with this skill. The only way to take advantage of the damage reduction from falling is if you are trained in the skill. Characters who would benefit from this skill: Rouge, Ranger, and Fighter.

Arcana (Intelligence)

As the name hints, this is about the arcane things, magic. Arcana is a knowledge skill more so than an action skill. You can have knowledge about magic things,knowledge of magical monsters (those made of the elements), and the ability to detect magic, if you are trained in Arcana. Detecting magic is a great way to figure out if there are magic traps in the room or identifying ritual circles. Wizards and Warlocks are going to benefit the most from this skill.

Athletics (Strength)

This skill covers you rigorous physical activities: climbing, jumping, swimming, and you can also attempt to over power those grabbing you with this skill. This skill is pretty self-explanatory and the classes that benefit the most for this are Ranger, Fighter, Warlord, and Rogue.

Bluff (Charisma)

Bluffing can be a way of getting information from NPC’s (non player characters) in the world or convincing your enemies to stop attacking you. You can even bluff merchants and use this skill for gambling. It is a great skill to have for those who are on the weaker side or those who enjoy deceiving their foes. Warlocks and Rogues benefit the most from this ability.

Diplomacy (Charisma)

The power of influencing those around you with your grace. You can sway others to your side and haggle with merchants, and everything between. This is a good skill to have for Paladin, Cleric, Wizard, and Warlord.

Dungeoneering (Wisdom)

Your character has been in some dungeons before if they have this skill. They know what to look for when navigating through dungeons, from traps and hazards, to making sure you do not get lost. You will also have the ability to forage for food, but you must be in the Underdark. For those not familiar with Forgotten Realms or D&D, the Underdark is the part of the world that is under the surface of the earth. It is filled with creatures that are entirely different that surface creatures and is pitch black to those with normal sight. Rangers, Wizards, and Rogues are going to be good at this skill.

Endurance (Constitution)

Being hardy is your expertise. You can survive the harshest of environments, hold your breath longer than others, and hold out longer against hunger and thirst without dying. The main two classes that will benefit from this are the Fighter and the Ranger. These two are often the go to person when out in nature trying to survive and will be called upon by their allies time and time again to perform certain tasks that will require this ability. The Paladin and Warlord would also benefit from it.

Heal (Wisdom)

The ability to heal others from near death experiences or other conditions such as disease. Clerics, Paladins, Ranger, and Warlord would benefit from this skill.

History (Intelligence)

This skill allows you to recall information about a specific region. The information can include wars, leadership, customs, and laws. Clerics, Paladins, and Wizards benefit the most from this skill.

Insight (Wisdom)

Insight is used to combat Bluff. It gives you the ability to see if someone is withholding information from you, figure out someone’s motives, and to read between the lines in a situation. The Cleric, Rogue, Paladin, Warlock and Wizard are all good at this skill. Everyone should invest some into this skill at some point.

Intimidate (Charisma)

You are a tough mother. You look at others and try to make them cower and submit to your awesomeness. This is great for Warlords, Fighters, and Paladins. Warlocks can also be intimidating as well, but not in the physically rip your face off way.

Nature (Wisdom)

Foraging for food, handling animals, and having extensive knowledge over nature and the natural creatures that inhabit it. This ability is useful for the Ranger and Wizard. Depending on how you play your character, it could also be helpful for fighters.

Perception (Wisdom)

This is going to be the most needed skill for every D&D group out there. This is going to be your everything skill. From looking for hidden things, listening at the door before entering a new room, finding tracks outside, etc. This skill is going to be most useful to the Wizard, Ranger, Rogue, Cleric, and Warlocks.

Religion (Intelligence)

Knowledge of the religions of the world and religious monsters(immortal or undead). You can draw on your knowledge to inform your group of ceremonies, holy symbols, etc. of the different religions. A must for the Paladin and Cleric, but can also be useful for the Wizard and Warlock.

Stealth (Dexterity)

You try to move silently without being noticed or spotted by others. This skill is a must for those who are on the weaker side when it comes to hit points. An obvious choice for the Rogue and Ranger, but is also a good skill to get with you Wizard later on in the game. Imagine, a wizard, that can surprise fireball people, then disappear again next turn, with successful check.

Streetwise (Charisma)

This is your street smarts. When you walk into town, you know exactly who the big boys are and what is going in town. This is good for the Fighter, Rogue, and Warlock.

Thievery (Dexterity)

This covers a bunch of fun things. From disabling traps to picking pockets, you have the ability to jack people’s stuff without getting seen. Also used to open locks.
This is an obvious choice for your Rogue. It can also be useful to the Ranger. I have played with a Wizard and Fighter who were extremely skillful at Thievery.

Those are all of the skills that are given in 4e. As I mentioned at the top of this post everyone will have access to the same list, but will have different starting choices to pick from. But remember one important rule for D&D, have fun! If you want to make a character that has some skills that do not make sense, then by all means do so. That is how you find out different things, that actually end up turning out to be cool.

LOTRLCG: Spirit/Tactics Deck

This deck is a newer deck I made to run along with my wive’s Leadership/Spirit deck. I gave her the majority of the typical cards used in a Spirit deck, so I had to get creative for mine to work. I will be posting that deck up here as well.

The Heroes

For Tactics we are going to use the beast (literally), Beorn(OHaUH)! I could have picked different heroes such as Gimli because he can become such a great hero. However, I chose Beorn, because he has Sentinel and does not have to exhaust to defend. Beorn also has a starting attack of 5 and health of 10. These combined give me the ability to hold my own at the early stages of the quest.
For Spirit I picked Frodo Baggins (CatC) and Glorfindel (FoS). I chose Frodo because he also can take a beating and stay alive, with the proper attachments. His ability lets him cancel damage dealt to him and raise your threat by that amount instead, once per round. Glorfindel will be the designated quester. He has a starting willpower of 3, and 3 attack. If you pair him with Light of Valinor, he does not have to exhaust to go on a quest. This will give us the ability to still quest, and gang up on enemies with Beorn. The goal of this deck is to be able to help with questing, and deal out some serious punishement.

Allies

As I mentioned above, most of my normal Spirit cards are in my wive’s deck, so out of the cards that were left, these were the best. First off is the remaining Lorien Guide, she will help us get through locations. Next is Bofur, for help questing. Westfold Horse-Breaker will come along to help us ready a hero. The last Spirit card is Arwen Undomiel, for questing and ability. Her ability is also going to be used to help us boost our hobbit hero, Frodo. Her ability lets us give a character Sentinel and +1 defense. Because of Frodo’s ability, this is a great bonus to him, giving him 3 defense. This will make him quite formidable.
For Tactics, we are taking the Gondorian Spearman. We are going to take three of them, because they have Sentinel and deal damage as they die. I will also be taking the Tactics version of Bofur because his ability will let us search the top 5 cards of our deck for a weapon attachment and put it in our hands. For some extra chump blockers, I am adding 1 Winged Guardian and 3 Vasals of the Windlord. To finish up the ally lineup is, of course, Gandalf. There are two left and we will take both of them.
The deck so far:
Heroes:

• Glorfindel(FoS)
• Frodo Baggins(CatC)
• Beorn(OHaUH)

Allies:

• Arwen x 2(TWitW)
• Lorein Guide x 1
• Westfold Horse Breaker x 1(HfG)
• Bofur x 1(TRG)
• Gondorian Spearman x 3
• Bofur x 1 (OHaUH)
• Winged Guardian x 1(HfG)
• Vassal of the Windlord x 3 (TDM)
• Gandalf x 2
• Total: 15

Attachments

As you can tell so far on the number of allies we have, we are going to be having much more attachments and events. This deck is going to rely on the raw power of our heroes, so we need cards to beef them up or provide us a means to hold out awhile longer. For our Spirit Attachments we are going to take 2 copies of Miruvor, because it can offer us some decent options depending on the situation. 3 copies of Ancient Mathom for card draw as we clear locations out. As we mentioned above, we are also taking Light of Valinor, which is going to be a staple card we need to survive. This allows Glorfindel to not exhaust when he quests.
For Tactics we are taking the Horn of Gondor so we can have some extra resource income. We are also taking 1 copy of both Rivendell Blade and Rivendell Bow. Both are made to be put on to Glorfindel and will make him a much stronger attacker. I have 2 copies of keeping count. I plan to use one on Frodo and the other on Glorfindel. This will make Glorfindel an even stronger attacker. Dagger of Westernesse will be used for the same thing. 1 copy of Citadel Plate just in case we need to make Frodo stronger. We are also taking 2 copies of Ring Mail as well to bolster our hobbit.
We are also taking 4 neutral attachments. 1 copy of the Boots From Erebor to give Frodo another +1 hitpoint for free. 1 copy of Resourceful so we can get some extra resource generation, and 2 Songs of Battle so we can give our other heroes the Tactics icon, giving them the ability to pay for Tactics cards as well.
The deck so far:
Heroes:

• Glorfindel(FoS)
• Frodo Baggins(CatC)
• Beorn(OHaUH)

Allies:

• Arwen x 2(TWitW)
• Lorein Guide x 1
• Westfold Horse Breaker x 1(HfG)
• Bofur x 1(TRG)
• Gondorian Spearman x 3
• Bofur x 1 (OHaUH)
• Winged Guardian x 1(HfG)
• Vassal of the Windlord x 3 (TDM)
• Gandalf x 2

Attachments:

• Light of Valinor x 2(FoS)
• Miruvor x 2 (SaF)
• Ancient Mathom x 3 (aJtR)
• Ring Mail x 2 (tLD)
• Citadel Plate x 1
• Dagger of Westernesse x 2 (tBR)
• Keeping Count x 2 (tRG)
• Horn of Gonder x 1
• Rivendell Bow x 1 (tWitW)
• Rivendell Blade x 1 (RtR)
• Song of Battle x 2 (tDM)
• Resourceful x 1 (tWitW)
• Boots From Erebor x 1 (Khaz)
• Total: 32

Events

For events we are sticking with our goal as well, smashing the enemies as quickly as possible and getting through the quest. To help us out, we are taking Fortune or Fate, just in case Beorn dies. We are also taking Elrond’s Counsel to lower our threat for free thanks to Glorfindel. For our Tactics events we are taking Halfling Determination to make Frodo stronger, Blade Mastery to help either Frodo or Glorfindel. Feint to buy us some time for an all out attack. Quick Strike so we can finish off an enemy before their turn to attack. And Swift Strike so we can use Frodo to abosrb damage and deal out 2 damage to an opponent.

The deck so far:
Heroes:

• Glorfindel(FoS)
• Frodo Baggins(CatC)
• Beorn(OHaUH)

Allies:

• Arwen x 2(TWitW)
• Lorein Guide x 1
• Westfold Horse Breaker x 1(HfG)
• Bofur x 1(TRG)
• Gondorian Spearman x 3
• Bofur x 1 (OHaUH)
• Winged Guardian x 1(HfG)
• Vassal of the Windlord x 3 (TDM)
• Gandalf x 2

Attachments:

• Light of Valinor x 2(FoS)
• Miruvor x 2 (SaF)
• Ancient Mathom x 3 (aJtR)
• Ring Mail x 2 (tLD)
• Citadel Plate x 1
• Dagger of Westernesse x 2 (tBR)
• Keeping Count x 2 (tRG)
• Horn of Gonder x 1
• Rivendell Bow x 1 (tWitW)
• Rivendell Blade x 1 (RtR)
• Song of Battle x 2 (tDM)
• Resourceful x 1 (tWitW)
• Boots From Erebor x 1 (Khaz)

Events:

• Fortune or Fate x 1
• Elrond’s Counsel x 3 (tWitW)
• Halfling Determination x 2 (tBR)
• Blade Mastery x 3
• Feint x 2
• Quick Strike x 2
• Swift Strike x 1
• Total: 50