The Hale Cooking Show

Hi everyone! That’s right! Two posts in one week! After traveling and being home and traveling again I was a little off my usual rocker, but now I’m…

Back on my Rocker

This might change in the future, but after some experimentation the last couple of weeks, I still think finishing these posts on Fridays is the best option for me. But here’s the question:

Remember that you can vote on these, even from your email, and even from your email on your phone. So even if it’s the year 2044, there is no excuse not to vote! I mean, if you don’t care, that’s fine. And if you hate me…

Anyway…

A den, a den, a den den dum

I’ve had several corrections sent to me about the last newsletter, so I wanted to share them here. Remember than you can always comment, reply to the email, or even text me about any of the posts! Please! I love hearing your comments, and I take all of them seriously!

WHAT DO YOU MEAN A TRICERATOPS IS NOT A LIZARD?!?!

Quick, change the subject…

The Hale Cooking Show

Look! I’m making wine! Out of grocery store grape juice and some yeast!

Here, you can see the yeast eating the sugar and burping out carbon dioxide, which is pushing up the bubbles. Look at them go!

Sorry for the hilariously shaky camera work. I’ll put points into my Videography skill next time.

Time For Some Game Design Nonsense

This week I ran Blades in the Dark for the second time. Two weeks ago I talked about how I wanted to take the already interesting game and add some of my own twists. So how did it go?

Basically, one of the other countries in the world accidentally summoned a mysterious army of aliens called “Germans,” so called for their germs. The city Duskvol, where the game mostly takes place, is now under siege by the German fleet. Also, the Germans know how to control sea monsters called Leviathans…

But you didn’t come for that! You came to hear about how introducing a turn structure went! You came to hear how introducing turns in Cartoodle singlehandedly saved that game, and made Blades in the Dark even better!

Well… playing the game in turns really slowed things down… sometimes you make mistakes…

Here’s the map I drew of Duskvol. You may recognize this kind of setup from a game called Diplomacy, where players are trying to conquer some place (usually Europe). Since the players are evenly matched, players have to make deals, ally, and betray each other to win. I already have my friend Josh giving orders to the Germans, and I was thinking of bringing in two more people to give orders to the Imperium who controls Duskvol, and to the Nobility. Basically, I want to try having our game of Blades (which happens at the human level) take place against the backdrop of a game of Diplomacy (at the global level). I haven’t heard of this being done before, so we should be for a very interesting ride! If playing as either the Nobility or the Imperium sounds interesting to you, please reach out! Like right now!

I have more to say about Blades in the Dark, lessons learned, and what’s next, but it’s almost Shabbat and I gotta go. So I’ll wrap it up with a sneak peak at Cartoodle’s interior, and I’ll see you next week! Shabbat Shalom!

BONUS MANGA