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This page last updated Tuesday, 06-Sep-2005 12:28:36 EDT.
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Role Playing News
Volume 3, Number 1 - July 28, 1997
The Roving Gamer is Mark Christopher. To submit articles contact him
at:
The Roving Gamer
1811 Beacon St
Brookline, MA 02146
or e-mail torrin@io.com
Volume 3, Number 1
July 28, 1997
Classic Games: Go
by the Roving Gamer
I've never been much of one for chess, but I've always been fascinated
by, and wanted to learn, the ancient game of Go. Finally acquiring a set,
I've had the opportunity to play, and I have to say, this has got to be
the most elegant game ever created. It has absurdly simple rules and yet
possesses amazing depth and complexity. I suppose this should be evident
by the fact that the game itself is between 3000 and 4000 years old, and
relatively unchanged throughout it's history.
The equipment itself is simple, consisting of a board marked by a 19x19
grid, 181 black stones, and 180 white stones. The object is to capture
the most territory, and the play is the placing of a stone on one of the
361 intersections formed by the lines (these intersections are the "territory"
that the players are competing for). Territory is considered captured when
it is surrounded by stones of only one color (or one color and the board
edge).
Players also have the ability to capture opposing stones. If one can
completely surround a stone (or a group of stones that are on adjacent
intersections), so that there are no intersections that are unoccupied
bordering the threatened stone, that stone is captured and removed from
the board.
Players alternate placing one stone at a time until they both agree
that there are no more points (each intersection counts as a point for
the player who surrounds the board area it's in) to be won. At this point,
the players count up the territory and add the enemy prisoners (or subtract
their own, depending on the scoring style), and the winner is the one with
the most points.
The amount of depth in the game is incredible, and the placing of each
stone is a balance of strategy (will it be able to help in the overall
group "shape"?) and tactics (trying to shrink an opponents territory, or
threaten stones, or whatnot). The game is often compared to chess and in
fact is essentially (prestige and popularity-wise) the "chess" of the orient
(though considering its age, perhaps chess should be considered the Go
of the west). I'm glad to have found someone willing to learn the game
so that I have an opponent (though there are computer programs out there
for Go, and any of them could whip me, computers, as a rule, are not very
good at go, certainly not nearly so good as they are at chess), but there
are also countless go clubs around the country and the world, not to mention
the various go servers on the Internet (where you can even get a rating
for yourself after a number of games) so if you have an interest if it,
it shouldn't be hard to try it out. I certainly would recommend it.
Volume 3, Number 1
July 28, 1997
Mythos: so there is a great CCG after all
by the Roving Gamer
Ok, ok, I was one of those who thought Magic: the Gathering was
a stupid game and that collectible card games themselves were a blight
upon humanity. Yet, how could I resist the dream-sendings of Cthulhu himself?
As soon as I heard about it, I went out to buy Mythos, the CCG based
upon the works of horror author Howard Philips Lovecraft, and I'm glad
I did.
The game itself plays like a real card game, not like a board-less board
game. It's fast, simple, and hilarious. Each player (there can be anywhere
from 2 to infinity, though in the latter case it may be hard hearing the
people at the far end of the table) plays an investigator, searching the
secrets of the cthulhu mythos, and this identity is represented by an investigator
card placed in front of each player. The players all get their play decks,
as well, which will contain cards representing locations, artifacts, tomes,
monsters, spells, events, allies, and (most importantly) adventures.
The adventure cards, which represent stories, list various cards that you
have to play in order to be able to get points for that adventure. This
represents your investigators' delving into the mythos. Each player can
only play one card a turn, and (around here anyway), we do it with great
flourish and description ("My ally, Lawrence of Arabia, showed me here
in the Alexandria Museum of Antiquities just where he hid the shotgun in
the mummy's casket."). This tends to lead to some weird stories, but is
great fun.
One of the best things about Mythos is that you don't have to
collect it to play it-the folks at Chaosium sell a pre-made pack of two
decks as a standard set. Try it out!
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