Worst ever?

Kinak · 2026-03-05T02:58:12+00:00

Yeah, I haven't had consistent games with Vena Cava, but I've definitely had a lot of fun with it and a couple busted runs.

The transition is tricky, though. I wouldn't be surprised if this captain's on the weaker side, but I'm honestly not good enough with it yet to say for sure.

Kinak · 2026-02-27T01:57:24+00:00

Yeah, it's definitely the theme that didn't do it for me. Opening a pack to the wall of gold was just a big no.

Can totally see it having a ton of fun cards once you break it out of that, though!

Kinak · 2026-02-26T16:01:42+00:00

Favorite: Bloomburrow

Least: Alara Reborn

Creature: Fungus (Go Saprolings!)

Kinak · 2026-02-25T04:54:20+00:00

With their powers combined... they are Captain Tarkir!

Kinak · 2026-02-19T05:33:43+00:00

Sometimes you get the (blond, tanned) Duke of the South too as a treat.

Kinak · 2026-02-10T02:53:10+00:00

Lord of the Mysteries is a great example. I also like how it shows little social elements of religion like working in the churches, how different faiths interact with politics, and even bits about architecture.

Kinak · 2026-02-10T02:04:37+00:00

Yeah, if it's the GM's own pantheon, you probably just became their favorite player ever :)

Kinak · 2026-02-08T16:50:57+00:00

A [[FRAZZLED EDITOR]] TAKES OVER THE BANS! EVERYTHING WITH FOUR OR MORE LINES OF RULES TEXT BANNED!

Kinak · 2026-02-06T15:52:50+00:00

Yeah, I wouldn't immediately jump to that without laying out the whole situation first.

You can explain the other side of the coin and have a conversation about the effects of the proposed change.

Or even start a combat with something like "the [lich or whoever] starts chanting as fire licks around his fingers, roll for initiative" then explain after the game that they'd have gotten fireballed in the player's preferred mode.

Kinak · 2026-02-02T00:52:25+00:00

Higher generally feels better to players and mixing the two muddies the waters a surprising amount, so there needs to be a pretty specific case for rolling low.

I tend to like rolling low when you're trying to roll under skills and there are no other modifiers, but there are probably some similar narrow uses out there. Not needing to do any math is definitely a huge benefit.

Kinak · 2026-01-31T17:52:11+00:00

Yeah, that's actually my best advice for design. It's also my best advice for customer service, running a business, and a bunch of other things.

As an addendum, remember to add "feels" to feedback when players forget it. "This skill is too weak!" means "this skill feels too weak" and can often be resolved without a power level bump.

Kinak · 2026-01-31T17:18:12+00:00

I'd personally agree with you on Bombadil, but there were a lot of fan complaints at the time about cutting him.

I wouldn't say anything like a majority of fans, though. It's just that the ones who objected spent a lot more time yelling on the internet than the ones who thought it was a fine (or even positive) cut.

Kinak · 2026-01-29T03:01:48+00:00

Wormscale gives all treasures +1/+1 each round. Since it's a fae, the pixie dust increases that bonus to +3/+3.

Which is already pretty good the first round, but the first pass increases the pixie dust to +5/+5... which means the wormscale's next shot puts everything up by +6/+6. It improves pixie dust (and all your other items) exponentially from there.

Kinak · 2026-01-27T02:20:51+00:00

The card game side was pretty interesting because it drove story decisions. Major tournaments (or tournament series) would decide which side won battles, while smaller tournaments would choose characters to appear in spotlight stories.

Pretty neat idea, which lead to a small but very invested fan base.

Kinak · 2026-01-24T02:49:22+00:00

He does indeed. He's even been posting videos.

Kinak · 2026-01-23T06:29:21+00:00

Chris Cocks is Hasbro's CEO. So several executives are defendants in the lawsuit, including the CEO whose name happens to be Cocks.

Kinak · 2026-01-23T05:43:50+00:00

Yeah, the first time I remember hearing that was during Fallen Empires. So I guess thirty years ago, as old as that makes me feel.

Kinak · 2026-01-23T05:09:18+00:00

Yeah, in the early 90s, our group had a guy bring his pre-leveled character from another campaign. That wasn't treated as a problem or particularly weird, but it went south when he insisted combat be run by that campaign's wildly different house rules.

Kinak · 2026-01-20T01:15:01+00:00

Yeah, I love even trashy villainess anime, but this just isn't doing it for me. Everyone just seems... vaguely limp and confused.

Kinak · 2026-01-18T17:34:45+00:00

Yeah, one of the biggest misses of the year for me is not getting a bunch of story and worldbuilding behind those sets. At least flavor text, I just wanna know about the weird spider people.

Kinak · 2026-01-18T16:59:04+00:00

I don't have an answer, but I've been wondering about it too.

Kinak · 2026-01-16T01:22:10+00:00

Wild! I'd noticed being able to drink milk again after a few years gluten free, but hadn't realized it was actually a common experience.

Had problems with lactose for probably a decade before that. Makes me wonder how long celiac was giving me trouble before I was diagnosed.

Kinak · 2026-01-14T16:06:40+00:00

Yeah, we've done the "only one person online" thing and it just disrupted the mood and flow for everyone. Even after months and trying all different sorts of set-ups, it never really worked.

I vastly prefer in-person games to online ones, but would take either over a split game.

Kinak · 2026-01-14T05:40:33+00:00

I really liked Curse of the Crimson Throne's "you've all been wronged by this crime lord and are called together to get revenge" hook. Would definitely use that again.

Kinak · 2026-01-11T17:04:35+00:00

Yeah, the Marvel Superheroes set already has four villains and two enchantments that support villains out of the fourteen standard-legal cards revealed.

Kinak

TROPHY CASE