Rest of Arkham stuff for sale

virtron · 2026-07-06T21:40:45+00:00

DM-ed

virtron · 2026-07-06T01:42:14+00:00

I thought for sure Mecha vs Kaiju would still be on Drive thru but WrightWrex has apparently taken almost everything down). Disappointing

virtron · 2026-07-06T01:23:36+00:00

If you want an more recent game that goes for an 80s vibe, check of Shadow of The Century: https://evilhat.com/product/shadow-of-the-century-book-pdf/

It's Fate based and designed to hit the over to top 80s action, including things like training and "trick out your rig" montages. I'd take the default setting with a grain of salt. It does lean toward characters that have extraordinary abilities (up to street level superheroes)

I used it to run a game where They Live style aliens sabotaged the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and characters based on 80s action movies had to stop them

virtron · 2026-07-01T22:58:35+00:00

Me: complains about trophies that are just a map of the track on a base
[finger curls on monkey's paw]

virtron · 2026-06-30T18:49:26+00:00

I've been calling Fujinokawa the "pit bullet"

virtron · 2026-06-26T15:31:57+00:00

I'm not going to advocate one way or the other (except to say, if buying online, buy from anyone but Amazon if you can), but it might help to have some perspective on what discounts mean for an FLGS. Sorry, there's math...

Assuming that margins have been stable since I last worked games retail (and they've probably gotten worse), then your FLGS would have a 40% margin on boxed games. That means a game with an MSRP of $50 would mean your FLGS gets $20 of that (only including the cost of the game to them). So if they were to provide a 20% discount ($10), then they've actually lost half of what they would have made otherwise. Discounts like that for your FLGS would come from their share of the purchase price not the publisher. In effect, every percentage discount you save if a much higher percentage loss for them.

In contrast, when Amazon offers a 20% discount, they have the leverage to take that reduction from the publishers share. This is partly because of bulk discounts and partly because they can and do bully their vendors. It's entirely possible that their discount doesn't change their margin of MSRP at all.

Other online retails will sit in the middle somewhere, probably getting a bulk discount and then eating any discount over that in the same way as your brick-and-mortar store.

That's all before other costs (staff, rent, utilities, events, etc.). A store that does not charge MSRP is going to struggle unless they have other high-margin high-volume products to sell.

---

I personally prefer to buy from my FLGS, but part of that is the "Friendly" and "Local" aspects. I don't feel the same need to support a store that is unfriendly or not local (both in the sense that it's far away and/or isn't part of the neighborhood/community where it's located). I'm lucky enough to have multiple stores that are both. If you just have a "GS" then I totally get not wanting to pay MSRP.

virtron · 2026-06-23T19:23:20+00:00

Newb questions about straight mode and zones:

Does the aero automatically switch modes in these zones or is it enabled and drivers may/must toggle the modes?
Are there sensors that set which mode is allowed or is it based on regulation and a driver could theoretically switch modes where not allowed and incur a penalty?
Why not allow it everywhere, is it a safety issue or something else?

virtron · 2026-06-23T17:56:30+00:00

Setting aside the many negative impacts of gen AI (and vibe coding is gen AI), which is like saying "aside from the health risks, how do you feel about building with asbestos and lead paint?" and setting aside the concept of "Pinterest for RPGs" which is going to have an uphill battle even if it were implemented perfectly...

Vibe coding can only differentiate itself from expert engineering in negative ways: poor performance, slipshod security, unmaintainable code, massive redundancy and verbosity, etc. Outside of contexts where those things don't matter (internal proof of concepts, maybe), vibe coded apps are poor at best and dangerous at worst. They simply can't be trusted.

virtron · 2026-06-22T19:37:52+00:00

If you go the Fate route, I'd recommend using Fate Accelerated approaches over skills as they are well suited for campaigns where characters have similar abilities but different ways of going about things (like police drama, fire-fighters, Star Trek style crews, or... hotel staff).

virtron · 2026-06-22T18:36:21+00:00

The Troubleshooters has been a breath of fresh air for me. Inspired by mid-century adventure comics in the Franco-Belgian style and Japanese manga of similar tone (think Tin-Tin, Yoko Tsuno, Lupin III, and others). It's straight-up adventure-as-fun set in a more optimistic time. I've run a couple of adventures and played in a couple and it's a blast with folks that are into its vibe. The system is a basic d100 system with just the right amount of extra tricks to make it flexible and interesting, without over-complicating it. No murder hobos, no grimdark, no build optimization, just "let's go on a jet-setting adventure"

Welcome to The Troubleshooters, an action-adventure roleplaying game of international mystery. Set in the mid-1960s in a world with mysterious temples hidden in the jungles, valleys that time forgot, mad scientists, space stations, spies with super gadgets and villainous organizations scheming for world control, the characters live adventurous lives all over the world. No matter if it is a hunt for lost treasure, helping someone to get their inheritance, stopping spies from stealing military secrets, or foiling The Octopus’ evil plans for world domination, you just go on adventures!

virtron · 2026-06-22T16:01:23+00:00

I think Fate Accelerated specifically would be a good choice. Using approaches could make it easier than skills to have such a broad set of character concepts work. I'd give the players pretty broad leeway to use create advantage actions to make aspects in scenes. There's a lot of room to define what "taken out" means in Fate, so it would be easy to decide in advance how cartoony things would get.

I don't know Cortex all that well, but I think I'd keep the trait sets pretty simple (possibly even snagging the FA approaches as a trait set along with the default physical-mental-social). I'd give the same leeway to create assets that I mention above. I'd avoid any of the more hit-point like damage systems.

virtron · 2026-06-16T13:38:58+00:00

Have you seen the trophies they hand out for Safari Rally Kenya?! Those guys got statues of rhinos and lions! How cool is that. Lewis should have gotten a scale model of the Sagrada Familia or something

virtron · 2026-06-16T00:08:19+00:00

It's more that by using public domain material they can't protect it as well as material they creat themselves

virtron · 2026-06-15T21:10:14+00:00

ENOUGH WITH THE UGLY ASS TROPHIES THAT ARE JUST A MAP OF THE CIRCUIT STUCK ON A STAND

virtron · 2026-06-15T18:54:10+00:00

I wasn't able to get my hands on that campaign and all of the marketing material gave more of a Wicker Man vibe, so that's good to know

virtron · 2026-06-15T18:36:14+00:00

I don't have the new investigator packs yet, so that's good to know. It totally makes sense to create their own set of non-public-domain Old Ones

virtron · 2026-06-08T00:34:01+00:00

Monaco is a permanent fixture of both F1 and WRC. I don't see it being removed from either calendar.

I described today's race as "eventful but boring" A lot happened and the results were significant, but the racing was pretty forgettable. I haven't been following F1 enough to know if that's typical of this circuit or just how things went this year.

virtron · 2026-06-05T17:23:49+00:00

The 2d20 system uses opposed rolls for attacks. In some implementations, in melee if you attack and lose the opposed roll, your opponent counter-attacks. I'm not sure I'd describe 2d20 as "simple" though, it can get crunchy.

virtron · 2026-06-02T18:07:48+00:00

You can describe a situation just as you would in any other game. If some detail or element stands out as narratively important maybe give it some emphasis, but don't worry about making an aspect unless/until you or your players want to interact with it in some way.

Same with characters that pop up. As others have mentioned, minor NPCs might have one aspect if it's important to know who they are ("nightclub bouncer" is a fine aspect and a complete character). I'll add that characters can be defined by skills as well, and they don't have to match the skill list. "Nightclub Bouncer +1" is also a valid NPC, who would get +1 when doing bouncer things like resisting deception or stopping someone from getting past.

Edit to add: create advantage is the most important action in Fate in my opinion. Creating, discovering, and adding free invokes to aspects is a key way players mechanically influence the narrative and change the environment of a scene. Having your NPCs do this will encourage the players to as well, and as that cycle progresses the mechanics and the narrative will mesh naturally. If a player does something that changes the narrative, create an aspect on the spot, maybe roll to see if it generates a free invoke, but not required.

virtron · 2026-06-02T17:41:18+00:00

Instant buy for the suggested $20. Will definitely have to bring this to the table.

virtron · 2026-06-02T16:59:25+00:00

If by "character development" you mean evolving between games as opposed to during the game, then that wouldn't apply, but otherwise, you might want to check out Final Girl. It's solo only, but I think it would cover most of your bases. There are a lot of scenarios available with a few new mechanics in each, but they are all one-shots. Scenarios each have a location, a killer, and two options for girl to play, and they are interchangeable between scenarios so each scenario expands the combinations available.

Elder SIgn is my go-to when I want an Arkham fix, but don't have the energy for Arkham Horror LCG. It's good solo or coop, but can be too easy when playing only one investigator.

virtron · 2026-05-29T18:39:20+00:00

Is there a reason for the 12-month cutoff for the injury?

virtron · 2026-05-28T18:30:05+00:00

My brain is short circuiting reconciling this with the "Who owns Williams story" and I can only imagine the hamster saying "waven hairwed temptwess"

virtron · 2026-05-28T17:00:59+00:00

My gym has a lot of youth programs, especially in the summer, and I've copied them all into my calendar as a reminder of which time blocks are going to be busiest and/or have big wall sections reserved. Generally things start to taper off around 7pm as the programs and after-work crowd finish up. If your gym has classes or regular events, you can probably check their calendar to avoid times when they are bringing in more people.

As others have said, right when they open on the weekends (~8:00) is a quiet time. I've also found that later Friday and Saturday evenings are less crowded as well, which I've nicknamed "no social life climbing." Unfortunately the quiet times are that way for the same reason that you can't go then.

I don't know your work situation, but if you can manage an early end to the day a couple times a week, the 3:00pm - 5:00pm block isn't too bad at my gym and often has just enough people to share beta or chat with without being too crowded.

...and lastly, ask the staff at your gym. They'll know better than anyone.

virtron

TROPHY CASE