LIES! There’s “a little bit into the new year” and then there’s whatever this is

Fine, you win - this is quite late. Now let’s move on, please.

Scott is doubly bad at time – most of these weren’t released in 2023!

It’s true! I am terrible at keeping up with the zeitgeist so I mostly play catch-up. Instead, these are merely things that I encountered for the first time in 2023.

This format is shamelessly adapted from Noel Rappin. He’s a great writer - do me a favor and go read his blog, then buy his books so he won’t get upset about this flagrant style heist.

Movies

Banshees of Inisherin (2022)

Summary: Two men struggle with the challenges of friendship in increasingly extreme ways.

I try to be friendly but I have few friends. Friendship is hard for me in many subtle, hard-to-articulate ways. It feels like an extraordinary commitment and significant cost, but also I just feel so bad at it. So I tend to cultivate acquaintances rather than friends.

I thought I was alone with these feelings but Banshees of Inisherin is a study of weirdos like me. It’s a wonderfully told story of two men who were friends and now aren’t. Maybe. Like friendship itself, it’s simple and yet complicated.

It’s directed by and stars the principal players of In Bruges, another of my favorite movies. Banshees of Inisherin holds up to that high standard.

Swiss Army Man (2016)

Summary: Two people learn how to be human. Oh, but one of them is a farting corpse.

Swiss Army Man is perhaps the hardest movie sales pitch ever. There is no way to make it sound appealing. I had it recommended to me at least five times before I finally gave it a shot, and even then it wasn’t totally voluntary.

Don’t be stupid like me. Don’t see “farting corpse” and write this movie off. It’s fun, sweet, and has two incredible performances from Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe. THEY EVEN SING ON THE SOUNDTRACK! And they don’t make a big deal about it!

It’s from the Daniels who you may know from Everything Everywhere All at Once, or perhaps from the delightful Turn Down for What video. This is just as good as either of those amazing films.

The Rover (2014)

Summary: Guy Pearce in a grim modern western set in a post-semiapocalyptic Australia.

The Rover is a western stripped bare. You learn little about the characters and less about the setting. What remains is a vivid performance from Guy Pearce, playing an unnamed character in the remote stretches of a desolate Australia. He seethes with quiet rage, a violent man in a violent world.

I especially loved the setting. It’s never made clear what happened to Australia and the movie trusts the audience to be okay with that.

Also, I think I’m the last person to figure this out, but Robert Pattinson is kind of amazing, right? He’s fantastic in this and did yeoman’s work in making Tenet watchable.

Night is Short, Walk on Girl (2017)

Summary: A comedic journey of two people wandering through an increasingly surreal night, seeing the many strange ways we’re interconnected.

Every other movie on this list is a short, focused tale that is almost too simple. Not this. I spent the first half-hour of this anime thinking it was a beautiful, well-intentioned mess. An amusement without direction or purpose. Later-era David Lynch if he was inclined to make anime instead of… whatever he’s been doing lately.

However, Night is Short, Walk on Girl then starts to come together by somehow getting stranger. Mysterious trains that run on phantom tracks, a whole segment of raunchy jokes, walking into a random stage performance - the movie gets more unhinged and yet comes together, bringing characters back to show that we’re all stumbling through life with each other’s help.

Okay, I take back what I said about Swiss Army Man - this might be the most difficult movie in this list to pitch.

Lone Star (1996)

Summary: Nominally a mystery, it’s really a tapestry of interconnected stories about life and race in a small Texas town.

Lone Star could easily have been a moralizing tale with one dimensional characters all imparting Very Important Messages. It could have been the 2005 movie Crash but in 1996. It’s too smart for that though, and besides, 1996 already had a different movie called Crash that was an extremely different thing. But I digress.

Chris Cooper delivers a fantastic performance as a small town sheriff investigating what might be a crime and which might be committed by his father when he was sheriff. He’s joined by great supporting performances as side characters repeatedly reveal unexpected depths. The joy is just seeing how deep that goes.

It also probably has the wildest ending of anything on this list.

Everything Else - Movies

(movies I enjoyed but can’t recommend quite as strongly)

• C’mon C’mon - A sweet story and incredible performance by Joaquin Phoenix.
• Athena - The first 40 minutes are a single-shot masterpiece of frantic action. Worth watching for that alone.
• Three Thousand Years of Longing - Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba are the romantic pairing I never knew I needed.
• Let the Bullets Fly - I can’t say I understood every twist and joke in this frantic action comedy, but the direction and acting is good enough that I didn’t care.
• Prospect - Incredible art direction creates a new scifi aesthetic I’ve never seen before. Have y’all heard about this Pedro Pascal guy? He’s good.
• Crippled Avengers - A classic Shaw Brothers kung-fu movie. It has some of the best fight choreography I’ve ever seen.
• Lars and the Real Girl - I’ve found Ryan Gosling perplexing in every other movie. Now I get it. Ryan, I’m sorry. You’re amazing; I was the problem.

Video Games

Cobalt Core

Summary: A cute, deep deckbuilding game with a clever one-dimensional combat system.

Cobalt Core joins the crowded space of the zillion games framed as “Slay the Spire, but…” Most of these games forget that the genius of Slay the Spire is clear, evocative effects and complexity through combining very simple mechanics. Instead, they just add complex base mechanics and quickly overwhelm me.

Not so with Cobalt Core. The game cleverly models dogfighting as a one-dimensional affair. You control only your ship’s left-to-right position relative to your foe. It’s simple and immediately clear but creates a very interesting mechanical space.

Also, it’s adorable! Each deck is a combination of three different pilots with their own charming animations, lines, and cards. It’s the first game since Slay the Spire that hooks me in similar –but novel– ways.

• Steam
• DekuDeals

Polimines

Summary: Minesweeper but awesome, a game of pure logic without guessing.

Polimines is a simple, inexpensive set of 30 logic puzzles based on Minesweeper. In each puzzle, you must determine which squares are empty and which are filled, based on clues that are increasingly open-ended as the game progresses.

Later puzzles introduce new types of clues, and the magic of the game is in deducing paradoxes and impossibilities from overlapping clues to determine what must be filled.

This is the first game since the masterpiece Hexcells that compares. It’s a great game and a bargain.

• Steam

Circuit Superstars

Summary: A racing game with adorable graphics and approachable controls that reveals a great deal of depth.

I love racing games but I’m hard to please. I have no patience for simulations - ask me to select tires or think about my car’s aerial dynamics and I’m out. However, most arcade racers are so simple that they can’t maintain my interest.

Circuit Superstars seems made for me then. You can jump straight into the action but there’s still a rich depth to each race. I fell in love after my first endurance race that required me to carefully plan my pit stops and avoid being too rough on my car in-between.

Pit stops! Tire wear and grip issues! It’s easy to look at screenshots and be fooled into thinking this is some slight game. It rewards patience and a light touch though. And for a cheap price, it offers a wealth of cars and races. What a gem.

• Steam
• DekuDeals

Shadows of Doubt

Summary: A procedurally-generated, film noir take on Deus Ex.

These lists aren’t ranked and I don’t pick “Best of the Year” in anything. But disregard that: Shadows of Doubt is my game of the year for 2023 and easily the best game I’ve played this decade.

Shadows of Doubt has you play as a private detective in a grimy, randomly generated urban painscape set in a 1980’s gone terribly wrong. You choose your own cases – maybe you specialize in tracking people, finding stolen items, or even “finding” “stolen” items. Perhaps you even get a little rough with people. Oh, and every so often you’ll need to solve a murder of course.

Shadows of Doubt gives you tools and toys but then lets you solve these cases as you see fit. You may start a case with a name; if so, lucky you. Other times you’ll work from as little as an age and handwriting sample. Murders are especially open-ended. I’ve cracked cases on call logs, eye-witness testimonies, and CCTV footage.

It’s an amazing experience but I must warn you it’s very much an Early Access game. I fell through the bottom of the world a few times. Janitors seem to get stuck opening and closing the same doors frequently. Once, I loaded a saved game to find myself in a totally unfamiliar location. The difficulty is wrong, with the game getting progressively easier after your first few hours.

Bad bugs are rare however, and if you’re not afraid of some rough edges then I heartily encourage you to check it out.

• Steam

Everything Else - Games

(games I enjoyed but can’t recommend quite as strongly)

• Synthetik - An action roguelike that comes closer than anything else to making me feel like John Wick.
• Cryptark - Choose your own risks as you scavenge derelict ships. Would be higher in my esteem if only it weren’t so short.
• Hero’s Hour - A charming take on the strategy classic Heroes of Might and Magic. It’s a bit obtuse which makes finding the right difficulty level a pain.
• System Shock: Enhanced Edition - If you can come to grips with the funky control scheme, this classic still holds up today.
• Golftopia - Comes closer than any other game to capturing the magic of SimGolf.
• Bloody Rally Show - A violent arcade rally racer that’s a clear labor of love.

TV

The History of the Seattle Mariners

Summary: A funny and moving documentary series on YouTube that answers the question “What if Ken Burns loved charts, had a sense of humor, and a budget of about 500 dollars?”

I don’t follow sports and have no particular interest in baseball or Seattle teams. However, I’m a sucker for great stories and moving heroics, especially those found beyond the headlines.

This Youtube series seamlessly alternates between hilarious, random asides told with droll narration and riveting sports stories I never knew of. All of this is done with a new, lo-fi form of documentary filmmaking unlike anything else I’ve ever seen.

A still image of a player’s glove gave me goosebumps. How is that possible?!

I know a multi-hour, data-heavy docu-series is a hard sell so I’ll just leave you with this quote from the show’s first few moments:

“This story begins the only way it ever could have begun: with 140 acts of arson.”

Eat that, Ken Burns.

The Diplomat

Summary: West Wing meets Gilmore Girls meets 24, but somehow it comes together.

Any given episode of The Diplomat alternates between comedy, romantic drama, and fast-paced international affairs. It requires a certain suspension of disbelief. Strong writing and even better performances from Keri Russell and Rufus Sewell make that a very easy pill to swallow.

The Diplomat doesn’t moralize or engage in hero worship like some of its inspirations. While the show touches upon some international affairs with expertise, clean heroic victories are rare in this series.

But it could be half as smart and I still wouldn’t care because it’s such a joy to watch the entire cast bounce off each other. Keri Russell is particularly delightful and it’s great to see her finally get a meaty, worthy project after The Americans wrapped.

Beef

Summary: A dramedy about petty revenge escalates into… a thoughtful, introspective and surprisingly relatable show?

Beef’s framing device is a road rage incident that escalates to increasingly unhinged acts of petty revenge. The show is brilliant in many ways, but I particularly loved seeing the complicated, messy lives of these characters (portrayed brilliantly by Stephen Yeun and Ali Wong).

Ultimately Beef is about people who are trapped within their fixed worldviews, and how that influences everything from the role of church in their lives to how they choose a spouse. I felt these characters deeply despite how little their lives resemble my own life at first glance.

Everything Else - TV

(shows I enjoyed but can’t recommend quite as strongly)

• Succession Season 4 - Does anyone really need my recommendation of the fourth season of this extremely popular show? If you do, here it is: it was very good. I don’t have anything to say about the fantastic writing or cast that hasn’t already been said by the entire rest of the internet.
• Bachelor in Paradise Season 7 - Mainline Bachelor(ette) gets all the attention but I maintain that Paradise is the better show. S7, despite its wonky hosting situation, is the second-best season of the franchise. The jubilant shout of “BOYS, I GOT DUMPED!” will live on forever in my head.

Books

Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Summary: A two-character, Rashomon-esque novella with fascinating takes on the quote “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

A road trip with your average scientist from any space opera and a heroine who could have been plucked from any fantasy novel. These two share a language but lack any shared culture, context, or mutual understanding. The adventure itself is fine (candidly, I’ve already forgotten most of it) but the real draw is seeing key events from each character’s wildly different perspective.

Great, fun concept that is perfect for the novella format - doesn’t overstay its welcome at all.

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Summary: Simultaneously a thrilling adventure and a deep, thinky scifi tale spanning thousands of years (and light-years).

Let’s get this out of the way. “Sentient spiders.”

I rejected this book so many times because of those two words. It’s not the ick factor – working from my basement requires some level of spider tolerance. I just immediately fall into a unwakeable slumber when a scifi writer goes deep on some truly alien species with a different mode of cognition.

But I liked Elder Race by this same author, so I decided to get over myself and give this a shot.

Once again I was being dumb - this book series is great! It has big ideas about how we choose our tribes and how we have (and haven’t) overcome our evolutionary biases. But also, it’s a rollicking good time full of adventure and conflict and derring-do and wild AI personalities.

Most smart scifi books are boring. Many exciting scifi books are shallow. I really don’t know how Adrian Tchaikovsky managed to be both deep and thrilling with Children of Time.

The third and final book in the series, Children of Memory, was also quite good. It skews more towards “smart” than “exciting” but there’s a few passages that will stick with me forever.

Over the Edge of the World by Laurence Bergreen

Summary: Did you know that Magellan didn’t actually circumnavigate the world? That’s only, like, the seventh-most interesting fact about his voyage.

I only stumbled into this because of a strangely named achievement in Civilization 6 that I found. Then I read the summary of this voyage and thought “no way, that’s crazy” and needed to learn more.

YOU GUYS THIS WAS WILD.

I loved this book. The author peppers the story with historical context and does a reasonable job of balancing the remarkable achievement of Magellan & his crew against their horrible actions. You can see why some celebrate his accomplishments and others celebrate his final end.

I enjoyed The Wager too but if you’re only going to read one book about naval disasters in the Age of Sail, pick this.

Everything Else - Books

(books I enjoyed but can’t recommend quite as strongly)

• Mister Mammoth by Matt Kindt - a strange graphic novel about a great detective’s greatest case. Reading it feels like a half-remembered dream.
• Chaos Terminal by Mur Lafferty - it’s the first scifi murder mystery I’ve read! By definition, that makes it the best even if it takes awhile to get going.
• House of X / Powers of X by Jonathan Hickman - I don’t often go for comics, but these were terrifically fun time loop stories. You need to make peace with not understanding everything that happens though since this sprawls into approximately 1,400 other comics lines.
• Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers - a cozy little scifi story where nothing much happens. Sometimes that’s what you need.

Everything Else - Everything Else

Random things I enjoyed that don’t fit in anywhere else.

The Initiative (Board Game)

We love puzzles and escape rooms, so this riddle-focused legacy board game was a major hit with us. It’s wild that this simple, focused game is from the same designer as another of my favorites, the sprawling and unwieldy board game Star Wars: Rebellion.

Hey Randy! (Podcast)

This is perhaps my most pointless recommendation since it’s a podcast behind the paywall of a different podcast that it spun out of. There’s no sane person who would bite at that. But you’re missing out - each episode is a hilarious, free-wheeling conversation between improvisers playing unhinged characters and leaning hard into every mistake they make.

This past weekend I emailed the following to all registered users of RPG Seeker:

I’m shutting down RPG Seeker on March 23rd, 2024. I’ve had a great time building and operating this site, but doing so costs me time & money on a project that frankly hasn’t found traction.

To provide some context, the site has been running for two years but this email is going to fewer than a hundred people. Of that small group, I’m guessing most people reading this are thinking “Wait, I have an account at whatever this site is?” :)

Regardless, whether you’re a power user or signed up in a long-forgotten drunken stupor, please accept my sincere gratitude for using the site. I had a blast and you have made it a joy to get this far on this project. Thanks for going on this journey with me.

I want to be clear to any users reading this - rpgseeker.com as it exists today is indeed over. It will be gone in a month’s time.

But I want to talk further about the bigger picture and my hopes & dreams for the roleplaying market.

The state of online RPG shopping

Finding and buying roleplaying games digitally is just as frustrating in 2024 as it was when I started RPG Seeker in 2020.

• DriveThruRPG is the leading option. It has received a fresh coat of paint recently but underneath it’s still an antiquated, difficult experience. It has an enormous userbase though, and many of them are comfortable enough with the experience to browse DTRPG for new titles. This creates light network effects that DTRPG uses to justify an enormous take rate from RPG creators unless they agree to sell exclusively on DTRPG.
• Itch.io is the second-most popular option. It’s far kinder to creators and allows an unrivaled level of personalization. However, creators are on their own – almost no one is browsing Itch to find new roleplaying games. Furthermore, their catalog of RPGs is so much smaller than the rest of their inventory that it seems destined to remain an afterthought to Itch.
• Some creators turn to running their own storefronts. Shopify, LeanPub, Gumroad, and similar platforms are all popular options but carry very similar pros & cons to Itch. They can be great experiences but creators get very little to help boost discovery.

Most creators end up begrudgingly listing their games on both DTRPG and Itch, pushing Itch to their fanbase but relying on DTRPG for discovery.

There have been a few attempts at creating a competing RPG-focused marketplace, notably Indie Press Revolution, but they’ve remained niche and difficult to use.

We deserve better. I want better experiences as a player, creators deserve a better option for their livelihoods, and the community as a whole would benefit from another choice.

Okay, but what does this have to do with RPG Seeker and the future?

I hoped RPG Seeker would appeal to gamers who wanted a better search experience and improved sale notifications.

But that was just step one in my previously unannounced secret plan. This is from my personal journal, written in early 2021:

1. Get a critical mass of users by helping them find good sales on great games
2. Use that critical mass to solve one of the classic problems of bootstrapping a new marketplace: you won’t get sellers offering their products without users, but you won’t get users without sellers.
3. Turn RPG Seeker into a better marketplace for buying RPGs

I couldn’t talk about this dream openly as RPG Seeker existed only through the good graces of the awesome DriveThruRPG marketing & engineering teams. We spoke every so often, they are lovely people, and if they had decided to shut down my access then I would have pulled the plug on RPG Seeker much earlier.

So if there’s an upside to calling it quits on this incarnation of RPG Seeker, it’s that I can finally talk openly about how much I’d love to build a better marketplace for roleplayers that directly competes with the existing players.

And here’s the main point I want to make:

Building a platform for finding sales across Itch & DTRPG was not the right way to attract users. However, I’m not abandoning my goal to build a better marketplace someday.¹

In the meantime, if you’re a creator or publisher reading this and have thoughts, get in touch - scott at rpgseeker.com or on BlueSky. I’d love to connect with folks in the industry to get more perspectives on this.

Until next time.

Working at Deku Deals

In case you missed the detail I buried at the tail end of my last update, I’ve been part of the team at Deku Deals for about two weeks now. It’s great! Working with Michael is a joy, and it’s a delight to work on a product I love and use every day. As I get more up to speed I’m sure I’ll have more to say about my experience there.

Escape Academy (Steam)

Couch co-op games used to be a regular feature in the Parker household but no more - too often they demand excessive time, focus, or ability. So Escape Academy is a delightful return to form for my wife and I to play together.

The idea is simple - you and a partner run through increasingly fantastical and expansive escape rooms. The “rooms” are clever without being obscure, the controls are incredibly approachable, and the art style is bright and colorful. It’s perfect for us - we’re obsessed. It’s ideal for sporadic 20-30 minute gaming sessions too.

“Slow Horses” by Mick Herron (the book)

I can be a pop book snob, turning up my nose when a book is extended into a long-running series or adapted into a television show. Slow Horses is both, so I had to hear about this book a stupid number of times to get over myself and read it.

I am obsessed, now anxious that there are only eight books in the series. I have to parcel these out carefully lest I spend too much of my lifetime without another Slough House book to read.

I don’t care about spies and I’ve never been able to finish a Le Carre book (a major character flaw, I know). However, Mick Herron made me forget I don’t like spy novels through his delight in language and his touch with characters. Each chapter revels in a different subset of oddball spies who despise each other and themselves in equal parts. Funny, exciting, and surprisingly relatable.

This lemon-garlic sautéed asparagus recipe (Link)

We cook asparagus all the time. I’ve tried a number of techniques but I always come back to roasting them with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic. Everything else just gets in the way.

So I was recently surprised to love this dish so much. Lemon and shallot I understand, but does asparagus really need cheese? YES – and roasted red peppers and za’atar. Absolutely delicious and something I’d happily serve to company, the highest praise I can give a recipe.

Will it replace simply roasting them, one of the all-time great recipes? I have no idea but it will definitely be in our regular rotation.

“Over the Edge of the World” by Laurence Bergree

I only stumbled into this book about Magellan’s circumnavigation because of a strangely named achievement in Civilization 6 that I achieved by accident. Then I read a brief summary of his expedition and thought “no way, that’s crazy” and had to learn more.

THIS WAS WILD. Five boats set out on this journey; only one makes it, with only about 18 of the 270 original sailors surviving. None of the captains–including Magellan–survived the circumnavigation.

I loved this book. The author peppers the story with historical context and does a reasonable job of balancing the remarkable achievement of Magellan & his crew against their horrible actions. You can see why some celebrate his accomplishments and others celebrate his final end.

One of the better histories I’ve read in awhile.

Everything Else

a few things I’ve recently enjoyed, with caveats

The movie “C’mon C’mon” overstayed its welcome but what great performances from the two leads. I have been sleeping on Joaquin Phoenix – I need to go back and check out what else he’s been up to.

Like most Games Workshop properties, Mordheim: City of the Damned is both deeply interesting and deeply flawed. I love evolving my little haggard war band through the campaign. Tactical encounters have occasionally brilliant details like the risk of bringing your best equipment - enemies will routinely loot your KO’d squadmates if they fall in battle, so caution is warranted.

However, battles are often anticlimactic and poorly designed with an AI that doesn’t know how the game works. I doubt I’ll finish it but I suppose I got my $4 worth?

I finally watched “Top Gun: Maverick” and mostly didn’t get the hype, but it was still worth it for the scene with Val Kilmer. It was inherently dramatic considering the struggle it was for him to even act, but lifted by two fantastic performances. More differently abled folks in movies, please!

Also there was a Danger Zone and they definitely took a highway to it to do Danger Zone stuff, I guess.

“Why?” is perhaps more interesting. Why did I largely stop writing here? Sure, it’s a navel-gazing topic of limited interest, but it’s not like I’m using this site for anything else right now.

The heyday of this blog began in 2005 when my soon-to-be-wife said “every nerd I’ve ever met has a half-built website that’s perpetually ‘coming soon’.” That was all I needed to finish coding it in PHP the next weekend. A torrent of posts followed, starting a golden age that lasted for about a decade.

Starting around 2015, posts gradually slowed from a stream, to a trickle, to what is now, if I’m generous, an occasional drip. Why is that?

The usual suspects

Much has been made of social media’s impact on blogging but Twitter was only a minor factor. Tweeting never took the place of blogging but I think my brain became accustomed to thinking in 140 characters. Blog posts started feeling like so much work whereas they used to be a relaxing, natural outlet.

Aging also played a role. Words take more effort now, forcing me to spend more time with each sentence. Age also cooled some of the fires that inspired me to write in the first place. Early posts were frequently borne from playful frustration, outrages I felt, or outrages I wanted to instigate. Now I’m an old, boring man – things are fine and people are fine but no one wants to read a post entitled “Hey, everything is fine and I guess that’s fine.”

With very little power comes great, possibly imaginary responsibility

Both of the factors above pale in comparison to the impact of my career. Since 2015, I’ve held increasingly senior management roles. Before, I ran small teams that I would have called “an organization” only in my most pompous moments. For the past seven years though, I’ve ranged from being someone’s boss’ boss to being someone’s boss’ boss’ boss’ boss’ boss, the latter being a nightmare of both organizational complexity and possessive nouns.

My folder of unfinished blog drafts became as unruly as my org charts. I’d write for a few moments and then wonder “Could someone in my organization take offense? Could someone take this out of context?” In large organizations, the answer is “yes.” Always. I’d abandon the draft shortly after this inevitable realization and decide yet another topic was off-limits.

Sidebar: There’s a reason that your VP probably doesn’t open up much. It is often just an opportunity for unforced errors, a way to create problems where none previously existed. Make a mistake and people will get hurt, or they’ll think you’re playing favorites, or minor omissions will balloon into major problems after people inevitably compare notes. The odds of a mistake are very low in any single interaction but you talk all day so it’s bound to happen sooner or later. Eventually it’s just easier to be boring.

(I’m not complaining - being boring came to me very naturally)

There’s other career baggage too - the pressure to be some kind of inspirational thought leader or the fear that my words could bring shame upon my employer. Occasionally a job seeker would mention they looked at my blog and I would think “shit, I wonder what stupid shit they found that I should take down or whether they found me using words like ‘shit’ on my blog.”

I’m sure much of this was self-inflicted, products of an anxious imagination. Nonetheless, these forces combined to make this site a ghost town where the only posts are sporadic, silly takes on games. It’s not that those posts are unauthentic – Edge of the Empire really is just a so-so roleplaying game and I still have mixed feelings about the board game Here I Stand – but these represent a single and increasingly small part of my life.

Okay Great, We Get It. So What?

For a variety of reasons that are topics for another time, I’m delighted to have stepped out of senior management roles and start a new gig at DekuDeals as a… well, I don’t really know what to call my job and I have zero interest in sorting that out. But I know what it isn’t – it’s not Vice President of anything and I am delighted to lead an organization of zero direct reports.

I know myself too well to pretend this means the floodgates have now opened. Every other factor above remains true and I have no desire to add to the vast number of blogs where the latest post is ancient and says merely “I have so much to say! Watch this space!”

But I look forward to writing solely for my own pleasure once again at some irregular pace.

Here is my final take on the Star Wars: Edge of the Empire roleplaying game after five years of play as expressed in an actual players’ aid on how to roll.

It is not my favorite roleplaying system.

That sounds like my jam. It is not.

The tutorial insists on its own labels for buttons. It’s easy as long as you remember that C means A and A means Y. Maybe this attempt to redefine your gamepad is normal for fighting games? I have no idea.

I found the rest of the tutorial similarly awkward in lesser ways which are harder to express as fake levels from Baba is You.

Once I powered through the tutorial, I was greeted with a generic¹ cast of characters where the male gaze is rampant and closest thing to representation is a gambling panda bear with no pants.

I get that the fighting genre is rife with problems of representation and that worse offenders like Dead or Alive exist. However, we can do better and those other games don’t set out to be for everyone.

This was enough to make me call it a day.

Sirlin once wrote a detailed analysis of why HBO should remake the last season of Game of Thrones. He did this because he was a fan who loved the show it might have been.

I’m not half as clever as Sirlin so you just get two images and some lame jokes to make a similar point. I love what Fantasy Strike might have been if it was tested with people who fall outside the typical pro fighting circuit demographic. As it stands, I’m not sure who this game is for.

I’ll keep rooting for Fantasy Strike to become more truly diverse and noob-friendly over time.

There’s an annual tradition with some old friends where we take a full day in May to play through the GMT game of war / religion / marriage / divorce / exploration / piracy / everything, Here I Stand. The game is beloved by many for reasons that I have never totally understood, but I like my friends and they like Here I Stand.

The upside of the current pandemic is that this was our first virtual installment so it was easy to take notes as I played. So here is an annotated transcript of my game of Here I Stand. Just like the game, it is too long and could use editing.

There’s a few closing thoughts on the game at the very end for the few who make it through the pages of recap or want to skip straight to that section.

[8:36 AM]
sparker joined #sparker-the-eighth.
sparker set the channel description: wherein I document my Here I Stand game because it is long with lots of downtime

It’s 1517 and I’m Henry the Eighth, I am I am. My goals are…

1. invade Scotland
2. produce a male heir
3. annoy either France or the Hapsburgs endlessly

[8:40 AM] - Turn 1, English Impulse 1
For some reason only England may conduct diplomacy on turn one. I made a deal with France to keep them out of my war with Scotland. They get a free card out of my hand this turn and a free card draw the next. This is a pretty solid deal - I could have tried to barter that down to 1 draw + 2 mercs but then again France could have pushed for steeper terms.

With this deal in hand, it’s time to invade Scotland. With my home card I declare war and build up a mercenary horde.

[8:41 AM]
The best players in the game seems like the Ottoman, Hapsburgs, and Protestants. France sounds rusty on the rules but then again they won last year, so they belong on the list too. Basically everyone but me and the Pope. There’s not much I can do about Suleiman and Martin Luther, but I can definitely attack the Hapsburgs or French once I’ve (hopefully) taken Scotland.

But for now, we take a long pause for the debates between the Pope and the Protestants. My capsule review of that mechanic – it’s too drawn out and and the decisions too limited for the players involved. It’s more tolerable for the other players since I know when I can take my coffee and bathroom breaks.

[8:47 AM]
Also, I should mention I got a 2cp card from the Hapsburgs due to their play of Cloth Prices Fluctuate. This was great news for me - one more card helps me ensure a capture of Edinburgh.

[8:53 AM] - Turn 1, English Impulse 2
I play Shipbuilding for the event, placing a fleet each in London and Calais. The London fleet will allow me to siege Edinburgh next impulse while the Calais fleet makes Calais much harder to siege should France or Hapsburgs get up to no good

[8:56 AM]
FRANCE PLAYS “MERCENARIES BRIBED” AGAINST THE HAPSBURGS! My deal with France is now pretty good in retrospect - that card would have wrecked my game had France come in as Scotland’s ally and played it against me.

It would have turned a 7v3 fight in Edinburgh into a 5v5, awful.

[9:02 AM]
Also I’m listening to this on repeat in the background today and it really works as a HIS soundtrack: The Guard on the Battlement. The music is technically anachronistic but it suits the mood.

Anyway, I’m talking nonsense which means it’s the Papacy and Protestant turns. Time for another coffee break.

[9:06 AM]
The Pope excommunicates France because… well, I’m not sure why. Maybe I missed a beat. Anyway, I was a terrible Pope when I played that faction a few years ago so I’m not one to judge. Remind me not to get on the Pope’s bad side.

[9:13 AM]
Barbary Pirates comes in as a mandatory event - that’s pretty early and makes things look bad for the Hapsburgs.

[9:19 AM] - Turn 1, English Impulse 3
I play “Mercenaries Grow Restless” for 2CP. I move the London fleets into the North Sea and begin the siege of Edinburgh. I deal 2 hits and take one - a good result and makes me very likely to take Edinburgh next turn w/ minimal losses at 6 v 1.

In retrospect there was no need to bring both leaders up to Scotland - if France had betrayed me, that would have put one at pointless risk.

[9:26 AM]
The Papacy / Protestant impulses begin, so I get a long break to consider the rest of my turn. My last card is Unpaid Mercenaries - would love to save a card for next turn but I absolutely positively have to take Edinburgh before the Winter Retreat. I can’t afford to march back to Scotland again next turn.

[9:32 AM]
In other news…

• Ottomans continue to ascend - sitting at 12 VP and will start pirating in earnest next turn.
• Hapsburgs are in real trouble - somehow France captured Charles V when I wasn’t looking, so that + Ottoman piracy is trouble.
• Protestants are very close to translating the New Testament into German already. This feels early so Martin Luther could be an issue.

[9:42 AM] - Turn 1, English Impulse 4
Siege of Edinburgh takes out another 2 mercs – more costly than I’d like – but I take the key. This gives me another card draw next turn and 2 VP. With the other 2 CP, I decide to launch an exploration. I have never done this in HIS before and I don’t really know how this works. TO BE CONTINUED AT THE END OF THE TURN!

[10:01 AM]
We are officially two hours away from Jet’s Pizza for lunch

[10:12 AM] - End of Turn 1
We’re exploring - my hot streak runs cold as I draw my worst explorer, Hugh Willoughby. France gets to double dip and then Hapsburgs. We’ll see if there’s anything after that for my doofus Hugh.

[10:14 AM]
BLARGH! France discovers both the Pacific Strait AND circumnavigates on his first explorer, a cool 4 VP. I told him Cabot wasn’t a bad draw from my hand. Brutal.

Meanwhile, Hugh gets lost at sea after Hapsburgs and France both get extra discoveries. Bye Hugh, I’m glad I’ll draw better explorers after you

[10:18 AM]
France just pulled 5 VP off exploration and is sitting at 20 VP. This is a 25 pt game, so it could possibly all be over before my pizza arrives

DID I SAY PIZZA SINGULAR?! Cause that is incorrect.

[10:53 AM] - Turn 2 diplomacy
Turn 2 starts - I am gifting Hapsburgs a merc and letting them borrow my navy. My hope is that they can delay or deter France for a turn while I move along the marriage track. I may have to change course and use my home card instead to DOW England. (editor’s note – of course I meant France but what a neat alternate history that implies)

I uphold my deal to France as much as it stings. They take Mercenaries Depart(?) which clears mercs out of a space. I announce this card to the rest of the table as petty revenge on the vile French.

I really hope I don’t have to DOW on France this turn. I’m going to prepare for war and see what France does in response. I hope to pull enough French attention away from the Hapsburgs that the Holy Roman Emperor can make a dent in the French.

[11:05 AM] - Turn 2, English Impulse 1
I cash in Knights of St John for 2CP . I move fleets into the Channel and buy a merc in Calais. I’m trying to signal a siege on Rouen or Paris – hopefully France remembers my home card lets me DOW mid-turn and takes the bait.

[11:09 AM]
Meanwhile, Hapsburgs advanced on Metz to counter the French there. France buys mercs in Paris - that’s what I hoped, but it wasn’t many.

[11:14 AM]
Reformationy things happen. I have run out of things to say during this long part of the game. It is no fault of the players - both our Pope and Luther are played by Bills and the Bills are moving right along. It’s the game which is at fault - the math for religious actions is complicated, slow, and involves MANY dice each impulse.

[11:27 AM] - Turn 2, English Impulse 2
I play Sale of Moluccas for 3CP. I’m delighted that France didn’t snag this card since they circumnavigated. Instead I use it to start a colony. This also helps delay playing my home card. Using it to move to “Ask for Divorce” stinks but is also critical to winning.

[11:38 AM]
France plays Patron of the Arts - +1 point for France and 4 cards left in his hand. I’m seriously considering using my home card to DOW instead of pursuing marriage. If I do, that means Edward VI is unlikely to happen this game.

[11:47 AM]
Hapsburgs begin their siege of Metz. They are unlikely to take it this turn.

Indeed, the siege continues - they lose 3 units and are now 9 to 4 I think. In a siege, those aren’t great odds.

[11:52 AM] - Turn 2, English Impulse 3
I use my homecard to advance my marriage counter after all. I’m pretty sure that France cannot win this turn and so I can play to win instead of playing not to lose.

[11:58 AM]
As Turn 2 winds down into the popes and prots, it is clear that my gambit to throw off the French failed. France actually invaded Italy, so confident is he about the Hapsburg / English front. Let us hope that I can turn up the heat against the vile French next turn.

If there is any silver lining, it is that France used Unpaid Mercenaries (the card they drew from me) to invade Italy. This means we can buy mercs once again.

[12:09 PM]
The protestant turn alone has allowed me to get pizza, eat pizza, get a second round of pizza and a beer, and eat that too

All of this just so I can pass my turn.

[12:13 PM]
Hapsburgs draw and play Cloth Prices Fluctuate again - this time, they don’t want the card draw + mercs though.

I was momentarily delighted that I might get to do something.

But instead they use that to capture Metz after much bloodshed. This takes France down by 2 VP so I can’t be too mad.

[12:17 PM]
Thanks to France, the Schmalkaldic League is formed on Turn 2! The prots just barely qualify and this means they get some maths during someone else’s turn.

Since I passed, it’s now time to see if I can clean my basement before the end of this turn. I’m pretty sure I can - Papacy and Prots have 5 cards between them and the League will take awhile to resolve.

[12:46 PM]
Unsurprisingly, I finished cleaning with plenty of time to spare.

[12:55 PM] - End of Turn 2
The turn ends! Hapsburgs conquer the Aztec for 2 bonus VP. Otherwise the new world is quiet since the French explored all the good stuff.

[1:20 PM]
Fates be praised, I got a hand which should allow me to march on Paris this turn. I’m guessing France isn’t expecting that - I have my weaker leader Brandon in Calais instead of Henry (oops, too cautious) so I can only go in with 6 troops. However, I got Field Artillery, Landsrechts, and Mercenaries Bribed. It’ll be close.

[1:51 PM] - Turn 3, English Impulse 1
Post diplomacy I have even better odds. This great hand and the Pope’s intransigence to help out another player in last place means I can’t get a divorce this turn though – I can’t give up cards right now.

However, the Haps were willing to offer me a card draw in exchange for an alliance (something for nothing!). My plan remains - march to Paris and crush the damn French. I played the new pope in exchange for 2CP which I spent on mercs. I can’t take them with me (Brandon, I curse your name!) but they’ll be useful to hold the LOC behind me for the siege

[2:06 PM] Turn 3, English Impulse 2
15 minutes between turns is crazy fast for this game, feels like I just went! I use my home card to declare war on the French and go all-in on Paris. I march with 6 regs & Brandon. Initially it looks like a fair fight but I play an insane three combat cards to get 2 mercs (Landsrechkts), 2 dice (Field Artillery) and steal 2 mercs from France (Mercenaries Rebel) to make it 13 v 6.

I deal 4 hits to France’s 0. I’m frustratingly 1 hit shy of taking Paris right out (I would have a 64% chance to make up that hit had I brought Henry). Instead they fall into fortifications and the siege of Paris begins.

France has card advantage and can likely reinforce, but also has to defend against the Haps - let’s hope they keep the pressure up.

[2:07 PM]
The French buildup at Rouen for a counterattack - will they be able to retake Paris?

Opposition update - Hapsburgs and Ottomans are tied for 2nd at 19 with the French at 22. Game ends at 25 so its tight. Ottomans are poised to clean up on piracy. English pose no threat of winning.

[2:20 PM]
Well that was unfortunate! France plays Haley’s Comet so I miss my next turn. I would have assaulted Paris and almost certainly taken it otherwise - not happy about this at all.

[2:40 PM]
France pulls in the Rouen forces and kicks me out of Paris at the cost of a few mercs. I retreat to Boulougne with Brandon and a large force. Paris is off the table for this turn but Rouen is basically undefended as a result. We won’t go home empty-handed.

[2:41 PM] - Turn 3, English Impulse 3 (4 for everyone else because France is the worst)
I play Charles Bourbon for 4CP. I would have loved to play him for the event but I have too many rules questions about LOC etc. Instead, I move fleets into the Channel and put Rouen under siege. I am determined to leave this turn with some French key, and I’m willing to accept Rouen as a consolation prize

In unrelated news, we’re entering hour 7 of Here I Stand and I must admit, the long stretches of inactivity are making me go a little crazy here. One of the other players note that I’m zooming in and out for no reason.

[2:48 PM]
Shoot! The Ottomans play Master of Italy, granting France a card draw. They will get to counter whatever I do next - tempo was the only upside of being skipped.

[2:49 PM] - Turn 3, English Impulse 4
I use Colonial Governor to continue my conquest - I take Rouen handily and then recruit a merc. France will continue to pass this turn but will respond eventually…

This takes France down to 20 and puts me at 13, just between the two religious powers. I am still very likely to lose but France likely won’t win this turn.

[2:56 PM]
Sigh… France plays Revolt in Ireland. Perhaps he thinks this will make me sue for peace? I want peace anyway cause I GOTTA START THAT MARRIAGE TRAIN A-MOVIN!

Henry and 4 English troops are tied up in Ireland until this is resolved.

[3:08 PM]
Mark’s “YOU’RE STILL COMPLAINING ABOUT ONE CARD I PLAYED IN TURN TWO” is the quote of the game so far.

[3:35 PM] - Start of Turn 4
Turn 4 starts and I give 1 merc to France in return for their suing for peace. It’s a weird deal - I get nothing (I’ll get 2 war winner VP but lose Rouen so it’s a net zero) and I give up a merc (I can’t do anything with it if I’m not at war, and I suspect France can’t either so I don’t care). I need to use my home card for other things though, so I need this war to end.

My deal with the Haps is better. I agree to I play Diplomatic Marriage to give Hapsburgs Foul Weather (which I would have used against the Ottoman anyway), and he guarantees to play Cloth Prices Fluctuate in my favor (also perhaps what he would have done anyway? maybe we both just think we’re getting deals?)

[4:04 PM] - Turn 4, English Impulse 1
I play Diplomatic Overture and it turns out great - I get Copernicus (6CP!) and Shipbuilding (2CP) now as well as a future TBD draw in exchange for giving up Diplomatic Overture (5CP) and Foul Weather (2CP).

[4:33 PM] - Turn 4, English Impulse 2
I divorce Catherine to marry Anne Boleyn and Edward VI is born! That’s 5VP for me even though he’s a sickly boy. In theory Edward VI being sickly is bad - he’ll die on turn 6 at which point I’ll get my worst ruler, Mary. In practice, who cares! The game definitely won’t last that long.

Now I set my sights on winning the stupid Irish Revolt.

[4:49 PM]
Good news! Hapsburgs FINALLY play their card that gives me a card. Bad news - it’s a 2CP card. I’m still happy with how that played out though.

[4:50 PM] - Turn 4, English Impulse 3
I cash that card in to fight the Irish (2 down, 2 to go) and buy a merc with the other (very unlikely I’ll put that to use, may as well set that CP on fire)

If I can clear the Irish War, that’s 1VP and another card in the unlikely event we go to Turn 5.

[4:54 PM]
Technically gin doesn’t enter the scene in England for another 200-ish years. That isn’t stopping me from enjoying the most English drink in our household.

It’s not like I need my mental faculties for this game at this point.

[5:04 PM] - Turn 4, English Impulse 4
I expend Arquebusiers for the 1CP of the card instead of the pretty decent combat effect. This gets some murmurs from the table but I know I’m saving Copernicus for next turn in case we get there. I finish off the Irish, but at the cost of three(!) units. Have I mentioned lately that I hate the French?

[5:06 PM]
You’ll note a LOT of fleets in the North African Coast - Ottomans have been cleaning up on Piracy. Their version of this log would just be pure “YAAARGH, MATEYS!”

I haven’t noted much of that in this log because there is nothing I can do about it. I’ve already been going pretty easy on the Hapsburgs, and only the Haps and the Pope can mitigate the pirates.

Piracy also explains why the Ottomans are vying with the French for the win. French 24, Ottoman 23, everyone else except the Pope is tied at 19 VP (sorry Pope, you lost but that seems inevitable if the game goes this far anyway).

[5:08 PM]
As we enter hour 9 of HIS, I think it’s time to switch up the soundtrack finally after 8 full rotations of the chamber music album. My “Fantasy!” playlist is the next closest thing to historical.

[5:15 PM] - Turn 4, English Impulse 5
I spend my last card (La Foret’s Embassy) for Exploration. Since the French put out an explorer and there’s 1 exploration VP left, I have no other option. However, thanks to Hugh getting lost at sea and the French exploring the heck out of the New World already, all my explorers are 1’s and all his are 0’s. This means I’ll go first with a 72% shot at getting St Lawrence River and leaving France with nothing.

[5:21 PM]
Here’s a dilemma in that scenario - if I miss my exploration, France has a 58% chance of getting 1VP and immediately winning. If I wan to stop France, I should encourage the Haps to explore too. But their explorers are mostly better than mine and are likely to take my 1 VP.

Do I play to win or do I play not to lose? This is a classic conundrum of most 3 player+ wargames late in the game.

For me though, it’s easy – HENRY PLAYS TO WIN!

[5:30 PM]
Well Hapsburgs figured it out on their own with a little prodding from the table. There’s still a chance that they could draw their zero or -1 explorers, but there’s a 60% chance they’ll go before me.

[5:37 PM]
Ottomans played Revolt in Egypt on themselves, hoping to gain 1VP in short order. Not a bad play and will make them certain to get 25 VP the next turn.

[5:50 PM] - End of Turn 4
Hapsburgs indeed draw their worst explorer, so England is up first and rolls…

SNAKE EYES! 72% to get the VP and I blow it!

France has slightly better than coin toss odds, and of course they get it. They discover the St. Lawrence River, netting 1 VP and the victory.

A few closing thoughts on my gameplay.

I never mentioned my colony again because it never mattered. Nothing interesting happened to Roanoke the entire game - I rolled No Effect each turn. Turns out the New World was an entirely bad idea for England.

After most losses I ask myself if there was anything I could have done to win. I only see two major mistakes - I should have brought Henry, not Brandon, into France and I should have offered the Pope almost anything he wanted for a divorce (I especially should have offered mercs up in earnest, they were basically useless to me at that point).

A possible third mistake is not saber-rattling with France during our Turn 4 Diplomacy phase to get a better deal to end our war. On one hand, it seems unlikely that I could have gotten a card draw out of France in exchange for ending the war, and nothing else would have helped. On the other, I was definitely losing in VP so I should have been more risk-seeking. Extending the war with France would have been very bad for England (no Edward so no 5 VP) but it would have also been very bad for France.

However, I don’t think correcting any of these mistakes would have changed my game. Several of these would have helped me hurt France but the die was cast at that point – if France didn’t win, the Ottomans would have.

And that’s the problem I have with Here I Stand. There are things I love - choosing how to spend cards is wonderful agony, and all games are improved by negotiation mechanics. However, there are long stretches where two sides play their own game which is long and impossible for you to influence.

It’s a fascinating game and one I might adore if I were passionate about this time period. I’m not though, so it’s hard to overlook the flaws. There’s discussion of trying Virgin Queen or another similar game next time around - I’m thrilled and eager.

After years of operating swsheets.com, I finally found someone with the ability and enthusiasm to add new features. As of today, I’ve handed over all assets and ownership of the servers and domain. I posted a full announcement over on the FFG Forums and the SWRPG subreddit. I just wanted to capture some more personal thoughts here on my blog.

I started swsheets.com at a time when I had both enthusiasm for FFG’s Star Wars RPG system as well as a fair amount of free time on my hands. Both waned over the years, and by the time I joined Reverb in 2017 I had lost both my enthusiasm for the game and much of my free time.

I kept paying the bills but the site languished. Annoyingly, FFG has a habit of making small rules changes in supplements with no fanfare. While I deliberately avoided some parts of the rules (the site does not track XP spending, for instance), I always made sure that any rules I implemented were correct. Watching these changes happen was as frustrating to me as it was the site users who couldn’t build their characters correctly.

Despite that frustration and despite the fact that I’ve found a fantastic person to carry the project forward, it’s still hard to pass the site onwards. 7,800 people have signed up for swsheets.com accounts. Even the password reset feature is more widely used than any of my other side projects have ever been. People like a thing I made - letting go of that is hard.

But then the internet happens. The first response to my announcement on the FFG Forums is someone telling me why they don’t use swsheets.com, that they find the idea of it “exhausting.”

That’s hilarious, maddening, and kind of what I need to read right now.

To the site’s users and to anyone who ever provided honest feedback on it - a sincere thank you. I had a real blast and I wish I didn’t have to make hard choices about the increasingly few hours of free time I get.

To Nick, the person who is taking on ownership of the site, I’m incredibly grateful for your work and I cannot wait to see where you take it.

I hope I get the free time to make another “exhausting” roleplaying tool someday. This one was a lot of fun.

Lest I be totally unfair to the internet, the responses over on the Reddit post have all been heartwarming. I rarely received thanks for swsheets.com over the years so those small kindnesses mean a great deal.

I truly think she felt responsible for the safety of everyone in our house. Here she is on the day we moved in, already on alert.

When she was taking a rare break from guard duty, she was a pro at snuggling into blankets. This grey blanket was amongst her favorites.

That dog was serious about her comfort. I swear there’s a dog in this photo.

My wife developed a bizarre game with Sam where she would lay on her back, wait for you to touch her paws, and then gently growl at you. Strange but true.

Her favorite game though was tug-of-war, but in all our time together I never managed one decent photo of it. Chewing on bones was a close runner-up.

She was inseparable from her brother Frodo when he was with us. They were together since birth and were a package deal from Midwest Boston Terrier Rescue.

However, it was clear that Sam was the more dominant of the pair.

My favorite video of the two. You can see Sam’s independence at work here – while she was immensely fond of us, “come” was never very high on her list of priorities (unlike her brother)

I would have loved more time with her, but our eight years with Sam were a gift. So many more moments than I can capture here. I miss you so much, Sammo. I’m glad life brought us together.

“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.” -Will Rogers

It includes this really interesting tangent on the possible role of emotion in making good decisions. From the author:

Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio proposed that people’s emotional evaluations of outcomes, and the bodily states and the approach and avoidance tendancies associated with them, all play a central role in guiding decision making. Damasio and his colleagues have observed that people who do not display the appropriate emotions before they decide, sometimes because of brain damage, also have an impaired ability to make good decisions. An inability to be guided by a “healthy fear” of bad consequences is a disastrous flaw.

(emphasis mine)

I really need to dig into this further. This correlates with a number of software engineers I’ve worked with who often try to discount or deny the role of emotion in their work. As a result they make sub-optimal decisions, often because they can’t rationalize how that decision will impact the humans who intersect with these decisions.

When coaching leaders on big decisions, I often say something like “If you’re not scared, you’re crazy.” Usually this is meant to reassure and build confidence. Perhaps there is a deeper truth here though.