Games - Dungeons and Dragons

In the world of cult games, probably none captured the imaginations of kids more than Dungeons & Dragons. This was a game that was so unique that the rules of the game were that there were really no rules. How you played was limited only by your imagination.

The game was actually influence by the great book "Lord Of The Rings". The gentlemen who created Dungeons & Dragons, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, were such Rings freaks that they turned their love of the book into what became one of the most popular role playing games of all time. This vision first took form in 1973.

This game was not like your traditional board game. The fact is, it didn't have a board at all. The original Dungeons & Dragons game came with a map. The players would follow the map to see where it would take them and ultimately uncover the rewards and dangers that lay in store for them.

There were no real rules to the game. Each game that was played could have as many players as you wanted. Each player would take on the role of a different character, which was also made up based on various races. The common races were humans, elves, dwarfs, orcs and a number of others. Each race then had various professions or specialties. For example. You may decide to play a human character who was a fighter. Maybe you preferred to play an elf who was a cleric, someone who healed other characters. The common professions aside from fighters and clerics were wizards, mages, paladins and thieves. Each profession had a different skill. Mages and wizards were very adept in casting magic spells that could be quite powerful in a battle against the enemy. Clerics had great healing powers. Thieves had the ability to pick locks and disarm traps.

In putting together a party to go out adventuring, it was a good idea to put together one that had a number of different skills. A common 6 member party consisted of 2 fighters, 1 cleric, 1 wizard, 1 thief and 1 paladin. This party was diverse enough to handle anything that it happened to run into.

And what exactly did these parties run into? Anything and everything. There were monsters of all kinds in the game of Dungeons & Dragons, from goblins to skeletons to the all dreaded dragon itself. Each monster had its own powers and abilities. Some monsters were easy to defeat and others were quite hard.

The excitement of the game was in creating a character and watching your character gain skill levels. Characters start at the lowest levels and work their way up to the highest levels possible. This could literally take months or even years of play.

Each character itself is made up of various abilities such as dexterity, strength, intelligence and a number of others. The scores for these abilities are randomly generated by dice, which are the whole engine of a Dungeons & Dragons game. The common dice used are 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 20 and 100 sided. These dice are also used to determine the outcome of battles and the ability to disarm traps. They even determine what treasures may or may not be found. And the amazing thing about all this is that there is no board, no pieces, nothing but paper and pencil and the dice. It is just about the cheapest game to play while being the most fascinating.

If you have never experienced the fantasy world of Dungeons & Dragons, you owe it to yourself to get yourself a party and go exploring.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Toys

Games - American Heritage Games

In the early to mid 1960s, Milton Bradley came out with some interesting games all marketed under the label of American Heritage games. These were all war based games and at the time were very popular. Unfortunately, they drifted off into obscurity and are now some of the rarest games around if you can even find one. Collectors are getting a mint for some of these.

The series started in 1961 with the Civil War Edition. This game was a very scaled down Civil War battle game. Each side had only 22 pieces consisting of 10 Infantry, 10 Calvary and 2 Artillery pieces. In order to do combat with an enemy piece you had to line up your piece adjoining it in some way, either side to side or facing the piece. Also, in order to defeat the piece you had to have superior battle strength. Infantry and Artillery had the greatest strength of 2 and Calvary had a strength of only 1. You could combine your pieces in any way but in order to attack with Artillery you had to have a Calvary piece with it. To remove a piece you jumped over it, except Artillery pieces did not jump. The game was won by removing all the pieces of the other side. However, your opponent could surrender if he felt there was no way for him to win.

The next game in the series was the 1962 edition of Broadside. This was a game that was probably based off the old wars between Britain and Spain during the pirate days, though no actual description of a timeline is given. The object of the game is to position your frigates in such a way as to take shots at your opponents ships and knocking out one of its masts. There are also land based cannons that can attack enemy ships so getting too close to land can be very dangerous. The game itself isn't very complicated and honestly not all that interesting either, but it does contain some really cool miniatures that you can play with and the board is very colorful. Not one of Milton Bradley's better efforts.

In the year 1963 the American Heritage series continued with Dogfight. This was a World War I air battle game between the American and German air forces. The game is a very light version of WW I air combat and not for really serious gamers. Each side gets 6 planes divided into 2 squadrons of 3 planes each. You have to try to maneuver your planes around so that you can get a clear shot at an enemy plane without getting shot yourself. For each plane you shoot down you get a token. These tokens are used to get cards. The player with the most cards at the end of the game is the winner.

The final game in the series was Hit The Beach. This game came out in 1965 and was a WW II edition of the marines landing at the Japanese beach. In this game both players are the Americans and the object is to be the first side to reach the Japanese HQ. The Japanese defense forces are obstacles to both players in this game. In this game each player has 6 pieces composed of 2 Marines, 2 Infantry, 1 naval landing support ship and 1 strategic air support aircraft. If when moving your pieces you land directly on an opponents piece, you send that piece back to the start. This is ultimately how you become the first one to reach the Japanese HQ. This was probably the most interesting and exciting of all the American Heritage games.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Arts

Games - Monopoly

Monopoly is arguably the most popular game of all time. It actually goes back to the 1930s during the height of the great depression. The game was presented to executives at Parker Brothers in 1934 by a Charles Darrow. Believe it or not, the game was rejected by Parker Brothers for what they called 52 design flaws. Darrow could have given up, but he didn't, which is a good thing. One year later, in 1935, Monopoly finally saw the light of day. It immediately became the best selling game in America. In the 70 plus years since it is estimated that the game has been played by over 500 million people.

The Monopoly board is actually designed after the city of Atlantic City in New Jersey. That design hasn't changed in all the years since the game has come out. Yes, there have been collectible variations of the game replacing the street names with characters and places from a variety of TV shows and movies, but the original Monopoly game itself has stayed the same all these years.

The object of the game is actually very simple. As you go around the board by rolling the dice, you buy property in an attempt to charge people rent every time they land on your property. The game is over when everyone has run out of money and can no longer pay the owner of the various properties.

Because of the slow build up of the game, Monopoly games can last for hours or even days. The longest Monopoly game on record lasted 70 days. The average game usually lasts about 3 or 4 hours. The reason the game is so slow to build is because of the slow rate at which property values increase.

When buying a property, which is always part of a 2 or 3 property lot, you can't build value to the property until the entire lot is purchased. Then, once the entire lot is purchased you may only build one house on each lot at a time. In order to build hotels on each lot you need to have four houses accumulated first. Because of this, it takes a very long time to reach the point where you are receiving a substantial rent for your property when somebody lands on it.

Aside from the board layout itself, Monopoly has many other trademarks which have become classic to the game, starting with the original pieces which were made out of die cast metal. The famous, hat, dog, car and other pieces of the game have become as identifiable as the game itself. Aside from the tokens, there are the famous properties such as the railroads and utilities. There's the cards of chance broken down into Chance and Community Chest cards, each with its various rewards and penalties which have also become a staple of the game itself.

In the history of games itself, there will probably never be another game that has so captured the imagination of a country. And we owe that to a man by the name of Charles Darrow, who refused to accept the word no.

We all owe him a debt that can never be repaid.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Toys

Games - Stratego

If you were around in the early 1960s, one of the biggest crazes to hit the era was the game Stratego. The game is difficult to compare to any other game, except maybe for chess because it is played with pieces that are ranked, just like in chess, but aside from that very loose similarity, the games are nothing alike. The truth is, there has never really been a game like Stratego since.

Milton Bradley was one of the greatest makers of games during the time and Stratego was no exception. The basic premise of the game was two armies battling against each other, one red and one blue. The piece values were military in rank, but not the kind of military ranks that we are used to in modern times. The lowest ranking piece is the spy. After that they are ranked as follows; scout, miner, sergeant, lieutenant, captain, major, colonel, general and marshall. The higher piece always captures the lower piece with one exception. The spy, if it attacks the marshall first, removes the marshall from the board, but only if he attacks first.

The players take turns moving one piece at a time over the board, which is a battle field. The object of the game is to capture the enemies flag. The flag can be placed anywhere on the board and so since the pieces' ranks are hidden from the opponent, including the flags, you have to try to guess where on the board the flag is. To help protect the flag, each player is also given 6 bombs. If any piece hits a bomb it is blown up, with one exception, the miner. The bombs and the flags cannot be moved. All other pieces can be moved one square at a time, either forward, backward, left or right, except for the scout, which can move any number of open spaces, but cannot jump over a piece.

In the course of attacking the attacking player picks up his piece and hits the piece he is attacking with it. At this time both players reveal the ranks of their respective pieces. The higher rank wins. If both pieces are the same rank then they are both removed from the game. Again, if the spy hits the marshall, the marshall is removed, but it the marshall strikes first the spy is removed.

Some strategy, since the players are looking for the bombs in order to find out where the flag is, is to place some bombs at locations not near the flag so as to throw the other opponent off. Also, it is a good idea to place some high ranking officers around the flag as well.

Because the pieces can be set up any way the player likes, the number of setups are virtually unlimited. As a matter of fact, there are Stratego sites online where they give tips on various setups that have proven to be very effective.

Stratego was one of the most enjoyable and exciting games back in the 1960s and still is even today.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Toys

Games - Might & Magic

Video games have come a long way in the 30 plus years that they have been in existence. Many have come and gone. Some were good, some not so good. But very few had the impact of the Might & Magic series, loosely based off the Dungeons & Dragons role playing and video games.

Might & Magic itself had a very long series with one loosely tying into the next. The original Might & Magic games were crude in comparison to the later versions. But one of the major differences was that the early Might & Magic games were turn based as opposed to the later games which were real time.

The turn based Might & Magic games were just that. You would make your way through the towns and mazes of the lands and when an encounter came against an evil creature or group of creatures, the action would turn from real time to turn based. During this phase the player would plan out his strategy of how he would attack the big bads. After programming in his attacks he would hit the attack button and the computer would compute the results. This continued until the battle resolved one way or another with the player either defeating the creatures or losing in the process, thus ending the game.

Real time based games were real time throughout. If during the course of making your way through the towns and mazes you ran into a creature or group of creatures, the action would continue. The attacks would come at you as you were walking, running or even flying. In return, you would attack the enemy while either advancing on them or retreating. This type of battle took more skill than brains. There are those who preferred the turn based games and those who preferred the real time games throughout.

The Might & Magic series lasted for quite a number of editions. Probably the greatest of these was Might & Magic VI, which at the time was the largest mapped video game ever. The adventure covered no less than 10 different cities and areas. A game could last from 6 months to a year or longer. The levels that your adventurers could reach were beyond counting. Eventually, if you lived long enough and gained enough power, which included finding some really powerful lasers, you could wipe out an island of red, blue and gold dragons in a matter of minutes.

To win the game, you had to defeat the evil queen who was surrounded by her minions from hell. The Hive, the last battle of the game, was guarded by just about every demon of the underworld. Not only did you have to defeat the queen but also had to make your way out of the hive with certain items or the world as you knew it would be destroyed.

If you are new to video games and want to play one of the most incredible games ever made, get a hold of a Windows 95 operating system and pick up an old copy of Might & Magic VI. You won't be sorry.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to GAMES

Games - Adult Party Games

As social morality began to loosen (what many call a decline) the big rage among adults was the adult party games. One of the first ones was "Bottoms Up" but it didn't end there. Today, there are more adult party games than you can shake a stick at. But what exactly IS an adult party game? Well, for those of you who have been living in a cave for the past 30 years, we're going to give a brief overview of the various types of adult party games that you're likely to find.

The first adult party games were probably the most dangerous because they involved drinking. Lots of it. One of the early adult drinking games was "Bottoms Up". The premise of the game was basically pretty simple. You went around the board by roll of the dice and did whatever each square told you to do. If you landed on a Bottoms Up square then you took the shot glass off the square and drank whatever was in it. The variety of drinks people used for the game were numerous. Those who were not so daring would use wine or even soft drinks. But there were some pretty hard core drinkers in these games and it was very easy to get very drunk, very fast. The knock offs of Bottoms Up came fast and furious, all focusing on the theme of drinking.

But drinking games were not the only adult party games. From drinking we moved on to sex. There were about as many titles of adult sex games as their were drinking games by the time the adult party game craze got into full swing. One of the most popular adult sex games today is "Monogamy". It was actually voted adult game of the year once. The game itself is a board game where the couple moves around the board and follows the instructions on the cards that are turned over whenever a square is landed on that indicates to pick a card. There are cards for him and her. There are also fantasy cards.

The game is a mixture of conversation and activities. Some of the activities are relatively tame while others can be quite steamy, depending on what level you play. Since the game is only for 2 people, it is usually played between husbands and wives or at least a couple who are together. The board itself is very colorful and the "track" on the board is shaped in the form of a circle or wheel. There really is no winner or loser in this game, as with most adult party games. It's simply getting down to the object, whatever that may be for each person.

While "Monogamy" is for 2 people, there are many adult party games involving sexual activity that are for groups of people where you could end up with just about anyone in the game, even if they are the same gender. Some adult party games get pretty wild.

If you are new to this sort of thing, you may want to start slow by getting Monogamy and playing at the lowest level, then working your way up. It's a great way to get your feet wet, among other things, in the world of adult party games.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to GAMES

Online Games - The History of MMORPGs

Although online games have achieved great heights of success in recent years, few people realize how long the genre had existed prior to this explosion of popularity. Often labeled MMORPGs, or "Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games", these online worlds have been around for nearly as long as the Internet itself. The purpose of this article is to explore the fascinating evolution of online games, from the dawn of their invention all the way up to the massive 3D landscapes of modern times.

The roots of online gaming can be traced to BBS, or "bulletin board system". These early versions of our modern forums were used to host all manner of discussions, or in the case of this article, to provide a central location for a group of online role-players. Games hosted on BBS often required that players adopt the guise of a character they'd created. During the course of various board postings, characters would interact back and forth, gradually developing the otherwise undefined storyline. BBS games live on even into the present, though the new generation of online gamers tend to find them too slow for their tastes.

Online gaming took a great leap forward in terms of interactivity with the advent of MUDs, or Multi-User Dungeon or Domain or Dimension (the final word in the acronym varies by opinion). MUDs retained the text-based aspect of BBS games, but added a level of automation that had not previously been known. Players could develop characters with Dungeons & Dragons-like statistics and band together to explore and slay monsters. More importantly, MUDs also allowed for players to interact with each other in real time. Gone were the delays of BBS postings, as players would only have encounters while logged in at the same time.

MUDs reigned supreme in online gaming for years, until the first incarnations of graphical MMORPGs arrived on the scene. These new games boasted primitive graphics which, even so, were appealing as something that had not previously been possible. A fair example of a game produced during this era would be Legends of Kesmai, a now-defunct graphical game wherein players adventured together in a world situated across a vast tile-based map. Interaction in real time was now the norm, rather than the latest thing and the sensations of community and quicker gratification helped these games to slowly overcome the popularity of their text-based predecessors.

The modern popularity of online gaming was initially sparked by EverQuest, the first commercial MMORPG to be set in a fully 3D-rendered environment. The amazing scope and classical fantasy theme of EverQuest launched its ratings beyond those of even Ultima Online, an already popular online game based upon the single-player Ultima titles. EverQuest dominated the online gaming market for years, with monthly subscription fees and numerous expansion packs bringing in unprecedented profits for the game's parent company, Sony Online Entertainment. EverQuest continues to prosper to this day, though it has fallen somewhat behind its competitors in recent years.

EverQuest's basic model can be seen in the majority of current online games. Although different artistic styles are employed, most games utilize the same system of running players through months (or often, years) worth of work, with their characters gradually increasing in power and prestige as a result of their continued efforts in the online world. The first modern MMORPG to diverge from this highly demanding path is said to be World of Warcraft. Set in the universe of the Warcraft games, WoW (as it is called by its players) markets itself to casual gamers by offering them quicker advancement for less time required. World of Warcraft has swiftly become the most popular MMORPG on the market and the first game to dethrone EverQuest from its place at the top of the market.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Golf