Here I am, on the downswing after the high that was PAX ('Plith and I went up together, and yes, it was amazing): exhausted, numb, tired, and unable to focus on just about anything in my surroundings. In this present state, I for some reason thought it was a good idea to write about stuff I found that may be of interest. And stuff I found before PAX that may be of interest.

The point is, I have games to ramble about, and I am way too tired to stop myself. Feel free to join me in rambling about games, play the games I ramble about and report on them, or whatever. I dunno. Words. Games. Let's do that thing now.

First off, I'm going to mention some stuff that's not really all that relevant to us, but that people here might be interested in. If you ever wished there was an FPS that worked like Super Smash Bros. and also that everyone in it had a grappling hook, a game called Sky Noon is due to release soon, and it does that, and it's pretty good.

Another game of interest is Lightseekers. To be clear, I mean the TCG, not the mobile RPG that's set in the same universe and goes by the same name. It's a TCG, which means that it has to stand next to Magic, but having played a few rounds... it seems to come off looking pretty good? It's stolen some good stuff from Magic (cards have colors that affect them mechnically), Hearthstone (you have a hero card, and you can only play cards that have the same icons as your hero, ala Magic's Commander, with some exceptions) and Netrunner (limited actions per turn, and a choice between taking actions and drawing cards). Like Yugioh, most cards have no cost, but it works a lot better here than in Yugioh, because actions per turn are far more limited—you can only do two things, and each one costs you a draw. Also interesting is that there are no monster cards. Instead, there are direct attack and defend cards, and "Buffs," which remain on the table, but typically only for a limited number of turns, during which what they do may change as the card rotates... I'm explaining this really badly. Suffice to say, if you have enough disposable income to get into a CCG at least casually, and you're not going for Magic, I'd say Lightseekers is definitely worth checking out.

Finally, Steel Battalion is awesome. Those of you who know Steel Battalion probably know this already, but those of you who don't: it's a mech game where you pilot a giant mech with an enormous controller that makes you actually feel like you're in a giant mech. Sadly, it was an original Xbox exclusive, and you can't get it easily anymore. So I won't go on further, because that would be mean. Suffice to say, if you ever get a chance to play Steel Battalion, don't turn it down.

Now onto the main course! These are games that have some sort of narrative to sink your teeth into, at least to some degree, or allow you to make your own tales. All are tabletop, and either RPGs or (in one case) wargames. Most of them are indie RPGs, associated with The Forge or Story Games (online communities: the point is, if you like this stuff, there's more where it came from).

Sadly, I haven't had time to play these yet, so I can't promise anything other than that I found them interesting, and they looked pretty good. So... I dunno. Maybe they're at least worth a look? a few of them are free, so...

Anyways, let's begin!

Mobile Frame Zero is wargame where you battle giant robots against your opponent. So far, so standard. However, there's some neat stuff here! for one, this is a much faster, simpler, and generally more approachable game then BattleTech, or even the simpler BattleTech Alpha Strike (BattleTech being the standard-bearer for giant robots fighting). It also has a setting that feels distinctly not-BattleTech, being closer in feel to Gundam. Really really Gundam. Not 100% Gundam, there are some differences, but if you like Gundam, you'll like this.

Oh, and did I mention that instead of buying really expensive models or something, you build all of your robots out of LEGO, and are free to build them however you wish, so long as you stay within reason and attach bits that represent modules in accordance with the rules? Because that's true. And it's awesome. And since the rules can be downloaded for free, provided you have a lot of multicolored D6es and a bunch of of those really tiny fiddly LEGO pieces, the game costs nothing to play. There's also an expansion that deals with starship combat that is around, and an RPG.

Joshua A. C. Newman, the creator of that game, also made some pretty neat RPGs. One is Shock, which claims to be about social science fiction. I can't speak to it in detail, because I don't really know much.

His other game, The Bloody-Handed Name of Bronze, I actually did purchase, and so I have a bit more to talk about. It's... weird. Really weird. In a good way, I think. It's a game in which you play either a might hero of one of the spirits of the world, destined to achieve great things, fearing your might, or you play a sorcerer, knowing the true names of things and thus able to bargain with the spirits of the world.

The rulebook is... cryptic at best, written in character, as if a part of the very world and game it describes. If you want to actually play this thing (I know I do), you will need it, but you'll also want the author's blog posts at your side to help explain things and provide insight into the spirit of the game, particularly these two (you can also find free downloads for earlier versions of the game there).

Speaking of free things, Lady Blackbird! This is a game where the characters are decided ahead of time, but the world isn't. The initial scenario is always the same, but the players help to fill in both details about how this steampunk space opera world functions, and about what their characters are like and what their backstory is (a big part of the game is people going is "hey, remember when we did this thing?" and then roleplaying that thing out). Did I mention it's free?

Inspectres and Lacuna are two games by the same man (Jared A Sorenson), and they are both quite interesting. Inpsectres is a game designed for Ghostbusters-style comedy horror shenanigans. If you like RPGs, and you like Ghostbusters, this is probably the one thing I've listed here you should totally buy. Lacuna, by contrast, is more a straight-up horror game, a surreal world of secret agents and insect-people that exists as much in reality as in the mind of the people within it. I likened the psychological and horror aspects to Evangelion when I first picked it up (confusing the heck out of Jared, who had never heard of the series), but honestly Inception might be more apt. I dunno.

Microscope is probably the game most of interest to the PPC. It is a game explicitly designed to be about worldbuilding. I can't do it justice, but I can say that if you want to sit together with your friends and build a timeline and a world around something (not a geographical world, but a world with characters and history and stuff), this is probably the best way to do it. It also now has an expansion/extra manual/collection of ideas to get you started. So that's fun.

Finally, the single oddest game I found at PAX: Hot Guys Making Out. Yes, really. I laughed at it and initially thought it looked awful, but I read about someone else's play and the mechanics, and... it might actually be good? It uses playing cards as a mechanism to control actions, and works in a manner not entirely dissimilar to a trick-taking card game. So that's interesting. I dunno. But if you're interested at all... I did just link it.

That's just the start, of both games (RPGs or otherwise) that seem interesting, and what I saw at PAX. I left out all the panels, and a ton of board games and other stuff that we found. I might provide more information later, if there's interest, but I sort of have to go now, and I've left you more than enough games for the time being. Once again, feel free to add your own to the list. I leave no restrictions, just leave stuff you find appropriate, enjoyable, or whatever, that you think we should know about. Actually, seriously please do contribute, because it's helpful, and I like new games.

Good luck, and happy playing.