(It really sucks when you can't think up a good title.)

I went to Borderlands today. Now you all get to suffer with me.

I have been in a bit of a gaming slump over the last few months. It's not that I no longer find my collection of board and card games interesting, rather I am preoccupied, distracted if you will, with storytelling games, and thus distracted by RPGs. I now find myself browsing the RPG section of Borderlands almost as much as I browse the board game sections.

On the one hand it was refreshing to return to the store which steals my money. I did see a few games I want to pick up, and more that I'd love to play. Cave Troll caught my eye, and since I had heard an interview with Tom Jolly that touched on the game I can say, with some level of confidence, that I will probably like the game. As to how it will stack up with my other dungeon crawling games, well that is something which is holding me back. I love playing Dungeoneer, Runeboud, and even Descent, so do I really need yet another one “just like” it? Yes. And I'll probably pick it up this week and play it for the first time, sometime this summer (as I said, I am in a gaming slump, and so is Holly).

The next two (technically three) that caught my eye cause me no small amount of gnashing of teeth. I found the sixth edition of Call of Cthulhu (the RPG). I've really wanted to give this game a whirl, and the only thing keeping me from buying the book on the off chance that I'll get to play it, is the stack of other RPGs I've purchased and am still waiting for their off chances. Still, I want to play that game!

Then along comes Anima (another link). I don't know a lot about this game, in fact I've heard nothing of it, but it has an RPG, a card game, and a miniatures line, which on the outset does sound like an identity crisis. I wouldn't really look at the game except it's illustrated (painted?) by Japanese manga-kas. I get pretty manga/anime artwork with a European game. The other thing that caught my attention is the marketing speak talking about storytelling. So naturally I'm hooked and want to dig deeper into the game. I'll probably only pick up the card game and not the RPG for the same reasons above.

Oh! I also saw the expansions to Arkham Horror, but I will probably not pick those up until I convince people to play the game with me. I still think it has the potential to be a terrifically fun time, but then I say that about a lot of games I can't find players for.

[composed and posted with ecto]