Therefore this blog now lives at: http://mostlygeeknz.wordpress.com/

Please update your links.

I’ve been pretty keen for this to come out since it was first announced last year. I liked Fallout 3, I mean it was no Fallout or Fallout 2 but it was a pretty solid game and I’ve recently been wanting to go back and have more of an explore.

But when it was announced that Obsidian would be developing this game under licence I was pretty stoked. Knights of the Old Republic 2 (despite the ending) was a great game and I’m also really looking forward to the long over due Alpha Protocol.

So I look forward to more news about this next part of the franchise, and the ability to zoom in for those messy and devastating headshots through V.A.T.S.

• The LA Times writing on D&D.
• An interview from Wizards with Zak S. Zak writes a really cool blog called Playing D&D With Porn Stars which is mostly general musings on his style of D&D and playing with a group who aren’t traditional gamers. Seriously – it’s a really interesting read from a rally interesting guy.
• E6 – it’s a style of D&D that involves limiting levels to level 6 and not progressing further. Low level play for the win! There’s rules for 3/3.5 and rules for 4e. My favourite levels of D&D are a bit beyond this – say 8 till 12 – but I like the basic idea a lot.
• A Spanish Civil War card game! Two of my favourite obsessions in one! The Spanish Civil War is a really underutilised part of history for gaming I think – one day I’ll write my Call of Cthulhu Spanish Civil War game.

Finally here’s a TED talk from game designer Jane McGonigal about how if we increase our weekly online gaming hours to 21 billion we can save the world. It’s complete bullshit, but it’s interesting bullshit!

So with out any further ado. The List!

1. Actually finish my KapCon SDC entry this year. I’m going to tidy up and polish Still to Come.
2. Stop being so soft on the players in the A Song of Ice and Fire game I GM. It’s a tough world and sometimes, people die.
3. Continue to overcome the distrust I have of LARPing.
4. Play more of the games I look at and think “I really want to play that!”.
5. Blog more, not just re-posting cool stuff from elsewhere.
6. Get a new PC so I can play all these awesome CPRGs on the platform they are meant for.

I think that’s it really. There are other things, but these are the main ones. What about you? Do you have any gaming goals for the year?

• Charles Stross writes on the issues to do with spaceships.
• Lev Grossman chooses his top 5 fantasy books of all time! (via i09.com)
• Something Awful dissects the art of Traveller.
• Paizo are having another of their RPG Superstar design competitions.

I think the internet is playing Dragon Age too…

• The Onion AV Club have done another ‘Gateway to Geekery’, this time focusing on H.P. Lovecraft.
• Critical Hits have written a pretty good piece on how to get most (and longest) bang for your buck with Game Workshop minis games.
• Apparently dreaming about games makes you better at them. Does that mean that if you dream about sex you get better at that too? (via Felicia Day‘s twitter.)
• Joss Whedon is bidding for the Terminator rights. Sort of. Background is here. (Via the A.V. Club)
• EuroGamer has a big, informative and pretty balanced article on the campaigns in Germany to ban violent video games.