Blogging Roller

With the book out of my hands again, I'm trying to return to normal life by doing things like leaving the house, watching movies and playing games with the kids. Tonight's fun was The Awful Green Things from Outer Space, an easy-to-play and very cute Steve Jackson mini-game (a board game) with an interesting set of rules. It's perfect for Alex, who at 9 is absolutely fascinated by game systems and rules.

TAGTFOS is about a space ship that is boarded by green monsters; monsters who grow each turn from eggs to babies and from babies to egg-laying adults. To fight off the monsters, the ship's crew members grab whatever weapons they can find, things like bottles of acid, cans of rocket fuel and blow torches. Problem is, the crew has no idea what the weapons do until they use them (and they change every time you play). So, if you fire a stun pistol into a room full of monsters you might blow 'em to bits, which sounds good until you realize that all of those bits will grow into babies next turn.

I got my copy of TAGTFOS from The Dragon magazine back in '79. The game is out of print, but you can find copies at used game stores online (around $15 a copy).

We're testing release candidates of Roller 2.3, so expect a release in next week or two. This release is a big one because we skipped 2.2, so we've got twice the normal monthly dose of features. Plus, we're shooting for full Apache license compliance. Read on for more [Read More]