THROWBACK THURSDAY: When We Got A Games Table!

At last, my chance to go full Eddie!

Thanks to my amazing, hard-working and supportive wife, Rachel, we acquired a games table in December, 2022.

It's something I'd yearned for ever since learning they were a real 'thing; and finally it was mine... er... ours.

Rachel has long said we needed a new dining table and I managed to persuade her that she should spend her bonus on a games table, which would then double as both dining table and venue for the Tuesday Knights and I to sling dice.

I did a ton of research, we measured a lot, drew up plans, found a UK company that specialised in games tables (Geeknson), asked a lot of questions, and finally pulled the trigger on a bespoke design back in late July/early August of that year.

The table arrived, and was unwrapped, just before Christmas, but I'd kept shtum on my "secret weapon" so that the Tuesday Knights would be the first to see it, in person, at that January's session of Pete's Hollow Earth  Expedition campaign (see below).

However, that didn't stop me 'playing' with it beforehand, for an Eddie Munson-esque "photoshoot" of an imaginary game of Dungeons & Dragons featuring the characters from the '80s cartoon as the protagonists, caught between a demonic flying creature and a warband of orcs.

I have such dreams for this new addition to the house that will justify the expenditure of Rachel's hard-earned cash on my geeky dream.

Presto the magician blasts the demon, as the evil gnome sorcerer cackles

Eddie does it much better than me, but you get what I was going for!

Gamesmaster Pete goes high-tech, flipping his tablet screen over the wooden GM screen
attachment to present us with a slideshow introduction to the adventure

A lot happened as always in that night's episode of Pete's pulp Hollow Earth Expedition campaign (which, by 2026, has morphed into an OUTGUNNED game), but here's a "picture special" of The Tuesday Knights enjoying their first meeting around the new games table.

Afterwards, Clare wrote the following about the table in her daily blog (now a Substack) of positive moments, Three Beautiful Things:

"I am so astonished by Tim's new gaming table -- which he has been keeping a secret since it was ordered in the summer -- that I gasp at each new revelation. First the top lifts off; next there's a green baize playing surface... that could be lifted off to reveal a map table... and then there are extra little tables to attach for your drink and your notebook; and a special desk for the GM, too. The whole smells pleasantly of new wood and polish."

Me using the "player's side table attachment" feature for my dice and notebook

Pete, at the head of the table, liked having a wooden screen and his own tray for dice, notes etc

An impromptu shoot-out in the back streets of 1930's Rio puts Oynx (Mark's character)
and Freya (Clare's character) in the firing line.

Here's me making full use of the "cup holder" feature

The morning after and the table had transformed back into a dining table

EPISODE THREE: "Curse Your Sudden But Inevitable Betrayal!"

Pete modelling this year's bold shirt choice for turning the tables on our player-characters

After their successful treasure hunt last time, our heroes - Buck (my explorer), Freya (Clare's photojournalist), Dick (Kevin's former G-man), and Onyx (Mark's aviatrix) - are gathered in the ornate office of their paymaster, Professor Kasper Wieloch.

We are in Austria, in a very stately home on the banks of Lake Wolfgang (which is a real lake).

The professor was delighted that we'd found the cypher and shares with us a copy of the document he believes is the necessary element to crack it and find the co-ordinates of the lost island of Atlantis.

It's a word puzzle that eventually Onyx and Freya solve, allowing Kasper to correctly jiggle the dials on the ancient cypher we'd brought back from Greenland, revealing to him just what he wanted to know.

[Of course, we - as players - had seen massive red flags, since the start of this session, about this gathering, This started with Pete setting up miniatures on the table to show where we all were for what should have been a simple debriefing. Secondly, he dropped in that we'd all been made to surrender our weapons - by the professor's staff - on the way in, much to Mark/Onyx's chagrin].

Wieloch's lakeside mansion

Wieloch's understated office

With a manic grin on his face, Wieloch shrugged off his lab coat to reveal a Nazi uniform underneath as he spoke into a microphone on the desk - dictating the co-ordinates.

Behind us, his butler, Hans (who Onyx had failed to seduce to persuade him to fetch her weapon back) drew a pistol, as doors on both sides of the room swung open and eight Nazi thugs burst into the room, pointing guns at us.

Buck charged the nearest thug to him, barrelling him over and subsequently hoisting him up and using his body as a shield to absorb the bullets fired in his direction. He then threw the corpse at two of the others, bringing them down and dived at the final minion on his side of the room and engaged him in a drawn-out slugfest.

Professor Kasper Wieloch (left) and Hans The Butler

Onyx dived over Wieloch's desk and proceeded to stick her fingers in his eyes, in an attempt to blind him and bring him to heel. Unfortunately their bloody tussle ended with the Nazi scientist staggering blindly out of one of the doors and clattering down stairs to find the rest of his men.

Freya and Dick took on the other four Nazis - as well as Hans the nefarious butler - in a surprisingly one-sided fight, as the thugs seemed as accurate in their shooting as Star Wars stormtroopers. 

Once we were victorious, we saw out the window that the wounded Wieloch was being helped into a small zeppelin that had docked in his garden; his escape being covered by a number of rifle-bearing soldiers who kept us pinned down as they got away.

Freya was able to get an impression of the co-ordinates off of Wieloch's desktop notepad, then we bolted down to our seaplane... only to discover it had (unsurprisingly) been sabotaged by the villains.

Onyx was quite confident her aircraft would be quicker than that of the bad guys, but we had to trust that her legendary repair skills were up to the task of undoing whatever damage the Nazis had done.

TO BE CONTINUED...

CAST:

• Buck Hannigan - Me
• Freya Larson - Clare
• Dick Tate - Kevin
• Onyx Jones - Mark 

DIRECTOR:

• Pete

Buck & Dick (top) and Onyx & Freya (bottom)

MY NOTES: While it was great to have Mark back at the table again, the first time we'd all been together for the better part of nine months, Outgunned Adventures is currently reinforcing my long-held dislike of dice pool systems.

I know we're still getting to grips with a new system, and trying to grasp all its nuances, but for what - at first glance - appears to be a simple system (much like Hollow Earth Expedition's Ubiquity mechanics before it), seems almost randomly fiddly.

Dice pools also make everything slow - as was demonstrated by the fact that almost the entirety of this session was our fight against the bad guys.

Conversely, I would point out that I appreciated the fact that the thugs we were fighting were incredibly lousy shots. It's not exactly cinematic (and that's the style the game is seeking to emulate) for a larger-than-life pulp hero to be offed by a random goon!

OUTGUNNED ADVENTURES: A Player's Perspective

The Tuesday Knights tackle our second Outgunned Adventures session

Hopefully you've already read the write-up of what went down in this week's Outgunned Adventures session for the Tuesday Knights, but I thought I'd give you a little perspective on the game from my point-of-view, as a player.

First things first, I have to say that despite my deep-rooted dislike of "dice pool" mechanics there's something about the system at the heart of Outgunned that really appeals to me.

It takes the common "ability + skill" approach to decide the size of your available d6 dice pool, but then once you roll you're not totalling the dice or looking for specific numbers over a certain value, instead you want collections of identical numbers (such as 4,4,4 on three of the six dice you rolled). The larger that collective the better.

It's a bit like Yahtzee.

However, if you don't get a big enough set (usually three identical numbers are required for a typical, heroic action), you can elect to reroll the dice from your pool that weren't counted in the matching set, to try and get more duplicates.

Unfortunately, if this reroll doesn't add to your original total you actually forfeit one of the dice already counted towards your success total. That means if you only had two matches to start with, you automatically fail.

I loved this risk/reward gambling element. There was a definite air of tension around the table when people chose to reroll - followed by elation if they succeeded and despair if they failed.

The Outgunned game engine is a seemingly simple system at first glance, but there are definite nuances and complications that we're not totally savvy with yet.

For instance, there are issues around the rerolls - and "free" rerolls that our characters' Feats/Abilities granted them - that need to be ironed out.

And, as much as I enjoy an exciting skill challenge, I couldn't help but feel that there was a LOT of dice rolls called for in our opening scenario. Surely some of these multiple checks to advance through a certain task (such as climbing a cliff wall) could have been bundled together?

That said, I already rate these mechanics way ahead of the Ubiquity dice pool system used in our previous Hollow Earth Expedition segment of Pete's on-going weird science/pulp adventure campaign.

Having championed Ubiquity for so long in theory, it was quite sad to discover what a mess it often turned out to be in actual play whenever we tried anything beyond a straight-forward test of our skills.

It should be noted, of course, that this first two-part Outgunned adventure (Frozen Legacy) only involved our heroes facing the elements, rugged terrain, and a tricky set-piece to retrieve the "mysterious artefact".

We have yet to discover how the mechanics handle combat (usually such a key part of our games) and damage.

While we lost "Grit" (the game's version of stamina and 'hit points') through failing crucial challenges (such as keeping our balance on the violently rocking Viking longship), we have no clue how this translates to gunbattles and fisticuffs.

Pete started the evening by presenting us with nicely filled in character sheets as well as small file of papers explaining both the basic rules mechanics of Outgunned and personal explanations of our character's skills, Feats (special abilities), and equipment. This was all very handy.

It was a shame Mark couldn't make last night's session. However, on the bright side it means we'll get another refresher course on the core rules again next month, which will hopefully fill in a few of the gaps in our knowledge of the system.

I think between us - as we have some pretty smart cookies around the table - we should be able to get to grips with the subtleties of Outgunned Adventures. This will let the rules slip into the background and we can be free to carve Indiana Jones-inspired roles for our characters in this brave, new world of 1936.

EPISODE ONE: Gaming Again! It's A Christmas Miracle!

It's great to be gaming with my friends again

For numerous reasons, it's been a rough year for the Tuesday Knights.

Until this week, we haven't gathered for gaming purposes since about May, but given the improvement in my mobility and stability I was determined that we get in, at least, one game before the end of the year.

Sadly, Mark wasn't able to make it due to a prior commitment, but Clare, Pete, and Kevin showed up this week for the resumption of Pete's pulpy "weird science" campaign.

We finished that campaign's first "season" in February 2024, after three years and 32 sessions of gaming.

The idea of this week's gathering was to "generate" our characters and gain an overview of Pete's new system of choice: Outgunned Adventures from Two Little Mice.

Festive bao buns, courtesy of Rachel

But, first, we had a massive Christmas feast of pizza and festive nibbles to tuck into, prepared for us by Rachel, and a lot of catching-up to do. Sure, we chat in our WhatsApp group, but it's not the same as face-to-face banter.

Once we reached the stage where we couldn't eat any more, the table was cleared and the gaming began.

Following the get-together Pete and I had the other day about transferring the group's characters from Hollow Earth Expedition to Outgunned, Pete handed out character sheets to us all and talked us through character creation.

I liked this because, at the end of the process, the characters felt like our own creations rather than just "pregens".

The game's simple dice mechanic was explained and then we were thrown into Frozen Legacy, the first episode of the Saturday morning serial (ie. campaign) called The Fate of Atlantis.

It's still the pre-war 1930's and our characters - explorer Buck Hannigan (me), photojournalist Freya Larson (Clare), and former G-man, Richard Tate (Kevin) - are now freelance adventurers.

We've been hired by Professor Casper Wieloch to find the lost tomb of Erik The Red in Greenland, and retrieve a mysterious (and unknown) artifact. To aid us, the professor loaned our group Odin's Key, an iron medallion engraved with runes and with a translucent crystal lens at its centre.

Prof Casper Wieloch (left) and sketch of Odin's Key (right)

We soon found ourselves scaling a massive ice wall in Greenland. Buck put his mountaineering experience to good use, keeping his friends safe on the tricky ascent as the wind howled and the sea crashed violently below.

At the top of the climb we found a plateau with a single, ancient, Christian memorial with the words "sicut vixi ego relinquo" carved up on it. 

Freya translated this ("as I lived, so I depart"), but raised concerns as to why someone who had rejected Christianity (ie. Erik The Red) would have a Christian memorial.

Patterned floor tiles

Spotting a groove in the side of the stone, Buck blundered on, inserting Odin's Key (while still clenching it firmly). This - unfortunately - set off the first booby trap. The ground opened up beneath us and we were all propelled down a rough slide into the freezing ocean water.

Luckily, we spotted a nearby cave and swam into it for safety. Inside we found a passageway leading deeper into the rock, which led us into a big cavern containing some Viking skeletons.

As we progressed, it became clear that the room was man-made, with Freya identifying the Viking architecture and the large statue of Odin, holding a golden spear, at the far end.

Between us and the statue, which wore an eyepatch featuring the same designs as our medallion, was a floor of finished stone, featuring tiles of different colours. 

It was clear this was some kind of puzzle trap, but when Freya looked across the floor through the lens of Odin's Key she saw "safe" routes illuminated - unfortunately a different route depending on which eye she used to peer through the Key.

With Dick and Freya staying back to guide him, Buck began to cross the floor - following their instructions.

Unfortunately, he picked the wrong path to start with, causing the statue to lower its spear at him and a tidal wave of sea water to surge through the cavern, accompanied by a strong rush of wind.

Second time lucky (now in near pitch darkness), Buck reached the statue and found a partially opened panel behind it, which he and Dick managed to force open. 

They passed through a narrow corridor into a blinding light, emanating from an enormous ice cavern where a Viking longboat was suspended from the ceiling, wedged between two pillars of ice.

TO BE CONTINUED...

CAST:

• Buck Hannigan - Me
• Freya Larson - Clare
• Dick Tate - Kevin
• Onyx Jones - Mark (absent)

DIRECTOR:

• Pete

If Adventure Has A Name, It Must Be The Tuesday Knights

On and off, the Tuesday Knights (my gaming group) has been playing Pete's period pulp action campaign for 32 sessions over three years. He likes to keep things fresh by switching the rules system for every story arc.

We started in the 1950's, fighting zombies and giant monsters - even travelling to an alien world at one point - using GURPS Atomic Horror, then we slipped through a portal to the 1930's for an extended Hollow Earth Expedition-fuelled hike from New York to Antarctica, punching villains in the face along the way, and finally being drawn into some Lovecraftian cosmic horror shenanigans that were a delicious blend of John Carpenter's The Thing and old HPL's At The Mountains of Madness.

That adventure culminated with my character Buck Hansen, a world-weary big game hunter and explorer, managing to blow up - rather impressively - a newly-risen ancient god.

The other members of the team are Kevin as former G-man Dick Tate, Mark as daredevil aviatrix Onyx Jones (he took over Erica's character when she left the group), and Clare as photojournalist Freya Larson.

For the next stage of the campaign - which is scheduled to begin in December (all being well) - Pete is turning to Outgunned Adventures, a standalone spin-off of the popular Outgunned system from Two Little Mice.

I think we're staying in the 1930's for the moment, but hopefully there will be an in-game explanation for the subtle changes in our characters (and the new rules mechanics).

The other night Pete came round to talk through the new game with me and seek my assistance in roughing out conversions of the characters from HEX to Outgunned.

I was extremely flattered by this, especially given that my recent attempts to get a campaign going (a Shadowdark game that lasted one session and a Villains & Vigilantes one that lasted three sessions) both fizzled out in most depressing manners.

The Outgunned Adventures rules book is gorgeous, both in its layout and art, and full of homages to the Indiana Jones movies (particularly Raiders of The Lost Ark).

The game's core system seems elegantly straight-forward (but then again so did HEX - in theory - which turned into a confusing mess in play).

Tests in Outgunned are made with small dice pools of two to nine six-sided dice and you are looking to match numbers to score successes (e.g. roll 5d6 and threes come up on four of the dice, then that's four successes).

Although I'm still not a massive fan of dice pool mechanics, as I grow older and more befuddled I've come to really appreciate simplicity at the heart of my games (which was one of ways I went wrong with Villains & Vigilantes game).

Outgunned's dice pool mechanics are rather different than the HEX approach to generating successes, but hopefully the Tuesday Knights will latch on quickly.

Pete and I were able to find pre-generated templates that matched the characters in our little group, and then went through the personalisation process of picking out various traits and abilities that matched those that our characters had used in the earlier adventures.

Flicking through the book, I couldn't help but keep catching myself thinking "this looks really nice, perhaps I could use Outgunned to run something in a different setting".

Well, in the cold light of day, I don't know about that, but - while I'm taking a break from sitting behind the GM's screen - it's certainly got me thinking more positively about running a game again... at some point in the future. 

Indiana Jones much?

Re-Opening The X-Files

Being rather immobile at present (having apparently slipped a disc, and am waiting for a treatment regime from my GP), I've been watching a lot of TV from a recumbent position, either in my lounger or in bed (I can't concentrate/focus enough to properly read, which means a growing backlog of novels and comics). 

As well as new (to me) shows, like Castle Rock, returning on-going favourites like Murdoch Mysteries, Dexter and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, classics like the BBC's Paranormal series and, of course, Ancient Aliens, I've also dug deep (thanks to Prime Video) and started watching The X-Files from season one, episode one.

By "sheer coincidence", the Amazon delivery guy turned up a few days ago with the first volume of this gorgeous X-Files tome, a stunning, hardback, faux replica of the titular X-Files themselves.

I'm a massive fan of "in-universe" books such as this, but The X-Files: The Official Archives is quite possibly the best-looking one I've seen to date.

This official book collates information (files, evidence, photographs etc) on 50 of the show's "most memorable" investigations relating to "cryptids, biological anomalies, and parapsychic phenomena". 

And if that wasn't impressive enough on its own, in May next year volume two arrives, dealing with "extraterrestrial activity and The Syndicate".

These are not only amazing reference books, but invaluable research material for an idea that's been scritching away at my brain since my serious, leg-related issues began and I realised I was (currently) unable to fulfil my gamemastering obligations for The Tuesday Knights. 

Honestly, I'm not sure how long I'll be out of action and our superhero campaign had already lost momentum and was faltering (for various real world reasons).

Pete has kindly offered to step in, when I feel like getting back to the table, as he has "an idea", which is always an exciting prospect as we had great fun with his 1950s GURPS game that segued into 1930's Hollow Earth Expedition. 

Perhaps, our characters will be "sliding" into the Victorian steampunk game he mentioned some time ago?

Or maybe it's something else entirely...