In Quick Peaks we offer hot takes on games that are new to us. This week we have The Dwarves: Big Box, Breaking Away, Century: Spice Road, Oh My...
Recent Articles & Reviews by K. David Ladage
I'm an old school board gaming and role-playing nerd who cut his teeth on the Dungeons & Dragons Basic set (I am firmly in the Frank Mentzer camp) and board games like Acquire and Win, Place & Show. As a kid, I moved a lot; it felt like I was always the new kid in school. I spent a decade in the United States Navy as a Data Processing Technician before I set out to explore the world of corporate IT work. I have written some articles for Pyramid Magazine and The Journal of the Traveller's Aid Society, or JTAS (Steve Jackson Games, back when they were online weekly web-based publications) as well as contributed to several books in the GURPS 3e line. I have written for other RPG publishers, as well as contributed to the development of the Starmada starship combat rules. I purchased the rights to the Bard Games role-playing game The Arcanum in 2016; in 2019 I published the 30th Anniversary Edition of that game (Lulu, DriveThruRPG).
I love to play (and create) games! However, for several years, my gaming group was spread about the country. For some time we were limited to what we could play online (a combination of Zoom, Board Game Arena, and Steam). My wife, daughter, and I packed up and moved to Maryland to be closer to our friends. This has meant that in-person, over-the-table gaming has resumed! Hopefully this continues; some of us have sizable game collections we want to explore.
My favorite games are those that hand you several choices each turn and leave it to you to figure out the best way to use them. I prefer medium to medium-heavy games, but there are some outside this range that hold a place in my heart. I would tell you what my favorites are, but I am hoping to do that over time with the reviews that I write... so be on the lookout!
It is not always necessary to have complete control over the situation, but it helps. Join David as he muses about what it means to have player...