Update on the Magic Cube

So I made my list and looked through my cards as best I could. I'm searching the gatherer database now to see if there are any reprints I can use.

Great news: I've got the full set of Guildpact!

Good news: I've got almost a complete set of commons for 2 more of the sets. Here's the list of the few cards I need to complete the following sets:

INVASION


Chromatic Sphere (Art.)
Llanowar Knight (G/W)
Yavimaya Barbarian (G/R)
Recoil (U/B)
Vodalian Zombie (U/B)
Galina's Knight (U/W)
Cremate (B)
Firescreamer (B)
Protective Sphere (W)
Strength of Unity (W)

PLANESHIFT


Steel Leaf Paladin (G/W)
Horned Kavu (G/R)
Hull Breach (G/R)
Cavern Harpy (U/B)
Malicious Advice (U/B)
Daring Leap (W/U)
Silver Drake (W/U)
Mire Drake (R)
Shriek of Dread (B)
Aurora Griffin (W)

I know I have some of these around somewhere. I guess I'll have to look through my cards... again. I'll wait a little while first.

Oh, if you're in Portland, reader, and would like to give me some of these cards, I'd be happy to meet you at the FLGS of your choice!

Pauper Cube - Rebirth

Looking at Gamestorm 2012 planed events, I saw some Magic drafts that I totally want in on. And that got me thinking about my pauper cube.

I decided long ago that I didn't want to design the cube like some had, I wanted it to be as much like a WotC designed set as possible. So I'd just buy one of each common from a block or two, and that would be my cube. I also decided on Ravnica block and Invasion block. They're not the cheapest sets to get, but since it's only commons and I have most of them it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

At this point, I was torn - I want to do the pauper cube to save money. Like, I don't want to spend any at all if I can help it. But at the same time, I want to have a good experience without that lame feeling when you just throw a bunch of cards together.*

So I gave up on it then, putting off buying the sets on eBay until I don't know what. But now I'm thinking about it and I realize I have most of the cards I want in the cube. I just have to do the legwork to track them down.

So I'm making a list of all the commons in the Ravnica block and the Invasion block, and I'm going to keep them with my magic cards. Whenever I feel like it, I'll sort through some and if I find one on the list, I'll check it off and put it in a special box just for the cube. I don't want to get obsessed over this, especially since I don't really know anyone who actively wants to play magic. But I want the cube around, maybe just to sit on the board game shelf. I'd be able to go "Does anyone want to draft the cube?" when people are looking for something to do.

I think a future goal would be for me to actually have a group of friends who hang out and play games. Then I can try to solve the problem of what to play.

Three Settings

So, I've designed three general settings for RPG campaigns over the years.

Attariil is an island nation, at peace internally and with the four surrounding islands. We played in a 6 month long 4e campaign there, and I think it was pretty cool. Travel time was very short, due to me not working out distances or having random encounters. I was disappointed at how small it became after letting the PCs traipse all over without regard to the distance. And then I ruined the campaign with the stupid war house rules. But I digress.

Second we have Northreach - a frontier outpost on the northern edge of civilization. Travel to the outpost was only possible through a dangerous canyon that was completely impassable for half the year. The outpost was created to spread the domain of Baron Vedron of Kor, a large city to the south. The PCs who played in that campaign got to explore the Icepeak mountains and fight a young white dragon. That game only lasted a month or two, as I was trying to make peace with 4e but couldn't force myself to keep running encounter after encounter. I made a stable of interesting NPCs for the characters to interact and bond with, but I don't know how successful that ended up being.

Third is the Guardian Forest where lived many tribes of Guardians, people who borrowed power from the earth and defended their forest from invasions. This setting never saw play because I've been tuning it endlessly for the past 10 years. Important and unchanging facts about this setting were the nature-worshiping Guardians, ancestral spirits who walk the forest and share wisdom with the living, and an evil empire ruled by the victim of a psychic menace.

So now I'm thinking each of these three places could be parts of the same game world! Attariil stays in the ocean near the other four kingdoms (mainlanders might call these the Five Kingdom Islands collectively, much to the chagrin of the Attariin people.)

There's lots more work I can do to tie the three setting together, like making the empire from the Guardian Forest the ones that sent the Northreach expedition. (ok, that's about the extent of it.) But I also get a large area of the empire that would be the main area for any campaigns. It'd be feudal and divisive, so that there'd be plenty of chance for war.