My gaming mojo is back, which means my life is back in balance.

When one hobby becomes your job, another needs to step up, but last year, the one hobby/job became all, every other interest just fell away.

Bad sign.

Away Missions is not even here, but already I am working on ways of making it work for me and my small gaming regime.

The Borg are apparently unbalanced, especially if played badly. It seems the designers made a balanced game, you just need to sort your priorities and learn from your mistakes. One reviewer actually played (as Feds) one of the game’s designers (as Borg) and the game ended in an engaging draw. Before that the reviewer and friends had little to no luck with the faction.

Easy fix.

The “Borg Challenge” is an idea that basically has no such issue. Both players play the much more straight forward Federation (Romulan/Klingon etc) vs the Borg and then swap, the winner is the Fed/other player who scores the most points. The Borg are basically the blocker that is there to trip you up. This will do two things.

Even the playing field, allowing an even game both ways.

Allow both players to “get” the Borg and how they work.

After a few games of this, the Borg can be played as a normal faction, but I feel until then, there is probably no point. The Federation, Klingon, maybe less so the Romulans, are much more straight forward, more easily grasped. The Borg are the special little snow flake.

It may even be possible to play three way or 1 on 1 with alternating Borg interference.

This brings me to another thought.

Avoiding Marvel Crisis Protocol.

To me, MPC is a game that is so far off my radar, it will never, ever be played, bought, collected. Not denial-just denied.

There are a few reasons.

The product. Even for a long term war-gamer, used to buying uninspiring bags of metal with potential and discovering (or not), that potential, I will not be buying a game that needs (1) assembling and (2) painting in (3) plastic. I dodged the cool Batman game out a few years back for the same reason.

The cost and collectability, which will have potentially no real limit. Not another one, never again.

The fact I have a serviceable, possibly even inspired*, home brew game that cost me nothing but time using a system that seemed to “write itself” and a bunch of super cheap re-purposed Heroclix (these were so cheap, most cost less than their new bases).

I am “Marvelled out”, like a lot of people. Not even the new RPG excites.

Backlog.

For once, attention is on the other things I already have that are calling to me. My hiatus last year sparked a desire to go with the bird in hand more than the one not. It is like I am re-discovering both old friends and ideas.

My zombie like purchasing of various games, without much playing or time invested has given me both an new appreciation of these things and a need to check the cupboard before I get too keen to buy anything (I avoided the odd duplication usually, but slipped once or twice).

Away Missions can claim a special place in my world and rightfully so, managing to not be that game, but excite me on every other level. MPC will never do that.

*The whole thing is based on a strength (number of dice) and skill/accuracy/penetration/speed value (type of dice) like 6x d6 with only the number of dice of the winner’s roll (being over the best roll of the loser or in excess of the dice that match the losers best roll), multiplied by an effect value (x1/4 to any value). The Hulk may have 10d8 fighting with a x3 damage multiplier, granny has 1d4 with a x1 dm, but an unwary Hulk may get caught out rolling all ten dice under grannies lucky 4 and she may land a surprising handbag swing-doing basically nothing but surprise/brag damage.

It is more likely the Hulk would remove her from this world at an atomic level, were he of a mind, but the system quickly and easily determines this and basically any other game effect from mind control to movement.

I can even aply a simple points systems to powers (# Dice x Dice type, so the above mentioned Hulk’s fighting would be 80 pts), and that led to a dice pool power, like Green Lantern’s ring or Dr Strange’s magic that has “X” number of points spent in different ways (60pt could be 6x d10, 10x d6, 3x d20 etc). It needs a lot of dice, but is fast and has basically no math. Throwing for example, may be another application of the Hulks 80 pt power.