Miniature Mayhem and on Geek Pride

Man, have I been out of it the last month. Things have been busy but they've been busy in that "I don't have time for myself" kind of way that you just can't quite complain about because it's filled with social/fun stuff. So my apologies about the blog going to sleep and the site slowing down a little more than it should have around Christmas time. That said, I've been working on something crazy. A few friends out there helped me playtest it last Summer, but since then I've been refining the little bastard and having a blast. The downside is that I've created a monster.
Warning: Geek Rambling about to begin. Please ignore.

Premise: I hate miniature games. I hate them because they don't last long (friends outgrow them) and they're crazy expensive to really get into. Warhammer from Games Workshop isn't a game at all but a psychotic hobby with a cult following. Having to spend up to hundreds to have a decent amount of miniatures that are still uncut and unpainted is just a little bonkers to me. On the other end of the spectrum we have things like Mage Knight or HorrorClix...fun games and the pieces come painted but the scheme there is that you have to buy "booster packs" of random miniatures and hope you get something cool. Chances are you won't be satisfied and you'll have to go back and buy more. It's gamer gambling and eventually it'll make someone's head/wallet explode. It's never surprised me to find out that the champions of a lot of gaming conventions are elderly men with too much money or spoiled rich kids with far to indulging parents....according to most companies in the gaming industry, Fun = Money.
And yes, I know that's the way it usually works, but in the end gamers are left with piles of miniatures belonging to a game that no one plays or, even worse, simply miniatures from a version of the same game that's been updated to that they have to buy all-new miniatures to play (Warhammer 40k, I'm looking at you, you greedy knobs).
So I sat down to make a game that'd be hella cheap to play that was still fun. In came Miniature Mayhem. The game decks should be available by this summer...and my god is it addictive. The only problem with making a game that requires no miniatures is that it can backfire. In most games, you can only spend so much money before you own everything. When you can use ANYTHING to play a game, things can get....silly.

If you look closely you'll find pieces from about a dozen minituare games there as well as Candyland, Monopoly, a plastic tank from a hobby shop, Pokemon, Jar Jar Binks, some crappy toys that I got inside some kinder eggs and...well...lots of stuff. When you start getting hooked on a game that lets you play with ANYTHING you end up spending your random change on EVERYTHING. Ever since I started playing this thing I can't help but look for anything about the size of a chess piece that looks like it could kick your ass. It's a weird neurosis, but whatever.

Expect rules and more madness floating onto the site sooner than later.

-jared

(By the way, one of my major christmas presents was a huge pile of gaming miniatures from all types of things. So now I can have Pokemon monsters beat the bejesus out of SpongeBob Squarepants and his WW2 Tank Armada. God I love this game.)