Saga Ward

TTRPG's are wild. I think 5e really drops the ball on a lot of stuff and I don't like playing it. Ideally I'm playing a narrative game that needs you to be collaborative and trusting. No initiative, direct spotlight as the story needs. But the board game that is 5e combat... is fun. Or can be.

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a deck of CYOA cards. Much more fixed. Like Gloomhaven. That might actually sing. But then you DO play it and people zone out, get bored, and try to weasel out of combat and consequences and stakes, or they remain heavily adversarial even in narrative and want I Win buttons everywhere, and it sucks.

Anyway they should bring back 4e. Now that was a board game. 20 year anniversary next year, how about a re-release? Show some of these players who weren't even born when 5e first came out what an Edition is.

Like, I think it sucks that the game grinds to a halt for combat, but the actual game, like if you sat down to just play a combat for 3 hours (because a big one can take that much), that's kind of fun. That's where adversarial play between players/DM almost works. And maybe the story is more like...

Still working on Wolverine. Returning to occupied Madripoor and yeah, this should have been the whole game. Flashbacks to Canada and Japan, sure (though the Hand felt like they could have been operating in Madripoor anyway). This open world would have worked. Small 3-5 story building hoods to stalk.

Like, stalking, climbing, jumping; checkpoints, cybernetic snipers leaping to reposition. Throw in robot hounds and later sentinels and you have easy foe escalation from the early fodder. Divide it into 3-5 main open world districts (Lowtown, docks, shopping, etc.) instead of one big one. Themed.

Break it up with one-off missions and smaller sequences/areas (Trask HQ, certain bases, underground Hand hideout), but mostly let you pick targets, compounds, checkpoints, etc. The game now is sparse on the stealth, and a bit finicky, needs work, but the bones feel good. Plot's still a mess, lol.

I think you actually could have done an open-world Wolverine game. "Trask is terrorizing Madripoor and it's too dangerous for troops but too politically fraught for heroes. Air-drop Wolverine in there and check back in a month." Make it a guerilla attrition game, pick your targets, see results.

Trash the fuel depot to diminish their quick response forces. The manufacturing plant hurts their weapons and tools. Bio-med lab reduces their sci-fi implants/tech. Barracks kills their numbers. Hit convoys, choose and stalk HVT's. Rescue mutants to help build a resistance.

Toss in something like the Nemesis system (I know, patent, get around it) where they react to your tactics and try to counter you, or they keep coming back and remember your tricks/preferences. You can't die so failure means getting captured and having to break out but losing progress. Mutants help.

I did it. Bought Wolverine. Partly because I'm still grieving my dog and I need something I haven't done before that is low-stakes and button-mashy and simple. Not a podcast game, but a grief game. And partly because I'm writing a trashy romance where the main beau has fantasy wolverine powers...

I think nearly every day about "Why does she look different... She looks like tomb raider--hey, did you put mods in this?" "No." (perfectly timed Halo music and MC reveal)

13 Sept

Our senior dog passed away today (peacefully in her sleep, though she'd shown no signs of problems), and I am just devastated. She was my heart dog, as they say. We only had her 8 years, but I genuinely cannot express how much of a lifetime it was. I am feeling... broken. Just so lost.

9 Sept

Excuse me, Dreamworks? What is this, what did you mean by this?

9 Sept

@adashtra.bsky.social, this is perhaps relevant to your interests. Just thought you might like to have this film on your radar.

7 Sept

I want two reboots/remakes of the entire Dragon Age franchise. One, with the same mechanics as Veilguard, emphasizing action. The other, as Baldur's Gate 3, emphasizing tactics and the TTRPG stuff. I would take either--but I want both.

4 Sept

Happy Hollow Knight: Silksong release date anniversary to all who celebrate.

30 Aug

The second wave of Destiny franchise retrospectives (after the first wave of "it's over and I'm sad" ones) are gonna be amazing. Looking forward to some like 20+ hour deep dive videos on youtube.

27 Aug

Hm, I have a sneaking suspicion they're gonna make Jason the put-upon hero who ultimately has to choose between her or what's right (a GTA character!) while she's painted as the nasty violent thug who drags him down. But hey, what's one more reason not to like the thing. I'm gonna keep on hating.

youtu.beHolstin - Gamescom 2026 Trailer | PS5 GamesYouTube video by PlayStation

27 Aug

Okay this is genuinely one of the best looking games I've ever seen. That is *sharp.* God damn, redo every Resident Evil and Silent Hill game like THIS, lol. youtu.be/Q0ShRRgMCjc?...

21 Aug

It is an absolute crime that End of Oak Street isn't doing bigger numbers. Husband and I just saw it and it's the second best dinosaur movie we've ever seen after (obvi) the original Jurassic Park? Thrilling, sharp, clever, smart, it trusts the audience and has so many sly choices. Go see it!

21 Aug

Man if sony hadn't spent the last like 8 years throwing money at a portfolio of trend-chasing live services that nobody asked for and almost entirely either never materialized or were cancelled or reworked into meaninglessness we probably would have had another inFamous. A Prototype 3, too, why not.

18 Aug

I want Prototype 3 but I want the main character to be a woman and it's a bunch of metaphor for the way the patriarchy tries to control and render unpalatable the female body and you just fight them, and ICE, and data centers, using blood and rage.

15 Aug

I'm lukewarm on the Wolverine game--UNLESS you tell me there's an X-23 or even just a damn lady wolverine skin. Then we're talking.

14 Aug

Husband and I are going to see Spidey today, first marvel anything since... Loki 2? Fell off during the TV era. No Cap movie, no red hulk, no thunderbolts, etc. So I'm watching a catch-up video, marveling at Ghost, and wanting to just play a game starring her, lol.

14 Aug

Might play Spidey 2 (haven't tried it yet) to scratch the itch, but it makes me think that marvel could be served making a dedicated game studio with their own version of NYC and which just lets you bring new heroes into it. Shame they killed that avengers live service game with their greed.

12 Aug

Thrilled to share that my FLGS awarded my game, Sellsword, its "Best New Game" title this month. Which isn't huge (well, maybe to outsiders, *I* think it's one of the coolest things ever and I am so honored), but it does mean I can use "award-winning" on my flyer, lol.

10 Aug

The greatest travesty of DmC Devil May Cry never getting a sequel is that we never got to check in with the main character after realizing she's trans. I want to see how she's doing, want to see her stomp demons.

6 Aug

Ubisoft as a company is pretty shitty (which of the "big ones" aren't) but luckily I already own Ghost Recon Wildlands so I won't be giving them new money to check out the expected 4k60 facelift and bonus mission (that may be a new game tie-in) they're dropping for this 9 year old game later today.

6 Aug

I'm no brand loyalist, Tom Clancy can squirm in his grave, but Wildlands was somehow surprisingly good despite their efforts. I pretended it was a cheeky Team America-style satire and that made it land almost perfectly for me. Minor facelift is nice, though I'm hoping for more QoL improvements too.

saga-ward.itch.ioSellsword: The Tome of Stuff by Saga WardA supplement to a TTRPG about freelancing adventurers. Delve dungeons. Fight monsters. Get loot.

2 Aug

I am excited to share that the first supplement to my TTRPG Sellsword is available today, in both digital and physical: saga-ward.itch.io/sellsword-th... Flesh out your game with places, items, and a whole lot more--including the world-famous guide, Malmidian's Monstrous Menagerie!

25 July

Borrows several other subsystems from bigger games so you'll instantly be familiar with the rules, but only just enough to get confused by the differences. "Like Daggerheart, Nimble, and Shadowdark had a baby but you never heard of it--that's Sellsword!"

Rise Up (From the Grave) Comus@riseupcomus.bsky.social

Not a retroclone, so ignored by the OSR Too focused on 10' poles for a general audience! HIS MAJESTY THE WORM: A game for no one!

20 July

Call me a hater, but that Avengers Doomsday trailer looks desperate, lol.

4 July

Just watched They Will Kill you again and am now once more declaring that the whole entire world seems to have slept on this film. Zazie Beetz (who is basically a goddess, let's be real) kills--in so many ways. Campy and insane film. Watch it!

Finished Borderlands 4. Liked several things: movement is genuinely better than even Destiny--but I've been saying for years that all Destiny classes by default need a ground and aerial dash/dodge (if only BL had Destiny gunplay...) Even the BL4 grapple hook is super smooth and intuitive.

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Story was fine but forgettable. Felt divorced from the world, because it is. Yeah, I guess this is technically the Borderlands universe. Doesn't feel quite like it though. Menus suuuucked. The cursor, the fiddliness, the glitchiness. Was getting some real vibe-coding stink on some of that shit.

Booted up BL3 and instantly felt like I was back home, lol. Super telling that the only things I missed were movement functionality and objective tracking, lol. Basic quality of life upgrades were the only innovation worth the 4. Menu instantly worked way better. Looked cooler, too. World was right.

Liked being able to more easily track quests and turn off the minimap. Summoning vehicles was okay, I guess, but they handle like crap, and the static vehicles do a better job of making the world feel... big. Didn't like the open world, zones sell space better. Less crowded. Feels more grounded.

27 June

You know, I can't quite put my finger on it, but I find the idea that any given main character from Final Fantasy XII was trans to be rather compelling. Oh man, if they were literally all trans it would explain so much.

18 June

I dunno, I'm a relatively healthy 30-40 year old person, if I had a late-night crowd event on a Sunday straight into an international flight for board meetings then an international flight back at the end, I think the jet lag might kill *me.* So like...

15 June

Ya girl just tried that Mistfall Hunter beta on PS5 and, oof, not for me. Besides needing some polish (totally cool and not unexpected), I just don't feel this marriage of soulslike/fantasy action and extraction looting. It's Caramel and Jelly, not PB&J. I can see why, but it's not doing it for me.

15 June

The gooner bait dial is also a couple notches over where it oughtta be. Fromsoft games are low-key horny, a Yoko Taro joint is brazenly, unapologetically horny--but this feels lazy and uninspired, like they were ashamed or mandated by a checklist. "Mandated" describes about half the thing, actually.

6 June

Re. the new Mass Effect successor Exodus: You want to know if you can romance crew members regardless of whether you chose a male or female main character. I want to know what that octopus do. We are not the same.

5 June

Just my compulsory reminder ahead of SGF: fuck the CEO of Lords of the Fallen, he's an anti-woke grifter nazi apologist, fostering a toxic work environment, glazing the likes of asmongold, and turning a cool game into bottom of the barrel gooner chud bait to cover for his bad management.

3 June

Finally get to see Jesse and Emily in Control 2. God, they got even gayer. God, look at Jesse's outfit, and her HAIR. A fucking NECKERCHIEF. LET ME PLAY AS HER

2 June

BL4 is tonally good and fun, like just about all of it, but the only misfire for me so far is the open world. Like most open worlds, it feels condensed and small, a theme park version of its setting. All western vibes are gone w/ wide open spaces, now it's a garbage dump of STUFF every 2 feet.

2 June

I loved the discrete areas with loading zones because not only did the game run better, it sold scale way better (especially in 2 onward, legit huge spaces that still felt like they had miles between major points of interest because of loads). Contiguous world hard biome shifts never land for me.

2 June

Of course, I actually also thought taking BL off-planet in 3 was probably not needed; you had a whole crazy *planet* to play with, plus the unstable moon, just keep it there. Pandora IS the Borderlands. It can still have cities, monasteries, all nature biomes, whatever else. I miss skags.