by Steve Dubya

<div>Press photo circa 2025</div>

by Bahasa

<div>PDF cover</div>

by SaltCON

Dale with SaltCON, I did not look through all the games to see if these were posted, but I am looking for a few games for tournaments. If you have them after the trade please hit me up asap with your price. dale@saltcon.com
MLEM x2, Jamaica x2, Stone Age x2, Power Grid not the new version x1, and Puerto Rico not the new version x2.

by sdonohue

Hexagram (Issue #8 - Nov 2021) is a 2021 release from Steve Jackson Games. It's a house organ for The Fantasy Trip and features work by a number of SJ Games stalwarts and some other designers. The artists are also mostly SJ Games regulars.

Presentation
This is available in both PDF and print versions. The print version is 39 pages (including the front cover) in a 5.5" x 8.5" landscape format. The covers are heavy stock and the whole is in black & white. Both inside covers contain content. The book is saddle-stapled and the pages are primarily in two-column layout.

Content
Like every other issue, this one starts with an editorial by Steve Jackson; this one includes information on 3D printing efforts and some recent and upcoming releases. The rest of the first two pages is the table of contents and the letters section.

Familiars in TFT by Howard Kistler covers the idea of wizard familiars from soup to nuts; it starts with finding a pet, making it a familiar, benefits of a familiar, and some typical (an not so typical) familars. The Fortune Teller's Shop by Henry J. Cobb details a goblin fortune teller and her staff. The Brass Fly by Howard Kistler details a new creature to encounter. Factoring Fear in The Fantasy Trip by Anthony Shostak explores some ways to include fear in your TFT games including new abilities, some design notes, and a table for applying the effects of fear to your adventurers. Mayan Inspired Calendars by Steve Jackson provides some ideas for using Mayan style calendars in TFT including a couple of samples. Puzzle Tests by Timm Myers provides some rules for using skills, abilities, time, and even spells to solve mechanical puzzles and includes a number of puzzles as examples. Group Tactics in TFT by John Hanna is a lengthy article providing strategy tips for adventurers including examples. Beyond the Grimoire by Timothy P. Remp provides some ideas for wizards to learn spells using something other than books. Questions Three: Phil Reed finds Steve Jackson asking questions about what its like to run a game company and how to break into the industry. Cave Hummingbirds by Steve Jackson provides background information and uses for an underground species of hummingbird. Heart of Darkness by Stefan E. Jones provides information on Thargi Swamp which is near Tro; it covers everything including cultures, geography, hazards, and points of interest. Adventure Hook: Bridge Town by David Austin details a bazaar located on a bridge between two areas ruled by cousins who don't like each other. Local Color by Jean McGuire is a series of more than 25 tables aimed at providing some ideas for generating local color so that different towns have some actual differences.

Evaluation
There are a lot of interesting ideas in this issue. Many of them are more GM focused, but Group Tactics is one every player should read and the interview with Phil Reed has some good advice on becoming an RPG professional. My favorites this time are Heart of Darkness and Local Color, a large area and some interesting guides on creating local color, respectively.

Although shorter, I think Hexagram really does give the old Dragon Magazine a run for it's money on article quality and diversity in each issue and Issue 8 is no exception.

by jaa17

agramore wrote:

Did anyone here ever play System 7 Napoleonics? That game used cardboard rectangles to represent units, but was basically a miniatures game in other respects. You measured movement on a tabletop, not a preset board. We made terrain from cutout colored construction paper and tape. I'm not sure if you could use tiny scale minis in place of the cardboard pieces as long as you used the same size bases (it's been decades since I played it).

On the flipside, as it were, you could probably play just about any miniatures game with just flat pieces of card representing the footprints of the minis if you were so inclined (or in a pinch - if for whatever reason you couldn't play with anything else).

Of course, most of us play with minis (and terrain and all) because we like how it looks, or we play with what we have so we can play and have fun. 😊

I always hoped Draco Ideas would do a Napoleonics version of ONUS!: Traianus.

by St Cretin

Yeah same as Patrick said. If anything I err on the less familiar side because imo rules are a means to an end which is the game. IF there is no rule or I don't recall it, I make up a ruling in that situation that fits the system and move on. The inner logic of the system, settign and situation needs to be maintained though it cannot become random or inconsistent. Players need to be able to anticipate their risks and likelihood of success to a certain extent, otherwise I think they lose agency in the game.
TLDR: ROLEplaying over RULEplaying.

by fezzwick

Related Item: Leadtown

Welcome back!

by Chinkster

CaptainCurmudgeon wrote:

How embarrassing: I might not get anything played when I'm the host.

Don't worry. I'm in the same boat... minus the hosting 😁

Not that I didn't play anything. Just not solo.

by GrimoireOfJank

Whymme wrote:

... The same goes for setting, BTW. While players should know at least a bit about the setting, the GM should know at least a bit more than the players.

Didn't think about that. I'm far better at learning lore (or finding lore quickly) than learning systems.

by agramore

Did anyone here ever play System 7 Napoleonics? That game used cardboard rectangles to represent units, but was basically a miniatures game in other respects. You measured movement on a tabletop, not a preset board. We made terrain from cutout colored construction paper and tape. I'm not sure if you could use tiny scale minis in place of the cardboard pieces as long as you used the same size bases (it's been decades since I played it).

On the flipside, as it were, you could probably play just about any miniatures game with just flat pieces of card representing the footprints of the minis if you were so inclined (or in a pinch - if for whatever reason you couldn't play with anything else).

Of course, most of us play with minis (and terrain and all) because we like how it looks, or we play with what we have so we can play and have fun. 😊

by Whymme

Great question. Like Patrick said, I want to be able to keep the game running without causing hiccups. And then learn the system better in practice.
Part of keeping the game running without hiccups is knowing the system at least as much as my players - or being able to shove off part of the load of GMing particular subsystems (like cyberspace) off to them.

The same goes for setting, BTW. While players should know at least a bit about the setting, the GM should know at least a bit more than the players.

by GeoffreyB

I would have to read the core rule books before I ran a campaign.