Pulp Fiction Comics & Games

We’re talking ’bout black gold, Texas tea.

And we’re talking about Catan Scenarios Oil Springs. If you’re looking for a simple add-on to liven up your Settlers of Catan game, then the new Oil Springs expansion is that add-on. Adding oil to the mix of resources, players can use it to create any of the standard resources (wood, iron, etc.) as well as building up your cities into Metropolises. However, do this at your own (or other players’ peril) as drilling for the oiling and producing it can cause dramatic shifts in the weather while also polluting the region. Oil Springs is easily the cheapest way to freshen up your Catan game, so if you’ve got the need, do like the Beverly Hillbillies and dig for that bubbling crude.

Speaking of Catan, the two-player card game version, Rivals of Catan, received an expansion this week. Age of Darkness supplies three different theme decks to be incorporated into the base game. Focusing on battles between churches and temples, commercial harbors and merchant’s residences, and barbarians, each deck pits opponent versus opponent, with each receiving and playing different sets of cards.

I know you’ll be filling up on turkey, dressing, or whatever it may be you eat for the holidays, but get ready for a heaping helping of Pathfinder for your bellies.

First up are the shiny goodies. Packed full of the vibrant treasures of the Jade Regent, this new item deck for the setting contains fifty-four illustrated cards representing the sought after artifacts that may appear in a campaign. Game masters looking to add a bit of flare to their game pay heed.

Hailing from the same section of the Pathfinder world as the Jade Regent is the new Dragon Empires Gazetteer. This volume explores the Tian Xia continent, exploring its various regions, offering rule sets for five new character races, detailing the deities worshipped by the region’s residents, as well as countless other information that can add color and detail to a campaign.

In a similar vain, Mysthical Monsters Revisited supplies vast amounts of detail on classic mythical creatures like medusas, hydras, and harpies for game master’s to incorporate into their games.

And if you pick up the new Bestiary 3 along with it, you’ll have more monsters at your command than cans of Mountain Dew drank in the history of roleplaying. As with the previous Bestiary editions, this third volume includes 300 monsters as well as options for familiars, companions, races, and other varied methods of incorporating these legendary beings into your party’s adventure.

If you want to be a pirate, there’s no better pirate to be than a future space pirate! In an effort to aid you with that endeavor, the new Rogue Trader: Hostile Acquisitions hardcover lays out all the minute detail gamers will desire to build and background a crime-based character in the system. These include new career rankings, like swashbuckler and reaver, sections on arming and equipping your ships and yourself, as well as a nemesis orign path generator that can build a formidable foe for your party. Shiver your steampunk timbers, maties, it’s a Hostile Acquisition!

In the course of your skullduggary, maybe you will break into the king’s palace in an effort to storm his treasury. And if you’re going to do that, wouldn’t it be better to have a map to indicate where you’re stealing what? Well, Game Mastery comes to the rescue again with their newest Palace Map Pack. The pack including eighteen tiles that link together to form a throne room, reception chamber, and treasury.

Around this jolly time of year, with the weather crisp and the gifts flowing, there’s one thing you should be thinking about…the horrible tentacled grasp of the Eldar Gods. In that effort, give the give of a new Call of Cthulhu Asylum Pack this year with Into Tartarus. The 60 cards in this deck focus on the global influences of the Ancient Ones.