mana-junkie

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No Game This Week, But Plenty of Perils (and Puzzles)

Well, this week’s regularly scheduled Star Wars tabletop game has been put on hold. Brad’s caught up in another activity (real life strikes again), and a couple of my other players—Mark and Finn—are saddling up for the Merrickville Fair Horse Show. Between dust, reins, and ribbons, they’re riding high while our campaign takes a short pit stop in hyperspace. Mike is still unavailable due to…

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What’s On My Gaming Plate This Week?

Every week has its flavor of adventure, but this one’s got a little something from all corners—digital, nostalgic, and galaxy-spanning. Let’s start with the digital: I’ve been diving into Indiana Jones & The Great Circle on the PlayStation, and it’s hitting all the right notes. I’m only a couple of hours in, but already it’s scratching that long-standing archaeological itch. The graphics are…

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Bloodlines & Redlines: Retconning VtM with Purpose Before the new Sessions

It’s almost that time again—when the sun’s tucked away and the table comes alive with whispered schemes, clinking blood bags, and the ever-present dread of a Masquerade breach. Shelby, Chance, and Peyton are gathering once more, and I’ll be stepping back into the role of Storyteller for another dive into the grim, gorgeous world of Vampire: The Masquerade—First Edition style. This time, our…

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Sinking My Fangs Back In: Playing Vampire: The Masquerade on PS5

After a long break, I’ve been itching to get back into Vampire: The Masquerade—that deep, stylish, and brooding world of eternal night, ancient rivalries, and political intrigue. With our tabletop campaign getting ready to rise from torpor again, I figured it was the perfect time to dip my toes back in and start fueling the mood. So, I fired up my PS5 and picked up the Vampire: The Masquerade –…

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What I’m Up To This Week – A Little Galaxy, A Little Blood

It’s been a bit of a mixed bag this week in the best kind of way—just how I like it. I wrapped up my second playthrough of Star Wars Outlaws on the PlayStation, and I’ve got to say, it was still just as fun the second time around. There’s something about slipping into the boots of a charming rogue, blasting through the galaxy, and making those high-stakes choices that scratches the right itch.…

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When Edge of the Empire Becomes a Solo Adventure

Tonight’s Star Wars: Edge of the Empire session has been postponed. A couple of players are off attending a wedding reception (a perfectly acceptable excuse to miss out on blaster fire and shady dealings), and another isn’t feeling too great—so rather than force a half-hearted gathering, we hit the pause button on the galaxy’s most questionable crew of scoundrels and smugglers. With the table…

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Blood and Dust: The Coterie Rises Again

Earlier this year, we quietly closed the crypt on our Vampire: The Masquerade campaign. It wasn’t a final death by any means—just a well-timed torpor. Life has a way of demanding priority, and in this case, it came in the form of something beautiful and real: Shelby was expecting her second child. No question, that came first. So Peyton, Chance, and I made the call to put the game on pause until…

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Gimmicks & Galaxies: My Reluctant Journey Into Fancy Dice

For the longest time, I rolled my eyes at what I called “gimmicky dice.” You know the ones—custom symbols instead of numbers, color-coded mystery cubes, and proprietary nonsense that only works with a single game system. Meanwhile, I’ve already got a truckload of perfectly good polyhedral dice. Dice I’ve collected since high school. Dice I’ve inherited, swapped, or rescued from dusty bins at…

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What’s on My Gaming Menu This Week

It’s shaping up to be a solid week on the gaming front—both digital and tabletop. Over the weekend, I stopped into a local pawn shop just to browse and walked out with three unexpected additions to the PlayStation library: Skull & Bones, Dead Space, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition. Not bad for a spur-of-the-moment visit. I’ve always had a soft spot for naval combat, so Skull…

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Weekend Warriors – Life, Rent, and 8-Bit Escapes

Back in the late ’80s, I was living in North Bay, Ontario—a small city tucked against the edge of Lake Nipissing, where the winters were long and the dreams just big enough to keep you going. I had a job as a stock boy in a local store, nothing fancy, but it paid the bills—barely. I was living with a buddy at the time, sharing a modest rental where we scraped together what we could to keep the…

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A Smuggler’s Journey: Finishing Star Wars Outlaws

Just wrapped up Star Wars Outlaws on the PlayStation, and let me say—it was one hell of a ride. From the dusty cantinas and neon-lit alleys to narrow hyperspace escapes and morally grey decisions, this game delivered everything I love about the Star Wars underworld. You’re not a Jedi. You’re not a Rebel commander. You’re an outlaw, plain and simple. And walking that line between survival and…

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Saturday Game Night Report: Blasters, Starfighters, and Barely Making It Out Alive

There are game nights you remember for the laughs, the story twists, or the dice rolls that defy reason—and then there are nights like this past Saturday, where everything explodes into chaos, starship debris, and sheer adrenaline-fueled mayhem. Let’s set the scene:We’re playing Star Wars: Edge of the Empire, and our ragtag band of questionable heroes finds themselves in the middle of a…

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This Week in Gaming: Star Wars, Side Quests, and the Wasteland Beckons

There’s something comforting about falling into a weekly rhythm of gaming. Whether it’s digital or tabletop, the joy of slipping into another world—laser blaster or mutant mole rat in hand—is a pleasure I never take for granted. This week has already shaped up to be a solid blend of both: some PlayStation 5 action, some RPG reading, and a tabletop session on the horizon. On the PS5, I’ve been…

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"A Long Time Ago in a Game Far, Far Away…"

Back in the late ’80s, when West End Games released their Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, I was living in North Bay, Ontario. It should’ve been a no-brainer purchase. After all, this was Star Wars—blasters, lightsabers, hyperspace jumps, and the infinite adventures of a galaxy teetering on the edge of rebellion and tyranny. But the truth is, I didn’t pick it up at the time. Not because I wasn’t…

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My Mount Rushmore of Role-Playing Games

Every gamer has their own personal Mount Rushmore—the iconic four that shaped their love for table top role-playing games, defined eras of imagination, and anchored friendships around the table. These are the games that left an imprint on the way we tell stories, build characters, and explore fantastical worlds. For me, the granite faces carved into my gaming monument are Advanced Dungeons &…

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Blasters, Banthas, and Being a Player Again

The past few days have been a blast—pun fully intended. I’ve been diving headfirst into Star Wars Outlaws on the PS5, and let me tell you: it’s everything I wanted in a Star Wars open-world game and more. From swoop bike chases across dusty backwater moons to shootouts with gangsters in neon-lit cantinas, the game really captures that gritty, smuggler-side-of-the-galaxy vibe I love. Playing as…

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Trouble in Mos Shuuta – A Star Wars Edge of the Empire Adventure