Burning Plastic AAR - Thanks to Cyrus Duane

Last Mepacon, I had the pleasure of running two games of Burning Plastic, the sci-fi miniatures rules I helped create (and mostly promote) more than 30 years ago. Some of my returning players from the 90's attended and some may have gotten reference sheets and some of the few remaining copies. 

I did get linked by friend and TTRPG author  Cyrus Duane  as he ran a game for his son.

This looks exactly like I envisioned "Your First Burning Plastic Game" to be.  I'm probably wrong, but it looks like one of those container playsets they sell nowadays, with plenty of terrain to play with!

In the end, the only criticism was the power versus point cost of the tank.  I only counter that a tank in such a sparse game is madness, and.... Self-Destruction rules.

I may have found an artist for Burning Plastic 2.0

Their second post involve3d dinosaurs!!!  

I'll be honest, I may have snorted when I read that the T-Rex had a 1" range.   Well done! 

(Review) Cloud City Games - Kutztown, Pennsylvania

After an early weekend of yardwork at my mother's I went home the very, very long way.  

I had already been to Cloud City Games' locations in Stroudsburg, Easton, and the flagship store in Allentown, but they had opened up a new location in the gaming Mecca of Kutztown, Pennsylvania.  

Kutztown is it's own little geographical whole, but it's also a college town, home of Kutztown University.  

It's a smart idea, until the history of failed stores in the area, some by experienced folks with deep pockets, were part of the lore.

Worst case, I needed to make an appearance before they joined the shuttered predecessors.

I'm happy to report that we will not need an obituary.  

The good news is that it's in a decent looking strip mall, about a mile from campus. 

And I expected the sign up, and was not disappointed.

It's a smaller footprint than the other sites, but it's still quite vast. 

CCGS:  The reason for all those tables.  A good supply of Magic/Pokemon/Yu-Gi-Oh! singles.  Lots of packs, although somebody was unhappy they didn't have the particular boosters for one set, didn't have two full boxes to sell, and he didn't get some additional discount.   I don't miss entitled customers, although I have my hands full with entitled business owners at work.  

RPG:  A great selection of 5e, and Pathfinder but the heart of  Cloud City's role-playing section, to me, are the multitudes of Indy and zine-based games.  Pretty solid selection compared to the other stores.  

Minis:  GW racks, GW paints, and a large selection of the D&D mins/Wizkids licensed stuff.  A full rack of Monument Hobbies paints, with some GW scattered, needing a restock.

Events: A D&D night, a night of Monster of the Week (Both for high school kids!) , Magic Commander, Gundam, Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh!   That's a healthy Summer schedule. 

Staff:  I was acknowledged, they handled paying customers, and were working out the details for a project on Sunday.  

Comics:  The new releases and back issues were certainly there, but the bookcase after bookcase of graphic novels dominated that view when you first walk in. 

Other stuff:  The video game selection seemed bigger than the other sites, which tracks for a college town (The Stroudsburg location is NOT a healthy walk away, that's why the normal shops in the Poconos were a 20 minute walk max from the college campus.)

I'll be honest, it's a Cloud City location, albeit everything feels scaled down to 85% (except the graphic novels) . 

And for a brand new location in a college town, on Summer break, that's probably perfect.

I give Cloud City - Kutztown  three and half gnomes out of five.  

It does what it needs to, and with Cloud City in the Palmer Mall less than four minutes away from my mother's, I may swing by Kutztown only if I'm in the neighborhood.  

Cloud City Games, Comics, and Toys is located at 45 Constitution Blvd #2 in Kutztown.

Favorite Movie of Each Year in the 80's

I saw this repeatedly online figured I’d take a crack at it.  I actually grabbed some traction on social media, so I'm posting it here.  

Pretty controversial, but I think it explains so so much about my GMing Style

Favorite Movie of Each Year in the 80s, aka we had HBO in the house:  

1980 - Airplane! 

1981 - Cannonball Run

1982 - Beastmaster

1983 - Krull

1984 - The Natural 

1985 -  Better Off Dead

1986 - Ferris Buellers Day Off

1987 - The Secret of My Success 

1988 - Scrooged

1989 - Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure

(Gnome Wars) Brad's Canadian Amphibious Cavalry

At Historicon, folks brought a lot of their own figures to play, but I think Brad's Canadian Amphibious Cavalry took the cake, eh! 

I did make up the rules on the fly, so we treated the beavers like Aussie Cav, but slower, and instead of bounding over things, they ignored penalties/full obstructions for water.  

The Otter Cav we treated as traditional Gnome Wars Rifle Infantry with the special ability to ignore water penalties/full obstructions. 

Of course, the standard rules for shooting while mounted apply to both units.   

In a world where we're all worried about power creep with nationalities, not only do I think might have underpowered our new entry into gnomo-political conflict, yet Brad's unit ran roughshod over his enemies!  

Easter Island Golem by Dragon Bait Miniatures!

Right after Historicon, friend of the blog, Award-Winning GM Mike Lung sent me this figure coming from Dragon Bait Miniatures:

The Easter Island Golem, sculpted by Kev Adams, is a fine figure, possibly a supplemental figure for our Polygnomial Armies for Gnome Wars, but I was more surprised that Dragon Bait was still in business!

Right after reporting on them acquiring the Hinterland Miniature lines, as well as producing a series of Assyrian Dwarves, I mentioned that the company began shuttering operations due to health concerns.  

I've realized now the owner's health concerns weren't as grave as once feared, but he is slowly arranging sales of the different lines to interested (and hopefully) enthusiastic buyers!  

The figure will be cast in pewter and will be part of their "Really Last Big Sales" to be determined.

Another Month of Meeples (September 2026)

 

Check out the latest issue of Meeple Monthly for more fun stuff, plus a host of random things I'm not listing under my imaginary store.  

ViscountEric's Want List

Wizkids

D&D Heroclix: Giant Space Hamster 

ViscountEric's Money-Is-No-Issue Want List

Adam's Apple Games

Gnomeville .......................................................... $49.00

Arc Dream Publishing

Delta Green: Wolves ........................................ $24.99

Mantic Entertainment
Terrain Crate: Holiday Advent Gift Calendar ... $40.00

The Imaginary Store List (Infinite Shelf Space Games & Hobbies)

25th Century Games

Moonlight: The Land of the Wolves ................... $14.99

Faust vs Mephisto ............................................... $19.99

Rheinlander ......................................................... $49.99

Adams Media 

Facts of the Fellowship ...................................... $17.00

The Dungeonmeister NPC Generator Deck ...... $20.00

Alderac Entertainment Group

Cascadia: Alpine Lakes ...................................... $49.99

Alley Cat Games

Spaghettin ...................................... $14.99

Arcane Wonders

Dogfight: 1917 ............................. $44.99

The Army Painter

Speedpaint Marker: Most Wanted Set .............. $127.42

Atomic Mass Games

Marvel Crisis Protocol: Cosmic Motherlode Terrain Pack ............. $89.99

Marvel Crisis Protocol: Uncanny Telepaths & Telekinetics ........... $64.99

Marvel Crisis Protocol: Winter Guard ............................................ $64.99

Marvel Crisis Protocol: Hard to Hit ............................................... $64.99

Star Wars Legion: Jedi Council ........................................ $59.99

Star Wars Legion: Mandalorian Leader & Hunter ........... $39.99

Star Wars Legion: Agents of the Empire .......................... $39.99

Bandai 

Gundam Assemble: Starter Set 1

Gundam Assemble: Deluxe Set 1

Gundam Assemble: Expansion Pack 1

Gundam Assemble: Expansion Pack 2

Gundam Assemble: Paint Pack 1

Not a fan of the games without prices, but a game where you build your Gundam models, then actually play with them.  I'm intrigued.

Beadle and Grimm's 

Star Trek: DS9: Holosuite Homicide Murder Mystery Game .... $40.00

Star Trek: Lower Decks: Chaos Protocol Escape Room Game .. $60.00

Black Armada Games

Advent of Adventure .................................................. $20.00

Advent of Abomination .............................................. $20.00

Blue Orange Games

King of Tokyo Duel 2 - Tokyo Bay ............................ $24.99

Board&Dice

Thessaloniki ................................. $60.00

Burning Wheel

Torchbearer 2e: Middarmark ......... $40.00

Catalyst Game Labs

Shadowrun: Controlled Chaos Miniatures ................. $34.99

Shadowrun: Corporate Threats Miniatures ................ $34.99

Shadowrun:  Savage Threats Miniatures ...................  $34.99

Shadowrun: Sprawl Runners Miniatures ................... $34.99

Battletech: Battlemat: Fire & Ice 04: Caldera Lake ........... $39.99

Cubicle 7 Entertainment LTD

Warhammer: The Old World RPG - Starter Set .......... $39.99

Warhammer: The Old World RPG - GM Screen ........ $29.99

Druid City Games

Sky 5 ......................................... $14.99

Dyce Games

Romantasy ................................ $19.99

Evil Genius Games

Everyday Heroes Adventures: The Final Hero ........... $19.99

Evil Hat Productions

Designers & Dragons: Origins Boxed Set ................. $200.00

Facade Games

Roma XLI ................................. $24.99

Fanroll by MDG

D&D Advent Calendar: Red Robes & Winter Woes ...... $64.99

7-Die Set: Christmas Dice Set ........................................ $19.99

Marvel Multiverse: 12 Days of Doom Dice Advent Calendar .... $44.99

Fight in a Box

Barkane ...................................... $15.00

Floodgate Games, LLC 

Flintlock! ................................... $38.95

Free League Publishing

D&D 5e: Lord of the Rings Loremaster Screen .............. $29.99

The One Ring: Loremaster's Screen & Compendium ....  $29.99

Twilight Sword RPG - Core Rulebook ........................... $49.99

Twilight Sword RPG - Starter Set ..................................  $39.99

Twilight Sword RPG - Lands of Radia ........................... $39.99

Twilight Sword RPG - Card Chest .................................. $29.99

Gallant Knight Games

Tiny Cyberpunk: Corporate Edition ............................... $45.00

Small rant about using "Tiny".  For something that I feel should be compact, low-key, and possibly minimalist, why to all the "Tiny" labelled products seem overblown, slowly getting expansive, and expensive to boot.    Tiny Cyberpunk in my head brings up an expanded version of TWERPS CyberD.U.D.E.S, not a $45 book.

Goodman Games

DCC: Adventure #68 - People of the Pit HC .................. $19.99

DCC: Adventure #112 - Mother of Monsters ................. $10.99

DCC: Tomb of Adventure Vol 8 - Dying Earth .............. $59.99

Kids Table Board Gaming 

River Market ............................. $29.00

Konami Digital Enterainment 

Yu-Gi-Oh!  Beyond the Brave Boosters

Loke Battlemats

The Dastardly Deck ................... $19.99

Looney Labs

Star Trek: Lower Decks Fluxx ... $25.00

Mantic Entertainment Ltd.

Bar Room Brawl: Advent Calendar Game ................. $45.00

Deep Space Pest Control Advent Calendar Game. .... $45.00

Worms: Advent Calendar Game ................................ $45.00

Walking Dead: Advent Calendar Game ..................... $45.00

Marvel 

Marvel Mutliverse: Spider-Man Midtown Mayhem  ..... $14.99

Modiphius Entertainment

Star Trek Adventures: Captain's Log Solo RPG: 2026 Edition ........... $48.00

Mongoose Publishing

Traveller: Vehicle Catalogue ...................................... $44.99

The Mystery Agency 

Mystery Agency: The Robber's Grave ...................... $24.99

Osprey Publishing

American Civil War: Siege Tactics ............................. $21.00

Baku 1918 ................................................................... $25.00

Case Green ................................................................. $35.00

Javelins in the Half-Light ........................................... $35.00

Lexington-Class Aircraft Carriers 1927-1946 ............ $20.00

Murmansk 1941 .......................................................... $25.00

Soviet Rifleman vs German Infantryman ................... $23.00

A Billion Suns 2nd Edition ......................................... $35.00

Midnight Heroes ......................................................... $35.00

Signs and Wonders, a Wargame .................................. $35.00

Paizo 

Pathfinder RPG: Adventure: The Dead God's Hand ..................... $49.99

Pathfinder RPG: Flip-Mat: The Dead God's Hand Multi-Pack ..... $29.99

Pathfinder RPG: Flip-Mat: Haunted Library ................................ $19.99

Pathfinder RPG: Lost Omens: Cheliax Infernal Inheritance ......... $64.99

Pathfinder RPG: Game Night: The Dragon's Crown ..................... $34.99

Starfinder: Flip-Mat: Absalom Starion Multipack ......................... $29.99

Starfinder: Secrets of the Swarm AP ............................................. $49.99

Starfinder: Tech Core ............................................................. $69.99

Pandasaurua

Space Lab ............................................. $24.95

Penguin Random House

Choose Your Own Adventure: Among Us ................ $9.99

Planet of the Apes Solo RPG .................................... $34.99

The Henchperson's Guide to Unionizing .................. $21.00

Level Up For Love .................................................... $20.00

Dragonlance: War Wizard ........................................ $30.00

Pickpocket Games

Lodge: Retail Edition ............................................ $39.99

Lodge: Deluxe Edition .......................................... $69.99

Lodge: Hospitality Edition .................................... $14.99

Rocket Ranchers 2nd Edition ................................ $24.99

Pink Tiger Games

Proof of Life ....................................................$20.00

You Think You Know Christmas .................... $14.00

Play to Z

Pressed ....................................... $20.00

Wee Folk .................................... $20.00

Portal Games

Robo Run ................................... $29.95

Bohemians: Tales from Montmartre ................... $14.95

Ravensburger

Lorcana: Illumineer's Quest: The Great Hunny Rescue

Lorcana: Rapuznel Collection Starter Set 

Renegade Game Studios

Werewolf: The Apocalypse 5th Edition - Tribes of Gaia ........... $50.00

Saga Press

Remonstered!  The Monsters Know What They're Doing .......... $38.00

Scryptid Games

Tales from the Cryptids .................................. $30.00

Severed Book

Sickest Witch: Spell Card Deck ...................... $16.00

Small Party Figurine Set: Skeleton Warriors ... $16.00

Small Party Figurine Set: Crystal Fighters ...... $16.00

Space Penguin Ink

Hellward Unto the Breach ................................ $30.00

Liminal Horror: Hotel Dracula ........................ $20.00

Stillfleet Studio

Danse Macabre: Quickstart ............................. $15.00

Synapses Games

Medium: The Hand of Fate ............................. $24.99

Not Alone 2nd Edition .................................... $29.99

Tuesday Night Games 

Fatherfog: Into the Fog .................................... $10.00

Troll Lord Games

Worlds of Gary Gygax Vol 1- Canting Crew .................................. $29.99

Worlds of Gary Gygax Vol 2-  Essential Facts & Things ............... $29.99

Worlds of Gary Gygax Vol 3-  Living Fantasy ............................... $29.99

Worlds of Gary Gygax Vol 4-  Extraordinary Book of Names ......  $39.99

Worlds of Gary Gygax Vol 5-  Guide to Adventure Writing ........... $29.99

Worlds of Gary Gygax Vol 6-  Nation Builder ................................ $29.99

Worlds of Gary Gygax Vol 7-  Cosmos Builder .............................. $29.99

Tycoon Games

Living Forest, 2nd Edition ............................ $50.00

UVS Games

Riftbound: League of Legends TCG: Radiance Boosters

Wizkids

DC HeroClix: Iconix: Fortress of Solitude Vol 1

DC HeroClix 400: Gotham Knights

D&D HeroClix: Series One Boosters

D&D HeroClix: Series One Map and Terrain Kit

D&D HeroClix: Tavern Trouble Scenario Pack 

D&D HeroClix 400: Adventuring Party 1

D&D HeroClix 400: Red Wizards of Thay

HeroClix: Iconix: GI Joe

HeroClix: Iconix: GI Joe Cobra

Marvel HeroClix 400: Venom

D&D: Icons of the Realms: Aarakocra Flock

D&D: Icons of the Realms: Harpy Flock

D&D: Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures: Cthulhu

D&D: Replicas of the Realms: Spirit Board

Z-Man Games

KPop Demon Hunters - Battle for the Spotlight ............... $14.99

#RPGaDay2026 - A Recap

It was 2014 when I missed enough of this odd little community concept called #RPGaDay that I used the questions as filler for my December posts.

Fast forward to the present, and we've completed the 13th Annual #RPGaDay.  

It was good.  I'm tired.

To be honest I'm tired for a number of reasons.  It wasn't a year I was necessarily enthused, nor did my ideas or nostalgia flow off the old keyboard.  

The prompts were serviceable.  They're serviceable every year, and everyone is subject to the writer's whim. 

And a huge shoutout to my Monday night online group.  I brought about a dozen of the prompts to the the sessions and we mined a few gems for topics that I had completely forgotten about. 

Like last year,  most clicks go to Twitter, while most engagement remains Bluesky's domain, although... I expected a lot more traffic.  Although all the clicks from social media and other engagement for the month was still less than my Historicon 2026 AAR views... a month after the con.

My favorite post was about my friend Hoyce on Day 1 "Discipline."   While the most popular overall is the gaming internet's obsession with Lathar Bracken, Day 3 "Poise"

Barring any surprises, I'll be back to daily community sharing with the #CharacterCreationChallenge in January.