Mobile Insect Zero

Maybe it's just the pieces I have. Maybe it's where my design brain is at the moment. Either way, today's concept build is an insectoid tank. 

I call it a concept build because I'm still working with the ways that pieces can join to look like robot joints. MF0 frames are probably only evocative of actual joints, and they let us do something that resembles a giant fighty robot. Short of building one with a Mindstorms kit (ooh! idea! quick, do a kickstarter!) we'll always just have representations.

Later the same day I dipped into my son's Lego tub just to see what came out of it.

The source bricks have such an effect on the frame. If I'm going to build more humanoids, I'm going to need to change my supply.

Mobile Frame Zero

I like Lego. I like tabletop games. No surprise, then, that I have a copy of Mechaton: Giant Fighty Robots. Also no surprise that I'm part of the g+ community for Mobile Frame Zero.

Last weekend I bought a Lego Mixel set. Now, the Mixels themselves don't interest me but the parts sure do. There's enough in each Mixel to build at least one, sometimes two, Frames. And that's exactly what I did with this Mixel. Unfortunately I only had a red background at the time so the images aren't clear.

A Battle Frame, complete with close combat blades, shoulder gun, and arm blaster.

A Recon Frame, with emphasis on speed and sensor array.

Both of these came from the one Mixel set, and I had some parts left over. If for nothing else, building the Frames was great fun. I think the challenge is to make something that looks like a mech, has features for the game, and which can stand upright on the play space for the duration of a battle.

With a few more kits (like I need an excuse to buy more Lego?) I could create enough for a game. I'm also thinking about how creations like this can be part of Lego FU. But that's for another blog post!

NaGa DeMon

I confess! I'll be designing a game for the 2012 Naga Demon. It's a great project to exercise the game design muscles and it looks as though there'll be even more people participating this year than previously.

I've decided (and announced on facebook page) that I'm going to write Lego FU.

FU's a great system that I've blogged about before and which I'm currently using. It's quick, simple and effective (just like pain relief? wha...?). I'm using it with some gamers who, to the best of my knowledge, have never played crunchy systems and they've picked it up beautifully. Now, the system doesn't seem to appear much, but drives us back to being creative with the story.

But why Lego FU? Because I like FU and I like Lego, and because they're a good match. Lego isn't a complicated world. It's full of cliches. Heroes are heroic. Villains are nasty. Characters in the Lego world have simple goals, and FU facilitates that.

I've sketched an outline of the text already, mostly so I don't forget any of the ideas. That's just note-taking, not cheating, right? I mean, they're just notes I wrote in October rather than November. No disqualification here.

:)

Lego Agonica

I bought the Lego Heroica Fortaan set last weekend. It's a bit of fun as a dungeon crawl. I'm experimenting with it to see what can be done with various map arrangements and campaign play. Maybe it'll turn into a Fighting Fantasy kind of game for me.

But while I was messing around with it, I had to turn it into an Agon range strip simply because it seemed so natural to do with all those tiles and microfigs. Behold, Lego Agonica!