Thunderstone Advance is the latest version of the Thunderstone game. It is played almost entirely with cards (with an additional board and some tokens) and simulates a classic fantasy dungeon crawl. Thematically speaking, each player is the leader of a team of heroes who enter a dungeon to fight monsters, collect loot, gain experience, upgrade equipment and abilities and claim the Thunderstone, an artifact of great power. Each player starts with the exact same deck of 12 cards. On their turns, players draw a hand of 6 cards which will contain a combination of heroes, items, spells and resources that can be used to either enter the dungeon and defeat monsters, or visit the village to purchase more goods and upgrade equipment. Some cards are better for dungeon trips and others work best when visiting the village. It's up to the player to make the decision each turn on where and how to use the cards in his hand. Cards can be purchased and upgraded in the village. Treasure a...

The phrase "what if" is the birth of every great idea in sci-fi and fantasy. For as long as stories have been told, it has sparked new thought in the storyteller's mind. An accepted truth provides the foundation, and then "what if" is introduced to turn that foundation around or explore it from a new angle. Although the probability of a given "what if" is important for telling more realistic stories, many sci-fi and fantasy stories throw probability and plausibility out the window and simply enjoy seeing where the wildest "what ifs" will take them. Some of the fiction I most enjoy sets realism aside in many respects and commits to the craziest "what ifs" the storytellers can think of. This is the magic and excitement of "what if" and the realm in which it best realizes its full potential. However in a search for the truth about any given thing, "what if" can only be helpful as a starting point for an inv...

Although I missed the chance to see "The Darkest Hour" in theaters, I was intrigued by the concept of the invisible, electrical monsters showcased in the trailer. I'm a big fan of monster movies, so when this flick came to redbox I gladly handed over my buck-fifty to give it a try. A group of traveling, American twenty-somethings are in Moscow when all electrical devices short out and mysterious orange ribbons of light begin falling from the sky, splitting into multiple pieces and then becoming invisible once they reach the ground. Possessing intelligence and the ability to see electro-magnetic energy, the invisible creatures begin exterminating all humans in sight. Soon the hip and attractive actors (Whoops! I mean believable and fully developed hero characters.) are on the run in a post apocalyptic Moscow, trying to survive long enough to see if there is any hope for the human race. As you may have guessed, I didn't think very much of the acting in this ...