The Crunch Corner

"Fuck he's right behind me isn't he?" It's been a couple months since I last posted about No Zaku, and I've been certainly busy working on it. Every view, and every viewpoint presented to me, has meant a lot. Knowing that a little over a hundred people look at this blog at this point is kind of nuts to me, as I'm not exactly a professional, and I tend to make things for my own enjoyment, so knowing that many people are on the same wavelength just floors me. No Zaku being statistically the most popular article by a pretty wide margin, it seems that the small population slice you guys present is predominantly in that Gundam and wargames overlap that I was skeptical existed besides myself. Anyways, enough feely, onto the content. Let's start with the list-building overhaul. First thing I did was increase the points scale by a factor of ten (eg, ten point grunt suits become a hundred points). This allows the second thing to slot in without any decimal shen...

 Alright, I'll admit, I'm part of that new wave of Jojo's enjoyers. I first got into it in 2018-ish, on recommendation from a friend. I tend to be very choosy about anime particularly, with a special disdain for the specific genre that JJBA is. Years and years of Naruto this, Blue Exorcist that, had worn away my patience for so-called "shonen" shows. But, holy fuck, JJBA was just different. Stylish, with interesting power systems, characters that you don't loathe when they appear on-screen, actual stakes and threatening villains, and all at a time when the en-sloppening of entertainment as a whole was beginning. It was like a hit of crack after a long period of restless boredom. Phantom Blood was good, Battle Tendency was excellent (Joseph was the best Joestar), Stardust Crusaders was absolute cinema, and the peak just kept coming . At the time, I was just only dipping my toes into the TTRPGs. I was, to my great shame, DnD 5E only. Tried something similar to t...

Something that's always bothered me with traditional TTRPGs is how weapons are basically stat sticks. Really, this extends to some ARPGs as well, such as most Bethesda games (speaking on melee weapons, of course). Really, it made TTRPGs like DnD, and ARPGs such as The Elder Scrolls (take your pick which), fall somewhat flat on the combat. I had the most fun playing casters, which is a bit narrow. Salvation came in 2023, when my ex introduced me to Dark Souls, particularly Dark Souls Remastered. I spent many, many hours of spare time bashing my head against that wall, and I enjoyed every second of it. In pretty short order, I was hacking and rolling my way through DS2, its DLCs, then DS3, then the 2023 remake of Lords of the Fallen, and a bit of Elden Ring. I fucking loved  the way these games played, and it got me thinking: What if Dark Souls ,... but TTRPG ? So the first thing I decided on was the stats. Being what it is, the first few are fairly obvious. Strength, Dexterity, Vita...

Pictured, an image graciously provided by one of my playtesters, a 1v1 between an MS-18E Kampfer with shotgun, and an MS-09B Dom with 120mm Machine Gun. This match lasted about 5 minutes, but the hour long session saw every match go differently.  I've been into Gundam since the Pandemic. No doubt, you remember how things were then, shut in with nothing much to do. What I watched first, what got me into it, was Iron Blooded Orphans, but I quickly took a shine to UC shows after watching 08th Mobile Suit Team. From there I watched Stardust Memory, War in the Pocket, and Thunderbolt, and was hooked on UC. Then of course came a watch of the OG, then Zeta. It was one fateful trip up to the city, window shopping with friends, that brought me to a small chain hobby store that carried Gunpla. I walked out of there with a High Grade kit for a HiZack, for $13.99. From there, I started picking up such kits whenever I saw them out and about, since they're cheap as dirt and fun, and I've...