Tag: Unboxing

RPG, Upcoming

Sneak Peek into What’s Upcoming – June 2024

blackcatwhimsy

June is here already, and I don’t have much to show for May. I did get the Gloomhaven Buttons & Bugs video published and it did well which was exciting to see! 

I’m in a holding pattern for June as I have a lot of personal things happening so I don’t know how free time I will have. I will try to get one, but hopefully two, videos published this month. The items on my list are the same as May’s post. Since I already have many unboxings filmed that simply need to be edited, those will be my highest priority ones. 

I haven’t gotten much further on running an Ironsworn game, but I did get one quick session in. I find I am struggling with it as it is less structured than the Mythic system, so I need to get into the right mindset for it. I also had some time to start reading the Ironsworn Delve book which focuses on Domains and Themes for sites. This seems slightly more structured, and my brain likes it more, but I do want to give the regular Ironsworn game a try as it does seem like a good game. 

Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash 

RPG, Upcoming

Sneak Peek into What’s Upcoming – May 2024

blackcatwhimsy

April Showers bring May Flowers. Maybe more appropriately, May the Fourth be with you. Welcome to May! April was a great month for recording videos and for playing gaming. I published my Dungeon in a Box Unboxing Plus video early in the month. I am glad to see the video doing as well as it is and I hope people enjoy it.

I recorded unboxing videos almost every weekend in May. I have quite the backlog to get edited and published! The only problem is that now that I have my gaming table set back up, I have been spending most of my free time playing these newly unboxed games. It’s a great problem to have.

I am in the process of editing an unboxing video for Gloomhaven Buttons & Bugs. I hope to have this published in the next few days. After that is dealer’s choice on what video to work on next. I started editing the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game unboxing. I also have videos for a Choose Your Own Adventure game, Dominant Species Marine, Maracaibo, Teotihuacan, and more.

I got a new Button Shy wallet game that has great artwork and I want to do an unboxing video for it. I also want to get a video game playthrough recorded, but I think that will be on the back burner while I get some regular videos done.

I haven’t had much time left over to run the Ironsworn RPG, but I have started creating my character and envisioning my version of the world.

Lots to do this month so we’ll see how disciplined I can be!  Talk to you next month!

Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash

Upcoming

Sneak Peek into What’s Upcoming – 2024 and January 2024

blackcatwhimsy

A new year is here. 2023 was a good year for my channel and I’m looking forward to even more in 2024. I published my first RPG video which was exciting. I’ve been wanting to get that done for a while now and it was good to finally check it off my list. I am going to continue with the new series and I already have my next 2 videos planned out. I joined the Dungeon in a Box subscription and as part of joining, I also received the December Wondrous One Shots adventure. Since the one shot is winter-themed, I want to get those done sooner rather than later. Hopefully, I can get at least one, if not both, published in January.

I don’t want to get away from board games though and I already recorded another unboxing for a Christmas present my husband gave me. It is for a game called Lacorsa Grand Prix. We both love F1 so it’s a good family game for us. I will also finish up the Campus Wahala unboxing video which has been on my list for a few months now. Hopefully, I can get the Lacorsa unboxing done in January, and possibly the Campus Wahala one as well, but that’s lower on the list of all the videos I want to finish in January.

Another new series I’d like to get going this year is playthroughs of some of these board games I am unboxing. I’m more nervous with that series as I don’t want to get any rules wrong. I will start small with some rules-lite games before considering any of the heavier games I own. I am also cognizant of my space constraints so I want to look into a different setup that will provide me more room for not only playthroughs but also unboxings. I don’t have any playthroughs planned for January, but I do want to start this soon as it’s been on my list for most of last year as well.

I will also be continuing my video game playthroughs. They’re a fun change from my other videos and pretty straightforward to create and edit. I will continue my current ones and I also want to add in a few other games. I would like one published in January, but with all my other plans, I’m not sure if I will get it done.

I’m also heading out for a quick vacation which will eat into my work time. I won’t complain though as it’s certainly been a tough couple of months and I need some relaxing time to recharge.

Thanks again for coming along on this journey with me! It’s been a lot of fun and I appreciate the support.

Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash

Upcoming

Sneak Peek into What’s Upcoming – November 2023

blackcatwhimsy

I can tell you that what’s upcoming is: December! Is this very late? Yes, but I am finally making some progress on videos. The past month or so hasn’t seen much as the two videos that I have been actively editing both had audio issues (different issues) which pretty much halted all forward momentum. I also had another one on the back burner with audio issues.

After some discussion with my design guy (aka my husband), he showed me how I could fix my audio issues and I decided it was easier to simply scrap two of the videos due to the audio issues. They were both video game playthroughs so it is easy enough to scrap them and re-film them. I re-filmed one of them yesterday and so far so good.

Unfortunately, Campus Wahala had some scratching in my microphone audio which my husband has worked to remove most of the offenders. While it’s frustrating to work through, I will not scrap this video. I will be finishing this one up and publishing it at some point as it is much harder to film an unboxing video on a board game that’s already been unboxed.

In the meantime, I decided it was high time to record an RPG book ‘unboxing’. I recorded my first one yesterday and started editing it last night! The video will be a little more involved than my regular board game unboxings as I also recorded video of myself to make it slightly more interesting than just staring at my hands. I’m about halfway through the first editing pass and it’s looking, and more importantly, sounding great! I also need to come up with a name for the new series.

With Thanksgiving in just a couple of days, I’m hoping it won’t derail my current momentum and I’m hoping to have both the RPG book video and the video game playthrough edited and published before the end of November.

Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash

Board Game, Recap

Mar and Apr’s Whimsical Adventures – 2023

blackcatwhimsy

And I’m back with what I was up to in March and April. March was mostly spent on vacation enjoying some hot, sunny weather. It was glorious and I enjoyed every second of it.

In March I only uploaded one video, an Unboxing video of Herbaceous Pocket Edition. What a gorgeous little game. I love the artwork and it’s a great size to take along on trips. I’d like to do a playthrough of the game. In April I uploaded a video game playthrough of Gloomhaven digital. I tried for a short playthrough and didn’t succeed so I ended up splitting the video in half. Both of those videos are live on the channel. Behind the scenes I worked on editing the Under Falling Skies Unboxing video but it was sporadic at best.

Game wise I was able to get a few different online games in. I played a couple games of Earth published by Inside Up Games.  It has beautiful pictures on the cards and it is pretty to see your player area, or island as it’s called in the game, get built up. There were a few games of The Castles of Burgundy. What can I say, it’s a classic and always fun to play. I also played 2 games of La Granja and a game of Carnegie. A nice variety of games to keep my brain occupied.

Other than that, I watched the Dungeons & Dragon’s movie, Honor Among Thieves. I thought it was fun and enjoyed it quite a lot. I also watched some YouTube videos on roleplaying games. I watched the Dungeon Dudes Dungeons of Drakkenheim series and Dimension 20s Fantasy High series. I’m getting pretty heavily into RPG stuff so keep an eye out for future videos having to do with the world of roleplaying games.

Thanks for reading!

Board Game, Recap

Jan and Feb’s Whimsical Adventures – 2023

blackcatwhimsy

Am I late with this post? Absolutely. I was going to skip it completely but I like writing down what I’ve done. It’s helps me gauge how lazy I have been or haven’t been. It’s also fun to read later on and see what I was up to at the time.

I mainly played a bunch of games online, it was amazing. Mainly played on BoardGameArena. I took part in a Gaming Rules! Tournament for Carnegie. I didn’t win but I had enough points to move on to the 2nd round.  I played a couple solo games of La Granja and A Feast for Odin. The first time I’ve actually played either game. I then set up a multiplayer game of La Granja. I didn’t win but learned a lot and it was fun to see how gameplay changes when you play against other people. I also played some games of The Castles of Burgundy. A classic, I really like playing it. I also learned and played a solo game of Ultimate Railroads. Unfortunately, the BGA adaptation doesn’t have the AI player but it was still good to see how the actions fit together and seeing how your strategy can change the game. I also learned and played Madeira and Clans of Caledonia. All in all, I played 8 different games for a total of 29 plays for January and February and had a blast!

For my channel, I uploaded one Unboxing video for The Phantom: The Card Game. I’m starting to get through some of my oldest received games. It’s embarrassing to see how long I’ve had some of these games and haven’t played them yet! But baby steps, first unboxing, then playing. I also spent time editing and filming some videos.

A co-worker told me about a tv show on Netflix called ‘History of Swear Words’ hosted by Nicholas Cage.  How can you not love Nicholas Cage? He doesn’t take himself too seriously and he does what the heck he wants.  Love it.

Thanks for reading!

Recap

Nov and Dec’s Whimsical Adventures

blackcatwhimsy

November was exciting because I started my journey into RPGs with a Humblewood play. I am playing a Strig owl named Koa. She is a young monk who is just starting out in the world. It was a lot of fun creating my character and thinking through my backstory. We haven’t been able to get together again for our next playthrough but hopefully we can get back into it soon.

For the channel, I was able to get the Three Sisters Unboxing Plus video uploaded. I had quite the adventure trying to open the box. I got a couple of blog posts done. I also edited and published my Tainted Grail video game playthrough part 2. I worked on and finished writing my script for my Herbaceous Pocket Edition unboxing video.

I got a new bookcase set up and was able to get a lot of board games unpacked that I didn’t have storage room for. This helped get games put away but unfortunately, I have already filled it up and am in need of another one!

On to the good stuff of gaming. I played a quick game of Galaxy Trucker on the android app and came in 2nd. Continued the campaign game and played against 3 bots. I played a 4-player game of The Castles of Burgundy on Board Game Arena (BGA). I didn’t win but I came in 2nd with 227 points. I also played a 3-player game of it on the android app. I played against 2 bots and it was a close game, but I won that one. Towards the end of December, I played a solo game of Carnegie on BGA. It was my first ever game of it and there was a lot going on, but it really helped solidify the rules for me. I did not win against Andrew the solo bot, but I gave him a good run for his money. Now that I am getting more comfortable with the BGA website and playing online, there will definitely be more games played that way. All in all, a good stretch of games over the past 2 months.

For Android apps, I continued on with My Mini Mart – still with the annoying ads. I played an oldie but goodie, Candy Crush Soda. I also downloaded a new game called Cats&Soup. Not much action but adorable kitties. It looks like most of the items need to be purchased but it’s a good brain break for a few minutes. I also started playing a game called Mob Control which is fun. I have been spending most of my time playing Eatventure. I love anything food related and it’s been fun leveling up in the game. No ads interrupting gameplay unless I choose to watch one to get a benefit for the game. There are in-app purchases but there is enough opportunity to earn the items that you don’t need to purchase them. It’s one of those idle games where you continue to earn money while you’re not playing it and it’s actually a lot of fun.

On a random note, I got into nail stamping! It was pretty interesting and worked fairly well.  I didn’t have the correct nail polish remover so the nail plates that have the impressions on didn’t get as clean as they needed to be. I will try again though because it was pretty fun. I got a plate that has a bunch of cute cat images and cat sayings on it.

For the holidays I ate a lot of delicious food and had fun both giving and receiving presents. I received some board games and some RPG-related items. I received the Turing Machine board game which I am very excited to play! It looks right up my alley. I also want to get into some solo RPGs including DND. To get me started I received some dice and some dry-erase map boards. Another hobby to add to my huge list!

It was a busy couple of months, but I didn’t produce as much channel content as I wanted. I hope to change that going forward. Thanks for reading!

Stray Video Game
Recap

Sept and Oct’s Whimsical Adventures – 2022

blackcatwhimsy

 September and October were busy! It was all on the personal front though and unfortunately, my channel work had to be sidelined. We went on vacation and then I was away on a work trip for longer than expected.

On the channel front, I recorded a few unboxings before I left. I just need to buckle down and start getting the scripts and videos edited. In August, I released 3 videos. Gloomhaven and Stray are video game playthroughs. I’ve been waiting a long time to play Stray and it did not disappoint! You play as a cat in a future world, trying to find your way back to your family. I also did an unboxing video of The Hero’s Journal. This journal has you solving a personal quest and is a fun way to track a situation happening in your real life.

I got a few playthroughs of physical games in – Tiny Ninjas, Unsurmountable, and Herbaceous: Pocket Edition. Learning games for Herbaceous but what a great little game and beautiful artwork. I played a couple rules wrong so I will need to get a few more playthroughs in soon. Keep an eye out for a future unboxing video for Herbaceous.

I played in a group tournament for The Castles of Burgundy in September. I didn’t win the tournament or even advance to the final round of games, but it was my first time playing online with people and my first tournament. It was a step outside of my comfort zone and I had fun and will definitely play online more. I came 2nd, 3rd and 1st in my games so I nice range of places 🙂 I ended on a high note though which was nice!

I also played a couple games of Galaxy Trucker in the app. I’ve not played the game before and it was fun. I lost both games but I am not giving up.

For android apps it was mostly the same as I’ve been playing. My Mini Mart (yes even with the annoying ads) and Color Sort Puz which is similar to SortPuz. Color Sort Puz has little peeps you are sorting who have some snazzy dance moves when you win the level. I also pulled out a couple old favorites, myVEGAS and Pop! Slots which are slot machine games. Both of these you can earn points which can be exchanged for actual savings at Las Vegas hotels and attractions and select places worldwide. I also downloaded a couple games from Microsoft, Wordament and Mahjong. Both are fine and are basic games, they get the job done.

That’s about it for me. Time is moving ever onwards so I will get this posted. Thanks for reading!

Recap

July’s Whimsical Adventures – 2022

blackcatwhimsy

Welcome to almost the end of August! I’m a little late with this blog post. July was a busy month for me personally so I didn’t get a lot done with my channel.

I did get 2 videos uploaded. I was able to get my Tainted Grail: Conquest video game playthrough edited and uploaded at the beginning of July. It was a fun playthrough and I was surprised by how well I did in the game. It was my first playthrough and I thought it went pretty well. It was a little tricky getting my audio set up correctly as my laptop has a fairly well-hidden gaming microphone volume control which is different from the regular microphone volume control. Once I got that straightened out, it was pretty easy to get it recorded. I look forward to getting some more done.

I also finished editing and uploaded an unboxing video for Tiny Ninjas by 2niverse Games. This is a cute game pitting ninjas against each other. It also comes with a solo mode which I have tested out a couple of times. I won my first game and lost my second. As promised, the game does play in about 10-15 mins, and while a light game, it does have some nice thinky parts to it. You have to decide whether you want to use your cards for attacking or defending. Do you let the 2 hits land so that you can use the card for a powerful attack instead? Each card matters and if you’re not careful, your opponent can sneak a strong attack in, taking you out which is how I lost my game.

To round out the channel items, I continued working on the script for The Phantom: The Card Game unboxing, and I also recorded unboxing videos for 4 board games.

For Android apps, I got in some plays of SortPuz which is a sorting game. You have different bottles filled with multiple-colored liquids and you need to sort them so that each color is in its own bottle. I also found a couple of new apps – My Mini Mart and Hungry Hearts. Hungry Hearts is set in Japan and you play a grandma who runs a café. It is very story heavy and I wished it was easier to click through the conversations. You do get to a point though where the stories start to run out and you are basically just feeding people. I had fun unlocking the various recipes and it’s a pretty calming game to play. My Mini Mart is definitely a time suck. The absolute worst part about the app is the ads. Just about every 30 seconds an ad pops up and takes multiple clicks to get through it. On a positive note, once I sit through enough of the ads I shut the app off and I can get back to my regular life. Even with the annoying ads, it’s quite a fun game. You are basically running a grocery store and are cashier, stocker, chef, and farmer until you can hire help. There are currently 8 different marts and each one has a different vibe to it. In the first one, you are raising tomatoes, collecting chicken eggs, gathering milk, making bread, etc. In one of the later marts, you are harvesting rice plants, making bowls of rice, catching fish, making sushi, and making sake. Spoiler alert, even with the constant ads (yes, I’m currently too cheap to pay for ad-free), I am still playing it.

On the personal front, we went to a wedding and a family reunion. Even though they were still within the state, they were our first trips since the pandemic started. It was nice to get away and stretch our legs for a bit.

Besides the usual tv watching and YouTube viewing, I also watched the Silverstone F1 race. It was an interesting race to watch and I was not expecting Perez or Hamilton to finish as high as they did. Ferrari left me scratching my head with their strategy. I got some reading in and finished a couple of books and got further along with a couple more. I also had a little time to play some computer games for fun – Call of Duty Modern Warfare, Star Wars Battlefront, and Gloomhaven Digital. I even played a couple of quick games of PUBG for the first time, but I think it’s better in a team as I spent most of the time randomly running around and not seeing anyone until the last couple of mins of the game.

Now that I have it written out, I actually got a lot done in July! I might need to pick it up a little this last week and a half in August so I have more to write about next time.

Thanks for reading!