The Valley Nerd Watch!
Polygon, a website where people write about games and culture and also create funny videos, ran a feature about writer Charlie Hall’s new years resolution to play more indie roleplaying games.
Why talk about that in the Nerd Watch, you ask? Impudent fool! We talk about it because like half the games mentioned are related to folks in Western Mass!
We’ve got World Wrestling RPG by the excellent Nathan D. Paoletta, which is Powered by the Apocalypse World system that was designed by local game designer Vincent Baker of Lumpley Games.
We’ve got Dread, “The One With Jenga A Tumbling Block Puzzle”, designed by local notable Epidiah Ravochol who has also designed a ton of other excellent RPGs and also if you’re going to play Dread make sure it’s the Dread Geas of Duke Vulku, that’s the updated version that takes use some Apocalypse World systems to enhance the game!
Then there’s Bubblegumshoe! It’s a teen detective RPG, with design work by Emily Care Boss of local game design studio Black and Green Games and also of the Romance Trilogy RPGs! She specializes in creating exciting RPGs for people who are interested in exploring a space beyond stabbing an orc. Like, you can be a teen orc detective or compete with a friend for the affections of a fun orc.
And even if you’d like to go for the Big Old Standard But Still Quite Fun Thing you can go for Dungeons and Dragons as the article mentions! What’s that got to do with the lovely Pioneer Valley, you ask? Isn’t it a massively successful game that was made by people not associated with the Valley in any manner? Tsk. You never learn… D&D has for decades featured extremely wonderful art by incredible local artist Tony DiTerlizzi!
If any of these wonderful roleplaying games are on YOUR resolution list, why not head over to one of our excellent local shops and pick up a copy? Greenfield Games and Modern Myths have a huge selection!
Go check out the Valley Creators page! As always, be sure to check out our Patreon and the Weekly Events page! There are a lot of fun things happening this and every week! And don’t forget to check out the updated Book Clubs List!
THIS WEEK
Art:
Monday, January 22nd
Holyoke Public Library [250 Chestnut St, Holyoke, MA 01040] at 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM
Maker Mondays
Teens! Come hang out in the Teen Room, your designated room, to create! Write, draw, make jewelry, design things in 3D, play with their technology! Use the library’s resources to make your dreams… reality.
Tuesday, January 23rd
Jones Library [43 Amity St., Amherst, MA 01002] at 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM
Amherst Arts Night Plus
Head to the library on Arts Night to have a fun night looking at art!
Wednesday, January 24th
Palmer Public Library [1455 N Main St, Palmer, MA 01069] at 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM
James Blackmore: Artist Reception
We don’t really know what sort of art this person does, but it’s probably the sort that goes very well with tiny cheese, so why not go to a reception?
Forbes Library [20 West St, Northampton, MA 01060] at 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Forbes Library Zine Club
Zines for green machines, clean streams, bean dreams, jean meanies, and more! Make your own zine at this excellent club!
Friday, January 26th
Sunderland Public Library [20 School St., Sunderland, MA 01375] at 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM
Sculpture with Wire and Paper Mache Part 2
Create a wire form and then cover it with colorful papier mache to make a sculpture! You can sculpt anything you can imagine! Well. You can sculpt a representation of what you imagined that’s likely going to bear a resemblance to your imagining that is commensurate to your skill at wire-sculpting and papier mache. Should be a bit better at it by Part 2! Grades 5-12 welcome! Taught by Whitney Robbins! Pre-Registration required! Call 413-665-2642!
Saturday, January 27th
Sunderland Public Library [20 School St., Sunderland, MA 01375] at 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Build a Better Soap
Have fun making soap in this class that does not resemble the soap-making scene from Fight Club! It’s got a better script, for one thing. But no mostly it’s that it’s just glitter, glycerin, and essential oils instead of lye. Oh! Though essential oils can be a bit dangerous if they’re particularly concentrated so don’t go covering your hands with them. You’ll get to take home your 4oz handmade soap at the end! Registration required! Best for adults! Call 413-665-2642!
Gandara Youth Development Center [306 Race St., Holyoke, MA] at 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Radioplasma Recording Studio Sessions
Meet in the Teen Room to walk as a group to the Radioplasma Recording Studio to get some hands on experience with journalism, storytelling, and sound mixing! SOUNDS cool! Get it? See that? Nice.
Board Games:
Thursday, January 25th
Holyoke Public Library [250 Chestnut St, Holyoke, MA 01040] at 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM
Game On!
Have you seen the game collection in the Teen Room? It’s awesome! Check it out and play games new and old with your pals!
Saturday, January 27th
Modern Myths [34 Bridge Street #4, Northampton, MA 01060] at 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM
Board Game Night
Play boardgames with friends and soon-to-be-friends as well as some of the friendly staff at Modern Myths! It’s a great night to try out something you may have been meaning to check out! This Saturday it’s going to feature some tree-related games! Photosynthesis is really fun!
Books:
Tuesday, January 23rd
Greenfield Public Library [402 Main St, Greenfield, MA 01301] at 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Books with Barry
Barry McColgan will be on hand to discuss John Hersey’s Hiroshima! Copies are available at the library! Start your new year right by meeting our local Barry!
Saturday, January 27th
Odyssey Bookshop [9 College St, South Hadley, MA 01075] at 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM
February First Editions Club – Leni Zumas, Red Clocks
From the site: “In this ferociously imaginative novel, abortion is once again illegal in America, in-vitro fertilization is banned, and the Personhood Amendment grants rights of life, liberty, and property to every embryo. In a small Oregon fishing town, five very different women navigate these new barriers alongside age-old questions surrounding motherhood, identity, and freedom.” This sounds like a book worth reading!
Card Games:
Friday, January 26th
Modern Myths [34 Bridge Street #4, Northampton, MA 01060] at 7:00 PM to 10:30 PM
Friday Night Magic: Booster Draft
Draft cards, play magic, win prizes! A $16 entry fee includes tax, and gets you 3 booster packs to draft with, and adds a pack to the prize pool! Everyone gets at least 1 prize pack, and extra packs and foil cards will be awarded for exceptional play!
Community:
Saturday, January 27th
Sunderland Public Library [20 School St., Sunderland, MA 01375] at 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM
Adulting 101 – How to Effectively Manage Your Personal Finances
Teens and young adults ages 14-22, get some tips on managing your finances! Credit cards, loans, interest rates, the People’s United Bank of South Deerfield will teach you everything you need to know! Our hot finance tip: try your darndest to inherit a ton of money from a rich, heretofore unknown relative.
Computers:
Monday, January 22nd
Click Workspace [9 Market St., Northampton, MA 01060] at 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
AWS Data Pipelines with Kinesis and Lambda – Monthly Full Stack Meetup
This month the speaker is Trevor Morris, a Software Developer at MachineMetrics, where he works at data warehousing and analytics! MachineMetrics gets a lot of real-time metrics from industrial machines and uses AWS Kinesis and AWS Lambda to stream data to real-time dashboards! Trevor will give a brief overview of how to set up a Kinesis stream, hook it into lambda, and store it in DynamoDB! Get stuff done with AWS!
Entertainment:
Saturday, January 27th
MYSTERY LOCATION at 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM
Nintendo Night
Join the friendly folks of the Pioneer Valley Geeks and Gamers for a night of excellent multiplayer games on the brand-new Nintendo Switch! They’ve got four controllers to pass around, and a bunch of fun games such as the fantastic Overcooked!
Sunday, January 28th
MYSTERY LOCATION at 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM
Star Trek Discovery Episodes 12 – 13 & Potluck
Have a great potluck dinner and then watch Star Trek! Bring some food and drink, then pitch in a buck or two to cover the CBS Streaming costs! Watch a great new Star Trek show with some great people and food!
History:
Tuesday, January 23rd
Historic Northampton [46 Bridge Street, Northampton, MA 01060-2406] at 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Oxen Logging Demonstration & Parade
For the first time in a century, a team of oxen will be hauling logs through Northampton! Tom Jenkins of Blue Dog Forestry will be bringing his oxen Rock and Star with him for an outdoor demonstration of oxen logging! They’re very cute oxen!
Sunday, January 28th
Deerfield Community Center [84 Memorial St, Deerfield, MA] at 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Winter Lecture Series: Making Crime Pay: The Dangerous Careers of Ann Carson and Mary Clarke
Susan Branson, Professor of History at Syracuse University will discuss these historic criminals! Maybe she’ll give you tips about how to be the best history crimes-doer!
Kids:
Tuesday, January 23rd
Forbes Library [20 West St, Northampton, MA 01060] at 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM
LEGO Club
Kids! Play with LEGO! It’s fun!
Movies:
Monday, January 22nd
Holyoke Public Library [250 Chestnut St, Holyoke, MA 01040] at 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM
Teen Movie: Pitch Perfect 2
The SECOND film about acapella groups that’s widely regarded as a pretty solid comedy. Like Bring it On we think? We’re dating ourselves but we think it’s pretty much acapella Bring it On. There are snacks!
Wednesday, January 24th
Forbes Library [20 West St, Northampton, MA 01060] at 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Film: Heroin(e)
This recently released documentary features three women fighting to break the cycle of opioid addiction in the overdose capital of the country, Huntington West Virginia. A collaboration with the Center for Investigative Reporting, the film features several women who refuse to allow a town to succumb to the opioid scourge.
RPGs:
Wednesday, January 24th
Modern Myths [34 Bridge Street #4, Northampton, MA 01060] at 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM
Youngbloods Adventure Guild
A monthly D&D club for players 8-12! You can become a member of this club by prepaying $50. That gets you help with creating a character, a mini, a custom D&D session, and a set of dice! It’s the perfect way to play a fun game with friends! We recommend you play a bard. Actually everyone should play as a bard and you should be adventurers by day and a traveling band by night!
Thursday, January 25th
Modern Myths [34 Bridge Street #4, Northampton, MA 01060] at 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM
Youngbloods Adventure Guild
A monthly D&D club for players 8-12!
Modern Myths [34 Bridge Street #4, Northampton, MA 01060] at 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Dungeons and Dragons
Play one of the classic RPGs at Modern Myths! New players are always welcome, and there’s a friendly crowd there every week! We recommend playing fast and loose, since it’s a drop-in drop-out game, so worst case you can come back in a few months with your bard’s ‘long-lost uncle who’s also secretly a god’.
Science:
Monday, January 22nd
Union Station [125 Pleasant St, Northampton] at 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Do Be So Sensitive: Stretchy Sensors for Wearable Devices and Soft Robotics
Why do some roboticists think octopi are so cool? How could we build a real Baymax? What are the limitations of skin-worn sensors? Can we fight a villain that wields thousands of nanomachines with the use of these sensors? Kristen Dorsey, Assistant Professor of Engineering at Smith College will tell you what’s up with all of this and more!
THE VALLEY NERD WATCH 