|
I have all the tracks on my smartphone, but there are many alternate ways to play them (flash player, android, etc). There are also variants of the tracks on BGG which have the same content but different voice, added background music, etc. I should probably add that to the OP description as a testament to how awesome the game is.
|
#
?
Oct 26, 2012 22:59
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 8, 2024 15:59 |
|
|
werdnam posted:Sure, that would be fine. I highly recommend the Asia map pack, too, especially the "Team Asia" side. The team game is really interesting -- in my experience, Team Asia games are intense, nerve-wracking, and sometimes hilarious.
|
|
#
?
Oct 26, 2012 23:21
|
|
|
Orange Devil posted:Nothing quite so litigious, it's just that FFG have said they're fine with it if people keep the cards blurred for 6 months and then release unblurred versions, and people don't want to provoke them. It's weird that the art isn't blurred, though, since that's what's actually protected by copyright.
|
|
#
?
Oct 26, 2012 23:50
|
|
|
Tekopo posted:That's just the resolution order, not inter-connectedness. Wow. It does look like you are right, though I think your text came out formatted wrong. That will seriously change the balance.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2012 01:38
|
|
|
Caedar posted:You just blew my mind. After looking through the rulebook again, I agree that you're right. I've been playing it wrong for years. Those mountain ranges seriously mess with things. modig posted:Wow. It does look like you are right, though I think your text came out formatted wrong. That will seriously change the balance. How did you guys play the game on what was essentially a two-way Candyland board? It sounds awful.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2012 02:06
|
|
|
What's the general consensus on Arkham Horror? I was recently introduced to it on Vassal, and have a good enough time with it. The only problem seems to be games running on for hours. Are there any goons that play this still? EDIT: Derp. Looked back a few pages and there was some Arkham chat. We could always get a group going to play on Vassal =V
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2012 02:12
|
|
|
TastyLemonDrops posted:What's the general consensus on Arkham Horror? I was recently introduced to it on Vassal, and have a good enough time with it. The only problem seems to be games running on for hours. Are there any goons that play this still? There's no general consensus, because it's such a divisive game. Some people will insist that it's a brilliant game that oozes theme and plays just fine if you have someone at the table who is familiar with the rules. Others will insist it's one of the most overrated, horrible games ever made, with way too many arcane rules that only serve to make the game excruciatingly drawn out and confusing without adding any interesting choices or strategies. It really all depends on what kind of people are in your group.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2012 02:20
|
|
|
TastyLemonDrops posted:What's the general consensus on Arkham Horror? quote:Arkham Horror No matter what your opinion on the game is, like or hate, this is a 100% accurate description of it.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2012 03:01
|
|
|
Said opinion should not be that funny. It's only funny because it's true...
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2012 03:20
|
|
|
The rules for Arkham are a mess. Not because they're contradictory, they're just hard to follow and there's a hundred of them and you never know which one you need to check when. That said, even the game's creator has said 'the rules are a guide - just go with whatever you prefer, houserule it as you like' and there are good versions of the rules condensed to one A4 page (of tiny text) out there. The game's divisive because it's basically a story generator. The theme and emergence of cards can generate some of the most fun experiences you'll have: Once I played a character who was more likely to have a fishy heritage, and who would die immediately on entering a gate to Rl'yeh (Cthulhu's realm). Needing to seal gates, and conveniently gaining the ability to seal a gate just by entering it, he discovered that he was indeed a fish beast, just in time to throw himself into the final (Rl'yeh) gate, sacrificing himself to save the game. In another game we investigated Egyptian artifacts, and fought with the many avatars of a particular Egyptian old one (Nyarlathotep), sealing them all in special artifacts to stop them respawning. You can't seal old ones in that way, but we ended up getting so many other powerful sealing spells and artifacts, so we bent the rules around that theme, beat his final avatar in an epic fight, and called that victory by sealing him away. If you like that kind of emergent theme, it can be a lot of fun. But on the flipside, there are so many dicerolls, and so many random card effects, and so much reliance on 'OK, what's the next step in the rules now, and what are all the things we need to do in that phase?' The game puts off people who don't care for the theme. The game puts of people who get distracted. The game can be ruined by two friends wanting to catch up more than play. It demands people who know what they're doing. In games of four or more, you really need two people who know the rules inside out, just to drive the game. Essentially, it's good for theme nerds who can all commit to actually playing, and focusing on the game throughout. And that's not always something available. But when it's rewarding, it's very rewarding.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2012 09:52
|
|
|
It's all the storytelling support of a board game with all the concrete, rigid, well-designed mechanics of a roleplaying game. I can't wait to introduce my group to Mice and Mystics Sunday so we can never, ever play Arkham again.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2012 10:25
|
|
|
My favorite part about Arkham Horror, is the beginning to midgame looks/feels alot like this thematically: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yooGu14coT0 And is somehow juxtaposed completely by the ending (usually fighting the Great Older One) in a scene alot like this: http://youtu.be/AR8SkOhKG9Y?t=16s (The Guys in the Van are Cthulhu/Nyarhlotehp/etc)
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2012 10:41
|
|
|
EddieDean posted:That said, even the game's creator has said 'the rules are a guide - just go with whatever you prefer, houserule it as you like' and there are good versions of the rules condensed to one A4 page (of tiny text) out there. Yep, and the way to learn and play the game is very much with these summaries. Chuck the rulebook, get a good turn flowchart and rule summary and you'll be set. Back when I was learning Arkham Horror we tried to play using the rulebook but gave up because it's such a poorly laid out mess. With a rules summary and flowchart it was a piece of piss.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2012 11:21
|
|
|
EddieDean posted:That said, even the game's creator has said 'the rules are a guide - just go with whatever you prefer, houserule it as you like'  That said, when I run Arkham I use rules as I remember them and don't tell anybody that I am making poo poo up 
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2012 11:42
|
|
|
Yeah, it seems strange to me that a designer would admit 'Hey, I designed a bad game, make poo poo up, it'll be fine'. I like playing RPGs but I expect a different experience when I'm playing boardgames. To me it comes down to having meaningful choices within the game and AH sits in an uneasy balance in which you don't have real freedom of choice like an RPG, while at the same time making the choices within the game meaningless from a board gaming perspective because everything is too random/the rules are bad.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2012 12:09
|
|
|
But again, it's not necessarily that the rules are bad — just that they're a tangled mess presented through ye olde FFG rule book, and they're not helped by the multitude of expansions and their attempts at providing graduated rule sets for different size playing groups. Any game that suffers from expansionitis will exhibit the same problem (just look at the mess any of the longer-lived RPGs have become by the time a new edition comes out). …on a more analytical level, I wonder if there might be some kind of correlation there: if players who have grown accustomed to the mazes of spawling RPG rules have a higher bullshit tolerance when it comes to board game rules (and/or an increased willingness to just house-rule it when things break down), or whether they, as Tekopo hints at, are even more annoyed by it because they hope to get away from that annoyance factor when playing “a mere board game”.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2012 13:02
|
|
|
As somebody who plays both extensively, it's bullshit when a game is badly designed or badly explained whether it's an RPG or a board game. I don't want "hey I designed a bad game just make house rules peace" from either. It's not a case of "a mere board game" - it isn't the lesser of the two options, just a different one. It's like Tekopo said. Arkham Horror isn't deep or thematic enough to deliver the RPG experience (much less the freedom of choice thing) and the rules aren't good enough to deliver what I'm usually looking for in a boardgame. Or an RPG. Arkham bad.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2012 13:15
|
|
|
FFG rule books in general suffer from being written in the now typical Euro narrative style when they really need wargame style rules. They would still be dense, but at least you can easily reference what the gently caress you're looking for.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2012 13:27
|
|
|
Mikan posted:As somebody who plays both extensively, it's bullshit when a game is badly designed or badly explained whether it's an RPG or a board game. I don't want "hey I designed a bad game just make house rules peace" from either. It's not a case of "a mere board game" - it isn't the lesser of the two options, just a different one. It wasn't tied to any particular game or to the laziness of the excuse, but rather to what players expect out of their games.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2012 13:30
|
|
|
Tippis posted:Sure, it was just something got me thinking: is there a difference between RPGers and people who only play board games in terms of what level of BS they can sand from the rules because of some supposed difference in how tight or complex rules they are used to dealing with? What are you even asking, "roleplayer" and "boardgamer" encompass wildly different camps under their huge tents.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2012 13:34
|
|
|
Sherrard posted:What are you even asking, "roleplayer" and "boardgamer" encompass wildly different camps under their huge tents.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2012 13:44
|
|
|
The General posted:This is a goddamned cop out. These are designer games, I am paying for designed games I can remember some of the house rules we used to use: * Tomes are annoying to get as regular items. Take them all out into one deck, say you can get them as an action at the library. One for free, or choose one from three for £5. * People really want to work for the newspaper. Depending on level of frustration, I either let them have a dice roll, or actually just read out the card wrong so it says 'you're offered a job!' * Number of allies to choose from (each time this would happen) is eleven minus current terror level. This means you get the same odds, but at least a rotation of people through the village. * If using multiple expansions, whenever you draw a Mythos, if the FIRST card you draw is an arkham location, draw again. This balances the expansions a bit more. * Sometimes, so that gate closing wasn't futile, give the monster 7 - 2x(sealed gates) more doom tokens (which'll be negative if you sealed more).
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2012 13:46
|
|
|
Zombie #246 posted:My favorite part about Arkham Horror, is the beginning to midgame looks/feels alot like this thematically: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yooGu14coT0 The only thing in this that remotely reminds me of Arkham Horror, thematically, is the bit near the end with the angry yelling in German. It seems like games of Arkham always start out fine at our game nights, with an agreement on what we've perceived to be a reasonable understanding of the rules. Then it slowly turns into small arguments over how we played it the last time, the phrasing of the rules versus what's on the cards, and who we should quarterback to win the game.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2012 14:24
|
|
|
Oh man, thank you, thread, for convincing me to get Space Alert. My best friend and I got together last night for a quiet night in with some board games, and I took my new copy with me. I figured we'd play a game or two and move on to Seasons or Arkham. It ended up taking over our entire night; we ran through the tutorial and attempted 4 or 5 missions. I don't think reading about it online really did justice for how fun it is. The tutorial was actually a blast, and the actual missions usually ended up being hilarious. I always thought watching things go to poo poo in Arkham Horror was sorta fun, but in Space Alert, it's loving ridiculous. There's definitely a high level of tension, but when we'd start to fail a mission, all we could do was laugh our asses off. And that happened a lot. But, it made our successes that much sweeter. I think I might have a new favorite board game.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2012 15:36
|
|
|
I enjoy Arkham Horror when I really feel the need for a thematic experience because it's literally how Broken Loose described it. You start with a weird tome whose words you can't understand and throughout the game all of you start going mad trying to interpret it. Combine that with monsters that start coming out in various degrees of difficulty that you think you've got under control but nope in reality you didn't do a drat thing because those monsters had different rules all along (or it's all meaningless in the grand cosmic scheme of things) and it slowly dawns on everyone that there's really no end to this madness so they die or kill themselves. Even the Creator is a blind idiot god who did the creating and thereafter became an uncaring entity. It plays exactly like a Lovecraftian story. Oh and when someone flips the board in anger that represents an elder god consuming the earth. Chill la Chill fucked around with this message at 16:10 on Oct 27, 2012 |
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2012 16:01
|
|
|
discoukulele posted:Oh man, thank you, thread, for convincing me to get Space Alert. My best friend and I got together last night for a quiet night in with some board games, and I took my new copy with me. I figured we'd play a game or two and move on to Seasons or Arkham. It ended up taking over our entire night; we ran through the tutorial and attempted 4 or 5 missions. The game is in the thread title goddammit, there is a reason for that! (glad you enjoyed it!)
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2012 16:52
|
|
|
EddieDean posted:I can remember some of the house rules we used to use: That's a pretty good way to exploit Director's Diary or Tablet of Bast and scum for the Requiem. It also completely neutralises Y'golonac's slumber ability, which was designed as a disincentive from scumming for Elder Signs. quote:* Number of allies to choose from (each time this would happen) is eleven minus current terror level. This means you get the same odds, but at least a rotation of people through the village. Changing Ally acquisition from "draw the top card" to "draw the entire deck and choose one" does not give the same odds. Unless by "number of allies to choose from" you mean the deck size, in which case your rule is the existing rule. quote:* If using multiple expansions, whenever you draw a Mythos, if the FIRST card you draw is an arkham location, draw again. This balances the expansions a bit more. Actually, you'll end up skipping expansion cards with Arkham locations as often as you draw ones without. You'll also bypass the majority of environments, which can make it much easier to win - especially if playing with Miskatonic/King in Yellow, where Acts are triggered by environments.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2012 18:08
|
|
|
Hey guys, you know what games aren't discussed enough here? Arkham Horror and Space Alert. Seriously, the rules for Arkham have a ton of obscure corner cases and strange interactions, but from what I remember the bulk of the gameplay is fairly familiar for anyone who's played an RPG or an Ameritrash game. You'll mess some stuff up, but it's not the labrynthine chaos that some people make it out to be.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2012 19:03
|
|
|
Jedit posted:That's a pretty good way to exploit Director's Diary or Tablet of Bast and scum for the Requiem. It also completely neutralises Y'golonac's slumber ability, which was designed as a disincentive from scumming for Elder Signs. I'm not sure if you're criticising my probably misremembered rules or not, but one way or another, between us we're proving the point that the rules are a mess and players arguing over them is an unwanted but inevitable part of the game.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2012 19:25
|
|
|
EddieDean posted:I'm not sure if you're criticising my probably misremembered rules or not, but one way or another, between us we're proving the point that the rules are a mess and players arguing over them is an unwanted but inevitable part of the game. Pah! Arguing about the rules is part of the social context of gaming. No arguing would be like beer without salty snacks.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2012 19:51
|
|
|
Stopped by my local FLGS and nearly poo poo myself because the main store had turned into a solid Warhammer and D&D sanctuary. Turned out to be OK though because they had expanded to a 4th storefront across the way DEDICATED TO BOARDGAMES. And jigsaw puzzles. But still! It was like Valhalla. I picked up Lords of Waterdeep because I'm trying to transition my roommate into slightly fiddlier games (his favorites so far are Ticket to Ride and Carcassone.) Is Waterdeep worth playing 2 player or should I try to get a few more folks over? We do better 2 player because he glazes over if things take too long or are too complicated, but he hated Galaxy Truckers tutorial 2player and I know its because its nowhere near as exciting as it is with four. Thoughts?
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2012 21:57
|
|
|
I had a chance to see Spartacus yesterday and it looks like a pretty good game, although it has the required TONS OF DICE COMBAT which was making me ring alarm bells: fortunately, the game isn't all about combat. The basis of it is that you have intrigue cards that can be played for plots (and you can ask help from other people to complete them without them knowing what they do, leading to nice double-dealings). This is followed by blind auctions for various things (slaves, gladiators etc), which also decides the host of the games, who's the person that decides who actually fights. Combat is a mass of dice with wounds removing dice and it looked sort of alright, although I'm never the fan of too many dice in games. The system does mean that most of the times the better fighter will win, though. All in all the game has a strong theme of deals, double-dealing and making pacts and then breaking them. No verbal contract in the game is binding.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2012 22:49
|
|
|
Looking for some recommendations for new games to check out. Stuff I own: Dominion: Got all the expansions and promos. Everyone in my group enjoys this. Carcassonne: I have one of the big boxes, though the expansions don't see a lot of play. I like the base game if I'm courting new players. Power Grid: I've yet to play this with anyone who's disliked it. I find the player in the lead gets poo poo on a bit too much but I still really like it. Dungeon Lords/Petz: I think these are awesome, but some players find the rules too complicated. I'll only break these out for specific groups of friends. Mage Knight: This is my all-evening game of choice right now. I'm not really looking for anything else that takes as long as this. Space Alert: OK, OK I'm a Vlaada devout. This is my favourite game right now. Got the expansion, but we're too timid to attempt it just yet. Yomi: I'm a fighting game nut so I think I like this more for theme than anything. Other stuff we play: Agricola: I recently found out we've been playing this hilariously wrong, but I've got a pretty good impression of it so far. 7 Wonders: Another group favourite. Games that scratch a similar itch to this would be cool. Ticket to Ride: Great for any mix of new and experienced players but doesn't get enough table time to justify any of the expansion boards. Race For The Galaxy: I find it too luck-based, but it's short enough that I don't usually turn it down. No expansions yet. Galaxy Trucker: Game owns. Again no expansions, but only because our regular sources seem to be always out of stock. Summoner Wars: I hate dice, but I like grid based tactics. Pandemic: For the length and the co-op aspect I'd just as soon play Space Alert, but I appreciate this for condensing the Arkham Horror experience into 30 minutes. Ingenious: I feel like there's a rich experience here that I just don't have the time or patience to uncover. The Resistance: We play this using a deck of playing cards and some convenient substitutes for the mission cards. Do the plot cards in the full game add a lot? I also hate Cosmic Encounter and Arkham Horror. There's a lot of other stuff we play, but that should do it as far as a guideline for recommendations. Anything that scratches a similar itch to 7 Wonders or Dominion would be cool. I was intrigued with Seasons when it was announced, any word on how that turned out?
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2012 23:13
|
|
|
You could try Puerto Rico. It scratches the same itch that Agricola and Power Grid get to, and really executes indirect conflict well.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2012 23:20
|
|
|
Food Court Druid posted:Hey guys, you know what games aren't discussed enough here? Arkham Horror and Space Alert. The thing is, unless you're just satisfied with getting most of the rules right, then you're still going to struggle. And rules are pretty much a zero sum game, assuming you're actually trying to play the game as it was designed (which, based on that quote from the designer earlier, might not actually be ideal).
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2012 00:42
|
|
|
Kanpachi posted:Looking for some recommendations for new games to check out. Stuff I own: Seasons is cool, but the draft can be pretty frustrating at times. I suggest you and your friends try it out at Board Game Arena. While you're there, check out Caylus too - you seem to be down with dry euros, and Caylus is my favorite. Honestly everyone who is looking for game recommendations should go to BGA and just try poo poo. It's free, the interface is great, and all the rules are right there for you.
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2012 00:51
|
|
|
I'm pretty sure it was Richard Launius who said that "the rules are a guide" stuff. He made the original game and was consulted for the FFG game, but despite what everyone thinks he's not the designer. When the FFG game first came out, he posted a collection of "house rules" that made it pretty clear he didn't understand how the game actually works, stuff like changing rules that didn't actually exist. AH was actually designed by Kevin Wilson, who's much more of a "The rules are what they are" kind of guy, the problem is nailing down exactly what those rules are. There's been a megaFAQ project in the works for years now.
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2012 01:03
|
|
|
Just played first session of Space Alert (got about halfway through the tutorials). Love it. On the same day this week I got Space Alert, I also got Dominant Species. Has anyone played this game? I hella pumped for it, but the people in my group were more ready for Space Alert and I wanna convince them to play Dominant Species (well, not next time we meet -- I wanna finish the Space Alert tutorials and get to full missions with full rules --- we made it though to the tutorials that include missiles and performing the computer checks). Also, having never played Dominant Species before, what are some vague strategies that we can employ in our first game (since we'll all be playing for the first time). For an investment of 2-3 hours, it would help the group if we had some idea of what to do strategy-wise. Thanks in advance
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2012 01:17
|
|
|
Dominant Species is fun but I cannot see it being done in 2-3 hours for your first playthrough. Make sure you set aside more time than that. It's hard to advise on strategies since it also heavily depends on what the others do - especially for your first few plays.
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2012 02:10
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 8, 2024 15:59 |
|
|
Footsteps Falco posted:Also, having never played Dominant Species before, what are some vague strategies that we can employ in our first game (since we'll all be playing for the first time). For an investment of 2-3 hours, it would help the group if we had some idea of what to do strategy-wise. You can do Dominant Species in 2-3 hours with new players if they're experienced with other area control and worker placement games. The three big ways to score points are glacier snowballing, controlling the dominance tracks with some big scoring zones and my personal favorite of being 2nd place everywhere. Each have their weaknesses but they're all viable. The real thing to drive in though, is that dominance cards are nice but not necessary.
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2012 02:17
|
|