|
Narratives that come from Agricola are less interesting because the only good stories about farms involve either people leaving them for bigger things or serial killers coming to them, neither of which happens in Agricola. It is still a great game and when you're IN it, there's totally a narrative. Just not one that's a good story.
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2013 14:21
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 7, 2024 02:16 |
|
|
Ravendas posted:I tried to sell him on Terra Mystica has "Settlers of Catan 2", because it has the same settlement houses and roads (bridges), and it's just building on hexes. He zoned out after 30 seconds of rules explanation and just walked away. To continue that quote up there, he said that Catan has no trading. Yeah, Settlers of Catan, "I've got wood for sheep" Catan, is not a game with trading. Never invite this person to games day again. Ever. If you need bodies to fill up spots I always see tons of folks on places like Meetup that want to play. Hooray new non lovely friends!
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2013 14:21
|
|
|
So far, we touched on two aspects of theme: Narrative Theme: In which the elements of a game tend to create a natural narrative of play: this is especially effective when you are able to create a story without relating to the gaming/scoring elements of the game and instead relay your actions in the game with language that even someone not familiar with the game would be able to understand. I think the epitome of this category would be something like Tales of the Arabian Nights. Conveyance Theme: In which the elements of the game are meant to create feelings within the player that are associated with the theme in question. A game that makes you feel panice when you should feel panic, or excitement or fear. The premier example of this is of course Space Alert, although Agricola also fulfills this category due to the scarce resources you have throughout the game. I would like to add one further category, which I touched upon in the past (i'm not quite sold on the name I've given it though since it has connotations in RPGs/Videogames that are different from what I'm trying to portray): Simulationist Theme: Simulationist theme is probably the 'least' thematic of the three categories. In effect, it's looking at theme as a simulation of the theme of the game, even if the actions within the game are necessarily abstracted from what would happen in real life. I would use Tigris & Euphrates as an example, since it provides an almost organic view of civilisations expanding while you rule a dynasty of the period. Another good example would be High Frontier.
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2013 14:36
|
|
|
MoreLikeTen posted:On an unrelated note, I used to play the poo poo out of Race for the Galaxy, then lost my copy. I have nothing but good memories, but it's been a long while since I played. How does it stack up against games like Archipelago or Cataan or Agricola? Is it even a Euro game? God, it's been so long. Race for the Galaxy is San Juan in space, plus a few features, like the alternate currency of "military strength" for getting planets. San Juan is a card-only version of Puerto Rico, that just uses the cards to be everything: Buildings, resources cubes, and money. Definitely a Euro, even if hidden by cards and space. RftG is about making an engine to get what you want, in that sense it has a lot in common with Agricola and similar engine-building Euros.
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2013 14:57
|
|
|
Looselybased posted:Never invite this person to games day again. Ever. If you need bodies to fill up spots I always see tons of folks on places like Meetup that want to play. Hooray new non lovely friends! Agreed. The guy sounds like an aggravating man-baby.
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2013 15:45
|
|
|
Ravendas posted:He zoned out after 30 seconds of rules explanation and just walked away. I can't loving stand people who do this. I also never invite them back. I used to go to a friend's house for games, and one of his roommates would join us about half the time, then complain we weren't playing mafia or some poo poo. When we would play something else anyway, he would join in but CLEARLY not give a gently caress. I have no idea why he showed up. Similarly, in every game ever made, sometimes it just feels like the game itself and all of the other players are doing nothing but loving you over. In that instance, you should probably just chill out. I keep my cool, and sometimes it's more of a struggle than others depending on the severity. I sometimes observe my friends getting visibly upset and occasionally throwing small tantrums over their circumstances or small rules that they forgot about which screw them over, and it annoys the hell out of me. They're just games, people.
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2013 16:48
|
|
|
If anyone is interested in trying out an IRC/Skype game of 18XX, please post in this thread to expresse interest. Newbies welcome, we'll get you set up and up to speed with all you need to know/have to play 18XX online. We will be probably aiming to play either Saturday or Sunday, time to be decided.
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2013 16:49
|
|
|
Broken Loose posted:For example, Arkham makes good narratives sometimes (my noir detective hit the bottle to regain his sanity after a harrowing encounter with an alien monster) but awful narratives the majority of the time (I forgot 5 facts to enable myself to punch an interdimensional portal into submission so I could drag it down to the police station as a job application for the position of Deputy). See, I think even your second example could be thematic if it was handled/explained a littler cleaner. You don't "forget" 5 facts, those 5 clues were specifically about how to close a strange inter-dimensional portal, so you can't use them to figure out how to destroy a Mi-Go or escape R'lyeh or whatever. They are just abstract things that you use and retroactively say "hey the clue I found was about a monter's weakness" when you spend it to fight that monster. And you don't put a portal in your pocket and take it over to the police station, you head over to the police station and say "hey you heard those rumors about how I closed a bunch of these weird portals and killed these monsters I just dragged over? I think you might consider making me a deputy". The problem is the game is so dense and the rulebook isn't great and there are so many mistakes and missed opportunities that this doesn't really come across. Like, it is hard to abstract things like portals or clue tokens because everything else is not abstracted and is painfully spelled out to you (like you can't just go to the general store and grab a "weapon" card, you need to dig through dozens of unique items and pay a specific amount for whatever comes up; it is painstakingly detailed). I think the reason people describe Arkham Horror as thematic is two-fold: 1) it has a largely (at the time at least) unexplored theme/genre so you couldn't point to another game that used a 1920's weird fiction setting to say "this game does it better"; and 2) there are tons of things under the surface pointing to how it could be super thematic and in some cases things really click and it works, in most other cases you intentionally meta-game the Ancient One by collecting resources specifically geared to fight it and then force an end-game scenario so you can beat it to death and "win". Like, encounter cards are actually really interesting thematically because you are exploring these weird places and random stuff that you don't expect is happening to you, but the way the game presents them isn't ideal, especially when you know what the outcome of a roll means. A variant everyone seems to like is where someone reads the card for you and doesn't tell you what the result of a random roll will mean, so there is an element of tension. This is hard to do in a fully co-op game though. Likewise, as I mentioned above, the Ancient One is another interesting concept that has some cool features (changing different game conditions/adding unique monsters/variety/etc.) but having its entire conditions laid out on the table makes it hard to not do stuff like say "ok let's hoard magic weapons since he is physical immune and he forces a luck roll before draining sanity so try to find things that boost those two stats". It would be better if the normal game conditions were on the back of the card and you flipped to reveal the Ancient One at the end so you couldn't prepare.
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2013 16:58
|
|
|
Ravendas posted:I tried to sell him on Terra Mystica has "Settlers of Catan 2", because it has the same settlement houses and roads (bridges), and it's just building on hexes. He zoned out after 30 seconds of rules explanation and just walked away. To continue that quote up there, he said that Catan has no trading. Yeah, Settlers of Catan, "I've got wood for sheep" Catan, is not a game with trading. Somebody did this poo poo to me during a game of City of Remnants the other week. Just got up and walked away in the middle of his turn. Thanks, rear end in a top hat. Yeah, don't invite him back.
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2013 17:09
|
|
|
Tekopo posted:Board game guru has it. The guy who runs the shop is a small outfit, very reliable, sends stuff pretty quickly, good price. I buy most of my stuff there nowadays. Sorry to dredge this up from a few pages back, but I asked and then immediately forgot. Thanks for the link, I'll probably be getting this shortly.
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2013 18:10
|
|
|
j8910 posted:Somebody did this poo poo to me during a game of City of Remnants the other week. Just got up and walked away in the middle of his turn. Thanks, rear end in a top hat. What do you think of City of Remnants?
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2013 18:24
|
|
|
My copy of SoTM arrived yesterday but it was too late by the time I got home to play. I did read through all the rules and cards and I live everything about it so far. Gonna play with the kids today, anyone want to recommend a good combo of villain heroes and environment for a first run? I am beyond excited.
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2013 18:29
|
|
|
I've ended up with an extra promo card for pre-ordering the Spartacus expansion on top of the other ones I spoke about last week - Hadrianus. If anyone wants him, claim him in this thread and PM me your address, and I'll throw him in the post for you some time in the next few days!
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2013 20:05
|
|
|
fallingdownjoe posted:I've ended up with an extra promo card for pre-ordering the Spartacus expansion on top of the other ones I spoke about last week - Hadrianus. If anyone wants him, claim him in this thread and PM me your address, and I'll throw him in the post for you some time in the next few days! no PMs, but you can email me at username @ gmail.com, I'll take it. thanks so much.
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2013 20:19
|
|
|
Looselybased posted:What do you think of City of Remnants? I like it. I haven't played it enough to form a definitive opinion but from what I've played I definitely want to play it more.
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2013 20:33
|
|
|
Ravendas posted:Just to note, it was a 5 player game, the owner + 4 others that had never played it before. Us 3 that actually paid attention had no difficulties in getting into it and figuring out little strategies. He just mentally checked out, tiddly-winked his actions, then stood up and walked away after 20 minutes. Years ago, one of my friends girlfriend wanted to play Battlestar Galactica with us. Before this, she'd played it twice and didn't really like it, but the guy was moving to the US and she was going to Italy for studies, so she wanted to spend time together and we always have fun playing it. After half an hour of complaining about this and that, she just flipped her card, said she was a cylon and went to sleep on the couch.
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2013 20:48
|
|
|
nimby posted:Years ago, one of my friends girlfriend wanted to play Battlestar Galactica with us. Before this, she'd played it twice and didn't really like it, but the guy was moving to the US and she was going to Italy for studies, so she wanted to spend time together and we always have fun playing it. I had a guy who complained incessantly during a BSG game that the cylons in the series weren't the cylons in the game. Then after he started making blatant cylon moves we brigged him. After the game was over he flipped his loyalty over to show human. He was screwing team human because he "felt like playing a cylon".
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2013 20:59
|
|
|
I still maintain the all-human BSG game was the best (someone forgot to add Cylon cards, paranoia reached heights unheard previously and the group hasn't lasted 3 jumps, accusing everyone else because they were 100% human and there were no obvious Cylons).
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2013 22:26
|
|
|
vulturesrow posted:My copy of SoTM arrived yesterday but it was too late by the time I got home to play. I did read through all the rules and cards and I live everything about it so far. Gonna play with the kids today, anyone want to recommend a good combo of villain heroes and environment for a first run? I am beyond excited. Baron Blade anywhere except Ruins of Atlantis. Good heroes for kids to feel involved are Legacy or Tempest. Wraith is satisfying but takes a while to set up her equipment.
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2013 23:45
|
|
|
Pierzak posted:I still maintain the all-human BSG game was the best (someone forgot to add Cylon cards, paranoia reached heights unheard previously and the group hasn't lasted 3 jumps, accusing everyone else because they were 100% human and there were no obvious Cylons).
|
|
#
?
Jun 27, 2013 00:06
|
|
|
Colon V posted:Why do I really, really want to run a BSG game and do this without telling anyone? Because it is awesome!
|
|
#
?
Jun 27, 2013 00:44
|
|
|
Colon V posted:Why do I really, really want to run a BSG game and do this without telling anyone? This happened to us once and it really didn't work that well; in spite of the suspicion, it just lead to an uneventful game where we won with all resources in the blue. Of course, it helps that most of our group is extremely untrusting, untrustworthy, and argumentative, so we've gotten used to keeping the ship together even when everyone is paranoid and doesn't want to cooperate, so maybe in another group it would work.
|
|
#
?
Jun 27, 2013 00:50
|
|
|
I can't imagine it has the same impact when even one person knows what's happening.
|
|
#
?
Jun 27, 2013 01:22
|
|
|
Couldn't you do a random draw from a larger set of character cards?
|
|
#
?
Jun 27, 2013 01:51
|
|
|
Crackbone posted:I had a guy who complained incessantly during a BSG game that the cylons in the series weren't the cylons in the game. Then after he started making blatant cylon moves we brigged him. After the game was over he flipped his loyalty over to show human. He was screwing team human because he "felt like playing a cylon". One of my friends always likes to "act Cylon" and try to make us just not trust him by picking cards that usually have no use for him, so usually we just brig him at beginning now. I really don't see why he thinks that's fun.
|
|
#
?
Jun 27, 2013 02:42
|
|
|
Colon V posted:Why do I really, really want to run a BSG game and do this without telling anyone? The first half of the game might be interesting, but the back half is going to suck. We had a game where the two Cylon players didn't really understand that they'd need to reveal themselves eventually, and by midway through had run out of ways to effectively cause problems without revealing themselves. The first half of the game was a lot of fun and touch and go, but by the second half discussion was less about traitors and more about whether or not we forgot to add Cylon cards. We just sort of coasted in to victory and it was pretty boring.
|
|
#
?
Jun 27, 2013 03:46
|
|
|
I had someone in my last game nuke an area of space that had a single basestar, that was already damaged and couldn't launch raiders, and a civilian ship. Imagine my surprise after sending him out the Airlock with a POL-6 and seeing him flip two "not a Cylon" cards. His justification was "blowing up basestars is good." He has played the game a double digit number of times, at least. I have no idea what he was trying to accomplish. The actual Cylon took the next opportunity to execute me and the game was all downhill from there.
|
|
#
?
Jun 27, 2013 04:06
|
|
|
Kiranamos posted:Baron Blade anywhere except Ruins of Atlantis. Good heroes for kids to feel involved are Legacy or Tempest. Wraith is satisfying but takes a while to set up her equipment. Thanks man. I didn't get to play again today between having houseguests and trying to wrap up an end of quarter paper for my MBA I just didn't get the time. It is driving me absolutely bonkers. I swear I can hear the box laughing at me. Thanks especially for pointing out the heroes that would be good for the kids. I was able to sort of suss it out on my own just reading the cards but its good to have the perspective of someone that has actually played it. I think my first hero may be Haka...
|
|
#
?
Jun 27, 2013 04:26
|
|
|
Copies of REX: Final Days of an Empire, Twilight Imperium, and The Resistance: Avalon are all in the mail, on the way. What What do I do.
|
|
#
?
Jun 27, 2013 05:12
|
|
|
Played Locomotive Werks and Rialto tonight, first time for myself (and everyone playing) on both of them. I liked both, Rialto more, but won't be rushing out to buy either. Loco Werks is pretty much Power Grid with no theme or Automobile without any of the fun things that let you break the rules. I don't really like how terribly important turn order was with the need to math out how much everyone will probably spend on their turn and how much they would probably make to try and pinpoint that order. Anyone with AP issues should never play this game. I did like the few moments where I got to swing from first to last to first while shifting production on trains to perfect optimization, but the game has too much to keep track of to really have that sort of control. Rialto was neat, nothing like St. Petersburg like I was wondering. It definitely had a Feld feel to it but it's one of his lightest. Should be a rather quick game, it dragged on past 90 minutes for us because a couple people were over-analyzing the stacks of cards, something that in my opinion was unnecessary due to the many options to change your hand by the 2nd turn. That randomness of cards in hand took away from the game a little bit for me, but I think it's something that bluffing a threat would take care of a good bit. Since it's the sort of game that rewards you for doing whatever nobody else is doing, you really need to force people to play that extra wild card as insurance to get their bonus. I think I would enjoy getting like 5 or 10 experienced plays in on this one to see how it opens up.
|
|
#
?
Jun 27, 2013 05:16
|
|
|
Clockwork Beast! posted:Twilight Imperium Start clearing off a table. A big one. Also, when you play, have the Imperial Strategy only give 1 VP instead of 2. It's an official variant, and very widely used.
|
|
#
?
Jun 27, 2013 05:46
|
|
|
Clockwork Beast! posted:Copies of REX: Final Days of an Empire, Twilight Imperium, and The Resistance: Avalon are all in the mail, on the way. Order the Twilight Imperium expansions! 
|
|
#
?
Jun 27, 2013 06:00
|
|
|
Do any of you have a lot of experience with boardgame leagues/tournaments? We just started one for casual competition, loosely based out of the game store I work at here in Seattle, and I'd be interested to hear about possible pitfalls.
|
|
#
?
Jun 27, 2013 06:29
|
|
|
Echophonic posted:Order the Twilight Imperium expansions! Specifically, the first one, Shattered Empire. Shards of the Throne is extremely optional, but Shattered Empire is just home run after home run. It really makes the game sing.
|
|
#
?
Jun 27, 2013 06:30
|
|
|
Echophonic posted:Order the Twilight Imperium expansions! Take a sharpie and write Bureaucracy on Imperial I. Though in all seriousness the base game is great but Imperial I is terrible, use one of the alternatives (there are pictures of them with all the text in the Shattered Empire rulebook).
|
|
#
?
Jun 27, 2013 06:37
|
|
|
Is is worth playing a game or two of base TI to get the feel for it, or is Shattered Empire that good that it should be played with it all the time?
|
|
#
?
Jun 27, 2013 06:51
|
|
|
The base game is good on it's own, Shattered Empire just improves everything. The only problem is the base strategy cards basically devolve to taking Imperial to get 2 points (this is a lot of points) or taking initiative so that you can get imperial next turn, but that can be fixed by just printing off a copy of Imperial II/Bureaucracy and using that in it's place.
|
|
#
?
Jun 27, 2013 06:57
|
|
|
Clockwork Beast! posted:Is is worth playing a game or two of base TI to get the feel for it, or is Shattered Empire that good that it should be played with it all the time? I'd start with Shattered Empire right away, unless you just want to see if you like the game and don't want to fork out the extra cash until you're sure you do. The basic extra stuff (more races, planets, etc.) just makes the game better without making it any more complicated. The same is true of the variant strategy cards. There are plenty of alternate rules in Shattered Empire that give players more options (and make things more complicated), but even if you ignore all of those and just go with the basic addon stuff and the variant strategy cards, it's still worth it I think.
|
|
#
?
Jun 27, 2013 07:04
|
|
|
Sarx posted:Do any of you have a lot of experience with boardgame leagues/tournaments? We just started one for casual competition, loosely based out of the game store I work at here in Seattle, and I'd be interested to hear about possible pitfalls. What is the structure? Can you give some more details about how its organized?
|
|
#
?
Jun 27, 2013 09:42
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 7, 2024 02:16 |
|
|
Quick one : Ideal numbers for a Resistance Avalon game? Any role suggestions?
|
|
#
?
Jun 27, 2013 10:19
|
|
