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dishwasherlove posted:What is the absolute maximum amount of time the resolution round could possibly take? 10 minutes? Yes, but that's still 50% of downtime if you don't enjoy the resolution. Not a good ratio.
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Nov 4, 2014 10:51
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Counterpoint: there's no time to drink beer during the action phase, and therefore it is impossible not to enjoy a little downtime.
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Nov 4, 2014 10:55
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Hyper Crab Tank posted:Hey, I love failing, as long as it's funny, and it sounds like Space Alert fits that bill. I just have this prophetic vision of the phrase "That's how that thing works? So I just wasted three moves? If I'd understood that 10 minutes ago, I would've done something else. Man, this game sucks." being uttered at some point or another. I like the idea of screwing up because you stress out and forget things you honest-to-god knew a moment ago; but not so much because you never understood it in the first place due to the sheer deluge of concepts being piled on before the game has even started. if you're following the walkthrough then it only piles on things a few at a time until it blends everything together quite nicely. Hell you're not even using your full set of actions right off bat since they want you to get used to playing cards down with poo poo happening around you in real time. Yeah the above situation can happen if you're playing with lame people that don't find the humor in "why the hell did i just move 3 times and only end up slamming my face against the bulkhead repeatedly? 10 minutes ago i knew i didn't need to move that far but..i just did, and now that alien just killed us all because of my stupidity.HA." BonHair posted:Basically, you need to know the following: Or you'll get sombody that doesn't understand at all and will run down the ship hitting all of the guns on the first turn because they don't understand that time is a factor. The Shame Boy fucked around with this message at 11:07 on Nov 4, 2014 |
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Nov 4, 2014 10:55
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Lichtenstein posted:Counterpoint: there's no time to drink beer during the action phase, and therefore it is impossible not to enjoy a little downtime. Ah, Argumentum ad Alcohole, one of the classical debating tools. Fair point. Disclaimer: I don't know my declinations. If anyone wants to point the correct form I'll probably steal it.
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Nov 4, 2014 11:03
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Basically, you need to know the following: Movement cards are colour-coded. Use that. A button is shoot (or A for "attack") B button is either power or shields (or B for "be a wuss") C button and robot button are both "have a wank" or in other words useless Anything else should really be left to later runs. It's really rather simple in theory. Of course you need to explain the various guns and power systems, but really, if you get something wrong in the first few games, it's just part of the learning. What you will get wrong is two people shooting the same gun, shooting a gun with no power and doing stupid poo poo with your energy reserves. Also you will wank by mistake.
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Nov 4, 2014 11:03
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Fat Samurai posted:Ah, Argumentum ad Alcohole, one of the classical debating tools. Fair point. Worse:  "alcohol" is a 16th century French word (from Arabic, either al-kuhl or al-gul) and was not in use in classical Latin. I think you could use cervisia here, meaning "beer" in classical Latin? It should be "argumentum ad cervisiam" then.Anyway, I might give Space Alert a try in the future... my group has trouble ever playing the same game more than once sometimes, but we'll see. First I have to drag them through Tragedy Looper, though, but they sound mildly enthusiastic about that, so I have high hopes. EDIT: Latin spelling. 
Hyper Crab Tank fucked around with this message at 11:16 on Nov 4, 2014 |
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Nov 4, 2014 11:14
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dishwasherlove posted:What is the absolute maximum amount of time the resolution round could possibly take? 10 minutes? That depends. If the box was damp it could take as long as an hour to get it to light.
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Nov 4, 2014 11:16
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Jedit posted:That depends. If the box was damp it could take as long as an hour to get it to light.
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Nov 4, 2014 11:21
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Tekopo posted:Considering your track record you probably didn't like it because you got a whole lot of rules wrong, Jedit. I'd be surprised if he got one right.
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Nov 4, 2014 11:24
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I couldn't understand how to play Space Alert on my own so if you are a little slow like me you might have trouble.
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Nov 4, 2014 11:42
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Hyper Crab Tank posted:EDIT: Latin spelling. Fair enough, thanks. Boardgames are educative.
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Nov 4, 2014 12:05
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Tekopo posted:Considering your track record you probably didn't like it because you got a whole lot of rules wrong, Jedit. Actually I haven't played Space Alert. Real time games aren't my thing, Vlaada games even less so. I just couldn't pass up that one, I've been saving it for a while but nobody has said they like Munchkin so  .
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Nov 4, 2014 12:15
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Fair enough then. To be fair, real time games weren't my thing until I tried Space Alert (and partially also Escape from the Temple).
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Nov 4, 2014 12:18
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Fat Samurai posted:Yes, but that's still 50% of downtime if you don't enjoy the resolution. Not a good ratio. A four player standard turn based game is 75% downtime on average 
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Nov 4, 2014 12:20
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I played Munchkin once and I didn't hate it. I think it would be best Adventure Time themed.
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Nov 4, 2014 12:22
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bowmore posted:I played Munchkin once and I didn't hate it. I think it would be best Adventure Time themed. The Adventure Time munchkin, though still munchkin, is pretty alright for people that are into the show and other media. Repeat playthroughs kinda make the gags run a little thin, though. I'm almost certain I'll regift it to a hardcore AT friend.
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Nov 4, 2014 12:40
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Muchkin lost all charm in my eyes after a few playthroughs. The jokes are pretty thin and old by now, and it doesn't appeal to me in any other way, so... The only other real-time-ish game I've played is Atmosfear (a.k.a. Nightmare a.k.a. That Blagole Game), which is a horrendously awful game but is hilarious on the right don't-give-a-poo poo occasion with the right group of people.
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Nov 4, 2014 13:21
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Experience BIJ!!
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Nov 4, 2014 13:23
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Hyper Crab Tank posted:Muchkin lost all charm in my eyes after a few playthroughs. The jokes are pretty thin and old by now, and it doesn't appeal to me in any other way, so... Was that the one with the VHS tape? I was always curious when I was a kid. Could you give a quick review? VVVVV Thanks. It's everything I've had hoped and more. Fat Samurai fucked around with this message at 14:03 on Nov 4, 2014 |
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Nov 4, 2014 13:40
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Fat Samurai posted:Was that the one with the VHS tape? I was always curious when I was a kid. Could you give a quick review? Yep, that's the one. Technically I played the DVD re-release, which has a different actor (who sadly doesn't have quite as atrocious an accent as the original) and generally snazzed up the components a bit, but the gameplay is identical as far as I can tell. Instead of cards, you got little plastic keys, and you don't have to chase down a VHS player.  Anyway, you got yourself a little plastic dude and you move around the board by rolling dice, then draw cards depending on what square you landed on. The cards say things like "If you are the mummy [figure], take a yellow key" or "If you have a key, you're banished to the black hole, otherwise, everyone else gains a key of their choice" or other equally random stuff. You can also get keys corresponding to the color of the section of the board you're on. Some cards have time codes on them, which ties into the next big gimmick... The DVD. You start it up when the game starts, and are immediately greeted by the Gatekeeper, who proceeeds to insult everyone around the table (he especially likes calling everyone "maggots"). He explains the rules, and then it cuts to some moody music, a CGI animation of like, a dungeon, and a big timer in the middle of the screen. Then you play, roll, move around, and so forth... until the Gatekeeper decides to interrupt gameplay, usually by shouting "STOP!" at you. Usually he'll then dictate an event that all the players have to do. It could be things like "Everyone roll the dice! The lowest number is banished to the black hole!" or "Everyone who didn't say 'Yes, My Gatekeeper' when I called you just now loses all their keys!" Essentially, he barks random orders at players and punishes them if they do it wrong, dressed up in crypt keeper-type hammy acting. Some cards have time codes on them and only activate once the timer reaches that time, or if the time has already gone past, the card is just discarded. The goal is to collect all the keys (there are six of them) and escape. This turns out to be really loving hard, because the cards/Gatekeeper will randomly redistribute your keys, steal them, banish you to the black hole, and do all sorts of stuff to get in your way. Towards the end of the game (it's designed to be played over the course of 60 minutes), the DVD becomes increasingly generous and starts just giving out keys like candy just to make sure the game actually ends. Besides getting lucky and landing on the right square or having a key given to you, you can also steal them from other players by dueling them (whoever rolls higher wins) - so, yeah, it all comes down to being lucky. There is not much strategy to the game. It all comes down to rolling well and not getting screwed by the Gatekeeper by forgetting some rule he's dictated. The DVD version is actually somewhat randomized through some arcane DVD technology, which, well, makes the game even more random. There's also this additional gimmick where everyone is supposed to write down their greatest fear and put it on a slip of paper inside the Well of Fears (the spot on the board where you have to go to win) and if yours isn't randomly drawn when you have the six keys and go there, guess what, you don't win the game. There's a "cursed key" that makes you unable to win the game, too, and the only way to get rid of it is to... get dueled, lose the duel, and hope that the other player chooses to randomly steal it from you. (Note the little trays in the picture there, and also note that the doofuses placed the keys the wrong way around - you're supposed to hide what color your keys are.) The game is random as random can be and if you're playing it for any other reason than to goof off and laugh at the dumb Gatekeeper and his hammy acting, you're not playing the game right. 
Hyper Crab Tank fucked around with this message at 14:07 on Nov 4, 2014 |
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Nov 4, 2014 14:01
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I actually have the Star Wars Interactive Video Board Game. It's trashy, but not quite so bad as Atmosfear. It has an early example of a traitor mechanic - people accumulate Dark Side Points and at the midpoint of the game whoever has the most becomes Vader's apprentice. They then have to stop the other players stealing the Death Star plans. Of course, when I played it with my family my kid sister (who was about 9 at the time) had the same number of points as me and perhaps unwisely, the designers chose to have the youngest tied player become the apprentice. Cue the inevitable : "  I don't want to turn to the Dark Side of the Force!!! "
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Nov 4, 2014 14:16
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Does anyone have any thoughts on Race! Formula 90? I've recently started shopping around for a racing game to add to my shelf - I was never crazy about the movement system of Formula De, so I was really pleased when I discovered Race! Formula 90 seemed to address this to my satisfaction (cards instead of dice for movement), plus added some options for more depth through player car customization. I've watched the Rahdo and Tom Vassel reviews, but there's not much more talk about it than those reviews. Am I overlooking a better choice?
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Nov 4, 2014 14:29
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I taught Space Alert and my players didn't realize there were elevators in the blue and red zones  We still won because babby mode, but still. The board is so well designed as far as art goes that I forgot to even mention it in the rules explanation.
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Nov 4, 2014 14:55
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What are some good games with traitor mechanics? We have Shadows Over Camelot and Battlestar Galactica and enjoy both but I'm looking for something else to get as a way to change things up. Any suggestions?
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Nov 4, 2014 14:59
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Len posted:What are some good games with traitor mechanics? We have Shadows Over Camelot and Battlestar Galactica and enjoy both but I'm looking for something else to get as a way to change things up. Any suggestions? The entirety of the genre is basically SoC, BSG, Dead of Winter (don't get this), The Resistance (get avalon, but this is really more a team game where you don't know the teams than traitor per se) and Archipelago (euro with a possible traitor). I'd stick with BSG, Avalon, Archipelago and I've never played Archipelago.
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Nov 4, 2014 15:02
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Does Betrayal at House on the Hill count? In that one, no one knows who the traitor is until the midpoint of the game, not even the traitor himself... and after that point, everyone knows. Still, it's a pretty fun game, although it has a few puzzling or superfluous elements (like dropping items in piles or tracking companions by way of tokens for no obvious reason).
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Nov 4, 2014 15:11
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No, BatHotH does not count, because the entire first half of the game is just putzing about waiting for something interesting to happen.
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Nov 4, 2014 15:14
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silvergoose posted:The entirety of the genre is basically SoC, BSG, Dead of Winter (don't get this), The Resistance (get avalon, but this is really more a team game where you don't know the teams than traitor per se) and Archipelago (euro with a possible traitor). What's up with Dead of Winter? I've not played it, but it's on a list of games I'm thinking about.
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Nov 4, 2014 15:25
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The Supreme Court posted:What's up with Dead of Winter? I've not played it, but it's on a list of games I'm thinking about. It has serious flaws in every aspect, sadly. The traitor aspect is badly done (in general, the best way to play is to play exactly like everyone else until you have the one perfect time to make everyone lose, so there's very little actual change in decision making), the game mechanics are not very good (dice aren't great since higher is always better, a random 1/12 chance to die every time you do anything is kinda ridiculous) and the really fun thematic thing, the Crossroads cards, are basically just the decisions in Betrayal but slightly better written, and not really very interesting decisions at that.
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Nov 4, 2014 15:27
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silvergoose posted:The entirety of the genre is basically SoC, BSG, Dead of Winter (don't get this), The Resistance (get avalon, but this is really more a team game where you don't know the teams than traitor per se) and Archipelago (euro with a possible traitor). Which BSG expansions are must haves then? I only have the base game.
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Nov 4, 2014 15:36
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The Supreme Court posted:What's up with Dead of Winter? I've not played it, but it's on a list of games I'm thinking about. Here are my thoughts on Dead of Winter GrandpaPants posted:Fresh thoughts, losing consciousness. Also, less of a traitor game and more of a logic puzzle, but One Night Werewolf is pretty fun. Traitor games are basically: Get Resistance Avalon. If you want to play in less time, get One Night Werewolf. If you want to play in more time (and have exactly 5 players), get BSG. If you wanted to play a Euro at the same time, get Archipelago. Nothing else really matters.
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Nov 4, 2014 15:48
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Len posted:Which BSG expansions are must haves then? I only have the base game. Pegasus adds a neat ship and characters, ignore the endgame it adds. Exodus adds a (by some goon consensus I believe) a fairly broken but very fun fleet board for the cylons to use, characters, ignore the endgame it adds. Daybreak I've not played I think?
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Nov 4, 2014 15:52
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drat, that's a shame. Thanks for the reviews! I'm renting a house in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of friends for a holiday this winter, and was hoping it'd be nice and thematic to play DoW a couple of to times.
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Nov 4, 2014 15:58
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silvergoose posted:I'd stick with BSG, Avalon, Archipelago and I've never played Archipelago. Your first play of Archipelago should exclude the Separatist and the Pacifist so you can get a handle on the mechanics. After that, go nuts. It's a great game; I've played it twice so far and I want more.
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Nov 4, 2014 16:05
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silvergoose posted:Pegasus adds a neat ship and characters, ignore the endgame it adds. Exodus adds a (by some goon consensus I believe) a fairly broken but very fun fleet board for the cylons to use, characters, ignore the endgame it adds. Daybreak I've not played I think? The Supreme Court posted:drat, that's a shame. Thanks for the reviews! I'm renting a house in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of friends for a holiday this winter, and was hoping it'd be nice and thematic to play DoW a couple of to times. girl dick energy fucked around with this message at 16:17 on Nov 4, 2014 |
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Nov 4, 2014 16:14
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Oh, that's right, I played Betrayal on the House on the Hill or whatever over the weekend. Awful game. The traitor was revealed in the second character's turn, which meant I literally had not moved yet by the time I was told to find a voodoo doll of myself to break to survive. We were given clues to which room contained it, which was dumb because we a) hadn't explored anything and b) didn't know what the rooms were. So the game was just wandering around randomly, rolling dice and asking "Is it in here?" We lost, of course. One player died when, on her second turn, she failed her only roll of the game and was unceremoniously told "You're dead." One of the voodoo dolls was beyond a room that required a check, otherwise you fell in the basement, which required moving back and failing again because now you're weaker and god it was tedious. No idea why anyone plays that game. Just awful in every way.
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Nov 4, 2014 16:20
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Morpheus posted:Oh, that's right, I played Betrayal on the House on the Hill or whatever over the weekend. Awful game. The traitor was revealed in the second character's turn, which meant I literally had not moved yet by the time I was told to find a voodoo doll of myself to break to survive. We were given clues to which room contained it, which was dumb because we a) hadn't explored anything and b) didn't know what the rooms were. So the game was just wandering around randomly, rolling dice and asking "Is it in here?" We lost, of course. One player died when, on her second turn, she failed her only roll of the game and was unceremoniously told "You're dead." One of the voodoo dolls was beyond a room that required a check, otherwise you fell in the basement, which required moving back and failing again because now you're weaker and god it was tedious. I'll admit to not being a fan, but lots of people like these "story simulator" games. They just like seeing what random thing will happen to them and the party. Personally I find it boring, but there is definitely a following.
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Nov 4, 2014 16:24
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Morpheus posted:Oh, that's right, I played Betrayal on the House on the Hill or whatever over the weekend. Awful game. The traitor was revealed in the second character's turn, which meant I literally had not moved yet by the time I was told to find a voodoo doll of myself to break to survive. We were given clues to which room contained it, which was dumb because we a) hadn't explored anything and b) didn't know what the rooms were. So the game was just wandering around randomly, rolling dice and asking "Is it in here?" We lost, of course. One player died when, on her second turn, she failed her only roll of the game and was unceremoniously told "You're dead." One of the voodoo dolls was beyond a room that required a check, otherwise you fell in the basement, which required moving back and failing again because now you're weaker and god it was tedious. To be fair a turn 2 haunt is really really rare. However the rest of your analysis is correct and actually applies for most of the scenarios. Also roll lots of dice.
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Nov 4, 2014 16:25
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Not sure if anyone watches Beer and Boardgames but they did a pretty funny episode on this game... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5BCB-mvwV8
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Nov 4, 2014 16:26
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Madmarker posted:I'll admit to not being a fan, but lots of people like these "story simulator" games. They just like seeing what random thing will happen to them and the party. Personally I find it boring, but there is definitely a following. The problem is that the game acts like it wants to be the next Mansions of Madness or something, which does create 'stories' without killing people off randomly and forcing you to just wander randomly because there's nothing else to do. Like with my friend, whose story was "Walk through a couple rooms. A few moments later, die mysteriously." Then she's out of the game while the rest of it plays for an interminably long amount of time.
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Nov 4, 2014 16:27
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