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A friend of mine who is fairly new to the hobby loves watching Dice Tower reviews and always ends up buying lovely games. I'm fairly certain there is a correlation there.
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 19:09 |
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# ? Jun 5, 2024 03:08 |
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Remember not to comment on any article unless it is explicitly asked of you. Since no question was asked in the post, there's no point in a comments thread.
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 19:10 |
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Vasel and co fill the very important niche of "person talking about thing I like." Like, that's it; They're completely inoffensive (if your standard is already "weird gross dudes," which it is for a lot of corners of this hobby) and talk about a thing - sometimes a new thing! - relevant to your interest. It's the same reason people listen to most podcasts. They're still lovely at it though, they just have huge amounts of content.
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 19:11 |
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Gimnbo posted:Remember not to comment on any article unless it is explicitly asked of you.
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 19:11 |
Tekopo posted:I did laugh at that, I must admit. It was really funny, and completely bizarre.
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 19:15 |
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Tekopo posted:I did laugh at that, I must admit. It's funny till you realize that the original guy who said it was being serious.
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 19:15 |
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Then it's very, very funny.
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 19:21 |
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Countblanc posted:Vasel and co fill the very important niche of "person talking about thing I like." Like, that's it; They're completely inoffensive (if your standard is already "weird gross dudes," which it is for a lot of corners of this hobby) and talk about a thing - sometimes a new thing! - relevant to your interest. It's the same reason people listen to most podcasts. I get that, but the thing is, I don't think they are that spectacular at filling that niche? Joel Eddy of Drive Thru review is much better at the "kind of weird dude talks about games for other weird dudes to watch" niche but I've never heard of anyone mention him while Vasel is advertised as "the patron saint of boardgaming reviews". Rahdo also fills this niche. There are several podcasts that fit the bill, too. The other aspect to this is that it's about the lowest signal to noise ratio possible for content; I would rather skim Matt Barnes rambling about the latest in ameritrash theory and at least get it over with in a half hour, than watch one insufferable 45 minute long top ten video that has about 1/100th of the content in that time. I guess I'm getting mad about what people do with their own time, which is dumb, so maybe I should just relax. It's not overly offensive or anything, and it should still exist for people who like it, it's just slightly frustrating that it's commonly held up as the gold standard for boardgaming media by much of the community. It's fast food
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 19:30 |
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fozzy fosbourne posted:It's fast food The scent of your local game store.
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 19:33 |
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I wish Vasel was fast food because then at last he'd be out of my rear end in 30 minutes.
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 19:33 |
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I watched one of the Dice Tower "Top 10" videos where it's the 3 neckbeards who each made their own top 10 list and they couldn't even really agree on what the topic meant (Top 10 games for 7 players, does that mean games where 7 can play even if other numbers are more ideal? Games where 7 is best? Something else? Who cares, vomit out your list of poo poo anyway!)
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 19:36 |
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Zombie #246 posted:I've been considering doing magic realm for my next print and play project but I still have yet to learn most of the game. People have compared it to Mage knight, how fair of a comparison is that? What are some of the criticisms you have of the game? What are the high points of the game? Magic Realm was made in the 70s by the wargame company Avalon Hill so it predates all modern game design improvements. Mage Knight was made with a nod to Magic Realm but that's about all, the mechanics are all taken from modern game design. Pros:
Cons:
I have been playing since I was a kid so I have to admit my love of Magic Realm is influenced by nostalgia. That said, I appreciate the game for its own merits and playing a game with other experienced players is a joy.
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 19:52 |
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Impermanent posted:Man I should just have listed all the games I own because I have a biweekly Mage Knight group and that game is A+ in my book. (Also I played in the 1st thread hosted by our most gracious game master Tekopo.) I just got the Lost Legion expansion for Mage Knight so now with Krang I have the whole set (I wish there was more ). There are so many scenarios and variations to Mage Knight in the book and the game kind of encourages you to house rule a bit, so how does everyone else play? I just got General Volkare so I always include him in the mix and do the Volkares Quest or just substitute him for a 5th city randomly. I also usually play with most of the optional rules in the back. Gives a bit more of a "Heroes of Might and Magic" feel to it and the cumulative bonuses for a variety of spaces make for interesting strategic long term choices: -Rampage: At the end of each day/night roll to see if defeated rampaging enemies return -Mines Liberation: Mines start with a green&brown monster guarding them. When conquered mark them, they produce +1 gem every day/night and are worth 4 Fame -Druid Nights: Mark Magic Glades you end your turn on. You may at night remove all your markers to fight that many Brown tokens simultaneously. You gain double Fame for each one you defeat and one random crystal for each one summoned -Dungeon Lords: Every time you turn over a village place a face down Brown token on an adjacent space of your choice, this space is now a dungeon. When you reveal a Monastery do the same thing except with a Red token, this space is now a Tomb. Conquered Tombs/Dungeons count as adjacent to each other for the purposes of movement. -Mage Towers: When you are on or adjacent to a controlled Mage Tower at the start of your turn you gain one gold (during the day) or one black (during the night) mana for each Mage Tower you control.
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 19:57 |
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Alright which one of you weirdos Godwin'd the SU&SD thread?
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 19:57 |
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We effectively play Mage Knight with the PvP combat rules off, but we may consider changing that. For competitive play, I wouldn't be surprised if we started implementing some of the "screw the leader" options for dealing with whenever someone is able to pull ahead very early. I wouldn't mind playing with magic glades on in order to offer more options to players that get screwed over by movement. That Mage Tower house rule though seems like it would be very easy to pull all the spells someone would want out of a single mage tower.
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 20:04 |
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Impermanent posted:We effectively play Mage Knight with the PvP combat rules off, but we may consider changing that. For competitive play, I wouldn't be surprised if we started implementing some of the "screw the leader" options for dealing with whenever someone is able to pull ahead very early. Oh I forgot to add: you don't get a free spell when conquering Mage Towers to compensate for the fact the learning spells is much easier during the day. It's from the "Hold and Conquer" variant in the back the the rulebook. Makes it more interesting to conquer a lot of Mage Towers as a strategy beyond accumulating spells.
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 20:16 |
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Somehow during the little conquest we didn't pull any mage tower tiles. We'll probably look at the boards next time to make sure we don't omit one when we do the set up.
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 20:19 |
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Countblanc posted:Vasel and co fill the very important niche of "person talking about thing I like." Like, that's it; They're completely inoffensive (if your standard is already "weird gross dudes," which it is for a lot of corners of this hobby) and talk about a thing - sometimes a new thing! - relevant to your interest. It's the same reason people listen to most podcasts. Isn't the Dice Tower just a massive scam wherein Vasel and Co. get games for free from I mean, more power to him if so. If I could hatch a scheme where I get review copies of a game for free, I would seriously do it. But he got there first, so
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 20:34 |
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LuiCypher posted:Isn't the Dice Tower just a massive scam wherein Vasel and Co. get games for free from Take every opportunity to play a new game you can, from trash games like Exploding Kitten to Euro games, to Amerithrash, whatever you can. Immediately after playing a game and putting it up, record yourself talking about the game after dumping the pieces on a table. There, you can join the elite pantheon of board game reviewers. edit-It is mandatory you do no prep or practice for your review. Make sure it is entirely off-the-cuff, with no rehearsal behind it whatsoever.
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 20:39 |
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LuiCypher posted:Isn't the Dice Tower just a massive scam wherein Vasel and Co. get games for free from Maybe? I've never seen any evidence suggesting that (or not suggesting it), but it could be. I remember hearing that Vasel is a part of the quiverfull poo poo so anything is possible. Don't interpret my comment as defending either the quality or potential motivations of Vasel, I'm strictly talking about why people continue to watch him. He's been around so long and is almost definitely going to be the first hit on youtube if you search "[game name] review" so people are just sorta used to him now. I know people who go to weekly board game meetings who have never even heard of SU&SD which I had assumed wasn't really an underground thing in board games these days, who are more than happy to post Vasel videos on the group's facebook page when a new game comes out. It's just "guy talks about thing," and people like hearing familiar voices talk about stuff they like.
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 20:45 |
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Madmarker posted:Take every opportunity to play a new game you can, from trash games like Exploding Kitten to Euro games, to Amerithrash, whatever you can. Immediately after playing a game and putting it up, record yourself talking about the game after dumping the pieces on a table. There, you can join the elite pantheon of board game reviewers. And don't forget to make up inane top 10 lists every few days where you can cleverly recycle your top 50 games in new and exciting ways.
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 20:50 |
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EBag posted:And don't forget to make up inane top 10 lists every few days where you can cleverly recycle your top 50 games in new and exciting ways. How could I forget about the inane Top 10 Lists.... I'll give you your first list topic Top Ten Dog Games, these are Boardgames where a major component or mechanic involves canines. Make sure to spend over an hour on the video for this list, and not to actually write the list down anywhere so that people will watch your video
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 21:02 |
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But don't you want to know the top 10 cards of Thunderstone Advance? edit: We're getting kind of negative here, so have a video that shows the power of attractive people, video production, and a camera that was produced in this century. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T86J05Ho2w0 Gimnbo fucked around with this message at 21:19 on Feb 2, 2015 |
# ? Feb 2, 2015 21:08 |
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Madmarker posted:How could I forget about the inane Top 10 Lists.... And somehow Cosmic Encounter will end up at #1, every time, despite having little to do with dogs. Ah, what do I know, there's probably a dog race in there somewhere. Countblanc posted:Don't interpret my comment as defending either the quality or potential motivations of Vasel, I'm strictly talking about why people continue to watch him. He's been around so long and is almost definitely going to be the first hit on youtube if you search "[game name] review" so people are just sorta used to him now. I know people who go to weekly board game meetings who have never even heard of SU&SD which I had assumed wasn't really an underground thing in board games these days, who are more than happy to post Vasel videos on the group's facebook page when a new game comes out. It's just "guy talks about thing," and people like hearing familiar voices talk about stuff they like. Definitely not trying to criticize you (though I did quote your post, so that is an incredibly logical assumption that I can't fault you for), but I'm sure there was a point in time where what Vasel was doing was indeed good for boardgaming and the hobby before it became really mainstream. But now that it is becoming mainstream, I think there are a lot of people out there that are just flat-out doing a way better job and the fact that the Dice Tower has sort of hobbled along over the years with the same old format, the same old people, the same old inane Top 10 lists, and the same old [insert tired reference here] speaks more to the fact that I think Vasel is just doing it for the free games now instead of any sort of grand ideology. At that point, I think he slides on into being irrelevant at best and harmful at worst to the hobby. He's irrelevant in the fact that he more or less hasn't updated his show in years and people are starting to become much more discerning now beyond the point of "it's just FUN" and looking for a more meaningful review. The way Vasel reviews games is completely milquetoast and doesn't really tell me anything significant about the game. As for being harmful, I think the comment thread on SU&SD does a better job of criticizing him. I think he's going to run the risk of projecting an image and attracting a fanbase of more cat-piss elements (but not toxic - Pundit and Zak S. have laid claim to that lovely territory with its well full of piss) to the community, but so far I think boardgamers as a whole are pretty OK folk so that's probably just a personal worry of mine.
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 21:19 |
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I own quite a few games but I'd like to buy Carcassone, something I have no experience with. I need a new game that I can play with non-gamers. Problem is I'm not sure where to start. I see two Editions on Amazon, one "New" edition that's FAR cheaper but the tileset doesn't seem to match the dozens(!) of expansions. What's the best version, and where should I start when it comes to the vast add-on selection? Kasonic fucked around with this message at 21:25 on Feb 2, 2015 |
# ? Feb 2, 2015 21:21 |
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LuiCypher posted:And somehow Cosmic Encounter will end up at #1, every time, despite having little to do with dogs. Ah, what do I know, there's probably a dog race in there somewhere.
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 21:22 |
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He occasionally shows off his briar patch of man cleavage in the videos. I think the world is better off for it tbh E:Meant for other thread but keeping here because why the hell not
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 21:23 |
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For positivity here's Bottom Shelf Board Games, which could use a signal boost. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htW1WRmN_1Y Enjoy beautifully shot board game tables with concise reviews and descriptions.
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 21:27 |
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LuiCypher posted:Definitely not trying to criticize you (though I did quote your post, so that is an incredibly logical assumption that I can't fault you for), but I'm sure there was a point in time where what Vasel was doing was indeed good for boardgaming and the hobby before it became really mainstream. But now that it is becoming mainstream, I think there are a lot of people out there that are just flat-out doing a way better job and the fact that the Dice Tower has sort of hobbled along over the years with the same old format, the same old people, the same old inane Top 10 lists, and the same old [insert tired reference here] speaks more to the fact that I think Vasel is just doing it for the free games now instead of any sort of grand ideology. At that point, I think he slides on into being irrelevant at best and harmful at worst to the hobby. He's irrelevant in the fact that he more or less hasn't updated his show in years and people are starting to become much more discerning now beyond the point of "it's just FUN" and looking for a more meaningful review. The way Vasel reviews games is completely milquetoast and doesn't really tell me anything significant about the game. There's a another discussion on the SU&SD post talking about how Catan is a gateway game that time and design have left behind, and I think it's pretty fitting to call Vasel the Settlers of Catan of board game reviewers. Gimnbo fucked around with this message at 21:30 on Feb 2, 2015 |
# ? Feb 2, 2015 21:27 |
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Kasonic posted:I own quite a few games but I'd like to buy Carcassone, something I have no experience with. A need a new game that I can play with non-gamers. Problem is I'm not sure where to start. As far as expansions go, Inns & Cathedrals is pretty much considered an integral part of a base game. Traders & Builders is also regarded highly. You can get one or both of these before even bothering with the base game on it's own. The other expansions range from "spicing the game up for fans" to "really dumb. Don't bother with them until you know you desire them for one reason or another. As for the new tilesets, just check if the two expansions I named are compatible with it, you'll never need anything more to play with the grandma or whoever.
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 21:28 |
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Man, I want UvulaBob to come back now
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 21:29 |
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chemosh6969 fucked around with this message at 22:46 on Feb 2, 2015 |
# ? Feb 2, 2015 21:33 |
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Impermanent posted:For positivity here's Bottom Shelf Board Games, which could use a signal boost. I was literally just wondering if there was a series of well-produced review videos that ran under 5 minutes.
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 21:42 |
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LuiCypher posted:people are starting to become much more discerning Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 21:43 |
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LuiCypher posted:people are starting to become much more discerning now https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/elanlee/exploding-kittens
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 21:57 |
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That is indeed one hell of a $5.1 million and counting refutation of my argument. I'm glad that was the go-to instead of Kingdom Death, though.
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 22:04 |
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Is there any silver lining spin to exploding kittens? Is it possible that it brings any new people into the fold? My sunny disposition and awesome attitude makes we want to believe but I actually think "nope". Feels like the freemium of nerd games
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 22:07 |
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fozzy fosbourne posted:Is there any silver lining spin to exploding kittens? Is it possible that it brings any new people into the fold? My sunny disposition and awesome attitude makes we want to believe but I actually think "nope". Feels like the freemium of nerd games
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 22:09 |
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Nah if anything it will serve to get people to believe that games should be based around the intangible concept of "Fun" and that random luck games are the center of game design.
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 22:09 |
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# ? Jun 5, 2024 03:08 |
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Poison Mushroom posted:It's something your friends will break out instead of Munchkin? It's the thing you'll have to suffer through at a birthday party instead of Cards Against Humanity, and your only consolation is that there are effectively infinite tacos available to fill the void where gameplay used to be. e: Based on a true story
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# ? Feb 2, 2015 22:11 |