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Poopy Palpy posted:I think Burgundy is a classic 7 out of 10, but when I saw that the new edition had tiles that explain what they do in plain text, it took a lot of resistance not to buy a copy immediately. Yea there was a lot of back and forth to the manual I don't like pictorials lol
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Apr 4, 2024 18:34
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haddedam posted:I wish board games were a more popular niche. Every trad game community has it hidden somewhere underneath all the dnd, warhammer and mtg discussions. Board games are easily more popular and bigger now than they have ever been at (probably) any point in the past. Certainly at any point in the past 40 years. You might be pining for something that isn't quite in its DNA. The Eyes Have It fucked around with this message at 19:25 on Apr 4, 2024 |
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Apr 4, 2024 19:21
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I wish it were more popular for only the specific, weird niches I happen to like.
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Apr 4, 2024 20:24
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FulsomFrank posted:All it takes is one taste and you'll be hooked, friend. First things first: for those who know nothing about 18xxs, they're called such because the first ones (and most of them) are named after years like 1822 or 1889. To oversimplify (and there are exceptions to every statement I'm about to make; the differing amounts of chrome on 18xxs are part of the appeal): everyone plays rail barons who buy and sell stock in a number of train companies, which have stock prices that change based on how they perform and treasuries (to fund operations) that are separate from the players' cash. Each company has a president, who's one of the players, and that player makes all the decisions for the company: where to lay or upgrade track, what trains to buy, where to place stations (which govern where your routes can be run and potentially block others' routes), and whether to withhold dividends (and boost the corporate treasury) or distribute dividends (and enrich the shareholders -- and no one has a larger chunk of the company than the president!). At the end of the game, whoever has the most personal cash and wealth (i.e., shares x share price) wins, just like real life. There are 18xxs that focus on operational excellence, 18xxs that focus on share/economic hijinx, and 18xxs that are straightforward balances of the two. Shikoku 1889 and 18Chesapeake are generally considered good beginner games. Try them on the 18xx.games website or look for train nerds in a gaming meetup near you! I was intimidated by their reputation, but if you can play Great Western Trail (vanilla) or Brass:Birmingham, you can easily play 18xx games (at least the beginner flavors -- can't speak firsthand to any others). Just set aside some time for it!
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Apr 4, 2024 20:58
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Board games are definitely still super popular, but I think it wasn't long ago that it was brought up that it does seem like we've really tapered off from the last decade or so of a huge hot streak. It was sometimes a little hard to keep up, but I miss it seeming like bangers were consistently coming out like on a monthly basis. It seems real standouts in the medium have been reeled back to more of a trickle.
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Apr 4, 2024 20:59
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Gumdrop Larry posted:Board games are definitely still super popular, but I think it wasn't long ago that it was brought up that it does seem like we've really tapered off from the last decade or so of a huge hot streak. It was sometimes a little hard to keep up, but I miss it seeming like bangers were consistently coming out like on a monthly basis. It seems real standouts in the medium have been reeled back to more of a trickle. there was a thing that made social in person stuff less popular as a whole for a while there EDIT: also kickstarter took over the industry
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Apr 4, 2024 21:01
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Tekopo posted:Board gaming is extremely popular but the subset of nerds that play board games and obsessively post about it in dead internet communities is far smaller. I'll add onto this that when I shared my enthusiasm for Terra Forming Mars, the general reaction made me lurk, rather than share my other experiences with board games.
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Apr 4, 2024 21:06
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Yeah I think the fact BGG exists and people can talk in game-specific forums means that general-purpose boardgaming stuff elsewhere is less required.
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Apr 4, 2024 21:14
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DropTheAnvil posted:I'll add onto this that when I shared my enthusiasm for Terra Forming Mars, the general reaction made me lurk, rather than share my other experiences with board games. We were right about that, and we should have said it.
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Apr 4, 2024 21:22
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xiw posted:Yeah I think the fact BGG exists and people can talk in game-specific forums means that general-purpose boardgaming stuff elsewhere is less required. Which kinda sucks because for the last 15 years most of my collection has been made up of good recs from these threads. And people getting dragged for liking mediocre games has definitely helped me avoid some stinkers.
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Apr 4, 2024 22:10
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Board games are like any other medium; most movies are bad but a lot of people love bad trashy movies. The key is to not be personally attached to them and being ok with people judging them harshly, which people on SA are generally capable of. This thread being brutally honest about games is a great thing. It’s harder to build up that level of experience with board games though, because of all the challenges unique to this hobby wrt time, group preferences, game availability, etc.
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Apr 4, 2024 22:26
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I know a lot of people who like board games, but I don’t know a lot of people that actually want to sit down and play board games instead of doing… anything else.
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Apr 4, 2024 22:49
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Fate Accomplice posted:there was a thing that made social in person stuff less popular as a whole for a while there Anecdotally, I've heard that it also had an effect of making households look into board gaming, particularly families. No idea if that actually has been borne out by data yet. Bottom Liner posted:all the challenges unique to this hobby wrt time, group preferences, game availability, etc. In my opinion, this is the number one thing that will continue to put downward pressure keeping board gaming niche to some degree or another; that inherent challenge facing an enthusiast's engagement. If you like video games, movies, TV shows, books, music, anime/manga, livestreamers, video essayists or podcasts it's super easy to enjoy them alone or to share that with others. Board gaming (really, most of trad gaming) has those inherent structures that make it closer to a team sport. You can enjoy softball, but you can't engage past a certain point without a team. Most other media is closer to cycling or hiking, where it can be done alone or together. You can enjoy Wingspan or D&D but your ability to engage as a player typically depends on others. All the things trying to break that mold (solo gaming, VTTs) had fairly low adoption until there was suddenly no other choice. I think this also has a reinforcement effect where once you get a group, you do what you can to keep it together and running smoothly because you know it could end. If you decide to stop raiding, you can still play WoW. If you decide you're sick of you're friend's dirty house, that means you stop being able to play board games.
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Apr 4, 2024 23:19
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Bottom Liner posted:Board games are like any other medium; most movies are bad but a lot of people love bad trashy movies. The key is to not be personally attached to them and being ok with people judging them harshly, which people on SA are generally capable of. This thread being brutally honest about games is a great thing. It’s harder to build up that level of experience with board games though, because of all the challenges unique to this hobby wrt time, group preferences, game availability, etc. this. it's absolutely fine to love garbage. i mean poo poo we're all posting on Something Awful in 2024 i love plenty of garbage and i think my karma as it related to entertainment products is better for it.
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Apr 4, 2024 23:31
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I think I've mentioned it before here, but I have two gaming groups with very little overlap. One is a set of gamers that like the good stuff: heavy games, economic euros, classics, etc. They're people I like playing games with but not really people I'd hang out with otherwise. The other set is a group of great friends that almost exclusively play trashy combat games, dungeon crawlers, TCGs, etc. Sometimes you have to adjust your tastes or expectations for people and/or games to find a good time.
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Apr 4, 2024 23:42
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Fate Accomplice posted:there was a thing that made social in person stuff less popular as a whole for a while there I had a 'bubble' with a buddy of mine and we played so many games in 2020 it was nuts. We did every single mission in Gloomhaven + expansion, a few Arkham LCG campaigns, pretty much all of Mansions of Madness + all big-box expansions and absolutely tonnes of different single-session games. Board games round my area have become even more popular since then. There's a regular gathering at a pub just down the street from me that gets 20-30 people every week, a big monthly gathering at a nearby church that has loads of people turn up, a few slightly smaller groups dotted around, a FLGS that is open a few days a week and has a few tables, mostly for wargaming but often other things (and then it turns into a club at night), another FLGS that mostly runs Pokemon and MTG tournaments and a whole bunch of us that go round each other's houses for board games/RPGs. My nephew recently became a teenager and dang, that kid and his mates are all nuts about D&D and board gaming. They have school clubs dedicated to Warhammer/D&D/board games that are run by teachers that love those things too.
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Apr 4, 2024 23:48
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Carillon posted:I wish it were more popular for only the specific, weird niches I happen to like. Yeah, the board game shops are all full of sickos playing the specific, weird niches I don't like
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Apr 5, 2024 00:23
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Bottom Liner posted:Board games are like any other medium; most movies are bad but a lot of people love bad trashy movies. The key is to not be personally attached to them and being ok with people judging them harshly, which people on SA are generally capable of. This thread being brutally honest about games is a great thing. It’s harder to build up that level of experience with board games though, because of all the challenges unique to this hobby wrt time, group preferences, game availability, etc. This is a good post. For some reason, board gamers find it hard to hear criticism of games compared to for example movie buffs. I can call <latest Blockbuster> over/under-produced garbage and no one bats an eye. But if I say that about the latest Stonemaier people react like I've shot their mother or something. It means a lot of mediocre games get to share the table while everyone is too scared to talk honestly about what might make them better or worse experiences.
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Apr 5, 2024 00:50
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I will be the thread's official trash defender because I loving love Talisman and Arabian Nights and probably a bunch of other games that are barely games, just roll dice and some poo poo happens; deal with it. I get more annoyed at games where the best strategy in the world can be completely hosed by dice rolls (Blood Bowl, for example), but even then it's like "well, poo poo... that went badly".
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Apr 5, 2024 01:05
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Serotoning posted:This is a good post. For some reason, board gamers find it hard to hear criticism of games compared to for example movie buffs. I can call <latest Blockbuster> over/under-produced garbage and no one bats an eye. But if I say that about the latest Stonemaier people react like I've shot their mother or something. It means a lot of mediocre games get to share the table while everyone is too scared to talk honestly about what might make them better or worse experiences. Can I ask you what your AV is about?
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Apr 5, 2024 01:13
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Jewmanji posted:Can I ask you what your AV is about? Made some posts a while ago in the D&D Israel/Palestine thread which proved unpopular and it got changed. I bought a new name because I didn't like my old one and didn't see an option to change my AV along the way. For a while I kinda kept it as an act of defiance/not letting into bullying but it's not fun to keep explaining. So now it's just kinda there. I guess I just need to slam $5 and it goes away?
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Apr 5, 2024 01:41
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That is quite the rap sheet Jesus christ
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Apr 5, 2024 03:22
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mikeycp posted:That is quite the rap sheet Jesus christ Yours is pretty lame
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Apr 5, 2024 03:40
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Quote-Unquote posted:I will be the thread's official trash defender because I loving love Talisman and Arabian Nights and probably a bunch of other games that are barely games, just roll dice and some poo poo happens; deal with it. same, Arabian nights owns, can’t wait to flee the desert from my scorned lover and then get trapped in a volcano
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Apr 5, 2024 05:37
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Man i remember second time getting into board games 3 years ago and finding out how amazing they can be with manmad 2. But 6 playthroughs with 4 groups later I never want to open that box again as it's a cynical attempt to shoehorn in computer gamings awful mtx and dlc models.
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Apr 5, 2024 06:12
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haddedam posted:Man i remember second time getting into board games 3 years ago and finding out how amazing they can be with manmad 2. But 6 playthroughs with 4 groups later I never want to open that box again as it's a cynical attempt to shoehorn in computer gamings awful mtx and dlc models. Really curious to know what game you're speaking about lol
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Apr 5, 2024 06:36
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Azran posted:Really curious to know what game you're speaking about lol Mansions of maddness 2nd e
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Apr 5, 2024 08:35
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Tekopo posted:We had an 18xx thread but it was low traffic and it died. This thread doesn’t move fast enough to warrant recreating it again. I have absolutely zero interest in 18xx games, none of the chat will ever apply to me and I skip past it, but I definitely think it should be in this thread and am glad the conversation is being had in here. Because, likewise, I've been pretty deep in (a couple of my friends opened a really popular gaming store) to the hobby, but have never come across these games. (I'd be very surprised if anyone at their gaming store had, either). But for you guys these are 'the best™', so they're obviously pretty important! I'm really happy to be exposed to different stuff like this, and I think it's important it doesn't just get segregated off. Like you say, it's not as if this thread moves super quick, and I think most of the people in here are very patient and tolerant. Quote-Unquote posted:I will be the thread's official trash defender because I loving love Talisman and Arabian Nights and probably a bunch of other games that are barely games, just roll dice and some poo poo happens; deal with it. So, yeah, to expound upon points already made, I think where board games and movies differ, is that board games 'demand' something of you. And, it's not much, but some people see it like homework, and are reticent to commit. So, they'll happily play something like Talisman, because it's just excitement without any onus on them to be 'good' at strategizing, planning ahead, reading social cues, budgeting, running the odds, using deductive reasoning, etc etc. I imagine some of it is fear of failure, but as well for some people doing some subset of that kind of stuff just isn't 'fun'. In that regard, Talisman isn't a 'worse game' for a given 'group' of people, because of what some of them do or don't find fun. I think with a movie, the 'quality' of the movie is much closer tied in to whether people will enjoy it or not, and I think people are much better at judging if a movie is high or low quality than they are a board game. So when you say to someone, "Oh this is a bad (meaning low quality) board game" they hear "This isn't a fun (meaning appeals to the things they find fun and not to the things they don't) board game". But it takes quite a lot of experience to know what's a low quality board game in the same way a movie is low quality. It's quite a subtle thing, and it's still kind of subjective, because things like 'runaway leader' or 'no catch-up mechanic' or 'random game ending' might actually seem FUN to some people, despite the fact that those are low quality interactions. !Klams fucked around with this message at 09:52 on Apr 5, 2024 |
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Apr 5, 2024 09:38
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I think the tide is turning on board games in the same way it did for video games, but it's not really that close to breaking out of its niche. At least not in my area. As has been pointed out, that's due to the social nature of them. I can play some games by myself, but for the full experience I need buy in from others. That can be easy to find or pretty tricky. Where I live it's pretty tricky. I found a few board gamers through work and have another meet up that I really need to start attending regularly. For the most part when I tell people I have a board game night coming up their first question is nearly always "are you playing Monopoly, Cluedo or Mousetrap?". Even after seeing my collection, my family are still surprised when I exchange board game gifts with someone and we haven't gotten each other the same game/a duplicate of one that's already owned. It's like they think I've completed the set when it comes to board games (sadly, I have not).
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Apr 5, 2024 09:52
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I played a game of Arkham Horror the other day, and it turns out rolling nothing higher than a 4 with 7 d6 has a 6% chance of happening. Which doesn't sound like a lot but will sometimes happen. I really should have kept the car which does guaranteed damage (by running over monsters).
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Apr 5, 2024 10:37
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!Klams posted:But it takes quite a lot of experience to know what's a low quality board game in the same way a movie is low quality. It's quite a subtle thing, and it's still kind of subjective, because things like 'runaway leader' or 'no catch-up mechanic' or 'random game ending' might actually seem FUN to some people, despite the fact that those are low quality interactions. Maybe this is contrarian but I think it's actually somewhere in between. I don't think it takes all that much board game playing or movie viewing to be able to intuit some understanding of what makes them fun/good or not. People know that not having control over one's actions and direction in a game makes it less fun in the same way that a stupid plot resolved by a deus ex machina is unsatisfying. I feel this gravitates towards understanding what makes things bad than makes things good, since it's easier. It's easy to understand why Candy Land is bad (unless you're French/Algerian in the 50s) in the same way it's easy to understand why Batman V Superman is bad. They can understand that even if they don't know what "player agency" or "planting and payoff" mean. It's harder to explain the issues with something less definitively and obviously bad, like Terraforming Mars or the original Avatar movie. (Not the best examples, since one is ugly with weak production and the other has a legendarily lavish production, but it was what I thought of as an extremely popular but still notably bad movie.) Also, there are few things undermining my claims here. 1: That threshold is still probably way above the number of movies and games most people consume, so as an enthusiast I may be underestimating the actual level of familiarity required. 2: Being able to express things is always harder, even if they sufficiently comprehend it.
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Apr 5, 2024 10:42
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Tekopo posted:We had an 18xx thread but it was low traffic and it died. This thread doesn’t move fast enough to warrant recreating it again. I’ve been slowly conducting my friends towards 18xx and I feel they’re getting close. SidCon was a surprise hit and a recent introduction of Bohnanza devolved very quickly, so i just need them to come to understand why they need these games in their life and then I’m ready. I’m gonna start with 1889 Shikoku, but I am not looking forward to working out how to play, and teach, this on my own.
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Apr 5, 2024 10:53
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Learn on 18xx.games, even if it's creating a hotseat game and running through half a game yourself. The teach should probably go along the rough lines of: Here's a company, it has money, trains, shares. Here's how it operates: lay a track tile, place a token, run trains, withhold or pay money to any shares that are in front of people or on the company card, buy trains, rust that other poor suckers' company's train mwahaha. Stock round: buying shares, floating companies, selling shares. Have to explain priority here, it's confusing. Finally, opening round, explain the private companies, how the auction works, if you want to float a company remember it's x dollars don't overspend! Honestly, it's truly not much more than a euro, and probably less than a lot of the heavier ones (have you taught A Feast for Odin? I like teaching it actually, but holy hell people glaze over at the seventy action spaces)
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Apr 5, 2024 11:06
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haddedam posted:Man i remember second time getting into board games 3 years ago and finding out how amazing they can be with manmad 2. But 6 playthroughs with 4 groups later I never want to open that box again as it's a cynical attempt to shoehorn in computer gamings awful mtx and dlc models. Lol. I wish Mansions of Madness had more paid DLC scenarios. I've got all 1e and 2e components and DLCs, but no new scenarios after the 2019 sucks.
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Apr 5, 2024 11:52
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Issaries posted:Lol. I’m still kicking myself for not getting forbidden alchemy for cheap when I had the chance. 
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Apr 5, 2024 14:00
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silvergoose posted:Learn on 18xx.games, even if it's creating a hotseat game and running through half a game yourself. Feast is just a nightmare because it looks bonkers upon first glace. Insanely front-loaded. And then you explain that each of the columns are kind of the same thing BUT BETTER at the cost of more adorable vikings. But I am not a good person to ask because I am too close to that game at this point and it seems simple to me when it probably resembles a joke game from a TV show like Parks and Rec. Also, a reminder that we are in 2024 and still don't have the legendary battle chest or any of the expansions (or... stand alones :S) that have been in development for what feels like half a decade. I'm also shocked how few people I know have actually played Feast considering its pedigree but I think the Rosenberg classics have almost receded in the face of the Cult of the New. We must return to God's light.
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Apr 5, 2024 14:40
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I still follow what's going on in the Danes and I just get less and less excited, I'm more stoked that the Norwegians is coming to bga
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Apr 5, 2024 14:42
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Minis games also drive more internet engagement because “look at this sweet mini I just painted” is something people are a lot more keen to share to “look at my sweet Agricola engine”
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Apr 5, 2024 14:51
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Issaries posted:Lol. Give me new ways to play the game without having to buy anything physical over Legacy-games any day. Kinda wish I had bought MoM 2nd edition way back when, since the first edition just burned me out with its endless set up time.
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Apr 5, 2024 14:57
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tomdidiot posted:Minis games also drive more internet engagement because “look at this sweet mini I just painted” is something people are a lot more keen to share to “look at my sweet Agricola engine” I've played a handful of games of Agricola in the past few months after several years away from it and goddamn, it is a masterwork. It's got rough edges that a more recent design would have sanded down, but without them it wouldn't be as good.
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