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The New Board Game Thread (Newcomer Friendly)
- Thread starter AstroLad
- Start date
- Status
Joined the BGG guild; same username over there as here. The other couple my wife and I play board games with pulled out Power Grid for the first time in more than a year, so we were re-learning that. Maybe I am missing something obvious here, but is there any benefit to taking the western most chunk of the USA in that game? The city connections are vastly more expensive than anywhere else, so it seems like a decent handicap without any reward.
New Section: GAF Events
Since there are a ton of ways to play games online (only some of which I've gone into in the OP, which I'll be expanding on that front), I was thinking of doing sign-ups in here so we can get groups to play together. This can be for both synchronous and asynchronous games and I'll keep an updated list in the OP and delete and add as necessary. Someone else can start games as well certainly and I'll add them to the OP if I'm around.
Event #1: Live Dominion Free Play/Wednesday, September 8, 2010/9:30 P.M. EST-whenever
http://dominion.isotropic.org/
1. Astrolad
[to be continued in OP at bottom]
Well hopefully I'll get some people :lol. No limit really since we can start several games. If people get into the swing of it, we could also do a tournament at some point in the future and I could come up with a cheesy prize like card sleeves or meeples or something.
Since there are a ton of ways to play games online (only some of which I've gone into in the OP, which I'll be expanding on that front), I was thinking of doing sign-ups in here so we can get groups to play together. This can be for both synchronous and asynchronous games and I'll keep an updated list in the OP and delete and add as necessary. Someone else can start games as well certainly and I'll add them to the OP if I'm around.
Event #1: Live Dominion Free Play/Wednesday, September 8, 2010/9:30 P.M. EST-whenever
http://dominion.isotropic.org/
1. Astrolad
[to be continued in OP at bottom]
Well hopefully I'll get some people :lol. No limit really since we can start several games. If people get into the swing of it, we could also do a tournament at some point in the future and I could come up with a cheesy prize like card sleeves or meeples or something.
Just purchased Arkham, the whole day I have been putting it in and out of online shopping carts :lol
Planning a board games night on the 17th with some friends, should be fun
Hopefully Arkham arrives in time!
Agricola today with my little sister I think, she's 10 and loves Agricola.
Planning a board games night on the 17th with some friends, should be fun
Hopefully Arkham arrives in time!Agricola today with my little sister I think, she's 10 and loves Agricola.
This is an awesome story btw. When I met my wife she was playing Scrabble using freaking proper nouns. I corrected her on that rule and proceeded to destory her next game. I then went on to destroy many other games of her childhood by making us play by the correct rules, which neither she nor anyone in her family was aware of. You can steal boyfriends in Sweet Valley High -- deal with it!platypotamus said:The second time I ever saw my future wife was a board game party at Troika (that's how we met actually too).
We had enough people that we split into two groups. Myself, the lead programmer (Andrew), and her were on Ticket to Ride (with one other person, can't remember who). She has two disconnected trains moving to each other, and makes the rookie mistake of leaving a single car-length spot between them (Omaha to Kansas City).
Anyway, I say to Andrew (his turn) "If you put a car on that track, I'll do the same on my turn, and we'll totally screw her over". So he did. Then I did.
Boy was she mad...
She still ended up winning
AstroLad said:
:lol
Now I'm trying to think of any games that I played totally wrong/made up rules for as a child.
The only thing that leaps immediately to mind was that me and my brother would play Magic: The Gathering with "land drop" rules where you can play all the land you have in your hand immediately. I now realize how utterly this destroys the balance of the game but I guess it just seemed more fun back then. And obviously we were horribly impatient.
FrancisH said:Just purchased Arkham, the whole day I have been putting it in and out of online shopping carts :lol
Planning a board games night on the 17th with some friends, should be fun
Agricola today with my little sister I think, she's 10 and loves Agricola.
I highly recommend you download the Arkham Horror reference sheet from http://www.headlesshollow.com/freebies_games.html. Much easier to print and reference that than the rulebook each time you need a clarification.
Just wanted to say that my first playing session of Dominion was a huge success. On Saturday I went over to some friends for a board game evening and brought Dominion with me. None of us palye dit before, but at the end everyone loved it.
Guess from now on I'm the guy that always has to bring Dominion along. :lol
Guess from now on I'm the guy that always has to bring Dominion along. :lol
D
Deleted member 20415
Unconfirmed Member
I'm in the early stages of planning a regular game night at the office. I work with assloads of geeks, but they are mostly stuck to monitors and screens for their gaming.
I'm thinking a once a month 6-9 p.m. game isn't asking much from folks.
At this point, I'm thinking it has to be something outside of the economic board games that I love and nothing too light. The early request has been the new Castle Ravenloft game.
Has anyone played that yet?
I'm thinking a once a month 6-9 p.m. game isn't asking much from folks.
At this point, I'm thinking it has to be something outside of the economic board games that I love and nothing too light. The early request has been the new Castle Ravenloft game.
Has anyone played that yet?
It's a relevant point (which was why I mentioned it in the OP). I think that's a bit of an overstatement for Race for the Galaxy -- there may not be screw-your-neighbor interaction (not until the third expansion really), but predicting the phases other people will pick is critical to doing well. It's totally a matter of taste though. If you love screwing over and at least find the tableau-building mechanic of Race interesting, let me recommend Citadels, which is much simpler than Race but has an almost insane amount of screwage.Feep said:
BattleMonkey
Member
Anyone try Mad Zepplin? Was not crazy about Dust Games pervious card games, but they have such awesome art.
AstroLad said:
I think that is a big matter of taste, and if you look at BGG's ratings a lot of the higher rated games really are multiplayer solitaire.. or at least not too far off. RFTG is probably my favorite game and while there are some key interaction decisions to make they don't become obvious until you really get a good understanding of the strategy so the first few times through it doesn't seem like there is a lot going on. Puerto Rico, San Juan, Agricula are similar in that way as well. The interaction is more subtle. It's also these games that allow the better player to win most of the time because the person with the right mini-max strategy will be able to win 99/100 times.. which is why they are so highly rated.
Which is why the real "gateway" games are a nice bridge between the directly cuthroat style of American board games (Monopoly, Risk, etc) and the more passive nature of some others. You can stick it to friends in Catan, TTR and Carcassonne but it is more of a passive "setting up road blocks" than it is "destroying them". There is always another way out of whatever problem you set them up and in a lot of ways in those games everyone is sort of off doing their own thing for the most part.
BattleMonkey
Member
Anyone getting Dust Tactics?
Basically a miniature wargame but being packaged and sold as a board game to appeal to people who don't like the typical miniature hobby aspect and spending tons of money on miniatures. You buy the box set and your done, expansions are to be similar with giving you all the figs for 2 players in one set.
Basically a miniature wargame but being packaged and sold as a board game to appeal to people who don't like the typical miniature hobby aspect and spending tons of money on miniatures. You buy the box set and your done, expansions are to be similar with giving you all the figs for 2 players in one set.
D
Deleted member 20415
Unconfirmed Member
AstroLad said:
Yeah, that's another one that I'm looking at. I was in Burlington VT last weekend and they had a great game store. I was so tempted to buy Descent, but I didn't want to lug it back to New York.
BattleMonkey
Member
Xater said:
Yea it's meant to kind of bridge the gap between the miniature hobby gaming and board gamers. They are also releasing extra rules free for those who wish to play it as a more traditional mini game without grids, using your own table and terrain. The figs are also colored with primer so if you want to paint, they are ready for that too.
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite.asp?eidm=123&enmi=Dust Tactics
Basically you get both sides, everything needed in the box. Each expansion to add material for both sides to add on. Rulebook is on the site, and even has like 5 expansions listed already
BattleMonkey
Member
Xater said:
It's a big box FFG game, as well as lots of large 30mm miniatures made of good quality plastic, not cheap rubbery board game plastic parts. Its also entire game for 2 players in the box, still a very good deal.
Xater said:
FFG are usually pretty high but their components are really top notch.
I've only ever owned one FFG and the components were really really top notch. Nice figures of good quality. FFG and Days of Wonder are typically a bit pricier but have nicer components than what you typically get from say Rio Grande games.
DungeonQuest (2010)
For 1-4 Players
Single player games take about 30 minutes, and an extra 10 minutes for each extra player
The game elements are: One large board, a set of about 120 square carboard tiles printed with a variety of dungeon architecture, six plastic hero figurines, over 300 cards in 13 distinct decks, four dice, and sundry other bits for status markers, wound tokens, and so forth. The game has a "high fantasy" wizards and warriors theme; players acquainted with other FFG fantasy titles will notice that this remake of DungeonQuest has been transposed into Fantasy Flight's proprietary "Terrinoth" universe, in common with Runebound, Descent, and Runewars. To anyone not familiar with these other games, DungeonQuest's theme will appear indistinguishable from many other generic fantasy settings. The artwork is abundant and minutely detailed. The set quality is very high indeed, slightly better even than other FFG games I own (Arkham Horror plus expansions, Runewars). Everything is solidly constructed and evidently built with the anticipation that the set will see years of use.
The gameboard is presented as a nearly uncharted map of dragon's subterranean lair. The outer boundary of this lair is known; it is square, with impenetrable stone walls all around and towers at each of the four corners. Each tower has a door, admitting entrance into the lair. At the center of the lair, ominously distant from the corner towers, a large room packed with treasure is displayed: the dragon's hoard. The rest of the map is criss-crossed with faint gridlines marking out blank squares of territory: the mysteries that have been built into those blanks are waiting to be discovered by heroes willing to challenge the dungeon.
Each player selects a hero miniature and associated equipment, including a Hero Card listing the character's stats, a set of four unique combat cards which define character-specific combat abilities, and other miscellaneous markers. Each hero must start at a different tower in the corners of the map. Taking turns, the heroes will attempt to move through the blank portions of the board's map, overcoming obstacles and searching for Loot. Loot is designated by cards which usually have a listed Gold value. Once a hero finds Loot he may decide to either continue searching for more loot or begin trekking back to the exit. A hero may not leave without Loot; the player whose hero successfully escapes the dungeon with the most valuable Loot (in total Gold) wins the game.
The difficulties faced by the heroes (and by the characters) is of two kinds: They are hampered by having very little information about the dangers of the dungeon, or even the floor plan; and even if they possessed useful information about the dungeon's defenses, their capabilities are barely sufficient to survive them. Even with the dragon asleep the lair is a very dangerous place. They are very poorly prepared. To make matters worse, the heroes are time limited. The lair's doors are only open when the dragon sleeps during daytime, represented by a sun track along the top of the board; each turn, a sun token advances along the track. Once the sun reaches the end of its track and sets, the doors seal shut, the dragon awakens, and any hero trapped inside will die.
Each player's turn typically involves one or two decisions out of a very small number of available options. Players may Attempt to Move from their current square into an adjacent square: if multiple paths are open from their current square they may decide which direction they will try to move. In many squares players may choose to Search the room instead of moving. This decision takes place at the start of the turn; the rest of the turn is working out what happens to the player as a result of that decision. For instance, moving through an open doorway into a blank map space requires the player to pull a square dungeon tile randomly from a pile; the design printed on the randomly selected tile will determine what happens next, not the player. Many dungeon tiles prompt the player to draw a card from one or more decks which describe what the player confronts next, such as a trap, a body of a long-dead adventurer which the player can decide to search by drawing a card from a different deck, a crypt the player can decide to search by drawing from yet another deck, a monster the player can fight or attempt to evade, and more. Some tiles are inherently dangerous: there are a small number of "bottomless pit" tiles included, which forces the player to roll dice to survive (and the survival chances are low). Once these consequences have been worked out (or his character dies) the player's turn ends.
As the game spools out most of the player's interaction with his character does not involve much decision-making. You are allowed that one initial decision on each turn, Move somewhere or Search; once that proactive motion is set in place the machinery of the lair (and of the game) takes control. Since the information given the player in each situation is so limited even those choices are largely blind risks. You spend much of the game not even knowing the terrain you're about to step into, and the results of Searches and other encounters are always unknown before the fact, dependent on card draws and dice rolls. Because of this the personality of the game is strongly defined by the effects of the cards and the dungeon tiles. They are designed to be unusually capricious and deadly. While very little in the game will kill you outright, life and death is frequently decided by dice rolls at poor odds. The previously mentioned "bottomless pit" tiles, for instance, involve rolling dice against a character's pre-defined "luck" stat: the luckiest hero has about a 70% chance of surviving, and the unluckiest about a 20% chance.
The overall result is a gambling game, really: Each turn you lay a bet with your character's life as the stakes, and the pot is Loot hidden randomly in the game's nest of cards. Well, not entirely randomly: In one place only the game's randomness in granting Loot falls away and your character is guaranteed to receive a share of the treasure he or she needs to escape. This is the room at the center of the lair containing the dragon's hoard. While there, you may freely take two pieces of loot from the Treasure Deck each turn. The gambling aspect is retained even here by risking awakening the Dragon, who will summarily barbecue everyone in the hoard room, drive you out, and force you to drop all of your Loot. On the upside, if you manage to leave the room with the dragon still slumbering, the Loot from the dragon's hoard is generally more valuable than what you receive anywhere else. On the downside, you have to fight all the way back out to the corners of the map before sunset to win.
The game features a few other interactive bits: Combat with creatures involves the active player pitted against another player controlling the monster with cards drawn from a Combat Deck. Battles are resolved by a system of card laying that's a hybrid of rock-paper-scissors and the simple playing card game "War". Even here, though, the player's strategic options are laced with risks and guesses, as any given move can be trumped by at least one possible play by the opponent. Battles tend to dominate the playtime of the game, since their are more decisions being made in a typical battle than in several normal turns together: Each round of combat involves one or more decisions about laying cards, and the typical battle will last from two to ten rounds. Some people may dislike the fact that fighting a demon takes up one round while attempting to open a door may take three, and that the door (with traps) may actually be deadlier than the demon, but this seems thematically correct to me. These fantasy heroes are the typical "trained killers looking for trouble" sort, so it makes some sense that they will be more challenged by tricky architecture than enemy combatants, and their ability to react to fighting situations far exceeds their abilities to react to cave-ins or dead ends.
So, who will enjoy a game that seems to intentionally minimize the player's role in determining what happens? Who wants a game that boasts a survival rate- the chance that any given hero will escape with any loot- of 15%?
I bought the game because I expected it to provide a taste of exploration, which is a gameplay element I prize very highly. When I look at the DungeonQuest board, with its blank map and random dungeon tiles showing little rooms connected with locked doors, traps, pits, and so forth, I necessarily associate it with exploration-heavy video games: specifically, the dungeons in the original Legend of Zelda. The experience of playing DungeonQuest solo is something like the experience of stepping into those early Zelda dungeons for the first time, wandering blindly into the black spaces on the overhead map, falling into pits or getting locked into a room with enemies you can barely survive, trekking toward a goal you can't locate yet. The difference, obviously, is that Hugo the Glorious never permanently improves his skills, he cannot gain new useful equipment, he cannot revive from a save point, and he can never learn the lay of the land from session to session as the dungeon is perpetually changing. Hugo is a failure at life compared against Link. Oh, and Zelda is designed with an intended progression in mind from dungeon to dungeon. DungeonQuest is designed to try to kill your character.
Despite buying the game with the intention of playing it chiefly solo, I hesitantly introduced it to part of my regular boardgaming group. I didn't expect a good reception: my expectations were proven wrong. They loved it, despite only one person surviving the gauntlet the first time through. Why, I wondered? I was certain it wasn't anything to do with pure exploration. After some thought, I've concluded the key to this game's appeal is that it provides gambling with a narrative. DungeonQuest, despite all the surface differences, has something in common with pure games of chance, like Blackjack. In Blackjack, you must take a risk of collecting more cards in order to have a chance at winning (taking too few cards will allow the House to beat you easily). However, each card taken risks breaking 21 and losing automatically. DungeonQuest is constructed on similar opposing risks of staying put (lower chance of Loot, chance for something horrible to happen) and moving deeper into the lair (high chance of Loot, even more chances for horrible happenings). There's very little you can do to ameliorate those risks in either game. People enjoy Blackjack because it offers rewards with the surface illusion of control over your fate. People enjoy DungeonQuest for similar reasons: the Hope that the next room, the next card, will grant you that elusive Loot rather than a plunge to your death. On top of this the multiplayer game can become an exercise in collective storytelling. Unlike Blackjack, you can lose DungeonQuest with style. You don't just break 21, you get trapped in a Round Room facing the dungeon wall just before you would have escaped with a diamond, or you get punctured by a Spear Trap after getting beaten senseless by a golem. It's the potential fun of losing colorfully that gives DungeonQuest life.
If you're considering DungeonQuest judge it against these three features. If you like raw exploration without expectation of success, this game was made for you. If you enjoy taking blind risks with the chance of scoring a big payoff, there's something here you can enjoy. If your gaming group enjoys fantasy settings enough that constructing on-the-fly disaster narratives sounds intriguing, check this one out.
Anyone who thinks games are ideally tests of skill, that winning is the only acceptable reward, that despises the idea of death by dice roll, or is allergic to a generic fantasy theme should avoid this like a deadly disease.
For 1-4 Players
Single player games take about 30 minutes, and an extra 10 minutes for each extra player
The game elements are: One large board, a set of about 120 square carboard tiles printed with a variety of dungeon architecture, six plastic hero figurines, over 300 cards in 13 distinct decks, four dice, and sundry other bits for status markers, wound tokens, and so forth. The game has a "high fantasy" wizards and warriors theme; players acquainted with other FFG fantasy titles will notice that this remake of DungeonQuest has been transposed into Fantasy Flight's proprietary "Terrinoth" universe, in common with Runebound, Descent, and Runewars. To anyone not familiar with these other games, DungeonQuest's theme will appear indistinguishable from many other generic fantasy settings. The artwork is abundant and minutely detailed. The set quality is very high indeed, slightly better even than other FFG games I own (Arkham Horror plus expansions, Runewars). Everything is solidly constructed and evidently built with the anticipation that the set will see years of use.
The gameboard is presented as a nearly uncharted map of dragon's subterranean lair. The outer boundary of this lair is known; it is square, with impenetrable stone walls all around and towers at each of the four corners. Each tower has a door, admitting entrance into the lair. At the center of the lair, ominously distant from the corner towers, a large room packed with treasure is displayed: the dragon's hoard. The rest of the map is criss-crossed with faint gridlines marking out blank squares of territory: the mysteries that have been built into those blanks are waiting to be discovered by heroes willing to challenge the dungeon.
Each player selects a hero miniature and associated equipment, including a Hero Card listing the character's stats, a set of four unique combat cards which define character-specific combat abilities, and other miscellaneous markers. Each hero must start at a different tower in the corners of the map. Taking turns, the heroes will attempt to move through the blank portions of the board's map, overcoming obstacles and searching for Loot. Loot is designated by cards which usually have a listed Gold value. Once a hero finds Loot he may decide to either continue searching for more loot or begin trekking back to the exit. A hero may not leave without Loot; the player whose hero successfully escapes the dungeon with the most valuable Loot (in total Gold) wins the game.
The difficulties faced by the heroes (and by the characters) is of two kinds: They are hampered by having very little information about the dangers of the dungeon, or even the floor plan; and even if they possessed useful information about the dungeon's defenses, their capabilities are barely sufficient to survive them. Even with the dragon asleep the lair is a very dangerous place. They are very poorly prepared. To make matters worse, the heroes are time limited. The lair's doors are only open when the dragon sleeps during daytime, represented by a sun track along the top of the board; each turn, a sun token advances along the track. Once the sun reaches the end of its track and sets, the doors seal shut, the dragon awakens, and any hero trapped inside will die.
Each player's turn typically involves one or two decisions out of a very small number of available options. Players may Attempt to Move from their current square into an adjacent square: if multiple paths are open from their current square they may decide which direction they will try to move. In many squares players may choose to Search the room instead of moving. This decision takes place at the start of the turn; the rest of the turn is working out what happens to the player as a result of that decision. For instance, moving through an open doorway into a blank map space requires the player to pull a square dungeon tile randomly from a pile; the design printed on the randomly selected tile will determine what happens next, not the player. Many dungeon tiles prompt the player to draw a card from one or more decks which describe what the player confronts next, such as a trap, a body of a long-dead adventurer which the player can decide to search by drawing a card from a different deck, a crypt the player can decide to search by drawing from yet another deck, a monster the player can fight or attempt to evade, and more. Some tiles are inherently dangerous: there are a small number of "bottomless pit" tiles included, which forces the player to roll dice to survive (and the survival chances are low). Once these consequences have been worked out (or his character dies) the player's turn ends.
As the game spools out most of the player's interaction with his character does not involve much decision-making. You are allowed that one initial decision on each turn, Move somewhere or Search; once that proactive motion is set in place the machinery of the lair (and of the game) takes control. Since the information given the player in each situation is so limited even those choices are largely blind risks. You spend much of the game not even knowing the terrain you're about to step into, and the results of Searches and other encounters are always unknown before the fact, dependent on card draws and dice rolls. Because of this the personality of the game is strongly defined by the effects of the cards and the dungeon tiles. They are designed to be unusually capricious and deadly. While very little in the game will kill you outright, life and death is frequently decided by dice rolls at poor odds. The previously mentioned "bottomless pit" tiles, for instance, involve rolling dice against a character's pre-defined "luck" stat: the luckiest hero has about a 70% chance of surviving, and the unluckiest about a 20% chance.
The overall result is a gambling game, really: Each turn you lay a bet with your character's life as the stakes, and the pot is Loot hidden randomly in the game's nest of cards. Well, not entirely randomly: In one place only the game's randomness in granting Loot falls away and your character is guaranteed to receive a share of the treasure he or she needs to escape. This is the room at the center of the lair containing the dragon's hoard. While there, you may freely take two pieces of loot from the Treasure Deck each turn. The gambling aspect is retained even here by risking awakening the Dragon, who will summarily barbecue everyone in the hoard room, drive you out, and force you to drop all of your Loot. On the upside, if you manage to leave the room with the dragon still slumbering, the Loot from the dragon's hoard is generally more valuable than what you receive anywhere else. On the downside, you have to fight all the way back out to the corners of the map before sunset to win.
The game features a few other interactive bits: Combat with creatures involves the active player pitted against another player controlling the monster with cards drawn from a Combat Deck. Battles are resolved by a system of card laying that's a hybrid of rock-paper-scissors and the simple playing card game "War". Even here, though, the player's strategic options are laced with risks and guesses, as any given move can be trumped by at least one possible play by the opponent. Battles tend to dominate the playtime of the game, since their are more decisions being made in a typical battle than in several normal turns together: Each round of combat involves one or more decisions about laying cards, and the typical battle will last from two to ten rounds. Some people may dislike the fact that fighting a demon takes up one round while attempting to open a door may take three, and that the door (with traps) may actually be deadlier than the demon, but this seems thematically correct to me. These fantasy heroes are the typical "trained killers looking for trouble" sort, so it makes some sense that they will be more challenged by tricky architecture than enemy combatants, and their ability to react to fighting situations far exceeds their abilities to react to cave-ins or dead ends.
So, who will enjoy a game that seems to intentionally minimize the player's role in determining what happens? Who wants a game that boasts a survival rate- the chance that any given hero will escape with any loot- of 15%?
I bought the game because I expected it to provide a taste of exploration, which is a gameplay element I prize very highly. When I look at the DungeonQuest board, with its blank map and random dungeon tiles showing little rooms connected with locked doors, traps, pits, and so forth, I necessarily associate it with exploration-heavy video games: specifically, the dungeons in the original Legend of Zelda. The experience of playing DungeonQuest solo is something like the experience of stepping into those early Zelda dungeons for the first time, wandering blindly into the black spaces on the overhead map, falling into pits or getting locked into a room with enemies you can barely survive, trekking toward a goal you can't locate yet. The difference, obviously, is that Hugo the Glorious never permanently improves his skills, he cannot gain new useful equipment, he cannot revive from a save point, and he can never learn the lay of the land from session to session as the dungeon is perpetually changing. Hugo is a failure at life compared against Link. Oh, and Zelda is designed with an intended progression in mind from dungeon to dungeon. DungeonQuest is designed to try to kill your character.
Despite buying the game with the intention of playing it chiefly solo, I hesitantly introduced it to part of my regular boardgaming group. I didn't expect a good reception: my expectations were proven wrong. They loved it, despite only one person surviving the gauntlet the first time through. Why, I wondered? I was certain it wasn't anything to do with pure exploration. After some thought, I've concluded the key to this game's appeal is that it provides gambling with a narrative. DungeonQuest, despite all the surface differences, has something in common with pure games of chance, like Blackjack. In Blackjack, you must take a risk of collecting more cards in order to have a chance at winning (taking too few cards will allow the House to beat you easily). However, each card taken risks breaking 21 and losing automatically. DungeonQuest is constructed on similar opposing risks of staying put (lower chance of Loot, chance for something horrible to happen) and moving deeper into the lair (high chance of Loot, even more chances for horrible happenings). There's very little you can do to ameliorate those risks in either game. People enjoy Blackjack because it offers rewards with the surface illusion of control over your fate. People enjoy DungeonQuest for similar reasons: the Hope that the next room, the next card, will grant you that elusive Loot rather than a plunge to your death. On top of this the multiplayer game can become an exercise in collective storytelling. Unlike Blackjack, you can lose DungeonQuest with style. You don't just break 21, you get trapped in a Round Room facing the dungeon wall just before you would have escaped with a diamond, or you get punctured by a Spear Trap after getting beaten senseless by a golem. It's the potential fun of losing colorfully that gives DungeonQuest life.
If you're considering DungeonQuest judge it against these three features. If you like raw exploration without expectation of success, this game was made for you. If you enjoy taking blind risks with the chance of scoring a big payoff, there's something here you can enjoy. If your gaming group enjoys fantasy settings enough that constructing on-the-fly disaster narratives sounds intriguing, check this one out.
Anyone who thinks games are ideally tests of skill, that winning is the only acceptable reward, that despises the idea of death by dice roll, or is allergic to a generic fantasy theme should avoid this like a deadly disease.
BattleMonkey
Member
Sounds very much like the original Dungeonquest.
BomberMouse
Member
mrklaw said:
Where? It's OOP currently
Yeah fuck that place!eznark said:
Check out the rules at RGG instead.
Dominion: http://www.riograndegames.com/uploads/Game/Game_278_gameRules.pdf
Seaside: http://www.riograndegames.com/uploads/Game/Game_326_gameRules.pdf
Intringue: http://www.riograndegames.com/uploads/Game/Game_306_gameRules.pdf
You don't really need to read the card descriptions unless you want to as those are provided on the site and you can figure it out as you go. I always take a few minutes before games to look through cards anyway because I don't play Dominion enough to just know them offhand. You don't even need to read the full Intrigue rules -- since it's a standalone they just repeat the base rules -- just check out the "Additional Rules for Intrigue" in the middle.
platypotamus
Member
Stumpokapow said:
This totally happened in my play at PAX.
AstroLad said:
If you didn't already have an awesome tag...
AstroLad said:
From what I saw at PAX, Ravenloft has the advantage of being a quicker game than Descent, both setup and actual play. I do like Descent though.
AstroLad said:
Hey, that was about what time I woke up (Screw you guys, I have today off and worked a 14 hour day yesterday before playing a soccer match on a dirt field!).
I can't promise I will be around for the event today. Wife is home sick from work, and she may be up for gaming/movie watching/something. OTOH, I might be able to talk her into joining if she's capable of sitting at a PC for a game or two.
Sweeeet. What works better for you guys? I can get home by 9 EST but 9:30 (the current time) is fine too. Think I'll cap it at 5 (we're only at 2 certain so far so I'm not too worried) and post results (one line simple # of games won) on the front page--you'll be immortalized!
It's starting to grow on me. I bought it mid-summer and have had a chance to play it with and without expansions about a dozen times.Captain_Spanky said:
It's easy to teach/learn and there are some good chuckles to be had from the power/race combos that come up.
Honestly I was ready to trade it but after the last few plays I've changed my mind and am keeping it for the time being.
This is probably a good starting point: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/294366/flgs-of-the-usa-a-list-of-game-store-advice-on-beznark said:
platypotamus
Member
Also, I THINK Dominion is one of the games that Barnes and Noble carries now, so you may have luck there if you don't have a local game shop.
Barnes and Noble bookstores have been revitalizing their boardgame selection, keeping some serious games in stock at their brick and mortar locations such as Dominion, Carcassonne, and even Agricola. If you have a local store you may want to check whether it's part of this program.
EDIT: Beaten. Yes, I can confirm my local store carries Dominion and Intrigue.
EDIT: Beaten. Yes, I can confirm my local store carries Dominion and Intrigue.
AstroLad said:
God damn it. I'm going to have to go to a place called YottaQuest....smh
Strangely enough, Barnes and Noble has like zero presence in the Cincinnati area (and none in se Indiana where I am)
woah, game is expensive as hell on B&N. Maybe I'm better off ordering it from cool stuff.
eznark said:
My local nerd emporium is pretty awesomely nerdy. It's called Dragon's Lair.
They have about 10 tables set up for miniture gaming and another 10+ for collectors card games and a back room for pen and paper RPGs. I never really see any board games going on, but they have a nice selection for sale. I guess I could reserve a table for them if I wanted, but I just assume play at my house. I'm guessing the miniture players have no choice since I have seen Warhammer games taking up about 8 folding tables at once for a single game.
Every time I go in there I get looks like I don't belong.. I mean, I keep buying weird board games and green lantern comics from them. You would think they would have figured out I'm one of them by now, I just hide it better.
To answer an earlier question, twilight struggle is "sort of" a war-game. Rather than moving armies around, you are trying to influence countries during the cold war. So while you may have tons of influence in Vietnam, that helps you little in taking over neighboring japan, which is a mental change that takes some getting used to. The game reeks of cold war history and there are lots of ways to indirectly attack your opponent. Excellent 2 player game, but the wife appeal may be limited.
Another good card game is thunderstone. Doesn't seem to be a lot of love for it here, but I really like it. Good solo play and more exciting theme than dominion. Alas there are lots of little "how does this work?" questions that pop up since a lot of cards have abilities that seem to contradict each other or need to have a better sequence of effect (does my character have to have enough strength to wield a sword to count as "armed" before or after challenging a creature that saps strength?).
If you like tile laying games like carcassone, try taluva and infinite city. Both add little twists to the genre. Castle carcassone is a nice sorta compact version of regular carcassone.
Another good card game is thunderstone. Doesn't seem to be a lot of love for it here, but I really like it. Good solo play and more exciting theme than dominion. Alas there are lots of little "how does this work?" questions that pop up since a lot of cards have abilities that seem to contradict each other or need to have a better sequence of effect (does my character have to have enough strength to wield a sword to count as "armed" before or after challenging a creature that saps strength?).
If you like tile laying games like carcassone, try taluva and infinite city. Both add little twists to the genre. Castle carcassone is a nice sorta compact version of regular carcassone.
Vanillalite
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eznark said:
Yeah I'd like to go look around my local shop(s), but I just know shit is gonna be way cheaper online.
MichaelBD said:
I'm a huge fan of Small World.
It isn't all that well balanced, it is really goofy but it is also damn fun, and has some interesting design mechanics for when to go into decline.
However, it really doesn't get good unless you have 4 or 5 players.
With 2 players it almost plays itself because the board feels too large for that many. 3 players works on occasion, but typically it turns into a 2 man race with the 3rd player playing kingmaker.. which is sort of interesting in a pact making kind of way but not that great.
At 4 and 5 players choosing to go into decline is a really strategic decision and making sure you get the right race combos is really important. In a 2 and 3 person game it's basically a race to fill the board up so going into decline is a no brainer and you generally just take the first available race combo.. but with 4 and 5 players you are going to have a harder time retaining any sort of territory for too long and it really pays to buy your way down the list of available races to a better one.
I think it works as an extremely lite wargame that is a lot of fun, and it's hard to take the game too seriously with all of the goofy race combos that you can get. It isn't a serious game, but I throw it in my pile of fun party games for more casual friends.
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