Tabletop Game Talk, Anyone?

Mrs. Snape and I will be at PAX in San Antonio later this week, and she is competing in the 7 Wonders tournament. Fingers crossed on that.

She wanted to play in the Carcassone tourney, but it conflicts with the first big panel we all want to attend.

I played it today! Just myself and my two roommates. I DM'd and we did this one scenario on the website, The Indigo Galleon. I think we mostly played by the rules, I don't think we messed anything up, although we'll need more games to get into the swing of things more, figure out all the wording and what not. We had a great time though, and will probably try to finish up that game tomorrow and then bring some more people in for something larger.

Okay, four cool table-top games from PAX. Sadly, these booths were mobbed, so I only got to play one of them.

Paperback
Dominion meets Scrabble. That's how the creators describe it, and they're dead on. Paperback is a deck-building game like Dominion, except instead of buying buildings or characters, you buy letters (or clusters of letters) to make words. The larger words you can play, the more draw points you have to buy more letters and specials. An ever-changing community vowel deck keeps players from getting stuck. The game also includes mechanics for triple letter score, double word score, all that good Scrabble-y stuff. Eventually the game does become a race for Victory Points, like Dominion, but all of the Victory Point cards have their own abilities, so you don't feel like you're just clogging your deck.

I did not get to play this one, but I'm a huge fan of the deck building genre and, ya know, words, so I'm sure I would have had a blast with it. The Mrs. and I tried 3 different times to get into one of their demo games, but time was always against us.

Website

Bring Your Own Book
Such a cool idea. Bring Your Own Book is a prompt-satisfaction game like Apples to Apples or Cards Against Humanity, except instead of white cards, you have the entire contents of any book you bring to form your answer. Seriously. Everybody brings a book, or books, and when the current player pulls a prompt such as "Lyrics to a Country Western song," the other players have about a minute to scour their book for the perfect phrase or sentence that best satisfies the prompt. Every round, players also pass their books, so no one gains an advantage by knowing their book too well.

I'm sure she felt a disturbance in the force, but just in case: yes, MrsLangdonAlger, this game is Cards Against Humanity that you play with books.

Website

Superfight
Ironically, this is the one I actually played and probably liked the least. Superfight is a party game that aims to take the zaniness of something like Cards Against Humanity, give it direction, and put even more of the onus on the players to make it fun. Here's how it works: two players compete at a time, with the rest of the group acting as judge. In the base game, there is a character deck and an attribute deck. Each player draws a character and an attribute. It could be something like, "Ghandi + Tentacle Arms" or "Richard Nixon + Diaper Rash." Once they have their combatants, the players argue over who would win in a fight until one player concedes or the judges declare a winner. Separate expansion decks add locations, special circumstance, R-rated cards and G-rated cards. Sometimes you can draw extra attributes.

There's a lot of room for creativity here, and perhaps over beers when I'm feeling a little looser I would have more fun with it, but ultimately I found it more "neat" than really fun. Plus, if you're in a large group, only two players at a time. (Although I guess you could have larger battles, no reason why not.) It is fun when you draw something really synergistic. Like my favorite that I got to play, "My Significant Other, Pregnant ... and 30 ft. tall"

Website

Thornwatch
This wasn't playable, but I attended a panel and got to see a round of combat in play. This is the long-in-development game from Mike Krahulik, the artist and co-creator of Penny Arcade. Thornwatch is a combination of character-deck driven combat like Sentinels of the Multiverse (which, if you haven't, god DAMN play that one today), and tabletop, grid-based D&D. You have a play mat with a grid, and you place your characters and take turns and strategize positioning and all that, except instead of a character sheet, you have a character deck with unique cards and abilities depending on class. This panel was the first time he's publicly discussed something called the "momentum deck," a central mechanic. Instead of rolling for initiative, the players and monsters are shuffled into a deck and then initiative is drawn at random, however both monsters and characters may have attributes or ongoing abilities that allow them to shift in position after momentum is played. Instead of tracking damage totals, every time a player damages a monster, that monsters shifts further back in initiative. Once they reach the bottom - called "the edge" in game - the characters need only land one more damaging blow to kill the monster. They have to act fast and coordinate efforts, however, because at the end of the round, momentum reshuffles and the monster may need to be beat down again.

I continue to be enamored with how this game is taking shape. Cool mechanics, gorgeous art, lovely setting (it's based on PA's Eyrewood setting), plus just a compelling combination of several different things that I love. They're hoping for a 2015 release date and plan to Kickstart the game this summer.

Website

Risk Legends. It's a lovely combination of .. well, Risk .. and a larger meta-game that has to be done over multiple sessions (probably about 10 or so.) Rules get added, factions change, the map changes, you write and put markers on the map as things change. You tear up cards as they become no longer used. Cards get opened on events that won't happen until you're mid campaign. The dynamics change, etc. Look it up. It's a balling cut-throat campaign sized version of Risk, and it's FUN.

I played the Battlestar Galactica boardgame the other night too. I liked it well enough, but I can't see myself going out of my way to play it often.

I realize these are both pretty old games, but hey .. that's my input to what I've been playing recently. Oh, I played that massive Steve Jackson OGRE game recently as well. That was fun too!

So my game of Dungeon World yesterday ended with my character begging for his life and offering to suck a slaver's dick.

. . . You know, I play games to get away from real life.

I recently picked up Smallworld (and all the expansions) for $10 at a friend's yard sale. Still have only played the basic game so far, but I forgot how much I loved it. Basically a much more simplified, fantastical game of risk where you end up possessing multiple civilizations with various special powers vying for control of a world that is indeed, quite small.

It's my favorite (small) party game outside of Catan. So easy to kill a night over a few bottles of wine.

I think the enjoyment one gets from Munchkin is entirely dependent on the crowd.  I likely would have really enjoyed it had I not been the only one not to have played all the games it was sorta-parodying.

So it turns out the World of Warcraft TCG is discontinued and the cards are super cheap at dollar stores. My roommate and I have purchased a bunch of cards and we're having a lot of fun with it. We bought two starter decks and have been able to build 3 other decks with all the other cards we bought too. The basic rules are the same as Magic, but there are a lot of other tweaks that make it feel different enough. I'm also undefeated in it so far, so it's got that going for it too.

So, over the course of a drunken conversation a couple weeks ago with someone I only sort of know, I agreed to play a game of Diplomacy if he's able to get together enough people. He contacted me last week to let me know we'll be playing on the 18th. I'm very concerned about this for two reasons:

1) the most in-depth board game I've ever played is, like, Monopoly or whatever.

2) based on what little I know about the game, I'm worried I'll need an in-depth knowledge of European history, which I don't have at all, at least not for the early 20th century.

So, my question is, have I signed myself up for something that I'm going to be drastically out of my element for? Bear in mind one of the people who will be playing is a native Irishman who I'd rather not embarrass myself in front of by being a stupid American. Furthermore, if I do stand a chance here, can anyone recommend a site or video that I could read or watch to learn how to play or give myself a little leg up?

Go for it.  Read the Wikipedia article on WWI or something.  I've not played it yet, but I'm sure a little googling can take you to a strategy guide or something.  More importantly, any game night will have at least one person more than willing to break it all down for you.  Just show up early and the host will help you.

Despite playing tabletop RPGs for over half my life, I don't feel very confident making recommendations. I'm a casual player who enjoys it more for its social aspects than its gameplay. For me it's a chance to get together and catch up with friends while having something to do with our hands. Still, a couple thoughts:

The most important thing is to decide what kind of game you want to play. Do you want to kick in doors, stab fools and snatch the loot? Or do you want to form advantageous social connections, infiltrate underworld societies and accomplish your goals through clever twists of the tongue? In other words, do you want to fight stuff or role-play? Almost any tabletop RPG will allow for both, and almost any fun campaign will have both, but systems can be geared toward one or the other.

Pathfinder - A spiritual successor to the immensely popular D&D 3.5, Pathfinder is a reliable option for any new group that wants a "classic" D&D experience the way that so many players my age, who started in mid-to-high school with 3rd edition, know it to be. The system is easily adapted to high-combat or high-role playing campaigns, and it tends to be a pro-player system, unlike say Hackmaster or Call of Cthulu which are very punishing. Two more good things about Pathfinder: 1) all of the core books and most of the supplemental material is online and free, www.d20pfsrd.com/  2) it's hugely popular, which means there is a lot of online errata and support to help you with questions

D&D 4th Ed. - I blame my play style on video games. I grew up playing video games all the time, I still play video games as often as I can, and when I sit down at the table and pull out my dice, I'm more or less looking to play an "analog" video game. Kick, murder, cash! D&D 4th ed. is a video game in tabletop form. It can be as robust a role-playing system as you want, but it favors combat with a lot more focus on movement and field control. For an action fan like me, I like that 4th ed. gives players lots of different options every round of combat, a variety once enjoyed only by spell casters. 4th ed. was controversial with more traditional and/or role-playing minded players - in some ways, Pathfinder seems like a beaten path response to the direction of 4th ed. - but it hits me just right.

D&D 5th ed. - I've had little experience here so am speaking more on reputation. 5th ed. eliminates a lot of the bloat that can make Pathfinder and especially 4th ed. feel overwhelming. Things that can bog down either of the above systems, such as character turns taking way too long in combat, are simplified. Every characters gets one move and one action. Period. For that reason, 5th ed. is a great candidate for a role-playing focused campaign. Combat is quickened, and the ability/skill systems for non-combat encounters are fair and easily understood. The basic rules are also available online for free. Don't have the link on me.

Basic tips:
- Start small. Level 1 and relatively low power.
- Keep it simple by restricting yourself to core books. Supplements introduce new classes, abilities and equipment, but they also lead to option paralysis. Not sure for 4th and 5th ed., but the Pathfinder SRD lists the source book for every thing, so pick what you want to use and throw out the rest.
- Use a module. A pre-fabricated campaign to help the DM and to help maintain balance.
- The Internet has answers to every rule question you have. Someone has run into it before.

Galaxy Trucker is awesome. I haven't played Space Alert but want to badly. I tend to like games where you set up a best laid plan and then see what actually happens when it's time to play. Robo Rally is a great one for that.

I played a game of Last Night on Earth at a game even last week and enjoyed it. I definitely felt like the zombies kind of got a huge advantage in the 2 on 1 game we were playing though at least for that particular scenario. Perhaps he was just having ridiculous card luck though. I'd definitely try it again, not sure if it's a purchase yet though. That said the game production and the flavour text are all pretty fantastic.