Tabletop Game Talk, Anyone?

We started our game of Traveler (T20) last night. Typical underhanded and criminal goings-on for this GM. Escorting a courier who is ferrying cold cred credits to drug dealers. Only it turns out the courier actually had a bomb in his case (unbeknownst to him) and it was an assassin job, and before the bomb even went off, the local military guard were on us. Simple job turned into a flight for our lives through the city back to our ship, which is on lock-down.

I ran into the problem I usually have in sci-fi games: underoptimizing my character. I made a fast-talking, diplomatic pilot kind of character who could hold his own in a firefight. I didn't take the appropriate tech-y skills I thought I had, to hotwire a car or the like. Almost none of my abilities were of any use during the entire evening. So that was less than fun. Going to have to pump some points in some cross-class skills, I  guess.

Our long-running but casual Pathfinder campaign came to an end a few months back when we TPK'd in the final dungeon. It was a module series - Kingmaker, if you're interested - which is fine by me, because our DM is great at running modules. He has an even hand and the depth of rules knowledge needed to run a good game, as long as someone else is providing the flavor. After the campaign's conclusion, he wanted to run a campaign of his own design. Not the first of his I've played at all, but as usual it's bumming me out.

He has this terrible tendency to create impossible role playing situations where there's obviously a mystery at hand, but no one knows anything. Every conversation is a dead end. No one is inherently shady. There are no leads. We just bumble around the whole 3-hour session grasping at straws until finally the path forward is revealed through some deus ex machina. All the while getting itchier and itchier for combat that doesn't happen.

I'll stick with it for now - I like the group, and again it's very casual so we mostly shoot the shit anyway - but honestly I think I'll be glad when the birth of my son in a couple months more or less forces my resignation from regular play.

That got a sympathy like from me.  I wish you best of luck with this!  I've been circling around getting a regular lunchtime gaming group going at work.  Today we played Flip City but didn't get a chance to finish.  I've been worried these other folks are just humoring me, but when I suggested we save our decks and pick up again tomorrow, it got a very enthusiastic response.  Hooray!  

In other news, A Feast for Odin.  Will I ever have time to play a whole game of it?  Unlikely!  Will my mom, who's my gaming buddy for this kind of game, pick up the strategies enough to make it fun for me to play?  Probably not!  Do I have a place to store another big box game?  Heavens no!  Did I buy it anyway?  Yes!  Unfortunately, I bought it through Cool Stuff Inc, along with a pre-order of a Mysterium expansion set, forgetting that CSI doesn't send any of the order until the pre-order comes in.  I probably won't get a chance to have enough time to even play a decently-partial game of it until Christmas vacation, but I'm getting flop sweats over the fact that I ordered it weeks ago but won't get it until the end of October at the earliest.  

Splendor is super fun!  I'm glad you enjoyed it!  I really like the iPad version of it.  There's also a new expansion for it, which is supposed to be pretty good.

King of Tokyo is a blast with a bunch of casual players. The Power Up expansion is also very fun (the halloween one apparently sucks).

I've played Machi Koro a few times and quite liked it but it definitely seems like something that would get old fast playing with a bunch of experienced board game folks. (I like the art though and keep meaning to pick it up)

Game night tonight... played Notre Dame for the first time. Quite enjoyed it though I would vastly change my strategy for another go.

Then some guillotine and king of tokyo to finish off the night. Good fun, wish we could do it more often.

I finally got to try Feast For Odin! It's so, so, so, so good. It takes so freaking long to set up and take down, though. I need a Feast For Odin room in my house where I can just leave all the bits and bobs out without fear of the cats absconding with all my precious wood, stone, animal pelts, and plundered silver.

We played Bohnanza after dinner at our friends' place Saturday, and it was pretty great. It took me back to my college days of playing Catan without knowing the right rules, when we traded willy-nilly. I like economics games.

I've only ever played the xbox live version though I have a copy... I should add that to our next night.

Carcassone is awesome, but I'm so lame -- I prefer to play without farmers!

Baron von Costume -- I haven't played First Martians but was really high on the concepts behind it, until I watched the review from my go-to tabletop reviewers, Shut Up & Sit Down.  Their critique convinced me I wasn't likely to get my gaming group excited enough to play it enough to justify the cost.  The concept sounds so good, though!  And I think Dice Tower (the other review source I sometimes look at) liked it.

Curse you for introducing me to SUSD. I've been watching reviews all day and my Amazon wishlist has gone berserk.  

HAHAHAHAHAHA!  You're welcome!  I cannot tell you how much joy SUSD has brought me, and yes, how much my bank account has emptied thanks to them.  Their podcast is consistently wonderful, too.

I got Carcassone for Christmas and it hits my board game sweet spot of "actually requires some strategy and engagement" and "doesn't require a flippin' hour to just explain the basic gameplay to somebody". Even my dad, who can get a little frustrated keeping track of rules for new games, picked it up quickly the first time we played.

I'm curious, are the expansions really worth it? Do they add a level of complexity that is going to require a group of only experienced players to be worthwhile?