Deck building games are an entire sub-genre now thanks to Dominion.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sycophant
I highly recommend Ascension. We like it a bit more than Dominion now, but that could be just because we grew tired of Dominion after playing it so much.
Yeah, same here. Although my big campaign was a hybrid version of Robotech and Ninjas and Super Spies. It was pretty sweet. The PCs all had Cyclones, and they all knew martial arts. It was this big mix of kung fu and giant robots. Tons of fun. Played it for about a year back in the '90s.Quote:
Originally Posted by monolith94
One game I highly recommend for those wanting a light RPG, dungeon crawl experience is the new Castle Ravenloft board game. Super fun, co-op, easy rules, and it looks great.
Also, another great new co-op game is Forbidden Island. I think this also serves as a wonderful game to introduce new people into the world of hobby gaming.
I strongly advise you (Davis and others) to read this story in the New Yorker by Sam Lipsyte called "The Dungeon Master."
Let me know what you think.
http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/fea...iction_lipsyte
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Originally Posted by Benny Profane
Cool. Thanks. I'll check it out.
Ordered some new games for my birthday:
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Just spent the last 3 hours punching out chits.
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Originally Posted by D_Davis
TMI.
Played a couple games of Puzzle Strike last night - brilliant. Liked it so much that we're getting together on Thursday to play again. The games are super quick, and there is a ton of player interaction, something that is almost completely lacking from all of the other deck-building games. Sometimes playing Dominion feels more like playing group solitaire, and I often wish there were more ways to have direct conflict with the other players (same goes for Thunderstone and Ascension as well).
Puzzle Strike solves this problem, and then some!
It's fast, intense, and you're constantly having to change tactics to react to people attacking you while at the same time building your deck of chips to handle the ever-growing pile of junk in front of you. Also, each of the ten characters have three unique chips that really change the way you'll want to play the game. And from what I've read, the characters are tiered in the same way that Street Fighter characters are - so some characters are juts naturally better against others, but the skill of the player still matters.
So yeah - it's super good.
Syco, given your love for the J-style aesthetics and video games, and your new found love for Dominion, I highly recommend this game. It's just a blast.
Set up one of the scenarios in Earth Reborn tonight - need to go through the rules....that will take some time
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Read the first two sections of the rules for Earth Reborn, covering the first scenario. It's very awesome. The way the turns are set up gives the illusion of an almost real-time gameplay, but it is still turn based. And there are a ton of choices to be made on each turn in terms of planning and execution. Also, the game has a great sense of humor, even though it looks kind of DUDE-BRO.
For instance, the first scenario finds on of the good guys (NORAD) imprisoned in a room. The bag guys (SALEMITES) in the game have made a Frankenstein-like monster who has fallen in love with the captive. And so in this scenario, the NORAD player controls the Frankenstein monster and has to bust down doors trying to locate the NORAD prisoner. Once found, the NORAD prisoner has to escape off the board, but between her and the exit are some zombies and a crazy dude named Jack Saw - a zombie-like dude with a huge circular saw for a weapon.
The game uses really interesting facing mechanics. For instance, Jack Saw attacks with 4 dice to his front and right sides, because that's the arm his huge saw is on. This is shown on the bass of the figure.
The entire game system is entirely icon-driven, independent of language for the most part. So once you learn what the icons mean, you can just look at something and know that it takes, for example, 3 turns, making a science check > 5, to turn off the generator.
Just had a big "Oh yeah" moment. David Sirlin...the guy who makes Yomi and Puzzle Strike is the same David Sirlin that Capcom hired to re-balance the Street Fighter and Puzzle Fighter video games. He's kind of a legend in asymmetric game balancing and design.
Innovation
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Innovation is just about a perfect game for my style. It uses cards, short set up time, elegant rules, lots of choices, and tons of player interaction. The game is constantly flowing, changing, evolving and moving forward. It's all very tactical, and you really have to think about things on the fly.
Simply put, Innovation is excellent. I can see this becoming an all time favorite.
By the way, if you're looking for an easy-to-learn but highly competitive card game, try Dutch Blitz. It's a sort of variation of the recess game Speed, but more organized and can be played with more people.
Within a one-mile radius from my apartment, there are three designer game stores. That's pretty awesome.
I only have one, but I could hit it with a frisbee from my front stoop. SO THERE.Quote:
Originally Posted by D_Davis
I'm in a goofy mood, so I mapquested it. It's 0.08 miles away from me, with an estimated travel time of 29 seconds.
Nice. The closest one to me is .3 miles. The second closest is 1.1 miles. The third closes is 1.3 miles.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mara
I can get games cheaper online, but there's something to be said for being able to get inside and browse. Also, the proprietor (Dan) has played every game in the world and so he's a great resource.
Gotta love a game store.
I do both - for every game I buy online, I buy one at a local store. However, my online source - Cardhuas - is located bout 5 miles from me. So I can order at their insanely low prices, and then just drive over to their warehouse on the same day and pick it up. Sometimes I think Seattle is board game heaven. There are at least 15 stores on the west side alone, and tons of places to play and people to play with. Love it!
Running a game of the new Gamma World tonight - should be a blast. I've got a super cool adventure all planned out. It's called The Mindscape of Meta-Mind. It's a very mete-game, and will incorporate a killer soundtrack filled with spacey ambient music and some IRL things - at one point, the characters view through a strange fog to see the players playing a game. And there is a whole manipulation theme, at the end of which I reveal that I am Meta-Mind and the outcome of the adventure was all known before hand.
"Innovation" looks really cool.
Ooh, $26 for the Exodus expansion of BSG:The Board Game on Cardhaus. I know some people who'd love to get their hands on that.
Our first game of Mansions of Madness. Really fun.
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