Gaming Unplugged - Old School Style - Luddite Gaming - Nerdtopia

[D_Davis]

Any other RPGers/Board Gamers/Card Gamers here?

There's got to be a few, right?

If not, well, I'll let this thread die with dignity....


Recently posted in the book forum:

Some of the art in the new 4ed D&D books is fantastic. I love reading the manuals almost as much as I like playing the game. Although I feel self conscious reading them in public. That's actually pretty stupid, considering all of the incredibly smart, talented, and mature people I've met who play RPGs. That stigma and taint of juvenile attitudes is still there.

I wonder why that is?

Sure, it's nerdy as hell, but nerdy shit is cool now. I mean, Star Trek is now hip, RPGs are huge and uber-popular as video games, and the LotRs films were popular with all kinds of different people. So are super heroes. Shoot, geek culture is now the most hip of all sub-cultures. People love geeky stuff.

And yet old school paper RPGs are still kind of a social no-no, when the exact opposite should be true: they are truly social activities, far more so than many other hobbies. You have to have friends and be socially active to even play the games!

Anyhow, looking forward to starting our 4ed campaign this weekend.

[Sycophant]

Friend of mine has been talking about starting up a short campaign so I and a few other friends can see what it's actually about. Though I did have a D&D scene in the last movie I shot. Doubt I'll ever really get into it, but I've been looking at it with less of a stigma lately.

In the last two years, I have found out that about 70% of my friends have recently become or have for some time secretly been D&D players. It's been weird.

[Mara]

I've never played D&D (although I wouldn't be against trying it.)

But I'm a huge board game and card game player. Much more so than computer or video games.

[D_Davis]

Friend of mine has been talking about starting up a short campaign so I and a few other friends can see what it's actually about. Though I did have a D&D scene in the last movie I shot. Doubt I'll ever really get into it, but I've been looking at it with less of a stigma lately.

In the last two years, I have found out that about 70% of my friends have recently become or have for some time secretly been D&D players. It's been weird.

Dude - you totally should.

Discover those videogame RPG roots!



WotC is doing a lot to get new people into the game. 4ed plays more like a video game on paper - it's very WOW-like. I like it so far.

They're even giving away a basic rule set and adventure for free to hook people. They're also running mini-adventures at game shops around the US to get people interested. It's pretty cool. They're really trying to foster the social aspect of RPGing - one of the main reasons why WOW is so popular.

[Sycophant]

Actually, in my experience, I don't care much for the social aspects of RPGs. I don't play MMOs because meh. I tend to view the role of my video game RPGs more the way I do movies. Individual experiences with a community discussion aspect.

What I really want to play is the Rocky & Bullwinkle tabletop RPG.

[D_Davis]

Actually, in my experience, I don't care much for the social aspects of RPGs. I don't play MMOs because meh. I tend to view the role of my video game RPGs more the way I do movies. Individual experiences with a community discussion aspect.

Then old school RPGing is not for you, or you're not for it, or something.

For me, it's all about the social aspect. Getting together with friends, face-to-face, with some (OMG!!11!11) beer, soda, and snacks, hanging out, and shootin' the shit is always just as fun than the actual gaming part.

[Sycophant]

Well, I've not ruled them out yet, because it's obviously a different experience. Doing tabletop gaming it with friends whose company I enjoy and whose creativity I appreciate sounds like it could be appealing. Just sayin' I don't run around FF8 and think to myself "this game would be so much better if Seifer was played by Sven."

[Ezee E]

I've played an e-mail/message board based RPG for Star Wars. One campaign lasted for several years, with leaps in decades with the same characters (if they lived). It was pretty fascinating. The GM later wrote a book about it all, but couldn't get it published because it was Star Wars.

[D_Davis]

I'm totally stoked to start our campaign tomorrow. I've got a great hook to get things going, and I am highly anticipating where things will eventually end up.

[Sycophant]

I'm increasingly getting into board games, but still not very much. But some friends and I have been playing a lot of Dominion lately, and I can't get enough. It's pretty brilliant.

[D_Davis]

Dominion is awesome. A real game changer.

[megladon8]

"Settlers of Catan" is a great game.

And while it's not exactly the same kind of thing, Jen and I play backgammon every day.

[Ivan Drago]

"Settlers of Catan" is a great game.

It is an awesome game until every turn becomes a shouting match. Then it's hysterical.

[Sycophant]

Dominion is awesome. A real game changer.

It's pretty incredible, because the game feels about as deep (or deeper) as, say, Settlers of Catan. But it's a quick set up, it's a quick play (far too many Settlers games end with the last five go-rounds taking forever and feeling like hell), and the wide assortment of cards (that seems as though it may be open to even more exciting expansions) means that basically no two games can ever be the same, as you can pursue different strategies even if you manage to play with the same cards.

Goddamn, it's fun.

[D_Davis]

It's pretty incredible, because the game feels about as deep (or deeper) as, say, Settlers of Catan. But it's a quick set up, it's a quick play (far too many Settlers games end with the last five go-rounds taking forever and feeling like hell), and the wide assortment of cards (that seems as though it may be open to even more exciting expansions) means that basically no two games can ever be the same, as you can pursue different strategies even if you manage to play with the same cards.

Goddamn, it's fun.

Deck building games are an entire sub-genre now thanks to Dominion.

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.

[D_Davis]

Stupid Monsters Someone Was Paid to Make: The Best Job Ever

[D_Davis]

Ordered some new games for my birthday:

[D_Davis]

Just spent the last 3 hours punching out chits.

[megladon8]

Just spent the last 3 hours pushing out shit.

TMI.

[D_Davis]

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.

[D_Davis]

Set up one of the scenarios in Earth Reborn tonight - need to go through the rules....that will take some time

[D_Davis]

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.

[D_Davis]

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.

[D_Davis]

Innovation



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.

[Mara]

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.