Sunday, March 3, 2019
Raiders of the North Sea (2015)
Wendy is running a slot of Raiders of the North Sea (2015) for Gary Con XI, so she wanted to get in a quick refresher game at Culver's on Friday. Having recently played Architects of the West Kingdom (2018), this one was fun to play again and see how some of the similar mechanics and features were used. I think it had been a couple of years since I had last played this game, but I did recall how important the Valkyrie are and making sure to have more provisions and silver than you think you might need in case someone steals from your stores. Lots of fun and it moves pretty quickly if everyone stays focused and keeps the phases of their turn in mind and in order. Definitely a high quality game that's fun to play again and again.
Saturday, March 2, 2019
Prophecy (2002)
Prophecy (2002) is designed by Vlaada Chvátil. Originally published by Altar Games, the version I have is published by Z-Man Games which I understand includes some upgrades and corrections. We watched a how to play video from Scott Nicholson so we could hit the ground running since none of my group of four had previously played. Most of us have played similar games, so it wasn't too tough to pick up though there were a few sticking points we needed to clarify, like what is meant by "least" and what is meant by "fewer." I know semantically there is a difference but wasn't sure how that distinction translated to the game nor if ties mattered in one or both cases. Turns out it does matter in the former case but not in the later. There were a few other odd cases that needed rules reference but mainly just getting to know the various in-game items and abilities ate a lot of time. We gained speed with each round of turns. We also established early on that the game would take us longer than the time we had allotted for play, so we sped things up after a couple of rounds of turns by making sure each player got a regular item and an ability from one of their two starting guilds. We individually drafted one of each from three cards in each case. That helped us get moving more than anything. Once we weren't stuck in the mud, we all enjoyed the game a lot more.
I got a good deal on this game through eBay and the seller through in some minis to be used in place of the character standees, so I'd be pleased enough to get just a few playthroughs. But I think with some adjustments like the drafting mechanic for one regular item and one trained ability, gameplay is vastly improved by eliminating the first, slow third of the game. Maybe that third of the game would prove interesting for folks unused to such games but it's a lot of hoop jumping for experienced players to overcome for little reward. Once on the far side of that first third, the game picks up tremendously. I've also got the first of two expansions and look forward to adding it in for a subsequent game, though maybe not the next time since there is still more to be gleaned from the base game, I think. There's a third expansion which appears to change the game quite a bit more than the first though I may pick it up just to own the complete set. We'll see.
I got a good deal on this game through eBay and the seller through in some minis to be used in place of the character standees, so I'd be pleased enough to get just a few playthroughs. But I think with some adjustments like the drafting mechanic for one regular item and one trained ability, gameplay is vastly improved by eliminating the first, slow third of the game. Maybe that third of the game would prove interesting for folks unused to such games but it's a lot of hoop jumping for experienced players to overcome for little reward. Once on the far side of that first third, the game picks up tremendously. I've also got the first of two expansions and look forward to adding it in for a subsequent game, though maybe not the next time since there is still more to be gleaned from the base game, I think. There's a third expansion which appears to change the game quite a bit more than the first though I may pick it up just to own the complete set. We'll see.
Friday, March 1, 2019
Something from Nothing: 1E AD&D in my Grymvald Setting
Folks will recall I planned to start up a 1E AD&D campaign in 2019 and I did just that. It's been slow going putting together the group then getting up and running mostly because the weather has been uncooperative but we're on track now. I set a target number for players at ten or more but wound up with eight after two of the ten dropped early on due to changing commitments. I've been running games for a long time but usually kept the number to around five or six. I've never been one who enjoys running a game if only one or two players are involved, and even three players can feel a little light, though doable. Five to six feels comfortable for me even if one or two people cannot make it on a given week. It's also been true that for most of my life the game spaces available to me would have made larger groups problematic. I have run the occasional one-shot game for gamedays or conventions with a higher number than six, even as many as a dozen or more, but a large-group campaign had never been a goal not a result. With our first campaign meeting set for the 2019 1E AD&D campaign in my Grymvald setting, we had a solid eight players, and a comfortable place to play in the secret game room of Lake Geneva Games.
In January, the remaining nine of us gathered and created characters. I asked everyone to make two characters initially. This is a First Edition campaign and that can get deadly rather swiftly, depending on the choices of the players, but I don't want anyone sitting around just watching everyone else play if their character dies. Even if it feels like I am using a giant shoehorn to do it, I want a player to have a back up character ready and for me to be able to bring them into play as quickly as I can come up with a contrivance to do so. Our first meeting was mostly about character creation but included some casual RPGing to set the stage. While this first session saw the players doing little more than establishing their places in the town of Holdmarch, they also gained knowledge of the mining operation on the Trackless Moors south of the village. A couple of the players had a connection to to the mining camp. We had utilized the secondary skill table from the DMG during character creation and one player had a mining background with another being a teamster, so that lent itself nicely to that bond. In fact, two were leatherworkers and two were fishers, so I decided to have pairs of players start the campaign by knowing one another. The gardener and the carpenter was a bit of a stretch but since they were the remaining two, I made it work.
With that groundwork laid, the campaign was set to begin on the following week but a subsequent four weeks of freakish storms, which seemed to mostly target our game night, made gathering to play an impossibility. From week to week our group watched the impending forecasts hoping they'd be in error but finding when the day came each week for us to play, cancelling was the only prudent choice. While I live nearby, as do one or two others, the majority of the players have a fair distance to drive for our game and even in the best conditions it's tricky, work schedules being what they are. The first week that we cancelled, I didn't think much of it. I like establishing a game as weekly knowing that from time to time we'd need to cancel due to weather or some other scheduling conflict. If a weekly campaign meets three or even two times in a month, I consider it normal. It became quite strange, though, to find that four weeks in a row we were forced to consider cancelling, and each of those four weeks I felt it best that we do. However, two weeks ago we returned to the table for our second campaign meeting and managed to have a third get together earlier this week. We are taking this coming week off for Gary Con but we're all going to the convention so none of us will miss out on gaming during the campaign break. We plan to gather again the following week.
The second week of play saw our first character death. The group had followed up on some information from the mining camp about some ruins discovered on the Trackless Moors. I won't go into too much detail because I plan to have this available for me to run at Gary Con but let's just say there was no returning for the fallen thief. These are veteran players but as with all new groups it can take a while to find their groove. This lack of cohesion can manifest in chaos and disorder. This can in turn lead to splitting the party which is tricky enough when it results in two smaller groups but we had player characters in three separate locations with some impediments between each. A warning sign was ignored, a dangerous foe attracted, and an overwhelming force resulted in a quick death and the subsequent destruction of the player character's body as well as much of their equipment. I mention the latter because it may have played a role in the concerns of the surviving characters. While they moved quickly to discover what had happened, and did overcome the foe with quick action, some of the table talk set a tone prioritizing life and wealth, among other things, in a fairly mercenary hierarchy. We'll see how that plays out but it might be good for the players to insulate themselves from character death if it means they will take more chances and have more fun.
Two of the players couldn't make it out for our third campaign meeting but we pressed on and I fudged one thing to avoid a potential Total Party Kill. It wasn't retroactive, so I wasn't turning back the clock, and it probably changed how things played out though not so much the result. This was definitely a DMing decision made on the fly but under the circumstance it was the right call. Really, it came down to design versus play. I had designed this adventure location with certain norms in mind that weren't in evidence when we got together to play. I think we make assumptions all the time while prepping for games but in this case I had left only a crude back up plan, an encounter with one primary solution and nothing but brute force as an alternative. It's true that there are times when brute force should be the final option for adventurers but I hadn't envisioned it in this case and I was surprised by it when I shouldn't have been. Even an old dog, I suppose . . .
Despite the vagueness of this summary, I think that brings folks up to speed on the campaign. Post-Gary Con, I'll be able to give more details with the updates, so I look forward to being less guarded. While I'll be able to post more about the ongoing campaign, I'll also only be able to post so much about that game I run at Gary Con since it will then be spoilers for the ongoing campaign. What a tangled web we weave. More coming soon, I hope!
Thanks to "Scott Michael" for the picture!
In January, the remaining nine of us gathered and created characters. I asked everyone to make two characters initially. This is a First Edition campaign and that can get deadly rather swiftly, depending on the choices of the players, but I don't want anyone sitting around just watching everyone else play if their character dies. Even if it feels like I am using a giant shoehorn to do it, I want a player to have a back up character ready and for me to be able to bring them into play as quickly as I can come up with a contrivance to do so. Our first meeting was mostly about character creation but included some casual RPGing to set the stage. While this first session saw the players doing little more than establishing their places in the town of Holdmarch, they also gained knowledge of the mining operation on the Trackless Moors south of the village. A couple of the players had a connection to to the mining camp. We had utilized the secondary skill table from the DMG during character creation and one player had a mining background with another being a teamster, so that lent itself nicely to that bond. In fact, two were leatherworkers and two were fishers, so I decided to have pairs of players start the campaign by knowing one another. The gardener and the carpenter was a bit of a stretch but since they were the remaining two, I made it work.
With that groundwork laid, the campaign was set to begin on the following week but a subsequent four weeks of freakish storms, which seemed to mostly target our game night, made gathering to play an impossibility. From week to week our group watched the impending forecasts hoping they'd be in error but finding when the day came each week for us to play, cancelling was the only prudent choice. While I live nearby, as do one or two others, the majority of the players have a fair distance to drive for our game and even in the best conditions it's tricky, work schedules being what they are. The first week that we cancelled, I didn't think much of it. I like establishing a game as weekly knowing that from time to time we'd need to cancel due to weather or some other scheduling conflict. If a weekly campaign meets three or even two times in a month, I consider it normal. It became quite strange, though, to find that four weeks in a row we were forced to consider cancelling, and each of those four weeks I felt it best that we do. However, two weeks ago we returned to the table for our second campaign meeting and managed to have a third get together earlier this week. We are taking this coming week off for Gary Con but we're all going to the convention so none of us will miss out on gaming during the campaign break. We plan to gather again the following week.
The second week of play saw our first character death. The group had followed up on some information from the mining camp about some ruins discovered on the Trackless Moors. I won't go into too much detail because I plan to have this available for me to run at Gary Con but let's just say there was no returning for the fallen thief. These are veteran players but as with all new groups it can take a while to find their groove. This lack of cohesion can manifest in chaos and disorder. This can in turn lead to splitting the party which is tricky enough when it results in two smaller groups but we had player characters in three separate locations with some impediments between each. A warning sign was ignored, a dangerous foe attracted, and an overwhelming force resulted in a quick death and the subsequent destruction of the player character's body as well as much of their equipment. I mention the latter because it may have played a role in the concerns of the surviving characters. While they moved quickly to discover what had happened, and did overcome the foe with quick action, some of the table talk set a tone prioritizing life and wealth, among other things, in a fairly mercenary hierarchy. We'll see how that plays out but it might be good for the players to insulate themselves from character death if it means they will take more chances and have more fun.
They seem happy and this was taken at the end of the evening!
Two of the players couldn't make it out for our third campaign meeting but we pressed on and I fudged one thing to avoid a potential Total Party Kill. It wasn't retroactive, so I wasn't turning back the clock, and it probably changed how things played out though not so much the result. This was definitely a DMing decision made on the fly but under the circumstance it was the right call. Really, it came down to design versus play. I had designed this adventure location with certain norms in mind that weren't in evidence when we got together to play. I think we make assumptions all the time while prepping for games but in this case I had left only a crude back up plan, an encounter with one primary solution and nothing but brute force as an alternative. It's true that there are times when brute force should be the final option for adventurers but I hadn't envisioned it in this case and I was surprised by it when I shouldn't have been. Even an old dog, I suppose . . .
Despite the vagueness of this summary, I think that brings folks up to speed on the campaign. Post-Gary Con, I'll be able to give more details with the updates, so I look forward to being less guarded. While I'll be able to post more about the ongoing campaign, I'll also only be able to post so much about that game I run at Gary Con since it will then be spoilers for the ongoing campaign. What a tangled web we weave. More coming soon, I hope!
Tuesday, February 26, 2019
Hansa Teutonica, Sushi Go, and New Frontiers
The Thursday Night gang was short a couple of players this week, so they were kind enough to let me join in their fun and even let me pick the game. In fact, we worked it out in advance and everyone had the chance to familiarize themselves with the game, Hansa Teutonica (2009), before we arrived. I had played once before but JP, Cera, and John were all new to the game though you couldn't tell it by the way anyone perfomed. We played twice and the final scores were tight. It's definitely a game where there are a lot of paths to victory and everyone needs to make sure that no one exploits one path unimpeded or unchecked. JP set the tone by immediately horning in on trade routes, so we all followed suit and were not squeamish or worried about stepping on one another's toes. We played twice and it got more raucous as we went along. It's a game that demands interaction so if direct confrontation in a non-wargame boardgame makes someone uncomfortable, this game is not for them. Otherwise, it's a free-for-all!
I find it odd that the opportunity to play Sushi Go (2013) hasn't presented itself to me in the past but every now and then there's a game that I miss without having dismissed it. We opened our Friday with a this gem. Sushi Go is a fast little card drafting game with no small amount of scoring and signal-reading complexity. The more clever your opponents, the less light this game will play. We had a fairly-even crew, myself being the only new player, and we played a couple of times through and I managed to be in the mix the second time. Higher scores are had by taking some risks but this also means that the scores can swing wildly from round to round if some players are making unorthodox drafting choices. This isn't a bad thing because that opens the door for a slightly more conservative strategy. A player definitely needs to pick their moments.
I forgot to snap a picture but we also got in another game of New Frontiers: A Race for the Galaxy Board Game (2018). This one has been tough for me because I keep finding myself surprised by the final scores and also find it hard getting my game engine started if the combination of my starting world and the random development cards don't present some intuitive synergies. I might not be giving myself enough credit because my final scores range from competitive to very good but during gameplay I often feel like I am foundering and waiting for some lucky break rather than steering my own course and mitigating bad breaks. I can deal with the latter but hoping for some random mechanic to allow me a chance to win is frustrating to me as a player who likes more control over my own fate. I'll still play this again but if I get the same feeling next time, I'll probably avoid this one in the future.
I find it odd that the opportunity to play Sushi Go (2013) hasn't presented itself to me in the past but every now and then there's a game that I miss without having dismissed it. We opened our Friday with a this gem. Sushi Go is a fast little card drafting game with no small amount of scoring and signal-reading complexity. The more clever your opponents, the less light this game will play. We had a fairly-even crew, myself being the only new player, and we played a couple of times through and I managed to be in the mix the second time. Higher scores are had by taking some risks but this also means that the scores can swing wildly from round to round if some players are making unorthodox drafting choices. This isn't a bad thing because that opens the door for a slightly more conservative strategy. A player definitely needs to pick their moments.
I forgot to snap a picture but we also got in another game of New Frontiers: A Race for the Galaxy Board Game (2018). This one has been tough for me because I keep finding myself surprised by the final scores and also find it hard getting my game engine started if the combination of my starting world and the random development cards don't present some intuitive synergies. I might not be giving myself enough credit because my final scores range from competitive to very good but during gameplay I often feel like I am foundering and waiting for some lucky break rather than steering my own course and mitigating bad breaks. I can deal with the latter but hoping for some random mechanic to allow me a chance to win is frustrating to me as a player who likes more control over my own fate. I'll still play this again but if I get the same feeling next time, I'll probably avoid this one in the future.
Monday, February 18, 2019
A Game of Thrones Catan: Brotherhood of the Watch
I've played two games of A Game of Thrones Catan: Brotherhood of the Watch and found them both engaging. I think I need to adjust my strategy a little and become a bit more aggressive for territory and Development cards as I do in the regular game. I'm holding back too much in deference to the collective Wildling threat.
Saturday, February 9, 2019
Viticulture B-Day Party
I had a wonderful time playing Viticulture in the new gaming and work shed of my pal, Wendy*, on Friday.
(Right to left - Wendy, Donna, Ernie, Tom, and me)
(Left to right - Donna, me, Ernie, and Tom)
Three-way tie decided by tiebreakers and won by Wendy!
*All photos by Wendy and [her] Tom
Thursday, February 7, 2019
GoT 7x07 Behind the Scenes @ Dragonpit
As I look forward to the final season of Game of Thrones, I've been enjoying going back and watching some fun stuff from earlier on including a video which shows some of the best of times for many of the actors on the show. Enjoy!
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