Also Chainsawsuit Live and Idle Thumbs Podcast Live: We're All in This (Room) Together, but those are just going to show up on RSS feeds I'm already subscribed to a week later.
Keynote (it's the Gearbox guy), Combat Q&A with Ro, and there are a couple of board game panels I may try to go to. I am also going to try to see if there are other BG designers from the groups I am in on Facebook are going to be there to try to do some extra testing of my game. I also may try to attend some panel about winning everything...
Here is the updated list of games that Ro and I have, updated as of 8/23/2014. If there are any particular games that people attending want Ro and I to bring, please let us know before Thursday morning. If the amount of games we are bringing feels like it is too much to bring at one time, we can rotate games, as I will be making the round trip to home each morning. Also, if you are only attending on a particular day and want to request a particular game, let us know, so we can try to bring it. There will be several games that will be constantly there, most likely. Those games would be: Euphoria, Splendor, King's Forge, King of Tokyo, Sushi Go!, 7 Wonders, Love Letter, Bananagrams, Bohnanza, Dominion. We will probably bring a few more initially regardless of requests, as they would be the games we want to try to play as well, along with the prototype for my game, Magic Maze Mayhem.
There are 2 larger expansions for Kingdom Builder: Nomads and Crossroads, as well as 3 smaller expansions: Capitol, Caves, Island, of which we have the Capitol expansion. The other 2 smaller ones may be available at a booth at PAX, but it's difficult to know for sure.
Hmm.. both on Amazon from $22-$26. It looks interesting, but do we play that game enough to warrant expansion buying? You could argue that we don't play it enough because perhaps the expansion would bring more variety, but at the same time we just prefer other games.
It's not like it's 7 Wonders to where I'll buy any expansion sight unseen. We will have to ponder this.
Looks like offsite tabletop is in the Red Lion this year - conveniently, that's where I'm staying. I'm going to have to get used to calling it the Motif.
I don't want to bother with a checked bag (too much trouble to cart to and from the airport) so I'm narrowing down from the following list:
Longer
Caverna
Lewis & Clark
Terra Mystica
Shorter
Aladdin's Dragons
Caylus: Magna Carta
Dungeon Lords
Primordial Soup
Suburbia (+ Suburbia Inc.)
Yspahan
Small (so I can fit more of them in the bag!)
Fairy Tale
Impulse
Innovation (+ Echoes, + Figures)
Netrunner
Sail to India
Not packing Eclipse, because that would take up my entire carry-on. Ro and Jeremy already have Euphoria, so I can leave my copy at home.
Based on my experience working at East, I don't expect Caverna to be in the tabletop library (at least not in the necessary volume). Which presents the problem of transporting a box with roughly the same volume as Eclipse.
I have a goal in regards to properly teaching Euphoria. I am good at playing games, but teaching to people is a whole other story.
Everyone should read the instructions, but being a good teacher to teach the game quickly to experienced gamers is something that people should learn to do well.
I have a goal in regards to properly teaching Euphoria. I am good at playing games, but teaching to people is a whole other story.
Euphoria is a simple game that is surprisingly difficult to teach well, but I have my outline up on Google Docs. Start with foundational stuff: The details of how to win, where you can place workers, and the symbolic language of the game. Recruits and the allegiance track are secondary - you can explain the primary rules without ever mentioning that they exist. The ethical dilemma card is of least importance and you can save it for the very end without impacting the rules explanation. Once you get used to structuring rules explanations, interlocking mechanics present the most interesting problems - get used to saying "I'll explain what this means in a second."
Teaching board games is something I really like to do. It involves careful reading, checking FAQs, making outlines, and then practicing the explanation for anything of sufficient complexity. This has the knock-on benefit of catching easy-to-miss but important rules. It also gives you an appreciation for solid rulebooks that are clear and concise. The How to Play Podcast is my inspiration for wanting to do better game explanations.
Catalyst Game Labs, the people who are currently publishing Battletech, Shadowrun, The Duke, etc. have a Bravest Warriors card game. It's probably garbage, but I gotta play a demo of it at least once.
I saw Bravest Warriors post this on their FB feed and saw a Cryptozoic link. That confirmed my thoughts of not being that good, but I'll give it a try if we can find it in the library or they are have demos going on.
I saw Bravest Warriors post this on their FB feed and saw a Cryptozoic link. That confirmed my thoughts of not being that good, but I'll give it a try if we can find it in the library or they are have demos going on.
I think Catalyst's Bravest Warriors game is different from Cryptozoic's. Catalyst's "Encounters: Bravest Warriors" doesn't line up with Cryptozoic's "Bravest Warriors Cooperative Dice Game" on BGG.
Apparently the app acts like a timer and turn randomizer that occasionally distributes depression via a series of questions about objectives that your team has failed complete.
X-COM is the only thing I really want to demo that will be at PAX. Days of Wonder, Iello, Rio Grande, and Z-Man won't be present... no Roll for the Galaxy, no King of New York.
Manami Matsumae (the composer for the early Mega Man games, aka the best video game soundtracks ever made) will be at PAX Prime. Unfortunately, just in the Shovel Knight booth doing autographs, not giving a talk or doing her thing live.
Comments
Love of Crafting: Life, the Universe and MAKING ALL THE THINGS
Combat Q&A
Maestros of Videogames. This is a strong definite for me. Darren Korb is going to be there. He's the composer/song writer for Bastion and Transistor. There is an autograph session afterwards, but it's at the Paramount, but it goes on until 9 PM.
Omegathon Round 5: Mario Kart Double Dash. DD is my favorite Mario Kart. I just really enjoy it because of the co-op abilities. This should be a fun round to watch.
Other than that, gaming, gaming, Expo Hall, and more gaming.
- The keynote (Mikey Neumann is on the Chainsawsuit podcast, and is an entertaining guy)
- You're Doing it Wrong: Finding the RPG You're Trying to Play (Since I won't get to see Luke at Burning Con!)
- Making Firewatch: Trailer and a First Look from Campo Santo (Tragically overlaps with the former)
- Omegathon Finale
Also Chainsawsuit Live and Idle Thumbs Podcast Live: We're All in This (Room) Together, but those are just going to show up on RSS feeds I'm already subscribed to a week later.I also noticed this panel: It's a (Straight White Cisgendered) Man's World. Seems interesting.
Also, if you are only attending on a particular day and want to request a particular game, let us know, so we can try to bring it. There will be several games that will be constantly there, most likely. Those games would be: Euphoria, Splendor, King's Forge, King of Tokyo, Sushi Go!, 7 Wonders, Love Letter, Bananagrams, Bohnanza, Dominion. We will probably bring a few more initially regardless of requests, as they would be the games we want to try to play as well, along with the prototype for my game, Magic Maze Mayhem.
Ro and Jeremy's Game list via Google drive
Ro and Jeremy's game list via Dropbox
I also want to bring:
Tokaido
Takenoko
Kingdom Builder (is the new expansion out yet?)
Lords of Waterdeep
It's not like it's 7 Wonders to where I'll buy any expansion sight unseen. We will have to ponder this.
That is all.
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/192092/pax-prime-live-streaming-info
Full tabletop info for those of you who will be there.
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/30592626/#Comment_30592626
I don't want to bother with a checked bag (too much trouble to cart to and from the airport) so I'm narrowing down from the following list:
Longer
- Caverna
- Lewis & Clark
- Terra Mystica
Shorter- Aladdin's Dragons
- Caylus: Magna Carta
- Dungeon Lords
- Primordial Soup
- Suburbia (+ Suburbia Inc.)
- Yspahan
Small (so I can fit more of them in the bag!)- Fairy Tale
- Impulse
- Innovation (+ Echoes, + Figures)
- Netrunner
- Sail to India
Not packing Eclipse, because that would take up my entire carry-on. Ro and Jeremy already have Euphoria, so I can leave my copy at home.Hansa Teutonica + expansion
Glory to Rome
Zendo
I could bring a couple more games from a narrow list. Anyone deeply invested in any of:
Tigris & Euphrates
Ginkopolis
Amon Re
You know, flying and all.
Everyone should read the instructions, but being a good teacher to teach the game quickly to experienced gamers is something that people should learn to do well.
Teaching board games is something I really like to do. It involves careful reading, checking FAQs, making outlines, and then practicing the explanation for anything of sufficient complexity. This has the knock-on benefit of catching easy-to-miss but important rules. It also gives you an appreciation for solid rulebooks that are clear and concise. The How to Play Podcast is my inspiration for wanting to do better game explanations.
http://catalystgamelabs.tumblr.com/post/93616442576/bravest-warriors-tabletop-game-design-diary-3