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GeekNights Tuesday - Burning Con 2013

okeefeokeefe
in GeekNights
Regarding "don't buy Castellan", does Steve Jackson Games produce anything worthwhile? In my most recent move, I came across Illuminati and just threw it away rather than pack it.
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Comments

  • NeitoNeito
    Illuminati's good, actually.

    Munchkin's acceptable in small doses.

    Frag is fun, if blatantly incomplete.
  • MattMatt
    Revolution is a pretty decent area control/blind bidding game. Ogre looks like fun although I've never played it (the same goes for the soon-to-be-reprinted Car Wars).

    But yeah that's really it. Munchkin is shit. Chez Geek is shit. Zombie Dice/Cthulhu Dice/Whatever Dice are all shit.
  • AprecheApreche
    Steve Jackson knows which games are good and which games are not good. They know Munchkin and Zombie Dice are poop, but they pay the bills. And boy do they ever pay the bills. Munchkin is HUGE. If you were put to the task to make a game of which the only goal was to turn a profit selling the game, good luck even getting close to Zombie Dice, let alone Munchkin. I still give them mad respect for making those games even if I will never play them.

    But yeah, Illuminati is a decent game we play about once a year. OGRE is magnificent in its production, though I can't comment on the game having never played it.

    They don't have any Spiel Des Jahres in their catalog, but it doesn't matter. They know what they doing.
  • CremlianCremlian
    edited October 2013
    You threw out Illuminati.. That's a crime. Donate that shit man.
    Post edited by Cremlian on
  • RochelleRochelle
    Ninja Burger is a silly play as a "role play" as a Ninja delivering fast food and rolling dice. I use "role play" as a very extreme over exaggeration.

    I haven't played it in years. And as I type this out I realize how I probably never will again. Maybe I should sell it, but perhaps Jeremy was the one who purchased it.
  • MattMatt
    Has anyone ever played Nanuk? It always looked interesting in passing, but I've never looked any further into it. Seems abstract, loosely themed around eskimo hunting/fishing.

    Steve Jackson Games also wins awesome points for releasing an incredibly detailed annual report. They consider their customers to be their shareholders, and post a public analysis of all their sales figures, publishing plans, and all sorts of interesting "how the sausage is made" tidbits. It's a great read if you're looking to learn more about the gaming industry.
  • pencepence
    The summaries of both Jared's game and Scott's game are still hilarious - I also noticed the way Jared stopped handing out franchise dice for my unrelated job-hunting side story. I've encountered the same problem while running InSpectres, where the franchise dice force the story to end early.

    As for Steve Jackson: play Munchkin with a small number of people until the jokes stop being funny, because the jokes are the only reason you're playing. :P
  • CremlianCremlian
    Did you guys hear that Steve Jackson just got his house wiped out in a flash flood?
  • PilitusPilitus
    Can somebody sell me on Torchbearer? Other than Scott, because I think when it comes to what we enjoy in games, I'm probably the Anti-Scott.

    To make this easier: I run a Dungeon World game, and that hitting my sweet spot for what I'm looking for in D&D-style fantasy adventure. Burning Wheel's always struck me as too grim-dark to actually be entertaining.
  • AprecheApreche
    Cremlian said:

    Did you guys hear that Steve Jackson just got his house wiped out in a flash flood?

    For reals? In Austin, Texas? His house must have been full of so many treasures...
  • CremlianCremlian
    "I wanted to post a picture of the view from the evacuation boat, but it may not happen. The phone took the pics, but that may have been its last act in life. Too bad - they were all dramatic and stuff.

    I'm fine. Monica's fine. My Mac is fine. I had not taken my copy of Ogre home yet, so IT is fine. And some of the really precious old Metagaming stuff was on a top shelf, so that might be fine. If the house is still there. I have conflicting information right this second on whether the water has even started to go down. (The pretty car was at the office so it's fine. The faithful old Corolla was drowned before I woke up.)

    Flooding is a rorblem for some other staff members too, but AFAIK nobody is in danger. The office and the OLF are both well away from the danger zones.

    Now moved into a hotel room. Showers are good. I have canceled plans for the next two weekends, but still intend to go to BGG.

    Thanks, everyone, for the good wishes and offers of help. Right now there is nothing you can do except be excellent to one another and play Ogre when it shows up.

    – Steve Jackson"
  • okeefeokeefe
    Pilitus said:

    Can somebody sell me on Torchbearer? Other than Scott, because I think when it comes to what we enjoy in games, I'm probably the Anti-Scott.

    To make this easier: I run a Dungeon World game, and that hitting my sweet spot for what I'm looking for in D&D-style fantasy adventure. Burning Wheel's always struck me as too grim-dark to actually be entertaining.

    There's a Torchbearer thread that you might be interested in. I'm also a big fan of Dungeon World, but the games do different things in play, reward different things, and have different expectations. It depends on what you and your group want. Torchbearer is grim in a starving, lost in the dark way, where Burning Wheel is grim in the "oh no, what have I done, what will I do?" way.
  • PilitusPilitus
    So neither is to my speed. That's okay, just kind of wanted to know if there was a sales pitch there for me.
  • AprecheApreche
    Pilitus, if you don't want role playing and just want to walk around in a dungeon and kill monsters and get treasure, just play Descent or Hero Quest or something.
  • PilitusPilitus
    Scott, I think you missed the word "grim" is the bit that turned me off. I run Dungeon World, I try to make my hard moves hard enough to push my players, but Dungeon World's "Be a fan of the characters" hits what I want in a game, and grim doesn't feed that urge in me. It's the style of game, and maybe it sounded harsher than just a "eh, not my game, I'll go back to Fate and DW."
  • okeefeokeefe
    Apreche said:

    Pilitus, if you don't want role playing and just want to walk around in a dungeon and kill monsters and get treasure, just play Descent or Hero Quest or something.

    Dungeon World is a fine game with streamlined rules and plenty of roleplaying opportunities. Bonds, in particular, are great initial fodder. DW basically replaces D&D for me in most circumstances. I suspect I would have more fun playing a one-shot of DW over a hack-and-slash board game.
  • AprecheApreche
    Well, if it's not a hack and slash board game, how is it the anti-Scott?
  • PilitusPilitus
    "Just villagers, nothing happening." You've talked about before how this is the kind of game you like to run, and have run at conventions.

    I may be extrapolating, but from this it seems you're more of a fan of the fine-grit and grim.
  • AprecheApreche
    I also like a good dungeoning action. I'm just tired of every single game being dungeoning, so when I get a chance to run a game I do the opposite.
  • PilitusPilitus
    Fair enough, I guess I just switch the kind of things that can be expected, take dungeoning out of the kinds of action that can happen, switch genres or rule-sets to guide the game into a new place. Like if I didn't want to play Dungeoning at Burning Con, I'd play Apocalypse World or try Inspectors (sp?).

    I think your gears are different, when you throw out of Dungeoning, you go places that don't sound fun to me. Sounded like you ran a decent game in it, just for me.
  • AprecheApreche
    Stereotypical fantasy RPGs only, please. Because the only fantasy worth having is about using violent super powers to get more super powers and more wealth.
  • GroverBombGroverBomb
    edited November 2013
    Having played in Scott's scenarios two years in a row at Burning Con, "Boring Ass Townfolk" is a fun way to put it, but not the best way. There is a lot of complexity there, and nuance, and there are times when the metaphors just abound and abound. It's like reaching into a shadowbox. His scenarios actually have a lot of dramatic tension followed by bursts of excitement.

    When we smashed that wall to get down to the lower levels of the actual dungeon, we were standing up around the table cheering. That scenario also had a lot of humor and levity too.

    Scenarios with this kind of premise do have a slightly tragic feel, that things might turn out exactly as you expected them to turn out. The dirt will inevitably get under your nails. The very definition of tragedy (which is why Hamlet is genius, right?). But in the end you fight for what you believe and you push that character on the sheet to their limit.

    BW is not actually grim. It can be if you want it to be, but I think people that describe it that way have probably got it wrong or they serve in a fiefdom under punitive GM wankery.

    Also, "Boring Ass Townfolk" were the original ninja. I'd rather play a farmer who must fight off those misguided Samurai to defend her family than a swordsman of all swordsmen. I find that struggle more interesting.
    Post edited by GroverBomb on
  • BantaBanta
    And now I want to play a castle-building game.
  • AprecheApreche
    Banta said:

    And now I want to play a castle-building game.

    That's actually a good idea. Roleplay four different crafts-folk all working on building a castle or other project.
  • Luke BurrageLuke Burrage
    Apreche said:

    Banta said:

    And now I want to play a castle-building game.

    That's actually a good idea.
    Torres. Just play it. It's really good. Won Spiel Des Jahres. Every time I've played it the feeling of winning OR losing is soooo good.
  • MattMatt
    Banta said:

    And now I want to play a castle-building game.

    When in doubt, there is always Caylus.

  • RymRym
    I want to play Caylus again to see if it stands up to memory.
  • ColdguyColdguy
    Rym said:

    I want to play Caylus again to see if it stands up to memory.

    We played it this past weekend and it still does hold up.

  • MattMatt
    edited November 2013
    Re: Caylus, I haven't played the board game in ages, but there is a pretty good iOS port (great on iPad, a bit cramped but useable on iPhone). I've played it a few times over the past year and yeah, Caylus remains a very tight and competitive game.

    It will always be one of the prodigal Euros. So Euro, right down to the scowling guy on the box, that it is off-putting to a decently large swath of the gaming community. But great for us.
    Post edited by Matt on
  • pencepence
    Rym said:

    I want to play Caylus again to see if it stands up to memory.

    Like Coldguy said, I just played it for the first time on Saturday. I was impressed.
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