Is anyone here familiar with "The Gathering of Friends"? It sounds like a board gamer's fantasy.
Alan R. Moon (designer of Ticket to Ride) runs an invite-only convention out in Ohio that lasts 10 freakin' days. Only about 375 people are invited, by his personal invitation only, making it extremely exclusive. Basically, you're only allowed to come if you are prepared to play hardcore games all day long and exhibit good sportsmanship the entire time. This man is a crazy genius.
Lords of Waterdeep is actually very good. It's simple worker, yet deep. There is randomness via cards of various sorts but that can be largely mitigated. One of the lord cards, I am building a case to say, is broken as fuck. Aside from that, totally worth the $31 from Amazon.
Also, the production values on the bits and the layout inside the box is top notch. Some of the best I've seen in a board game.
Awesome to hear, I saw this game at PAX east and was thinking about getting it. But Amazon had to so much cheaper so I waited to get it with a bunch of other board games. It's coming today! Wooo! Glad to hear it's good.
I've heard of it. I'm not a fan. Video I've seen shows it is mostly old guys. Also not a fan of exclusive things in general.
I'm not a fan of exclusive things when I'm not invited. They do have a tendency to breed a certain type of elitism and d-baggery though. If they can avoid that, it's not a horrible thing to keep out the riff-raff.
The old guy thing is a red flag though. I suppose the crowd would skew old if they all have to be friends of one single old guy to get an invite. The old guy factor is one reason I haven't yet been to an event like WBC. At least we know those events are around for one day when we're old guys.
Speaking of old guy cons, I'm trying to plan out my summer calendar, and was perusing the con schedule. NJ Con is a miniatures and war games event that proves simple typos can make events seem infinitely more interesting:
ISRAELI JETS ATTEMPT TO DESTROY AN EGPYTIAN CONVOY DURING THE 19967 ARAB ISRAELI WAR. CAN THE EGPYTIAN MIG21s DEFEND AGAINST THE ISRAELI A4s?
I'm not a fan of exclusive things even if I am invited. I would almost definitely reject an invitation go the Gathering of Friends, FooCamp, or even TED. The same way I would refuse an invitation to play golf at Augusta, which still does not allow women to become members.
I'm not a fan of exclusive things even if I am invited. I would almost definitely reject an invitation go the Gathering of Friends, FooCamp, or even TED. The same way I would refuse an invitation to play golf at Augusta, which still does not allow women to become members.
Our board game nights are invite-only. I haven't exactly opened them up to the public at large.
Played Lords of Waterdeep this weekend. Excellent game, I have to say. I wasn't expecting to like it, since I'm a bit wary of the D&D franchise as a whole, but I enjoyed the combination of Quests, Worker Placement, and Intrigue cards.
Definitely quite Euro, which was a pleasant surprise to me. I do wish we could play with more than 5 people, but I understand the player cap, due to the limited number of locations that are available at any one time.
I'm not a fan of exclusive things even if I am invited. I would almost definitely reject an invitation go the Gathering of Friends, FooCamp, or even TED. The same way I would refuse an invitation to play golf at Augusta, which still does not allow women to become members.
Our board game nights are invite-only. I haven't exactly opened them up to the public at large.
Now it makes sense why you can't get Brass to the table. Gotta open your doors and let the bums come in!
I'm not a fan of exclusive things even if I am invited. I would almost definitely reject an invitation go the Gathering of Friends, FooCamp, or even TED. The same way I would refuse an invitation to play golf at Augusta, which still does not allow women to become members.
Our board game nights are invite-only. I haven't exactly opened them up to the public at large.
Obviously most things are private. My day at work is not open to the public. When I go home and eat dinner, that's not open to the public either.
What makes an exclusive thing jerky is when you heavily advertise its existence. Imagine if PAX did all the same marketing and promotion they do now, but it was invite only. They have a big website, they post the schedule, they show off all the cool stuff happening. You drive through Boston or Seattle and see all these big PAX signs everywhere, but you can't go in. You know, like E3. That is when exclusivity becomes a problem.
Played Lords of Waterdeep this weekend. Excellent game, I have to say. I wasn't expecting to like it, since I'm a bit wary of the D&D franchise as a whole, but I enjoyed the combination of Quests, Worker Placement, and Intrigue cards.
Definitely quite Euro, which was a pleasant surprise to me. I do wish we could play with more than 5 people, but I understand the player cap, due to the limited number of locations that are available at any one time.
I actually thought Waterdeep was better with a lower player count. You get extra workers when there are less players, so it's a bit more engaging, and the player interaction cards hold a bit more weight.
What makes an exclusive thing jerky is when you heavily advertise its existence. Imagine if PAX did all the same marketing and promotion they do now, but it was invite only. They have a big website, they post the schedule, they show off all the cool stuff happening. You drive through Boston or Seattle and see all these big PAX signs everywhere, but you can't go in. You know, like E3. That is when exclusivity becomes a problem.
This has shed some light on my Twitter feed this week. A lot of people are at this Gathering of Friends, and most opt not to mention it at all, while some are constantly posting all about the fact that they are there.
What makes an exclusive thing jerky is when you heavily advertise its existence. Imagine if PAX did all the same marketing and promotion they do now, but it was invite only. They have a big website, they post the schedule, they show off all the cool stuff happening. You drive through Boston or Seattle and see all these big PAX signs everywhere, but you can't go in. You know, like E3. That is when exclusivity becomes a problem.
This has shed some light on my Twitter feed this week. A lot of people are at this Gathering of Friends, and most opt not to mention it at all, while some are constantly posting all about the fact that they are there.
If I held such an exclusive event, I would not advertise its existence, and anyone who broadcasted about it in such a way would be kicked out and never re-invited.
>Obviously most things are private. My day at work is not open to the public. When I go home and eat dinner, that's not open to the public either.
What makes an exclusive thing jerky is when you heavily advertise its existence. Imagine if PAX did all the same marketing and promotion they do now, but it was invite only. They have a big website, they post the schedule, they show off all the cool stuff happening. You drive through Boston or Seattle and see all these big PAX signs everywhere, but you can't go in. You know, like E3. That is when exclusivity becomes a problem.
Just being sure. You've accepted invitations to weddings in the past. ;^0
I agree. Look at Big Fire. It was secretive, but the "invitation" was basically:
1. Hear about it. 2. Find it. 3. Show up and know what it is.
>Obviously most things are private. My day at work is not open to the public. When I go home and eat dinner, that's not open to the public either.
What makes an exclusive thing jerky is when you heavily advertise its existence. Imagine if PAX did all the same marketing and promotion they do now, but it was invite only. They have a big website, they post the schedule, they show off all the cool stuff happening. You drive through Boston or Seattle and see all these big PAX signs everywhere, but you can't go in. You know, like E3. That is when exclusivity becomes a problem.
Just being sure. You've accepted invitations to weddings in the past. ;^0
I agree. Look at Big Fire. It was secretive, but the "invitation" was basically:
1. Hear about it. 2. Find it. 3. Show up and know what it is.
Hmmm.... Should we relight the Big Fire?
Considering Big fire parties were just ways to try and attract women to guests and old school con goers to a night of ..... Sounds like a great idea! :-p
That and you'd have to actually plan it and run it :-p
I consistently hear great things about both, though. How much is Eclipse back in the States?
I pre-ordered it for $80 from funagain.com. Now it seems like you can't even get one, even if you have the moneys.
Yeah, gonna wait for the reprint, I think, but there's a boatload on BGG. Maybe I'll grab the UK print; they're in good supply over here at around the Finland price.
I actually thought Waterdeep was better with a lower player count. You get extra workers when there are less players, so it's a bit more engaging, and the player interaction cards hold a bit more weight.
I completely agree that it's a better game, but since we had 6 players at the time, two people had to play together. Fortunately, they were a husband/wife combo, and they were more than happy to work together. Since it was fairly casual setting, neither of the other players minded this arrangement.
I just wish that it was a little bit more scalable, like Citadels or 7 Wonders.
Also, a while ago, I had seen 3 sealed copies of Eclipse, ready to buy. Unfortunately, I didn't feel it was necessary to purchase at the time, since I wouldn't have been able to find a group to play it with. I probably should have bought them and resold them to you guys. Not for profit, of course.
Wait a moment, I think the screwed up the Catan game. When you roll a seven to move the robber, if you have more than 7 cards aren't you supposed to lose half of them as a penalty? If that is the case they all completely ignored that rule in the key areas of the game. Doesn't anyone off camera have the rules to check to make sure stuff like this doesn't get caught by online people that have nothing better to do?
That is definitely the rule. Did people definitely have that many cards and ignore the discarding when a 7 was rolled?
I was half-watching this while doing some other stuff, but I don't remember them ever covering that rule. I assume they had to have hit the hand limit at some point? They also condense their play quite a bit to make it fit within the roughly 30-minute window, so if the situation never occurred on screen, they may have cut those parts to simplify the episode.
If they did blatantly ignore it in play, that it pretty embarrassing, especially after last week.
Oh in other Tabletop news, I did hear that the second RPG episode they are doing is Fiasco (the first is Dragon Age) and that their RPG episodes will be two-parters, aired at the end of the season.
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Alan R. Moon (designer of Ticket to Ride) runs an invite-only convention out in Ohio that lasts 10 freakin' days. Only about 375 people are invited, by his personal invitation only, making it extremely exclusive. Basically, you're only allowed to come if you are prepared to play hardcore games all day long and exhibit good sportsmanship the entire time. This man is a crazy genius.
The old guy thing is a red flag though. I suppose the crowd would skew old if they all have to be friends of one single old guy to get an invite. The old guy factor is one reason I haven't yet been to an event like WBC. At least we know those events are around for one day when we're old guys.
Speaking of old guy cons, I'm trying to plan out my summer calendar, and was perusing the con schedule. NJ Con is a miniatures and war games event that proves simple typos can make events seem infinitely more interesting: I expect laser beams
Definitely quite Euro, which was a pleasant surprise to me. I do wish we could play with more than 5 people, but I understand the player cap, due to the limited number of locations that are available at any one time.
What makes an exclusive thing jerky is when you heavily advertise its existence. Imagine if PAX did all the same marketing and promotion they do now, but it was invite only. They have a big website, they post the schedule, they show off all the cool stuff happening. You drive through Boston or Seattle and see all these big PAX signs everywhere, but you can't go in. You know, like E3. That is when exclusivity becomes a problem.
I agree. Look at Big Fire. It was secretive, but the "invitation" was basically:
1. Hear about it.
2. Find it.
3. Show up and know what it is.
Hmmm.... Should we relight the Big Fire?
That and you'd have to actually plan it and run it :-p
I just wish that it was a little bit more scalable, like Citadels or 7 Wonders.
I was half-watching this while doing some other stuff, but I don't remember them ever covering that rule. I assume they had to have hit the hand limit at some point? They also condense their play quite a bit to make it fit within the roughly 30-minute window, so if the situation never occurred on screen, they may have cut those parts to simplify the episode.
If they did blatantly ignore it in play, that it pretty embarrassing, especially after last week.
Oh in other Tabletop news, I did hear that the second RPG episode they are doing is Fiasco (the first is Dragon Age) and that their RPG episodes will be two-parters, aired at the end of the season.