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[Gloomhaven] A small, quick party game

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Posts

  • DarkewolfeDarkewolfe Registered User regular
    Fry wrote: »
    Rolling modifiers are kinda goofy, I think I would be fine with them going away. There are some classes that already have things like +4 immobilize in their modifier deck, just do more of that.

    I may miss getting the occasional absurd rolling add target twice, but I'll live

    I wouldn't mind more upgrade perks. Maybe a perk that said "replace a +2 immobilize with a +4 immobilize" or something that basically required you to have taken the other perk first.

    What is this I don't even.
  • VyolynceVyolynce Registered User regular
    Darkewolfe wrote: »
    Fry wrote: »
    Rolling modifiers are kinda goofy, I think I would be fine with them going away. There are some classes that already have things like +4 immobilize in their modifier deck, just do more of that.

    I may miss getting the occasional absurd rolling add target twice, but I'll live

    I wouldn't mind more upgrade perks. Maybe a perk that said "replace a +2 immobilize with a +4 immobilize" or something that basically required you to have taken the other perk first.

    A few classes have these. I want to say Eclipse off the top of my head but I'm not certain.

    nedhf8b6a4rj.jpgsig.gif
    AC:NH Chris from Glosta SW-5173-3598-2899 DA-4749-1014-4697 @vyolynce@mastodon.social
  • FryFry Registered User regular
    edited July 2020
    Our Cragheart retired. New character is...Eclipse, I guess is the "safe" name for it?

    That character does some crazy stuff.

    Edit: lol, the new personal quest is "enhance 4 cards", he can almost do that with the starting gold

    Fry on
  • FryFry Registered User regular
    Finally got around to doing the solo scenario for my Angry Face. Won it with about three turns to spare, despite some horrible luck (drew my Miss on three consecutive attacks; also something scenario specific that will be in the spoiler)
    Laid down several traps for the giant vipers to move through, fuckers drew a Jump 4 as their move and leapt over them :(

    Left the 42 HP Earth Demon for last. Dropped a whole bunch of traps in the start room while I was dealing with the hound, knowing I would want to come back and try to kite the Earth Demon through them. Didn't actually work out that way; I ended up spending most of my time Invisible for that duel, and also stuck an Immobilize on him with an attack to delay him further.

    That was a real brain-burner. If you have unlocked Angry Face and want a nice long puzzler, I would recommend it as a one-off.

  • DarkewolfeDarkewolfe Registered User regular
    I ordered the solo scenarios with the Frosthaven kickstarter, so I'll have them eventually. Not sure what we're going to do for all the classes since everyone else in the group plays remotely.

    What is this I don't even.
  • FryFry Registered User regular
    The Gloomhaven Helper app does all of the monster stuff for you; I used random.org to select battle goals from a spoiler.

    And then I took a screenshot of the solo scenario PDF (it's available for free on BGG) and drew circles and squares on it in Paint to represent me and the bad guys doing our dance of death

  • DarkewolfeDarkewolfe Registered User regular
    edited July 2020
    Finally strongarmed our spellweaver into retirement after sitting at level 9 for awhile. Through a combination of item effects and spells, she was doing 5 damage + stun to every monster in a room, sometimes more than once. It had somewhat trivialized encounters.

    Angry face spoiler
    And my doomstalker had been using jumping doom plus free attacks when a doomed creature dies in combination with it to just completely eradicate entire rooms.

    Darkewolfe on
    What is this I don't even.
  • jakobaggerjakobagger LO THY DREAD EMPIRE CHAOS IS RESTORED Registered User regular
    Darkewolfe wrote: »
    Finally strongarmed our spellweaver into retirement after sitting at level 9 for awhile. Through a combination of item effects and spells, she was doing 5 damage + stun to every monster in a room, sometimes more than once. It had somewhat trivialized encounters.

    Angry face spoiler
    And my doomstalker had been using jumping doom plus free attacks when a doomed creature dies in combination with it to just completely eradicate entire rooms.

    That combo is pretty silly both balance and flavour-wise, but funny the first few times. Even without the item though, Level 9 spellweaver is so bananas that I retired mine after a few scenarios, even though I had really been looking forward to the apocalyptic power of Inferno. Also just because it was my first character and I was eager to try something new out.

  • DarkewolfeDarkewolfe Registered User regular
    Yeah, we let him run it for a few scenarios and be godly, then we found a good mission to close things out on that fit his retirement goal perfectly and made it a narrative epic. Still, it was fucking silly. We also have three spears in our party which added to the complete brokenness of everything the rest of the time.

    What is this I don't even.
  • jakobaggerjakobagger LO THY DREAD EMPIRE CHAOS IS RESTORED Registered User regular
    Darkewolfe wrote: »
    Yeah, we let him run it for a few scenarios and be godly, then we found a good mission to close things out on that fit his retirement goal perfectly and made it a narrative epic. Still, it was fucking silly. We also have three spears in our party which added to the complete brokenness of everything the rest of the time.

    My new character is three spears so I can apparently really pick them...

    It seems though that playing relatively guide-less I have managed to build and play my three spears in a mostly pretty 'fair' way so far.

  • AuralynxAuralynx Darkness is a perspective Watching the ego workRegistered User regular
    jakobagger wrote: »
    Darkewolfe wrote: »
    Yeah, we let him run it for a few scenarios and be godly, then we found a good mission to close things out on that fit his retirement goal perfectly and made it a narrative epic. Still, it was fucking silly. We also have three spears in our party which added to the complete brokenness of everything the rest of the time.

    My new character is three spears so I can apparently really pick them...

    It seems though that playing relatively guide-less I have managed to build and play my three spears in a mostly pretty 'fair' way so far.

    Three-spears is baseline "pretty good," escalating to "what?" somewhere around level 6 with good item support.

    kshu0oba7xnr.png

  • FryFry Registered User regular
    My group is at Prosperity 7 and max reputation, so most new characters skip the being fair stage and go straight to silly.

  • FishmanFishman Put your goddamned hand in the goddamned Box of Pain. Registered User regular
    At level 5, I'm very close to retiring our first character, and have been since about late level 3.

    However, we haven't raised our propserity at all yet (just 2 ticks along the progression), and I had been deferring doing the mission that will retire me in the hopes of coming in at level 2.

    I know progressing prosperity is somewhat random, but I feel like 10 scenarios in our campaign is on the lower end of the prosperity curve and was wondering if this sounds unusually slow or about right?

    X-Com LP Thread I, II, III, IV, V
    That's unbelievably cool. Your new name is cool guy. Let's have sex.
  • FryFry Registered User regular
    edited July 2020
    Prosperity is random, and it depends what sorts of choices you're making on events and what scenarios you go after.

    I don't think this is a spoiler, but just in case, some general guidance on that topic:
    If you're picking options that are good for the city and/or good for commerce and trade, that will tend to make Prosperity go up

    A more specific thing you can do to make Prosperity go up, which is a spoiler but not a large one:
    Have your party members donate for blessings before every mission

    Edit: for what it's worth, if I recall correctly, we probably retired our first character after 12-15 wins, and I think we were already at Prosperity 2 or maybe 3 by then, but we were pretty laser focused on being Nice Guys

    Fry on
  • FryFry Registered User regular
    Man, summons usually don't work, but when they do work, it is glorious. I brought out three summons in today's scenario, and I think they scored like five kills among them (and also tanked a few hits for the party).

    Key thing that helped was being very selective about my initiative - if there are bad guys in range to pounce on a summon, take an early initiative, but if there aren't, take a very slow initiative.

  • VyolynceVyolynce Registered User regular
    edited July 2020
    Fry wrote: »
    Man, summons usually don't work, but when they do work, it is glorious. I brought out three summons in today's scenario, and I think they scored like five kills among them (and also tanked a few hits for the party).

    Key thing that helped was being very selective about my initiative - if there are bad guys in range to pounce on a summon, take an early initiative, but if there aren't, take a very slow initiative.

    There are exactly two times I've seen summons work as anything other than a meat* shield, and it was the two classes built around them. And one of them is kind of cheating the mechanic.

    *Or material equivalent

    EDIT: Actually that's not quite true. I got some good use out of them as Notes, but had to rely on items to even use them in the first place.

    Vyolynce on
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    AC:NH Chris from Glosta SW-5173-3598-2899 DA-4749-1014-4697 @vyolynce@mastodon.social
  • antheremantherem Registered User regular
    Vyolynce wrote: »
    Fry wrote: »
    Man, summons usually don't work, but when they do work, it is glorious. I brought out three summons in today's scenario, and I think they scored like five kills among them (and also tanked a few hits for the party).

    Key thing that helped was being very selective about my initiative - if there are bad guys in range to pounce on a summon, take an early initiative, but if there aren't, take a very slow initiative.

    There are exactly two times I've seen summons work as anything other than a meat* shield, and it was the two classes built around them. And one of them is kind of cheating the mechanic.

    *Or material equivalent

    EDIT: Actually that's not quite true. I got some good use out of them as Notes, but had to rely on items to even use them in the first place.

    Summon-heavy builds would be great early on (before you really have a lot of access to them) but once you get into higher monster levels it feels like everything has Shield which just completely shuts them down.

  • FryFry Registered User regular
    More than that even, summon HP doesn't scale, and enemy attack does, so your summons tend to get one-shot even by scrubby monsters.

  • FryFry Registered User regular
    Tonight we did Scenario 57: "Investigation"

    I can count at least three different signs that this was done by a guest designer (and lo, it was). Gameplay was not great, but the scenario itself actually had a bit of narrative and flavor to it, so I'll let it slide.

    Signs of guest designer (spoilers for the scenario):
    1. No immediate threat (literally no enemies in the first room, wtf)
    2. Multiple directions to travel, but you may need to visit all of them or just the first one depending on which order you do it
    3. Scenario rule has a unique enemy spawn when "the elite guard" dies, but there are multiple elite guards in the room (at least, for 4p)

  • SteelhawkSteelhawk Registered User regular
    Hello all,

    I'm new to even knowing what Gloomhaven even is. But I've been trying to play D&D with my 8yo (going well!), my 43yo wife (she's a trooper! :) ) and his 68yo grandmother (not so well.) and I was lamenting the modern lack of a simpler, more visual and and easy to access boardgame version from my youth, Heroquest. I realize nothing in this subsection of boardgames is going to be like Sorry or Snakes and Ladders (games my M-in-L loves) but I'm trying to bring the whole family together here. :) And since I found Gloomhaven, it looks really cool to me.

    Is Gloomhaven worth investing in, in my scenario? I'm interested, but I already play a shitton of D&D online with my friends, so its not really for me but rather to ease the indecision paralysis of my M-in-L by playing a "more typical" boardgame so she can enjoy time with her grandson, who has no-one else to play D&D with in our household. I realize its a complicated game, but I'm looking to challenge my kids and not dumb things down for them. Grandma's gonna have to keep up.

    Should I wait for Frosthaven, instead?

  • DarkewolfeDarkewolfe Registered User regular
    Gloomhaven is more of a puzzle game with D&D trappings than a substitute. It's also very puzzly and somewhat difficult sometimes. Since there is a built in difficulty modifier you might still be able to set it for the players, but I've gotten some pushback from players who were turned off by the very game system puzzle components, so I'm a bit on the fence whether I'd recommend it in your case.

    I do not think you would need to wait for Frosthaven if you decide this is the right game for you though.

    What is this I don't even.
  • FryFry Registered User regular
    It's a very gamery game, I would not recommend for grandma or the mother in law. Perhaps one of the actual D and D boardgames would be a good fit, eg Wrath of Ashardalon, there's a Ravenloft one, several others. They remind me a bit of Hero Quest.

  • SteelhawkSteelhawk Registered User regular
    Thanks! I thought the complexities of the cards and associated strategy might be just another form of confusion for my M-in-L (same person as Grandma) replacing D&D's complexities, but I guess it might not be. I had thought the D&D boardgames did not offer much replay-ability? And for the money, I figured Gloomhaven would have more legs.

    I probably would have dug it, and my other friends too. But without anyone to play with these days, I'll wait until this pandemic bullshit is over before splashing out for Gloomhaven/Frosthaven.

  • FryFry Registered User regular
    Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion is a bit less expensive, is compatible with the main Gloomhaven, and is supposed to be a slightly easier onboarding experience. I don't have direct experience with it, but it's a much cheaper pricepoint if the wife and MiL hate it and you end up playing it solo or with just you and the little one.

  • DarkewolfeDarkewolfe Registered User regular
    Oh, yes, good point. If you do decide on any Gloomhaven, I would only advise jaws of the lion.

    What is this I don't even.
  • antheremantherem Registered User regular
    edited July 2020
    Yeah, I've played a few missions of Jaws of the Lion so far and it does a good job easing you into the mechanics. It's still pretty tough though.

    I'd agree one of the D&D games is probably a better fit (and they're no less replayable than Gloomhaven.) Or maybe Aftermath.

    antherem on
  • FryFry Registered User regular
    Well, our completely OP Music Note retired, and we got to open Envelope X.

    That is certainly something.

  • SteelhawkSteelhawk Registered User regular
    I picked up Jaws of the Lion today. Maybe we'll crack it open on the weekend and see how it goes.

  • FryFry Registered User regular
    Got to play again after a few weeks off. We played a scenario where the opposition was a small number of tough enemies that had the possibility to summon additional units. Except they didn't draw the action cards to let them summon, and our team is very good at killing individual enemies. So it was a complete cakewalk. :X

    Our group has been talking about playing at +1 difficulty, but keep chickening out ("I want to get a few games in with my new character before we make it harder", etc). I'm going to push hard for +1 difficulty next time, we haven't been properly challenged in quite a while.

  • VyolynceVyolynce Registered User regular
    In a game where "properly challenged" can equate to "hours of play lost with little progress save XP" I was fine with plowing through scenarios when the opportunity presented itself.

    nedhf8b6a4rj.jpgsig.gif
    AC:NH Chris from Glosta SW-5173-3598-2899 DA-4749-1014-4697 @vyolynce@mastodon.social
  • FryFry Registered User regular
    Vyolynce wrote: »
    In a game where "properly challenged" can equate to "hours of play lost with little progress save XP" I was fine with plowing through scenarios when the opportunity presented itself.

    Sure, but right now we are having scenarios go by with nobody losing even a single card to prevent damage, and only resting once or twice each before completion. I think we've got quite a bit of room there before we're in danger of actually losing a scenario.

  • Cobalt60Cobalt60 regular Registered User regular
    edited August 2020
    959748FFBC06EEEAD605004703256EAB49FCCE7B

    Dealt 52 damage with Scoundrel.

    Cobalt60 on
  • VyolynceVyolynce Registered User regular
    ...how? Wish we could see the flips, but even with a crit you still needed to go from 9 to 26. O_o

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    AC:NH Chris from Glosta SW-5173-3598-2899 DA-4749-1014-4697 @vyolynce@mastodon.social
  • Cobalt60Cobalt60 regular Registered User regular
    edited August 2020
    OK so;
    The bear has poison and I'm hitting for base 3 so that makes it base 4;
    +1 from minor power potion;
    +3 and +3 for both conditions on gruesome advantage;
    then another +2 from the card that gives me +2 for attacks against poisoned foes.

    So that is 13 damage, then double that from using Smoke Bomb = 26 then double that again from drawing Bless from my deck.

    You can see in the bottom corner I had advantage and flipped over a Bless and +0.

    Cobalt60 on
  • FryFry Registered User regular
    edited August 2020
    Heh. Tonight's scenario, the mind thief finished off the boss. Attack had disadvantage, but he drew Bless and x2 for the attack :0

    Lightning Bolt continues to be goofy:
    We were playing Scenario 51. Spoilers for that scenario:
    A scenario where there's just one enemy, that chunks people for 8 or 16 damage every turn. Being able to shrug off three fatal damage and five attacks is pretty darn good here. :X

    Fry on
  • FryFry Registered User regular
    Welp, we finished up the town record book tonight, so we're basically done with the base game. Not sure what I was expecting from the ending, but I feel a bit let down.

    There were three character classes we never unlocked out of the base 17, and I don't think we played any of them twice. We're probably going to move on to Forgotten Circles soon; I might suggest that we just open up those other three characters, and let people play those plus the new one.

  • VyolynceVyolynce Registered User regular
    Yeah the ending was just kind of... there. But given the nature of the game that wasn't unexpected.

    Although we took the long route. We were running out of things to unlock; we had every class and every random scenario available to us.

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    AC:NH Chris from Glosta SW-5173-3598-2899 DA-4749-1014-4697 @vyolynce@mastodon.social
  • DarkewolfeDarkewolfe Registered User regular
    Is there not sufficient motivation to continue to do things if you've finished the "main" storyline? I kind of got the feeling we might still feel motivated to finish up side scenarios and stuff even if we did finish off the main storyline.

    What is this I don't even.
  • FryFry Registered User regular
    We've only got one more scenario that's unlocked, which we might play next time. There's a decent number of scenarios that we never unlocked for various reasons (or that we locked ourselves out of) that we could play, but ehhh

  • Cobalt60Cobalt60 regular Registered User regular
    For us the story has never been a big draw as by the nature of the game and the order in which you can do scenarios means you're often jumping around from thread to thread. For us we enjoy unlocking new classes and skills and playing something different regularly, we haven't minded doing something we've done before if we're going in with different characters.

    Did you finish envelope X? Some people find the puzzle really tedious and boring.

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