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[Board Games] Pandemic in a Pandemic

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Posts

  • WhelkWhelk Registered User regular
    edited November 2021
    Athenor wrote: »
    Whelk wrote: »
    Athenor wrote: »
    Anyone have any experience making magnetic miniatures storage?

    I have the curse of figuring out how to store my Power Rangers stuff. I think the best option would be magnetic storage, using flexible magnetic sheets like Duncan Rhodes recommends. But given how many minis there are, I think I want some kind of riser / removable platform that is anchored in the corners or something.

    I used styrofoam I drilled holes into. You could do the same with a sheet of foam with removable velcro strips.

    Do you have pictures?

    Not any more, but I magnetized an all pewter Hordes army. The weight of the minis was the only reason I needed the foam, since they'd slide around without it. I got it in sheets from Michaels with paper on each side. Then I just traced the bottom of the base on the sheet with a pen and cut it out with an exacto knife. That took a hot minute so when I got to the smaller troops I wound up using one of those circular saw bits for a drill that was 30mm. I used a metal toolbox for the box and just taped the sheet of foam into the bottom of the drawers. It was like 1/4 inch thick and taller than the bases.

    How heavy are the models? A friend of mine has a set up with just the magnets and a metal sheet that works pretty well. He mostly has plastic Warhammer stuff, though.


    Edit: the foam I bought was like this one, but it didn't have the adhesive on the back. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B081PL3HG1/ref=sspa_dk_detail_5?pd_rd_i=B06ZY83SZJ&pd_rd_w=q55BF&pf_rd_p=887084a2-5c34-4113-a4f8-b7947847c308&pd_rd_wg=2wVFC&pf_rd_r=N93QCPE2MZ4JBCR2SJZ4&pd_rd_r=04ebee7c-beb1-4382-8451-764994401ced&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzN1U3UU1CRlJCUzVWJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMzc4OTA4M0tKRlFSU09BOVlMRiZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNDM4NDQzMkpLNURTUDIwQklWUCZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2RldGFpbCZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU&th=1

    Whelk on
  • CantidoCantido Registered User regular
    edited November 2021
    The AI deck in GWT2e is straightforward and exactly what it needs to be. It's mustly just manipulating a pawn that goes Ina circle, dropping disks and buildings, buying workers and getting special effects based on which worker type it's focused on.

    Still, I wish this game would go digital.

    Cantido on
    3DS Friendcode 5413-1311-3767
  • BrainleechBrainleech 機知に富んだコメントはここにあります Registered User regular
  • VyolynceVyolynce Registered User regular
    edited November 2021
    Brainleech wrote: »

    I just saw a FB ad for an Atmosfear revival on KS too.

    Although today's app-driven games owe a lot to these relics from our youth so go get 'em I guess.

    Vyolynce on
    nedhf8b6a4rj.jpgsig.gif
    AC:NH Chris from Glosta SW-5173-3598-2899 DA-4749-1014-4697 @vyolynce@mastodon.social
  • ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    Brainleech wrote: »

    Oh wow, a friend of mine has this growing up and it was so neat to play. Early electronics astounded us.

    4dm3dwuxq302.png
  • TheDrifterTheDrifter Registered User regular
    Rather than talk about a board game, I’m going to plug something board game adjacent.

    Recently bought a new house in Houston and down the street from us is a board game cafe called Tea + Victory. It has been AMAZING. 600 board games including a goood cross cut of BGGs top 100. Employees to teach you most the games. Good tea and cocktails. I can’t recommend this place enough. I’ve gotten to give several games a spin (which I’ll probably post thoughts on later) for a $5 all day fee.

  • NipsNips He/Him Luxuriating in existential crisis.Registered User regular
    Brainleech wrote: »

    Hell YES I remember Omega Virus.

    rWmHIH7h.jpg

    Time to find out more about this reboot.

    JXUBxMxP0QndjQUEnTwTxOkfKmx8kWNvuc-FUtbSz_23_DAhGKe7W9spFKLXAtkpTBqM8Dt6kQrv-rS69Hi3FheL3fays2xTeVUvWR7g5UyLHnFA0frGk1BC12GYdOSRn9lbaJB-uH0htiLPJMrc9cSRsIgk5Dx7jg9K8rJVfG43lkeAWxTgcolNscW9KO2UZjKT8GMbYAFgFvu2TaMoLH8LBA5p2pm6VNYRsQK3QGjCsze1TOv2yIbCazmDwCHmjiQxNDf6LHP35msyiXo3CxuWs9Y8DQvJjvj10kWaspRNlWHKjS5w9Y0KLuIkhQKOxgaDziG290v4zBmTi-i7OfDz-foqIqKzC9wTbn9i_uU87GRitmrNAJdzRRsaTW5VQu_XX_5gCN8XCoNyu5RWWVGTsjJuyezz1_NpFa903Uj2TnFqnL1wJ-RZiFAAd2Bdut-G1pdQtdQihsq2dx_BjtmtGC3KZRyylO1t2c12dhfb0rStq4v8pg46ciOcdtT_1qm85IgUmGd7AmgLxCFPb0xnxWZvr26G-oXSqrQdjKA1zNIInSowiHcbUO2O8S5LRJVR6vQiEg0fbGXw4vqJYEn917tnzHMh8r0xom8BLKMvoFDelk6wbEeNq8w8Eyu2ouGjEMIvvJcb2az2AKQ1uE_7gdatfKG2QdvfdSBRSc35MQ=w498-h80-no
  • VyolynceVyolynce Registered User regular
    My copy was basically killed by corroded batteries. :(

    I still have it, though.

    nedhf8b6a4rj.jpgsig.gif
    AC:NH Chris from Glosta SW-5173-3598-2899 DA-4749-1014-4697 @vyolynce@mastodon.social
  • NipsNips He/Him Luxuriating in existential crisis.Registered User regular
    Vyolynce wrote: »
    My copy was basically killed by corroded batteries. :(

    I still have it, though.

    I've not looked at my copy in a few years, but I imagine that kind of damage wouldn't be too hard to repair. At least, from an electrical perspective.

    JXUBxMxP0QndjQUEnTwTxOkfKmx8kWNvuc-FUtbSz_23_DAhGKe7W9spFKLXAtkpTBqM8Dt6kQrv-rS69Hi3FheL3fays2xTeVUvWR7g5UyLHnFA0frGk1BC12GYdOSRn9lbaJB-uH0htiLPJMrc9cSRsIgk5Dx7jg9K8rJVfG43lkeAWxTgcolNscW9KO2UZjKT8GMbYAFgFvu2TaMoLH8LBA5p2pm6VNYRsQK3QGjCsze1TOv2yIbCazmDwCHmjiQxNDf6LHP35msyiXo3CxuWs9Y8DQvJjvj10kWaspRNlWHKjS5w9Y0KLuIkhQKOxgaDziG290v4zBmTi-i7OfDz-foqIqKzC9wTbn9i_uU87GRitmrNAJdzRRsaTW5VQu_XX_5gCN8XCoNyu5RWWVGTsjJuyezz1_NpFa903Uj2TnFqnL1wJ-RZiFAAd2Bdut-G1pdQtdQihsq2dx_BjtmtGC3KZRyylO1t2c12dhfb0rStq4v8pg46ciOcdtT_1qm85IgUmGd7AmgLxCFPb0xnxWZvr26G-oXSqrQdjKA1zNIInSowiHcbUO2O8S5LRJVR6vQiEg0fbGXw4vqJYEn917tnzHMh8r0xom8BLKMvoFDelk6wbEeNq8w8Eyu2ouGjEMIvvJcb2az2AKQ1uE_7gdatfKG2QdvfdSBRSc35MQ=w498-h80-no
  • VyolynceVyolynce Registered User regular
    Nips wrote: »
    Vyolynce wrote: »
    My copy was basically killed by corroded batteries. :(

    I still have it, though.

    I've not looked at my copy in a few years, but I imagine that kind of damage wouldn't be too hard to repair. At least, from an electrical perspective.

    "Killed" might have been the wrong word. I vaguely remember playing it sometime in the last... 10-15 years? But it wasn't in great shape.

    nedhf8b6a4rj.jpgsig.gif
    AC:NH Chris from Glosta SW-5173-3598-2899 DA-4749-1014-4697 @vyolynce@mastodon.social
  • BrainleechBrainleech 機知に富んだコメントはここにあります Registered User regular
    I have no idea where the original copy of Omega virus is. The copy I have I got from a garage sale with hero quest they had accidently stuffed keller's keep in so overall that was a bonus I also got battlemasters sans the tower which is a pain to get
    It still works from when I last checked a few years ago and has all the parts and cards

  • simonwolfsimonwolf i can feel a difference today, a differenceRegistered User regular
    Managed to get my real-life copy of Oath on the table months after moving from one city’s perpetual lockdown to another city… which went into lockdown two weeks later. Sigh?

    Five player game, everyone new other than me (who has just under a dozen games under his belt via TTS). Standard beginning from tutorial, but I rebuilt the world deck to deal out a five player game, and gave a Teach that became a rolling one as the game progressed.

    The short version of history written for this era would be as follows: the Empire and the Yellow Exile battled for supremacy of Cradle and Province, trading control and striking where each was weakest. Yet both forgot the furtive Red Exile, deep in the Hinterland’s Wastes, who swore pacts with Nomad and Beast to first declare a Vision of Faith, then recover the Darkest Secret, then use the Ancient Binding to burn all but one Secret for every player, effectively making it impossible to recover before his Vision would come to pass. Left as kingmaker, the Chancellor burned what land was left in Yellow’s hands to ensure the next empire of faith would start with as little as possible.

    Vision of Faith win for Red Exile, who inducted both Blue and Yellow as citizens for the next era of this land as reward for aiding in bringing about the old empire’s downfall. A cathedral mont in the Mountains is the seat of their new realm, and they bestowed blessing upon the Nomads to settle the world.

    The most surprising thing (based on how divisive the game has been with my online peers) was that everyone walked away from the game having enjoyed it and wanting to play it again, to see what happens next in this chronicle of history we started building. Another game scheduled in a couple of weeks, and I will have my vengeance!

  • ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    Been playing through Pandemic Season 0. We start November next time we play, and whew the past few months have been CRAZY. I feel like they ramped the difficulty up pretty hard after June, or we just had a streak of bad luck with the card draws. Either way, we turned the failures into additional upgrades and funding and feel we may have turned a corner, even though our last game in the second half of October was won with 3 turns remaining and zero incidents to spare.
    We've definitely won more games in Season 0 by the skin of our teeth than in Season 1 or 2.

    4dm3dwuxq302.png
  • CaptainPeacockCaptainPeacock Board Game Hoarder Top o' the LakeRegistered User regular
    Had a rules question with Netrunner last night and it's based on a card from Nisei, so the internet wasn't much help.

    Leech is a virus program that gets hosted counters. You can spend them to get "The ice you are encountering gets -1 strength for the rest of the encounter".

    Drunk us took this to mean all ice for the rest of the run get the minus, but sober me this morning now knows that each ice encounter is separate. So I take it to mean that it only affects the ice you are encountering at the moment you spend the counter.

    Do I have it correct now?

    Cluck cluck, gibber gibber, my old man's a mushroom, etc.
  • ArcticLancerArcticLancer Best served chilled. Registered User regular
    Had a rules question with Netrunner last night and it's based on a card from Nisei, so the internet wasn't much help.

    Leech is a virus program that gets hosted counters. You can spend them to get "The ice you are encountering gets -1 strength for the rest of the encounter".

    Drunk us took this to mean all ice for the rest of the run get the minus, but sober me this morning now knows that each ice encounter is separate. So I take it to mean that it only affects the ice you are encountering at the moment you spend the counter.

    Do I have it correct now?
    I cannot fathom it operating any other way, so would definitely think so.

  • FryFry Registered User regular
    It's doing the same thing as data sucker from the core game

  • CaptainPeacockCaptainPeacock Board Game Hoarder Top o' the LakeRegistered User regular
    Fry wrote: »
    It's doing the same thing as data sucker from the core game

    Datasucker specified rezzed ice, so Leech is slightly different in that it applies to ice encountered in other servers like Archives. According to the DB, this applies to edge cases like Archangel.

    Cluck cluck, gibber gibber, my old man's a mushroom, etc.
  • FryFry Registered User regular
    Sure, but for the standard use cases, all of the existing datasucker rulings should apply.

  • ArcticLancerArcticLancer Best served chilled. Registered User regular
    Yes, I also looked it up on netrunnerdb. Fry is correct.

  • CptHamiltonCptHamilton Registered User regular
    edited November 2021
    Got a copy of Whistle Stop for my birthday and actually got a game in within a week, somewhat amazingly. My in-laws love the hell out of Ticket to Ride and were willing to dive face-first into a much heavier (though not actually that heavy, but these are people who think Calico and Railroad Ink are too complex) game on the basis of "TRAINS!"

    I'm honestly not sure how I feel about it. I feel like there's a lot of strategic options but I'm not sure it's actually an accurate feeling. There's a lot of randomness-mitigation, but there's also a lot of randomness. It's both very difficult to stop another player doing something and pretty easy to screw somebody in the short term. It kinda feels like it should be a light, quick game but it's a couple of hours long and far too fiddly to be described as light. I'd definitely play it again but I'd be hesitant to recommend it at this point.

    Also got to play Wingspan, which I guess is widely regarded as awesome so I don't have to go on about it. Good game. Would lay bird eggs again.

    CptHamilton on
    PSN,Steam,Live | CptHamiltonian
  • Jam WarriorJam Warrior Registered User regular
    Time for the annual ‘Oh yes, Kingdom Death is a thing that exists’ Black Friday update.

    I really don’t understand the mindset of the guy who project scope creeps his items such that they have to quadruple the price to new buyers and delay by 5 years, yet doesn’t consider maybe just splitting all the extra stuff that nobody was expecting into a new product rather than continuing to stuff the existing one and selling to existing backers at massive loss.

    I mean I’m fine with it as I’m patient and have faith I’ll eventually get an insane amount of stuff for the price I paid, but it’s such an unnecessary own goal.

    Kickstarter comments are predictably ugly.

    Doesn’t help that he briefly announced an NFT before swiftly back pedalling at the back lash. I doubt he’d given it full thought.

    MhCw7nZ.gif
  • MNC DoverMNC Dover Full-time Voice Actor Kirkland, WARegistered User regular
    I've introduced my kids to a few dice games over the last week and they've started to love them.

    The first game we tried was Roll For It. Each player gets 6-dice and they roll try to match the die values on 3 different scoring cards in front of them. You can leave a matching die roll next to the card and reroll on your next turn. Example: A 2-point card needs a 2 and a 4 to score it, while a 15-point card might want six 3's or maybe 1-6.

    The first player to match all the numbers, takes the card and gets its point value. The game ends at 40 points.

    The second game we tried was Zombie Dice, which I received as a PA secret santa gift a few years ago. At first, my daughter didn't want to play it (because, ya' know, scary zombie on the cup), but after I made jokes about eating brains she was on-board.

    The game is basically, roll 3 dice each turn. Every die has either a Brain, Escape, or Shotgun Blast side. If you roll 3 Shotgun Blasts, your turn ends with no points. You can end your turn early to score any Brains you've rolled. If you roll again, you have to include any Escape dice with the 3 new dice you're rolling. First to 13 points wins.

    In our second game, my son's first turn saw him roll 11 Brains and 2 Shotgun. I was in awe of his luck streak hitting Brain after Brain. :)

    Yesterday I was exhausted, but my daughter wanted to play Roll For It. So I made up an "AI mode" on the spot where after her turn, "The Computer" would place a die on the highest point card in play. Then she'd take another turn and it would repeat.

    She was super entertained playing this way, which made us both quite happy. Of course, she was crushing The Computer which probably added to her enjoyment. I suggested making the game more challenging by giving the AI more dice, but she wasn't having any of that. :D

    I'm hoping these easy-to-play games will be nice entry points to having some more people to play games with.

    Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
    Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
    Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
    Steam ID
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  • Ah_PookAh_Pook Registered User regular
    Got a copy of Whistle Stop for my birthday and actually got a game in within a week, somewhat amazingly. My in-laws love the hell out of Ticket to Ride and were willing to dive face-first into a much heavier (though not actually that heavy, but these are people who think Calico and Railroad Ink are too complex) game on the basis of "TRAINS!"

    I'm honestly not sure how I feel about it. I feel like there's a lot of strategic options but I'm not sure it's actually an accurate feeling. There's a lot of randomness-mitigation, but there's also a lot of randomness. It's both very difficult to stop another player doing something and pretty easy to screw somebody in the short term. It kinda feels like it should be a light, quick game but it's a couple of hours long and far too fiddly to be described as light. I'd definitely play it again but I'd be hesitant to recommend it at this point.

    Also got to play Wingspan, which I guess is widely regarded as awesome so I don't have to go on about it. Good game. Would lay bird eggs again.

    I traded my copy away a long time ago but I remember there being some extremely annoying rules vagueness in Whistle Stop around moving your trains, which is like the main thing you do in the game so it was triply annoying that it wasn't clear how it actually worked.

  • MrBodyMrBody Registered User regular
    Anyone try the Hotel Abbadon adventure game from KOSMOS?

    We really liked The Dungeon and Monochrome Inc, but HATED Volcanic Island so much that we're not touching another entry until we see some good word of mouth.

  • JonBobJonBob Registered User regular
    Funny you should ask! I just had this conversation with a friend:
    Lauren 10:42 PM
    I'll bring Hotel Abbadon on the 4th also, it's my favorite of the whole series
    jonbob 11:03 PM
    I will give it a shot. Volcano really put me off the series. Not that it didn't have fun moments, but it was nonsensical and didn't seem worth the effort.
    Especially compared to something like an Unlock.
    Lauren 11:05 PM
    This one is so much better

    So there's one data point.

    jswidget.php?username=JonBob&numitems=10&header=1&text=none&images=small&show=recentplays&imagesonly=1&imagepos=right&inline=1&domains%5B%5D=boardgame&imagewidget=1
  • MrBodyMrBody Registered User regular
    Well alright then.
    It's your job if it ends up sucking!

  • CptHamiltonCptHamilton Registered User regular
    Ah_Pook wrote: »
    Got a copy of Whistle Stop for my birthday and actually got a game in within a week, somewhat amazingly. My in-laws love the hell out of Ticket to Ride and were willing to dive face-first into a much heavier (though not actually that heavy, but these are people who think Calico and Railroad Ink are too complex) game on the basis of "TRAINS!"

    I'm honestly not sure how I feel about it. I feel like there's a lot of strategic options but I'm not sure it's actually an accurate feeling. There's a lot of randomness-mitigation, but there's also a lot of randomness. It's both very difficult to stop another player doing something and pretty easy to screw somebody in the short term. It kinda feels like it should be a light, quick game but it's a couple of hours long and far too fiddly to be described as light. I'd definitely play it again but I'd be hesitant to recommend it at this point.

    Also got to play Wingspan, which I guess is widely regarded as awesome so I don't have to go on about it. Good game. Would lay bird eggs again.

    I traded my copy away a long time ago but I remember there being some extremely annoying rules vagueness in Whistle Stop around moving your trains, which is like the main thing you do in the game so it was triply annoying that it wasn't clear how it actually worked.

    It's really not super clear how train movement works. Like off the top of my head, things we ran into:
    * Coal lets you move north/south and west. What if moving west loops you back around east. Is that allowed?
    * It appears multiple trains can't occupy resource and starter stops - does that mean you can't move there, or that you jump over it?
    * Can you use a whistle to move out of and then back into a stop like the Coal Mine, retaking the entry benefit?
    * If you get the upgrade that says nobody else can move into your space... what does that mean? You can block access to a special stop (like the coal mine, town tiles, trading post, etc)? Other players can't skip over your train on a resource stop (assuming that's how that works)?

    The whole "coal is the common movement resource and propels you West" idea is neat but I don't think it was terribly well-implemented. And the track tiles are so...labrynthine, I guess, that it rarely seems like a difficult decision where to put one or which one to take. If you can't go directly to the tile you want, two tiles will almost certainly do the job.

    PSN,Steam,Live | CptHamiltonian
  • Alistair HuttonAlistair Hutton Dr EdinburghRegistered User regular
    So my 7 year old daughter really likes playing the absolutely awful Dungeon! (I bought it like 25 years ago man and never got rid of it) and I hate it and want to stop playing it.

    What non-terrible dungeon crawler could I get instead to replace this? She's at the level where we are playing the Pokemon TCG and Dominion so she can handle pretty complex rules. My trouble with identifying a replacement is that the internet only wants to tell me about massive mega 300 super detailed mini's in the box $500 post-Kickstarter extravaganzas. I'd be perfectly happy with a much more modestly produced dungeon crawler - happy to print-and-play even. Just need something to move peeps around a map and hit monsters either co-op or competitive is good but preferably not a DM-vs-Players game.

    I have a thoughtful and infrequently updated blog about games http://whatithinkaboutwhenithinkaboutgames.wordpress.com/

    I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.

    Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
  • VyolynceVyolynce Registered User regular
    So my 7 year old daughter really likes playing the absolutely awful Dungeon! (I bought it like 25 years ago man and never got rid of it) and I hate it and want to stop playing it.

    What non-terrible dungeon crawler could I get instead to replace this? She's at the level where we are playing the Pokemon TCG and Dominion so she can handle pretty complex rules. My trouble with identifying a replacement is that the internet only wants to tell me about massive mega 300 super detailed mini's in the box $500 post-Kickstarter extravaganzas. I'd be perfectly happy with a much more modestly produced dungeon crawler - happy to print-and-play even. Just need something to move peeps around a map and hit monsters either co-op or competitive is good but preferably not a DM-vs-Players game.

    Clank! comes to mind immediately athough it's not quite the same thing. I also enjoyed Near and Far the one time I played it. Roll Player Adventures has some good buzz but I'm not sure on its availability.

    You could also give Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion a try but that feels like recommending a gateway drug and might be a touch too advanced regardless.

    nedhf8b6a4rj.jpgsig.gif
    AC:NH Chris from Glosta SW-5173-3598-2899 DA-4749-1014-4697 @vyolynce@mastodon.social
  • ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    Just picked up Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 to play through with the kids. We're definitely going to play a few times without legacy to make sure they understand and see how well they do. I may adjust funding levels to start just to make sure they don't immediately start with a feeling of failure. I also have 5 kids, but the youngest is 5. I'm not sure if we'll have her play or not. She'll want to feel included and has recently taken a disliking to being "on someone's team", but if she wants to play I'll need to borrow some rules from On the Brink and it'll definitely be less than ideal for the Legacy game mechanics.

    The kids know we've played through Season 1, 2, and nearly done 0, and have wanted to get in on those games as well, so I was grateful to see it on sale today. Blue box was the lowest it's been in a year. Not as low as it used to be back when season 2 came out and it seemed like they were trying to clear them out. Though I'm also hopeful that enough time has passed that there aren't counterfeits still floating around.

    4dm3dwuxq302.png
  • Ah_PookAh_Pook Registered User regular
    So my 7 year old daughter really likes playing the absolutely awful Dungeon! (I bought it like 25 years ago man and never got rid of it) and I hate it and want to stop playing it.

    What non-terrible dungeon crawler could I get instead to replace this? She's at the level where we are playing the Pokemon TCG and Dominion so she can handle pretty complex rules. My trouble with identifying a replacement is that the internet only wants to tell me about massive mega 300 super detailed mini's in the box $500 post-Kickstarter extravaganzas. I'd be perfectly happy with a much more modestly produced dungeon crawler - happy to print-and-play even. Just need something to move peeps around a map and hit monsters either co-op or competitive is good but preferably not a DM-vs-Players game.

    Man I loved Dungeon when I was that age. My brothers and I played it so much. For a replacement, my go to light dungeon crawler is the D&D Adventure series. Personally I like Castle Ravenloft or Legend of Drizzt, but there's a lot of them and they're all going to provide you with similar levels of goodness. Just pick whichever one you like thematically. They're full coop, have very low rules overhead, and generally provide a nice romp through a dungeon rolling dice at monsters and grabbing loot and stuff.

  • antheremantherem Registered User regular
    So my 7 year old daughter really likes playing the absolutely awful Dungeon! (I bought it like 25 years ago man and never got rid of it) and I hate it and want to stop playing it.

    What non-terrible dungeon crawler could I get instead to replace this? She's at the level where we are playing the Pokemon TCG and Dominion so she can handle pretty complex rules. My trouble with identifying a replacement is that the internet only wants to tell me about massive mega 300 super detailed mini's in the box $500 post-Kickstarter extravaganzas. I'd be perfectly happy with a much more modestly produced dungeon crawler - happy to print-and-play even. Just need something to move peeps around a map and hit monsters either co-op or competitive is good but preferably not a DM-vs-Players game.

    One of the Jerry Hawthorne play-in-the-book games? Aftermath or Stuffed Fables.

  • DoctorArchDoctorArch Curmudgeon Registered User regular
    So my 7 year old daughter really likes playing the absolutely awful Dungeon! (I bought it like 25 years ago man and never got rid of it) and I hate it and want to stop playing it.

    What non-terrible dungeon crawler could I get instead to replace this? She's at the level where we are playing the Pokemon TCG and Dominion so she can handle pretty complex rules. My trouble with identifying a replacement is that the internet only wants to tell me about massive mega 300 super detailed mini's in the box $500 post-Kickstarter extravaganzas. I'd be perfectly happy with a much more modestly produced dungeon crawler - happy to print-and-play even. Just need something to move peeps around a map and hit monsters either co-op or competitive is good but preferably not a DM-vs-Players game.

    My daughter's six years old and I introduce her to everything (along with her 9 year old brother).

    She enjoyed Gloomhaven Jaw of the Lion last year and could play with assistance, but I cut it short once we hit the third chapter and there was a bucket of body parts on the map. I might bring it back soon though, because she's shown me she's good at abstracting these sort of things. Also because she played Arkham Horror LCG with my son and I a month ago and was really happy once she figured out equipping a baseball bat made her hit monsters a lot harder. She's also played Arkham Horror 3rd edition with assistance and enjoyed it.

    I highly recommend the D&D adventure series games (Ravenloft, Drizzt, Ashardalon, etc.). They're great dungeon crawlers. She plays a dwarf cleric that hits things hard and heals/protects their friends.

    While not a dungeon crawler, her favorite game is probably Horrified and she plays it almost entirely unaided. We got the sequel for her for Christmas.

    If she's playing Dominion and Pokemon TCG Marvel Champions might also be a good suggestion.

    Switch Friend Code: SW-6732-9515-9697
  • MrBodyMrBody Registered User regular
    Yeah Horrified would be my go to "Arkham, but kid friendly" (in terms of mechanics and content).

  • AthenorAthenor Battle Hardened Optimist The Skies of HiigaraRegistered User regular
    Ooooh! My first Kickstarter of the shipping nightmares has arrived!

    Out of no where, appears Red Dragon Inn 8!

    And with it a buncha stuff.

    I thought I got a pic of the eco packaging it was in, but.. meh. It was basically a plain box, plus 3 extra swag add-ons I did: The coins of the world set and 2 Gambling coin sets.

    The eco packaging saves about $5 and just.. makes it so it'll ship safely. The main game components are shrink-wrapped to cardboard, the coins were in their bag.

    kBtoYvlh.jpg

    So when you get it all out of the shrink wrap, you get all this!

    B5HEQn7h.jpg

    My understanding is that the kickstarter bonuses over retail are:
    * The mini mover for the pub crawl
    * Nerodia's metal petrify token
    * The exclusive promo drinks and prize cards

    Already I can see other tokens I want in metal, but maybe in the future. :D


    They went with the cheaper/easier to produce coins, as the elvish coins were originally going to be 2-toned / enamel, but that was too expensive to manufacture. It's okay with me though. I only got 1 set of the coins because I already have 2 sets of standard RDI coins.

    I got 2 sets of gambling tokens because I tend to enjoy hosting RDI tournaments, so I'd need them.

    erGhiAth.jpg

    He/Him | "A boat is always safest in the harbor, but that’s not why we build boats." | "If you run, you gain one. If you move forward, you gain two." - Suletta Mercury, G-Witch
  • Alistair HuttonAlistair Hutton Dr EdinburghRegistered User regular
    Thanks for the suggestions.

    I have a thoughtful and infrequently updated blog about games http://whatithinkaboutwhenithinkaboutgames.wordpress.com/

    I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.

    Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
  • Jam WarriorJam Warrior Registered User regular
    Does Red Dragon Inn justify the mad amount of expansions it has?

    If someone wanted to start it should they get the oldest or the latest set?

    MhCw7nZ.gif
  • AthenorAthenor Battle Hardened Optimist The Skies of HiigaraRegistered User regular
    edited November 2021
    Does Red Dragon Inn justify the mad amount of expansions it has?

    If someone wanted to start it should they get the oldest or the latest set?

    On justifying it: I personally think so, but not the full expansion list for a new player. The biggest thing to remember is that each character has a 40 card deck (minimum), and it is 100% self contained. So there is a lot of repeat staple cards and effects, just with unique character flavor. For instance, the ratio of gambling, cheating, raising, and winning cards will generally differ, based on if the character is better or worse at the gambling aspect of the game.

    Generally speaking, I would recommend people towards the earlier sets, especially over sets 6-8. When I mentioned minimum... The trick is that later characters usually either have a side deck or side mechanics that need to be juggled and managed. In 8, all 5 characters have some kind of side mechanic - a heat meter, modifiers to drinks, brewing more powerful effects, a brawler deck, and locking down other players' cards to use as ammo for effects. I know that in set 5, they intentionally left at least one character to be "vanilla" to help with newer players or people who liked that style.

    Also, all of the ally expansions are considered more advanced and difficult to learn over the base games. With the exception of the Munchkin Ally pack, these all require a base game to play (notably for a full drink deck).

    The game has extremely good tabletop simulator support, so I would recommend checking out the game there if you are on the fence. And never forget: you can only play 1 action turn a round, whereas sometimes and anytime cards can be used much more frequently... So cycle your deck for those to defend yourself.

    Athenor on
    He/Him | "A boat is always safest in the harbor, but that’s not why we build boats." | "If you run, you gain one. If you move forward, you gain two." - Suletta Mercury, G-Witch
  • antheremantherem Registered User regular
    Does Red Dragon Inn justify the mad amount of expansions it has?

    If someone wanted to start it should they get the oldest or the latest set?

    I'd say definitely start with set 1 to learn the game. Otherwise everything Athenor said.

  • CptHamiltonCptHamilton Registered User regular
    Finally played Island of El Dorado last night, which I believe was my oldest un-played kickstarter game. The art is gorgeous and the components feel really classy but I'm not sure the game is any good?

    It's kind of Risk meets Catan plus Exploration Gameplay. You have an explorer meeple who wanders around the hex tile island exploring (flipping tiles off a stack). You get resources via 'farming' various resource-type tiles. You use those resources to build farms and farmers (allowing the afore-mentioned farming) and a fort. Farmers and explorers can attack one another, which is handled Risk-like with rolling N dice numbered 0-2, high roll wins. All of that is okay to fine. The problem is the win condition, combined with the randomness.

    There are 3 Temple tiles on the map and one more on the 'cave' sub-map, which you have to find the entrance tile to get into amidst the rest of the stack. You spend two of each resource to make an offering to any of the overworld temples, which gives you a permanent marker on it. The cave has a fourth temple tile, which you pick up and carry with you. Control of the cave tile passes by attacking and defeating the holder. When someone has a marker on all 3 overworld temples and holds the cave temple tile, they immediately win.

    Our island map wound up with the 3 temples within like 4 tiles of one another and with easy access to them from multiple paths, so there was no way to try to block someone from getting to one even if that were a viable strategy (which it's not, see below). As such, everybody had a marker on each temple pretty quickly after they came out of the stack, and then it was just a race to uncover the cave entrance and then find the temple tile in the cave stack. The late game felt super un-satisfying because, once you get past the "put your marker on each overworld temple" phase it was purely random chance. Your per-turn movement is a die roll and the temple can be anywhere in the cave stack, so even the player who got to look ahead at the stack and knew where the temple tile was couldn't really control who got it at all.

    The combat is actually slightly worse than Risk. Your explorer, farmers, and fort all get 1 combat die each. Every time you put a marker on a temple (or pick up the cave one) you get 2 more dice for your adventurer, per temple. So by the late game farmers are nearly inconsequential. Your explorer gets 7 dice on their own and you only have 4 (or 5, for one player) farmers plus one fort to work with. So there's no blocking players with your armies or anything like that. Except that it's purely d3 combat rolls with the possibility of rolling 0's, so even a full-strength explorer and 5 farmers can just lose to a single-die defender if the attacker rolls a 0 on 12 dice and the defender rolls a 1 or 2. And, unlike Risk where a combat loss proportionally weakens your enemy, a loss in this game completely eliminates the loser. Farmers and buildings have to be re-purchased and your explorer re-spawns elsewhere on the island after losing half their resources.

    So the strategy seems to be "kill the other explorers frequently to keep them from having enough resources to put markers on temples and/or to respawn them away from the cave". Except that the total randomness of combat makes every attack possibly a loss. And with the random per-turn movement it can be either easy or impossible to actually chase other players around the map.

    The expansions add players with alternate mechanics and win conditions, and even adds different optional win conditions for everyone (though they're all just 'control 6 of X type of tile'), so maybe that helps it but at least in my single play it really feels like a miss of a game. They spent a ton of effort on making the game gorgeous without actually making sure it was fun.

    PSN,Steam,Live | CptHamiltonian
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