This Wednesday we turned the clock back and played a good ol' fashioned RPG. It is called "Beyond the Supernatural", and we participated in the continuation of a campaign started some 10 years ago (which was started as a pen and paper adventure, but eventually turned into play by email until it fizzled).
The cast of characters comprised of:
Stan McCormick, psi sensitive who calls himself a "Ghost Hunter and Auto Mechanic".
Sam Buchanan, a nega-psychic member of Interpol.
Helmut von Stauffenburg auf Ulm, a genius at math, science and lore (but otherwise mundane)
For background on the story and the characters, go here.
The start of the session saw the characters on a boat crossing to Egypt. We were promptly assaulted by a giant demon from the water (but not "of" the water). Stan did what he does best, which is shoot at stuff. Hemlut did what he does best, which is think of a rational way to overcome the situation, which in this case was to take advantage of the fact that he knew the thing would be weaker out of the water and catch it in our nets. Sadly, Sam also did what he does best, which was to ignore the whole situation and therefore wind up in the worst possible situation (in this case, dangling from the mouth of the creature). Lucky for us, teamwork(?) prevailed and we survived the encounter (the boat wasn't doing so well, however).
Upon arrival on land, we immediately got into trouble again. Supernatural evil was waiting for us and took advantage of our jaunt into town to get supplies! We came back to our damaged boat moments after leaving to find one our old enemies, Fearg O'Brien (a demon that Stan encountered in the past) stealing the stones we had worked so hard to collect. To everyone's horror, he surrounded himself with a nightmarish assortment of flying snakes and bats... unable to shake the fear, we were mostly ineffective in getting them back. We didn't let them get away easy, however! Stan and Sam worked together to drop the anchor on the boat to prevent Fearg from using it to get away. Stan managed to get his shotguns and Sam turned the boat so that it crashed into the docks. Meanwhile, Helmut detained a Irish punk who tried to distract us earlier by picking our pockets.
From the punk we discovered where Fearg and the rest of them were staying, and we generally spent the rest of the evening coming up with a series of improbable plans to get the stones back (Even though Stan wanted to just blow them up and be done with it... cooler heads prevailed). We'll see what happens in a month!
Monday, February 21, 2005
Thursday, February 10, 2005
Shempuzelans are GREAT!
Last night the impossible happened.
Hell froze over.
Pigs Flew.
The Shempuzelans and the Easylanders buried the hatchet.
At a critical point in last night's game of Lord of the Rings Risk, they came to an agreement to not repeat old mistakes... to avoid fighting each other ceaselessly and recklessly... to instead form a pact and unleash a power heretofore unknown upon the the others (who routinely benefit from our squabling). Kozure and Luch's response? Ummm, they formed a pact too. No matter! Luch's forces wer already nearly decimated. Victory was at hand for the Shempo-Easy alliance!
However, luck being such an important part of this game, the tides didn't turn evenly. While both the Easylanders and Shempuzelans rolled over their hapless opponents (Luch was eliminated entirely on the second last round), Kozure, with the last turn of the game, piled up his forces for ONE LAST MARCH. Sadly for the Shempuzelans, it was horribly effective. They lost 50% of their territory, and dropped to 3rd place because of it.
Will the alliance hold next week, or was it just a flash in the pan? We'll see next week.
In less dramatic news, we also played a game of Carcassone, with the River AND the King and Scout AND the Inns and Cathedrals expansions. Both made a significant difference in the game, although I would say our strategies didn't totally reflect that. In further plays, we would probably try harder to take the new elements into account (for example, even though it was known that whomever had the King at the end of the game received 1 point for each completed city, many 2 tile cities were constructed). The robber changed hands frequently throughout the game, but the King was mine for 99% of it, until LUCH STOLE IT FROM ME ON HIS LAST TURN BY DRAWING A HIGHLY IMPROBABLE TILE. Of course, I can't be too surprised... I was holding the king on a measly 4 tile city I built very early on! Still, the turn of events cost me the game, and landed me in third. Tili got caught up building large cities which couldn't be finished in time (one had a cathedral, giving her no points for her efforts).
All in all, I liked how the expansion affected the game. It's interesting how the rules changes are minimal, but the strategies can become very different. It's also interesting how difficult in can be to complete large cities in a 5 player game (since there are 4 players trying to keep you from finishing anything substantial).
My only complaint would be that it seems a little long... It might make sense to take away a number of random tiles equal to the number added in by the expansions.
Kozure won that one... He stayed ahead by consistently scoring points (although never huge amounts) while still placing enough farmers to not get beat at the endgame (neither Luch's King nor Shemp's Robber were enough to give them the lead, but it seems that these would often otherwise determine the game winner)
I think I might lower my LOTR Risk score somewhat, it's a bit TOO random.
Hell froze over.
Pigs Flew.
The Shempuzelans and the Easylanders buried the hatchet.
At a critical point in last night's game of Lord of the Rings Risk, they came to an agreement to not repeat old mistakes... to avoid fighting each other ceaselessly and recklessly... to instead form a pact and unleash a power heretofore unknown upon the the others (who routinely benefit from our squabling). Kozure and Luch's response? Ummm, they formed a pact too. No matter! Luch's forces wer already nearly decimated. Victory was at hand for the Shempo-Easy alliance!
However, luck being such an important part of this game, the tides didn't turn evenly. While both the Easylanders and Shempuzelans rolled over their hapless opponents (Luch was eliminated entirely on the second last round), Kozure, with the last turn of the game, piled up his forces for ONE LAST MARCH. Sadly for the Shempuzelans, it was horribly effective. They lost 50% of their territory, and dropped to 3rd place because of it.
Will the alliance hold next week, or was it just a flash in the pan? We'll see next week.
In less dramatic news, we also played a game of Carcassone, with the River AND the King and Scout AND the Inns and Cathedrals expansions. Both made a significant difference in the game, although I would say our strategies didn't totally reflect that. In further plays, we would probably try harder to take the new elements into account (for example, even though it was known that whomever had the King at the end of the game received 1 point for each completed city, many 2 tile cities were constructed). The robber changed hands frequently throughout the game, but the King was mine for 99% of it, until LUCH STOLE IT FROM ME ON HIS LAST TURN BY DRAWING A HIGHLY IMPROBABLE TILE. Of course, I can't be too surprised... I was holding the king on a measly 4 tile city I built very early on! Still, the turn of events cost me the game, and landed me in third. Tili got caught up building large cities which couldn't be finished in time (one had a cathedral, giving her no points for her efforts).
All in all, I liked how the expansion affected the game. It's interesting how the rules changes are minimal, but the strategies can become very different. It's also interesting how difficult in can be to complete large cities in a 5 player game (since there are 4 players trying to keep you from finishing anything substantial).
My only complaint would be that it seems a little long... It might make sense to take away a number of random tiles equal to the number added in by the expansions.
Kozure won that one... He stayed ahead by consistently scoring points (although never huge amounts) while still placing enough farmers to not get beat at the endgame (neither Luch's King nor Shemp's Robber were enough to give them the lead, but it seems that these would often otherwise determine the game winner)
I think I might lower my LOTR Risk score somewhat, it's a bit TOO random.
Thursday, February 03, 2005
Sauron. Tough.
This week saw an edition of WAGS dedicated to the German master designer Reiner Knizia (He is responsible for some of my favorite games, particularly Tigris & Euphrates). The games for the evening were Lord of the Rings (With Sauron expansion), and Modern Art
In keeping with the german theme, we had delicious sausage with sauerkraut(less related, but still close, were mushroom and cabbage filled perogies)!!!
First up was Sauron. Some of the group had experience with the base game (as well as Friends and Foes), but Shemp in particular hadn't really played. Even to those familiar with the original, this was the first time we had played this particular expansion. Still, despite the warning in the rules (and Kozure's pleading), I went ahead and included all the bad tiles in our first go around... Of ocurse, I was later nominated to play Sauron, so that worked out just fine.
Since we haven't really played the original at a WAGS session, I'm going to start with my impressions of that. This is a game which really took me by surprise when I first played it. It's cooperative (all players work toghether to beat the game), which is highly unusual. It's a very abstract representation of the story. The boards are really attractive, and the corruption track is very appealing to me, but I was skeptical that all the "theme" provided by these things might be undermined by such an abstracted system. After playing a few times I feel that this game is not only very good, but actually accomplishes many things few games manage to do. I'll start with a complaint: the game is loaded with a few too many bits (cards of various functions, multiple boards, various tokens and minis, "money", the Ring, etc) and rules to go with each one. This gives the game a very "fiddly" feeling which I don't normally associate with Knizia's games. It also takes up a lot of space, with many distinct piles all over the place.
In a nutshell, aach player takes on the role of a hobbit, and collectively they work together to journey to Mount Doom to destroy the ring, without being killed, discovered by Sauron or corrupted by the Ring. A series of boards represent the various steps in the storyline, and markers on those boards identify the progress of the hobbits in various "main" and "Sub" missions. A track down the side of each board describes the nasty events which could occur in that scenario if the hobbits are unlucky and/or take too long. Players must randomly select tiles to see if the good or bad tracks advance, and then play cards out of their hands to help move things in the direction they want things to go. Money, represented as shields, can be accumulated to purchase "Gandalf" cards at any time, providing much needed reinforcements. The Ring can be put on to advance on a particular track without activating the spaces... at the cost of possible corruption. Resources representing firends and items can be picked up here and there to help the hobbits along. All the while, a "corruption" track starts with the hobbits at one end and Sauron on the other. If the ringbearer ever meets Sauron, the game ends. It's a very difficult quest, which basically boils down to management of a hand of cards and resources on the table (with an eye towards the bad things on the horizon and a strategy to overcome eahc scenario). Another interesting aspect is that the game plays solo quite well, and goes right up to 5 players (with very different strategies at each number).
This is the only game I've ever played which successfully conveyes a sense of desperation and a need for effective cooperation. It manages to create tension from the very beginning (It would have been very unfortunate if the first three boards were easy and/or irrelevant and things only got interesting at the end). When I play, I get a sense of how difficult the quest really is in the books. By the time I've crossed Moria, I often feel like there is no possible way I can make it. Still, there are many opportunties for reinforcements as the game progresses and if you play smart it is possible to finish successfully.
The Sauron expansion brings a whole new level of challenge. The players are no longer working together against the mechanics of the game. A player takes on the role of Sauron and can pay attention to the discussions and actions of the players and react to their weaknesses as they become apparent. The game also introduces a new threat on the corruption track... a Nazgul token which races towards the Ringbearer, and then races back to Mordor. If this happens before the end of the scenario, the game ends. Last, but not least, are a large number of new "Bad" tiles to throw into the mix to make the game even harder (the flipside of adding the extra tiles is that a player is no longer forced to accept the tile they draw... they can reject it and draw again. Unfortunately, they must take the second tile).
I REALLY liked the expansion. Playing Sauron is not easy, as opportunites are limited (he acts in a limited way at the beginning of each players turn. He only plays in his full capacity when players must roll the die... something they will work very hard never to have to do). It is very difficult to have the Nazgul reach the hobbits and return to Mordor in the course of one scenario (however, knowing what I know now, I would try to save that for the end when the hobbits are much closer. Seems obvious now!). On the other hand, I think that Sauron is likely to win most games, and the goal would be to see HOW FAR THE HOBBITS CAN GET (for score keeping, the Hobbit's score might be the space they were when they died, and Sauron's score would be 60-the highest hobbit's score, assuming "60" is the highest possible score. It might also be appropriate to shift his one way or the other to account for the relative difficulty of disposing of the players early... maybe 80-the highest hobbit's score, for example.) The additional black tiles make the game even harder than it normally would be. The new odds for getting a "good" tile drop from 50% to 20%, but in return the hobbits get to control their fate somewhat. While the net effect is certainly not in the hobbit's favour, I think that the choices make the system more balanced than it seems. Kozure, Shemp and Luch seemed very discouraged by the difficulty, however, so I think next time we'll try without them (personally, since I would be playing for a score rather than to "beat" the game, I would prefer to play WITH the extra tiles since I enjoy the added level of decision making, and the less predetermined series of events... but I can definitely see the other point of view).
Predictably, I won as Sauron. The hobbits did get all the way to Mordor, however, which means they were probably playing much better than I was.
Exhausted from the experience of Sauron, we moved on to Modern Art. I enjoyed it, as always, and even managed to pull a win (although slim, with Luch hot on my tail). As in Traders of Genoa, we are getting better at actually making money in this game. I still don't think I fully grasp how to swing the dynamics of the game in my favour as much as I could, but I'm learning! A fun game.
Ratings:
Lord of the Rings: 8.5
Lord of the Rings, Sauron Expansion: 8.5
In keeping with the german theme, we had delicious sausage with sauerkraut(less related, but still close, were mushroom and cabbage filled perogies)!!!
First up was Sauron. Some of the group had experience with the base game (as well as Friends and Foes), but Shemp in particular hadn't really played. Even to those familiar with the original, this was the first time we had played this particular expansion. Still, despite the warning in the rules (and Kozure's pleading), I went ahead and included all the bad tiles in our first go around... Of ocurse, I was later nominated to play Sauron, so that worked out just fine.
Since we haven't really played the original at a WAGS session, I'm going to start with my impressions of that. This is a game which really took me by surprise when I first played it. It's cooperative (all players work toghether to beat the game), which is highly unusual. It's a very abstract representation of the story. The boards are really attractive, and the corruption track is very appealing to me, but I was skeptical that all the "theme" provided by these things might be undermined by such an abstracted system. After playing a few times I feel that this game is not only very good, but actually accomplishes many things few games manage to do. I'll start with a complaint: the game is loaded with a few too many bits (cards of various functions, multiple boards, various tokens and minis, "money", the Ring, etc) and rules to go with each one. This gives the game a very "fiddly" feeling which I don't normally associate with Knizia's games. It also takes up a lot of space, with many distinct piles all over the place.
In a nutshell, aach player takes on the role of a hobbit, and collectively they work together to journey to Mount Doom to destroy the ring, without being killed, discovered by Sauron or corrupted by the Ring. A series of boards represent the various steps in the storyline, and markers on those boards identify the progress of the hobbits in various "main" and "Sub" missions. A track down the side of each board describes the nasty events which could occur in that scenario if the hobbits are unlucky and/or take too long. Players must randomly select tiles to see if the good or bad tracks advance, and then play cards out of their hands to help move things in the direction they want things to go. Money, represented as shields, can be accumulated to purchase "Gandalf" cards at any time, providing much needed reinforcements. The Ring can be put on to advance on a particular track without activating the spaces... at the cost of possible corruption. Resources representing firends and items can be picked up here and there to help the hobbits along. All the while, a "corruption" track starts with the hobbits at one end and Sauron on the other. If the ringbearer ever meets Sauron, the game ends. It's a very difficult quest, which basically boils down to management of a hand of cards and resources on the table (with an eye towards the bad things on the horizon and a strategy to overcome eahc scenario). Another interesting aspect is that the game plays solo quite well, and goes right up to 5 players (with very different strategies at each number).
This is the only game I've ever played which successfully conveyes a sense of desperation and a need for effective cooperation. It manages to create tension from the very beginning (It would have been very unfortunate if the first three boards were easy and/or irrelevant and things only got interesting at the end). When I play, I get a sense of how difficult the quest really is in the books. By the time I've crossed Moria, I often feel like there is no possible way I can make it. Still, there are many opportunties for reinforcements as the game progresses and if you play smart it is possible to finish successfully.
The Sauron expansion brings a whole new level of challenge. The players are no longer working together against the mechanics of the game. A player takes on the role of Sauron and can pay attention to the discussions and actions of the players and react to their weaknesses as they become apparent. The game also introduces a new threat on the corruption track... a Nazgul token which races towards the Ringbearer, and then races back to Mordor. If this happens before the end of the scenario, the game ends. Last, but not least, are a large number of new "Bad" tiles to throw into the mix to make the game even harder (the flipside of adding the extra tiles is that a player is no longer forced to accept the tile they draw... they can reject it and draw again. Unfortunately, they must take the second tile).
I REALLY liked the expansion. Playing Sauron is not easy, as opportunites are limited (he acts in a limited way at the beginning of each players turn. He only plays in his full capacity when players must roll the die... something they will work very hard never to have to do). It is very difficult to have the Nazgul reach the hobbits and return to Mordor in the course of one scenario (however, knowing what I know now, I would try to save that for the end when the hobbits are much closer. Seems obvious now!). On the other hand, I think that Sauron is likely to win most games, and the goal would be to see HOW FAR THE HOBBITS CAN GET (for score keeping, the Hobbit's score might be the space they were when they died, and Sauron's score would be 60-the highest hobbit's score, assuming "60" is the highest possible score. It might also be appropriate to shift his one way or the other to account for the relative difficulty of disposing of the players early... maybe 80-the highest hobbit's score, for example.) The additional black tiles make the game even harder than it normally would be. The new odds for getting a "good" tile drop from 50% to 20%, but in return the hobbits get to control their fate somewhat. While the net effect is certainly not in the hobbit's favour, I think that the choices make the system more balanced than it seems. Kozure, Shemp and Luch seemed very discouraged by the difficulty, however, so I think next time we'll try without them (personally, since I would be playing for a score rather than to "beat" the game, I would prefer to play WITH the extra tiles since I enjoy the added level of decision making, and the less predetermined series of events... but I can definitely see the other point of view).
Predictably, I won as Sauron. The hobbits did get all the way to Mordor, however, which means they were probably playing much better than I was.
Exhausted from the experience of Sauron, we moved on to Modern Art. I enjoyed it, as always, and even managed to pull a win (although slim, with Luch hot on my tail). As in Traders of Genoa, we are getting better at actually making money in this game. I still don't think I fully grasp how to swing the dynamics of the game in my favour as much as I could, but I'm learning! A fun game.
Ratings:
Lord of the Rings: 8.5
Lord of the Rings, Sauron Expansion: 8.5
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