Tabletop & Board Games

[Yoji]

(the dinner table, approx 3pm)

Kiddo 01: what are you doing daddy
Yoji: Working on Dungeons and Dragons stuff.
01: is that the other pretend game you were talking about
Y: Yeah, I need to think about where the story will happen...
01: what if there was a really really really big tree
Y: A world tree? That's always a good-
01: and it's on a giant robot
Y: Oh, like Xenoblade? I guess we could make that-
01: but there's a bad robot that's even bigger and chasing it around the whooole world
Y: Uh okay we can
01: and there are caves with monsters and small ice robots and
Y: (internally) shit, this is all so much better than anything I came up with...!

[Büge]

Out of the mouth of babes.

[Mongrel]

The trick is letting go. That's why the only worthwhile ideas I ever get come while I'm asleep.

[nosimpleway]

Once Mongrel figures out how to post in his sleep it's over for us all

[Mongrel]

You fool! Don't give him any ideas!

[Büge]

Mongrel has been sleepposting for at least six years now

[hngkong]

Would anybody be interested in playing board games on Tabletop Simulator like we do with Jackbox?

[nosimpleway]

As with Jackbox I'm interested in doing it but will likely never have the time

[Brantly B.]

What games?

[Silversong]

I've been using Board Game Arena for online board games... but honestly I have a very low tolerance for online board games. It was bad enough when I had to stare at my friend as he took 10 minutes on his turn, it's much worse now that it's just a silent mic and me staring at nothing for 10 minutes on his turn.

[Friday]

long turn takers are the bane of my existence and when I become President I will enact legislation that requires them to have to sit in a room for 1 hour a day with nothing to do or look at until the behavior stops

[hngkong]

What games?

I donno? I mean, Tabletop Simulator has a bunch of games on the Workshop (https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/bro ... pid=286160) some of which have scripting and other nice features. There is also a community of people who have a bunch of archived/removed ones: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... oegOzz9G_N

And Silver, I totally get it, in my former in-person group, I was/am the quiet one, but we had two "let me overanalyze this move" players.

I'd rather play with you guys than some random people on the internet any day, but I also know it's not the same.

[Newbie]

I haven't had much interest in solo play games before, but Thousand Year Old Vampire recently crossed my radar, and I was taken aback by how engrossing I found it. The vampire you create is equal parts terrible and tragic; time slips past abruptly and strands you in eras and situations you're not sure how to deal with, and your memory is constantly degrading and losing details and periods of your life. If any of you have played it, I'd love to hear about your experiences.

While looking into this, I noticed I have a huge list of physical games from that humble racial justice bundle as well, so now I'm curious about any other solo-play games you've enjoyed. Do you have any particular recommendations?

[Yoji]

Has anyone taken a look at Lancer? I'm finally getting around to reading the rulebook. I've only gotten through the ground/pilot rules and it sounds rather streamlined and narrative compared to D&D.

[Blossom]

It's kind of a boring mess with a ridiculous amount of bookkeeping that also cannot be played without multiple laptops open to run character tracker software. Incredible art, kinda dull setting, incredibly rigid framework around uninspiring combat mechanics that are the majority of play.

[hngkong]

Similarly, has anyone had any experience with Ars Magica? When it was described to me, I thought it was kinda neat, but that was years ago.

[nosimpleway]

more like ARSE magica amirite

(I have no idea no experience with the system)

[Lottel]

Has anyone taken a look at Lancer? I'm finally getting around to reading the rulebook. I've only gotten through the ground/pilot rules and it sounds rather streamlined and narrative compared to D&D.

I play an ongoing campaign. It feels a lot like 4e to me. It absolutely requires a map for combat, it is a d20 system with relatively low numbers, and there's basically no out of combat rules.. If you can play d&d, you've got a pretty decent idea of what's going on.
I will say battlefield tactics, skill synergy, and teamwork definitely matter more here.

Blossom is right though in that you NEED internet connection to play. The character sheets are entirely web-based with no official physical copies. The website is nice and has some good and helpful features but it's not as friendly and intuitive as it needs to be. Also, I really hate not having a physical copy of my character. Or even a pdf. I have to go to a website and click through multiple windows.

I'm not as down on it as they are. I'm having a good time but it does have it's problems.

My character is basically Dak Rambo piloting my Shadow the Hedgehog mech. I make it do flips off walls and I leave a rainbow trail behind me when I skate so it can't be a bad game.


Edit: the yugioh thing isn't far off. I thought the same thing the other day when my buddy's mech shot a missile, activated an ability which triggered another ability which started a countdown to another ability he can use.

[mharr]

Do complex games not default to phone apps for their character sheets by now?

[Silversong]

Similarly, has anyone had any experience with Ars Magica? When it was described to me, I thought it was kinda neat, but that was years ago.

ogawd, I've played it a couple times in a couple different iterations but now I couldn't even tell you which versions of the game it was. It's had so many. I know I liked it, it has an interesting pace what with being expected to spend long swaths of time in research. I think it would take an especially good GM.

Let's shake on it hngkong, when the world exists again let's meet up at Gen Con and play all the wizard games.

...I am deeply upset by the concept of a game in which I do not have the character sheet in a format in which I can spill coffee upon.