Review: Firefly: The Game by Aaron Dill, John Kolaleski, and Sean Sweigart

Firefly: The Game - Gale Force Nine

Holy mackerel this game has a lot of stuff! Our last outing in the verse used all off it! Two expansion boards, too many Reavers, close to a million cards (slight exaggeration) this game actually barely fit on the table. In fact I wouldn't recommend playing this on an inferior table, you need the space or you will lose track of things, like your ship upgrades, etc. I did find that with the latest expansion the game is now solidly in the Ameritrash gaming category - that isn't bad, I really enjoy the odd Ameritrash game, but it does mean I'll hesitate to bring it to the table because it inevitably means a late night of gaming.

The other thing this game has in spades is theme. I can't think of another Intellectual Property(IP) game that so captures the sense of the IP. Even if you don't do well in this game, you got to fly around the Verse doing jobs and watching your profits evaporate. Although this might be frustrating for the more competitive players, you can almost always find something worth doing even if it doesn't score you the big win. I should say that with every expansion in it was easier to have an unsatisfying pull of jobs though. This might be one game that I prefer to play with less than a full compliment of expansions - even though each expansion adds a good deal of fun to the game, just not all of them at once please.

Likes: Beautiful components, brilliant theme, enjoyable play even when you do not win. 

Dislikes: Too much stuff with all the expansions in, takes up a lot of table real estate.

Fun: When you enjoy yourself even when losing a game then you know the game is fun. 
Quality: The miniatures are big and beautiful (although a spot of glue would help them stay on their bases), the cards and cardboard is premium quality. Which is good because there is a lot of it. 
(re)Playability: The game could use a few more scenarios. The fact that it is a beast to set up (even just the basic game) and being a long playing game means this game hits the table less often. 

Dungeon World Encounter Decks

I am running a Kickstarter campaign for a companion product to the Dungeon World role playing game. If you are doing any sort of fantasy role playing you should consider backing this product. Dungeon World is about fiction first, so the cards give you flavour and can be adapted into any system. One of my backers was telling me that he plans to use the cards in his Numenera campaign as a way of quickly generating encounters and items.

Review: Dominion by Donald X Vaccarino

Dominion - Rio Grande Games

Dominion, including all of its many expansions, is probably the most played game in our house, and has been for years. This is the game that really set off the deck builder mechanic craze. It is such a simple mechanic too: use the coins in your hand to buy cards that give you more spending power or other game effects (like multiple buys or attacks that force your opponent to discard cards) or victory cards. The trick is knowing when to buy what - buy those victory cards too soon and you end up with a hand of green unable to act, effectively slowing down your progress. The game ends when the most valuable victory cards have been bought up (or any three piles of cards are depleted).

Although this game is so great, not all the expansions fit everybody. My oldest daughter does not like attack cards - for her she'd prefer a game of competitive solitaire. Also we have a few friends who don't like the more complicated (wordy) cards of the later sets - so they are happiest with games from the basic set and maybe some simpler cards thrown in. Personally I like them all, but I'm less enamored with some of the more vicious attack cards in the Intrigue expansion. Also it is pretty much the consensus among my friends that Alchemy is their least favourite expansion (even though I quite enjoy it). With all the options and well themed expansions Dominion is sure to remain a staple of our gaming for years to come.

One other thing worth noting, there are some great digital tools for helping you shuffle up a great selection of Dominion cards from all the expansions you own.

Likes: Tremendous replay value, easy to teach, complexity can scale to players abilities and preferences quite easily.

Dislikes: With all the expansions this is a beast to lug around.

Fun: This game is always fun, even when you get a combination of cards that makes for a painfully long game, winning is just all that more satisfying.
Quality: We use our game constantly, and the cards show it. We've also taken the game with us to conferences where new players are less kind to components. But I have to say that the cards have held up very well. Also the other components, like metal tokens, are of amazing quality. Kudos to Rio Grande for production value.
(re)Playability: Every game of Dominion is different! This is probably the biggest reason that we keep playing this game over and over.

EDIT: Right after posting this I found out about Dominion Adventures. Picked it up and we've taken it out for a spin. Right off the bat we were disappointed with the quality of the cards. They are thinner. Some of the new mechanics are great though, not sold on the events, but the variation on duration cards is quite fun. But I'm still not happy with the component quality.

EDIT: Since this time we picked up Dominion Empires. I think this the best expansion to date. Card quality is back to the original. Events have grown on me. The debt mechanic actually adds something that feels new to the game. Also I am able to get all of the cards into the base box and the alchemy box (no room for more though) and I have a smaller box for the rule books, player mats, and tokens. Much easier to lug around.

Review: Super Motherload by Gavin Brown and Matt Tolman

Super Motherload[SIC] - Roxley Games

The ecofeminist in me hates that I love mining the heck out of Mars searching for a mother lode of minerals and fun! I'll live. Apparently there was a video game version of this, but I'm not much of a video gamer so I missed that. This game plays like a video game, but I mean that in a good way (not a 4th edition D&D way). Players take turns drilling and blasting their way through the mineral rich Martian planet, picking up awesome power-ups along the way and steadily improving their drilling team. The scrolling playing board just adds to the video game ambiance. This is Dig Dug for board gamers. The one daunting aspect of the game is that there is a lot to keep track of, so the game straddles that space between light gaming and serious strategy game - which actually works well with the theme. I discovered this game at the Geek Market (thanks Cardboard Kingdom!) and after a few plays it made my must buy list. Since I picked up a copy it hasn't made it to the collection room yet, just sits ready to play in a pile of favourites in my gaming room. I am in no hurry to find it a home on the shelves.

Likes: Rich theme, great strategy, great art. 

Dislikes: Box doesn't give you enough information to want to try the game (why is there no picture of the game on it?), 

Fun: There is something so satisfying to digging out the minerals, making that awesome combo move with the gem duplicator, and snagging the last fossil before your opponent does. This game is great fun.
Quality: All the components, from the box to the punch out pieces, are high quality. The game shipped with great plastic bags for organizing everything, nice touch.
(re)Playability: With double sided boards and four different work crews, the game offers lots of variety and replayability.

Review: Dread by Epidiah Ravachol and woodelf

Dread - The Impossible Dream

I'm a huge fan of the horror genre in gaming. Call of Cthulhu is a staple. But one thing that is hard to do in a horror game is get a consistent sense of tension. Dread does this brilliantly. Using a Jenga® tower (or reasonable facsimile) every risky move carries a huge amount of tension, and this tension builds with every twist and turn in the story.

I've had a chance to not only play the game, but to run a few games. Using the 13 scenario as well as one I've developed myself (Madame LouLou's Haunted Wax Museum) I've sent a couple different groups on terror romps. When running 13 I was amazed at how much fun the group of teens playing the game had being brutally slaughtered.

The character is all narrative, you simply answer up to 13 questions about yourself (the character self you want to play). Based on these questions, read by you and the GM, you have the parameters for engagement and integration into the story experience. The last question is always, what is your name? This approach should give you a hint that this is not a statistics based system. It runs more like a scripted Fiasco.

The game is broken into several acts. Each act contains its own set of dangers (where the players need to make pulls on the tower) and clues that move the story along. While there is a happy ending possible, it is not likely to happen for the bulk of your players. But that is what makes this game charming. Each act has scenes, basically set-ups for little story happenings. For example one of the scenes in the Madame LouLou's involves a description of a room (enough to make them want to look around) and then an event that can happen which puts one or more of them at risk. The final act usually has some sort of showdown with lots of danger but also a possible resolution.

The one drawback to this system is that it eliminates players. When you topple the tower your character is eliminated from the game in some way. A good storyteller will find ways to keep them engaged in the story until the end (especially whoever dies first). But this requires imagination and confidence. The book though is a veritable smorgasbord of tips to help run a great game - definitely worth the purchase even if you just steal the ideas for other games.

Likes: Best horror role playing experience ever. 

Dislikes: There are a lot of ways an inexperienced GM could create a less than satisfying game experience, this is probably not the game for every group. 

Fun: This is story telling indie role playing at its finest. With the right group the game is hugely fun and satisfying.
Quality: The rulebook is excellent, the game itself is simple and contained on a four page cheat sheet downloadable from the Dread site, but the rulebook gives you 92 more pages of pure role playing gold.
(re)Playability: The scenarios are not easily replay-able. There are only four official scenarios available. I've found a few online so they are out there, but this means creating your own scenarios. Fortunately, this is not that difficult. It requires a bit of work though - I aim for three hour one-shot sessions which is basically three acts. I wrote the bulk of Madam LouLou's in a day, but a full day. This game is not really conducive to campaign play.

Summer is Almost Here

Yeah, I know it is summer already. But I have one more week of lectures to deliver and then I will be on my break. We are hoping to rent a cottage to have friends up and  play games, games, and more games!

I've been a bit too busy to post here, but some of that busyness has been gaming. I've had a chance to play Betrayal at House on the Hill for the first time. The games plays quite nicely, I need to play a bunch more before I can review it though. That's been on my boardgame bucket list forever.

For my birthday this year we kept things quiet, had a few friends over (our regular small group from church) and played an oldie - Ticket to Ride. That game still holds up, it was one of our first eurogames and the first one that the whole family came to love. It still hits the table a couple times a year which is a lot of mileage.

This weekend I'll be trying out the Gumshoe RPG for the first time. I'll be a player for a change and we are playing a Trail of Cthulhu one shot via the Ottawa Pen and Paper Gamers group. Should be a lot of fun.

So what are your summer gaming plans?

CanGames and Open Gaming

It is that time of year again, May long weekend and CanGames (which I think is Canada's longest running gaming con, they've been going since 1977!) I try to make it to CanGames every year, even though it comes right before Congress. The last couple of years I've run Dungeon World at the con, showing off our Dungeon World Encounter Decks and telling outrageous fantasy stories with interesting people. This year I connected with the Ottawa/Indie Games folks, played some great indie games and got to meet some really cool people. The picture is Jason Pitre (creator of Spark) masterfully running a very creepy game of Dread. The setting was a sleepover that went very sideways. The Ottawa Story gamer have a great mechanism they use with all these games, it is simply an X on a card. If at any point the game goes someplace anyone is not comfortable with you pick up the card, the play stops, adjustments are made and you continue. I saw it happen once. No judgment, it made sure the game remained enjoyable for everyone. I'm going to have to run Dread for my oldest daughter's friends, I'll get some pics and to a review. They love scary stories!

I also played Derek Gour's Hope Inhumanity which was fantastic. I picked up a copy so I'll definitely take that to my regular gaming group and get their impressions. This game takes place in a post-apocalyptic setting (you get to create that together) and you are trying to travel to a place you hope will be a haven. Along the way you risk and express your humanity to survive. Lots of tough choices, this game is a great piece of collaborative storytelling using cards to move the narrative along. I also got to hang out with Derek and play Super Motherload which was my big game purchase for the con. So much fun!

My one regret is that I didn't get to play Dog Eat Dog. I linked the review that made me want to play that one. Unfortunately I was booked to run Dungeon World during the time when Jason Pitre was running Dog Eat Dog. Next con for sure.

Review: Lanterns by Christopher Chung

Lanterns: The Harvest Festival - Foxtrot Games

My initial reaction to hearing about this game was exactly like my daughters - "Lanterns? That doesn't sound very exciting." But I followed the kickstarter, I love Canadian games, and decided to take a chance on a game that looked like it might be fun. Yesterday I came home to my second kickstarted game in a week (I'll post a review of Space Junk soon). As it was Monday I knew the boys were coming over so I reviewed the rules. The game is quite simple, elegant even. You place tiles in order to gain and give out coloured lantern cards allowing you to score victory points. So the main mechanic is set creation, which is a staple of great card games. However, the generous nature of the game, when I gain cards I also give cards to the other players, makes this game so gentle and friendly. We played it a couple of times at the beginning of the night and finished off the night with it as well. I would normally wait a bit to review the game, but this is a solid addition to my collection, and I can see this hitting the table a lot.

Likes: Great theme, tranquil game, close scores each time, beautiful wooden components. 

Dislikes: The cool first player token seems superfluous, only four players (but this is a limitation of the tile shape). 

Fun: There is a lot of strategy possible but even without that just placing the tiles is great fun. In fact I'd go so far as to say this is one of the more relaxing games I've played.
Quality: The paper components are average quality, the wooden components are wonderful. The mechanics are simple and easy to teach.
(re)Playability: It is still early to say, there are no components that one would get tired of seeing, such as tiles with special abilities. It has the makings of a modern classic.

Review: Numenera by Monte Cook

Numenera - Monte Cook Games

Numenera is a really rich adventure setting. The Cypher System is an innovative twist on the venerable d20 role playing system. You have three stats: Might, Speed, and Intellect. These stats function as both the basis for your d20 rolls but also as a life pool which you can expend to help you make rolls and at the same time represent your health. This is a much better implementation of the core mechanic in the Warrior Cats RPG. The emphasis in Numenera is on exploration not combat. This might be daunting for traditional role players, especially GMs who are used to orienting their adventures around combat and conflict. For the player the game encourages creative resolution of problems. To meet the demands of the focus on exploration the setting requires a lot of commitment, from the GM, to be able to run this game.

Likes: Rich setting, innovative mechanic which simulates real effort very well. Great sense of danger despite the emphasis not being on combat. 

Dislikes; Commitment level for GMing. 

Fun: This is a fun game, good sense of danger and encourages creative problem solving.
Quality: Our GM raves about the support material for Numenera. The only thing I've disliked is the very artsy character sheets, but better options are available online. The artwork is great. The mechanics are solid.
(re)Playability: We've been playing this off and on since the books came out (our group all bought into the Kickstarter) and have only really scratched the surface of the setting.

Review: Flash Point by Kevin Lanzing

Flash Point - Indie Boards & Cards

I'm a huge fan of cooperative board games and I've been wanting to play Flash Point for ages. I finally picked it up at Awesome Adventure Academy. I am not disappointed. The theme is quite immersive, and the tension (the best part of a cooperative game) is great. For some reason I almost always end up crushed in the building with it falls, I'm glad that is not the win condition. This game instantly won my kids over, so it has hit the table a lot lately. My oldest will even beg me to play when it is just the two of us. She is not as much of a fan of the advanced rules though, which helps because this game is best with three or more players. Having fewer players makes it hard to be all the places you need to be when the fire starts spreading.

Likes: Immersive theme, simple mechanics, great tension, ability to gradually implement advanced rules.

Dislikes: Some of the advanced rules are seem to over-complicate the game.

Fun: Very fun with a great theme and good tension.
Quality: The components are great, cute firefighter miniatures, The board needed some coaxing to sit flat.
(re)Playability: Lots of replay value with incrementally adding advanced rules and ramping up the difficulty level. It is one of those games that you can't play just once in a sitting.

Review: Harbour by Scott Almes

Harbour - Tasty Minstrel Games.

This game is a great light introduction to worker placement games. You have one worker, a brilliant laser cut wooden pirate, and each turn you go to a building and use the buildings ability. This allows you to collect resources (Stone, Wood, Livestock, and Fish) which you can ship for money to buy buildings for your personal tableau. The economy mechanic and the heavy use of icons is a bit overwhelming for new gamers, but after a few rounds these mysteries are readily solved. Because it plays quickly and has a good deal of strategy involved this game will hit the table a lot, especially as we are waiting for the whole gang of gamers to arrive.

Likes: Quick setup and game play, quality parts, great theme, good amount of strategy. 

Dislikes: Icons make the game seem more complicated than it is which can discourage new players. 

Fun: very fun with a great theme.
Quality: Panda printing did an awesome job with the components and box.
(re)Playability: this game is already hitting the table a lot whenever a short game is needed, there is a lot of replay value in the box!