We had fun last night playing card games and board games. I needed the distraction and it was really enjoyable.
See here for a description of the games we played.
We played two shifts of Lord of the Fries and its a fun Card game… Although when played with several players (we were 6 for the second shift) the game slowed down perceptively and several players couldn’t play their hands (The rules mention that).
In such cases, fun was saved by inter player banter and Zombie jokes.
Someone mentioned that it was a good game but that only 2 players were really playing it each shift. I’d say that’s somewhat accurate. Control of the game usually shifts between a few players with luckier hands and then later in the game it shifts to another pair.
All in all, I’d replay that game again.
The we played one game of Knock, Knock. It was cutthroat as we liked it to be (and also very crude). The game ended up being exceedingly close. I lost by one point!
Two of our friends felt like playing some Magic the Gathering so we split the group in two. The remaining four of us: Yan, Eric, Marco (Stef’s Son) and I, played a game of Red Dragon Inn. It is a cute game with several reversals of fortunes.
However, if a player gets knocked out early, there’s a significant delay where he sits out the rest of the game. Also, as I mentioned yesterday, once you’ve discovered what the game is about, its replay ability becomes limited.
We also played a game of Inn Fighting, the D&D Tavern Brawl game. I lhave played that game several times and I like that game. However, I’m starting to feel that my tactical choices (Who I attack) are made for me by the dice I play.
We then tackled the Exalted game. This game is a very rich (Settings wise) semi-cooperative Quest game. My friends say that it reminds them of the World of Warcraft Boardgame. You travel a world to get to quests and try to beat them by rolling your White Wolf patented dice Pool.
As the game progresses, rivals pop up on the map and you must face them or lose renown. Your resources also get depleted and you must seek the help of others to achieve harder and harder quests.
The game is supposed to end when a player completes the 3rd part of an Epic Quest and becomes the undisputed leader of the Sun or some such fluffy nonsense.
As we played the game, I became more and more tired and I had trouble concentrating. I still enjoyed it preety much. I had a particular pleasure in teasing my friend Yan (who owns the game) because he kept ignoring all the little fluffy tidbits of the game like quest text and the Biography of our rivals. I would of course take pains in reading each one I could find aloud…
I mean dude… that’s a White Wolf game… it demands to be read and appreciated for its fluff no? (I like to tease White Wolf games… I used to hate them, now I just accept that they don’t cater to my needs).
So I played from 5 PM to 10PM, a great evening all in all.
You have a great weekend
…you know my thought…
hehe!
My though on them is similar to yours with the few differences.
Red dragon inn is pretty much like a chaos multiplayer magic game with the exeption that it’s a lot more accessible. In the several games I’ve played yesterdays was the worst case of someone waiting.
Exalted: Their is fluf in that game!?!? My main bone against exalted is the character progression is almost innexistant which in the other hand kind of encourage player to cooperate at some point. The game gets pretty slow at 5 players (especially since four of the players where playing for the first time) at 3 it went a lot faster. Four players might be the sweet spot for the game.
Lord of the fry: I find the game interresting but my inner designer sense tickle at the control issue with the game. I would try a little variant where the player on the left of the one completing the order makes the next call thus preventing one player from taking complete control of the game…
Completely off-topic: My feed for the entries of this blog is now two entries late; the comments come through all right. It was three entries late, but I unsubscribed from the feed and added it again, after which google graciously discovered one more blog post. Further, the feed icon did not really work.
“However, if a player gets knocked out early, there’s a significant delay where he sits out the rest of the game.”
Often a problem with elimination games. How long does Red Dragon Inn last? I think anything chaotic with player elimination needs to last 15 minutes tops.
Yan: To quote another game designer “that way lies madness.” I tried myself to fix Lord of the Fries for some of those issues, but it never really works out. You’re better off trying to make a game from scratch with some of the same concepts you like.
Dave T. Games last blog post..Review: “Draconomicon”
Well Dave, I’m quite mad already so… 😉
@Tommi: My feed is borked beyond recognition. I might nuke it and change it back to WordPress’ standard feed.
@Yan: Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t get bored last night… I was able to check my mail! I’m more concerned of the level of fun of the game once we played a few more games.
That being said, much like Chez Geek, Inn Fighting, Talisman and Munchkin… Red Dragon Inn is likely going to be the game we play a few games, put away for 6 months and rediscover when its taken out again.
Oh and Dave as for the duration of the red Dragon inn game. One game usually last 30 to 45 minutes… Comme to think of it probably more around the 15 to 30 minutes once every one knows the game.
Inn-Fighting’s another one that was really popular with my friends, but I don’t care much for it. I actually traded it away, recently.
You should check out Three-Dragon Ante, that’s a fantastic game. Kind of like fantasy-themed poker with meaningful strategic decisions.
Asmors last blog post..Friends & Foes: The Blackguard
Asmor, that reminds me… haven’t played 3-Dragon Ante in ages, it seems. Have to dig that out.
While we’re on the other topic, your feed has been nonexistent for me for weeks. I store all my RPG feeds in my Firefox Bookmark Toolbar (which might be completely abnormal anyway) and yours has shown up as “Live Bookmark feed failed to load.” for me for quite a while. It would sure be nice to see that working again…
Gregor LeBlaques last blog post..Why, that’s a Snake Mahjicocl!
…and, as if by magic, less than two hours later it’s working again. Did you change something or is this the voodoo of blog software striking again?
Gregor LeBlaques last blog post..Why, that’s a Snake Mahjicocl!
@Asmor: I’ve heard of 3-Dragon Ante before but I’ve never seen it or played it before. I’ll have a look when next I’m in a Game store.
@Gregor: My feed is giving me hives. Its exceedingly finicky. Most of the time it links directly to my site and when I check it… poof it becomes right again. I’m seriously thinking of nuking the feedburner one and revert to the default feed of Word Press. To hell with stats!
You’re right – it must have been a temporary thing because you looked at it. Now it’s broken again.
Gregor LeBlaques last blog post..M&M character 1.2 – Enigma
I just resynched it and it works but it will likely go bad again within minutes.
As soon as I have some time I’ll try to find a permanent fix.