Category: Gaming Page 1 of 2

Throwback Thursday it is! I thought it would be great to revisit my 2015 review of Dominion (Rio Grande). Dominion remains a household favourite. We recently purchased Nocturne although it will be a while before we integrate it into our set. I’ll give an update at the end of the review.

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.

dominion box

LATEST EDIT: Dominion is still our go to game as a couple. Some of the sets, like Adventures, have taken longer to get into. Sharon has decided she dislikes the Event and Landmark cards,  even though I love them. Most of the digital tools we use for picking cards let us tweak card selection to get a set that fits the groups we are with. After unboxing Nocturne we decided to shelf it for now, but we’ll get into it at the cottage I’m sure. Also we purchased a custom Dominion box from Custom Game Bits which is fantastic! 

I’ve really been enjoying the One Shot Podcast. They often have interesting players and run some awesome indie role playing games(RPGs). One of my goals this year is to play more high concept RPGs so I’m currently on the look out for new games to try. Through One Shot I get to hear a real play through of some of these games. High concept RPGs differ from your traditional RPGs in that they have a looser structure and are mechanically non-tactical. Let me unpack those ideas for you and tell you about one gem I found through One Shot: Michael Sullivan’s Everyone is John.

Most story games have some sort of structure to them which is how they keep the story going. RPGs like Dungeons and Dragons or Numenera use story modules that are prepared in advance by the Dungeon Master. Commercial and homemade story modules allow the Dungeon Master to unfold the story in a measured and manageable way. We often call this way of running a story game ‘riding the plot train’, because if the players stay relatively close to the prepared material even an inexperienced Dungeon Master(DM) can easily facilitate an awesome gaming session. The drawback to traditional RPGs is that players rarely stay on the plot train which requires a bit more DMing skill to make work. Even when players do stick to the train they can move through the material much faster than a DM can prepare it. Playing a few high concept games can help a DM develop the improvisational skills needed to deal with any challenges that the players might throw at them. A high concept RPG has very little preparation, maybe just a few story seeds that can help spark the imaginations of everyone playing. The big difference is that in a traditional RPG the players are exploring the Game Master’s (GM) story and in a high concept game you are all together creating a brand new story. 

Traditional RPGs came from wargaming which places a strong emphasis on tactics. In Dungeons and Dragons, for example, you have a specific set of skills and moves all of which can be optimized to make your character as effective as possible. We call this approach to character building power gaming and it is often a GM’s frustration. Any over emphasis on tactics can turn a story game into a murder fest. This capacity of tactical games is the reason why groups of Dungeons and Dragons characters are called murder hobos. My friend Richard muses that this tactical nature of traditional RPGs is what makes these games competitive, you compete to have the most effective character even at the expense of the story. (Personally I loved concept over effectiveness which often drove the power gamers at our tables nuts.) Everyone is John is a bit of a cheeky poke at the true competitive nature of role playing, but more on that shorty. In a high concept game there are very few tactical mechanics and resolution is not about efficiently dispatching enemies but always about advancing the story in interesting ways.

Everyone is John is definitely a high concept role playing game. There is no preparation other than simple character creation and maybe a sense of where John should start out his story. The premise of the game is that John has many voices in his head, voices that tell him what he should do and how he should do it. Sometimes John follows along with those voices, but more often John is confused and puts up resistance. As a result John is a bit of a bumbler, fumbling through an adventure not of his own making. In Everyone is John the players all play the different voices in John’s head. Each has a few skills and a set of goals they are trying to get John to accomplish. The goals are kept secret because that is how the game is competitive – each player gets points for how often they get John to do the things that voice wants John to do. The GM plays John and all the other characters. She will choose how John reacts to each voice and provide some improvisational narrative to the game. The GM will also tell the players when it is time to make a roll. One other feature of the game is that each player has a certain amount of will power, they bid with this willpower to control John at just the right time to make sure their goals are met. 

I’ve played Everyone is John a few times now and it is so much fun. I usually get the players to introduce their personalities by telling a story from John’s past that explains, at least in part, how they came to be a voice in John’s head. There are often clues about their individual goals in these stories. The real value of this exercise is that it allows the group to define who John is and how John will respond to the various voices that are about to tell John what to do. I suggest that the GM should let the players determine the order that they introduce themselves, this will allow the players who have less improvisational experience to have something to build on in terms of John’s story. Once the players have all introduced themselves the GM describes John becoming aware of where he is and the players all bid for control. After that the game will start as John strikes up a conversation in his head with the controlling player, leading John who knows where with imagination being your only limitation. This is a game I highly recommend. 

In the picture I am actually running another high concept indie RPG – Sage LaTorra’s Powers for Good. I try to play story games at least every other week.

Note: This review was originally posted on my old Jovial Gamer blog. I will move a lot of that content over to this new blog but in light of yesterday’s post I thought it fitting to include sooner rather than later. If there are games you would like to see reviewed let me know in the comments. I am always interested in trying out and talking about new games.

 I’m a huge fan of the horror genre in gaming. The Call of Cthulhu RPG is a staple in my gaming group. One thing that is hard to do in a horror game is achieve a consistent sense of tension. Dread does this brilliantly by using a Jenga® tower (or reasonable facsimile) to resolve every risky move. Every pull from the Jenga® tower is full 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 a couple scenarios I have developed myself (Madame LouLou’s Haunted Wax Museum, Arctic Fight or Flight) I have sent a couple different groups on suspenseful gaming romps. When running 13 I was amazed at how much fun the group of teens had even as their characters were being brutally slaughtered, animated clown doll riding a spider anyone?

In Dread your character is all narrative, you simply answer up to 13 questions about yourself (the character self you want to play). Based on these questions, known to 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. In fact Dread 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 often a happy ending that is 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 my Madame LouLou’s scenario involves a description of a room (enough to make them want to look around) and then an event that when it happens puts one or more of them at risk. The final act usually has some sort of showdown with lots of danger but also the possibility of a satisfying resolution.

The one drawback to this system is that Dread 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 the player who dies first). But this requires imagination and confidence. The Dread manual is a veritable smorgasbord of tips to help run a great game and is definitely worth the purchase even if you just steal the ideas for other games. I highly recommend picking up a copy of Dread especially if you are new to high-concept role playing games (those are games where the gamers are given broad concepts over specific tactical moves).

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 too difficult. It requires a bit of work though. At conferences I aim for three hour one-shot sessions which basically works out to 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.

The picture at the top is from running 13 for my older daughter’s friends. I’ve since run other Dread scenarios for these teens and Elyssa has developed a few she has run herself. Testimony to how great a game Dread really is. 

One of the things I appreciate about role playing gaming is how it can create a space for everyone to let down their guard and enjoy telling a great stories together. I was quite disturbed to read about Mysty Vander’s experience at her local gaming convention. (Here and a follow-up Here.) I felt furious reading about how Mysty was treated, but not at all surprised. I think my lack of surprise is the part that bothered me the most because I have run into the kind of jerks who belittled Mysty at gaming conventions and even in local gaming groups. As a cis-white-male I am never the target in the same way as Mysty experienced, but I have felt the unmistakable arrogant response to misunderstanding a rule or choosing a non-optimal move. The bottom line is that people who devalue the experience and contribution of others are a big problem in gaming and really have no place at the gaming table. Gaming is one of those hobbies that celebrates diversity and creativity and it should be a safe place for all people to have fun and feel normal no matter what other turmoil is going on in their lives. No one can let down their guard and join in a great story if they feel unsafe. 

I am planning on running a number of games at CanGames this year. Always on my table you will find an X-card. John Stavropoulos’ X-card lands on my table whenever I play role playing games with new groups of people. What the X-card does is allows any player to redirect the story should they feel uncomfortable with how it is unfolding. I’ve been using the X-card ever since my friend Jason Pitre introduced it during a running of Dread. He dropped the X-card within reach of everyone at the table and told us that we just needed to touch the card and whoever was telling that part of the story would simply adjust the details away from whatever was triggering the gamer who touched the card. In fact it did get used that game. Dread is a horror/suspense RPG that brilliantly uses a Jenga tower instead of dice to resolve situations. It is a fantastic game, but it can be somewhat dark at times. Jason was describing a harrowing escape by a player and mentioned that the big bad took a swipe and ripped their clothes. The player found that a bit uncomfortable so they reached for the X-card. Jason masterfully re-framed the scene and omitted the ripped clothes part. It was an easy fix, but had there been no mechanism to know that player was uncomfortable their experience of the game and even the convention might have been spoiled. Better yet, no one at the table felt off put by making that one player feel safe. In fact I think seeing the X-card in action was liberating to the players, allowing them to let down their guard and lean into the story. Personally, I’ve only had the X-card used once at my own table in several years of gaming with it, but every now and then I do need to re-direct the narrative a player starts to weave. The point is that there are always ways to make the gaming experience safe and inviting for all.

The last comment I’ll make about Mysty’s experience is that I have observed that often the worst offenders are those gamers who feel marginalized and socially awkward outside of their gaming community. For some twisted reason they take the acceptance of the gaming community as permission to make the gaming experience unsafe for others. All of us at the table are a bit insecure. All of us have some degree of social anxiety. All of us arrived here because we found acceptance and camaraderie. When we do not pay the graciousness of the gaming table forward when we make the experience unsafe. I happen to think that creating safe accepting spaces is worth fighting for. I want my gamers to feel safe enough to let down their guard and enjoy telling great stories. I want them to have a space where they do not have to justify their existence and participation, simply wanting to be there is the price of admission. So if you treat people with disdain at my table please expect to be asked to leave.

The picture above is me running Dungeon World at a local gaming convention, I am pretty sure this is from before I discovered the X-card. I love the diversity of players that end up at my gaming tables. The photo was taken by Richard Dufault. 

It has been a really big week! Big in the sense of getting a lot done but still feeling like there’s a heck of a lot left to do. The great news is that I finally have a new game room, my old game room will become our TV den and we’ll actually be able to use the fireplace. Yesterday my Ikea order arrived and this is the larger shelving space which I have dedicated to larger boardgames. There are about 30 or so large games up at the cottage that will eventually have a home here (at least when they visit). I have another unit that is half this size which is currently full of role playing accessories and small games. It looks disorganized right now so I’m thinking I’ll put doors on most of the cubbies to clean up the look. I also have a book shelf that is full of role playing games, everything from indie RPGs to Dungeons and Dragons (3.5 and 4th). The only thing I do not currently have space for is all my Injurious games terrain and miniatures, I will have to get creative for that challenge. I am thinking that I could build a bench with storage that will pull double duty as seating at my gaming table. The other idea is to build an insert that will slide into the back of my desk, I might even build both because storage is an issue at this point. Even if I purged my boardgame collection I will not have logical space for big pieces of terrain in the gaming room. Also I need to think about where to put our big Dominion box (currently on top of the RPG shelf). Sharon thinks I should build something to let us hang it on the wall, after all it is our favourite game. For now I’ll make due and enjoy building a solution in the summer.

So tonight we will try out the new gaming room. I am looking forward to hosting my bi-weekly Dungeon World game that has been on hiatus for far too long. I still need to clean up some of the painting supplies that Sharon left out, take out the boxes from the shelves, and clean up my old gaming table so that it can be brought downstairs. Oh yeah, and I still have a tonne of marking to do for school. But that should be doable for the day. I’ll post pictures when the room is all set up.