Gaming – Page 2 – Eclectic Doctor

studio cafe IMG_5983

Sometimes life feels really full. Those aren’t bad times, in fact they can be very rewarding times. But it is a fine line that separates feeling productive and feeling like you are sinking under the weight of it all. This was one of those weekends where I stood precariously on that line.

Sharon and I poured on the steam to get the basement finished, at least functionally finished. That meant sanding all the drywall in the last room as well as in the stairwell, priming everything, and painting. I managed to finish up the sanding and move my chop saw out of the main room on Saturday (I’ll bring it back to finish up the trim this week). We had lots of other things on the go so the order of when we completed tasks is a bit of a blur. I managed to prime and caulk everything Sunday after church. I was also able to do a prime check which I would quickly prime this morning. Then I started in on the ceiling paint while Sharon sealed the stairwell, this was necessary because previous owners were heavy smokers and the last owners sealed the ceilings but not the walls so that now the nicotine in the walls is starting to emerge! Not pleasant. We did not want to have that happen in the new basement so all of the existing drywall has been sealed.

We had just enough ceiling paint for the game room (main area). We did not have enough wall paint to finish the walls in the game room, although I almost managed the second coat. I’m going to pick up some more paint tomorrow and finish the job, I think Robert is coming by to help me install trim. Oh and tomorrow is already packed with the car going in for repairs in the morning and a Skype call with my good friend Beth Stovell in the afternoon. But I am motivated to finish because I ordered the Kallax shelving which arrives Thursday Afternoon! Finally my games will have a new home.

So add to all of that preparing worship for our small group tonight, going to small group, visiting with my buddy Kadry to see his kitchen upgrades, Sharon taking in Les Miserables, and a surprise flat tire (not one, but two screws!). It was a pretty full long weekend.

In the picture my buddy Richard Dufault and I are battling my dark Jedi daughter Chelsea. This was from a photoshoot Richard did for us to promote a game Chelsea and I developed called Quack, Quack, Duck!

With creatures and cunning, you'll rule a fantastic forest kingdom in the ultimate asymmetric game of adventure and war.

I have a couple of regular gaming groups, one that is primarily role playing and the other that mixes things up. Our mix it up group got together tonight to try out a print-and-play version of Root: A Game of Woodland Might and Right which my friend Richard backed on KickStarter. Root pits various woodland critters (armies of them) against each other in a quest for points. The game is asymmetric in nature meaning that each race (cats, birds, little critters, vagabonds) has different mechanics for how it generates points. Asymmetric games are great fun when they are balanced, and with only one play through I’m skeptical about the balance in Root but I need to try it a few more times to really make that call.

I really liked the art and the theme, those make the game super interesting. Even the different ways that each race operated proved interesting. Each player fights over clearings which are assigned to the factions of bunny, fox, and mouse (the bird faction is a wildcard). Having clearings of specific factions helps you to be able to perform actions. I played cats so started with units all over the board, but being spread out left me deceptively vulnerable, especially when the birds really got going. The combat is fairly elegant, roll two four-sided dice and the defender inflicts the lower number of damage and the attacker the higher. There are a few other rules around combat, but it is fairly quick. I think this game has real potential, although my first play through was not that satisfying.

I disliked two aspects of Root. The first aspect is the inclusion of special victory condition cards. These cards change up the dynamic fairly quickly, but choosing the wrong card is devastating. I ended up in a no-win situation early on in the game. I spent the majority of the game knowing I couldn’t win and trying to find some other meaning in the game play. This was my mistake, but for a game to have such a costly mistake potential right at the beginning of the game might require some tweaking (either seed them deeper in the deck or remove them altogether).

The other thing I disliked was the potential for analysis paralysis with the races. This is especially evident with the birds. The other races start off with a fairly simple action, but the birds need to make a decision that will effect their whole turn. I think it is a cool mechanic but the result is that whenever we hit the bird player the game ground to a halt. The birds easily took 3 or 4 times the amount of time the rest of the players together spent each turn. And this was not even with our slowest gamer present (he missed the game tonight). So while it is a very interesting mechanic, there needs to be a way to streamline it.

Maybe things will improve now that we know the game. We’ll have to see. I must say that I am dreading a play through with our slowest player. Often we get to play a couple small games in an evening as well a longer game, not tonight. I’m keen to see the production values of the final game. Root has some real potential. I’ll let you know if things improve next time we play it.

Category: Gaming

The Hectic/Productive Life

Trying Out a New Game