Origins: The Show

Despite the nightmare that flying to Ohio seems to be, we did eventually reach Columbus.  Jason Paul McCartan of Infinibadger Press was waiting in the airport for us - some of you may recall that he and I are engaged in a #PonyWar of exceeding viciousness.

This was the first time we'd met in person, and he'd driven to the airport multiple times over the preceding two days expecting to pick us up.

When we piled into the car with our stuff, we found a crocheted pony waiting for us. Apparently the Badger's wife decided that she wanted to be a party to the #PonyWar, too.

Steph and I were delivered safely to our hotel, and we thanked Badger several times. "It's no big deal," he told us, "You're family."

We heard that a lot over the weekend from a number of folks.

Thursday morning, we hit the exhibit hall fairly early.  The usual plan is "Do one pass without spending money and then go back later to spend."  And we mostly stuck to it.  We went back to the room and talked about every purchase we made at the entire show.

We ran into Stephan Brissaud pretty early - he's the VP of GAMA, and is the guy in charge of Iello US. He's also someone I worked with when he was with Asmodee (in fact, he's the one who first asked me to join their demo team).

We knew CMON was at the show, but we didn't see them in the exhibit hall, which confused us.  We later went back and found them in the gaming area next door.  It was Pete and Ruby and a ton of the Asmodee Demo Team in that booth.  They were all glad to see us. "You're part of the family," we were told several times.

I played Gekido: Bot Battles, and enjoyed it enough to pick it up. It's not a deep game, but it's fun. It's too long to be filler, but it's a decent enough warm up / cool down game. There are a few unexplained timing issues in the rulebook, but I expect CMON will publish a FAQ soon enough.

Pete co-designed a game with Richard Launius that I knew was going to be available at the show, so I asked him where to get it. "I'll show you," he said, and walked Steph and I over to the Indie Boards & Cards booth.  There were only a few games in the booth, but I looked straight at Pete and asked him which game was his.

I managed to keep a straight face, too, so it took him a minute before he realized I was pulling his leg.  The look on his face was priceless.  I later got him to sign my copy.

Steph and I got a sneak peek at the upcoming Cutthroat Caverns expansion. Cutthroat Caverns is one of those excellent games that I don't get to play very often. Everyone has to work together to overcome the obstacles, but only one player gets to win the game. It's very Republic of Rome or Castle Panic in that respect. The new expansion looks meaty and flavorful and awesome.

I walked past the Asmodee area a couple of times. It was really weird, because I didn't recognize a single person there. Not one. The crew were wearing a mix of uniforms - some were Asmodee shirts from years past, and some were wearing Fantasy Flight Games' "Flight Crew" shirts. But it wasn't uniform, and it (sadly) looked sloppy.

While wandering the hall, I kept getting stopped by people, too. "Hey, Eric," I'd hear, "You taught us to play [GAME] a few years ago, and you recommended [OTHER GAME], and we loved it. What are you teaching this year? Any new suggestions?"  Random people who I only vaguely recognized, because when you run 200 demos at a show, there is almost no way you will remember all of the faces.

I also demoed Rise of Tribes. It was decent enough, but I wasn't sure so I took Steph back the next day to check it out and she liked it enough to back. They'll be funding the day after this post is scheduled to go live, so if you're thinking about backing, look quickly.

"Kickstarter," is another of those words I heard a ton at the show.  "We just funded on Kickstarter," or "We're launching the Kickstarter for this shortly," or "The Kickstarter is live now," or (in a few cases), "We're currently fulfilling our Kickstarter for it, with retail copies hitting distribution shortly."

The number one question, by the way, that we asked at every booth was, "Are you in distribution?" Because getting books and games home from a show can be a huge pain, and we'd rather pay a bit more and support our Friendly Local Game Store.  If they were in distribution, we usually grabbed a business card and moved on.

I also demoed The Supershow. This game was not for me. I figured that out a few turns in, but gave it a full game just to make sure. It's because the game was so random. It's theoretically possible for one player to never get a turn.  Unlikely, but possible. And dice hate me.

Thursday evening, I went out for drinks with the Badger and discovered that I like Scottish Ale. Since I'm not a fan of beer in general, this is a useful thing to know.

Friday was more of the same, only we ran into Carol (formerly of Asmodee, now with CMON). Her face lit up and she gave us both big hugs.  She almost didn't recognize me initially, but she definitely recognized Steph.  Later in the booth, she introduced us to a few of the new people, and added, "They're part of the family."

I almost wanted to grab a CMON shirt and start working then and there, because it's a weird thing not having a set schedule at a con.

Steph and I demoed Onitama, which put it on my list to get eventually. It'd be higher on the list, but Steph beat me pretty quickly. It also has an expansion out now.  It was a surprisingly-deep game given how fast it was to teach and play.

I'd been meaning to check out Dropzone Commander since our booth was across the aisle from theirs at GenCon a few years ago, so I got a chance to sit down and play a demo.  The game has a lot going for it, but it was just a bit too fiddly for me. I definitely understand all the love it gets, though. The role specialization of each unit means that larger armies than the starter box will be significantly more interesting to play, but since no-one locally plays it, I'd need to buy whatever armies I wanted to play with or against. Or convince a friend to buy in, but that gets expensive for them, too.

That's how the whole weekend went, honestly.  On Sunday, the CMON crew invited us to join them for dinner, but Steph was asleep and I was pretty peopled out. Otherwise we absolutely would have joined in because they are family.

Over the course of the show, five different publishers/teams asked if we'd be interested in joining their demo team for GenCon or PAX Unplugged or even next year's Origins. Or other shows.  Apparently we have a rep of some sort. I almost want to eBay our services, just to see what kind of attention we can get (probably not much - getting approval to bid on eBay through your corporate office is not an easy thing to do).

On Monday, Badger picked us up and we headed to Bob Evans for lunch.  He'd been raving about it for a while, and we don't have them locally.  It was good, but I don't like it as well as he does.  It's like a cross between Shari's and IHOP.

After lunch, we headed to the airport for the trip home.

While on the way there, Steph's phone rang.  Our flight had been delayed.  When we reached the airport, we learned that it'd been delayed enough that we were going to miss our connection in Minneapolis, so we needed to be rebooked.

"I don't know what I can do," said the gate agent, "Because this is a United ticket."  We were booked to fly Delta.  Apparently when we bought the tickets, United sold us tickets on a Delta flight.

I don't know if I mentioned it in our last travel post, but we booked First Class, because I had never flown First Class before. I wanted to know what it was like.

After a bit of hemming and hawing and calling a supervisor, he got us rebooked to fly through Detroit instead on a flight that was supposed to be boarding right away.  So we grabbed our tickets and got through security as quickly as we could.  We got to the gate and discovered that the flight had been delayed.  In fact, that flight had originally been scheduled to leave before 11:00 that morning. It was now 3:00 pm.

Suddenly, we were in danger of missing our connection in Detroit.

But we got free (room-temperature) soda, water, and snacks.

After about 40 minutes, we were able to board. There were only five passengers going to Detroit at that point, everyone else having rebooked.  Spell check, by the way, hates the word "rebook," and it's very distracting.

Steph and I got off the plane and rushed to make our connection. I know I haven't mentioned this before, but Steph uses a cane to get around sometimes. Monday was one of those days. We got to the correct gate as they were about to start boarding. And ... we lost our First Class status, but we got onto the plane. We were going to be home a few hours ahead of our original schedule, so it was a mixed bag.

This sums up my thoughts pretty well:

We got home and just collapsed. It was an exhausting day, and an exhausting trip altogether.

A decade ago, I told someone "Origins is where you go to play games, GenCon is where you go to buy them."  And I stand by that statement.  There were no RPG dealers in the exhibit hall. There were RPG Publishers, but the shops that were there were all minis and board game shops.  In fact, it was impossible to buy D&D books at the show (despite an official presence there). It's probably for the best, otherwise one of the Badger's children would now own Tails of Equestria. And we would have needed a new ride to the airport.

I want to go again, but it really depends on a number of factors.

I guess we'll see.

In Days To Come

We have a long weekend coming up here in the US, and I'm going to try to take full advantage by digging out my cameras to grab some photos of some of the games we brought back from GenCon.

Games I especially want to photograph due to awesome bits:

Cyclades: Titans

Lords of Xidit

Black Fleet

Hyperborea

And then I'm going to spend a few weeks here talking about these games. And the others we brought home.

I've also been asked by several people already for my thoughts on Asmodee buying Days of Wonder.

It's big news. Two titans merging.

I'm in favor, and it can only help both parties. As you read this, please keep in mind: I have not seen the contracts. I'm speculating, here. I don't have any actual inside information about this merger (and didn't beforehand, either).

1. Both publishers have presence in some of the big box retailers - Target, Wal*Mart, Toys "R" Us - with only some overlap. The buyout strengthens both publishers' positions with regard to the mainstream toy-buying public.
2. Both publishers have dabbled in electronic/video games.  Days of Wonder has dabbled more and has been very successful.  Now their video game publishing partners may get access to a much larger library of very good games. Depending on the specifics of the contract.
3. If you look closely, there's a note in the post (and in every similar post I could find) that indicates that Days of Wonder will continue doing its thing as-is. Initially, the only difference DoW employees will notice is the signature on their paycheck will change.  In fact, it sounds like the latest game - Five Tribes - was pretty much already a collaborative effort with Asmodee.
4. I trust Asmodee. After ten years, they haven't let me down. Seriously. They're one of those companies who are putting out good games instead of just flooding the market to see what sticks.

In unrelated news, I should be at Origins next year. And GenCon. And maybe BGG.con, if Asmodee isn't tired of me by then.  It's going to be a good year to be me.  It's been a decade since I went to Origins, and Stephanie has never been. And we have friends in the area that it'll be good to see again.  I've never been to BGG.con.

I'm A Contest!

This year will be my seventh GenCon. A lot has changed over the years, mostly for the good.

For my first GenCon, I taught Dungeon Twister. There were other games in the booth (Jungle Speed, for example), but I didn't teach them.  The team was just Stephan, Christophe, Christophe, and myself.

For my second GenCon, I taught Dungeon Twister and Mall of Horror. And a couple of others. It was Christophe, Christophe, Alex, and myself.

For my third GenCon, we had a lot of games. And a much larger booth. And the team was Christophe, Steve, Stephanie, Katie, Alex, Mathieu, and myself. This was the year I spent teaching Hell Dorado. The expected big game was Mission: Red Planet, but it failed to arrive before the convention.

For my fourth GenCon, we had a comparably-sized team and we spent the time teaching Ca$h 'n Gun$ and Senji. We had a comparably-sized team (and most of the same people) as the previous GenCon, but there was one important addition this year: T-shirts. They were airbrushed front-and-back and looked like they'd been hit by a graffiti artist. They were ... okay.

For my fifth GenCon, the focus games were Ghost Stories and Formula D. And we had new T-shirts - maroon shirts that simply said "Asmodee" on the front.

For my sixth GenCon, the focus was on Claustrophobia. The shirts this year were the same as the previous year, but in red instead of maroon.

This year, Asmodee has decided that they want something on the back of their shirts. Rather than just picking something, they have decided that it's contest time. And they decided to tease me a bit in the process. You can win a game and a shirt, simply by entering their contest. Enter quickly, though - there's not much time for this one.

Timing Expansions

I think I've mentioned several times that it's a good thing I don't run a publishing company.

This week, I discovered another reason why that is: Timing expansions.

Over the last decade or so, expansions have become a more and more common an expected aspect of gaming, but each one comes with questions unrelated to game balance.

Claustrophobia is an excellent game. I have a hunch CROC has one or more expansions ready to go, but they wanted to make sure sales justified the expense of an expansion before they started work on it. Here in the US, it was a slow starter sales-wise, but those sales have started to pick up. Has it earned an expansion, yet? At what point has it earned that expansion? Is it too late to publish one? Too early?

Keep in mind: I don't have inside information on sales here. All I have is what CROC and others have said on BoardGameGeek and elsewhere.

If you release an expansion too soon, you run the risk of publishing an expansion for an unpopular game. You also run the risk of repulsing late buyers - "Am I going to have to buy expansions to play this, too?" Or of alienating completists who see it as just a money grab.

On the other hand, if you wait too long you run the risk of people moving on to other games. Three Dragon Ante went five years before its standalone expansion made it to market. I have personally seen people pick it up, see the word 'expansion,' and then put it down because they can't find the base game anywhere (it's out of print). Wizards of the Coast cost themselves sales by doing that - I had to find my copy of the base game before I was willing to spend money on the expansion (even though I could see that it was a standalone).

The best counter-example to this is, Nuclear War has been around since 1965. Nuclear Escalation hit nearly twenty years later, and did well enough that Nuclear Proliferation hit a decade after that ...

Dungeon Twister had a lot of expansions in a short time - and it was good at first, but sales apparently trailed off over time. Because putting out more and more expansions means people will start to get pickier about which expansion(s) they pick up and you'll start to see "recommend an expansion" threads on Boardgamegeek (and elsewhere).

You also need to keep in mind the designer's timing - Christophe Boelinger put out Dungeon Twister: Prison, and then moved on to other projects with Ludically (including the upcoming Earth Reborn). Has he abandoned Dungeon Twister? Has he forgotton about us? No. He'll get there.

While I'm briefly on the subject of DT, there is a poll on BoardGameGeek that I'd like you to take (if you haven't already).

It's a tricky juggling act, publishing games. It's a bit like running a store - you need to be passionate about gaming. You need to love games and gamers. But you can't lose sight of the fact that it's a business. You need to make money.

And that, my friends, is where I would fail.

The Next Few Weeks

These next few weeks are going to be a lot of fun for me:

At GenCon, Christophe with Asmodee told me that there were ten games releasing between GenCon and Christmas. That's a lot of games, so I figured it'd be a bunch of small boxes (such as you see for You Robot or Werewolves of Miller's Hollow).

I knew about Cyclades. I'd heard about Mr. Jack in New York. Of course, Dungeon Twister 2: Prison was on my radar. I knew about Ghost Stories: White Moon. I've seen the rules to Nostra City, Space Pirates, and several others, but the reality of their releases is starting to hit me.

That's a lot of big boxes!

I saw the rules to Claustrophobia a few months ago (and I now have the green light to discuss it). So I'm going to discuss it sometime soon. There is apparently one English copy in North America, and it will be at BGG.con.

I also have some magnets that I need to photograph and rave about, because they are excellent. I won them in the first GeekGold for Games Lottery, and I was so impressed that I have ordered more from the gentleman responsible.

So that's what you have to look forward to over the next short while. I hope to be far enough ahead with my posts to carry me through the holiday season, but we'll see.

Dice Town

I had one of my Twitter friends ask me what I thought of Dice Town. I explained that Twitter was not exactly the best stage for a full game review - that 140 character limit makes good reviews very difficult.

I promised him a more in-depth review here, "soon."

Those of you who read my Geeklist of games played at GenCon will have spotted that there were three games that were sprung on us shortly after arrival.

All three of them were great games - one of them was (in my opinion) the best new game in the booth. "New," in this case meaning "Learned since July 20, 2009." That includes everything included in my pre-GenCon prep shipment and the games I learned at GenCon.

Here is an overview of the first game of the three "surprise" games:

Dice Town
First of all, let me explain: Dice hate me. Games such as Yahtzee leave me completely cold because of this hate (and yes, I realize that there is a great deal of strategy to Yahtzee, if you look for it).

And yet, I love Dice Town. There's something oddly appealing about it.

I didn't have a chance to look at the game until late on Thursday - we had a guy in the booth who knew the game already, and that table was constantly busy, and frequently had a line of people waiting to demo it.

The game itself is simple: Roll the dice. Decide how many dice you want to keep. Pay the Stagecoach for every die you'll be keeping past the first. Set kept dice aside and roll the remaining dice.

Once someone has five kept dice, everyone else gets one last roll, when they are required to keep all dice (at no cost).

Then go through each stage on the board - do you have the most nines? Grab one Gold Nugget for each nine. Every number has a benefit associated with having the most of them. One player will get "General Store" cards, which have a variety of effects. One player will get to rob the bank. One player can steal a card from another player. One player becomes Sheriff and decides who wins ties.

The best hand gets the Deed to some property. If that hand has any aces, you will get some bonus Deeds.

Any player who didn't win anything else gets to vist Doc Badluck, for an additional benefit.

Once the Gold Nuggets or Property Deeds are all gone, players check their score. Each gold nugget is one point. Each dollar is half a point. Some of the General Store cards are worth points. Each property deed is worth points.

Most points wins.

I don't know what it is about this game that appeals to me. Maybe it's the fun of the poker dice. Maybe it's the fact that you can win the game without even once having the best hand.

The game is simple enough to teach in five minutes, and plays quickly enough to qualify as filler. My regular Wednesday group has asked for it for the last few weeks.

Was it the best game in the booth? No. Sorry. That was Dungeon Twister (Did you really expect a different answer from me?).

Was it the best New to Me game in the booth? No.

Was it the game which most surprised me? Yes, absolutely.

And the most telling question: Will I voluntarily play it again? Yes. Absolutely. I'll probably even play it tomorrow ...

Next week, I'll try to discuss one of the other two surprise games - it depends on PAX and how much time I have this weekend. Don't worry, though. I'll get to them eventually.

Bakong: Why I Should Never Run A Game Company

As you may or may not know, I spend a lot of time communicating with people about games, and I'm learning more and more what it takes to run a successful game company.

And I couldn't do it - there are just too many things to balance.

For example: What games would I choose to publish? Right out of the gate, Game publishers have to decide whether they are targeting the hardcore or the casual gamer. There are publishers who do both - but you need a starting point, and veering too far from the starting point loses you fans. Asmodee has managed a middle-of-the-road strategy thus far - but they had a head start, as they are France's largest game publisher and had a number of excellent games to choose from.

Even so, were I in charge, I would have made some serious mistakes. For example, I would probably not have published Jungle Speed, which was (arguably) their first US hit.

I also would have passed on Bakong as being "too simple."

Bakong is very simple:

Start by laying out the "board" - basically, make a line of tiles from the starting camp to the Temple and back.

Then roll two dice. Use one die to flip a tile somewhere in front of you and use the other to move. There are hazards which can stop your movement or hurt you. Your move may allow you to pick up one or more emeralds. You may pick up some equipment to ignore one or more of the hazards. Picking up equipment and emeralds fills your backpack, by the way. You don't have room to carry everything you want.

Either way, each turn you have one decision: Which die do I use to flip, and which one is my movement die? If you manage to obtain equipment, it adds the further question, "Which piece of equipment is best for me?"

As soon as you reach the temple, you should take the largest Emerald still there and start back. The emeralds are large and impose some severe limits on space in your pack. In fact, if you have the biggest emerald, you can't fit the best equipment. The biggest emerald also prevents you from healing.

The first player to reach the Temple and return gets a bonus tile. After that, it's a matter of waiting to score.

You score points for Emeralds (the big one you'll have as well as the little ones), and lose points for wounds. Most points wins.

That's it. The game really is that simple.

It's a game that could do well if it found a spot on the shelves at Target or Wal*Mart. That's not to say it's a bad game - because it isn't. It's a very good game, and could very easily become an excellent gateway game, if given a chance.

It also fills a niche that is frequently overlooked by game companies: Games for children. There aren't many games which bridge the gap that falls between Candy Land or Chutes and Ladders and Ticket to Ride or Carcassonne. And most of these gap games aren't likely to be on display at GenCon, as they are mass-market.

Last year, we had some kids come to our booth to play games. The same five kids, over and over and over and over. While they could understand the rules enough to play the games, they just as clearly weren't grasping the strategy involved. This led to games where other people may have gotten negative impressions of a game because of how the kids played. These kids, for the record, were not dumb. They were just young.

If those kids are back this year, I'm gonna try to show them Bakong.

I'm also going to try to sell a copy to my friends Dawn & Jim. I think Eli is about the right age and attention span for this one.

GenCon Games

GenCon Games
Originally uploaded by Gamethyme

As I'm sure you know by now, I work the Asmodee booth at GenCon. If you didn't know that already, then you probably haven't been reading very long.

So I'd been wondering what games we'd be focusing on at GenCon this year. I'm still not sure which games will be our focus, but, after receiving a package this evening, I now have a much better idea.

I was specifically told to be familiar with the rules for these games:

Bombay, Snow Tails, Dixit, Two expansions for Formula D, Bakong, You Robot, and Ca$h 'n Gun$: Live.

Not a problem. I also expect to play a fair amount of Giants, Jungle Speed, and Ghost Stories. And, of course, that old convention standby, Werewolves of Miller's Hollow.

This year, we're sharing Booth 1601 with Repos Production.

My lovely and talented wife, Stephanie, will be present again this year. It means that our booth has three languages covered - I speak English, Stephanie is fluent in Spanish, and, of course, the Asmodee and Repos folks all speak French.

We have less than a month to go until GenCon. Because of this, I'll be spending the next few weeks getting ready - it means my updates will be probably shorter than you've gotten used to. As long-winded as I've been lately, this might be a good thing.

Dungeon Twister 2: Prison

So I have some juicy tidbits today - Chris gave me a bit of information on Dungeon Twister 2: Prison. And, more importantly, permission to share that information.

So let's start with confirming the information that is already public:

1) The game will include miniatures rather than cardboard standups.
2) The game will include solitaire play in addition to the two-player mode.
3) There will be three "repeat" characters as well as five all-new characters.
4) The game will be backwards-compatible with existing products.
5) One goal is simultaneous releases in English, French, and German.
6) The rules are not changing - they are being clarified and will be re-worded.
7) New publisher: Ludically. This will be their first product. Asmodee will continue distribution.

So what new information do I have?

1) The terrain on the new board will be that from the existing Base Set + 1 new terrain type. The current name is "loopholes," but that is subject to change.
2) The game will include more than eighty cards, due to solo play and how it works. In fact, the company doing the video game (Hydravision) is basing the AI (in part) on the game's solo opponent.
3) On the subject of cards, they will have new art and will be standard size rather than the smaller size they currently are.
4) Solo play includes six levels of difficulty and a special "Auto-revealing" mode that can be combined with any of them. It also adds a random mode of play. There will be scenarios on the web for it, and if there is room in the rulebook, some will be included there.
5) New characters include the Colossus and the "Human-Snake." The Human-Snake can move through the loopholes I mentioned earlier.
6) Returning characters are the Cleric, the Mechanork, and the Wizard.
7) As mentioned, the rules will be clarified. There will also be some introductory scenarios to help teach new players how to play.
8) Future Plans: An expansion every three to four months, sales permitting. Each expansion will be two characters (four miniatures) and one or two pairs of rooms. Sales permitting, of course.
9) Target release date: September of 2009. He didn't say anything about it, but I hope to have (or have seen) a copy by GenCon.

What about the sets that aren't out in English, yet?

Chris had some info, but I can't share it yet. I will say that stock in France is down to zero, so if you want it, order it now from someone who has it in stock. Geoman uploaded some excellent translations of these sets on BoardGameGeek, and I'm willing to help with questions if you have them. The future of these sets in English depends on the sales of the new base set.

The same goes for the "Ultimate 3/4" set.

I'm not saying "give up hope of seeing these items, characters, and rooms in English," so don't interpret it that way. :)

2009 So Far

As I mentioned in my New Year's post, I'm tracking games played online this year.

I'd expected it to make an impact on my games played, but I hadn't expected the impact to be as significant as it has been.

How significant has it been?

We're about three quarters of the way through the month, and I've recorded (at the time I'm writing this) just shy of 90 games played. I expect to break 100 by the first, making this the busiest gaming month since I started tracking.

I've also gamed in a number of online locations - BSW, GameTableOnline, Neuroshima Hex Online, and several others. I should really throw a post together about the online gaming scene, as it's pretty deep these days.

The busiest before this is August of 2007, which was 97 plays - 35 of which were at GenCon. It's weird, but GenCon may actually reduce my games played for the month of August this year. In previous years, August was nearly double any other month.

I spent my weekend editing a secret project. This is the first time I've been specifically asked not to discuss what I was working on. I usually don't talk too much about unpublished products, as I don't want to violate Asmodee's trust. This time, I can't discuss it at all. Again: I didn't sign an NDA. I'm on my honor, as it were. I can say that I'm looking forward to this one. Of course, I haven't had a project yet that I wasn't looking forward to.

Well, maybe Ave Caesar, but that game has really grown on me. To the point where it's one of my favorite filler games. And a game I don't play nearly often enough. Maybe I should grab a copy for this Wednesday.

I also got a chance to read through Alkemy again. I don't get a lot of chance to do miniatures gaming these days, but I still enjoy reading the rules and looking for unit "combos."

A couple of New Year's Resolutions that may impact my gaming and/or blogging this year:
1) I will play board games within one month of their purchase. Exception: GenCon Purchases, where I will give myself two months.
2) I will play in or run at least a one-shot for every RPG system for which I purchase a book this year. Exception: IPR books. Because I plan to buy a LOT of those.
3) More photography. I own three excellent digital cameras, two of which go with me everywhere. There is no excuse for me not to take more photos of my gaming. Especially when I'm starting to get (more reliably) results like this:

Formula D New Tracks Preview

A quick update to my previous Formula D post:

Asmodee France has posted images of the new tracks.

Sebring is primarily a speed track - with some very short one-stop curves.

Chicago East Park is ... brutal. Intersections, a jump, and long stretches where there are only two lanes make this a particularly interesting track. These are the tricks to which I alluded in my previous post.

Formula D

I've now played Formula D a few times, and have even had the chance to try the street racing.

As you may not know, I was a fan of Formula Dé, and I own several of the tracks.

Because of this, I was initially skeptical when Asmodee told me that they were doing a new edition and were changing the rules somewhat. I knew it would sell, because Formula Dé had been out of print long enough that it was commanding disturbingly high eBay prices - even with their one-shot reprint of a few years ago. What I was uneasy with were rules changes. When they mentioned adding illegal street racing to the mix, I was concerned. I didn't see how to make it feel different from the basic Formula One racing, so I didn't see any added value to it.

I'm very glad to be proven wrong. The improved components are nice, and I really like the street racing. The differing abilities of the drivers are nice, and make for a very interesting race. Admittedly, not all abilities are created equal - and some of them are dramatically less useful with fewer players. The addition of Nitro and the different repair rules give it a different feel, as well.

And it's worth noting that the included track has three different special rules. The next street track (which I've seen) also has a few new tricks up its sleeve.

I hope all future releases include at least one street track, as it brings a lot to the game that I had not expected.

We'll be playing again on the day after Christmas. And probably again over New Year's Eve.

Next year, I will be tracking my games played online as well as in person, so expect that I'll show more plays of Neuroshima Hex, The Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, and Wits and Wagers in my Games Played.

If I don't post again before then, I wish a very merry Christmas to those of you who are reading this.

Death Wears White

Death Wears White
Originally uploaded by GameThyme

I've done a few of the How to Host A Murder parties in the past, and was (to be honest) disappointed with them. So I didn't expect to like Death Wears White. In fact, I crinched when I heard that Asmodee was releasing a Murdery Mystery Party Game.

Then the box arrived, and it was packed.

The thing in the box that piqued my interest the most was a page of postage-stamp sized markers labled "Action Point."

...

Action Points? In a Murder Mystery Party Game? How does that work?

Well, it turns out that this is nothing like the How To Host A Murder games. Shall we start at the top?

One: The murderer knows that they are the murderer, as opposed to learning it at the end of the last round, after a number of rounds in which every single other player is made a Red Herring through use of clever wording.

Two: No rounds. Each player receives a character packet containing their character information - ideally, the organizer will hand it out a few weeks in advance, because each character also has some things they have to bring with (one character, for example, is supposed to bring a gun).

Three: Along with the "No Rounds" thing, it's worth noting: All of the evidence and clues contained in the box are in play from the beginning - just spend the AP. It's also worth noting that "I search the body" is 1 AP. But you can also search specific parts of the body, if you think there might be a clue or a hint there. The organizer has this information available, and may also have physical clues to give you (order forms, packing lists, letters, medical files ... ). All you have to do is ask the right questions.

Four: Action Points. While each character has information they are required to disclose (if asked), you won't always know what to ask. Action Points are a representation of effort expended to sneak off or just to search an area (or a person). Players choose where to spend their resources - and they can work together and pool their resources.

Five: The names are not puns. I know that this is a non-critical thing - and at least one of the names is still a joke, but it's a lot more subtle than a pun. The pun names really annoyed me in the "How To Host ... " series.

Now, it's not perfect. One character's pamphlet, for example, lists the wrong twin brother as having a tattoo. Players should show up in costume - and others have props that they need. One character, for example, needs a gun. Another should look 9 months pregnant.

I also made a few mistakes in play - there were clues I should have followed-up on, a few things that were right in front of me that I didn't check on. I also treated the two gunmen as NPC's, not realizing that they were also characters.

But I had a good time, and I'd do it again. I'm told there is another Murdery Mystery Party game in the works from Asmodee - I look forward to seeing how full of stuff it winds up being.

(Oh: One mini-gripe about the GeekMod process on Boardgamegeek. In general, it works very well. When trying to upload photos for this one, however, I was repeatedly declined with the comment "Image is irrelevant to subject matter," and another comment of, "If these are people playing the game, where is the game?" If you're GeekModding, please look at the game if there is a question of relevance.)

Dungeon Twister Characters: Multiple Uses Part V, Fire & Water

I'm going to preface this with the same warning I used last few times: What I'm about to say is my analysis. There are players who are better than I who will disagree with every word I type. There are also players who can regularly trounce me who will agree with every word I type. Your mileage may vary.

This is my fifth entry on Set-By-Set Dungeon Twister Character Strategy, and will cover Fire and Water.

Base Set Average Movement: 3.62
Base Set Average Strength: 2.00

Fire and Water Average Movement: 4.25
Fire and Water Average Strength: 1.62

As you can see, F&W has a signifiantly higher average speed than the base set, and the average strength is down dramatically. This is the fastest set in the game, being 13% higher than average. It's also the weakest in combat, at only about 68% as strong as the overall average. These numbers, by the way, do not include terrain bonuses to Strength (the two Elementals in this set have such bonuses).

Were it not for the speed, I would argue that this set was almost all Specialists. As it is, I see seven Runners (most of whom can also serve as Specialists, one can double as a Hitter) and one Specialist. There are some very powerful characters in the set, even if you don't dig too deeply.

The new items in the set are game-changing, especially the Ring of Repulsion. You'll see what I mean after a play or two.

Magophage: Were it not for the speed of the character, I'd mark the Magophage as one of the more unusual Specialists in the game. His ability has necessitated a list of what is magic and what is not in the game, and is fundamentally game-changing. With clever placement, you can use him as a shield for friendly characters. Explanation of this actually requires an image:

The Acrobat doesn't have to worry about the Scroll of Confusion, as he is in the Magophage's null-magic area. It's also worth noting that the Magophage's placement denies healing to the Prophet, should he become wounded.

In fact, the Magophage is all about denial. I tend to park him near a Fountain of Youth if my opponent doesn't have a Cleric to deny the use of the Fountain to my opponents.

Acrobat: Next to the Thief, the Acrobat is the best mover in the game. In a set lacking in Hitters, the Acrobat can be fairly easily moved into flanking position to trigger Group Combat. The Acrobat is also excellent at item (and wounded character) retrieval.

Barbarian: The set's sole Hitter - and an effective one. He can't use any magic items, but - let's be honest - that's not a huge loss, especially when he gets +1 Strength versus Magic Users. In Free Choice play, the Barbarian is an excellent fast-moving Hitter.

Fire Elemental and Water Elemental: There are three rooms in this set which contain Lava spaces and three which contain Water spaces. In tournament-legal play, there are seven rooms containing Lava and seven containing Water. Two of those seven contain both. That's out of 72 tournament-legal rooms. There is also room pair P2, which has lava spaces. The Water Elemental is slightly weaker than the Fire Elemental, however - the Fire Elemental can carry wounded characters in its native element. Beyond that, they're too weak to be good Hitters - in their (sparse) native element, they're decent hitters, but not phenomenal. In fact, I rarely use these characters in Free Choice unless I'm being cruel to my opponent and choosing rooms containing their element. I say that it's cruel because (with one or two exceptions) these seven rooms per element are nasty. Keep in mind, however that these two characters are still only mediocre in a fight.

Courtesan: Remember waaay back when I started this series? How I mentioned that I tended to use my Troll more or less as a Living Wall? The Courtesan is better at this than the Troll. A lot better. There is no better Living Wall than the Courtesan. She's the best Blocker in the game.

Prophet: He's a decent Runner, with Speed 5, but the Prophet should nearly always be on your starting line if you choose to use him. The ability to align an unrevealed room in the direction of your choice cannot be emphasized enough. Remember how I love the Mechanork? Paired with the Prophet, he's nearly twice as effective - it means that rooms will start to your opponent's disadvantage. Then the Mechanork can keep them that way. In Free Choice, they're a powerful combo. The ability of the Prophet to use Scrolls and other Magic-User Only items is icing on the cake.

Telekineticist: Another item-retrieval specialist. She can also function as an anti-retrieval specialist - she can move items to more difficult locations to keep them out of your opponent's hands. In fact, she is a better choice for this than many characters for two reasons:
1) She can easily move hard-to-reach items to even harder-to-reach locations.
2) She can deny items to your opponent without having to actually reach the object in question. She also doesn't have to be near the opposing characters, keeping her relatively safe.

Box Inserts

So I got Tomb at GenCon. I opened it today to read the rules and chck out the components, and found a rookie mistake on AEG's part:

The box insert is designed to hold the components for shipping, and will not hold them nearly as well once the components have been punched.

There are slots for the cards, and a well. Which is nice. But there is a groove in the box insert to hold the cardstock sheets which contain the unpunched character standups. This groove is smaller than the boards are, so the boards won't fit into the groove.

This means that, once I've punched the counters out, I need to save the empty skeletons so that the cards don't fly everywhere when the box is moved from Point A to Point B. I'm not sure if the well provided will hold the character stand-ups when punched, either. The included cloth bag is nice, but won't hold the cards in place.

Why don't I just put the characters back into the skeletons and put it way that way? Because you put all of the characters into the cloth bag at the beginning of the game. And there are 84 different characters.

I said it's a rookie mistake, but more experienced companies have made very similar errors - Asmodee changed the insert for the English-language version of Mission: Red Planet to much the same effect: It doesn't hold the components once they are punched out and ready for play. I'm still not sure why the insert there was so radically different from the French version - it would have needed tweaking for the square board, it's true, but not a complete redesign.

I've now read through most of my GenCon haul, too. Partial reviews/overviews and discussion are coming.

Formula D

I've now had a chance to read the rules to Formula D (the new edition of Formula Dé).

I had a chance to glance through the pre-production prototype at GenCon, while I was showing it off to Mark Kinney of All Games Considered. He emerged excited, and so did I.

Now that I've read the rules, I'm even more excited. I like Formula Dé. I think it's a great game. I think I'll like Formula D even more. They managed to make a great game even better, without losing any of what I liked about it.

I can't talk about it, yet, but once it's out, watch for some chatter here.

The Werewolf Incident

It's been a few days, and I've had a chance to cool down, so let's talk about what happened the other night at GenCon that had me so angry.

For the last three years, now, we've played a pick-up game of Werewolves of Miller's Hollow in the same location. We do this after the dealer's room is closed, so my wife and I are on our own time - we have Asmodee demo copies, but we usually have several other games with us (both Asmodee and non-Asmodee games both). In past years, we've played Werewolves for a few hours and then wandered off to play other games.

Where we play winds up looking something like this:



Let me explain Werewolves a bit, for those few of you who aren't familiar. Every player is given a role card to keep secret. The basic three characters are Villagers, Werewolves and Seers. The Werewolves kill one non-Werewolf per night. The Villagers then try to determine who the werewolves are by lynching one person per day. The Seer is on the side of the Villagers, and can clear or convict one person per night. The game requires about eight people to be any fun, but can go up to 30+ without losing any of its fun. Provided, of course, that you have a good moderator. Thomas, who moderates our games for us, is among the best.

There are multiple versions of the game on the market, and some have other characters available. The two best-known versions are the Asmodee Editions version (which we use, not because we demo for them, but because it is in our opinions clearly better than the other editions - see below) and the Looney Labs version. I'm not alone in this opinion, either.

To support my "better" assertion, here are three side-by-side comparisons of cards. These were all scanned at the same resolution. I just pulled the images into Publisher, saved as a .jpg, and then opened another program to crop the images to their current size.

Villager


Werewolf


Seer/Fortune Teller


On Friday, we were into our fifth game (I usually bow out after a few of them so I can take pictures and answer questions from passers-by), when Thomas was interrupted by a GenCon Staffer, who informed us that we were blocking traffic and needed to stop immediately and go elsewhere. Those of us who still wanted to play were welcome to go join "the 'official' Looney Labs games going on upstairs."

As stated above: We don't like the Looney Labs version, Are You A Werewolf? And it's not just the images - they won't play with more than fifteen players, for example. And the larger games give more time for the villagers to develop their strategy.

And blocking traffic?

See this?



Does that look blocked to you? That photo, BTW, is straight from camera to computer to internet. No photo manipulation. I didn't even adjust color balance. It's also of the interrupted game.

We play where we do because it won't block traffic. Admittedly, it's not a designated open gaming area, but groups larger than ours often claim the area during the day to just sit and chat. Or stand and chat. The next day, it was nearly impassable due to someone's R2D2 model rolling around.

Several players in the group protested - some of them angrily. The GenCon staffer responded quite rudely and belligerently. Disproportionately so.

For the record, the group included several GenCon volunteers. People who are well aware of the rules, and are good about following them. They were shocked at the shutdown - and then at how belligerent the staffer became.

We ended up moving to an area that was designated as an open gaming area, but our game was cut down to about 10 players. And the open area required the use of a table, which made the game ... less. It's worth noting, by the way, that we passed several Werewolf games on the way to the open gaming area. None of them were in a designated open area. Several of them were blocking the hallways to a greater extent than we were. I didn't check what versions of the game were being played - we were moving, and I didn't want to stop and check something that might further frustrate or annoy me.

There were all sorts of theories bandied about by the remaining players - I don't know what triggered the shutdown. It may have been a complaint from someone or it may have been something the staffer thought he'd do on his own.

The next night, we started in the open game area.

We're not sure about next year - even though it was unofficial, it felt targeted to enough players that I felt it necessary to make sure that Christophe knew what had happened.

Let me emphasize this: I don't blame Looney Labs for this. They make a number of games, several of which I think are phenomenal. I particularly like the Icehouse pieces/toolbox. I will admit to disliking (strongly) Fluxx in most of its iterations - but even I can accept that it's a brilliant discussion of what exactly a game is. But that's another discussion for another time.

Laying Blame

As most of you know, I'm pretty active over on BoardGameGeek. I'm not one of their most active or recognizable members, it's true - but if you've had a rules question on an Asmodée game, I'm frequently the one to answer.

It means that I see a lot of complaining about how far behind the French our Dungeon Twister releases are. People point fingers at Asmodée more often than not.

I'd like to point a few things out, however, and suggest another possible villain to this picture.

When Dungeon Twister was first released in English, there were four French sets that we lacked. That is, we were four sets behind. Looking now, there are ... four French sets that we lack. Asmodée has kept pace with the French releases - we have neither gained nor lost ground.

The American audience is different from the French audience. When I'm demoing expansions at conventions, the first question most players have is "Are these pieces available for multiplayer?" In France, the multiplayer expansions are reportedly the slowest-moving expansions. The difference is extreme enough that we may not get Fire and Blood in its current form - Asmodée is talking about an "Ultimate 3/4 Player" set that will include red and green characters from all of the English sets released thus far. That means we will have multiplayer for some characters before the French do!

And, finally, the new villain:
The American release of Dungeon Twister was delayed for a year or so, because Asmodée (France) licensed the rights to a North American release to Upper Deck, who then failed to publish. Most of you probably didn't know that - I don't think I'm even supposed to know about it. When UDE eventually dropped the project, Asmodée decided to go forward. Since they started from scratch, it set the original English release back by at least a year.

Dungeon Twister was the one of the first games that was not yet available in English to crack the BoardGameGeek's Top 100 games - it was far from the last, however.

What's Coming?

I never know for sure what's going to make it into print in English and what isn't, but here's what I've seen in English that I feel safe discussing:

Sharur: Evolutions didn't make the cut. I first saw this one more than five years ago and, while I enjoyed it, my group had a lukewarm to cool response. This response appears to have been fairly typical.

Rattlesnake City didn't make the cut (although the English rules are available on the publisher's website). I'm not sure if Asmodee was going to publish in English or just distribute. Either way, the game was ... okay. I'm a bit of a game snob, so take that with whatever amount of salt you feel you need.

Renaissance has disappeared from Asmodee's website. This means that it may not make the cut, which disappoints me. I very much enjoy the game. I may have to dig it out tonight, in fact.

Asmodee US is showing Ca$h'n Gun$: Yakuzas as a new release, so it may be available already. This adds throwing stars and knives to the game, as well as including the card for the shotgun (but not the shotgun itself).

Serge Laget and Bruno Cathala have teamed up once again to bring us Senji. I've seen the translation on this, and it looks like a lot of fun. Asmodee US is claiming a summer release, so I expect this will be a GenCon launch - I have been wrong before, of course. Either way, it's a solid game with multiple paths to victory. There's some preview information up on the Asmodee US website.

Death Wears White (A "How To Host A Mystery" type of game) is reportedly enroute.

Don't give up on Hell Dorado. It's coming. I'm craving this one after having run demos for it at GenCon a few years ago.

Three Hero: Immortal King games are enroute. The Infernal Forge, The Lair of the Lich, and The Den of Dementia (Don't hold me to those translations as the final English titles). All three are non-collectable two-player card games. You can mix and match components - One player has a party of adventurers, the other is the dungeon the adventurers are exploring. The game is a great deal of fun, and I can't wait to play it with my English-speaking friends.

The new edition of Formula De is still in progress. I don't have much to say on this other than that I've liked the tweaks I've seen so far.

Of course, I'm craving Dungeon Twister: Fire and Water. Most people find this to be the most difficult of the expansions released for the game. I understand their argument. I really like the expansion, and will be playing it more soon (I'm hosting a DT tournament on the 27th). I hope to have a "Multiple Use" post up at about the same time people start looking for strategy advice.

There's only one other game I've seen the English for - I don't want to be the one to spill the beans on this one, however, so I'll let it slide for now.

GenCon

Is it too early to start getting excited about GenCon this year?

My wife and I have already made our hotel reservations - we'll be demoing for Asmodee again. This year, I'll be bringing my camera and taking pictures with it. Last year, I didn't take nearly enough photos.

I helped demo a prototype to a publisher last night. It helps that the publisher in question is a friend of mine - he passed, but offered to take the game to The Gathing of Friends, which is huge. It means that he liked the game quite a bit, even though it doesn't fit his needs.

Beyond that, life is busy. Very busy right now - thus the more sporadic than normal update schedule. I've got a couple of posts almost ready to go and will publish them as soon as I put the last bits of polish on them.