If you're running events, you'll eventually encounter one of them: those people who just have a knack for making everyone around them uncomfortable. Sometimes the problem resolves on its own: they come once, and then never again. Other times it becomes a larger issue. If it's not addressed, it can drive people out of your group. But what can you really do?
I recently co-hosted a D&D mini figurine painting event with an exceptionally talented -- but amateur -- artist. After having already completed the preparations, advertising the event, and steeling myself for the inevitable chaos, I started purchasing supplies. There was only one problem.
"Wait. What kind of paints are you using, there?"
"Enamel. Everything I use is enamel."
"Oh noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooo ooooo..."
Legacy games are polarizing. Some players can't fathom paying for a game they can only play a set amount of times, while others compare it to purchasing a movie ticket or a video game. In reality, the grossly disparate experience of playing legacy games probably comes down to the group more than the budget. And, of course, not all legacy games are made equal: Charterstone is a different experience from Pandemic: Legacy, which is a different experience from Gloomhaven.
Have you ever looked around the table and realized that you're just not having fun? It happens more often than one would like; either the game itself is inadequate or your players just won't gel. Luckily, as with many things in life, there are solutions to avoiding your problems. Here are some tips for resolving the most common game night disputes and troubles -- without letting it ruin your night.
As part of its ceaseless bid to consume every major franchise, Asmodee has begun the task of eating its own tail like the fabled ouroboros. Asmodee has announced a new line of "modern classics," likely intended to keep some of its most popular games on retail shelves. The Modern Classics line will include "Ticket to Ride Europe," "Catan," "Carcassone," "Dixit," "Pandemic," and "Splendor." What, if anything, will change about these games has yet to be discussed.
In the past, we've mentioned that building a balanced boss fight is often more about being able to improvise rather than boss mechanics. Mechanically, there's only so much you can do by crunching the numbers, especially if you run a campaign heavy on improvisation and creativity. Often, you'll find yourself needing to adjust on-the-fly -- and that's fine. The sacred pact between GM and player is that it will be fun and feel fair. And there's an emphasis on "feel."
Reddit recently had a thread about commonly missed rules in popular board games, which brought to mind something else: collecting cash at Free Parking in Monopoly. Monopoly is notorious for house rules that become canon, because no one actually reads the rulebook; they learn to play from family and friends.
For both players and developers, point spread can mean a lot about a game and how it's played. Somewhat like accuracy and precision, "point spread" often indicates how reliable a game's strategies are, as well as the variance between the best and the worst players. Sometimes a large point spread means that a game is extremely random; other times a large point spread means that there's a lot of room for growth as a player.
You don't buy this system at a store. You don't download it on DriveThruRPG. You find it, scrawled in crayon, on a stained napkin at a bar room floor. You wonder, "Who left this here? This building has been condemned for so many years, since the incident." But still, you're compelled to play. Big Mutherf***in' Crab Truckers is a one off roleplay system that can be played in less than an hour -- or for eternity. Possibly you have already started playing. Maybe you'll never stop.
