jkci's blog

It's almost a right of passage. Once you get really into roleplay, you begin collecting sets of dice. Your first set will usually be Chessex... but then you'll begin to expand, almost uncontrollably. Almost as though there's a hunger within you. It's not uncommon to see a beginner who already has two or three sets. But eventually, there are a few things that you're going to notice -- and it may make it hard for you to find new dice that you love.

Polygon's newest foray into board game-themed media has launched with the first episode of Overboard, featuring Mountains of Madness. Overboard is going to cover a different game each month, with Polygon reporters exploring different types of games and gameplay.

IDW's Masque of the Red Death has funded the "deluxe" version of the game, now hovering above $50,000 on a $15,000 Kickstarter campaign. The campaign will officially close on January 26th. Masque of the Red Death will be a deception-based game, in which characters select their moves during the famously cursed ball. An attractive art style, grim theme, and high quality pieces appear to have made this Kickstarter popular. 

IDW's Roar: King of the Pride puts you in control of a pride of lions, complete with lions, lionesses, and cubs. In Risk-style gameplay, your pride proliferates over the land, taking over territories and consuming resources. Lions can be used to pull other lionesses to your side (or build ancestral strength), lionesses bring in food, and cubs are born to grow your pack. 

"STOP!"

"Huh, my board game comes with a warning sticker."

"BEFORE YOU PLAY THIS GAME..."

"Is this board game seizure-inducing, somehow? It's not even Lazer Ryderz."

"...watch US play it! Go to YouTube to see our video tutorial!"

"What? No."

Why I Hate Video Tutorials

First: it isn't that I hate the tutorials themselves. It's that video tutorials come associated with a very specific side effect.

Even the news outlets are talking about it; board game nights are trending. In an age of digitally-enforced distance, seeing friends and family face-to-face can be the perfect way to renew bonds and rehash old times. But running a board game night can be pretty intimidating, especially if you aren’t an expert in the hobby. Here are some tips to get the games running smoothly.

ThinkGeek is currently running a large sale on their board games, including popular games such as Pandemic Legacy: Season 2 and Magic Maze. Here are some of the highlights:

"I'm pretty sure you're the killer. I'm going to guess rope and spider."

"No."

"Damn it! Well, I'm still sure it's her. Guess rope and soap."

"No."

"Are you all going to keep burning guesses on my rope?"

"What do you mean 'you all'?"

"Yeah, if you weren't the murderer, you would have said WE, not YOU ALL!"

"That doesn't even make sense!"

What do players do when waiting for their turn? If you're testing your game on a group like mine, your players will end up chatting and socializing socializing. But if the turns begin to take too long, people will start getting impatient. Take even longer still, and the game will be put away -- never to be played again.

Before I get a whole bunch of hate for this, let me preface it with this: these are some of the games that are most often requested by my group, and, consequently, these are games that I often teach. So even though I personally hate these games (and hate may be a strong word, it's more that I nothing these games), I still expose new people to them and respect their place in the hobby.