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Rating System

People sometimes mention that I don’t give a full description of the game mechanics in my game reviews.  This is true and intentional.  For me personally, the best opinion I can get for a game is to find out what people think of it.  If I want to learn to play the game, I read the rules and always there are instructional videos and tutorials on the subject.  Hence my reviews focus mainly on my specific opinion about the game, how it feels, how it handles, what I like and don’t like etc.  I make the assumption that when the review is read, you have already done some preliminary research on the games mechanics.  I find explaining how a game works on a blog adds unnecessary word count for something ultimately that will still give you very little clue about how to actually play the game.

Regarding The Rating System

On a number of occasions I have received opinionated emails, mind you always respectfully, that mentioned that when I review games while the reader gets a picture of what the game is about and what I think about it, they don’t have a basis for comparison. In other words if I speak highly of two games, there is no way to tell which I might like better, nor is there a way to know how the component quality effects the overall experience or how gameplay compensate for the lack luster adherence to theme. In a sense I think the complaint is that I don’t have a rating system that governs my judgement in reviews. I think it’s a valid complaint and one I intend to rectify. The truth is that I have given a lot of thought to this but never came to any conclusions until now.

Part of the reason is that I think rating systems can limit or force a certain score even when the reviewer actually thinks far higher of the game. For example the component quality might be terrible and the game might not have any theme to speak of yet the gameplay is so awesome that I love the game despite all its flaws and it would be unfairly graded if I simply scored each component and tallied it up.

I have looked at many different systems and really haven’t found one I liked in its entirety but I did find enough inspiration and ideas that I could use to create my own. Consider the following an explanation of the rating system that I will implement for all future reviews (I won’t be going back on old reviews to apply the system).

How it all works
I think it’s fair to give some background as to how the system developed as I explain it, I think might give the system a bit more credibility.

I began with determining what I think are the most important elements of a good board game, another words, what I think is worth judging. The list is as followed.

Components: It’s important to note that I’m speaking directly to the quality of the components rather than the quality of art work or style or thematic correctness. It think this often gets mixed up and I never really liked that a games components are judged on the quality of the art, rather than the quality of components. As a gamer I want my games to last and I want to know if cards are flimsy, miss printed or missing for example. Wonderful art is hardly compensation for bad component quality. For me personally, that goes more to theme and it’s their art work is judged. So in terms of components I’m speaking strictly to quality of the physical components.

Gameplay: The bread and butter of a games core mechanic and a judgement of how well it plays, how balanced it is and how complete it feels. Reviews are opinions of course, but when it comes to some things like components and replay ability you can decipher some objective facts, for example card quality is either sturdy and will last long or it might be flimsy and tear easily. Those aren’t opinions, they are observations. Gameplay leans far more towards the opinion side but the goal here is to judge it objectively, point our benefits and flaws of the gameplay and discuss balance and fun factor.

Longevity & Replay ability: Not all games are designed with longevity and replay ability in mind and to me this often a deal breaker. In this section I judge a game based on multiple plays and whether the fun and excitement of the original play is holds up over repeated plays. I also judge the game on its expandability and longevity as a product which I also think is vital to the success of a game in the long term.

Theme: When I look at a games theme I typical judge it on its fulfillment of a promise. For example if the game is about running a train company in Russia, do I have a sense of that as I play? Theme is often realized through artwork and judgement is made here as well but great games are a merging of art work and gameplay to realize the presence of the theme, so judgement is passed more on an overall look at a games thematic presence. It’s an important aspect of gaming that a games theme comes through gameplay and in this section we judge a games ability to do just that.

Giving the games different a score becomes important to come up with a final verdict and I settled on a simple 1 to 5 stars system. Each star represents an increasing level of quality.

0 Stars : FAILURE This represents an abysmal failure in the game. It simply means that for this part of the game has failed on every conceivable level.

1 Stars: POOR This game is well below a reasonably expected standard of quality. While its not an outright failure, its lacking far outweigh its success.

2 Stars: FAIR There are redeeming qualities here but still below a standard of quality that is worthy of note. A 2 star score means that the section is passable if you can overlook some flaws but far from good.

3 Stars: AVERAGE This simply means that the game has met the minimum requirements for standards, the section is passable or great, its simply right in the middle with an equilibrium of shortcomings and success.

4 Stars: VERY GOOD: This means that the section has exceeded expectation, its impressive and there few flaws hardly worth mentioning.

5 Stars: PERFECT: Simply put, a perfect score for this section. It means that there are no flaws, the game has over exceeded expectation and pleasantly surprised the judge.

Now for me personally it’s simply not enough to judge a game on a 1 to 5 scale even if it is sectioned out because every game is unique. For example a game might have very simple components that aren’t terribly impressive and this might ordinarily lower its overall score, but the games designer or even the intent of the game might not be to impress with components but rather gameplay. As such, I feel strongly that I need to have some sort of tilt for myself where I can consider the weight of a particular section to its overall score for any given game. After all an awesome euro might be compromised of nothing but wooden cubes, yet it may have awesome gameplay.

As such I have lovingly called this part of the system “Tilt”. The tilt is simply a reference to the importance of the section. The tilt is a categorization of importance hence each section will be given a 1 to 4 tilt score (one for each section) which identifies how important that score is to the game. The tilt is than used to calculate the final score of the game.

4 Tilt: This is the most important score and is responsible for 50% of the game’s final score.
3 Tilt: This is also vital but considerably less so 30% of the score
2 Tilt: Even less important. 15% of the score
1 Tilt: Hardly worth mentioning, tilt weight barely effects the score 5%

Example
Lets imagine I just reviewed a game and gave it the following scores for each section

2 Stars – Components
4 Stars – Gameplay
3 Stars – Longevity and Replay-ability
2 Stars – Theme

Not a terrible good score for a game. However when I consider the game I come to the realization that the gameplay of the game is first and most paramount. The longevity and replay ability of the game are very important as well but the theme and components of the game are really kind of unimportant to the games quality.

So I assign the tilt to each score.

Gameplay – 4 Tilt
Longevity/Replaybility – 3 Tilt
Components – 2 Tilt
Theme – 1 Tilt

Mathematically the final score works out as followed.

Gameplay 4 stars is 50% of the score
Longevity/Replayability is 30% of the score
Components is 15% of the score
Theme is 5% of the score.

The score is calculated.

50% of 4 is 2 Stars
30% of 3 is .9 Stars
15% of 2 is .3 Stars
5% of 2 is .1 Stars

The total is score for this game is 3.3 Stars making this an average game.

Lets imagine however that the tilt was different. Let’s say that for this was supposed to be an awesome thematic game about conquering space full of awesome miniatures that fly around on a tactical game-board. Lets say that Theme and components carry more weight in this version.

Gameplay – 2 Tilt
Longevity/Replaybility – 1 Tilt
Components – 3 Tilt
Theme – 4 Tilt

How does that effect the score?

50% of 2 Stars is 1 Stars
30% of 2 Stars is .6 Stars
15% of 4 Stars is .6 Stars
5% of 3 Stars is .1 Stars (rounded up)

The total is now 2.3 Stars. A lot more disappointing given the new tilt. You can see that while in order to get a high total score you not only have to score well, but you have to score well where I place the tilt. The tilt is a vital component of the scoring system, but one I believe is important in order for games to be judged appropriately. After all, a Euro game might not have a lot of theme, but if the tilt is a 1 for that game identify that clearly theme was never intended to be a priority it will minimize any negative score it would get in that department and likely will still get a great final score it if did well in more important sections.

I might find reason to adjust the system in the future, but for now I believe this is at least as fair as I can get a rating system and over time I will hopefully get better and better at doing more concise reviews with a platform for comparison.

Enjoy!

Gaming Articles

Games That Get Better With Time

One thing I can say about board games is that I like most of them at first. The truth is that board gaming as a hobby is actually less about the games for me and more about spending time with friends. It’s a social occasion, which is why I have never enjoyed playing games online (I have tried many times). The experience is just not the same.

That said however I do find that over time, most games I tire off. In fact, despite having played hundreds of games over the years, my actual collection is quite thin. I don’t hold onto games I don’t have an itching desire to play and the result is that there is a tremendous amount of culling of the collection that happens.

There are some games however that have made it into my collection and have proven themselves to have lasting power, some for over decades. Today I will talk a bit about some of these great old school games that, even though they didn’t make my top ten lists, I would never get rid of. It’s not so much that they are amazing games by today’s standards, though they are good in their own way, but it’s that they have a certain element to them that just makes them keepers for me.

Ikusa (Formally known as Milton Bradly’s Shogun or Samurai Swords)

This 1980’s classic has been in my collection since I started gaming nearly 30 years ago. It’s a game that hasn’t aged particularly well in light of modern mechanics and is often referred to as “RISK like” which has its own negative connotations to gamers. It’s a long game and it can be a bit mean given the potential for player elimination, but I still love it for its purity as a classic war game.

While many gamers consider dice chuckers like RISK to be beneath them, to me Ikusa has sufficient "extra's" to make it a quality strategic game. The fact that it looks amazing on the table is just a cherry on top.
While many gamers consider dice chuckers like RISK to be beneath them, to me Ikusa has sufficient “extra’s” to make it a quality strategic game. The fact that it looks amazing on the table is just a cherry on top.

There are many war games made today but very few of them go for the pure war mechanic. Most are filled with card play, overly complicated, have various euro style abstractions, some even go the gimmick route and while I like many of these games, classic RISK style dice chucker war games still appeal to me. I grew up on games like Fortress America, Axis and Allies and Ikusa.

Ikusa is actually seriously underrated as a board game even for today’s standards. It is a dice chucker for certain, but it has a pretty considerable depth to strategies that can be employed and there is far more to it than simply building units and fighting, there is a kind of sequence of events that transpires. First there is this war preparation period, the consolidation of troops, the choosing of battlefields, the defining of borders and alliances. In the second part of the game all hell breaks loose, pure chaotic war, when players make all of their big moves. Than in the final rounds there is that last man standing period where players get clever and try to push the limitations of their forces and prepare for the end game. The climatic finish usually comes in the form of two or three contending players fighting out a couple of critical make it or break battles that define the winner. It’s always clutch in the end and though usually a couple of players lose the war much earlier, there are always two or three contenders for the win in the final rounds.

The game can stagnate in the sense that these “periods” in the game can get pretty extensive, but it’s a war game made for gamers who are accustomed to 4 to 5 hour games. Faulting it for taking a long time is like faulting golf for being played over 18 holes instead of a more manageable 5. It’s part of the game and you kind of embrace it or don’t play it.

Ikusa has never disappointed me, it’s always fun to play and just easy enough to teach to anyone. While its mechanics have aged a great deal in comparison to some modern improvements in war games it still holds up quite well in my opinion and remains one of my favorite games to pull out for that pure war game itch. I actually love many of the old Milton Bradly classics but games like Axis and Allies and Fortress America are really two player games, Ikusa is the only one in that group that works well with multiple players and yes, it’s a far better alternative to RISK.

Ticket To Ride
I have never played a game of Ticket to Ride I didn’t enjoy. Despite its simplicity and casual nature, it’s one of those games that just finds its way to the table out of convenience. It’s so easy to teach, it’s very kid/family friendly and really requires very little of your attention so it makes for a good beer and pretzels, not too serious type of board game night. While light on the theme, it’s clearly a game about trains which I think is a topic that has always appealed to me.

Ticket to Ride is a simple game, doorway game that is perfect for introducing people to the hobby of board gaming. It's theme is attractive and strategies immediately apparent.
Ticket to Ride is a simple game, doorway game that is perfect for introducing people to the hobby of board gaming. It’s theme is attractive and strategies immediately apparent.

Despite this casual nature though the game has some mini depth, there is actually quite a few strategic options and if analyzed a little closer can actually get people involved on a higher than normal casual game level. It’s a doorway game one I played a decade ago and fully expect to still play a decade from now, it’s a staple game.

The Great Dalmuti

Simple trick taking card games like the Great Dalmuti are ideal for camping trips.
Simple trick taking card games like the Great Dalmuti are ideal for camping trips or as fillers.  It’s ability to handle larger amounts of players can allow it do double as a small after dinner party game.

A very simple trick taking card game it is THE game that goes into a backpack on any road trip, camping trip or anywhere else where I might find myself with a group of bored friends wanting to relax and pass the time. There are many such games out there but The Great Dalmuti is definitively a social game and plays as well with 4 players as it does with 8 players. It has this addictive nature to it, I’ve never introduced it to any group who ended up only playing it once, it always gets repeated plays and over the years I have had to replace my copy 3 times because of wear and tear. Great, simple game, an old stand-by classic.

REX (Formally DUNE)
A long time ago when I first got into board gaming on a bit higher level there was a game based on the beloved franchise DUNE (called not surprisingly DUNE). It’s a quasi-war game, though it plays more like chess where multiple players fight to control of the thematic spice planet. Each player had unique and very different special powers depending on which house they represented. With immense replay ability, great strategic depth and a lot of intrigue, negotiation and surprises, its one of those games that I vividly remember playing.

REX is a really deep game, but relatively simple to teach. It's not really a war game, but there is plenty of conflict via intrigue, diplomacy and bluffing.
REX is a really deep game, but relatively simple to teach. It’s not really a war game, but there is plenty of conflict via intrigue, diplomacy and bluffing.

When the game was reprinted using the Twilight Imperium Franchise I naturally jumped on the opportunity to revisit it and while a bit different than Dune, REX is just as good and carries the game thematically just as well as the old classic.

REX is relatively easy to teach, but it is definitively a gamers game, in fact, I find most people either absolutely love it, or absolutely despise it. It can be a rather infuriating game because there is so many things to consider and the human element has such an enormous impact on the outcome of the game. It’s a purely strategic game with no luck element and is perhaps one of the most balanced games I have ever played. Absolutely fantastic and the truth is that if I had the opportunity to play it more often it would very likely creep it’s way to my top 10 list. If you find a likeminded group who appreciates intrigue games, REX can be a beautiful thing.

Illuminati
Steve Jackson is a notorious game designer, notorious because his games are always very different than anything that has come before it. Whether it’s GURPS and its focus on realism, Munchkin which pokes fun at other games or Illuminati, quite possibly one of the meanest and infuriating games you will ever love to play.

A cult classic, a pain to teach and kind of mean, its one of those games I love to play with people who already know how to play and love it to. Teaching it to new players is a real bitch.
Not a game I play often, definitely a “gamers” game-

Illuminati no doubt deserves far more praise from me than I give it, but the truth is that I haven’t played it for years. It’s main drawback is that Illuminati is a bit mathi and it’s a bit difficult to teach. Those two flaws however when overcome like a lot of great complex games, results in a fantastic gaming experience. It’s pure brutality, but it’s so well balanced and so fun to watch people squirm. It’s one of those games where you have “I can’t believe you just did that” moments.

It’s in the same category as Race For The Galaxy for me and see’s little play for the same reason, I love playing it, but hate teaching people how to play it. It’s been in my collection for over a decade, built into its gameplay are nostalgic memories of friends from years ago I miss very much. A game I never see myself getting rid of.

Carcassonne

There are many expansions for this game, but for me personally the simplicity and elegance of the base game makes this a perfect warm up game. I'm always happy to play it, though I would be hard pressed to give you a good reason, its just fun.
There are many expansions for this game, but for me personally the simplicity and elegance of the base game makes this a perfect warm up game. I’m always happy to play it, though I would be hard pressed to give you a good reason, its just fun.

I don’t know why this game lingers as it does, it’s really kind of simplistic and while the expansions (of which there are many) add a lot of variety, I rarely ever play anything but the base game. I suppose it’s got that “Monopoly” thing where it’s a game everyone knows, requires little explanation and is quick to play. I don’t love it but always enjoy playing it, there is no denying its appeal as a simple, quick game.

Gaming Articles

Fantasy Flight Games and Star Wars Perfection

Since Fantasy Flight Games took over the Star Wars license for making board, card, miniature and role-playing games, there can be only one thing said about it. Perfect. There is absolutely no doubt that across every platform they have produced not only the best version of a Star Wars game in that class be it Board, Card, Miniature or Role-playing games, but they have done it by such a wide margin I can’t even remember what we had before it.

Let’s go over the list shall we.

Star Wars Edge of The Empire Role-playing game
Up until I played Star Wars Edge of the Empire, role-playing in the Star Wars universe was always a frustration for me. Every system I tried from old West End Game version, to more modern D20 versions by Wizards of the Coast, nothing did the trick. These systems always failed miserably in some element of presenting the Star Wars universe. Some of the these version of Star Wars RPG’s managed to get some things right, like the Saga system’s combat system was not all together terrible but they fumbled other things like ship to ship combat or messed up balance between force and non-force users. There was always a problem.

Star Wars Edge of the Empire has grown to include a ton of material, but the truth is that the core book alone already makes this one of the best RPG's ever made
Star Wars Edge of the Empire has grown to include a ton of material, but the truth is that the core book alone already makes this one of the best RPG’s ever made

Then came Star Wars Edge of the Empire and what can I say about it other than not only is it hands down one of the best Star Wars role-playing games ever made, it may just be one of the best role-playing games in any genre ever made. It’s simply exquisite, it works on every level, it’s got depth where it’s needed, it’s streamlined, it handles every element of the Star Wars universe flawlessly, simply put, it just can’t be done any better. A++ to Fantasy Flight Games for finally making a Star Wars RPG we can actually play without frustration.

Star Wars Card Games
There have been many and frankly, they have been miserable failures across the board. There has never been a good Star Wars Card game until Fantasy Flight took over and not only did they produce Star Wars The Card game, a fantastic living card game but they gave us Empire vs. Rebels as a bonus.

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This catchy Star Wars Card Game is filled with a variety of depth and strategies, but it’s quick and painless to setup and play. More importantly FFG maintains it’s living card game strategy as opposed to the presumptuous and often over priced CCG style games.

Both are amazing games that represent the Star Wars universe in perfect splendor capturing its many nuances with style. More importantly I don’t see how it would be physically possible for the art to scream STAR WARS any louder, the game is worth buying just for the illustrations and collectors of Star Wars Memorabilia do just that. Awsome job, another A++ for both games.

Star Wars Board Games
Now I will say this, there have been some pretty awesome Star Wars board games in the past. Queen’s Gambit, Epic Duels, even Star Wars RISK was actually quite fantastic. When it comes to Board Games toping games like the elaborate Queen’s Gambit wasn’t going to be easy but as always Fantasy Flight Games was more than up to the task. It took a while but the result is Imperial Assault, a game I believe will be in the top 10 on board game geek within the next year or so, already debuting at number 37. Now this is a kind of cross over game, one could say it’s a miniatures game but the truth is that by those standards so would Queen’s Gambit be. The truth is that if you’re going to make a Star Wars game, it very clearly needs to have miniatures in it, it’s just part of the allure of that franchise and it needs.

Queen's Gambit is an as impressive to look at as it is fun to play, but unfortunately it's out of print and has become something of a collectors item making it very expensive to pick up these days.
Queen’s Gambit is an as impressive to look at as it is fun to play, but unfortunately it’s out of print and has become something of a collectors item making it very expensive to pick up these days.

That said Imperial Assault not only blows any Star Wars game that came before it out of the water, but it does so with style, balance and experience. It’s a fantastic game that offers immense amount of replay ability and I suspect like the Arkham Horror series, this one is going to see a ton of expansions.

Star Wars Miniatures
Without question Star Wars X-Wing is not only the most successful miniatures game in decades, but it may very well rise to be one of the most successful miniatures games of all time. It’s simple to learn impossible to master mechanics and infinite replayability made accessible by taking the work out of the hobby with pre-painted miniatures has paved it’s way with gold. It is hands down in my humble opinion one of the best products Fantasy Flight Games has produced to date and with each expansion they release the game is improved 10 fold. It just gets better and better and better with no end in sight. Now with a third faction released, the game has already immortalized its iconic status, if nothing is ever released for it again it would still be a near perfect game. To say I love it would be an understatement, if I was stuck on a desert island and was forced to choose a single form of entertainment to take with me, Star Wars X-Wing would unquestionably be that entertainment.

I will probably never stop praising Star Wars X-Wing, easily one of the best games ever made.
I will probably never stop praising Star Wars X-Wing, easily one of the best games ever made.

Star Wars Armada
So why should you be excited about Star Wars Armada? Well if it isn’t obvious already, Fantasy Flight Games kicks ass at making Star Wars games and Star Wars Armada is slated to be the biggest, most epic and most iconic Star Wars game to ever be made. If they succeed, they will have done more for the Star Wars franchise than the last three movies did.

Star Wars Armada is as ambitious as it is elaborate and expensive, it's going to have to be one hell of a game to get my money.
Star Wars Armada is as ambitious as it is elaborate and expensive, it’s going to have to be one hell of a game to get my money.

War on a massive scale with all the fittings of Star Wars X-Wing, but bigger and more elaborate. Now I don’t usually do hype, I believe very firmly that objectively speaking no matter how excited I get for something, I recognize the possibility that I will be terribly disappointed, but I can say that if Armada isn’t the crowning achievement of Star Wars based games coming out of Fantasy Flight Games, my disappointment will reach epic proportions. It has all the markings of an amazing game, designed and produced by an amazing company at a time when they are on a hot streak of perfection. It’s the perfect storm for success, but it may also be the perfect recipe for disaster. I reserve my opinion until I play it, but to say that we should be anything by hyper excited would be selling the potential short.

Fantasy Flight Games is an amazing company, they have done for gaming what Quentin Tarantino did for movies, they showed us that games can be awesome again, that the status quo can be changed and that it’s still possible to invent new things or take old things and make them new again. They have done an amazing job and they have earned every bit of praise for their accomplishments. For me personally if I’m looking for a new game my first stop is always Fantasy Flight Games official website, there are so many diamonds in their product line I feel like I should just mail them my credit card.

Gaming Articles

Creating A Great Game Night

Planning a game night may seem like a simple thing, pick a time and place, everyone shows up and you game, piece of cake! The truth is that most game nights are ruined long before anyone shows up to the table as there are so many things people don’t think about when they decide to host a gaming night at their house. Any one thing in this list of problems/solutions may not ruin your game night, but mix a couple of them together and the combination can create some pretty horrible game night experiences. If your host or organizer of a game night, be a good one; Here is some advice!

Lighting
Without question one of the most important thing you can do to see massive improvements is proper lighting. In particular dulled, but bright lighting focused on the table itself rather than the people. There is nothing worse than playing an awesome board game or role-playing game and finding myself squinting to read the often small text of cards, game boards and RPG books. I can honestly say that most of the gaming environments I have played in over the last 30 years of gaming have been in relatively shitty lighting, it’s an epidemic in gaming areas as gaming space requires far brighter lights than you would ordinarily need in a room. It has to be more akeen to a pool table light than a room light. I’m certain that lighting and performance, speed and organization of game play is severely effected by poor lighting. If you take no other advice, take this one, keep your playing area’s very bright.

High Seating
Another common problem to gaming space is low seating. Typically when you game you need to be almost hovering over the table, in particular for board gaming. You want a top down view of the game board and as such the table either needs to be low with normal seats or you need high seats. Again this comes down to visibility, gamers need to be able to see what’s going on, if you are sitting at a table and you can’t see what’s happening on the other side of the table without standing up, you have a seating issue in your game space that needs fixing.

Be A Good Host And Know When You Can’t Be
One of my biggest pet peeves, one that has resulted with me actually skipping game nights when a certain player hosts in some cases even leaving a game group all together is the quality of it’s host. Being a good host is not so much about being gracias and generous but rather welcoming and comfortable. So often I find that when I go to someone’s house for a game night it’s crystal clear that it’s forced. It’s little things that get to you like a host who has children who are being ignored because they are gaming, or where clearly someone’s wife or girlfriend doesn’t want us there giving us the stink eye all night, or where instead of playing in the kitchen table with great lighting and access to a fridge and bathroom we are ordered out to a fidget garage or basement.

Gamers are often willing to tolerate inconveniences and rudeness for the opportunity to game, but as a host it’s your job to know if your house/situation is not a good one for gaming. Sure, it’s in a way easier for the host as the gamers come to him, no need to drive anywhere, but if you can’t be a welcoming host, if your situation is obviously not ideal and makes your guests uncomfortable then don’t host.

Proper Gaming Table
If you don’t have a proper gaming table, don’t host gaming nights at your house. There is absolutely nothing more detrimental to a game night, in particular a board game night than playing on a table that is obviously way too small. It’s absolutely destructive to a gaming experience to not have enough space. It’s better to skip gaming all together than play on a cramped table or cramped space. Let the people breath!

Plan Ahead
In particular for board game nights it’s absolutely vital there is a plan in advance. You want everyone coming to your game night to know what games you are going to be playing so that they have the opportunity to read the rules/rulebooks of the games. More importantly if your hosting or if you are going to be introducing a game to players, read the rules in advance, know how to play the game well so that you can explain it to the others quickly and efficiently.

There is absolutely nothing I hate more than someone pulling out a board game and saying “hey let’s play this”, followed by him pulling out a 20 page rulebook to “figure out how to play”. It’s practically a guarantee that three things will happen. First the game will take 2-3 times as long to play. Secondly you will play rules incorrectly, overlook important rules and this will likely lead to someone winning/losing a game because of this fact. Finally it’s likely that the game will be rejected in the future, this often happens because the game appears unbalanced/broken or boring as a result of getting the rules wrong.

So be smart about your game nights, plan what you’re going to play in advance, read the rules for the games that are planned and be ready to teach players how to play the games without having to read the manual to them.

Know Your Audience
Kind of part of planning ahead, but know who your gamers are and what games are appropriate for them. There is nothing worse than inviting casual gamers or first time gamers to a game event and trying to introduce them to an epic, highly complex board game like Twilight Imperium for example. You really need to think about what sort of game you’re going to play, in particular it’s complexity level and compare that to who’s coming. It’s a sure fire way to ruin a game night to pull the wrong game off the shelf for the wrong kind of group.

This goes a bit further as well for player count. For example Twilight Imperium is clearly a 4, 5 or 6 player game. Sure you can play it with 3 players but you know it’s a shitty game with 3 players so don’t pull it out. Find a game appropriate for the audience and the amount of players you have.

Don’t force it, play games that you know will work with the amount of people you have and the type of gamers you have.

Don’t Take It Too Seriously
It’s a tragic illness that many gamers have, myself included, that we often take the hobby too serious. We become obsessed with trying to find that victory in a complex strategic game and if we can’t be it because the dice gods are against us, or the rules of the game leave something to be desired that we can get outright mean towards our opponents. We forget that we are there to play games and have fun, become competitive, aggressive sometimes even vengeful.

Remember, it’s a game, the people you’re playing with are your friends, quite possibly your guests if you’re the host. Keep your cool and win or lose do it with grace.

Gaming Articles

The Mystery Of A Classic

garygygax_2

1st edition AD&D, love it or hate it, is the definitive root from which the entire D&D franchise and quite possibly role-playing itself has sprouted. It sits on a pedestal of nostalgia, immortalized for all time more often by those who have barely played it or opened the dusty tome of secrets that is the core system than those that actually did.

Today we are going to explore the myth that is AD&D, in particular where this myth comes from and how it has affected our nostalgic sense of Gygax’s original work.

Before we get started however let’s speak frankly for a second first. For all its nostalgic qualities and happy memories it has provided over the years, when you actually read the rules of the game and hold them up against the 40 years of design experience AD&D is a really shitty game. Release AD&D today under a different name and it would be unlikely that anyone would ever publish it, let alone buy it or play it. Even for a nostalgic throwback game, there are better options available today. Even Gygax himself played Castles and Crusades over his own invention. AD&D’s claim to fame is based more on the timing of its release rather than the quality of its design. Gygax was a genius, but it wasn’t because he was a great designer or even a particularly good writer, he is a genius because he had a brilliant, original idea and the understanding that D&D’s appeal is its mystery, the great vale of fantasy. In another words he was a visionary and like all visionaries, it wasn’t that they were experts in their particular field but they created or discovered something original.

For years designers have been working on a way to live up to the nostalgic sense that AD&D induces in people but have been met with picket signs at every step by holistic purists who hold their 1st edition AD&D DMG up like the word of god. An odd sentiment given that from a design perspective the game is inferior to modern versions of the game. It’s been a difficult journey and it’s doubtful there is any circle among the D&D hobby where purists aren’t constantly holding back the franchises efforts for modern design, hell I count myself among them. Even in my previous article I set the standard of what to me qualifies as a great version of D&D and holding up tradition was among the short list of requirements. Every edition and sub edition over the years has tried to rise out of AD&D’s shadow in some way, but the truth is that we have made the shadow so big that the franchise is doomed to spend eternity in a time loop. No greater evidence can be presented than the rejection of 4th edition, a modern design and the creation of 5th edition, the latest edition, a clear throwback to old school thinking.

4th edition represents in every way that matters a rebellion against Gygaxian philosophy and design, a look into what the future of D&D could have been while 5th edition represents the apology and admission of a humble defeat postmortem, forever bowing to its master. In the end the purists won, 5th edition is nothing short of a throwback, an attempt to appease its fan base and bring the game back to familiar traditions. It’s an apology for 4th edition and in many ways an apology for not listening to its disgruntled fan base. The question is why? What is this holy fanaticism that is permanently etched into D&D player’s minds that has us constantly looking back? Is it really the design? Am I wrong here, was 1st edition AD&D really an ingenious game not just because it was an original but because THAC0 was in fact a better design?

Understanding why is the key to understanding both the present and the future of D&D and naturally, since it’s my blog, I have a theory.

I believe the secret sauce is that AD&D always has and continues to have a lot of mystery surrounding it. A sort of shadow that looms over the books, the rules themselves and the themes it presents and how it presents them. There is an intangible quality to its imperfections and indeed it’s the imperfections, the messiness of it that make it work. There is a sort of naïveté to the writing and to the design and a handing of the torch of creativity to the DM by an inexperienced creator and predecessor. It’s a game that’s up for interpretation, but that interpretation is assumed to be in the hands of the games Dungeon Master, god for all intense and purposes, which in turn creates mystery for both the narrative of the game, as well as what the rules of the game really are for the players. From a player’s perspective, role-playing under 1st edition AD&D was not just a discovery of the game world and the DM’s imaginative creations, but of the very boundaries and physical nature of how the game works. There is a built in social order to the work too, its presumptuous in its tone, written less as an instruction manual on how the mechanics of the game work and more a philosophy, a bible if you will, about how the mysterious art of role-playing works, which itself is filled with grey areas and omissions to be filled in by its god. Only the most basic outline of the game is provided to the players in the Players Handbook, the Dungeon Master Guide however is where the heart of the system exists, the bible of the game and one intended for DM eyes only.

This looming mystery creates mental pictures for the participants because there is little physical material to look at or hang your hat on. There are grey areas everywhere and without clarity we evolved a sense of imagination, the driving force of mystery and fantasy.

Perhaps I’m wrong, but for me, in a nutshell, 1st edition AD&D’s greatest asset as a game is that the rules of the game were largely unknown to the players. There is flexibility in this approach, in that, as players you aren’t expected to know how things work but rather expected to try things to see how they work. A process of discovery to which there was no conclusion thanks to the nearly infinite possibilities of a fantastically magical setting and the fact that the DMG was frankly very unclear about what the rules actually are.

Mysteries however are only mysteries until they are unveiled and in that is the hidden differentiation between 1st edition AD&D and everything that came afterwards. 1st edition AD&D was empowering because it did not define the rules clearly, it presumed the dungeon master would invent a great deal of it himself, forcing players to discover what those rules are during play. That’s the secret sauce of the mystery.

Once the mystery of D&D was solved, once the rules are known, made clear and once we understand what the rules are, the game is unmasked, its weaknesses exposed. This is the case in modern versions of the game where there are no mysteries to begin with, the rules are hard coded there is nothing left for interpretation, they are very clear. This is what modernization has done to D&D. It has unmasked the game, exposed it to scrutiny, we have handed over the DMG, the bible of the god who runs the game and asked for the player participant’s opinion, than outlined the process in a step by step instructional manual. It’s akin to revealing the odds of a slot machine, you might be better informed by knowing them, but the wonder of pulling the lever and hoping to win millions is broken by the reality of knowing you stand virtually no chance to do so.

You might argue (and you would be right) that AD&D’s mask was a thin veil at best to begin with. Clearly plenty of people read the DMG cover to cover even back then, but the reality was that the book was about empowerment of the DM because it understood that the DM is the storyteller, it understood that D&D wasn’t a game, but an experience. It understood that the game wasn’t about rules.

It must have been a disappointing experience to read the 1st edition AD&D DMG for players only to find out that the book really was nothing more than vague suggestions for the DM on how to run his games. What was really revealed is the fact that the Dungeon Master himself is the Wizard of Oz and his only power was the very thin veil he kept over your eyes, the one you just tore off by reading the book. There really where no secret rules, or unsolved mysteries revealed. The exploration of the rules through play was a fictitious game made up just like the story’s of the alter ego’s the players would go on in the game. The revelation was meaningless except for one thing, there was nothing left to reveal to you about the game afterwards. Simply reading and understanding how the magic trick was done, broke the spell.

Gygax persuaded players to avoid revealing the secrets of the DMG to themselves and those that adhered where treated to the wonders of it. Reading the DMG back than was the equivalent of reading the adventure before you joined it as a player.

This is at the heart of the problem of trying to re-invent the nostalgia of AD&D in modern versions of D&D and why the nostalgia exists in the first place. As a player who experienced that mystery and then became a god and watched others experience it, I know the desire of wishing there was a way to go back. There simply isn’t. For one modern gamers expect the rules to be clear, the game has evolved and a lack of clarity is seen as an obstacle rather than a mystery to be unveiled during play by the DM. Secondly, modern DMG’s have important rules that are clearly for the players, for example in 3rd edition you had prestige classes which clearly are player material infused into the DMG. In a sense, players had to read them.

I believe that modern role-playing hobbyist who did not experience the wonder and mystery of playing a game whose rules they did not know missed the golden age of the hobby. Their understanding of what D&D could be, or perhaps dare I say should be, can never be properly conveyed. I know that Gygax for years tried to break through to modern gamers and designers by example and I often wonder how many people got the message.

There is still mystery to be had in D&D, naturally the story the DM has prepared for you can have plenty of unexpected twists and turns which can result in plenty of fuel for the imagination, but there is a big distinction between the mystery of a story and the mystery of the game. 1st edition AD&D had both and it was thanks to the fact that the game was less defined, less refined and empowering. It gave the powers of creativity to the DM not just over the story, but the rules that governed it. The DMG was truly a guide, it lived up to its name, a place where modern versions of the same book do little more than provide clear and coherent rules with the expectation that both the DM and the players will read them.

I mourn the loss of this mystery, I think a piece of the game was lost when we set our focus on concepts like streamlining, clarity and transparency. The position of the DM in modern versions of D&D is more as an arbitrator of the rules and every DM today knows the feeling of having the rules quoted to them from a book that once was intended for his eyes only. In the end, this was the genius behind Gygax’s work, he understood that the draw, the thing that made his work special was that he empowered DM’s to keep that thin veil over the eyes of his audience and like a good magician, he expected a good DM would never reveal the secrets.