Boardgaming 2022: the year of "point salad really isn't very filling"

Oh I have no personal experience. I’m referring to the BGG thread mentioned earlier, where Tom wants to discuss rules and they get all kinds of offended.

Ah. Well that sucks.

(I simultaneously still like the game a lot, even while being angry at AJ for being a dick.)

I only bought the “vanilla” Friday the 13th box and the slightly more advanced Nightmare on Elm Street from the first season. I was pleasantly surprised by how different each setting, killer, and (to a lesser degree) final girl played. That being said, I’m weighing how often I’ll actually play the game versus how much shelf space I want to devote to more combinations, and I’m not sure if I’ll order another one. The Alien/Thing themes don’t super interest me, but Wingard Cottage is funny enough to make me want to order it.

That’s the thing, hey. I’m really good at buying games, but not so great at getting repeated plays out of them before wanting something new. ;)

I was also thinking Vanilla and Elm St, then out of the new stuff I’m probably most interested by The Thing.

Would you believe I forgot I even owned that? I couldn’t tell you the last time I even opened the box. I need to take a look back through that one.

Ooh. Got my “last chance to change your shipping address, your order will ship soon” notice from Return to Dark Tower. Which I forgot I backed. Early returns for those who have copies already are fairly positive – though they note that much of the game has changed, which probably had to happen, I guess.

I, personally, appreciated the Star Trek Adventure game- a sort of two-player paragraph-style thing based on the system used in Tales of the Arabian Nights (the original version of TotAN was the same publisher back in the '80s).

And I’m surprised Brooski doesn’t have Dragon Pass or White Bear, Red Moon on that fantasy shelf. Such a disappointment.

I mean. The game was bad. People are buying the new one on the strength of that Orson Welles commercial alone. Which – I get. And that TOWER!

But in this day and age when we all carry around a computer in our pockets…

Oh god, I bet the tower is now an app, right?

(Clicks on Rodney video)

Yup. Ew.

Return to Dark iPad.

(Any changes to gameplay, however, can only improve the original game)

I loved the original, even though I didn’t own it. That game and Electronic Detective were the two best integrations of miniature electronic circuit technology and games from that time period, and there were some OK games and some absolute clunkers in that mix. (Code Name: Sector for instance, was terrible.)

Don’t get me wrong. For the time, if it’s Monopoly or Dark Tower… Dark Tower absolutely crushes it. And the cool factor was phenomenal. And the art!!! Is that guy still alive? They should have paid that guy whatever it took to make new art.

Ugh, he died in 2019. Tragic!

Return to Dark Tower does still use a tower, but that connects to an app. And it’s a massive rework of the design or I’d never have backed, for starters it’s now a coop game.

But the art (not the original art I’m guessing) is honestly still the biggest appeal for me.

You call it “the fantasy shelf” like it’s the only one or something. Please.

I fact, I think I am one of the few who is actively involved in current Dragon Pass development.

https://twitter.com/SpaceRumsfeld/status/1472705256043671553?s=20

What happened? Did Tom give FG a bad review or something?
Edit. N/M BGG thread. I’ll look for it

That’s awesome.

Quoted for truth. Damn, I haven’t played those games in 20 years. I was a big fan when I was young. And what was that TSR one? Divine Right? Epic.

Oooh, that game could do with an UI cleanup and moving diplomacy bets to card plays (I had a half-done fan redesign done some years ago in this direction but work got in the way).

For the record, I like Final Girl!

The stupid thing about that rules fracas is that it hasn’t affected my time with the game one bit. I just roll a die to resolve ties. But the stupider thing is that I should have known better than to bring it up on BGG, which is almost never a good place to have critical discussions. Especially when developers are going to take part! I should have known better than to push the issue when it was clear they either didn’t want to discuss it or were feeling defensive.

But thumbs up from me on Final Girl. I don’t think it has any legs or any real design insights, but it’s a nifty enough “mix-and-match and let stuff happen whee!” kind of game.

-Tom

For the record: when I read the Final Girl rules and saw their rule about resolving conflicting rules or ties, my very first thought was “Oh shit. When Tom sees this…”

With that said, I wasn’t aware of that thread, since I mostly avoid BGG for in-depth game discussions on rules and game constructs, mostly because every one I’ve seen just devolves pretty fast, sadly. So I apologize if I picked at a wound here, and if I could apologize for a developer treating a customer shabbily, I’d do that by proxy too.

I just read the whole thread. Two things that gets me.

Firstly is the guy who bring up the ‘Grim Rule’. As someone who have been breathing the Arkham rules for the last 2 month; this person don’t understand how that rule works.

Secondly, the Dev himself. A Dev’s job is to define the rules. If s/he didn’t do it properly then they didn’t do a good job regardless what a Youtube creator says.

This exchange actually stopped me from buying Hostage Negotiator and Final Girl. I just can’t support an attitude like that.