I played TAW several years back, and I know they’re werea few (minor?) changes in the new printing. It was fine, as are all Laukat’s games. Pretty standard worker placement, with the twist that each worker has a number, and if you want to place on a spot that already has an opponent’s worker on it, you have to use a higher number. Collect sets of flags, score VPs, etc., etc.
Really, none of the mechanics in his games are all that great- they’re very serviceable, they work (which is more that you can say for some games that rely on their art to get people interested), they often have a twist on the latest design trend, but none are games for the ages. The two standout games he’s done are Above & Below and Near & Far, because of the paragraph books in them, which gives them their own character (along with his great artistic style, of course). The paragraphs don’t make them better games (one could argue they make them worse, actually), but they make them more fun, better experiences. Sleeping Gods takes that trend to its logical conclusion.
Great description, Mr. Quixote. You’ve managed to articulate why I tend to have a slight feeling of disappointment when I get one of his games to the table.
Anyone playing the new mobile version of Raiders of the North Sea? I haven’t been able to pull the trigger with the $10 price tag on iOS yet. It’s on Steam too, and apparently supports asynchronous play.
I’m never disappointed, but then again, the only one I play of his is N&F. Like I said, I’m a sucker for paragraph-book systems. The game has enough meat and decisions to keep me interested, and the stories are icing on the cake. SG looks aces to me. .
Nope. My understanding is that those are less paragraph-book-systems, and more old-school D&D modules that just have you read a paragraph at specific points of the adventure. Am I wrong? The things I’ll thinking of are more Tales of the Arabian Nights, Agents of SMERSH, City of Chaos, etc.
EDIT:Which isn’t to say they’re bad, just not what I’m talking about. I love Gloomhaven and Mansions of Madness 2.0, for example.
I think Tom talked about it on a podcast a few months back. It’s a combination tableaux-builder and map-exploration/exploitation game. Each game is played on one of a dozen maps which have a few (changeable) spots picked out at the beginning of the game. When you go to one, another player reads a paragraph out of the book at you. You then have decisions to make/skills to check. These can also result in further adventures on later maps playing the campaign game.
Above & Below is similar, but is a pretty standard worker-placement game. One action is ‘Explore the caves Below’ which has you looking up random paragraphs in the book, making decisions and skill tests, etc.
I was just about to buy the physical game as I just received the AI deck from the designer but I may have to try this instead. Usually much rather play the actual board game but I now have so many games and such a huge back log, this might fit the bill
Have you seen Rahdo’s play through of Sleeping Gods, currently on Kickstarter? I linked it in the KS thread. That game seems to have added interesting gameplay decisions and resource management to the exploration and storytelling.
That said, every single person I’ve heard whip has tried the game had had positive things to say about it. It seems like a solid game that evokes the theme (goofy as it is) and is interesting to play.
