Someone here mentioned a fairly new game that was akin to Battlestar Galacticta with regard to the traitor-mechanic, but only took 45-60min to play. Maybe it was horror-themed? I don’t remember.
What game fits that description?
The Resistance.
Also, that description blows because there’s a lot more to BSG than just a traitor. There is not a lot more to The Resistance. But I guess it takes less time or something. Like if you want to hurry up and stop hanging out with your friends.
Yeah, The Resistance is a party game in the vein of Werewolf. It is not a replacement for BSG in a collection. Maybe Sten is thinking of the Betrayal At House On The Hill re-release.
They don’t really like me, so by choosing a shorter game I figure they will be grateful for the harm-reduction. :)
That said, I totally agree with you re BsG. There is more than the traitor-thing going on. But, hey, something has to go if you cull 75% of a games playing time.
The Resistance seems like it would fit… but I doubt it is the one I thought about. Are there any others that would fit as well?
Earth Reborn?
Ha! Sorry to hear about your friends :)
Any chance it was Shadows Over Camelot? No idea how long that takes to play.
Reldan
4227
The Resistance is the game you’re thinking of that was described as the BS:G traitor mechanic without the game part filled in.
BS:G really has the best traitor mechanic of any such game I’ve played. You could go with Shadows Over Camelot but I think it’s inferior in just about every way.
Other hidden identity games include Bang! and Shadow Hunters. Both are shorter in their play time than BSG and quite good. Neither are new. Citadels has you guessing identities, but on a round per round basis, so it feels different.
Lorini
4229
Earth Reborn is not cooperative, so it has no traitor aspect to it. Earth Reborn is a thematic skirmish game.
My wife and I beat the first one and said “Yeah, no problem, piece of cake! NEXT!” Then we played the second one a half-dozen times and got utterly creamed. One of the times, half of our party was dead after the first couple of turns. It’s impossible!
I mean I’m still going to buy all of the expansion decks but what the heck man.
lol, I thought so too! I got really depressed about how difficult it was, especially after going through the trouble of reconstructing my decks thinking I’d definitely beat it this time only to have the 2nd hill troll come out on the first/second turn. I mean, how the hell can that be possible?
Next day, did the 2p red and blue sphere decks and it was like night and day. I think a mistake I made with that scenario was trying to engage the first hill troll right away. Instead, hold off on engaging him for as long as you can, take out everything else, build up your strength, and preferably let Gimli take some hits to get his attack way up. I think we ended up one-shotting the hill troll in both of the games we played. :D
Man, that hill troll is a son of a bitch. We also tend to get those damn goblin snipers in there that just chip away at our health and are unreachable. We’ll keep at it.
Nephrinn
4233
Just beat it again and it was just as easy. :)
Waited a few turns to engage the hill troll (let an attack go undefended to put damage on Gimil), then engaged hill troll and one-shotted him. :D In fact, I got a 2nd hill troll a few turns later, together with the marsh adder and the orc chieftain and managed them no sweat.
And the hero Dunhere can take out the snipers because his ability lets him attack enemies in the staging area (with a +1 attack).
Magic Realm has the advantage of being the best fantasy quest game ever made. The disadvantage is that you will probably never find anyone else willing to put the time into learning how to play.
(I have a copy. It’s in very good condition, since it’s been about twenty years since I last played it. It’s not for sale, though!.. :)
Lorini
4235
Magic Realm is a fantasy adventure game with more rules than any other game I’ve ever seen by far :). Did you download the unofficial 3rd edition rules on BGG? If you can stomach those and think you’d enjoy MR more than MK, then go for it. I really like what I’ve seen of MK, nice and strategic, just what you would expect from Vlaada.
Reldan
4236
At work we have a bit of a play group over lunch, so games that handle a large number and play in under an hour are perfect for us. Bang got played a ton until I picked up Shadow Hunters and brought that in, and now that gets the majority of plays by far. I’d say it’s probably seen 50-60 games and people still look forward to playing again.
It’s not laid out like a co-op where someone is a backstabber - it’s more of a competitive game where you just don’t know who’s on your team at the very start. It’s a different flavor than BS:G or Shadows over Camelot, but still fun.
JoshL
4237
If you’re a Magic Realm player, or want to learn, you must download “RealmSpeak”, a Java implementation of Magic Realm. It makes playing solo games incredibly easy and convenient. It doesn’t really help you learn the rules, but it does prevent you from making rules mistakes. You can also use it for network (or hot-seat) multi-player.
http://realmspeak.dewkid.com/
Now you’re just rubbing it in.
I think people forgot about Panic station when recommending traitor games.
Also in this vein is The Castle of The Devil, the 2nd edition of Die Kutchfahrt zur Teufelsburg (Coachride to the Devils Castle), a little Adlung-Spiele card game from a few years back.
Like the others mentioned, it’s not so much a Traitor game as a team game where you don’t know who’s on your team. I usually describe it to potential players as Werewolf with an actual game attached, and that game is a simplified Cosmic Encounter. Look it up- its good fun, and plays up to 10.
