Ive been in an extreme board gaming mood recently. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, under the facade of beer and broken hookers, behind the curtain of facebook updates clearly influenced by medium-grade hallucinogens, I am, at heart, a big dork.
Ive been unhappy with my rpg group for a while now, but needed something equally geeky to occupy my creative time. Theres a board games group I attended a couple of times last year, but havent returned due mostly to other commitments which have fallen to the wayside. I LOVED that group. It had the massive size and organization the Ale Club which so many of my friends are fond of, but includes a brain-fueling activity beyond memorizing the 347 types of hops made in southwestern Norway.
Plus, the economy is down, people are depressed, and what better way to combat such woes as some face to face gaming time, with board games. Board games have no monthly fees or upkeep, and you can toss the green tokens at Murphys head after he wont give you any sheep in Settlers of Catan. So I consider it good entertainment.
Since board games are more universally loved than GURPS: MY Little Ponies, I figured I could invite people outside of our normal geek squad, and set about sending out a few random invites. As time drew near, more and more people politely called or wrote to tell me they had other plans, couldnt make it, or had just ditched me to see a hypnotist show.
I was disheartened, so I went to the liquor store to get some beer. Armed with delicious honey brown, I got back on facebook and started bugging more random people to show up. One person, Kristie, took me up on the offer. I hadnt seen Kristie in a long time, and it reminded me of how I used to appear in random places without rhyme or reason because I was bored and wanted to get out. I was inspired by this, and resolve to not be out-Kristied in the future. A couple of other friends expressed mild interest but they didnt show up either. And another new facebook friend kept talking about scrabble, but I havent met her yet and need to verify she isnt a serial killer or something before inviting her over.
Dodd arrived first, as usual, and I gave him the lowdown on the lack of people to be expecting. He fired up my television set to watch basketball and I sat in the corner twiddling my thumbs for a bit. My imagined night of merry cardboard combat was off to a slow and uneventful start. I sat there wondering if my life would be easier if I liked normal activities like bingo or avoiding the police in drug runs from Florida for cash and prizes. Everybody seems to like drinking beer a lot. Boy do my friends drink a lot of beer. Drink a lot of beer and talk a lot. About stuff. Dodd kept watching basketball.
After about an hour, Murphy came in, and immediately wandered off to take a shower. Yep, this night was moseying along. Assuming it was us three hardcore OGs in for the night, we launched into a game of Settlers of Catan. I had been playing a lot of Settlers of Catan recently, so I expressed interest in the Munchkin Quest board game Dodd had brought along. Well play that later, said Dodd, who was itching for a Settlers fix. During our game of Settlers, Kristie made her way over. We finished up the Settlers game and THEN Dodd broke out the Munchkin Quest game. Finally we all had a 4 person game going.
This was a bit of a mistake.
Munchkin Quest takes everything that was simple and elegant about Munchkin and insists on making it terribly complicated. Poor Kristie, who looked like she was enjoying watching us play Settlers and was hoping to get into that, was now launched into what appeared to be a board game run by accountants who thought Rolemaster was a pussys game*.
*- if you dont understand that reference, go google up some reviews of Rolemaster. Ill wait.
I assured her that I was as confused as she was, and then Murphy wandered off again to talk to his Saturday date on the phone. Dodd was expressing annoyance at the rules, Kristie looked confused and uncomfortable, Murphy had wandered off, and I saw my visions of a lively gaming night float slowly away out the window. Goodbye gaming night, I barely knew you.
The night was somewhat salvaged when the remaining three people at the table voted fuck this shit at Munchkin Quest and got Settlers of Catan back out. We ended the night with a decent game in which I won in pretty short fashion. If Id have thought it would have helped, I would have jobbed on purpose, but by that point the night was feeling weird. Im now on the fence about whether to attempt a board games meet again.
I bet the night would have went better if Ida had Talisman.
Ive been unhappy with my rpg group for a while now, but needed something equally geeky to occupy my creative time. Theres a board games group I attended a couple of times last year, but havent returned due mostly to other commitments which have fallen to the wayside. I LOVED that group. It had the massive size and organization the Ale Club which so many of my friends are fond of, but includes a brain-fueling activity beyond memorizing the 347 types of hops made in southwestern Norway.
Plus, the economy is down, people are depressed, and what better way to combat such woes as some face to face gaming time, with board games. Board games have no monthly fees or upkeep, and you can toss the green tokens at Murphys head after he wont give you any sheep in Settlers of Catan. So I consider it good entertainment.
Since board games are more universally loved than GURPS: MY Little Ponies, I figured I could invite people outside of our normal geek squad, and set about sending out a few random invites. As time drew near, more and more people politely called or wrote to tell me they had other plans, couldnt make it, or had just ditched me to see a hypnotist show.
I was disheartened, so I went to the liquor store to get some beer. Armed with delicious honey brown, I got back on facebook and started bugging more random people to show up. One person, Kristie, took me up on the offer. I hadnt seen Kristie in a long time, and it reminded me of how I used to appear in random places without rhyme or reason because I was bored and wanted to get out. I was inspired by this, and resolve to not be out-Kristied in the future. A couple of other friends expressed mild interest but they didnt show up either. And another new facebook friend kept talking about scrabble, but I havent met her yet and need to verify she isnt a serial killer or something before inviting her over.
Dodd arrived first, as usual, and I gave him the lowdown on the lack of people to be expecting. He fired up my television set to watch basketball and I sat in the corner twiddling my thumbs for a bit. My imagined night of merry cardboard combat was off to a slow and uneventful start. I sat there wondering if my life would be easier if I liked normal activities like bingo or avoiding the police in drug runs from Florida for cash and prizes. Everybody seems to like drinking beer a lot. Boy do my friends drink a lot of beer. Drink a lot of beer and talk a lot. About stuff. Dodd kept watching basketball.
After about an hour, Murphy came in, and immediately wandered off to take a shower. Yep, this night was moseying along. Assuming it was us three hardcore OGs in for the night, we launched into a game of Settlers of Catan. I had been playing a lot of Settlers of Catan recently, so I expressed interest in the Munchkin Quest board game Dodd had brought along. Well play that later, said Dodd, who was itching for a Settlers fix. During our game of Settlers, Kristie made her way over. We finished up the Settlers game and THEN Dodd broke out the Munchkin Quest game. Finally we all had a 4 person game going.
This was a bit of a mistake.
Munchkin Quest takes everything that was simple and elegant about Munchkin and insists on making it terribly complicated. Poor Kristie, who looked like she was enjoying watching us play Settlers and was hoping to get into that, was now launched into what appeared to be a board game run by accountants who thought Rolemaster was a pussys game*.
*- if you dont understand that reference, go google up some reviews of Rolemaster. Ill wait.
I assured her that I was as confused as she was, and then Murphy wandered off again to talk to his Saturday date on the phone. Dodd was expressing annoyance at the rules, Kristie looked confused and uncomfortable, Murphy had wandered off, and I saw my visions of a lively gaming night float slowly away out the window. Goodbye gaming night, I barely knew you.
The night was somewhat salvaged when the remaining three people at the table voted fuck this shit at Munchkin Quest and got Settlers of Catan back out. We ended the night with a decent game in which I won in pretty short fashion. If Id have thought it would have helped, I would have jobbed on purpose, but by that point the night was feeling weird. Im now on the fence about whether to attempt a board games meet again.
I bet the night would have went better if Ida had Talisman.