Octopus Overlords

Isgrimnur wrote:Come visit your brother and I'll take you to our game event where you can get firsthand experience.

But that would mean I would have to go to Texas....

There aren't nearly as many famous news articles for Texasman.

Ralph-Wiggum wrote:

Smoove_B wrote:Dead of Winter with Ashley Johnson, Grant Imahara, and Dodger Leigh. I absolutely love this game.

That game looks awesome; this is the first Tabletop I've watched all the way through (only somewhat because of Dodger Leigh). Unfortunately, the game is running about $70 + shipping at Amazon right now. How long does a typical game last and does it play ok with fewer than 4 players?

I've only played 3 players full co-op with my kids, and it was still a lot of fun and pretty tense to win.

But a full game of 5 players with a possible betrayer is just a great gaming experience. And in my experience, a game with 5 players (and teaching the game) takes about 3.5 hours. My 3 player co-op game was about 2.5 with teaching. I haven't played a game where everyone is familiar with the rules yet.

(And come to OctoCon. You can learn to play there. I know it will hit the table a couple of times.)

Yeah, it depends on what you're looking for. I've played a few games in pure co-op with only another player. I also played one game with four people and enjoyed it just as much. For me it's the theme and mechanics. Essentially it's Robinson Crusoe with individual player goals and the possibility of a betrayer. There are some that really enjoy the idea of inter-player strife and if that's not an element (like it is in something like Spartacus), it's not nearly as fun.

I thought they were looking to get reprints out as it is ridiculously popular - way more than they thought it would be. That should bring the price back down to normal levels, but I have seen it in limited quantities on sale for $50 over the last few months on Amazon.

I would say that ~3 hour play time seems about right. Believe the hype.

How does it compare to Battlestar Galactica (which I haven't played either but looks fun)? They seem pretty similar in general gameplay.

I've read it is similar, but my only point of comparison is the Robinson Crusoe board game, so someone with experience in both can probably help you out there.

Epic Spell Wars with Emily V. Gordon, Jonah Ray, and Veronica Belmont.

Cards Against Humanity

Aisha Tyler, Laina Morris, & Ali Spagnola

Info now released about the RPG show.

Sounds like a lot of fun!

Sounds cool. I loved Thundaar and Heavy Metal.

Five Tribes with Jenna Busch, Satine Phoenix, and Richard Garriott.

Wow he got Richard. I think he's my all time favorite dev. Actually took the time to reply to my post once recently. True gamer.

Five Tribes looks pretty cool. I keep seeing it pop up on my Amazon "Things you may be interested in" feed. Have any of you guys played it? Does it work well with fewer than 4 players?

Ralph-Wiggum wrote:Five Tribes looks pretty cool. I keep seeing it pop up on my Amazon "Things you may be interested in" feed. Have any of you guys played it? Does it work well with fewer than 4 players?

Yep own it and played it a fair amount. Most of my games have been two player games, but I've had a few 4 player games. I've never had a 3 player game though. It has a different mechanism for 2 players in that you each bid two times per round and have two turns per round. It still works really well. I enjoy this game a lot, but it does have some AP issues. I wrote more about it in the "what did you play this weekend thread" as well.

FYI they are replacing the slave cards now as well. And it is doing well enough that an expansion is already in the works I guess. Regardless I really like this game. It's a really cool take on mancala. I'm planning on taking it to octocon this weekend so hopefully I'll get to try a few plays of more than 2 players.

I played Five Tribes for the first time over Easter. It is very easy to bog down in AP, especially when you are new. It is hard to 'see' the available moves and then decide which one might be the best for you.

It was also a bit annoying that one player was a bit cavalier in picking up a group without really knowing if it would work and then have them go 'oops - that doesn't work' and try and back track when they were not being careful to keep their drops clear along the way.

I badly got my plan for scoring wrong and finished 5th in a 4 player game behind the other 3 and daylight.

Will definitely play again though.

AP can be a huge problem with Five Tribes. Certain people I would not want to play the game with as a result. I played it a couple more times 4 players this weekend and I still really enjoy it.

One note about "oops" moments that is mentioned in the rule book and I think is a good idea- Put all of the meeples standing up to start the game and then drop them on their side when you move them around so you can identify which ones you need to pick back up. Obviously the ideal situation is not doing "oops" moments but when it is people's first game I try and set up the meeples that way so they can have a bit more forgiveness when making mistakes. Eventually people stop needing to do that I have found.

I learned a few new strategies playing this weekend too, including much better usage of the assassins which up till now I have kind of been neglecting. Used them relatively successfully in one game this weekend and I liked it a lot.

AP?

Analysis paralysis.

We have Concept. My kids love it.

Dread (Pt. 1) featuring Laura Bailey, Molly Lewis, and Ivan Van Norman.

It's an RPG that uses...(not) Jenga(?!) instead of dice. What in the actual hell??

Laura Bailey hot.

Libertalia featuring Seth Green, Karen Gillan, and Clare Grant.

If the artwork on the Waitress card isn't Elisha Cuthbert, I'll eat my socks.

Karen Gillan is the new Alicia Witt.

That's right, I said it. Come at me, Smoove!

Is her foot where her hand should be?

Defiant wrote:Is her foot where her hand should be?

Apparently Wil has some props hanging around. What I loved was that she was subtle about introducing it. At first you aren't really sure. Then later she makes it pretty obvious. But she never acknowledges it.

Dr. Sugardaddy wrote:Karen Gillan is the new Alicia Witt.

I can't argue. Alicia Witt is now a backwoods paralegal to me, courtesy of Justified.

"I have to admit I find your blatant abuse of government privilege incredibly sexy."

Tabletop is just an elaborate ruse by Wil Wheaton, the primary purpose of which is to get fun, attractive women to play board games with him.

Smoove_B wrote:

Dr. Sugardaddy wrote:Karen Gillan is the new Alicia Witt.

I can't argue. Alicia Witt is now a backwoods paralegal to me, courtesy of Justified.

"I have to admit I find your blatant abuse of government privilege incredibly sexy."

Clare Grant is cuter than Karen Gillan.

I found Claire Grant to be more than a little annoying. Like she was trying too hard.

But I'm interested in Libertalia now!

hentzau wrote:I found Claire Grant to be more than a little annoying. Like she was trying too hard.

But I'm interested in Libertalia now!

Honestly I didn't find any of them to be especially funny or entertaining that episode.

El Guapo wrote:

hentzau wrote:I found Claire Grant to be more than a little annoying. Like she was trying too hard.

But I'm interested in Libertalia now!

Honestly I didn't find any of them to be especially funny or entertaining that episode.

I think my least favorite episode from the first year was with Seth Green and Claire Grant. They were playing X-Wing, and making a royal hash of the rules.

El Guapo wrote:

Smoove_B wrote:

Dr. Sugardaddy wrote:Karen Gillan is the new Alicia Witt.

I can't argue. Alicia Witt is now a backwoods paralegal to me, courtesy of Justified.

"I have to admit I find your blatant abuse of government privilege incredibly sexy."

Clare Grant is cuter than Karen Gillan.

Clare Grant is trying too hard to be a nerdy Megan Fox. Come at me, Guapo!

I would totally hang out with Clare to get to know Seth, though.

Dr. Sugardaddy wrote:

El Guapo wrote:

Smoove_B wrote:

Dr. Sugardaddy wrote:Karen Gillan is the new Alicia Witt.

I can't argue. Alicia Witt is now a backwoods paralegal to me, courtesy of Justified.

"I have to admit I find your blatant abuse of government privilege incredibly sexy."

Clare Grant is cuter than Karen Gillan.

Clare Grant is trying too hard to be a nerdy Megan Fox. Come at me, Guapo!

I would totally hang out with Clare to get to know Seth, though.

Like I said, I didn't find any of them especially funny or interesting here, and Clare Grant is no exception. I'm just saying that she's more physically attractive.

I do hope that you and Seth are very happy together, though.

So apparently they "completely butchered" the rules to Kingdom Builder in the latest episode.

For the most part I really like Wil, but man he threw one of his producers under the bus for this one. I get that he's the host and the "talent", but if I was going to be out there as the face of Tabletop I would have done my homework on the rules of the game.

Hmmm... Tough call. He's clearly angry. But he did manage to refrain from naming names. So while, yes, he did go after a producer, he essentially threw an unnamed person under the bus. I'm not sure I fault him. And he did make it clear that he used he resources for other things... that he relied on the producer to handle that part. I have to say that I'm pretty impressed that they managed to play without stoppages to look through rules. I do that all the time. For games that I've played. I'd assumed that he'd just played all the games enough times to know them. But now I have to assume that there is a LOT of fancy editing.

Yeah, I get it. Just seems fairly Un-Wheaton-esque.

Wonder if he found out about all of the problems only once it was released and folks started commenting? That could certainly raise the ire and embarrassment factors.

Seemed to me that the underlying driving force was the betrayal. He obviously felt he could count on and trust the person. I imagine that their crew isn't that big. And he's been working with the person for several years. That would make it a pretty bitter pill to swallow.

Back in November, Wil expressed annoyance with getting the rules wrong in 2 games early on and knowing there was a rules error coming up in Stone Age. At a certain point, there's not a lot of tolerance for excuses. If they're filming over a few days and then doing all the post-production later, I can see someone not doing their job and not finding out until much later.

I think for Season 2, they filmed multiple games a day and did them all in like 2 weeks.