Origins 2013 (with a question)

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hepcat
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Re: Origins 2013 (with a question)

Post by hepcat »

I let his people know that Kevin would be able to choose his weapon...but still no reply.
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Re: Origins 2013 (with a question)

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Had a great time with Super Dungeon Explore. The minis were painted beatifully and it's just a very fun experience where the situation swings from perilous to under control then back again.

My Paranoia group was terrific but we didn't get far enough to recover the Orb from the Guild. As always, the best moments were unscripted. A personal miniature scrubbot was giving Brock a thorough external and internal cleaning, so Dean decided to recover valuable computer equipment with his shiny new INFRARED gloves. Unknown to him, these security gloves broadcast live footage to IntSec. Poor goon regreted the surveillance duty and sent goons to recover the gloves. And so I lost one of my important plot devices because the gag was too good to pass up. The players also put the weapon sale booth next to the dangerous vents, only to have them menaced by the security bot misfires instead. Taking cover behind the weapon station did little to reduce the players' peril. Hank did end up trying to sell lemonade aka Computer-Os a sweet tasty nutritional supplement of allergic inducing doom. Just a terrific time.

Played Cutthroat caverns and ended up with a series of mostly puzzle encounters. A very different game than usual.
"If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts." - Albert Einstein
"I don't stand by anything." - Trump
“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” - John Stuart Mill, Inaugural Address Delivered to the University of St Andrews, 2/1/1867
“It is the impractical things in this tumultuous hell-scape of a world that matter most. A book, a name, chicken soup. They help us remember that, even in our darkest hour, life is still to be savored.” - Poe, Altered Carbon
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hepcat
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Re: Origins 2013 (with a question)

Post by hepcat »

Was that bastard Sorbo playing?
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RMC
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Re: Origins 2013 (with a question)

Post by RMC »

hepcat wrote:Was that bastard Sorbo playing?
Did you give him your room key?
Difficulties mastered are opportunities won. - Winston Churchill
Sheesh, this is one small box. Thankfully, everything's packed in nicely this time. Not too tight nor too loose (someone's sig in 3, 2, ...). - Hepcat
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Re: Origins 2013 (with a question)

Post by Zarathud »

hepcat wrote an invitation with lipstick on Sorbo's room door. He just doesn't want to meet his long lost love child.
"If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts." - Albert Einstein
"I don't stand by anything." - Trump
“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” - John Stuart Mill, Inaugural Address Delivered to the University of St Andrews, 2/1/1867
“It is the impractical things in this tumultuous hell-scape of a world that matter most. A book, a name, chicken soup. They help us remember that, even in our darkest hour, life is still to be savored.” - Poe, Altered Carbon
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hepcat
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Re: Origins 2013 (with a question)

Post by hepcat »

Games played (not including some standards like Cutthroat Caverns)

Courtier - Really liked. Great little card game. Text heavy, but fun.

Mercante - Meh. I've played better bidding and trading games.

Super Dungeon Explore - Always fun. Surprisingly so as the theme makes it appear less mature than the actual game play really is.

CO2 - Good, but not good enough to own.

Ace Detective - Not really a game, more of a social storytelling tool. It HAS some game mechanics in it, but they're not the real reason you play. While I enjoyed it, it still suffers from the same issue that Agents of Smersh (another 8th Summit game I own) does, and that's that it wants to be Tales of the Arabian Nights level of storytelling and gaming, but it can't quite get there. To be fair though, ToAN has had decades of refinement, so I shouldn't be too harsh with this criticism.

Cthulhu Gloom - Found out I've been playing it wrong for years. You can't "kill" a family member (yours or anothers) if they have a positive outlook. Whoops.

Stuff Bought

Darkest Night - Victory Point Games had a booth. They had a sale. Let's just say I got out of there before some real damage occurred.

Ace Detective - see above

Crimson Siege for Nightfall - it was 15 bucks. I haven't played Nightfall since Origins a few years back, but I still keep up with it for some reason.

Lives Spared

Kevin Sorbo
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hentzau
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Re: Origins 2013 (with a question)

Post by hentzau »

I got Ace Detective during its Kickstarter, but haven't found a group to try playing.
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hepcat
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Re: Origins 2013 (with a question)

Post by hepcat »

I was able to snag all the promos from the kickstarter as well (that's what pushed me over the fence at the convention) so I have the weird tales expansion (amongst others). That's the part I want to play with the most.
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Re: Origins 2013 (with a question)

Post by paulbaxter »

Had a very nice time at my first Origins. My son LOVED trying out new games in the board room.

Mucho thanks to Hepcat and Zarathud for letting me crash with them.

Tried lots of new (to me) games including:
7 Wonders (would be more fun with a group who had played before, but was lots of fun)
Pandemic (only game I purchased since my son liked it so much)
Cutthroat Caverns (loved it!)
Pirates vs Dinosaurs
King of Tokyo
Steam
Seasons
Burrows (another hit with my son, but a bit simple/silly for my taste)
several others I can't remember

a couple of prototypes I playtested and enjoyed were Too Big to Fail (a deck builder similar to Dominion) and Weekend in Vegas (would be good fun for people who like Vegas and/or are having a few drinks).
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Re: Origins 2013 (with a question)

Post by Isgrimnur »

hepcat wrote:Cthulhu Gloom - Found out I've been playing it wrong for years. You can't "kill" a family member (yours or anothers) if they have a positive outlook. Whoops.
:shock: That's kind of a big deal. It turns positive outlooks from the delaying tactic into a huge F-U strategy.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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hepcat
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Re: Origins 2013 (with a question)

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I think I USED to play it correctly...but then I just stopped doing it at some point and continued with that bad interpretation. Now that I realize what I've been doing wrong, it's a much better game.
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hepcat
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Re: Origins 2013 (with a question)

Post by hepcat »

Forgot to mention, I ran into Tom Vassel twice at Origins. The first time I spoke with him, he seemed...well...not to be a terribly nice guy. However, later that same night I ran into him in the open board game room and he was all about showing off a game he's working on with a friend. Talkative and quite warm and friendly. I guess he was just frazzled from an early morning interview the first time I saw him.
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Re: Origins 2013 (with a question)

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Timothy Zahn was cold and uninterested in fans for the third year I met him, while Patrick Rothfuss was clearly loving fan interaction at his booth front and center in the dealer hall. I talked a bit with Michael Stackpole and made myself look like an idiot (I forgot how he's gone all in and embraced ebook distribution), but he was gracious and friendly.
"If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts." - Albert Einstein
"I don't stand by anything." - Trump
“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” - John Stuart Mill, Inaugural Address Delivered to the University of St Andrews, 2/1/1867
“It is the impractical things in this tumultuous hell-scape of a world that matter most. A book, a name, chicken soup. They help us remember that, even in our darkest hour, life is still to be savored.” - Poe, Altered Carbon
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Re: Origins 2013 (with a question)

Post by hepcat »

Stackpole was a staple of my childhood RPG days. His Tunnels and Trolls adventures fueled many game nights amongst Redwarlord and all our friends. It was a kick to meet him in person.
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Re: Origins 2013 (with a question)

Post by Redwarlord »

I have fond memories of visiting Michael Stackpole's "City of Terror" one of the better solo adventures for Tunnels & Trolls
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Re: Origins 2013 (with a question)

Post by Zarathud »

So very late with my Origins AAR. I'll get it up this weekend.

Perhaps the biggest news is that Wizard's Brew is just a terrible game that you can lose during setup. Almost joined the Kickstarter on Tom Vassel's recommendation, and I'm glad I didn't. The game comes down to an auction/allocation system. Win the auction, and you start the bidding for the next thing -- whether it's a spell or ingredient.

With the right combo and bids at the beginning, you can win the last spell which gives control of the first round of ingredients so you can keep control by moving the bid to locations where no one can outbid your starting bid. The entire table turned sour when 1 player picked up 4/8 ingredients to win on the first turn. A few turns later, another player again ran the table on spell auctions, then the ingredient auctions. Finallly, a third player took control of the turn. By then, we all wanted the game to end.
"If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts." - Albert Einstein
"I don't stand by anything." - Trump
“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” - John Stuart Mill, Inaugural Address Delivered to the University of St Andrews, 2/1/1867
“It is the impractical things in this tumultuous hell-scape of a world that matter most. A book, a name, chicken soup. They help us remember that, even in our darkest hour, life is still to be savored.” - Poe, Altered Carbon
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