Wil Wheaton's TABELETOP #14: Pandemic

[Morrus]

Wil Wheaton and guests Ed Brubaker (Writer—Captain America, Criminal, Angel of Death), Robert Gifford (Founder—Geek Chic), and Morgan Webb (Host—X-Play) play Pandemic over on Geek & Sundry's latest episode of Tabletop.

Pandemic is a cooperative board game designed by Matt Leacock and published by Z-Man Games in 2008.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytK1zDPPDhw"]Pandemic: Morgan Webb, Ed Brubaker, and Robert Gifford Join Wil on TableTop, episode 14 - YouTube[/ame]

Pandemic is based on the premise that four diseases have broken out in the world, each threatening to wipe out a region. The game accommodates 2 to 4 players, each playing one of five possible specialists: (dispatcher, medic, scientist, researcher or operations expert). The game is unlike most boardgames as the gameplay is cooperative, rather than competitive. Through the combined effort of all the players, the goal is to discover all four cures before any of several game-losing conditions are reached.

An expansion, "Pandemic: On the Brink" (co-designed by Matt Leacock and Tom Lehmann) adds several new roles and special events, and rules adjustments to allow a fifth player. In addition, several rules expansions are included, referred to as "challenge kits".

You can download the Pandemic rulebook here.

[Kamikaze Midget]

"Support" nothin', Morgan.

Medics, in that game, are Striker City.

[Lwaxy]

I played the game at the game fair in Essen (there is an edition which has Essen as a city even) and it's a LOT of fun.

with some effort it is possible to build something similar fitting to your RPG worlds, too.

[MerricB]

I admire the gameplay and mechanics of Pandemic greatly, but I don't like the game much, just because it really feels more like a solo game; very easy for one player to make all the decisions.

When it comes to good co-operative games, I much prefer Space Alert.

Cheers,
Merric

[prosfilaes]

I admire the gameplay and mechanics of Pandemic greatly, but I don't like the game much, just because it really feels more like a solo game; very easy for one player to make all the decisions.

That's pretty much how I feel playing Pandemic. I like the new Sentinels of the Multiverse; each person has their own character with a distinctive deck, and their own hand of cards, so it's pretty hard for another player to play the game for you, unless they're really pushy and that's a whole 'nother problem.