Critical Hits Report: Mearls on 4E

[blargney the second]

Look, D&D has always been two games, amateur dramatics/storytelling (non-combat), and a "board game" (combat) – get over it.

*laugh*

I agree. Heck, I sometimes add RP to Carcassonne. Sidle up to an unclosed city, and say "Howdy, neighbour!" with a big evil grin on my face.

 

[Staffan]

Carcassone isn't any more competition inducing than any other board game. If you're already so competitive that a board game would make you consider divorce you've got worse problems than Carcassone

Carcassone has lots of opportunities to mess things up for one another though, by making things like letting your city grow into someone else's, thereby neutralizing their knight and depriving them of lots of points.

 

[Particle_Man]

Which isn't to say they aren't competitive. A husband and wife I know refer to Carcassonne as divorce in a box.

For other games, I would give that title to Monopoly or Bridge.

I still get a little wary when my mom and dad partner up on a bridge game.

And I have seen the worst insults from Monopoly losers to other people sitting at the game.

(shudder)

But my favourite Eurogame would be Lord of the Rings, a cooperative board game. (But without the Sauron expansion, as that brings the competition back into it).

 

[Pickles JG]

Eurogames are board games that are actually good.

Basically, you've got five types of board and card games

1. Classic. Your chess, poker, etc. Scrabble has kind of an honorary membership here.

2. American "family" games.

3. American trivia games.

Most people only know about those three categories.

4. Ameritrash games.

5. Eurogames.

Poker is a board game???

You also forgot the category of hex & counter wargame that is stilll wobbling along. ASL FTW

 

[Cadfan]

Poker is a board game???

Well... technically no, but card games get grouped in with board games under a general label of "board games." I don't know why this is, except for the fact that so many Eurogames use both a board and cards, all at once.

You also forgot the category of hex & counter wargame that is stilll wobbling along. ASL FTW

Oh, right. That's not "Ameritrash," that's "Wargaming." Replace the cardboard counters with plastic soldiers, and its "Ameritrash."

 

[Rechan]

Eurogames are board games that are actually good.

Basically, you've got five types of board and card games

1. Classic. Your chess, poker, etc. Scrabble has kind of an honorary membership here.

2. American "family" games. Monopoly, etc. Tend to be kid stuff. High emphasis on "roll and move" game mechanics. Best of the lot is probably Clue. Worst is stuff like Chutes and Ladders, which is an entirely deterministic exercise in luck.

Hmm. I wonder where Risk fits in there?

Clue is a "Family" game, but it's ... actually, I can't ever remember playing clue, so it may be really simple.

Uno, however, I would argue is definitely a strategy game that's beyond "Family". I've also played a few card games that are sold at conventions which are similar to Uno in the "Let's mess with people".

There's apparently a lot of fun card games. See: Who's the Werewolf, Munchkin...

Tangent: The other day I wandered into the boardgame aisle in Wal-Mart to check out how much Jenga costs, because I think Jenga blocks make great impromptu dungeon scenery ("Here's some walls" "This is a fallen column providing concealment" "These are logs floating in the water").

Anyways, it warmed my heart to see Scrabble, Jenga, Risk, Connect Four, Pickup Sticks, and a few other games I think of fondly are still going strong. There are quite a few "New" kiddy games, trivia games, and a lot of Monopoly derivatives, but the good stuff still sticks around.

 

[Steely Dan]

I'm a board game nut, and I've wondered this a long time: why are Germans so dang good at making board games?

I would think it's because they are legendary for being some of the world's greatest engineers/designers.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I can't find it now, but there was a short part where they discussed that there will be more "monsters as player races" write-ups similar to the Dragonborn - but probably not for the Kobold, since he's broken.
I guess shifty is a little to powerful in PC hands, eh?
Maybe this will help groups who faced a Total Party Kill during Keep on the Shadowfell. "So what, we lost? Kobolds are broken anyway!"

I would think it's because they are legendary for being some of the world's greatest engineers/designers.

Our group sometimes refers to this as "Teutonic Overengineering"*...

*Like when during the New Orleans "flood", German pumps were used (I believe lend from German Catastroph Response Units or whatever they would be called) because they were light enough to not break into the wet banks - where probably such a device was never actually needed in practice in Germany.