Board gaming went really well last night!
nekouken invited a bunch of people over, and the final roster was cranberrynomiko and R, their friend Everybody (aka Stewart), stormdog and elision. It was his party, but I did invite a few coworkers, and of them, Arturo was able to make it.
I presume things started as planned around 4, but when Arturo and I got there after work it was close to 8. They were wrapping up a game of Telephone Oracle, a game to which R + R introduced us, chosen because it is short and would roughly coincide with our arrival, and is lots of fun with minimal equipment requirements.
With so many people, we split into two groups.stormdog, cranberrynomiko and S played a train game, while the rest of us played the cooperative Battlestar Galactica game.
I'd heard really good things about the cooperative BSG game, and they were true. It's really lengthy, though - in retrospect, I wish I'd noted the time spent on each round, because I actually have no idea how long any one part took, includingelision explaining the "basic" rules and setting up all the pieces. Lengthy may even be an understatement; we started at 8:30 and finished around 2 - and we were all engaged all the way through and still interested at the end.
It's amazingly well-constructed; every element appears to have been considered, and it's complex but clear. The game play includes lots of esoteric maneuvering, and suspicion and paranoia for as long as there are hidden traitors. Some characters can draw cards that give the ability to pass initiative to other players, so the chit that gets passed to indicate whose turn it is was extremely necessary.
Since I chose to play as Starbuck, and I started out the game as a hidden Cylon, AND I inadvertently outed myself on my first turn (because R was counting cards, and I hadn't really figured out how it worked yet) it seemed only proper to start drinking once I was thrown in the brig, and even though I spent a good amount of game time very giggly and silly, I still followed along quite well (though I struggled a little bit with card-choosing strategy, and, well, focusing my eyes well enough to read the sideways text on the board). That is saying something, because I'm not really a board gamer, I just play socially. Between the alcohol and my early exposure, I was probably one of the least effective Cylons ever, and Arturo was a sleeper Cylon, so he didn't turn up until a later round, and then he wasn't sure he could trust my overall strategy due to my alcohol consumption, so he hesitated, and the darned humans won.
I like this game, though I will only want to play it when I'm in for the long haul, and I really really want to make up pins that say, "I'm a Cylon - ask me how!" I also think five is the bare minimum of players, because with an ultimate ratio of 3 humans to 2 Cylons, it's way too easy to deduce who is a Cylon. The uncertain way Arturo played had the unexpected benefit of making the humans all go nuts trying to figure out who was a Cylon, though. It was pretty awesome.
Aside from that, there was a ton of gamer geek food as well asnekouken's first ever chili and a cake made by cranberrynomiko. It was a hugely successful party, and I'm still feeling the good vibes the next day. We will be doing it again sometime, though not sure when.
nekouken invited a bunch of people over, and the final roster was cranberrynomiko and R, their friend Everybody (aka Stewart), stormdog and elision. It was his party, but I did invite a few coworkers, and of them, Arturo was able to make it. I presume things started as planned around 4, but when Arturo and I got there after work it was close to 8. They were wrapping up a game of Telephone Oracle, a game to which R + R introduced us, chosen because it is short and would roughly coincide with our arrival, and is lots of fun with minimal equipment requirements.
With so many people, we split into two groups.
stormdog, cranberrynomiko and S played a train game, while the rest of us played the cooperative Battlestar Galactica game.I'd heard really good things about the cooperative BSG game, and they were true. It's really lengthy, though - in retrospect, I wish I'd noted the time spent on each round, because I actually have no idea how long any one part took, including
elision explaining the "basic" rules and setting up all the pieces. Lengthy may even be an understatement; we started at 8:30 and finished around 2 - and we were all engaged all the way through and still interested at the end. It's amazingly well-constructed; every element appears to have been considered, and it's complex but clear. The game play includes lots of esoteric maneuvering, and suspicion and paranoia for as long as there are hidden traitors. Some characters can draw cards that give the ability to pass initiative to other players, so the chit that gets passed to indicate whose turn it is was extremely necessary.
Since I chose to play as Starbuck, and I started out the game as a hidden Cylon, AND I inadvertently outed myself on my first turn (because R was counting cards, and I hadn't really figured out how it worked yet) it seemed only proper to start drinking once I was thrown in the brig, and even though I spent a good amount of game time very giggly and silly, I still followed along quite well (though I struggled a little bit with card-choosing strategy, and, well, focusing my eyes well enough to read the sideways text on the board). That is saying something, because I'm not really a board gamer, I just play socially. Between the alcohol and my early exposure, I was probably one of the least effective Cylons ever, and Arturo was a sleeper Cylon, so he didn't turn up until a later round, and then he wasn't sure he could trust my overall strategy due to my alcohol consumption, so he hesitated, and the darned humans won.
I like this game, though I will only want to play it when I'm in for the long haul, and I really really want to make up pins that say, "I'm a Cylon - ask me how!" I also think five is the bare minimum of players, because with an ultimate ratio of 3 humans to 2 Cylons, it's way too easy to deduce who is a Cylon. The uncertain way Arturo played had the unexpected benefit of making the humans all go nuts trying to figure out who was a Cylon, though. It was pretty awesome.
Aside from that, there was a ton of gamer geek food as well as
nekouken's first ever chili and a cake made by cranberrynomiko. It was a hugely successful party, and I'm still feeling the good vibes the next day. We will be doing it again sometime, though not sure when.
Ahh, that explains why I couldn't get an answer from your phone. Christi and I arrived in Elgin about that time and I called you several times from your apartment's parking lot, but there was no answer, so we went home. Chalk it up to bad timing.
I figured when I didn't hear from you that you decided it was just too much in one day. Shucks! I should have had you try him if you didn't get me. Let me know what your schedule up here is and we'll see if we can do something. Or if not, maybe at Easter?
Unfortunately, we're back in Carbondale now where work awaits us (no Easter break).
The makeup of the group changes based on how many players you have; with three, it's 1 cylon. With four, it's 1 cylon, 1 sympathizer. With five, 2 cylons. Six adds a sympathizer.
Depending on the state of resources at the Sleeper Agent phase, sympathizers either stay fully human (but get brigged) or get sent immediately to cylon space, but don't get a super crisis card.