Alex "Gus" Gustafson

Tag: board games

  • Instant Subscribe: Atomic Game Theory

    Atomic Game Theory is a YouTube show hosted by Richard Malena.  Malena uses conflict theory and math to explain interesting choices in designer board games. There are only three episodes so far, but they cover some great games: Dominion, Sheriff of Nottingham, and Lords of Waterdeep.

    Richard is a pleasant host and the writing displays clear, educational thinking. Something tells me Richard is the guy that reads the rulebook in its entirety then teaches his gaming group how to play the day-of. I’m that guy in my circle of friends so I grok you, Richard. Also, it’s produced by Angela Webber. Yes, that Angela Webber. She’s great too.

    (Hat tip to Geek & Sundry)

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  • Timeline: Americana

    For my birthday, my sister gave me Timeline: Americana. The games in the Timeline family are all trivia games where you need to know (or estimate) the year in which significant events took place. You can learn the game in less than a minute, play it in less than 15, and smack yourself in the head several times for not remembering that Marty Mcfly invented the skateboard in 1955 so of course the first one sold was in 1956 get it together, Alex.

    Don't let the picture of me fool you - my mom beat me.
    Don’t let the picture of me fool you – my mom beat me.

    The components are well-done for this little game. The box and insert protect the deck well and the cards are of good quality. It should stand up to the rigors of many plays, even with kids – unless they don’t yet realize that bent cards are less fun than straight cards.

    Though it only has one game mechanic, it is a solid one for the trivia genre. When I was still hosting Gus Bus Trivia my final round questions were usually a “put these four things in order” and this game feels like an extended version of that.

    Overall it’s fun and quick. Even when your mom beats you.

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  • Mice and Mystics

    For my birthday, my parents gave me Mice and Mystics. It’s a role-playing-game-in-a-box where several adventurers have been turned into mice to escape the wrath of the evil Venestra. You battle against roaches and rats instead of owlbears and manticores.

    We opted to do the side quest in the Kitchens and handled the Roaches, Miz Maggie, and Brodie successfully.
    The centipede and spiders took a toll on us.

    Unforunately the next-to-last tile had a tough encounter and we couldn’t keep our mice from being captured. We ran out of time for the chapter. But it was super fun and we’ll give it another try soon.

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  • Music for Tabletop Gaming

    A wonderful thing you can do to enhance the gaming experience is to play music appropriate for the game’s setting. This is true of both board games and role playing games!

    Matt Mercer, the dungeon master for Geek and Sundry’s twitch show Critical Role uses a masterful selection of music to set their environments and situations. Critical Role music selections come from a couple of sources:

    • Incompetech – Royalty-free music by Kevin MacLeod
    • Plate Mail Games – high quality professional background loops for a variety of genres

    But if you’re looking for the Critical Role theme song, you won’t find theme there. That was written by Jason Charles Miller, and I believe you can download it on iTunes.

    Another great source for gaming environments is Tabletop Audio. Some of these loops are ambience and sound effects, some of them are movie-score like compositions. But they’re all free to use at home! If you do use them a lot though, it’s friendly and good of you to contribute to the creator’s Patreon account.

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  • Game Day

    I absolutely love playing board games with friends. We invited a bunch of people over for games last night.

    Zombie Dice by Steve Jackson
    Gravwell: Escape from the 9th Dimension by Corey Young
    All clumped up in Gravwell, a moment where bluffing and readin g other people can really pay off.
    Saboteur by Fréderic Moyersoen. I won both rounds!
    An epic game of Elder Sign by Richard Launius and Kevin Wilson completed the night.

    We also played Forbidden Desert by Matt Leacock, Star Trek: Catan by Klaus Teuber, and 7 Wonders (with the Cities expansion) by Antoine Bauza.

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  • The Master

    As socially inept as I can be, one thing I’ve learned to do as an adult is convince people to come to my house and play games. Here’s a hint: food is key. Normally this consists of board games. Folks ready to come over earlier get to play a couple games [usually] under and hour each. But then we like to tentpole the night with long “big box” games like Arkham Horror or Battlestar Galactica.

    Ber knit cool dice bags for all the players. Mine has colors inspired by the fourth Doctor's scarf.
    Ber knit cool dice bags for all the players. Mine has colors inspired by the fourth Doctor’s scarf.

    But for a while now, some of my friends have also been into playing role playing games. Our first campaign was in Dungeons and Dragons (3.5) but more recently we’ve been playing in the Pathfinder system. Really the only issue we’ve had is that everyone has been more interested in playing than in running the game. Even though you get the venerable title of…

    Dungeon Master

    This weekend will be my first time as dungeon master. It’s a pretty terrifying thought, because of all the people at the table I’m the least experienced with RPGs. Saturday night might set a world records for the number of times a DM asks their players for a rule clarification.

    In true min-max tradition, what I lack in rules knowledge I’m making up for in other preparation. We’re playing out of module and I know that story inside and out. I’ve given serious thought about all the major non-player-characters to know their fears and motivations. I’ve got alternate paths ready to railroad keep the story on track no matter the decisions that are made.

    Will report back here if my players coup and never let me DM again.

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  • Tabletop Day

    We rearranged the house to accommodate more players.
    He was upset because his lack of opposable thumbs made board games too difficult.
    Jamie is fluxxible
    Just ignore that generic minion
    This is Pete’s silly face
    Tsuro of the Seas and Munchkin Bites
    7 Wonders with Leaders and Cities expansions

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  • I Like Who I Am When I …

    David Cain made a post today on Raptitude.com that really struck with me:

    She said that for years, a colleague of hers (Peter Gzowski?) insisted on making frequent trips to a remote cabin up North, where he spent the time chopping wood, reading books and walking with his dogs. When she asked him why this ritual was so important to him, he said, “Well… I guess I really like who I am when I’m up there.”

    Rodgers explained her departure by saying that the morning show had made the reverse true for her: the job required her to wake up at 3:30am, shuttle herself to the studio, and force herself into professional-mode hours before the sun came up, and she didn’t like who she was when she was doing that.

    When I heard her say that, I was sitting in my office at work, and realized I that definitely didn’t like who I was when I was in there. I didn’t like who I was when I was on the phone with clients, or out talking to contractors, or sitting at pre-construction meetings. (read it all, here)

    Like Shelagh and David, there was a time when I too could sit a desk and not just be displeased with a situation, but be displeased with who I was. I didn’t like who I was when I cold called for hours on end. I didn’t like who I was when I had to make excuses or explain my job-poorly done.

    But now I really like who I am most of my minutes every day, and I just wanted to share a little list. I like who I am when I…

    • … offer nerdy after-thoughts when announcing the answer at trivia.
    • … help a WordPress user learn something new.
    • … make breakfast for my wife.
    • … roll a natural 20.
    • … roll a natural 1.
    • … finish a book I’ve been reading so very slowly for a long time.
    • … walk my dog until she’s so tired she sleeps for hours.
    • … ride my bike with no route in mind.
    • … ride my bike with 50 pounds of groceries in tow.
    • … ride my bike at all.
    • … know that I’m on working on the best possible thing I can be working on right then and there.
    • … talk things out with my wife.
    • … solve a problem that could never have been solved in another time of my life.
    • … think about my future.
    • … when I (edit) typos in my headlines. 😀

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