The most memorable RPG adventure yet...

by Angie

Tonight I got to experience a moment I have been waiting and hoping for since becoming a parent, but didn't expect to happen for quite a few years down the road. My 6 year old daughter Katie ran an RPG adventure of her own design for me and my husband!!! Her very first adventure, and she did REALLY good. I am so proud of her style, creativity, attention to detail, voice acting, on-the-fly problem solving, descriptive language use, world building, and storytelling skills! She has always loved stories and had a very imaginitve mind, but seeing it all come together so well was quite amazing.

 We played through a 3 scene adventure in the regular Story Realms style, and Katie tried very hard to use the full system of Story Realms to run her adventure. In the Story Challenge, she stated the goals for the players, and told us how to reach them on the progress bar. She had us describe what we want to do an make skill roles. She gave amazing scene and character descriptions. During the action challenge (the most mechanical part of the game) she set out the progress tracker and again told us our goal and how to reach it. She pulled out the disaster tracker and told us about the monsters goal and what would happen if they reached it. She got out the threat tracker and explained to us how threatening the encounter was, and what would move it up and down. It was a very clear execution of our resolution system for Story Realms, and I was very impressed because while young kids (age 5 and up) can play Story Realms, it take quite a bit of skill to be the Storyteller, and I was just so pleased to see her do it and to comprehend what the trackers were for enough to be able to use them as a core part of the challenge. She did all this with the bare minimum help from us, we weren't leading her through any of it!

My favorite part was when the Queen of Summer Fields was helping to equip us for our quest to go recapture the dark creatures that had escaped their prison and were rampaging around and causing destruction. In this room she described, there were several types of weapons. I asked about the dagger and Katie says in her very eloquent sounding Queen voice "That's the Dagger of Hope, it will bring light to you on your darkest hour" I was so suprised and awed by the great description and had to pick it, half because she made it sound really cool and half because I couldn't WAIT to see what she had in mind to do with it.. When would my darkest hour fall, and how could I not bring hope to light the way?? The sentiment was beautiful, and I couldn't help think "This was made up by Katie when she is only 6, what kind of amazing ideas does this girl have in store??"

I'm biased for sure, but I also think that Katie is a natural storyteller with an amazing gift for weaving together dramatic tension, humourous moments, elegant descriptions, interesting personalities, and most of all paying attention to her players and incorporating their ideas. I can't wait to play her next adventure. I am so glad I got to experience this with her tonight, and that shared memory of her first RPG adventure will be one the three of us cherish for a long time to come.

 There are so many benefits of this type of experience: imagination and creativity development, positive social skill building, paracosmic play, problem solving, creative writing, public speaking, and story structuring, and as a parent who is also a teacher I can't hep but think it's really cool to see our family having so much fun playing together, while also providing an opportunity for all of us to develop and refine these valuable skills. Win-win! Roleplaying games has been a big part of my life for many years, I even met my husband Randy though a roleplaying group in college. I look forward to enjoying many more adventures my children bring to life, as long as they're running games, I'll play!

I can't wait to experience all the stories they decide to tell!

To wrap up, I'm really happy because I had a fun gaming experience with my daughter and husband that I'm not likely to forget anytime soon. That 1 hour and 23 minutes was some very meaningful interaction because we were bought into Katie's world and worked together to bring her story to life, and make it OUR story. She was so proud of herself throughout it all, and all of her hard work and careful consideration in planing was really obvious.

I HIGHLY recommend trying out a rules-light or story-driven roleplaying game with your kids. Play a few times with them to get the general rules down, then if they are interested turn them loose to guide you through an adventure.... you'll be glad you did! Don't worry about getting the rules just right, focus on fun and enjoy the glimpse into the world of your child's imagination!

Have you played a RPG ran by your kids? I'd love to hear about it, and how you felt afterwards! Leave a message in the comments below and lets celebrate our kids' leap into the wonderful world of RPGs together!

7 Reasons To Role

By Julian

Roleplaying games (RPG’s) are strange beasts.  In their instructions, they don’t start out with how to play or what’s different about this particular RPG from another.  They literally start out with an explanation of what the heck an RPG even is because if you’re new, they expect you probably have no idea.  Can you imagine starting up a game on your Xbox and instead of being confronted with a tutorial about how to play this game, you get a tutorial about what makes a video game a video game?  Not “press A to jump” but “by the way, pictures, called graphics, will display and move about on the television and you can interact with them by pressing buttons on a controller!”  It may sound absurd, but this type of explanation is right there at the front of the D&D player’s handbook even on the most recent edition.  This is not because RPG’s are anything new.  Dungeons and Dragons, granddaddy of the entire genre, has been around since 1974.  Having come out just 2 years after Pong, that means RPG’s are older than post it notes, cabbage patch kids, and personal computers.  But, despite their long history, RPG’s remain a fringe genre of games and they are absolutely a unique experience.  You just can’t explain them well.  Wikipedia tries to liken them to a radio play.  A recent article in the Oregonian newspaper called D&D a classic strategy game.  My old “go-to” explanation used to be that they were like video games except instead of a computer you have a person running the world and telling you what’s happening.  Which makes RPGs sound like video games with no graphics!  Not a great sell.

I guess these are similar?

So I say “Bah!” to metaphors and detailed attempts at explanation!  RPG’s are simply games where you go on adventures with your friends.  Rather than blather on trying to make you understand what they are, I would rather tell you why you should play them if you have not already.   Role-playing games are an entirely unique and wonderful experience that I would recommend to anyone to try out at least once in your life (particularly with the right group of friends).  RPG’s are my absolute favorite type of game.  Here are 7 reasons why.

1. THE STORIES ARE INCREDIBLE

Everyone loves a good story whether it’s a gripping novel, an amazing movie, or your favorite television show.  RPG’s are often most associated with the fantasy genre because of the popularity of D&D, but there is a RPG out there for any genre you like.  Swashbuckling, horror, old west, steampunk, cyberpunk, space adventure, spies, super heroes,   or any other type of adventure story you can think of.  What’s more, you actually get to go through and control a character on of these stories.  Now it’s true, video games offer much this same variety and the ability to control a character.  However, I feel the best stories in a RPG are for more engaging and memorable because you have something that no video game can provide, and its reason to role number 2.

2. ABSOLUTE FREEDOM

This is my favorite aspect of RPG’s.  Board games have strict rules about what you can and cannot do.  Video game characters cannot take any action that was not programmed into the game from the start.  However, in a RPG, you can do anything you want.  That doesn’t mean every choice is a good idea or that it will even work, but you can try it.  I have seen players raise entire armies, solve impromptu murder mysteries, and fend of brigands by chucking fresh fish.   All of these were completely unscripted scenarios that resulted from players decisions.  RPG’s can handle this type of choice because they have the best AI ever, an actual person making decisions about how the story will react to you.

3. THEY ARE COMPLETELY COOPERATIVE

Some people have the misunderstanding that the game master (GM) running the world of a RPG is out to try and get the players.  Worse, some people think that the GM doesn’t really get to play the game because they have to run the game.  In truth, all the players work together to tell a great story and have fun.  The game master isn’t out to kill the heroes of the story; they are there to make sure the story is exciting.  The GM doesn’t play one of the heroes (usually), but the GM gets to play all the rest of the characters: the funny sidekicks, the treacherous villains, the scary monsters, and the shady shopkeepers.  It’s a strange sort of magic, but a game can be incredibly entertaining even when no one is really trying to win.

4. YOU CAN TRY ON A NEW YOU

Now this might sound silly, but it’s fun to play a game that lets you pretend to be a different version of you.  Most people think that a RPG centers around everyone being a rampaging do-gooder that smiles with bright white teeth and sings “here I come to save the day!” …or something like that.  However, RPG’s let you try out any personality you want.  Want to act a little more sassy?  Ever wanted to just lie straight through your teeth?  Want to be an insufferable know it all?  Slick?  Charming?  An intolerant religious zealot for an absurd cause?  All these and more can fit into a heroic archetype and you can try them all on for size.  It can be fun to play a heroic version of yourself, but sometimes it’s even better to play as someone completely different.

5. IT’S FUN EVEN WHEN YOU AREN’T PLAYING

One of the reasons Magic the Gathering players like magic is that it provides a lot of entertainment even when you aren’t around your friends playing the game.  You can search through your cards, build decks, and think through different combos and strategies.  RPG’s provide a similar mode of entertainment.  It can be fun to just sit back and read through an RPG book and imagine the stories you might have when you play.  Some RPGs have highly detailed character powers and advancement methods so in the off time you can spend hours thinking about how you want your character to level up, what powers you want to take, and what treasure you want to get your hands on.

6. EVERY GAME IS AN EVENT

You may have heard that playing an RPG takes a long time.  This is often true.  Most of the time a single session takes at least 4 hours.  I have played as long as 14 hours in a single sitting (this is highly atypical and not at all required to play an RPG).  On the face of it, even 4 hours can sound like quite a commitment, but then that’s missing the point.  Every session of a RPG is an event you look forward too.  It’s something you and 3 or 4 of your friends set aside an afternoon to do.  You coordinated schedules, people bring snacks, there may be a dinner plan involved and you all look forward to it for weeks (or at least days if you’re in a weekly gaming group).  You wouldn’t whine about spending hours and hours at a rock concert, a play, a day at the fair, or an afternoon picnic with your family.  If you enjoy the RPG you are playing, you won’t whine about it taking so long either.  You will feel grateful everyone could set aside the time to have so much fun.

7. THE MEMORIES WILL LAST A LIFETIME

I love games, but to be fair, most of them don’t generate strong memories about the game itself.  I will recall a great night of gaming with family and friends.  I will remember that I had a wonderful time.  I will remember, vaguely, which games we played and maybe even who won.  But even 1 year later I’m unlikely to be able to tell many of the specifics that happened during the course of the game.  However, I can report with great detail the time that, years ago, my friends and I explored the Bane Warrens or saw all four corners of the world in The Diamond Throne.  I still lament and laugh about the time in Junior High that our entire party followed a stupid paladin into a watery deathtrap.  These aren’t just movies I watched or games I played.  These are things my friends and I did together.  We haven’t gone crazy or tricked ourselves into believing we really saved a magical land from disaster.  But the way you feel when you play a RPG that you love is something beyond a satisfying game or a good story.  You feel a sense of accomplishment.  You feel that you and your friends, in some way, went on a journey together.  You will remember those journeys fondly and forever.


Anything I missed?  Leave a comment and let me know why you love to role-play.  Or...if you don't role-play, leave a comment about why it hasn't appealed to you.

Rainy Day Games Game Day!

by Randy and Angie

Hey there!

We want to alert everyone to an upcoming gaming event in the Pacific Northwest, particularly for people in the Portland/Beaverton area. If you've read our blog, you have certainly heard us speak about our good friends at Rainy Day Games. In our opinion, this is the best game store ever. And in no small part due to the great events they put on. Today we are talking about the Rainy Day Games Game Day and Auction happening on Sunday, October 16th at the Washington County Fair Complex.

The first component of this daying is the gaming. From 9am to 11pm you can play games. All day. Board games will definitely be the most represented, by there will also be roleplaying events. You will at the very least find D&D RPGA and Lair Assault events for official offerings. For the board games, people may sign up to run their favorite games throughout the day. If you are in the area and like gaming, I would advise you to consider saving this date on your calendar.

The second component is the auction, and this absolutely rocks. Gamers bring in their old games which can be bid on in auction. A live auctioneer will be present starting at 2pm. If your game gets sold, you get that much in-store credit at Rainy Day Games. And other gamers can pick up games at well below retail. A completely win-win situation! Note: Game drop-offs for the auction are 10/1-10/12; hurry if you want to put your games in!

And what's more is that we (the Growing Up Gamers crew) will be present for at least part of the day to cover the event, game, and (hopefully!) add some gems to our collection. We hope to game with you!

Complete details can be found at this link:

Rainy Day Games Game Day!

Join us for a great day of  fun!

The good ol' RPG days...

by Angie
My first Dungeon Master

I was first introduced to Dungeons and Dragons as an imaginative 5 (6 maybe?) year old by my ultra cool Uncle Rob. I think he was babysitting my cousin and I and I guess decided it would be fun to take us on an adventure. We were enraptured. We had the attention of a grown-up, fistfuls of dice, and got to use our imaginations. Win! Our games were really just interactive sotrytelling, and complex rules were not a part of it, but that is what made it so amazing for our young little minds. For years after we begged and begged Uncle Rob to play D&D with us at every opportunity, always wanting to "pick up where we left off". As we grew, our experiences deepened. More rules, more devious dungeons, cooler treasures. We got caught in an endless paradox due to a misuse of a Wand of Wishing. We went to "dinner" at Castle Ravenloft and met with Count Straud and his minions. We explored, we mapped out vast dungeons, we fought, we laughed, and we cried. We begged and pleaded and bargained for more more more.

The making of a lifelong gamer

And then came the books! Rob started giving me my own D&D books. "Old" hand-me-downs as new editions came out were amazing and new to me. I would read and read and imagine all the worlds we'd "seen", and all the worlds still out there to explore. I would ponder over the maps and treasures and dream of grand adventures. A few years later, I had the good fortune to find myself living in the same town as my "favortie DM EVER" and he let me read all his books. Even the new ones! We started a little routine where we would walk down to the bookstore together and pick up the new Gazeteers as they came out. Gazeteers were supplements for the world of Greyhawk that were coming out in the late 80's-early 90's, and each one would be dedicated to a specific culture and region of that world. I remember excitedly looking at maps and pictures and talking about the history and culture of the various peoples of the world. The Elves of Alfhiem, The Grand Duchy of Karamekios, The Five Shires, Northern Reaches, Principalities of Glantri, The Dwarves of Rockhome... and many more. I think there were maybe 14 in all? Anyhow, this world came alive on the pages, and each new Gazeteer would bring hours of enjoyment and oodles of inspiration just in the reading of it. The thing I particularly liked about them was the focus on world-building, maps, and culture. Each one attempted to bring to light a unique region and it's people, and this felt like I was peeking into a living, vibrant world. In my opinion, they succeeded in a way in which very few since have.

Bring it back!

What I would like to see brought back into modern gaming is the wonder of exploring a new world through the pages of an ongoing world supplement. Give me rich histories, detailed cultures, more maps than I know what to do with, cities full of interesting and unique characters. Each Gazeteer was like a piece of the world, and that sense of discovery and intrigue of each new one was one of the prime influences on the development of my own worlds and style as I grew up and learned to "play by the rules". It seems like to me that many game supplements now are focused so heavily on the rules and character builds and new player options and less on revealing a world bit by bit. The campaign settings I've read over the past 10 years or so seem to try to give so much and come in with such little depth. I'm sure some people love that, they have all thier own ideas of how to populate the world and it's denizens and don't want detailed in-depth cultures. For me though, I love it when a game product is focused on one thing; some great examples I can think of are Freeport, City of Adventure and Sharn, City of Towers, but those aren't ongoing series' that round out a world, those are supplements focused on exploring a single city. Althought they do that well, what I'd really like to see brought back into modern roleplaying games is an ongoing detailed, rich world that I can look forward to the next installment of. Something I could spend hours looking over maps and discussing histories of fantastic peoples. I really loved that experience of discovering a world with my Uncle Rob, (thanks for all the memories!) and can't wait to pass along those experiences to my own children. Although I've since taught many younger relatives how to play D&D and various off-shoots, I'm really looking forward to exploring new worlds with my own kids, and would love to have a series as detailed and diverse as the Gazeteers were 'back in the day' to discover with them.

This post is part of an ongoing series of shared topics between our blog and Cool Factor 5, so pop on over and see what roleplaying game feature Julian would like to see brought back into games. And as always, feel free to leave a comment, share your experiences, ask questions, or just chat us up. We love you readers, share your thoughts with us!!!

Biggest Gaming Disappointment

Tonight I was working on a challenge post. We had decided that our topic was to be our biggest gaming disappointments and I had grabbed a boardgame off the shelf that I felt fit the tab. My wife, wise soul that she is, said, "That game? I thought you would have picked 4th Edition D&D." And the wheels started turning, and the game whisked back to the shelf. So, why would Dungeons and dragon 4th Edition be my biggest gaming disappointment? Let me tell you...

Flashback: I pick up the 3rd Edition D&D Player's Handbook. I had been on a bit of a hiatus from roleplaying games after moving to Oregon to finish college. I played 2nd Edition extensively in high school, and after moving away for college, I played sporadically when it came up. I even started a short-lived but fun campaign as the Dungeon Master. I decided to pop into my FLGS (Friendly Local Game Store) and check this out. I was not disappointed.

When I opened that book, I felt I had in my hands the ability to create any type of character I could imagine. Where earlier editions had fairly rigid archetypes, the customizability of character creation in 3rd Ed. was excellent. Skills, feats, generous multiclassing... I loved it. In short order, I found the university's gaming club, where I met other roleplayers... including Julian, the guy at Cool Factor 5 you hear about so much. And, indirectly, I also met my wife through the club via a listserve... to (surprise, surprise!) play D&D 3E. But I digress. Back to 3rd Edition....

Another gem of D&D 3rd Edition was the Open Gaming License (OGL). The basic system of D&D, called the D20 system, was open source. This means that third party publishers could create adventures, supplements, campaign worlds, etc., based on this system. And they did. Lots. This really opened the field for a lot of innovation, and great product lines rose from this. It was a great thing to experience. And it lasted for several years. And then 4th Edition D&D was announced.

At first, I was pretty thrilled by the announcement. I was pretty happy with the direction of the product line thus far, and was excited to see where they would take it. After all, they'd really made it shine, they're just going to do more of the same, right? Wrong.

I started being skeptical when Wizards of the Coast started giving previews. I just didn't feel behind what they were doing, but I still kept reservedly optimistic.But each subsequent preview made it really seem that something was not going right, in my opinion. And then it was released. I'll admit, I went to my FLGS to pick it up at midnight. Yup, I'm a geek and not ashamed to admit it!

So, I'm not going to review 4th Ed. I'll just say that I was unimpressed by character creation, and the fact that every character class pretty much does the same thing with slightly different window dressing. It wasn't ever, "What's YOUR cool power?", it was always "What's your 3d6 + ability modifier power?". Basically, they're all the same. At least it seems like that to me. Feats are also stripped of all flavor. And the archetypes and pretty rigid, backsliding to 2nd Edition. Among other things. All in all, it seems like a pen-and-paper MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game), probably by intention.

Another point of note was the Gaming System License (GSL) for 4th Edition. Whereas the OGL was very permissive and encouraged third parties, the GSL did everything it could to say that Wizard of the Coast could terminate your rights to publish 4th Edition-compatible material at their whim. It is very restrictive, though there are quite a few third party publishers who do use it. I'm not impressed with it, though. And, as I understand, the GSL itself exists only because a lot of people pushed Hasbro (Wizards' parent company) really hard.

So... yeah. This post isn't really about bashing 4th edition, Wizards of the Coast or Hasbro. I just wanted to convey my disappointment about the system, as compared with my previous experiences. I have played 4th Edition a bit, and enjoyed it; it's just not what I want to spend my small amount of roleplaying time playing. I've chosen to look to the Pathfinder line by Paizo Publishing as my RPG of  preference. To put credit where credit is due, Pathfinder is based on the 3rd edition OGL. I recommend checking this system out if you haven't already.

Do you have a big gaming disappointment? Misery loves company! Share it with us! And also, check out what Julian has to say at Cool Factor 5!

Review: Pathfinder Advanced Player's Guide

Hello, folks!

Talking about roleplaying has caused me to pick up my Pathfinder books and peruse through them. For those of you not familiar, Pathfinder is the successor of Dungeons & Dragons version 3.5. D&D eventually came out with a fourth edition that was drastically different than this ruleset, and those who enjoyed the elegance of that ruleset were left to either play in a system that had no official support, or find something new. This is where Paizo Publishing stepped in. Already well known for publishing the D&D magazines Dragon and Dungeon for several years, Paizo had the ability to launch the Pathfinder RPG. They had open and free downloads of the Alpha and Beta version of the material which allowed fans to playtest and provide input during the developmental stages of the system. The result was a system that fans felt invested in, that had a great deal of scrutinay applied to it and ended up being what many felt D&D 4th edition should have been. And it's pretty darn rad, in my humble opinion. And this post is about one of the offerings in that line, the Pathfinder Advanced Player's Guide.




The Pathfinder Advanced Player's Guyide is an excellent addition to the game: a must-have. This book is very similar to the splatbooks that Wizards of the Coast (WotC) released for D&D 3.5, but without being confined to a small group of classes (and, frankly, without the garbage). The primary expanded areas are the addition of six new base classes, additional feats, additional class options, additional racial options, spells, prestige classes and combat options.

The class and racial options are primarily substitution-based. What that means is that if you're sick of your Ranger being the merry woodsman with two swords, make him an Urban Ranger, Infiltrator or Shapeshifter! Tired of your elf moping over useless caster-only racial abilities? Swap out the Elven Magic ability for Silent Hunter, and stalk your enemies before you go in for the kill! These option really go the extgra mile for defining an interesting set of character abilities. This feels a lot better to me than defining a new race that is marginally different and trying to shoehorn them into an existing campaign world, as WotC has done many times. As for the class options, the substitutions are usually a package (called an Archectype). The Ranger is also expanded by adding several new combat styles (which I love, by the way), for example. The cleric options are the addition of subdomains, which are easy to integrate becaus the existing domains each have 2-3 associated subdomains which swap domain powers. I've always loved the idea of customizing characters, and I feel this book really opens up possibilities. Do you remember the last time you were excited to play a Monk? Oh, never? What if I told you you could be a Zen archer, performing supernatural feats with a bow? Now that's what I'm talkin' about!


The new classes are excellent. I admit that I am not crazy about the Alchemist, but the others are top-notch. The remaining additions are the Cavalier (a fighter-type with bardic powers, focusing on challenging single foes and inspiring friends), the Inquisitor (a deity-sworn hunter), the Summoner (class focused on summoning a pet- think World of Warcraft Warlock), the Oracle (a divination-themed spontaneous divine caster) and the Witch (a hex-throwing caster whose familiar is her living spellbook). I honestly could see playing any one of these and having a blast, particularly the Inquisitor and the Witch. These all have distinct roles, none of which seem to step on the toes of existing classes. Their power also seems in sync with the other PFRPG classes (unlike the classes in the WotC splatbooks).

The feats and prestige classes, while largely obligatory in a book of this type, avoid cheesiness. They expand the game well, and they make sure that the new base classes have the options the core ones were provided. Also of note are teamwork feats. WotC has offered these before, and basically, they are feats that are only useful when an ally has the same feat. I have always ignored these feats outright, but Pathfinder has made it so that two of the new base classes (Inquisitor and Cavalier) utilize these and either allow a player to grant use of one (a Cavalier power) or make so that your character acts as though your allies had the feat (Inquisitor). Without integration like these, these feats would largely be a waste of space. The prestige classes largely give advancement potential for new base classes, though some are the remaining PFRPG equivalents of the base 3.5 prestige classes (from the D&D 3.5 Dungeon Master's Guide).

All said, I feel this book was worth every cent. I fully expect to use some of these options the next time I make a Pathfinder character. As a matter of fact, it's likely going to be an Elf Zen Archer Monk that'll be able to give Legolas a run for his money. This book exemplifies the PFRPG's commitment to quality gaming material, and I recommend it highly.

...
I hope you found that interesting. Either way, let us know what you thought about it! I think we made it easier to post comments, so why not leave one? Happy gaming!

Gaming Goals for 2011

Resolutions and a glimpse at the future...

'Tis the season for reflection, introspection, and looking ahead. In the spirit of the season, we decided to post our gaming goals and hopes for the upcoming year, and outline some games we're hoping to play in the next year. We thought it might give you all some insight into what we are thinking about, and also might help us to have something to be "accountable" to and refer back to as the year progresses. Without further ado, here's our goals for 2011!

Katie's Goals:

1. Play harder and harder games, and learn new ones all the time. Like games that are even harder than Settlers of Catan.

2. Learn to read while I’m playing games, especially hard ones. To play the toughest games you have to be able to read, so I’m practicing

3. Play 100 different games with my family.

Games I’m excited to try out this year:

Monsters Menace America, Mississippi Queen, RoboRally, Runebound

 Jack's Goals:

1. Dice!

2. Cards!

3. Un-hunh! Yep.

4. Robot!

Randy's Goals:

Ah, 2011... what will you hold for me? I don't have a lot of gaming hopes, but I think that they're pretty significant. First, 2010 unfortunately had very few roleplaying sessions for me. One hope for 2011 is to play in either a Pathfinder or D&D 3.5 campaign. Yup, I've been missing it. Pathfinder's Advanced Player's Guide has whetted my appetite for that. Additionally, I would like to in either Burning Wheel, Savage Worlds, Mouse Guard, d20 Modern or Shadowrun campaign. Something different. As for board games, I'm making my goal helping Katie fulfil her goal. 100 different games in a year? That girl has ambition! I'm looking forward to that.

 And I have another goal... getting my own game finished and ready for publication. I've had a card game in the works for a couple years. I made a playtestable copy about three years ago, and I (as well as Angie and Julian) thought it was pretty fun. It just wasn't ready yet. I shelved it to work on another project collaboratively that ultimately didn't get very far, and since then I have pulled it out every now and then to tweak some mechanics, make some drawing for cards or add some text. Now, I'm itching to make it something. I'm not going to expand on it right now, but it's a wild west shootup with a quirky theme. I'll share more later.

Angie's Goals:

1. Have a monthly family-friendly board game night, rotating between families. We've been talking about it for a while (you know who you are!), let’s get it going!

2. Start and maintain a regular weekly family board game night with my kid(s). We decided on Wednesday nights, so I'm excited to see this through and get a regular thing going that we can all look forward to. A mid-week pick-me-up and opportunity for us all to focus on family time and not the hectic nature of our typical everyday life. At least for long enough to get a game or two in.

3. Help Katie reach her goal of playing different 100 games. Does anyone know how to put a counter on our blogger page so we can keep track online?

4. Find a game I can play with Jack, and teach it to him. Any ideas?

5. Keep reading and writing about games (books, articles, blog posts). Figure out a way to actually get people to reply to our blog posts and get more involved… (wink wink nudge!)

On the horizon- What we hope to be playing this year:

New games we would love to play in 2011 (A.K.A. Angie's Wishlists....)

Board/Card Games: 7 Wonders, Sid Meyers Civilization: The Boardgame (the Fantasy Flight Version), Innovation, Puzzle Strike: Bag of Chips, Alien Frontiers, Dominant Species, Earth Reborn,  Yomi: The Complete First Edition

Video Games:  Little Big Planet 2, Mass Effect 3, Dragon Age 2, Pokemon Black/White, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Portal 2,  Paper Mario 3DS, Sly Cooper 4 (no release date, I’m just wishing…)

As a final 2010 bonus...

Angie's 5 Random Board Game “Top 5” Lists for the upcoming year:

1. Games I missed and hope to try: Battleground Fantasy Warfare, Railways of the World Card Game, Summoner Wars, Steam, Dixit

2. Loooong games I want to get played: Le Havre (with new unplayed expansion!), Descent, War of the Ring (and new unplayed expansion!), Twilight Imperium (3^rd Ed), Duel of Ages

3. Games I want to play more of: Galaxy Trucker (don’t own this one, Julian will have help out!), Space Alert, Agricola (and expansions!), Glory to Rome, Through the Ages

4. New-ish (to us) games that need table time: Grind, Mtg: Archenemy, Memoir 44 expansions, Starcraft, Battlestar Galactica

5. Games that might deserve a 2^nd chance: Evo, Keythedral, Torres, At the Gates of Loyang, Nexus Ops

You may here more about these topics and games from us in the future, feel free to ask questions or talk up any of these games or lists. Also, I would love to play these games with YOU, so if you're local and interested, drop me a line!

That's All Folks!

Thanks for reading our blog, we'd love to hear from you. We know you're out there, so post a comment would ya? Share your ideas and opinions, ask questions, suggest topics, or just let us know you're there! Thanks!

Also, check out a personal list of "gaming wishes" for the upcoming year from our fellow gaming blogger Julian at Cool Factor 5. This is another in the series of challenge posts I keep talking about, and I'm always excited to see how differently the same topic list manifests on these two blogs. It's something we're planning to continue into the new year, maybe with some new twists and surprises added in. :)

Happy New Year from our family to yours!

In for the Long Haul

Hi, y'all! Randy here. Today's topic is about games that take a loooooonnnggg tiiiiiime to play. I've included five below. Maybe it reflects that I didn't write our post on cooperative games a couple days ago, but it just so happens that all but one of the games below are either team or cooperative games. Why? I dunno. That was just how I was feeling. Anyway, check them out... my top five long games:

5. Arkham Horror


The game Arkham Horror is based on the Cthulhu Mythos of writer H.P. Lovecraft. It is a world where Things Man Was Not Meant To Know(tm) exists, where slumbering gods, alien and unsympathetic to humanity, may wake at any moment to make the Earth a charnel house. But, of course, a few heroes stumble through and manage to keep the cultists and horrors from beyond at bay. The game is cooperative, and it does a great job of keeping you on your toes. You are tasked with keeping the public unaware and closing portals into the realms beyond, from which these horrors continually pour through. Its length (expect three hours) means it doesn't come off the shelves often, but I like it.


4. Battlestar Galactica


Battlestar Galactica is a great cooperative game that employs a traitor mechanic. The game starts with each player picking a character, and then drawing a loyalty card that specifies whether or not they are a Cylon, which is kept secret. The ship is travelling to a habitable planet to colonize, and the humans win when they get there. When a challenge arises, it is coded with a color and everyone contributes a card face down, with cards of the appropriate color contributing to the effort, and those of opposing colors detracting from the effort and sabotaging the Humans' efforts. Halfawy through the game, another loyalty card is distributed (representing 'sleeper' Cylons, if a Cylon card is received by someone who previously not a Cylon). I've only played twice, but it is a fun game, and clocks in around 2-3 hours.

3. Duel of Ages


An interesting game that only sees play very occasionally is Duel of Ages (DoA). The premise of DoA is that champions from different ages, worlds and cultures come together to fight in an arena assembled of pieces of disparate worlds. You could have a wild west area next to an office park next to an alien wasteland. It is a team game, with each team controlling the same number of characters (though possibly with players controlling more than one character). The teams' members will try to coordinate to explore labyrinths, invade the other team's base, attack other teams and (with expansions) do other challenges. With 360 genre-spanning characters and loot, it can be a blast. I can't think of another game where you could play a samurai riding a BMX with a Spanish Cannon in tow.

2. Through the Ages.




Through the Ages is an excellent civilization-building game by Vlaada Chvatil (Galaxy Trucker, Space Alert). The game comes in a deceptively smallish box, but is densely packed with high-quality components. It takes around 3-4 hours to play, putting it the longer end of the board game spectrum for us. I feel it does a great job of simulating the passage of time periods. Be prepared to move around a large number of tiny, tiny wooden disks that represent workers and resources. I love this game!

1. Roleplaying Games

  


Aaaahhh.... the classic "I've-just-spent-way-too-much-time-gaming!" game... or rather, genre. Roleplaying Games, immersive as they are, can easily span to eight hours or more. They somehow don't seem as long as the games above, but that mainly reflects the social, free-form nature of them. My current favorite is Pathfinder (successor to Dungeons and Dragons version 3.5), though recently I have enjoyed the new Gamma World 4th Edition and Star wars Saga Edition. If you haven't played a pen-and-paper roleplaying game, I highly recommend trying one. Chances are, you know a geek who plays. I unfortunately haven't had the chance to play regularly in quite a while, but this is one of my favorite pastimes.

What are your favorite long games? Or what gaming experiences that have lasted a long time have you enjoyed? Let us know! And after that, why not pop over to Cool Factor 5 and see what he has to say about his favorite long gaming experiences!