Game Changer: Heavy Rain (Spoiler Free)

Introducing Game Changers! This is a new segment we’re trying out in which we talk about games that have changed the way we think about games. The idea is to highlight some innovative, thought-provoking, idea-generating, interest-renewing, fascinating, or unique games that have in some way had a big impact for us.  

How far would YOU go...?

Heavy Rain is a story-driven video game for the PlayStation 3 that has you taking on the roles of four characters that are trying to investigate a serial killer. Just thinking about this game makes my heart race a little even now, and it’s been almost a year since I’ve played it. The game has a gripping emotional storyline that exemplifies the tagline “How far would you go to save someone you love?” It’s a resonant theme, and one that challenged me to really consider my own strength of will. Would I be strong enough to do what I’m asking my characters to? Could I save him?

Heavy Rain is not for the faint of heart, it pushes you to think past your typical video game choices and really get into the lives of these characters. No matter what you do there is a story and an ending, not a “game over” screen. Think about that for a minute… if a character dies the story goes on without them, and you know that it’s your choices and actions that decided their fate. If they ALL die, there is still an ending. It’s an awesome feat of interactive storytelling to make such a thing possible, and it’s heavy. I found myself wanting to try to make things go differently sometimes, but it was the type of regrets you have in real life rather than those gamey moments where you just want to back up to your last save. The story in Heavy Rain bought me into its world enough to live with my mistakes. It was a solid 10-12 hours of gameplay that I don’t think I will ever forget, and after 1000’s of hours of entirely forgettable games this “short” game really delivered on experience, impact, and insight. 

This game changed my opinion about what makes a character feel real and important. I always thought that player created characters were an essential component to an immersive role-playing experience, but the characters in Heavy Rain feel more personal and three-dimensional to me than any characters I’ve made over the years in video game worlds. I got to step into the lives of those people, make the hard choices, and live with the consequences of my actions.

Heavy Rain changed the way I look at how games can deliver an experience and engage the player in a story while creating a sense of ownership in the characters.  It is not the perfect game, and it’s certainly not for everyone, but all I can remember when I think back on it is that overwhelming feeling of being "wowed". For me, playing Heavy Rain was like all the best parts of a good book, an impactful movie, and a deep role-playing game experience wrapped up in one tidy package.

Your Turn!

What games have changed how you think about gaming? Have an opinion or insight about this post you'd like to share? We'd love to hear from you, and we think we've made commenting a little easier... so let's talk it up folks!



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.

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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!

Teaching Games to Kids

How did they do that?

My 5 year old daughter loves to play board games and card games. She has a goal to play 100 different games this year, and I’m so excited to try that with her. She likes writing her own reviews of games and talking about her thoughts on them, and she CAN’T WAIT until she can read all the cards in the “toughest” grown up games like Magic: The Gathering. Part of that is her personality for sure, but I’ve had a few people ask me how to get into playing games with their kids or how I’ve been so successful at playing complex games with her when she is so young. I thought I’d try writing down my ideas on the subject, hopefully there’s some piece of advice in there somewhere that someone can use. I’m writing in an authoritarian voice, but I’m absolutely no expert. My opinions are based on my parental experiences with my two kids and 10 or so years working with kids in various settings. These are just some ideas and strategies we’ve used or thought about, and they are mostly focused on young children (pre-readers) because that’s what we’ve got.

As always, take what you like and leave the rest.

10 Easy Steps... Haha… Nothing Is Easy With Kids!

1.       Cardinal rule: Don’t worry about the rules. The point is to have fun with your kids. There is honestly lots and lots of time to learn “the right” way to play the games, but first the kids have to learn to love playing them and get excited to try new games. Play games in front of your kids, and let them sit in your lap, hold your cards, move your pieces, pick a color, roll the dice, whatever, even if it’s only  for 2 minutes as their marching band parades through the room. Show them that playing games together is a fun and valuable use of time.

2.       One way to build focus and attention for gaming is to let kids play with you with games in whatever way is most appropriate and interesting to them. Start by getting out all the pieces and taking some time to look them over. The point is to sit with your kids and explore them together, so don’t worry about losing pieces… you’ll be right there with them, right? If your kid destroys the pieces or puts things in their mouth, wait a while or invest in some of the high quality wooden games out there that have pieces that are too big to eat and too sturdy to destroy. We’ve got a destroyer in the house, so we’re careful about which card games we play with the little Jack. As you play, try saying things like “Wow, dice, what should we do with these?” or ask questions like “Which side of the card should we use?” or “How do we get these guys to stand up?” Let the kids be the problem solvers, even if their solutions aren’t what you would normally come up with. It’s ok if they use dice to build towers or are more interested in the backs of the cards than the front.  Just remember, if all you do is get a game box out, look at all the pieces with your kid, and put if back in the box, you haven’t failed! You’ve succeeded at starting them down a path of learning to love games. 

"Chicken! Egg!"



 3.       Appreciate the art, the novelty, and the fun of the game. Get excited about the characters and feel free to play with the game like a toy. Watch what your kid likes to do with the pieces and use that insight to find good fits for future games. For example, if you get out Candy Land and your child just wants to match colors, then have fun matching colors with them, and store away that knowledge so that next time you can pull out a matching game like Memory instead. For example, my daughter uses this beautiful deck of Animal Rummy cards to play a game she created that seems to resemble Magic the Gathering (not too surprising, since we play it all the time). The animals line up in a row, you use cards of the same color to activate them, and then they tap to attack each other. I try to appreciate her ingenuity, creativity, and love for gaming and introduce her to other cards games she might like instead of getting bummed that we won’t be playing Animal Rummy anytime soon. 

4.       Try taking turns. Whatever you are doing, try staggering it into your turn/my turn patterns. Make sure they aren’t having to wait very long to do something, because that’s not even fun for us grown-up patient gamers.



"...and we could use these as stop signs..."



5.       As you play and enjoy the game pieces, gradually introduce new concepts that will form the basis for the game rules. You can roll a die and say “oh look, I got 4 spots on this die roll, what if I move this guy 4 spaces on this path. One-two-three-four.”  Or,  “Oh look, I have 4 of these stone cards, and no wheat. Do you want to trade one of your wheat cards for one of my stone cards?” Don’t push your kids to do the same, just model the ideas. Start introducing the actions and parameters that define the game in a fun way. Try not to put emphasis on “right” and “wrong“  ways to play. It’s pretty natural to get excited when your child starts coming up with their own ways to play that are very similar to the “real rules”, but try not to get disappointed if all they want to do is play their own way.

6.       Break down more complicated games into stuff your child recognizes. Come up with some fun mini-games using the game components that highlight some of the interactions and rules. For example, if your child knows how to play Memory and you want to teach them Settlers of Catan, you can play a memory matching game with the pieces. Place all of the hex tiles face down in the shape of the island and take turns turning them over. Whenever you get a match, you collect a resource card of that type. You can use the resource cards to build roads, settlements, cities, and development cards (using the costs on the reference card from the game) and have a goal of being the first one to build one of each, or whatever else sounds fun. That way they are learning that the hex tiles correlate to resources, and that you get sets of resources to build stuff in the game. Then when you introduce the game, those basic concepts will form the foundation. You can go as far as you want with this, depending on your child’s age/skill/interest level/etc. Breaking the game down to its core mechanics will help your kids form a library of “game rules” that you can use when you are learning new games, and using those mechanics to help teach other games (like in my Memory>Settlers example) gives kids a chance to practice something they already know in a new context, while establishing new skills. Win-win!

"This card matches. 1000 points!"

7.       When you think your child is ready and receptive, ask them if they want to learn a new way to play with the game. You can hype this as much or as little as is appropriate for your child. Some kids can’t wait to learn the “grown-up” rules, while some might not care. Take your time with it, play with lots of different games, and encourage your kids to make up their own rules too. Don’t be surprised if their rules don’t make sense to you, your rules probably don’t make much sense to them either. Try to incorporate as many examples from your “play time” with the game as possible. “Remember when you thought it would be cool to use stone cards to build a castle? Well in this game there are these cool pieces called cities that are kinda like castles, and they cost some stone to make. Pretty cool hunh?” or “I really liked that rule you came up with about matching the colors on the cards to the colors on the board. In this game, you kinda do that too! But instead of putting your cards on the board, you move this little candy guy to the next space of that color, see how I’m doing it?” Kids learn and remember things better when they can connect it to prior experiences, and by activating those memories or ideas, you are helping them to build important connections as well as validating their own creativity.

8.       Take out any complicated or confusing rules that you don’t feel your child is ready for. It’s ok to play games however you want, really. The designers don’t know you or your kids, and if you think it would be more fun some other way, then go ahead! You can always add in the more advanced rules later, or change the way you play altogether. As a personal note, we somehow manage to play almost every game wrong the first few times; we misread the rules, miss an important part, or just forget something all together. Here’s the big secret: It always turns out ok. We relearn the rules the “right way” when we find out later, and your kids can too. It’s really no big deal. My one caveat is try not to write off a game entirely when you aren’t playing it the way it was intended, it might honestly be much more fun if you play it right. Shelf it or whatever, but be willing to give the “real” rules a chance when your family is ready. It might still not be the game for you, but at least you’ll have given it a fair shake.



"Ohh, maybe I can go THAT way..."



9.       Quit while you are still having fun. You don’t have to play to the end. If your child loses interest, pack it up and be sure to thank them for playing with you. If a tantrum or other behaviors make the game unpleasant, then feel free to stop for that too. You can always take a break and leave it out to come back to when the child has calmed down/taken a nap/had a snack/ran three laps around the yard. Putting away a game with a screaming kid will leave a sour taste on the experience for both of you. Try to have a fun transition planned, and keep the experience positive whenever possible.

10.   Praise ideas and creativity and problem solving more than luck and winning. It’s cool and fun when they roll a 6 or draw the card they needed, but it’s way cooler when they figure out how something works, play graciously, or come up with a clever move.





The Long Road…But It’s Worth Taking.

This might seem like a hard or time-consuming path to playing games with your kids. It helps if you are as obsessed with games as we are. Kids often want to do what their parents do more than anything else. If you love playing games and really can’t wait to play them with your kids; don’t think of these experiences as “less cool” because they aren’t  always the full game or whatever, just try to have fun and enjoy your time with your child. During those moments in which you feel like you are torturing yourself, remember the payout: bonding with your little ones, their future fond childhood memories of playing games as a family, increased critical thinking and problem solving skills, social development, and potentially a lifelong gaming buddy. It’s totally worth it.

Sound off

What has worked (or NOT worked) for you in playing games with kids? Agree or disagree with something I’ve said? Questions? Ideas? We’d love to hear from you, so please leave us a comment!

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!