Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2017/11/29/gift-guide-for-tabletop-gamers.html
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9 Likes
I would say it is their best product hands down and their tightest ruleset which has had a lot of fine tuning by the players over many years. I definitely like playing it even after many many years.
And Necromunda I will have to consider a look at the new rule book. That game was where the overdetailed mess of rules for 2nd edition 40k really worked and worked well.
3 Likes
Betrayal at Baldur’s Gate is excellent. They’ve made some play changes that are real improvements (they learned a lot from the issues with House on the Hill).
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I had to look this up, leading me to learn about Tékumel’s creation, and I like what I’ve learned. Its creator is the “Lost Tolkien”:
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Tomb of Annihilation is a great campaign. I’m currently DMing it and it’s brilliant in it’s conception. Players can choose between a plethora of guides to help them or obstruct their adventure, each one with their own story and side quests. So you can run it with different groups and the adventure will each time be different.
And Dark Millennium playing card by John Blanche?
3 Likes
The new Necromunda seems to me to be suffering a bad case of GW overselling… moving the campaign rules to a separate book makes some sense, but they’ve also only included rules for the two starter gangs - others to follow.
There’s no excuse for selling a separate campaign play book that is going to need four more supplements just to have the basic gang range.
(The new minis are effing gorgeous, though. Will be grabbing them, and leaving the game alone.)
3 Likes
What they do with injection mold plastic now compared to way back in the 80s is like night and day.
As far as the rules go, meh use the old ones and the new prettier toys.
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Tekumel and EPT are amazing. Beyond amazing. But so freaking impossible to play. Trust me, I’ve tried.
OGRE, however? I got the Kickstarter. If only I had more people to play with, because everyone loves it.
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Seconded. ORGE rocks.
Plus it is a great intro to tactical war games, whoever doesn’t want to deal with all the complexity can take the one OGRE unit. Or whomever is insecure could take the huge army.
…and the longer you play it the deeper the appreciation of asymmetry gets (at least for me).
5 Likes
Y’all get that OGRE is basically an updated version of a Fox Game, right? Which were themselves originally updated Tafl games?
And for the most balanced and recreationally playable of the Tafl games, see:
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Wet Blanket Isnt a tabletop game but you win anyway.
@Stripes @shylocxs @garethb2 come to Tokyo and bring your OGRE stuff, it’s been too long since I played my favorite war game. I got no one to play it with here. As a kid I wore out I don’t know how many copies of the Metagaming and SJG pocket editions of OGRE playing with my friends.
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Next time I’m in Tokyo (OK, I have never been to Tokyo), you’re on!
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Hey, there’s nowt wrong with OGRE; I’ve been playing it since the 1980’s. Damnfine game.
I just find the history and structure of games interesting.
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We should hold hands and sing “everything’s a remix!”
It does seem pretty significantly different, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Steve Jackson had run into (and enjoyed) one or more of those.
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In other things while I have heard many good things about Frostgrave the setting wasn’t one that grabbed me but this new world setting has me drooling and may be something to replace 40K which I have neglected for years after the changes made in the last days of 6th edition that just made me lose interest in the game.
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I don’t think I’ll be taking up Ghost Archipelago (I have too many games in my life already), but I have the rulebook and REALLY dig what Joseph has done here. Love the concept of the Heritor powers, the Wardens, and blood burn (the idea that you can use your Heritor powers, but it’s physically excruciating to do so, and only holds for a short span of time). I also read the Ghost Archipelago short story collection that Osprey published and enjoyed that. And I gotta say, those North Star plastic mini sets are wonderful. So many options, and with these games being skirmish level with small bands of ten or so characters, the cost of entry is quite low.
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They are releasing Goblins and Dwarfs for their new table top game, Oathmark; so even more, affordable minis to be kit-bashed for Forstgrave 
1 Like
I’m in a really weird position of A) not having enough gaming in my life, and B) being soft-retired and wanting to get back into RPG writing. I wrote six or seven RPG books in the 80s, and a couple last decade, but really need to up my game.
I borrowed Tomb of Annihilation from the library (imagine!) and am reading it to see what a modern RPG adventure looks like. Really impressed so far. It is kind of odd, and intimidating, seeing slick color artwork, including maps. Back in the Day B&W line drawing was the norm. (Sometimes really good; a couple of my books were illustrated by the likes of Bill Willingham and Jeff Dee.)
Tomb of Annihilation really is a campaign rather than an adventure. It has adventures in it, plus a rich setting.
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