Social gaming

1

I like board games, I especially enjoy the social aspects of them. That is why the ones I have are currently gathering digital dust on my steam shelves, I don’t particularly fancy playing against randoms online. Since the point of these games, for me, is not to best an oponent it’s about having a good time with friends. So I wanted to see if there might be any interest here in creating a group to play boardgames semi regularly.

I will first ask a few things of you if you consider signing up however. Firstly no sore losers, if you know that you easily get crabby about dice not favouring you, if you know that you’ll start complaining every time someone makes a move against you then this wont be the group for you, I’m sorry.

Secondly when we schedule something and everyone agreed on a time then I will expect you to be there, preferably 5-10 minutes in advance so that any technical issues can be addressed. Should any unexpected situations arrive that prevents you from participating I will expect you to have done everything in your power to let us know one way or another. This is simply about respecting the time of others.

Thirdly I want us to be using VOIP so we can chat while playing, I have a mumble server that we can use. What you need is a microphone and a space to play in where you do not need to be quiet. The main point of this is to really get to know eachother and I think that actually speaking to one another facilitates that better than text does.

I am saying these things because this is not the first time I’ve tried to create a group like this and these 3 items are among the main reasons those groups have failed.

Finally the games!
Games are unfortunately most often not free, I have a small selection already and I’m making this post while the steam sale is up in hopes that we can all hope to match our stock at as low a cost as possible.

So here’s a list of games that I have, know and want to play.

Settlers of Catan (Sea3d) (3-6 players)
Listed first because I have a really old, free client for this game that we can easily get started with. It’s also a really good game and this old client is better than every commercial version available.

Tabletop Simulator (2-10 players)

Easily the best thing for boardgaming of all sorts. We could start out by just playing some simple card games and advance to pretty much anything. I own none of the proper DLCs yet, but if we find one that is good and fun I’d be happy to buy it on your recommendations.

Ticket to ride (4 players)

Strategic game about building train lines. Client is unfortunately not great and the rules are obtuse, but I can probably teach you most of what’s needed to know to get started. Requires Days of wonder account

100% Orange Juice (4 players)

I don’t even know how to describe this one. You move around a board to collect stars or murders and level up once you’ve reached certain numbers and once you’re level 6 you win by landing on a home square. Then there’s cards that does all sorts of weird shit. It’s highly chaotic at first but it’s not too bad.

Smallworld 2 (2-5 players)

Mathematical tactics pretty much. Mostly about making the best choices to get your numbers up. This game enforces conflict as around mid-game the only moves you have are going to be about fighting another player. Client is decent, the game seemed rather simple to me but I’m sure there could be some depth to the strategy once you get a better hang of it. Requires Days of wonder account.

Talisman (2-6 players)

Not a great game, but it’s serviceable. Mostly an RNG-fest but it’s alright if you’re fine with just riding the dice to see where they’ll take you. roll dice, find treasure, kill things and eventually you might win. Can take far too long though.

Gremlins, Inc. (2-6 players)

This game is listed last because I do not own it yet, I wish I did and I’d be happy to buy it if I had a group of people to play it with. Run around a board and gather resources and play cards to screw eachother over and win some how. I’ve only seen it played and it looked fun. Appears to have a bundle with 100% Orange juice too so that’s nice.

So those are my primary suggestions, but I’m open to hear what you guys might have in mind. If anyone is interested at all.

11 Likes
2

This is a great idea and I am very interested. :smiley:

5 Likes
3

I’m down for some board games, I’m damn slow when it comes to learning new games though.

6 Likes
4

Don’t forget Board Game Online. It’s free and pretty crazy. People you invite can play as a guest, they don’t need an account.

But i’m not comfortable with VOIP so i’ll pass. Just wanted to mention BGO for your consideration because i had a lot of fun playing that with friends.

7 Likes
5

Armello too maybe? :slight_smile: I have Ticket to Ride and Talisman from your list. Would like to play :slight_smile:
If Talisman is too RNG too you then I am afraid that Gremlins will be too.

7 Likes
6

I second Armello! it’s quite fun AND it’s available on Linux. Nudge nudge @delenn13. :butterfly:

5 Likes
7

I could certainly see myself buying armello, at least the base game. The reason I think of Talisman as an RNG-fest is that there’s very few real choices to make in that game, Gremlins seems to have a lot more stuff going on that makes it more about managing the RNG rather than just flowing with the rolls that Talisman offers.

2 Likes
8

This is a nice idea @Fraggles.

As I said yesterday, I enjoy a good board game every now and then. I currently have Ticket to Ride, Gremilins Inc, and Armello and am still considering pickling up 100% Orange Juice. I also played a lot of Scrolls (which is now dead) back in the day, so I am open to CCGs as well - like Duelyst and Faeria, both of which are free to play.

The problem is, my schedule is crazy atm, so I’m not sure I can commit to a time. Also, from my prior experience in participating in online tournaments for Grand Slam Tennis and Top Spin 4, it can be challenging to get a group of people from various parts of the world together at the same time.

I also don’t have a microphone anymore :cry:

3 Likes
9

I actually think this is a fantastic idea. Unfortunately, I have a young child at home and my schedule is pretty insane. I wish you all the success, though! Come back to this thread and let us all know how it goes, okay?

1 Like
10

Oh, great call on Faeria! Have been meaning to play it for some time now. And it’s also available on Linux!

Also, I’ve been having a great time playing Trine, Rocket League, Human: Fall Flat and Don’t Starve Together with some friends, in case anyone’s interested in playing any of these! :butterfly:

1 Like
11

This isn’t a half bad plan. Now, I’d say when it comes to social games, Screencheat sounds like a great pick. It’s kind of a Goldeneye/Halo meme at its core, but in practice it’s actually a rather in-depth game from what little I’ve played. It supports up to 8 players in online split-screen, to my knowledge. The whole gimmick is that you play a standard deathmatch game where every weapon is a one hit kill… but all players are invisible, and environments are high contrast. The only way to get kills is to look at other players’ screens, try to match environment to screen, and kill them with accuracy based entirely on your educated guesses.

4 Likes
12

i am down to play i have most of these on steam already

1 Like
13

@CptMold While I own that title already it is by no means in the category of games I had in mind for this particular endeavour. Though I wouldn’t mind trying it out another time.

To everyone uncertain about their schedules I never meant that we should nail down a single time and do this every Friday at 6 or anything. My free times fluctuates wildly as well and it is my hope that we can figure out a time to play a session at a time. I know patching people together across the world can be a lot of work, but if necessary I’ll do it.

As for anyone uncomfortable with VOIP, none of us are going to be professional speakers or broadcasters here. At least I wouldn’t think so. I am rather uncomfortable with it myself but I try to use this sort of things to try and get over that. By talking to a smaller group of people in a friendly situation, I would hope that we could all help each other dispel any insecurities or discomfort. Anyone lacking a mic and want to pick something up on the cheap, I’m using and have had great experience with this.

For the games then. If you fancy this sort of thing at all I would highly recommend, urge even, that you buy Tabletop Simulator. It is the best possible platform for playing board games through. It also runs on linux I believe, at least it has system specs listed for it.

A number of you have expressed yourselves positively to the idea, which made me real happy. Now I need a little bit of commitment though. Could everyone who is truly interested in getting in on this send me a PM here and tell me which games you already have, which ones you’d be willing to buy right now and maybe eventually and what general part of the world you’re in. If you have any particular days that suits you best in general, any that just wont ever work or if you’re completely time-fluid and we’ll just have to guess and see.

Thanks everyone for the positive reception so far.

5 Likes
14

Having a freeform schedule is probably for the best. I also used to run a gaming group, truth is scheduled events can leave out a lot of people. If you try to pick a certain time, somebody in a different region may be left out (as with Europeans in my group).

While the alternative wouldn’t have worked with such a small group, Discord really makes setting up a game painless and I wish it was around a few years ago.

1 Like
15

This sounds like a fun time for all. I have a diabetic husband And I have arthritis in my fingers and riddled through my spine and neck So I can’t play long at all. I play in tiny spurts. I used to play Dragon age and the like for hours…now I can’t. So I can’t make any commitments. But we will see…If I am around when A game is announced.

Yea, that game is on my wishlist… :thinking: Maybe later…We just blew a wad of money on a TV.

4 Likes
16

I totally recommend Armello! :slight_smile: I just love this game, it’s beautiful and quite competitive. My friend also jokes that it destroys friendships :yum:

3 Likes
17

I love the idea of this but I don’t own any of these games or a microphone, and I’d use discord, not VOIP whatever that is :confused:

sadness deep inside xD

(though I have Armello, after noticing people talk about it)

2 Likes
18

Voice Over IP →
skype, discord, teamspeak, mumble, curse, steamchat etc etc etc etc etc
:wink:

2 Likes
19

sigh

I’m getting sick of this shindig.

why couldn’t people have rounded up the general message they wish to get across, not making up new acronyms everyday xD

2 Likes
20

It is a really rather old term that is used specificly to round up the general message rather than specifying any one particular client for use. Don’t want to go in and say skype or discord if what you’re talking about is general voice communication.

5 Likes