Game Informer - The Other Half of Gaming

Aubrielle

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A Game Informer editorial takes a look at the myth that video games must live apart from the non-digital games that spawned them.


<blockquote style="text-align: justify;">Growing up, I loved any video game rooted in my favorite genre of fantasy. I would rent and buy all the video games with a passing relation to dragons and wizards, regardless of quality. Like many of you, as my taste in games grew, I began to recognize how much I was limiting my own fun. While I never lost a love of classic fantasy tropes, a whole world of other video games beckoned, inviting me into other interactive settings of action, mystery, horror, science-fiction, sports, racing, puzzles, and more. Why had I spent so long with an artificial barrier that kept me from such great entertainment?

In the back of my head, that’s always the memory that comes to mind when I hear that someone loves video games, but has never dipped their toe into the other half of the gaming hobby that lives on your home tabletop. It feels like declaring that you love Italian food, but for some reason you just don’t want to try Mexican cuisine. Sure, some people just don’t like guacamole, but how would you know until you try?

Prevailing opinion suggests that tabletop and video games are fundamentally different hobbies, and I certainly acknowledge that they each branch in separate directions. But they share the same roots, and much of the same appeal. While the form of presentation and interaction is different, many of the tenets of game design are in common, whether you’re talking about the need for balance in competition, the appeal of growth and progression over the course of the game, or the link between mechanics and narrative that make a game feel cohesive.

Anecdotally, I can’t count the number of video game developers I’ve visited who trace their gaming roots back to role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons, or early board games like Risk. Before the constraints of technology allowed for complex digital gaming, the only place to discover rich and nuanced gaming projects was on the tabletop. As both disciplines have matured, they’ve moved in often parallel and intersecting lines, and each reveal new facets of the way gaming can entertain, educate, and enrich our social interactions.

[/quote]More.

More information.
 
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Tabletop gaming seems to be going through a nice resurgence lately. About every 4 weeks or so my regular group plays board or card games instead of Pathfinder and there seems to be a lot of really good games around these days. Eldritch Horror, Battlestar Galactica, Zombiside, Bloodrage, Cards Against Humanity, Munchkin to name just a few. Edit - yes Settlers of Catan, how could I forget that one. Forbidden Desert is another good one, simple mechanics, hard to win.

To bridge the gap to PC I highly recommend Tabletop Simulator. You can often pick it up on sale for US$10 and as it says on the box it's really just a virtual environment where each player controls a little coloured hand with which you move pieces, flip cards and roll dice. Creating a game for it is just a matter of scanning the artwork and/or adding some models if you want to get fancy. There are lots of 3d models already on the steam workshop so it's therefore also a pretty good for running rpg's.

Getting together around a table in real life is still my group's preferred option though. It's as much a social gathering as it is about gaming… and beer tasting ;)


-kwm
 
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I played Settlers of Catan with my family last night and they picked it up well enough. I think there is a computer game version of Catan out there somewhere but the board game is really is not so complicated once you get started. A few beers and wine helped everyone get in the right frame of mind.
 
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Ah, my first loves.
The current favorite's of Lords of Waterdeep, Tzolk'in, 7 Wonders, Sherlock Holmes consulting detective.
And my 2nd love, currently 13th Age and RuneQuest.
 
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If you have the time pls tell me what you like about 13th Age.

We normally play Pathfinder but have been considering DnD5, DCC or 13th Age as possible alternatives.


Thanks
 
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Never really got into tabletop RPG gaming. Of course, played plenty of Monopoly, Tiddly Winks, Hungry Hungry Hippos growing up, but, yeah. :)

If I got into tabletop RPG gaming I'd like to check out some vintage monster manuals and stuff. I went to a yard sale in Akron, Ohio when I lived there and picked up a big box full of vintage D&D books. Paid like, $20 for 40 or so books. Sweet deal. :)

However, at the time, I just wanted to flip them for a profit. That was the whole idea. So, I ended up selling them, and the box included a few really rare books apparently. A few of the books sold for over $100 a piece, and man, they were so cool to look at! :)
 
DnD 5e is really great. I DM 3 groups in DnD 5e and play Pathfinder as a player in another group. I really like PF but DnD 5e is so flexible for the DM, stats are streamlined and there aren't tons of numbers or rules you gotta look up.
 
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