Day 5: Fantasy Theme

     I hope that everyone has learned something about different genres or types of games. That is the way the game is played. There is something for people who like dice, cards, role playing, and collecting. Along with how a game is played there is the theme of the game. The theme is the setting or story of the game. Of course all games won't fit neatly in a category. For the most part there are five themes fantasy, sci-fi, historical, steampunk, and literary.

     Fantasy themes are very popular in gaming. Fantasy uses magic and supernatural as the setting. It is an imaginary world with magic and mystical creatures.  A medival setting is often used in fantasy games. Fantasy has been used in gaming for many years but Lord of the Rings has increased the popularity of this theme. Some characters in fantasy gaming are thieves, rouges, mages, dwarfs, elves, wizards and creatures limited only by imagination!  Weapons used in fantasy gaming are bows, staffs, (Napoleon Dynamite had those skills) knives, or magic spells and potions. I am going to list the types of games we have discussed that have a fantasy theme. Remember, there are endless games with this theme! Just use your machine (that is what my Mom calls the computer) and you can find games of any theme! Here are some fantasy games that we have played.

     Collectible Cards - Lord of the Rings and Magic

     Deck Building - Thunderstone

     Role Playing - Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder

     Miniatures - Warhammer

     Co-op - Shadows Over Camelot

     Worker Placement - Lords of Waterdeep

     Dice Games - Dungeon Roll

     October is a great month to talk about gaming because it so easy to dress up as characters from fantasy or any other themes we will discuss and have a Halloween party! By the end of this week we will finish discussing the themes so that will give you plenty of time to put together a costume, buy a new game, order pizza, have your friends over and party like a gamer!!! Maybe fantasy isn't your favorite theme well hold on to your light sabers tomorrow is Science Fiction! Cue Star Wars theme and fade out.....

   
   

Day 14: Dice Games

     I hope everyone is having a great Colombus Day! I am heading to work. I am a teacher and we have a teacher workday. I enjoy my job and working with students Monday through Friday. I enjoy the weekend so I can spend time with my family and friends. I have described several types of games we like and today is our last day to talk about types of games. Today is one my favorites, dice games! (They are all my favorite aren't they?)

     A very simple dice game that is great for Halloween is Zombie Dice. Zombie Dice is a "press your luck"  party game. There are 13 dice and at their turn players select 3 random dice and rolls them. The dice have icons representing brains, shotgun blasts, or runners. The object is to get 13 brains first. Be careful, don't press your luck too much or you will get shot and lose your brains! This game is recommended for ages 10 and up. This is a great party game because 2 - 99 people can play! Sounds like Halloween party to me!

     In King of Tokyo the object is collect 20 victory points or be the last monster standing. In the game players are robots, aliens, or mutants fighting to be the King of Tokyo. There are six dice with the icons for 1, 2, or 3 victory points, energy, heal, and attack. Players roll three times and decide which dice to keep. There are also special cards that can be purchased with energy to boost your rolls! It is recommeded for ages 8 and up and plays 2 - 6 players. It has a Godzilla feel to it and it is fun family game.

     On day 8 we talked about deck building games. In deck building games you acquire new cards through the game to make your better. Quarriors is a dice building game. Players can customize their dice pool depending on their dice rolls. Each player is a mystical warrior and starts with 12 identical dice and can acquire spells or creatures (the dice) to add to their pool. This game is recommended for ages 14 and up but our 10 year old played with no problem. I really like Quarriors because I like that each player has their own dice bag and the dice you pull are random. You don't know what creature or spell you will get.  I like the unknown and waiting to see what it will be! I also like the colors of the dice. I know that is probably a silly factor but the dice are neat to look at during the game!

     We have discussed the different types of games,  dice, deck building, worker placement, etc. There are some games which don't fit neatly in a category but I think we have talked about all the major types of games. Now it is time to move on to the different themes of games. Themes are the stories and settings of the game. Tomorrow we will start with fantasy! Have a great Monday!

Day 13: Sunday Morning Coffee and Chit Chat #2

Mr, Keurig ready for Halloween gamers

     Ahhhh....my coffee tastes extra good this morning. We joined everyone else and bought a Keurig yesterday.  They were on sale at Costco. It came with 60 K-Cups so I am set for a while. I say I am set because I am the only coffee drinker. I think there will be a lot of hot chocolate and apple cider made this Winter. Hopefully a lot of games will be played along with drinking coffee and hot chocolate! Well, today's topic is not coffee. It is about one of my absolute favorite things...DICE!

Besides being key in many games, dice are just plain cool. I like the different sides and how they look just laying in a pile! I keep trying to think of ways to decorate with dice. We have two distinct dice memories. The first year we went to GenCon, a national gaming convention, we saw the dice vendors. Travis (10 at the time) and I were mesmerized! There was section after section of dice. Any color combination you can imagine. They were also any size! From teeny weeny to about the size of a baseball! There was even a huge bin filled with dice and you could buy either a mug or pitcher full! Another memory was just last year at a local gaming convention, MACE. There was a vendor who had a big old timey gum ball machine converted to a dice machine! Yes, you put in .50 and turned the knob and you could get anywhere from 1 to 5 dice! So much fun! It was our equivalent to playing the slot machines in Vegas! It was so much fun to hover around each other and then the excitement when the flap was raised and out poured dice!

     Besides having a lot of dice laying around, we have personal sets of dice. There are seven dice in a set. Each die has a different number of sides. They are:

Our family dice sets

     Four sided - d4
     Six sided - d6
     Eight sided - d8
     Ten sided - d10 (x2)
     Twelve sided - d12
     Twenty - d20

    When playing different games the dice determine if you defeat a monster, gain a treasure, explore an area, or any number of other possibilities. The dice are also used in determining how strong, wise, agile, or other characteristics your character may have. Example, in the game we are currently playing I am a barbarian and my strength is a d12 + 2. That means whenever I come across a situation in the game and I need to test or use my strength I roll a 12 sided die and add 2 to whatever I rolled. Now my wisdom is a d4 so...not so smart. I usually fail those checks :(  I used to think how can people remember all the dice and what to roll. Never fear there are cards with everything written out for you.

     There are so many games with dice as a main feature. Tomorrow I am going to talk about some of our favorite dice games!

   

Day 12: Worker Placement Games

     I am later writing this post because the weekend always finds me working to pick up the house and clean before the work week. I would like to say that my boys always jump in and help and do exactly as they are asked, but they are pre-teen and teenagers and well, frankly I have to really stay on them to pick up their rooms. I wish I could place them in the house and they would do exactly as I asked every time. Sadly that doesn't happen so thank goodness for worker placement games!

     Worker placement games are games where players use tokens (the workers) and place them on an action of choice. For instance, the first worker placement game I played was Lords of Waterdeep. In Lords of Waterdeep the players are secret rulers trying to gain control of the city. Agents are used to construct buildings and complete quests. The player with the most influence (points) gains control of the city and wins the game! Lords of Waterdeep was published in 2012 for ages 12 and up. The playing time is 60 minutes but it usually takes us about 90 minutes. Lords of Waterdeep is part of the Dungeons and Dragons family. I guess you could say it is a spin off of Dungeons and Dragons. If you play D&D or know someone who does, but want something different from a RPG then give Lords of Waterdeep a try. It is a great worker placement entry game!

        Another worker placement game we have is Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar. This is a great visual and hands on game. Players place their workers (Mayan tribe members) on a rotating gear. Players must pay with corn to perform different actions. You have to plan and always look ahead because you must feed your workers. So don't spend all your corn!

     If you are a book geek like me then maybe you have read The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet . There is a worker placement game based on the book. I can't believe I haven't it played it yet. In The Pillars of the Earth players are characters from the book and are trying to build a cathedral by placing workers to perform different tasks.

     Tzolk'in and Pillars of the Earth are considered moderate level games. If you are ready for a more involved and "heavy" worker placement game then Agricola is a good game. Agricola is more involved with the rules and structure of play. In Agricola players are farmers in a shack with nothing but their spouse. You build up from there.

     So in worker placement games players must plan what they should do and place workers where needed to complete the action. They are generally recommended for ages 12 or 13 and up. There are top ten lists  online so see if there is a worker placement game you may be interested in! I think I need to play The Pillars of the Earth! Of course I must place my own workers here and have them clean up their room! Have a good weekend! Play a game!

Day 11: Miniature Gaming

In case you are wondering miniature gaming is not gaming for toddlers and it is not miniature sized games! It is games played with manipulatives that are miniature figures, planes, tanks, ships, or just about anything! If you have a painter in the family or a history buff then listen up! These may just be the games you are looking for!

One of the biggest miniature games right now is Warmachine. While I do not play Warmachine my family does and I like the storyline. It is a steampunk type story and I like steampunk! (a future blog :)) There is also a RPG based on Warmachine called Iron Kingdoms that I do play! So how does miniature gaming work? In Warmachine there are figures that are collected, assembled, and then painted. These figures can be super small and there is a lot of detail to the painting! Very tedious! At a convention in 2010 my family saw this game displayed and they were hooked! Now no one had EVER painted ANYTHING! But they were hooked and have been assembling and painting ever since! This game literally brought out a desire and a growing talent in painting.

After the figures have been painted there are a set of rules and players follow the rules to combat one another. Each figure will have different responsibilities and skills. My husband and oldest son have gone to tournaments and entered figures in painting contest.

As with all games there are numerous themes to choose from. For World War II fans there is the game Flames of War where miniature tanks, soldiers, aircraft, and artillery are used to recreate World War II battles. There are numerous variations of Flames of War. With this game players will need to assemble and paint the miniature pieces.

Some miniature gaming does not require assembling and painting. If you or someone you know is a Star Wars fan then you may want to try Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures! This game comes with completed miniatures and players re-create Star Wars space combat! Wings of Glory has World War I and World War II miniature planes. These games are generally suggested for ages 12 or 14 and up. If you know someone younger who may enjoy using miniatures HeroClix and HeroScape are also popular miniature games. Players collect different superheroes to use in play against each other. These games are recommended for 8 and up. My younger two children have played both of these games with each other and their friends.

Miniature gaming definitely incorporates hobbies in it's play!  I have been amazed  to see how my family has started painting when they were never interested before. We have set up a painting table and they take a few hours here and there to paint together and talk. It is so wonderful to see especially when our oldest will be gone to college next year. Sniff Sniff. Miniature gaming has provided memory making hours for us. Those hours could have been spent playing videos games, out with friends, or just doing our own thing. Miniature gaming is a hobby game; painting, collecting, or history buff. And with these hobbies families grow closer!

   
   

Day 10: Roleplaying Games

     October is flying by! I can't believe we are on day 10 already! I hope you are enjoying TheNester's 31 day series or if you have joined us from Rolling Dice & Taking Names I hope you're finding some information helpful. My goal is for families to get involved in gaming together. I know there are some families where maybe one person games and the other doesn't. That is how it was for years with Marty and me. He would have his friends over and they would play the Lord of the Rings card game. Our family would play party games then we played gateway games for a few years. After going to GenCon (gaming convention held in Indianapolis) in 2010 that is when we started gaming together as a hobby. One type of game that hooked me was Roleplaying Games.

     Roleplaying Games (RPG) are somewhat similar to cooperative games because players are working together for a common goal, HOWEVER, in RPG's the game is run by a player who is the Game Master or Dungeon Master if playing Dungeons & Dragons. Yes, I said Dungeons & Dragons! It is not the horrible game that the 80's made it out to be. It was written by a Christian, Gary Gygax (I will discuss Gaming and Christianity during our Sunday chit chat).

GenCon 2010

     RPGs use a game master to tell the story of the game. Players choose characters and work together to explore, look for treasure, solve clues, gain knowledge, and fight an antagonist! In RPG's the game master (GM) will guide the players through the game telling the story as it unfolds. They also play the role of the antagonist when in combat. For instance a player may ask, "Can I look inside this crate?" The GM would (or would not) grant permission and then when looking inside a dice roll would determine if the player kept what was inside! (assuming it was something good!) In a combat both the players and the antagonist will roll dice to determine who wins and the amount of damage. In RPG's you have to have an imagination and try to see what is happening. Often a GM will have props to use during the game. A  RPG is also different from co-op because it takes several sessions to complete the story. Think of it as a play. In a RPG instead of play it is called a campaign. A campaign is a set storyline that has an ending. A play is divided into scenes. A RPG is called a session. Each session can last up to four hours! Of course not all campaigns are that long! Remember when I said that some games have rule books? That is role playing games. Each game or system has it's own set of rules. Systems will come with pre-written stories that you can purchase, but the most popular is when the GM creates the story!

     There are different systems to use when playing a RPG. Dungeons & Dragons is perhaps the most well known. My 13 year old plays Pathfinder. Both of these are fantasy based so they have a definite theme. We have played Savage Worlds several times. Savage Worlds does not have a theme so the GM can create any storyline.  It is a time for sometime to become a writer and story teller! One RPG we have enjoyed as a family is when our friend Heath comes over and he is a GM using Savage World rules. He has created several Lego RPG's! We could play for hours using Legos! His story's or campaigns are always fun!

     Roleplaying Games are very imaginative! It really is like writing a play and then "directing" the actors! They are also very rules oriented. For someone who likes detail and telling a story RPG's are a great game! My family has both been players and GM's. I have not branched into being a GM but I do love playing with them!

Day 9: Co-op Games

     Welcome to Day 9! Has anyone played a new game yet? I need to go back to Day 7 for a minute. My youngest son came home from school today energized to play Pokemon again! Apparently on inside recess days the students can bring their Pokemon cards. They trade and give away cards. He spent the afternoon putting his cards in protectors and we will put them in a binder for him to take to school. Ahhh....collectible cards.

     Today I am going to talk about one of my favorite types of games, Cooperative  or Co-Op games. I mentioned co-op games in Day 4: Gateway Games. Cooperative games are when the players work together to beat the game. We talked about Pandemic and Flashpoint. Cooperative games are one of my favorites because I do not have a competitive spirit (another reason I wasn't good at basketball !). I like playing together with my family and friends. It is exciting to play and get to the end of the game and bite your nails wondering if you will win!

     After playing Pandemic the next co-op game I played was Castle Ravenloft. Ravenloft is a fantasy theme. The Castle Ravenloft is full of evil monsters, villains, and traps. The players are heroes and must work together to fight monsters, solve the mysteries, and uncover treasure! This is a fun game to play during October. It is recommended for ages 12 and up.  The players or heroes in Castle Ravenloft were my first introduction to characters such as cleric (priest), rouge (thief), wizard, and warriors. It was fun playing with my family because everyone liked the character they chose. We dressed up as a group that Halloween. There are 12 different scenerios to play through before the game is finished. Each scenerio lasts about 60 minutes. Matter of fact, I don't think we finished it. We got sidetracked with other games!

Circa 2010

     Another cooperative game I like is Elder Sign. Elder Sign is a game that is part of the Cthulhu Mythos. Cthulhu is a creature from literature written by H.P. Lovecraft.  H. P. Lovecraft was an author in the early 1900's. His short stories and poems and have spawned a sub-culture of games, art, literature, and merchandise. The games are SO MUCH FUN! In Elder Sign the year is 1926 and players are investigators working to close portals between our world and other dimensions. This is another fun Halloween game. It also is recommended for ages 13 and up and playing time is 90 minutes.

     My favorite co-op game is another one from Cthulhlu Mythos. It is Arkham Horror. Here is a picture from the set-up! Playing time is 3-4 hours! What a game! Just as in Elder Sign the year is 1926 and players are investigators. The characters are the same between Cthulhu Mythos games. If there is a character you like you can play as that character in multiple games. In Arkham Horror investigators are exploring a city and trying to prevent portals from opening and fighting otherworld monsters.

     Halloween is a great time to try some of these games. You can find other co-op games online. Ummm....what will we play this weekend?