New Games at Wednesday Game Night

I took a break from playing my own project to try some other new games. It's always a pleasure to try something new, and not have to worry about rewriting the rules if something doesn't quite seem perfectly balanced.

First I joined a five player session of Tokaido. There are numerous special spaces and card combination goals, but movement is simple and the game moves at a comfortably quick pace. The mechanics of the game are well-suited to the purpose of enjoying a journey across Japan. The visual design as you can see is understated beauty. You earn points toward winning by making sure you take in the scenery, move as slowly as practical, and enjoy a wide variety of delicious dishes. (Of course I am reminded of the tasty adventurers in Wandering Monster!)

I placed somewhere in the middle in final scoring, and agreed with the group it was the perfect length for the style of play. I would readily play it again.

Next I followed one of the Tokaido players to another table, for a three person match of Ginkopolis. Wow, this is a complex game.

The vast array of pieces, options, and strategic choices was simply overwhelming. I took a guess at the type of strategy that would give me a shot at glory, and just tried to follow along. Procedurally, I definitely was able to follow the draft-based turn sequence, and help move the resource counters, and collect my score. Mentally it was the equivalent to taking a final exam I had not studied for. But of course, since I wasn't being graded apart from final scoring, this intensity made it a satisfying and memorable experience.

Not too surprisingly I came in dead last. But it felt right for a learning round. My main lesson if you're considering the game: build up your combo stacks of cards and start running them like a machine. That certainly seemed to work.

Next time I'll be sure to fit in more of Wandering Monster. There are some new monster powers, including Fire Breath and Dog Breath, to go with the classic Acid Breath. Also I'm toying with some creative ways to condense distances on a nearly empty board near the conclusion of the game.

Are you going to a game night at Endgame? Let me know and I'll look for you there.

First Wednesday Game Night

I have been meaning to make it to Boardgame Night at Endgame for some time. I'm glad I finally did. If there is a local game shop in your area that does this kind of open gaming you really owe it to yourself to go. I've been so enthralled by my own four monsters, this was a good reminder to get out and throw some cards and dice. Next time I'll be sure to sample some of the other games (that means you, King of Tokyo!) But for this Wednesday, we had some fresh blood in Wandering Monster.

Boardgame night

For a "fast food" round of Wandering Monster, we set out eight parties of adventurers for four monster players. Our goal was to finish a game in 90 minutes. I believed it could be done, and with the full faith of two players who had never seen a Lepus, plus one who knew his ways all too well, we set to it. Competition was fierce; here were some of the highlights.

Will Fearsome Claws win it for me?

Ooze was a first time player. He made a bold move against a party engrossed in inspecting a locked door. But without taking the time to inspect them himself, they proved more than a match. He lost his initial power of Sprinter, and the burst of speed it afforded, but respawned at his own starting space. By a stroke of luck, those stalwart adventurers wandered toward the ooze again, but turned their backs at the last moment, ignorant -- as always -- of their fate.

Now apprised of their strength, Ooze threw down some cards for their combat value and overwhelmed these adventurers' formidable defenses. They became our first of many casualties, and Ooze claimed first blood!
Our next confrontation came as the other three players vied to sink their mouth parts into Party #3. My troll was on the far side of the dungeon looking for some mighty powers, so I never saw how savory a morsel this was. The others seemed to really want some though.

"If party #3 survives this round I'll eat my hat."

Lepus got himself into position, risking all in a Monster vs Monster throwdown with the superior Ogre. A good roll put him on top, forcing the Ogre to sit out one round. Ooze meanwhile played a Dungeonmaster card, Wizard Remembers the Way, sending the adventurers in a random direction. Whatever the outcome, they would no longer be facing conveniently away from the bunny. There was a one in three chance they would swing back and face the ooze himself, but he took the chance because he had already been deprived of his starting power, and really had nothing left to lose! As you can see above, it went well for him. They showed him their backs. However, it was the Lepus's turn, and he deployed his Ceiling Crawler ability to sneak up, over, and past the adventurers to the Font of Slime. The slime granted him the dreaded Acid Breath, which he immediately put to use to clear Party #3 from the dungeon. The rabbit perhaps could be heard to mutter, "If I can't have them, nobody can!"
There were plenty more ploys, some more monster on monster grudge matches, and a few adventurers turning the tables on us hungry monsters. I for one had adventurers turn on me and send me back to a Spawn Pit. It keeps the action fresh though, so I don't mind.
The end game as often is the case was a close showdown. Ooze was across the board having carefully and effectively dealt with a crafty group whom I had sent through a difficult stone portal. The rest of us were angling for the last couple of groups. Ogre got the second to last one, only to be slowed by a Choke DM card. My troll and the Lepus raced for last bite.

End game at Endgame

Lepus had the legs for it, and having previously inspected this wayward bunch, played enough DM cards for the bonus and final feast! All in about 90 minutes, as advertised.
Now it was time to show our eatings and declare a winner. Although still gagging on that last bite, Ogre came out on top, with ten in total of two parties, beating Ooze with eight. And that last mouthful? "Almost Seven Dwarves." No wonder he found it a lot to swallow.
I'm sure to make Endgame a regular if not weekly event. If you're in the Oakland area, I hope to see you there.

Wandering Monster in the Windy City

My day job took me to Chicago for the Code4Lib conference. When I heard there was going to be a game night for coders in libraries, I knew what I had to do. I loaded my four friends into the carry-on and signed up for a table.

Chicago in February

After I played two games of Tsuro, there was a break in the nearby Zombie Dice game, and I found a couple of players willing to try Wandering Monster. We made an accommodation to their inexperience and the limited amount of time we had, throttling the game to a single course of six parties of adventurers. I'm calling this, along with the pre-printed map board, the Fast Food edition. I still had a full tutorial of turn actions to do but we got up to speed. The game itself took about 90 minutes and had a few classic encounters.

The game set out in Fast Food mode

There was a fine moment when the Ooze player gained a power from one of the Glowing Orb rooms. Then the "room service" roll cleared it, and he got to just sit there one more turn and soak up the power. It doesn't happen very often -- it's not supposed to -- but it sure feels good when you quickly become, for example, a massive, leaping blob with acid breath.
Right at the end both of my opponents had a chance to gang up on me. You can see my ogre above, on one side of a sealed stone portal. There was a party of adventurers on the other side facing the other way. They were positioned perfectly for me to ambush and eat them. But the ooze played a Dungeonmaster card and turned them to face me. Then the Lepus player brought out a Lockpick card and my party stepped through the portal into my space. They went from savory snack to deadly peril in a moment. Fortunately, I had been saving a Critical Fumble DM card for such a case, and I got them in the end. But it cost me the card, and just possibly, the game, as I was still on the other side of the portal from the last group, and those portals do nothing if not slow you down.
In the end, the Lepus simply positioned himself a safe distance behind the last party, moved in, and took them with his Fearsome Claws while they meticulously searched an unexplored room.

The bunny digests his winnings

To top it off, by ending his move on that Throbbing Orb space, the Lepus gained a third monster power. But since it was the end of the game, he had to settle for total victory. The final score when we showed our adventurer cards was Ogre: 2, Ooze: 4, and Lepus: 8.

New Cards

This is just a quick note to let you know, if you're following the action, there are a couple new cards to keep things interesting.

Critical Fumble is a classic, and you always love getting a chance to throw it down and go head-to-head with a party of adventurers. I refined it a bit to cover a few other combat situations. Normally you have to plan at least as far ahead as the beginning of your move, but sometimes you have to whip it out when the almost-seven dwarf miners come charging around the corner.
Monstrous Speed and Rumor Mill are new. These just seemed like things either I or some of my play testers thought would make things more interesting. And making things interesting is what Dungeonmaster cards are all about.

Wandering Monster: printed prototype

I have printed and sliced all the parts for a fresh, new set. We've been playtesting with some rather rough tiles and cards for a while. The best examples were taped together and had handwritten modifications.

That's pretty rough

 Now it will all be clean and crisp. Certainly it's not final art yet, in case you're thinking these too are a bit bare bones. But before any virtual paint hits any digital canvas, we're going to make sure we have the right number and kinds of pieces for a highly replayable and entertaining game of Wandering Monster. Even this prototype is looking better than ever though.

I finished the slicing and dicing at home on my old swing-arm paper cutter. But I had a few minutes at the Kinkos near home and got to try out their Rotatrim. I've been meaning to try one of these, not the generic brands, but the real deal. It is nearly the perfect tool for these stiff paper mockups. You can line things up quickly and slice even more rapidly. Even when there is a hairline edge of white paper on the edge of your art, you just nudge it out a bit and cut again. The blade disk has no trouble at all whisking away the thinnest extra material. It even works when you are trimming an irregular piece starting from nothing.

The official spinning blade of Wandering Monster

The only thing it didn't do well was separating two small cards from each other. For example, if you want to cut a 40cm strip into two 20cm strips, it will be hard to position it under the plastic guide. Can any of you worthy readers find me one with a narrower guide that solves that problem?

Wandering Monster: More boss monsters

Here are the other two monsters from the Wandering Monster basic set. In an earlier post, you got to see Ogre and Ooze.

First up today is Troll. No, his standard power is not Instant Regeneration or Carrot Nose. He is skinny and nimble, giving him a slight edge against ranged attacks by adventurers, who always seem to be hurling axes, javelins, and lightning balls at anything that moves. It's a little thing, but it helps. The standard power each monster has is designed to be a little less than the full powers you pick up in special rooms of the dungeon. Troll does nicely when you add movement-based powers, such as Hasty or Sprinter. You can never go wrong with Fearsome Claws though.

Lepus rounds out the first four of our monsters. "Lepus" is a pseudoscientific way to say rabbit, so most players end up calling him the bunny, although usually not to his face. The best thing about this monster is tricking him out with some powers, and identifying yourself as, for instance, the enormous bunny with a Huge Mouth and Terrifying Roar. On top of all that, his long, sensitive ears give him the useful ability to assess the threat level of adventurers through doors and around corners. Players have nearly come to blows for the opportunity to play the Lepus.

Wandering Monster: the boss monsters

Welcome to Gnomekeeper, the home of the Wandering Monster tile placement boardgame. Spooktalker finally convinced me to begin, and I'm already glad of it. Come here to see the game clawing its way from a bond-paper-and-tape mockup to a crisp work of paperboard you will want to replay with all your geek gamer friends.
Today I'd just like to introduce a couple of my own friends, the monsters who call the tiles of the dungeon home. Then I'll finish with a few pics fresh from today's lunchtime playtest.

 This is the ogre. He embodies the spirit of the game Wandering Monster, stomping around the damp tunnels, at turns loud, boisterous, and full of vim, and at other times cunningly lying in wait for tasty adventurers. His innate ability is his meanness, with which he often has the edge when it comes to blows with other monsters. He does well when the ominous, glowing oracles of the dungeon bestow on him powers such as Strong Arms and Terrifying Roar.

Next, meet Ooze. He is a basic organism, but just bubbling with possibilities. If you can collect abilities such as Frog Tongue, Ceiling Crawler, and Acid Breath, it very much plays to type. Also fun is giving this blob the Strong Arms and Nimble Fingers, and watching him walk tall in a biped's world. But he never forgets his roots, with the innate ability to ooze through gates and grates.
I'll share some more beasties next time. For now, here are scenes from today's playtest.

 We built a good, sprawling labyrinth, and got right to the end of the first course. The adventurers we gobbled are aside in the foreground. At the very end Ogre (with Strong Arms) made a bold play for the last party, attempting a monster vs. monster beatdown of Ooze with Frog Tongue and Fearsome Claws. The outcome went the other way though, with a chastened Ogre sitting out a round, leaving Ooze to contend with an already alert and mobile party just around the bend.

 How this would play out we can only conjecture. Lunch hour was at an end and we counted up our eatings. Lepus took the top spot with seven chewed and swallowed in the first course. The others were close behind though and it would have been an exciting second act. Next time.