#analogue games

[ingolfshofoi]

I made my partner some biscuit inspired dominoes, cause we love playing dominoes and he loves biscuits.

I’ve never worked with clay before, and this was literally cheap clay from a Daiso so please don’t hate on the technique lol.

[quinnhpm]

DON'T LOOK - The Scary-Storytelling Game Where Fear Keeps You Alive

It's all for fun. None of the stories are real. You don't talk about what is really there in the shadows. Not in the shadows beyond the campfire, and not in the closet behind you, and certainly not growing on the ceiling above your head. There's nothing there. And even if there was, you wouldn't know what It is, because you have never looked at It. You can't know what It is.

Don't Look is a simple game that supplements any ghost story. all you need are a few friends, a mirror or camera, your own scary stories or the interactive ones in the zine, and 13 easy rules. the game comes with two zines: The Game, a rulebook, and The Tales, a collection of 3 interactive scary stories.

get the physical zines

get the digital version

[randomidiocyncrazies]

the long road home by randomprojects

At the dawn of a new age, you bid farewell to your last companion and begin the long road home...

remember your great quest (and how every victory has its cost) as you bid farewell to your last companion and set off on the journey back home...

[corruptionpoints]

What's your experience with tabletop games that aren't role-playing games? Do you have any favorites?

I love analogue games!

I played Magic: The Gathering for about a decade before quitting. I could probably find my DCI membership card if I dug around a bit. I also played Warhammer 40k (Old Codex Necrons and Blood Angels) for a period of time, and have now moved onto WARMACHINE as Cygnar.

As far as tabletop board games go, I play and own a bunch! Recently I’ve played the Game of Thrones: Board Game. The group of people that I regularly play with tends to get hyper-competitive, so we generally stick to “cooperative” board games such as Shadows Over Camelot and Arkham Horror. 

I really enjoy trading games like Settlers of Catan, but I can’t ever seem to find people to play that kind of game with, nor do I generally have the time to devote. I’m also terrible at Settlers of Catan.

One of my personal favorites is Talisman. Of the dozen or so times we’ve played it, I have only lost once. However, if there was ever a game that ruins friendships, it is that one.

[corruptionpoints]

Thoughts on the usage of strictly narrative "cutscenes" in tabletops?

I’m not sure I see the point.

I have the same problem with strictly narrative “cutscenes” in most video games. I understand the expediency and effectiveness of delivering story to the player in a confined fashion, but it is done through removing agency and control from the player.

It works because video games are often stepping the line between “video entertainment” and “interactive entertainment”. Especially with the visual fidelity offered by most games, it creates a sense of immersion when done well, and allows succinct storytelling.

With all of that being said, there is usually no visual fidelity within a tabletop game. If there is, it doesn’t come to the degrees or levels of a video game or a movie, simply due to the medium.

Which makes a narrative cutscene a GM dictating story to the players?

I can think of very few situations where this is a better experience, or would produce a better result in the spectrum of tabletop, than allowing the players to interact with the story to gain the same forward motion.

Tabletop is for collaborative storytelling. It lives and breathes on multiple inputs to the story at any given time. It is the format.

GMs should give descriptions of settings, scenes, antagonists, and a variety of other aspects of the game to give a fuller representation of the situation, but I wouldn’t expect this to extend for a series of uninterrupted minutes, akin to a cutscene.

[corruptionpoints]

Invasion

Invasion is going to be a customizable card game where players take on the roles of survivors trying to make it to a safe haven after aliens destroy our cities. Players race against these aliens, and against one another, in an attempt to bring their camp to safety first.

Much like other post-apocalyptic settings, players have to worry about looming threats (like the aliens) and the dangers of others (represented by the other players). You can raid other players camps, kill their allies, sabotage their actions or steal their resources.

The game is getting ready to move to public play testing (after a few months of several iterations and internal play testing). While preparing for this, I'm looking for a lot of different opinions. If you have any experience (from casual to hardcore) with analogue games I need your help.

While play testing, we'll be covering a few different iterations of the rules (the main differences have to do with deck construction and the win condition) and asking for opinions on both from as many people as we can. We want to hear what people want. We want to make a game that you want to play. 

Give us feedback. Let us know what you want to play. Email us at [email protected] if you've got a spare hour or so. Let us know you're interested - we'll send you a PDF (or two, if you want). Then in a week or two when we start doing public play-testing, we'll keep you in mind.

You can also follow me on tumblr at lsable.tumblr.com, where I'll be chronicling the design and development of the game (the first post is up, and the next one will be up soon.)

We're open to any suggestions, feedback, comments, questions, etc. also. 

Friendly reminder that I will always support indie games and game developers looking to broadcast their creations.

Declarative statement that this game sounds great! If you'd like to help Isable and the team working on Invasion, feel free to drop a line their way. I know I'll be doing as much!