Area 51 Blackout by David Berg
The Good: Well, the name, considering that the file can't really be found.
The Bad: Well ... that I can't find the game.
The Other: At least it gets me closer to number 80.
Would I play it? Nope. Boy that was an easy one.
The Good: I love this theme, I like the fact that there's a card game involved. I love the whole spy in the midst of everything part. It's pretty awesome.
The Other: Okay, there may be some people wondering why I'm not going off on the whole "Coyote as evil trickster" thing that gets mentioned right at the beginning. Look, the person got influenced by a different idea of what a trickster is and then ... didn't use anything remotely resembling anything in that regard and just made them an everyday spy. That's perfectly fine, there's nothing that was used that can be directly tied to a First Nation. It's just a spy, lots of places had them.
The Good: It's a fun concept LARP, though it would need a large space to be played effectively. I love that there's a lot of resources that you have to kind of keep track of even though that's far more of a head ache for the GM than it is for the players.
The Other: Yay for LARPs. I think there should be more done with Game Chef. I think I'll do that one next year. I'm lazy so I'm going to ask, were there a lot of LARPs for the Shakespeare one? That would have been ideal for it.
The Good: The fact that Dave managed to use a UN charter in a game. Also, GIANT MECH BATTLES FOR THE WIN!
The Bad: IT ISN'T REALLY A BUNCH OF GIANT MECHS FIGHTING! It kinda is, but the mechanics are a lot less about mech fighting than they should be. Look, doesn't need to be Battletech, but it can be more MECHY-MECHY-BOOM!
The Other: There are some really good narrative "you attack and you defend and get to describe this" kind of thing going on. It's something to steal.
The Good: Pretty much everything you can think of, the structure of the game, the theme, how the mechanics work, how there is conflict between rivals, conflict between the Investigator and the Cultists. Just great. I can understand how this game won.
The Bad: My only complaint is that you could have been a little more obvious as to what you are doing assigning values to the Attachments. Also, once you go up against one of them, you have an idea of what the numbers are. I might like a more random method ... not that I have one for you but that's not my job now is it. =p
The Other: There are a lot of things that work so very well here that I may have to steal a few ideas and see how I can implement them in a set of games. I don't know how yet, but I'm going to get there eventually.
Would I play it? I shall summon the dark lord to cleanse the world of all living things!
A Delicate Operation by Daniel “Sp4m” Weishoff
The Good: I love this theme, I like the fact that there's a card game involved. I love the whole spy in the midst of everything part. It's pretty awesome.
The Bad: The whole private public key didn't work for me. Also the whole, "Talk about the fauna of your home nation etc." stuff really put me off. If there's a pause, it would have been great to have someone deal with it and then the other player talk about anything really. Hell, have them believe that the person they sent off is the spy and make alliances that way.
The Other: Okay, there may be some people wondering why I'm not going off on the whole "Coyote as evil trickster" thing that gets mentioned right at the beginning. Look, the person got influenced by a different idea of what a trickster is and then ... didn't use anything remotely resembling anything in that regard and just made them an everyday spy. That's perfectly fine, there's nothing that was used that can be directly tied to a First Nation. It's just a spy, lots of places had them.
Would I play it? No, because the forced conversation bits bug me that much.
Drone Home by Christina B
The Good: It's a fun concept LARP, though it would need a large space to be played effectively. I love that there's a lot of resources that you have to kind of keep track of even though that's far more of a head ache for the GM than it is for the players.
The Bad: It's got Skill Creep, you know the thing where there's a fair number of skills and they all do certain things. Also the cards, all the card ripping and creating and cutting.
The Other: Yay for LARPs. I think there should be more done with Game Chef. I think I'll do that one next year. I'm lazy so I'm going to ask, were there a lot of LARPs for the Shakespeare one? That would have been ideal for it.
Would I play it? If someone else ran it, for sure1
InGendarme by Dave M
The Good: The fact that Dave managed to use a UN charter in a game. Also, GIANT MECH BATTLES FOR THE WIN!
The Bad: IT ISN'T REALLY A BUNCH OF GIANT MECHS FIGHTING! It kinda is, but the mechanics are a lot less about mech fighting than they should be. Look, doesn't need to be Battletech, but it can be more MECHY-MECHY-BOOM!
The Other: There are some really good narrative "you attack and you defend and get to describe this" kind of thing going on. It's something to steal.
Would I play it? Nooo ... want more BOOM BOOM STUFF!
The Eleventh Hour (+ characters + cults) by Mike Olson
The Good: Pretty much everything you can think of, the structure of the game, the theme, how the mechanics work, how there is conflict between rivals, conflict between the Investigator and the Cultists. Just great. I can understand how this game won.
The Bad: My only complaint is that you could have been a little more obvious as to what you are doing assigning values to the Attachments. Also, once you go up against one of them, you have an idea of what the numbers are. I might like a more random method ... not that I have one for you but that's not my job now is it. =p
The Other: There are a lot of things that work so very well here that I may have to steal a few ideas and see how I can implement them in a set of games. I don't know how yet, but I'm going to get there eventually.
Would I play it? I shall summon the dark lord to cleanse the world of all living things!
INDIE PRESS REVOLUTION
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1 comment:
FWIW, I was able to download Area 51 Blackout no problem. So... there's that.
Again, thanks for the kind words about The Eleventh Hour!
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