TO THIS...
TO THIS...
Although I started out as a HeroQuest gamer, as soon as I discovered real role-playing games during my first year of college, I was hooked. And I usually wasn't content to just be a player either. I wanted to be the game master. The one who holds all the cards, crafts the story (or at least runs it) and doesn't have just one little character to play, but sometimes a dozen in one night!
My game of choice was (contrary to the D&D image posted above) DC Heroes by Mayfair games. The rules were extremely flexible and pretty easy to learn. If I were to ever design a "Spirit Blade" paper and pencil RPG, I would probably look into licensing that rules system.
Great memories of not just playing the game, but pulling out my tattered notebook between lame college classes to add more details and choices to the adventures I created for my players.
My RPG habit took a break for a couple years after our group went separate ways. A year or two into marriage I introduced an entirely new group of friends to role-playing. We started out using the DC Heroes rules for a Matrix RPG, which was a huge blast. That naturally led to playing the DC Heroes game again.
But alas, life and responsibilities made it harder and harder to get the group together, and that season of life never quite returned. A few years later I had one more gaming group that lasted a year, maybe two. But for me the magic had been lost, for no fault of the players. I just didn't have the time to give to game preparation anymore. Even the time needed to read and get familiar with a pre-written adventure was more than I could spare.
So I turned to boardgames like "HeroQuest", "Descent: Journeys In The Dark" and "Doom: The Board Game". These fantastic games had the RPG elements of a "gamemaster" and players, instead of the usual competitive nature of most boardgames. They also required no prep time except to set the game up on the table!
My buddy Mark and I had long since exhausted any published adventures for HeroQuest, but I could take advantage of a TON of player-made quests online and even modify them to fit my own tastes if I wanted. But when Fantasy Flight started putting out Descent and Doom, I knew HeroQuest had just been replaced. These games had amazing game components and detailed rules that suddenly gave our strategic minds workouts they hadn't had in years. A golden age of board gaming had begun!
That lasted for about 5 years. In that time, with each expansion released for "Descent", more rules were added and games became longer. The release of a "campaign" play mode was intended to shorten the required length for a single game, but it never seemed to have that effect for me and my friends. Setting up the table alone took about 30 minutes or more. Aside from my "gaming weekends" 2-3 times a year, I could never find time in my schedule AND another person's schedule to play a game. And even with playing sessions spaced months apart, I began to show signs of burnout in the last year. On my most recent gaming weekend I concluded that I would need to play something different after we finish the campaign we're working on.
For gaming weekends, finding a new game won't be tough. But I also want to be able to scratch that gaming itch more regularly, even when me and my wife or a buddy only have 30-60 minutes.
A couple of years ago I started collecting DC Hero Clix. Just individual figures to get the ones I wanted. Then I use the point building system to create games that can be played in a "Player/Game master" style. Games usually run less than 60 minutes (and HAVE to if you use the official rules, which I don't in that regard), but as more figures are added to the board the complexity does grow some, and games can start taking longer and longer. So my attention has turned now to card games.
Early in our marriage, my wife and I played "Magic: The Gathering" together. A fantastic card game with great production value, rules that are easy to learn and tough to master, and a game is usually played in 30 minutes or less. Two major downsides though, and they both start with "C". Competitive and Collectible.
I am terrible at losing, because I tend to (wrongly) identify my self-worth with my performance. So losing seriously bums me out. That's why I enjoy RPGs so much, because as the game master, I'm just trying to make things fun and challenging. I'm not trying to "beat" anybody, nor am I bummed when the bad guys are beaten. (They're SUPPOSED to be!)
I also like to buy a game once, with options for expanding to make things more fun, not forced expansion to make me a better player. In collectible games, there are two routes to success. Be a better player or spend more money. If I can't do either of those, I face defeat again and again. So returning to Magic is not an option I've even considered, despite loving many other things about the game.
And because of the competitive nature of most card games, my search for a co-op or player/game master type card game that can be played in 30-60 minutes has been largely unsuccessful.
I've been told I should check out "Space Hulk", so that is certainly on my list. "Dungeon Run" is (I think) the name of another that was recommended to me. But my search has barely begun and there's no guarantee that either of those games will be the right fit. Any suggestions?
I dunno. Maybe I should just create my own card game...
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