Tabletop game reviews enjoyed lately thread

Charlie has a lock on the "Reviewer who has cost me the most money" award.

That's not really too comforting, but I'll take it.

I started following SUSD when they were still releasing their reviews in hour-long chunks with interstitial sketches but faded away around the time Paul left the team. I liked his particular voice most and didn’t like that their videos were getting longer while their written content atrophied. Now I only check in after I’ve already played the same game and am curious how their opinions differ.

I will say, however, that I appreciate that they’ve made price a recurring feature in their reviews. They may enjoy a game just fine but are very willing to say they also enjoy something else that scratches the same itch while costing two-thirds the price. Definitely something I wouldn’t mind seeing become more common.

Gary Sax wrote: I tend to use reviewers like charlest says above---I tend to find a stable of reviewers who I'm on the same wavelength as (e.g. Thurot, charlest, Bigney from So Very Wrong About Games, wade and jackwraith here) and use their broad exposure to a huge diversity of games to help me narrow my wishlist.

Yep, that's what I ended my post with. Charlie costs me money.

Gary Sax wrote: But you're right in that I'm not going to go out and buy something that looks bad to me because a reviewer I liked enjoyed it, there's self selection going on for unchallenging opinions.

But what about the converse - would you buy something that looked good to you that a reviewer panned ?

Gary Sax wrote: Weirdly, there *are* some reviewers whom I really like but that I also know I have little overlapping game interest in that I still read and watch---Shut Up and Sit Down, Barnes, It Came From the Tabletop are good examples here. I don't use their reviews to help my purchasing, we have pretty different taste, but I read and watch their stuff.

Jackwraith wrote: Right. I think it's important to recognize the entertainment value that a lot of people like SU&SD bring. I also disagree with a lot of their conclusions, but I think they have great insight as to how games function and what they are and they surround said insights with a lot of humor.

I don't watch reviews, or listen to podcasts, as part of my entertainment/leisure time - that's just me, have other things that come higher up the 'interest' pecking order.
Mostly reviews get watched by me for analysis and opinion rather than entertainment.

charlest wrote: That's not really too comforting, but I'll take it.

Ha! Not meant as any kind of insult. You and I have close tastes in games, and it's quite often that one of your reviews is my first exposure to something.

playerelimination.com/2021/02/12/560-day...d-battle-of-legends/

I know other people love Unmatched here, so charlest rounded up the most recent releases.

That is a really great piece by Charlie. I love to see write-ups that aren't just about the new hotness.

I think it makes sense to wrap up these many release series this way unless the have something super singular and compelling in them.

That's an excellent review and it mirrors a lot of my thoughts about the game. I like it and I can see why they chose (mostly) non-IP characters because it's cheaper and they have a wider range of possibilities to work with in terms of "power" interpretation. But, like Charlie says, the restraint applied could become a hindrance to further development. This is in contrast with, say, Funkoverse, where everything is IP-related and most of the characters have more complex abilities that provide more avenues for weirdness. The other contrast to Funkoverse is that its figures are more eye-catching and most of the boards are beautiful. People dump on Eric Lang for his statement about wanting a board game to be visually impressive, but that stuff matters in the same way it does to be playing with painted Warhammer minis, as opposed to unpainted. Visual appeal was brought into sharp focus for me when looking at Dune: Imperium recently and I can see where it becomes even more important in a fighting/arena combat-style game.

I just bumped into Matt Thrower's review of Last Aurora, and I'll tell you what -- he landed his punch better than Mike did by a mile. He also spoke to the game itself in brief, providing what good providers do, nailing his points in clear, brief terms.

This is on Patreon and I realize it's kinda shitty to do a recommend to a review behind a paywall. But I'll tell you what, I think I need to spend more time on Patreon where I sponsor five or six people and each has some exclusive content. If I'm paying $2 a month for it I may as well get my money's worth, because articles like Matt's Last Aurora are worth the time. So glad I got a recommend for his Titan review and bumped into his Last Aurora.

I normally don't/didnt listen to Podcasts until recently when I decided to listen while at work and, boy, can you burn through some podcasts in an 8 hour day. I have listened to the entire backlog of SUSD (which was interesting in a time traveling type of way), all of It came from the tabletop (for a second time) and I've listened to So very wrong about games latest stuff. Also did random searches on different games on the podcast apps. All which lead me to that i really don't like the majority of podcasts. So, if you have something you enjoy podcast wise, let me know what it is.

I'm a massive podcast junkie and typically oversubscribe to things, on the grounds that I can delete whatever, and it's better than running out of stuff to listen to.

- OLD GODS OF APPALACHIA. Horror podcast, vaguely Lovecraftesque, vaguely Ozark. Super atmospheric and has so many great turns of phrase that I listen with a notepad handy to steal things for RPG sessions.

- KEN AND ROBIN TALK ABOUT STUFF. Ennie-award winning podcast, ostensibly about RPGs but really about everything, because ultimately everything will inform your RPG sessions. History, the occult, weird books, magic(k), cooking, stupid people, etc.

- THREE BLACK HALFLINGS. Three POCs talk nerd games. As your typical middle-aged white dude, hearing this perspective on the hobby is golden.

- THE SIXTH RING. Talking about the TROPHY RPG, various techniques for weirdness and craziness.

- FEAR OF A BLACK DRAGON. Reviews of old-school D&D games and modules. Done by the Trophy guys.

- DAYDREAMING ABOUT DRAGONS. Stream of consciousness musing about cool story elements for RPGs, interesting cross-genre stuff for all nerdy folk.

Plus a bunch of non-gaming stuff that I'll elide unless anyone's really interested. Mostly politics and odd culture.

dysjunct wrote: - THREE BLACK HALFLINGS. Three POCs talk nerd games. As your typical middle-aged white dude, hearing this perspective on the hobby is golden.

This has been superb listening. These may be the most mature, most grounded and experienced DMs on the Internet. Thanks for the rec.

spacebiff.com/2021/06/24/talking-about-games-15/

Great read from Thurot this week. I like introducing the concept of exposition into the discussion of narrative, how they weave in and out of being related to one another.

Gary Sax wrote: spacebiff.com/2021/06/24/talking-about-games-15/

Great read from Thurot this week. I like introducing the concept of exposition into the discussion of narrative, how they weave in and out of being related to one another.

Good news, I can still write my article on narrative, because he didn’t even glance in my direction. No way I’ll get it up to 4500 words though.