Preview Mode Links will not work in preview mode

Thespokentoken's podcast


Notes from 58

Feb 2, 2020

Hello everyone this is Larry Neal and I am finally getting back to the blogging (We'll get Alex soon enough), these are mostly pulled from my research as I prepare, I take all of my notes into an episode and utilize what appears to be relevant as we record. This is insight into how my mind works, I write this way to prepare for every episode we do because it gets me closer to the material, and because communication is not just something I do, it is a very big part of who I am. In keeping with the theme of being thankful for the opportunity to talk games with all of you each episode I am grateful for a spot to share them and not just collect them in the show's archived material. I have learned a lot about the process over the last three years and so here I would like to get back to sharing my thoughts in more complete form with you all.

 

So without further ado, here are my thoughts on a couple of entries from our most recent episode:

 

A deeper look - Freedom: Underground Railroad by Academy Games

Upon hearing about this game when it released, I ordered it right away and  when I recieved it, sat it on my table and looked at it for awhile. I had researched it, but as this subject IS  about my history, I thought long and hard once I had it. I was overjoyed at the prospect of the respect and depth the subject deserves, to finally be realized in  boardgame form. I was not sure of what I was going to find when I opened the box. I opened it in time, and was struck by the components, the reverence of them, not just to the subject matter, but to hobby board gaming, and shared storytelling and shared experiences. It has a quiet reverence in the components that is respectful and desirable to see on the table. The tableau the colors and materials chosen bring when on display are stark, and informative to the game state, it was an inspired choice. In the game of course you are a conductor on the Underground Railroad, you are conducting slaves to freedom as best you can. More slaves come in every round, so for every triumph there is more work to do, there is a randomizer as to which plantation gets how many each round, as the pens fill up, if a plantation is due for bodies it cannot house, then they do not survive. As a gameplay mechanic it is incredibly engaging, as a relating of history it is both sad and maddening. The hope in the form of others who were NOT slaves who helped and in fact made the Railroad as it existed possible is exuberant. These helpers appear in the form of cards and events, again engaging AND respectful. There are bounty hunters along the way who may spoil your best route and return those who you've moved to freedom, it's disheartening and contributes in part to the games masterful tension and higher difficulty, however there are timely game mechanics to help you that are historically accurate and expertly woven into the game: at points in the play eras pass that recount the changing climate in America, and while not all of them are helpful to your cause directly they are all researched and correct, and they DO change the game state. The weaving of the history that is, with gameplay that is advanced and shareable by gamers of ANY cultural background is a milestone in my honest opinion. This game is always visible on my shelf among my collection it always will be, I do not do this to remind me of it's content. No I can look in the mirror for that, I can walk down the street for that I can think on events in my life and remember faces who are family to me for that. I do this because it is quite simply one of the better games that I own. The package is fantastic, the research is as complete perhaps more so than most games I own. And the subject, well that’s history. American History, Black history, call it what you will, but it is for sure in our collective history, it happened, it shows both the lowest lows and highest highs of the Human Spirit directly juxtaposed to one another. And quite frankly I believe it is appropriate to play and explore and celebrate at any time. 

 

First Impressions Edge of Darkness  by AEG

Ok. are you sitting down? This one is a BEAST of a box first up. SO your initial impression is to be a bit intimidated by the box, by what all it may contain, by the promise of yet another world to get to delve into. And within the Card crafting system (more in a moment) that it is built upon, you do. Astounding. Components are top notch the artwork is very well done, printed to very high standards so much so that the extension boards line up with the main board not only in picture but in composition and art! Right down the heat of the color and lighting of the imagery, this is impressive! Mine is the kickstarter edition with the upgraded components, but I have the cardboard in the box, it too is fantastic! But the upgrades are quite frankly the type of upgrade I want to see in a Kickstarter: minis and plastic to replace the cardboard. Bit holders that come IN the box! It's smart stuff that I hope more publishers of ALL SIZES try moving forward on the KS platform. Upgrade your game as stretchgoals material wise, but, and listen to me here: DEVELOP YOUR BEST SHOT OF THE GAME AND OFFER US THAT FROM THE BEGINNING! Don't slice off content to offer as stretch goals, I have no one in particular in mind here, but I have approaching 80 KS under my belt, I can say with CERTAINTY it HAS happened. Nuff there. Now, the experience of digging into a box that is roughly as deep as it is wide is an otherworldly experience for me as an adult, I know that sounds too over the top, but let me say it this way: opening this box transports me back to my childhood opening that one thing I wanted all year and then got! The box went on forever and I pulled thing after thing out of it and everyone of them delighted me to no end, this is the way of opening this one. The card crafting system consists of you building the cards out of components in the game, so each clear plastic element goes in a sleeve to make the entire card, each card can consist of three elements, this way you get to make the cards what you want within the system, it is BRILLIANT. You take an element and slot it in a card and then do it's action. Game play I am glad it has a proper meaty implementation, not that Mystic Vale is not meaty, in it's way it is and I am glad I own it, but Edge is something on a whole other level. Where Mystic Vale is ABOUT the system and building cards which is fun, this one has you genuinely thinking about more than the card you craft, there is much more strategy with what you are doing and why, it's delightfully full of moving parts aimed at moving targets from moving platforms and I love it! Here you need to employ the cards to help you along, the game has four guilds and you take on the role of one of them, in this way each starts with some cards that are theirs, however unlike other games that are card based the cards and deck you are building are not in your hand, when you play your cards each round you will put them in a shared discard pile! Everyone gets to draw from the cards in this pile when that time of the game comes around, so you will be picking cards in the draft that others both own and have built! It is a CRUCIAL part of this engine, also when you pick the cards and use them you have to pay the owner of them in this way the economy runs and everyone will always have access to enough to do the really clever and fairly intricate actions. The action spaces on this game are ten in number, there are 37 in the base box, so you have a lot of variety to start off with. This is a clever and very well developed and mature mechanic, it's so well done that it almost is a game within itself. This specific implementation cuts an amazing tension swath through a gamer who is used to helping/not really helping their fellow gamers! It is about time, and it works REALLY well in this setting. I know this is a bit more than a first look,but this one is on my table now and I have been working through it solo and it's been one incredible experience, I am REALLY looking forward to getting this on the table with more than just myself, but I HAVE IMMENSELY enjoyed it solo so far! Last endorsing shot at it, this experience for me is one that transcends it's set up, if the bar to entry to playing this one is what it takes to set up this huge package and lay it all out; SIGN ME UP!