Descent definitely totally not 3.0

I saw a pic Michael posted of his game on Twitter…our monster spawns were different, so that speaks to some replayability due to either randomness, party construction, or decisions.

In ours, two cultists boosted a bandit to 16 damage that almost one shot killed our paladin/defender. Completely unexpected

Yeah I have had some of that oh shit, the bandit did how much damage stuff.

I love that the bandit mini would be like a boss in another game.

Pardon me for going into CA mode here because I'm on beer #2. I'm so stoked to hear that this is becoming a "long live the new flesh" moment for Descent/Terrinoth, but also bummed that it currently caps out at 4 players (my dungeon crawling group usually has 5+, which continues to limit my options unless I just go full bore down the RPG route). If they start to allow more players, it'll be a definite draw for me.

Also, is the app only usable on tablets/phones? I'd much rather Airplay it from my laptop onto the TV...

I believe the app is on Steam

n815e wrote:

Kmann wrote: Tom Vassal burnt, I think, Monopoly. Pretty sure he also threw one off a roof? Something like that. It was a bit he did occasionally back in the 00s.

Ah, impetuous youth.

Now all he needs to do is put on Letterman's Alka-Seltzer suit.

Scenario 3 - which may not be your scenario 3-

.

The app abso-fucking-lutely made that level of discovery, narrative, surprise, and even character development possible. Short of an actual GMed RPG session, no board game has ever been so successful at doing this kind of thing. And it is important to point out that the whole time I was making ON THE TABLE decisions about using skills, placing focus/preparation tokens, targeting threats, budgeting actions, planning combinations, and so forth. On top of that, I had to make decisions before the scenario in terms of upgrading gear and crafting supplies, which does not fucking take 45 minutes as has been suggested. And all the upgrades and effects are shown right there in the combat window so you know what is happening.

Honestly, I can’t imagine going back to playing Gloomhaven at this stage. This does a lot of the same things- there are town and travel events (which do not require more reading than a card). But all the admin work is just -gone-. It’s still transparent and you still know what is going on, you just don’t have to do the work that I guess a lot of people mistake for gameplay.

Michael Barnes wrote: Honestly, I can’t imagine going back to playing Gloomhaven at this stage. This does a lot of the same things- there are town and travel events (which do not require more reading than a card). But all the admin work is just -gone-. It’s still transparent and you still know what is going on, you just don’t have to do the work that I guess a lot of people mistake for gameplay.

It's hard for me to imagine this isn't the launching point for the next generation of dungeon crawls. There are things that can be improved, but it is definitely hard to want to go back to all the admin work that stands in the way of the gameplay and the story.

Michael Barnes wrote: the whole time I was making ON THE TABLE decisions about using skills, placing focus/preparation tokens, targeting threats, budgeting actions, planning combinations, and so forth.

Not so sure about all this. I finished that same forest scenario (I chose it as the 2nd scenario) yesterday and came away thinking I was spending most of the time on the app. Especially since that scenario is very heavy on interacting with exploration tokens, so that may have been the reason. Now I’m seeing better the perspective of Tom Vassel and that dude who was implied an old racist misogynist homophobe here. I definitely think it works better as a solo game than a group game, so fully agree with Vassel on that. But then I’ve only played solo.

I do love having the app take care of most of the calculation overhead, the narrative, and exploration. So less time doing mental gymnastics and flipping through scenario book pages. Since I’m solo, I also like hearing the music and the small amount of narration. I’d feel stupid narrating and acting out to myself. After that second scenario I’m leaning towards saying this is a cross between a boardgame and a video game, and hence it is the perfect solo board game. And on that same scenario playing the normal difficulty, my party did not get a single minor wound. But I did craft the vigor potion so each member of my party has 1 potion for the mission. I hope I played that right. I loved the ending for the scenario! Makes the 3D board come to life. Would have been more exciting if I didn’t mow down the enemies as easily as I did. I can see why Barnes got so excited since his party got out by the skin of their teeth. I can’t believe many players say they would just as well play with a flat board. I guess to each their own but c’mon man!

Michael Barnes wrote: But all the admin work is just -gone-. It’s still transparent and you still know what is going on, you just don’t have to do the work that I guess a lot of people mistake for gameplay.

I’m now seriously pondering that question as it pertains to myself. Maybe I do like some fiddlyness and I just didn't know it? I mean I’ve always thought I hated it but now that I don’t have it has left a vacuum that I don’t like having filled with a screen. Maybe that extra time can be spent better than on a screen? Maybe an audible app is the solution?

"Ok Google, Bryn is attacking the yellow wolf with the warhammer."

In reading people's comments about the game, I'm left with the question about whether the board part is needed at all and this could all be done as an app. Why have a board at all? For the minis? To have something tactile to fiddle with? If the game was entirely on screen, would anything be truly lost?

the_jake_1973 wrote: In reading people's comments about the game, I'm left with the question about whether the board part is needed at all and this could all be done as an app. Why have a board at all? For the minis? To have something tactile to fiddle with? If the game was entirely on screen, would anything be truly lost?

99.999% of video games can’t be converted to a boardgame. Only turn based ones can be converted. And even those need to be modified due to the small computational and retention capacity people have compared to a computer.

Any boardgame ever created under the sun can be converted 1 to 1 (that is, exactly) to a videogame.

So yes, it’s always going to be the about the tactile feeling, the smell of cards and printed manuals, the sharing 3 dimensional space with friends. That is the only thing that ALL boardgames are about. It’s why we prefer the Ticket to Ride boardgame to the App. Or to hanging out on a table where we are all passing each other an iPad with the TTR app. Or to a table where we each of us have a mobile screen and are all playing in the same TTR game on each individual screen.

I get the tactile issue. it is why I like plastic laden KS affairs. LOL

With so much done by the app, why play this solo instead of a computer RPG?

I have a theory. It's possible playing solo may be what has contributed to looking a lot at the screen. There are no discussions to be had with anyone about what’s going on in the map, what to do next, or anything really. That extra efficiency gained by the app just goes back into plowing through the scenario, and in this case, a scenario that required probably more interactions with the screen than the typical scenario (hopefully). Tom Vassel played it solo it seems, and we are coming to the same conclusion about how this should be a "solo only" game. Just a thought.

I suppose that someone could make Twister into an app-based game, but then players would lose the tactile sensation of humping their friends.

Shellhead wrote: I suppose that someone could make Twister into an app-based game, but then players would lose the tactile sensation of humping their friends.

I don't need a Twister game for that.

El Cuajinais wrote: Any boardgame ever created under the sun can be converted 1 to 1 (that is, exactly) to a videogame.

I've got a copy of Gulo Gulo that begs to differ.