I’ve combed through hundreds and hundreds of suggestions (and nearly 2000 comments holy crap) since I asked what you’re interested in seeing us play on the next season of Tabletop, and I have come away with a lot of great ideas.
At the moment, we’re looking at about 60 games. That list will be narrowed down to about 20, maybe more if we do a combo episode of a couple of mini or micro games.
A lot of FAQs popped up in that thread, so I’d like to point anyone who is interested to my episode of Not The Flog, where I talked about how we choose games for the show, why we simply can’t play certain games, and some games I freaking love, but simply won’t work for our format.
Finally, a quick note to publishers and designers: I know you’re enthusiastic about your games, and I know a lot of you would like us to play your games on our show. However, encouraging people so basically spam me with your titles isn’t helpful, and actually ensures that I won’t play your games. This is a giant bummer for everyone, because you may have a game that I’d genuinely like to play, but I’ll never even try it, because the spamming was so annoying and unhelpful.
A quick note to players: if you genuinely love a game, let me know, and let me know why. That is helpful information that us useful and welcome.
Okay, thanks. Back to it.
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I was gonna leave a comment suggesting a game but then I saw the number of comments and decided… um, no.
What game? 🙂
I made the mistake of saying “here’s my comment, and sure, I’d love to keep track of replies.”
Holy crud, the flood of email crashed Safari on my iPad. I had to unsubscribe, login to my webmail account from a desktop, delete the mail, clear the storage on the iPad… eep!
I can’t imagine what it would be like to actually wade through them all, noting down the titles, getting rid of duplicates, getting rid of those that are clearly unsuitable, and then culling it down to a list of manageable size.
I saw that the creators of one game I suggested on your blog sent out a tweet like that, but I really do believe it was done naively and not with the intent of spamming you into submission. Hopefully you give the game a chance (Heroes Wanted) because I believe it would make for an EXCELLENT show. Very visually appealing and the optional quirks could be hilarious with the right group, not to mention acting out the created characters.. I’ve had a great time playing it, lately, with my family. Can’t wait for season 3!!
To be fair – one man’s spam is another community’s rally of support. If someone said “what youtube show do you want me to cover next?” and you were like “hey guys why don’t you ask him to cover tabletop” and then the community does just that – would you like them to say “since so many people asked for this show, I won’t cover it”?
Of course – noone wants to get spammed, but usually if you put out an open call to the internet, the show of numbers is a show of support – that’s how it usually works. And if you didn’t want something suggested if it had already been suggested – for example, then maybe you could’ve saved yourself some spam by requesting that?
I dunno – just seems a little harsh. Assuming the spammed game is actually good and fits your bill of course :p
If people were genuinely excited about Tabletop and wanted to let this imaginary person know about it on their own, that’s awesome. But if I would never say “go tell this guy how much you like it because I told you to!”
I really love you to pieces and all that, but I feel slightly turned off by the negativity being heaped onto a company that really wasn’t prepared for the barrage that was laid at your feet by rabid fans (remember those types?). It breaks my heart that you’re discounting them for a silly mistake, because I love their games. I hope some day you can forgive them and give their games a chance on the show. (from a funder….)
Hmm, I hope none of the games I suggested were on this spam list — Mine were all honest suggestions, unsolicited by anyone. How can you tell for sure that it wasn’t done with sincerity behind the love of the game?
When a bunch of people say basically the same thing in a very short amount of time, it generally indicates a coordinated campaign, rather than individuals who happen to all be excited about the same thing.
I’m asking for people who have played something, and who have also watched our show, to tell me what they want to see. When people honestly and genuinely respond to that, it’s useful. When publishers or developers use my question to effectively launch an astroturf campaign, it’s not helpful.
makes sense. hopefully you might consider trying the game on your own, though. Even if its not helpful to tabletop, I wouldnt not try a game because a publisher pissed me off. I considered not buying D&D 5 for that very reason, but then I realized, wow, thats kindof shortsighted of me. I might be missing the next great thing.
Not saying you should put it on tabletop. I’ve never even played it.
I saw Heroes Wanted at Gen Con and it did look cool. I didn’t purchase it because it seemed too much stuff going on. On the other blog I mentioned Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, and as to why is because it stretches so many of the various elements. Card game, Co-op Game, intro RPG game. Plus a scenario plays in about 90 minutes, has a reasonable level of luck (not sure what comes up in you deck vs location decks, where the villain is, etc). as well as high strategy (various abilities, spells, etc encourage teamwork and bonus maximizing.). Last but not least I love the game because it’s a great game to play with my kids – we have a Rise of the Runelords game going and are starting a Skulls & Shackles game soon with my wife. In addition it’s a game that seems like it would give lots of “table talk” as is scene regularly on your show.
Whether Wil picks these or not they all sound fantastic! I’m putting on MY list. Thanks 🙂
I don’t know if this has been mentioned because there is no way to display all the comments on the previous post and search for it.
Forsake:Rise of a God is a brand new game that is published by a friend and I really enjoy.
4 Players
Deck/Hand builder
Dungeon or Temple Defense Aspects
Player interaction(you can attack other players each turn but you never cripple someone to the point where they cannot come back unless they are actually killed.)
Greek/Roman Theme
Beautiful artwork.
http://www.legionbrands.com/foretold/
My son, AJ, and I love Rise of Augustus. He is 6-1/2 and watches Tabletop frequently and we have purchased many games based on watching episodes. Augustus combines a simple concept, like strategic BINGO, with more advanced decision-making. Games are fairly quick, based on how many people are playing, and it appeals to non-gamers because it is easy to learn. You are a pretty confident player after only playing it once.
Thank you for Tabletop! My son has become a huge gaming fan and even competed in the World Tabletop Gaming Championships in Lancaster, Pa.
One Night Ultimate Werewolf is such a perfect fit for your format. In an idea world it’d be amazing to see full blown Mafia on the show, but One Night has so many advantages for something like Tabletop – the time limit, the somewhat more limited roles…
It’s so much fun and builds so much on the traitor games like Resistance, getting everyone involved in discussing it and contributing information that can help build up reasons, stories, and understanding of what’s going on, encouraging players with creative lies. It’s the best, and it’s perhaps the only game I’d want to see on Tabletop that you haven’t played…besides Dominion but you ruled that out.
Oh! And Citadels. But is that similar? Too much going on in everyone’s head when they choose their roles? Hmm.
Wil, I would also add (though it sounds like you have a large enough list) Calliope Games Got Em (both the bright and brainy versions), Roll For It (though may be too short of a game), and Studio 9’s Villagers and Villains or Treasures and Traps. The two Studio 9 games also seem to fit the bill for high luck / high strategy having randomized effects and such, with Treasures and Traps having a lot of player on player interaction to keep the game going. 3-4 players would be max with that one as we tried a 5 player game and after an hour and a half of no clear winner had to call a draw for bedtime (during Gen Con). Gook luck to you and Bo in all the game choosing.
Hey Wil. Long time listener first time caller. I would suggest Yardmaster and Yardmaster Express from Crash Games, as two smaller games. They were both Kickstarterered this year, with delivery in October – I’m sure you could get hold of copies though. Ym is kind of like Uno, but you are laying out a personal ‘train’ of cards following colour or number. It’s visually VERY striking, very bold colours. YmEx uses the same theme and aesthetics, and compresses it into a superfast card drafting game. I’ve not played them myself but Rahdo’s runthroughs of them both has me super excited to get them.
Other suggestions would be Coup, Mascarade, One Night Ultimate Werewolf and Skull (Skull & Roses) as dastardly hidden role/bluffing games similar to The Resistance or even Poker – love all of these.
Machi Koro comes out soon too, and that looks awesome – kind of a tableau/engine builder with dice, and Japanese so very cutesy and colourful.
My last suggestion is Dead of Winter. I’m playing this next week but I’ve seen Board With Life’s let’s play, and it looks great fun. Zombie winter survival co-op with hidden goals and a possible betrayer (á la Shadows Over Camelot).
Finally, thanks for all you’ve done and you do. TableTop really got me into gaming, I set up a group to play with at work, I have several games I play with my family and with my wife, and I can’t wait to play games with my son as soon as he’s old enough. It’s all down to you. Big love.
I felt I left a lot of work for you (or others) to investigate the games I suggested, so I figured now I’m on my PC (instead of phone) it would be easier for me to provide helpful links.
Rahdo’s Yardmaster runthrough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OhlgrPnSao
Rahdo’s Yardmaster Express runthrough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6Kw1I7r4hM
SU&SD’s Coup video review:http://www.shutupandsitdown.com/videos/v/the-opener-coup/
SU&SD’s Mascarade video review: http://www.shutupandsitdown.com/blog/post/opener-mascarade-cheesy-twists/
Board With Life’s One Night Ultimate Werewolf ‘Let’s Play’ video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4Mo1kVWQ4k
SU&SD’s Skull (old edition is called Skull and Roses) video review: http://www.shutupandsitdown.com/blog/post/opener-skull-roses-fresh-pizza/
SU&SD’s Machi Koro video review: http://www.shutupandsitdown.com/videos/v/review-machi-koro/
Board With Life’s Dead of Winter ‘Let’s Play’ video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoaEoZsGQf0
Hope this helps you or anyone else reading!
Really looking forward to it, Wil, and we appreciate all the hard work you’ve put into seasons 1&2 and now season 3. We love your show and we’ll continue to support it. It’ll be great. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I want to lobby not for a particular game, but for a player. When you eventually make the RPG show, please bring John Rogers back from the Fiasco episode. His writing for TV is brilliant (as you well know), and he knows exactly how to give actors great seeds to riff on, and it all worked amazingly well in the fiasco episode of TableTop. And there’s no question this is a guy who loves and is very thoughtful about RPGs. I see him posting all the time on the Google+ forums talking about one game he is running or another, and bouncing ideas off other RPG enthusiasts. Just give it some thought, OK?
Also, After you choose some for the show, It would be fun someday to see a graph or list of some-sort of the games you got, in order of popularity — feel free to exclude the solicited entries! My game shelves have some room in them! 😉
ahem I think people can stop suggesting games now. 😉
Don’t remember if I suggested already, but Boss Monster is an awesome quick card game. Reminiscent of classic side scrolling video games both from the art work to the way the game .
One more great thing came out of that post. For many of us, we just received a long list of awesome new games to try. That is always very cool. I can’t wait for Season 3!
I would highly recommend Kemet, Dead of Winter, Steam Park, and Mice & Mystics. Those are some incredibly beautiful games that feature TONS of great gameplay. Keep up the great work, Wil!
What age for Mice & Mystics, would you say? I’m always looking for a good family game, and Mice & Mystics caught my eye just recently.
Watch It Played has a good YouTube video of Mice & Mystics. My son is very interested, he’s 6-1/2. I think it seems fairly complex. I guess it depends on what you are looking for.
I have a six year old who has been playing it for about 8 months now. I house rule a lot to make it less complex for him, but he LOVES it every time we play!
As many others I noticed the large number of games you are already looking at and thought ouch.. That is a lot of games. I think it would great on tabletop but know that you and your family would love a game we play in our house called. Donkey: It’s a Kick. This is a game we play almost weekly and have had my niece bring friends to our house just to play it. If you have ever played spoons you are half way there to learning this game. The kicker cards add a twist and it makes everyone get involved and sometimes very competitive to get pucks when the object is met. I truly love this game and have inspired a number of friends and family to buy it after one play because it is so fun and addictive. You can play up to 9 people in initial game, we had 15 and a very large table with a second game added in.. Really after 8-9 it is challenging to get around 1 table. LOL Anyway this game has really made some of our game nights more than memorable and brought up humor after the fact. Highly recommend it. Like i said even if just for home fun it is pretty fun… PS met 2 of the ladies who made this of the (i think) 6 siblings and they are pretty fun gals. Would love to see you hanging out and playing games at Gamestorm too that is where my hubby and I go every year to learn new games and get to know more game geeks. It is in March in Vancouver. 4 days of gaming =) Sorry about the novel, I am a talker / typer.. Please ignore the grammatical and spelling errors. Thanks and here is a link in case you do want to look at it… http://www.donkeythegame.com/ Have a great night and game on my friend game on
As you wish. Star Traders, my friends and I have been playing it for years. Great fun with your own tiny star ship. The only board game where you can be a character in Isaac Asimov’s universe. A master of sci-fi had a hand in creating this gem along with yer old bud SJ. Good luck finding a copy, you may need it.
More info; http://www.panix.com/~sos/bc/startrader.html
I wish Villages would freaking come out already so you guys could run that on your show. The “Gin Rummy” style of gameplay and card mechanics alone make this game a lot of fun with a lot of replayability with the expansions. So far there’s just the PnP from the Kickstarter but I think that would be a great game for Tabletop a future season.
For now I’d love to see Zombicide get some action but I think that’s already going to get some love from you guys.
Marketing any business is difficult. Games are no different. However, there’s a difference between advocating your product and just plain annoying your prospects. I’ve been stalked by marketers/sales people as well.
Don’t be so aggressive that your potential customers need to go into a witness protection program. 🙂
Hi Will,
Sounds like you already have quite the list. I’m not sure if anyone said this one. It might be good for the mini/micro games episode I believe but there’s a cooperative card game called Hanabi which plays against you a little bit, kind of like pandemic (which I love) but it’s much simpler format. It’s made by R&R Games, Inc. Love the show. Keep being awesome!
JR
I suggested Heroclix on my son’s behalf because you can do no wrong in his eyes (seriously, every episode he asks if we can buy whatever game you’ve played), but I would like to see you play it so I can learn how. It is a bit of a pay to play game, though, and that bugs ME, too.
On a side note, my son got to speak to Sam Witwer at our local Comic-con, and the only thing he said was, “You were GREAT on Tabletop!” THAT got a double-take
Since I suggested looking at the Gryphon Games Bookshelf series, but not why, I should go into detail in the ones I like. (Not every GGB Game is stellar, really).
Roll Through the Ages: The Bronze Age – 30 minutes Civ game, with dice, by Matt Leacock from Pandemic. I’d actually suggest adding trading from the free Late Bronze Age for TV, as it’d be more interactive. If you want a Civilization type game that’s actually filmable, this is probably your only shot, as well.
For Sale: – 5 Minute card game by Stephan Dorra. Explains in sixty seconds, plays in five, and has the most decisions/minute of any game I’ve ever played. I love this game to death, and it’s just bidding.
Incan Gold: 10 minute push your luck game by Alan Moon and Bruno Faidutti. Indiana Jones type theme with one decision…run back to the tent with your treasure, or keep going? But it’s a fun decision.
Botswana: 10 minute card game by Reiner Knizia. On your turn, play a card to a pile of like cards and take an animal. When one pill fills, you get the top card’s points for the amount of plastic animals you have. Super quick and simple, but plastic animals!
Sleuth: 20 minute deduction game by Sid Sackson. I actually prefer Acquire of his games, but this is another short possibility. Choose a question card then figure out what gem has been stolen. Pure deduction gaming in a fantastic form.
High Society and Wyatt Earp are both also highly rated and part of the line, but I think High Society’s too much of a brain burner for Tabletop, and I haven’t played Wyatt Earp. Honestly, I think only Roll Through the Ages is long enough to hold a show on it’s own, but if you decide to do another rapid-fire show…
Heh, hopefully it wasn’t me who “spammed” . A friend of mine just told me Wednesday that he suggested my game… But I promise I didn’t ask him to do so. Again, if you want a copy of the game (at least for your personal collection) let me know and I’ll send you a copy of Rough, no strings attached.
I appreciate all you and your friends have done in helping with the Table Top Revolution.
You can reach me at [email protected]
Dear Mr. Wheaton,
I am a player and a high school teacher. I discovered Table Top over the summer. Thank you for showing me some great new games! I have not gotten my hands on Once Upon a Time yet, but you inspired me to make a review lesson for my Greek II class based on the game. My students LOVE using their Greek vocab words to tell silly stories. My challenge now is to reduce those silly stories so the kids can try to translate them into Greek… You wouldn’t know how to say molerat in Greek, would you?
I’ll chime in here, even though it is probably a bit late. I’m not even certain the game would fit your format, but Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG is certainly worth a look. The game is the perfect mesh of Fritz Leiber and Hunter S Thompson, wrapped up in a single OSR RPG.
So, in previous seasons, you’ve done the gag reels between episodes, with somewhat of an irreverent and relaxed intro.
Why not offer a quick 2 to 5 minute “Wil’s Picks of Games He Loves But Can’t Play on Tabletop”? These could be all the other games you wish you could play but for reasons previously stated just can’t get to work on the show. You could even give your own awesome opinion of the game(s) and why we should play it, how many you think is best, etc.
I am honestly interested in your opinion of any tabletop game that you love to play yet doesn’t make it on Tabletop. Perhaps those in-between times are a good time to offer your thoughts on those games? Please? You have earned my trust that you won’t talk about a game unless it is worth talking about, and won’t be some shill for a game company.
Please consider it. For all the games that aren’t getting the show love, but you believe deserve some love.
I think this is a really great idea. I would certainly watch more content from Wil about games, even if it was just filmed on a webcam at home (much less production cost!). I’ve really enjoyed the Not The Flog videos, shame there weren’t more of them!
I would definitely watch that, too.
Also, Samurai Spirit. You need this game.
Quickly becoming my favorite Gen Con purchase, but there may be some bias since Seven Samurai is my favorite film of all time.
Ok, Since you mentioned spamming and saw that a lot of gamers like me mentioned zombicide you might think that I and many others we’re encouraged by the publisher, that might be true in some cases but for me I love zombicide I own the basic and one of the expansions and play it regularly simply because it just like playing left 4 dead as a board game.
here are some points for this game that will make it perfect for the show.
1.-it’s perfect for 4 players o more and just like left 4 dead if you go on your own, you’re dead. so team work is a must.
2.- Since its a modular board game there’s a lot of different types of missions you can do that can last from 30 minutes to 90 or more, all with different objectives and modes of play.
3.- all of the characters players in the game have a their own abilities and looks that make them unique and fun to play in their own way. not to mention the game uses a XP system that that’s really fun and also as you progress the game becomes even more challenging .
4.- the minis in this game are AWESOME!! from the female zombie to the towering abomination they all look incredible and will look awesome in your show
5 – the rules are fairly easy to understand and most of them (except for the range damage priority table) are very intuitive.
I hope this makes you change your mind about Zombicide and if you already have it in your list, then I hope you have as much fun as i have every time I play it.
Fireball Island
Objective: Capture the jewel, and be first to reach the Dock with it. The first person to reach Vul-Kar point captures the jewel. They must then head toward the Dock with it. All the other players race after the player who owns the jewel trying to steal it. Players use cards to either help themselves or to slow their opponent’s progress. Ownership of the jewel will undoubtedly change several times while attempting to get to the Dock.
2-4 players
2.Plays in under 90 minutes
90 minutes or less easily but it can run longer but not as often with 4 players and with that many it tends to take 60 minutes usually(you sort of play a bit more leap frog passing each other with more players on the same path not being able to occupy the same space you move to the space in-front of the player you would have landed on which is important when crossing bridges…part of the strategy is crossing the bridges at the right time once your more familiar with the game…that said Vul-Kar usually has more than the last laugh.
3.Can be generally explained in about 5 minutes
ages 7 and up
4.Has a high ratio of luck to strategy, so everyone has a chance to win the game.
Movement decided by rolling 1d6, players can use caves allowing quick movement to various points on the game board. ending your movement on a dark space earns you a card(up to 4 in a hand) which you use to do all sorts of things including rolling a Fireball(red marbles) down paths at your opponents. There are lots of chances for players who are behind to come out ahead. You spend lots of time getting fireballs coming at you if you have the Jewel or not… You also have to cross two old bridges which always makes for endless laughs as players are sent down the river. Vul-Kar the angry idol of the island has no love for the explores seeking the jewel. A Player must roll a fireball ever time a 1 gets rolled. Even if all other players are not acceptable targets, then you have to make yourself the target! I used to hate that but as I got older I loved it because it makes everyone else so happy that they might get to win and the game lasts just a bit longer…I’ve never seen people be so transformed as when they play this game it really brings out the kid in everyone if they give it a go. 10 minutes in people giggling, yelling fireball and roars of laughter and sorrow the entire time.
5.Looks great, has clear graphical design and photographs well.
Probably one of the coolest looking 3D board games ever made. It was made to look a bit vintage even when it was made so the colors and graphics are really great. The red marbles rolling down the curvy paths at some of the best detailed play pieces any game has ever seen.
6.Is not something we’ve played before.
I checked you didn’t play it…if you don’t know anyone with a copy in great condition I’d loan you guys mine as I said before…getting a great copy can be very pricey the collectors market value is a little crazy now days.
It’s good to know you actually went through all of the almost 2000 comments. When I added my suggestion there were 1500ish comments and I feared that you’d stop reading somewhere before that (that’s probably what I would have done). So hats off to you, sir.
It’s sad to read that the thread was spammed, but yet not really unexpected. I don’t know if my suggestion was on the “spam list” and frankly I don’t really care, as I wrote my suggestion because I really like that game, not because somebody told me so. (Also if this wasn’t apperent from my original suggestion post, I really have to work on my writing style)
It would be great if you played my suggestion, as a wider public would get to know it. If you don’t, well, then there’s one more slot open for an awesome game I probably don’t even know yet. So for me, it’s a win-win situation 🙂
Apologies, I’m definitely guilty of asking for a show of support from people who followed my game’s blog, and some of them definitely acted on it. It was not mean to be malicious – like you said, I think we all just got overly-enthusiastic about our projects and didn’t consider the ramifications. I sincerely hope you don’t follow through on your threat to blacklist games you may have otherwise enjoyed.
Wil,
I didn’t post this suggestion in your request thread because I didn’t fall in love with the game until Tuesday, but especially after watching your Not the Flog video about the types of games you love but can’t do, I thought it would be worth mentioning.
Star Realms is a Sci-Fi deck building game. Normally a 20 minute two player, but it works very well with the emperor and raider rules for 3 to 6 players which takes about 45 minutes to an hour and a half..
Even though it is a deck builder, there is a lot of talking and interaction between the players, especially in the games like emperor and raider where people are conspiring or working together.
The rules are very quick to explain, and if you aren’t familiar with it, they even have a mobile app version which plays identically to the card game and uses all the original artwork.
The game was published through a kickstarter, but I didn’t see it so I wasn’t a backer although I certainly would have been happy to be one. I found out about it from a mention of the mobile app in Game Insider.
Check it out. Even if you decide it isn’t right for the show, I suspect you might still love it, and I’m always happy to find one of those games that if fun but still only takes 20 minutes or so for a quickie.
I may be a smidge or hair late on the votes, but I think the social dynamic of
Cosmic Encounter could broadcast well.
There is a game called
Carnival Zombie which is a slightly higher level castle panic, but is hard to find. (availability may spike if on your show).
Finally, I enjoy playing
The Cave (haven’t got K2 yet, but am thinking about it)
but it may not showcase well in your format.
Hi, I really enjoy table top and was quite fascinated when I found out someone i know down the hall from me at work was on your show 🙂
I posted a game that was new last year in the comments on the last article and described a bit on how the game works, but I’d like to explain WHY I like What The Food?! so much. I enjoy it because it feels simple and safe enough that I can bring it home and play it with my family and still in depth enough that I can bring it to a game night with my friends and enjoy it without it feel overly simple. To paraphrase you from another episode, I’ve enjoyed loosing this game, as much as I’ve enjoyed winning other games. I have gotten entrenched in battling one person in this game and had tons of fun battling it out with them and loosing to other players. And after watching that link to how you pick games for the show, i feel that its fits into both the high luck and high skill categories. Skill by trying to deduce what you think your opponent will do next and managing what foods you have, and Luck by whats actually available for you to grab on your turn and other events designed to add some randomness and fun. And because the premise is of a giant food fight, the art is designed to be fun and cute, and the pictures are large and the descriptions as simple as possible so I feel it would both be easily filmed for the show and easy to explain the rules.
The only thing that might not work is that the game is designed to be faster pace, meaning you can play a complete game in half an hour, or even less if you are playing with experienced players.
Anyway, I hope you get a chance to check this game out, even if its not something that you think would work in the long run for the show because its a ton of fun.
I would like to see Eldritch Horror,Jamaica, Kill Dr. Lucky, Boss Monster, and more X-Wing.
Hi Wil,
I’m so happy for everything with Tabletop! All this news makes me giddy, and I’ve decided to marathon all the episodes leading up to the premiere of season 3.
I also think Machi Koro would be a good choice for Tabletop.
Ever consider having Sean play other two player games besides MtG? Perhaps a special 2p episode of Tabletop would show the world a few more good games like Okko, Hive, The Duke, and many more!
Have a great day/night, Wil!
I realize this suggestion is late, but I just played it at PAX today: “Shadowrun Crossfire”. It’s a deckbuilding co-op game set in the Shadowrun universe—and the Shadowrun theme is well developed and affects gameplay. Normally I would say deckbuilders don’t make for good TV, but since it’s co-op, everyone would be strategizing aloud as they coordinate with each other rather than just thinking in their head a lot (like Dominion).
The final/released version has improved enormously over the demo version I played at PAX last year. The basic concepts are simple, but the play has room for either depth/complexity or a more fast/simple strategy depending upon your group. To play effectively absolutely requires good cordination between members which makes it one of the most interactive co-op games I’ve played.
I love co-op games, and I haven’t played anything else like it. So I would vote for Shadowrun Crossfire over anything I suggested before.
I responded to the last one with a game I liked, but I COMPLETELY spaced one of my favorite games! Probably too late now…. but Red Dragon Inn is amazing. It’s easy to teach the basic mechanics to everyone, but each player plays an adventurer with their own mechanics that can be both a blessing and a curse. And the whole idea is we’re celebrating a campaign by drinking, gambling, and brawling in the tavern. What’s more fun than that??? So yeah, Red Dragon Inn. So much fun, and each version has four players to pick from, and you can combine the versions to have as many as, what, 18 characters now, including two expansions? So cool.
I would put in another vote for Roborally.
I just played it with my family and we had a blast. My wife is a non-gamer and she picked it up quickly and had fun.
It has a good blend of luck and skill, and the best laid plans can unexpectedly spin out of control (to much laughter). An easier board could easily be finished in 90 minutes with four players. It is also photogenic and would look good on screen.
Another fun one would be Dungeon! by Wizards of the Coast. I remember playing the old school TSR version as a kid in the 80s and absolutely loving it; Wizards of the Coast re-released it not long ago. Pieces and the board look good, the game isn’t too busy, and you can play with four people. It’s also D&D and geeky and a lot rides on your luck and the roll of the dice.
On that note, if you can round up Dark Tower (remember that one? I can still hear the gears grinding) and get a few people to play it, that would be epic. Too bad that one’s out of circulation.
A bit more about Dungeon! It can be done in 90 minutes, and is a great dungeon crawl. I think it would be fun. I have so many good memories of the TSR version of the game when I was younger. Simple rules, get in, fight monsters, get treasure, get out. Plus I could see some fun moments with crazy monsters like black pudding and ochre jelly, etc.
One other suggestion, tangentially related, is that it would be great to have a version of the show that is edited a bit further to delete the expletives, “eat a d—” comments, etc., or to cut those out entirely. The occasional bleeped out expletive for a bad dice roll isn’t a big deal, but I really want to watch the show with my whole family (with younger kids) and can’t do that for some episodes. Right now I pre-screen. Obviously some episodes aren’t for kids and that’ s fine (Fiasco), but others sometimes have some surprises (Lords of Waterdeep).
I realize those parts are still funny and spontaneous, and I crack up when I’m watching it by myself. I’m just wondering if there could be a family friendly version, so I don’t need to pre-screen. Doesn’t seem like it would take too much additional editing. There are extended versions of the show so it seems like a slightly truncated version could be done fairly easily and without much more production cost.
Okay, you should definitely include Firefly, the board game. Not only does it bring a massive cult following but the game itself is cleverly put together. The wit and drama of the show clearly plays through each turn in flavor text, what crew you can select and the items you can augment them with. It also follows the theme of the show, is not an elimination game and would surely solicit interesting banter and conversation from the players.
I found your show quiet by accident about 6 weeks ago, since then I have watched all the episodes, and pretty much anything else I could find where you or someone associated with the show was talking about Table Top.
In the last two weeks I have joined a group on meetup.com for table top games and I have purchased a number of board games and invited my friends over to play some of them.
So thank you, I’ve had a lot of fun thanks to the work you have done.
Now I would like to recommend a board game. Its called Cash and Guns. The rules are very simple, and its a lot of fun, its similar to the Resistance but a little more direct in how you “accuse” someone. I love it because its always lead to me and my friends having a great time and its a great party board game.
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/19237/cah-n-gun
Sorry for my bad English!
My suggestions:
-Arcadia quest: Looks awesome, played in a short amount of time, seems easy to explain, and has pvp as well as pve! I think this could make up for a good episode where you try to kill each other whilst trying to get to your objective.
-Black sails: Pirate theme where you try to get your merchant ship to a different port every time but every player also has a pirate ship trying to attack your merchant ship! Seems like another good fit for your show! Looks great and has these metal coins that are to die for!
Dungeon run: An interesting dungeon crawler where you first work together to get to a specific place in the dungeon. And then the player that is able to get out with the treasure found in that last location is the winner of the game!
Shadowrun Crossfire / xenoshyft: Both are coop card games where it is really coop. You need to help each other out to achieve a common goal. There is no backstabbing here but could make up for an interesting group dynamic.
-Lords of xidit, it looks great, and it seems to be easy to explain in under 5 minutes. I haven’t played the game myself though. Wish I was at gencon to pick this baby up! Sucks to live in Europe 🙁
Sorry got a little sidetracked there :). Anyway, it can be explained in under 5 minutes, looks awesome, there seems to be a good ratio of luck and strategy, did I say already that it looks great? But tbh, I am not sure if this one would make for a good, funny episode. But atleast check it out!
-I had one more suggestion but you played something similar already. Dead panic, it is castle panic but with zombies. And if you die, you turn into a zombie yourself where you try to kill your old friends. Just to be able to screw with them to make sure they can’t win the game without you! 😀 Might actually be a perfect fit for you Will, since you always lose in the show. Take them down with you! 😉
OK, here are my suggestions:
Forbidden Desert by Gamewright. The follow-up to Forbidden Island I think is tighter and harder. Plus I want to see if you can win a 4 or 5 person game because I know you’ll play it on legendary 🙂
I’d love to see a Stefan Feld game played on your show. Amerigo (Queen Games) would be the lightest/most gateway type, but I wonder if the tilted table for filming would mess with the cube tower. Could you keep it on a separate side table? His other titles would probably be too dry for the show.
+1 for Tzolk’in: the Mayan Calendar, which I saw someone else suggest.
Not sure if this would be in production in time, but Copper Country (CMX Games) is a neat worker placement game.. It’s set in the copper mining era of Michigan’s UP. There’s good player interaction, the components are awesome and the art is fantastic.
Can I suggest against Dead of Winter? I think it’s a great game, and the crossroads mechanic is certainly innovative, but if you guys show it, the Tabletop Effect will kill it’s availability.
So I hope that one of the games you are considering is Cosmic Encounter. This is a classic game that has been around for a while and the most recent printing by Fantasy Flight is IMO the best version yet.
Why I like it:
Amazing artwork: Each of the aliens has its own unique look and feel.
Randomness: There are so many fun ways to ‘break’ the rules and you never know exactly what is going to happen each turn. It’s also possible for a player to come from behind an win the game. Two players can even win at the same time.
Replayability: Even with the base game there are a staggering number of ways to play the game so that it never gets stale.
And finally the main reason why this should be considered for Tabletop:
This is a highly SOCIAL game! Alliances, negotiations, secret agreements, backstabbing… Trying to guess if the other player is really wanting to negotiate or getting you to lower your defenses. Dose he really have a high attack card or is he bluffing?
Cosmic has been a longstanding favorite with my gaming group and we try to play it at least every few months ( though at one point we played it every week!)
Again, Cosmic Encounter really is a fun game and I think the viewers of Tabletop would have a great time watching everyone play it.
My favorite game is The History of the World. It goes from the dawn of humanity through WWI. I like it because each turn you get to pick a whole new republic to represent. So, one turn you might be the Goths and another turn you might be the Romans. I also really like Age of Renaissance because of the complexity but it takes a really long time to play.
Is it too late to suggest Ghost Stories and Cosmic Encounter? I hope more people suggested them so I didn’t have to.
New games that would fit your awesome show …. And i love Felicia <3 Dead of Winter, Machi Koro, Libertalia, Eldritch Horror, Five Tribes, Imperial settlers and maybe King of New York or Rampage (Terror in Meepletown)