A Simple Way To Go Faster Than Light That Does Not Work

Games run amok this weekend. Hadn't played any tabletops in a while so it was all good.

On Saturday classicaljunkie had a birthday party and lo the games were busted out. I brought along my copies of Citadels and Shadows over Camelot and actually got to play both.

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Played Citadels first, and I won... again. Maybe my fifth win in a row. I am chronic at winning this game. I do not have a clear recollection of the last time I lost at it... maybe at J&C's foo two Decembers ago? Please play it with me some more so that I will lose. I am inviting you to BRING IT.

Oddly I have never played this game with five people and so never encountered the rule that each round starts with some number of role cards tossed out face-up as well as face-down. I have only played the game with three or seven people, I think! So that was a new, and I liked this version of the game as much as I like the others (that is, quite a bit). I'm glad that another experienced player was at the table to note the rule difference.

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Shadows over Camelot - I have been lugging this around to different game events for months without playing it, so was very happy to finally get a chance Saturday, and it ended up being the craziest game of it I've ever had. I had a Loyal role, and while I was gearing up the courage to accuse one player or another of being a traitor (one kept promising to help me with the Grail quest and then going somewhere else, while the other consciously chose to play an Evil card that caused a quest to fail) I found myself at the end of an accusation!

My jaw literally dropped at this, not just because I don't think I was acting particularly traitorous but because a lot of the table thought I was it, and I wasn't even aware of it. Apparently treachery was seen not in how I was playing the game but in my lack of interest in the other players' discussion of who the traitor might be. Interesting! Of course the traitor turned out to be classicaljunkie herself, who spent the whole game playing as quietly and passively as possible, and she ended up winning by lasting the whole game undetected for a final sword tally of 7 dark to 5 light. Very nice!

Having played Shadows a few times now, I think I understand how to play within the spirit of the can't-reveal-your-cards rule, as well as the letter of it. A couple of first-time players were sticking only to the latter so that the whole rule became meaningless, but everyone was clearly having a lot of fun so I didn't press the issue. (doctor_atomic, you would have been proud.) Still, it would have been nice if the printed rules showed how this was done, maybe with a sample player dialogue.

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Finally, there was semi-spontaneous Settlers on Sunday, at a visiting meerkitty suggestion. The Andys were over, and trolling for anyone else interested hooked pheromone. Who, after mumbling about unfamiliarity with the vanilla rules (being one of those C&K people) and having made her apologies ahead of time for not playing well, proceeded to leisurely stomp the four of us into the dirt sheep pastures.

Beware the Settlers sharks! But really any sting from the loss was soothed by some fun followup conversation about my business because boy do I love to talk about that because you know it's all I do ha ha HA ha HA ha though I am blessed that I can occasionally take breaks to engage in sinful acts of random number generation with friends. Coz that's what it's all about ultimatley.

One thing I'll say about Games People Play over Your Move Games: they know their board games. The kid behind the counter at YMG hadn't even heard of Shadows over Camelot when I dropped in yesterday, but the woman who just now answered the phone at GPP could tell me immediately when they expected their first copy in. (Next week.)

(To be fair, some people at YMG are a little more tabletop-aware. The mohawked cashier complimented my taste when I picked up Memoir '44 from them a few months ago, and another employee cared enough to regularly attend MLGN. But that any person who works there literally said "Uhh-h-h... what's that?" to me about what's surely the most anticipated new board game this year? Buh.)

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I spent much of yesterday editing the Princes of Florence shoot, enough so that I finally have a ~10-minute long draft. It's OK, and no better. The footage is pretty mediocre, along several axes. We'll be that much smarter for next time. Actually, I think the next time will look much better; I'm chalking this one up to practice, even though it's more than enough to earn me my SCAT broadcast certification.

Ahh, next time: I am tentatively planning another shoot sometime on the weekend of July 8. Going to see about equipment availability tomorrow (when I'm also going to submit my finished cert tape, woohoo). I am currently thinking that we will play two different board games, which will let two people swap out between manning the camera and playing. I will probably do camera for at least one of the games.

Will post a casting call with more definite information later.