Shadows Over Camelot Reviewed by a Traitor

This is a guest post from Aubrey House, a regular in my Thursday night gaming group. Aubrey is a long-time MMO player who's new to tabletop gaming, and I've asked her to weigh in on various games to provide a new player's perspective. Aubrey has played Shadows Over Camelot twice, first as the traitor, then a few months later as one of the heroes.

Shadows Over Camelot is widely recognized as the first cooperative game to have a hidden traitor. It still compares favorably to the giants (Battlestar Galactica and Dead of Winter). I asked Aubrey to answer a few questions about her first time playing a co-op/hidden traitor game, both with and without the hidden traitor mechanic.

Please enjoy a Q&A session with Aubrey!

Warfighter: The Tactical Special Forces Card Game

There was a period of time in the early 00s that a group of friends had regular LAN parties.  I was fortunate to be included in these on a regular basis, and one of their most played games was a game called Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon.  We played the multiplayer as a cooperative team, entering maps to clear them of hostiles.  It was a refreshing change from many long matches of Unreal Tournament or Quake III.  Speed was not the objective, skill and planning were.  And even though you could play the match with friends being spawned back in on the chance they were killed, I considered it a point of pride if I made it through without being shot at all.

Dan Verssen Games' new title, Warfighter is bringing back all those memories of working together as a team to accomplish an objective while under fire.  With a varied cast of soldiers, locations, guns, and options, lets take a look and see what the game brings to the table.

Descent Cooperative Adventures - Forgotten Souls

First released in the Spring 2014 Descent Game Night Kit, this adventure introduces something that a portion of the Descent fanbase has been calling for since the release of the game, a scenario in which there is no Overlord player.

Sending your party of adventurers into a dungeon after a dragon named Tharn that is ravaging a town, you encounter passageways that try to kill you, demons trying to take the souls of villagers, and the dragon himself in a final encounter.

Lets take a look at the set and see how it adds to the Descent experience!

Shadowrun Crossfire - Deckbuilding in the Streets of the Sixth World

The career of a shadowrunner is very much like that of many summer insects. Short, flashy, and a moment of bad luck will get you swatted. Shadowrun Crossfire is the latest release from Catalyst Games. It brings many of the ideas from the pencil and paper roleplaying game and distills them down into a cooperative deckbuilding game.

But does two hundred and four cards do enough to put you in the Sixth World?

First Thoughts: Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Skulls and Shackles Base Set

(So, the title is a mouthful.  I'm going to use either PACG or Skulls and Shackles to refer to the set as I go. Rise of the Runelords will be abbreviated as RotR.)

A sample of the locations in the new set.

I have been an unabashed fan of this game since the original PACG base set, Rise of the Runelords, was released last August.  It provides me that thing I don't have time for nowadays, that feel of an RPG without having the multiple weeks of sitting down with a character sheet and an eight or ten hour gaming session.

While there are people who don't like the simplicity of PACG, I find that every turn I take with a character is a short story ready to be told.  The time I, as my cleric, fought a bunyip at the Abandoned Farmstead and lost.  The last minute closing of the Desecrated Temple before my companion (aka my wife) defeated Blackfang.  Its all there, albeit in compressed form.

The newest base set, Skulls and Shackles, begins a whole new campaign set in a set of islands known simply as The Shackles with the players as the crew of a simple merchantman.  The base set has five scenarios that form the introductory adventure, and then has the first Adventure Deck, The Wormwood Mutiny, in the box ready for you to play.

Under Two Reviews #12 Fortune and Glory: The Cliffhanger Game By Jason C Hill

"Under Two Reviews" is a weekly video series in which we take a look at tabletop games and present them to our readers in under two minutes.

Fortune and Glory: The Cliffhanger Game comes in a huge box. But what is the game about? It's about being a respectable adventurer. Watch and learn how to be a respectable adventurer. (And steal artifacts.) It'll be quick, I promise.

Enjoy the video after the jump!

Under Two Reviews #7: Eldritch Horror By Corey Konieczka and Nikki Valens

"Under Two Reviews" is a weekly video series in which we take a look at tabletop games and present them to our readers in under two minutes.

Eldritch Horror from Fantasy Flight Games proves that it's hard to keep a good monster down. Like, really hard. New gates keep spawning. Watch our video and learn a bit about Mythos cards and Encounter decks. It'll be quick. I promise.

Enjoy the video after the jump!

 

Welcome to the Multiverse: A Review of Sentinels of the Multiverse

I love cooperative games.  There, I said it, it's out in the world and there's no taking it back.  I love to work with a team and destroy the evil game!  Whether it's ridding the planet of diseases or clearing a dungeon of vermin, cooperative games got their hooks in me a long time ago and I just can't get enough of them.  

They provide a great entry point to the hobby, allowing non-gamers to contribute and not feel picked on by the experienced players.  They provide an island of collaboration and team building in a hostile ocean of "take that" and "screw your neighbor" games.  All of this brings us to today's review - a cooperative superhero experience - Sentinels of the Multiverse by Greater Than Games!

Review: Last Night On Earth by Flying Frog Productions

The work day is ending and the stillness of evening sets in on a quiet Midwest town, the kind of town where the high school, the police station, the junkyard and a farm are all within a short walk of each other.  Johnny, the high school quarterback is getting in a few more reps in at  the high school gym; Sheriff Anderson is locking up at the police station while his son Billy stashes his belongings in his locker.

Then, a blood-curdling scream echoes through the small town... Jenny, the farmer's daughter, on her evening walk through the cornfield!

The dead are rising, and it might just be these folks' last night on Earth...

Review: Elder Sign from Fantasy Flight Games

 

Elder Sign is a game based in the Lovecraftian Mythos. You and the other players take on the roles of the various characters from H.P. Lovecraft's writings. You are investigating the Miskatonic University Museum. The Museum has long been a hot-bed of unnatural occurrences.  Today an Ancient One will awaken. Your task is to locate the Elder Signs and seal the monster in the otherworld. There are unseen forces afoot. Keep your wits about you, or suffer the madness inducing twists and turns offered by Elder Sign from Fantasy Flight Games.

Review: Castle Panic by Fireside Games

TLDR: Castle Panic is a cooperative, kid friendly (mother approved?) tower defense game that is perfect as either an evening-starter, an introduction for board-gaming neophytes, or just anyone who is interested in slayin' some nasties with friends.  Who doesn't love bonding over the bloodied corpse of a troll, ogre or goblin?

Review: Forbidden Desert by Matt Leacock

TLDR: Would you rather play with your friends than against them?  Do you have a masochistic streak, and wouldn't mind losing TO the game?  Does the concept of being a thrill-seeking archaeologist lost in the desert in a race against time for survival appeal to you?  Do you have an irrational hatred of dice?  Did you once play Forbidden Island, and liked it?  If you answered yes to any of these questions, Forbidden Desert is the game for you!