2015 Origins Awards Announced, and My Predictions

The nominees for the 2015 Origins Awards have been announced, and I'm surprised and pleased to see that I've played most of the games in the board and card game categories. Given my penchant for expressing opinions about games I've played, I decided to do a quick review of the nominees, and my make predictions for the winners. 

Some of these games were released prior to 2014, so I'm not sure exactly what the nomination criteria are, but I believe the lists represent a fairly well-considered splice of recent gaming releases, so I've got no beef with the nominations. 

If'd like to see the full set of nominees, click here! For my consideration of the nominees, and my predictions, continue! 

A Review of Dead of Winter

"It's so cold..."  "Shut up, they'll hear you."  Rod is kind of a jerk.  He joined our small band a few  weeks ago.  Gabriel was searching for supplies in the gas station when he found a barricaded cellar.  Rod was curled up inside, near dead from the cold.  We brought him back, warmed him up, made him a part of the group.  Except he treats us like he's doing us a favor by sticking around.  Sheriff Smith says not to worry about it.  That Rod will "come to appreciate his new family".  I'm not so sure.  Nevertheless, here I am, knee deep in snow, with more pouring out of the sky, walking with Rod to gather some of his stuff from the gas station.  He claims to have some food stored up as well as a couple weapons but supposedly he was all out of fuel.  I find that hard to believe given his hiding location.  We're moving as quietly as possible so "the others" don't hear us.  I haven't seen one of "them" in a few days but their tracks are always there after the snow stops.  

We make our way into the gas station and Rod closes the doors behind us so we can search in relative safety.  He heads down to the basement and I follow him.  It's musty and dark.  I can't see Rod but I can hear him bustling around.  He seems to know this basement even without any light.  "Is there  a light we can switch on?  So I can help...?"  Rod grunts then mumbles to himself.  A flashlight flicks on to my left and I see him continue digging through some shelves.  The light brightens the basement near him I notice it's a very well supplied storeroom.  He's got boxes with labels identifying them as being from the grocery store on the other side of town.  He's got a lot of them.  On the floor, between the shelves I can red jugs with yellow necks.  It takes me a moment to place them, but I realize they are plastic gas jugs.  I remember seeing my Daddy fill up the lawn mower with one.  I wonder why he has so many, and tucked away near the food.  I hear him give a grunt that I've come to understand means he's happy about something.  Well, as happy as Rod can get.  Then the flashlight clicks off.  

Gen Con Interview - Colby Dauch from Plaid Hat Games

Colby Dauch, founder of Plaid Hat Games, took a few moments on Sunday before the dealer hall closed to talk about Dead of Winter, Mice and Mystics, Summoner Wars: Alliances, and other Plaid Hat things. Colby's a great friend of Nerd Night, and was gracious enough to step away for a nice chat. There are a couple teasers for upcoming games too!

Bonus: Colby related a beautiful story about how games helped the life of a sick child.


For a full playlist of Gen Con interviews, click here!

The Perfect Game #1: Intro and Interesting Choices for Failure.

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In celebration of the upcoming 46th annual "Best-Four-Days-of-Gaming" Gencon, I wanted to do something a little special. It's been awhile since I've gotten to flex my RPG chops, and I intend on spending at least 24 solid hours doing just that at the event that has become tabletop gaming's Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, Mōdraniht, and Saturnalia all rolled into one.

With that in mind, I'd like to do a couple of articles for the fine patrons of The Nerd's Table, getting into some gritty design concepts that make good games. As a forewarning, I will be naming some games that may or may not be the best at some of these design philosophies, That doesn't mean that they aren't excellent games, it just means that they are lacking in some areas that would make them My Perfect Game.

Most importantly, though, I want you, dear reader, to get in on the conversation. If this series gets talked about enough in the comments, I'll continue to talk your ear off about the hobby I love the most.

With that out of the way, let's get started!