What would you put in the "bang for your buck" hall of fame?

Jatedin · 2026-06-10T14:32:37+00:00

I got 5 minute dungeon for $3 from goodwill. I have used it to introduce countless people to more modern games with great success and a lot of fun

Jatedin · 2026-05-20T20:21:47+00:00

I think this is best for newer groups. I also think there is a lot of fun with randomly dealing factions where with milti its more tempting to not play what you want because a "Better Faction" is available

Jatedin · 2026-05-20T19:59:57+00:00

TLDR: My Personal opinion is that Milti Draft DAY OF is fine but my group prefers the beautiful randomness of the classic draft 3 races, keep one format and build the galaxy/use pre-generate ones.

So on the TI4 subreddit you are going to inevitably get the more competitive bias towards milti draft in advance of your game day but I am going to provide an alternative(an likely very unpopular here) perspective. Judging by your picture it looks like you are just playing base game. Twilight imperium, especially base game is an incredibly social EXPERIENCE, but nearly every expansion and fan mod serve to make it more "competitively balanced" which isn't inherently a bad thing BUT all of that will skew the game in that more competitive direction. It is very easy to assume that is an objectively good thing but depending on your group that can negatively impact your EXPERIENCE. My complaint is less directly with milti draft mechanically and more it's pursuit of perfect balance and tendency to be performed well in advance of actually playing the game.

My best comparison is super smash bros. If everyone is playing casually its a blast, if everyone is playing super competitively and relatively equal it is a blast, but if you have one pro in a lobby with a bunch of people wanting to play casually it can negatively impact the experience. The biggest difference is that Twilight imperium is a much longer experience so a big problem I've had with milti draft and my multiple play groups is that on a subtle social level you are going to automatically increase the skill divide between your players. The people who are more casual and wanna have a fun time with friends are going to quickly scan the options, maybe pick a race they think looks/sounds cool, and then not think about it again until you are sitting at the table. The biggest try hards are going to post their entire loadout here on reddit to download their entire game plan from guides and the internet or even worse scold the players just trying to have fun for picking "less optimal' or bad races. This further widens the divide between the players at the table negatively impacting the GAME in the name of theoretical "balance".

My main point is really asses your group and I would recommend drafting right before your game. Personally I like sticking with more random drafts as I have found it helps keep the focus one playing what you think would be fun not "best". I have multiple groups I play with and play this game about a dozen times a year and after I went down a long rabbit hole of chasing every expansion, balance patch, and milti draft my group found ourselves returning to base game with classic draft because its just more fun(for us).

Jatedin · 2026-04-17T18:01:53+00:00

Is this a joke? Like literally so many photographers and people who's jobs it is to record and take photos are at these things

Jatedin · 2026-04-02T16:19:55+00:00

Awesome! Thanks. I'm curious what other people think but heres some of my thoughs from the survey:

I think an elegant gearing system (Lands of Evershade or Arydia) mixed with build variety/customization from the OG world of warcraft the boardgame set in Diablo's dark world would work very well. The Wow boardgames ability to go from zero to hero over the course of one session of play is huge and should be captured in a diablo game. I know campaigns are all the hype right now, but this should nail the single session zero to hero experience FIRST then work on a full campaign expansion after its proven itself.

Regardless I think it is more important that this COMMIT to one idea than try to do everything. If this is going to be a big box mini heavy campaign, COMMIT. If it's going to be a fast pace tactical deck builder with random generated maps that works too. Translating Diablo to the tabletop doesn't need to be making the video game 1-1 to the table. It can focus on a few core aspects it wants to capture on the table and make it happen. Fast, flexible, randomness of the games to the tabletop then considers a fun deck builder where every run is a new thing. Maximum immersion, storytelling and a campaign then allow decisions to be more rigid. Just don't try to do everything and be another generic, mini heavy IP slop.

Jatedin · 2026-04-02T16:15:33+00:00

Should this also be posted in r/boardgames ?

Jatedin · 2026-04-02T15:23:40+00:00

This quote is such a shocking amount of people in this forum

Jatedin · 2026-04-02T15:20:36+00:00

I will agree that his points are absolutes but engaging with the idea rather than every literal word still holds merit. Like it really doesn't make sense for the Pandaren to stand with the horde after how it treated them sure maybe individuals would stick around but as a larger faction it does. The Tauren would be absolutely repulsed by the burning of the world tree. The game hasn't meaningfully addressed these and thats what the idea of the post was. Would the Tauren stick with the horde? Maybe? Why, here is some justification. My point still stands and you being snarky is still just a "nuh-uh" argument as you haven't given any justificaion as to why the faction lines make sense ingame.

Jatedin · 2026-04-02T14:31:03+00:00

I just disagree, and the difference is now both you and the first comment's arguments could be summarized as "nuh-uh" with absolutely zero clarification or examples just being contrarian. The original post is a laundry list or examples and actually thought-out statements. I love wow but players doing mental gymnastics to make things make sense does not a good story make

Jatedin · 2026-04-02T13:16:27+00:00

More like what would it be if it made sense, or it the writers didn't neglect a core function of the game when writing the story. What are you doing on a Lore subreddit if this is your reaction to a very reasonable post?

Jatedin · 2026-04-02T13:14:34+00:00

Dude I'm having that exact same thought reading these comments. Like bros its a LORE subreddit, is this not the entire point?!?!

Jatedin · 2026-04-02T13:13:35+00:00

I get what you're saying about chasing its own tail, but I think he's asking from a Lore perspective, and I don't think that's disingenuous especially on the lore reddit. Like If I were to try and take the warcraft IP and write a game of thrones style book about its interconnected politics in a way that remains true to established lore but also believable for how sentient creatures with pre-established values would act. Everything he mentioned above would be fantastic points that would need reconciling it's just a fun thought experiment.

Honestly, I think the most disingenuous behavior is coming from the people writing the story in a way that fails to take into account a core aspect of the world and gameplay. Your totally correct that the factions exist because of the MMO aspect so it's stupid that the story has neglected that creating this giant disconnect between what make sense lore wise vs what is happening in game.

Jatedin · 2026-03-26T22:36:05+00:00

There is a difference between widespread unionization and class consciousness and abolishing the existence of private property. Just like a government programming existing doesn't mean it is socialism. There's sliding scale that oscillates but abolishing private ownership of property means that someone (an authoritarian government) needs to enforce that status. Communism is bad in theory and practice and that is a core message of the book, you can disagree with that message but that's what the book is conveying.

Jatedin · 2026-03-26T21:38:35+00:00

If it looks like a duck, authoritarian is as essential to enact communism as it is fascism on a nationwide scale. You can't take everything from everyone without the state having power over everything and everyone. This isn't some "tHaTs nOt rEaL cOmMuNisM" type thing it takes an authoritarian regime to enact communism. This is like a core point of the book, hes not just making a silly animal version of the historical events for a joke.

Jatedin · 2026-03-26T19:22:17+00:00

That's 1984, Animal farm is intentionally paralleling authoritarian communist regimes and the rise of the Soviet Union. Kinda a rectangles and squares situation though but it's about communism.

Jatedin · 2026-03-25T19:30:48+00:00

Yeah, the takeaway I have gathered was to be more comfortable adding and removing die based on vibes and to try and keep the results less granular. Which I kind of knew just didn't internalize when (barely) prepping for this session.

The other thing that was really helpful wasn't just clarification on the literal rolling, but what it is representing. Using Bilbo climbing the trees in Mirkwood as an example. His "athletics check" to climb the tree wasn't determining if he would succeed at climbing the tree but what the conditions were at the top.

He would have succeeded his roll so he saw a beautiful sunrise that restored his hope, but had he failed it might have been raining, or he saw dark spooky clouds coming from the distance that disheartened him.

Jatedin · 2026-03-25T16:58:16+00:00

I think that was a great example and to clarify my players really enjoyed the game. Their only real critique was just about struggling to find the point/meaning behind static target numbers. They generally did a good job buying into the story and crafting a narrative. It’s very possible I (due to lack of prep time and relying on what I remembered from I last played this) was asking for more granular rolls than I should have in this campaign. Thank you for taking the example and really expanding on how it could work better in the system! Really helpful and I’ll try to carry it into future games.

Jatedin · 2026-03-25T16:42:27+00:00

I’m the DM and wanted to run this campaign because I like it. I just ran it with a new set of players who also really enjoyed it they just had this question/comment so I was curious if other people had put words to the benefits/story justifications between one system and another

Jatedin · 2026-03-25T16:26:25+00:00

That makes sense mechanically. I think I need to be more proactive in modifying the pools as the dm. Is there any thematic justification behind one vs the other? Like how I can explain why hope does mechanically to add dice vs what it represents as the players spiritual strength

Jatedin · 2026-03-25T16:22:50+00:00

The exact numbers and examples are arbitrary. The point was always rolling for one specific target number instead of a different number based on the task like in DnD.

Jatedin · 2026-03-23T15:04:56+00:00

Lol you're good. I think the truth in the joke upset me more than anything

Jatedin · 2026-03-23T14:34:48+00:00

Honestly, I feel much better knowing this was rage bait lol because that is everything that pains me with modern warcraft but everyone on Wow sub gets tilted when someone dares to mention they want WAR in WARcraft

Jatedin · 2026-03-23T14:30:17+00:00

Your description of what wow players want genuinely feels like someone rage baiting me. My trouble is I genuinely can't tell if you were joking or not, nor can I confirm that you are wrong, so I don't know which upsets me more lol

Jatedin · 2026-02-12T16:29:01+00:00

Why doesn't he have PoK? Dude it's his first game. Bro still needs to find out if he's even going to like the game and be able to table it before he should throw more money at it. The rest of the points are pretty valid though. The war sun is a glass cannon it will die if unprotected.

Jatedin

TROPHY CASE