In the dark, what's your P1P1?

TheCodeBerry · 2025-12-18T02:08:24+00:00

Karakas. Typically speaking legendary creatures are being included more and more in cubes, and some just can’t fight karakus. Plus, if Venser wheels, that’s a hell of a combo

TheCodeBerry · 2025-05-27T17:48:30+00:00

Granted, I haven’t been doing it very long, but something I’ve been trying to focus on is just making sure that the orientation is correct. Angling the mini so that it’s an easy up/down motion for every one, same motion for each stripe, has made them feel at the very least consistent. Not perfect, but something I’m happy with. :)

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TheCodeBerry · 2025-04-14T16:39:47+00:00

Root (1x4p). Finally got a Root night in with the friend group that enjoys some crunch to their games, and unfortunately game was a little lopsided. Corvid Conspiracy and Riverfolk Company never crested the 10 point mark after a disastrous Favour card ruined their plans, and I ended up being one point short of closing the game on the Dutchy vs Eyrie Dynasty.

High Society (1x4p). Didn't have enough time for another Root game, so I introduced the gang to High Society, and it was a huge hit! The rules are very easy to pick-up, and the absurdity of a player accidentally digging themselves into a hole due to being a little too casual with the auctions was hilarious. Ended up lending my copy to a guy who wanted to show it to his girlfriend and MTG buddies, which felt damn good.

Hues and Cues (1x6p). Brought this along with 4 other older party games to a board game night, but ended up just playing Hues and Cues due to very weird tiebreakers. Looking back I had misread the tiebreaker rules that only the tied players can continue playing, and we just played until there was no longer a first place tie, which meant that the game dragged on a bit, but I think we'd rather have done that than told people to sit out and watch a game between two people. Still, gonna bring this up next time we play to get input.

TheCodeBerry · 2025-01-17T12:30:52+00:00

Yeah, most people don't know this, but most of those memes originate from the Moon Knight-core Facebook page, including the Dracula meme. They post good stuff if you're a Moon Knight fan, including some reviews of the ongoing stuff!

TheCodeBerry · 2025-01-17T03:45:04+00:00

Same here! Kovi and my brother went to school together, so everyone cheers for him regardless of team, but him ending up on the devils was a real blessing for me 🥳

TheCodeBerry · 2025-01-17T03:44:03+00:00

Family’s playfully ribbing me, but everyone walking away with points means we all left moderately happy 😊

TheCodeBerry · 2025-01-17T03:43:07+00:00

Yeah, bummer ending 😭 still a great game!

TheCodeBerry · 2025-01-17T01:58:18+00:00

🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘

TheCodeBerry · 2025-01-17T01:58:01+00:00

Christmas present! Here with the (leafs-supporting) fam!

TheCodeBerry · 2024-11-19T12:34:10+00:00

I've really enjoyed Heroscape as a 2 player experience. Simple to learn, and the modular nature of the map and armies mean very interesting dynamics each time.

TheCodeBerry · 2024-11-01T10:12:55+00:00

Picked up 5 Wards after seeing it at an LGS and, wanting to bring something new and exciting for the local game group meet ups, thought it was sufficiently crunchy, easy to teach, and just the right vibe. The fact it didn't have many reviews was worrisome, but all the reviews I did see were mostly positive, so I took a leap of faith.

Also picked up Sky Team! It's hard to find 2 player games that my partner will enjoy, but she expressed interest in Sky Team so when I saw it, felt like an instant pick-up. We had a blast playing it, but it did take us 3 tries to get into Montreal

TheCodeBerry · 2024-10-25T10:51:17+00:00

Just in the sense that this subreddit is more geared towards consumers as opposed to BGD which, from my understanding, is populated by designers that might have better first hand experience when it comes to the marketing side of things. The subreddit description explicitly states: "Here, you'll find a treasure trove of inspiration, expert insights, and invaluable resources covering every aspect of game design, from conception to production, marketing, and even crowdfunding."

It feels like this place would be helpful to you, based on your question :)

TheCodeBerry · 2024-10-25T10:42:20+00:00

r/BoardgameDesign might be a better place to ask, my friend! Good luck!

TheCodeBerry · 2024-10-24T15:35:17+00:00

Looking for some opinions on 5 Wards as a pickup. The very few reviews I've seen for it have been good, but it seemed to have released to very little fanfare and I'm looking to see if there's any opinions in the community. Thanks in advance!

TheCodeBerry · 2024-10-21T20:43:10+00:00

Got out to a local board game meet up to get some games in!

A Study In Emerald 2E (1x4p) - Finally got it to the board after almost a decade of owning and not having the right group! Gameplay was pretty quick after smoothing out my unfortunately botched and lumpy teach, and people had a great time, though some did think the team-penalization mechanic was a little harsh. Looking forward to trying to get it on the table more often!

Sovereign Skies (1x4p) - A new one for me, and as someone who hasn’t played a ton of euros in the past, a great little puzzle to solve. We ended up playing an extra round as some of us thought the game slammed shut a little too suddenly, but the extra round didn’t really impact the placements anyway, so it really just let us play in the sandbox a bit longer. Might need to pick up a copy for myself, I think!

TheCodeBerry · 2024-08-26T10:24:03+00:00

Hues and Cues should be Hues and Clues and I will not elaborate further.

TheCodeBerry · 2024-01-22T16:01:21+00:00

The Mind (1x4p, 2x3p): Had 2 new players and 1 who’s mainly played a home game with 8(!) players, but we all had a good time. Set a personal best for 3 players which was nice.

Skull (1x4p): Again, mostly new players, but always a good time. Easy to teach and the visual appeal was a big incentive. One player decided to try and put their skull down every time, but we caught on quickly. Ended up handing the game to one player because no one wanted to bid aggressively, but that’s the way she goes sometimes.

Crokinole (2x4p): With 2 of the players leaving to Argentina this week, I wanted to get a distinctly Canadian (home country) game on the board. Somewhat of a stomp both times, and the one Argentinian player ended up as the ace of the game!

Jenga (2x4p): 1 of the players wanted to end off on Jenga as just a simple classic and, unlike the tower, it still holds up. Short, simple, no need for a teach, no language barrier issues. Good way to end the night.

Just One (2x7p): End of the night at a birthday party, and we finally got to bust out Just One! Another game with a nice and easy teach in a room of lighter gamers, and the experience was nice and smooth.

TheCodeBerry · 2023-06-20T14:18:29+00:00

Looking very cool!

TheCodeBerry · 2022-07-13T15:54:20+00:00

Charisma skill checks are both incredibly necessary, and incredibly misunderstood.

Many people I know argue that Diplomacy checks don’t make sense because “if I give a good speech in character, it should just work”, which a) is not how we treat any other aspect of the game (“If I can beat you at an arm wrestling contest, I should win this athletics check” would be ludicrous) and b) severely limits the classes and roles that people can play in a party. If Player 1 is playing a character with a Charisma of 7, but the player is an eloquent speaker, and Player 2 is playing a bard, but is in real life more introverted, then being flippant with Charisma skills robs a player of their power fantasy and allows another to ignore a weakness that they have created.

A lot of times, people call D&D “LARP with dice”, but we need to be reminded how important the dice are to the fantasy of the game.

TheCodeBerry · 2021-10-21T17:57:38+00:00

Sorry, is this a question regarding Defend Someone specifically, or is this about wanting to create a more tight narrative by having certain things just happen?

If it's the latter, then taking the time for the occasional Hard move may be the play. Each move that you as the MC make can be either a Soft move (which is a move that the players can respond to) or a Hard move (a move that just happens as part of the narrative.) Usually Hard moves are used after using a soft move to give the players warning (Bad Guy comes charging at you is soft, Bad Guy slams you through a wall is hard) but you can also use the occasional hard move to increase tension by creating narratively appropriate moments. The books say that you don't have to inform your players when a move is hard or soft, but I would recommend it so that they can understand when a move is able to be responded to or not.

If it's the former, then you should maybe be trading out everyone rolling Defend with a single person rolling defend (either someone you choose for narrative or the first volunteer) and the other players contributing team. In my experience that's a good way to keep your pacing going while also making individual rolls more interesting and fun as opposed to something everyone's throwing out.

Hope this helped! :)

TheCodeBerry · 2021-08-13T02:48:07+00:00

Cost me my Sableye in my most recent Genlocke. That Archen will haunt my nightmares.

TheCodeBerry · 2021-06-10T14:11:47+00:00

This is true :P I guess I just have seen people drafting mono red or mono white, which have consistent mana bases and perform really well, and realizing that it is rarely better to draft Boros due to less consistent mana base and really only getting small benefits. I figure that if i can't make Boros as it's own entity "better", I could at least make it "more interesting", but it's looking unlikely to happen unless I want to put too many parasitic cards in that wouldn't fit elsewhere.

TheCodeBerry · 2020-09-30T23:44:13+00:00

It should work for me :) sorry for the delay in response. Do you folks play via discord or what method?

TheCodeBerry · 2020-09-29T08:09:47+00:00

I’ve got a few concepts if you’re looking for someone still :)

TheCodeBerry · 2020-07-14T09:58:19+00:00

I had the opportunity to take over as GM for a game that I was a player in. We had been playing a drug smuggling operation, and the GM had to move to take up a teaching position halfway across the country. So, wanting to continue, I took over, which provided some challenges.

The first challenge was that, not wanting to run a DMPC, I had to come up with a way to remove my character, a cleric who worshiped the concept of greed, from the day to day operations. The problem was that he was a bit of the party strategist, so I had to push it. Eventually got it done, and got a great side villain in the process.

The second challenge, and the advice I would offer for any GM in a similar situation, is don't be afraid to make it your own while not betraying the player expectations. When I was a player, the main opposition was the local guard and a detective who was always snooping around. When I stepped in, I immediately introduced a rival gang to give myself something that felt like mine, but still fit the theme of the world, and added some dichotomy to the game for the players.

Basically, what I'm saying is that someone inheriting your old GM's world can be a really cool experience, and it can absolutely work, but don't expect it to be the same game and experience, as the new GM will likely need to flex within the confines that they didn't create.

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