Accessible Games

Gamestorm 16: Day Three

Day three of Gamestorm 16 was a lot slower and more laid back than previous years. I had no real plans other than to hang out with some friends and play a few board games, and that’s exactly what I did.

My friend’s wife joined us for the entire day, and my own wife had plans to show up in the afternoon. The day was short (most areas of the con closed around 4:00 p.m.) but it was still a lot of fun.

Late Start, Lifeboats

Since we had no plans, we didn’t even leave the house until around 9:30 a.m. The three of us reached the convention hotel around 10:00, and we went and grabbed a bite to eat before getting started.

We started out looking for a game to play, and we grabbed one from the con’s Game Library that sounded promising. The game was Dungeon Pets by the …
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Gamestorm 16: Day Two

Introduction

Day two of Gamestorm 16 started bright and early. Though I didn’t get to sleep until after 1 a.m. the night before, I was up at 7 and ready to go. I had a game of Monster Kart Mayhem to run at 9:00, and I was eager to get started.

Registration Fail

If you read my previous post, you’ll remember that there were some registration issues with Gamestorm this year. Unfortunately, the lack of pre-registered games meant that only people who wandered by the table where sign-up sheets were placed would have any chance of even seeing the game. To top that off, there could be dozens of these sign-up sheets on any given table, and that meant there wren’t a lot of tables with ready-to-go players.

Monster Kart Mayhem was one such casualty of the registration system. I got to the con just after 9 …
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Gamestorm 16: Day One

Introduction

Once again, I had the opportunity to attend my region’s local gaming convention, Gamestorm, for a weekend of board game and RPG fun. I did an extensive write-up for Gamestorm 15 last year, and I’ll be doing the same this year.

This year, I was excited to bring both Monster Kart Mayhem and Psi-punk to the convention, but I was equally excited to get to try out some new games that I hadn’t played before. The convention didn’t go quite as planned, but I had a blast anyway.

Registration

Gamestorm had some serious issues with registration this year. They launched a new website and pre-reg system, and with it came a great deal of bugs and glitches. Because of this, pre-registration for games was all but non-existent; there were literally no pre-con sign-ups for board game events, and RPG events were a …
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Pirate’s Cove by Days of Wonder: First Impressions

Game Info

Publisher: Days of Wonder

Year Published: 2002

Number of Players: 3 to 5

Play Time: 90 minutes

Set-up Time: 5 minutes

Learning Curve: Low

Ages: Rated 8 and up

Table Size: Medium to Large

Introduction

At this year’s Gamestorm 15 convention, I had the opportunity to play Pirat’es Cove, a game about stealing treasure, killing pirates, and bragging about it at the tavern. Though I only got to play it once, I found the experience very enjoyable and this game is now near the top of my wish list. What makes it so fun? I’m glad you asked.

Game Description

BoardGameGeek has a pretty thorough description of Pirate’s Cove:

Come aboard and sail to Pirate’s Cove… the legendary hideaway of thieving …
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Tags: days of wonder, gamestorm, pirates, strategy, luck

Gamestorm 15: Day Three

Introduction

Day 3 of Gamestorm was a little less eventful than Saturday, day 2, but I still had a lot of fun. I showed up around 7:45 and was ready to go for whatever 8 a.m. game of Pathfinder I could get involved with. It didn’t take long before I was assigned to a table that wasn’t full of players, and I sat down and got ready to play.

Rise of the Goblin Guild

My first PFS game on Sunday was Rise of the Goblin Guild. I was the only person at the table with a character high enough level to play above 2nd level, so instead of bringing my 4th-level Sheriff along I pulled out my 2nd-level Flowing Monk instead. If you’re not familiar with Pathfinder, Flowing Monks are sort of Aikido-style martial artists; they specialize in redirecting enemy attacks.

The highlight of the adventure is when I …
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Castle Panic First Impressions

Game Info

Publisher: Fireside Games

Year Published: 2009

Number of Players: 1 to 6

Play Time: 60 minutes

Set-up Time: 5 to 10 minutes

Learning Curve: Low

Ages: Rated 10 and up

Table Size: Medium

Introduction

Ever since I first saw Castle Panic on Wil Wheaton’s TableTop, I have had a hankering to give it a try. I love co-op games and fantasy themes, so this seemed like a great mixture of the two. Finally I got a chance to give it a test spin at this year’s annual Gamestorm convention, and I certainly was impressed.

Description

Courtesy of the Castle …
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Gamestorm 15 Day Two: The Long Haul

Introduction

There are plenty of people who attend gaming conventions from the first hour to the last and do so on very little sleep. I used to be one of those people, but my own time commitments, aging body, and change of priorities has changed all of that. To me, a 15-hour day at a gaming convention is considered long by my current standards, and that’s just what Saturday was at Gamestorm this year.

I only had one game on my schedule: a Pathfinder Society adventure called “Day of the Demon.” After that, my plan was to meet up with a friend and spend the rest of the day hanging out and playing whatever random games we could put together.

Pathfinder Society – 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

If you’re not familiar with Pathfinder Society (PFS), it is an organized play group for the Pathfinder Role-playing Game by Continue Reading Gamestorm 15 Day Two: The Long Haul

Gamestorm 15: Intro and Day One

Introduction

I recently spent three days at the 15th annual Gamestorm convention in Vancouver, WA. Gamestorm is a local board game and RPG convention for the Portland Metro Area and surrounding region, and it’s a lot of fun. It’s small compared to many conventions, but its intimate nature make it all the more fun as you get to meet many local people and see old friends. In fact, I bumped into former co-workers and co-students who I hadn’t seen in years.

I attended three days of the four-day Con: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The convention started on Thursday, March 21st but it really ramps up on Friday and Saturday.

Naturally I brought Psi-punk to run, but I also had a chance to play some board games and a couple of Pathfinder Society adventures. Over the next few updates I’ll talk a bit about each day and the …
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