Weekender XLBS: Having Fun Gaming In The Dark!
May 8, 2016 by dignity
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happy sunday!
Congratulations to Warren and Andrea! May your ups and downs come only from the bedroom. All the best to you and your family.
Happy Sunday and congrats Warzan & Wifezan!
Another fine day in the Corps
I’m with @lloyd on the look of DoW3
Would love to see @warzan & @dignity play dungeon saga “in the dark”!
As for playing in the dark, when I was running games of Aliens rpg with some mates, when they went into any new locations/Ships/Facilities. Unless they got engingeering and the power on, the light where we play were always muted/turned down very low and they were only allowed small torches to see the map. If they seperated from the group, then they were put in a seperate room with a headset to communicate until the rejoined to group (meant a lot of running around for me during some gamaes)
Happy Sunday! Thanks for the shout out. Picture Warren playing as the monsters in The Depths of Durangar. Lloyd said he wouldn’t feel as connected to the other players, but imagine Warren narrating the whole time by taunting and mocking and laughing maniacally “You’ve Fallen Into My Trap!” They also mention different scenarios/objectives for different games. So in addition to the map being random each time, the objectives can be changed each time as well. Then by switching who is playing the monsters and who are the heroes, that alone adds a ton of replayability. As for the mucking about in the dark (Sorry Justin, I feel partly responsible for that) I think the goofing in the dark will be part of the fun. I loved, the idea of Space Hulk played in the dark, the added level of Terror would be excellent. Still have my first edition of Space Hulk and figuring out a dark version sounds like a mission I need to be on.
I think Lloyd should be responsible for pronouncing ALL names/words that are considered even remotely difficult to get right!
Also…
Lloyd: “grab your wee man….NO, that’s the wrong one!” =D
From a practical point of view, I can’t see how I’ll be able to get my house dark enough to effectively ‘game in the dark’. At least not until waiting until very late at night and then I’m at risk of dozing off… And I’m not going into my attic, it’s cold up there and full of Christmas decorations.
I do like the use of technology, with the night sight scope, to enhance games. Technology has a lot to offer gaming without crossing the boundary into computer gaming.
@redvers that’s a good point. Ben couldn’t get any room in his house dark enough for the cover photo so it needed to be darkend way down in Photoshop.
Happy Sunday!
Congratulations to Warren and Andrea – may your years together be many and happy!
I’m with Lloyd on the game in the dark – I don’t see the novelty hanging around long. I also don’t think I could get any room in my flat or any of the places we play dark enough to get the most out of this.
Is the depths of Durangrar just a way to make gamers eat more carrots?
Oh just what in the actual hell. 🙂
You people are having way to much fun with this episode.
happy sunday
I want “Justin Plays Extreme!”
Happy Sunday!
I would totally watch Justin Plays Extreme.
Lol remember it became “Justin plays not so extreme” 🙂
Andy Chambers did the rules for Starship Troopers. It was made by Mongoose but its been oop since about 2008.
Seafall is for 3-5 players. The rules are up as a PDF on the Plaid Hat website is anyone wants to know more.
@redben, cool thanks for the heads up
http://www.plaidhatgames.com/games/seafall
F&F would get my vote too. Gaming in the dark is a gimmick but the game has to stand or fall on its merits as a game. It might be a good game, but it looked like a fairly common or garden dungeon crawler to me.
Happy Sunday. The sun is out and like any self respecting wargamer iam going to be inside playimg DzC today
Happy Sunday!
Like the idea of “in the dark” gaming, but from my point of view would be a pain in the backside to set up each time. After all it is just trying to simulate Fog of War. I do think it would be a good event game though.
And Lloyd seems to be in need of some dried frog pills..
The picture you used for that looks like an old dr who title sequence with your faces in the stars.
Happy Sunday, folks- and a very enjoyable XLBS guys, thanks for that!
Wait… Will there not be a CORE faction video to round out Dark Age week?! Love me some homicidal mechanoids!..
I’ve some good news for you – but you’ve probably seen that already 🙂
Happy Sunday!
Am sat here painting my WWX stuff with you guys talking about Bloodstone….
Fantastic show guys. A right laugh.
While the idea of playing in the dark is cool, I don’t know that any guys that I play with would be interested in it more than as a novelty. Though playing Space Hulk in the dark would be cool occasionally. Heh, I used to do that with the original PC version.
Happy Sunday, finally have time to catch up on the content I’ve missed. Actually got a bit of painting done for once 😀
My choice for the kickstarters is Flint & Feathers. Justine it is a fort. I think playing in the dark might be fun but I think it would get old real quick.
It’s the weekend… Happy Sunday! (thought I’d get both into this episode)
Justin…”It just felt…unnecessary.” Has to be one of the top ten best lines ever…in or out of context.
haven’t played in pitch dark but have played with a blacklight & minis that had fluorescent paint on them
Happy Sunday!
Love the thumbnail pic for the show, Ben looking all mysterious and noble, Lloyd looking….creepy and Justin looking like…. a lil sperm?
Congratulations Warren and Andrea!
There’s something to be said for a DM drawing the maze as it’s being discovered,,, the Depths of Durangrar (DoD?) has that feel I suppose.
I’ll mention another board game at this point with a fog of war feel – Scotland Yard by Ravensburger. In that players are chasing a villain around London, but only get to see where the villain is every few turns… the villain on the other hand has full knowledge and attempts to evade them. There are mechanics which can give the same feeling without having to turn out the lights.
Dare i suggest fortifications make a fort? If the stakes create barriers as fortifications then the enclosed space can be considered a fort. -1 for Justin the Thesaurus; although overall you’re way ahead! 😉
You’e right Lloyd – it’s not a teepee (i.e. triangular tent) – the image in question is in fact of a Wigwam (often used incorrectly to describe a teepee)!
Some tribes would be nomadic and have limited fortifications, others had more permanent settlements which they would fortify if vulnerable.
Happy Sunny Sunday……………………..
Great (slowly getting out of hand) show guy`s, whens “Warren” back……………..We need order back on the weekender`s, i mean come guy`s Lloyd wanting to play in the dark then wanting to sit on Justin`s lap. What`s BoW coming to…………………….
Gaming in the dark looks cool, but what about the batteries; how long do they last for? Are they easily replaced?
Justin’s new show is “an idiot a board (gaming)” I like it.
One’s Justin , One’s not 20’s Warren had a ton of 1 and in Dark Age a Crit is the 1 not the 20 😉
i remember that game and yes it was Epic , but for playing in the dark is probably not for me cause i don’t think i have a room dark enough so i could really enjoy the feeling so for me if i had to choose between those 3 kikstarter i would have go with Bloodstone Frontier cause if the game was not so hot at least i could use them in my Shadows of brimstone game
oh and by the way Happy Sunday
I remember watching a good documentary with Rich Hall, the comedian, on a bit of the history of America and the American Indians. Had a look and found a copy on the youtubes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lheXnx02JYE
I would recomend Rich Hall’s documentaries, the few I’ve seen have all been good.
Okay can we have a wallpaper of that XLBS cover image! Please!
It’s fantastic! The smoke around Ben’s head is great, and the way Warren looks like a ghost being caught in the ghost trap. Lloyd, you got this evil wizard visage going on, like something that could appear in a fantasy film or a Scoob-Doo episode! lol
Hi @redsarge
I’ve compiled a few wallpapers in this gallery if you would like to use them 🙂
http://imgur.com/a/BGzqx
ok have to say dawn of war wins the trailer war but strongly suspect totalwar Warhammer will win the battle for actual gameplay
Gaming in the dark is a brilliant idea. Hats off to the creator!
a funny show guys the depth of durungrar sounds a bit gimmicky but Spacehulk with the Alien’s scanner noise in the background may be good?
If GW and SEGA can do that, then why can’t we get a 40K Movie?
Really funny show guys (was there a Saturday weekender this week?)…
Congratulations @warzan and Andrea!
I think one thing you didn’t touch on in your DoW coverage was the way the video game may have influenced the way 40K plays. I never really played DoW, but did see friends playing it. It looked to me as though the frantic, rapid movement, play all over the entire board (map) style of the game got brought into 40K.
Back in the day 40K consisted of two lines of soldiers walking towards each other, shooting and then charging. There was a front line in the middle of the table, and ‘rear areas’ where not much happened unless one side retreated or got wiped out.
Over the years 40K has had more movement introduced (both faster units, faster movement for regular units, more teleporting, drop podding, etc. as well as mission designs that make you go all over the table.
Oh – I really like the idea of gaming in the dark. I wouldn’t want to do it all the time, but I’m not playing board games every week anyway, so I don’t think it would get old too quickly – if the game is good.
What puts me off Depths of Durangarar is that the miniatures don’t look particularly interesting and nor does the maze itself. Which isn’t necessarily a problem if the game is a good game and the darkness isn’t just a gimic. But as one of my main interests is board games with miniatures, I’m more intrigued by the idea of playing Space Hulk in the dark than I am this game.
Flint and Feathers looks very interesting if there’s sufficient historical knowledge behind the game to make it interesting (and respectful) and some way of being able to inform gamers enough to be able to make at least semi-historical choices when playing campaign games.
Ages ago, we tried playing Vampire: the Masquerade with the lights out, setting the mood with candlelight. It definitely worked . . . until we set someone’s character sheet on fire and set off the building’s fire alarm.
Stick with LED lights and the like. NO CANDLES. 🙂
And thanks very much guys, for the mention on the 50-article retrospective tomorrow. 😀
It can be quite difficult to create space to play as is.
Having to make it dark (and/or wait until it is night) as well would add another barrier.
I do have to say that the one thing that bothered me in games like Dark Souls (and Doom 3 in particular) is that stumbling around because it is so dark simply isn’t any fun.
As such I think the game would still be fun if you did the monster movement on a hidden board like ‘Letters from Whitechapel’, ‘Fury of Dracula’ and ‘Scotland Yard’ do.
Things like this probably work better in computer games. Best example would be Mario Chase and Luigi’s Ghost mansion mini games in Nintendo-land for the Wii U.
Dark Age Week was great. At the outset I thought the Core were going to be my favorites, but hearing more about the Kukulkani I very much fell for them, however after seeing the Brood model unboxing those are my faction of choice.
I am already backing the Flint and Feathers game, I already have some of the sculpts and they are beautiful miniatures. Bob Murch was inspired to create this by a novel, “The Orenda” by Joseph Boyden, I am reading it now and it is superb. From following the blog I know a lot of research has gone into this so I am sure it will be historically accurate and respectful. Mind you speaking of historically accurate the next box sets will include spirit creatures, the other two being war party in canoes, and villagers.
The buildings shown are bark longhouses, the other is not a wigwam but a bark hut, wigwams refer specifically to the animal hide tents we see in all te classic westerns.
The one thing I enjoy about these weekenders is the Irish perspective on USA and its history.
It gives me a good laugh
I am sure the reverse is true…
On another note, someone mentioned needing a sound board to go with a game (sorry, I can’t remember off the top of my head which of you it was). Syrinscape is the sound board to end all sound boards. https://store.syrinscape.com/ They have everything, including a free demo. They have both a fantasy and sci-fi set. You can also incorporate your own music files into their player along with the sound effects, it is awesome for creating atmosphere. Matt Mercer uses it on Critical Role.
DAWN OF WAR!!!!! hell yeah, crackin game. Really like they’ve gone back to building bases, that’s great fun.
@lloyd this may affect our Division gaming
@buggeroff – sounds good to me!
great show folks, as far as the ancient celts against romans go, have you thought about Kings of War. the Kingdoms of Men army can make pretty much any historic force you care to name up to the 1800s with ease, and they’ve finished putting the finishing touches to an actual historic supplement recently so it will be on the way this summer.
hi guys, good show as always. so, playing in the dark.. ummm, i think it`s just a gimmick, some people will find any angle to use to try and sell a game these days. i`ll stick with playing in the light, but i do love the roman game that`s something i`ve been waiting to get into for sometime now.
For The Depths of Durangrar, I can see this at conventions or something, but as a game for home, not so much. The fog of war aspect that they are achieving is done better via computer programs or applications. There is a lot of expense involved to make this a physical experience that is unneeded. Yeah, it would be cool to do it on occasion, but not as a regularly occurring physical game.