Reply To: Is it time for some more critical analysis of rule sets

[limburger 21711xp 1]

@phaidknott I think unboxings are still relevant. Seeing what is in the box is very useful as it kind of shows the attention to detail was paid. It’s little details like quick reference sheets, a cheap but useful ruler, quickstarts (or lack thereof) , size and layout of the rulebook (which the Batman Kickstarter review showed) that sort of works as a mini-review in itself.

(on a related note : I do miss the tank-ramblings by the resident tank god that used to be part of unboxings … )

@tankkommander
Kickstarters have the same problem that all games at retail have : you can’t force the creation of communities.
Such things take time (and luck). Plus not every consumer/backer is going to post their experiences out there on the internet.
Unlike videogames there is no need to have any on-line presence as you need to go to a physical location to play anyway(*).

(*) exception being the kind of games that @oriskany plays which lend themselves to be streamed.
All that’s needed is some kind of fortunate combination of events that allows this to become a viable mode of play for more systems. Maybe we simply need coverage of available on-line tabletop game systems like Vassal (sp?) and Tabletop Simulator ?

The funny thing is that the sort of thing that happens with tabletop games has parallels to multiplayer videogames.
Those too suffer from the need to form a community/eco-system and fighting the top 5 popular games at the same time.
The simple fact is that the vast majority won’t survive more than a few months after launch.

The one advantage that tabletop games have is that (a) we have all the rules and (b) we don’t depend on 3rd parties to play (at least those games that don’t require an app). Historical games have it even better (and conversely publishers need to work harder), because once you have an army it is viable with minimal adjustments in a competing system.
Fictional settings may have trouble sourcing minis and custom tokens, but with 3D printing that might be a thing of the past (if the industry wants to support it that is … )