Who Am I This Time? (a guide on role selection)

"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players."

Shakespeare wasn't talking about "players" in the gaming sense (at least, I don't think he was--who knows the mind of the Bard?), but today's Guide to Gaming topic--role-selection--serves as a bridge between Shakespeare's players (actors) and the typical players we talk about on this site (gamers), though not in the full-on RPG sense.

Role-selection, especially in Euro games, is a little more abstract than that, but it does allow players within the game to identify as, influence, or otherwise gain the support of powerful personages (roles) to accomplish game tasks. Role-selection isn't the most popular gaming mechanism out there, but as you will see, for the games that use it well, it offers quite a lot of tense decisions and replay value.

Let's Build A Tableau Together (A Guide to Tableau Building)

Categorizing mechanics can be a tricky thing as we recently saw in a series of articles about whether or not Settlers of Catan is a worker placement game (Here's the Point and Counterpoint to get you caught up).  Rigid definitions aside, it’s helpful to know what type of games are out there and once you’ve identified what you like there’s a multitude of other games that share similar mechanics. We’ll be picking out some of the most popular mechanics (or at least our favorites) and exploring how they work, what games use them successfully, and why we love them. This week let’s take a look at Tableau Building.

FDQ: Biggest disappointment?

Everyone's had that experience. They get excited about an upcoming game. They hear the hype. It sounds great, just what they're looking for, with interesting new mechanics and loads of fun to be had. Then... the product arrives in store. They pick up their copy, rip open the packaging, read through the rules, and get their friends together to play. Unfortunately, something doesn't pan out. Something in the rules is broken, or the game takes too long, or none of your friends like it and you never get a chance to play it again. I dunno.  Anything. Whatever happened... the point is, it was a big letdown. Not just a bad game you knew was going to be bad... something you had high hopes for that crashed and burned.


What was your biggest disappointment? Answer in the comments!

@Futurewolfie answers:
Oooh, this is a toughie. My answers are a little more abstract I guess. Munchkin ended up being pretty disappointing. I think the concept is hilarious and the game can be pretty fun—and it was one of the first games I got into in high school with my friends. We played it and had some good times there. But now, it seems like every time I play it, someone has a bad experience. Someone gets totally screwed with the cards they draw and can never seem to accomplish anything, through no fault of their own. Also, the game could stand to last between 45-60 minutes instead of 1.5-2 hours.

I was also a little disappointed after Star Trek: Expeditions came out.  I love Star Trek a lot. I own Star Trek Uno, Star Trek Scene It, and Star Trek: The Trivia Game, none of which are great games. But when I heard about Expeditions, I had hope. Star Trek?  Minis? Designed by a real designer? I haven't actually got my hands on Expeditions, but from the reviews and things I've heard from others, it didn't add up to a spectacular gaming experience. Not that it's a terrible game—some people like it, some don't—but it wasn't looking as good as I'd hoped, which was disappointing.

@FarmerLenny answers:
My disappointments are mostly games that I bought for one purpose that didn't fit that purpose. I got Citadels to be a group game with hidden identities but without player elimination (I don't care for Bang!, and I wanted an alternative to play with my friends). I really like Citadels, but I couldn't ever get anyone to play it. It looked too geeky for my non-gaming friends and too simple for my gaming friends. I eventually traded it away (for At the Gates of Loyang—I traded up) because I couldn't find anyone to play with.

Similarly, I love—l-o-v-e—Race for the Galaxy. I originally had San Juan, which I didn't care for, and I decided Race for the Galaxy would be my game to keep at work and play with my coworkers over lunch. But none of them liked it. Race is a game that improves over time, but they didn't care for it. So I ended up trading Race as well.

In both of these instances, I really liked the game in question, but finding others to play was hard. That's the disappointment.

A reminder: Each commenter's first comment on this post will count as entry in our Dominion: Hinterlands giveaway. What are you waiting for?