When We Played Twilight Imperium

 

[Disclaimer: This is not a review.  A single play could contain unusual circumstances that might not be realized until after further playthroughs.  When I've played enough for an honest and fair review, you'll get one.  Until then...]

Twilight Imperium.

That name strikes fear into the hearts of many.

It's sort of an enigma among board-gamers.  Like any other game there are those who love it, and those who don't care for it.  And then there are those who have never tried it, who look on it with wonder and probably confusion, and maybe even awe.  It is arguably the most epic of all epic games, a space-civilization-simulator in which players must manage combat fleets, planetary exploration and conquest, politics, research, and diplomacy, all while pursuing secret and public goals that lead to the claim of the imperial throne.  The game lasts anywhere from 4 hrs to upwards of 10-12 hours, depending on how many players, their experience level, and how many of the expansion rules you include.

Though the idea of an 8-hour game was intimidating, I'm a sucker for epic space games, and I dove in to my first experience on December 17, 2011.  We were 5 brave souls that ventured into the universe, none of us having played before.  We loaded up with snacks and pop and set forth in the morning, starting at about 11:15am (after a few late arrivals and a tasty breakfast) with rules explanation, and finishing around 8:00pm.

Fallen Heroes, Chapter 5: This Might Be Harder Than We Thought

This session of my Fallen Heroes campaign was possibly the most interesting. This session focused not so much on combat, or even overcoming challenges.  This chapter really brought out character backstories, and some of their conflicting natures.  Players darkest secrets were blasted in their own faces.  Surprisingly, a lot of the conflict that arose centered around the secret alternate identity of one of the characters, which I did not plan or expect to be fully revealed at this point.   The mechanics of this session?  Almost entirely just telling a story.  The challenge wasn't dice rolling.  It was presenting situations that dug deep into characters feelings.  And it was awesome.  I'm basically just going to tell the stories because I'm pretty happy with what happened.

RPG Reflections Part 3: Truly, a Role Playing Game

Check out Part 1 here: RPG Reflections Part 1: The Story So Far
and Part 2 here: RPG Reflections Part 2: The Bad, The Ugly

In the initial scene, players were tasked with fighting off Kobolds in an unfamiliar town.  They had not yet met each other, so each player started in a separate part of town.  In addition to this, the characters would have had no knowledge of the other player's presence, and thus would have no reason to intentionally search them out.

Let's Make 'Em Dance!

It's been on hiatus during the holiday season, but this weekend my DnD group is starting up a new adventure, with myself at the helm as GM.  As a result, RPGs have been on my mind in the past couple of days as I work on the last details of my next session.  I'm actually running a Pathfinder campaign, which for those of you who don't know, is an update /offshoot of Dungeons and Dragons version 3.5.

A lot of what I've been focusing on, aside from updating character sheets to the right stats and abilities, is not really system-specific.  As I create my plot, I'm working not just on story advancement, but ways to give the players some unique choices, as well as ways to make combat and non-combat encounters unique.