A Game By Any Other Theme...

Tobago's theme fits right alongside its solid gameplay

Over at the iSlaytheDragon headquarters, the topic of Theme often surfaces in our conversation.  Essentially every single modern game has at least some theme attached to it, whether it be something extremely light such as in Money, or a bit more central to the gameplay like in Tobago, or the backbone of the game, such as Arkham Horror or Last Night on Earth.

It may be the issue of creating a salable product - it's my understanding that one cannot copyright the rules of a game, only the art and specific designs - or maybe just the goal of trying to make your product stand out in a crowd.  Whatever the case, unlike the ancient classic games such as Chess, Go, or even Tic Tac Toe, modern games come inside shiny, colorful, packaged themes.

The question is, then, does the theme of a game really matter?  Is a game required to have a strong theme to be a truly great modern game, or is it better for the theme to take a backseat to gameplay?  Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Slaying Bigger Dragons

Here at iSlaytheDragon.com, we like to do 2 things - play boardgames, and of course slay dragons.  The two activities are not mutually exclusive.

However, much like the titular Dragon, board games are best taken on, not alone, but with friends.  Allies.  Comrades.  Or at least, someone else to take the hits while you sneak around behind and finish off the monster. 

"What the heck is this guy talking about?" you're probably asking yourself right now.  Well, I'll tell you just exactly what I'm talking about: the iSlaytheDragon family is growing.  You might even say, Doubling.

Yes, that's right.  In the spirit of collaboration, two-heads-are-better-than-one, etc. etc. etc., and much discussion and even a so-called "business meeting" (note: neither one of us actually called it that), I'm pleased to announce that my Nemesis, @FarmerLenny (aka "The Other Jon"), is joining the iSlaytheDragon team!  In a sense, he is creating the iSlaytheDragon team, as without him it's just singular, just me, and that's not really a team.

Wait! you say.  Wait just a hot second! What does this mean for me?

Well, I'll tell you just exactly what this means for you.