Tynam

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In The Beginning Was The d20. Daniel is a long-time computing geek who spends his days spreading this good word. Interests include painting, medieval swordsmanship, and every conceivable form of game design.

	2,784 reputation	bio	website		visits	member for	2 years, 7 months
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Dec 11	awarded	Quorum
Dec 10	comment	Examples of board games with good/interesting rules for trading? I should have noted that TI is not primarily a trade game, certainly not in the sense that, say, Settlers is. Nevertheless trade is one important gameplay component.
Dec 8	answered	Examples of board games with good/interesting rules for trading?
Dec 2	comment	Games that play well with a wide range of different numbers of players It's an excellent game, but I'm not sure it's the right answer, because 3-player games are so prone to random mid-game shifts depending on who the Cylon is. While Galactica allows 3-7, it's much stronger with 4-6.
Dec 2	comment	Games that play well with a wide range of different numbers of players @scraimer: Well, yes. I admit I winced while I typed it. But it is an answer to the question. And I couldn't think of a good term for that whole Runebound/Prophecy category of games. (I could have just said "Prophecy", but while I think it's a better game, it's not as good an answer to the question.)
Nov 23	comment	What are good standard tactics for Dominion? Yes, Throne Room should be added to the list. I've just had an interesting game based entirely on Market / Laboratory / Throne Room, drawing the entire deck each turn.
Nov 22	comment	Is there a limit on how good you can get at Hearts? Short answer: Yes, it can. At time of closure I was about to suggest that the question almost belongs on Mathematics, where it will draw a short lecture on the fundamentals of game theory. (I'm too tired to type it myself, but the short form: Yes, there's always a 'best move' algorithm... for a suitable choice of the meaning of 'best'.) To ask more meaningfully here, I think you need better definition - what do you mean by 'skill' if you don't mean 'algorithm to select the best possible move', for example? I can't agree that the question is subjective though, just hard to answer well.
Nov 22	comment	Is there a limit on how good you can get at Hearts? bwarner: Your phrasing of the question is excellent. Your answer is unconvincing, however; 'intuition' in this context means 'guessing at the optimal play'. But I'll add my own answer rather than argue in comments.
Nov 18	comment	Board Game Mechanics Also Puerto Rico's little cousin San Juan. And yes, +1 for Twilight Imperium's strategy approach.
Nov 14	comment	Comparisons Betwen Deck-Building Games The Fantasy Flight LCGs may be worth considering; while they are in a sense 'just repackaging CCGs', they remove the randomness. If the random buys are what drives you away, the LCGs should be considered. If the ever-increasing-card-game-size also drives you away, then steer clear. (Also, @Jadasc: Vampire was also revived by White Wolf and ran for many years since; in fact they've only just shut it down again this year. But that's an aside.)
Nov 12	comment	What cooperative board games are there that I could safely play with my wife? FX_ is right. Space Alert is also excellent... but it's not a 2-player game; it's strong with 4 but suffers badly with each player less than that.
Nov 11	awarded	Nice Answer
Nov 11	awarded	Commentator
Nov 3	comment	Lasting games in the past century Lo'oris: I do believe it; it works well in other domains. (When Wizards publishes a broken card that's much too strong, the community immediately exploits it until Wizards catches on and fixes or bans it - because a large community of playtesters will catch stuff even the official testers miss. Look at the Mirrodin artelands for an example.) I didn't say a single fan would provide good fan-expansions (as you say, they'd never get enough testing). I said the community as a whole would. 'Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow.' Given enough Magic players, testing is sufficient.
Nov 3	answered	How can you make Twilight Imperium games not take forever?
Nov 1	answered	Baby shower games
Nov 1	comment	What cooperative board games are there that I could safely play with my wife? In that case, also consider Puerto Rico's baby brother card game, San Juan.
Nov 1	answered	What cooperative board games are there that I could safely play with my wife?
Nov 1	answered	Lasting games in the past century
Nov 1	comment	Lasting games in the past century I'm not sure Magic is completely dependant on it's publisher any more. It's dependant as long as WotC are alive, but there are many tools for creating cards and web sites full of fan expansions. If Wizards died tomorrow, I think the community hardcore would organise and start agreeing 'community official' expansions. (There is precedent; this happened when WotC's Star Wars card game was cancelled.)