Monthly Archives: October 2020

Lasers and Feelings – A One Page RPG

Again, the virtual environment made it harder to work together and off of each other’s energy, something important to RPGs, and boardgames in general. Unfortunately, it was also cut short by the end of class. Lasers and Feelings has a nice balance in character creation that was made even more evident by our choices in characters. We went with the given characteristics and spent time delving into our backstories before starting which definitely helped bridge the disconnect between our characters.  

RPGs completely depend on the GM and the willingness of the players to get as invested as possible. Something that I believe that was done extremely well for a group with less than two hours over a zoom call. We really did get into character and have fun figuring out how to interact with each other and the npcs. Most RPGs are cooperative and that is something that I personally really enjoy. Working together to figure out what was going on while working out our character’s personalities was really fun. 

Leadership in RPGs can be both obvious and not. As a player to be willing to trust a GM to put you in a situation where you, and the other players, have to figure out what to do in new situations, be in the shoes of a new character, and to find a balance between characters and players. A GM has to know when to let the players explore and how to feed them a trail. Lasers and Feelings had us create an outline of a crew and a ship and we had to work together to fill in all the actual characterization, and that’s I think is the idea behind RPGs, cooperative creativity. 

Game of the Week Blog Reflection 5: Incan Gold and Can’t Stop

this week we are playing i can’t stop on the tabletop simulator. can’t stop is one of the most exciting games i have played because its name illustrates everything: can’t stop! its rule is very simple. people just need to roll the dices and if the dices match the route you chose, you can go, if not, you will lose everything you have done in your turn. in this week’s game we have four players.i think i am the type of person who is willing to take risks because i don’t want to stop if i gain lots of the advantages in my turn. however, the result is not always fun. because i like taking risks, which means i never stop when i get the dices in my turn, i always return to where i was when the dices turn out to be not matching my route.

i like this game very much because you need some strategies to win the game. however, compared to the strategies you use, i think the most important factor that can determine whether you are going to win or lose is luck. if a person always gets what he or she wants, he or she will definitely win because this game is essentially a luck-based game. the session goes well because every player in the group is eager to win. moreover, because this game is not that hard and the rule is very simple, people in my group get familiar with the game in a very short time.

in my opinion, there is only one thing that i don’t like during the session, that is communication. because this game does not require much communication, people in my group are silent most of the time during the play session. i don’t criticize that my group is not talking, i just want they talk more to make the game more interesting.

this game is like speculating stock in the stock market. the dices are just like the stock, if you believe your are lucky, and your chosen stock’s price will increase in the future, you will earn the money. if not, you lose all of your money. because i am a finance major student, this game helps me realize the weakness i have. as for leadership, i think the leadership in this game is to tell people when to stop and when to take the risk. because this game does not entirely depend on the luck, people also need to use strategies to help them win the game. therefore my leadership here is to tell people when to take the risk and when they should use strategy to win.

Game of the Week Blog Reflection: Fiasco Week 2

this week we are continuing Fiasco because this game requires us to spend lots of time on it. we resumed what we have left last week. because i am not the type of person who are good at making story. as the game continues, i realize my ability of making story is decreasing. to sum up, this game is just a story-making game. people need to make story based their background and logic. however, i realize that people are getting less and less dependent on the logic but more and more on the feeling as the game goes into deep. i have to admit that this game is very interesting, people are getting more familiar with each other when they interact with each other. however, this game is racking my brains so hard. because i am not a native speaker, i need to first come up with some ideas about the story and then translate them to English. i think this is the hardest part of the game, especially for our international student. however, playing Fiasco is also a good way for me to improve my logic and speaking.

as for leadership, i have to admit that in this game, i am the one who are led by other players because of the two reasons: one is that i am not quite familiar with this game at the very beginning and therefore need someone to explain the steps of the game. the other reason is what i just mentioned. i am not a native speaker and my understanding is limited sometimes regarding the subjective other players talks about.

the session goes well because people are getting more familiar with each other and are not shy anymore. moreover, because the other three players in my group are girls and they are good at talking, our discussion is filled with fun and laughs. and forget to mention that the winner of the game is Garrison. i think her story is the most interesting story and her logic is always easy to understand. i think this game is also popular in China due to the challenge it presents. to sum up, this game is really good and i hope to play with my friends in the future.