Doot doodily doo, just randomly surfin' the web. Oh, what's this?
Somebody left a perfectly good free game lying here on the curb! Well,
you know me; I can't let something like that go to waste.

This week:

ARK: Survival Evolved
https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/ark
Gloomhaven
https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/gloomhaven-92f741

ARK is of course the classic action-survival game (it's the one with
dinosaurs). Also, it's the game Epic already gave away in June 2020,
so you probably have it. So if you're interested in this genre, you've
probably played it by now. If not, well, I suppose this is as good a
game as any if you'd like to see what the genre all about. Honestly, I
find the whole scrounge-craft-build game-loop a bit tedious (I usually
just jump to the game's creative mode, if it has one) but hey... you
can ride a raptor in this one, so it's all good

Gloomhaven is a fantasy turn-based action/RPG board-game thingee.
Yeah, that's enough keywords; I'm sure you know exactly the sort of
game I'm describing now, right? No? Me neither... and I watched the
trailers. Apparently it's based on a board game. Well, it looks purty
enough anyway. Might as well click "add to library".

Well, not a bad haul. You never know what you find lying on the curb.
You have a week to snag the games before the haulers take it away.

Incidentally, you might ask, "Why are there three letter Es in the
word 'Free' in the title?"

Now, the less generous of you might think that's a typo, but no. I
thnk we all can agree that I am no tthe sort to make typng erors lik
ethat.

No, it is obvious that those three Es represent the "Extraordinary
Extravagance of Epic" in giving away all these games, because what
better way to express that idea than typing the word "free" as
"freee"? But I am sure most people picked up on that right away.

Now, as to why I didn't actually NAME the free (freee!) games in the
title? Well... umm... I sorta forgot.

But the 'freee' was definitely on purpose. You believe me, right?

;-)

Use a spellchecker. :P

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
> Incidentally, you might ask, "Why are there three letter Es in the
> word 'Free' in the title?"

> Now, the less generous of you might think that's a typo, but no. I
> thnk we all can agree that I am no tthe sort to make typng erors lik
> ethat.

> No, it is obvious that those three Es represent the "Extraordinary
> Extravagance of Epic" in giving away all these games, because what
> better way to express that idea than typing the word "free" as
> "freee"? But I am sure most people picked up on that right away.

> Now, as to why I didn't actually NAME the free (freee!) games in the
> title? Well... umm... I sorta forgot.

> But the 'freee' was definitely on purpose. You believe me, right?

> ;-)

--
Too many stuff to watch on the quiet hump day! What will Thursday bring?
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o o| |
\ _ /
( )

On Thu, 22 Sep 2022 13:43:57 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

>
>Doot doodily doo, just randomly surfin' the web. Oh, what's this?
>Somebody left a perfectly good free game lying here on the curb! Well,
>you know me; I can't let something like that go to waste.
>
>This week:
>
>ARK: Survival Evolved
>https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/ark
>Gloomhaven
>https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/gloomhaven-92f741

ARK does not interest me but Gloomhaven I am going to try and see if
it clicks with me. Thank you for the post.

On Thu, 22 Sep 2022 20:13:46 +0000, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:

>Use a spellchecker. :P

He likely does. He is using Forte Agent which only checks the body of
the message, not the subject header, for spelling mistakes.

On Fri, 23 Sep 2022 07:05:24 -0400, Mike S. <Mike_S@nowhere.com>
wrote:

>On Thu, 22 Sep 2022 20:13:46 +0000, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:
>
>>Use a spellchecker. :P
>
>He likely does. He is using Forte Agent which only checks the body of
>the message, not the subject header, for spelling mistakes.

Indeed. That limitation has caught me out many, many times.

Not this time, though. "Freee"? Completely intentional; why would you
think otherwise? ;-)

>Gloomhaven is a fantasy turn-based action/RPG board-game thingee.
>Yeah, that's enough keywords; I'm sure you know exactly the sort of
>game I'm describing now, right? No? Me neither... and I watched the
>trailers. Apparently it's based on a board game. Well, it looks purty
>enough anyway. Might as well click "add to library".
>

*--

I think JAB was playing that game and liked it alot. I almost bought
Gloomhaven a bunch of times but kept reading how hard it is to learn
and play. I think he said the same thing but kept pressing on.

Maybe not.

But since it's free, I claimed it and may install it. It is still $35
at Steam!!!

-pw

On Fri, 23 Sep 2022 09:56:56 -0600, PW
<iamnotusingonewithAgent@notinuse.com> wrote:

>I think JAB was playing that game and liked it alot. I almost bought
>Gloomhaven a bunch of times but kept reading how hard it is to learn
>and play. I think he said the same thing but kept pressing on.

The digital version or the tabletop game, I wonder?

The tabletop game seems to be one of those "build-your-own-board"
games, where the play area is made up of tiles and just keeps
growing.They're fun, but it's a lot of pieces to keep track of and
demands a large space in which to play it. God forbid somebody joggle
the table and everything gets pushed askew; it can take fifteen
minutes just to get back from a mistake like that. I'm not sure board
games like that are worth the extra effort; I'd probably enjoy the
digital version more.

(at least with D&D, all you need is some dice and a character sheet
for each player; much less maintenance ;-)

>But since it's free, I claimed it and may install it. It is still $35
>at Steam!!!

Apparently there's a recently released DLC expansion for the main
game, which is probably why it was free on Epic; it's good marketing
(odds are everyone who was going to buy the base game already has, so
this way they can attract new users to purchase the DLC without
frightening them away with the need to buy game and expansion
together). I wouldn't be too surprised if we see Gloomhaven being
given away for free on Steam - either directly or through other
resellers - in the near future.

On 9/23/2022 12:34 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>
> (at least with D&D, all you need is some dice and a character sheet
> for each player; much less maintenance ;-)
>
Welll, that may be all you _technically_ needed but.... :P

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

On Fri, 23 Sep 2022 15:41:24 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

>On 9/23/2022 12:34 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>>
>> (at least with D&D, all you need is some dice and a character sheet
>> for each player; much less maintenance ;-)
>>
>Welll, that may be all you _technically_ needed but.... :P

Yeah, but mentioning the 300 pages of hand-written adventure (plus
maps) and the 50kg of books would have wreaked havoc on my argument in
favor of D&D's simplicity! ;-)

Oh, and snacks. Good for eating /and/ forshowing off your displeasure
with a DM's ruling by flinging them in his general direction ;-)

On 9/24/2022 7:49 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> On Fri, 23 Sep 2022 15:41:24 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
> <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
>
>> On 9/23/2022 12:34 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>>>
>>> (at least with D&D, all you need is some dice and a character sheet
>>> for each player; much less maintenance ;-)
>>>
>> Welll, that may be all you _technically_ needed but.... :P
>
> Yeah, but mentioning the 300 pages of hand-written adventure (plus
> maps) and the 50kg of books would have wreaked havoc on my argument in
> favor of D&D's simplicity! ;-)
>
> Oh, and snacks. Good for eating /and/ forshowing off your displeasure
> with a DM's ruling by flinging them in his general direction ;-)
>
And the mark-able playing mats with colored pens and the character
miniatures (though my group used Steve Jackson Games' "Cardboard Heroes"
instead).

And for the truly hard core, the costumes.

("Hide behind the pile of dead bards!" - Gamers: Dorkness Rising) :D

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

On 22/09/2022 18:43, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> Gloomhaven is a fantasy turn-based action/RPG board-game thingee.
> Yeah, that's enough keywords; I'm sure you know exactly the sort of
> game I'm describing now, right? No? Me neither... and I watched the
> trailers. Apparently it's based on a board game. Well, it looks purty
> enough anyway. Might as well click "add to library".

I think it's a bit of a stretch to describe it as an RPG so think more
elements of an RPG a bit like XCOM.

The game itself is what I'd best describe as a tactical dungeon crawler
with a bit of story tacked on. A word of warning though, it doesn't look
like it but this is very much a cards deck management game and that
includes combat and movement. The second word of warning, it's not a
game that you can just play the tutorial and be away. You really need to
read the manual and also have a quick read of some of the starter guides
to understand how the deck management is used.

As I've probably said before, it got quite a bit of criticism for how
hard it is to get into. I think a lot of that comes down to the digital
gaming world has become one in which you can put the effort into learn
the ins-and-outs of a game but you can instead just stick it on easy
mode and not worry about it. That's not Gloomhaven.