Gaming

I have always loved games - board games, card games, computer games, role-playing games, etc. I grew up with D&D and Risk, and as an adult, I have enjoyed a larger variety of games.

I have often tried to hold Game Days - a Saturday 2-3x/year where we get a bunch of guys over and play either a single long game or a bunch of shorter games. It often goes for 8-12 hours. But since my new work schedule takes up almost every single Saturday, I have gone over a year without a single game day, and I am missing it. Not that I regret spending the time with my family instead of a Game Day, because that's the most important thing, especially with me gone so much, but I so rarely get to read a book for fun, play a game with friends/family, or anything of the sort that I do miss it.

As much as I enjoyed D&D in the past, I admit it holds less fascination for me now - I always enjoyed the story part more than anything else, and the last one-shot adventure I tried to run ended up being a great short story, but a terrible adventure. I've found I love delving into the hearts and minds of the characters more than an RPG allows, which is why I'm heading the writing route instead of the RPG route. 

Probably my favorite game is an obscure one called Age of Renaissance by Avalon Hill. It's out of print, and a single copy will run up to $200 on Amazon, so I'm glad I grabbed it when it was only ("only" - ha!) $80 several years ago. It's like the computer game Civilization (it's actually the sequel to the board game Civilization based on the computer game), so the game play has all kinds of technology advances to research, each one bringing a distinct advantage to the person getting it. One game can take up to 12 hours, and I love every minute of it.

Some of our other favorites include Munchkin, BANG! (spaghetti western card game), Jokers, and a relatively recently discovered Carcassonne. The last is fabulous because it's one of the few games we've found that is still really fun with just 2 players. 

Jenny doesn't like the longer games as much as I do (read: she doesn't like them at all), so I'll go years between playing Settlers of Catan (with the Knights and Cities expansion), Starfarers of Catan, or Age of Renaissance. We agree on a lot of other games when we do play, so it's not so bad.

But today I find myself missing Game Day. It's a necessary sacrifice, and one I make willingly, but still. Someday, Game Day, someday, we will find each other again.

Current mood: Melancholy

Tags: geekyness, life update