Pandora Parrot @pandora_parrot@beach.city

If there are no objections, I'm going to upgrade Beach city to the latest and *remove* the "local only" posting option that's causing me so much merging grief.

I see a lot of folks talk about "drops" but I really don't know what that is... Usually around collectible things.

My biggest impression of Austin, TX is that it has great food and terrible freeways. Also really cool people that are being pushed out by the tech invasion.

Really looking forward to heading back to Michigan tomorrow. I haven't seen one of my housemates for a month thanks to travel + covid isolation.

Flew my family out to Austin, TX for 2 weeks to hang out with a bazillion people. Heading back tomorrow! We'll be stopping in St. Louis, MO for St. Louis style pizza!!! ^^

Sorry I don't post here much... I've kinda just gotten out of the habit of posting on social media in general. Tired of feeling like my life is on display for others... or like I have to perform "awesome life" in order for others to feel engaged or something. Probably a holdover from the world of likes and subscribes, idk.

I am in Austin, TX for this week and next meeting up with friends we've met from VR chat.

Wow. NFTs are legally fraught: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6aeL83z_9Y

There's a reposter that reposts my messages from here, but whatever.

And with that, my twitter account is deleted.

I actually think Root is fairly easy to explain and get into, having done the teach just the other day. Most of the complexity comes in each faction's specific behaviors, which are written down on their player boards. Explain conflict, how to win (get 30 points) how the shared cards work, and then point at the board "Read your board for the rest"

Another thing I like about some older games? Fewer rules.

When you could explain all the rules in just a few minutes and get right into the game, that game was amazing.

That's something Return to Dark Tower does really well. The game is fairly easy to understand, and most of the complexity is in the app.

Heroquest is *STUPID.* It's move around, roll dice to win, and check for traps occasionally. It's extremely brainless. And yet it is SO MUCH FUN.

Playing board games from the 1980s, whether it's a straight remake like Heroquest, or a remaster like Return to Dark Tower, reminds me of a time when board games were less about challenge and conflict and more about fun.

Like, I really enjoy solving board game puzzles, FOR SURE.

But it's so nice when a game focuses on just being *fun* instead of being challenging or puzzly or intricate.

Back then, games appealed to kids. Nowadays, everyone wants super complicated things.

To do this without an app, you'd need a ton of decks of cards to randomize enemy behaviors and events.

Basically, like an event deck, a dungeon deck, a deck for each monster, a deck for each companion, a deck for each villain, etc.

It'd be a lot of card draws and such that really wouldn't have a lot of value.

The app just does a lot of virtual card draws for you. In fact, many of the things are actually conceptual virtual cards, keeping the game grounded as a board game.

In terms of app based games...

I didn't really like how Descent: Legends of the Dark felt like a video game that happened to have some board game pieces associated with it.

X-com did it pretty well, but used real-time play to keep the game speedy.

This one, I think, really gets it right. The app basically handles all of the complex work of the enemies and events, while you handle your cards and whatnot yourself.