PapaNachos's recent activity

  1. Comment on Looking for board game suggestions for non-gamers in ~games.tabletop

    PapaNachos
    Link Parent
    Those are some great suggestions. The only one I would push back on is Chess. Chess (and Go) has its own culture that really breaks it off from a lot of board games. Often people that get in to...

    Those are some great suggestions. The only one I would push back on is Chess. Chess (and Go) has its own culture that really breaks it off from a lot of board games. Often people that get in to chess get REALLY in to chess and only chess and a lot of people that play more modern board games don't really play chess at all. It's still definitely worth seeing if your particular kid likes it, but it has a specific place in the larger hobby

    5 votes

  2. Comment on Looking for board game suggestions for non-gamers in ~games.tabletop

    PapaNachos
    Link Parent
    Mixing young and old kids can be tricky. How old is the oldest in the group you're looking for? For younger kids (4-8) a lot of popular modern games have younger equivalents. For instance Ticket...

    Mixing young and old kids can be tricky. How old is the oldest in the group you're looking for?

    For younger kids (4-8) a lot of popular modern games have younger equivalents. For instance Ticket to Ride has Ticket to Ride: First Journey. Castle Panic has My First Castle Panic and as @first-must-burn mentioned, Catan has Catan Junior.

    More dexterity-based games like Catapult Feud can also be a good avenue

    If you're looking for a co-op game that really young kids can play I would recommend My First Castle Panic (listed above) and Mysterium Kids. Though co-op can be difficult because you have to be mindful of "quarterbacking", which refers to when one player tells other (usually less experienced or younger) players what to do. Meaning that one players is functionally playing the game for everyone else.

    Additionally when mixing age groups like that it can be a difficult balance to find games that don't overwhelm younger players, while still engaging older players. Younger kids especially can have pretty short attention spans. And older kids don't often go for the softer aesthetic and simplified rules. If there's too much of an age gap, and you have enough kids, you may want to consider breaking into a younger/older group and selecting different games for each.

    And if you're looking more long term Gateway Island has a bunch of mini-games showcasing all sorts of different mechanics that then remakes recommendations based on what you like.

    2 votes

  3. Comment on Looking for board game suggestions for non-gamers in ~games.tabletop

    PapaNachos
    Link Parent
    Yeah, if you want people to play and have a good time they need to be willing to buy in emotionally. If you try to force it, they may eventually agree in order to get you to stop, but that's not...

    Yeah, if you want people to play and have a good time they need to be willing to buy in emotionally. If you try to force it, they may eventually agree in order to get you to stop, but that's not going to get them to buy in.

    That's a major reason that theme is so important. If it seems fun and interesting and if the imagery is pretty and evocative, you get people to WANT to play. Once someone wants to play, it's way easier to get them to have a positive experience.

    And yeah, god damn birds. Everyone loves birds. Wingspan is wonderful and tricks people into ratcheting up the complexity of games they're willing to try.

    2 votes

  4. Comment on Looking for board game suggestions for non-gamers in ~games.tabletop

    PapaNachos
    (edited )
    Link
    I own a board game store together with my partner. There are some excellent suggestions in this thread so far, but I also wanted to weigh in. There are a lot of factors that go in to someone...
    • Exemplary

    I own a board game store together with my partner. There are some excellent suggestions in this thread so far, but I also wanted to weigh in.

    There are a lot of factors that go in to someone getting into games and games resonating with them. We talk about complexity and weight, but a lot of games are a lot less difficult than people imagine. And a lot of people are more capable than they give themselves credit for. I regularly see folks struggle with some relatively simple games, but thrive at more complex games when the theme resonates with them. And if someone is just deadset on the idea that they're not a board game person, it's an uphill battle, personally I wouldn't try to force it.

    If they're willing to try, you definitely want to pick something that you know well enough that you can teach without much effort. Games have a language, and as you learn it new games become easier. But at the same time if someone hasn't developed that vocabulary, you'll need to slow down and explain things to them. Someone taking the time to try something new is being vulnerable with you. You don't have to let them win, but you do want to make sure they can make informed decisions and actually play. You can even explain why you're making certain moves. When I play with someone new I usually very actively help during the first few turns, but slowly ease off as the game goes on.

    A lot of games also have excellent learn-to-play videos on youtube. Before you play, look for a good one, watch it to make sure it's both comprehensive and not overly long. Once you find a good candidate, send it to them. Get them to watch it before you play. Then when it's time to play, do a quick recap and let them ask any questions.

    The final point I want to add before I get to suggestions is that if you find something they've enjoyed, you can use that as a branching off point. Relate the new game to what they've tried before when possible

    Some of the games I would recommend are:

    Wingspan - It's solidly mid-weight by any sort of assessment of complexity, but the theme carries it. It's a surprising number of people's first modern game. Lots of people love birds and that's often enough

    Century: Golem Edition (and the rest of the series) - Trade and acquire gems, fulfill recipes. It's pretty simple conceptually, but very aesthetically appealling. It's a great mix for new players. Additionally it's part of a 3-part series that share major components, but have key differences. So it's a good way to introduce the topic of mechanics. And any two or all 3 of the games in the series can combine into a super-game that takes elements from each and mashes them together. It's also got a strong mathematical foundations around the card design, so it's also interesting to talk about from a strategy/design perspective. It's excellent

    Machi Koro 2 - My pitch for this on is that it's sort of like monopoly, but it doesn't take 3 hours and make everyone mad. You're just rolling dice and making money. It's very chill and fun. It's great for people that have been burned by 'traditional' games

    Azul (and the rest of the series) - Grab tiles, place them in patterns to try to score the most points. But you have to be careful because you're all pulling from the same pool, so you're racing for the best tiles. Every game in the series share a very similar tile-acquisition method, but what you're doing with them varies from game to game, so it's another great series that lets you say 'this part is the same, this part is different'

    Any of those are excellent 'first modern games'. And if they like those, you can move from there. But again, if they're not receptive, I wouldn't try to force it. You're not gonna get anywhere if they're not open to trying.

    And if you can provide any additional information I can provide some more targetted suggestions

    18 votes

  5. Comment on LGBTQ folks check-in thread - how're you all doing? in ~lgbt

    PapaNachos
    Link Parent
    I count those folks as not caring about us. If they can't even be bothered to do even the bare minimum, what good are they as "allies"?

    I count those folks as not caring about us. If they can't even be bothered to do even the bare minimum, what good are they as "allies"?

    34 votes

  6. Comment on LGBTQ folks check-in thread - how're you all doing? in ~lgbt

    PapaNachos
    Link
    Shifting constantly between sadness and unbridled rage. Trying to find comfort in community but simultaneously aware that at best half the country doesn't care about us, and many of those people...

    Shifting constantly between sadness and unbridled rage. Trying to find comfort in community but simultaneously aware that at best half the country doesn't care about us, and many of those people actively want to hurt us. I took the last week off of work to just process. Him winning the popular vote is really disheartening

    I was really hoping we were done with this shit for a while.

    35 votes

  7. Comment on Touchscreens are out, and tactile controls are back. Rachel Plotnick's "re-buttonization" expertise is in demand. in ~design

    PapaNachos
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Typically I don't mention which company I work for but fuck it, yeah it was Ford. That being said, at the time I was working on cars about five or so years ahead of their release, so if they had...

    Typically I don't mention which company I work for but fuck it, yeah it was Ford. That being said, at the time I was working on cars about five or so years ahead of their release, so if they had already pissed you off 10 years ago, that would have been before I was working there

    And while it's true that they did want you to just buy a new car they just kind of assumed you were going to stick with the same brand

    7 votes

  8. Comment on Touchscreens are out, and tactile controls are back. Rachel Plotnick's "re-buttonization" expertise is in demand. in ~design

    PapaNachos
    Link Parent
    Yeah I hated that guy, but he made at least three times what I did

    Yeah I hated that guy, but he made at least three times what I did

    5 votes

  9. Comment on Touchscreens are out, and tactile controls are back. Rachel Plotnick's "re-buttonization" expertise is in demand. in ~design

    PapaNachos
    Link Parent
    Yeah the issue isn't that he wanted a CD player, it's that he wanted a five disc one that would cost a bunch and was so big and bulky that it was going to make the glove compartment noticeably...

    Yeah the issue isn't that he wanted a CD player, it's that he wanted a five disc one that would cost a bunch and was so big and bulky that it was going to make the glove compartment noticeably smaller because of where all the components were going to end up

    And he wanted it as part of the standard package rather than an optional upgrade

    11 votes

  10. Comment on Touchscreens are out, and tactile controls are back. Rachel Plotnick's "re-buttonization" expertise is in demand. in ~design

    PapaNachos
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    I'm an ex-automotive engineer. About 10 years ago I was sitting in meetings trying to explain to my dumbass managers and the design teams that touch screens are terrible and that we need as many...

    I'm an ex-automotive engineer. About 10 years ago I was sitting in meetings trying to explain to my dumbass managers and the design teams that touch screens are terrible and that we need as many physical buttons as possible because haptic feedback is important. They fought me at every turn because touch screens look cool and when people are choosing to buy cars that they are sitting in a showroom lobby. I was literally told that actually usability was secondary to how it impressed people in the showroom.

    Specifically most of my fights were around the controls for the climate system, since that was the area I had the most say over.

    Edit: I also told them that instead of trying to guess which type of plug would win the format wars, we should make a module that's designed to be swappable in the future once the industry as a whole shifted. This was back around 2014-2015, before USB-C became the clear winner. I'm still mad about that job.

    Edit again: I had to talk my manager out of putting a 5 disc CD changer as a standard option for a luxury vehicle that was going to launch in like 2020. Literally laughed at him in a meeting for that one. God I hated him

    74 votes

  11. Comment on Where is a good place to get commissioned artwork? in ~creative

    PapaNachos
    Link
    A lot of artists who take commissions advertise on twitter. If you find someone you like you can usually reach out via DMs and ask if they're taking commissions and what their rates are. If your...

    A lot of artists who take commissions advertise on twitter. If you find someone you like you can usually reach out via DMs and ask if they're taking commissions and what their rates are. If your husband has a favorite artist, you can try reaching out to them directly. Have you checked his social media to see if there are any artists or styles he particularly likes?

    But yeah, I haven't tried hiring any artists since assholes started flooding the various platforms with AI generated crap, but I would try verifying that the artist you're attempting to hire has been around for at least a few years.

    2 votes

  12. Comment on Guild Wars 2 Steam launch and tenth anniversary is tomorrow in ~games

    PapaNachos
    Link
    It's taken 10 years, but GW 2 is finally coming to steam. Over the past few months the game has really seen a resurgence and the devs have been hard at work improving the new player experience....

    It's taken 10 years, but GW 2 is finally coming to steam. Over the past few months the game has really seen a resurgence and the devs have been hard at work improving the new player experience.

    I'm really excited, let me know if you decide to try it out.

    3 votes

  14. Comment on US free-speech group will spend millions to promote First Amendment cases in ~misc

    PapaNachos
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Ugh "diversity of views" is such a thinly veiled euphemism for "let me say bigoted shit without consequence". Their whole vibe reminds me of one of my favorite tweets Groups like this always seem...

    Ugh "diversity of views" is such a thinly veiled euphemism for "let me say bigoted shit without consequence". Their whole vibe reminds me of one of my favorite tweets

    Groups like this always seem to use the same language and the same euphemisms and dog whistles. It makes them easy to spot, but honestly it's pretty tiring

    11 votes

  15. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    PapaNachos
    Link
    Been reading a lot of indie TTRPGs partly for fun, partly to widen my knowledge base and partly as research for the board game store I'm opening. Business Wizards is a rules light RPG about...

    Been reading a lot of indie TTRPGs partly for fun, partly to widen my knowledge base and partly as research for the board game store I'm opening.

    Business Wizards is a rules light RPG about wizarding in a corporate hellscape. It's tongue in cheek and really cathartic for anyone who works for a soulless corporation. I had a chance to play with the Devs a year or so ago and we played the actual game via an online PowerPoint-style presentation. It's absolutely hilarious and I'm prepping to run it for a group of friends

    Thirsty Sword Lesbians the name says it all, it's a medium weight explicitly LGBT-inclusive, explicitly anti-fascist RPG about lesbians with swords fighting against tyrany and their own personal baggage. The book even opens with a bunch of safety tools to make sure that everyone is comfortable around the table, which can be a big issue with TTRPGs. I haven't played it but I really want to.

    Finally Monster Care Squad is a game where you play as elite fantasy veterinarians trying to help monsters and magical creatures who are in distress. It explicitly doesn't have rules for intentionally cause harm to anyone else and seems like a really cool way of approaching conflict resolution. It really feels like it has abolitionist and restorative justice undertones instead of the traditional stab-bad-guy-with-a-pointy-stick method that is common in many other games. I'll probably cue up a game of this next once I've run Business Wizards

    6 votes

  16. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    PapaNachos
    Link Parent
    My partner played that during the beta and she really seemed to enjoy it

    My partner played that during the beta and she really seemed to enjoy it

    2 votes

  17. Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime

    PapaNachos
    Link
    I mentioned in the other weekly TV post that SPY x FAMILY is fucking amazing. I can't wait for more to come out. Beyond that, it feels like Crunchyroll has added a lot of shows within the past...

    I mentioned in the other weekly TV post that SPY x FAMILY is fucking amazing. I can't wait for more to come out.

    Beyond that, it feels like Crunchyroll has added a lot of shows within the past week or two and I'm here for it

    1 vote

  18. Comment on TV Tuesdays Free Talk in ~tv

    PapaNachos
    Link
    Watched Spy x Family over on Crunchyroll and oh my god, it's one of the funniest shows I've ever seen. The basic premise is that it's the cold war in an alternate world and the top spy needs a...

    Watched Spy x Family over on Crunchyroll and oh my god, it's one of the funniest shows I've ever seen. The basic premise is that it's the cold war in an alternate world and the top spy needs a cover family for his latest mission. From there, things spin out of control, but I'm not going to spoil anything.

    There are some shows that take some getting into and only get good around season 2 or 3. This is not one of those shows, it's fucking amazing from the start. There are only 2 episodes so far and I can't think of a show I've seen ever that has had a stronger opening. If the rest of it is as good as what I've seen so far, people are going to be talking about this show in 20 years

    1 vote

  19. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    PapaNachos
    Link Parent
    Wait, they don't have automation? I was assuming that once I got a colony up and running with people and everything I would be able to tell the to go gather carbon or whatever.

    Wait, they don't have automation? I was assuming that once I got a colony up and running with people and everything I would be able to tell the to go gather carbon or whatever.

    2 votes

  20. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    PapaNachos
    Link Parent
    I definitely ran into an issue like that in single player. I did a quest and it brought me to a crashed ship in need of repair, so I built a base and when I teleported away and back again it was...

    I definitely ran into an issue like that in single player. I did a quest and it brought me to a crashed ship in need of repair, so I built a base and when I teleported away and back again it was gone.

    And another time I did a whole quest solo and it wanted me to go back to the anomaly to cash it in, but I tried teleporting to another base and accidentally cancelled the already completed quest because suddenly there was a pop-up in the middle of my screen.

    They really need to hire someone to do UX. It feels like every time I feel like I'm getting into a groove something comes along and just punches me in the face. Just deeply frustrating

    2 votes