Shadowrun Sundays - Random Gaming Madness (tags #gaming #RPGs #Shadowrun)
Originally published at Ramblings from the Flip Side (Site under construction). You can comment here or there.
I like video games, but I am not the intended audience for them. I’m one of those people who can play for a few hours, walk away for dinner, and never come back to the game. If I really like the game, I’ll come back a few days in a row before I stop playing. But video games don’t trip my trigger. There’s no emotional payoff for me. My brain just doesn’t do the whole enzyme-release-reward thing for me when I achieve video game goals.
Still, I have a handheld Galaga game that I still play from time to time (my favorite video game EVER), and my Nintendo with Darkwing Duck and a few other games on it. The SO and I occasionally do multiplayer Gauntlet on his console. But the closest I come to hardcore video gaming is MUSHing.
I love MUSHing. MUDding, not so much. But give me a good MUSH and a good set of players, and I’m there (when I have time). I love tabletop games (RPG and board games). Basically, I like interacting with people when I’m playing. That’s when I get the rush, the feel-good, “let’s keep going, I’m having too much fun to stop” thing. I want to socialize when I play. I want to have other people changing up the rules.
My gaming group likes to switch off between things. Some of the RPGs we’ve played lately include Pathfinder, Shadowrun, and Usagi Yojimbo (this was fun!). We keep threatening to put a D&D game together, but no one wants to GM, which kinda complicates things. @=)
When we don’t have a full compliment (enough to properly role-play), we turn to board games or deck-building games. Dominion, Ascension, Qwirkle, Carcassonne, Carcassonne New World (really like this one), Ticket to Ride, Ticket to Ride Europe, Seven Dragons, Citadals, Sequence, and some other card game that consists of 3 rounds of resource gathering and empire building. I cannot remember the name of that one for the life of me. (I am sooooo ashamed!)
Of all the board games or card games, Ticket to Ride Europe, Carcassonne, and Carcassonne New World seem to be the group favorites. Ascension is fun, but we’ve never gone through a full deck before someone wins, which makes me wonder if we’re playing it wrong. Dominion was fun too, but one of our group got tired of it so we’ve stopped playing for a while.
I’m hunting for other good board and deck-building game options, but have yet to find any. No one will play the old fashioned stuff with me (Scrabble, Monopoly, etc.) @=( The guys all want “shiny” and “new.” And yes, I am the only female in my gaming group.
I have seen up to four other women gamers in one of our usual haunts, though one doesn’t count because she runs / co-owns the place. Or maybe she counts double. She plays and she owns the shop. Hey, that’s gotta be triple points at least! Because for some reason people are keeping score on the number of women in gaming. Sigh.
Me? I’m just happy to know I’m not the only one.