The gang and I recently got together to get some Shadow of Brimstone to the table. So I got my painting done for the Swamps of Death with the only exception being the Harbinger. I just couldn’t quite get that beast painted before game day. Here’s the raw post-Game thoughts I put down in our slack team after the session:
I am glad we got to finish a first time game to the table with Shadows of Brimstone. Things were going faster towards the end too so I think even longer missions could be finished.
Sergio pointed out that having that feeling of “gearing up” for the boss fight at the end didn’t come through all that well, hopefully, now that we know to Loot at the end of every encounter that will fix itself.
Besides the criticisms on the lateness of the original kickstarter (which I didn’t ever feel because I got into it so late), the other area that caused complaint on the system was the simple combat mechanics. I think here people are just wrong about this for the same reasons they are wrong about it in Star Trek Ascendancy. The more intricate/detailed/complex combat gets in a conflict game, the longer the play time. Every designer worth their beans knows that if you get to the six hour playtime in today’s market your customer base just went down to 10% of the gaming market. Exceed six hours and you are in the the 1% and less region.
This game does a lot of exploring and lore, if combat got much more complicated than it is now this game would die out. It would be trying to “do too much”. So, personally, I didn’t have a problem with it. Also, I think as the expansions come into play, the game play variety from exploration perspective will keep things lively.
I am glad Kevin could come. I missed having his keen mind and perspective at the gaming table. I hope we can keep you coming back buddy!
