August 2024 Newsletter
It came from… The Skies!!!
Tickets for It came from… The Skies!!! are now on sale! The event is scheduled for September 28th with registration opening at 10:00am and an official start time of 10:30. The game ends by 5pm and we’ll go to a local pub for the afterparty where we tell each other the stories of the day. As I write this, we’re over halfway there on ticket sales (max player count 48). Tickets are $40 each and you can go to the store page by clicking the big grey button below:
<Tickets all sold out>
This our version of the classic game, Watch the Skies, made famous by the very silly boys at Shut up and Sit down back in 2016. If you haven’t seen the video before, you definitely should. There’s a magic moment about halfway through where they begin to realize what a megagame is - that it’s not just some large, 2 dimensional board game, that it’s part role playing game where the sky is the limit (pun intended).
I have lots to say about our version of the game which you can find on the event page using this link.
There’s a reason it’s one of the most beloved megagames around - it’s a wonderful simulation of how real people might react to alien visitors. The Aliens drive the over-arching story, keeping the human players on their toes, meaning the humans never know exactly what it is the aliens want from them. Even if/when communication is possible, can you really trust what they tell you?
Gen Con
Gen Con wrapped up a couple of weeks ago and I can safely say I’m still exhausted from it. It was an amazing time - meeting old friends and making new ones. Playing and running a multitude of games - megagames, board games, card games, role-playing games, etc.
On Thursday morning we ran It came from the skies - the same version that we’ll be running in Louisville in September. It’s a very solid game and ran extremely smoothly. We had all our players do a feedback survey and it was overwhelmingly positive. I’m very pleased with the response and very proud of my control team - they were all amazing.
On Thursday evening, Forrest ran Gods of the Ancient World. This was his first time leading a game and though I helped with components and questions leading up to the day, I had nothing to do with the running of the event. Again, feedback was extremely positive and I heard nothing but glowing reports - both of the players experience and how well Forrest did. Congratulations, Forrest. You should be very proud!
On Friday morning, in a rare moment, I had the pleasure of playing in a megagame. It’s called Crucible of Nations and it’s a fantasy setting where all players each represent a race/species/faction all vying for control of the world. Imaging if Game of Thrones had races of Elves, Dwarves and Halflings.
I played on the single Halflings team. Knowing that our military was very weak, we decided to lean into the subterfuge and espionage (which were our strengths). Early on we decided that we would lie to everyone we spoke to, forging flimsy alliances and promises. I stole from almost every other nation and even went after the Wise ones - some ex-adventurers who had set themselves up as lore keepers and treaty adjudicators. We had an amazing time and hat’s off to Josh and his team for putting on a fabulous event.
On Saturday morning we had our second run of It belongs in a museum, the wonderful game of adventurers finding spicy artifacts and promising them to grumpy museums. It went really well also (if a little rushed towards the end) and also completely exhausting. It’s such a complicated game from the game runners perspective so if we were to run it again, I’d have to do a lot more to prepare to make it go even smoother. From a players perspective it’s an absolute gem, but very difficult from control perspective.
The Long Game Project
Earlier this year we were reached out to by The Long Game project. They’re a group that offers courses on game design, development and what they call tabletop exercising - running games and simulations for improving decision making for organizations. They’re attempting to use these skill sets to transition hobbyists into serious game facilitators and local champions. This is something I’ve very interested in, particularly how we can spread this as a concept and make it more mainstream.
I believe their current objective is to get people in and do the course and provide them with feedback on the content. They’re very keen to build the community and educate people on the subject matter. I’ve started going through the material myself and haven’t hit any sort of paywall yet, certainly the foundational content is all completely free. So there’s no harm jumping in and giving them a look-see.
2025
I have no idea yet what we’re going to run in 2025 but I’ll be working on the slate of games over the next several months. Be sure to read each of these monthly newsletters to be first to know when to block out your calendars!
The Dukes of Highland is a community focused gaming group and so I want to involve you all in the decision making process. Later on this year I’m going to send out a end-of year, 3-year anniversary super-survey to get your feedback on which games you’ve enjoyed over our life, which games you’d like to see again, your ideas on what themes you’d like to see in the future and ideas on how to build the community further. Watch this space for this too.
So what are we boardgames?
The hit of Gen Con for me this year was a very small game called The Gang. It’s a stupidly simple game of cooperative Texas Hold’em Poker where we’re trying to gauge how strong our hands are against each other. It’s a cross between the wonderful card game “The Mind” from a few years ago and Poker. I don’t even like Poker! But this game is so delicious. It’s cunning and clever and frustrating and exhilarating all at the same time. The more players you play with, the harder it is (and the more satisfying a win is). It appears out of stock right now but when it comes back, know I’ll be buying a copy for myself.
That’s all for now. Be good to each other. Tell your best friends that you love them.
~Tony