Nascar (never played, but have observed)
Personally I find Nascar to be literally too linear, and with games running a month or more, rather long.
Mafia (play irregularly, observe regularly)
The story writeups are what makes this game fun. However, the elimination nature of the game means that often you're sidelined for a good part of the game.
Vampire (play)
Snowflake's modified version of Mafia helps solve the elimination problem by making it two-tiered: those targeted by the original vampire get to become one themselves. The increased killing rate also speeds up the pace, probably making it easier to GM.
Gladiator (never played, observed once)
The way the players get into the game with the taunts is exciting, however, take that away and it's just a two-month long math problem.
Hangman (never played)
I'm with Stupid (played regularly, GM'd twice)
A great game and very entertaining. The workload for the GM is quite high and heavily concentrated, however, and most likely has something to do with its abrupt end.
Nuclear War (play regularly, GM'd twice)
The ease of play is a big plus, as is the relative equality of all the players; unlike Society and Overlord, it's harder to "fall behind" in Nuclear War. The elimination contest however makes for many players knocked out early followed by long dragged out end turns. It does make a good venting ground for hostilities from the other two strategy games.
The game is easy to run and lends itself well to GM creativity, we've seen space based and Texan storylines. Even the standard earthbound scenarios are well written and exciting.
Galactic Overlord (play regularly, GM'd once)
With different strategies and the possibility for alliances, Overlord is great fun, so long as you're in. Since it's also an elimination game, a lot of the time players are just waiting on the sidelines.
From the GM'ing standpoint, Overlord does have a lot of math, but is still easily manageable. Ljube's introduction of detailed stories and characters improve the atmosphere as well.
Society (play regularly, GM'd twice, wrote the original rules)
My primary aim with the Society rules was to create a game in which the majority of players would remain in through to the end of the game. In this regard it's worked well- we've yet to have any game end in a pure conquest victory. Trade and foreign aid also add to this atmosphere of cooperation within competition.
The many victory conditions and strategies come at the cost of being very mathematically demanding. It can take a while to plan a turn as a player, and processing a turn as GM can take a few hours.
I'd like to see a variation of Society that preserves the cooperative trade and the absence of elimination, but with much easier or even no math.
Personally I find Nascar to be literally too linear, and with games running a month or more, rather long.
Mafia (play irregularly, observe regularly)
The story writeups are what makes this game fun. However, the elimination nature of the game means that often you're sidelined for a good part of the game.
Vampire (play)
Snowflake's modified version of Mafia helps solve the elimination problem by making it two-tiered: those targeted by the original vampire get to become one themselves. The increased killing rate also speeds up the pace, probably making it easier to GM.
Gladiator (never played, observed once)
The way the players get into the game with the taunts is exciting, however, take that away and it's just a two-month long math problem.
Hangman (never played)
I'm with Stupid (played regularly, GM'd twice)
A great game and very entertaining. The workload for the GM is quite high and heavily concentrated, however, and most likely has something to do with its abrupt end.
Nuclear War (play regularly, GM'd twice)
The ease of play is a big plus, as is the relative equality of all the players; unlike Society and Overlord, it's harder to "fall behind" in Nuclear War. The elimination contest however makes for many players knocked out early followed by long dragged out end turns. It does make a good venting ground for hostilities from the other two strategy games.
The game is easy to run and lends itself well to GM creativity, we've seen space based and Texan storylines. Even the standard earthbound scenarios are well written and exciting.
Galactic Overlord (play regularly, GM'd once)
With different strategies and the possibility for alliances, Overlord is great fun, so long as you're in. Since it's also an elimination game, a lot of the time players are just waiting on the sidelines.
From the GM'ing standpoint, Overlord does have a lot of math, but is still easily manageable. Ljube's introduction of detailed stories and characters improve the atmosphere as well.
Society (play regularly, GM'd twice, wrote the original rules)
My primary aim with the Society rules was to create a game in which the majority of players would remain in through to the end of the game. In this regard it's worked well- we've yet to have any game end in a pure conquest victory. Trade and foreign aid also add to this atmosphere of cooperation within competition.
The many victory conditions and strategies come at the cost of being very mathematically demanding. It can take a while to plan a turn as a player, and processing a turn as GM can take a few hours.
I'd like to see a variation of Society that preserves the cooperative trade and the absence of elimination, but with much easier or even no math.
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