I feel like recommending PnP games again

 I’ve written about essential PnP libraries and PnP games that I feel would be good for budget gaming more than once. Unfortunately, I still think there is a real, possibly growing, need for that, although the very concept of PnP games comes with the assumption that people have access to printers, which feels like an arrogant assumption. Still, PnP games is one of my hobbies so that’s what I am working with.

Few disclaimers:

- If you this blog on the regular, there will be no surprises. 

- I’m focusing on games that just require printing. There’s a lot of good PnP games that involve cards and tiles and boards and such but I’m focusing on accessible games. If you’re already making cards and chits and tiles, you don’t need my advice.

I have said more than once that, if you are completely new to Print and Play, a good place to start is to go to Postmark Games and buy their whole catalog. Which I think is currently eight games so it’s not unreasonable. And if that’s as far as you go, you will still do well.

With that said, I want to highlight their first three games: Voyages, Aquamarine and Waypoints. Lots of content, solid mechanics and aimed at the general gamer audience. Accessible but full of interesting choices. Great examples of what you can do with Roll and Write.

All three of those games are multi-player solitaires, which is pretty common in the print-and-go niche of PnP. My next recommendation, on the other hand, is totally in your face.

Beards and Booty from Shiny Pigeon Games  is possibly the best Beer and Pretzels PnP game I’ve found. Pirates with special abilities beating the tar out of each other. Plenty of room for smack talk and other good fun. I do recommend always playing with sea monsters. They mix things up and make sure things keep happening.

Around the World in 10-15 Minutes also from Shiny Pigeon Games gets an honorable mention. It has a strong Ticket to Ride and a Roll and Write vibe and I really enjoy it but I also think it is very forgiving. When I play, it’s less of a question of will I do well, but how will I do well this time? That keeps me from giving it a wholehearted recommendation.

My last recommendation (at least for now) is Chateau from Rolling Rhino Games. It’s also the game that made me decide that I should post yet another blog like this. It’s a fill-in-the-grid Roll and Write, which is a ridiculously common mechanic. However, it has a bunch of different maps, each with their own special power. And it has interaction, letting you actively mess up other players’s plans. That’s when I said. ‘People can use this in their libraries’ 

This is far, far from a full list of PnP games that are out there that are worth your time playing. I will also admit that every last game on the list is definitely on the light side. And there are heavier PnP games out there, including ones that don’t require any construction. And I keep meaning to find the time to look at them :)

Still, like I said at the top, I think there is a real need for budget gaming. And this is my way of trying to help people find a way to do that. At the very least, I think I’ve put together enough for a few good family game nights here.

Outdoor Survival wishes it was Waypoints

 Ah, Waypoints. The third game that Matthew Dunstan and Rory Muldoon designed for Postmark Games. I really liked their other two games, Voyages and Aquamarine, so I was curious to see how Waypoints would go.

Waypoints is a game about hiking in a park. The boards are topographical maps with a grid overlay. Each turn, you get a certain number of action points. You draw your path freehand and it costs an action point to cross any line. Which means both topographical lines and grid lines.

The map has a variety of waypoints, which are actually just dots with different symbols by them. They are also where you have to end each leg of a hike. (If you can’t reach one, you have to rest, which gets you a water but what you really want is to hike) Collecting symbols is how you get points and bonus powers.

So here’s where it goes interesting. You roll one six-sided die to determine how many action points you get each turn. Now, you don’t get the number you roll. Instead, you move that many spaces on the weather track. The space you end on tells you how many action points you’ll be getting.

Now, anytime a Roll and Write has me use just one die, that’s a red flag. Only one die flattens the odds and limits the outcome. Even two dice, just one more die, makes a big difference in decision tree. I’m not saying there aren’t good Roll and Writes that use just one die but I definitely view it as a design obstacle.

That said, Waypoints has a number of ways of letting you deal with random luck. Water lets you get additional action points. Jackets give you bonus action points on cold weather (which is when you get only one or two points) Kayaks and hang gliders give you special movements. Later maps add more stuff.

The only actual problem that I have found, and this has happened to me, is that I have had hiking days that only lasted three turns. The number of turns you get can be pretty variable.

I have only played the game solitaire, which requires you to end each day at a campfire, a requirement that you don’t have in multi-player games. I lost my first game because I couldn’t do that. I don’t view that as a bug but a feature. The soliatire game would be too easy without that extra challenge. That said, I have had to hustle on some hikes.

I honestly feel Waypoints is a very close third behind Voyages and Aquamarine. The theme is very strong and well connected to the mechanics. The action points make the freehand drawing work well.  Waypoints is engaging and interesting. It feels both innovative and intuitive, at least to me.

However, the variable turn factor is a ding for me. I can see how it might be a plus for some folks, since it definitely adds tension to the game. And I think it might be less of a problem with multi-player games where you don’t have to end on a camp fire.

Waypoints is gojng to see regular play from me. It is what people who actually wanted to play Outdoor Survival wanted Outdoor Survival to be.