On Thursday morning, I sat down with his words in mind, hoping they would lower my expectations sufficiently that I would love Gloomhaven. When he got to Gloomhaven, his review was two words: The one bright (dark?) spot here was that the night before, a highly-respected game designer had run through his list of games played and offered his quick opinions. I was considering supporting the Kickstarter even as I had sworn to not buy unplayed games this year (probably not an unfamiliar refrain to you, dear reader). For the most part, the Gloomhyping had worked on me.

Having been raised in the business world by the Pixie Dusters at Disney, where one of the key concepts is to exceed expectations, IвЂ™m keenly in tune with how important it is to go into a situation with them set properly. Deja vu, game edition.Д®xpectations are a tough thing. More control, less randomness, a more serious design. I recall how in the late 80вЂ™s, I switched to GURPS from AD&D 1st edition for similar reasons. While my recent investment in Descent 2.0 to play with my son and friends is substantial, maybe Gloomhaven will give me the eurogame-powered alternative that will be worth the switch. I turned up early to my designated time all ready to be dazzled.

As it happens, a big fan of the game had been running daily games for novices, teaching them the game and then running them through his campaign with prescribed characters he had been developing. So, I was quite appreciative when my friend Jeff gave me his slot in a planned Gloomhaven session on Thursday morning. The hype, not shied away from by the publisher, was massive and growing. People I respected had been pushing it hard, talking about how amazing the whole thing was and putting a whole lot of money into the admittedly giant box offered by the publisher. Yet, Gloomhaven was high on my mental list to try because of all the hype that has been spread online about this game for some time, culminating in their highly successful Kickstarter campaign, which just closed. Having a limited time at the Gathering of Friends this year, I had not really made a proper list of must-play games. Gloomhaven here also got a little long.Д®ditorвЂ™s Other Note: If you are a Gloomhaven Groupie and want your opinion validated, Ars Technica has a good article for you. Bless you for your patience with this busy blogger. TheyвЂ™ll come out as soon as I can get a moment to write and edit them. EditorвЂ™s Note: Still getting around to my posts from Gathering of Friends 2017 last month.

Gloomhaven organizer plans