To inaugurate the section ” our tops,” here is a necessarily subjective one (they will all be), since it is based both on the games we like and that we take pleasure to go out with our friends’ players. Indeed, for some of them, they have been practiced for several years with the same desire.
What are Tabletop RPGs Games?
The model of the Tabletop RPG Games is as follows: many (if not all) players fight to achieve a common goal. In this case, most of the time, we compete against the game itself, whether it is scripted or not. Some games welcome a player who takes on the role of the villain, who may be known at the beginning of the game, or who reveals himself during his course. He then acts as a submarine trying, generally, to influence decisions by avoiding detection, and has a goal he must accomplish alone.
We realize, with time and almost ten years of play, that we increasingly like these moments of tabletop RPGs games, especially within our small group of players. Collective victory is motivating, but defeat is no less. So we wanted to share with you these cooperative games that we like (attention, the matches last from 2 to 6 hours per game, in this selection):
- The Remain of horror
The Homes of the Terror, this is a killer chart! It’s impossible to remain insensitive. The game is simply beautiful. In this game, each player has a role, an investigator character. This is a semi-RPG game, as players have to fight against only one, who plays the part of the keeper. The universe is stable, inspired by H. P. Lovecraft and the world of Chtulu.
There are several scenarios to follow (5), where the keeper makes choices to place cards (objects or clues) on the different pieces that make up the board at the beginning of the game, decisions that can be different if we replay the same scenario, which makes the replay of the match very good. He is the only one who knows where to go to advance in the situation, and the investigators have the mission to gather evidence to be able to understand their objective.
The game is reserved for well-informed people to understand the rules, but any beginner can enter the game if he is well-surrounded. In my opinion, this is one of the strengths of this game: it is relatively quickly accessible while ensuring functional complexity and brainstorming.
- Battlestar Galactica
BSG – If you don’t know the show, I can only advise you. This board game tells its tense universe, and the atmosphere perfectly. In this game of cooperation, there can be up to 2 cyclones, human characters until proof to the contrary (the allegiances are face down at the beginning of the game). In the middle of the game, we get a second allegiance card, which means that even if we were human until then, everything could change! The mechanics of the game is quite simple: each player takes a character card (which matches those of the series) and receives a hidden allegiance. Depending on their roles, the characters have different special abilities, as well as a hierarchy. So the nature of Adama will take the Admiral card, and the integrity of Roslin will receive the President card, which are two roles that will make them make essential choices for the rest of the community.
The game is punctuated by Cylon invasions, which attack the ship and cause the group to lose either rations, fuel, population, or morale. When one of the cursors comes in the red, the humans lose the game. The Cylons, on the other hand, have a personal goal that may be to win humans, but with one condition (as humans must win the game with a minimum of 4 in population), which makes it a game with quite a lot of wealth and subtleties. Humans win the game by making enough jumps in space to escape the Cylons. Well, okay, if you haven’t seen the show, it won’t talk to you, but if you know it, the immersion is total.
- Andor
Andor, the board game, it has already made an article here that we invite you of course to read.
In a Fantasy world, it is a game that puts the whole package on full cooperation, here no big bad infiltrated, no, just adventurers whose mission is to save the castle and the population from the dangers that surround it. The game is very well paced, everything is calculated in millimeters, which some people appreciate less (we count a lot during the game): for each turn of the game, each player has a limited number of hours, an hour corresponding to an action. Thus, moving a square costs an effort. Fighting requires work. And there are only seven hours a day, so you have to go very fast and be efficient. At the end of each night, and each death of a creature, the narrating pawn moves forward by a square, accelerating the moment when the game is over: we spend our time running after time.
The game is very scripted, the basic box contains five stories and therefore, five different missions. The difficulty goes up, the first story being an initiation part, which allows to take it in hand. The playfulness is not huge since the stories are not told as in the homes of horror, but one takes pleasure in making them. Extensions exist to renew the game.
- Horror in Arkham
Horror at Arkham, the complex game of reference: indeed, if it is part of our selection, it is because we play it quite often with knowledgeable people. Yah never, in his interview, explained that this is the game that he found the most difficult to explain, as it is so complicated. It’s a long game (a minimum of 1 hour per player when you master the rules), enough to discourage casual players, but really, the game is worth it. Here again, it’s full cooperation: no villain played by a player, No, but a “great Elder” who should not be woken up. The universe is the same as the homes: Lovecraft, Chtulu, and company. Heroes are investigators with unique characteristics and equipment.
The game takes place in Arkham, a small town with its shops, where clues have been left and sometimes creatures that ” popent.” You have to try to fight them, trying to keep your whole life and your mental health.
The goal of the game is to close portals, which lead to another world from which monsters come out, to secure the city. Once the right number of gateways are closed, the great Elder wakes up, and you have to fight him to win the game (he is the big boss of the fin). Not visible, especially since everything is played with the throwing of dice, and he does not hesitate to damage his assailants, the vile green
In short, this is a game that is complex, but productive, you will understand, in a universe that is not less. Just don’t be afraid to take the day off and keep the rules at your fingertips.
What else?
There are others that we like but that we haven’t tested enough: Hanabi, of which we made a part and which is super exciting, Zombicide and Zombie 15′ (whose we invite you to read the interview of the creator as well as the process of creating the game), Sherlock and Dead of Winter, that I’m dying to test, the Knights of the Round Table. That hangs in our closets but that I want to come out, and dozens of others (Pandemic, The Forbidden Island).