Not long ago, I wrote an article about the TV show “Big Bang Theory” and its light-hearted approach to gaming. Since then I have seen that approach popping up in a few other places. The web series called “The Guild” (www.watchtheguild.com) who appeared recently at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo and a new film called “Dungeon Crawl” (www.dungeoncrawlthemovie.com) which is being featured at our local library; both of which are about fantasy gaming groups. While I totally support the promotion of the Geek Lifestyle, I can’t help but notice that they are all comedies. Why?
Recently at a convention in Calgary, I was drawn to the gaming section. It was nice to see a healthy section of games going on, as well as hearing someone mention the gaming convention in Regina (Flatland Fantasy V1). However, I was quickly distracted by something else. There was even a well-timed ‘Holy Crap’ from one of my friends. Yes, we had discovered that there is something called ‘The Settlers of Catan 3D Limited Edition’. It was a beautiful thing to behold, first all the pieces came in a treasure box. You could easily store it on a bookshelf without it looking tacky. Then there are the hexagons themselves… all carved to reflect the type of land they are. The ore is rocky and resembles are real mine, the wheat looks like any typical ‘Little House on the Prairie’ scene. The pasture comes with carved sheep and the details on the ‘bricks’ hexagon is truly cool. I love that the towns and cities really look like miniture towns and cities now and not some monopoly castaways. And the three robbers are very lovable, even when they get in your way. What is not loveable however is the price. The one I saw was listed as being $600. So I checked… I didn’t see any gold or silver embossing, nor did I see anything made out of pewter. It does make sense that this would be an expensive game; it was produced in limited production and the pieces are amazing, but is it worth $600 dollars of amazing,? I am not so sure. But as is the way of conventions, there are always some very cool and excellent things. I didn’t come home with a 3D Catan game, but I also didn’t come home with a Darth Maul lightsaber either. I guess some things are just too rich for this geek’s blood… no matter how cool they are.
Choices.... I am still really new to the whole gaming thing, with the exception of Christmas and the odd family night, I’ve not played a lot of games outside Catan, Scrabble and a teeny tiny bit of D&D. My small group of friends and I have been getting together regularly to play Catan and have decided to broaden our horizon’s a bit. So we’ve sort of been halfheartedly looking around for new games. The first game that came to mind was the Supernatural role playing game, and really that has nothing to do with my obsession of the show... really!
I’m a Geek with a secret, a shameful, dark, horrible secret….I’m only a newbie gamer.
Shhh, don’t tell anyone. While I have been a geek my whole life, since I've become an adult my gaming list really only consists of Settlers of Catan. I played a lot of board and role playing games as a child and teen, I even had my try at dungeons and dragons a few times. (Sadly I got kicked out of the group for not taking it seriously enough. Apparently a Snarky Elf is not always appreciated… who knew?) So truthfully, I don’t know much about what new board games are out.
When I was watching The Big Bang Theory the other night, I was happy to see one of the main plots was going to be about gaming. I was, however, a little disappointed when the writers portrayed the non-geek character of Penny as not having fun while playing a card game with her Geek friends. Why? Obviously the writers have to be somewhat geeky themselves or they would never understand the ins and outs of the Geekdom in the show.(Is it possible that they have a Geek consultant? Who knows?) But why would they think that a ‘Normal’ (aka non-geek) wouldn’t enjoy a game such as the one they played?
