Video Round-Up

X-Men Has Three Villains?

Does Marvel Need More in 2026?

Doomsday and Secret Wars Delayed

Doctor Strange 3 Title

Avengers: Secret Wars Ending Theory

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The Game – Batman: Everybody Lies

Like I said, I’m not going to get into too many details on the game because, it’s a system that’s been done before. It does tweak what was done in the base Detective game, though, a little bit. So let’s focus on the differences here so you know what has changed.

Firstly, each character that you can play as has some backstory that you, as the player gets to find out about. Basically an introductory letter to the case and a specific mission that you want to find the answer for. And you can push further at some locations and some leads to find your answer. You are tested on them, so you want to do that as that’ll help your overall score.

Next, time is fixed in this. I don’t mean that it wasn’t working before, but it was variable, it might take you two hours it might take you three. Now everything takes one time unit and it isn’t done in days, you just has certain check points where you can stop.

Finally, there are also scenes. Now this is something that they kind of did for the original. But the basic idea is that there are comic panels that you can look at and try and figure out clues from it. It adds to the immersion of the game play.

What Doesn’t Work?

The group as a whole thought it was a bit odd how little Batman was in a game about Batman. No one plays as Batman, he is just a side character whom you can interact with. That makes sense in some ways because Batman would just always be the answer to doing anything. But it struggles a little bit because there isn’t enough Batman, not enough interactions with Batman or Bruce Wayne or Alfred.

The story is tied together, each part loosely connects in, though it feels like more so through the cast of characters versus a deeply intertwining story that the original game has. And some of it might be that we didn’t play it as consecutively, but the story is just not as strong, which makes sense in some ways because they needed to work with DC to get everything approved for a story.

What Works?

I do think that Batman in general for a setting works well, or Gotham I should say. And while I have some issues with how it was pulled off, it is still a solid experience playing it. Mainly because a lot of Batman’s rogues gallery is fun. And they use parts of it throughout, I won’t say who all shows up but they do a solid job of mixing in characters.

And I think some of the new things work well. The time is fine either way, but it makes it easier for new players. But the other things, the comic panels, I like those. And I like that each character has their own thing, sometimes which you run out of time to figure out. But because we know the characters you play as, or at least they are in the comics, they can create that extra bit of connection with them.

Who Is It For?

I think this is for someone who wants a deduction game or wants to get people to play a deduction game. The Batman theme is going to be more appealing than what feels like NCIS or CSI. At least for some people it will be. And because of certain things being easier, I think that it’s simpler to get to the table.

On the flip side, it’s just a little bit less interesting in a lot of ways than the other one. My complaint about how the story ties together won’t be noticed, though, if you haven’t played the other. But I do think for some people it might feel like it’s lacking a little bit.

Final Thoughts on Batman: Everybody Lies

I was going to talk about which one I preferred but it’s clear that I like Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game better. Now that doesn’t mean that Batman: Everybody Lies is a bad game, it just isn’t as good. I had a lot of fun with it and I know that they are working on more. And I hope that it builds up in the future to more in depth or connected stories.

I definitely think that there are elements that work well. And it’s fun to have it in a fictional setting like this one. And I do think that it’s easier to get into and that’s a good thing. So I more see it as that I’m not the target audience completely for this one. Because I know the other game and was up for that challenge, but if it was my first one, I think I’d have loved it more than I do.

My Grade: B-
Casual Grade: A-
Gamer Grade: B-

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Top 10 Games at Gen Con

10 – Dwellings of Eldervale

Dwellings of Eldervale has been on my shelf for a while. And I even own the fancy version with the monster bases that make noise and all the nice tokens for it. But I never got around to playing it. This is one of those games that I grabbed a spot so I could learn how to play the game versus because I was interested in the game. I knew I was already interested int.

And the game did not disappoint. I enjoy the worker placement in it. And I like how each person starts out a little bit differently with their plans. The game has a good amount going on to it. And you need to think about everything that you are doing. But it doesn’t feel overwhelming. I got through a decent chunk of a game, probably 4 rounds, but we still weren’t near the end of it. I want to get it to the table and play it again. And I want to try some of the other factions out there to see how they are.

9 – Twilight Inscription

I signed up for this event late. Learn how to play probably the biggest roll and write game out there. And set in the world and style of something like Twilight Imperium, it should be the biggest. It was a learning event, which I think is worth noting for this game. I suspect it will move higher the more I play it.

Twilight Inscription has you doing a bit of everything. And it has you mainly focused on your own board. It is interesting and I appreciate that there is a little interaction. It comes in the form of combat where you compare against the players next to you. But it also comes in the form of racing to the capitol planet and goals. So a few points of interaction that takes a mainly solitaire game and turns it into something more.

This roll and write won’t be for everyone. It is two hours and it is huge. But if you are looking for a hefty game, I think that Twilight Inscription could work for you.

8 – Village Rails

Village Rails, not really a follow-up to Village Green, but feels a bit like it. I think, after one play, I slightly prefer Village Rails. Village Green does an interesting thing where you need to think about rows and columns. With Village Rails you think about how you complete train routes. That is a bit simpler in what you are doing.

But the game isn’t too simple. You need to balance placing train tracks down to get routes that score well with placing down engines to score points. It gives you enough to think about without locking you in as much as Village Green does. I think that’s the big difference. Village Rails feels less restrictive in what you are doing.

7 – Long Shot: The Dice Game

Another roll and write game, but the last one on the list. And I do think that as I play Long Shot: The Dice Game, it could move higher on the list. Long Shot: The Dice Game is a horse racing and betting game. At the end of the game, you want to have the most money, pretty simple.

But how it works is interesting. You roll two dice and that determines which horse moves forward. But on each horse card, it can activate other horses to move them around the track as well. So while one horse could run away with it, you still are moving horses racing for 2nd and 3rd. And then you have the concessions stand where you can fill in. And there you can manipulate horses, pushing some further back or others further ahead. It works nicely and is simple to get a grasp of.

6 – Lost Ruins of Arnak

Another one, like Dwellings of Eldervale, I own this one. But I hadn’t gotten around to playing it. There is something about learning euro games without playing them that is a bit harder. Probably just means that as I learn I should mess around with the board. Because Lost Ruins of Arnak is not a hard game to learn, and it’s a game with great decisions in it and a lot of fun.

I like how Lost Ruins of Arnak blends a few things. You have your worker placement that’s about exploring, fighting monsters, but really about getting resources to move up a research track. Then you have your deck building. You want to get cards that help with resources and fun moves to let you get more points. Finally, you have that research track which you go up to get even more resources, but generally to help you in your exploration. And the adventure theme works well.

5 – Batman: Everybody Lies

It’s hard to rank Batman: Everybody Lies, especially only off of the prologue. I now have played case one as well, and that was fun as well. So it could move up, but also when I do my Top 100 you’ll never see it. This is basically Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game, with a few differences, and it’ll get lumped with that. But here, it gets it’s own spot.

Like I said, this is basically Detective. You still read cards, look up files and investigate everything that is going on. But with Batman: Everybody Lies, you are also having personal objectives that you need to think about. And information that you might find out as Catwoman that you need to decide if you share or not. I don’t find it that big a twist or one that you need to lean into. It’s a solid twist and the Batman theme works well in the system.

4 – First Rat

First Rat is the type of game that I wouldn’t try normally. See my comments about not learning Euro games easily. First Rat is a euro game where you are trying to build your rocket, score points and get rats to the cheese moon.

The game works better than that sounds, though. And that sounds very cute. So when I say the game works better, I mean it’s very good. Mainly because you have multiple of your rats climbing up this ladder or path. You can move one up further by itself, up to 5 spaces. Or you can move slower and move two rats, ending them on spots that are the same color to basically take both of those actions. There is more going on, but the game is that balance of simple actions but tough decisions when taking those actions.

3 – Oathsworn: Into the Deep Woods

Another one that I own. But I don’t blame myself for not getting this one to the table before. It came on the Tuesday before I left for Gen Con, so I had less than half a day with it around. And it is nice to learn a game from people who know it, granted, we only learned half of the game at Gen Con.

Oathsworn is a big adventure boss battling game. In Oathsworn you first do an investigation and story phase. Then once that is done, you dive into combat. This combat might be harder or easier depending on how you did in the previous part. I got to try out the combat and it is fun. I always talk about it, but being able to pick cards that remember that has been flipped before, or rolling dice, or a combination of both, makes the game feel different. I do wish I’d gotten the minis for the bosses now though.

2 – Ready Set Bet

Then we have Ready Set Bet. I actually suspect as I play more of these games most often, this one might drop. That isn’t to say that the game will get worse. But Ready Set Bet is easy to understand and get into right away when you play it. It is a real time racing game where one person is calling a horse race. They roll dice and move horses forward. Everyone else is betting in real time.

The fun of the game comes with the excitement of seeing how horses are doing. Trying to grab spots early that could pay out well, or maybe waiting longer and getting worse spots. Or when the long shots, the horses that move on a 2 and 3 or 11 and 12 start moving up and all of a sudden they are in the mix. I expect a good caller makes it more exciting but no matter what it should be a fun party game.

1 – Paint the Roses

Paint the Roses takes my top spot. This game is maybe harder to explain without the board than some of the more complex games. Basically it is a deduction game. Each person has their own card. The easy ones are all about color combos. The harder ones could be shapes or really hard ones shapes and colors combined.

On your turn you put down a tile from your four choices. You do so in a way to try and give the best clue possible about the card that you have. For example, if I had two red roses, I could put a red rose tile next to two other red rose tiles. I then put two cubes on it because I’ve made two matches that work for my card. And anyone else can put cubes on it as well if it works for their card. Then you guess, and you have to, about someone’s card and hopefully you can figure out the right answer.

Whatever you do the queen will move as she tries and catch you. And you better hope you get it right because that’ll move your forward at least keeping pace with her. If you get it wrong, she’s going to start catching you, and with an Alice in Wonderland theme, if she catches you, it’s off with your heads.

Final Thoughts

I think that the Top 10 do stand out. Through some of the ones that just missed, Meadow, Fit to Print, and Flamecraft, they could end up pushing into that list if I got to play a full game of them. Probably the closest to being the list that surprised me for missing it was Hero Realms as I got in a full game play. It again could move up, I want to play it more because it is such a simple game but I love deck building. And the fantasy theme works for me.

Overall, I played a lot of fun games. I think down through my 21 (which includes three games I’d already played), I’d happily play them again. Even my 22 is not bad, but I’d consider owning all the ones above it. The 22, Let’s Dig for Treasure, it one that I’d gladly play if someone plopped it on the table at a bar. But that’s where I see that game.

If you could play one of my Top 10 games, which one would it be?

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Games Played at Gen Con 2022

Lost Ruins of Arnak

There are a few games that I have had on my shelf where I need to play my copy. Lost Ruins of Arnak from CGE was one of those games. And I got to play two games of it at Gen Con, including one full game. Needless to say, and if you saw the video, I liked it. It is a good game with interesting worker placement, light deck building and a great theme. I was worried that it might be more worker placement than I want, and while everything is mechanical, the theme makes it fun.

Ready Set Bet

This is one that is new, not even out yet. Ready Set Bet is a real time horse racing and betting game. One person is the caller who rolls the dice and shouts out horses as they move forward. The other players, in real time, are putting down bets on horses and trying to make the most money. You can rotate who the caller is, but the game goes so fast, and it is a fun role, that when I played it one person called.

This is a great con game. Everyone is around the table getting excited and shouting or getting into it. And you almost need to stand around the table so you can toss in your bids. It’s clever and fun and plays fast. And I could see getting this one and playing it a few times in an evening and having a great time.

Jekyll vs Hyde

This one I played twice as well. Jekyll vs Hyde is a trick taking game but with a twist or two. Firstly, it’s two player with one person being Jekyll and the other Hyde. The person who is Jekyll wants to keep the number of tricks as even as possible. Win too many or lose too many and Hyde advances on the board to the monster side. The Hyde player wants to get that difference up to get across the board. It is a fun idea and feels different, plus who top suit is determined for a trick is interesting as well. Not a two player trick taking game I need, but one I’d gladly play.

First Rat

First Rat has a silly but great theme. The moon is obviously made of cheese and you are rats trying to build a rocket to get to the moon. It is an interesting game where you are pushing your rat meeples up a track. You can push one up fast, unlock more rats or you can go slower and try and combo getting resources to build your rocket.

What you do on your turn is simple. You move one rat up to 5 spaces, or two rats up to 3 spaces as long as they end on the same color. But just that is a great puzzle. Plus how you pick what you do and what you’re going for works really well. It is a game that I wouldn’t have tried if it weren’t for Gen Con.

Draftosaurus

A game I already know I love and I own everything for. This was later one of the days at the con. I wanted to play a game but most of the bigger ones were either shut down as they take too long or already in the swing of things. Draftosaurus was easy to just sit down and play. The game is so light, but still it’s a lot of fun to play.

NFL Five

One that I demoed and came home with because if you demoed you got a demo copy. This is basically a way to sell packs of football cards, and specific ones, for the game. I describe it was rock paper scissors but instead of there being a tie option, you just need to watch. So it’s a guessing game that you can mess around with a little bit. It’s very light and just fine, but it was free and it was open for demoing so why not give it a shot.

Catapult Feud

Another one I own, this was me wanting to set down my bag after I bought Burncycle. Catapult Feud is fun, it’s fun building the castles and launching balls to try and knock it over. The game is barely there, but the toy factor is so high, who even cares.

Fit to Print

This is one that I believe was on my too demo list. Fit to Print is about making your best front page for a newspaper and scoring points based off of that. It was fun, and interesting because of the real time aspect to it. You start out picking out tiles which are articles, pictures, and ads for your paper. Then when you’re ready you try and set-up your layout as fast as possible to score the most points.

The game is simple and fun, and the real time element that didn’t bother me. I think because the feeling wasn’t intense. I had three minutes to do everything. But I never felt like there is too much time pressure on it. Nor is it like Fuse where it is always counting down. It’s fast moving and light fun, but the real time doesn’t add stress.

Spicy

Spicy was a bit of a miss for me. This is a bluffing game where you put down cards of different spices and they need to go up in numerical order, though you can skip numbers, but always ascending. You need to call out when someone lays down a bluff. Playing with masks makes the game trickier. And at three it was just okay. For me, the concept of the game and what it pulled off was less interesting than a bluffing game like Skull.

Galaxy Trucker

Here’s another game with a real time element that I like. I wanted to demo the new version of it, which I did. And I don’t really feel the need to upgrade my copy. Nothing seemed to have changed too much, so might as well keep what I have. I enjoy Galaxy Trucker because again it’s a real time game or a game with real time elements, but one that doesn’t take itself too seriously. And then if you are lucky, you can build up your ship so it won’t blow up, if you are lucky.

Let’s Dig for Treasure

A push your luck game. This one is very simple, you pull cards until either an evil skeleton gets you or pull up two worm cards. But you can bank your points whenever you want. The artwork on the game is fun, and as the person who demoed it said, it’s a restaurant or bar game. One that’s small enough you can take it along and pull out and play easily. Not much thought or strategy to it, but it works well enough.

FYFE

This is a random game that I got to try because the table was open. It reminds me a bit of Village Green and Calico. You are putting down discs to complete different scoring objectives in rows and columns. But you need to think about rows and columns so that you can score as many things as possible. It gets tricky as you start to have limited options to fill in and now which thing do you think it’s more likely to be able to get and score. Not one I needed to add to my collection but not a bad game.

Knights of the Hound Table

This is a small game that I was tempted to pick up. Knights of the Hound Table is a head to head battler. You put down one hound as an attacker, one as your defender, and one for their power. Then you compare, take damage and buy cards to improve your deck of hounds. The artwork is cute on the game, the game play with picking which power to use is interesting. Better for a small box head to head game than I expected.

Village Rails

I mentioned Village Green, Village Rails is from the same company and it shows. You are making rail routes to score points. Keeping track of where the tracks are going is trickier than what is in Village Green. But you don’t have the column and row scoring in Village Rails. So it is slightly easier, I’d say, and just as fun. Plus the artwork on the cards is amazing and the game itself felt pretty relaxing. A small box game I’d want to add to my collection.

Coatl

Not a new game but Coatl is about building out your best Coatl to score points. The game play is fine, it is basically collect pieces then build out your Coatl. I wish that the game would move slightly faster than it does because of how light it is. The toy factor is fun, but that is not enough for me to really recommend this game. It is more going to be one of those fine gaming experience that I’d play again but wouldn’t seek out.

Flamecraft

Flamecraft was only there for demo, I was kind of hoping it’d be there for sale. But Flamecraft is a worker placement game with dragons. You are trying to collect resources to improve shops and end up with the favor in the end. How you play is simple, you either go to a place and collect resources or to fulfill a contract. What makes this game is the artwork. I wish I had backed it for that, and now that I’ve played it, at least a few rounds, I suspect I’ll add it because of how cute it is.

Starship Captains

A new game from CGE, I snuck my way into a game the first day. And I got to play the full game which is nice. It is an action selection game where you build up a little bit of an engine, fly around, and try and complete contracts and defeat space pirates. The game moves quite fast, I would say too fast, though that’s probably a good sign that it leaves you wanting to do more and to try again to do even more.

Meadow

Meadow is one that I knew I wanted to see because it’s pretty. But looking at it and watching the GloryHoundd play of it, I thought it likely wasn’t for me. You can watch their video below. But the game itself was fun to sit down and try. I’m still torn on it because it’s a very thinky and pretty game. I am worried that AP would set in too much if I picked it up. I even found myself having to think through what I was doing for a bit. It’s one I’d love to try again though.

Asking for Trobils

Another one that was played on the GloryHoundd Youtube channel. You can see that play below. A worker placement game that is very light but a good amount of fun. You are basically building up traps and things to get Trobils which are worth points. Two players was fine with the game, I feel like it’d do a bit better with more and with a tighter board where you bounce each other more.

Twilight Inscription

One of the big games I wanted to try out at Gen Con. This is a 2 hour roll and write game based in the world of Twilight Imperium. It delivers on what it promises. And I don’t think that the game is too difficult to follow. There is just a lot later in the game when you get a ton of resources to spend and figuring out how to do that in the most efficient way.

The game comes with four boards. So you activate one board each time, whether combat or exploration, or whatever else they might be. And you do need to do a bit of everything, but you can really focus in on how you want to score your points. A fun game that I want to add to my collection.

Dwellings of Eldervale

Another game that I own but I hadn’t played. Sitting down at Gen Con is a great way to learn a game that you don’t know or you want to know more about. Dwellings of Eldervale was a lot of fun to mess around with. The core game play is fun for it and I like that this is a worker placement game but it feels so much bigger than that. You can do a ton of big things and just have fun with it. And there is no trading in the Mediterranean.

Oathsworn: Into the Deep Woods

And yet another game that I own. Oathsworn just came in before I left for Gen Con. I was almost tempted to move it to the top of the queue but Stars of Akarios First. We didn’t do the city and story part of the game. I say city, it could be different map locations where the story is happening. But we got into the combat and that was fun.

What I really like is how you can push your luck. You can draw cards for hits and you can pick how many to draw. You can roll dice and pick how many to roll. The more you roll of the white dice the more damage you can do. But at the same time the closer you are to busting.

Hero Realms

Hero Realms is one that I played day one and bought day two. And I even got crushed when I played it. But I really enjoyed the lighter deck building of the game. And I thought that it worked well for what it is. Plus it’s a two player game and battler game that is easy to learn. And the deck building combos are not hard to understand. I picked up the cooperative expansion as well which will be fun to mess around with.

Batman: Everybody Lies

I actually got this to the table last night again. But I did a prologue for it at Gen Con at an event. I’ve written and talked about it twice before. See my Highlights here for more information. But this is basically the Detective system with Batman theme from Portal Games.

The biggest change to it is adding in hidden personal goals. It means you might advocate for something for your character that you might not otherwise think about. Or that you might suspect is a red herring because it’ll answer a question for your character. It still is not competitive and the main focus is on the main case. But because of that personal goal it makes it different to play via Zoom like I did last night.

Long Shot – The Dice Game

I almost forgot that this was at Gen Con. But I’m glad I didn’t. A horse racing roll and write game, Long Shot is a lot of fun. I even picked up a copy to bring home. In this game you roll dice and move horses forward around the track. At the same time you are putting bets on horses, filling in spots on your board, and trying to be the person who has the most money at the end of the game. The whole track and physical board element of the game makes it feel different and the game isn’t that complex.

Caesar’s Empire

This is another one of those sit down and play a game because I needed something to do. And Caesar’s Empire is a just fine game. You basically are building our routes to get to cities and score points. The two player game needs a slight rules clarification, possibly. But the whole idea is that you can build off of other people’s roads. Is it worth it to get some points if you are giving them more points. All you do is build onto routes each turn. The game is okay, not one that I’d recommend that highly.

Paint the Roses

Paint the Roses is a great deduction game. It is hard to explain, I feel, without the board but with the board it is easy to explain. The general idea is that you’re trying to get the garden perfect and not have the queen of hearts take off your head. But each of you have a hidden (or multiple throughout the game) things that the queen wants. It might be two red roses next to each other or a diamond and heart shaped topiary next to each other.

You place a tile on your turn and then everyone puts down their clue tokens if it matches. So if I have two red roses and I place down a red rose next to two others. I put down two cubes. Basically giving information that I have two matches. And everyone puts down their clues. Then you need to make a guess on someone’s card. If you get it right you move ahead and the queen of hearts moves ahead one. If not, she moves head faster. Really great puzzle that I want to play again now.

Mythic Mischief

Probably one of the hotter games of the con, I got to play Mythic Mischief in a two versus two game. I suspect I’d like it better as a one versus one game. I also suspect I’d like it better in the blitz mode where you only can take so much time to do your turn.

Mythic Mischief is an abstract game with some fun powers and cool characters. But it’s also a game that induces a ton of AP (analysis paralysis) and for me that knocked the game a lot. The game just isn’t heavy enough to make it worth the amount of time and thought. If I want something like that, I want a big game, not this lighter heavily produced game.

Final Thoughts

I did what I wanted to do, I played a ton of games. I believe that is maybe up to 29 plays and 27 games? But either way, it is a lot and I had so much fun with it. I do want to do a Top 10 list of all of those games, see which my top ones were. So expect to see that tomorrow most likely.

What were the top games that you got to see if you went to Gen Con? And in particular, which ones were the top you got to play or demo?

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Plus then Village Green with some solo play. A game that I would probably give an 8 as a multi-player game but a 6 as a solo game. At least with how the solo is in the book. I mess around with it a little to see if I can make it more interesting for myself. And I think I found a way that I like to play it better.

The Game – Village Green

Village Green is a fairly interesting little game where you are competing for the best green between a number of villages. Think about the subplot to Hot Fuzz almost. But instead of everything being done for the greater good, you are picking cards to fill out your green. They might have trees, a pond, a gazebo, and generally they have flowers as well.

With those, you create a 3×3 grid. And on the edge of that, both for columns and rows, you add in cards to score for that column or row. It makes creating your green a very interesting puzzle. You need to think about scoring in both directions, kind of like Criss Cross. And while Village Green feels like it should be more interesting solo, I found that it was actually less.

GenCon Events

I think it is an interesting topic to talk about. And in particular, I like to talk to new attendees about going there. One of the best pieces of advice that I received when I went was not to over schedule. And I didn’t, but I also wish that I scheduled less than I did. I think we average two things each day, maybe one day with three. So 9 or so total events, and it was great to do them, but by the end, so maybe it was 10, we skipped one.

Why, because it’s so much fun to do the games that are on the floor. Some of them might be prototypes, a lot of them are games that you can buy at GenCon from companies. It’s more interesting than picking out specific events with a few exceptions.

This year, I looked for events that are going to be unique. If it is playing a game I can likely play elsewhere, I am not going to do it. So instead, I looked for the kick-off events for a few games, Sagrada Legacy and The Batman: Everybody Lies. Plus then playtesting for prototype games. Now, those prototype games might not be great, but it is something I can’t play elsewhere.

Maybe I’ll find that I want to schedule more events while I’m there. And by then it’ll be too late, but I suspect the wandering around the dealer hall, hitting up a ton of different dealers to get demos of games, that is going to be more interesting than finding a 3 hour RPG to play some morning.

The Drink

Just an old fashioned again. This time with Blackstrap bitters. They have kind of a molasses and spice flavor to them. It’s nice, a little bit sweet as well. Definitely a good one to drink.

Upcoming Streams

Well, I am going to be streaming on Wednesday. I am not sure what I want to play for sure. It might be some more Paper Dungeons roll and write and I can continue through the story on stream. I do want get to a bigger game, I just haven’t learned another yet. I could maybe play through a scenario of Perdition’s Mouth, but it is a very large game on the table so you wouldn’t able to see everything.

Maybe I’ll pull out Under Falling Skies, we’ll have to see. But that could be a good, lighter, campaign to get to the table quickly here, while I take the time to learn a bigger game. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

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Session one, the first thing you have to do to show off your skills is use a rope, attached to a flag pole and swing with it to a balcony. And you fall in your face. You try it again, and you fall on your face. Somehow you managed to leap from roof top to roof top and then repel down into a secret chamber to steal some crown jewels, but this is impossible.

So, what’s wrong with this picture?

There are probably a couple of things, but I want to talk about one thing in particular, and that’s having a backstory that is just too big for your level 1 character.

There’s a really strong desire to jump into an epic game and an epic moment with your epic character. But if the campaign starts at level 1, you aren’t epic yet. You might have had some small adventures, but to have big epic stories as to what’s happened in your past, it can be jarring when the reality of playing the character and the fickle nature of the dice end up causing your character to feel not like the backstory that you created.

So much of this is driven by wanting your character to be that end product of the dashing rogue who steals form the rick and gives to the poor, and can toss out a witty one-liner and insult the King and get away with it with a wink. Or to be Batman and the force in the dark keeping the peace. Or to be a powerful wizard hurling lightning bolts and calling down meteor storms on the heads of your enemies. But this is really the end product that you should be striving for.

At level 1, you are a hero, you are better than the average person, but there are so many bigger and scarier and more powerful things out there in the world than you. So when creating your backstory keep is scaled to who you are. Maybe you helped with the heist to steal the crown jewels, but you were just the lookout two blocks away. Maybe you did sale around the world, but you helped the cook on the ship and spent most of your time killing rats. Maybe you did have to prove your love and worthiness to your fiance and their family, and this is it. But it is about keeping your story in line with the level that you are at. You probably don’t have many big and grand adventures yet, and that’s why you are setting out adventuring now.

Now, I think to go along with scaling down your heroic actions in a game, you also need to shift the focus of your character concept. A lot of the time people end up with a way to big backstory because they start their character fully into the concept. Being Batman is an end goal, a bad one but one, so instead of thinking that you’re Batman from the start, think about the path that Bruce Wayne took to becoming Batman, you’re somewhere right after Bruce Wayne’s parents were killed at level 1, or Spider-Man before he was bitten by the spider. So your goal is to become Spider-Man or I guess if you have to, Batman. So what do you need to do to create those two backstories? If you’re Batman, be focused on revenge, be paranoid, and have dead parents, that’s the level 1 backstory for Batman. So, whatever your concept would be, consider where they would start at level 1 and when they hit level X where you want that concept to be fleshed out, what are the steps to get there?

Taking the approach of building towards and end character, someone who grows into that style of play you want over time, gives you a lot of motivation for what your character is going to do in the campaign, giving you clearer decision and role play paths. It’s also going to help keep that story from being too expansive or feeling like you should be better and leading to frustration because your character isn’t better or doesn’t match what you have in your head. Now, for some people they have a concept, they want to drop it into a game and play it immediately. So maybe you are Spider-Man, but you’re just learning the ropes, and consider how you want your character to grow more and more into that role so it feels more and more like your concept.

When creating a backstory do you just do something that has a lot of epic moments like I talk about, or do you build one that allows your character to grow into a concept? What’s the hardest part of doing it that way, because it is more difficult? What have you done to overcome challenges with a backstory?

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One thing you’ll see that I’m not going to be talking about is backstory. I think that a good backstory can make it easier to role play, give the DM a bunch of story hooks, and give you a more rich character, but that isn’t needed for building a character for a game.

What I’m going to recommend is that you start by understanding the campaign and make a character that fits the game you’re playing. If it’s a heist game, making a paladin with AC 22 and stealth of -2 is going to cause issues. Same with a more social based game, just because you have this great half-orc barbarian idea doesn’t mean that it’s going to fit into a game with a ton of social situations when the half-orcs favorite word is supposed to be smash. This should all really be hashed out in a session zero where you come with your ideas for characters and the DM comes with their idea for games and then you figure out what game you want to play and with that, what character idea you can use.

Next, you’re playing in a game with one or five or more players, so build your character to not be Batman. I know what playing the character that can do everything, but the more people you have, the less you need the rogue who dipped into bard to get all the expertise. Make a character that is good at what they are meant to be good at. If you want to make the rogue character, focus on stealth and deception and slight of hand. You don’t need to be better at Arcana than the wizard is just because you can be.

Now, that does sound like you could end up creating a character that isn’t fun for you to play. Maybe you want to be to tools monkey who knows a bit of everything all the time. That’s fine, but then leave of combat. Which is what Batman forgot to do. But for the final piece of advice, play a character that is fun for you, but is also fun for everyone else to play with. Let’s go with the Rogue example again, just because you can steal from the paladin doesn’t mean that you should steal from the paladin. And maybe your paladin is all about being that thief, but at least make it then that he respects at least some of the members of the party enough to not steal from the party. You can certainly try and steal from shops still, but the party is off limits, because when you steal the trinket that the paladin has written a massive backstory for, they are going to be pissed.

And that’s it, it’s a bit of a shorter article. Sorry for missing yesterday, I was out sick. But those are the three things, really two, just with one split out between mechanics and role playing. But this is the simplest level of creating a character that you’re going to have fun playing, and that is going to fit into the campaign and be fun to play with in a game.

Now, this is a bit simplistic, hence the 101 added to the end. I am going to continue until we get up to a graduate level course, just remember that all the information for building a good character is going to build off of one another, so starting at the graduate level course isn’t going to do you that much good.

Have I missed anything important for the extremely basic how to create a good D&D player character?

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Why Not to Play Batman

Everyone kind of wants to play that Batman character. He has a strong moral code (that is the part people will most often ignore), he’s an expert fighter, and he is super smart. In real life he has a mysterious playboy life style and women flock to him. And in RPG’s, people want to play that charismatic character who is smart and great at combat, but there are some issues with that.

First, it’s hard to tell a story around that. If everyone is awesome, especially a whole party, there’s not going to be a challenge that is too hard for them ever. Everything seems kind of paltry when you don’t have to spend time putting clues together because the PC’s are just smart enough to go take on figure it out right away.  And it’s almost worse if there’s a single player who is awesome at everything. The fighter is the tank in your party, but you have a rogue that can evade so much damage and deal more damage, they might as well be the tank and striker all rolled into one. Or maybe it’s a Bard/Rogue combo so they can heal, they can cast spells, they can tank, they can strike, they can really do whatever they want. What’s the point of the rest of the party even?

How Not to Play Batman

This is where the thoughts of The RPG Academy really comes in. They talked mainly about character flaws that really influence the game. For example, in Dungeons and Flagons, our D&D Actual Play, Tate has a drinking problem, doesn’t really get him into too much trouble, but I keep track of when he says he’s been drinking, and the difficulty of a check is higher when he’s been drinking. He’s less apt to notice stuff around him, and if he’s been drinking a lot, he’s going to distract his fellow adventurers as well. One great way not to be Batman is to have those character flaws. And sure, you might say, Batman has character flaws, which he does, but that’s not how people generally see him. Having a character flaw doesn’t just have to be something like a drinking problem, it could be being naive to the world, which FInja is sometimes.

The next thing I’d say is try not to be good at everything. For example, Tate is kind of character that is pretty good at everything. He can talk to people and either tell them the truth to get them to believe him or lie to their face. It doesn’t really matter which. Tate in some ways is almost too powerful at most skills. Nimrose on the other hand has issues with talking to people. But she has some great fighting and acrobatic skills, she is stealthy, and nimble. So when she plays, she wants to play into those traits, because she’s going to do better. Batman is generally good at everything, need something fixed, go to Batman, need money, go to Batman, need a detective, it’s Batman, need to knock heads together, call Batman. So, to not play Batman, don’t let your character specialize in everything, let each player have a spot to shine. Tate is the talker, Nimrose is the sneaker, and Finja is the healer and kind person. And we’ve had fun situations where Nimrose has had to be the talker and things haven’t worked as expected.

Finally, one thing that I like about not playing Batman and why I say, don’t play Batman, is that it gives a chance for your character to really grow. If they are good at everything, they can learn new mechanics but really won’t ever get better than they are now. When a character has a flaw or a weakness, they can have that ah-ha moment of character development in the game where maybe Tate puts down the bottle. Maybe Finja becomes more hardened to the world at some point in time when something bad happens. And if you are the player, this really allows you to take narrative control of your character. The DM might try and make you have that ah-ha moment where your character becomes more world wise, but only you get to pick when and how that happens.

Where/What/When Not to Play Batman

Alright, I got nothing left except to wrap up. Playing Batman can seem like it would be fun, and it might be for you for a little bit. But if you’re Batman character is overshadowing everyone else and other people aren’t having fun, then you are going to stop having fun as well, because the game will stop. There are points and time to pull out a Batman character, like with a one shot where you’re just playing against a huge bad guy for one session, but if you are playing a campaign, don’t be Batman.

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Robin: Yes, this is Batman’s Robin, Dick Grayson. He is the leader of the team, and generally quite serious about that what they do as a team. He is probably better known as Batman’s sidekick, but through Teen Titans and other iterations, he has started to make a name of himself.

Cyborg: Cyborg is a genius, being made that way by his parents. However, when things break down in a laboratory experiment that his parents are doing, and his mother dies and he is injured, he becomes the man/teen that is part human and part machine. He joined up with the Teen Titans because like him, they weren’t normal, and they didn’t have a normal existence.

Starfire: An alien that has come to earth, Starfire, was a princess on her home planet and set to take over as a ruler, passing up her older sister. Her powers are based around the fact that she can absorb energy and then use that to fly. She is extremely friendly, too a fault, which makes for interesting situations for the Teen Titans since she does not fully understand human interactions.

Raven: Raven is the daughter of the demon Trigon, her mother was not a demon, however. This gives Raven an unique set of abilities.  Her father wanted to convince her to join him, and as she understood that was happening, she fled to Earth and joined the Teen Titans. Her abilities are magical in nature, and she can open doors between dimensions, realities, and perform many other forms of magic.

Beast Boy: Beast Boy can turn into many different creatures. He is, I would say, similar to Spiderman, in that he falls into the category of characters who are often relied upon for comic relief. Like Cyborg his parents kind of screwed him over, he was traveling with his parents while they were studying a type of green monkey, he was bitten, and gained the ability to transform.

This seems very short to touch on each of the characters, and while they do have arcs and stories of their own that you can check out, I wanted to focus on the aspect of the Teen Titans and the different iterations that come. Currently the television version of the show is very chibi and cute, that teaches you lessons that you should never learn. However, they had an animated series earlier in the 2000’s that was quite serious.

Also, there is a difference in the comics now and what I listed above for members of the Teen Titans. The ones that I have listed are the classic members of the Titans, but now Nightwing, Donna Troy, Flash, Tempest, and Omen are members of the Titans. Like any super hero group, they change who is in them fairly often, however, there are always some who are considered to be the classic members. They have a number of different bad guys whom the fight out of their tower in Jump City.

PS. Here’s us as Beast Boy and Raven.
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Superman: The Son of Krypton, and for much of his time, he thought that the last of his race. Sent to earth as a young child, Superman was raised by two human parents before finding out how truly different he was. Superman lives up to his name, in that he is about as powerful as any hero out there. He is the Man of Steel, he can fly, he has X-Ray vision, and is generally pretty immune to most things. So, how do you make an interesting story off of that? I would argue that is where the movies have struggled greatly, it is hard to make that interesting a story when you hero is basically all powerful, but where good Superman stories work isn’t about something being stronger or tougher than him, but someone being able to manipulate him and put him into a situation that isn’t nearly as favorable as he tries to keep make himself appear. As an alien, he just isn’t completely sure of his place in humanity and often anointing himself the protector of humanity he gets himself into troubles because he can’t live up to the level of good that he and society hold him to.

Batman: Probably more famous than Superman, Batman is the terror that flaps in the night… wait, that’s Darkwing Duck, but Batman is the Dark Knight, he considers himself outside the law, seeing governments become corrupt, and he brings justice to the bad guys, often by sending them off to jail, but he is able to operate outside the law. In the real world he is rich kid Bruce Wayne whose parents were killed in front of him as a young kid. He has used that to fuel his desire to clean up the streets of his Gotham and turn it the great city that his father wanted it to be. However, Batman seems to attract villains (it would be boring if he didn’t), and he attracts the real crazy villains. Batman, at times, can be a fairly straightforward character, but his villains are unparalleled in either DC or Marvel.

Wonder Woman: She is a princess on her own island and part of the race of Amazonians. Her race and lineage are based off of that of Greek mythology. She leaves her island after an airplane pilot crashes there and needs help to be taken back to civilization. Once in humanity as a whole, she realizes that she can do good with her lasso of truth and bracelets that can deflect bullets. She strives to provide justice not as much through violence and destruction but through reconciliation, or at least she did originally. My experience with Wonder Woman is primarily based out off Justice League and most interesting when she is part of the group. I’m sure that she has some very good solo adventures, but many of her villains are Justice League villains, or not that great in terms of villains.

Green Lantern/Hal Jordan: I’m specifying which Green Lantern, because there are several of them. Hal Jordan was an airplane pilot and a bit of a thrill junky. His life was a struggle though as he followed in his father’s footsteps as a pilot, facing the demons that came along with that since his father has passed away in a plane crash. That didn’t stop Hal Jordan, but his life changed when an alien crashed onto Earth and was dying. He passed on a green ring to Hal which turned him into the Green Lantern. The Green Lantern is a major player in the whole DC Universe, going far beyond Earth, fighting other alien races, and struggling the skirmishes between the different lantern colors. His stories often are the Earth or Universe shattering events, and a lot of the time in the larger cosmic and DC Universe events that involve all the characters, the Green Lantern is one of the main players.

That is just a start on superheroes from DC. Are you looking forward to the Wonder Woman movie?

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