0:00

They don't like that for

0:00

some reason you going and

0:02

digging up graves ha, that's weird

0:17

Hello and welcome. I'm Jake.

0:19

I'm Rachel.

0:20

And we are so bored. The

0:20

podcasts where each episode we

0:24

take a close look at the

0:24

tabletop game and discuss our

0:27

personal experiences with said

0:27

game to help answer the

0:29

question, Will this cure our boredom?

0:31

That's right, we look at

0:31

the mechanics complexity and

0:34

replayability in a game to

0:34

determine if it's the perfect

0:38

alternative to say, I don't know

0:38

sitting outside in 110 degree

0:42

weather with 68% Humidity for an

0:42

hour at a time waiting for your

0:47

pig to go potty because she'd

0:47

rather just eat grass and dig in

0:50

the dirt while you're out there.

0:52

Yeah, we know pigs are

0:52

smart. But one of the things I

0:55

like to say is that like a dog,

0:55

dog wants you to be happy

0:59

because you happy makes dog

0:59

happy. Pig doesn't care if

1:03

you're happy. Pig wants to be

1:03

happy themselves. So they're

1:07

just gonna do whatever.

1:09

Pig is happy digging in

1:09

the dirt. Like getting really

1:12

messy. And eating all the grass

1:12

and just running around.

1:17

Yeah, pig doesn't care

1:17

what you want. Pig wants what it

1:20

wants. Yeah. Potty Training.

1:20

Yay. Yep. Now before we get

1:24

started, we are streaming

1:24

regularly on [email protected]

1:30

slash so bored podcast, that's s

1:30

o b o ar D, we stream Wednesday

1:34

nights. And we play all sorts of

1:34

board games on there. And I am

1:39

also getting back into a regular

1:39

streaming schedule. I don't

1:43

stream board games on my

1:43

channel. I stream other nerd

1:45

games. You know, video games, as

1:45

I like to call them might

1:49

schedule changes each week. So

1:49

go ahead and turn on

1:52

notifications. So you know when

1:52

I'm on. And I'm at

1:55

twitch.tv/naughty Doc 541.

1:55

That's NAU gh t. YDOC 541.

2:03

And you recently got a

2:03

Nintendo 64 controller?

2:07

I did. Yes. So that opens

2:07

up

2:11

a world of possibilities.

2:13

That opens up many

2:13

possibilities. And I will be

2:16

streaming retro games on there.

2:16

Because the nostalgia is real.

2:21

For sure. Speaking of that

2:21

controller, I didn't remember it

2:25

being so small in my hands, but

2:25

now it is.

2:29

Yeah. So he said that

2:29

and I'm imagining like, I don't

2:33

know, like it's way, way smaller

2:33

than what I remember. And then I

2:36

saw it. It was like, No, that's

2:36

the right size. Like,

2:39

visually, yes, it's the

2:39

right size. But then when I put

2:42

it in my hands, my hands don't

2:42

fit around the way that

2:46

they used to. Yeah, you

2:46

got those big man hands now.

2:49

I guess. Yeah. Anyway, one last

2:53

announcement. Before we get

2:56

started, we are currently doing

2:56

a giveaway, in case you missed

3:00

it. We went to Gen Con a couple

3:00

of weeks ago and brought back a

3:05

ton of games that we're here to

3:05

share with you guys. So we

3:09

actually have three bundles of

3:09

games that we're giving away

3:12

currently, you can go and check

3:12

out that contest on our Facebook

3:17

page, it's pinned right to the

3:17

top, it's a gleam giveaway, then

3:21

there's lots and lots of ways to

3:21

enter. Almost all of them are

3:25

free. Honestly, I don't know if

3:25

anyone has even done the paid

3:28

one yet. And that's just

3:28

subscribing to us on Twitch. So

3:32

you know, feel free if you want

3:32

but not necessary. I set it up

3:37

so that there are plenty of

3:37

other free ways to gain entries

3:42

into this. So it's not

3:42

necessary. Really. Yeah. But

3:46

check that out. That's got

3:46

details with all the games that

3:49

are in each bundle. Yeah, it's

3:49

really exciting. So you know, go

3:53

enter. Absolutely. Like,

3:55

like we said, We got three

3:55

winners this time instead of

3:58

just one. So go check out what

3:58

you could possibly win. So what

4:03

game are we talking about today?

4:03

We're talking about abomination.

4:08

Almost kind of not real kind of

4:08

know, kind of, yes. We're

4:13

talking about my father's work.

4:15

The renegade game that

4:15

just recently came out. It was a

4:20

Kickstarter, and you're

4:20

basically like, mad scientists

4:25

or trying to become mad

4:25

scientists throughout the game

4:29

in this story driven game that

4:29

takes place in Hungary in the

4:34

1800s.

4:35

Yes, this game like we

4:35

just said was released this year

4:39

in 2022. And it was designed by

4:39

Tc Petty the and I have to say

4:45

it that way because I just do

4:45

I'm sorry.

4:49

Yeah. So what is I

4:49

almost said what is abomination?

4:53

What? What is my father's work?

4:53

The goal of this game is to get

4:58

the most points by performing

4:58

experiments and interacting with

5:03

events around the town. And kind

5:03

of just a quick note, before we

5:07

get into any of the actual

5:07

details of the rules. This is an

5:12

app driven game, the app is

5:12

required, but it is free. It is

5:17

free. But it is required, you

5:17

can't play the game without it.

5:20

If you're one of those people

5:20

that feels very strongly that

5:24

you don't want to play like app

5:24

requirement games or app driven

5:28

games, then I'm letting you know

5:28

up front, this game probably

5:31

isn't for you. But if you're

5:31

open to it, the app is used for

5:35

storytelling and creating

5:35

branching paths based on the

5:39

choices that you make. So the

5:39

game comes with three different

5:43

scenarios that you can play

5:43

through. But it looks like there

5:46

are potentially eight different

5:46

endings to each scenario, just

5:50

based on the different choices

5:50

and things that you're presented

5:53

with during the game. I really

5:54

like that aspect of this.

5:54

However, it could have been a

6:00

book.

6:01

Definitely. And I think

6:01

I'm gonna go into more of that

6:04

in the our experiences section.

6:04

Okay, let's just say for now

6:09

that it is app driven. And the

6:09

only other thing I want to add

6:12

to that is that there are some

6:12

parts of it that are voiceover,

6:15

but most of it is not. So if you

6:15

really want to get the full

6:19

experience of the game and like,

6:19

read the story, it is a lot of

6:23

reading

6:24

it is, but it's good,

6:24

which we'll talk about. So how

6:28

do you play this game? This game

6:28

is kind of interesting, because

6:32

it doesn't take place over one

6:32

generation or one person, it

6:36

actually takes place over three

6:36

different generations. Each

6:40

generation is three rounds long.

6:40

You have the early years, the

6:45

middle years and the late years.

6:45

And the rounds consist of

6:48

placing your workers at

6:48

different worker placement slots

6:51

on either the town or your own

6:51

estate, to complete different

6:54

actions. And during these

6:54

rounds, this occurs until either

6:59

all workers from all teams have

6:59

been placed, or all players pass

7:03

or a combination of these two.

7:03

Once that happens, the round

7:06

over moves to the next set of

7:06

years, the next set of years.

7:09

And then after the late years of

7:09

that generation are over, you

7:12

move to a new generation. And

7:12

speaking of your worker, so we

7:16

talked about this being a worker

7:16

placement game, and it really,

7:20

really is there are four types

7:20

of workers that can accomplish

7:24

different tasks. You have your

7:24

servants, they are denoted by a

7:28

round base. When I say base

7:28

here, I mean the physical base

7:32

of the Mini, because these are

7:32

all miniatures that are included

7:35

in the game. So the round base,

7:35

it can go to work replacement

7:40

slots in town, or you can use

7:40

two of them to complete

7:44

experiments in your estate. If

7:44

you do that they are lost. You

7:48

can also use one to record

7:48

knowledge if you do that the

7:52

servant is also lost. Your

7:52

caretaker is a square based

7:56

figure, it can only do actions

7:56

in the estate, it can complete

8:00

experiments conduct the state

8:00

affairs and record knowledge, we

8:04

are going to talk about these

8:04

different worker placement slots

8:07

in a little bit. So for now, I

8:07

will just list what they can do.

8:10

And then we'll go into what

8:10

these all mean a little bit

8:13

later. Next is your spouse. This

8:13

is denoted by a round base with

8:19

kind of like snowflake things on

8:19

the side, it acts the same as a

8:23

servant however, the app and

8:23

some cards will refer to this

8:26

piece specifically for story

8:26

elements. And then there is you

8:31

you are denoted by a hexagon or

8:31

base, you can go to any worker

8:36

placement slot, either in town

8:36

or on your estate. Normally, if

8:41

you place a worker at a slot

8:41

where somebody is already at you

8:44

must pay a coin to the supply.

8:44

However, if you send yourself

8:47

there, you do not need to pay

8:47

the additional cost. Also, when

8:51

you send yourself to a worker

8:51

placement slot in the town, you

8:56

can usually complete the action

8:56

there twice instead of just once

9:02

unless it is specifically

9:02

notated.

9:04

Just to add to that,

9:04

it's kind of cool because I

9:07

think this is something that's

9:07

happening with a lot of newer

9:09

games. But the miniatures

9:09

themselves don't have these

9:12

different shaped bases. It's

9:12

something that kind of fits over

9:16

and around the actual base of

9:16

the miniature. So you can choose

9:20

different miniatures to

9:20

represent you or your caretaker

9:24

or whatever. So that makes it

9:24

you know, a way to kind of

9:28

customize your experience a

9:28

little bit and like you can

9:32

choose a female scientist over a

9:32

male scientist, for example. So

9:36

I thought that was kind of nice

9:36

to include. Yeah,

9:38

I do like that. All right,

9:38

so

9:41

let's talk about what

9:41

the board looks like. So the

9:45

board is these like four pieces,

9:45

I think that fit together like a

9:50

little puzzle. And honestly, for

9:50

the most part, it's blank

9:54

because in the center, there's

9:54

just space for you to place this

9:59

spiral bound note Book that

9:59

represents the map of the town.

10:02

And it's this really thick

10:02

notebook that has many, many

10:06

pages, I think there's like 18

10:06

different pages per scenario, to

10:10

indicate just the different

10:10

states of the town, the you

10:14

know, advancement of the town,

10:14

different slots, just kind of

10:18

based on, again, the decisions

10:18

that you're making. And so the

10:21

pages that you're on for that is

10:21

driven again by the app, and

10:24

that'll tell you flip to page

10:24

whatever, based on whatever's

10:27

going on. At the top of the

10:27

board, like above, the spiral

10:32

bound notebook is the creepy

10:32

track. So this is tracking your

10:38

creepiness level, which I don't

10:38

know I just love. I love that

10:42

that's a thing that's tracked in

10:42

this game, you're creepy. This

10:46

level is represented by a token

10:46

that has a Frankenstein head on

10:50

it. Frankenstein's monster,

10:52

thank you, I was going to

10:52

say something but you got it.

10:57

And you will start at

10:57

zero and move from left to

11:01

right, as you gain more

11:01

creepiness. But somewhere along

11:06

the right side of the track is

11:06

going to be an angry mob token.

11:11

And that's just a token that

11:11

looks like a torch. And that

11:14

token typically moves from right

11:14

to left. So you doing things

11:19

like let's say you go to the

11:19

graveyard and dig up a body

11:23

because you need that for one of

11:23

your experiments. That not only

11:27

adds creepiness to you, but it

11:27

irritates the townspeople and

11:30

causes the angry mob to get

11:30

closer and so you kind of move

11:34

to spaces closer to that in the

11:34

process. Yeah, they don't like

11:39

that. Yeah, they don't like that

11:39

for some reason you going and

11:42

digging up graves Hmm, that's weird.

11:44

I don't know, prudes.

11:47

Right? If you are ever

11:47

overtaken by the mob, meaning

11:52

that the two tokens pass each

11:52

other or are on top of each

11:55

other, you can no longer perform

11:55

actions in town, except to go to

12:00

church to reduce your creepiness

12:00

level, yes, don't get too

12:04

creepy. And then at the bottom

12:04

of the board, or the bottom of

12:08

the map, is the insanity track.

12:08

And this is represented by kind

12:13

of a broken brain token, like

12:13

imagine, like a broken heart

12:18

symbol, but it's a brain, that's

12:18

what it looks like. And so

12:22

again, you start at zero, and

12:22

you are going to move from left

12:25

to right. And as you do things

12:25

that cause you to gain and

12:30

sanity. So certain types of

12:30

experiments cause you to gain

12:35

and insanity and gaming or using

12:35

occult knowledge causes you to

12:40

gain insanity. As you go up on

12:40

that track. A lot of times this

12:44

will grant you a compulsion

12:44

card, which can be good in the

12:48

beginning, if you have a limited

12:48

number of these, they are

12:52

basically actions that you can

12:52

perform to gain a couple of

12:56

extra victory points. And so a

12:56

lot of times it ends up being

12:59

like, Oh, hey, I was gonna do

12:59

this anyway. And I can just get

13:02

an extra one or two victory

13:02

points out of it. But if you go

13:05

too insane, you know, too

13:05

quickly, you start having

13:08

negative effects, such as adding

13:08

creepiness at some point you

13:11

lose your spouse,

13:13

that's creepy five, to

13:13

insanity five, oh, Insanity,

13:17

five, yeah, you lose your

13:17

spouse. And

13:20

you continue to gain

13:20

these compulsion cards. And so

13:23

if at the end of the generation,

13:23

you have two component cards, or

13:28

for every two compulsion cards

13:28

you have, you will gain a

13:32

maladjustment card that goes

13:32

into the next generation. And so

13:36

this basically represents like,

13:36

you did a poor job of raising

13:40

your children. And so now they

13:40

have these maladjustments that

13:44

they have to deal with. And it

13:44

makes the game a little bit

13:46

harder for them as they go and

13:46

continue to try and complete

13:50

your work. So I have a couple of

13:50

examples. In addict, you must

13:56

complete an experiment requiring

13:56

chemicals each round, oh, wow,

14:01

each round. If you do not you

14:01

lose two victory points at the

14:04

end of the route. So that's, you

14:04

know, just an additional thing

14:08

that makes it a little harder.

14:08

The other one that I have here

14:11

is creep. Anytime one of your

14:11

pieces is placed in the last for

14:16

any reason, you gain one creepy,

14:16

so things that just make life a

14:21

little hard, you want to try to

14:21

not get those mal adjustments.

14:24

So first, we're going to

14:24

talk about the worker placement

14:26

slots in the estate. First, we

14:26

have recording knowledge. This

14:31

allows you to spend the

14:31

knowledge cubes that you're

14:33

going to be accumulating

14:33

throughout the game by

14:36

completing experiments and other

14:36

ways throughout the game. You

14:39

are able to spend them to record

14:39

knowledge in your book that is

14:43

passed through generations this

14:43

is pretty much the only thing

14:47

that is passed from generation a

14:47

generation is any recorded

14:50

knowledge. That being said, it

14:50

is only passed if the knowledge

14:54

is recorded, and the cost

14:54

becomes more expensive for each

14:59

level of knowledge. There are

14:59

four different types of

15:01

knowledge in the game. You have

15:01

chemistry, biology, engineering,

15:06

and occult. And they can grant

15:06

different effects when you get

15:11

to certain levels. For example,

15:11

the biology, when you get to

15:15

level two, it allows you to

15:15

actually keep two resources from

15:19

generation to generation. So

15:19

instead of having to just

15:22

discard everything, you're able

15:22

to keep them. And each second

15:26

level of knowledge will give you

15:26

a type of benefit. Other than

15:30

the occult knowledge, the occult

15:30

knowledge does add creepiness,

15:33

and moves the angry mob closer

15:33

to you at the beginning of each

15:37

generation. Also, the knowledge

15:37

that you bank or the knowledge

15:41

that you record can be used as a

15:41

bank of knowledge to complete

15:45

experiments in the future. So if

15:45

you've banked a second level

15:48

biology, that means you have two

15:48

biology available to you at any

15:52

given time to complete experiments.

15:55

Yes, that's really

15:55

important. That's something that

15:57

got missed by a couple people in

15:57

the beginning, when we first

16:01

went through the rolls, it's

16:01

like, there's kind of no reason

16:04

to not record knowledge, it's a

16:04

really good way to just make

16:08

sure you always have that

16:08

available for your experiments.

16:11

Next worker placement slot

16:11

is to conduct a state affairs.

16:15

So the conducts a state affairs

16:15

slot allows you to either gain

16:18

gold or draw into experiment

16:18

card. The next slot is the one

16:23

that is pretty important for

16:23

this game. This slot is the

16:27

complete and experiment. This is

16:27

where you're going to be

16:30

spending knowledge cubes and

16:30

resources to complete

16:33

experiments. On the experiment

16:33

cards. There are three different

16:37

types, you have an A, B, and C

16:37

experiment. The name of the

16:41

experiment is listed at the top

16:41

and some of them are pretty

16:44

cool, actually.

16:45

Yes, again, I have some

16:45

examples. A Level A experiment

16:49

that I have here is minor

16:49

necromancy, just minor that says

16:54

created a human Marionette from

16:54

skeletal remains wires and

16:59

pulleys, that does give you some

16:59

insanity as a result. So that

17:03

was a Level A and then you know,

17:03

they get cooler and cooler

17:06

because Jake is gonna explain

17:06

here in a second that it

17:09

requires more and more to

17:09

complete the higher level

17:12

experiments. But a level C

17:12

experiment, for example, is a

17:15

fire breathing Eagle, that is

17:15

pretty cool. Note also add

17:20

resistance to fire in the upon

17:20

the next trial,

17:23

it's got the name of the

17:23

experiment, and the cost is

17:27

listed in the upper left corner.

17:27

And this cost is going to be

17:30

resources, knowledge and

17:30

previous experiments. And the

17:34

previous experiments, we'll talk

17:34

about that in just a minute. The

17:37

type of experiment is in the

17:37

background and the border, it's

17:40

the color. So if you have got

17:40

like this grayish red one,

17:44

that's the occult, if you have

17:44

the yellow, that's the

17:48

engineering, the blue would be

17:48

the chemistry and green is the

17:52

biology.

17:53

There's also kind of a

17:53

little border that goes along

17:56

with it. So like the chemistry

17:56

one, it has these little like

17:59

green vials that are kind of

17:59

around the border as well.

18:02

Yeah, they have different

18:02

items that are displayed to kind

18:06

of show what it is. Next at the

18:06

bottom is going to be the reward

18:10

and the experiment type

18:10

knowledge and resources and

18:14

victory points. So each type of

18:14

experiment will give you

18:17

different rewards. The A

18:17

experiments will always give you

18:21

victory points and knowledge but

18:21

the B's and C's can give you

18:23

things like resources, more

18:23

victory points. And sometimes it

18:28

can do things like make you

18:28

creepy or more insane. Or it can

18:31

sometimes reduce that depending

18:31

on what you do. These can be

18:35

completed by yourself and your

18:35

caretaker with no penalties. Or

18:40

you can send your two servants

18:40

and one of those could be your

18:43

spouse. This does cause them to

18:43

be lost.

18:46

Yeah, I don't think we

18:46

mentioned this that your spouse

18:48

is for all intents and purposes

18:48

in this game is considered a

18:54

servant. So they really only

18:54

kind of come into play in story

19:00

effects. Or like when you go to

19:00

insane you lose your spouse. But

19:05

for the purpose of like worker

19:05

placement slots, they are

19:08

treated as a servant. read into

19:08

that what you will,

19:11

I didn't write the rules.

19:11

I think you wrote the rules. The

19:14

knowledge can come from either

19:14

cubes or recorded knowledge that

19:18

kind of like we talked about

19:18

earlier, the occult knowledge is

19:22

actually used in specific

19:22

experiments for occult

19:26

knowledge. But it can also be

19:26

used like a wild type of

19:29

knowledge so that if you don't

19:29

have enough biology, for

19:33

example, you could supplement

19:33

what you are lacking with occult

19:37

knowledge. And it does cause

19:37

insanity. The last thing I want

19:41

to talk about on the cards is

19:41

the experiment pyramid. That's

19:45

the different costs to do these

19:45

different experiments. So the

19:48

A's don't have that listed

19:48

because you don't need anything

19:52

to complete the a level

19:52

experiments. However, the B

19:56

experiments on their pyramid

19:56

show an A a single a so In order

20:00

to do a B level experiment, you

20:00

must complete and or have stored

20:04

an A level experiment. If you

20:04

would like to complete a C level

20:08

experiment, you must have a

20:08

single a and two B level

20:11

experiments completed and or

20:11

stored to perform the master

20:15

work, which is something that we

20:15

haven't talked about yet. The

20:19

Master Work is a card that you

20:19

are given at the beginning of

20:23

the game. It's kind of like your

20:23

ultimate goal like your ultimate

20:27

father's dream experiment,

20:27

something that he wants to get

20:31

done. These are very high level

20:31

victory point cards, they're

20:35

usually very difficult to get

20:35

done. I don't know that we've

20:39

ever had anybody complete one yet.

20:41

Krista and Matt, were

20:41

both able to complete theirs in

20:45

that game when you had to leave a little early.

20:47

Okay, I did have to leave

20:47

during that one. So, this is

20:50

considered a D level experiment.

20:50

And in order to complete this,

20:54

you must complete one a level

20:54

two b's, and three C's either

20:59

must be completed and or stored

20:59

in your experiment

21:03

slots. And an example of

21:03

a masterwork experiment is the

21:08

giant spider chariot. So as Jake

21:08

said, it requires one a two B's

21:14

and three C's. It also requires

21:14

a generally kind of high number

21:19

of knowledge cubes and

21:19

resources. And it gives you too

21:24

creepy and to insanity. But it's

21:24

worth 21 victory points, that

21:29

it's large enough to make like a

21:29

really big difference. You could

21:32

be losing, and then complete

21:32

this and win the game.

21:36

Yes, it is a significant

21:36

amount of points. And so

21:39

one thing that we haven't really talked about is like everything that you lose

21:41

between generations. So like,

21:46

you have the recorded knowledge,

21:46

and you can store one completed

21:51

experiment. So it doesn't matter

21:51

how many experiments you

21:54

completed this first generation

21:54

unless you have some kind of

21:58

special upgrade to your house or

21:58

something like that, you can

22:01

only store one of those. So

22:01

moving into the next generation,

22:04

you have to go back and create

22:04

like, let's say I store a B

22:08

experiment. So now I have to go

22:08

back and do an experiment to be

22:11

able to do another B experiment.

22:11

And then I could do a C

22:14

experiment. And so it starts to

22:14

become really difficult to

22:18

actually get to the point where

22:18

you can complete this master

22:21

work like it's probably going to

22:21

be one of the last things you do

22:24

if you do manage to complete it.

22:24

Alright, so let's talk about the

22:28

worker placement slots that we

22:28

have in town. It's a little

22:32

difficult for us to give you a

22:32

comprehensive list of this

22:35

because the story is always

22:35

changing. And we're constantly

22:39

flipping pages, you know,

22:39

depending on whatever the

22:42

current scenario situation is.

22:42

So I'm going to just give you

22:46

some examples of things that are

22:46

usually there. So you'll have

22:50

the church, which is where you

22:50

can go to reduce your

22:53

creepiness. And that's the only

22:53

place you can go to if the angry

22:58

mob ever overtakes you. Usually

22:58

there's a couple different

23:01

places that you can go to gather

23:01

various resources. So it will

23:06

usually start out with like each

23:06

resource is in its own slot, you

23:10

go to one place to get animals

23:10

and a different place to get

23:15

chemicals. Sometimes we'll see

23:15

that in future like as we flip

23:20

the pages. And as the story

23:20

advances, sometimes we'll see

23:23

that those can be combined into

23:23

a single location where you can

23:27

get either, which is really nice

23:27

when you send yourself there

23:30

because you could choose to get

23:30

one of each, because you're able

23:33

to complete that worker

23:33

placement slot twice as

23:35

yourself.

23:36

Yes, like you said, it's

23:36

very useful later on, because

23:40

you will have different slots

23:40

that have different resources

23:43

available to you. And you can

23:43

pick and choose what you want

23:47

from those.

23:48

So the resource types

23:48

that we have are animals,

23:53

bodies, gears, and chemicals. So

23:53

that kind of represents I guess,

24:01

the different areas in which you

24:01

can gain knowledge, like the

24:05

gears are typically for

24:05

engineering stuff. And the

24:07

chemicals are typically for

24:07

chemistry stuff, like bodies are

24:10

kind of a cult usually, and

24:10

animals are usually biology, but

24:14

you can have a little bit of

24:14

mixing and matching in there.

24:17

Sometimes there are also places

24:17

that you can go to gain

24:20

knowledge cubes. So usually, as

24:20

far as I've seen, there is a

24:24

place to go to gain occult

24:24

knowledge. And then you may be

24:28

given the opportunity to add

24:28

buildings or you know, your town

24:32

might change to the point where

24:32

you can gain other points of

24:36

knowledge. Like in one of our

24:36

games, we had a library built

24:40

and that was a place you could

24:40

go to gain engineering,

24:45

chemistry or biology knowledge

24:45

so that was really nice. One of

24:49

the other worker placement slots

24:49

that you usually see on there is

24:53

the ability to expand your

24:53

estate. This is like the

24:56

builders union or something like

24:56

that. This is a slot where you

25:01

go to purchase upgrades to your

25:01

manna or your estate that

25:07

provide different ongoing

25:07

bonuses. It's really the first

25:11

two, but they'll tell you the

25:11

first three slots are free. The

25:15

reason I say it's really only

25:15

the first two is because that

25:17

first slot is already filled at

25:17

the beginning of the game. But

25:20

after you've got your third one,

25:20

you have to pay to expand your

25:24

mansion and have room for these

25:24

additional things that you're

25:27

adding on. And so it can get

25:27

expensive to do this, because

25:32

one of the rules is that you can

25:32

go to work replacement slots

25:35

where somebody already is, but

25:35

if they're there already, you

25:39

have to pay a coin to the

25:39

supplier. So you potentially are

25:42

paying a coin to the supplier to

25:42

just go there. And then you're

25:45

paying for whichever room that

25:45

you want to add on. And then you

25:49

have to pay to actually expand

25:49

your mentioned to add on to it.

25:53

It can potentially be expensive,

25:53

but there's a lot of things that

25:56

are really worth it. What's one

25:56

of your favorite ones, Jake,

26:00

one of my favorite ones is

26:00

the scenic overlook, it allows

26:04

you to once per generation

26:04

record knowledge as a free

26:08

action, paying the normal cost.

26:08

So you still have to have the

26:11

cubes for it. But you don't

26:11

actually have to send a worker

26:14

to go do

26:15

that. Yeah, that's a

26:15

really nice one. I really like

26:19

the hounds that says that if you

26:19

are ever overtaken by the mob,

26:24

but then they are moved back so

26:24

that they're one space away from

26:27

you. And I don't know if that

26:27

says that that can only happen

26:30

once per generation or if that's

26:30

just how it always is like you

26:33

can never be taken over by the

26:33

mob. That's once per generation.

26:37

Is it okay? It's still a cool

26:37

effect that has saved me a

26:41

couple of times, like, oh, like

26:41

I can still do my plan, I can

26:45

still go execute the things I

26:45

was going to do. I'll make sure

26:49

I go to church at some point.

26:51

I think I've only been

26:51

overtaken by the mob once. And

26:55

it wasn't a problem. Yeah,

26:58

I just would hate for

26:58

that to happen when it's like

27:00

I'm right in the middle of

27:00

something, I've got all of my

27:03

moves, like planned out already.

27:03

For this round. I don't have any

27:07

room to be like, Oh, crap, now I

27:07

need to go to church and reduce

27:11

my creepiness so that I can do

27:11

these other things that I need

27:14

to do in town. Right. All right.

27:14

And then the last worker

27:17

placement slot in town that I'll

27:17

talk about is for hiring

27:21

servants. So usually, this is a

27:21

place that you go to spend gold

27:27

and you gain an additional

27:27

servant worker. And they will

27:32

last for the entirety of your

27:32

generation unless you do

27:35

something to lose them like I

27:35

don't know, sacrificing them to

27:38

an experiment or having them go

27:38

crazy from recording knowledge.

27:43

But other than that you

27:43

typically have them. And that's

27:46

just an additional worker that

27:46

you have. There are definitely

27:49

more worker placement slots than

27:49

what we've talked about. But

27:52

like I said, it's difficult for

27:52

us to go into too much more

27:55

detail than that, just because

27:55

it's always changing. Yes.

28:01

I will sacrifice my

28:01

elephants into this vat of

28:04

chemicals. To understand the

28:04

initial animal trials, verbal

28:10

did not survive initial acid

28:10

test. Larger rodent will be more

28:23

resistant to the effects of

28:26

like a governmental

28:26

agency and you like tell them

28:31

that like you're aligned with

28:31

their politics or whatever. And

28:36

they're just like, here's a body

28:36

like you're some money in a

28:39

body. So that's basically the game.

28:51

Yeah, you play that for

28:51

three generations. At the end of

28:54

the third generation, the person

28:54

with the most victory points

28:56

wins.

28:58

So let's talk about our

28:58

experiences with this game.

29:01

I really, really, really

29:01

liked this game, I have only got

29:05

to play at one and a half times,

29:05

one and two thirds times really.

29:12

I did win the first game. And I

29:12

was winning when I had to leave.

29:16

So there's that. But I had to

29:16

leave early because I had to

29:20

work the next day. And I worked

29:20

very, very early in the morning.

29:23

So the game is pretty balanced.

29:23

I feel like in every worker

29:28

placement game I've ever played.

29:28

You always feel like I just wish

29:31

I had one more worker. And

29:31

that's kind of a bittersweet

29:37

thing in a game. I think. It

29:37

makes the game really

29:40

competitive. And it makes you

29:40

really have to think about what

29:44

you're doing and how you're

29:44

using this limited resource you

29:47

have. And this game does that

29:47

pretty well, especially with the

29:51

changing worker placement slots.

29:51

That is something that I really,

29:55

really like, because it changes

29:55

the dynamic throughout the game.

29:59

and this can have multiple

29:59

middles and endings for each

30:04

scenario. So depending on what

30:04

you do in the first round, you

30:07

may be playing the same scenario

30:07

but have something totally

30:10

different than next round, your

30:10

work replacement slots are

30:12

different. Overall, I feel like

30:12

this game has done a really good

30:16

job of being what it's

30:16

advertised to be, huh. Also, the

30:21

components for this game are

30:21

incredible. They are awesome. So

30:25

for the chemicals, you have

30:25

these little glass vials that

30:28

have a cork stop on them, they

30:28

are actually glass, they're

30:32

about an inch or so inch and a

30:32

half tall. For the gears, you

30:36

have these tooled metal gears

30:36

that are not all identical, they

30:40

have three different versions in

30:40

them, which is pretty cool. And

30:44

then for the animals, it's not

30:44

just a generic animal, like you

30:47

have a shark, you have a cat,

30:47

you have a bird, you have a fox,

30:51

like you have different animals

30:51

that you're getting is pretty

30:54

cool.

30:55

You know, playing into

30:55

some of that like that, really

30:58

can add a lot of entertainment

30:58

to the story. So you might have

31:04

heard this in the montage that

31:04

we put together from our game

31:08

with Krista and Matt. But at one

31:08

point, Matt did an experiment to

31:14

basically sacrifice an elephant

31:14

into a vat of chemicals. And the

31:20

flavor text says like that the

31:20

elephant didn't survive,

31:23

whatever his name didn't

31:23

survive, maybe you need to try a

31:26

bigger mammal next time. This

31:26

like sacrificed a whole

31:33

elephant. So I think if you pay

31:33

attention to a lot of those

31:38

details, you can really kind of

31:38

spice up the story, even beyond

31:43

what it's already doing.

31:44

And I love the flavor

31:44

texts on a lot of these. I

31:47

forgot what my experiment was

31:47

called. It was a metaphysical

31:50

something. It wasn't a cult

31:50

Level A experiment. But

31:54

basically, the flavor tech said

31:54

that I was just seeing the

31:57

effects of insulting ghosts.

31:57

Screaming insults, that goes to

32:03

see what happens.

32:07

I agree the flavor text

32:07

is fantastic. Like the

32:09

production quality on all of

32:09

this is it really brings this

32:14

game up to the next level. And

32:14

you can really have a lot of fun

32:21

just kind of reading and

32:21

integrating all of that into the

32:24

story that you're telling.

32:25

Well, and that's another

32:25

huge thing is that the story

32:27

changes from scenario to

32:27

scenario. First off, like we

32:31

said, there are three scenarios

32:31

currently available. But then

32:35

the story itself can change and

32:35

branch from the first generation

32:40

to the second generation to the

32:40

third generation. So there are

32:43

approximately eight endings to

32:43

each of these scenarios. That

32:47

means that there are multiple

32:47

middle scenarios as well,

32:51

well, and I think there

32:51

are even multiple starts,

32:54

because we kind of made a

32:54

mistake. And we hit back too

32:58

many times in the game that we

32:58

were playing with my sister and

33:02

her husband. And we saw that

33:02

there are different ways that

33:06

the scenario can start with you

33:06

having like alliances with

33:09

different groups of people. And

33:09

so, you know, that in itself

33:13

makes it unique and interesting

33:13

to actually, you know, just

33:17

start out a new scenario, I'd be

33:17

interested to go back and replay

33:21

one of those ones we've already

33:21

done and see how it's different.

33:25

I definitely want to go

33:25

back to the one with the plague

33:28

and see what happens when we

33:28

build the hospital instead of

33:31

decide not to build the hospital.

33:33

Yes. Okay, so that's

33:33

something we need to talk about.

33:38

Are we gonna go into some detail

33:38

of what actually happens and

33:41

have like,

33:41

oh, no, no spoilers.

33:42

No spoilers. All right.

33:42

So I agree, this is a great

33:47

game, fantastic production

33:47

quality. I do want to gripe

33:51

about the app for a little bit

33:51

if that's okay, you can go ahead

33:55

and great. Okay. So the thing

33:55

about having an app, I feel like

34:00

there are certain benefits that

34:00

you can get from that, that are

34:04

not necessarily being taken

34:04

advantage of currently by this

34:08

app. And I mean, the good news

34:08

about it being an app is that it

34:11

can be updated. So you know,

34:11

maybe more changes are coming

34:15

down the line. And this is just

34:15

kind of the current state of it.

34:18

But there's two big things that

34:18

I think they're kind of missing

34:21

out on. So first of all, the

34:21

voiceover there's a lot a lot of

34:26

story here, and like only one

34:26

out of every, I don't know, five

34:31

or six pages that you read is

34:31

actually voice acted. And I

34:35

don't understand why I feel like

34:35

adding that option add some

34:39

ambiance it, you know, kind of

34:39

evens things out for people who

34:44

might be really slow readers and

34:44

you know, just keeps the

34:48

experience consistent, but it's

34:48

not doing that consistently. So

34:54

I hope that's something that

34:54

they add more of, and obviously

34:57

you shouldn't be able to have

34:57

the ability to just skip ahead

35:00

For like, mute the voiceover if

35:00

that's not something you're

35:04

interested in, but I feel like

35:04

it shouldn't be there for people

35:07

who would want that. I agree.

35:07

The other thing that I feel like

35:10

the app really isn't taking

35:10

advantage of is keeping track of

35:14

who makes what decisions. So it

35:14

will guide you through like,

35:19

hey, you know, here's a couple

35:19

of options. So for example, in

35:23

the second game that we played,

35:23

we had the ability to go to the

35:26

town hall and talk to people.

35:26

And there would usually be like

35:29

two or three different options

35:29

of people there that we can talk

35:33

to, and it would kind of change

35:33

as we would go there at

35:36

different times, and different

35:36

people would go there. And

35:39

depending on who you talk to,

35:39

you might receive a token to

35:43

indicate, you know, something,

35:43

something that you've talked to

35:46

them about, it doesn't ask who

35:46

went and did that and receive

35:51

that token. It just says, Hey,

35:51

give this person that token. And

35:55

it would be much better if it

35:55

did. I agree, because the thing

35:59

is, is that things get kind of

35:59

confusing later, where it

36:04

doesn't know if that token has

36:04

been assigned to anybody, or

36:08

what if the same person receives

36:08

two tokens, and they're kind of

36:13

conflicting with each other. So

36:13

that happened to me, where I had

36:17

two tokens from kind of two

36:17

opposing sides. And I was able

36:21

to make decisions for each side.

36:21

And I don't know it kind of,

36:27

they kind of canceled each other

36:27

out. So like, the fact that you

36:31

have an app that would be so

36:31

easy to add in, because it has

36:34

you type in the names of your

36:34

players anyway, it's keeping

36:37

track of people that way, it'd

36:37

be so easy to add in just,

36:41

here's the name of the person

36:41

that received this option, or

36:44

that chose this thing. And then

36:44

the game could become more like,

36:50

fluid and dynamic. Based on that

36:50

it would know, oh, hey, this

36:55

person's already received the

36:55

token for this one side. Maybe

37:00

they shouldn't be able to

37:00

receive the token for the other

37:02

side, like maybe something

37:02

different should happen if I go

37:05

talk to that person to the other

37:05

side. And they'd be like, Oh,

37:08

hey, I see that you're already

37:08

supporting the other people, you

37:12

know, something like that. In

37:12

general, it also like, feels

37:15

like the app is a little clumsy.

37:15

Maybe there are situations where

37:24

things aren't completely clear.

37:24

So, you know, again, when I was

37:30

making those decisions for the

37:30

two different sides, it wasn't

37:33

clear to me who I was making the

37:33

decision for at the time, like,

37:37

am I representing a or b, and

37:37

that could definitely be

37:43

enhanced. So that also caused

37:43

some problems along the way that

37:47

can kind of mess up your story

37:47

and can kind of mess up your

37:50

experience as you're playing.

37:50

You know, if there's confusion

37:53

if there's a mix up. So yeah,

37:56

yeah, I do think that that

37:56

would make it a lot better if

37:59

they indicated who these

37:59

decisions would benefit. Yeah,

38:03

for sure.

38:04

But the good thing about

38:04

this being an app is that they

38:09

have the ability to continue to

38:09

update it, they can maintain it,

38:13

they can receive this feedback,

38:13

and make changes. So that's the

38:18

benefit of having it be an app

38:18

over having it being like hard

38:21

written already in the book.

38:21

Because that's one of the things

38:25

Jake, you said at the beginning

38:25

of this, is that right now, the

38:29

way things are, there's no

38:29

reason that this like these

38:32

decisions, and everything

38:32

couldn't have just been a script

38:34

text at the back of the book.

38:36

Right? It could have been

38:36

that being said, you know, there

38:40

are games that we have played,

38:40

like ether fields, that has

38:45

probably just about as much text

38:45

as this game does. It's in, I

38:50

think, two different books. But

38:50

it could be done.

38:54

For sure. And I think, I

38:54

don't know, we the only problem

38:58

that I can say we had with that

38:58

in either fields is sometimes

39:01

like some of the numbering was

39:01

off. And some of the references

39:04

that were like, if you make this

39:04

decision, go to this thing over

39:08

here that go to the script

39:08

number. There were a couple of

39:11

instances where like, that

39:11

wasn't correct. And I had to

39:15

google it. But I would say like

39:15

1% of the actual like scripts,

39:22

so like it can be done. And the

39:22

state of the app currently, I

39:26

agree. This could have been just

39:26

a booklet, like you're not

39:30

really getting anything else out

39:30

of the app currently. So I don't

39:34

know why they chose to go this

39:34

route unless they're planning on

39:38

adding more to the app.

39:40

Yeah, I think that they do

39:40

need to add more to the app. And

39:43

I think they probably will as

39:43

they release new scenarios for

39:48

this game. And that's kind of

39:48

what I wanted to talk about.

39:51

Next is our expansions and our

39:51

add ons for this game. Because

39:54

this game was released this

39:54

year. There's nothing right now

39:58

that is available as far as

39:58

expansion Add ons. However, as

40:02

we said, the three different

40:02

scenarios that are available

40:04

will have multiple branching

40:04

story points that lead to

40:07

different endings. But because

40:07

of the way the game is set up,

40:12

and the way that it's designed,

40:12

I feel like the new scenarios

40:16

would be very, very easy to do.

40:16

You type it up, and you throw

40:20

that into the app. And then you

40:20

create the different cards and

40:24

tokens and things like that, and

40:24

send them out in the same size

40:28

box that the scenarios are in.

40:28

And they're very small, like a

40:31

large deck of cards box. Like,

40:31

that's what the scenario is.

40:35

Yeah, I can definitely

40:35

see that being some expansion

40:39

or, you know, add on in the

40:39

future. So as

40:41

of right now, there is

40:41

nothing available, but I'm sure

40:44

there will be

40:45

agree. Also, kind of on

40:45

those lines, I feel like there's

40:49

a lot of potential here for, but

40:49

for lack of a better term,

40:53

modding. Like, there are so many

40:53

resources and components that

40:58

are a part of these different

40:58

scenario boxes, there's so many

41:01

different maps, I feel like

41:01

anybody could come along and

41:05

kind of create their own story

41:05

that just utilizes the things

41:09

that are already existing in the

41:09

box, and like make a totally new

41:13

experience. And it would be

41:13

super cool. If renegade would

41:19

actually like, be on board to

41:19

support that and help people

41:23

maybe get those added to their

41:23

app. So like there's an option

41:28

to select, you know, the

41:28

official stories, and then

41:31

there's an option to select,

41:31

like, you know, user mods. I

41:34

don't know if I can expect that

41:34

to actually happen. But I feel

41:38

like the potential and you know,

41:38

the opportunity is very real for

41:43

that.

41:44

Absolutely. I feel like it

41:44

wouldn't even take that much

41:48

effort. You know, if you design

41:48

what your scenario is, ideally,

41:53

and you can just go cherry pick

41:53

and choose, like different maps

41:56

even.

41:57

Yeah, absolutely. So I

41:57

think that there's a lot of

42:00

really cool potential there. But

42:00

I'm kind of excited to see,

42:03

let's see what people come up with.

42:05

Yeah. So next, we like to

42:05

talk about the Board Game Geek

42:09

ratings. This is rated at an 8.1

42:09

of 1600 reviews, which is

42:15

actually a pretty good amount,

42:15

considering that it just came

42:18

out, like a month and a half

42:18

ago. I mean, I feel like I agree

42:21

with 8.1. I think I would rate

42:21

it at a nine probably. But

42:26

yeah, this is a very

42:26

highly rated game, in my

42:30

opinion, just the production

42:30

quality, and the opportunity for

42:35

replayability. And a lot of that

42:35

stuff that they've got going on,

42:39

you know, I've only got just

42:39

those couple little gripes about

42:42

the app. Right, then that's

42:42

really the extent of my

42:45

complaints.

42:46

Yeah, I have some of the

42:46

same complaints. The app feels a

42:49

little bit clunky. But other

42:49

than that, I think this game is

42:52

awesome.

42:53

I agree with this

42:53

rating. And I hope that it stays

42:56

high as more people get their

42:56

hands on it.

42:59

I think it will I have

42:59

high hopes that it will. Yeah.

43:03

All right.

43:03

Should we talk about our rating section?

43:05

Yes, I think we should. Okay,

43:07

so first, we have easy

43:07

versus difficult. This is

43:10

basically how easy it is to go

43:10

through and understand the

43:14

rules. Is the rulebook put

43:14

together? Well, does it make

43:18

sense? Do you have to constantly

43:18

go back and be checking things?

43:22

That kind of stuff? I feel like

43:22

there's a lot of assumptions in

43:27

the rulebook that you already

43:27

know, like what a worker

43:30

placement game is. And it's not

43:30

thoroughly explained. So this

43:35

might be a little difficult for

43:35

people who are new to the genre,

43:41

or new to this type of game.

43:41

There were several times that we

43:46

had to go back and re review the

43:46

rules, just because I don't feel

43:51

like things were written quite

43:51

as clearly as they could have

43:54

been. One example is, what do we

43:54

start with? It doesn't say to

43:59

like, you've got so many of

43:59

these different little bases,

44:03

you know, the square and the

44:03

snowflake and the circle bases,

44:06

right? You've got so many of

44:06

these, it doesn't seem to fill

44:09

all of those. And then it says

44:09

put a servants, a caretaker and

44:17

two servants and a single

44:17

caretaker. Okay, yeah. So it

44:20

says put two servants and a

44:20

caretaker in the last area, and

44:25

you don't currently have access

44:25

to those. So the assumption is

44:27

that you get everything that is

44:27

remaining. And I mean, that that

44:30

seems to be what's accurate. But

44:30

at first, it didn't make sense

44:34

to me that you would have the

44:34

potential to have two

44:36

caretakers. So it was like, Oh,

44:36

I don't know why I have this

44:40

extra caretaker base, like is

44:40

this in case I lose one or it

44:45

seems like it would be a special

44:45

scenario that would allow me to

44:47

have two caretakers, but that's

44:47

the correct thing is that you

44:51

were supposed to start out with

44:51

yourself, your spouse and a

44:54

single caretaker. And that part

44:54

of it is never called out

44:58

explicitly. It's kind of the II,

44:58

it's the opposite is called out

45:02

what you don't have. And so you

45:02

should assume that you have

45:04

everything else.

45:05

Right? I do feel like some

45:05

of the rules are not great, like

45:10

you said. But I also feel like,

45:10

this isn't as difficult as some

45:15

of the other games we've played.

45:15

Definitely not. I think if I had

45:19

to give this a rating, I think I

45:19

would probably honestly give it

45:22

like a four. As far as

45:22

difficulty, that's kind of what

45:26

I was thinking. Assuming, like

45:26

you said, it does make the

45:31

assumption, you know what a

45:31

worker placement game is like,

45:34

and just kind of throws you went

45:34

from there, it doesn't do a

45:37

great job. Like you said, of

45:37

explicitly telling you what to

45:41

do with worker placement. If you

45:41

do understand it, this would be

45:44

about a four. If you don't

45:44

probably like a six, it might

45:47

take you some getting used to.

45:49

I think that's accurate.

45:49

And I would probably suggest

45:51

starting with a different worker

45:51

placement game, if you're just

45:54

learning what that concept is,

45:54

go check out, ever No, I was

46:00

gonna say Stone Age, I feel like

46:00

that's like the simplest worker

46:03

placement game that I know of.

46:04

If you want a really easy

46:04

worker placement game, you

46:08

should go play crisis. That's a

46:08

really great beginner worker

46:11

game. False disagree, 100

46:11

percent.

46:11

placement The next reading we'd like to

46:16

talk about is simple versus

46:18

complex. And if you're not

46:18

familiar, we like to use chess

46:22

as the example. This is a very

46:22

easy game, because there are

46:24

very few rules. But it's very

46:24

complex, because of the amount

46:28

of strategy and the mechanics in

46:28

the game that are used to win.

46:32

So I feel like this game has a

46:32

lot of viable strategy. I agree.

46:37

There are lots of ways to play

46:37

this game. I feel like one of

46:40

the core concepts, however, is

46:40

getting those experiments done

46:43

to get victory points, but how

46:43

you do them and what you do for

46:47

them and where you're getting

46:47

your resources from. That is

46:51

where the strategy comes in how

46:51

you use your workers in the

46:53

worker placement slots.

46:55

Yeah. So like, I don't

46:55

know, for my first game, I

46:59

didn't realize, you know, how

46:59

little was going to kind of

47:03

carry over and matter, you know,

47:03

between the generations. So I

47:07

spent a lot of time performing

47:07

experiments, but I never

47:11

recorded knowledge. And so that

47:11

came back and bit me because I

47:16

basically had to do all those

47:16

same experiments over again, for

47:19

the new generation in order to

47:19

be able to make advancements. So

47:22

I came nowhere close to being

47:22

able to do my Master Work

47:27

experiment. But I think you've

47:27

gotten closer,

47:31

I have gotten to the point

47:31

where I could have made it, but

47:35

it was the very last round of

47:35

the last generation. And I

47:40

didn't have the resources for

47:40

it. Okay, so I had all the

47:44

experiments completed for it. So

47:44

I had the three C's, the two B's

47:49

and the A, all the necessary

47:49

components done. I just didn't

47:52

have the necessary ingredients

47:52

for the experiment itself.

47:56

Yeah, I think there's

47:56

also strategy in so like, you

48:00

know, you can go into town to

48:00

collect your resources. But I

48:05

think there's also strategy and

48:05

attempting to do it through

48:08

experiments. Sometimes you get

48:08

lucky and you have experiments

48:11

that give you the resources that

48:11

you need for the next

48:13

experiment. Yes. But if you

48:13

don't have that there is a

48:17

worker placement slot in your

48:17

mansion that allows you to draw

48:22

three experiment cards and pick

48:22

one to keep. So you could

48:26

potentially keep doing that,

48:26

like send your, your multiple

48:30

caretakers there to go and do

48:30

that, to attempt to get you know

48:35

better experiments that really

48:35

kind of give you a path that

48:39

leads to where you want to go.

48:39

And then you don't have to worry

48:42

about becoming creepy. When you

48:42

go dig up a body in the

48:45

graveyard. You know, you don't

48:45

have to keep doing

48:48

that. Everyone's creepy

48:48

when they go to the graveyard.

48:51

Yeah, but I'm saying you

48:51

could get bodies other ways from

48:54

your previous experience.

48:56

Why? Why would you want to

48:59

know, I'm just saying

48:59

that's one thing you could do. I

49:03

like the creep. I think even

49:03

outside of strategy, you know,

49:07

there's all these decisions that

49:07

you can make in the game. Like

49:11

for the story, for example, in

49:11

the first game that we played,

49:15

we were presented with an

49:15

option, do we build a hospital

49:18

or not? You know, is that

49:18

something we want to work

49:21

towards? And we didn't? What

49:21

changes when we build the

49:24

hospital, you know, it changes

49:24

the whole story provides you

49:27

with different opportunities,

49:27

potentially makes things easier,

49:31

and, you know, smoother. There's

49:31

a whole lot of stuff going on. I

49:36

agree. And there's a very high

49:36

amount of strategy in this. I'm

49:39

gonna give it six.

49:43

I was thinking six or

49:43

seven. I think I'm gonna go six.

49:46

Gonna go six and a half.

49:46

Okay. Yeah, decent amount. Lots

49:52

of options there.

49:53

Okay, and the last rating

49:53

we like to talk about is the

49:56

rope versus random rating. And

49:56

this is what mechanics in each

50:01

gameplay change to make a unique

50:01

experience, dice, rolling

50:05

randomize cards chances to

50:05

trigger different scenarios,

50:08

things like that. However,

50:08

there's not a lot of mechanics

50:12

that change per se in this game,

50:12

but sometimes they can,

50:17

depending on how the map changes

50:17

with the worker placement slots.

50:20

That being said, this game has

50:20

the three different beginning

50:24

scenarios that have the

50:24

branching story points and have

50:27

the different endings. I feel

50:27

like this is a pretty random

50:30

game.

50:31

Yeah, this is the first

50:31

time that I feel like, there's a

50:36

lot of options and choices and

50:36

directions of this can go

50:39

without it being random. It's

50:39

not random what happens, it's

50:43

based on choices that you make,

50:43

right? And so I'm having a

50:47

little bit of a hard time kind

50:47

of resolving that in my mind.

50:50

It's definitely not rote. No. So

50:50

like, there definitely is a lot

50:56

of replayability a lot of

50:56

different things that you can

50:59

get into, you know, but it's

50:59

story driven, and it's decision

51:03

based. So I guess I'm gonna give

51:03

this like a seven. Yeah,

51:09

yeah, I'm gonna give this

51:09

a six. Okay, because like I

51:13

said, the mechanics themselves

51:13

don't change, really. But there

51:16

are lots of different scenarios

51:16

you find yourself in. But there

51:20

are times also when

51:20

you're unwilling to accept

51:23

what's printed on the map. Like

51:23

when you just get a servant for

51:26

free. When you go to church,

51:26

you're like, No, that has to be

51:29

a typo.

51:30

I do feel like that was a

51:30

typo. Like, no, I think it's

51:34

part of the story, but it said

51:34

nothing about it. Yeah,

51:39

I don't know, final

51:39

thoughts. I guess. Like, there's

51:43

a lot of really cool things

51:43

going on with this game, there

51:47

is still a little bit of

51:47

clunkiness that I think can be

51:50

enhanced and fixed with the app.

51:50

And that will make it smoother

51:54

and just a better experience.

51:54

But already, it's a pretty

51:57

awesome experience. So I really

51:57

liked this game.

52:00

So we have to answer the

52:00

question now, actually, would

52:04

you rather play this game? Over,

52:04

sitting outside, and 110 degree

52:09

weather with 68% Humidity for an

52:09

hour at a time waiting for your

52:13

pig to go to the bathroom?

52:13

Because she'd rather just eat

52:16

grass and dig in the dirt?

52:18

Yeah, especially in the

52:18

summer here. Way prefer to sit

52:22

inside and play this game? Yeah.

52:22

I mean, I love that girl. I love

52:28

her. And I'm glad she's having

52:28

fun. But I need to have some

52:33

fun, too. Yes. So yeah, I

52:33

definitely would prefer to play

52:37

this game. And there you have

52:37

it. That is my father's work.

52:41

Thank you guys so much for

52:41

listening. As always, hit us up

52:45

on Facebook, Twitter, and

52:45

Instagram at so bored podcast.

52:49

That's S O B O A R D podcast.

52:49

We'd love to hear about fun

52:56

experiences and house rules that

52:56

you have playing this game or

53:00

your interest in general in

53:00

playing this game. We'll also be

53:03

able to find pictures and short

53:03

stories of other games that

53:07

we've been playing recently and

53:07

just interact with us all things

53:10

tabletop. If you don't feel like

53:10

doing it on social media, you

53:14

can also hit us up on email at

53:14

we are so [email protected] That's

53:18

W E ar e s o b o a r

53:18

[email protected]. Lastly, make sure

53:25

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53:38

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53:38

can do more stuff. We can do

53:41

cooler giveaways. We can do all

53:41

kinds of you know things. One of

53:45

the ideas that we have that like

53:45

is just not possible right now

53:50

is we'd like to do this weekly.

53:50

But we need a lot more support

53:55

before that's even a

53:55

possibility. So leave us a

53:59

rating tell people what you

53:59

think we really, really

54:01

appreciate it.

54:02

And of course, we can't forget the shout outs for the people who knew what game we

54:04

were reviewing, based on the

54:07

picture we posted last week. So

54:07

congrats. Two trips, plenty.

54:12

That's an awesome rich Olson,

54:12

Haley Aldrich, Kim Froman token

54:20

fan forever on Twitter. Thank

54:20

you, everybody. You guys did

54:25

awesome. And I'm glad that you

54:25

were able to participate in our

54:29

little shout out game. We also

54:29

want to thank Michel Mims, the

54:32

designer of our art. He is

54:32

currently accepting commissions.

54:35

So go check him out at misco Sa

54:35

ra on Instagram or on his

54:40

website, Michel Mims. That's mi

54:40

ch e l m i m s.ca rd.co. Thank

54:48

you to our editors and to

54:48

podcast management for editing

54:52

this episode. They are

54:52

professional podcast editors and

54:55

can be found at a&t Dash podcast

54:55

management.com And that dashes a

55:00

hyphen not a slash of any sort.

55:03

Once again, you can come

55:03

hang out with us. Usually on

55:06

Wednesday nights on Twitch, we

55:06

are playing something fun. Last

55:11

week, we actually played this

55:11

game. So I hope you tuned in and

55:15

got a chance to see what kind of

55:15

craziness we can get up to.

55:18

Yeah, we liked this game

55:18

so much. We were gonna play

55:20

something else. And we both

55:20

decided now we want to play this

55:23

one. We could

55:25

do that. But my father's

55:25

work sounds so much more fun.

55:29

could also play my

55:29

father's work. So you

55:32

can find us on

55:32

twitch.tv/snowboard podcast.

55:36

Yes, and I'm also

55:36

streaming on Twitch. I will be

55:40

streaming retro games pretty

55:40

soon here, some Nintendo 64

55:44

games, the nostalgia is real.

55:44

And I'm at Naughty Dog 541.

55:50

That's NAU GH, t y d, OC 541.

55:54

And lastly, don't forget

55:54

about our giveaway that's still

55:57

going on for another, I don't

55:57

know, 15 days or so. So go check

56:02

out our Facebook page. It's

56:02

pinned right to the top. There's

56:05

a gleam giveaway with many, many

56:05

ways to enter for free.

56:10

And thank you all so much.

56:10

That's it.

56:14

We'll talk to you guys next time.

56:15

All right, bye. Bye. When

56:15

I put it in my hands. My hands

56:20

don't fit around it the way that

56:20

they used to