The Giant Beastcast: Episode 267

Following the email about Gloomhaven:

I think Gloomhaven is wildly overrated, and I genuinely don't understand why it's such a Kickstarter phenomenon. It gets pitched to people as a "legacy" game, but I think the legacy elements are incredibly weak. You're really just keeping a character sheet as you grind out experience and gold to upgrade your character. For a game with a bunch of stickers, the game doesn't really evolve at all, you kinda just keep grinding out scenarios as dictated by the book, and occasionally pay some gold to upgrade a card. It's really just a fantasy tactics video game turned into a board game. If you just want to do some dungeon crawling with some friends, you could buy a prewritten D&D campaign and probably have a more fun time, because Gloomhaven's turns go glacially slow and the whole game is just combat with none of the variety of D&D-style roleplaying. Or maybe the game is beloved by Warhammer weirdos, who are just really into moving miniatures around and measuring weapon ranges and whatever?

The only saving grace is that the character actions are well thought out, in that you don't have repeatable actions. Instead of a "basic attack or special ability" like many RPGs, your actions each turn are fairly unique, and you have to use each unique ability once and then all of them "reset." Mechanically, it's an interesting idea, but everything else about the ho-hum meta layer of the campaign and the glacial pace of the dungeon crawling turns left me unimpressed.

It's barely a legacy board game. I'd prefer a video game tactics RPG that commits more to being a video game (Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy Tactics, etc.). I'd prefer a dungeon crawling roleplaying campaign that has a larger variety of things you could do and input you could have on the outcome instead of combat combat combat (D&D, Pathfinder, etc.). I'd prefer a legacy board game that actually adds interesting twists and turns mechanically as you poke and prod at its systems (Pandemic Legacy and Risk Legacy both do very good jobs of this). Gloomhaven has elements of all of these things, and is less than the sum of its parts.

Wow, Vinny sounds very rattled and all over the place. I didn’t mind it during his venting (which was understandable) but throughout the show he was very muddled and kept speaking/presenting in an unsure manner.

This industry just sucks the life to the best of people. Vinny should take a lengthy holiday.

Hard to believe it's been seven years. Love Ryan Davis. Some of my favorite videos to go back and watch are the "How to Build a Bomb" ones from when the site was launching. I specifically have always remembered, "I hate you ghost fish," from episode 8.

His death hit me hard. His voice and laughter and presence helped me through some incredibly tough times.

Everyone should take a break when they need it. Self-care is so important and more so now than ever. Parents having to work and care for their children right now, you are all amazing. Please, everyone, take care of yourselves, and take the breaks you need and deserve.

To Cold Pizza Guy: divorce your wife and get new friends

7:00 I miss Ryan, RIP. My favorite moment was the PAX panel where he drank anonymous breastmilk! also the video where y'all are chugging cans of pop! He was a great guy that cared about his work and other people. <3

@sethmode:

@petesix0:

Alright guys. Take it easy. I was simply responding to someone's open question around if everyone is generally fearful of returning to general society and I shared my experience of asking the same question to someone who would be in the most vulnerable of populations. Keep the phase "Actions speak louder than words" in that this is a person who has been in general isolation for three plus months. Who is actively limiting exposure to others and following the recommendations. And is simply expressing her desire to get back to normal as opposed to sitting around, stagnant, rotting away, and being afraid to leave her home. And "bingo" for entertainment isn't the primary desire so much as that is the source of her social circles. It's not as if she is actually gathering in crowds at political rallies, laying in streets shoulder to shoulder yelling protest phrases, going to fireworks displays, tearing down statues in groups, going to crowded bars, or whatever other activities go against pandemic recommendations that people will be selectively outraged at depending on their views.

Just understand that many are following the recommendations, not every area of the country is as densely populated and at risk as places like New York or California, and there are people who do not fear returning to society at large. Just because someone isn't terrified to step out of their front door or aren't as lucky to support themselves from the comfort of their home doesn't make them bad people.

@thizzle7xu: I'm sorry if I came on strong - I sincerely wish you and your Grandmother well throughout this.

But it's irresponsible to long for things to go back to normal, because they aren't going to be. At a time when individuals, businesses and governments are involved in so much gaslighting that people really don't seem to understand how easily this thing can spread and that you can carry it without knowing you're sick, everyone needs to begin accepting the new normal. Which regrettably is probably going to mean social isolation until someone gasha's a Golden Child with immunity.

Stay safe. Sincerely. Same to everyone.

I've been quiet on the site for a time, mostly because things for me are pinballing between extreme work stress and emotional despondency from twitter doomscrolling. Everyone is feeling everything all the time, and it takes a toll. I cannot express enough how helpful the regular podcasts from GB have been for me, and continue to be. That said I don't want the staff to be pumping out this amount of content (especially live stuff) consistently into whatever nebulous future we're marching toward if it's eroding their sanity away. Please take care of yourselves.

The grief and outpouring of love which filled up the interent on the day of Ryan Davis' death is sadly what made me aware of Giantbomb. The first Bombcast I listened to was that heart aching episode following the event. I stayed around because in that time I felt the love, the lost, the honesty and it made me appreciate what a kind group of souls keep this website going. And since that day there have been many days where Giantbomb has helped me through my own difficult times. Much love to all you guys, things are strange right now, but my world feels better for you guys being around and doing what you do.

@bladededge: hey thanks man, i hope the crew sees this, it echoes many of our sentiments

Thank you guys for all you do, seriously! At the end of the day, this can be viewed as nonsense about nonsense but your voices and personalities make it so much more than that. Please take time and take care of yourselves whenever it’s needed!

We bought the Mouse Trap board game when I was a teenager, due to having seen the commercial so many times when I was younger. That game is boring as hell. The only thing it has going for it is the gimmick, and the gimmick lasts like 3 seconds. Plus you have to slog through the game to even reach the gimmick.

Vinny is right - room temp pizza is great. Although I usually refrigerate overnight, then take it out in the morning to eat for lunch.