Hi all! Cardboard of the Rings has begun doing some live playthroughs on a Twitch feed lately. They've been a blast, and we love getting people from the community to come chat with us. Tonight we'll actually be starting our own campaign, which, I believe, will be a first for a few of us.

Come check us out tonight, May 6, at 8:30 EDT (GMT-4) at www.twitch.tv/cotrpodcast

Hope to see some friendly faces there!

You're Brian right? I really enjoy the playthroughs and remember there in the chatroom for the very first one (brandsonofbain, lol) but I'm normally not at the computer, or eating or whatever at 8:30 so I've not been there live anymore. Hope I can be there tonight, you do a good job, it's pretty much the only thing to create a sorta world community, since local communities are so few and far behind I believe.

I am indeed Brian! I'm glad you enjoy them! I absolutely love chatting with everybody and debating the rules, or watching as the community all strikes up as one to tell us we forgot something. It's a lot of fun

I hope you can join us! I'll keep my eye out for you!

Join the COTR crew tonight as we tackle Trouble in Tharbad! There will be tears, laughs, probably some gas, and -- fingers crossed -- some friendships ruined.

Tonight 9/2/14 at 8:30pm CDT: http://www.twitch.tv/cotrpodcast

Sweet! I might finally get to watch one of these live instead of on youtube.

looking forward to it

Next time you should probably post this on the geek as well.

How did it go; it was too late for me to watch.

go here and watch it!

http://www.twitch.tv/cotrpodcast/b/564623466

Too many mistakes, though I can't blame you guys. You're constantly joking around making it hard to pay attention to anything. I think you guys actually did quite well considering everything you needed to look out for.

Hi all! I was only able to pop in for a few minutes last night, mostly just to talk about my new Godzilla toy, but things seemed like they were going well. We'll be playing again next week, so I'll drop another announcement. Getting announcements up on Geek is a good idea too! Thanks Jackelantern!

We make the playthrough videos available on YouTube as well a few days after we play, though the most exciting time to join us is live, obviously. The YouTube videos just don't quite capture the magic. https://www.youtube.com/user/COTRPodcast

As for mistakes: yeah, they happen. Cardboard of the Rings has always been more about fun and jokes than it has about hardcore strategy and flawless gameplay. I, personally, wouldn't have it any other way. Plus it's fun watching the chat window light up when we do something wrong.

I hope those who are able will continue to join us! I have so much fun chatting with people and getting everyone else's thoughts as we play. It truly captures the essence of what I believe a co-op game should be all about. For those who can't, we will miss you, but I hope you continue to listen to the podcast and engage us on Facebook whenever you want!

Brian

Yeah I always wondered if others make mistakes while playing. It really bums me out to catch a mistake I made but I tell myself it happens. There's so any overlaying text that it's hard to get everything right.

At the very least a lot of the mistakes actually kind of made it harder on yourselves, like not appropriately lowering threat or everyone raising threat from Nalir or forgetting to heal wounds. Was still a very enjoyable play through. The live comments section alone is worth the tune in. Looking forward to the next segment

Eh, I've actually played like 2 or 3 quests in a row, doing pretty well, only to realize I'd been drawing one cards from the encounter deck while playing 2-handed. *sigh*

I think mistakes in this game are simply going to be a natural part of the play. In an effort to keep the game fresh as a completely co-op game, they have to incorporate more and more complexity into how it handles itself. While I understand the need for the complexity, it's also one of the greatest weaknesses of the game in my opinion. When the rulesheets now have to include a disclaimer or a warning indicating that every card should be reviewed carefully because of all the triggering effects, I think the game becomes as much work as it does play.

I think it's only natural for mistakes to happen. At the end of the day, as long as you aren't claiming to be the greatest player of LOTR that ever lived, only one question remains: did you still have fun?

I agree with each one of your points Brian. I enjoy highly complex games (MECCG comes to mind), but in those the complex elements were determined by player choices and rules for combat, movement, corruption, etc which offer the player a more protagonic role. In this game though, the elements of complexity are imposed by the encounter deck and quest cards themselves; it's not something that the player does, but something the game does, and needless to say it's much more boring like that. The Time mechanic, while innovative, is yet another thing to keep track of, and again, it's something that the deck does (through the player that is, who must remove the time counters), something that we are forced to do, and something in which the player has little to no choice or part to play. The example you give of the Dunland Trap is possibly the most shameful one. But I think at the same time that this is a problem that all cooperative games have since they have a "computer" of sorts playing its part. I wish though that whatever new mechanics and complexities the designers come up with are more directed towards the player, not the encounter deck, or else we'll just end up with very simple player decks and extremely intrincate encounter decks that just impose us to do their thing and force us to remember each little part. I wish the game had, for example, better rules for travelling, that offer the players more of a choice and things they could do at certain places, instead of just "pick your poison". Sadly, I think the game is going the complete opposite direction with the Side Quests, which are, as far as we know, pretty much location cards with a different border, that have a negative effect that we must avoid eventually. And this applies to all encounter cards IMO. In summary, I wish there was more of a mixture of encounter effects "to keep track of", and actual player mechanics that interact with the encounter cards in a more proactive way, besides the interactions between players themselves (I play exclusively solo).

instead to pay attention to the game and learn something they just joking around......to chaotic for me......so many mistakes...i respect a game and rules so for me is painful to see this kind of videos.

But when Brain and Brandon out they video is ok for me.

Anyway is up to them...

I pretty much concede if I realise I've done something wrong or forgotten any enounter card triggers if it changes the game entirely and I'm not able to simply reverse/remedy/rectify the mistake/s. As difficult and complex as the game can be, victories in which you have not made any mistakes are so much more rewarding and obviously more legitimate. It can be tough to keep track and obviously mistakes are bound to happen but so long as you pay attention and double check everything in play at certain points you can minimize this big time. FallenTurtles you are definitely right about it sometimes being as much work as it is fun (especially playing two handed!) with so much setup time inbetween games it can be daunting to restart just cause you got something wrong. Much respect for anyone who is not that much of a stickler for the rules or more in it for the fun as in the end having fun is what its all about but personally I hate mistakes/playing incorrectly and am somewhat obsessed with making as few mistakes as possible.

Yeah I think that is the main reason I have never played two handed. I feel it will bog the game down for me and be too much to keep track of.

Love the comments you guys are making. I'm just now starting to get a descent win ratio. Took me a long time and study to start winning but boy the payoff when I win is very nice.

I play a lot with the bear; he is an easy hero and his ability is nice that coupled with Aragorn the one that lets you reset the treat level works good for me.

Yes when you play 2 handed you brain is boil sure. But after a while you can see things clear and react very fast. IS a good very good brain trainer. So this game and most other board an cards game is a brain sharper. So good for train your head!

There are plenty of resources for the more "professional grade" gameplay styles and fans of those styles. COTR has always been about fun, goofing around, friendly discussion, and ridiculous off-topic tangents. We excel at the last one.

I agree wholeheartedly with what everybody is saying. The game's complexity has led it down an interesting path, and it's a path I've been vocally critical of on the show, but I totally see why people like it. To me, it ends up being more like filling out taxes. There is something wonderfully satisfying about following those precise government instructions, filling in the right information, completing form A and then moving on to Form B if item C is applicable, blah blah blah. It's almost like a logic puzzle, and sometimes it's a lot of fun to figure out the puzzle. But on the flipside... I just compared playing a game to doing taxes A lot of people are going to be turned off by a concept like that, and I have definitely fallen victim to that.

To all those who have trouble or make a lot of mistakes, like I said earlier, it's a completely co-op game, and there's just no reason to get down on yourself for an error. Learn from the error and adjust it (if you want to) on your next gameplay. If you make mistakes, just be aware of it if you get the urge to head off to the forums and brag about your win. Don't forget your little asterisk when you post. Beyond that, just have fun!

And always remember: if you ever REALLY get down on yourself for all the mistakes you made, picture myself and Sean from COTR sitting down at GenCon right next to Caleb as we just brutally mismanaged The Old Forest scenario. We won, but no amount of asterisks in the world will be able to full explain how poorly we followed all the card effects. With the game's developer... right. next. to. us. I loved it.

Thx for lighthearted entertainment, please keep up the good work, looking forward to next time mabye....I normaly at work when you play, But it is still fun to watch the video afterwards.

There are plenty of resources for the more "professional grade" gameplay styles and fans of those styles. COTR has always been about fun, goofing around, friendly discussion, and ridiculous off-topic tangents. We excel at the last one.

I agree wholeheartedly with what everybody is saying. The game's complexity has led it down an interesting path, and it's a path I've been vocally critical of on the show, but I totally see why people like it. To me, it ends up being more like filling out taxes. There is something wonderfully satisfying about following those precise government instructions, filling in the right information, completing form A and then moving on to Form B if item C is applicable, blah blah blah. It's almost like a logic puzzle, and sometimes it's a lot of fun to figure out the puzzle. But on the flipside... I just compared playing a game to doing taxes A lot of people are going to be turned off by a concept like that, and I have definitely fallen victim to that.

To all those who have trouble or make a lot of mistakes, like I said earlier, it's a completely co-op game, and there's just no reason to get down on yourself for an error. Learn from the error and adjust it (if you want to) on your next gameplay. If you make mistakes, just be aware of it if you get the urge to head off to the forums and brag about your win. Don't forget your little asterisk when you post. Beyond that, just have fun!

And always remember: if you ever REALLY get down on yourself for all the mistakes you made, picture myself and Sean from COTR sitting down at GenCon right next to Caleb as we just brutally mismanaged The Old Forest scenario. We won, but no amount of asterisks in the world will be able to full explain how poorly we followed all the card effects. With the game's developer... right. next. to. us. I loved it.

Brilliantly said! COTR is my go-to for LOTR fun. I like the banter among the group. Etienne is a great straight-man and I get my dose of strategic knowledge of the game and weekly quota of Scotland from Sean. Always miss the days when Brian or Brandon are missing because they add the great comedic value to the podcasts. Also, Jarod! Hopefully he can still make some of the episodes.

As for mistakes, I played Trouble in Tharbad yesterday and realized after a few rounds that I forgot to remove a time counter when the spies attacked. I tried to rectify it but I couldn't remember entirely. I am one person playing two-handed and I mess up regularly. Couldn't imagine trying it with two or three more people and expecting perfection. Besides, if mistakes were never made it would be boring. I laughed like crazy when Brandon tried to doom people with a leadership card even though none of his heroes were leadership. When the comment section pointed that out and I heard you guys react I was rolling.

Long-story short, I am a huge fan of the podcast. Keep up the good work...but not too good...because screw ups are funny!

It's very rare indeed to finish a game with zero mistakes. I often play two handed and almost every game I mess up my counting turns. I won't even bother remind everyone the logistic nightmare of keeping up with card effects in the Dunland Trap! And I enjoy that scenario a lot too.

Good form for Caleb not to correct you while playing, very respectful and humble of the creator.

It's very rare indeed to finish a game with zero mistakes. I often play two handed and almost every game I mess up my counting turns. I won't even bother remind everyone the logistic nightmare of keeping up with card effects in the Dunland Trap! And I enjoy that scenario a lot too.

Good form for Caleb not to correct you while playing, very respectful and humble of the creator.

Oh he definitely corrected us! A lot. But he was polite and friendly about it, while also giving us our deserved amount of playful jabs. But I could see the tears that he wanted to shed. I could see them, guys.