This new Lord of the Rings LCG looks pretty slick. Anyone interested in playing it? I'm just kind of wondering what other peoples' thoughts are on it. I might not have the time or money to get into it, but I'm definitely excited about it.

I remember back in '01 when Decipher had their LotR CCG in time for the movies. It blew up, and a lot of people who had never even heard of collectible card games got into it. I think with as popular as the property is, it might do the same here. That would be good, because then people will find out about W:I and even GOT and CoC and could get more players, and then games stores will support them even more. Around here, at least, they do not.

So, I say, support the new LotR LCG and pump up Fantasy Flight Games in general. This could be very good for us.

What does everyone else think?

I am very interested, but I would love to hear what people thought that demoed it Gen Con.

I am also excited about Blood Bowl. I love games like Dominion and Thunderstone. Everyone is on a level playing ground and every game is different.

Brian B

I do like the concept...I'm not a big fan of cooperative games, but in the LCG environment I guess it can be a lot of fun...

It's an alternative way to approach this format and I think lots of player will get this as a game to play during the looong winter, considering that it allows solo playing (wonderful for testing basic mechanics)...

I'll get it, no doubts about it: I must have at least the core set.

I'm interested. I want to see reviews first, but if it gets a positive reception then I will buy it. Whether I then keep up with all the monthly expansions will depend on how well it plays. The artwork on the cards is looking very good so far which is a big plus for me (yea, I'm superficial that way)

Saw a bit of it at GenCon but wasn't terribly excited - the Co-Op mechanism pretty much ruins it for me as invariably it simply devolves into a game where the person with the strongest personality or most forceful attitude directs the entire game for everyone else. Ostensibly there are mechanics in this game to help prevent that (for example, you cannot tell your teammates what you have in your hand) but they're usually mitigated by other external aspects. Sure you can't tell someone what's in your hand but body language will usually give it away, anyway.

I was heavily disappointed when I learned it was Co-Op only. Meh.

Co-op games have that problem in spades unless you apply game mechanics to help. Space Alert does the best job of that for me for a pure co-op. But I prefer the semi-co-op thing in general like Battlestar Galactica.

Table talk rules only get you so far in my experience, sadly. You have to be very strict about it for them to work.

Wytefang,

Same for me. I did the demo and walked away thinking, I didn't much like co-op games before, this definitely wasn't the game for me. It was polished and smooth and had cool tactics, but co-op? Eh, I'll pass. Tack on Hero's are unique and what happens if we both are playing Aragorn? Which one of us has to change our deck? Just not a great mechanic for me.

Now bloodbowl to me would have been the better next LCG. That just screams monthly battle packs for support. Its cool it will be a deck building game because I like them, but in general I would have preferred it to be a LCG.

-Bernie

I overheard some interesting stuff at the Con which I'll post in my post GenCon report (hoping to get it done later today). One of my most hoped-for game IPs may be getting the LCG treatment. Yay!

Wytefang said:

Funny, this is exactly what happened to our group who were pretty excited about it as well. I posted this same thinking in the LOTR forum on this site for the game after seeing it at gen con this weekend, but of course was assaulted by the fan boys who have decided they will like it regardless of seeing it already lol. I understand that some people will like it... i have no issue with that at all, for me and the guys with me, (plus the others who got demos at the same time as us, and some who had demos previous to us but were playing cards with us at the time) all felt it was just 'ok', and the fact it was co-op play instead of getting to play against the other person and especially as shadow side or good side were just huge turn offs. If you get a chance stop over to that forum and add some thoughts.

If you are not a big fan of co-op games, maybe you haven't played any good ones. I'm a huge fan of Pandemic and Ghost Stories, so I'm very interested in LOTR. I will probably buy the base-set and then see how it turns out. If I like it, I'll also start buying the adventure packs. The game description promises a lot of variety in each game you play, something that makes a game more playable over a long time.

Hrm, I've played Descent: Journeys in the Dark (heroes are co-op), Pandemic, LotR (the board game), Space Alert and Arkham Horror. All of those except Space Alert suffer from the problem where the best line of play is to have the most knowledgeable player (in BGG-speak, the "alpha") tell everyone else what to do.

Not to say that co-op games can't be fun anyway, but it is a big problem for co-op games because for casual players you will often have widely differing levels of experience. A lot of people don't like the "alpha" dynamic of play. What floats your boat doesn't float everyone's. I don't like FFA multiplayer games much anymore because of the political dynamic normally being more important than the rest of the game, but a whole lot of people do - in fact, it seems like most gamers do in my experience.

I am very excited about this game, the co-op and the solo play aspects will be great, looking forward to it and having it to play during winter.

Yeah, I'm in the market for it too, mostly because my wife really likes coop games. I'll probably be picking up at least the core set if it's decent.

Actually, she picked the LotR board game for her essay in the "Hobby Games: 100 Best" book (which is definitely worth a look if you want to read some well-argued game recommendations).

Yeah for me its the same thing, I figured a game where we play with as opposed to against each other will be something she will find it easier to get in to. And the solo play will be good for when shes not interested in playing, and testing out decks.

I tend to agree with the majorty here that the game will suffer from being co-op. Not to say there aren't good ones out there, my group tends to like to play the LOTR boardgame that is co-op. It is just such a nice change of pace. But the fact that it does limit the game to being very strict and limited in my opinion. In a boardgame it does lend itself well, in a card game it does not as much in my opinion. I do have a soft spot for LOTR myself, and so was very much looking forward to a new card game of it. I played decipher's and liked it very much and played for quite awhile. But due to the fact you didn't really play against the other person with a straight deck vs deck mentality I felt the game lacked a little luster and was the reason for its eventual demise.

I did get a chance to sit down with it at GenCon over this past weekend and here is what I felt:

1. Mechanics were neat, nothing breakthru, but solid.

2. Artwork was really nice!

3. Gameplay itself seemed a bit slow and unfortunately was a little boring.

I'm not sure if its just me, or maybe a card gamer mentality as well, but I really like the idea of my deck and what I draw and how I use it vs the other persons. The thing I hate about collectible ones is the constant loop holes and decks being used in ways they weren't intended. So I very much like the idea of these living card games. They seem so much more streamlined and controllable. I like them a lot! I just don't think LOTR will be for me sadly, it just didn't seem fun for us. I would like to see a card game come out that focuses on a deck per hero or something for LOTR. Like an aragorn deck that has him for the main hero and then he uses others in his deck... then you could include others wants (from the other lotr threads) like shadow play with a sauramon or nazgul as the main character with other shadow in their deck. Played against one another obviously. Might be fun. At any rate, maybe if this one doesn't seem very successful, they could maybe do a second instead of or at the same time? Doubtful I know, but I"m an optimist

Sorry for the length!

I think with this game FFG was trying to do something different. The being able to play as different characters was done with ME ccg and to a lesser extent with decipher. I did like the decipher game because you got to play as the bad guys and the good guys, always found that enjoyable. But also FFG now has 2 fantasy themed LCG's that are competitive games.

And LotR does make sense as a co-op game as really at its root its a story of people from different races and walks of life banding together against a common foe so I think thematically wise it does work. I know the co-op thing will lose some people but both it being LotR and the fact that is co-op will help to draw in others. I know for a few of us with wives etc the idea of a co-op game is an easier pill to swallow for them. I'm reserving judgement till I actually get to play but as long as the mechanics are solid this will become my new 2nd LCG since I stopped getting AgoT.

Thanks for all the great replys, guys! I'm glad to see people are thinking about this, and I didn't even realize that co-op was that frowned upon. I for one love love LOVE Arkham Horror, a co-op indeed. But it looks like LotR will be a bit different.

One thing no one touched on though, from my original post, was about the mainstream marketability of this. When people see Lord of the Rings, they might think, "Oh, I'm not into gaming, but I loved the movies!" This could mean crossover with Invasion, CoC, GoT, etc.

Do any of you think that'll happen? I hope so, and we can get more people into this (around where I live, it's a pretty small community).