I recently published a video talking about my top 10 life changing table top games.
What are some games that changed your life?
6 Likes
Itās quaint to think about now, but the reason Iām so deep into the hobby is because of 1.) the rediscovery of my old games like Dragonstrike and HeroQuest and 2.) buying a copy of Zombies!!!
Zombies!!! Was the first modern, indie boardgame I had bought. It was silly but it became the focus of our burgeoning game group. It taught us how to make house rules, custom components, and how to buy way too many expansions.
The game was simple but from that moment on I wanted to dive deeper into that style of game.
4 Likes
A quick shout-out to the magnificent vaults of the Esoteric Order of Gamers, where rule summaries are compiled with monkish dedication and arcane precision:
6 Likes
In a warm, nostalgic stroll down cardboard memory lane, Daniel (@Dungeondive) shares the ten tabletop games that genuinely changed his lifeāno hyperbole, he swears (well, maybe a touch). Framed around how long each game has been in his life, the list becomes less about rankings and more about personal milestones, tracing a timeline of discovery, passion, and sometimes outright rebellion.
Scarlet Heroes ā 2014
Warhammer Quest ā 1995
Arkham Horror (Second Edition) ā 2005
El Grande ā 1995
Space Hulk ā 1989
Talisman (Second Edition) ā 1983
Shogun / Samurai Swords ā 1986
TMNT and Other Strangeness ā 1985
Acquire ā 1964
Dungeons & Dragons Basic (Red Box) ā 1983
3 Likes
I canāt believe Acquire is on this list because I bought it from a used shop not too long ago, without really knowing anything about it. Havenāt played it yet but maybe now Iāll get to it sooner.
2 Likes
I wish I had been playing board games in the 90s and early 2000s, but Iām a ālate bloomerā that didnāt really find modern board gaming until the early 2010s, well into my 30s. That said, the D&D Red Box set was absolutely transformative for me and Iām pretty sure the first time I played that was 1983 with an older kid running the introductory adventure (RIP Aleena), describing everything and showing me the pictures. I am pretty sure I immediately ran home and begged my mom to drive me to the bookstore to pick up a copy of the Red box for myself (which I still have) and after that, I quickly purchased the rest of the BECMI sets and read through them like it was my job. The only board game I can really remember playing as a teenager was Cosmic Encounter in 1990 or 91. I do think that opened me up to the idea of what board games could be but I started college after that and didnāt have any money or time for such things.
4 Likes
Talisman is also the game that brought me back into the hobby. I remember playing it with my teenage baby sitters when I was around 8 or 10. I saw a copy of whatever edition the Fantasy Flight one was at Barns & Noble. Picked it up, bought too many games too fast, game group died. Lived with tons of unplayed board games for 7 years, then discovered solo gaming, bought Shadows of Brimstone and never looked back. Now I have too many solo board games, but at least my purchasing is under control lol. For the most part hehe.
2 Likes
Acquire is such a great game! Very simple, and very fun.
As a kid, i remember having some of the board game versions of video games such as Pac Man, Donkey King and Zaxxon. But the game is i remember having the most impact on me were the original Dark Tower game from 1981 which i got at christmas from a local department store when i was into scalextric and model railways. I played Dark Tower to death with my friends. The game that got me into rpg and miniature wargames was Warhammer The Mass Combat Fantasy Role-Play Game. 1st edition box set with Harry the Hammer on the front. We would go down to our local model shop and pickup metal minis in blister packs and make our own little armies and play. i had a few GW games like Kings and Things (which i loved). But i think the most amazing game in my collection was Talisman. It must have been 2nd ed. My friend has a copy and my parents couldnāt afford to get me a copy and so as my dad was an artist, he hand painted a talisman board and we sat and wrote out all the cards by hand and used citadel minis that i bought and painted. I really wish i still had all this stuff but my folks gave it all away when i left home and went travelling. It was given away to other kids and local youth groups where my dad also did huge wall paintings of Disney characters. His attitude was better they were used then gather dust in the attic. And like many others, i played AD&D with friends every weekend through high school. I still have my softcover 1st Ed Players Handbook and Unearth Arcane (and i even have a couple of original character sheets from our games is the mid 80s).
3 Likes
My personal 4 top ālife changerā games are
(A)D&D, I started playing about 40 years ago. A truly world changing game to me and my friends.
Second is the original RobonRally, a hugely original board game like I jever played before.
Number three is Carcassonne,van endless game to play dvery night with my wife on camping, while our little girl was asleep.
And finally 4AD, which introduced me to a whole new world of solo gaming.
Think those are the main four, but Iāll remember no 5 as soon as I press Send, I guessā¦
4 Likes
Great topic and great games mentioned here! Early on it was Risk, D&D then Battle Masters that blew my mind and swept me away. A big hiatus then I think Descent really opened my eyes to the shift in the hobby. From there Mice and Mystics to Imperial Assault and the rest is history.
3 Likes
I thoroughly enjoyed this video and can totally relateā¦ especially with your discussion around WHQ, Talisman, D&D, and Arkham Horror (though for me, itās 3rd Ed.)
I also greatly appreciate seeing your face in videos such as this!
4 Likes
Descent almost made the list.
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons is the game that changed my life, but other favorite games are Wiz-War, Cosmic Encounter and Last Night on Earth. Theyāre all very different, but so good at what they do.
5 Likes
Three on your list also had a pretty big influence on me growing up. We had Acquire also and played it a lot. My mom loved it. Still does and pulls out that 1964 edition. I got Talisman second ed when it came out and still have it. Loved but havent played it in years. And I was fascinated with DnD. Mostly Advanced DnD. I would just pore over the books for hours. The only other one I have to add is another Games Workshop from the early 80s. Judge Dredd. I loved the comics and amazingly still have the game. I lost the rules and hadnāt played in 30+ years until they re-released it and I was able to find the new rules online. Close enough we were able to play it and have fun.
4 Likes
Before I start posting any sort of lists, Iād just like to give a brief summary of how I ended up in this hobby. Iāll try to keep this as brief as possible. Apologies in advance. I used to really be into Magic: the Gathering. I got into it back in the late 90s/early 2000s. My only problem was that I never had anyone to play with. MTG wasnāt as popular when I was in my teens as it is now, and Iāve only known a handful of people who played it. But in the last five or six years, my love for the game has waned so much that Iām not as thrilled about it as I used to be. This has to do with a lot of the questionable things Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro have been making that just donāt sit well with me. In addition, Iāve never been that good at playing MTG, especially since I started playing it less, and as I get older, I just find myself not enjoying the experience. So I pretty much sold all my cards and quit playing.
After that, I decided I wanted to find something new to get into. Iām really into RPGs and wanted to find something that fit into that same theme or close to it, that wasnāt just another MTG card game. I then remembered back in 2015 or 2016 seeing an ad on YouTube for a game called Escape the Dark Castle. I think at the time, Themeborne was doing a Kickstarter for it. Somehow, I forgot about Dark Castle, and it wasnāt until two or three years ago that I suddenly remembered it and started looking up reviews for it on YouTube. I instantly fell in love with the gameās theme and saved up money to buy it. Escape the Dark Castle is absolutely my favorite game, and I also love that it can be played solo or with other people, which is a plus for me since itās really difficult for me to get people I know in rl to get away from their computers and phones nowadays. But thatās a whole other rant. Getting into Dark Castle quickly led me to discovering sites like the Game Crafter, PNP Arcade, Itch.io, as well as finding YouTube channels like Dungeon Dive and Game Knight. Iāve basically gone down this little rabbit hole, which has led me to discover a lot of interesting games that really captured my imagination. So yeah, Escape the Dark Castle is the starting point for me. There are also a lot of other games that have piqued my interest, and Iām slowly saving up money to get them in the future.
Grimegrove, Mini Rogue, Mindburners, Pirate Borg, Cast Away, Stranged, and a bunch of other games are on my ever-growing list, and Iām anxious to try them all out. I just need to save up more cash lol. Once again, sorry for the rambly post. I donāt have anyone else to talk about this stuff, so Iāve really been itching to get it off my chest.
6 Likes
Oh, I absolutely loved MTG when it first released. That was like '94? I was at the end of middle school going into high school. Kids just made decks with what cards they had and ran with it. People hadnāt pinned down the value of every card, or posted all the best deck combinations online. It was too new and the internet wasnāt in everyoneās pocket yet. Or maybe the crowd around me was just too young for that aspect then? I played a bit into Ice Age and then sold my cards. Did some drafting games later during Ravnica with some friends but nothing crazy. Just going in on a box of cards together here and there for an afternoon of fun.
The monetization aspect of CCGs is always what turned me off eventually. That and when itās all known quantities and impossible to play without the current meta being a presence at the table. And probably thereās a lot of my own dislike of competitive games once people start taking them seriously. Silly shit with random uncontrollable events is where I like my competitive gaming. Munchkin and Cosmic Encounter. Or even stuff like Outer Rim. But usually I just prefer to win or lose with the other people at the table in a cooperative game.
Which sort of sounds like where you landed too from the list of games youāre showing. Stuff for solo or cooperative play. Heavy theme and beat the game, not beat another player. Thereās always some outliers in our collection, but thatās the meat and potatoes of it.
6 Likes
MTG has been mentioned by more than a few, and it ALMOST made my list. I played a ton of it in ~94-96 or so, along with other CCGs. My favorite was Shadow Fist.
The reason it didnāt make my personal list is simply because I pretty quickly abandoned the idea of CCGs as a sub-genre I wanted to follow, so it didnāt exactly āchange my life,ā even though I have a lot of respect for the game.
4 Likes
Similar to HeroQuest, Warhammer Quest and Space Hulk, Iāve never actually played Magic The Gathering. I think it came out when I was a freshman in college and above and beyond not having any money for such things, I wasnāt hanging out with a gaming crowd; I probably should have been. I went to my first convention in 2014 or so and had a designer give me a demo of his game which was based on the assumption the player understood the basic mechanics of deck building and the terms you use while playing (like ātappingā) that were commonplace. Suffice to say, it didnāt go well for me and after we finished they apologized for assuming I had any idea what they were talking about. 
2 Likes