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Let's Talk Thunderstone

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25 Aug 2015 09:41 - 25 Aug 2015 09:59 #209218 by Mr. White
More Deckbuilding talk...

Thunderstone...I've played it, enjoyed it, doubtful I'll buy it, but I am curious about the line.

I understand there's been a second edition of sorts (TS Advanced), then there's that Numenera thing. Is it stand-alone or an expansion? Does it bring anything besides a different setting?

Does TS seem to have legs for y'all? First edition is going for cheap, but is it worth getting Advanced instead?

EDIT: Looks like Thunderstone Advance isn't getting a reprint and is going for gonzo prices. Guess the likelihood of buying it just got slimmer.
boardgamegeek.com/thread/1414948/why-game-so-expensive
Last edit: 25 Aug 2015 09:59 by Mr. White.

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25 Aug 2015 10:11 #209223 by Shellhead
Replied by Shellhead on topic Let's Talk Thunderstone
I played the original Thunderstone once, shortly after it came out. I won that game, but I strongly disliked Thunderstone. The theme peeled right off the cards as we played, leaving us with silly situations like the time that some torches and a couple of weapons beat a monster without characters to wield them.

I played Thunderstone Advance once, last summer. Once again, it felt like a meaningless waste of time, punctuated occasionally by the sound of shuffling cards. There must be some strategy to it that I have forgotten, because one guy won that game by a huge margin. He enjoyed the game, but nobody else did. Even the owner of the game was pretty meh about it.
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25 Aug 2015 10:16 #209225 by Legomancer
Replied by Legomancer on topic Let's Talk Thunderstone
I like Thunderstone. Unlike many other deckbuilders, I actually feel like I'm doing something instead of just shuffling cards. That said, it doesn't get to the table often as there's other stuff I'd rather play.

Numenara is stand alone. It adds some extra rules, some of which are pretty cool, but for me, I have enough Thunderstone. If you want my Numenara, PM me and we'll talk.

I'm gearing up for a big purge and I'm not sure Thunderstone will stick around. I think I'd rather focus on other things.

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25 Aug 2015 10:17 #209226 by Msample
Replied by Msample on topic Let's Talk Thunderstone
The game is ripe for an iOS treatment. Several years ago AEG signed a dumbass agreement to have the game implemented as a Facebook game and it sucked, not only needing to login to Facebook but being horrifically slow. They really screwed the pooch on that one.

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25 Aug 2015 10:23 #209228 by Mr. White
Replied by Mr. White on topic Let's Talk Thunderstone
Yeah, Thunderstone seems to be the deckbuilder that I feel has the strongest tie to what I'm supposed to be doing. Hiring a party, equipping them, then hitting the dungeon. I recall feeling like the 'hitting the dungeon' part was a step to far and the part that was a drag, but it's been a while.

Did Numenera have any expansions? Is there enough game in just that one box?

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25 Aug 2015 10:41 #209231 by Egg Shen
Replied by Egg Shen on topic Let's Talk Thunderstone
I've played Thunderstone Advanced a few times and find it to be an OK game. To be honest I prefer the cleaner sleeker designs of Dominion and Ascension.

The big problem with Thunderstone, both versions, is that it always expanded too quickly. People seemed to love the games, but AEG quickly hit that bloated level with each edition. It seemed each expansion added new mechanics and rules and just made the game an unwieldy mess. Then they did the Numernera expansion which was stand-alone but still an expansion. It just diluted the product line and seemed like a good time to pull the plug.

The deckbuilding craze is on it's last legs and I think when the dust settles there will only be 3-5 games that are truly worth your time. I'm not sure Thunderstone makes that cut. Yes, it gave you a reason for the deckbuilding, but I'd rather play a legit dungeon crawler instead. I'd rather play Pathfinder: TACG to scratch the itch instead. The upcoming Warhammer Quest: Card Game will probably be exactly what I want. Fingers crossed on that one.
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25 Aug 2015 10:43 #209232 by Mr. White
Replied by Mr. White on topic Let's Talk Thunderstone
Does Numenera stand on it's own? I understand it may add more bloat to TS:Advanced, but what if one solely played what was in the Numenera box? Good game?

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25 Aug 2015 10:53 #209233 by Shellhead
Replied by Shellhead on topic Let's Talk Thunderstone
The problem with the dungeon crawling theme of Thunderstone is that it is completely undermined by the deckbuilding concept. You can have a turn where a bunch of adventurers show up without gear, or worse yet, a bunch of gear shows up without adventurers. That would never happen if you were playing a normal dungeon crawl boardgame.
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25 Aug 2015 11:11 #209234 by the_jake_1973
My group plays Thunderstone more than Dominion when we want a deckbuilder. I am a completionist whore, so I have all the expansions for both games. I normally don't include the Numenera stuff, but I did like the alternate uses for the experience tokens that Numenera introduced. There are combos in the game that can easily leave you heavy on those tokens with no use for them.

Minor quibble in regards to Shellhead's initial post, a weapon can't be used without being equipped by a character. You can still venture into the dungeon and use spells without characters, but weapons are normally useless.

In regards to hands that have heroes but no gear or gear without heroes, I look at it like this: I am the overseer of the adventurers, likely an old mage since I can wield spells but not weapons in the dungeon. Sometimes, I might have plenty of heroes answer my call to arms, but my arms dealer was late to the party. Other times, my influx of weapons and gear arrives before my heroes and I have to contract more heroes for use at a later date.

yucata.de has a nice online implementation of Thunderstone. It is much better than that facebook shitshow.
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25 Aug 2015 11:33 #209235 by Gary Sax
Replied by Gary Sax on topic Let's Talk Thunderstone
Is the newest edition a big improvement over the original version?

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25 Aug 2015 12:39 #209249 by the_jake_1973
I would say it is a moderate improvement. There is a mechanic now that lets you gain XP faster with the use of a couple cards in your starting hand. They also codified the common house rule that allows you to Prepare for the next turn. You can discard any number of cards and draw to replace them as your turn. We found that these options do reduce the somewhat boggy midgame in that you can defeat monsters with more regularity while waiting to upgrade to the high level heroes.

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25 Aug 2015 14:39 - 25 Aug 2015 20:14 #209266 by Frohike
Replied by Frohike on topic Let's Talk Thunderstone
Unless you're really stuck on the dungeon delving stuff, I'd let Thunderstone obsolesce and look into Arctic Scavengers. It's a much cleaner game and has a strong coherence with the theme which seems to be something you're looking for with deckbuilding. My personal opinion on TS is that it's a tired, bloated, and thematically stupid game.

Edit: Damn that "thematically stupid" comment is kind of ambiguous. I mean that the manner in which the theme is implemented is obtuse and only conveys the theme through a haze of gameplay elements that are really only there for the deckbuilding mechanic or as another layer of "currency" in said mechanics. I'm not sure that's better, but there you have it.
Last edit: 25 Aug 2015 20:14 by Frohike.

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25 Aug 2015 15:22 #209271 by Michael Barnes
I was on AEG's press list during the peak of Thunderstone's popularity so I've had, I think, pretty much every release they ever did. Note- "had".

Advance is definitely an improvement over the original set, but really the Numenera set was the best thing to come out of Thunderstone. It was really good, and pretty much self-contained so you needn't buy anything else.

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