Saturday 8 February 2014

28. A DarKHaZZl3 history lesson, and Intentional Table Top Day. The Cardboard Cartographer issue 4.



Welcome to issue 4 of 'The Cardboard Cartographer' here at 'The science of selling yourself short.'

This week I'll be talking about a few things, including International Table Top day.
I'll come back to that later.


I wanted to start off by having a bit of a personal history lesson; a story explaining how I go to here. Here being passionate about various table top games.
(If you want to skip this, you can scroll down to the International Table Top Day sub-heading).

 When I was a kid I was introduced to the usual menagerie of board games; Monopoly, Cluedo, Guess who, Scrabble and so on.
I imagine these to be staples of quite a few peoples childhood experience in regards to board games.

 I think I began to diverge from the mainstream board game industry just before high school.
I was introduce to RISK for the first time.

RISK isn't a game that is outside popular cultures knowledge of board games, but it did leave a distinct impression on me. I enjoyed the strategy, the tactics. My choices mattered, or seemed to at any rate.

After RISK there was a drought of anything new in terms of board or card games (I don't count the Pokemon TCG, despite taking it further and still playing it occasionally to this day).

I was introduced to table top war games during my second year of high school; Warhammer, Lord of the Rings, 40k.
These had a profound impression on me. I attribute this to the amount of control you feel whilst going through the entire hobby process. Everything is down to the individual; the army you collect, how you build the models, how you paint them, how you play them on the battlefield. They all require the individuals direct input.

I am still very passionate about miniature war gaming. I've worked at a Games Workshop store, I play various game systems and I have a blog which updates fairly regularly here - htpp://underhivehero.blogspot.co.uk


Then nothing. An occasional card game (Munchkin and The Great Dalmuti, both of which I love) and the occasional board game, but nothing I was overly passionate about.

A couple of years ago, a group of my close friends decided to get back into playing games. Mainly RISK.
We'd played this game for years, so after a while we quickly wanted a new experience.
We decided to buy Civilization (mainly because we all loved the PS1/PC games).
It was instantly wonderful.
Strategy, tactics, luck. It was all there. You felt like you could win this game by your own machinations and maybe a little luck along the way.

We fell, and we fell hard.

We researched new games, and slowly expanded. We bought the first expansion. It wasn't enough.
We bought Battle Star Galactica.
We kept looking for the next game we'd get.


Then, one day, my then Girlfriend introduced me to something.
A show on YouTube called TableTop.
Now, after falling for Civilization, me and my friends had looked at other games. We hadn't really expanded out collection greatly though. Pleasing everyone is difficult after all.
But until I watched Table Top, I didn't really intend to buy too many games myself (I'd bought Gloom and some Munchkin expansions, but nothing else).

Afterwards however, I was hooked.


Fast forward to the present.
My now gaming group owns several games together, I own dozens on my own, as well as several card games. I write this blog, I back projects on kick starter and I even try my hand at game design.

Needless to say, what started as just another thing to do has turned into a hobby.
A Hobby the I am passionate about, and something I can't imagine how I lived without for so long.


So this is my thank you.
To my friends, for starting my down this road and staying the course.
To that significant other, for pushing me along and encouraging me.
And to TableTop, for making me realise that this is something I wanted to continue with for a long time, and opening my eyes to new games (even if they are no longer on sale!).

With that in mind...

International TableTop Day.

The following is taken from the International TableTop day website. To read the full article head to their website - http://www.tabletopday.com/about/

'International TableTop Day 2013 was a huge success — we had 3,123 gaming events in 64 countries worldwide, including every state and province in North America and every continent on the planet (yes, even researchers in Antarctica were playing.) With your continued support, we’re hoping to make International TableTop Day 2014 even bigger!


International TableTop Day is a celebration for all the fans of tabletop gaming. A single day where the whole world is brought together in a common purpose of spending time together and having fun. We hope you find the resources you need — to connect new fans to experienced group organizers, retailers with their community, and publishers with the international community — all in one place'.'

Last year I missed the live feed. I didn't even know about TableTop at that point.
I watched the recorded videos on YouTube sometime after, and I thought it was a great idea.

 So this year I have set about the task of trying to organise a Table Top Day event, or at the very least attend one.
I have a venue in mind, and the guys who run the place seem willing to participate.
It would be awesome to get a group of people passionate about games together and just have fun. If we can introduce people to this hobby, that would be awesome.


So, until a more concrete plan comes emerges, remember...

PLAY MORE GAMES! SATURDAY, APRIL 5TH, 2014. WORLDWIDE.


Are you doing anything for TableTop Day this year? Let me know in the comments, or @DarKHaZZl3 on Twitter!

-DH-