Everything boardgames
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Are you looking for separate games to play in between roleplaying sessions, or games to play "inside" the roleplaying game?
One game that comes to mind is "Love Letter". A fun little card game that involves a little bit of deduction and bluffing but only takes about 4 minutes.
Kinda both. My idea is to start sessions in the Inn, giving them the opportunity to play for some info and money for the session. Dice and card games work great for that, because they can be manipulated by role-playing skills to some extent
The Love Letters theme seems a bit odd to me, but so far I have only heard positive stuff
The theme is very minimal. I think the premise is "someone is trying to sneak a letter to the princess. Guess who has it? The guard? The maid? Etc." It's just a deduction game.
But there are also loads of "themed" versions if you prefer. Batman, Cthulhu, Munchkin, Santa Claus, Legend of the Five Rings, The Hobbit, Marvel, etc.
And since there are only 13 cards, you could easily re-theme it with a Deck of Many Things or something.
That's a great idea. Maybe I'll make some cards myself....
Seconding love letter it’s a great game
Liar’s Dice is simple, fun and fast paced.
Sounds fun, will add it to my list
+1 for liars dice. Fun and fast paced!
One more suggestion, zero theme but very entertaining: Strike! You are throwing dice into an arena trying to get matching faces. Rolling X means you lose those dice and your turn. You can hit other dice to try to change their faces. Plays quick, we sometimes use it to decide the first player in the real game.
Dice forge could be good, it takes 30ish minutes to play a full game and it has heavy fantasy themes
How about Regicide, a co-op playable with a standard 52+jokers deck, has a vague medieval/fantasy theme. A bit heavier than Zombie Dice but should be manageable. Just have to memorize 4 simple suit powers.
There is also a nice thematic deck available which is a good way to support the game's designer.
That's actually the game that motivated me to make this post. I'll try it the next time I get the chance
Let them play Mia!
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/41247
The loser has to drink a shot! Don‘t be fooled by the 5.9 rating, this game is easy to learn and offers a lot of tension. It mixes luck with social deduction and offers a great starting point for a bar fight.
All you need is a beer mat, a cup and two dice.
That sounds a lot like liars dice, is there a major difference?
Mia only uses two dice, I guess! But I never played Liar‘s Dice.
I could totally see Fantasy Realms filling this need if it matches up thematically with your universe.
Otherwise maybe any trick taker with a little extra theme sauce would get you there. Or look for some top filler games and then reprint them in the style of your world. For Sale, No Thanks, 6 Nimmt, Skull.
That's a great idea. Every game that can be transferred into a regular card deck would probably be somewhat authentic as well.
Might wanna consider Knucklebones from Cult of the Lamb. 1v1, should be played with eighteen 6-sided dice (which can be found surprisingly cheap), but a notepad and a pencil can reduce this to just one. Game typically lasts about 20 single die rolls. There's a little strategy involved, which may or may not be obvious at first. I don't think there are any occasions to cheat that you wouldn't find in other games.
Edit: rules are explained simpler on this online version.
That's a great idea. Seems pretty simple and fun. I might try that with my parents first...
For in between, you could try the Wrath of Lich King board game. Pretty simple rules with good variety of heroes.
Five Minutes Dungeon is also cool. Each session is literally 5 minutes.
Red Dragon Inn is pretty fun and easy to learn. Essentially you’re an adventuring party hanging out at the tavern. You can gamble, pass drinks out to folks, and engage in other shenanigans. Each character has some different abilities or strong suits. Last person to pass out wins. You can even reskin some of the character abilities to match up with your own OCs if you want to do some extra RP.
Sounds fun, do you know how long a round is?
Depending on how many players and how many shenanigans occur I’d say 30-60 minutes. It’s a full game. One players turn is probably 1-3 minutes or so. It probably wouldn’t be very satisfying to not play out the whole game, though.