Classic

I don't know why I enjoy adventure games. Why do you enjoy them? Maybe it has something to do with the fluffy hippie-talk that Michael Samyn keeps publishing about people wanting stories over gameplay. That's probably not true, but good storytelling can definitely amplify weakly interactive gameplay into a meaningful experience, and the King's Quest series is according-to-Hoyle proof of that.

The game is remade with voice acting, relatively lush graphics (compared to the 1986 original), and a streamlined interface using the AGS engine. Purists are going to recall the exploratory joys of the text parser, but if you're a new-skool design geek like me, you're going to prefer mouse-driven context-sensitivity. Use an item, right-click to cycle over the the walking icon, and then mosey right along, pretty smooth.

First published in 1959 by Games Research, and continuously in print since then--now in a handsome edition from the Avalon Hill division of the Wizards of the Coast division of Hasbro--Diplomacy is both a superb game worth experiencing today, and a design of considerable historical importance.

Most boardgames published prior to Diplomacy were multiplayer, but in most cases, players interacted with each other in rather minor ways. As illustration, consider Monopoly; there's very little you can do to hurt or assist another player, even though you are playing in the same universe.

On this particular Tabletop Tuesday, it is our honour and privilege to direct your attention to the seminal game Little Wars, designed by the late Herbert George Wells. (Since last week we pointed to a game published in 1904, we thought we'd do something more modern; Little Wars was published in 1913.) And lest some of our readers of the gentler sex take objection to our subtitle, we will note that this is indeed the subtitle Mr. Wells (that advocate of the female suffrage, and proponent of Free Love) chose for his own ouevre.

Little Wars is a game of enormous importance, at least for those of us interested in the historical evolution of games as a medium; the first commercially published rules for gaming with military miniatures, it leads directly to the modern miniatures wargaming industry (including such offshoots as Warhammer)--and indirectly to the board wargame, the tabletop roleplaying game; and to all of the digital game styles influenced thereby, including computer wargames, the RTS, digital RPGs, and (of course) massively multiplayer games.