Games and expansions: Part I. Board and Card Games

Expansions in games have been crossing my mind as of late, including board and card games, DLC for video games, and supplements for RPGs. I feel each one of these should be talked about as their own topic.

Card games.

I like to play a lot of card games. Normally they are fast and easy to learn, except in some cases when expansions are added in. Munchkin, I'm looking at you!

The basic set of Munchkin has 168 cards, now add in 9.5 major expansions with 784 cards for a total of 952 cards. That number alone makes the game unwieldy, but then you add in the new rules that come for those expansions. This causes delays to look to rules up, which I don't find fun at all.

Munchkin isn't the only game that has this problem. With some it's the number of cards and other its the expansion rules.

Board Games
The same complaint can be made with boardgames. Carcassonne, Catan, Arkham Horror just to name a few all have expansions. The same issues apply, more options and more rules add delays.

My Coda
My advice on expansions is before you purchase one and add it into your game night is, ask yourself "What does this add to my game?" and really think about it before you get it. If you are just getting the expansion because it looks cool but you never play the game, its a waste of your money,


Next time, DLCs

Harry Potter GO or Harry Potter and the Battle of Ingress

I know some of you out there play the Naintic games and most of them know that there's a Harry Potter one coming out, Harry Potter:Wizards Unite. Here is what I know and what my some of my guesses

First, we have the name, Harry Potter:Wizards Unite. The name tells us nothing other then the game is set in the Wizarding World. "But wait" I can hear you say, "doesn't that mean Harry is going to play a role in it?" Nope, because there is another game, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery set in Hogwarts in the years before Harry attends.

We have a website, https://www.harrypotterwizardsunite.com/en/ and a Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/HPWizardsUnite/. The website tells us "Harry Potter: Wizards Unite uses state-of-the-art augmented reality technology to reveal the magic all around us. Explore real-world neighbourhoods and cities to discover mysterious artifacts, learn to cast spells, and encounter legendary beasts and iconic characters along the way!"

The only other fact we know is, according to news reports, that it is coming soon.


Now for the speculation:

1. The maps and important locations will be the same Ingress and Pokemon GO. I'm fairly certainof this. The Ingress maps were used for PkG, so its a pretty safe guess.

2. There will be a faction system, but it won't be the Hogwarts Houses. There's too much fandom over the Houses. Maybe a group like the Order of the Phoenix or by the magical schools.

3. There will be in-game resources and a currency system. Its in the other ones, HP:WU will too.

4. The game is going to be released in conjunction with Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. I'm not sure about this one, but I'm sure the marketing team at Warner Brothers would want it at the same time as the movie.

5. The other games communities jump ship, temporally . It happened to Ingress when PkG came out, the same will happen with this release.

So what are you thoughts and what would you like to see?