How Does It Work?

[Xerxes Aragon]

Considering getting this as I see some very interesting games in the Workshop. One of the reviews on the store page says that it doesn't implement game rules so you have to do that yourself. So just what does this program do for you?

Two games in the Workshop that interest me are Arkham Horror and Pathfinder Adventure Card Game. What does and does not TS do for games like these? How much do you have to rely on the original printed set of game rules to properly make things happen on the virtual board? It's just very unclear how much of a game and its rules gets implemented in this program from the info on the store page. They make a big whoopdedo about flipping the board and just messing with the pieces without telling you much about actual gameplay.

[Gandorques Hikla]

In a nutshell, this game simulates sitting on a table with all the game pieces and some tools, in a multiplayer physics sandbox.
Playing a game will usually take around the same amount of effort as doing it in real life with some extra features like shuffling cards easily.
For example, you roll the virtual die yourself, you move your pawn by yourself.

If you want to play i.e. Arkham Horror, you and the other players need to look up the rules in a rulebook (available at the FFG Homepage) and play by the rules.

A big plus is that you can save and load a table Setup in no time, or continue your session later.
A comfort the most real board games dont have.

[Draktok]

It literally emulates real life. If you all had an oculus rift headset on, the similarties between real life and this would be minimal. You must physical click and move a piece yourself, the game wont' do it for you. If it exists in a workshop, open up the pdf of the rule book, explain over skype, and play. I will say that playing basic blackjack, cards against humanity, chess, etc. are basically the only things you can do with pubs, the rest you will find much more enjoyment out of with a group of friends on a VOIP program.

[Xerxes Aragon]

OK, that seems to be the impression that I was getting. It sounds less than I was hoping for if the rules aren't being programmed into the mods, which I realize would be an incredible amount of work on something as complex as Arkham Horror with all expansions.

Been hoping for a digital version of Arkham Horror for quite a while. Guess I'll just keep hoping that FFG and some game studio come to an agreement to create one.

[Draktok]

Yes, well, of course if you're playing with friends, it shouldn't be any more difficult than keeping track of rules in the first place, however i admit i've neverr played the game. I"ve played quit a bit of pathfinder, no problems there. Easier to keep track of characters over multiple games with TTS too.

[Xerxes Aragon]

My interest was more for solitaire play.

[TRIBALien]

Arkham Horror technically works very well as a solitaire game. Games that are considered "co-op" (like Arkham Horror) are designed with the premises that:

1. the players are working towards a common goal (i.e. no backstabbing/traitor mechanics)
   
2. the players' adversary/goal is represented by dice rolls (since all players must be united)

As a result, one person can control however many characters in a co-op game as desired and it is mechanically the same. While TTS lacks the automation (and the other bells-and-whistles) of a single-player program dedicated to a specific game, in the case you mentioned it can be played by a single person.

[Castor Troy]

This game is fantastic. It's a simulator but there are no rules. So when you play, you have to know the rules like you would a normal board game. The game doesn't do anything automatically, it is all player driven. If you like board games this is a must buy.

At first I thought it was a joke game because all I saw were videos about the table being flipped, but I thought I'd see what it's all about. I was pleasantly surprised. The physics and graphics are fanastic. The only issue is the zoom functionality. The game has a terrible mouse zoom function. It takes 10 zooms to get to the table, when it should really take only one. I'm going to email the developers in the next few days to suggest they use the strategic zoom from Supreme Commander. It would take this game to the next level.

Overall, I highly recommend this game. Even playing standard chess is a lot of fun.

[Meowella]

To be honest, calling this a game is misleading. It's much better described as a program that lets you create and play games with your friends.

The system lets you sit at a table, with hidden areas or hands to hold cards/pieces; the ability to import pictures and models for yourself as well as subscribe to other peoples' efforts to bring you excellent games such as Settlers of Catan, Munchkin or Dead of Winter.

The software lets you deal cards to your friends, create places that models snap to (which means when you put together tiles such as Carcassonne a lot of the fiddly aiming to get them in the right place is done for you) plus let everyone know who's turn it is are included.

The host tools allow you to control who can do what, such as preventing other players from table flipping, creating objects in the game or even stop people automatically sitting at a seat (if you want to control who joins and who doesnt)

Ultimately dont think of it as a game - imagine it as a gateway to playing any game you (or someone else) cares to upload!

But yeah, it has a couple of downsides such as all images for importing are held on other services, meaning if they remove the image you suddenly lose it in game. It also isn't very self explanatory to create things, you have to read up to figure it out. Also there is very limited facilities to include rules (it has a small notepad visible, and a rules page you'd have to switch back and forth to read) so I tend to use boardgamegeek's site to find the rules for games.