Shadows over Camelot & Domestic Strife
Posted by Rob Herman at June 20th, 2006
When I had a Bridge-playing girlfriend, I tried hard not to play as partners with her. Evidently I have a reproachful glare, and I know how much worse this can be when it’s when it’s coming from someone you love. I have no desire to have a horrible fight over a lousy bid or a misplayed hand. And I’m even reasonably good at restraining my anger… consider the story of the spouse who was killed over the game…
This is as nothing, though, compared to Shadows over Camelot, though. (To recap the important point: Each player gets a Loyalty card at the beginning of the game. It’s not certain, but one player is the Traitor, who wins if everyone else loses.) Some, but not all, of the information in the game is kept secret, to give the Traitor a chance to scheme.
So, I think the game is well-designed and the mechanic is neat, but the following nightmare scenario keeps playing itself over in my mind:
Non-gaming spouse: ::plays dubiously::
Gaming spouse: “Nobody could play so badly by accident. You must be trying to defeat us all. Traitor!”
Non-gaming spouse: ::Sheepishly reveals Loyal card and begins plotting homicide::
Coming attractions: A brief look at the Buddhist MUD reader alluded to in Sunday’s comments.
Rule of thumb — if the actual gameplay involves hurried shouting, a fight aggregated from said game will be at least twice as loud. What I’m trying to say is, avoid Pictionary. I think people have actually been stabbed by their spouses with those little nubby little pencils.
There isn’t any particular couple you’re thinking of, is there?
Gary> The fights may be worse, but couples that have been together for a while have this telepathy that makes them scary good at those games. Taboo in particular, when one will say something like “banana starfish” and the other person will say something completely unrelated like “Oh! Denmark!” It also works for Catchphrase, Charades, Pictionary…
Shruti> Mostly me and Monica, back in the day. I’m unfortunately pretty bad at concealing disappointment or horror at lousy play.
“I’m unfortunately pretty bad at concealing disappointment or horror at lousy play.”
Well, I give you credit for putting the effort into not ~saying~ anything when your partner makes a bone head mood. But you do have an amazingly expressive face when your pissed or irritated.