I’m going to begin by just saying that if you plan to get some rest as well during your time at this convention, don’t be surprised if that doesn’t happen. I did not get anymore than 6.5 hours of sleep each night. It will seem easy to you, but you’ll surprised when you look at all what all there is to do. You’ll look at the Events Schedule on the website and see all these things that look like fun. The Ballroom I believe opens as early as 8am. You’ll be tempted to want to reserve for something at that time. You’ll find events that happen late at night. Werewolf, which I will go over at the end of this article, as a popular Live Action Role Playing Game that takes place at 11:30pm Friday and Saturday night. It’s worth it, but you won’t be in bed until around 2am the next morning.
Sage Stones
If you want another quick and easy one to learn, go with Sage Stones. All players take their stones to be placed on the grid. Where each player can place their stones all depends on the 3 dice rolled. You attempt to remove an opponent’s stone by getting 2 of your stones on one both sides of it. If there are multiple stones inside, they all get removed. If 1,2,3 series is rolled, you lose a turn. If you get 3 of a kind, you get an extra turn. Whoever plays all their stones first is the winner.
Assassins Check-In
All throughout the weekend, there is a live action event called Assassins Check-In. This was just the 2nd time I played, but it’s something fun to do while you’re roaming around the convention. You are given a laminated symbol such as a pineapple, like what I got. You place it somewhere visible like next to your badge. All participants then take a bunch of post-its. You write on them how you defeated someone. It can really be whatever you want, just as long as it is appropriate. If you spot another assassin first, take one of your post – its and place it on their badge or laminated card. Points are tallied during each check-in session throughout the weekend. On the last day, the winners with the most assassinations done are the winners. It keeps you on your toes as you go about. I did not get any assassinations this year and the few that spotted me decided not to place a post-it on me. There were not many people that played it this year. But that’s how the game can get. You can make alliances or not. You do not have to play all weekend if you don’t want to. You can drop out at anytime. Just be sure to return your laminated card to the booth. All players have to agree to some rules. The biggest one to know is that someone has to be wondering around in order to be targeted. No one can be sitting down playing a game or eating.
Panel: No Head Room
This year, I attended my first panel at GameStorm. No matter what convention you go to, panels are a good break if you if are eyes are tired from playing games and just want to listen in on something. This one caught my interest as it was all about the challenges of game design. It is always interesting to find out what goes on behind the scenes with many games that we enjoy. With what I learned with board games especially, this was the case evermore so.
The panelist starts off by basically saying that constraints determine how games will be made. The first and most important thing in making a game are the dimensions. Most board games companies have a requirement put forth for them, and if their game doesn’t fit the dimensions, they won’t get approved. One example that was said was having 18 cards for a requirement. So the question is how can you fit your game in 18 cards. Developers are able to go slightly outside the restrictions. They have to test stuff out and not ask all those What If questions.
I learned another restriction: Where can it all be played? How much time? There are many questions to consider. To add to that, once you made your game, you have to come up with the rules. The panelist said that rules are harder because you made your game already. I can imagine there are times when parts of the game have to be redone in order for the rules to make sense. Another question to consider is if you can make the rules clear on pictures alone. I think that would be hard to do. If it was easy, many games would not have a written instruction sheet.
When it was time for Q&A, I asked about indie companies. I was told by the panelist that they have more freedom as they can just make a game. I was also curious about what determines the cost. I learned that it is all components and manufacturing. I was surprised to learn that store sales don’t make much money for the manufacturer. So it was interesting panel. It will change the way I think about it all when I go to a store and see a price on some of the games. There were probably a lot of requirements to work with.
After the panel, I headed back to the Ballroom and played Terra Mystica. This one was the most challenging for me to learn at the convention this year. But part of it is played similar to Setters of Catan. You control a particular civilization and the whole goal is to expand it the most. You have to earn homes and build on different land such as swamps, forests, deserts, etc. You earn bridge pieces to go across water. You can upgrade your homes just like in Catan, but more building types. There’s a lot to the board and to keep track of. The game gets more rewarding when you get to be able to place more on the board. Not that this wasn’t fun at all to play. One thing I like about conventions, is that you can play with someone that really understands the game.
I ran my final volunteer game called Telestrations. It is a good time of laughs as there no winners or losers. It is a mix the phone game and Pictionary. The whole goal is to see if your keyword matches what the final guess was after one rotation around.
My final board game of Day 2 was Arkham Horror. If you’ve played Betrayal at the House on the Hill, same idea. You might even like this one even better.
The game is interactive with the iPad software. You are guided by a whole campaign with a narrator. It tells what all to do.
If you like horror games, this one will not disappoint. The backgound music and the narrator add to the suspense. More things can happen when exploring the house. I had an instance where part of the room caught on fire. The good thing though is that unlike in Betrayal, no one morphs into a monster. Everyone stays on the same team until the end. It takes awhile to play, especially when having to learn. There are different campaigns to choose from when setting it up on the iPad.
Werewolf
As shown above, is the LARP (Live Action Role Play) room. This was located on the main entrance side of the hotel across from registration. If you get tired of sitting but still want to be involved and move around, look at events taking place in this room. This was where I ended Day 2 altogether. There were 38 of us that sat around in a circle for a game of Werewolf. Everyone pretends that they are in a village working together to find who the Werewolves killed. It’s a big game of Clue really. One of the most popular LARP events at GameStorm. The moderator will have everyone take a card with different roles such as the Seers, Villagers, and of course, Werewolves. Everyone will then take turns telling the town what their job is for fun. It’s not really part of the game, just something extra the moderator throws in for fun. The Seers get to quietly guess who they think one of the werewolves are when everyone has to close their eyes. It influences the debates a lot when everyone opens their eyes and figures out who all the werewolves are. The werewolves in secret, get to choose one person to instantly kill. When everyone opens their eyes, that voted person has to act out a death. Then after debating, everyone votes on who they think the werewolf is. Whoever got a majority vote is dead and acts out a death. Everyone dead and eliminated becomes a ghost and gets to hang out nearby. The moderator will occasionally allow the ghosts to even vote someone out or have some other kind of role.
So that is how Werwolf is played here. It’s a good time for sure. Just be aware that is going to be a late night if you sign up for this. If you are going to take part in it, don’t wait to pre-register for it. Spots fill fast.
Comments
2 responses to “GameStorm 2026 Day 2”
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i enjoyed the convention too. There is always something to play
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There sure is.
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