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Ignacy Trzewiczek's Blog - Boardgames that tell stories
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rant, Varia

I file a reqest for an award!

14 lipca, 2023 by Ignacy Trzewiczek 5 komentarzy

I had the honor to receive a few nominations and awards from the Dice Tower, but this week I’ve decided to nominate myself for another one. You can never have enough awards. It all started at 7:54 am when I checked out of my hotel room at Caribe Royale in Orlando, got into the car, and headed to the airport. The Dice Tower East has come to an end; time to go back home.

An hour and a bit later, I returned the car to the rental company, dropped off my suitcase, and went through a security check. Everything went smoothly. Now I have a two-hour wait for the flight, and then we can take off.

Four hours later, I’m still in Orlando. What’s worse, I’ve been on the plane for two hours, and the plane is still on the ground.

„As you can see on your phones and read in the news, there is extreme weather over the eastern coastline, and we can’t take off. A new flight route is being determined.”

As you may know, I’m afraid of flying. You can imagine if the words „extreme weather” put me in a perfectly cheerful mood, right?

„Here’s the captain speaking again; I have a new update. We have been assigned a new route, but unfortunately, the storm is moving, and we can’t use it after all. New route is being determined.”

I’m sitting in my seat, damp as a mouse, imagining those people at the airport, looking where lightning strikes and drawing paths and short windows of opportunity on the map to sneak through this madness with dry feet. I cannot wait to experience this. I really am. 

„Here’s the captain again; we have been given another route. Please immediately take your seats and fasten your seat belts. We are low on fuel, and we need to take off immediately.” The captain hadn’t even finished the sentence, and the plane started accelerating.

My heart jumps out of my chest, my face is pale as a wall. We are low on fuel?! We’re taking off?! Whaaat?!

I faint. I wake up quickly, shaking as if I’m locked in a barrel and rolling down a great canyon.

„Please, don’t expect smooth travel today. Please keep your seat belts fastened at all times,” the captain says. I’m no longer pale. I’m deathly pale. I am not sure if I am on a plane or a rollercoaster.

At 4 pm, we arrive in Newark. My legs feel like cotton. My hands are trembling. We’ve been traveling for 8 hours, and I’ve aged at least a few years during that time.

We have a flight to Frankfurt in 6 hours, so I have time for tea and to calm down. It’ll be useful because there’s another adventure around the corner. Somewhere around 9 pm, I was notified that the flight to Frankfurt would be delayed.

The notification is not lying. It’s delayed by almost an hour and a half. The official information we receive is that the crew is conducting additional security tests. I don’t know if I should feel relieved or scared. It’s the fourteenth hour of the journey. In fact, I don’t feel anything anymore…

We landed in Frankfurt 8 hours later, just before 1 pm local time. The plane we were supposed to take to Katowice was already halfway to Poland.

When I find the United office at the airport, I’m told that there’s no flight to Katowice today. But they can send me to Warsaw; from there, I can reach Katowice. It’s the 24th hour of the trip. I don’t care anymore. I can fly to Warsaw. Whatever.

At the gate, we find out that the flight is overbooked, and they need to bump 2 people off. They offer 250 euros as an apology. There are no volunteers. They will probably draw lots. If they pick me, I might just shoot myself.

They drew someone else. I can fly to Warsaw. Well, I can’t because the flight is delayed, but what’s delayed is not lost. It’s the 27th hour of the journey. I’m on the plane.

We land in Warsaw. Tea. Sandwich. Three hours of waiting for the flight to Katowice.

The gates open. 30th hour of our travel. We can fly.

No, actually, we can’t.

„You’re not in the system,” says the airline employee.

„What?!” Merry asks, and let me tell you one thing. Merry is my wife. I know that tone. I know that look. I know she’s about to murder him.

„More precisely, you are in the system but not accepted on the flight. Someone from United forgot to click to add you to the flight.”

The guy looks up from the computer monitor, looks at Merry, and realizes that the battle for his life has just begun. He sees I don’t care anymore, but Merry will tear his head off if we don’t get on board.

The guy swallows, picks up the phone, and makes a call: „Listen, I have two dropouts here from Frankfurt…”

He referred to Merry as a „dropout.” Well, damn, he’s a brave guy. She is just staring at him. 

A few minutes later he prints our boarding passes.

„And what about our suitcase?” Merry asks.

The guy calls the warehouse. He gives them the suitcase number. He talks to someone for a while, then asks Merry, „Is it a yellow one?”

„Yes, a yellow one with pineapples,” if words could kill, half the people on board would have a heart attack right now.

„We’ll deliver it,” the guy promises. He knows it is a matter of life or death right now.

On the way to the plane, we see our suitcase. It stands there, lonely and abandoned, it’s in the system but not accepted, a dropout from Frankfurt, sad and lost.

We board the plane. We fund everyone on board an additional 30 minutes of delay as our suitcase is being delivered to the plane.

We land in Katowice. We get into the car. We arrive home just before 1 a.m. In total, 34 hours and 30 minutes.

***

What does this have to do with the Dice Tower award? Well, The Dice Tower East is an amazing event, a convention that I’m totally addicted to. I go back there every year, and in 2024, I’ll get on a plane and head to Orlando again.

However, I hereby officially apply for The Dice Tower: The Most Dedicated Attendee award!

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rant, Varia

Explore!

23 czerwca, 2023 by Ignacy Trzewiczek 2 komentarze

“What are the points for in the end?” she asked after I finished reading the rules.
„I don’t know,” I replied, „I haven’t read that part.”

Blasphemy? Madness? Idiocy? Perhaps. Or it’s a worthwhile consideration, a topic worth exploring? Just take a look for yourselves. How many times have you said it’s just the first game, that you’re playing without any pressure, that you’re only getting to know the game, that it’s all chill and cool? But then, in the end, you start counting the points. Suddenly, Krzysiek has 117, Wojtek has 104, and you have 32. And it’s supposed to be chill and cool, but those 32 points sting. It’s the first game, you’re still learning, but these 32 points feel bad anyway.

After all, the first game is about exploration. It’s about understanding the game’s mechanics, searching for synergies, and trying to uncover all those little gears and hidden wheels that drive the entire mechanism. You move in a certain direction, tinker with something, and enjoy the sandbox where you build your little castle, having a great time. But then, boom, the game ends, and you’ve utterly failed with just 32 points, a resounding defeat. It was fun, but now it’s not.

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rant, Varia

We can do better

26 października, 2022 by Ignacy Trzewiczek Jeden komentarz

I must start with the preamble – Eric Lang is one of the most caring and good people I have ever met. He is kind, he is humble, and additionally, he is freaking awesome. I cannot express how much I love this dude.

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Fashion, rant

Uncharted territory

11 maja, 2021 by Ignacy Trzewiczek Brak komentarzy

I met Joel in person for the first time at Gen con 2012. I was running demos of Robinson Crusoe. I knew him as a YouTube reviewer and was very excited when he came to the booth to learn the game. He didn’t say a word for the whole game, and frankly speaking, I was terrified. He was really silent during the game, and I was pretty sure he was bored to death with it. After the game ended, he said he loved it, congratulated me, and left. 

I think the word that describes my feelings at that moment is „perplexed.”

***

I met Joel the very same day, in the evening. I was invited by fans to play a football board game and when I came, I realized that Joel was invited too. I sat next to him. We played.

He was calm with his emotions again but opened a little more. And he regaled me with super funny comments about football and the game through the whole night. His sense of humor was right at my alley. That game night was a blast. It is still one of the highlights of all my gaming.

***

I mention Joel today because last week, he recorded a new episode of his vlog, a celebration video – it’s been 10 years since he started his channel. Quite the anniversary! It’s one of the most respected review channels in our hobby, with a great audience. Joel doesn’t go for clickbait content, doesn’t run to review all the hotness; he does his thing, deep, thoughtful reviews of games he plays. I respect that a lot and love the content.

In the anniversary video, he said words that struck me, and I wanted to follow up today on what he said – that is how discovering new games and genres is an important part of our hobby. It’s the search for the spark, as Joel said, it’s entering the uncharted territory as I’d describe it.  

I remember myself in 1993 when I read about RPG for the first time. Had no clue what it was, but it sounded so amazing and was like nothing I saw before. More than a year later, after long months of reading about it and trying to figure out how to play RPG, I finally played it, and it changed my life. I fell in love and became obsessed with RPG. And then I discovered something called Warhammer Battle, and that was a new uncharted territory. I discovered miniatures, terrains, rulers, and all that jazz. And then I discovered board games. And then I discovered historical war games. Each step in these unknown territories was like a beginning of an epic adventure, it was Sam leaving the Shire, it was the beginning of something new. 

You’d say I saw it all. You’d say there is no uncharted territory anymore. You’d say it is over.

You’d be wrong. 

The spark is here. It’s called Rangers of Shadow Deep, I discovered thanks to Joel’s channel. It’s called Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective, I discovered thanks to Grant Rodiek. It’s called Risk Legacy I discovered thanks to Rob Daviau. It’s called The Mind. It’s called solo gaming and Arkham Horror LCG…

Been in gaming since 1993. Thanks to brilliant designers, I’ve been exploring uncharted territories for all that time. 

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Fashion, rant

Trust

29 lutego, 2016 by Ignacy Trzewiczek Jeden komentarz

Remember the movie you saw last year? The one you didn’t like? Let’s face it. You will never have a chance to meet its director and tell him that he let you down.

And the book? Remember the book you read a few months ago? You’ll probably never meet the author of this book. You will never be able to discuss with him or her what you liked and what you didn’t like about it.

BTW: the game you played last week and you didn’t like? Go to GenCon or Essen and tell its designer what you think.

***

Of course not every designer attends GenCons. Not every designer is easily approachable. Not every designer is so open as to discuss and hang out with the fans. But many of us are. Many of us meet you—players—at conventions, hang out with you in pubs and talk vividly on social media platforms.

We love interaction, we love you and your feedback.

And we don’t want to fail you.

***

I always say that I am responsible not only for every game I’ve designed, but I also take full responsibility for every game Portal has ever published. I put my name—the Portal logo—on it and this means I fully recommend this design.

For years I’ve been building trust, I’ve published one title after another and I’ve never ever let myself disappoint you. I want you to know that if a game was published by Portal Games, that means I personally accepted it and I personally recommend it.

It takes years to build trust. It takes dozens of designs published year after year to build this repeating recognizable pattern of well-playtested, engaging, challenging games.

These days more and more often I read comments like ‘It’s a game from Portal Games so it tells a great story” or ‘It’s a game from Portal Games so I know it won’t disappoint me.”

It took years to build reputation and trust.

And you know what? It would take a second to lose it. But don’t worry. I put my name on these boxes. And trust me, I wouldn’t put it on anything less than the best…

 

Edited by Piotr, thank you!

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Kindle Edition

MY DESIGN PHILOSOPHY

I strongly believe that good board game is the one that tells a good story. You play it and suddenly you are sucked into it, you feel chills on the skin. Emotions grow. In a moment you defend castle. You hear roar of warriors. You smell boiling oil. You are into it. That's how I design my games. I always want to tell a good story. I want players to be into it. As deep as possible.

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9 paź 1843979237730263474

BGG has some testimonials about AI Space Puzzle and I like them a lot! 📷

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Just had a long call with Adam Kwapiński discussing abilities and powers in the faction I designed for Nemesis: Retaliation!

I cannot wait for you to change Island setting into Space base and die again... 😉

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8 paź 1843668539691151812

1/3
🌴 Robinson Crusoé - Aventures sur l’Île Maudite 🧭
Ça y est, Robinson Crusoé effectue son grand retour ce vendredi ! Suite à un naufrage… vous serez confrontés à une aventure extraordinaire, dans laquelle il va être question de gestion, construction, exploration…

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Back in the office! Excited to dig into all these "I'll do it after Essen" topics! 😉

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