terry_lewis21•1mo agoProlific Poster

Unpopular opinion: I forced my non-gamer family to play Gloomhaven and it actually worked

Honestly, everyone says you need a dedicated group for that game, but my wife and two kids, who usually just play Catan, agreed to try it over a long weekend. We spent about 4 hours on the first scenario and they were totally into it by the end, planning card combos and everything. Ngl, I learned that sometimes the 'hardcore' gatekeeping around certain games is just noise if you're patient. Has anyone else had a heavy game click with supposed casuals?

3 comments

3 Comments

mary7761mo ago

Sounds like a lucky one-off to me.

william_jackson651mo ago

That's a fair point, but sometimes a single lucky break can show you a pattern if you look for it. The trick is figuring out what small choice led to the good result, even if it was an accident. Then you can try to make that same kind of choice on purpose next time. It might not work every time, but it beats just hoping for more luck.

james_kim1mo ago

Feel a huge sense of relief reading this. My brother is the same way, only into light games, and I've been scared to even suggest something like Gloomhaven. Your story gives me hope. It's like what william_jackson65 said about finding a pattern from a lucky break, you just needed that one good session to show them the fun. Maybe the gatekeeping just makes us overthink it before we even try.