Shadows over Camelot and Other Adventures

So, Melody has brought it to my attention that I need to blog again.  It's true; I do.

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned to you guys already that I am a procrastinator, but, for once, I'm not blogging to procrastinate; in fact, this will probably be a blog written in segments during all of my random few minutes at a time of down time.  Might as well do something productive with that time, right?

Speaking of productive ways to spend my time, I'm going to blog today about one of the things that I think is an incredibly worthwhile way to spend time that most other people probably think I need to cut out of my life: board games.

I'm doing this new thing in my life where I stop stressing out about things and make time for what I think is important instead of stressing out and then staring blankly at a computer screen during times that I know are not my productive times because that's the only time I had to work on things so dear God I've got to get it done now what am I going to do aaaaaaah!
So, to avoid that, I've decided to take life a little bit more slowly.  And that means more board games.

I only recently became aware of the incredible awesomeness that is board games for adults.  I mean, I'd play Monopoly every now and then, but let's face it, Monopoly ruins friendships.  To be fair, though, there are definitely board games I play now that are just as cut throat, but they're way more entertaining, so everyone's more willing to forgive each other after the game's over.

I learned about the wonderful world of gaming largely through a friend of mine, but a really great web series that is not only entertaining but helps teach games is Tabletop.  It's a youtube series Wil Wheaton runs, so you know it's good.  He has all sorts of fun guest stars on with him, too (when he played Pandemic, one of my favorite games, he had Garfunkel and Oats on, and that was pretty cool.  I think that's how they spell that.  Probably not.  They're funny, anyway.).  So I've seen a few pretty cool games on there, and it's great, because I have five younger brothers, so I've got a pretty good built-in board game group (when they cooperate, which is sometimes with a hint of rarely).  I also play with a few friends of mine, including lots of friends I only made because of gaming.  Gaming's not just for nerds, y'all (yes, yes it is.  It totally is.  Embrace your inner nerd!)

So, anyway, because I got super sidetracked again, I'm going to tell you about what I originally intended to tell you about but didn't get around to yet (editing?  Outlining?  A point?  Whaaat?  Not for blogs hahaahah), which is Shadows over Camelot.  Shadows is the best board game known to man.  Slight exaggeration.  Not really.  Shadows is a fantastic cooperative board game where players act as knights of the Round Table and try to complete various quests to bring balance to the Camelot and restore the kingdom.  Sounds awesome, right!?  It also opens up a cool role-playing element because you can't tell people what cards you have, but you have to cooperate.  For example, if you need someone with a Fight 5 card (the highest fight card, which is used for battles) to come with you on a quest, you would boast that you are fighting fit, but you need only the strongest of knights to accompany you on your quest!  The game is designed for 3-7 people, and you can incorporate a traitor.  If one player is the traitor, he or she is secretly working against all of the other knights.  It's fantastic.  It's super fun.  We should all play it together :)

Anyway, Shadows over Camelot is one of the ways i am occupying my time and healing my soul, and I'm excited about it.  I could literally talk all day about that game and how many white swords I got and how hard a particular quest was or how I beat the dragon all by myself!  haha.  Seriously, though, you guys, buy board games even though they're ridiculously overpriced, because they're fantastic and they make life better :)