Random Dungeon Twister Updates

One of the many things I enjoy about Dungeon Twister is the ability to rewind a few turns and show people where the game went South for them. Not everyone can pick out "that moment" in a game - and I can't pick it out every time. But I love being able to define the key moment.

Even when it works against me.

Frequently, that key moment is only a turn or two before the end of he game.

One of my more regular opponents of late is a man named John. We've been playing a game every few days - and I nearly always win. Before this weekend, I would have said "Always win." See, he beat me for the first time the other day.

And I can exactly trace back the critical moment - but it's only a turn before.

We were playing Paladins and Dragons, and he was ahead. In fact, the score was four to two in his favor. I'd struggled for effectiveness for he entire game. P&D is my weakest set in play. He did an excellent job of making my characters completely ineffective.

His Elf Scout was in a position to score that critical fifth point - I saw this, and moved my Paladin (who was in the area) to block one of the possible routes. I then moved my Pickpocket in to try to block his other possible route. Unfortunately, I misplaced my Pickpocket by moving him one space too far. Had I moved him one space fewer, I would have completely blocked his exit to the point where he would need to engage in combat in order to escape (and I didn't think he had enough actions to fight and escape). As it was, John had enough actions to run past my Pickpocket and out of the maze.

The day before, we played the with just the basic set. I beat him because of a jump his Goblin made about three turns before the end of the game - had his Goblin jumped to the right instead of directly across the track, he would have been in a position to grab a Potion of Speed and a treasure and make it out of the maze. Since he jumped directly across, I was able to ignore the Goblin as a threat and just sprint for the exit myself.

This, by the way, is not to say John is a bad player - he's not. And his skill improves noticably after every game. He's a very quick study. I give him two to three more games before he starts to beat me more often than I beat him.

I also suffered a rather humiliating defeat the other night. I learned a few lessons that game, which I hope to be able to share later. The first lesson? I play DT really poorly against French-speaking opponents. Seriously. These days, I seem to do very well against English-speaking opponents.

It may be my opponents - I seem to only play people who are active in the French and Belgian tournament scene.

Speaking of which, congratulations to Fabrice "Sherinford" Weils. As of this weekend, he is the Dungeon Twister World Champion. Phil Goude (LIDT President) posted the standings here.

I've also been appointed to the LIDT Board of Directors (as has Geoff Heintzelman) for the LIDT. This will last at least until elections which are held at the end of February.

Again, I would like to encourage you to join the LIDT. Even if you choose not to join, you should check out the forums. There is a lot of good discussion - if you don't speak French, do what I do and use Google Translate. And don't be afraid to post in English - or to respond to French posts in English. I do this all the time, actually. And I usually receive responses in English. In other words: Language is only a barrier if you allow it to be one.

And, in blog news, I've also made it a bit easier for those of you looking for character advice - this link will bring you all of my "Dungeon Twister Characters: Multiple Uses" posts. The link is also on the side of the page, under "Key Posts From This Blog."

My file listing characters, items, terrain, etc. has been updated. It now includes characters from Prison.

Next week, I may talk about Cyclades, or Steam, or Stronghold or Neuroshima Hex. I may also break down and talk about Eclipse Phase or Cthulhutech - both of which deserve discussion. I may also discuss Terrain or Items in Dungeon Twister - after all, there's more to the game than the characters.