Seeing that today is April Fools’ Day, I had some trepidation that anything I posted today might be misconstrued as a hoax or joke. Many companies post fake ads, and news sites post hoax news. All from a calendar change long ago.
Some historians believe the April Fools’ customs began in France, although no one knows for sure. It may stem from a calendar change in 16th century France — the moving of New Year’s Day from April 1 to January 1 when the Gregorian calendar was adopted. People who continued to celebrate New Year’s Day on April 1st rather than the new date of January 1st were referred to as “April fools” and others played tricks on them.
(Source: http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/16/world/april-fools-day-fast-facts/index.html)
So instead of posting some serious thoughts, recommending a book I have read recently, or offering a Q&A, I thought I would just list the games I am most excited about in 2016. The GAMA Trade Show just passed, Origins is coming up, and Gen Con is around the corner. The publishers are making announcements and releasing games at an ever-increasing rate as the year progresses.
So, based on what I have heard and read about so far, here are the top games I am most interested in that are being released in 2016. These are not a hoax or joke. These really are games I am looking forward to this year.
Tabletop Games
51st State: Master Set (already pre-ordered)
Android: Mainframe
Bear Valley
City of Spies: Estoril 1942
Covert
Dastardly Dirigibles
Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game
Firefly Fluxx (already purchased and enjoying)
Legendary: Big Trouble in Little China (not a lot of info yet)
Legendary Encounters: Firefly
My Village
Star Trek Panic
Stellar Conflict
RPGs
Curse of Strahd (already purchased and preparing to run)
Mutant: Genlab Alpha
Robert E. Howard’s Conan
Sherwood: The Legend of Robin Hood
What games are you most looking forward to in 2016? Have you acquired any of these yet? My wife and I are already enjoying Firefly Fluxx!
On your list, I’m curious about Curse of Strahd. My GMing slate is a bit full right now, which is why I haven’t bothered to pick it up. I’ll be interested to hear how it goes for you.
Star Trek Panic is on my list. It sounds like it will be the good Castle Panic variant that Dead Panic wasn’t. Firefly looks like the Legendary Encounters I’ll finally be able to get into.
For my own board game list:
Arcadia Quest: Inferno
Colosseum reprint
Scoville: Labs
Scythe
RPGs:
7th Sea Second Edition
Changeling: The Dreaming 20th Anniversary
The Dark Eye (Paizo is handling this and it’s mostly a curiosity)
Pugmire
Curse of Strahd will be a bit yet. I am still prepping for the campaign which we plan to start later this summer or early fall. Lots of vacations and other things happening this summer so we are delaying the start.
I love the Legendary Encounter games, especially Alien. I look forward to seeing how they build a Firefly version of these rules.
7th Sea had me intrigued as well but I have so much on my gaming plate already I decided to pass on that kickstarter.