Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion

How to get someone who isn't into the kind of complex games I am into, into them?

Well, Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion certainly seems to be helping!

This started off when my friend Kim wanted to join in but couldn't find something that worked for her. Magic is a game that has SUCH a steep learning curve, it just turned her away. 

Other games I enjoyed, like Star Realms, were taking themselves too seriously and couldn't connect with her.

But it's OK! Not all games are for all people. What I needed to do was take into consideration what was working for Kim and incorporate that in. 

The kind of games she liked to play were more party oriented. Nothing wrong with those games-they are a LOT of fun sometimes. Trogdor, Satanimals; it always helped if there was a silly theme or art that didn't fall into the grimdark category. 

Finally, I hit on an idea: what if we did a cooperative game? Perhaps one of the things making finding a game difficult was having to play against me instead of with me. Basically, I was hoping that if I gave Kim situations that offered decisions we could both go in on, and would feel like we were doing something, that it might feel a lot more engaging and fun.  

We've made it to the fourth scenario now and I'd have to say: this hunch paid off! She's having a great time. 

I do want to note the length that Gloomhaven's designers went to to make Jaws of the Lion a more accessible game. We're almost at the point where the training wheels come off, but even with that, neither of us have felt overwhelmed or like we were going to fail, while also having games that felt like they were coming down to the wire. Every decision mattered, doing our best to hopefully get it right-or just get lucky.

I can even say that my experience with Jaws of the Lion has helped me understand the base Gloomhaven game better, so I have more fun there. That is impressive.