Gloomhaven: First Loss

We took one on the chin. 

In our first scenario loss, we struggled through the first room, which required us to not only kill respawning Black Sludges but also waste precious time taking out 'generators' that couldn't harm us, but we couldn't proceed further until they were gone. 

There was a little bit of bad luck, too so by the time I burst into the second room I was promptly kicked in the face by the enemies and downed. 

Kim didn't think she could manage it with the resources she had left so we set it aside for another day. 

That other day came and we were successful! We got a little unlucky with the Black Sludge cards-that monster regenerates and is very difficult to kill. But we also knew to make better choices with our resources and leave behind certain treasure to keep pushing forward. 

We talked about the experience later, because I wanted to know how she felt after the first real loss of the game. I'm paraphrasing because we had a conversation and I didn't take notes.

But: what it came down to was that Kim felt there was some bad luck involved. We still got to make choices and we're still learning how to make the most of the options given. 

Plus, because we were in it together, and because neither of us was giving the moment a ton of weight, the impact of the loss didn't hit as hard. Gloomhaven is still a game and our attitude about having fun still held reign over how we chose to engage with it. 

And I want to talk about that for a second. Because that attitude has been really important! 

We live in an era where games are probably more culturally relevant than ever, but also have some massive barriers to entry. For those of us already in the hobby, it's important to take a healthy attitude towards gaming so that people don't get alienated or discouraged. 

Taking things too seriously would've made Kim miserable: there would have been no room to experiment or fail--no room to play and that kinda defeats the purpose.