Flashback Friday - Chaos in the Old World - Love It or Hate It? Do You Still Play It?

I love it, but I don't get to play it nearly enough. I think Cthulhu Wars might have taken its place on my end.

I really like this game. It has been a long time since I played it. I also think Cthulhu Wars has replaced it for my group. I’m sure it will come back out some day.

RobertB wrote: I love it, but I don't get to play it nearly enough. I think Cthulhu Wars might have taken its place on my end.

I used to love Chaos in the Old World but Cthulhu Wars definitely surpassed it in my circles.

It's...fine.

The game has this problem where you have to play enough to learn your faction and play your role, only to discover that it was secretly on rails the whole time and you were all just really bad conductors. It's thematic, sure, but not great.

I seem to be allergic to Lang's games for some reason. Give me Root over this any day.

I have mixed feelings about Chaos in the Old World. The visual design is great and helps sell the theme and setting. But I feel like there is a disconnect between what I am doing and what is happening in terms of the setting, and that distance makes me feel less engaged in the game. The last time that we played, the event cards nearly caused a human victory, but a couple of players pulled ahead in the final stretch and one of them won.

This is a game where I have it and its expansion solely based on F:AT/TWBG recommendations but have not played it! I do tend to enjoy these sorts of games, though.

It’s still the best game of its type, otherwise we wouldn’t still be using it as the measuring stick whenever an imitator or spiritual successor comes along. You might have a favorite, but it is irrelevant in comparison to CitOW.

I sort of agree with you, Josh. You don't tend to hear talk about new DoaM without some relation to Chaos, though that is changing. That makes it foundational but in my experience that doesn't mean it's good or you should still play it. So like Washington's War is foundational for wargame CDGs but I think it sucks (others disagree, obviously).

To answer the actual question, No. Because the people I play with that enjoy it would rather play the newer Blood Rage, Rising sun or CW.

Gary Sax wrote: I sort of agree with you, Josh. You don't tend to hear talk about new DoaM without some relation to Chaos, though that is changing. That makes it foundational but in my experience that doesn't mean it's good or you should still play it. So like Washington's War is foundational for wargame CDGs but I think it sucks (other's disagree, obviously).

It's often mentioned on TWBG that we (hobbyists) are fractured due to all the new releases and people unable to keep up or play the same thing.

In such an environment, how would a newer game ever supplant something like Chaos which came out in a different time and was experienced by a much larger swathe of people?

Just musing.

I played it a couple of times and thought it was just okay. I don't normally mind dark themes in games (and I like Warhammer's tongue-in-cheek grimdark normally) but something about this really put me off. I didn't enjoy being a chaos god.

I can’t imagine playing this over Root, even as much as I like the Warhammer setting. Root is simply a better and more compelling assymetrical game. Cthulhu Wars is more fun and direct, but Warhammer >>>> Cthulhu. But I would still choose this over any other Eric Lang game.

It’s a great game- but it’s sort of over-complicated and sludgy. Over the years and many plays I’ve cooled on it- I wasn’t sad about selling it and Horned Rat for $250 about a year ago.

Gary Sax wrote: I sort of agree with you, Josh. You don't tend to hear talk about new DoaM without some relation to Chaos, though that is changing. That makes it foundational but in my experience that doesn't mean it's good or you should still play it. So like Washington's War is foundational for wargame CDGs but I think it sucks (other's disagree, obviously).

That’s a fair point, and I agree, WW does suck. However, while WW is recognized as being foundational, and rightfully so, the comparison that any new CDG gets is to Twilight Struggle. TS is beyond foundational, and CitOW is, too. The difference in opinion is purely based on favored variation from player to player. I have a favorite, it isn’t CitOW, but i still recognize that no experience my favorite of the bunch provided is as good as any play I had of CitOW.